Luke 6:35-38; Running Over

I'm gonna take your Bible and join me in Luke

chapter six today. Well, last week we looked at Luke

six twenty seven through thirty four, and we saw this

beautifully woven picture of the love of God for sinners.

When we got home last week, Denise asked me. She said, now, well, okay,

I want to ask you about your sermon. Now when

my wife says that it's always always, have to stop

and say, oh, what did I say? She said, okay,

So what happens to the wife, the young wife who's

abused by her husband. She's supposed to just turn the

other cheek. And I said, no, now that because what

Jesus gave us in twenty seven through thirty four, remember

that is undoable. Because for the sinner, what do we do.

We love those who love us, We do good to

those who do good to us. We lend to those

who lend to us, right, that's the sinner's rule. So

what Jesus gives us is commandments that we can't keep, which,

just like the Ten Commandments, drive us to him because

we understand we can't do it. And so especially for

someone in an abusive situation, they just need to find

shelter from that abusive situation, no matter what it is,

whether it's physical or verbal or whatever. They don't need

to stay there. That's not what this that's not what

this passage teaches. So I just wanted to I wanted

to clarify that. So Jesus gives us those commandments, we

know we can't keep them, and he and He, you know,

clarifies that with those last pieces there, here's what the

sinner does, and so describes that for for us. Now

we come to thirty four and we're going to talk

about how the believer is to act. So these are commands,

but they're only for believers, those who are in Christ. Jesus,

this is how we are to behave. So I've entitled

this sermon running Over. You see, they're on the on

the graphic. So we come to today thirty five through

thirty eight, and these are the commands for the believers

to love and what that looks like. Okay, why don't

we read thirty five through thirty eight. But love you

your enemies, and do good and lend hoping for nothing again,

and your reward shall be great and you shall be

called the children of the Highest. For he is kind

under the unthankful, and to the evil. Be therefore merciful,

as your father also is merciful. Judge not, and you

shall not be judged. Condemn not, you shall not be condemned. Forgive,

and you shall be forgiven. Give and it shall be

given unto you. Good measure pressed down and shaken together

and running over shall men give into your bosom. For

with the same measure that you meet with all, it

shall be measured to you again. Amen, Father, help us

today as we consider your word, and bless this time together, Father,

that you might speak to us each one through your word.

We pray today in Jesus' name. Amen. So if you

look here at verse thirty five's world will begin. Notice

that he starts out with the same command, but love

your enemies. Now he ended with there in thirty four.

In thirty and thirty four sinners also lend to sinners

and receive as much. Again, so he as in thirty

four where he's ending that piece about the sinners and

how they behave what their love looks like, and then

he starts with the adversative, but love your enemies. So

the reason this command is in contrast to the one

that precedes it, or rather is based on the one

that preceded it is because it's a mirror image of it.

So he says, do good. Well, we know that. Just

like in twenty seven when Jesus said love your enemies,

he explains what that looks like. So now he's going

to explain what it looks like for the believer to

love the enemy. Do good. This command is wide open.

How do we do good? And how we do good

is really in our hands. We're allowed to be creative

about it. Do good, that's it, that's the command. Well,

how do I do that? Do good? What does it

look like in your situation, in your time, in your community,

with your people, with your neighbors, and your family and

your friends, and your enemies and everybody. What does that

look like? How can you do good to that person,

to that family, to that company that you work for? Perhaps,

how do you do good? Well, that's up to you.

It's really beautiful because he just says do good. It

doesn't tell us exactly how, But that's kind of where

our creativity comes in, and the spirit of God leads

us and points out to us, this is the thing

that you should do for so and so and this

is given to believers because the love of God expressed

in twenty seven through thirty four is the model for

our love. And there, of course, in verse twenty seven

we have but I say unto you which here love

your enemies and do good to them which hate you.

So that's the model of God's love, and now we're

going to impose that upon ourselves. Here's how our love

should look like, doing good to those that hate us.

Whatever that means, and however we are to do it,

we just do it as a spirit of God leads us.

