1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,600 My name is Eric, one of the pastors here. 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,760 Thank you for being here with us today. 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:10,520 We're in the book of Matthew. So if you have a Bible, turn to 4 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:15,720 Matthew chapter 5. And we are in the last section 5 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,800 of the book of Matthew, chapter 5, not the book of Matthew that 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,760 goes till of 28 chapters, but we're going verse by verse, 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:29,960 chapter by chapter through this And chapter 5 has been a 8 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:31,400 daunting chapter. Really. 9 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,680 This is the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus's famous sermon 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,200 early on in his ministry where he comes to tell people what it 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,080 really looks like to live in the Kingdom of God. 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,040 And, and, and we've looked at a lot of different things about 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,800 what a Christ like person looks like, what a Christian should 14 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:53,880 live like. And today we're going to end 15 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:59,280 with the topic of love and hate, and I've titled it The Ordered 16 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,319 Loves of a Christian. The unique love that a Christian 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:09,280 has for the people close to him and the people far away from him 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,280 should be different than the world. 19 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:16,800 So let's look at these verses. I'll read them to you and then 20 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,840 we'll get into it. Matthew 5, starting in verse 43, 21 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,200 says you've heard that it was said, You shall love your 22 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,720 neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your 23 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,480 enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may 24 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,520 be sons of your Father who is in heaven. 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,920 For he makes his sunrise on the evil and on the good, and sends 26 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:43,920 rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love 27 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:49,720 you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do 28 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:51,520 the same? And if you greet only your 29 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,560 brothers, what more are you doing than others? 30 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,200 Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 31 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:03,880 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is 32 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,360 perfect. So I've got 4 things I want to 33 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,920 pull out of this text today and the first one is concerning what 34 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:17,400 was in my title, the ordered Loves of a Christian. 35 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,200 We're going to talk about what it means to have ordered loves 36 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:26,320 if we're called to love everyone, as Jesus said, even 37 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,000 love your enemy. For for many of us, we think 38 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,800 about that and and we can think about loving our family, loving 39 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,280 the people closest to us. But loving our enemy seems 40 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,280 almost impossible as Jesus ended that with you must be perfect. 41 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,960 You would have to be a perfect person and not get offended, not 42 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,800 be hurt by your enemy so that you could love them, right? 43 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,080 This is a difficult topic to talk about today because it 44 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,680 seems nearly impossible. But we're going to walk through 45 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:06,000 this because there is clarity, reasoning and logic we can apply 46 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,440 to this text along with theology, a study of the whole 47 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,600 Bible, not just looking at these verses, but taking the whole 48 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,640 Bible into account when it turned, when it, when it talks 49 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:22,560 about how to love our enemies and even love those people 50 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,880 closest to us. And so that means it has to have 51 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,440 order, right? You don't love your spouse the 52 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,320 same way you love a stranger. That just makes sense, right? 53 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,240 So we're going to talk about that as we get into this first 54 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,440 point. Going back to our first verse, 55 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,840 you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and 56 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,320 hate your enemy. Now the context, let's get into 57 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,040 the context of this. So Jesus, this is has been 58 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,080 teaching an antithesis to what the Jewish Pharisees have been 59 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,960 teaching. What that means is that he is 60 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:03,400 going back and correcting what the Jewish teachers and leaders 61 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,960 were teaching the people. He's saying, you heard this, but 62 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,680 I tell you something different. And we know who Jesus is. 63 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:19,279 Jesus is God in the flesh, who, who is the author of and owner 64 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,680 of all of these words in Scripture, including the Old 65 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,560 Testament ones. And so Jesus has the he's the 66 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,800 only one with the authority to come and say, no, they had it 67 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:35,240 wrong and I have it right. Let me tell you what this means 68 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,640 or what they had wrong and what did they have wrong in this 69 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,640 statement? Well, it says you shall love 70 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,360 your neighbor and hate your enemy. 71 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:51,720 Now the first part is right. The first part comes from an Old 72 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,000 Testament law and and you've also you know that the greatest 73 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,200 commands. As Jesus is reiterated, you 74 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,040 should love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and 75 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,720 strength and love your neighbor as yourself. 76 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,000 Loving your neighbor is not that hard of a concept to grasp in 77 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,640 Scripture. But what about hating your 78 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,960 enemy? Well, this is a 79 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,160 misunderstanding, something that the Pharisees, the Jewish people 80 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:23,560 have have inserted in their own teaching of God's law. 81 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,200 If we go back to Leviticus, which is one of the first book, 82 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:32,360 5 books of the Bible that contains the law of God, verse 83 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,600 18 said that you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge 84 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:38,920 against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your 85 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,840 neighbor as yourself. This is where that first the 86 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:45,520 first commandment to love your neighbor comes from. 87 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,720 But there is no commandment like this that says to hate your 88 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,640 enemy. You won't find it in the Old 89 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:57,200 Testament, in fact in the Old Testament in other places you'll 90 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,600 see if if you. Exodus 23. 