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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Open your Bibles, please do Matthew chapter #5 again, we're
outside of our series this evening as well.
This morning, looking at fear from Ezra chapter #3 and so not
in second Peter, and then this evening, not in Second Samuel
will be in Matthew Chapter 5. As we look at the issue of the
extra mile. And you know, you hear a lot
about giving the extra mile or going the extra mile.
You hear that a lot. And a lot of times it's in
reference to customer service. You know you'll like it when a
company will go the extra mile. You can hear it in the
workplace. A lot of times your employer
wants you to go the extra mile. Not necessarily.
They'll go the extra mile for you in school or in sports.
It's about someone going that extra mile.
You hear it in all of these different places.
And I think the term has been used so many times that people
outside of the church and maybe inside of the church forget that
the term extra mile is not something that was just coined
and put into the lexicon, is something that somebody thought
was clever, but it was actually a phrase that was spoken by
Jesus Christ. The idea of going the extra mile
was not given by some guru of business or ACEO or of a
philosopher. It was by none other than, well,
the Son of God. And so because of that, well,
the extra mile mentality might be good for food service, or it
might be good for a business, or it might be good for a sports
team. But really, Jesus Christ talked
about going the extra mile in the realm of being a believer,
that you and I as believers should go the extra mile.
In fact, there were many other things that he spoke about this
very same thought process here in Matthew chapter 5, which we
know as the Sermon on the Mount. Now I would encourage you this
morning or I'd encourage you this morning too, but especially
since it's the evening, I'll encourage you this evening.
I'll encourage you this evening that if you have never spent any
time studying the Sermon on the Mount, you would do well to read
Matthew chapter 5-6 and seven. If you ever looking for a place
in the Bible, Bible to memorize and that you'd like to memorize
some scripture, you can start in Matthew 5-6 and seven because
the Sermon on the Mount, starting with the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the blessed are the blessed are the over and over
and over again, very memorable and very easy to memorize.
And then going into all of this other teaching as well are some
of the very most foundational teachings that you will find
about being a Christian. And it also goes into that same
realm that we talked about this morning, that it's so simple for
us to understand, but it's not easy to do the things of which
Jesus brings up to us in Matthew chapter 5-6 and seven.
And as Christians, this idea of going the extra mile is
something that should be important to us again, not just
at the restaurant, not just at the work site or not just on the
ball field or in the classroom, that we as Christians should be
compelled to go the extra mile. And I think often times we try
to have the mentality this how little can I do and still get
away with things. And there's a part of us that
kind of feel good about that because you think I can exert
the minimum amount of effort and how can I get the most amount of
praise out of that minimum amount of effort?
But the Christian life is about us being more than just the
minimum. The Christian life is about us
doing more than just getting by, that if we are to make a
difference in this world, we are to be different.
And listen, you see plenty of that out in the world today.
You see plenty of those who have no desire to work, no desire to
do, no desire to serve, no desire to get anything done.
And if they are compelled to do so, they're going to complain
about it the whole time. I've told you before, my very
first job was at McDonald's, I was getting paid $5.00 an hour.
Who would have thought that it would be a high-priced $1516.00
an hour like it is right now? But $5.00 an hour?
And I know some of you could quote prices that were lower
than that. You're making an hour.
But for me, $5.00 an hour, that was what it was back in the day.
And I thought that was great. And I was working hard and it
was amazing to me that there were others that just would not
work. It's like, look, take the fries
out of the fryer and do this. Take the register and you don't
even have to add anything up. You just push the Big Mac button
and the Big Mac price comes up. Take a broom and sweep and take
a mop and clean. I mean, there's not that much to
it, but it's amazing that there are those who just don't even
want to do the minimum or they do the minimum.
They are going to whine about it the whole time like they are
doing something that is so monumental that everybody needs
to be aware that they're at work.
But as Christian, shouldn't we be different?
As Christian, should we be better?
