Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Do People Know Who You Follow - Luke 6:27-36

God, we thank you for today. We thank you for this moment just

to set aside all of the distractions and focus on you, your word,

and who you've called us to be today. God, as we open your

word and read it, we pray that our hearts are open to receive from

You, God, that our hearts are open to be challenged and encouraged by

You, to be rebuked if necessary, God, to be reproved, God

to just. We submit all of our own emotions, all of our own

feelings. We submit them all to you right now as we dive into your

word, and we give you full permission to do a work on our hearts.

And God, we just ask for it and eagerly desire it, as

You or the Holy Spirit just live in us and are making us more like

Jesus. We pray that you do that work today as we're opening your Word

and Jesus name, everybody said Amen. Okay. We've been in a series

going verse by verse through the Book of Luke called Luke The Orderly Account of

Truth. I've loved going through this series so far. It's been awesome.

There's a big a bunch of setup in the beginning, which is great,

and then started getting into Jesus like going and doing things, and that was

a huge turn in the book. And this has been super exciting the whole

time. But now that Jesus is out and doing things, it's all starting

to make sense why Luke was laying this groundwork right. So Luke investigated and

he wrote an orderly account of the things that happened when Jesus walked the earth.

And because of his orderly account, we can know the exact truth about

who Jesus is and what he taught. That's the beauty about the Gospel accounts

is we now can know the exact truth about who Jesus is and what he

taught. And last week Pastor Jordan took us through Jesus teaching on what it

means to be really, what it really means to be blessed? Right?

Was hashtag blessed right? So there's a big difference in what the world considers

blessed and what God considers blessed. They're not the same, are they?

No, they seem to be very different. In fact, they're so contrasted

they seem to be complete opposites. Jesus says, blessed or the poor the

world would not say if you're poor, you're blessed. Now the world would

say that you're blessed if you're rich. So Jesus says, blessed are the

poor? Blessed are you when people hate you? How about that one blessed

when people reject you? And no, he says woe to those who are

rich, And when people speak well of you, he says, woe to

you. But why is that? Why are the opposite? Why is what

the world says is blessing so different than what God says is blessing? And

I think there's two things in play here to understand why Jesus would say blessed

to the poor and the hungry and the weeping. Do you remember when Jesus

said earlier in the series, that's not the healthy who need a doctor,

but the sick. You guys, remember that you have to know something is

wrong in order to receive the blessings that Jesus is talking about. You have

to know that there's some condition in me that's not right, there's something that

needs to be fixed, that I'm sick with something and it's not okay.

The Pharisees felt they had no eat of anything. Why is Jesus constantly calling

them out because they thought they were already righteous by what they did and that

they didn't need to be made righteous. So Jesus is saying that those who

know they need help get the blessing of that help. That's one side of

kind of what we're talking about. You're poor, now you will receive the

kingdom of God. That's what he said. You're hungry, now you will

be fed. You are weeping, now you will laugh. That's the first

thing, and play. The second thing is that Jesus says, bless to

you when people hate you, when they exclude you, when they insult you,

when they reject your name is evil because of the Son of Man.

So there's something deeper here, right, It's not just in general you're blessed

when people hate you. So when they hate you because of the Son of

Man, that on account of our association with Jesus, we are blessed when

we experience persecution, that we should rejoice. Why because our reward is great

in heaven. Our reward is great in heaven. Now that is true blessing,

because that's a blessing that lasts forever. Our earthly rewards, they will

fade. Heavenly rewards don't fade an everlasting crown. The true prophets got rejected

and the false prophets were accepted. It's very normal. The true prophets were

rejected and the false prophets were accepted. So we should rejoice in the blessing

of being treated like the true prophets. Why, it means we're speaking the

same words they did. We're speaking the same truth that Jesus spoke, or

that God said from the very beginning. We're saying these these true things that

the true prophet said. So that means our reward will be great in heaven

because we are experiencing are the blessing of the reward in heaven, because we

are experiencing the same types of persecution of the true prophets. And when we

are rejected, here's like kind of making the big shift. When we were

rejected and hated and persecuted, how should we respond? I heard joy,

That's a great one. Kirk knows us up. That actually brings us to

our text today. That's what Jesus is about to talk about the way we

should be responding to the types of hate and persecution and rejection and insults.

