Please remain standing, if you would, for the reading of God's Word. You turn to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, and we take up the reading at verse 43, and we'll read to verse 48. Matthew 6, verse 43 to 48. This is the life-giving word of our living God. Let us give attention to it. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, For He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures forever. In God's people say. Amen. Please be seated. To love as a Christian is to love in a way that is not of this world. Indeed, the exhortation of our Savior here in our passage this morning is a radical exhortation. You see, just prior to the words that we read just now, Jesus tells us in a previous passage that we're not to resist the evil person, and that we're not to retaliate, and that we're not to take revenge. And that's a tall order, no doubt. But then, in our passage here this morning, he exhorts us with a command that goes even further, even further by telling us that we're to actually love our enemies. That we're to love and to pray for those who hate us, for those who spitefully use us, even for those who persecute us. Indeed, what a way to reassure us that the kingdom of heaven is not of this world. And what a way also then for us to witness to others that we are not of this world, that instead we are citizens of a kingdom not of this world, citizens of the kingdom of heaven and sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. Well, as we begin, let's consider first what it was that was being taught by the scribes and the Pharisees. And then we'll move on to consider how Jesus corrects their wrong teaching and their wrong understanding and application. As Jesus begins to tell us here in verse 43, Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now, the first part of what was said and what was being taught is pretty straightforward, right? The scriptures are clear, very clear, as it concerns our duty to love our neighbor. This is the second of the two great commandments. You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and you are to love your neighbor as yourself. Well, the Jews of that day, and the Jews even still today, would give a hearty amen to that. They understand that this is what is required of us. But where they appear to have been mistaken was first of all in understanding who their neighbor actually was. You see, they considered their neighbor to be limited to their fellow Jews. In fact, this misunderstanding of theirs is something that Jesus brought to light when he told the parable of the Good Samaritan in order to show that all people are our neighbors and we're to be neighborly to everybody without exception. But they didn't just have a wrong understanding of who their neighbor was and of their duty to love all men without distinction. They were also in error when it came to how they were to treat their enemies. They taught, even as Jesus tells us here what they taught, that they were to love their neighbor and hate their enemy, which was a gross misunderstanding of what the scriptures teach. And so let's consider then how Jesus corrects the teaching and the misapplication of the scribes and the Pharisees. Look at verse 44. Jesus says, But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Again, radical exhortation. You notice though that Jesus doesn't simply tell us here that we're merely to just have a sentimental love in our hearts toward our enemies. Rather, he tells us that we are to love them and that we are to show that we love them by our good deeds. Okay? By our good deeds. We're to love our enemies by doing them good. For instance, if we see an enemy in need, and in need of our help, and we have the ability to help them, we ought to help. It's a loving thing to do. And when our enemies say hateful things to us, when they curse us with their tongues, we're not to respond in kind, but instead we're to seek to bless them. We're to respond with a soft word, with the hope that it might turn away their wrath. We're to look for a way to bless them with kindness, with the hope that even as the kindness of the Lord leads us to repentance, so the Lord's kindness through us might lead them to repentance as well. But we're also told by our Savior to pray for them. And this, my friends, is a profound piece of instruction that the Lord gives to us here. You recall that Jesus prayed for His enemies. He did so upon the cross. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. This was also the way of Stephen, our fellow disciple in the Lord. Following the example of our Savior, he also prayed for his enemies. He prayed for those who were stoning him to death. Indeed, our Lord would have us to pray for our enemies. And as you do, you'll discover that even in praying for our enemies, there's a mercy of God that's actually directed toward us in praying for our enemies. Because as you do that, our hearts become softer toward them. And as that happens, it becomes easier and easier by the grace of God to not hold a grudge in our hearts, to not have bitterness in our hearts toward them. You see it's difficult to genuinely pray for the Lord's blessing upon your enemies and at the same time to remain hateful and vengeful and bitter towards them. The Lord has a way then of using prayer even to minister to us as we are praying for our own enemies. Now let's spend just a few moments here considering the reason why it is we are to love our enemies in these practical ways. The reason we are to love our enemies in these ways is because this is to be like our Father in heaven. It's to be like our Father in heaven. In the next section, we will see that what we are to believe, like our catechism tells us, what we are to believe concerning God and then what duties God requires of us in light of