This morning, we come to the sixth and final comparison that Jesus makes between his own teachings and that of the scribes. He is contrasting true righteousness, which comes from the heart and is in harmony with the law, with what they had been teaching, which was not. It's significant that throughout this whole section that Jesus does not directly condemn the scribes. He doesn't directly condemn the Pharisees in the next section we're going to be looking at. Instead, he is contrasting his teaching with that of the scribes. Jesus said in Matthew 5.20 that you must have a righteousness that exceeds that of scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. The contrast between what he teaches and what they teach reveals true righteousness. Jesus' purpose was not condemnation judgment, it was exposure in order to effect change. Now that's significant for us because it's very easy for us to fall into the very same trap as the scribes and Pharisees. And we start defining true righteousness by what we do and what we don't do rather than on who we are in character. There's a big difference between the two. Our hearts also need to be exposed so we might change as well. And we certainly have seen that what Jesus has been teaching here in Matthew 5 does that. It exposes our hearts, it reveals what we don't really necessarily want to see, but must see if we're going to change. And then we can change. In Jesus' first illustration, it was concerning murder. He exposed the selfish anger that exists in the human heart. In his discussion concerning adultery, he exposed the unrighteous lust that commits adultery in the heart long before anything physical can happen. He also brings out the principle that God is not pleased just because we think we can get away with something. The same thing comes up in divorce. They had all sorts of rules that they had come up with that allowed them divorce for nearly any reason. Jesus showed that their practice only multiplied adultery, and though it was within the law as it was being taught with them, it was not in God's law, and God is not pleased with it. In that realm, it doesn't matter what our society says is good or bad. Society doesn't get to judge that. God does, and eventually you have to stand before him. So, he is the one that sets the standards, not our society, not our legislators. In fact, every single one of these folks in government that set our laws and enforce it or don't enforce it, they eventually will have to stand before God as well, and it will be by God's standards, not man's standards. Jesus has been showing this as he is demonstrating what the law really is. The Scribes had also put complex rules together concerning vows, when you could keep them and when you could break them. And Jesus demonstrated that someone who is truly righteous simply keeps his word. And so a vow and whatever you say are the same thing. I will keep my word. I will do what I say. And then last week, we saw that contrary to the Scribes teaching in which revenge is required, Those who are righteous leave vengeance in God's hands while seeking to be a blessing. Jesus' last illustration, which we are looking at this morning, expands on that theme by explaining that the righteous reflects God by not only loving their neighbors, but also their enemies. Look at Matthew 5, starting in verse 43. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he causes his Son to rise on the evil and the good, and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Now, each and every one of the comparisons Jesus has made has shown the simpleness of all mankind, including every single person here. No man can live according to what Jesus teaches here on their own. This last teaching about loving your enemies. it's far the greatest test demonstrating true righteousness. For only someone who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit could possibly do this. Only someone who has the Holy Spirit within them could strive toward Jesus' call in verse 48 of being perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. Only those who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit of their sinfulness so that they mourn and then admit their sin and then approach God pouring spirit. They're the only ones who will be seeking his grace and mercy, only they could do this. Only those who are filled by the spirit so that they hunger and thirst after righteousness, they want to be transformed, not just outwardly, but inwardly be pure in heart. To walk according to these characteristics is to explain the Beatitudes. They're the only ones who are actually going to be able to live according to Jesus' teachings. The standard is too high for everybody else. It takes God working in you and through you to accomplish this. It's humanly impossible. Now, if the self-righteous understand the teachings of Jesus, they are offended. A lot of times they didn't understand it, but when they did understand it, they would be offended. Most of the Jewish leaders at that time did take offense at what Jesus taught, so much so eventually they murdered him out of their hatred. But there are the few that would take to heart what he said. They understand their depravity and their need for God, before God, to be poor in spirit. They confess freely that Jesus is correct in what he says and what he does, and so we ask him for help. And he does help us. As our heart is revealed, our response demonstrates whether we're truly righteous or not. That's especially true in this. Again, this is the toughest test of righteousness that's given in the sermon, and it should bring a conviction to each of us that we still lack in personal holiness. Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect? We're not there yet. And this thing about loving your enemies, this is tough. It takes something that has changed the heart to be able to do this. That requires Jesus Christ, faith in him and the Holy Spirit working through you, because only then can you demonstrate the mercy and grace you receive from God. Only then do we receive that, that we then express it. Only then can we demonstrate true godliness. Now, in verse 43, Jesus repeats the twisted teaching of the scribes. Now, the scribes taught, and that's what this phrase means, you have heard it was said. This is what the scribes were teaching. This is what the rabbis were telling the people. You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. So, once again, we find a teaching from the rabbis that was very selective in what they told the people. It is not the whole counsel of God on this matter, it is what the human teacher wanted for himself and therefore teach the people. The same thing occurs today. In 2 Timothy 4.3, there is a warning that a time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine but will gather for themselves men who will tickle their ears. We live in such a time. You turn on quote-unquote Christian TV or radio, and the airwaves are filled with men who would like to tickle your ears. I was talking with another pastor who once told me that he had some people in his church come to him and said, if you preach through a certain passage, we're going to leave. He was a man of integrity. That was what was scheduled, and that's what he preached through. He's going to preach the whole counsel of God. So he kept his promise. They kept their promise. They left and took 50 percent of the budget with them. There are a lot of people that do not want sound doctrine. They want their ears tickled. What do we mean by that? They want to hear what they want to believe and they want to feel good about themselves. And there's plenty of people who will tell you that stuff, make you feel good about yourself. We've had them here in the past. I'm sure we'll have them here in the future. Most of the time, such people don't come to a Bible church. Or if they do, they leave quietly. The only thing I can say positive about these people that told my pastor friend this is at least they were honest enough to tell him what they were doing. But there's a lot of people around like that. They want their ears tickled. That's my own belief that it's a symbiotic relationship. People who want their ears tickled and pastors who want to tickle them work well together. The people get to hear what they want and the preacher gets their acclaim and their finances. So he's happy, but neither get the truth. And that's what's so sad. Neither get the truth. What will their end be? My commitment here is to faithfully exposit the Word of God, according to its grammatical context and according to its historical context, to the best of my ability, whether I like it or you like it or not. And understand, sometimes I don't like it. I'm just like you. There's sections here. I don't like the exposure, but it's what the word says. And so we must come to reality of what truth is and then walk accordingly. And praise God, he's so gracious that where he exposes, he heals where he demonstrates that you are weak. He provides strength. This is the nature of our God. This is why we worship him. In this passage, we find the scribes had once again twisted the Hebrew Scriptures. Turn over to Leviticus chapter 19. This is the first context where it talks about loving your neighbor, and there is a context here. When we look through this, we find they left a lot out. The full passage, starting in verse 17, reads this. You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your hearts. You may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the son of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." But what's missing from the teaching of the tribes? The passage specifically says to not hate their fellow countrymen in the heart or take vengeance or hold a grudge against them. A good reminder of last week's message, right? We're not to take vengeance. Even when someone defames your honor or seeks to control you or seeks to gain your personal possessions, take away your personal liberty. We are not to seek vengeance. We leave that in God's hands. In addition, as Pastor Viticus says, this is God's command, love your neighbor as yourself, based on what? I am the Lord, based on who God is. Notice they leave off the end of the phrase, as yourself. Why? Simply because it's a whole lot easier to love your neighbor if there's no standard by which to judge what loving your neighbor is. so they can make it up to anything they want. God says to love your neighbors with the same consideration, with the same intensity with which you selfishly love yourself, and we all do. That's a high requirement. By omitting the last phrase, the scribes made it easy to fulfill the command to love their neighbor because they can define this love any way they want. Now, let me quickly add here that throughout the Scriptures, this concept of self-love is an assumed part of human nature, and it is. In fact, Paul uses this concept in Ephesians 5, 28-30 in commanding husbands to love their wives as they love themselves. He goes on and says, He who loves his own wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church. I've had some people come and