So we're gonna be in Luke chapter six today, and we're gonna be in

verses twenty seven through thirty six. If you don't have a Bible, we

have some on the back table, or grab one, take it, keep

it. We want you to have your Bible and to read it and love

it. It's God's word for us. So let's turn to chapter six,

verses twenty seven through thirty six, and I'm gonna have it on the screen

too. But to you who are listening, I say, love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, Bless those who curse you,

Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek,

turn to them the other. Also, if someone takes your coat, do

not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you. And

if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do

to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those

who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those

who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to

you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And

if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment. What credit is that

to you? Even sinners lead to sinners, A lend to sinners expecting to

be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them,

and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will

be great, and you will be children of the most High, because he

is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your father

is merciful. It's a big text today, and I'm sure we've all heard

this before. Right to love your enemies something that sometimes the world will say,

but then explain, real funny, right, who here has been cut

off in traffic? The Lord showed me this one literally on my drive two

church today. Traffic is really bad. The freeway started getting backed up,

so everyone took the exit, the same exit I'm trying to take. Three

trucks, big pickup trucks cut into the lane that was all trying to merge

over to get off the freeway, cutting everyone off. So I got cut

off once by this awesome truck. Truck pulls in behind me. Get up

to the next get through to the next light. Everyone is trying to miss

the next exit and get down to Squally Road. So they're all getting into

the left lane. Well, this nice big truck behind me is in my

lane. I'm in the right lane because I'm not going left, I'm going

straight. He keeps driving up behind me, but he's getting a little quick

and agitated, you know, want me to drive faster so he can cut

over. And then he cuts the entire left lane and cuts someone off to

get in the left turn lane, just to get in front of everyone who

was waiting. And I was like, everything in me was freaking out,

just a little bit double cut off. That's my traffic story for today.

Have you ever been yelled at by a customer another customer at a store,

or have you who's yours worked in customer service before, have been yelled at

by a customer? Was your first thought in being cut off in traffic or

yelled at by a customer man that person must follow Jesus? Was that your

first thought? No? What if we flip the script? Okay, so

you've been cut off in traffic? How did you respond? Did you start

riding on their bumper really fast, honking at them, tell them that they're

number one? What about when you were yelled at by another customer or buy

a customer. Did you have to give them a piece of your mind?

Did you tell them what you really thought about them or how great of a

person they were? Did you respond in a way that their first thought was

man, they must follow Jesus. Today's message is titled do people Know who

You Follow? Do people know who you follow? I think the A main

point in today's text is Jesus is challenging his followers to stop living their ways

their life in the way the world does, but rather to live your life

in the way that God does. When I interact with the world, do

I look and act like them? Or do I look and act like a

child of the Most High? Do people know who it is that I follow?

Actually, Jesse and I have a quick test that we that we do.

We say, after the interaction I just had with this individual, could

I invite them to church? So when we're talking to customer service on the

phone after we hang up, or like, hmm, could I have invited

that person to church at the end of that conversation. It's a good quick

test just to see would people be shocked if I said, oh, yeah,

I love Jesus. Would they be shocked? Do I live my life

in such a way that people think I'm part of the world or that I'm

a child of the Most High. So we're gonna break down the stecks.

We're gonna go back to verse twenty seven, start there. But to you

who are listening, I say so, we're gonna stop right there, because

Jesus is talking to a specific group of people, right, not just everybody.

After talking about what it means to be truly blessed or what true and

false blessing is, Jesus turns to address those who are there. But he

doesn't just say everybody. What does he say to you who are listening?

I say to you who are listening, And a lot of people began to

well even before I say that. There's a big difference between hearing when someone

is speaking and listening. Right, we all know that to be true.

