1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,960 You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you, 2 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:14,360 love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:15,360 heaven. 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:21,260 He causes his Son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous 5 00:00:21,260 --> 00:00:23,420 and the unrighteous. 6 00:00:23,420 --> 00:00:26,240 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 7 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:32,480 Are you not even the tax collectors doing that? 8 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:37,440 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? 9 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,660 Do not even pagans do that? 10 00:00:39,660 --> 00:00:43,840 Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 11 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,840 May God bless the reading of his word. 12 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,000 Good morning again everyone. 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:01:01,320 It is absolutely wonderful to be together singing beautiful hymns, watching a baptism. 14 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:07,680 After the word, we're also going to be taking the Lord's Supper together. 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:13,600 And it's such a privilege, it's such a wonderful grace that we as the people of God can worship 16 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,720 hymns so publicly. 17 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:26,120 And so before we come to his word to us this morning, let's ask our Father for his help. 18 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:32,840 Father, we thank you for your word. 19 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:41,120 We thank you that as we pray, we're not speaking to the ceiling, but because of the Lord Jesus 20 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:52,560 Christ, our prayers, our petitions are coming to the throne of grace, all by your love. 21 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:59,480 This morning as we peer into the words of eternal life, we ask that by your spirit, 22 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:06,840 you would give us ears to hear, hearts to retain, and that by your spirit, you would 23 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:13,320 grow this wonderful love that you are to speak to us of this morning in our lives. 24 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:15,480 We ask for this in Jesus' name. 25 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:16,480 Amen. 26 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:23,640 The First World War had been raging on for only four months. 27 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:28,400 The weather that December in northern France was cold and wet. 28 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:34,280 Many of the trenches were continually flooded, soldiers were covered in mud and exposed to 29 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:39,960 frostbite and trench foot seemed impossible to get rid of. 30 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:45,800 The soldiers on both sides were dreading having to spend Christmas away from their families. 31 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:52,080 Then something incredible happened on December 24th, 1914. 32 00:02:52,080 --> 00:03:00,540 Soldiers from both sides put down their weapons, stepped out of their trenches, and enemy really 33 00:03:00,540 --> 00:03:02,960 did meet enemy. 34 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:08,240 It was reported that jovial voices could be heard calling out from enemy trenches, followed 35 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:14,840 by requests not to fire, then shadows of soldiers could be seen gathering in no man's land, 36 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:22,040 laughing, joking, playing soccer, and even exchanging gifts. 37 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,780 Incredibly for a short time on that cold and wet day on December 24th, there was a sense 38 00:03:26,780 --> 00:03:28,880 of peace. 39 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:38,880 But as we all know, that serenity never transpired into real and lasting love for one's enemy. 40 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,400 And that's the thing that we'll be looking at this morning, looking at how our Lord not 41 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:49,100 only commands us, his disciples, to treat our neighbours who we like, but how to genuinely 42 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:55,280 love our enemy in whom we are at war with. 43 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:01,400 So if you have your Bibles with you this morning, please look with me at verse 43. 44 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,840 We read, you have heard that it was said. 45 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:10,000 Now I'm well aware that we have many visitors with us this morning, so that phrase, you 46 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:16,560 have heard that it was said, comes as no surprise to those who have been with us over the past 47 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:18,300 few weeks. 48 00:04:18,300 --> 00:04:23,760 As we've been working our way through a series of, but I tell you, antidotes that Jesus has 49 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:29,560 been making in contrast with the popular teaching of the day. 50 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,320 So as I'm well aware of this, let me catch you up a bit. 51 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:41,520 Way back in verse 21 of this chapter, we started to see Jesus use this language of, but I tell 52 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:42,520 you. 53 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,560 First up, he tackled murder and challenged the popular teaching of the day that said, 54 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:55,040 as long as the court dealt with the external act of murder, then God's justice had been 55 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:56,040 served. 56 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:02,640 It was a literal rendering of the mosaic law that completely ignored the root of the problem. 57 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:08,520 Jesus challenged it and said, standing condemned for murder doesn't just mean what you do with 58 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:09,520 your hands, folks. 59 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:16,420 No, it includes what happens in the heart and with the tongue. 60 00:05:16,420 --> 00:05:23,000 In other words, when you harbor hatred, when you spew out comments of loathing about another, 61 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,760 you're condemned before God. 62 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,480 Murder is defined internally. 