Okay, we're continuing in our
study today, and this is almost a part two, of the Lord teaching
believers how they ought to act and live and conduct themselves
in this life in which we are blessed to live. And we pick
up where we left off last week, Down to verse 13, last week we
talked about in verse 12, rejoicing in hope, being patient in tribulation,
continuing instant in prayer. And then it talks about distributing,
giving, freely giving, willingly giving to the necessity of the
saints. Now the subject here in this
chapter is how believers are to live in this life to the glory
of God. And the whole foundation of it
is built upon this one Foundation right here in verse 9, let love
be without dissimulation. Let love be without dissimulation. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, verse 1, which is your reasonable
service. The whole foundation and the
whole motive for obedience to the Lord is love and gratitude
for His mercy toward us. Remember, His love constrains
us. You remember from our study in the book of James, James chapter
2 verse 8, where it talks about the royal law of love. If you fulfill the royal law
according to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself, you shall do well. And that is true. That is true.
Fulfilling the royal law of the scriptures, loving one another,
and by his grace, forgiving one another, and loving and believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we pick up there at
verse 13, where it talks about giving, giving. Giving to one
another. Giving to one another. Down in
verse 8 of the same chapter. He that exhorteth on exhortation,
he that giveth let him do it with simplicity or sincerity. Giving to the needs of other
believers. Distributing to the necessity
of the saints. Now every believer is a sinner. and he's made a saint and is
sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking here about
helping believers who are in need, and then he's also talking
about giving to hospitality, opening up your heart and opening
up your homes. Giving to the needs of other
believers who are in need, maybe financially or in other ways. Now oftentimes people who are
strange to me will pound on my door or knock on my back door
and try to come into this building, and usually the only thing they
want is money. They're not interested in the
gospel or the truth or what is preached here, but they're interested
in, I need gas money for here, gas money for there, that's the
usual story. But one of the things I often
ask them is this, where do you attend services? Do you have
a home church? Well, yeah, well, maybe. Well, I said, go see them. I
said, what we do here, we take care of our folks who are in
need and we help them. I said, if you have a need and
you have a church, you go see them. So that's the first thing
I tell them. And then sometimes I'll help
them. In my older age, I'm getting
maybe a little bit wiser because most of them are just con artists.
Most of them hit every church down this road, and they always,
by the time they get to John's Creek down here, they've got
enough money, I guess, to satisfy their need. But he's talking
here about helping the saints, talking about the necessity of
the saints. Now, there's none of us here.
If a family among our congregation was hungry, their children had
no clothes, they were in great need, You would even think about,
you would even think without reservation, what would you do?
Boy, you would jump in and help them, wouldn't you? You'd be
willing to do so. And that's what he's talking
about here. We certainly, and I'm thinking about this congregation, It is a blessing to give and
help others, the Lord's people. Remember as he describes the
body of believers, we're members one of another. Remember back
in verse four and five in Romans 12, for as we have many members
in one body, all members have not the same office. So we being
many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another. Now we're members of one another,
and we care for one another, we love one another, and it's
just not locally in this assembly, but when we see the needs of
others, other believers, other churches in other states and
other places, we reach out to them too. As many over the years
that we've suffered through the floods that we've been through
here, eight or nine different times we were flooded, but especially
in 2009, 2010, believers from all over this country and other
countries, churches in England, churches in Mexico, churches
from New Jersey, all the way to California, from Texas to
Montana, from Florida to Iowa. One time I counted over 30 different
grace churches sent financial help for us when we were in need. We were in need and many individuals
reached out and gave generously to help us recover. Now that
we have recovered and were able to sell that property out back
and to have have sufficient funds to take care of Lord willing,
the next flood we have But with the sufficient funds that the
Lord has given to us, we've been able to help other congregations.
We've been able to send money down to Mexico to the churches
down there. We've been able to send money
when Clay Curtis and the group in New Jersey, by looking for
a building and on the process of buying a building, we were
able to send money to them. And then the congregation in
Kingsport, when they were rebuilding their building, remodeling their
building that they bought, we were able to send money to them.
