This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought
to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast,
you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from
beginning to end. Chip titled today's message,
How to Overcome the Evil Aimed at You. As we
get started, I want to ask you to go to a place
that you may not really want to go, but I'll
tell you in advance, it'll be worth it. I'd like
you to lean back just a little bit, be reflective.
And I want you to answer this question in your
mind. Feel free to even close your eyes for just
a moment if it's helpful. Of all the people in
your life to date that you would say have hurt
you the most, who comes to your mind? Who's wounded
you? Who's lied about you? Who's walked out on
you? Who's taken your money? Who's gossiped about
you? Who sexually or physically abused you when
you were younger? Who's been ungrateful and humiliated
you in front of a group of people? Who said things
at a Bible study or even at church that produced
incredible pain and disunity and you were made
to be the person who was at fault? Who's betrayed
you? Have you got it? I don't mean to pull off
a scab. I don't mean to conjure up things. For
many of you, some of these things are pressed
down pretty deeply. I want you to follow along
and I want to read to you what I think are the
most radical words that have ever come out of
any person's mouth. that has walked on the earth.
They're familiar to some of you, which is unfortunate
because they lose their power. So as I read these,
I want you to think about who wounded you, but
I want you to think about what it would be like
if you were living in an occupied country and
your possessions were being taken away from you
and you were being rejected by family members.
all because you believed that this itinerant
preacher was in fact the Messiah, the God -man
that came to save the world, and you knew you
needed to follow him, and as a result of that,
everything from the persecution, being walked
into the Colosseum, to being excommunicated from
your Jewish family, this is what Jesus would
say to them. And here's what he's saying to us.
Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount.
You have heard it said, love your neighbor and
hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you. And then
he gives the reason why. That you may be sons
of your father in heaven. He causes the son to
rise on the evil and the good and he sends rain
on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you
love those who love you, what reward will you
get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers, what are
you doing more than others? Do not even pagans
do that? Be perfect. The word is teleos. That's
our word for mature. Has the idea of something
or someone fulfilling its ultimate design. Be
mature, be perfect, even as your heavenly father
is perfect. Now as you pull out your pen and
pull out your notes, I want you to write something
down because you need to really get this. It
is not hard to be a Romans 12 Christian. Get
that out of your mind. Some of you think it's
really, really, really hard and you're thinking
it's been, I mean, surrendered to God and separate
from the world's values. It is not hard. It is
impossible. Write that word down. It's impossible.
Because if you don't think it's impossible, you'll
try to be one. And you'll try to be one out of
your self -effort and your flesh and your energy
and your personal discipline and your willpower.
And the people that get good at it are called
Pharisees. And Romans 12 was never written to
help you in your power or my power to have a
stronger moral code. It was a profile, it was
a picture, it was a snapshot of what happens
to a person when they experience the mercy and
the grace of Romans chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. It's a faith response. Notice
in your notes, Romans 12, Christians focus on
relationships, not rules. Or religious activity.
It doesn't mean there aren't any rules, and it
doesn't mean as a follower of Christ there aren't
some religious activities. But the focus of any
rule or any religious activity is to cultivate
my relationship with God and my relationship
with people. Even my relationship with myself
in a healthy, healthy way. In fact, you could
summarize Romans 12 Christians, their highest
aim, our highest aim, is love. You know, when
Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment?
Do you remember what he said? Love the Lord your
God. How? With all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.
And what else? And love your neighbor as yourself.
You know, if you took everything that's in Romans
12, as we do just a quick review here, because
what happens, you know, pretty soon you forget
what we talked about two or three or four sessions
ago. Really, Romans 12 is a snapshot of, in my
mind's eye, it's the Apostle Paul taking the
Sermon on the Mount and the Apostle Paul out
of his conversations with the resurrected Christ
in Arabia. And Jesus told them to love God, love
themselves, love others. And Paul's a very brilliant
didactic guy writing to a Roman audience, and
he knows it's got to get real practical. And
so he says, let me show you what it looks like
to love God in everyday life, it means on a certain
day at a certain time after you've received his
grace and been born spiritually, that you say
to God, I surrender all, I'm all in. Because
that's the spiritual service God desires. And
that's what it means to love God. And he says
there's a competition for that love. Remember
the world system that wants to seduce you? and
tell you through the lust of the flesh and the
lust of the eyes and the pride of life that real
significance and real success and real power
and real happiness is gonna come. And he says
you have to refuse the love for the world. If
any man loved the world, the love of the Father's
not in him. And then in verses three through
eight, he talks about loving yourself. Looking
not just in the mirror and saying, I'm fearfully
and wonderfully made, but looking in the mirror
of your soul through the lens of God's word and
saying, I'm forgiven. I'm adopted. I have the
spirit of the living God inside of me. I've been
sealed. I have spiritual gifts. I'm the object
of his affection. I am in Christ. God the Father
now looks at me in the same way that he looks
at his son Jesus. I am righteous in his eyes.