91 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,640 Four. If you meet your enemy's ox, his 92 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,200 donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 93 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,520 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its 94 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,280 burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it. 95 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:15,480 You shall rescue it with him. Deuteronomy 23. 96 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:17,360 Seven. You shall not a bore an Edomite, 97 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:20,160 for he is your brother. You shall not a bore an Egyptian 98 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,760 because you were a sojourner in his land. 99 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,840 So On the contrary, we can find even in the Old Testament, this 100 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:33,240 isn't a new concept that he's teaching. 101 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:38,640 There was love for your enemy, love for the foreigner, love for 102 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,680 people other than ourselves, other than in our close 103 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,160 community was taught in Scripture. 104 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:54,400 It's always been God's heart. But legalists, Pharisees, go to 105 00:06:54,400 --> 00:07:01,040 the extremes of taking God's words and twisting them to fit 106 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,760 their convictions. That's what a legalist person 107 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,360 does. They they don't want to break 108 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,160 God's law, so they don't outright rebel against it. 109 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,960 What they do is try to find loopholes and they try to 110 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,800 interpret things in such a way that will fit with their 111 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,120 beliefs. Rather than conforming to God's 112 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:25,480 way, they try to make God's words conform to their way. 113 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,840 Now, we can all be like that if we're honest. 114 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:36,760 We all grow up with preconceived notions and ideas and morals 115 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,320 about what life is like and what God is like and what's good and 116 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,080 what's evil. And when we come up in 117 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:46,480 something, come up against something in Scripture that that 118 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:52,720 disagrees with what we thought was right, what, what do we do? 119 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,480 We start arguing, right? We start arguing with it. 120 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:02,320 And then the next step is to go, well, let's, let's go to the 121 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,960 original language and, and see what does that word mean? 122 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,800 And then we'll go, let's go to background history and context. 123 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:13,160 And, and we'll try to say, you know, things have changed from 124 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,520 then back in their culture to our culture now. 125 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:17,480 And you know, we do this with scripture. 126 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,360 So first of all, there's a warning to not do that, because 127 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:24,120 when we do that, we're being like a Pharisee, we're being a 128 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,400 legalist. We need to just come under the 129 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:33,440 submission of God's Word. That is the first principle of 130 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,600 what it looks like to be a Christian is to submit to the 131 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:38,400 Word of God. Quit trying to twist it. 132 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:43,000 That's what Satan did from the beginning and that's what 133 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:49,520 they're doing. They got this wrong because they 134 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:55,560 wanted to hate their enemy and they had a misunderstanding of 135 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,640 who their neighbor was. In fact, here's something 136 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:03,400 interesting about the Jewish people back 2000 years ago, even 137 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,120 though they were occupied by the Romans, who the Romans 138 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:12,560 mistreated them, but the Jewish people because of the teaching 139 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:15,440 of the Pharisees at the time and their misunderstanding of God's 140 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:21,880 law, they hated anyone who was not of their clan, anyone who 141 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:27,680 was not like them, anyone who wasn't Jewish or from Israel, 142 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,360 they hated. And, and in fact, the Romans 143 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:37,120 themselves said this, that they were haters of the human race 144 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:44,600 because they had taken this saying to hate your enemy so far 145 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:51,720 that they made everybody outside of of their close, you know, 146 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,960 nationality, an enemy. And they got that wrong. 147 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:00,960 Now let's look at the other side. 148 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:04,960 Is there such thing as having an enemy then? 149 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,440 If you have to love everybody, yeah, you can have an enemy. 150 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:14,800 God has enemies, right? So King David in Psalm 139, in 151 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,280 fact, uses the word hate when he talks about enemies. 152 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,320 This is this is interesting. And the reason I'm bringing this 153 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,480 up is because teaching on a subject subject like this brings 154 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,080 up so many what ifs and questions, right? 155 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,400 And, and I want to try to do a full teaching and there's a lot 156 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,040 to get through today. But just look at this verse with 157 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:39,080 me, David in Psalm 139. He says, do I not hate those who 158 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:43,040 hate you, Oh Lord, and do I not loathe those who rise up against 159 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,000 you? I hate them with complete 160 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,440 hatred. I count them my enemies. 161 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,000 Now, David was inspired by the Holy Spirit when he was writing 162 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,080 this. Just so you know, if you're not 163 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,960 aware, we believe every word that is written in this book is 164 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:04,600 inspired by the Holy Spirit through men who wrote it down. 165 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,880 So this is literally God speaking through David and yet 166 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,480 through his personality, through his logic and reasoning. 167 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:18,680 And yet this is God's word. God has enemies and David had a 168 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:26,520 hatred towards God's enemies. Is that just if Jesus says love 169 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:34,520 your enemies? Well, yes, because in this sense 170 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:38,680 this is a king. King David was acting in a 171 00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:42,360 judicial way here. He was the leader of the 172 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:47,800 government basically. And nations can have enemies. 173 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:52,720 Nations had enemies in war and and to a degree, in order to 174 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:57,240 carry out justice, a level of both love and hate have to be 175 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:03,520 present hatred of sin and the consequences of that caused by 176 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:07,760 the person. And you have to have a love of 177 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:13,920 the people closest to you in order to bring about justice, to 178 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,160 protect. And so sometimes when we think 179 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,440 about the word hate, we don't quite understand the word. 180 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:27,120 While the Pharisees had it wrong there, there is a a godly way of 181 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,200 understanding what hate means. In the Bible. 