And if we're going to change society, shouldn't we have a
different mentality And the way that we handle even the way we
approach work and we approach other people and we approach
situations that maybe not our favorite things to do or even be
compelled to do something that we don't want to do, Shouldn't
we look at these things differently than the world looks
at them? Well, that's what we're going to
find in Matthew chapter 5 this evening.
So why don't you stand please, for the reading God's Word if
you're able. Matthew chapter 5 beginning
verse #38. It says, you have heard that
it's been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say unto you that he resists not evil.
But whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him
the other also. And if any man will sue thee at
the law and take away thy coat, let him have that cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain,
give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow
of thee, turn not thou away. And Jesus is going to take an
Old Testament law, and he's going to turn it on its head.
And it's not that he's saying the Old Testament law was wrong,
because it wasn't, because it's the word of God.
What he's saying is you're thinking about this the wrong
way. And Jesus, as he often has to do
with us, has to correct our thinking about how we apply the
word of God. So let's look at that this
evening as we look at the extra mile, you may be seated and then
let's pray together. Heavenly Father, do thank you
for this night. And I do pray.
Just help me to be able to say what needs to be said rightly.
Lord, I, I do think this is a situation and an issue that
oftentimes we, we don't think correctly about, whether it's
out of laziness or out of disdain for others and disdain
for the world. We oftentimes don't look at this
the way that Jesus told us to. So I pray that you help us to
adjust our thinking, adjust our thought process, help us to be
more like Christ and help us to take the word of God and apply
it rightly as he told his disciples to do there on that
mountain. And we do ask it in Jesus name,
Amen. Now the sermon of the Mount is
all about the deeper issues of the heart.
Jesus over and over is going to say, it has been said or it has
been said in old time, or it has been written.
And he says, But I say unto you, now listen, if I come to you and
say, listen, I know what the Bible says, but here's what I'm
going to say to you. If you hear me say that, it's
about time for you to find a new church because I don't have the
right and I don't have the opportunity as a mere person to
be able to say I know what the Bible says, but here's what I
say and my word supersedes the word of God.
I can't say that. By the way, that's what the
cults that we're studying about on Sunday mornings or teachers
about those things. And that's why they are so
dangerous and so heretical. But when Jesus says here's
what's been said, but I say unto you, that is completely
different than me trying to take, well, here's what the word
of God says, but here's my spin on it.
You say, well, why is that different, pastor?
Well one, because Jesus was the living word.
Jesus could not contradict himself.
Jesus in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning of
God. John 11.
The idea that Jesus Christ was the living Word, Jesus Christ
was not in contradiction to himself, but over and over in
the Beatitudes and well, really in the Sermon on the Mount,
beyond those first few verses, Jesus is saying this.
This is what was written in the past, but it has been
misapplied. It has been mistaken and taken
in different directions by the Pharisees.
And I want you to know that this is what that is truly meant by
that verse, or he's saying something along these lines.
You are simply just following that verse to the letter, but
you're missing the deeper issues of the heart.
For instance, Jesus said, some of you were saying that you've
never committed adultery. He says, but I want to tell you
that if you've committed lust in your heart, that you've
committed adultery. He's saying you've missed the
deeper issue of the law. And so Jesus is doing the same
thing here, and he does so by saying this.
You've heard that it's been said, an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. Now, I'd say that almost
everyone, whether they know the Lord or not, again, is familiar
with this phrase, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
And I would say there's a certain age of people who are
here tonight that they are probably familiar with it,
whether here or out in the world, are familiar with it.
Probably from some old Western where some guy is squinting in
the sun. Probably he's got something in
his mouth hanging out of it like a piece of weed or something,
and he pulls it out. He says an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. You kind of got to say it like
that, don't you? That may be able to make it
effective. You know, and a lot of people's
ideas of the eye for the eye and the tooth for the tooth come
from old world out West, revenge.
And even today there's a lot of misunderstanding about what is
meant by an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth.
