Next one is page 460. I think that's right. you Bob, Greg, would you help us with the offering, please? Father, at this time, when we come before you, Lord, we just ask that you bless the gift and the giver, and Lord, bless those who can and who can't, Lord. Just help us to use these gifts, Lord, All right. Good morning, church. Good morning. Privilege it is again. I told Tiffany, you hit me like a ton of bricks just sitting there. Honestly, what a privilege it is to share God's word with you. I truly, truly feel very privileged. We'll give the children just a moment. We'll get in their classes there. If you have your Bible while we wait, go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 5. We're going to be specifically looking at verses 43 through 48 of Matthew 5. This will be our seventh sermon from chapter five. And when you get there, go ahead and stand with me in reverence to God's holy word. I guess I better open the Bible. Matthew 5, 43. Go ahead and stand when you can. And the word of the Lord says, Jesus says, you have heard that had been said, thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them who curse you, do good to them who hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. For He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward will have ye? Do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what ye more than they? Do not even the publicans so? But ye therefore be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Right there, church, let us pray. Lord, what a marvelous privilege it is to gather in your house together corporately, Lord, and worship you. What a marvelous privilege it is to be taught, Lord, during Sunday school, to be taught during preaching, Lord, and to be taught by you, the Holy Spirit. And Lord, as always, I'd pray you would help me, help me communicate it in a way that your people may learn and love you more and walk in your truths more, and me included, Lord. But Lord, most of all, if there's one here who doesn't know you or has steered off the path in any way, that today would be the day you draw them back to yourself. And Lord, as we look at this difficult portion of scripture that you commanded us, Lord, to love our enemies, would you help each and every one of us do that? Not just be a hearer of your word, but a doer. Lord Jesus, we love you. We thank you for a beautiful day. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. You could be seated. So as I said, church, this is our seventh sermon in Matthew chapter five. I would also want you to know, if I haven't mentioned previously, this is the longest recorded sermon by our Lord in the Bible. It literally spans from Matthew chapter five all the way to the end of chapter seven. And I was curious how many words he spoke. So I got on the Google machine, as Eric would say, it's about 1,032 words from our Lord. 1,032 words. And again, just a brief recap, he's showing you and I that kingdom citizens, Christians in other words, kingdom citizens have certain internal characteristics that were total opposite of the religious leaders of Christ's day. He told us that kingdom citizens, I won't go into detail again, but they realize that they're spiritually bankrupt. They have nothing to offer God in and of themselves. They're the ones who mourn over their sins. They're the ones with a humble spirit. They're the ones who seek and thirst after righteousness. They are the merciful. They are the pure in heart peacemakers. And oftentimes when you live that way, they will also be the persecuted. They will be the ones who are reviled by the world, who the world will speak falsely of because of our dear Lord. Jesus also shows us that these kingdom citizens, Christians, in other words, you and I, that we will positively influence the world. Remember, Jesus says when you live the Beatitude way, when you exhibit these internal characteristics and live it out, Jesus says you will be the salt of the earth. You will be the means at which literally slows the rod of the world. You will be what God uses to retard or to slow the evil that spreads in our world, simply because you love Christ and you live out His commandments. Jesus also tells us we'll be the light of the world. By having the light of Christ in us, the Holy Spirit, anywhere you and I go, we take the light of God with us. So that light exposes truth. That light exposes sin and error. Now, the last several Lord's Days, we've been looking at exactly what Jesus thought of the law of God, the Old Testament, the law of Moses, and the prophets. Remember we said that when Jesus taught, He taught not like any of the religious leaders of His day, not as the scribes or the Pharisees. In fact, the crowd said He taught as one who had authority, as one who had power. He didn't quote any rabbis of old. And the crowd was astonished at this. But they did wonder, well, what does Jesus think of the law of Moses? And we have been reviewing that. We said that Jesus said he held the law of Moses in the highest standard. He said not one yod or one tittle shall perish until all of those things were fulfilled. And we said that Christ certainly didn't come to abolish the law, but he came to fulfill it, and that he did perfectly. So over the last several Lord's Day, we began to look at Christ correcting, if you remember, the rabbi's shallow interpretation of God's law. In fact, six times, and today will be the sixth. You remember in verse 21, Jesus says, you have heard that it was said by them of old. Now we've been really careful to say this is not Jesus changing the Old Testament. This is not Jesus changing God's law. This is Jesus correcting the rabbis of old shallow interpretation of God's law. This is Jesus elevating God's law to its proper position. Basically what Jesus is saying there, you have heard it was said, you heard the rabbis and old interpret God's law this way, but