Maybe it's sushi, or cold weather, auto racing, or a particular style of music. In this world, there may be a number of things that you don't love. But can people ever fall into that category? Find out today on Grace To You. And you notice that whenever you go into the world, responsibility follows you. You're responsible to your boss and to those that you supervise at the office, to the family members at home, and to the work that God is doing in your own local church. And in all those areas, there's an even greater overarching responsibility, the responsibility to accurately reflect Jesus Christ. Now that can be hard, can't it? Especially when it means showing love even to your enemies, people who go out of their way to make you look bad, reject you, and frankly, probably wouldn't mind seeing you suffer. But realistically, how do you do that? How do you love enemies? By avoiding them? By not being mean in return? Or something more, like treating them with courtesy? Or is it something much more still? I'll say this, it's not how the world would tell you to respond. As John MacArthur would explain on Today's Grace to You, he's looking at the Sermon on the Mount, an outline of what it means to be a Christian and just how counterintuitive, from the world's perspective, our thinking and actions need to be. With that said, follow along now as John MacArthur continues the study called The Keys to the Kingdom. Back to Luke chapter 6 for our study of God's Word. Now, I want to give you several points as we work our way through verses 27 to 38, but the whole section is about kingdom love. This is about kingdom love and true disciples of Christ are known by how they view themselves and how they view others, and how they view themselves is with hatred for their own sin, and how they view others is with love. Interesting. You hate this sinner, you love that sinner. And this section unfolds for us, first of all, with four commands, okay? The commands of kingdom love, let's call them. The commands of kingdom love. The first one, love your enemies. Now, let's just say that's how we feel about them. That's cultivating an affection. That's how we feel about them. Love your enemies, the Essenes, who were the most devout, I suppose in some ways even a step beyond the Pharisees. The Pharisees were fastidious with the law, but the Essenes were the monastics. They eschewed living in social, cultural normalcy and they went out into the desert and they lived down by the Dead Sea. They were monastic, they were the isolationists. They saw themselves as the most devout, sacrificial, unworldly. Here's what the Essenes says, and I quote some of their literature, love all that God has chosen and hate all that He has rejected. They also wrote, love all the sons of light and hate all the sons of darkness. That was prescribed in their ethical, moral, religious code. sons of darkness, unbelievers. In fact, they went so far as to curse all non-Essenes which means hate the Pharisees, hate the Sadducees, hate the Zealots, hate everybody who's a non-Essene, hate them all. Now the Pharisees weren't much better than that. I'm quoting from one of the maxims of the Pharisees, if a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out of there. For it is written, thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor, but this man is not thy neighbor." Why? Because he's a Gentile. Let him drown. It's a sin to lift him out of the water. Don't rescue a Gentile. Now this had become a point of their virtue. In fact, the Romans, you can find in Roman writings, the Romans actually accused the Jews of hating the human race. Nice reputation. We would like to think that Christians are known by their love. In the ancient world, Jews were known by their hate. It is not unlike contemporary Middle Eastern and other places in the world, Islam. Strange parallel. And, of course, the Pharisees and the scribes had figured out, along with the Essenes, some justification for this. I mean, you're saying to yourself, how in the world could they come to this conclusion? They were supposed to hate everybody. Well, they went back to Deuteronomy 23, for example, and in Deuteronomy 23, God determined that He was going to judge the wicked, and so He brought judgment upon the wicked, using Israel as an instrument of judgment, and brought about the death of idolaters. And you have a number of those sort of holy wars, I guess you could call them, which God Himself prescribed. No man could prescribe such action, but God Himself can determine to judge who He wants, when He wants. And in the Old Testament when Israel was the theocracy and the tool of God, there were times when God used Israel as that judge. He also used Assyria as a judge. He used Egypt as a judge. He used Persia as a judge on other occasions. But God could determine to use human agencies, governments, nations. as judges. And he did that and they thought that that had somehow been delegated to them, that they had some personal right to act as the judge of everybody, even executioner if need be, which they did in the case of Jesus. They also would go back to the imprecatory psalms, imprecatory meaning they're psalms that imprecate, psalms that