that. And you'll notice then how after this exhortation, Jesus immediately tells us that this is to be like our Father in heaven who also loves his enemies in practical ways by giving them practical blessings. Look at verses 44 to 48. Verse 44, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Verse 45, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. You see, this is what it's like to be like our Father in heaven in doing this. And then comes the practical blessings from the Lord, for He is the one who makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. In the practical account, excuse me, the parallel account found in Luke chapter six, just after Jesus says essentially the same thing as we have here in our text this morning, right after that in verses 35 and 36, Jesus says, but love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great. And then he goes on to say, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. And so therefore, Jesus says, be merciful just as your father also is merciful. Now again, listen folks, the reason we are to love our enemies and the reason we are to do good to them is because this is what it's like to be like our father in heaven. You see, even God loves his enemies. Now in a reformed standard, you might say, whoa, whoa, what are you saying? What are you saying? But he does. He does. I mean, otherwise we can't make good sense of what we're being told to do in Matthew 5 and in Luke 6. And not only that, let's not forget what we know about our Lord in relation to us. Remember what Paul says back in Romans 5, 8, that God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 10, for if we, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Now, some, surely you've heard this. Some will say, though, that the reason that God loved us, well, is because we're elect. It's because we're elect. But my friends, that doesn't take anything away from the fact that He loved us even when we were still sinners. In fact, it was even while we were yet His very enemies, it was while we were still in a state of hatred toward Him that He loved us. But more than that, by looking to God's love, we see it in the way in which He lived His life as the God-man as He walked upon the earth. It's easy to see by looking at Christ and His ministry that He did also, He also loved His enemies. And we must remember that Jesus is both God and man. We cannot divide the person of Christ. To do so is heretical. And we know that as it concerns Christ's humanity, He was born under the law. And we know that in order to fully redeem us, Jesus had to perfectly obey the whole law. And what does the whole law require, my friends? Well, to summarize, it requires a love of God and love of neighbor, right? Isn't that exactly what Jesus told the rich young ruler he had to do to inherit eternal life? Indeed it is. And now, let me ask a question to you. Did Jesus only have to love his neighbors who were elect? Some people might think so, and they would tend to think so. Some don't believe that Jesus could have loved any neighbor who was reprobate. But if Jesus was required to fulfill the whole law, He had to love his enemies, even as the law itself commands it to be done in Exodus 23 and other portions of God's holy word. But think about this as well. If Jesus did only love his elect neighbors, then that would mean that the only reason you and I are called to love all men is because of our ignorance as to who is elect and who isn't. But is that the case? Is it the case that the only reason we're called to love all men is because we're ignorant of who the elect are? Well, no, not at all. That is not the case at all. The fact of the matter is we are called to love our neighbor, not on the basis of what we don't know, but instead on the basis of what we do know. And what we do know is this, our love is to be patterned after that of our father. That's why we are to love our enemies. Look at verses 44 through 48 again. But I say to you, love your enemies. He goes on to say, verse 45, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. And therefore, because you're sons and daughters of your father in heaven, you shall be perfect. Even as your father in heaven is perfect. You see, we're to love our neighbor. We're to even love our enemies. Not because of what we don't know about them. Not because of what we don't know about them as a people. But because of what we do know about our father, okay? To love our neighbor, reprobate and elect alike, friend and foe alike, is to be like our father in heaven. It's to love as our father loves. You see, we're not being told here to love our enemies because they might be elect. Rather, we're being told to love our enemies, even as our Father in heaven loves all people, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the evil. Again, the parallel account in Luke 6, verse 36, be merciful. That's it, be merciful as your Father is merciful. In this world, my friends, God shows love and mercy to all, the elect and the reprobate alike. Folks, if it were the case that we're to love our enemies only because we're ignorant of who the elect are, then that would mean that we're to love those whom God doesn't love. And if that's the case, then we have to wonder whether God requires us to love on a larger scope than even He Himself does, and that could hardly ever be the case. Could not be. My friends, in Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul tells us that we are to be imitators of God. We're to love and to do good to our enemies because this is what it's like to imitate our Father in heaven. And so consider, if you would, then, how God does show goodness to all, and He does so without distinction. We just sang from Psalm 145, and in the ninth verse of that psalm, we're told that the Lord is good to all, and