And it's just wide open. Ladies and gentlemen, go out

and do good. Just go do it, because that's your

commission from Christ. Love looks like this doing good. Notice

what he says next and lend and lend hoping for nothing. Again,

Notice that verse thirty has the verb give, because God

is the great giver and what he gives last. But

when he gives us this command, he doesn't say give.

He says lend, because what we have is temporary, it's

not gonna last. It's not eternal. What God gives is.

What we give is not, So we can lend it

because it's not gonna last. Forever. Also notice that the

attitude in giving here. When goods are confiscated, he says

they're in Verse thirty, ask them not again. But when

the Christian lends, we follow the same principle. Because this

is the manner of God's love. We don't ask for

it again. We lend and that's it. There's no strings attached.

Just like when God gives, there are no strings attached,

no works necessary, no performance required. He just gives to

us freely. And so when we lend, where to do

it the same way, freely, no strings attached. Here, you go,

love you. That's it. So we're to love or to

do good, and we're to lend. This shows our enemies

the love of God. Why because in the believer's heart,

the love of God is shed abroad by the holy

gold which He has given us. And so we have

it in where to share it? And how do we

share it? By doing good? Because that's what the world

will see by lending, Because that's what the world will see.

If there's strings attached to the lending ladies and gentlemen,

that just looks like the world, and it looks even

grosser to the world. Because the church is supposed to

be different than that. I mean, I understand it. With

somebody out in the world does something crooked and lends

and has little strings attached to the lending. But when

the Church lends, no, it's just free. When the believer lends,

it's just free because we've been given something marvelous and

so we know how to do it. We know how

to love, we know how to do good, we know

how to lend because we know the love of God.

And then notice he says, your reward shall be great? Well,

what reward? What reward do I receive? What in the

world is he talking about here? Your reward shall be great? Well,

what reward do I receive that is any more meaningful

than having Christ in my life, than knowing the Father,

than having the Holy Ghost shed abroad in my heart?

What reward is better than that? Your reward shall be great? Well,

maybe he gives rewards, but I'm not going to depend

on him. I'm not going to count on me giving

and God giving back to me. I'm just gonna give

no strings attached. That means no strings to the person

I'm giving to or lending to, and no strings to God.

Saying to him, hey, listen, I gave to so and so,

so you better give back to me. Come on, are

we really that vain that we would do that? We'll

talk up a little bit more about that in a minute.

The Psalma said, whom have I in heaven? But thee

Now listen to the next words. Here. This is Psalm

seventy three. And there is none upon earth that I

desire beside the none that includes people, that includes things,

that includes all of it. None on earth that I

desire beside the How wonderful that is, What a beautiful

word that is for us. Here is my great reward,

the very presence of the Father with me. And then

notice what he says, you shall be called the children

of the Highest. Here it is, this is the reward

to be his child. What a wonderful reward that is.

And in Romans chapter eight, Paul gives us something of

that when he says there in verses sixteen and seventeen,

the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we

are the children of God. And if children, then heirs

of God, and join heirs with Christ. And if so

be that we suffer with Him, that we may also

be glorified together children of God. God heirs, join airs

with Christ, children of the Highest. Your reward shall be great,

Jesus said, you should be called the children of the Highest.

You see, this is all about the believer. Loving, Jesus said,

But love your enemies, do good, lend, hoping for nothing. Again,

your reward should be great. You shall be called the

children of the Highest. And then we have the character

of the Father mentioned Beginning there in the second part

is the verse thirty five. Yes, written in verse thirty five,

for he is kind, Notice that he is kind under

the unfaked, unthankful, and to the evil. So how far

does your good go? How far does your good go?

You know, we're are so accustomed to blessing those whom

we know, blessing those who are blessing us, praying for

the those who are praying for us, doing good to

those who do good to us. That's easy. That's what

sinners do. We're called to something higher than that. Because

God is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

Always is the rainfalls on the just and the unjust.

This is what God does, his goodness to those who

hate him, curse him despitefully, use him as great. And

this is a pattern for our love to the world

of sinners. And you might not be surrounded by heathen

every day, or sinners or wicked men. They might not

be where you are. But I guarantee you there's somebody

there in your life that you can be kind to,

that you can be good too. And ladies and gentlemen,

take the lid off of that and just be creative

as you can be. And being good, what does it mean.