call an imprecation or a judgment upon somebody. The psalmist in Psalm 59 is calling for God to judge the enemies. The psalmist, very carefully remember this, the psalmist didn't do the judgment, he simply said, God, these are dishonoring to Your name, these are dishonoring to Your glory, these are blasphemous enemies and they are worthy of judgment and oh God, vindicate Yourself and judge them. But the Pharisees again had felt that this somehow had been delegated to them so that they could not only act as a nation, which God was using as an instrument, but they could act as God Himself and bring about their own imprecation upon whomever it was that they desired. Those issues in the Old Testament had to do with a national judgment which God brought. It has to do with a divine judgment which God brought. But very clearly Deuteronomy 32...35 says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. When it comes time for that, I will do it, not you. Those were all matters of divine action, not human liberty. But the Jews had put the prerogatives that belonged only to God into operation in their own personal relationships. And, of course, that was another way in which they had skewed the Judaism of the Old Testament. This was never Old Testament law. In Exodus 23, a couple of verses, I think it's verse 4 and 5, it talks about if you see your enemy, his donkey, under a heavy burden, go relieve the donkey's burden, help your enemy. That's pretty clear. And that's a very simple expression of a law that you find. For example, I'll just give you a couple of illustrations. There are a lot of places in the Old Testament, but Job 31 also, verse 29, have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy or exalted when evil befell him? No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life in a curse. It would be a sin for me to curse a man. It would be sin for me to speak evil into his life, to speak judgment on him. That's for God to do, that's not for me to do. All I can do is say to that man, God will curse you if you reject Him. I can't speak that curse into his life. God will judge you if you turn your back on Him. I can't bring that judgment on Him. That's why Jesus in the same sermon as Matthew records it said, judge not lest you be judged. That's not your call. Proverbs 25, 21 is another. I think clear indication of the Old Testament standard, if your enemy is hungry, Proverbs 5.21, give him food to eat. If he's thirsty, give him water to drink, for you'll heap burning coals on his head and the Lord will reward you. In other words, show love to your enemy. Show goodwill, benevolence to your enemy. This is...this is what the Old Testament taught. There was a very clear indication of what the Old Testament taught in Leviticus 19.18. And Leviticus 19.18 sums it up, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor. But that became an escape hatch. Ah, your neighbor. And then the big question, the big question in Jewish theology was, who is my neighbor? And then, of course, the text of Luke 10, 29, that man comes to Jesus and he says, okay, I'm supposed to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, supposed to love my neighbor as myself, but who is my neighbor? If you were an Essene, your neighbor was an Essene and nobody else. If you were a Pharisee, your neighbor was a Pharisee and nobody else. And Jesus then went on to tell a story about who your neighbor is and the story of the good...what?...Samaritan, that great story of Levite passes by. Now this is a man who had the religious responsibility as a leader of the nation. Levite passes by, he won't help. Priest passes by, he won't help because they hated anybody outside their little clique. But the Samaritan came by who was the outcast of outcasts, the most despised of all despised, the half-breed traitor to Judaism. He does what nobody else will do. Jesus essentially is saying, your neighbor is whoever is laying in the street and needs your help. That's your neighbor. Whoever comes across your path, that's your neighbor, without racial or religious distinction. Even your enemy is your neighbor. But they didn't interpret the Old Testament that way. Jesus then has to reassert the truth. And again, what we said last time is so true. Everything Jesus said was contrary to how they thought, contrary to how people always think, contrary to how people think today. Love your enemies? Love your enemies. That's the attitude you have toward them. Romans 12, I need to just give you this one Scripture and then we'll go to the rest of the verse, but just so you have the text. Romans chapter 12 verse 17, never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Verse 19, never take your own revenge, beloved. Leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, Deuteronomy 32...35, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And also, as I read earlier, Proverbs 25...21, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink and so doing you'll heap burning coals upon his head. Don't allow the evil that person does to overwhelm you, but overwhelm that evil with responding goodness. But this is not normal and isn't that the point? That's why down in verse 35 it says, if you