say, Well, I hate myself. I say, What do you eat? So, what kind of foods do you not like? Well, I don't like this, this, this. Well, why aren't you eating that stuff? Because he loves himself. If he really hated himself, he'd be eating the most disgusting stuff he can't stand, right? No, he loves himself. When you're cold, what do you do? You're going to find some way to get warm. When you're hot, what do you do? I'm trying to find some way to get cool. We love ourselves. It's simply part of human nature. We love ourselves. So it becomes a standard. Do you love other people with the same consideration as you would give to yourself? That's why it's commanded in Husbands. Do you give her the kind of consideration that you give to yourself? And the honest answer then is no. I know I'm supposed to. But I don't. So it's something to keep achieving, keep working toward. We live in a time when the self-esteem movement, which really got kicked off in the 70s and 80s, has changed even this passage. And people will say to you, well, until you love yourself, you can't love others. Now, that's hogwash. That's nonsense. That's heresy. is opposed to the proud. The self-esteem movement is all about boosting your pride. You feel good about yourself and you have no reason to feel good about yourself. This keeps coming up in these tests that are given to school-age children internationally. The United States isn't ranking high anymore. We're ranked way down. A lot of other countries, much higher than us in academics. But where does the United States score the highest? Those kids feel good about themselves. They have no reason to. They're not doing well, but we've been doing this as a society now for a long time. That kind of pride is dangerous. It's ungodly. It is harmful. God gives grace to who? The humble. A good self-esteem is someone who is lowly, who is humble. God is opposed to proud and Proverbs 11.2 and 16.8 says pride is what goes before destruction and it leads to dishonor. Love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus said, because he's quoting the Old Testament. The rabbis left it off. Just love your neighbor. Now, they went on to define their neighbors then as only their fellow Jews. One ancient saying of the Pharisees was this, quote, If a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out, for it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor, but this man is not thy neighbor. That's what they taught. It was this attitude that caused the Romans to charge the Jews at that time with hatred of the human race. They not only taught a very restricted love to their neighbors, but they left out the restrictions on hatred, vengeance, grudges. Instead, they added the phrase, hate your enemies. Why? Simply because hatred, vengeance, and holding grudges is what was in their own heart toward their enemies. And it's very difficult to justify that if you actually taught what God said. So leave that off and go the opposite way. And that's why they taught to hate. In a time when heresy is so widespread, there are plenty of teachers and preachers that still do the same thing, to teach and preach what they want for themselves and what people want to hear. But we have to go, what does the Word say? What has God revealed? We don't get to pick and choose. Now, their hatred for their enemies was the logical conclusion to their own teachings. In Leviticus 19, it is defined there, if you're looking at the context, as other Jews. And so they believe that they should hate the Gentiles because God commanded their forefathers to wipe out the Canaanites. So that became justification. They forgot that God commanded that to happen because it's hatred of sin, not a hatred for people or even hatred for a people. It was the sin that was there. They also justified their hatred of enemies because they would go to the imprecatory songs. In Psalm 69, David has a prayer against his enemies and included things such as that their table would be a snare to them, that they would fall into traps, their eyes would grow dim, that God's burning anger would overtake them. Those aren't pleasantries. And so they say, see, we're justified. David prayed this way. Those are arguments. We should hate our enemies. But that is not the right conclusion from those passages. Neither is a justification of hatred to your enemies. Even allowing the Leviticus 19 defines neighbor as Jewish kinsmen. The passage specifically does not say to hate anyone. It says do not do that. So we're still doing the opposite. More importantly, we find in the other scriptures there is a definition of doing good to foreigners and even enemies, and that includes in the Hebrew scriptures. For example, in Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 1, It speaks about helping a neighbor by doing very practical things. Return livestock that's been lost, helping out if he is an injured animal or overloaded as an animal. In Exodus 23, 4 and 5, it commands the very same things to be done to your enemy. It's very specific. You do these things even to your enemy and to the one who hates you, Job. Job is described in Job 1.1 as blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. He is an example for us of what true righteousness is. He would open his door and house of foreign travelers, according to Job 31, 31 and 32. He specifically stated he would not rejoice at either the extinction of or the calamity that would befall his enemy. He would not even allow his mouth to sin by asking for his enemy's life in a curse. That's an example of righteousness in the Old