182 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:39,280 It's godly to hate sin. In the book of Hebrews, it says 183 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:43,080 you've loved righteousness and hated wickedness. 184 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,200 In fact, God hates sin. And if we're going to be like 185 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,640 God, we need to hate sin as well. 186 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:56,200 But sometimes we misunderstand this word hate in in in Hebrew. 187 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,560 It means to abhor, attest, loathe, be hostile, have a 188 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:06,080 feeling of open hostility and intense dislike, be an enemy. 189 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:11,760 It talks about being disliked, A shunning, not loving, have a 190 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,760 feeling of lacking of love and compassion for an object. 191 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,840 And then in the Greek the word means to loveless. 192 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:30,080 And so does God hate any person? Well, that's a mixed answer, 193 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:37,080 because while God loves everybody, Romans 913 says Jacob 194 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:42,320 I love, but Esau I hated. So what do we do with that? 195 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:49,800 Well, that's God's divine choice, to love the people of 196 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:54,160 Jacob, who is Israel, right? He loved them them, which means 197 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:58,200 that he had to have less love for this other group of people. 198 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:06,880 You can't have an intense love for something without having 199 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,480 less love for other things around it. 200 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,720 Does that make sense? So that comes back to this idea 201 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:17,560 of ordered loves. We are, in fact, called to love 202 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:19,240 everybody. But sometimes you're going to 203 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,280 love people more and sometimes you're going to love people 204 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:27,080 less. And sometimes that word hate is 205 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:33,920 used in the Bible as a loving less like, you know, Jacob and 206 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:38,360 and Leia and Rachel, you know, Leia said she was she she was 207 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:43,320 hated because Jacob, you know, wasn't able to give her a child 208 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,600 yet. That didn't mean he hated her 209 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:48,840 completely with the hatred that we think of. 210 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,560 But he did love Rachel more that that does say that in the Bible. 211 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:57,960 So my commentary says this. It says there's two kinds of 212 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,320 love, involving the same general feeling, or springing from the 213 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,160 same fountain of goodwill to all mankind, but differing so far as 214 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:12,360 to admit of separation idea. The one is that feeling by which 215 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,120 we approve of the conduct of another, commonly called the 216 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:20,160 love of complacency. The other is that which we wish 217 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,440 well to the person of another, though we cannot approve of his 218 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,800 conduct. This is the love of benevolence, 219 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,440 and this love we are are to bear toward our enemies. 220 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,360 It is impossible to love the conduct of a man that curses and 221 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,120 reviles us, that injuries our person or property, or that 222 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,280 violates all the laws of God. But though we hate his conduct 223 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,560 and suffer keenly when we're affected by it, yet we may still 224 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,440 wish well to the person. We may even pity his madness and 225 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,080 folly. We may speak kindly of him and 226 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,040 to him and may return good for evil. 227 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,600 We may aid him in the time of trial. 228 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,120 We may seek to do him good here and to promote his eternal 229 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:08,160 welfare. So what I'm saying to you is, is 230 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,640 that sometimes when you love something more, you have to love 231 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:19,000 something or someone less. And the word hate is used there 232 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:29,320 in scripture. In fact, when we talk about who 233 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,920 we're supposed to love the most in ordered love, see, the 234 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:38,760 concept of ordered loves is you love those people that are 235 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:44,280 closest to you, right? So Augustine back in the 3rd and 236 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:48,600 and 4th century kind of came up with this idea, or at least 237 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,920 espoused this idea. And it says all men are to be 238 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:53,320 loved equally. But since you cannot do good to 239 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,440 all, you are to pay special regard to those who by the 240 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,840 accidents of time or place or circumstance are brought into 241 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:04,119 closer connection with you. And that brings in this idea of 242 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,880 ordered loves. If I look at scripture, I know 243 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:12,280 I'm first supposed to love God. That's the top priority. 244 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,960 Then my next priority if I'm a married person is my spouse. 245 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,400 And then the next one is kids. Now, I know we often, sometimes 246 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,319 we'll get that wrong in our families, right? 247 00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:26,560 Like, but I'm here to tell you married couples, you need to 248 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,880 love your spouse more than you love your kids. 249 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,000 And guess what? That sounds like, you know, 250 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,400 different to our culture or mean or something. 251 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,440 But when you love your spouse more than you love your kids, 252 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,840 you're loving your kids properly and then they understand how to 253 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,680 grow up in a healthy way, in a godly way in this life because 254 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,240 you put your spouse first. When you have a healthy 255 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,120 marriage, then you can have teach your kids to do the same 256 00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:57,440 thing. So we love our kids and the 257 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,880 Bible says that we're supposed to love our church family also, 258 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,480 right? There's so look at look at this 259 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:11,160 verse. Does God love everybody equally? 260 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,360 I want to ask you this as I continue to get into this idea 261 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,480 of ordered loves, and the answer is no. 262 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,240 God does love everybody, but He does not love everybody equally. 263 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,080 And sometimes that might feel like when you're unfavored or 264 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,280 loved less, people would call that hate. 265 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,840 But look at this in Ephesians chapter 5 when he's using this 266 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:41,960 analogy of marriage, but it says husband's love arrived as Christ 267 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,720 loved the church and gave himself up for her. 268 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:51,200 You know what that's saying? That's saying, first of all, 269 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,680 that we need to, you know, put our spouses in high priority of 270 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,160 love. But secondly, when Jesus came 271 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:06,120 and died, the people that he died for, first and foremost was 272 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:11,040 the church, the believers, those who would, everyone who would 273 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,240 ever believe in him, that's who he was dying for. 274 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:19,320 He loves his bride. So then that therefore would 275 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:23,840 mean that if someone isn't a believer and isn't part of his 276 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,880 bride, that there's less love for them. 277 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:29,520 I know that this is a hard concept. 