Loving Your Enemies | Frank Brancato

As has been mentioned, we have several of our members that are

missing today for whatever reason.

But we have a wonderful crowd because you're here and we

welcome you and we thank you for being here.

And it is my privilege, it is my pleasure to be able to speak

concerning the word of God today with you.

I hope that what we have to consider for a little while

would be edifying and encouraging to you as we

continue to learn at the feet of the master.

And that's Jesus as he preached that masterful sermon so long

ago. His masterpiece, The Sermon on

the Mount, Matthew 5-6 and seven, we've now in our sermon

in our series, have now come to the latter part of Matthew,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7. We're on the last section, and

you remember in the last two sections I mentioned this last

time, the last two sections of Matthew, Chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Jesus deals with our reaction and our behavior toward our

enemies. In the passages prior to these,

Jesus dealt with our reaction or he dealt with certain restraints

when it comes to our enemies. And he did so as we entitled our

remarks, as Jesus did when he talked about second mile

religion or going the second mile.

Now, in these passages that we're going to notice this

morning, Jesus is going to talk about in our position toward our

enemies, our actions, and he calls it loving.

Our enemies and we're. Going to talk about what that

actually means, What does it mean to actually love your

enemies? And there's so much here that

Jesus dealt with and we'll get into that in just a moment.

But let me just say before we begin and before we go any

further, when you put the last two sections of Matthew Chapter

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

5, you put them together and you can bind them.

As I said before, you have a perfect code of conduct.

I'm going to tell you something. Everybody struggles sometimes

with conduct or how we behave or how we respond.

But if you put the last two sections of Matthew Chapter 5

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

together, regardless of opposition, regardless of what

people would say to you by way of hostility or even your

enemies, you have a perfect code of conduct and it has tremendous

blessings and benefits. And we'll get into that.

Let's begin with our sermon Now, Matthew 5, beginning in verse

43, Jesus said you have heard that it was said you shall love

your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse

you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who

spitefully use you and persecute you.

This, in this passage, is the 6th and final contrast that

Jesus makes between the old law of Moses and the new law of

Jesus Christ. And in each of the others you

will find in the previous ones, Jesus either quoted or summed up

the old law. And then he gave new

authoritative law. In other words, he gave Mosaic

legislation, and then he gave new authoritative law.

He's giving things that would supersede it.

And that really is the point that I want to make here.

Jesus was not destroying the old law of Moses when he said that

he was saying You have heard that.

It was said this like you said, as it was commanded, you shall

not commit murder. But Jesus says, if you're angry

with your brother without a 'cause, you've committed murder

in your heart. In other words, he was giving

something. He was giving a principle that

was universal, that would supersede what the old law had

stipulated or stated. He wasn't destroying the old

law, he said. Also, you have heard that it was

said you shall not commit adultery.

But then Jesus says, but I say to you that whoever looks upon a

woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in

his heart. In other words, a principle that

supersedes what was told in the Old Testament.

OK, the same is true with our passage too.

He begins by saying this. You shall love your neighbour.

Couple things about neighbour Cohen taught on Love last Sunday

afternoon and he mentioned about a neighbor and he was right

about a neighbor. He said a neighbor is defined as

someone who lives next to you or nearby.

That's true. But then he says Jesus is going

to expand on that and we'll get to that in just a moment.

He was right about that too. But there's so much more.

Did you know this that God has always commanded that his people

would love their neighbor? It was nothing new.

It goes all the way back to the Old Testament.

They were to love their neighbor.

In fact, do you remember in Luke chapter 10, before Jesus gave

Luke 10 · chapter mention

the masterful parable of the Good Samaritan that I mentioned

to you last time? The lawyer comes to Jesus in the

Bible, says that that lawyer comes, and he tries to test

Jesus and he says, tell me what must I do to inherit eternal

life? And Jesus turns it right back on

him. And Jesus says, all right, what

does the law say? And how do you read it?

He said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus says you have said right.

Do likewise, he says, go and do, and you will live, in fact.

But then the man says, well, who's my neighbor?

And how many times have I said this?

I've even said, well, obviously the man didn't want to love his

neighbor, so he wanted Jesus to draw the parameters.

And that's true. But there's more.

Under the old law of Moses, there were parameters that were

drawn about who your neighbor actually was.