It means whatever it happens to mean in that situation.

Go out and do good, and do good to the

unthankful and to the evil, because you're father does it

to them as well. And who knows, he may be

using your good for his good, your kindness for his kindness,

so that they might come to know Christ. This is

a witness to the world Verse thirty six. Be therefore

merciful as your father also is merciful. So he's kind

and he's merciful. And do you notice the language here?

Your father, who who is Jesus speaking to now the believer?

Be merciful as your father is merciful. This is the

pattern for believers. Jesus gave the character of God a

name Mercy. This is the character of God he's merciful. Again,

the most highs are great reward. But now Jesus calls

him our father. This is in his DNA, and so

is a part of the DNA of every believer because

of his spirit which abides in us. Then he looked

to the mercy of God is demonstrated in the lives

of believers, and unpacked the meaning he said, be merciful

as your Father is merciful. This is loving, This is kindness,

this is good doing, this is lending mercy ladies and gentlemen.

Is the motivator for all of these things. The love

of God is seen in his mercy, and that mercy

is described by Christ in four ways. And now we're

going to come to those four ways here, beginning in

verse thirty seven. Notice mercy descriptor number one. Judge not

and you shall not be judged. Okay, this is how

you are to be merciful, one of the ways you

are to be merciful. This verse, however, has been used

by the zombie media, by the Rainbow Mafia, and by

many others in that camp to beat Christians over the

head because the homosexual agenda will come up and they'll say,

you can't say anything does, because the Bible says judge

not unless you be judged. They will say that we

break this command when we don't affirm their lifestyle choices.

But is that what this verse is about? Shouldn't we

discriminate between what is wrong and what is right? Shouldn't

we discriminate between what is good and what is evil

and have the courage to call it evil. Shouldn't we

discriminate between sin and righteousness? Well, yes, of course we should.

That's part of our commission as believers, part of who

we are. The Bible makes it very plain that we're

to do those things we're commanded to you. The Greek

word here that's translated judge means the divine tribunal occupied

by God to administer justice, and you and I cannot

do that. This judging is most often seen in the

way we express prejudice. Don't judge, because what we do

with our prejudice is we prejudge, don't We We see

somebody and we automatically we know who they are, where

they've been, what they've done, and so we slot them

in a category and we treat them that way. Because

prejudice always leads to treatment, poor treatment, it's not doing

good and it's not lending without strings. Our prejudice puts

us puts people in certain categories. That's what he means

here by judging is the prejudice that we hold in

our hearts towards people. We can't look into the soul

of another to pass eternal judgment on them. But what

we can do is we can look on the externals

and say, I know that that's right and that's wrong.

I know that the Bible says that that's righteous and

that's unrighteous. We can look at those things and we

can discriminate between the good and the evil. But we

can't look into the soul of the person and say, well,

why I know what's going to happen to you? Because

we don't, we can't prejudge them. And that's what he

means here, don't judge. Only God can do that. But

with the word of God as our guide, we can

distinguish between right and wrong, and we should do that.

But we should decide that someone But if we should

decide that someone is unworthy of salvation or mercy or

the love of God, that, ladies and gentlemen, is not

our purview, not at all. The unthankful and the evil.

Who are they? That's a big group, isn't it. That's

a big group. And it's not our duty to judge them.

That's God's job. Our duty is to love them. Now,

sometimes loving them, what does it mean? It means telling

them the truth. Actually, that means that all the time.

And sometimes when we tell them, the people in the

world the truth, what are they going to say to us?

Will you better not judge me? Yeah? If we say

to the person who loves is alcohol to read you know,

Proverbs chapter twenty, verse one, whine is a mocker, bears

a brawler. Those are ontological statements. They're always true, They're

eternally true because the Bible says they are true. And

when we say that to the person who is drinking,

they might say to us, well, don't judge me. I'm

not judging you. I'm just telling you what the Bible

says about what you're doing. You see. So we got

to be careful and understand this verse and don't let

them beat you over the head with it, because what

they want to say to you about this is not

what this says at all. Don't prejudge their soul, love

them whatever they're doing. Just love them, but tell them

the truth, and don't engage with them, and don't affirm

them when they're off in sin. That's not what this

is about. Mercy descriptor number two condemn not and you

shall not be condemned. This is to pass the sentence

of judgment. From the previous statement, judge not unless you

be judged condemned not. So now the sentence is being passed.