That's a sober self -assessment, and yet in a
fallen world. And it goes from loving God and
not loving the world and loving yourself to loving
the family, the body of Christ, radically serving
one another. And then finally, we're going to
talk in this session, what's it look like practically
to love your enemies? Open your Bibles, if you
will, to Romans chapter 12. He begins to clearly
tell us how to respond. to the evil aimed at
us in verse 14. In verses 14 to 16, he's going
to give us a positive command. This is how you
respond to that person that came to your mind
that I started this message with and asked you
to think about. And he's going to say, here's
how you respond to that person. Now, I'm going
to warn you, it's going to sound ridiculous and
impossible. Bless those who persecute you. Bless
and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice
and mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony
with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing
to associate with people of low position. Do
not be conceited. He's going to say, you need
to bless them, and that's how. Then he gives
a negative command. The temptation when our enemies
and people have hurt us, there's a temptation.
And he's going to hit it right between our eyes.
Verse 17, do not repay evil for evil. Be careful
to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live or be at peace with all men. Do not take
revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's
wrath for it's written, it is mine to avenge,
I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary,
here's how you're to treat that person that is
in your mind. If your enemy's hungry, feed him.
If she's thirsty, give her a drink. In so doing,
you will heap burning coals upon their head.
And that doesn't mean God will blow their brains
out. We'll learn a little bit what that really
means. And then there's a supernatural result.
There's this thing that when you act the way
Jesus acted toward his enemies, because Jesus
lives in you by his spirit, and you do it in
the power of his word and authentic community,
he says, do not be overcome by evil. And it's
an evil world. But he says there's something
more powerful than evil. overcome evil with good.
Now what I want to do in the remainder of our
time is I want to break down very specifically
and practically what it looks like to bless those
who persecute you. That's the first and positive
command. And the command is this, bless them
that persecute you. That's what you're called
to do. In verses 14, 15, and 16, he's going to
give you three specific ways to bless them. The
word bless, by the way, this is not like, you
know, someone sneezes and you go, oh, bless you.
This is not that, okay? This word literally means
to desire the salvation of another person. It
means to desire and long for God's blessing and
favor to be upon them. I mean, it's like for
that. enemy, that actually their life would work
out well, that if they're married, their marriage
would get deeper. If they're a parent, their
kids would do well. If they have a job, they
would. I mean, it's blessing. That's what you're
praying. And when it says the people who are
cursing you, these aren't people that are just
using curse words at you. The idea of this word,
bless those who curse you, it's people who socially
ostracize you because of your faith. It's people
who verbally humiliate you because of your faith.
It's people that in the first century and many
places around the world, people who undercut
you and actually persecute and want to kill you
because you're a follower of Christ. He's saying,
what I want you to do is bless them. And there's
three components here. The first component of
blessing others is forgiving them. This is hard.
Forgiving them. I mean, if you're to pray for
and blessing is for their salvation, if you want
God to forgive them, guess what? You've got to
forgive them. And you know that little section
sort of in, we call it the Lord's Prayer? Forgive
us our sins just as we forgive others. See, the
premise is going to be, and this is the key to
loving your enemies. You and I have to come to
the point where we really grasp how merciful
and God has not given us what we deserve. And
there's part of it where it's a dark place you
need to go and you kind of need to look at your
motives and some things that you've done and
some stuff that you have begged God, oh God,
please. Please don't let me get the consequences
of that one. Oh, God, pick me up and cleanse
me. And he has. And then what he's going to say
is, I want you to do for that person what I've
done for you. Now, people get very confused when
it comes to forgiveness because they tell me
things like, well, my husband walked out on me.
He's not paying any child support. You know,
my boss sexually harassed me, and I went to HR,
and they kind of glossed over it on this one,
and so I'm living with this, and every time he
makes some sort of comment, I'm forgiving him,
but I feel very angry, and well, I'm forgiving
him, but so how do you square this forgiveness?
Or one of my folks sexually abused me, and I've
forgiven him, I think, 144 times. Then the phone
rings, and it's a certain time on Sunday afternoon,
and I think it's going to be them, and I get
knots in my stomach and this anger. Forgiveness
has three phases. Jot these down, please. Phase
number one is a choice to forgive. It is not
emotional. It has nothing to do with your feelings.