So when Jesus was speaking to that lawyer, he wants to know,

wait a minute, I understand history here.

So who really is my neighbor? And then he gave the masterful

parable of the Good Samaritan. So here's the question.

What was the concept of a neighbor in the context of Old

Testament scriptures? The only way we can answer that

is go to Old Testament scriptures.

Let's go to the book of Leviticus, chapter 19 and verse

Leviticus 19 · chapter mention

18. You shall not take vengeance nor

bear any grudge against the children of your people.

Then it says immediately following.

But you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord. So what's the point?

The point is the children of Israel under the law of Moses

had parameters drawn on who was their neighbor?

Who was that those of like nationality.

That was their neighbor. So when Jesus says you heard

that it was said you shall love your neighbor.

He's talking about this. You shall love those of your own

nation. You heard that was said of old.

Now in other words, your fellow Israelites.

Here's the point. As Cohen mentioned, as the scope

of the gospel goes out to the world in the Kingdom of Christ,

then therefore the Kingdom is now spread to the world.

It's not a nation. So somebody that's considered a

a neighbor becomes anyone that you come in contact with any

fellow man because the gospel goes out to the world.

Jesus is saying something's different.

Now I'm taking away the parameters of who your neighbor

is. I'm taking that away.

But then Jesus says this, and this is interesting because he

says, you heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor,

but then he says and hate your enemy.

Was there really a time when God wanted or Moses declared that

man would hate their enemies? The answer to that is yes, but

enemies in this context has to refer to what he's already

speaking about. He's talking about national

enemies because he's talking about who you love.

Your neighbor is your your those of your own country.

Now interesting, The Bible does not encourage prejudice, even in

the Old Testament. In fact, if somebody was coming

from another country, an individual, they were to be

treated with kindness. Notice Leviticus Chapter 9

Leviticus 9 · chapter mention

beginning in verse 33. And if a stranger dwells with

you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.

The stranger who dwells among you, you shall be to you as one

born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.

For you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God. OK, so under Mosaic law, Israel

was commanded to hate their national enemies.

That attitude, by the way, brought about battles and

bloodshed. In fact, in Deuteronomy Chapter

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

7, the 1st 16 verses commanded the destruction of foreigners,

including the Ammonites and the Moabites.

Who were they? Just really briefly, the

Ammonites were the descendants of Ammon, the Moabites were the

descendants of Moab, and those two individuals were the sons of

Lot. From the incestuous relationship

with his daughters, those descendants were the Ammonites

and the Moabites and they were, and it was decreed for their

destruction. There were some exceptions

though, like the Egyptians. I'm going to give you two.

Number one is the Egyptians And why was that?

Because there was a time when God's people actually dwelt in

their land. You remember under Egyptian

bondage, the children of Israel were for over 400 years.

So they were off limits with that destruction.

There was another one, the Edomites.

The Edomites because they were related to the Israelites.

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau.

Esau was the brother of Jacob. Jacob bore had begat 12 sons.

Those 12 sons represented the 12 tribes of Israel.

So because of that relationship they were off limits.

However, Israel was to hate other nations and why was that?

They were to hate that because of the rationale behind the

command is because of the influence that idolatry had and

also mingling with the heathen and the terrible influence that

that had. Exodus chapter 34 Beginning in

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

verse 12, take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with

the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be

a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their

altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their

wooden images, for you shall worship no other God, For the

Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God.

So that's what the Jewish people would have known and understood.

And Jesus is speaking to a Jewish audience in this

masterful sermon. But guess what happens in verse

44? He's coming with new

authoritative law, and this is what he says.

But I say to you, I know that you come from the idea of loving

your neighbor and hating your enemy.

But Jesus says, but I say to you, love your enemies.

I'm going to tell you what, that is really hard.

It is really hard to love your enemy.

This is in stark contrast to what they were all about under

the under the law of Moses and how they felt about their

enemies. But the Kingdom of Jesus Christ

is a Kingdom of peace. That's what it's about.

It's a Kingdom of peace. In fact, we don't repay evil for

evil. We don't overcome evil with

evil. And that's difficult.

You know why? Because what we want to do is we

want revenge sometimes, and we want to take it back.

We want to get ours. We want to repay what was has

come to us. And that's just our nature.