If you don't believe me, ask your spouse or ask your kids. Right,

I asked my boys all the time, are you listening? And their

answer every time is yes? And what's the next question? A parent always

asks what did I just say? Of which they cannot repeat, but they

what you just said? So I'm like, then you weren't listening. A

lot of people began to follow Jesus, but not everyone who's following Jesus was

listening to his words. He might have been hearing what he was saying,

but they weren't listening to his words. And a lot of people just wanted

to see what miracle Who's going to perform next. It's like, hey,

funny guy, tell a joke, right, Like, what's the next trick

you're gonna show us? People follow Jesus because he was doing miracles. He

was doing things no one had ever seen before. So some people are following

just to see what the next thing he would do is, or maybe they

wanted him to feet him again. We haven't talked about in Luke yet,

but Jesus helped everybody everywhere he went. He healed the sick, he fed

the hungry, He did these things, and we need to let us never

find ourselves in the space of being a follower doesn't listen to his words because

it's slippery. We sneak into it every once in a while where we're like,

oh, I know what Jesus says, but are we listening to what

he says? Are we listening to what Jesus says, So Jesus here says,

if you were listening, then what I'm about to say is for you.

To those who are listening, let's keep reading. But to you who

are listening, I say, love your enemies, do good to those who

hate you. Jesus tells those who are listening to love their enemies. And

he says this right after telling people that you might make some enemies for following

the Son of Man. You might actually make some enemies because of this.

People might hate you because you follow Jesus. But we are supposed to respond

with what nailed it. We're supposed to respond with love. That's what we

respond with. And there are a lot of words that are for love in

the Greek, and the words specifically used here actually have a slide for it.

Aga pa oh nailed it to welcome, to entertain, to be fond

of, or to love dearly. That Jesus is telling us to be fond

of or love dearly our enemies. But it's not just in the feeling sense,

because this word, even though now we know which word for love is

being used, the version of this word that's being used as a verb any

DC Talk fans out there, love is a verb. Love is a verb.

This is an action. This is not just a feeling word. This

is an action word. So that means Jesus is telling us to be fond

of or love dearly with our actions to our enemies, to show our love

for our enemies by putting action behind it. And that's a really tall order

and he didn't say it was gonna be easy. And then Jesus helps us

to see how to love our enemies through action in the next part of the

text, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, Bless

those who curse you, Pray for those who mistreat you, do good to

those who hate you. What is your sins? Your sin nature's natural response

Say that three times fast sin nature's natural response. To someone hating you,

what's the natural response? It definitely isn't to do good to them, be

to do bad or to do harm. That's how our sin wants to our

sin nature wants to respond is not to do good, but to do harm.

But that is not what the children of the Most High do. We

repay hate with good. We repay hate with good. If someone hates you,

you be kind to them. You literally show them kindness. You're nice,

you are kind to those who hate you. And the easiest or I

think clearest example that I can think of is how we talk with them,

like how we interact and when we're speaking with them, do we talk to

them with respect or do we talk to them with disrespect? Or maybe do

we talk to them indifferently? Do we talk to them differently than we would

anybody else, or to take it one step further, do we talk about

them to other people? Has no place in the mouths of Christians. We

do. We are not a people marked by talking bad about others. Let's

look at first Peter, chapter two, right out the gates. Therefore,

this is after talking about be holy, That's what the first chapter part is,

right before this. Be holy. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice

or like premeditated evil, and all deceit. That's deception or lies, hypocrisy,

not being who you are everywhere, being one person through your mouth and

one person through your actions, Envy, desiring other people's stuff, and slander

of every kind. Slander made this list, and this is not an all

encomassing list of all the same issues in the world. But I'm just saying,

like slander was a big enough deal to put up next to malice.

And if you look at these things, a lot of times they go hand

in hand to rid yourself. Rid yourself means to get rid of it completely.

We completely get rid of it. There is no place for slander in

the followers of Jesus. No, we do good to those who hate us.

We don't damage people's reputation among others. Let's go back to Luke six.

Bless those who curse you, Pray for those who mistreat you. Bless

those who curse you. Anyone who curses you, you should be repaying with

blessing. And cursing someone is just to wish evil or bad upon them.

I mean, it can go as far as everyone's like, I put a

curse on you, right, that's the probably when you're trying to take it

all the way. But it's even as it includes things as simple as just

wishing evil or bad upon something on someone. So the person who cut me

off, I'm like, man, I wish their tire would pop's confession time.

That's that's wishing curses upon someone. So don't do that. So if

someone is wishing evil upon you, because this is talking about if someone curses

you you should wish good or blessing on them. You should wish good and

blessing on the ones that are wishing curses upon you. But remember this is

about action, because love is a verb in this word. It's about action.