It is a choice. By the end of our time together,
many of you will open a section in your Bible,
and you will say, I forgave. Blank today. And
you'll put a date because it's a choice. The
second thing is the forgiving process. So you
forgive and then it's forgiving. That's a journey.
And that journey is where your emotions catch
up with the choice that you've made. Because
you can forgive and you do that and you say,
and the word means to release or to loose. In
other words, I'm going to take back my desire
for them to get paid back, and I'm going to release
them from that like God has released it. And
so, I'm not going to say anything negative about
them. I'm not going to wish negative for them
anymore. I'm going to release them to God, and
I'm going to forgive them the way God's forgiven
me, freely. And so, it's a choice. But then,
you know, when they drop off those kids and…
They've kind of poisoned the kids against you,
and then you get this letter in the mail, and
you hear about this guy that, you know, stole
a bunch of money from you, and he's vacationing
in Hawaii, or you read about him in Forbes, and
you just go, does it mean you haven't forgiven?
No, it means you're on the journey. And the journey
means when you bless, you begin to pray for him,
is the journey. You pray for him. When I first
experienced this, I got betrayed in a tremendously
hurtful, painful way. And I got stuck and I couldn't
get out of it. And I had a good friend walk me
through this passage and teach me how to do this.
And so I started to pray. And my prayers honestly
start out like this. Dear God, give that sucker
what he deserves. I'm serious. Heavenly Father,
take him out. And as I continued to pray, the
Holy Spirit was making evident that that was
not exactly what blessing was all about. But,
you know, part of it, too, is you need to be
real with your emotions with God. I think some
people think, you know, God has a sanitized room.
I got news. He can handle whatever you can bring.
And what he appreciates is authenticity. And
sometimes it's painful and it's raw. Read the
Psalms. And then I got to where, oh, God. Would
you just help him see how wrong he is and bring
him? And I mean, I had to pray. Every time I
heard something about him, the anger would come
up. No, I've forgiven him, but I've got to keep
processing. And you know, it was two or three
months later, God, would you bless his marriage?
Would you? And I began to pray. And then I, for
me, I just decided every Lord's Supper, I would
never take the Lord's Supper until I prayed honestly
and from my heart to bless this man and his life.
in his marriage, in his kids. And all I can tell
you is that over time, he moved out of state.
He didn't change, I don't believe, but I did.
See, there's poison in your soul when there's
bitterness and you've been wounded. And as someone
wisely said, when we refuse to forgive, it's
like we drink poison and think the other person's
gonna die. Could I just make a comment? Because
I think there's a lot of confusion about forgiveness
and emotions and, well, I don't feel like I've
forgiven him. Forgive is a choice, and then you
bless them. You pray for them. We're going to
learn in a minute you not only pray for them,
but you start doing good things for your actual
enemies. Like if they're hungry, you feed them.
If they're thirsty, and there's specific ways
that you do good things for people who don't
deserve it. But I'd like you if you would think
about Jesus in the garden. He died to forgive
you and to forgive me. And sometimes we make
this, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know.
Can I let you in on a little secret? He didn't
feel like forgiving you. Did you ever think of
that? He's in the garden. He's sweating like
drops the stress like blood coming out of his
pores. And he's fully God, but he's fully man.
He didn't die with some S on his chest like I'm
going through the motions. As a man, he could
die. But as God the Son, he knew that when he
was going to get on that cross, your sin and
my sin and the sin of all people of all time
would be placed upon him. He became our sin offering.
And when the moment sin came upon him, the Father
would turn away and for the first time in eternity.
The Father and the Son would be separated, and
he would experience that isolation and the price
of sin. And as that was coming, let alone getting
beaten within an inch of his life, and let alone
being humiliated and stripped naked and a crown
of thorns and being public displayed, we think
that's the big deal. That's the small stuff,
and it's horrendous. And do you remember what
he prayed? Father, let this cup pass. You know
what he's saying? I don't want to do this. I
don't feel like doing this. Forgiving and loving
isn't doing what you feel like. It's choosing
to give another person what they need the most
when they deserve it the least at great personal
cost. And when God says to forgive this person,
all we're doing is we're stepping in the same
path of Jesus. And we're doing for this person.
They don't deserve it. Of course not. Neither
did I. Neither did you. And so the process of
forgiveness is a choice. Second, forgive. Forgiving
is a process. And then forgiven is it's done.
And here's how you know when it's done. You can
spontaneously rejoice at blessing in their life.