I say unto you, I have a greater authority than they. I'm going to show you what God's law really means. And he begins to correct it. You have heard it was said, thou shalt not murder. But I say unto you, anyone who's angry with his brother has committed murder in his heart. And we've looked at that. We looked at that and said that anyone who's angered with his fellow brother or sister, who's made in the similitude of God, who has that hate inside of them for that fellow brother or sister, and remember we said that hate is so powerful that it can literally destroy the host. Jesus says, if you've done that, then you're guilty. And that was his intent. That was always the intent of the law was to show you and I, we can't keep the law because you and I know at times we have been angry at someone or perhaps we've even had hate in our heart for someone at times. So the point of God's law is to be our tutor, to be our schoolmaster, to be the very thing that drives us to Christ, to cry out for mercy and grace found only through Christ. Now you would remember the scribes and Pharisees were very good at masking their external actions. So we're not denying they did go to the temple and pray twice a day. We're not going to deny they did make their long lengthy prayers for the praises of men. We're not denying that they fast often and they showed each other, didn't they? They disfigured their faces. We're not denying that they gave Plenty of alms out of their abundance, but everything they did had self-glory as a motive. Everything they did was for the praises of men. They were very good at being the hypocrite, at wearing the mask, and Jesus begins to correct that. In fact, as you'll see today from our text, they believed that their neighbor was only those who were a part of their little group. The only people they loved was the people who believed how they believed. And that's certainly not what God's called us to do. They in fact hated anyone who didn't believe the way they believed. They hated the Gentiles. They hated the sinners. the prostitute, the tax collectors. In fact, they thought that those people were under a curse. Listen to what Jesus said in John 7, 46, I'll read to you. The Jewish officers, so remember the Jewish officers, the chief priests had sent them to arrest Jesus. Listen to what they said. They report back to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, never has a man, speaking of Jesus, never has a man spoken the way this man has spoke. The Pharisees then answered them and said, You have not also been led astray, have you? No one of the rulers of the Pharisees has believed in him, have thee? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed. So you and I see how the chief priests, how the Pharisees viewed anybody who wasn't a part of their group. anybody who didn't have an understanding of God's law. Instead of being a means, instead of being the vessel which God would use to teach those people the law, to build them up, to bring them up to understand God's law, they looked at the people as though they were accursed from God, that they were below them. When in fact, I believe scripture tells us that it was the Pharisees, it was the scribes who were in fact cursed by God. In fact, it was Jesus who said it. In fact, eight times I believe, starting in Matthew 23, 13. Jesus says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. Now you know, those of you who know your Bible know that woe can be translated as cursed. Jesus says, Cursed are you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you have shut up the kingdom of heaven from the people, and you yourselves do not enter. Verse 15, Cursed are you, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice the son of hell. Now you know a proselyte was a Gentile who converted to Judaism. Verse 16, woe to you, you blind guides. Verse 23, woe to you, cursed are you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, who have neglected the weightier provision of the law, justice, mercy, faithfulness. Verse 28, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside are full of robbery and self-indulgence. Just like a beautiful cup that you would wash on the outside, but in the inside filled with rot. Verse 27, cursed are you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you're like a whitewashed tomb, which will on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of dead man's bones and uncleanness. Verse 29, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets and say, if we had been alive the days of our father, we would not have been partakers of them who shed the blood of the prophets. And Jesus says, so you testify against yourself that your sons, your father, are the ones who murdered the prophets. This is harsh stuff. So I want you to catch the religious leaders of that day looked at those who had no understanding of the law, the common person, anyone who wasn't a part of their group, the scribes and Pharisees looked at them as though they were accursed. And Jesus says, no, you are accursed. You are accursed. Now, why? Because, I believe there's a principle here we'll see, judgment is based off of knowledge. Judgment is based off of knowledge. In other words, in Luke 12, 48, Jesus says this, To whom much is given, much will be required. The religious leaders, they had the Torah. They had availability to the Scriptures, and they knew them. And in fact, I believe they even knew they couldn't keep the commandments as God prescribed. And instead of crying out to God for mercy and believing in God by faith, they changed God's law. They watered it down. They added to that you're going to see today. They took away. And because of that, there's going to be great judgment for them. In fact, in Matthew 11, listen to what Jesus says when He begins to denounce some of the cities that did not repent from His teaching and His miracles. This is found in Matthew 11, verse 20. Verse 21, I'm sorry. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyree and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ash. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyree and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, which be exalted in the heaven, you will descend to Hades, For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which had occurred in you, it would have remained unto this day. Nevertheless, I say unto you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. So again, what principle are we seeing here? There is a greater judgment when there is a greater knowledge. Jesus begins to address these cities where many of his miracles had occurred that no man could have ever done before and never did do. And Jesus begins to address these cities where not only these miracles occurred, but where he spent a majority of his time teaching the things of the word of God, and they did not believe. And did you catch what Jesus said there? It will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom. Now you and I know, think of Sodom and Gomorrah, what the predominant sin was there. sexual immorality, homosexuality. Maybe you would remember that the angels that came to visit Lot, those men of the city tried to break down the door to get to those angels. They literally wanted to have homosexual relations with them. And Jesus says, it will be more tolerable for those men than for the cities at which Christ performed many of his miracles and taught much of his word, and they rejected it. So again, you see there is a greater judgment based upon knowledge. Remember what James says? Let not many of us become teachers, brother. Why? Because we shall receive a stricter judgment. The more knowledge that we have, the more we will be accountable to God for that. So again, the scribes and the Pharisees, certainly distorted God's Word, and there will be strict judgment for that. So remember, they had thought, just because they hadn't literally murdered anybody, that they were innocent. They had taught that they could divorce their spouse for any and every reason, as long as they gave them a certificate of divorce. They had taught that, well, as long as they hadn't committed the literal act of adultery, they were innocent. They had taught that, hey, they could lie just about anything. Remember, they would take oaths. They would say, I swear on heaven, I swear on the earth, I swear on Jerusalem, I swear on my own life, my own head, and they would lie. But they taught, well, as long as we don't swear on God's name, we're okay. And Jesus said, don't you dare swear on the heaven, that's God's throne. Don't swear on the earth, that's His footstool. Don't swear on the holy city Jerusalem, that's the city of the great king. Don't swear on your own life, you can't make one hair white or black. And Jesus showed them, your words matter. What you say matters. He said, let your yes be yes and your no be no. What you say you're going to do, do it. They had taught that They had taken God's law, an eye for an eye, if you remember last Lord's Day, and a tooth for a tooth, a tooth for a tooth, and they had taken it and taught the people that this was justification for personal retaliation. In other words, you hit me, I hit you. You kick my dog, I kick yours. Now, when we saw last Lord's Day, that's not what that law was for. God had prescribed that law for the courts, for the judges and the governors that God had ordained. We looked at that. And this was not a license for personal retaliation. This was God literally, I believe, limiting the, making sure the justice was fitting for the crime. Remember, we said it could be translated only one eye for an eye and only one tooth for a tooth. because we said that it's human nature. If you would do something to me, I want to make it worse on you, especially with a fallen man. So we looked at that and said that this was to be decided upon the courts and the courts were to decide the judgment that was fitting for the crime. And we said, well, what if the courts are partial? What if they what if they show favoritism? Then you and I were to trust God, right? Vengeance is mine. Say it. The Lord would have trusted in his hands. But they had taught that, hey, you know what? This is a license for personal retaliation. Whatever they do to you, do to them. Do worse. And today, I pray you see from the text, the rabbis of old had taken God's word. They had admitted something that you're going to see. They had admitted something and they added to to justify their hate. So again, I want you to see that they admitted God's law and they added to to justify their hate. So look there at verse 43 with me. Jesus says, You have heard that it had been said that thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. Let's look at that word, love, just briefly. Those of you who study the Bible, you know that in the Greek language, there are several different words for love. One of the words used for love is philia, which is a brotherly love or a friendship-type love. Another is storge, which is the love of family, or eros, which is a desiring of romantic love. But the word love here is the word you're familiar with, agape, or agapeo. The love that seeks, I like this definition, love that seeks and works to meet another's highest welfare or highest need. Get that again. A love that seeks and works to meet another's highest welfare or highest need. This is the word love that Paul defines for us in 1 Corinthians 13. If you remember, we said that it is better described as a verb than it is a noun. In other words, this type of love isn't so much described what it is, but rather what it does. Remember, Paul said that love is patient, love is kind, love never boasts. You remember all that from 1 Corinthians 13. This is the type of love that God