So do things that bless them. Look at Proverbs twenty five. If

your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty,

give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heat burning

coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. I feel like

we should talk about the burning coles part First. Does that mean that we

should be like blessing or blessing them and giving them all this stuff, hoping

that their head will catch on fire. No, that is not what that

means. What that actually means is you could understand that burning coals is like

shame, that they would feel shameful for being your enemy because all you do

is bless them. It just don't make sense. This person's my enemy,

and why are they so kind to me. It's the heat burning coals on

their head of shame. They're like, I can't understand. I can't fathom

this because this is not normal. This is not what the world does.

This is different So if your enemies are hungry, you're thirsty, hook them

up, feed them, give them something to drink. The Lord will bless

you. And that is with a blessing that lasts forever. And that last

part of verse twenty eight pray for those who mistreat you, So pray for

them. When people do bad things to you or take advantage of you,

pray for them. When was the last time you pray for your enemy before

reading this? I can't remember, Or maybe you don't call them your enemy,

right, because like we're Christians, no one's our enemy. Maybe there's

just someone we're in conflict with. Maybe it's someone you're like, ah,

whatever, I could just take it or leave it. That person somebody you

just don't care for. Consider that. I want you to think, like,

sometimes we take the word enemy and we don't fully incorporate all of what

it could mean. Now, this text is very much talking about people who

consider us their enemy because of the sake of the Lord. But consider this,

if you view someone as it, The big implication here and the big

assumption is that you don't have enemies. People might consider you their enemy.

Does that make sense? So when we find ourselves in this situation where there's

maybe there's people that we just don't care for, or we could be fine

not seeing that person for the rest of our lives. Consider those people when

we're talking about the blessing pieces here and who to pray for, but actively

praying for someone will change your heart toward them. Marriage tip pray for your

spouse. I think I can't remember which old preacher it was, and it

was hilarious when he goes through it. He's counseling just the husband of a

couple and he's like. The guy's like, I just hate her. She's

terrible. And he's like, well, she's your wife, you're supposed to

love. He's like, I don't love her. He's like, Okay,

do you feel like you're in conflict with her? Yes? Do you consider

her friend? No? Do you consider her an enemy? And then the

guy knows his Bible, knew the verse, and he's like yeah. And

so the preachers like them, love your enemy, Pray for your wife wives,

pray for your husbands. You will grow your affections for the people you're

praying for. And we'll talk more about a little bit later. But Jesus

modeled how beautifully how to love and care for people who hated him. They

literally killed him, and he still loved them. And when I say they

killed him, it was gruesome, the whippings, the crucifixion, like it's

more than just They didn't just end him quickly. It was a painful,

tortuous process, and he loved them. And one way to have the same

heart for your enemy that Jesus had for his is by praying for them.

So I want you to try it. Next time you're in conflict with someone,

I want you to start praying for them. Maybe not right in the

middle of the fight. Actually maybe maybe in the middle of the fight with

your spouse he just stops. You know what, I'm gonna pray for you

because I'm saying not great things right now, But if it's someone else,

like after the moment, start praying for the person you're in conflict with.

Let the Lord do something in your heart and change your affections for them,

especially if they're an enemy of yours, because you follow Jesus. I think

that's huge. I want to keep bringing it back to the text because preaching

out of the Bible, and we want to preach what the Lord's telling us.

So spend some time every day this week praying for an enemy of yours,

just a little bit of time, doesn't it be crazy? And watch

how God changes the affections of your heart. And watch how you grow in

compassion and love for the person who actually wishes you harm and wish them blessings.

Jesus continues to give more examples of this love in action in the next

few verses. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the

other. Also, if someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt

from them. Give to everyone who asks you. And if anyone takes what

belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you

would have them do to you. And that end parts of the Golden Rule.

We've heard that before. Lots of people who aren't quoting the Bible quote

that Bible verse. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If someone insults you and backhands you in the face, offer them the

other cheek. That means it's not your job to retaliate. That's not our

job. As children of the Most High, our job is not to retaliate.

It's to turn the other cheek. Don't pay them back. God says

that vengeance is whose tis, Vengeance is not ours. Vengeance is the Lord's.