I've been praying. This was my first real battle
with this. I've had multiple ones since. I guess
the older you get, the more betrayed and difficult
things you get in your life. In this particular
situation, it had been about nine months since
I went through this betrayal, and I was hurt
and angry, and I'm taking the Lord's Supper,
and I'm praying for this guy every, I'm praying
for him more than my mom, you know, because the
anger fantasies would come up, and every time
they would, I'd start praying for him and blessing
him, and so I was, it was right before I was
supposed to speak, and a guy thought it would
be a positive comment, I suppose, and he goes,
oh, did you hear about so -and -so? This really
good thing happened to him, and I did the good
Christian thing, like, oh, wow, great, and my
insides were going, oh, yuck. That stinks. That
is so unfair. After what he did here and he got
blessed over there. Well, see, I'm not done.
Two years later, I don't know why this always
happens to me in church. Two years later, I'm
in church and a guy walks up to me. Did you hear
about so -and -so? I said, no. He said, this,
this, this, and this happened to this guy. And
before I could think, before I could process
joy, I said, oh, that's great. And I meant it.
I stopped praying before the Lord's Supper. I
was done. I was done. Forgive, choice, forgiving,
process where your emotions go up and down. As
I bless and pray, forgiven, it's done. Some of
you are gonna get out of prison today. Some of
you have been pushing this down and that's why
you're depressed. Some of you eat when you're
not hungry because you've been pushing this stuff
down. Some of you have ulcers and migraines and
there's lots of physical causes. But a big part
of why our bodies don't work very well and why
we do stuff that doesn't make sense and, you
know, we have sanctified, quote, addictions and
not so sanctified addictions. And a lot of it
is rooted in this lack of forgiveness and be
willing to release these people. And you can
start that today. The final thing he says, not
only do you forgive them, but he talks about
identification. And so it's not just where you
mentally are doing this. I mean, this gets like
from hard to crazy hard. He says, rejoice with
those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
Christians, we usually quote that and we think
it's how we're supposed to treat one another.
You don't need any commands to rejoice with people
that you love. And you don't need any commands
to weep with people that you love that have cancer.
The context here is this is how we bless or treat
our enemies. And so your boss who ripped you
off, who did terrible things to you, who actually,
you know, stole a couple of your patents, took
credit for it, launched another company, went
public, got mega -wealthy rich, and you lost
out, and you've been brewing over this forever.
Or your mate that walked out on you and married
some little hottie, male or female, and now is,
you know, on the beach while you don't have any
money. Is this real stuff or not? Right? And
then they get cancer or they're in an auto accident.
You know what this says? You rejoice with those
who rejoice, you weep with those who weep. What
would happen if you walked in that hospital room?
Said, you know, I know it's been five years.
You can't believe how much I've prayed for you.
You don't have to tell them why. And I want you
to know that I have forgiven you for what you've
done. But when I heard about this cancer, I felt
compelled by God to come tell you that Jesus
really loves you and I would love, would you
allow me to pray for you right now? Can you imagine
them scratching their head? Or when something
good happens to them, rejoicing with them. You
know, maybe they remarry and they burnt you but
they have a kid and they have a baby and something
happens and you've completely forgiven them and
you're praying for blessing. What if you jotted
a note and said, I really. I praise God. I've
been praying for your family for two years. And,
you know, it's exciting to see this blessing
in your life. And for some, because here's the
disclaimer, if you were sexually abused or this
person hurt you or did something, there's some
people you can't get involved with. But you could
send them an anonymous gift. Because here's what
it does. It changes you. And before you keep
looking at me like this is the... craziest stuff
you've ever heard. Isn't this what Jesus did?
Didn't Jesus come to a planet and those who were
his own did not receive him but rejected him?
So we are his enemies. Paul would call us while
we were still his enemies, Christ died for us,
Romans 5 .8. And so why were his enemies? What
did he do? He went to weddings and rejoiced with
us. He raised little kids from the dead. If you're
hungry, why don't we just feed everybody right
here? Or With Lazarus, what did he do? He wept.
See, Jesus wasn't playing, okay, when you clean
up your act and when everything gets okay, then
I will love you. He rejoiced with those who were
rejoicing, and he weeped because it is the kindness
of God that leads to repentance. People will
probably, this is so counterintuitive. This is
so bizarre. When you... by his power and his
grace, choose to do this, something happens,
and the grace of God works through you in ways
where, you know what, people start to believe
maybe this Jesus is real. And so it begins with
forgiveness. And then there's identification.
And then notice the very last part, verse 16.
He says there's an association that you need
to be very careful. He says live in harmony with
one another. Do not be proud, but willing. Circle
that word associate. with people of low position.
And then as though, you know, do not be conceited.
In a fallen world with evil people, and especially
those that don't know Christ and are very antagonistic,
the Apostle Paul is saying, we need to be people
that don't just cling to our rights in the fray
of life. I mean, it's a selfish, dog -eat -dog
manipulative world. I mean, welcome to the NFL.