63 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:38,400 Again, Jesus contrasted his teaching with the popular understanding about adultery. 64 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:42,920 It isn't just the physical act of being with someone who isn't your husband or wife, said 65 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:43,920 Jesus. 66 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:49,420 Murder is defined and exposed in the heart when you lust for someone who isn't your 67 00:05:49,420 --> 00:05:50,420 spouse. 68 00:05:50,420 --> 00:05:56,240 Jesus even goes after truth telling, saying to his disciples, whenever you say something 69 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,880 is true, you don't need to staple an oath to it. 70 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:02,800 Simply say yes and mean it. 71 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:10,120 Do it if you said you would or say no when you can't because swearing on inanimate objects 72 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:17,000 and on cities just to get out of what you said is wicked and when it comes to revenge, 73 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:18,760 don't seek it. 74 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,960 Haters are going to hate and you're going to be in the firing line. 75 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:28,360 So when people slander, slap, persecute and insult you, don't go after them. 76 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,400 Don't plan to take revenge. 77 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:38,440 As from this understanding of the law that we've been able to understand that Jesus viewed 78 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:47,760 and took the law so much more deeper than just wanting to highlight external bad behaviors, 79 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,720 which the teachers of the law did. 80 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:56,680 And Jesus' use of the law refuted that popular teaching because as he's shown us over and 81 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:03,500 over again, the law was given to go after the heart to show us that we just can't measure 82 00:07:03,500 --> 00:07:07,200 up to God's perfect standard. 83 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:13,840 Just put it another way, the law was given to highlight that we are poor in spirit, in 84 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:24,040 great need of mercy so that we will turn to God, experience his mercy and enter the kingdom 85 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,560 of heaven. 86 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,080 Why might Jesus be doing this? 87 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:35,280 Well because the disciples of Jesus, those who have left their way of doing things and 88 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:41,560 who are united to him are to be the salt and light of this world. 89 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,480 That's what the disciples of Jesus are. 90 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:50,720 By the grace of God, we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ and are called to be so 91 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:56,560 radically countercultural that those out in the world might be drawn to God by our very 92 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:57,560 lives. 93 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,280 We saw that in verses 13 through to 16 of chapter five. 94 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:08,400 But as we've seen, being the salt and light of this world, affecting real change for the 95 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:16,200 glory of God only happens when we are totally given over to God with all that we are. 96 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,600 And that's what God is after. 97 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:26,160 It's all of us brothers and sisters, every fibre of our being, external as well as internal, 98 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:31,800 actions, as well as our thoughts and words. 99 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,920 And the law exposes us for what we are. 100 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,400 And as we've seen, this is a wonderful thing. 101 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:45,320 Otherwise, if we didn't see that we are poor in spirit before this perfect and awesome 102 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:52,600 God, we would think that we have a righteousness that justifies us before him, good works that 103 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,000 we think he owes us for. 104 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:03,560 Now the law plainly shows us that we need the righteousness of another as anything else 105 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:07,440 is to fall so far short. 106 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:12,320 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers 107 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:19,400 of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven, said Jesus in verse 20. 108 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:28,080 So with all that said, we now turn to our Lord's final, but I tell you antidote. 109 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:33,160 So we might ask the question, what phariseeical saying was Jesus kicking back against? 110 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:37,360 Well it's right there in the rest of verse 42. 111 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,960 Love your neighbour and hate your enemy. 112 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:48,040 Now I'm not sure how many of you in this room went to Sunday school, but most of you should 113 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:53,760 recognise that first phrase, love your neighbour. 114 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:59,480 You should recognise it because it's a direct quote from the Bible and more specifically 115 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:05,400 Leviticus 19, 18 which says, do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your 116 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:11,440 people, but love your neighbour as yourself. 117 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:17,400 In fact later on in the ministry of Jesus, a teacher of the law asked Christ what was 118 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:22,560 the greatest commandment in the law to which he replied, love the Lord your God with all 119 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:27,480 your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 120 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:34,200 The second is this, love your neighbour as yourself. 