We pray for them, we bless them, we do good to them,

we love them. But the next part, if someone takes your coat,

can we go back one slide? Humm? If someone takes your coat,

do not withhold your shirt from them? That means we should have this

disposition of I say like, what else do you need here? Take it?

Like, how can I help you? What else do you need?

And that's not how the world works at all, But that is how the

kingdom works. That is how God's people work because nobody responds like that.

Who says like, hey, do you need my shirt when you took their

coat? People don't do that normally. That's not a normal thing to do.

But that's how the followers of Jesus are always asking how can I help?

What else do you need? Your enemies? Think about that and the

last part of this section, yeah, give to everyone who asks you,

And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Give to everyone

who asks you. Christians should be known as the most generous people on the

planet Earth, the most generous people, always giving to others. None of

this stuff on earth goes with us when we go to be with Jesus,

none of it. It all stays behind. What does it say in Matthew

six, Do not store it for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and

vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for

yourself treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where

thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there,

your heart will be also. Our treasures on earth will not last forever.

All the earthly rewards will fade away, all of them. It doesn't come

with us when we bite the dust. Everything we have should be used for

His mission and what He's called us to do. There's no reason to hoard

it, there's no reason to a mass storehouses that are full. It's all

his anyway, use it for his mission. God is the one who gave

us the ability to gain the wealth anyway and with the right heart. We

are to be generous with everything we have, and we've talked about giving before,

But the Father will We need to remember these few things. The Father

will always take care of us and promises that the more generous we are,

not only will he make sure that all of our needs are met, but

He will enrich us more so that we can be even more generous. And

that's we're gonna look at tewod Corinthians nine. Now, he who supplies seed

to the sower God and bread for food, will also supply and increase your

store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be

enriched in every way so that you can be generous on what occasion, every

occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. We

are made more righteous and we are provided more so we can be generous on

every occasion that we will never miss an opportunity to be generous. How amazing

would that be that every single person who needs something and is asking you always

had something to provide for them. That would be rad that every homeless person

I walk by who doesn't have something, I was able to provide something for

them. Well, if we believe the Bible that we are generous, God

will take care of us and give us more so we can keep taking care

of every opportunity we see to be generous to provide for those who need.

And the best part is that all because of all the generosity that we show

as believers, that people will thank God, so God's getting more glory.

It's amazing. They will turn and give thanksgiving to God and Jesus sums up

these few verses we've been going through. In verse thirty one, due to

others as you would have them do to you. The golden rule that we

were just talking about, however you would like to be treated, is how

you should treat others. This verse is really hard to misunderstand, and it's

really hard to misinterpret. It's pretty straightforward. I love it when he makes

it easy to understand. Before you interact with someone, just ask is this

how I'd like to be treated? Before you open your mouth and say something,

especially when you got some feels behind it, say is this how I

would like to be talked to. It's the same thing that we ask our

children who have siblings. Would you like it if your brother punched you in

the stomach? No, then don't punch your brother, right, that's close

to home. That's a real example. If you didn't. I got two

boys, and that's a simple and kind of elementary example, but let's bring

it up to our age. Okay, let's level it up just a little

bit. Husbands, would you appreciate it if your wife was screaming at you?

No, then do not raise your voice to her. Wives? Would

you appreciate it if your husband disrespected you and your role in the marriage.

No, then stop disrespecting him and the role that God gave him in the

marriage. These are hard things to hear, but they're real. This simple

verse that's really hard to misinterpret. We just read over and just don't even

apply it. Sometimes we have to read scripture like a mirror that every time

we go to God's word and we look at it, we got to be

looking at ourselves. Don't read scripture with somebody else in mind, like how

do I need to be? How am I applying what God is saying here

in his word to us as believers? And just to put a nice little

bow on this whole section, I think the big idea is this, Believers

repay evil with good, hate with love. Believers repay evil with good and

hate with love. This is what we do. The whole first half of

today's text is I call the what and don't be freaked out. It's not

that much longer the rest of it, but the second half it's shifting into

the why. Okay, why do we do these things? Guys? Ready,

Okay, we're gonna read through the next few verses. If you love

those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love

those who love them. Okay. And if you do good to those who

do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do

that? That makes sense. Why you do good to someone who does good

to you. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment,

what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be

repaid in full? Like all that makes sense. So Jesus is asking me

a very very important question here. If you do these things, how are

you any different than the world. If you do these things, how are

you any different than the world. This is what the world does, This

is what sinners do. Of course they love those who love them. So

how are you different any different than the world? If you do these things?