Sometimes we want to fight back. That's kind of what we do,

right? What's the Bible say about that?

And I got to tell you something. I want to tell you something.

I'm going to slip this in. I am learning more now.

Let me back up. I am being reminded more about

what it's really like to be a Christian in the study of

Matthew, Chapter 5 so far than any time in my life.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

It is a tremendous reminder. You know why?

Because it takes away the human side, the human element.

It takes away our impulses and says no, wait a minute, the Lord

is saying no, wait a minute, I'm telling you this, you're going

to love your enemies. He's going to get specific on

how you do that too. But that's the point.

Look at Romans chapter 12. What Paul said.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Beloved, do not avenge yourself, but rather give place to wrath.

Do you know what it means to give place to wrath?

It means you give it to the one who will take vengeance.

And that's God. You give it to God, you take it

away from yourself. You give place to wrath, for it

is written. Vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is

hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a

drink, for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And I got to tell you, I'm going to get back to coals of fire on

their head. And I have changed my position

on what that means after studying this.

Going to get back to that in just a minute though, What does

it mean for coals of fire on their head when you do something

good? Back to that in just a moment.

Obviously the words of Jesus sting the Jewish people because

they were living among their enemy, who was their national

enemy at the time. Obviously their national enemy

was wrong. They were living under the

oppressive thumb of of Roman domination and all they wanted

was please release it, relieve it from us, and remove it.

Even misunderstood, when Jesus would come to establish His

Kingdom, they thought it was going to be an earthly Kingdom

and going to finally get Rome off their back.

But here's my point. The Lord's words are

unmistakable. His followers have to love their

enemies. Whether those enemies are

personal, national, I'm going to say it political or even social.

And that's agape love, not filet O love, Not a love of feeling,

not the warm fuzzies. Because there's some people, as

you heard me say a million times, there's some people that

you love because you really feel that way.

And then there's other people that you love because God said

you had to. That's just the truth.

I'm not talking about feelings and fuzzies.

I'm talking about behaviour and action and words.

That's agape love. Even if someone oh, you mean I

got to talk nice to people that disagree with me politically?

I'm going to tell you something. You want to get people fired up.

You want to get 2 pretty tame, mild people fired up.

Just get two people together that disagree politically and

put them together in the same room and let them go at it.

And sometimes the ugliness that comes and how people take it

personally, because their political stand is different

than the political stand of someone else.

And I'm going to tell you something else, you know, where

it's really bad on social media. And you know me.

I'm not on social media. I don't.

I don't Facebook or Instagram or hashtag or whatever Tweet.

I don't. I don't do any of that.

I don't even know how, but I have seen stuff posted on

Facebook. They're absolutely absurd, The

hateful things back and forth because somebody disagrees with

your political stand. And may I just add something

else to If you're a Christian, be careful what you like on

Facebook. Make sure you read the whole

thing. You may agree with the

principle, but read the whole thing.

Read the fine print before you give her a like, because I'm

going to tell you something. Sometimes there's some trash on

there and you're giving her a like, don't do that.

Make sure you read the whole thing.

What does it mean to love those that are even our political

enemies? It is agape love.

It's the love that seeks the highest interest in others.

That's what that means. If you want to know about love,

and I want you to do this in your own time, don't do it

today. Don't do it now because I want

your attention. But later on at some point read

First Corinthians chapter 13. If you want to know about what

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

love is, that is agape love. It is a love that always behaves

itself in a proper way. It is the love also that's

always attributed to God in the most famous passage in all the

Bible that everybody knows is John 316.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have

everlasting life. You know, the word so there has

does not mean an amount like I might say to somebody I love you

so much, meaning an amount. That's not what that means.

The word so in that passage means as demonstrated by what's

coming. In other words, God loved the

world in such a way that he demonstrated it with what he

did. He sent Jesus.

How do you describe the love of God?

He sent Jesus. That's agape love.

That's a love of sacrifice. It's not a feeling.

It is a love, by the way, too. That manifests itself in three

very radical ways. Here they are in blessing, in

doing good and in pray. First of all, what about

blessing? What does it mean to bless those

who curse you? So first he says this, you're

going to love your enemies. How you going to do that to got

a love? First thing you're going to do

is you're going to bless those that curse you.

What's that mean? Blessing somebody that curses

you means you return good words for evil words.