So I say this because for us to be able to understand what Jesus
is trying to get us to understand, we've got to
understand the verse and source material that it came from in
the 1st place. So leave your spot right there
in Matthew chapter 5. Put your ribbon there and go to
Leviticus chapter #24 Leviticus chapter #24
Leviticus 24. We'll start at verse #17 When
you get there, it says this. And he that killeth any man
shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast
shall make it good, beast for beast.
And if a man cause a blemish to his neighbor, or in his
neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him, Breach
for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
As he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him
again. And he that killeth a beast,
shall he restore it. He that killeth a man, he shall
be put to death. You shall have one manner of law
as well for the stranger As for one of your own country.
I am the Lord your God. So you can see the phrase, an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not something that is
to be applied in random situations where vigilante
justice is to be applied. In fact, what's interesting
about this, it's quite the opposite that the phrase an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not a law of vigilante
justice, but rather it's a law of restraint and a law of
equitability. Meaning this, that if you had a
blemish pace placed upon your face because of something that
took place with someone else, that that person was not going
to receive capital punishment. That if an animal did wrong,
that did not mean that the owner of the animal was necessarily
going to die. It meant this is that whatever
the just or whatever the crime was, that the punishment had to
be fitting for the crime. In fact, we have some of that
built into our Constitution, don't we?
The prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
And we kind of take that for granted today, don't we?
That we know that if you, you know, illegally park your car,
you're probably not going to be locked up for 10 to 20.
You're going to pay a lot more than 10 to $20 nowadays, I'll
tell you that. But if you're illegally parked,
you're going to have a, a punishment that is equitable to
the crime. OK, I shouldn't have parked
there, but is it really worth me getting locked up for, you know,
a certain amount of years? No, it's not cruel and unusual
punishment. You can't have that.
We understand that during these times that was not the case at
all, that the law was usually the king.
The law was usually the head of the nation or the city state or
the people group or wherever it was.
And their word was the law. And if you looked at them in the
wrong way and they wanted you gone, you were gone.
And nobody said anything because that was the law.
The person was the law. And what we find here is that it
is being taught in the Old Testament that there is a law of
equitability and a law of restraint, that the punishment
must fit the crime. For instance, we find that
Jacob's sons found that their daughter had been taken by a man
of the place of Shechem, and had been done very much wrong to.
And instead of the justice being applied to that one man, as it
should have been placed upon him for the wrong that he had done,
two of the brothers went into Shechem and slew everybody.
What was that inequitable justice, when one should have
died for his transgression? Instead, a whole family, a whole
small group died because of one. What is that?
That was not the fulfilling of an eye for an eye and a tooth
for two. Some people would say that's it,
revenge. An eye for an eye, tooth for
two. You kill us, we'll call all of
you. No, it says one dies, then
another dies. One is harmed and another is
harmed. An animal does wrong, then the
punishment is to the animal that that's what's being told here.
And so here, when we get to Matthew chapter #5 as we see
that Jesus is going to bring up this issue and you can go ahead
and turn back to Matthew chapter #5 we're not going to spend long
there in Leviticus at all. But I want you to just see that
as background material tonight, because as we look at this
thought process of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth from
Leviticus chapter #24 we find that Jesus is is trying to reset
the minds of those who are listening to disciples and those
others who are listening to him, They're on that mountainside.
And so he says, you have heard it been said, an eye for an eye
and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you again, he
says, some of you are taking this the wrong way.
Some of you have taken this in a completely different direction
than what is intended. Beyond that.
He is saying that that those who are believers, and I believe we
find this here in the in the Sermon on the Mount, that we as
believers are not just held to the standards of the law.
Listen, we're held to a higher standard here.
Here's where I think sometimes Christians get it wrong.
But we're not under the law anymore.
Well, of course we're not under the law anymore.
We find that that that the law has been abolished and the law
never saved a soul. The law only told people how
lost they were. It was their schoolmaster to
bring them to Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, once we
are saved, we're held to a higher standard, which is this.
That were to be like Christ, we're to be like him.
I don't know about you. I'd rather be held to the law
than to be like Christ. Why?
Because boy, that's a high standard and one that this
pastor misses every single day and every single one of us do.