278 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:36,800 This brings up this idea of of definite atonement or particular 279 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:44,960 redemption that would say that that Jesus died not for the 280 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:48,120 whole world, but died for his bride. 281 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,040 But let me tell you how to make sense of that. 282 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:58,120 Jesus death is sufficient for the whole world, meaning that if 283 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:02,000 everybody believed, his death would apply to them. 284 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,560 But it's only efficient, it only actually works. 285 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:12,960 It's only actually fulfilled in those who believe. 286 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,400 And so then if God is sovereign and he knows the beginning from 287 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:24,240 the end when he died on that cross, you cannot simply say 288 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:30,280 that the love of Christ was the same for the unbeliever and the 289 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:36,000 believer if his death apply for all the sins of those who would 290 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,360 believe. I know that's a a hard concept 291 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:45,000 to grasp, but this is something that can be debated, but it's 292 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:51,200 biblical truth. So does God love everybody the 293 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,640 same? I would I would argue that he 294 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:58,360 loves his family, his believers more than he loves the rest of 295 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:00,400 the world. Then we're called to order our 296 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,760 loves in the same way. And in fact this whole idea of 297 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,680 ordered loves, God says this and he uses the word hate in here. 298 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,520 Jesus says this. If anyone comes to me and does 299 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,560 not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and 300 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,560 brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my 301 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,000 disciple. Isn't that radical? 302 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:26,520 What does that mean? He's not telling us to literally 303 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,560 have no love for our family because then that would be 304 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:36,080 against God's law. He's saying you better love them 305 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:40,520 less than you love me. God is top priority. 306 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:43,360 So this is where this ordered love thing comes. 307 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,360 We love God first. We love our spouse. 308 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:50,240 We love our kids, we love our church. 309 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,480 Then we love, you know, extended family. 310 00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:02,360 We love our neighbors in our city, we love our state, we love 311 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,520 our country, and then we love the world. 312 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:12,320 That would be the biblical idea of ordered love. 313 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,680 This has been brought up when thinking about, I remember, you 314 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,600 know, seeing something on the news about, you know, foreign 315 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:24,120 aid and, and all of that. Like that could be a possible 316 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:29,600 application if you so wish to go that direction. 317 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,200 But we better get the First things first of ordered loves. 318 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:43,960 And so then in First Timothy 5/8, it also says if, if if 319 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,400 anyone doesn't provide for his relatives, especially the 320 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,160 members of his household, he is denied the faith and it's worse 321 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:55,120 than his than an unbeliever. I've got to love my family by 322 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,720 taking care of their needs before I take care of someone 323 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,680 else's needs. If I choose to neglect them to 324 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:08,320 love someone else down the list, that would be the wrong order is 325 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,720 what I believe the Bible is saying. 326 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,440 And with the church, it says, so then as we have opportunity, let 327 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,280 us do good to everyone, especially to those who are the 328 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,520 household of faith. There are different levels of 329 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:27,160 love that God has and that people should have for one 330 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:32,400 another in this world. And that's the idea of ordered 331 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,600 loves. All right, that took a long time 332 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:36,240 to explain. And I'm sure that's going to be 333 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,360 a lot of processing that people will still need to think about. 334 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:43,280 But if we're going to keep going, we need to see how it is 335 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:48,600 then that God loves people that are not in his family or that 336 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,720 are unbelievers. And so that's my next point then 337 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:59,520 is that God has this common grace for the entire world in 338 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,920 this verse that really kind of sums it up for us. 339 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,920 It says so that you may be after he says love your enemies and 340 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:07,360 pray for those who persecute you. 341 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:11,160 He says so that so that you may be sons of your father who is in 342 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,080 heaven. For he makes his sunrise on the 343 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,240 evil and on the good and sends his reign on the just and the 344 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,920 unjust alike. So if everybody isn't 345 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:25,000 automatically atoned for their sins by the death of Jesus 346 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,400 Christ so that they can enter the family of God, and God has 347 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:33,880 the special love for his bride, if everybody's not in that 348 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,720 category, so then how does God love everybody? 349 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,840 Well, it's this idea of common grace. 350 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,800 While they are still under wrath for their sins because they 351 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:50,160 haven't repented and believed in Jesus yet, God still shows love 352 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,320 for all of his creation because they all hold the image of God. 353 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:05,240 And he has this common or general love for every person by 354 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,760 providing for them, by taking care of their needs. 355 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,600 And this has three parts to it, by the way. 356 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:17,240 There's a universal component to this where, like in Psalm 145, 357 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,680 the Lord is good to all and His mercy is over all that He has 358 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,840 made. OK, so there is a goodness of 359 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:31,400 God that extends to all people. That doesn't include forgiveness 360 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:33,880 of sins in the sense that it's applied. 361 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,640 Your sins aren't forgiven until you trust in Jesus. 