is, right? God is love. This is the type of love that God says is undeserved, which meets the needs of others. This is the type of love that God uses to speak of his elect, of his children, this agapio love. Now, you would say, my initial thought is, when I read this scripture, I'm going to love my neighbor. Well, I can't do that. I can't love them that much. Well, that's true in and of yourself. But without the radical conversion, without the supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit, you can't. And that is the point, again, of the law. It should have been enough to show the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders of that day that in and of themselves, they can't love their neighbor that way. But through power of the Holy Spirit, you certainly can. But I also want you to see what I call the sin of omission. The sin of omission. So Jesus said, you've heard it was said by the rabbis of old, but they left something out. So I want to read to you what they were quoting from Leviticus 19.18. Leviticus 19.18 says, Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. For I am the Lord. So what were the rabbis teaching? So let's look again, verse 44. You have heard it said, I'm sorry, verse 43. You have heard it said that thou shalt love thy neighbor. But in Leviticus 19, 18, it says that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You see what they omitted? They omitted that thou shalt love, that you and I as kingdom citizens, that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Now, why do you think they left that out? Well, I believe because they realized that they love themselves a whole lot, and they weren't able to love their neighbor that much. Do you remember when Jesus gives the example of the Pharisee and the tax collector goes to the temple to pray? The Pharisee gets as close as he can to the Holy of Holies, and he stands up so all people could see him, and he begins to pray with himself. He says, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I fast, I tithe, I give alms, and I'm not, I'm just paraphrasing, I'm not like this tax collector. In other words, he says, God, have you seen me? I'm really good. They loved themselves. Now am I saying we ought to hate ourselves? No, but what I am saying is we must be careful not to love ourselves so much and build ourselves and be so prideful with ourselves that we miss the needs of other people. They were so busy loving themselves they missed the weightier things of the law, to be merciful and faithful to those who are without, and to be a means, a vessel to teach the word of God to these other people. Don't look down upon them. So I think as you and I, as kingdom citizens, we have to be very careful about that, not to love ourselves so much that we neglect the needs of others. They purposefully left that out. And I would add this, and you know this, Revelation says that if we remove anything from God's Word, then He would remove our portion of the tree of life. So dear friends, we ought to be very careful of that. We can't remove portions of God's Word just because we feel we don't meet the standard. Or we can't remove a portion of God's Word just because we feel we can't live up to it, right? Instead, we must preach it with truth and pray through the power of the Holy Spirit that He would help us. So, not only did they omit that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, but they began to redefine who their neighbor was. See, how do you think God defined who our neighbor was? Well, Jesus actually helps us. I'll read to you in Luke. It's lengthy, but I think it's worth reading and you're familiar with it. The parable of the good Samaritan. So maybe your natural thought is, well, my neighbor, he is the one who lives beside me and that's it, nothing else. Well, listen to what Luke, Jesus says in Luke 10, beginning of verse 25. And he said to them, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered and said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Well, at least he got that right. He actually did quote God's law, right? That we are to love our neighbor as ourself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? And Jesus said unto him, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, which stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now let me stop there to help you understand that. So you would know Jerusalem is certainly elevated up on a plateau, so going down from there would be a descending way. And apparently there was a way that was pretty violent, a very dangerous way, where I'd read that many thieves and robbers would hide. So you have this Jew leaving Jerusalem, and on the way he gets robbed, on the way he gets beat up, on the way he gets stripped of his clothing and left for dead, okay? So, now we saw that there came a priest down that way, and saw him from a distance, oh, that guy's beat up, that guy looks hurt, that guy's half naked, but I gotta get to the temple, just left him. And likewise, the Levite, when he was at that place, came and looked on him and passed by the other side. The Levite, the scribe, he did a little better. He saw that man who was beat up laying there for dead, and he at least went a little closer and looked at him. But oh, he had to go about his way. But notice, verse 33, but a certain Samaritan was journeying. Now those of you who study your Bible, you would know the Jews and the Samaritans hated one another. This would have been the Jew's enemy. The Jew who was laying there half dead naked, beat up, would have been an enemy to the Samaritan. But look what the Samaritan does. As the Samaritan journeyed, he came to where the man was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. He went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine, and set him on his own beast or horse, and brought him to the inn, and took care of him. And