And so Jesus starts with this thought process of you.
You've heard it said that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth. But I say unto you.
And then he goes on and he gives some powerful examples.
In fact, he gives 4 examples beyond just going the extra
mile. But he gives 4 examples.
And what he's telling his disciples is this.
Listen. And instead of looking to get
even, you need to do extra so it'll never get even.
I think about that for a second. Instead of just getting even.
Isn't that what our flesh wants? Hey, someone cuts you off.
You cut them off. They yell at you, then you yell
at them. As I've told you before, Peyton
surprised us once when we said something happened in the car.
I don't remember what it was. And she says this.
You mess with us, we mess with you.
But I'd love to say that that was like 7 or 8 years ago, but
that was like last week, wasn't it?
No, you messed with us. We messed with you.
And like, man, that's the flesh, isn't it?
That's what we like. You cut us off, we cut you off
and and on and on it goes. So instead of getting even, what
do we do? We do extra good.
So it's never even. And my flesh doesn't like that.
In fact, my flesh doesn't even like being on the record.
Saying this tonight because I might listen to this in a year
or two and find out. Whoa, I don't know that I'm
holding myself to that standard, the standard that Christ holds
us to. And so He gives us 4 examples to
help us understand. And the first example is this.
He gives us the physical example.
Look at verse #39 He gives us the physical example.
It says this, But I say unto you that you resist not evil, but
whatsoever or whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also. So Jesus says right
out-of-the-box, he says if someone is to smite you, you are
to turn the other cheek. Now I want to start here by
saying this. This is not saying that as a
person you are not to defend, to defend yourself, that if you are
in harm's way or if someone else is in harm's way.
I think we just spoke about that a few moments ago, didn't we?
Without bringing up the whole conversation we just had a few
moments ago, that it is nothing wrong and there's nothing
immoral about defending yourself when necessary.
What Jesus is talking about is a general principle, and that
general principle is this, that the natural reaction of a person
is to strike back when struck. Isn't that our natural reaction?
If someone is to strike you, you want to strike back.
But will the William Barclay, the commentator said this about
this verse. He says Jesus is here saying
that the true Christian has learned to resent no insult and
to seek retaliation for no slight.
Now listen to that again. He says Jesus saying here that
the true Christian has learned to resent no insult and to seek
retaliation for no slight. And there's a big difference
between defending yourself exacting revenge.
There's a big difference between defending yourself and getting a
pound of flesh. And So what are we told here in
this physical example? It's that it's it's not that
you're not to defend yourself if you find yourself in a fight
that you were never looking for or someone's trying to harm you
or someone that you love. But it is saying this, the
natural reaction of man to want to harm someone else when
they've been harmed or to exact something out of someone else
when they have been exacted. To be a testimony, to be a light
is to say I could hurt you right now, but I'm not.
You know, there's something very powerful about the thought
process that says I could hurt you but I will not hurt you.
See, a lot of times I think particularly men think power.
Power comes from, you know, I got to lift the most weights.
You know, I'm not going to be the £95 weakling.
You know, they're going to kick sand in the face of it.
I'm going to go out there and I'm going to be the strongest
one out there. But real power comes from saying
I could do harm. I won't do harm, I will restrain
myself. That's why Bible, the Bible
calls Moses the meekest man that was upon the face of the earth.
And and I'll tell you the word meekness has awful PR in the
sense that people think meekness is just an awful thing.
If it's weak, it's exactly right.
But but what do we find in the word of God?
Moses was no weakling. Moses when he wasn't truly right
with the Lord, when he saw one of his.
Israelite brothers in a fight, he said, listen, ain't you
Egyptian that's trying to harm one of my brothers?
Let me tell you, you're dead. And he was dead, by the way.
It cost him about 40 years of his life.
But when that was under control, what do we find?
That man was no coward. That man was not weak.
But I'll tell you, he had power under control.
And that's what meekness is. And so what's the physical
example for us here? It's that we do not exact the
revenge that we want to exact, that we do not try to get even
get back to the measure that we want.
