Luke 6:27-28

Luke chapter 6, verses 27 and 28. But I say unto you, which here, love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them, which despitefully use you. God blessed to us is sacred and holy word this morning. Albert Lee said that he was raised in a home by a single parent, his mother, in Singapore. His mother employed a nanny because she worked full-time, and so he was raised a lot of influence from this nanny. He said, only he did he. years later that I realized how profoundly my nanny influenced me, my thinking and my behavior. He said, the nanny used to say, if people treat you well, treat them better than they have treated you. But if they treat you badly, treat them worse than they have treated you. And for a long time, Lee did not realize that he had been living according to a tit-for-tat human philosophy. It made him calculating in his response to those who were kind to him, and it made him very vindictive when it came to those who were unkind to him. When Lee later became a Christian, he found a very difficult, he said, to obey the command of our text, to love your enemies. That’s not the way I’m not. you know, I was brought up. What was my thinking was. Christians today have imbibed so much of the spirit of the world around them that they probably also have trouble obeying this command that’s laid out for us here in Christ’s teaching. We have a problem implementing such a teaching. The thinking of our society is such an opposite thinking to that of Christ. Christ’s thinking is so contrary to the flesh, so rooted in the character of God, that it takes a new man to obey it. One born of the Spirit of God. This is not just a moral philosophy. that we could teach all men, and somehow rather they are going to be able to implement this, regardless of your spiritual state. No, you need to be a child of God to follow Christ’s teachings. And the natural man refuses to be subjected to the law of God. The topic this morning is love your enemies. I want to talk about the necessity of loving your enemies here in verse 27. But I say unto you which here, love your enemies. It is the common lot of Christians to be mistreated as they go through this world. Our Lord has just told us about his disciples. He mentions that he’s speaking to his disciples in verse 20. And what he tells us is that they will receive ill-treatment in this life. We looked at it last week in verse 22. When he talks about people hating you and separating you from their company and reproaching you, and casting out your name as evil and so forth. He’s just spoken about that. Anyone who is going to faithfully follow Christ is going to find men shall hate them. Because whenever you reflect the character of Christ in your life, they hated him. They’re going to hate you. The question at hand here is how should you respond when you are mistreated? When you are ostraceted. and so forth. It doesn’t have to be as severe as, let’s say, people seeking to kill you or to even persecute you, but they may simply ridicule you and speak falsely against you and ostracize you, treat you harshly, and so forth. As Jesus said, you shall be hated of all men for my namesake. So is the common lot of Christians to be misdricians. treated by the world. We should recognize that. Now, the popular teaching of the Jewish leadership, the Jewish rabbis at this time, is revealed to us in the book of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus relates the prevailing view of these religious authorities. Here’s what they’ve taught. You have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine neighbor, and hate thine enemies. Matthew 543. Ye have heard that has been said. Now this is not all the law that’s being spoken about here, but it is the agenda of men. This is the teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees their standard understanding of the law. The law said, in Leviticus 1918, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But the scribes and the Pharisees added to that and hate thine enemies. So the first part is from the law of God. The second part is not. Is man-made reducing the influence of the first phrase. It’s a man-made thought. They did this so they could make a distinction between a neighbor, and an enemy. So they could say that not everybody is your neighbor. The Jewish rabbi’s restricted the word neighbor to those closely related to them of their nation or of their family, a party. In other words, a Jew, as opposed to a Gentile. Gentiles, they could be hated and despised, according to the scribes and Pharisees. But they didn’t stop there. They also put a barricade between Israelites. Between the good Israelites, like the scribes and Pharisees, as they thought they were, and the bad Israelites. Why, those publicans and sinners. So when the scribes and the Pharisees used to turn neighbor, they basically equated it with their friends. And this allowed them to think that they were obeying God’s law when they were not. And Christ points out, in the sermon of the Mount how wrong they were. So the scribes and the Pharisees only made this distinction in order to justify themselves. Turn a few pages over to Chapter 10 of the Book of Luke. And here we have the story of the Good Samar. I’m not going to read the whole story here. But I’m going to catch the first part and the last part. You know the story. Let’s look what led up to this story. Verse 25 to 29. Be able to a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him Christ saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, what is written in the law? I’ll readest thou. And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said, unto him, thou hast answered right. This do, and thou thou shall live. But he, willing to justify himself, said under Jesus, and who is my neighbor? At this point, Jesus tells about the parable of the Good Samaritan, or at least the story of it. And he’s giving this story an answer to who is my neighbor. He’s responding to that. The Jews traditionally hated the Samaritans. They were bitter. enemies. They had no dealings with the Samaritans. However, in the story, it’s the priest and the Levite, the religious leaders, who did not see the need to show any love to this man who was beat up by the robbers and left for dead on the side of the road. They passed by on the other side. He’s helplessly wounded. He’s been robbed. This poor victim maybe didn’t fit their description of a neighbor, which God commanded them to love. So, they don’t bother. They just passed him by. It was the Samaritan who was an enemy of the Jews, or at least the Jews considered them enemies, who actually is obeying the law of God. Because he went to the dying man, provides first A, takes him to the end, provides for him until he comes back and makes sure he’s taken care of. So Jesus says that this is loving your neighbor. Someone who is considered an enemy is still your neighbor. He knows what Jesus says here in verses 36 and 37 when he closes this out. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said he that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus on him, go do thou likewise. Even the one you might consider your enemy. Show mercy to him. So basically, anyone whom you come into contact with is your neighbor, even if it’s your enemy. So the popular teaching of the Jewish rabbis here is countered by Christ, isn’t? Now, your Lord taught you to love your enemies. Now, this may seem strange, but I guess because a lot of people miss it. But the law of God actually taught the very same thing. There’s no question that the law of God taught this. Christ gives you the true meaning of the law when he says to love your enemies. Not a new teaching that originated with Christ. Look with me at Leviticus, if you would. Chapter 19, verses 33 and 34. What about foreigners? Are we supposed to love foreigners? What about those people that aren’t Jews who are Gentiles. Look at Leviticus 19 verses 33 and 34. Scripture says here, and if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, you shall not vex him, but the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be among you as one born among you. And thou shalt love him as thyself. For thou shalt love him as thyself. ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. Huh. Guess you have to love them as yourself, right? Just as loving your neighbor as yourself. They’re counted as your neighbor. Look at this. Hatred is forbidden. Look at chapter 19. Also in verses 17 and 18 here of Leviticus. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. Now, even among the Jews, thou shalt, in any wise, rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. Oh, so even among the Jews now, you can’t separate and say, well, you know, the public, you know, he’s not worthy to be considered my neighbor. Now, it’s not what scripture says. So the law of God here is very clear on these passages. One more passage. What about your personal enemy? Look at Exodus chapter 23 versus four and five. Exodus 23 versus four and five. If I thou meet thine enemy’s ox. He doesn’t say your neighbors, but someone who is an enemy, or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. And if thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and thou wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. You go over there and you do him good anyhow. You help him out. Get that animal up that has collapsed under the burden. And so these passages of scripture, give us an indication. There’s no justification. for hating your enemy. Not whatsoever. Now you might say, well, Pastor, what about the Israelites exterminate all those Canaanites when they came into the land of Israel? Saul’s orders were to utterly destroy the Amalekites. What about that? What about the imprecatory Psalms of David? Wasn’t this hating nine enemies? Well, I think we need to draw a clear distinction between God’s enemies and personal enemies. God commanded the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites and the Amlicites because Israel was God’s instrument of judgment against them, and they were given direct command to do it. The imprecatory Psalms of David are inspired songs, requesting, you’re requesting God to be the judge and to judge these enemies of his kingdom. For the most part, these are public enemies of the church that we’re talking about. They don’t really, they’re not actually really relating to the private personal interrelationship so much. So we shouldn’t get confused and think, there’s a contradiction in scripture. These are your enemies, your personal enemies. So the Lord taught you to love your enemies. We see the necessity of doing so from the law. Secondly, your love toward your enemies is to be manifested by actions. Now he says here, how we’re to love our enemies. In the second part of verse 27 and 28, he says, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them, which despitefully use you. Do good toward them. That’s number one. Lest there be any mistaken notions about what Jesus meant when he said, love your enemies, he said, here’s what I mean, do these things towards your enemy. Love in Scripture is a matter of will. Today we’ve made it more of an emotional sentiment, but in Scripture it’s a matter of the will. You might think, well, but I don’t have any warm and fuzzy feelings toward my enemy. He’s done me wrong. So I guess I’m not obeying Christ. Christ isn’t talking about your feelings in this passage of Scripture. You see, you can do all these things towards your enemy without having any warm, fuzzy feelings. You’re not going to get warm, fuzzy feelings unless you actually do these things toward your enemy. What Jesus says here is don’t focus on your affections toward your enemy. I want you to focus on your actions toward your enemy. That’s what I want you to do. It is as we do good under our enemies, that we learn to love them and care for them. if you implement what he says here, it leads to you having more of an emotional response toward your enemy. According to Scripture, love means you fulfill the law with regard to your enemy. Now, I’ve done this before, but it’s so important to see this. I think it’s such a key passage. Look at Romans chapter 13 a moment. Versus 8 to 10. O no man anything. but love one another. For he that loveeth another hath fulfilled the law. There you go. You’re fulfilling the law to love your neighbor as yourself. Now, how does he want you to implement this? Verse 9. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in the saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. So what is he saying here? Well, loving your neighbor means you don’t commit sexual sin with your neighbor’s wife or husband. You don’t kill him, literally or verbally. You don’t steal from him or her. You don’t lie to him or her. don’t covet him or her possessions. You don’t work evil toward them. You are to seek opportunities of doing good to your neighbor. To those who mistreat you, to those who injure you in order that you make overcome their evil with good, as Romans 13 tells us. You remember how King Saw terribly mistreated David. He became an enemy to Dave. He was jealous of David’s popularity among the people and twice he tried to kill him with a javelin you recall and pin him against the wall as he played the harp before the king. When Saul’s daughter Mirab, who was promised to David for his victory over Goliath, you recall, when she was given to another man, it was an insult to David. When Saul demanded a dowry of a hundred Philistine foreskins for his younger daughter, Michael. It wasn’t because he really wanted his Michael to be David’s wife. He was hoping that she’d be a snare to him, and he was hoping that while he went out to get the dowry, that somehow the Philistines would kill him. And David, you recall, was forced to become a fugitive hiding in the forest and caves and mountains and so forth away from Saul. How did David react to all this? Well, time and again, you’ll notice that David would try to reconcile with Saul. Jonathan would try to be a go-between and work it out, but Saul kept breaking his word. Twice when given the perfect opportunity to kill King Saul, David did not. In the cave of Engetti, in the wilderness of Zip, both times he had Saul asleep right at his feet and he could have killed him. When Saul falls in his feet, he could have killed him. battle against the Philistines, it’s David who mourns his death as if he were a friend. If you look at 2 Samuel chapter 1. When a man comes to David out of the battle and fabricates this story about how he had to help Saul with his suicide attempt, stand on him and kill him. Expecting a reward from David, David executed him for touching, you know, harming the Lord’s anointed. And what was the result of David’s returning good? for evil. Conviction. in Saul’s heart. Listen to Saul confessing his guilt in 1st Samuel 24. Saul lifted up his voice and wept, and he said to David, thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded the evil. By showing love and your actions toward your enemy, you convict him of his sinful ways. Your goal is to defeat your enemy. and sort of reduce or remove the hostility between you and your enemy. So you’re to do good to them is what the scripture says. He says also here, secondly, you speak kindly to them. Bless them which curse you. Now this command is not an easy matter. You’ve just been cursed out by someone. Slandered. gossip about, insulted. They’ve requested, you know, God’s damnation upon you or something of this nature. How are you to react to that? Well, there’s nothing more common in our world in the reply in kind to return cursing for cursing, evil for evil, verbal abuse for verbal abuse. You’re still a sinner, and your flesh would like to respond in a similar manner. Someone snaps at you. Your first response is to snap back at them. If they call down God’s wrath upon you, you’d like to call down God’s wrath upon them. Bob Newhart, the comedian, used to have a famous phrase. When someone insulted him and walked off and a huff, he would yell after them. And the same to you, fella. And that’s the way I think a lot of people feel. Nasty word sting. So you have to ask yourself, well, how did I handle it? the last person who spoke unkindly about me. This is not an easy command to implement it. But Christ command you here to bless your enemy. Now, if he had just said, keep your mouth shut, don’t say anything. Just accept it. You might say, well, maybe I could do that. But that’s not what he says. He says something positive here. You’re to bless the very person who is cursing. So you’re to bless the very person who is cursing. to bear the nasty verbal assault and with a soft answer, attempt to turn away the wrath of your enemy. First Corinthians 4, 12, and 13, we have the example of Paul. Being reviled, we bless. Being defamed or slandered. We contrary wise, excuse me, being defamed or slandered, we entreat. We answer softly or gently. 1. Peter 3.9. Not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary, wise blessing. Same teaching as Christ. Now, to bless a person is to speak good words to them. Words that express a sincere hope that they might know the favor and the blessing of God. You were to speak words which would do your enemy good. And so, in a sense, you’re to seek what’s best for their soul. You must be willing to shift your focus away from yourself and your hurt feelings to the overall welfare, the person who is speaking these words to you. You remember Nabal, he was a wealthy farmer in Israel, who had these large flocks of sheep. They were protected by David and his men when he was a wealthy farmer in Israel who had these large flocks of sheep. His shepherds were out in the fields. David and his men were sort of like a wall around him, sort of protected them while they were grazing out there. And at sheepshearing time, which was a time of great feasting and plenty, David sent some messengers to Nabal thinking, well, we could use some provisions, and we’ve helped the man. Ah, surely he would provide something for us. However, Nabal rejected the request in a very insulting manner. He said this in 1st Samuel 24. 