362 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,240 But there still is a God good, God's goodness an undeserved 363 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,520 favor. That's what grace is to all 364 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:49,560 people. We can all experience love and 365 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:53,440 goodness in this world because of God's common grace. 366 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,800 Also, part of this common grace that God has is restraining of 367 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:02,520 some evil and sin and our own sin. 368 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,040 If God didn't have His common grace on His creation, people 369 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,240 would be so evil that no one could actually exist on this 370 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,080 earth. But there's a restraining power 371 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:21,240 of God, even in believers and unbelievers, that keeps us from 372 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:29,040 doing certain things. In Genesis 20 verse 6, God stops 373 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:35,640 this unbelieving king of a neighboring nation of sinning 374 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,240 against Abraham by taking his wife. 375 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,560 Here's what the verse says God said to him in the dream. 376 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,840 Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your 377 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:49,040 heart and, and, and it was I who kept you from sinning against 378 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:50,760 me. Therefore I did not let you 379 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:56,800 touch her. God sovereignly somehow made it 380 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:03,600 so this guy wouldn't want to sin in that way because God's that 381 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:08,480 powerful in his grace. So there's a restraining of some 382 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,720 sin of believers and unbelievers out there in the world, some 383 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,760 sin. Remember that he doesn't stop 384 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,640 all sin. He doesn't stop all evil in the 385 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:24,800 world, but some he does. And then there's this civic 386 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:29,160 righteousness to God's common grace, which means that there 387 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:36,120 are people that although don't know the law of God, they still 388 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:41,120 live with morals and good character to some degree. 389 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,560 Paul puts it like this. For when Gentiles who do not 390 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,600 have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law 391 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,880 to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 392 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:55,680 So when we look at people, although people are utterly 393 00:27:55,680 --> 00:28:00,480 depraved spiritually, meaning that there's nothing good that 394 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:06,920 they can do to please God, not everybody is equally evil out 395 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,200 there in the world just because they're, you know, an 396 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:14,080 unbeliever. People actually can do some good 397 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:17,840 and righteous things and that is not because of them. 398 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,360 That is a grace of God. There's a again, a restraining 399 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:28,200 from the evil and A and A and a force of God's goodness out 400 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,560 there in his common grace. So let me let me quote what 401 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:35,280 Ligonier has to say about this. It says the doctrine of common 402 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:39,120 grace encompasses the biblical teaching about the universal and 403 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,360 undeserved goodness of God towards sinners. 404 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,680 By common grace, God restrains evil, sin, evil, misery and 405 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:51,080 wrath in this fallen world while conferring general non 406 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,520 redemptive blessings on all mankind. 407 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:58,480 This is distinguished from saving grace, but common grace 408 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,000 is a necessary aspect of the continuance of life in this 409 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,680 fallen world. Without God having common grace 410 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:12,400 on this world, this world would be annihilated. 411 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:19,280 It would not exist. God confers common grace on 412 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,640 mankind to encourage sinners to repent and trust in Christ on 413 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,280 Judgement Day. The common grace experienced by 414 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,800 the unrepentant and their failure to thank God for it will 415 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,560 factor into their punishment. Since man is pervasively 416 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,080 depraved, no continuance of human history, development of 417 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:41,280 culture, or growth in common virtue can occur without some 418 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:46,200 operation of God's grace. So This is why there is good and 419 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,120 beauty, beauty in a sinful world. 420 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,400 That's what this verse means in Matthew chapter 5, that he sends 421 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:59,400 his reign on the just and the unjust alike and causes the the 422 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:03,840 sun to shine and people can grow crops and have careers and do 423 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,400 good and have love and joy in their families. 424 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,040 This is all because of God's common grace. 425 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:17,640 And the verse that stands out here is so that you may be sons 426 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,040 of your Father who is in heaven. So when it says love your 427 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:26,880 enemies, be like God, you need to have this general love for 428 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,560 everyone, even people you consider to be your enemy. 429 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,800 But I think what they got was wrong was who was their enemy. 430 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,480 That's why we are and who was their neighbor. 431 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:44,200 You see, we read the verses of this Samaritan, the Good 432 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:50,480 Samaritan before we got up here. And that's a story of of Jesus 433 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,200 teaching the Israelites a lesson when they asked, who is my 434 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:59,080 neighbor? Well, a Levite and a priest walk 435 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,960 by this guy who was severely beaten and left for dead. 436 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:09,360 And a Samaritan was hated by the Jewish people. 437 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:14,040 They were considered to be 1/2, a half Jew and and half Gentile 438 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,120 that had their own way of believing they were hated. 439 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,360 And a person hated by the people that he's teaching is saying is 440 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:27,120 better than you because he loved this person who had no relation 441 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,880 to him. He, he took care of this person 442 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,680 who had no relation to him whatsoever. 443 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:37,080 You know how offensive that would have been to the people 444 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:42,440 that Jesus was teaching. But that's the the type of love. 445 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,640 So we're still called to to do good. 446 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,360 We've got to quit thinking about hating our enemy with this 447 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,240 complete hatred. You know, that's where you know, 448 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:59,000 prejudice and racism come from, by the way, is looking out at 449 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,360 people that are different than us, that think different than us 450 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:11,120 and hating them, withholding any kind of of love at all, placing 451 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,400 our ourselves in this on a level of of superiority. 