And that's hard by the way. Nobody's got it figured out.

Everybody misbehaves from time to time and sometimes we make

the wrong choice and say the wrong thing.

How many times have you said something and thought, man, I

wish I could reel her back in, but it's too late.

Me a lot. Because you know what?

In my life I've been one of those fast responding people.

I quickly respond that's wrong. Bible says don't do that.

So I'm working on that. I had to work on it my whole

life because I want to respond. I'm better than I used to be.

I'm not perfect, but I've always wanted to do that quickly.

It's better to sit back, think about it, take a deep breath.

My dad used to tell me all the time.

You know what? Instead of opening your big

mouth, he told me this all the time.

Just sit back, take a deep breath and swallow 1st and think

about what you want to say. A lot of truth to that.

You know why? Because when somebody speaks

words of evil to you, the way that you bless those that curse

you, showing agape love in the first radical thing, he says.

You're going to speak kindly back to them that speak those

ugly words to you. That is not natural.

It's very, very natural to speak good about people that you

admire and your friends. That is natural.

What Jesus is talking about is hard stuff.

That's why it's command. He's talking about things that

are unnatural, speaking kindness.

When something is being hurled at you negatively, it's the kind

of love that gives a soft answer.

In hopes of turning away wrath, I'm going to give you 2 passages

here. The wise man Solomon of old in

Proverbs 15 and one said this. A soft answer turns away wrath,

but a harsh word stirs up anger. And that's true.

He ever said something to someone in a soft tone.

When they've said something in a harsh tone and there's really

nothing for them to say in response.

What they may want to do is they want you to respond ugly so they

can justify their behavior and keep it coming.

But when you speak gently or you speak in a soft answer, it turns

away. Wrath.

Give me another passage. I said I was going to get back

to this. We'll spend a little bit of time

on this. Not too much.

Romans 12 and verse 20. Therefore, if your enemy is

hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a

drink, for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.

I'm going to tell you, I've read all kinds of commentaries and

scholars and there's all manner of interpretations of what it

means when you heap coals of fire on their head.

One interpretation was this, because God is the avenger, and

when you give place to to wrath, you give it to God and he's the

one that's the avenger. So what this means is when I'm

good to somebody that's rotten to me, it heaps coals of fire on

his head, meaning God is going to judge them and God will

punish them. Well, while it's true that God

does those things, is that really the context of this

passage? And is that really what the

ideal was? What Paul was saying when he was

describing the reasons why you would be good to somebody, Was

he really saying so that God gets them?

Come on, let me tell you what I used to think this means.

And by the way, there may be a little truth to each one, or

some merit. Oh, there's a better

explanation, I believe. I used to think what this means

is this. You see, what this means is if

I'm good to somebody that's bad to me or mean to me, it's going

to keep coals of fire on his head because it's going to

really irritate him, because really what he really wants is a

fight. Maybe.

But I think there's a better explanation.

Fire here. There's an illusion to fire

where they would fire or subject metals to flames of fire.

Do you know what happens when you put a fire?

You got a fire and you put metal to the fire.

You know what happens? You melt it.

What's the point? What was Paul actually saying?

He was saying this in Romans chapter 12 and verse 20.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

It's about melting something. It's about melting with his

shame. You melt his hostility.

That's really the point. If I'm doing good to someone

that's doing rotten things to me, it heaps coals of fire on

his head with his shame because of his behavior, therefore it's

going to melt his hostility. Isn't that the whole point?

The point isn't I'm going to do this until he gets punished.

The point is that I'm going to do this and it really gets to

get really stick it to him. No, the point is, I want to melt

his hostility. It's the same thing as the

previous passage in Proverbs 15, and one where a soft answer

turns away wrath. OK.

But if you ever stop to consider also that the words of Jesus are

also very evangelistic, think about it.

If you're a Christian and somebody's your enemy and

they're treating you horribly, but you do good things for them

and they know the reason you do that is because you're a

Christian, because you have somebody that's greater than you

that you follow, that's Jesus. And being a Christian means you

are Christ, like in your behavior.

And that's what you're doing. You're acting like Jesus.

You know what happens? You may have an influence over

them someday without ever preaching the gospel to them.

You may have some sort of an influence in their life.

Don't you see it's all about being evangelistic.