I'm talking about thousands and thousands of dollars. There was
a need, and we had the ability to do so, and we met that need. As the Lord met our need. See
what he's saying there? Distributing to the necessity
of the saints, given, given to hospitality. And it's not something,
well, you know, it's not something ruled and regimented and called
and calculated. This is a heart of grace. This
is a heart of love. As the Lord speaks about, you
know, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich,
yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty
might be made rich. And that whole chapter there
is talking about giving. And the prime example of giving
is the Lord Himself, as He gave Himself for us. Now, let's move
down to verse 14. He says, Bless them which persecute
you. Now the early church, if you
read through the book of Acts, the early church, oh, they were
beaten, arrested, murdered, executed, killed for the gospel. Bless
them which persecute you. We don't know anything about
that kind of persecution, not in our day, not in our day. Bless them which persecute you.
Bless Don't curse them. Now, that's a tall order, is
it not? Bless them that would persecute
you over the gospel, over the gospel. We don't know much about
persecution like the early church did, but our Lord teaches us
to forgive our enemies when they sin against us. You remember
from our lesson in Luke 17? when the Lord said, we are to
forgive one another, not just once, not twice, but 70 times
seven, we are to forgive one another. Now, if you wanna turn
with me, you can, over in Matthew chapter five, the Lord said this,
in Matthew five, talking about forgiving, bless them which persecute
you, bless them. Ask God to have mercy on them.
Now it is our natural tendency of this rotten flesh is to strike
back at them. Look what he says here, Matthew
5, 43. You've heard that it's been said, thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate
you. And pray for them that despitefully
use you. Love your enemies. That's what
we ought to do. That's what we ought to do. That's
what we're commanded to do, to love and forgive, forgive one
another. I thought about this story I
read over in Acts chapter seven. Remember, Stephen, he preached
that great sermon in Acts chapter seven about the gospel. And when
those religious Pharisees heard what he preached, they railed
on him, they attacked him like a pack of wild dogs, they gnashed
on his flesh, and then they picked up stones and stoned him to death. Now, the natural tendency of
the flesh is to rail back, and not to bless them, but to curse
them. But you know what Stephen said
in his last dying words in Acts 7 verse 60? He said this, lay not this sin
to their charge and he fell asleep, he died. He fulfilled what the
Lord commands us to do. Bless them which persecute you.
But the prime example is this, when the Lord Jesus Christ was
so mistreated and so hated and despised the men, nailed to the
cursed tree, you remember one of the first things he said in
those well-known, famous, seven sayings from the cross. The first
one he uttered was, Father, forgive them. Forgive them. I know this,
everyone that he prayed that for, they were forgiven. Because
his prayers are always answered. Father, forgive them. They do
not know what they do. So, next time someone crosses
you and is unpleasant with you, Don't rail back at them. Come back with something pleasant.
Come back with something pleasant. You know, don't keep pouring, you know, if you have a small
fire and you put gasoline on it, you know, don't add fuel
to the fire. We'll see here in just a minute
what he says here. Bless them which persecute you, bless and
curse not. Now verse 15, rejoice with them
that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. Now he's talking
again about believers rejoicing together and then believers weeping
together. Rejoice with them that rejoice
in the gospel. And that's what believers do.
When we meet together and the gospel is preached, We worship
the Lord Jesus Christ, and we rejoice together. We rejoice
in mercies, we rejoice in the pardon of our sin, we rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ, worship God in the Spirit, and have no
confidence in the flesh. We rejoice together, and then
the other side of this is when we're brokenhearted, When we're
sorrowful, when we're weeping, when one of us has a heavy burden
or trial, what do we do? We weep with them that weep. Remember, believers are one heart
and of one mind. We're all members one of another.
When one member of the body is blessed, we rejoice. When one
member of the body is sorrowful, we sorrow with them, don't we?