do this, if you love your enemies and do good to them and lend to them and expect nothing in return, your reward will be great and more than that, you will be sons of the Most High. The point being, they will recognize that this is not human. And it will become clear that this identifies you as having a preternatural or a supernatural love. So the attitude, how you feel about them, you love them. Secondly, the act, you do good to those who hate you. It's what we do. We do good. Kalos, that's inherent good, not superficial good, not beauty but good, inherently good. You do what is good and what is ultimately good is what is redeeming, what has lasting goodness. You do for them what can lead to their eternal salvation. So the strategy then is, what do I need to do to my enemy in order to gain an entrance and an openness for the gospel? How do I feel? I love him. How do I act? I find every means possible to do good, to show that I can overcome his evil with good. I act in His life benevolently. I act in His life with goodness. Thirdly, how you speak, not only how you feel and act, how you speak is important. Verse 28, bless those who curse you. What is to bless? It's to speak...it's to speak goodness into their life, to speak blessing into their life. even if they curse you." And, of course, many of the followers of Jesus were cursed unofficially. They were just vilified and cursed, ostracized, spurned, alienated in an unofficial way. They had to deal with that. And the Lord wants them to know because there are going to be Holy Spirit impulses, you know, going on in their heart. that they should love these people in spite of this, but the system they had grown up in told them to hate those people. So you see, the reason Jesus puts us in the form of a command is He wants them to know that they can follow the impulse of the new creation and not fall victim to the brainwashing of the religious system they've been in. It isn't right to hate. What you were taught is not right. Matthew 5.43. Matthew's record of the Sermon on the Mount quotes Jesus as saying, you have heard it said, which means this is the rabbinical tradition, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Matthew 5.40, that's exactly what they were taught. Jesus said, I have to teach you all new again. You've got to start all over again. I have to tell you, you must love that enemy. You must act benevolently to that enemy so that you literally overpower his evil with your goodness. And you must speak blessing into that life, even if you are unofficially cursed. On the other hand, you could be officially cursed. What was that? John 16, 2, they will make you outcasts from the synagogue. They will excommunicate you. They will un-synagogue you. Jesus went further, they will kill you thinking They're serving God. They'll kill you thinking they're serving God. What do you do to the people who are going to kill you thinking they're serving God? You speak good into their life. What is that? That's the gospel. You speak that which brings about their ultimate good. It doesn't mean there's no place for warning. How can you speak goodness into their life if they don't understand their sin and judgment? You have to speak about sin and righteousness and judgment as the Holy Spirit convicts that way, according to John 16. You have to warn men that if anyone loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 16, 22, let him be accursed. You have to say, like verse 24, 25 and 26, woe to you who are rich and woe to you that are well-fed and laughing and popular. You have to speak that, but that's the first part of the good news, isn't it? Paul gave his life to bring salvation, blessing to the enemies of God, to the enemies of Christ, to the enemies of the gospel and to his own enemies who eventually took his life. Why did he do that? Because he loved so greatly. He said to the Romans, I could almost wish myself a curse. I mean, I'd almost take the curse of God if I could bring the blessing of the gospel to my people Israel. His love for His enemies was not natural. It wasn't part of conventional religion because conventional religion is a reflection of the natural, or the demonic. The love that the Apostle Paul had, the love that true Christians have and have always had is not explained on any natural level. You can't even explain the life of the Apostle Paul, a constant life of suffering. Just go back and read 2 Corinthians for yourself and see the litany of things that he endured. Five times at a synagogue, the Jews whipped him with 39 lashes. He suffered that because he loved them enough to continue to speak into their life blessing, the blessing of the gospel. There is absent in this any sense of self-interest, self-protection. And finally, he says, your attitude toward others involves how you feel, how you act, how you speak and how you appeal...how you appeal. The end of verse 28, pray for those who mistreat you. What should be our prayer? Well, we could say generically and generally, God, we want You to reveal Christ and establish the glorious kingdom and bring evil to an end. We want you to destroy the enemies of the truth. We want you to silence the false prophets. That's for you