on the next day, the morrow, he departed, and took out two denarii, two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. So you and I see the Samaritan, the enemy of the Jew, he took that guy, he put him on his beast, he bound up his wounds, he poured oil on his wounds. And not only did he do all that, but he paid the fare for the man to be in the inn to recover. And then he goes as far to say, if there's anything else this man owes, when I come back, I'll repay it. I'll repay it. Verse 36, Jesus says, So again, I want you to know the scribes and the Pharisees, they had interpreted their neighbor was only Jews, and then they made it even more inclusive. Not only was it only Jews, but they would only love those who believed exactly like them. They would only love the other Pharisees or scribes. Everybody else they hated. Remember, they looked at the people who didn't know the law as accursed. They looked at the tax collectors. They looked at the prostitutes. They looked at the Gentiles as sinners. They hated them and they avoided them. They considered them dirty. And in fact, they even said to the disciples many a times, why does your teacher eat with the tax collectors and prostitutes and the sinners? So they had redefined who their neighbor was. Well, my neighbor is only my four and no more bar the door, right? I'm only going to love those who believe like me, who affirm my theology. They don't affirm my theology, boom, I hate them. We better be careful of that because I do see that today. So Christ shows us who our neighbor is. Our neighbor is anyone that we come in contact day to day. Remember as Brother Davidson said, I really like that he said, contact is opportunity. Contact is opportunity. Your neighbor is not the person who lives by you. Your neighbor is not just the people who come to Jones Run Church. Your neighbor is not just the people who affirm your theology. Your neighbor is anyone who you come in contact with every day at your workplace, at the store, Wherever you are, if there is a need, God has caused you and I to love them. And yes, even the sinners, even the wicked. I had more than one opportunity to learn this lesson today. And again, the lesson is always for the preacher first. I shared this with someone. I was at the gym, and I'm there right by the desk, and this young man walks in, and the first thing he does is flip off the person with the bird. Those of you who know what that is, the worker behind the desk. And that person flips him off, and apparently they were friends. I guess friends do that to one another. And they carry on this conversation, and they were using every cuss word in the book. They were using the G.D. And in my flesh, I started getting mad. I was like, I want to punch that guy. And then the Lord is like, you dummy, what are you studying on this week? How easy is it to us to look at them as the enemy, when in reality, they're the harvest field. They don't know the Lord, they're lost, right? We ought to pray for them, right? We ought to look at an opportunity to come up along beside them to do some type of good for them, and then to turn them towards Christ. They're not the enemy, dear friends, they're lost. I think I've heard Brother Eric say many times, heathens are going to heath, right? Sinners are going to sin. They're not the enemy, as per se, they're the harvest field. We ought to love them, and trust me, I learned that lesson many, many times today. But they had redefined who their neighbor was. They were looking for loopholes. Well, God says to love thy neighbor, all I got to do, figure out who my neighbor is, and I can hate everyone else. That's looking for loopholes. It reminds me when I was a kid, I shared this with Tiffany. My mom said, Jeffrey, you can't get up off that table until all those green beans are gone. I said, no problem. As soon as she left, I chugged my Coke, put all the green beans in the bottom of the can, gone. See, I was looking for loopholes, see? But again, we ought to love our neighbor, which is anybody we come in contact with day to day. So not only did they omit, not only did they leave out that you are to love your neighbor as yourself, but then they added to justify their hate. You heard me read Leviticus 1918. I'll read it to you again. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. What did they add? That you are to hate your enemy. Do you know, nowhere in the Old Testament does it say to hate your enemy. Absolutely nowhere that I can find anyway. And listen to this, one of the maxims of the Pharisees, I'll quote, said this, If you see a Gentile drowning, let him drown. You have a right to be indifferent." That was one of the teachings of the religious leaders of the day. So again, hating thy enemy, they added that. They added that to justify their hate. Now, this was a lesson God, I feel, was constantly teaching His people, the Jews, and constantly teaching you and I, that we are not to hate our enemies. And one that came to my mind that helped me understand God's hate, because I'm not going to deny Psalm 115, that does say, the Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence, His soul hates. So how do we parse that out? Because God does hate, and a perfect hate, not like you or I hate, but he does hate the wicked and those who love violence. Well, it reminded me of the Ninevites. So you would remember, God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, to Nineveh to preach repentance. But Jonah did not want to go, did he? Because the Ninevites were wicked. They were evil people. They were. That's just what history records. It isn't my opinion. I read a few things about them. They were constantly at war with Israel. Nineveh was known as Sin City, which we have a Sin City in our country, don't we? Oftentimes the Ninevites would torture and would kill conquered people and they would pridefully carry parts