452 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:23,520 That is not something that God wants for His people to be like 453 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,000 that. We are representing God in a 454 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:31,880 fallen world and we should be like our Father who is in 455 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,800 heaven. Well, I'll tell you what, this 456 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,880 is hard. This is really hard to do, and 457 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,320 that's my next point. The greatest love does not come 458 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:48,000 natural. Going back to verse 44, but I 459 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,840 say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute 460 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,160 you. I guess that means that we do 461 00:32:54,160 --> 00:33:00,080 have enemies. They are our neighbors as well, 462 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,040 but they are our enemies. So we're supposed to love them, 463 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:08,520 but yet we need to protect our our families and the people that 464 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:14,880 we love most from, from the possible threat from people that 465 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:17,760 we love less. So that makes logical sense 466 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,680 because, you know, sometimes people think, well, you know, 467 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:29,960 Jesus sacrificed or God sacrificed his son for, you 468 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:31,560 know, people that didn't love him. 469 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:37,080 But yet God is not calling any of us to have our kids be 470 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,640 sacrificed for another person's sins. 471 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:45,000 Only God and Jesus himself can die for the sins of any human 472 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,880 being. And God nowhere in the Bible 473 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,920 calls us to sacrifice those who we love the most for another 474 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,120 human being sins. Only God can do that. 475 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,520 So we can't be like God in that aspect. 476 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:59,480 Which means then going back to the idea of ordered loves, we do 477 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,360 have to sometimes we're going to have an enemy. 478 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,720 If they're a threat to the people that we love the most, 479 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,840 How do we love that person though, even though they're a 480 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:14,080 threat? Well, sometimes we have to share 481 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,800 the truth with them and we need to tell them the way that 482 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,600 they're living. They are an enemy of us and of 483 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,520 God, and warnings need to happen. 484 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,520 We need to pray for their salvation because ultimately, 485 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,440 God's in control of that as well. 486 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:37,360 That's what what we see here. That's a difficult thing to do, 487 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:43,320 though, right? But here's how Jesus challenges 488 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:48,679 it with these two illustrations. Next in these verses where if 489 00:34:48,679 --> 00:34:51,080 you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 490 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,639 Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 491 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:55,800 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you 492 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,040 doing than others? Do not even Gentiles do the 493 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:05,240 same? We should be loving better than 494 00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,600 tax collectors and Gentiles. That's basically what Jesus is 495 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:13,640 saying there. If all you do is only love the 496 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:18,560 people who are closest to you, then you're no better than an 497 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,880 unbeliever. By the way, tax collectors to 498 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:27,040 the Israelites were despicable. They were hated, they were 499 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:31,640 enemies. They would tax, tax them to 500 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:37,560 death, tax their food, tax everything that they did and 501 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,760 they would keep money for themselves and also give it to 502 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:46,800 their enemy, Rome. And he's saying if these guys 503 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:53,960 can love their friends and you're doing the same thing, 504 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:57,800 you're just like them. You're no better than them. 505 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,800 There's a challenge to be better than these guys, right? 506 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:05,680 There's a challenge to live like Christ again to the Romans or 507 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,600 the Gentiles. He would be talking about the 508 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,280 Romans. They were, they were called the 509 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:14,520 the Gentiles. They hated each other, the 510 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:19,440 Romans and the Jewish people hated each other and yet they 511 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,880 could love their family and their friends. 512 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:24,320 They were the persecutors of the Jews. 513 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,280 Where Jesus was saying pray for those who persecute you, He's 514 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,840 tone Pray for those who have come and occupied your land that 515 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,680 follow none of my laws. Pray for them. 516 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,280 Even evil people can love their family and friends, and we need 517 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:46,080 to be better than that at love. Basically Matthew 7 Jesus says 518 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:47,720 this. Or which one of you? 519 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:51,280 If his sons ask for bread, will you give him a stone? 520 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,240 Or if he asked for a fish, we'll give him a serpent. 521 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,680 If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your 522 00:36:57,680 --> 00:36:59,960 children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven 523 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:01,440 give good things to those who ask him? 524 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:04,960 Evil people can love people closest to them. 525 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,680 The challenge here then for all of us, after understanding the 526 00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:15,120 idea of ordered loves and, and you know who is our neighbor, is 527 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:20,640 that we need to challenge ourselves to love accordingly. 528 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:25,480 Like love our family well, but then love people who aren't like 529 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:30,600 us as well, praying for their salvation even. 530 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,240 Love the people that are persecuting us. 531 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:38,360 Love our enemies. Who's your enemy? 532 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:41,200 Anyone who poses a threat to you. 533 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,520 Anyone who's wronged you. Anyone who disagrees, disagrees 534 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:51,400 with you. That might even be your spouse. 535 00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,800 It might be your neighbor. It might be your next door 536 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,680 neighbor. You guys are fighting about the 537 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:03,040 fence line or whatever it is, right? 