121 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:40,600 There is no commandment greater than these, to which Bob Dylan admits he's still trying 122 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,640 to do in his song, Ant Talking. 123 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:49,560 All this to say, love your neighbour is one of those phrases that was so ingrained in 124 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:55,700 the culture of the day and one that has so influenced our own culture that as soon as 125 00:10:55,700 --> 00:11:04,160 you hear it, you know exactly where it's come from and it's not Bob Dylan's playbook. 126 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:09,580 But like me, you might be a bit perplexed with the tail end of the sentence that we 127 00:11:09,580 --> 00:11:16,360 have before us this morning, because unlike the famous phrase that we've just heard, hate 128 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,760 your enemy is nowhere to be found in the Bible. 129 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:27,560 It's like saying that's one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind and shop at 130 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:29,240 Woolies. 131 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:30,960 It's that intrusive. 132 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:40,600 So we might ask, how did it creep into one of the most famous Bible verses of all time? 133 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:47,240 Well, as we've seen through the weeks, Jesus never contradicted the law, never went after 134 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,360 what God had given to the people through Moses. 135 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:56,720 No, what he has gone after time and time again is the phariseedical interpretation of the 136 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:03,280 law, their traditions on how to understand the law. 137 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:05,840 And he's doing this again. 138 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:11,480 He's doing this again as he's going after something that they had blatantly added to 139 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:20,280 the scripture as their definition of neighbor was so incredibly limited. 140 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,600 Let me explain what I mean. 141 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:30,880 You see, God had revealed through Moses that we are to love our neighbor and that there 142 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:37,960 are beautiful commands all throughout the law on how to practically care for your neighbor. 143 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:43,120 Things like you're not to let them go hungry, you're not to let them go cold, you're to 144 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,360 care about the orphans. 145 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:50,800 Absolutely, but you're only to do that for your neighbor, said the Pharisees. 146 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,720 And that seems to be where the discussion lay. 147 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:59,680 What and who was your neighbor? 148 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:05,640 That was certainly the question that Jesus was asked in Luke 10, when a top tier theologian 149 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,560 came and asked about how to enter into eternal life. 150 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:15,520 Jesus asked him about how he understood the law to which the guy pretty much answered 151 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:19,480 like Jesus saying, you've got to love God with everything that you are and your neighbor 152 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:28,960 is yourself, but, and this is where we must take note, he wanted to justify himself. 153 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:35,760 So he asks Jesus, but who is my neighbor? 154 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:44,000 An expert in the law didn't know how to define who his neighbor was. 155 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:51,640 This gives us an incredible insight into the mindset of the Pharisees at the time. 156 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:57,460 You see, the Pharisees misunderstood the meaning of neighbor as they restricted the definition 157 00:13:57,460 --> 00:14:04,960 of neighbor to those who qualified to be treated as such, namely those who were your fellow 158 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,040 citizens. 159 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,400 That's what defined neighbor in the phariseeical worldview. 160 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:16,120 Fellow citizens or to put it plainly, other Jews or those who were joined up with your 161 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:23,200 people, which is, as you might remember, the very worldview that Jesus challenged in the 162 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,400 Good Samaritan parable. 163 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:30,920 All this to say, because the Pharisees had limited the definition of neighbor as those 164 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:38,120 that somewhat qualified for your love, they had restricted the definition of neighbor 165 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:46,680 and thus developed a theology around how to hate people that lay outside of that qualification. 166 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:50,720 Yes, let's be fair to the Pharisees. 167 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:56,000 In their worldview, you were to love your neighbor, definitely, but where it had gone 168 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:06,600 wrong was that they limited neighbor to the fellow citizen language of Leviticus 19, 18. 169 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:12,080 So we might ask the question this morning, what had gone so wrong that they had obscured 170 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,120 the definition of neighbor? 171 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:23,440 Well, it seems to have come from a fundamental misunderstanding of their view of sanctification. 172 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:32,760 You see, sanctification in its simplest terms means separation, separation, and the Jews 173 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:39,200 knew they were to be separated from this world, sanctified from the nations, and that they 174 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,200 were called to be nothing like them. 175 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:47,960 And so they concentrated their efforts and defined their neighbors as those of their 176 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:56,040 own people, which meant that they developed a place for a justified hatred for all those 177 00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:00,200 that lay outside the covenant people of God. 178 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:06,560 I mean, just have a think about the temper tantrum that Jonah chucked because God showed 179 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,120 mercy on Nineveh. 