So how does a Christian live that out? If possible,
he says, live in harmony with one another. And
then here's the deal. When you're blessing your
enemies, see this, if you're not careful, it
can be like, you know what, I'm gonna do this.
I'm gonna jot a card. I'm gonna visit them in
the hospital. I'm gonna pray for them every day.
You know what, I'm sort of this wonderful, spiritual,
amazing person loving this scumbag of the world
who walked out on me. That's kind of the opposite
of do not be conceited. See, This is hard for
some of us. On a given day, the very thing that
that person did to you in a moment of weakness
and under pressure, you could do that to someone
else. So we come not as the superiors. We come
associating with, connecting with our humanity.
people of low position, and we're not conceited,
but it's with humility that we bless them with
a sense of, but for the grace of God, I would
be doing those things to others. Doesn't this
really just sound like Jesus? Doesn't it just,
isn't there like a trail being blazed that we're
to follow? And so that's the positive side. Bless
those, and notice, who persecute you. They're
after you. The second command is a negative one.
Don't take your own revenge. Verses 17 through
20. Don't take your own revenge. I mean, it's
just a command. Do not repay evil for evil. And
then he's kind of like in a fallen world. He
says, be careful. Circle that word above it.
Literally, it's take thought. New American Standard
says, respect what is right in the sight of all
men. if possible, as far as it depends on you,
live with peace with everyone. And then he goes
on to say, just wait a second, don't take your
own revenge, but leave room for God's wrath.
He's the one who's going to be the judge. He's
going to mete out justice. Here's the point.
Personal retaliation is a prohibited response
for God's people. Personal retaliation. In other
words, they did evil to you, you get them back.
They did evil to you, you get them back. They
did this to you, you say bad things about them.
And if you're a Christian and you have some experience,
you can do it in such passive, aggressive ways.
And you add a verse to it. Throw in, it's a prayer
request. It works, believe me. And you just go
left -handed like this and you whack them. Because
your real goal is revenge. It's payback. You
use your power, you use your intellect, you use
your relationships, you use nuances. And you
go like this, one more drink of poison, please.
It's going to kill him sooner or later. But it
doesn't. Never pay back evil for evil. Instead,
take thought and consider how people think. Respect
and realize that they don't have your values.
They're not going to act the same way. The field
is not level. They're really focused on them.
Sometimes I hear Christians get all upset about
non -Christians living like non -Christians.
That guy's really greedy. She's so sexually immoral.
I can't believe that, I mean, he just drained
the whole company and all the employees. Oh,
my. So what were we like before Jesus was controlling
the interior of our life? Take thought for how
people think. It will help you live in harmony
with them. Personal retaliation is prohibited
for two very important reasons. One, it usurps
God's role as judge. Vengeance is mine. God says,
look. I'm just. Yes, I'm holy, I'm compassionate,
I'm slow to anger, but I'm just. And the word
justice is rooted in a concept. You know, the
scales of justice. Justice is rooted in a very
clear concept of retribution. Retribution is
simply this. When you do evil stuff, evil consequences.
When you do good stuff, reward. Every man will
get what they deserve. So, You just need to say,
I need to take the ball of judgment, hand it
to God, and say, I'm tired of trying to figure
out all the ways in my anger fantasies and different
ways to get back at my boss or my ex or one of
my kids or the person who abused me, and I'm
going to put that ball in your hands from now
throughout eternity, and I'm going to trust that
since you are just, that you will do what's right.
I will never get a raw deal, but I'm stepping
out. You own it, God. I release it to you. You're
fair. You're just. And either on this side of
heaven or on this side of after death, the scales
will be absolutely and perfectly balanced. You
can release that wound and that hurt and your
desire for payback because he knows all things.
He knows all the whys. He knows all the circumstances.
And you don't. And you can give that to him.
But there's a lot of us, if you demand to be
the judge, then God doesn't get to be the judge.
And when you judge people and you decide you're
gonna pay them back, you reap what you sow. The
second reason that personal retaliation is prohibited
is because it's an ineffective means of bringing
about peace. I mean... Look at this passage and
how many times it was about oneness and one another
and live in harmony. God wants us to live in
a very fallen, evil world where we're the kind
of people that bring peace and we don't cling
to our rights and we're the kind of employees
that people say, wow, we'd like 100 of them because,
you know, everyone's, you know, gossiping and
doing this and that and wanting that and wanting
this and they're a real hassle. But man, alive
these Christians. Man, they make the company
smooth. They're loving, they're selfless, they're
caring. They're not doormats. This isn't peace
at any price. They take a stand on principle.