538 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:06,560 Could be a politician you disagree with. 539 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:14,400 And man, can you just, can we just take a moment as we already 540 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:19,040 have, but think about the chaos going on in our world, about the 541 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:24,320 differences in opinion about politics and people killing over 542 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,560 that. I mean, nobody should ever be 543 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:37,560 killed for saying something that you disagree with, but yet we 544 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:41,040 that is not that is not loving your enemy and praying for them. 545 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:47,920 And you know, people are using this word hate nowadays saying 546 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:53,000 it's hate speech to call out sin and it's hate to to disagree 547 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,120 with me. Well, really for the Christian, 548 00:38:56,120 --> 00:39:01,720 we believe that calling out sin and trying to share the morality 549 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:05,160 of the Bible and the message of Scripture, the message of God, 550 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,200 you might think that it's hate, but actually that's the most 551 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:13,760 loving thing that you can do to an enemy because they're headed 552 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,640 towards destruction. They are enemies of God and 553 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,440 there's a chance for them to turn from their sins. 554 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:24,280 And the only way a person can turn from their sins is to point 555 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:31,280 sin out and call sin sin, sin. And it's. 556 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:34,320 I mean, that's hard for a lot of people to do because we live in 557 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:36,800 a Society of people pleasers where it's like, I don't want to 558 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:40,320 make my boss offended, my neighbor offended. 559 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,240 You know, I don't want to get into any conflict. 560 00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:47,640 And, and I understand that, that feeling, but yet I think it's 561 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:50,320 loving to cross the line of conflict. 562 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,480 If it's for the sake of the gospel, to tell someone the 563 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,600 truth, we need to do it with gentleness and respect, but we 564 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:00,800 do need to tell the truth. And that's one of the most 565 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:08,960 loving things that we can do. As a matter of fact, Jesus 566 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:14,600 prayed for his enemies. He loved his enemies. 567 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:20,280 And you know who his number one closest enemy to him was? 568 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,280 It was none other than Judas himself who betrayed him. 569 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:30,720 You know when when some stranger you know is your enemy for in a 570 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,960 in a in a foreign land or whatever, like it really isn't 571 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,800 that big of a deal. But when someone close to you 572 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:41,880 whom you loved to pray betrays you, they that's most like the 573 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:45,920 worst thing that can possibly happen to you being betrayed. 574 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:51,840 And Jesus, when he was arrested in the garden, he was greeted by 575 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:56,280 a kiss from Judas says, friend, do what you've came to do. 576 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,880 Friend. This is radical love that the 577 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:05,240 Christian is called to. And what did Jesus say on the 578 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:10,160 cross when all of his enemies were crucifying him? 579 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:14,880 What did he say? Father, forgive them. 580 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,240 He prayed for their salvation and forgiveness. 581 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:22,160 I mean, this is radical. And guess what? 582 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:28,200 If Jesus didn't love his enemies, then none of us would 583 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:34,440 be capable of love or being loved because we were enemies of 584 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:38,320 God. Romans 5/8 through 10 says. 585 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:40,960 But God shows his love for us, that while we were still 586 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:43,960 sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore we have now 587 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,640 been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by 588 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,080 him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we 589 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,040 were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more now 590 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,640 that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? 591 00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,720 We are enemies of God. We were enemies of God. 592 00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:03,240 If you're a Christian now and you've been forgiven, you're now 593 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,920 a friend. You're now in the family, you're 594 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:09,920 a son or you're a daughter, and you are loved with an intense, 595 00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:19,040 merciful, compassionate love. But just remember, you and I 596 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,360 were enemies and if you don't believe in Christ that you stand 597 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:27,120 as an enemy now of God. But there are there is still 598 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:31,840 room for you to enter, not just to experience the common grace 599 00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,560 and love of God, but you can enter into that intense burning 600 00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:38,960 passion. The the, the, the, the love, the 601 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:44,240 agape love, the sacrificial love that God would send his one and 602 00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:48,480 only son to die on the cross to be the sacrifice for our sins. 603 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,120 Because you know what? Just this had to be served. 604 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:57,960 God is perfectly just. And because God hates sin, sin 605 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:03,440 had to be dealt with. But all of the sin of all the 606 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,480 people who should have been dealt with, the justice that was 607 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:11,160 supposed to be served, was put on this one man, Jesus Christ, 608 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,200 and he had to die for all of the sins, as the Bible says, the 609 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:18,920 whole world. That means that you, if you're 610 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:21,920 not a believer, still have a chance to change from being an 611 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:26,080 enemy to being a son or a daughter by faith in Jesus 612 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:32,600 Christ alone, the atonement of his death, in the power of his 613 00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:39,360 resurrection, eternal sons and daughters we can be. 614 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,680 So this is all pretty difficult as we think about this as 615 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:48,440 Christians, how are we going to live this out? 616 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,080 We're going to fail at this. And this is the last thing I 617 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:57,120 want to say. Our God has perfect love and we 618 00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:00,320 need it. Only God has perfect love. 619 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:04,920 We are going to fail at this, but we should strive. 620 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:09,760 In fact, here's what he ends with this whole chapter. 621 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:13,840 You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. 622 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:18,160 The whole chapter and five of Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is 623 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:22,040 setting up two things. How someone who's living in the 624 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:26,840 Kingdom of God with Jesus is their king will be to the world. 625 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,920 They are utterly different. They're set apart. 626 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,520 They're called to be holy. It will show and prove that 627 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,040 they're true disciples of Jesus Christ when they conduct their 628 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:42,240 lives as Christians should. If God is our Father and we are 629 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:48,320 as children, children ought to try to as as physical children 630 00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,600 resemble their parents. We should physically and 631 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:53,960 spiritually resemble our Heavenly Father. 632 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,320 As first Peter one says in verse 15. 