No, Do we defend ourselves? Certainly defense is necessary
and it's right to be able to do so.
Listen, I've heard a preacher, an independent Baptist preacher
once say that something along the lines that he wouldn't
defend his family. And the reason he wouldn't
defend his family physically from harm was because he was
just going to trust the Lord. And that was one of the most
foolish things I've ever heard someone say.
So you know, that family was trusting the Lord that their
leader was going to take care of them and he should have taken
care of them. He said he wouldn't do that,
that that that that pseudo spiritual garbage is what that
is. But I will say this, that
oftentimes it's in our flesh and it's in our desire to try to get
even when what does God say? Hey, don't get even, make it
uneven so that it goes firmly into their favor and God will
listen. Take care of you.
God will take care of. Search the physical example.
But then second, we see the legal example.
Look at verse #40 it says if any man will sue thee at the law and
take away that coat, let him have that cloak also.
Now when it's talking about the coat and it's talking about the
outer garment while the cloak is talking about the inner garment,
Jesus is saying that it's better to have to give up your garments
than to lose your testimony. It would just be better to give
up your garments than to lose your testimony.
You know, we dealt with this years ago, and I know some of
you have heard this story before, but when we first moved
into this building, it looked very similar to this in some
ways. But there was a small platform
that was up here and that platform was fixed to the
ground. In fact, Jim Jerome was here.
The first prayer meeting that we had here on a Sunday night, we
went from our apartment over here and we prayed before we
even moved into this building. And there was a small platform
that was here. We had a inspection from the
town. The town came in and said that
platform can't be here because it's not ADA accessible, meaning
a wheelchair couldn't come up on it and I asked them how long the
ramp would have to be and they said well it's a 13 inch
platform so it has to be a 13 foot ramp now for those of you
that are trying to figure out how long that would be that
would be a platform from where that speaker is to where that
second banner is at the end. You could see that that was
going to cause a pretty big problem in the building,
especially for a wheelchair that we've in 12 years, we've had
people with wheelchairs, obviously overview, but never
that need to be on the platform. And even explained that if
someone in a wheelchair should have been on the platform, we
would bring a pulpit down to the ground.
We would do whatever we would need you to accommodate.
Nope, that's the law. That's just the way it needs to
be. And I'll tell you when that
conversation was done, I was mad and I was smiling, but I was not
happy. And So what did I do?
Well, I called the Christian Law Association.
They give free legal advice to churches.
And so I, I called them and I said, what do you do?
And they put me in touch with a Christian Law Association lawyer
here in Massachusetts to understand Massachusetts law.
And this is what the lawyer said to me in general, he said, if
you want, you can take this to court and you could win.
But it's gonna be a lot of time. It's be a lot of money.
He says this. And if you're a new church in
that town, do you want the first thing that people hear about you
is taking the town to court? But I'm right, So I preyed on
it. I decided, well, we're going to
leave it as it is. So we end up doing is actually
taking the whole platform down. There was no platform here for
several years at all. And the town was quite pleased
with that. And then we got to the place
where we said, you know what, can we put a platform up if it's
movable? And they said, yeah, if it's
movable, you can do that. If you ever wonder why there's
seems on this platform all over, it's because technically it's a
mobile platform and so it is able to be moved and we were
able to find a compromise. That man that, that that
building inspector who came here that very first year that I, I
couldn't stand the guy. How could you do this to me?
You know, that building inspector has been here every
year since every year he's done, he gives me a hug.
I don't know a lot about building inspectors, but they're
not supposed to hug people. He hugs me, Reverend, where you
got a cup of coffee this year, Reverend?
I said I'm ready when you are brother.
I, I want to see him come to church and I, I've been able to
give him some of the gospel over the years.
And listen, I was able to do that because of that situation.
Oh, pastor, I see. So, so a, a Christian should
never defend their rights. Listen, should you defend
yourself physically? Yes.
Are there reasons to defend yourself legally?
Yes, I'm not saying that you should never defend yourself
over those things that are right.