They take a stand on values. You don't ever run
over them. But man, they're people of integrity.
They bring about peace. You want these on your
softball team. You want them in the city league.
You want them helping, you know, running the
rec center stuff. They're just good people. And
when they get a little offended, they're not
so insecure that, you know, they're always causing
problems. They kind of look at people and realize,
you know, take thought for where that guy's coming
from. That's not even worth the time. Probably
ought to pray for him. He's going to go home
and scream at that nine -year -old for probably
five hours because he missed one ground ball.
We're not going to mess with that stuff. We're
going to make this a great environment. Do you
get it? See, when you tit for tat, evil for evil,
evil for evil, you know what it's like? It's
like there's a little fire brewing. It's like
ticking, you know, one of those big fireman hoses.
And instead of water coming out of it, you fill
it with gasoline. And that's what people do.
They do it in their families. They do it in their
marriages. They do it with their in -laws. They
do it at work. They did this. I did this. We
did this. Sit in some coffee shop. Just sit in
a coffee shop sometime this week. This is sort
of raw to say. And listen to other people. I
mean, you can't help it because they're so close.
Because usually you try and concentrate. And
see how many conversations. I bet it's in the
80 percentile of when people are talking. that
they're talking about someone that's not at the
table, about your mom did that, and she did that,
I can't believe your sister, and she did that,
and you know, Bob, who's the supervisor, can
you believe they're doing that at work, right?
And then they carry this attitude, and they poison
their own soul, and I would say it's really true
of a lot of us. And Paul says, don't do that.
It's ineffective. In fact, he goes to the other
extreme and he says, in fact, if your enemy's
hungry, I mean the person who's wounded you,
help them. Give them some food. If they're thirsty,
give them a drink. In so doing, you heat burning
coals on their head. This picture of burning
coals is not, as I said, it blows out their brains.
It was an Egyptian ritual in the time, ancient
Near East. If a person in Egypt, in this culture
realized that they had offended someone, there
was an argument, and they were wrong. Then they
would build a fire, and they'd take the coals
out of the fire and put it in a pan, and then
they would take a towel and put it underneath
the pan, and they would put on their head, and
they would walk through the village, symbolizing,
I'm burning the bad thoughts out of my mind.
I was wrong. We would use the word, I repent.
I have a metanoia. I've had a change of mind.
And see, this is what you see happen in Scripture.
This is when you do good for people and they
know deep in their heart and their psyche that
they don't deserve it. Well, it brings about
a shame, even in evil people. This is a picture
of David. And David's running for his life. And
all he's done is won battles and cared for Saul
and cared for the king of Israel who was Saul.
And Saul really went off the deep end and he
was chasing David and he's trying to kill him.
Know the story? And so, you know, he's running,
running, dodging, dodging. Well, finally he gets
surrounded and he finds himself and there's this
cave. So he and his men are all the way in the
back of this cave. And Saul's got him surrounded,
and it's like, man, guys, this is kind of it.
We're done if they find us. And lo and behold,
Saul comes into the cave, and the Bible's pretty
graphic. He relieves himself. And I don't know,
maybe he took a nap afterwards. I don't know
exactly how it all happens. The text doesn't
say. But David's buddies, they go, hey, God's
delivered him. This is it. Nail him. And David
says, see, David gets this. I'm not the judge.
I will not touch the Lord's anointed. His buddies
were saying, God's put him right here. I mean,
this is an answer to prayer. Knock him out. David
says, no, no. But he gets close to Saul, gets
out his knife, and he cuts a little section off
the bottom of his robe. Saul leaves the cave,
goes down, peace. There's a ravine, gets on the
other side of Rean. David steps out from the
mouth of the cave. Saul, Saul, why? What have
I done? God brought you in this cave and he holds
up, look at your robe. I could have killed you.
And then he makes this very interesting statement.
He says, let God be the judge between us. If
you are more righteous than I, then I accept
full responsibility. May God take me out. But
what have I ever done? See, he gave good for
evil. Very interestingly, Saul begins to weep.
It's like in this flash, in this moment, he realizes
the truth. See, when people do evil things, they
repress it. Then they go into denial. And there's
demonic stuff that happens with people that do
progressively evil things to where they don't
think they're doing anything evil. And it's addictive.
And in this moment of grace, Saul, he weeps and
he says, David, you are more righteous than I.
Unfortunately, it's a very short repentance and
a temporary repentance. But can you imagine if
we said, you know what, God? I'm going to forgive
so -and -so. And then you started on the journey
of praying for them. And then maybe even anonymously
doing something good for them to bless them.