that His tender mercies are over all His works. And in the last part of that same psalm, He goes on to say that the Lord provides food and shelter and all the necessities for all of His creatures, and He does so without distinction. James tells us in the first chapter that every good gift that comes to us in this world comes to us from our Father in heaven above. Well, let me ask you, is food a gift? Food is a good gift. And we can conclude that the reprobate and the elect alike have food on their tables. And so what does that tell us about God's provision for all? He gives food to the elect and the reprobate alike out of His goodness, out of His kindness, out of His mercy. Consider again what Jesus says in our text in verse 45, for he makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. The goodness of God, even to the reprobate, is a genuine goodness. You need to understand that because some people say, well, it's not real. It's not really genuine. He's just doing that because he's going to add more judgment to them for them not being thankful for what God has given to them. But that's not the case. That's not the case, my friends. Listen, they believe, some believe, I should say, that these apparent good gifts really aren't good at all because God doesn't do or he doesn't give good things to anybody whom he doesn't love. But again, when we look at the parallel passage in Luke 6 and in verse 35, we are told that he is kind to the unthankful and evil. He is kind to the unthankful and the evil. What does their unthankfulness reveal about the true nature of the gift? What does their unthankfulness reveal about the true genuine nature of their gift? Does it not imply that the gift truly is something good, something that they ought to be truly thankful for? Indeed. You see, one of the things the reprobate are condemned for in the end is their unthankfulness. Paul tells us in Romans 121, because although they knew God and they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. The reason one would be guilty for being unthankful is because why? Well, because they ought to be thankful. But notice the fact that they don't recognize the goodness of God and not recognizing that is something that is totally on them. It has nothing to do with the genuineness of the gifts because they are genuine. Likewise, in our interactions with our enemies, we are to love our enemies regardless of how they receive or how they respond to our love. We don't, you see, we don't love them or do good to them for what might come out of it. Rather, we love them simply because it's the right thing to do. It's to be like our Father in heaven. How radically different this is to the way of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Instead of seeking revenge, we're told to do good to our enemies, to love our enemies, and to do so in practical ways. And then in verse 46 of our passage, Jesus goes on to say, listen, for if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And in the parallel passage, in Luke, we read, And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And then in our text, he goes on to say, If you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? You notice, Jesus mentions the tax collectors. And in the Luke passage, he makes reference to sinners. Why do you think both of these groups are mentioned in this regard? Well, it's because, again, the audience, the Jews, had a very low view of sinners and tax collectors. Those people were at the bottom of the barrel as far as they were concerned. They were the immoral ones, the sinners, the dogs of society. But notice how Jesus uses the fact that even those who are counted as being tax collectors and sinners, that even they are able to do good to those who do good to them. And even they are able to love those who love them at a superficial level. But you see, my friends, as Christ's disciples, we're called to a higher calling. We're to have a greater love than that. Jesus asks, what do you do more than others? He asks the question because He demands more from His children. He demands more for those who bear His image and likeness. You see, we're not to love, or we're not just to love those who are easy to love. to only love those who will love us back. And we're not to love for the sake of our own self-interest as so many other people do. No, we are to love our enemies. We're to love the ones who won't love us in return. We're to love the ones who spite us and hate us. We're even to love those who persecute us. Listen, folks, you won't find that kind of love in this world. This is the kind of love that can only truly and genuinely be shown and expressed by one who's been born again from above, from one who has come to know the love of God in a saving way. And may the Lord grant us the grace to love in this very manner as we're commanded to do here. I don't think we have time to take up the next verse, so I think we should conclude here. Thank you for inviting me today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to spend some time, brief as it is, to give consideration to your love and to the love that you've shown us. And then, therefore, that love that we ought to have for one another and also even for our own enemies. Oh, Lord God, this must require and it does require a work of your wondrous grace in each of our hearts left to ourselves. Father, we have no such love in us. But indeed, having known your love and knowing it even now, we know that you have granted us that grace to be able to do the very thing you command us to do here. Oh, Lord God, you've given the command. Now give what it is you command us to do, that we might bring honor and glory to your name in this world and be witnesses of our father in heaven. For we ask in Christ's precious name. Amen. Oh, OK, 145C. Yeah, yeah.