We aren't called to look like the world. We might be in the

world, but we are not of the world. Look at John Chapter seventeen.

I have given them to I have given them your word, and the

world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than

I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out

of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They

are not of the world, even as I am not of it. And

this is Jesus talking here. He's praying for his disciples. This is what

he's doing, and he's reminding them that that they're not of this world,

just like he's not of the world. And we are not of this world

either. Our home is Heaven, not this broken earth. We are foreigners

in the land. We are aliens on this planet, waiting to go home

to be with the Lord. I watched the ET clip today just to make

sure he doesn't quote it right, et Phone home, Right. We're aliens.

This is not our home. Our home is in heaven. But we

forget that and we need reminders like in Romans twelve. Romans twelve too says,

do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by

the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve

what God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will. We need to constantly

renew our minds. It's a constant state of renewal, is what it is.

Reminding ourselves that we are not of this world, so we should never

conform to look like it. We were never supposed to. We need to

be transformed more into the image of Christ by renewing our minds. The world

loves those who loves them, does good to those who do good to them,

and lends to those who they know will pay them back. So Jesus

is saying, if you do these things, cool, story bro, it

don't matter. Yeah, Jesus when he talks to me sometimes like cool,

story bro. That doesn't mean anything. But what does mean something is what's

in the next verse. But love your enemies, do good to them,

and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will

be great and you will be children of the most High because he is kind

to the ungrateful and wicked. What we do is contrary to the world.

It's contrary to the standard the world sets. It's not the same. We

do what sinners don't do. And you're like, hold on, I sol

sin in my life. Yes, but categorically we don't operate the way sinners

operate. We've been freed from that. We love our enemies and we do

good to them, and we lend to them without expecting to get paid back.

And when we do that, our reward is great. We are known

to be children of the Most High because that is what he does. This

isn't saying that we get to be the children of the most High because we

do these things. Now, this is saying we will all know and the

world will know that we are children of the most High because we do the

things that he does. And another way to say it is this next kind

of big point. People will know who you follow by what you do.

What was the question that the title of the message? Do people know who

it is you follow? At least I hope that's the name of it.

I might have forgot it said it wrong. But people will know who you

follow by what you do. Christianity is all based in faith, right,

But faith leads to something, and it leads to actions, and it solidifies

some stuff on our own hearts, and it also is a witness to the

world. It's how people will know who our father is is we do the

things our father does you're not saying you're just like your father, or the

apple doesn't fall far from the tree, like people know who you follow based

on what you do. You do the same things that the one you follow

does, and Jesus makes that super clear in John eight. Abraham is our

father, they answered, and these are the Jews that were around at the

time. If you were Abraham's children, said Jesus, then you would do

what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to

kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from

God. Abraham did not or did not do such things. You are doing

the works of your own father, to which they replied, we are not

illegitimate children, they protested. The only father we have is God himself.

Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me,

for I have come here from God. I have not come on my

own, on my own God sent me. Why is my language not clear

to you? These are like slapping the face questions from Jesus, am I

speaking in another language? Like why is my language not clear to you?

Because you were unable to hear what I say? You belong to your father,

the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He

was a murderer from the beginning, because they're seeking to kill him, not

holding to the truth, for there's no truth in him. When he lies,

he speaks his native language. So when we're lying, what language are

we speaking? Devilis we're speaking the devil's native language, for he is a

liar and the father of lies. Yet, because I tell the truth,

you do not believe me. Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?

If I am telling the truth? Why don't you believe me? Whoever

belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is

that you do not belong to God. Who is your father, the one

you follow, the one you listen to. You will do what your true

father does, and our actions are how we all see it. We will

carry out the will of our father. If God is if your father is

God the Father, then you would do what he does? And what does

he do? Can you go back to the verse, the last verse we're

in in Luke He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. That's who God

the Father is, That's what he does. Can I have the band come

up? Please? Can I also have the verse thirty six as well.