of the fallen to their homes to brag as souvenirs of war. I'm not denying these Ninevites were evil, wicked people. But yet God called Jonah to go to them, didn't he? Jonah didn't want to go. Jonah didn't want to go because he knew that if they would repent, then God would forgive them. And Jonah didn't like them. In fact, I had read, this is in Assyria, Nineveh, the capital there, that often times that the Ninevites would kill Jews and put a stake through their body, from their bottom, into their body, cover them in tar and catch them on fire. So you see why in the flesh Jonah did not want to go. These were wicked people who certainly loved violence. Listen, Jonah 3.5. So get this in your mind. You know the story of Jonah. He eventually gets there and he preached repentance. And guess what the people did. The people of Nineveh says, believed God, proclaiming a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least. Word came in the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and laid his robe over him and covered him with sackcloth and ash. The king made a decree that no one could eat, no man or beast nor flock, taste anything or eat or drink water. So even from the king, he declared this fast. Nineveh believed the preaching of Jonah. In verse 10, God saw their works and they turned from their evil way and God withheld the evil. He has said that he would do unto them and did it not. So we're not going to deny that these people were evil. We're not going to deny that God hated them with perfect hate because of their deeds, because of their love of their wickedness and their love of violence. But I pray you come away with a different understanding of God's hate today and a different understanding of God's love. Because even though these people were certainly enemies, not only to Israel, but to God at that time, He loved them enough to send them Jonah. He loved them enough with a benevolent love, which we'll see, a common grace love, to send them Jonah to warn them, had they not repent, then judgment was going to come. He allowed the sun to shine on them. He allowed the rain to pour on them. And He allowed God, He even sent them a prophet to warn them. Now, how did Jonah feel about this? How did Jonah feel about taking God's word, God's warning to his enemies? Chapter four, verse one. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. He even goes on to say, Lord, I take my life for me, for it's better for me to die than to live. Slightly dramatic. But Jonah did not want his enemies to repent and believe. We ought to be very careful of that. We'll see the most wretched of sinners and we look at them as our enemy instead of our mission field, when in reality we should take the word of God to them and then we should rejoice if they believe because they were dead and now they are alive again. Remember the prodigal son? Jonah should have rejoiced. How did God feel about these people? How did God feel about these people, though they were wicked, though they loved violence, but they repented? Did you catch what God said in Jonah 4.11? God says, to Jonah, should I not pity Nineveh, this great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who can't discern between their left and right hand? Let me help you understand that, because I tested this. I went to my boys who were going to be four in November. I said, Elias, which one's your right hand? He had no idea. I said to Ezra, which one, and though we have taught them this, I said, Ezra, which one's your left hand? He had no idea. I believe this portion of scripture, God is saying there, should I not have pity on Nineveh? Should I not love them also? Because there's 120,000 children there. They can't tell from their left and right hand. And as I read, if there's 120,000 children there, most scholars believe, then there could have been up to 600,000 people there, not counting the livestock. And God says, should I not have pity on them? Should I not be willing to forgive them if they would return from their sin? Absolutely. So you see there that though even through God's hate, it isn't a hate like our hate, right? If we hate somebody, it's because they wronged us, or it's motive by evil things. God's hate is even perfect, and even through God's hate, He has that common love, that common grace to all, and He at least sends them a prophet, and they repented, and they believed, and God forgave them. So this plainly shows you and I that God's love is extended even to His enemies. even to his enemies." Again, as I said, it's called common grace or goodwill. God calls you and I to do the exact same thing. Look at verse 44. But I say unto you, Jesus speaking, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. I read that word bless means to speak well of. Did you catch that? Christ tells us to bless those who curse you. So again, as we saw earlier, it doesn't mean that we are to personally retaliate to them. They may speak evil of you and pray for them prayerfully. It's falsely, right? That let them speak evil of you. What are you to do to them? Speak well of them. Don't retaliate. do good to them who hate you. So we looked in that parable of the good Samaritan, and we said that no doubt that Jew, had that not had happened to him, would have hated that Samaritan. But yet that Samaritan did good to him, didn't he? Do good to those who hate you. pray for those which despitefully use you and persecute you. We've seen this before. We've seen this throughout the Bible. Remember Stephen? Remember Stephen, the Bible says was a young man full of the Holy Spirit that the early church chose to help administer some of the food and other things to the widows and part of the church was being neglected. Stephen was a young man who loved God and was full of the Holy Spirit. And because of his testimony of Jesus Christ, to the religious leaders, you would remember, they drug