Testament. Same thing we find in David. In Psalm 7, verses 4 and 5, David prayed, If I have rewarded evil to my friend, or if I have plundered him without cause, who is my adversary, Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it. Let him trample my life down to the ground and lay my glory in the dust." David didn't want to be someone who did evil. David regarded doing wrong to an adversary just as bad as doing it to a friend. In fact, in Psalm 35, 12, 13, and 14, he says this, They repay me evil for good to the bereavement of my soul. But as for me? When they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fastings. My prayer kept returning to my bosom. I went about as though it were my friend or brother. I bowed down mourning as one sorrows for a mother." And that was David's reaction, even when he had the opportunity to eliminate Saul. Did he? No, he didn't. He cut off the hem of Saul's garment, could have put the knife right into his heart. When Saul leaves the cave, David is grieved in his heart that he even did that and had to call Saul and confess, I just cut off the hem of your garment. I'm not after you. He wasn't, and he had every right to be angry with Saul. He was already anointed king, but David would leave that in God's hands. That was David's heart. Proverbs also comments on how the righteous should treat their enemies. Let me give you a few of them. Proverbs 17, verse 5, ìHe who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.î Proverbs 24, 28 and 29, ìDo not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips. Do not say, ëThus I shall do to him as he has done to me.í I will render the man according to his work.î But isnít that a philosophy? Very common in our society now, they did to me, I'm going to do it back to them, or I'm going to get him before he gets me. The prophet says no, don't do that. Proverbs 25, 21, if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink. That's where Jesus' teaching comes from. Scribes and Pharisees should have understood all these things, but instead they added to the scripture the phrase, and hate your enemy. You say, well, what about God's command to destroy the pagan nations? What about David's imprecatory Psalms, such as Psalm 69? I say, what about them? God is also judge, and he is certainly his prerogative to bring judgment on those who disobey him. God loved Adam, but he cursed him. God loved Moses, but he punished him. He was not allowed to go on the promised land. God loves Israel, but he exiled them for a time. God loves the world, but he is going to destroy it and condemn all those that do not know Christ. God loves people, but sin must also be punished. What do you do with the two? They are reconciled in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why the focus is on him. God loves, but he is just. He will punish. Christ took that punishment that we might receive as love. That's the gospel, isn't it? The pagan nations were destroyed because God's judicial condemnation of their utter wickedness. These nations were unbelievably evil, even the practice of human sacrifice, including burning their own children in sacrifice to their idols. I can't even comprehend that. burning your own child. As far as the imprecatory Psalms, examine their context, you'll see the anguish of soul is not just over personal turmoil. That's certainly in there. But it's also the dishonor that these afflictions had brought upon God himself. There's a righteous indignation in those imprecatory Psalms, not just selfish anger. The scribes and Pharisees should have known all this, but instead they add to the law what was not there, actually in contrast to what the law specifically stated. and hate your enemies. What arrogance! Starting in Matthew 5.44, Jesus restores the meaning of the law. He says, Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you. Now, the context is the same as we examined last week. It's dealing with personal situations. This cannot be used to justify pacifism. It's not talking about what occurs on a battlefield or between countries. Though even then, as Christians, if we are to bring about justice because the law has been violated, if we are involved in battle and you're involved in war or conflict between nations, even then we carry out justice, defense and war without malice. The hate is still not supposed to be there. But this specifically is dealing more with the idea of personal enemies, people before The band brings the nature of Rises to its second highest operating pencil. The first, of course, is to love God, but this demands something that is humanly impossible. Men without Christ may go as far as to tolerate their enemies, but can they love them? The nature of this love is not emotional. It is based on human rationality. It is not an emotional thing. It is agape love. It's a love that chooses and then gives its best and seeks the best for the object of that love. It's a reflection of God's love for us. God's love purposely chooses, commits itself and acts on the basis of anything that is best for the object loved. That's what he did first in Christ, isn't it? And understand, there's nothing for God to gain. God is infinite in all respects. God is self-sufficient. Your love back to him, your worship does not add to God. He does not need it, and yet he desires it and he's going to accept it. So his love is not to get something from you. It's from him to give to you for your blessing. That's the amazing nature of our God. That's the kind of love this is talking about. It's not doing it to get back. It's doing it