180 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:16,080 Yes, those outside of Israel could come to the Jews and they could be proselytized. 181 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:20,880 We even see Israel as they take over Canaan, people joining with them, but the problem 182 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:29,760 was outsiders only qualified to be loved when they became Israel, because until then they 183 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:37,040 were seen as something other, as alien, something to be hated. 184 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:41,440 Church, we have to remember the original audience here. 185 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:46,400 They were a Jewish audience waiting for the kingdom of heaven and they were following 186 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:52,480 Jesus trying to figure out if he was the king of this kingdom. 187 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:58,320 So when he said, I want you to be the salt and light of this world, that is language 188 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,960 around sanctification. 189 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:06,720 But says Jesus, and he makes it crystal clear here, you're not to view that separation in 190 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:10,480 the way that you have been taught by the Pharisees. 191 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:16,240 No, you're not just to love your neighbor, but you're to love all those that lay outside 192 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,080 of that qualification. 193 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:26,040 Verse 44, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 194 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:32,360 Yeah, that Jesus certainly doesn't negate that his disciples will be different in this 195 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:36,600 world, but listen to what he's saying here. 196 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:42,880 These enemies of yours, well, as you are to love your neighbor, you were to love them. 197 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:49,800 Church, I don't know about you, but this presents for us an incredible problem, right? 198 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:56,640 You see, it's very easy to love those who love you, but even then we don't always get 199 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,720 on with those that we love the most. 200 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:08,080 I mean, just think about those among our own family and friend groups, even in our churches, 201 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:14,340 it can sometimes be very, very hard to get along with those that we love the most. 202 00:18:14,340 --> 00:18:16,540 We all struggle. 203 00:18:16,540 --> 00:18:20,120 But that's not what Jesus is addressing here. 204 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:24,100 That's not what he's commanding us to do, to love our neighbor. 205 00:18:24,100 --> 00:18:25,100 That's a given. 206 00:18:25,100 --> 00:18:29,920 No, he says, I want you to love those who hate you, that don't have your best interest 207 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:30,920 at heart. 208 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:37,600 I want you to love those who insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against 209 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:39,640 you. 210 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:45,600 I want you to love your enemies. 211 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:55,160 We have a natural tendency, humans, to be like emotional mirrors. 212 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:59,100 We reflect how people treat us. 213 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:02,200 You like me, I like you. 214 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,920 You say hi, I say hi. 215 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,260 You smile, I smile. 216 00:19:07,260 --> 00:19:13,880 You say something nice about my beard. 217 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:20,080 I'll choose my words very carefully if you're a woman. 218 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,280 But you can see where I'm going with this, right? 219 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:30,920 Our human nature, our natural tendency, gravitates to loving those who love us. 220 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,280 It's natural. 221 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:37,000 The opposite is true as well. 222 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:43,520 Before I entered into this ministry, I used to play drums for local bands here in Perth. 223 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:49,080 And one of the best places to play in town, simply because they still had a big audience 224 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,240 there, was a place called the Mustang Bar. 225 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:59,200 And I used to see these emotional mirrors on full display being reflected all the time. 226 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,720 You insult me, I insult you. 227 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:03,400 You push me, I push you. 228 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,880 You punch me, I push right back. 229 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:15,040 And many times I saw many young men and women absolutely pulverizing each other over something 230 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:20,120 as frivolous as not being served first at the bar. 231 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:24,160 But that's our natural tendency. 232 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,640 It's to reflect what is given. 233 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,240 And this is what Jesus drills down on here. 234 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:34,160 It's on our very nature. 235 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:39,120 Brothers and sisters, it must be said, there are going to be people in this world that 236 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:45,840 hate that we follow Jesus, hate that we stand for the biblical definition of all sorts of 237 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:51,240 things, hate that we don't go with the tide of the latest trend. 