How you going to ever have the influence to convert somebody

when you're hateful and horrible back to them?

You're just not. You're just not.

You open up doors of opportunity.

As one scholar said, chasms of hatred can only be bridged with

acts of love. I know this is challenging and I

know people looking at it from a worldly standpoint or a fleshly

standpoint. They can't understand.

How could it possibly be that goodness can thrive in the midst

of bitter hatred? I'm going to tell you how I can,

because chasms of hatred can only be bridged by acts of love.

OK, that's the second thing. That's the bless those that

curse you. Here's the second one.

Do good to those who hate you, as I said before about your

friends, from your friends and showing kindness to people that

are deserving, it's easy to do that, it's easy to sacrifice for

them. But it's quite a different story

to do that for somebody that hates us.

Remember, true love John says is linked together with works.

First John chapter seven or three in the beginning of verse

17. But whoever has this world's

goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from

him, how does the love of God abide in him?

My little children, let us not love in Word or in tongue, but

in deed and in truth. So the two ways that agape

manifests itself to radical way so far is blessing those that

curse you by returning good words for evil words and doing

good for those who hate you. But I want to spend some time on

the last one and pray for those who spitefully use you and

persecute you. Let me ask you this.

How many was the last time that we?

That's I'm not. I'm not going to put it on you.

Me too. When's the last time that we

prayed for someone like that? I mean, really prayed for him

with the right heart. I don't mean pray that God will

take care of their behavior. Straighten them out.

I mean, when's the last time that we have prayed for someone

that spitefully used us and persecuted us?

I will say this a very bold statement.

A Christian has reached a great level, a greater level of

maturity, when he prays for his enemies.

Now, I did not say this. I did not say that.

A Christian reaches a higher level of holiness.

And by the way, you don't. In fact, there's nothing more

off putting than somebody that walks around with a haughty

spirit or a holier than thou attitude that they get it and

you don't. There's nothing more off putting

than that. And I'm going to tell you

something else too, if that's the person's demeanor.

You have no influence. You have no influence on people

in the world. I'm going to say this from an

evangelistic, an evangelist viewpoint with people every day.

Do you know the kind of person that really has influence?

Talk about the kind of Christian that really has influence.

It's somebody that walks around with a humble spirit, somebody

that is a real genuine person that's not perfect and knows it

and people sometimes see it. And sometimes maybe somebody

made some mistakes in the past. Maybe they messed up.

Maybe they did some things that they regret and they know it,

but they recovered. And they're on this side of

those mistakes now, and they're the genuine article, the genuine

person. Maybe the world's kicked him

around a little, but now they've got the battle scars to be able

to relate to somebody else. You want to talk about

influence, be a genuine person. You never reach a higher level

of holiness. And if a person thinks that they

have come on down, If anybody could have been like that, it

was Jesus. But Jesus is the Bible describes

him. Jesus says Jesus himself.

I am meek and lowly in heart. That's what Jesus said and you

shall find rest unto your soul. For my yoke is easy and my

burden is light. When you pray for your enemies,

it indicates a couple things, folks.

It indicates that God number one is in control.

That's what you're saying. When you pray for your enemies

#2, you are also demonstrating to God that you want the very

best for your enemies. That's number two and #3, and

especially that you want them to be saved.

My question is this. What is the practical effect, or

what is the actual outcome of praying for your enemies?

Is God going to actually change their heart?

If God wants to, If it's his will, And if he says yes, then

he will. But there's no guarantee, so

what's the point? You might say.

Wait a minute. If I pray for my enemies, if I

pray for those that spitefully use me and persecute me, and

really there's no guarantee that it's going to work, why pray for

them? You're missing the point.

It's not about changing their heart.

It's about changing yours. It's about changing yours.

That's a guarantee. Can God providentially change

the heart of somebody? Yes.

And I pray all the time. If I know somebody with a

hardened heart, I pray that their hearts will be changed.

And I pray God will do something to change their heart.

And I pray that with everything I've got, there's no guarantee.

We pray in our time. God answers in his time

according to his will. God's going to make that

decision. God's going to make that choice.

So that's not a guarantee of changing their heart.

What is a guarantee is when I pray for those that spitefully

use me and persecute me, those that are enemies of mine, it's

going to for sure change my heart.

But let me give you 2 things that are 100% sure.