5. Who is David and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed from my shears and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? Well, you can imagine David was enraged by this. And this was an insulting response. He has 400 men with him. He says, strap on the sword, boys. We’re going to teach him a lesson. And so he’s marching toward Nabal’s house intent on killing every male in the family, even though it’s the servants, evidently. Well, Abigail, Nabal’s wife, appears to be a godly woman, and she, being told of the situation, by a servant, moves to interfere. And she takes a multitude of provisions, and she, to persuade the enemy of her household not to carry out his threat. Now, when she gets to David and runs into him, she doesn’t yell curses at him. But contrary why, she seeks to say good things to him and useful things to David Saul. David, when you become king and you will become king, this is going to be a blood on your name that you did this. The Lord will take care of, you know, he’ll take him out of the bundle of the living when he sees fit. Don’t do this. Here, here, I brought all these provisions for you. I didn’t realize that my husband was doing this until I heard afterwards afterwards, after the fact. But here, here’s what you need. And he spoke these good words to him. He spoke to him about, you know, your relationship to the Lord, and he shouldn’t be doing these things that are going to really. really blight your kingship later on. And she turns away her enemy by doing good, looking after his best interest, his soul. That’s what we’re talking about in a sense here. Speaking kindly to the enemy. Not an easy command, but this is what the Bible says, bless your enemies. Thirdly. pray for them, which despitefully use you. Now outwardly, you could speak good things to your enemy, but still hate them in your heart. But Jesus doesn’t allow you to be superficial, here he says. Now, when you get down on your knees, and when you pray to the Lord in heaven, who can read your heart, knows your mind and your thoughts, you would have pray to the Lord. for your enemy. With a genuine concern for the welfare of your enemy’s soul. It’s like when you get down on your knees, you realize this person needs Christ. This person needs to be saved. That’s what’s wrong with him. He needs God’s work of grace in his life. And so what would we pray for? God, turn this man away from this evil agenda. he’s on, this evil attack upon me. Deal with his soul. Convict him of his sins. Save him from his wicked ways. I mean, those are the kind of things we would be thinking about. Pray that God would forgive them for saying such things to you. Pray that they may not suffer ill because they said these things to you. As a result, pray that God would make them to be at peace with you. you. A man falls God’s ways even into his enemies are made peace with him. To do him good to save this harsh and bitter person who has despitefully used you. There are several examples of this in scripture. Look with me at Psalm 35, if you would. This is David, but in a sense we might be looking beyond David here to, of course, Christ, to often associate. with these Psalms that David writes. They’re prophetic. Notice 11 through 14 here of Psalm 35. False witness did rise up. They laid to my charges things I knew not. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother, I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother. I prayed for him. I saw it for his good. Look at Luke chapter 23, if you would. Versus 33 and 34. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified him. And the male factors, one on the right, and the other on the left. And then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And then one more, in the book of Acts, chapter 7, beginning with verse 58. Here we have Stephen, who is martyred by the Jews after he’s preached his sermon. They cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stone Stephen. Calling upon God saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. You might ask, does it really do any good for me to pray for my enemies? Isn’t it a futility to pray for them? But I remind you that it was Saul, who is of course Paul, who they laid the coats down at his feet. He heard this sermon. He heard this prayer. And God saw fit to convert him. Did he not? Isn’t he one of the ones that he would be included in Stephen’s prayer here? As for Christ’s prayer for his crucifiers. John Owens is an interesting section in his death of death and the death of Christ. with regard to Christ prayer on the cross. Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. On page 196-197. He gives several reasons why this was effectual prayer. But let me just read this last, the sixth one here. It seems to me that this supplication was effectual and successful. That the son was heard in this request also. Faith and forgiveness being granted to them for whom he prayed, so that this makes nothing for a general ineffectual intercession, it being both special and effectual. For Acts 3, of them whom Paul tells that they denied the only one and desired a murderer, verse 14, and killed the Prince of Life, verse 15, of these, I say, 5,000 believed. Chapter 4, verse 4. Many of them which heard the word believed than the number of them was about 5,000. If any others were among them whom our Lord prayed for, they might be converted afterward. Neither were the rulers without compass of the fruits of this prayer, for a great company of priests were obedient to the faith, Acts 6, 7. He’s saying, yeah, it did have an effect. And it was positive in this regard. So you love your enemies, and that is manifested by actions. So Albert Lee, raised by his nanny there in Singapore, got bad advice. If they treat you, if people treat you well, treat him even better. They treat you worse, treat them worse than they treated you. That’s not what Bible says. That’s worldly philosophy. Jesus teaches you here, one, the necessity of loving your enemies, and two, what it means to love your enemies. And so this is what I would lay out for us. This is our responsibility here in this regard. This is not easy. Who said the Christian life was easy? Jesus is asking us to do things. They’re spiritual in nature. And so there’s a sense in which we have to follow after the steps of the Savior here and learn to do what he’s done. Let’s close. with a word of prayer this morning.