633 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:03,160 You are called to be holy in all your, so be holy in all your 634 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:06,120 conduct, since it is written you shall be holy, for I am holy. 635 00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,200 So when we understand that the whole law is summed up and in 636 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:14,000 loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and 637 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:19,000 then loving our neighbor as ourselves, that ought to 638 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:24,400 challenge us to love as much as we possibly can. 639 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:27,880 And not even in our own power, but in the power that God has 640 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:32,000 now given us to love with sacrificial love. 641 00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:37,160 And it's not just a feeling. Even if you don't feel like 642 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:40,400 loving somebody, love is an action word. 643 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:47,080 It takes effort, it takes work. It's hard work to love people. 644 00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,480 If you don't think love is hard work and it's just a feeling, 645 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:53,840 look at the hard work that Jesus did. 646 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,000 You'll never work have to work harder than that. 647 00:45:56,520 --> 00:45:59,000 You'll never work that hard to love someone. 648 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,080 But this is the reason that we learn more about God is so that 649 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:08,800 we can strive right and do things and be the people that 650 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:12,160 he's called us to be. And so there is no excuse for us 651 00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:15,960 to not live by God's standard. That's what this verse is 652 00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:18,240 saying. There is no excuse. 653 00:46:18,240 --> 00:46:23,680 You don't have an excuse to not live a perfectly loving life 654 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:26,960 like Jesus Christ. We don't walk around saying, 655 00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:28,800 well, I can't do this and I can't do that. 656 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,040 We're called to do it. Jesus says to do it. 657 00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:43,480 But the second thing that Jesus is pointing out in this Sermon 658 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:49,160 on the Mount is that this whole thing is a measuring stick, that 659 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:54,960 the real expectations of a holy God is impossible to meet. 660 00:46:55,920 --> 00:47:00,720 We cannot, we cannot physically do this. 661 00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:08,360 You and I cannot love perfectly. We cannot keep keep all the 662 00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:12,240 requirements of the law, the Old and the New Testament. 663 00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:15,440 No one is good. No, not one. 664 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:18,480 It's impossible to be good enough to satisfy God's 665 00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:20,520 holiness. And all people are found 666 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:22,680 wanting. That's Jesus's point in this 667 00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:26,400 whole thing. And those of us who are truly 668 00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,560 following Jesus will just be honest and will say, gosh, I 669 00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:34,880 cannot measure up to this. We can't live these principles 670 00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:37,880 out. We can't just do it like Nike 671 00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:42,840 tells us to do, because we're still Sinner sinners, but we're 672 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:46,800 saved sinners. And so actually admitting this 673 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:55,320 makes it so that we can live these things out, not perfectly, 674 00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:58,880 but willingly submitting, trying, learning, growing and 675 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:02,080 surrendering to the only One who did live the perfect life for us 676 00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:05,640 and loved us so much even that we though we were enemies, 677 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:11,680 Christ died for us. You know what that did that 678 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:14,680 actually fulfills this scripture right here. 679 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:21,720 We are perfect. We are perfect in God's eyes. 680 00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:25,560 The word perfect means to be whole, complete, a finished 681 00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:28,560 work. We get the perfection of Christ 682 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,840 that embodies all these wonderful impossible traits that 683 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:33,360 we're that we've been learning about. 684 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:37,520 But when God looks at us, he doesn't see a Gentile or a 685 00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:43,080 Pharisee or a Sinner anymore. He sees a perfect mess and 686 00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:47,760 that's that's the last verse I would share is in Hebrews 10/14 687 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:51,440 by a single offering, he is perfected for all time. 688 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:55,760 Those who are being sanctified, when God looks at us now, those 689 00:48:55,760 --> 00:49:00,840 of us who are sons of God, forgiven by Jesus, trusting in 690 00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:08,520 his sacrifice alone, we have been perfected past tense and we 691 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:13,560 are being perfected or sanctified made holy is what 692 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:20,160 that word means. So positionally, justice has 693 00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:25,120 been carried out and we've been let off the hook and, but, but 694 00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:29,040 we're also now empowered to start living the way God wants 695 00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:31,320 us to live. And that does mean to love 696 00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:37,040 everybody, especially or also our enemies. 697 00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:43,040 And part of this becoming more holy is the whole process in 698 00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:44,720 which the Christian life is lived out. 699 00:49:44,720 --> 00:49:47,320 That's why we come to church. You wonder why? 700 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:49,840 Why do people go to church every week? 701 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,360 Why do they do small groups? Why do they study the Bible? 702 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:58,120 Why do they pray? It's because we are trying to 703 00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:01,120 live out the things that God has called us to do. 704 00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:04,960 And the only way to do that is to be in relationship, in a 705 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:09,320 community, in accountability, hearing the preached, prayed, 706 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:13,800 sung word of God together. This is how God has designed it. 707 00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:18,400 And the loving one another's is most lived out in our families 708 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:21,280 and in the church. And then we get to learn how to 709 00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:26,080 go out into the world and love everyone else. 710 00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:31,320 We start with our with God, our spouse, kids, the church, 711 00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:35,520 extended family, neighbors, Co workers, people with other 712 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:39,640 religions and politics, and even our enemies. 713 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:44,000 But we can only do that in the supernatural power of Jesus. 714 00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:48,960 Would you guys pray with me? Lord we come to you this morning 715 00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:56,040 and we still need to process how this all plays out in our lives. 716 00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:01,120 How can I apply this to in my life this week? 717 00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:03,360 Who can I love? How can I show them love? 718 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,880 How can I stop hate hating people? 719 00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:16,920 How can I love people that I still need to have boundaries 720 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,800 with? These are all things that we 721 00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:23,800 need your Holy Spirit alone to help us learn how to do. 722 00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:25,400 But thank you, God for your word. 723 00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:30,960 I pray for us to grow more and more to be like your Son Jesus 724 00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,360 Christ. And it's in his name we pray. 725 00:51:33,360 --> 00:51:33,680 Amen.