This is why it changed your heart.

Two things. When you pray for your enemy,

you relinquish anger, you really do.

You can't sincerely ask God's blessings upon your enemy if you

hate them. You can't.

Jesus, We're saying I'm not trying to tell you to go fix the

world. I'm telling you to fix you and

your behavior and your influence.

And by the way, all this works together also with personal

forgiveness. Give me 3 examples quickly.

How about Joseph? In the Old Testament, sold by

his brothers into slavery, terrible things happened to him.

He was later reconciled to his brothers, right?

We know the story has a happy ending down the road.

But before he was ever reconciled to his brothers,

before his brothers ever asked for forgiveness.

Do you know what Joseph did? The Bible says he named his

first born son Manasseh. And then it says what Manasseh

means right after that passage. God has made me to forget.

He didn't lose his memory. He made a choice.

God has made me to forget. Then it says Forget what?

All the trouble of my father's house.

What was Joseph doing? He was making a decision.

I'm not going to be negatively influenced by this anymore.

I make a choice. I don't let my brothers off the

hook. I let me off the hook.

I got a friend of mine. You already told me I'm working

on it. He's better.

Always better. I got a friend of mine told me

he has a list of all the people that have done bad to him.

I don't even want to know what you want to do with the list,

but he's got a list. He said he had a list.

After a couple years being friends and talking a lot about

this kind of stuff, he told me the other day.

He said I threw away the list. I said good for you, you know

why? Good for you?

Because you just let yourself off the hook.

You said I'm not going to be negatively influenced by that

guy anymore. And by the way, one little thing

I got to slip in. If somebody's done you wrong and

you have animosity toward him and you have you have built up

inside you and you're holding the grudge, let me tell you

something. Don't do that.

You know why? First of all, for the reasons

that we just said. But I'm going to give you

another reason. If somebody's wronged you,

you're boiling inside about what they did.

But they're going about their life, not even thinking about

you. They haven't thought of you

again at all. They just did their thing and

that's it. Don't give them that kind of

power to destroy you inside. Let it go.

You relinquish anger. Anger when you forgive.

Awesome. Give another one.

Stephen Acts Chapter 7. He's being stoned to death.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He looks up into the heavens. He says, behold, I see the

heavens open and I see Jesus standing on the right hand of

God. They were infuriated.

There ran on him and they stoned him to death.

What did Stephen say? Lord lay not this sin to their

charge, and God's the only forgiver and forgiveness only

comes from God with repentance. That's true.

But Stephen by his words shows that he forgave.

He did. And then the master one more is

Jesus when he's hanging on the cross dying for the sins of the

world, he says Father forgive them, for they know not what

they do. God has to be the forgiver of

sin only comes with repentance. But Jesus in a physical human

sense had forgiven and that he didn't pull the grudge against

what they were doing to him. You let yourself off the hook

when you forgive, whether a person is deserving or not.

Let me give you an example. Several years ago there were two

players that played for the same professional football team.

They played on a Sunday, went out Sunday night, did things

they shouldn't do. They were both intoxicated.

They got in a car. They drove really fast, went

around the corner and flipped the car.

The driver had minimal injuries. The passenger, his teammate and

good friend was killed. The driver was distraught beyond

belief, the guilt because he killed his friend because of a

bad choice. The next football game.

He was not dressed, but he was on the sidelines and the stadium

was booing to get him out of there with hatred.

It got so bad that the professional football team he

was playing for had him leave the field and not stand with his

teammates. Legal issues were coming.

All manner of things were coming.

He was so distraught and in tears, he talked to his friend's

mother, the mother of the boy that died.

He said Everybody hates me, he said.

And I hate myself for what I did.

I don't even know if I should come to the funeral because

there's so much animosity from the family to me.

Maybe it's best if I don't come. You know what The mother said

She said. Son, you come to that funeral.

You sit next to me because I forgive you.

She made the choice. I'm not going to be negatively

influenced by this, even though my heart is broken.

You want to relieve yourself. You want to release yourself.

You want to let yourself go do that.

He still had to deal with the law.

He still had other ramifications.

But in her heart, when we're going to bring her son back, she

said. I forgive you.

The first thing that happens when you pray for your enemies.