to do. But there's this person who hates you and hates the gospel and doesn't like me, and God, I want you to save that person. That's the prayer. That's what Jesus did. Jesus didn't act in a judicial fashion on the cross. He acted in a personal illustration, and hanging on the cross, He said, Father, what? Forgive them. That was a prayer. Forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And Stephen in the seventh chapter of Acts, while he's being crushed under the stones that are being pummeled into his body from above, says, lay not this sin to their charge, which is another way to say, forgive them. This is praying for those in the midst of being mistreated. Those are the commands of love. And so I say to you, true Christians are known by two things, how they hate sin mostly in themselves and how they love others. And Jesus is then putting the sword through the crowd and separating who the true disciples are from those who are not. Those are the commands of love. Next time we're going to talk about the reactions of kingdom love. And there are four reactions, starting in verses...starting with verse 29 and running through verse 30. Father, we thank You for this good Word, basic Word, simple, straightforward, uncomplicated, so many people today. wonder what their relationship to You is, they can know...they can know by how they feel about the sin that is in them and their inability to save themselves and their need to cry out in desperation for mercy and grace like the publican who beat on his chest and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and wouldn't even lift up his eyes. And, Lord, they can also know by how they feel about their enemies, loving them, acting benevolently into their lives, speaking the goodness of the gospel, praying for their salvation. That is being kind, tender-hearted, forgiving each other as God in Christ has also forgiven us. That is, as Paul says in Ephesians 5.1, being imitators of God. and walking in love as Christ loved and gave Himself up for us. While we were enemies, You loved us. While we were enemies, Christ gave His life for us. You have set the example of feeling and acting and speaking on behalf of enemies redemptively and we would be manifestly Your children, forgiving as You forgive, as Christ forgives, loving as You love and walking in love as Christ loves. And in a world of vengeance, in a world of retaliation, in a get-even mentality, may we stand out as lights in the darkness, letting our light shine. So men, in seeing this love and the work of goodness that flows from it, may glorify You, our Father who is in heaven. May the world know that we are not like them but are sons of the Most High, El Elyon, the ruler of the universe, the sovereign God who has transformed our souls. This then becomes the platform. for our mission on behalf of the gospel. Lead us to our enemies with the same grace that you came to us when we were your enemies. And bring to them, through us, the salvation you so graciously granted us. To that end, we pray for Christ. And that wraps up today's lesson on Grace to You, a part of John MacArthur's study titled, The Keys to the Kingdom, a look at the traits of the true Christian, traits that Jesus himself outlined in his Sermon on the Mount. John, you know, to get this study on radio, and dozens more like it that will air this year, We're a special group of listeners that we want to thank. Without their commitment to grace to you, well, your Bible teaching wouldn't be getting very far beyond the walls of our headquarters as we move into 2011. No, this ministry really is carried by God's people. There's no question about it. We don't sustain it financially. We simply produce the programs, produce the materials, make the Internet, the website available, teach the Word of God. We do all that. But all our support and all our sustenance comes from those people around the world to whom we minister who respond and share with us. I can't tell you how deeply grateful we are. This is your ministry. 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Let me also encourage you to visit that special website, truthmattersconference.org, for details about Grace Tuesday's upcoming Truth Matters Conference. Again, it's simply TruthMattersConference.org. If you'd like to have a copy of John's study, The Keys to the Kingdom, what you heard today, and all the rest of the series, it is available as a 7-CD album or on 7 MP3 downloads. The CDs are ideal for a commute to and from work or even a small group discussion group. It costs $31 for the CD album. Shipping is free. And you can order it now by calling 1-800-55-GREATS or order online at gty.org. And remember, you can also download the study right onto your computer or iPod and get all seven messages free in the MP3 format at gty.org. Now, for John McArthur, our producer, Steve Austin, and the entire staff, thanks for tuning in today. Join us again tomorrow for another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You. When people hurt you merely because of your Christian lifestyle, how do you deal with that? A biblical strategy, as John McArthur continues the study called Keys to the Kingdom on tomorrow's grace to you.