238 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,200 And our enemy will hate us. 239 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:54,800 They will hate us. 240 00:20:54,800 --> 00:21:00,520 But Jesus says, when you see your enemies doing that, when you see the hatred spewing 241 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,120 forth, don't reflect it back. 242 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:10,080 No, come at them with something completely and radically different. 243 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,920 Love them. 244 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:21,480 I just want to say here, so we're clear, that in no way is Jesus saying that by loving others 245 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:27,400 that we are in and of ourselves, making ourselves children of the living God. 246 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,360 No, in fact, it's the other way around. 247 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:38,600 When God's spirit, when God rescues us and makes us his children, we will then walk in 248 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:46,080 the countercultural love that's being talked about here, because it's his work in us. 249 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,520 It's all by grace alone. 250 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,760 You may have heard of this guy, John Calvin, but he says it nicely. 251 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:59,400 He says, Christ testifies that this will be the mark of our adoption. 252 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:05,240 If we are kind to the bad and unworthy, do not think that we are made sons by our own 253 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,000 kind deeds. 254 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:12,760 Christ gives proof from the effect of those deeds that the sons of God are precisely those 255 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,880 who approach him in their humility and tenderness. 256 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:23,080 All this to say, when God takes up residence in your life by the Holy Spirit, he does the 257 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,340 work of transformation. 258 00:22:25,340 --> 00:22:34,040 And he enables you to love those who are unlovable, to love those who do not deserve love naturally, 259 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:42,320 and even to have compassion, humanly speaking, on those who do not stir our compassion. 260 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:46,320 So what are we to do for our enemies? 261 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,400 What is the way that we can love them? 262 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:54,560 Well, it's as Jesus says here, we pray for them. 263 00:22:54,560 --> 00:23:00,280 That's what Jesus says here in verse 44 of our text. 264 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,600 He says, pray for those who are your enemy. 265 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,360 And if you're wondering who your enemy is, well, you don't usually have to wonder very 266 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:11,200 long because they're the ones that are out to persecute you. 267 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,160 Just a tip there. 268 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,640 That's going to look different for many of us in this room. 269 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:25,480 I mean, for the immediate audience, these people had the vicious Romans hanging over 270 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:26,480 their head. 271 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:32,040 But bringing this a little closer to home, we could think about the different social 272 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:37,400 wars that are happening in Australia at the moment, but enemies aren't always out there 273 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,400 somewhere on social media typing away. 274 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:45,120 Now, they can be a lot closer to home, right? 275 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:52,320 I mean, I can't imagine some of the horrid things that have happened to you personally. 276 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:58,080 I don't for a second want to downplay how hard some of your lives have been because 277 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:03,680 others have treated you so wickedly. 278 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,280 This is the beauty of prayer. 279 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:15,840 It has the ability to help bring the presence of God into such tremendously broken places. 280 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,320 It's really hit home for me when a friend of mine who had been abused by his father 281 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:28,200 came and spoke to me about why his resentment and bitterness didn't control his life anymore. 282 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:43,360 He simply said to me, it was very hard to go on hating someone who he was praying for. 283 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:46,960 This wasn't something that happened overnight. 284 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:52,720 In fact, I think his prayers to God started with, help me God to even say this person's 285 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:53,720 name. 286 00:24:53,720 --> 00:25:00,480 Nor was it like, I'm cured now, now it's time to go catch up and have a hangout. 287 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:08,760 Now, this friend of mine has had to wrestle really hard daily, but over time and by asking 288 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:14,760 our heavenly father for his gracious help, he's been able to pray for this man and able 289 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:21,760 to come to a place where he has asked that God would surround him with people to share 290 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,880 the gospel with him. 291 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:31,140 This is just one beautiful picture of how to pray for our enemies. 292 00:25:31,140 --> 00:25:36,300 Praying that even though they might be at war with us, that they come to a knowledge 293 00:25:36,300 --> 00:25:42,520 of the truth, that their eyes are opened and that they would come to see Jesus for who 294 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,520 he is and repent. 295 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:52,120 I don't doubt for a second that the early church was praying for their greatest enemy 296 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:57,240 in the midst of real battle, Rabbi Saul of Tarsus. 297 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:02,720 Praying that God would reveal himself to the one who was persecuting them, tracking them 298 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:09,360 down, throwing them in prison so that he would become their brother in Christ. 