because it's right and good and will bless them. But of course, that elevates us even farther beyond our ability to do it ourselves, doesn't it? Scripture tells us, God so loved the world, he sent Jesus to die for us while yet sinners. Christ died for sinners. And it doesn't matter if that person is entrapped in the most vile and wretched sins you can think of, or it's one of the more acceptable ones. Pride and self-righteousness. You usually get away with that. This is a love that is internally generated to come out, as opposed to human love, which is a response from outward stimuli and then response to that. That's why in 1 John 4.19, Scripture says we love. Why? Because he first loved us. We respond. This is a demand to go the other way. You be first. This agape love is the same sacrificial love a husband extends to his wife. I talked about that earlier, but this is the word that is used. It's a sacrificial love. It's explained somewhat in 1 Corinthians 13. It's patient, it's kind, it's not jealous, it doesn't brag, it's not arrogant, it doesn't act unbecomingly, it doesn't take into account a wrong suffered. It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but in truth it bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. This kind of love never fails. And this is the love we're to have, not only towards our friends, and that can be difficult at times, right? Because sometimes we're not so friendly with our friends. But it says towards your enemies. Now, take note that while Jesus directly appears to love your enemies, he doesn't say you have to like them. You ever think about that? He says you have to love them. You didn't say you have to like them. Because God's command here is to your mind and to your will. It's not to your emotions. We need to remember, emotions are the caboos that follow the engine and the coal car. It follows along. Your emotions follow clear thinking and wise decisions. Emotions are not the basis of our obedience to God. They follow. Diane found a little poem. some years ago, I think, stresses this need to put mind and will over emotions when you're going to do good. It says this, if you were busy being kind, before you knew it, you would find. You'd soon forget to think it was true that someone was unkind to you. If you were busy being glad and cheering people who are sad, although your heart might ache a bit, you'd soon forget to notice it. If you were busy being good and doing just the best you could, You would not have the time to blame some man who is just doing the very best he can. If you were busy being right, you would find yourself too busy quite to criticize your neighbor's wrong because he is busy being wrong. This law has demonstrated that instead of reviling your persecutors in anger, you pray for them. Why? Because instead of seeing them against you, you see them for what they actually are. They are pawns in the hands of our enemy, Satan. They are slaves to him. They are entrapped in their own sin, and they need to be freed by the gospel. And you yearn to see those things from God's perspective, and when you do yearn that, the perspective changes. And instead of responding in anger toward them, it becomes pity. You long to see something that's going to change in them, and that Christ would come into their life, even though they're being horrible to you. There's a compassion that extends mercy and grace, and it pleads for God to save them. Jesus' teaching in this example, and in the previous one, correlates the attitudes in which Jesus said that the one who is persecuted for the sake of righteousness, they should rejoice because they're going to be blessed. That's a difficult saying in itself. Persecution can come in many forms. It comes in personal insults, it comes in slander, it comes in physical persecution, and yet we are to rejoice because that very persecution demonstrates that you're in the same group as the prophets. Your reward in heaven is going to be great. In this passage, the teaching of the Ashes is completed because now the righteous response to those enemies is also given, not just It says, but love them and pray for them. So both the don't do this, that's bad, but also do this, this is what is right, this is what is proper, this is what you need to do. Now, this was the very response put into practice by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some of you are familiar with him. He stood against the Nazis. He eventually was arrested, and then just before the end of the war, he was murdered. He said this of this verse, quote, This is the supreme demand. Through the meeting of prayer, we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him with God. Can you imagine that? Horribly treated, imprisoned, and he's righteous. And this is what he says, I do. In prayer, I go and stand with my persecutor and plead for him with God. Humanly impossible. Only a son of God could do this. That's what it states in verse 45, doesn't it? Now, persecution itself does not demonstrate a person is godly. As we said a couple of months ago, a lot of persecution comes for other causes, not just the sake of righteousness. Some people are just obnoxious, and that's why they're persecuted. It's also true that some deceive themselves into believing they're persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and it's not. They're self-righteous even in that. According to this passage, the evidence of personal righteousness, and therefore of being a son of God, is in the response to persecution, not the persecution itself. It's how do you respond? Those