And even, you know, we tend to demonize people
when they've hurt us. Have you realized that?
You know, they've really hurt us, so everything
they do is terrible and everything we do is good.
And we kind of reframe the whole story. Most
stories aren't quite that clear. Doesn't mean
they didn't do something terrible. But what would
happen? What would happen just where we live
if we loved our enemies, if we blessed them,
if we said, God, you be the judge? If we were
free. Well, here's the supernatural result. Is
good will overcome evil. Now, I realize that
what I've said so far, for some of you, is there's
still a little bit of a, you don't really understand.
You can't possibly grasp what I've been through.
And you know what? I don't. But some lessons
you learn later in life and some early. And this
lesson I learned as a very young Christian in
a powerful way that shaped my future. I came
to Christ in the summer right after high school.
I went away to play basketball on a basketball
scholarship. I was a freshman, and if you could
do pretty well, you could make the traveling
team. And a guy came in. It was supposed to be
the big hero. Came from inner city, New York.
He grew up in the projects. He'd been to Vietnam.
He'd been in prison some. He was supposed to
be this rehabilitated drug addict and drug dealer.
And the reason he came, I played at a smaller
school. The reason he came to our school was
because his nervous system was kind of damaged.
His reflexes were just, I mean, they weren't
terrible, but they just weren't all that good.
He had a 40 -inch vertical leaping. It was about
6 '7", 6 '8". I mean, there's times where I thought,
man, that guy's going to just knock his head
on the rim. And so something happened in his
life. I don't know if it was Vietnam. I don't
know if it was upbringing. But he hated Christians.
I don't mean he disliked or had a, he hated Christians.
And I'm like six months old in the Lord, okay?
I mean, we're in basketball season now. I'm just
brand new. I'm just reading my Bible in the morning.
I haven't even made it all the way through the
New Testament. But I've decided I'm gonna, you
know, this is, he's my savior. I'm gonna walk
with him. So this guy finds out I'm a Christian,
and he starts, he knew a little bit of the Bible,
and he would quiz me on that, and then it got
to just humiliation. If you've ever been in a
locker room, you know what guys talk about and
all that, and he liked to say my name in a way
that sounded like a cuss word. Chip. Chip. Come
here. That's the way he talked to me. And then
it was, I became, when you're a freshman, you
have to do whatever the older guys. So I kind
of became a slave. So it was like, put my bag
on the bus. And then I'd come back. You know
what? I want my one shoe out of that. I'd go
back, get the shoe. I don't really want that
shoe. And he would just mess with me. And at
the training table, go get me a Coke. Get me
a second helping of meat. And then he would just
ridicule. Like the coach would walk out the door
like before. He goes, hey, we got a big game.
I wonder if this skinny little white virgin is
going to be helpful. You know how them Christians
are. And guys, multiply 10x what I just said
and you'll get to where we really lived. And
I hated his guts. And so my answer was, my hero
was Pete Maravich. And so I did all those drills
for years and years and years and could handle
the ball. And so in warmups and things, behind
the back as hard as I could because I knew his
reflexes weren't very good. Bam, right through
his hands and to his face. You know, and then
I'd be on the break and I'd slam one through
my legs and I'd watch it come right up and the
coach would yell at him and, you know, no look
pass. You know, it was really fun. Because, you
know, and he was humongous. I mean, I hated him
so much that, I mean, honestly, I would have
done this like, hey, Jerry, come on. You want
some of this? But it was like, it would be like
a three -second moment. And I'm smarter than
that. I mean, he, So let me finish the story
because there's a major point where I learned
about this passage because it gets real serious.
I'm coming in from the gym and here is a room
and across the hall from mine and I just crossed
to get to mine and the door's a little bit open
and there's all this smoke, you know, greenish
blue smoke coming out of it. Everyone's smoking
dope and he's in there. Well, if he gets caught
even smoking grass, He's on probation. He'll
go back to prison. And I didn't think of that,
but I just walked by, and I was unlocking my
door, and I felt this on the back of me, and
he turned me around, and he grabbed me underneath
the neck, and he lifted me up against the wall
so I could be up where he is. And he got about
this close to me and said, if you tell anyone
what you just saw, I will kill you. And I've
killed a lot of people, and it's not that big
a deal. Do you understand? And you know, I'm
18 years old. I just came to play basketball
in college. And I'm scared to death because there
was no bluff in this guy. And I started getting
like ulcers in my stomach and I couldn't sleep
at night. And I had anger fantasies. I had, you
know, I mean anger, like really bad, you know,
like doing something that you would regret the
rest of your life. And it dominated my life.