Sure we do. When believers sorrow and rejoice
together, we demonstrate that we are one in Christ. That's
how we bear one another's burdens. Someone said this, our joys double,
our sorrows diminish when we can experience and go through
them together. Together. I know when, let me
give you an example of that. When you've been through a traumatic
trial, you're able to help other people who are going through
the same trial. Many of you know Pastor Mahan
in 1969 lost his oldest firstborn son in Vietnam. Killed in action
in Vietnam. And that was a heartache. That
was a trial. That was a trial. But I was working
one day in the work that I used to do. I was in a steel mill
in Huntington and I was in there working on a piece of equipment
and they assigned a man that was employed in that steel mill
to work with me. I guess they wanted someone to
keep an eye on me. But we worked together and he
was a stranger to me and we got talking about one another. And
he asked me where I went to church and who my pastor was, and I
told him, Henry Mahan. Oh, his eyes lighted up. He said,
Henry Mahan is your pastor? I said, yes, he is. And he said
to me, he said, you know, that man was a great, great help to
me when my son, my young son died in a car wreck. He told me that him and his son
had bought an older car and had fixed it up and kind of made
a hot rod out of it and they were so proud of the work they
had done and that young son took his car out for a ride and hit
somebody or someone, hit a tree or something, but died. Of course,
you know it broke his heart. But Brother Henry preached a
message one time and he did this also, one of the TV messages,
and this is where that man heard it. And the title of the message
is, Why I Preach My Son's Funeral. You give it some time, look it
up and listen to it. But that man in that steel mill
told me that through the experience that Brother Mahan had, it helped
him to realize that the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed
be the name of the Lord. See, the experiences that we
go through When someone else is going through that same experience,
you can say, well, brother, I know where you're at. I've been through
that. And you'll find this to be true. The Lord's grace is
sufficient for the tribe. And that's what he's talking
about here. Rejoicing with them that do rejoice and weep with
them that do weep. Now, he said, not only be of
the same heart, verse 16, but be of the same mind. Be of the
same mind one toward another. Don't mind high things. Don't
be high-minded. What is high-mindedness? It's
pride, isn't it? Don't be full of pride, but get
down low. Get down low. Get down low. Condescend to men of low estates. Don't be high lifted up. I think
preachers are the worst for this. I criticize myself and criticize
others. Sometimes we have a tendency
to think, well, we're just a little bit higher, a little bit better.
Wrong. Wrong. Condescend to men of low
estate. Get right down with the man.
I'll tell you another story about Brother Mahan. One day he came
home. And one of his small grandchildren
were there, there in the house, and as he walked into his house
and walked up from the stairs, from downstairs where his garage
was, he walked up in their room and here was a well-dressed gentleman
who was reading a book about Sammy the Dirty Dog to a little
Three or four year old boy. That man was the executive of
CSX Railroad. And he was in there down to that
little boy's level reading a book about Sammy the Dirty Dog. And
that's what he's talking about. Condescend to man. Get right
down with Sammy the Dirty Dog. Don't be high-minded. We're just
sinners saved by God's grace. And don't be wise in your own
thinking. in your own conceit. Conceit. Let us not be high-minded about
ourselves, but let us esteem others better than ourselves.
Now, two scriptures. Galatians 3 says, When a man
thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, He deceived,
he deceives himself. And then the second Corinthians
10, we dare not make ourselves of a number or compare ourselves
with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves
by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, they're not
wise, they're not wise. Now look at verse 17, recompense
to no man, Recompense to no man evil for evil. It goes back to what is said
in verse 14, Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse
not. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest
in the sight of all men. Revenge is always contrary to
the way of grace. Always. It is natural to our
fallen sinful nature to get even, to punch back when you're punched.
We want to punch back. Don't repay evil words with evil
words, or evil deeds with evil deeds. Forgive one another, and
love one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. And then it says, provide things honest, honest. Brother Rob Barnard used to have
a saying, honest men don't wind up in hell. Honest men, or honest
who are made so by the grace of God, confess what they are
before God. Provide things honest. Honesty
in the sight of God. Let us avoid all things that
would bring dishonor on the gospel of Christ in our attitude, in
our conduct, in our conversation, in our walk, and in our talk.
Let us always be aware never to bring reproach upon the gospel
of Christ. recompense to no man evil for
evil, provide things honest in the sight of all men. Now look
at verse 18, if it be possible, now sometimes it is probably
impossible because sometimes people just are so cantankerous
they don't want to get along with anybody. If it be possible,
as much as lieth in you Live peaceably with all men. Live
peaceably with all men. With your neighbors, love your neighbors. Be good
to them. Be a good neighbor. Be a good
neighbor. I've got a neighbor that's an
unusual person, and people ask me about him all the time, and
I tell them this, and it's true. I said he's one of the best neighbors
I've ever had. He's one of the best. He's a
little bit unusual, but you just got to kind of overlook him.