him outside of the city, and they began to pick up their stones, and they began to throw them at Stephen and kill him. And listen to what Stephen says in Acts 7.59, Now listen, Now listen, What does Christ tell us to do? Love our enemies, pray for our enemies, bless them. I know it's a hard thing to do, to pray for our enemies. Did Jesus not do this? You would remember perhaps the very Roman centurion, perhaps the Roman guard that was there that arrested Jesus wrongfully, perhaps that Roman guard that literally punched his face, plucked his beard, spit upon him, put the crown of thorns in his head, took a reed and hit him on his head, mocking him as a king. Those very Roman centurions or guards that had him carry his cross and are literally there putting nails through his wrists and hands, putting nails through his feet. And what does Jesus say when he's up there on the cross? You got it. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Just because the standard is high doesn't mean we change God's standard. God calls you and I to love our enemies. Bless them, speak good of them, do good to them, even if they do good, bad to us, and pray for them. I know it's hard. I shared with my wife, there was a time, this person that I just honestly, I didn't care much for. It was very hard for me to pray for them. You know what I did initially at my old church? Maybe you'd remember those little churches people would put their prayer requests in. All I could do at that time, because there was a lot of animosity, unfortunately, between us, I put his name on that little paper, I folded it, and I put it in the church, because I knew some people were going to walk over to that church and say, Lord, I pray for every request in this church. And at that time, I was having a hard time praying for this particular person. But as God began to chisel my heart, eventually I was able to pray. Now, initially, my prayers weren't the best. It was, Lord, I pray for so-and-so that he drives off a cliff. And God's like, that's not what you're to pray. But little by little, God showed me, pray for this person. He may be your enemy, but I love him. He's my creation. And little by little, I was then able to pray for this person more and more, and it became easier and easier. And eventually, this person became a Christian. He became saved, and he literally apologized to me. And now I embrace him and love him as a brother. So the standard doesn't change. We are to love and to pray. And unfortunately, we have enemies. Some of us may have more enemies than others, but unfortunately, we have enemies because human nature is, we're fallen and we look at any little reason to hate somebody, to not like somebody, but nonetheless, we're to love them, we're to pray for them, we're to do good for them. I wanted you to see there in verse 45, well actually let me back up. Why are we to do this? Verse 45, Jesus says, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. If you remember, I defined this for you a little bit more last Lord's Day. Why is Jesus asking you and I to do these things? That you may reflect the very nature of your Father in heaven, because this is what He does. Even though those Ninevites were evil, wicked people, God still had a benevolent love towards them. God had still sent them a prophet. And once they repented and believed, God withheld his judgment. And therefore, God calls us to do the exact same thing, to love our enemies, pray for them, bless them, do good for them. that we may reflect God, that we may look at that person, and little by little, turn them towards God, and they may say, wow, I don't know how you love me, Brother Aaron. It must be because of the radical love of Christ in you, and they become converted. They're not the enemy, they're the mission field. But anyway, I want you to see there, verse 45 says, that He allows God, even to His enemies, even to those who don't believe in Him, even to those who blaspheme His name and shake their fist at Him, God allows, Jesus says, the sun to rise on the evil and on the good. God allows His common grace. God allows His benevolent love, if you remember. God allows them to enjoy His creation, the sunrise, the sunset, the benefits of the sun. But did you notice what you see there? He allows the sun to rise on the evil and on the just. Well now Jesus flips it. He allows the rain on the just and the unjust. I believe He does that to show there's no partiality with God. He allows all of us to enjoy His creation. The rain, the blessing from the rain. And we talked about some of the common grace before. Marriage, which is ordained by God. He allows the wicked who don't even believe in Him that mock at marriage to enjoy marriage. He allows those who don't believe in Him or love Him to have children, which you and I know is a gift from God, an inheritance from God. And we jokingly say He allows them to breathe His air. It is His air, but there's no partiality with God. Verse 47, if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than the others? Not even the tax collectors do that. That is exactly what the religious leaders of the day were doing. They were only saying hello, embracing, loving, doing good for the people who looked like them, who dressed like them, who believed like them, who talked like them. And anybody who was outside their group, they hated. They justified their hate by adding to God's word. If you only love or do good to those who can repay you, do not even the tax collectors do the same. Jesus says, love your neighbors as yourself, love your enemies. Verse 48, that those who think they can keep, here's the standard. I said this to you before. The religious leaders who certainly would have been there during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is gonna say to them, you think you can keep the law? You think you're innocent because you've never literally