Who can do that? Only God can do that. He

is the only one that can pass the sentence. To

pass the sentence of judgment without mercy, well that's God's

and that's his prerogative. But we know he's merciful. The

problem with judging according to our prejudice is that we

always condemn without mercy, and condemnation always follows corrupt tribunals

run by men, whether it's the tribunal in the heart

of an individual or whether it's some tribunal in some

court someplace. When we are prejudice and then we condemn,

it's always bad news. Thirdly, the third mercy descriptor is

right there, forgive and you shall be forgiven. Now you

notice how we've turned a corner real quick here we've

had two negatives, judge not and condemn not. Now, notice

these are positive. Forgive and you shall be forgiven. Is

my forgiveness dependent on my ability to forgive? No, Remember

that these commands are only for the believer. The forgiveness

received is only from men. You shall be forgiven. This

is not saying that if you forgive somebody, then Jesus

is going to forgive you of your sins. Now, if

you're a believer, that's already been done, eternally done, and

all the sins are taken care of, and you have

the imputed righteousness of Christ, and all of it is

under his blood. Now, when it says they're forgiven, you

shall be forgiven. We're talking about what men do to you.

If you forgive them, then they're going to be forgiving

towards you. And again, whose character is this? This is

the character of God. We are to forgive. Why? Because

God is merciful and he expresses his mercy in kindness

to the unthankful and to the wicked. So forgive and

you shall be forgiven. I'm always amazed at how Christians,

and I've had this happen to me in my past,

before I was the in the ministry, And right after

I started in the ministry, people will come to me

and tell me how they were not going to forgive

so and so Joe Doaks. I will never forgive Joe Doaks.

And I would think to myself, well, didn't Jesus tell

us to forgive? You don't know what Joe Doaks did

to me? Are you born again? What did you do

to him? What did you do to Jesus? What put

him on the cross? And you can't forgive? You little thing?

Can't forgive Christians? Christians have trouble with this more than

you think. Forgiveness, ladies and gentlemen should become us. It

shouldn't be something that we struggle with, because if we've

been forgiven in Christ Jesus, then that should be that

should be the item number one on our agenda for others. Forgiveness.

And I'm gonna tell you, I know it's hard. I've

lived long enough in this life to know how hard

it is to forgive some people. And there are some

people in my life very difficult to forgive. But when

I think about what Jesus did for me and what

I'm dealing with with someone else, it doesn't compare. It

does not compare. And so all the forgiveness that he's

given me in his death on the cross, ladies and

gentlemen imputing his righteousness to me when I never deserved it?

What does Joe Doakes deserve my forgiveness no matter what

he's done. Now that doesn't mean that you, you know,

embrace Joe Doaks and bring him into your home. You

might want to keep him at arm's length because he's

a fool, but you still forgive him. Wisdom says, keep

him out here. Jesus says, forgive, but be wise, but

be wise mercy descriptor number four. Give. So we've had

four things too negative, now too positive for judge, not condemn,

not forgive, and give. Okay, give and it shall be

given unto you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over,

shall men give into your bosom. It is likely that

you are familiar with the charismatic word of faith interpretation

of this verse, because what they say is they teach

most of them anyway. I won't paint with a broom.

They teach most teach a seed faith doctrine that says,

if you give financially to their ministry, it's like planting

a seed and then God will respond by multiplying the

seed one hundredfold good measures, shaken together, running over. So

they want to talk about seed faith, and it is

so ubiquitous now in the culture because of what the

crouches did with Trinity Network, and it was preached NonStop,

twenty four hours a day for so many years, and

still is. It's still being abused, it's still going through

its permutations. People are still talking about seed faith. It

all started with Oral Roberts back in the sixties. He's

the one that came up with this seed faith idea

and now it so permeates everything that as soon as

you look at this first you go, wait a minute,

I know what that means. That means if I give

my money, then God's going to return it to me.