But he's one of the best neighbors you would ever have, ever want
to have. He mows my grass when I go on vacation. He waters my
plants when I'm gone. He watches over the whole neighborhood,
and he does it with firearms, and he's a good neighbor. But live at peace with all men. Be a good neighbor. Respect your
neighbors and live at peace with all men on the job. Be a good
workman. Be a team player. Be a team player
on the job. You know, I've been on some jobs
where sometimes people don't want to be team players. They
want to be contrary. But don't live at peace with
all men. In your neighborhood, on the
job, be a good workman, but especially in the church, in the congregation
of the church. Don't be one who causes unnecessary
disturbance in the church and division in the church. That's
so awful and so ugly. Live at peace with all men. Look
at verse 19 now. Dearly beloved, and it gets right
back to this thing here about taking vengeance and paying back
evil with evil. Avenge not yourselves, but rather
give place unto wrath. Give place unto wrath. Vengeance,
private vengeance is never the right course of action. Give
place to wrath. That means yield to it. Get out
of the way and let it die. Let it spend itself. Don't put
fuel on the fire. Let it go. Ephesians chapter
4 verse 24 through 29, you can read that sometime where it talks
about don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Let it die. Let it go. Let it go. The Lord
will defend his people. He said, for it is written, give
place to wrath. Let it go. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. The Lord will defend his people.
It's the Lord's place to take appropriate payment for sin. The wages of sin is death. We're going to study in Luke
18, the Lord will avenge His own elect in due time. Now, He's
not talking here when He says, when someone would do something
that would be criminal against you, Someone would steal from
you or maybe harm one of your families or assault you criminally. Well, what do we do in that case?
We turn it over to the proper authorities who are ordained
of God to execute punishment upon those. But the bottom line
is, vengeance is mine. The Lord has ordained proper
civil authorities to deal with criminal actions, and we'll see
that in chapter 13 verse 1. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Now, verse 20 goes right back,
and this is the same thing again about loving your neighbors,
loving your enemies. If your enemy hunger, feed him. Feed him. If he thirst, give
him drinks. For in doing so, thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Now, let's see if we can help
ourselves here. If your enemy is hungry, give
him the bread of life. You can give him a loaf of bread
too if that'll help him. But mainly give him the bread
of life. Tell him about Christ the bread
of life. If he's thirsty tell him about where Christ is the
living water that a man may drink thereof and never die. In doing
so it might bring our enemy to repentance of life and the fire
of a repentant heart to seek salvation in Christ. Remember,
it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, not his
wrath. Our anger, our wrath will never
be used as a means of someone seeking salvation, but our kindness
to them and giving them the gospel might be used of God and it might
be used to the means where God would grant them faith unto salvation. Now, the bottom line in all this
is verse 21, "...be not overcome of evil."
but rather overcome evil with good." Overcome, be not overcome,
be not overcome with evil. Now, does a believer have problems
with evil things? Absolutely. What is this evil? Be not overcome with evil. Well,
I don't know how it is with you, but one of the things that sorrows
my heart the most is the evil things that I think. I wish I
could stop thinking evil things, but it is the nature of this
sinful flesh. But be not overcome with evil
thoughts, but overcome evil things and evil thoughts with good things. think upon good things, the things
of God that are good, and ask the Lord to take these terrible,
terrible thoughts away from us. This is the bottom line and sum
of what Paul has been teaching by the power of God the Holy
Spirit, and this is the very principle of the gospel of Christ
giving his life for us. He overcame evil with good, did
he not? Hereby we perceive the love of
God because He laid down His life for us. We ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ overcame
the evil of our sin with the goodness of His righteousness,
with the goodness of His atoning blood. Paul writes when he closes
2 Corinthians, Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good
comfort, be of one mind, live in peace in the love of God,
and peace shall be with you. Amen. Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome that with the goodness of God, with the goodness of
God.