I'm not saying that I don't believe the word of God is
saying that. But I'm saying this that we do
need to be careful that we're our overarching desire to be
right doesn't erase all of our Christian testimony in the quest
to be right. And that's hard because one of
my, one of my real stumbling blocks as far as sin is the
desire to be right. I want to be right.
I mean, who wants to be wrong, by the way?
That's weird. But I mean, I want to be right
even I'm talking to someone on the phone and it's for a, a
company or something like that. I want to be able to tell them
why they're wrong. And wouldn't it just be better
to get what I need and just call it a day?
But often times we handle our situation in such a way that we
can't even share the gospel with someone when we're done.
Now, listen, here's a good way you can find how you how you fit
in this. After you are done handling your
situation, would you be able to give a tract to someone and tell
them where you went to church? Would you be able to tell them
you're a Christian? Maybe even better, would they
see you were a Christian during the process as well?
Well, I, I, you're saying I can't defend myself.
No, no, they went to court. They were actually in court
here, but what was said was no, there's something greater that I
need to find here than just being right is that there's
Kingdom business that takes place and I'm an ambassador of
the Kingdom. And whether I'm in court or
whether I'm on the block or whether I'm in my front yard or
whether I'm at my workspace or whether I'm at my school, I want
to reflect Christ wherever I am. That doesn't mean I let people
steamroll me. That doesn't mean that I let
people just take advantage of me.
It does mean this. I show them Christ no matter
what I do. So there's a physical example.
There's a legal example #3 there's a mental example.
Look at verse #41 it says, And whosoever shall compel thee to
go a mile, go with him. Twain, they say, pastor, that's
physical, that that's not mental.
Why would you say that walking a mile or walking 2 miles?
This is that second mile that you're talking about.
So going the extra mile, why would you say that's a mental
example? Well, certainly this is both
physical and mental, but I would say this, that there is much
more of a mental element that's here than you would think
because listen, the the physical is this, and this is where this
comes from. If you were a Roman soldier, you
were allowed to take your pack off and compel a common citizen
to have them carry your pack for the equivalent of a mile.
However, after a mile they had to put it down.
They were not able to compel them to carry it.
An extra mile and those Roman soldiers packs would have been
quite heavy. I've seen that they could be up
to £100. I don't know a lot about the
military, but I do know this. They carry a lot of stuff they
need to and so it wouldn't be necessarily light.
I see that hand and so, but it wouldn't be light.
So what do we find? It would be very heavy.
It would be dusty, it would be hot.
And could you imagine not only that, but being a Jew with
animosity towards the Roman occupation of your land?
So here's an occupier. Now think about this, an
occupier of your land who comes up to you and says, citizen,
carry my pack. I don't know about you, but
there's something I don't. I don't like that.
I don't like the sound of that. But there's nothing you could do
about it, so you pick it up. That's physical.
But I'll tell you this, for 5280 feet, the battle is not really
physical, it's mental. Because every step I'm thinking,
I hate this. I hate this government, I hate
this law, I hate this pack and I hate this man for compelling me
to do this. And there's not a thing I can do
about it. And every step is a battle all
5280 feet. But Can you imagine getting to
the end? And the soldier who has been
keeping track in his mind of how far he goes because he knows he
could get himself into trouble if he compelled someone to go
further. He says, you may put the pack
down, you're done. And they look at the guy and
say, you know, I think I'll go a little further.
How many times you think he's heard that in his life?
How about never? That every single person drops
that pack and runs the opposite direction the fastest they can.
But mentally, they said this. No, I want to do more.
Why? Why would someone do something
like that? Because nobody else would do
something like that. No, think about this.
Why would someone do something like that?
It's because no one else would do something like that.
Would that not get the attention of the soldier?
Would that not cause them to ponder and wonder?
Maybe even the most hard, hardest of soldiers, maybe the
most Pagan of soldiers would have to stop and say what's this
man's deal? Why would he do this?
It doesn't make any sense. He it's not even that he's of
the Roman government or he's of the Roman citizenry.