299 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:14,200 And look how God answered that prayer. 300 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,240 So we are to pray for our enemy and those who persecute us. 301 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:25,040 It's really interesting what Jesus goes on to do here in verses 45 through to 47 because 302 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,840 he kind of pulls back the curtain on everything. 303 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:33,880 At first, he gave us a practical lane to love our enemy, we pray for them. 304 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:41,200 But then here, he doesn't go on to tell us how to keep the law of neighbour loving. 305 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:49,600 No, Jesus goes on to show us why his disciples should be motivated to keep the law. 306 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:50,800 Notice it. 307 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:56,440 Jesus shows us why we should be motivated to love our enemies and it's all so that we 308 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:03,840 will be like our father in heaven, verse 45. 309 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:09,240 Which if we understand and strive for in the power of the Holy Spirit by his grace, we 310 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,040 will live to be radically different in this world. 311 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:13,280 Let me give you an example. 312 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,240 It's one we've already explored. 313 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:22,120 The Pharisees were saying, if you're not part of our people, part of our nation, then you're 314 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:26,920 not a neighbour and you don't qualify to be loved as such. 315 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:33,720 Contrast that with what Jesus reveals about our heavenly father and his care and provision 316 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:35,760 for all people. 317 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:41,800 Verse 45, he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good. 318 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:46,680 He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 319 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:47,840 Hear that. 320 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,000 Notice what Jesus says here. 321 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:56,320 Notice the tender care that our father has for all people, even the unrighteous. 322 00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:00,280 He gives them everything that they need to live in his creation. 323 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:07,880 He provides for them in what theologians call a common grace. 324 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,440 Pretty full on stuff for people that have been taught to hate outsiders, right? 325 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:19,960 But like the guy from Danos Derecht used to say, but wait, there's more. 326 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:27,280 Jesus goes on in verses 46 and 47 that we must learn to love in a way that the world 327 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:31,000 will stop and take notice of it. 328 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,560 He does this by drawing on some practical everyday examples that the disciples would 329 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,400 have known. 330 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,520 The tax collector and those of their own social classes. 331 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:47,260 And he says, look, even they know how to love each other and pay mutual respect. 332 00:28:47,260 --> 00:28:51,840 Even the pagans know how to treat each other because they know how to look after their 333 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,920 own interests. 334 00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:03,160 Jesus is saying to all his disciples that he is expecting us to love others even more 335 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,480 than what the social norms dictate. 336 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,960 Because if we fail to do so, if we fail to pattern ourselves on our heavenly father's 337 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:17,100 love for all people, even those who we would define as our enemies, we will simply blend 338 00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:25,760 in with what is already considered kind and loving in our society. 339 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:33,400 Jesus concludes by saying, be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect. 340 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,320 Verse 48. 341 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:40,120 Now immediately some of you in this room this morning might be thinking, but Michael, I'm 342 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:41,440 not perfect. 343 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,560 How on earth am I meant to be perfect? 344 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:50,480 As Jesus says here, I want to put it forward to you this morning that Jesus is not saying 345 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,920 that a person could attain perfection in this life. 346 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,440 That's not what he's saying. 347 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:03,480 And we know that he's not saying that because he goes on in this very same sermon to teach 348 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:09,200 us to pray to our heavenly father to forgive our sin. 349 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:14,160 Jesus isn't expecting his disciples to achieve perfection in this life. 350 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:20,880 No, by Jesus saying, be perfect, he again as he has done time and time again, he makes 351 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:28,000 God the standard by which we must measure ourselves by when it comes to loving our enemies. 352 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:33,920 And it's as we do this, as we look to the perfection of God, that we are again driven 353 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:39,440 to the perfect one whom he sent for us. 354 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:47,080 Jesus has made it plain to us in this sermon, in the Sermon on the Mount that the law and 355 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:52,840 the prophets were given to point to him and that he fulfills their very meaning. 356 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:59,720 In other words, Jesus gives the fullest expression as to what the law was all about and nowhere 357 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:07,840 else in all human history, including soldiers being jovial for a day, do we see love for 358 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:15,640 one's enemies displayed more perfectly than at the cross on Calvary. 