And look at how it's going to happen. It's going

to be pressed down, shaken together, running over. But notice,

shall men give into your bosom again? It's about the

men and how they respond to your lending and your giving.

And of course this entire verse, verse thirty eight has

been ripped from its context by the charismatics and the

Word of Faith gospeliers and by the prosperity gospel eers.

They have ripped this completely out of its context because

this has nothing to do with you becoming rich because

you give. It has nothing to do with that. But

what it has to do with is the mercy of

God and how we're to behave towards others. I saw

a video last week or two weeks ago. I wasn't

even thinking about this passage when I happened to come

across this video, and it was of an apostle, somebody

they call themselves an apostle. Of course, there are no apostles,

so that's a lie to begin with. And this apostle

was a female again a mess and there was a

mother there with a little child, and the child was

very ill, laying at the feet of the apostle, and

the apostle was asking the mother how much she had

given and see faith, money for her child to be healed.

And the mother told the apostle what it was, and

she said, well, you need you're not giving enough. You

need to give thousands of dollars to my ministry or

this child's not going to be healed. And I was

so disgusted with that, and I thought to myself, how

would anybody ever go back to the church if that's

what they thought God was that he was some sort

of a genie that you could put quarters in a

machine and eventually something good would come out. But you

never know. You didn't know how many quarters you had

to put into the machine, so you just had to

keep putting quarters in the machine. And guess people today

are putting quarters into the machine based on the false

teaching of this verse so that they can get some

blessing in this life. They think, and they're being disappointed,

and they're being harmed, and they're being hardened, and they're

just walking away. And they were rejecting now the gospel

because they were mistaught this verse and others. And another

thing they do with this is they take it and

they connected with Jesus parable of the good sower. Remember

the man who goes out and sows the seed, and

then they say, well, if you sow the right seed

in the right place, then you're going to get a

crop of thirty sixty one hundredfold. Jesus is never teaching that,

and it's not connected to this at all. So I

know it took a minute to talk about that, but

I really think we need to understand the false dynamic

that's going on here in some circles lead us to

this kind of ugly, foolish theology that these charismatics are preaching.

Jesus said, give, and it shall be given under you,

good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Shall men

give into your bosom just like they're above it In

descriptor three, forgive and ye shall be forgiven? Who's forgiving me?

The men that I forgive? Who's giving to me the

men that I give to? And I'm not looking for

that as a reply, because why Jesus already told me

to lend looking for nothing in return? Don't look for

anything again, no strings attached, So I don't give so

that I can get back. That's ugly. No, just give, lend,

do good, do it, go out and do it. Be

creative about it, however it is you do it, and

don't think about what may or may not be come

of it, because that's not the point. And then he

concludes with this, for with the same measure that you

meet with, all that shall be measured to you. Again,

where does this come from? Not being judged is for men.

Not being condemned is for men. Forgiveness comes from the men.

Giving is from the men. Shall men give into your

bosom the measure that you meet, it shall be measured

to you. Again. Why because they are responding to the

mercy of God that is being displayed by you in

doing good. That's why you're doing good. The mercy of

God is being displayed, and men are being attracted to that.

And so they're not judging, they're not condemning, or they may,

but they may not. They are forgiving because you're forgiving,

and they're giving because you gave to them. To begin with,

all of this begins with you. Do good. As I said,

take the lid off of that whatever that might look like,

in that situation, in that moment, with that person, wherever

you are, go ahead and do good. So how do

we apply this? I think I just applied it. Love

your enemies. Take the lid off of your good doing, lend, give, forgive,

don't judge, don't be prejudiced, and don't follow that up

with condemnation because you're not God. And what wo men do?

They will respond in kind? And guess what happens? Then

they're drawn to your Christ because they see the love

of God in you. The mercy of God in you,

the very person and presence of God in you. The

Holy Ghost is abiding in you. They see it all,

and it draws them to him. Father, help us to

do good, to love like Jesus is teaching us here

to lend, hoping for nothing, that we might be the

children of the Highest, that our Father might be displayed

in us in his mercy. Father, we thank you for that.

We ask that you'd help us to do that today.

Resolving us Father, to forgive and to give for we

pray in Jesus' name. Amen.