Please, yeah, he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked, be merciful,

just as your father is merciful. So I'll ask the question again,

do people know who you follow? We will be known that we are the

children of the most High when we love our enemies, when we do good

to them, when we lend to them without expecting anything back, when we

are kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, and the last part, when

we are merciful, just as our father is merciful. Do we show mercy

to our enemies? Do we show mercy to anyone? Mercy is not giving

someone what they deserve. And what does someone deserve for mistreating you? Not

good? I can tell you that much. When you're mistreated, they don't

deserve good back. So mercy is not giving them what they deserve. And

if we struggle to show mercy to others, I think that's showing us that

we don't fully understand God's mercy on us. I don't think we understand,

or if we forgive for refuse to forgive, what does that show us?

I think we need to take another look at just how far short we fall

of the of God's perfect standard. Don't play the comparison game like I'm not

as bad as that guy. You're comparing against the wrong thing, Like how

do you compare against God's perfect standard. I'll give you a hint. You

don't meet it. None of us do. Christ alone was sinless. All

of us need a savior. None of us measure up when we're compared to

God's perfect standard. And when we understand how wretched we are before Jesus,

when we see what we deserve for our lifelong full of sin, we should

be completely humbled. And it's in that humility that we would never withhold forgiveness

or mercy from another. Jesus is our model for everything, and especially in

this. Let's look at Romans five. You see, at just the right

time, still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone

die for a righteous person. Though for a good person someone might possibly dare

to die. It's a very slim chance. But God demonstrates his own love

for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God has a level of compassion and love that is almost impossible to understand.

It's so far beyond our capability to grasp that even though we were rebellious

and they hateful toward him, he still sent Jesus to the cross. That's

the kind of love and mercy that God has. This is the kind of

love that we should have for our enemies. This is what Jesus modeled,

the kind of love that even when they hate us, when they mistreat us,

when they reject us, take advantage of us, when they curse us,

when they insult us, when they hurt us, that we respond by

showing mercy. No one has been more mistreated than Jesus, no one he

deserved none of what he received. No one's been more mistreated than Jesus,

And how did he respond with love? In mercy? We still show mercy.

We are kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. The world will know.

I means people everywhere will know that we are followers of Jesus, that

we are children of the most High, when we do the things that God

does, when we show with our actions we love our enemies and we show

them mercy. But why is it such a big deal for the world to

know? Why does that even matter? Why does it matter if the world

knows, Well, let's look at Matthew Chapter five, verses thirteen through sixteen.

You are the salt of the earth. I realized I don't give you

guys any time to turn there in your bibles. I should start doing that.

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its

saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good

for anything except be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of

the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do

people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put

it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

We just lost power last night and had to put these little candles out,

these fake candles, and we didn't hide them under a bowl. There I

was a beating descripture. That's great. In the same way, let your

light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and what glorify

your father in heaven. Being Christian was never meant to be a secret.

It's not supposed to be some hidden thing about you. We are meant to

be salt everywhere we go to preserve to bring flavor, not high blood.

Pressure. We're meant to be light. We're meant to shine before everyone,

and when the world sees you shining, they can do nothing but glorify our

Father in Heaven. It should be obvious to everyone that you follow Jesus.

It's not a secret. We don't look like the world. We don't conform

to looking like the world. We don't do the things the world does.

If you think about it, we're a little weird. It's just different the

things we just read that we're supposed to do. That's weird, but it's

the way God would have us be. It's weird because we're not of this

world. So how should we apply everything we've been reading in today's text to

our lives? And I wanted to make it really, really simple because I

think there's a bunch of things we could talk through, but I get overwhelmed

and forget if I make it too complicated. So I want you to think

of someone you're in conflict with or this, or think of someone who considers

you an enemy in every single day. I want you to set aside time

this week and pray for them someone you're in conflict with or considers you an

enemy every single day. I want you to pray for them, and then

I want you to add some action in some way, shape or form.

I want you to bless them, do something kind for them, show them

that you are a child of the Most High. It's not just them,

it's the whole world, anybody who sees that. And you're not doing it

for the accolades. You're doing it because you're being obedient to the Lord,

because we are children of the Most High and we do the things the world

doesn't do. Amen. Can you guys please stand to your feet.