You relinquish anger #2. You take the focus off yourself

and you put your eyes on God. Anger is often multiplied when

we try to handle our enemies by ourself.

But when you turn your anger over to God, then God's love

overshadows hate. So the practical things that

happen when you pray for your enemies, you relinquish anger,

anger. And that's great.

You let yourself go and then you focus on God and take your focus

off yourself and your own personal feelings.

And just maybe when you pray, God may change their heart too.

Wow, I think Jesus knew what he was talking about.

The plan's perfect. This is hard to do.

In conclusion, Jesus then gives reasons and three verses.

I'm not going to comment on these verses.

I'm going to read what they are. And then we're going to sum it

up with one final verse beginning in verse 45, after he

said that said, you do all this. And then here's the here's the

What happens as a result? That you may be the sons of your

Father in heaven? For he makes his Son to rise on

the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on

the unjust. For if you love those who love

you, what reward of you? Do not even the tax collectors

do the same? And if you greet your brethren

only, what do you do more than others?

Do not even the tax collectors do so?

So then he says this, the final verse.

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is

perfect. Oh, you mean I got to be

perfect? What's that mean?

First of all, perfect here does not mean sinless perfection, and

it does not mean without a flaw. That's not what this means at

all. In fact, the word perfect has a

variety of connotations and the context must bear out or

determine its meaning. For example, the word perfect in

this passage is the same word perfect that's found in Second

Timothy 316 and 17, where the Bible says there about the word

of God that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and

is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for

instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be

perfect telios. The word telios thoroughly

equipped for every good work. What does that word mean?

In the connotation of the context that that is given, it

means complete. The man of God, the child of

God, is going to be complete with the word of God, and you

need nothing else. That's what that means.

But the same Greek word, teleos in this passage has a different

connotation to it, and the context has to bear it out.

What's the context? Loving your enemies, That's the

context. Got to stick with the context.

So the connotation of being perfect in this regard is really

the word mature. Now you know what?

I can't be perfect meaning flawless, but I can be mature.

I'm not very mature, but I can be mature when it comes to what

he just commanded to be to be mature.

But I can do that. You can sum it up like this.

Therefore you shall be mature just as your Father in heaven is

mature. The context is loving your

enemies. So how do we sum it up when we

are to follow God's example of having a mature love which will

always be demonstrated in action?

That's God's point. And that makes sense.

That makes sense. Jesus says you heard that it had

been said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, That's agape love.

That's always demonstrated in action, in words, in deeds, in

behavior. And in example.

It's the love. It's always attributed to God.

I'm finished. Thank you so much for being such

a good listening audience. We never close a time that we

teach from God's word without extending an invitation.

It's the greatest invitation in the world.

You know what? It's not my invitation.

It's the Lord's invitation, the first thing we must do to be

saved. You got to hear the word of God.

Romans 10/17. So that faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God. But the word of God produces

something. We have a choice to make.

We have to believe it with all of our heart.

Hebrews 11:00 and 6:00. But without faith it's

impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must

believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who

diligently seek Him. Jesus also said he that believes

and is baptized will be saved. Also.

We need to repent of our sins and all that means I got to make

a change. I've been going in this

direction. I don't want to do that anymore.

I'm going to change and go in that direction.

Change my mind, change my heart leads to a change of behavior,

change of action. And here's the best part.

It leads to a change in my relationship with Jesus.

Great stuff, truly these times of ignorance, God overlooked but

now commands all men everywhere to repent.

That's what Jesus said. Then we got to be willing to say

the best thing you'll ever say, confessed that Jesus Christ is

the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if

you believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. All these steps lead toward the

point of salvation, but the point of salvation is the next

one. It's being baptized for the

remission of sins. Mark 1616.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does

not believe will be condemned. If you've never taken those

steps of obedience, we would love to assist you in that.

Excuse me in that, if you will. Maybe you have.

Maybe there's something that's on your heart.

Maybe there's something on your mind.

Maybe there's something you'd like to get off of your mind,

Your heart. You'd like the prayers of the

congregation on your behalf, whatever that might be.

Be one of either class. Come forward while we stand,

while we say. We thank you for listening to

our podcast put on by The Church of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in

Bakersfield. If you would like.

Any additional information or you would like to receive a free

Bible correspondence course by mail?

Please e-mail us at [email protected].

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Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us.

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