who would be a son of God are going to respond by showing love and praying for even those enemies. Remember that in Matthew 5, 9, Jesus said the blessing of a true maker is to be what? He will be called a son of God. Isn't that what's happening when you're pleading for your enemy in prayer that God would yet save them? You're being a true peacemaker. Such are those who are true sons of God. Why is a person who loves his enemies and prays for his persecutors considered a son of God? Because it demonstrates their likeness to the Father. If we took all the children in the building and we put them on one side of the room and we put the parents on the other side of the room and we had some stranger come in and said, Can you match the kids with their parents? Could they do that? It wouldn't be very hard, right? Why would it be so easy? Because children are a reflection. They share the image of their parents, both in how they look and in their character. It's not that hard to figure out. When you are walking with God, his characteristics should start being reflected in your life. God gives what is good to both those that love him and those that hate him. He caused the sun to rise in everyone, both good and bad. He is impartial, and so he is good to all. He caused the rain to fall on everyone, virtuous and bad. It's one of the errors of the health and wealth and prosperity preachers. They fail to recognize this fact about God. In fact, this is a confusing thing. It's understandable. In fact, in Psalm 73, Asaph was confused because he saw that the wicked seemed to be doing well. Why is God so good to them? And yet, I seem to be having a tough time, he said, until I remembered their end. God is patient. He's long-suffering. Judgment is going to come, but God is merciful and gracious to that point. We Christians are to demonstrate the same kind of attribute to our enemies. This is what God has. patient and kind. We love without partiality, we pray without partiality. We are to be good both to those who are your friends and we are to be good to those who are your enemies. Now, this love is much greater than what the world demonstrates to its own. Look at verses 46 and 47. Think how stinging these words were to the scribes and Pharisees, because they saw themselves. We are better than everybody else. They were self-righteous. They were proud. They were arrogant. They had a particular scorn for tax gatherers and Gentiles. Tax gatherers were considered among the most despised. It's more than just you might feel about an IRS agent if he says, come on in, we want to audit you. You're not going to feel too happy about an IRS guy, right? This is worse than that because they were considered enemies of the state. This is collecting taxes for the enemy. This is as if another nation had conquered us and the person is collecting taxes for the other nation. That's how they thought about tax gatherers. Gentiles were so despised that if a Jewish man had to go to a Gentile nation, when he came back, he would stop at the border, shake off the dust of his shoes before he crossed the border. He despised the Gentiles, and here Jesus declares to the self-righteous that their teaching, their practice of loving only those who love them and greeting only their ethnic brothers is the same thing the tax-gatherers and the Gentiles do. You may think of yourselves as being better, but you're the same. You're only doing what they do. So, again, we see the nature of true righteousness surpasses what men are capable of doing on their own. Even the worst sinners are friends with their friends and give greetings to their friends. When Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10, 19-37, it was in response to a certain lawyer who wanted to justify himself. He came to Jesus and said, Who is my neighbor? Because if he can narrow down the definition of a neighbor, it would be a lot easier to keep, right? Who is my neighbor? You are familiar with the story. A Jewish man is going from Jerusalem to Jericho. He is mud by thieves and he is left by the side of the road. First, there is a priest that comes along. He sees the man laying in the road. He doesn't want to deal with it. He walks way around him so he doesn't have to deal with it. Next comes a Levite. These two are charged with being kind. They are supposed to be the ones who are helping above all else. He sees the man and he does the same thing. He walks way around. Next comes a Samaritan. Samaritans were despised. The Jews despised them because they were a mixture of Gentiles and Jews. They had a false religion that mixed paganism with Judaism. utterly despise them. And yet, the Samaritan comes upon this Jew, and the feeling, by the way, was mutual between the Samaritans and the Jews. He comes along, he sees this Jewish guy beat up, laying there by the side of the road, and what does he do? He stops his journey and proceeds to help him. He binds his wounds and puts salves on him. He takes him to an inn. He cares for him. When he has to leave the next day, he pays the innkeeper and says, here's enough. I will come back if you need more to care for him, I will pay you then. He took on the responsibility for himself personally and it was out of pocket for him. That is the response we are to have toward our enemies. What if it was you? What if you found your enemy in that condition, would you help him? Would you pay for his care out of your own pocket? What if it was somebody that was always mean to you? What if it was some political figure you really despise and that was the person there, what