And I went to my There was a guy that was making
disciples, and I was in a Bible study, and I
just shared the whole story. He said, do you
want help? I said, are you kidding? Yeah. He
says, well, what I'm going to tell you is really
hard, but I guarantee it'll work. I said, man,
I'll take anything. He grabbed a Bible. He opened
to Romans 12. He read verses 14 to 21, and he
explained what I just explained to you. And I
looked at him like, are you on drugs? Bless this
guy, I want to shoot him. I said, you said you're
willing. And he said, it's not a feeling, it's
choice. So at this table right now, you need
to forgive him. Because God wants to forgive
him. I said, I don't think God, okay, yeah, okay,
I'm sure God really does want to forgive him.
I just don't. And I willfully chose to forgive
him. And he says, now you need to bless him.
So I prayed for him every day. And then Jerry,
for the next four months of our season, never
had to ask for anything because I got his bag.
Jerry, you want this on the bus? Jerry, you need
anything else? Jerry, need another Coke? Hey,
what can I do for you, Jerry? I mean, I'm here
for you. When he would go in the shower, all
his dirty clothes, you had to put them in this
mesh bag, and I took all the sweaty stuff, gave
them to the trainer, took his clothes, folded
them, put his shoes next to it. Didn't say a
word. I just blessed him and blessed him and
blessed him and blessed him. And when he said
stuff to me, I just, by the grace of God, I didn't
say anything back. No more behind the back passes.
No more no look passes. Jerry, good shot. And
after, you know, like after a month or so, he's
going, you trying some Christian trick on me?
I said, no, I'm just, you know, Jesus said that
I'm to love everybody and I'm just doing my best.
Chip. Disgust. Well, I'd like to say, you know,
this is one of those stories where two and a
half months in, he walked into the locker room,
note down, oh, Jesus, please forgive me. That
story ain't going there. Okay? Because that's
not this story. Two months, three months, nothing
changed. He just ridiculed me all the time, except
one thing. About a month into it, I changed.
My hate was gone. My fear was gone. I got out
of prison. I actually saw, I wonder, I mean,
this guy was brilliant. He used to wear this
skull cap. He was an amazing artist. And I actually
got to where I could say, I wonder what happened
to this young man, where he came from and where
he's been. He'd take his shirt off. He had a
scar that went from here all the way around to
here. I had no idea what he'd been through. And
I had no idea how other Christians treated him.
All I knew is I got to the point where I actually
cared about him. Why? I blessed him. I prayed
for him. I did good. And when you do that, God
does something in you. We closed the season and
we always closed with a big tournament in a major
city and had a big coliseum and all the teams
in our conference would come and you'd play a
bunch of games and we were eliminated and I mean,
you gotta remember, this is like mid -70s and
so it's, Jerry and I, you know, I'm only six
foot tall, so I've got my platforms and my blue
leather jacket and my apple hat, and, you know,
I'm sort of strutting. And Jerry is, you know,
he's like 6 '7", 6 '8", so he's got his platforms
and his fro and his hat, so he's like 7 '2",
you know. So this was just the world we lived
in, and, you know, it was real windy, and I remember
him, I just, you know those images in your mind
sometimes? I remember him taking his leather
coat, because it was windy, and put it up here.
He turned to me, he goes, Chip. I said, yeah.
He said, you know, there's only two people I
respect on this whole team. I've been messing
with these guys' minds. They are so punks. He
said, me, because I am evil and I know it, and
if there's a hell, I'm going there. And you,
because I disagree with everything you stand
for, but you actually live it. And I would never,
ever want to be a Christian. But if I ever even
thought about it, I'd be one like you. And he
said, you know what? I'm done with you. It's
no fun to diss you anymore. So you're done, kid.
Get out of here. It's you. And here's what I
want to tell you. God wants you to love your
enemies for your good, for his glory. This is
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend,
for over 30 years, Living on the Edge has been
committed to one mission, helping believers understand
what it truly means to follow Jesus. Not religious
activity, not trying harder, but relational,
practical, measurable Christianity that transforms
every area of life. Messages like today's exist
because partners believe this mission matters.
When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping
Christians discover God's power, peace, purpose,
presence, and perspective. You're investing in
clear biblical teaching that moves people from
confusion to clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing
God's best. Would you join this mission today?
Give online at livingontheedge .org or call us
at 888 - 333 -6003. You can also mail your gift
to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia, 30024. Want more content throughout
the week? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube. Just search for Living on the Edge on
Facebook and Instagram. And then for all of our
video content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube
channel when you're there. Well, that wraps up
today's episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching
message coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon
Podcast. Today's program is produced and sponsored
by Living on the Edge.