murdered anybody. You think you're innocent because you hadn't committed the actual act of adultery. You think you're innocent of divorcing your spouse for unbiblical reasons because you gave them a certificate of divorce. You think you're innocent because you take oaths but you don't lie when you take them on my name? You think you're innocent because you take personal vengeance in your own hands and eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth? Here's the standard, Christ says, you want to be under the law, then he says, here's the requirement, be perfect even as God is perfect. That should have been enough to crush the self-righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. And it should be enough to crush you and I because we are not perfect as God is perfect. We cannot be. And again, that's the whole intent of God's law is to show you and I we can't do it. We need God. We need Christ. And that is the good news. The good news is Jesus Christ has met the standard. He has met the standard. He fulfilled the law perfectly. He was in all ways tempted, yet without sin. Christ is perfect and righteous. And as you and I know, that if we put our faith in Christ, then God will add to us Christ's righteousness. God will impute to us Christ's righteousness. And when he sees us, he will see the righteousness of Christ. And then we are perfect by imputation, as the theologians call it. The Great Exchange, as theologians call it. God takes all of your sins and He applies them to Christ on Calvary. God takes the righteousness of Christ, of living an entire life perfectly without sin, and adds to your account by faith and faith alone in Christ. Not in works, not in keeping the law. We cannot. There is no salvation in the law, Paul says. So, you know, God loved Adam, but He punished him. God punished Cain, but he loved him. God loved the whole world, but he judged it and flooded it. God loves this earth, but he says that one day it will burn. God loved his son, but he allowed him to bear sin and die. And dear friends, I say to you with love, God loves you, but if you do not repent and believe, you will be judged. You will be judged and thrown into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of the teeth. I don't say that hatefully. That's what the Bible says. That is what Jesus says. See, some people think because God is love, and He is. He is the absolute epitome of love. I often say He exerts no effort to be love as you and I exert no effort to be human. He is the perfect example of love. But we can't take that attribute of God's love and elevate it above His other attributes, that He is a righteous, holy judge and all the other attributes of God. So some people will think, well, because God is love, then I can live a wicked life. I can live in rebellion to his word and his commandments and his teaching. And because he is love, he's going to allow me into heaven. Friends, that's not going to happen. We see he judged Adam. He judged Cain. He judged the pre-flood world. He's going to judge our earth. He allowed poor judgment out on his son on our behalf. And one day he will judge those who do not repent and believe in Jesus. So I pray today, We will have a time of prayer. However, God the Holy Spirit has moved upon you. And perhaps you have enemies. We all have enemies. And perhaps you have avoided them. Perhaps you have hated them. Perhaps you find it hard to pray for them. Well, maybe God has convicted your heart today. And said, well, you know, I am not really supposed to do that, am I? I am not really supposed to have any enemies. They may speak falsely and evil of me, but I'm going to love them. I'm going to pray for them. And again, I meant to say this if I didn't, because it's the word agape, the word that's used there for love. It's not the word philia. It doesn't mean you have to have a great friendship with them. It's not the word eros, that you have to be romantically attracted to them, or Sergei, that you have to, whatever that means, I can't remember, strive to have that bond, a family bond with. But he says that we are to agape love them. That is undeserved love. That is love that aims to meet the other person's need. That is the love used to describe God's love towards His children. That's how we are to love them. we are to do good for them. Amen? And most of all, if you don't know Christ, you don't know the greatest love that God's ever given to humanity through His Son, Jesus. I thought of that verse, why we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why we were in the most rebellious state. Think of the most heinous, I hate to bring it to your mind, but I want you to think of the most heinous sin you did prior to Christ. God still loved you. While you were a sinner, Christ died for you. But no doubt that love for his children, that eternal love, is what I'm speaking of here today. So I have a time of prayer. You're welcome to come and pray. However, God, the Holy Spirit's moved upon you. Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, we again thank you for your word. Your word is truth. We thank you Lord that we can see here Lord that even your enemies, even those Ninevites Lord who hated you, certainly who persecuted your children, you loved them enough to enjoy common grace Lord. You loved them enough to send your prophet to them Lord. And once they repented Lord you forgave them. You embrace them. And Lord, we certainly are to do the same, love our enemies, to pray for them, to do good for them. Lord, I know that's a hard thing to do, but I would pray we would all remember that one day we were your enemy when we were rebellious to you and your son. Holy Spirit, would you have your way? Again, you know the hearts of every single person here today. You know what they're going through. May you comfort them, draw them, and love them, I pray. It's in Jesus' name, amen.