359 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:26,360 Brothers and sisters, you and I, we will fall short because we're not perfect. 360 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:31,520 We fall short in loving and serving our enemies as God would have us. 361 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:36,720 I mean, we fall short in even loving our neighbors and our own families. 362 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:42,120 But I'm here this morning to tell you that there is one who has been perfect in all he 363 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:46,640 said and did, perfect in everything. 364 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:52,680 And even while he was being nailed to a cross by his enemies, he prayed to our Father in 365 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,920 heaven that they would be forgiven. 366 00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:04,680 And church, it was our sin that made the cross necessary. 367 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:13,440 He made a way for his enemies to have total and utter peace with him for all eternity. 368 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:21,200 Paul says it like this in Romans 5, for if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled 369 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:27,680 to him through the death of his son, how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved 370 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,800 through his life? 371 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:37,320 Hear what is being said this morning, perfection doesn't come from our own works. 372 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,160 Salvation isn't given because we deserve it. 373 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:46,760 No, we enter the kingdom of heaven because God in his gracious love revealed that we 374 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,320 are poor in spirit. 375 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:55,240 Not so that we will try harder to enter it, but that we would look upon and call out to 376 00:32:55,240 --> 00:33:01,720 the perfect one to which the law and the prophets point to. 377 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:10,280 And it's here, church, it is he that transforms us. 378 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:15,960 He that helps us to love those who have hurt us. 379 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:22,200 He who helps us to pray for those who don't deserve our affection. 380 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:29,160 He who helps us to have compassion on those who are out to persecute us. 381 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:36,800 It goes without saying that this love that is modeled for us by Jesus Christ is impossible 382 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,960 to be created in our own efforts. 383 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:47,760 Time and time again, we will fail because there is nothing in and of ourselves that 384 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:53,600 enables us to love all people with such a self-sacrificial and perfect love like our 385 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,280 heavenly father has towards us in Christ Jesus. 386 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:04,640 But time and time again, we can run back to God, run back and ask for his grace, his help, 387 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:09,520 his guidance, his wisdom. 388 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:19,000 By nature, we are mirrors and so only a living and loving relationship with our creator, 389 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:26,120 only being united to his son through the Holy Spirit, can we ever even to begin to imagine 390 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:32,840 what this love might look like towards those who insult us, persecute us and falsely say 391 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:37,080 all kinds of evil against us because of Jesus. 392 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,360 But this is our hope. 393 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:47,520 There is coming a day where every wrong will be made right, where justice will be served, 394 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:52,560 where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. 395 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,200 That day is coming. 396 00:34:55,200 --> 00:35:05,280 And so might we pray that until that day comes, that we would be like our perfect father in 397 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:12,120 heaven, that we would be transformed to the point that those trapped in the darkness of 398 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:20,440 this world would see such undeserved love coming from the church and turn to the one 399 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:26,120 who loves them with a perfect love in the Lord Jesus. 400 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,120 Let's pray. 401 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:42,440 Father, we thank you for these words to your church this morning. 402 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:50,400 We thank you for the Lord Jesus who you have caused by your spirit for our eyes to be raised 403 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,640 up to once again. 404 00:35:52,640 --> 00:36:01,600 Father, I thank you for this wonderful, beautiful congregation of people that you have rescued 405 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,440 and redeemed. 406 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:11,880 But I also pray for your wider body, your bride that you are coming back for. 407 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:17,600 I pray for all people that have called upon your name, Lord Jesus, that have turned to 408 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:28,000 you, that are trusting you, that we would not only love our neighbours, but love our 409 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:35,640 enemies, that we would pray for those who persecute us, that you would use us, Lord, 410 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:42,000 in Armidale, in this region of Western Australia, the church in Australia, that we would be 411 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:50,120 a praying people for our enemies, and that we would have wonderful testimonies of people 412 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:57,680 turning to you and teaching sinners your ways. 413 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,840 We ask for this in the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 414 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:12,760 Amen.