He's just a Jew of which were occupying what would compel him
to go even further for me. And that difference could make
him have cause to think about why would he do this?
For who would he do this? And it could be, it just could
be that he finds out it's because of the relationship of
Jesus Christ that would compel someone to go the extra mile.
Listen, if you want opportunities to tell people
about Jesus, if you don't get anything else I say tonight,
listen to this. If you want opportunities to
tell other people about Jesus Christ, then go the extra mile.
Because there are people that will never listen to you, that
have no desire to talk to Christians, that would never
darken the door of this church. But you go out of your way to
help them, and they will be compelled to listen to you.
They want to know why you're different.
You know why? Because the world is so cynical.
The world is so bitter. The world is so jaded.
Look, we've seen it all online. Listen, we're to the point
nowadays that we see something online.
We don't even know it's real. You see a photo, you don't know
if it's real. You see a video, you don't know
it's real. We don't know the difference
between truth and falsehood anymore in the sense of what the
world sees around them now. We know truth because we see
truth in this book, but the world is so confused by what's
out there. When they see a genuine believer
acting above and beyond, it'll make them stop.
It'll make them think. I didn't say you'll win them all
to Christ, but I'll tell you this.
You want an opportunity to talk to someone about Christ.
It just could be that. The most powerful way to give
someone a track is to be able to go the second mile first.
Now, can you do that with everybody?
You can't. And if you're just giving out
track to those people, you're going the second mile for it.
You're not going to give out many tracks.
But I will say this, it causes people to want to know why
you're different. And that's the mental example
that you're willing to battle the flesh on the inside.
I hate them all. I hate the whole thing.
And listen, can't we get to that place in this world we live in
today? But we see all the forces
against us as believers. We see all the forces that play
against the things that are good and right.
Can't we within us just say, Lord, if this place burns itself
down, let it burn down. I've got a home in heaven.
It's easy to get there. I'll tell you this.
That's not God's way. It's not God's plan.
The mental example. You got to fight that.
You got to fight that thinking to be the physical example, the
legal example, the mental example, the number 4, the
charitable example. Look at verse #42 Give to him
that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn
not thou away. If someone has a need, help them
in any need in any way that you were able.
Again, we have to be careful today because a lot of those who
are in need today often times aren't in the same need that
maybe we would see in Bible times.
There's a lot of times that if you were just to hand money to
somebody, you could be actually aiding substance abuse.
If you were just to hand money to someone today, you could be
aiding and abetting someone who is in a very difficult situation
and you could actually make their situation worse.
I'll be honest with you. When I see someone on the street
and when I see someone that's asking for money, my first
reaction is this. No, no.
I do think there's some very good causes for that to be the
case. I do believe a lot of times that
there are those who are simply looking to buy a beer or buy
cigarettes or even worse. But I will say that seeing those
types of people, even some of the professionals that are out
there, I would say to us in America in 2025, can often make
us jaded to anybody who has a need because we get so often, we
so often are willing to say no, no, no, that when someone might
have a need, what happens we our first trigger reaction is no.
This may sound controversial, but it it ought not to be.
One of the reasons government programs have so exploded over
the past 100 years, if you will, is because the church stopped
doing its job to be able to help one another.
And when the church evacuated that space, the government was
very happy to take over. Has our has our nation been
bettered for that? I would say not that when
churches looked after people, when churches help the widow,
the the widowless, the fatherless and the widows.
I've never heard of widowless before.
I just made-up a word, made-up a whole new term right there.
When the churches were the ones helping the fathers and the
widows, which we're called to do, It's biblical that we moved.
As I said, we we weren't around during that time, but when the
church in general removed, the government very gladly took over
that space. So what do we need to do?
Be givers. Be givers with each other here
in the church. I'm so thankful there's a giving
church. It's amazing to me how people
love on one another, care for when they give each other food
and and and and and items and sometimes finances and are
giving with their encouragement, giving with their love, giving
with their grace. I'm thankful for that.