would you do? What if it was some kid, he's strung out on dope, he's got a bizarre haircut and he's wearing really weird clothes, would you help him? He's laying there, he's thrown up all over himself, would you clean him up? What if it was some known criminal, drug pusher, a rapist, a child molester? What would your reaction be? See, the last verse caps the argument that what Jesus is demanding here is that it's humanly impossible. Therefore, be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. The man is nothing less than unblemished image of God, perfect moral character, you'd reflect that. Romans 8.9 tells us we are saved for that very purpose, to be conformed to the image of Christ. Humanly impossible. Absolutely humanly impossible. I couldn't do it. I can't do it. But it is possible by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that God can do it through me, that I can set aside my natural bent for revenge. I can set my natural disgust, my natural aversion and say, what does God want me to do? And even though emotionally I may not want to do it, do it anyways because it's right before God and my goal is to please Him. That is done by the power of the Holy Spirit as in submission to what He demands of us. And that's the only way it can be done. I will do what God says because it's right before God. I'll let Him take care of it. Only a person whose self-interests have given way to God's interests can live the way Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount, and that can only happen to the person who has died to self. Some of you may be familiar with George Mueller. He is a great man of faith in the late 1800s, early 1900s. He is known as a man of great prayer and faith. He described it this way. He said, quote, There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Mueller. and his opinions, preferences, his taste and will. I died to the world as approval or censure. I died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends, and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God." The person who has the righteousness that surpasses the scribes and Pharisees, the righteousness that enables you to enter into the kingdom of heaven, will demonstrate what Jesus described in this wonderful chapter. It is only the person who has died to self and lives for Christ that has that righteousness, and that comes by placing your faith in him. Paul said it this way in Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. That leaves us here. Have you been crucified with Christ? Have you given your life to him? There is a point of salvation which you yield. Turn from your sin, turn from your self-righteousness, you place your faith in him. But for the rest of your life, there is a daily decision. There is an hourly decision. Will I die to my own will, to the things that I am after? Will I submit myself and do it God's way and let him take care of it? That's the only way you really understand the blessings that come from living for Christ. That's dying to self and living for Christ. Father, we thank you for your Word. Father, this is a passage that is difficult, because we recognize we can't do this on our own. It's impossible to love our enemy as ourself, to do good to him. Father, it takes a changed heart. Thank you that because of Christ, you change hearts. Father, your Holy Spirit quickens us to come to a recognition of our own wretchedness, that we may repent from that, confess our sins and probably then receive what you provide in Him, complete cleansing so that you no longer see us that way. You no longer see me in the filth of my sin, but you see me clothed with the righteousness of Christ so that I can stand before you. Father, thank you for a love extended while yet fighting against you, that you would change me. You change everybody who places their faith in you. And, Father, then giving us the Holy Spirit, indwelling us that he will convict us of sin but also prod us towards righteousness. Father, we might see and know the blessings of walking with you as we walk in his power. Father, our desire is to be perfect as you are perfect. And though we know it will be a struggle the whole time we're still on this earth walking around these fleshly bodies, yet we know that we will be changed. And this life will become more like Christ as time goes on, as you continue to conform to the image of your Son. And we're so grateful that there's this wonderful promise that The good work you began in us you will complete on the day of Christ, the day we shall see him as he is and so we shall be like him. Until then, Father, continue to strengthen us, encourage us. Father, promise is necessary. Thank you for the body of Christ which you have placed us in, that we might mutually encourage as well as admonish one another, that in doing so you are honored by a life that's lived in a different way. Father, we desire to see our lives live in such a way that the good works are seen by men and you are glorified, that people will look at us and call us Christians in the true sense that they see Christ living in us and through us, even as Paul had described it, being crucified with him. There is one here today that has yet to yield to the Savior, but today would be the day of salvation for every believer here. Father, oh, difficult passage, yet an encouraging passage because the promise is that one day we will be like him and that you do changes and we can look back and see those changes. Father, continue to enable us to glorify you even as we stumble along in this life. In Jesus' name, amen.