But I will say it is oftentimes easier to give to the people in
this building than it is outside this building because a lot of
times we get along a lot better with the people in this building
than the people outside of this building.
So what do we need to do? Be giving to them?
The charitable effect is, listen, our natural tendency is
we want to hold on to, I want more, but God says this, our
natural tendency should really be this, to give.
Well, if I just give everything well, what would I have left?
Give and it shall be given unto you.
And again, I'm not talking about being unwise.
I'm not talking about I'm a tie the 100% and the Lord will no,
no, again, we're not talking about the extremes.
You could take extremes about any of these examples, but we're
talking about a general principle here, that when you
give, it shall be given unto you, and that we as believers
should be the most generous people on this planet.
There should be no one more generous than God's people.
And I'm not talking about the total amount of money, because
we may not have a lot, but in percentage.
And I'm not even talking about just tithes and offerings.
I'm just talking about meeting the needs of others.
We should be the most charitable of people.
Jesus gives us these 4 examples to tell us that as Christians,
if we want to make a difference, life isn't just about my rights,
What I am allowed to have, what I am allowed to do.
That if we want to make a difference, there are times that
we not think of our rights first, but that we think about
others. Or as we are exercising our
rights, we're doing so in a way that is becoming of a believer.
If you're always going to look out for your rights, you're
going to miss out on ministering to a very large group of people,
people that wouldn't listen to you otherwise.
I the mentality often times as a it can be like this.
I think of all of our children like this.
I think children in general are like this, whether it's ours or
not. But if we tell we have told our
our kids to clean their room, often times they will clean
their own stuff in the room, you know, well, I cleaned up my
stuff. Well, did you just clean the
room? No, I cleaned up my stuff.
Well, can you just clean the room?
And they're so worried about whose stuff it was.
Any remember who touched it last?
They're trying to figure out who touched the game last.
Well, I think they touched it. No, they touched it last.
Like you could have cleaned it by now.
What you arguing about? You know, but I remember when I
was a Cub Scout and I was a Cub Scout and I made all the way to
we blows, you know, which is pretty, pretty low.
But we went camping. And I remember going camping.
One of the things they taught us is this is that when you go to a
campsite, you leave it better than you found it.
You know, you don't, you don't go in and say, well, I didn't
leave that candy wrapper there. You know, that's not my beer
bottle. And it better not be for a
multitude of reasons. You know what you do, you pick
it up, you carry it out, you make things better than you
found it. Listen, I hope the testimony of
my life is this, that whatever I've come in contact with, I've
left it better than I found it. Not that I was just always about
why didn't touch that? Why didn't make that mess?
I'm not dealing with that. Just won't.
God's brought some situations across my path, and not all of
them necessarily the ways that I wanted them to go.
But in each and every situation, I want to make it better than I
found it by the grace of God. No, I can give you a lot of
illustrations to close this evening, but I think the most
powerful illustration is the simplest illustration.
Who went the extra mile? Well, Jesus himself, about three
years later, could have gone to the hill of Calvary and said
they're sinners, they're going to spit at me, they're going to
mock me. They put nails in my hands and
feet. I'm not going to do it.
And listen, He would have been within his right to do so
because you and I don't deserve salvation.
He would have been within his right to do so, but he went,
quote UN quote, the extra mile for us.
And isn't your life better for it?
I mean, if there's not something you could say Amen about that.
If you can't say there's nothing you could say Amen about, your
life is better. My life is better because Jesus
went that mile that no one else could or would go.
Romans 5 talks about that. If God made such a difference in
our lives by showing us Jesus Christ who went the extra mile,
then why can't you or I find ways to be able to go to extra
mile for those who equally do not deserve it?
Say, Pastor, those people out there are crazy.
I've heard those people out there are out of their minds.
Yeah, I see it too. Those people are lunatics,
right? And they need someone to go the
extra mile for him. And it could be that's the only
way they'll ever find Jesus Christ is by someone going the
distance that no one else will go and showing them the one who
truly went the distance for them, and that's Jesus Christ.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.