September 26, 2025 • 60 mins
Send Biblicaltalks a Text Message
To love your enemies is to reflect the character of your Father in heaven.
Each month, Elder Tolliver offers a spiritually encouraging book to help you in your walk with Christ for any size donation. Please go to biblicaltalks.com website to take advantage of this opportunity.
Have a blessed day, and thanks for listening! Visit my website to learn more at https://www.biblicaltalks.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Biblical Talks.
Sermon of the Week.
In Matthew, chapter 5, verses43 to the end of verse, jesus is
talking about loving yourenemies.
Now this rule, I say I believe,is for the kingdom.
(00:22):
The Lord Jesus lived withoutthe Mosaic law to the ninth
degree.
He said that in the kingdom theenemy is to be loved instead of
hated, and that's hard for usto do in our own power and
strength.
The believer today operates ona different principle.
(00:43):
We are commanded to love allbelievers, even brothers and
sisters we disagree with, and weare to express our love to our
enemies by getting getting tothem the gospel of Jesus Christ,
giving them the message of Godsaving grace that is able to
bring them to heaven Beloved.
(01:05):
Let's listen to Dr JohnMacArthur as he preaches on
loving your enemies as God does.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
To wrap up this long, long year of very special,
unique messages.
There is one more that I needto discharge before the Lord,
from my heart to yours, and itis drawn out of a text that I
want you to turn to now.
It's Matthew, chapter 5, verses43 to 48.
(01:39):
Matthew 5, 43 to 48.
I'm going to read these wordsto you and then introduce the
direction of this text for us,and then we'll dig into it.
Our Lord speaks and says youhave heard that it was said, you
(02:08):
shall love your neighbor andhate your enemy.
But I say to you love yourenemies and pray for those who
persecute you, so that you maybe sons of your Father who is in
heaven, for he causes His Sonto rise on the evil and the good
and sends rain on the righteousand the unrighteous.
For if you love those who loveyou, what reward do you have?
(02:34):
Do not even the tax collectorsdo the same.
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than
others?
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame.
Therefore, you are to beperfect, as your heavenly Father
(02:55):
is perfect".
Pretty direct point.
If you want to be like God,love your enemies.
I suppose in my lifetime andyours.
We have not had as manyaggressive enemies as we do
today, at all levels.
The kingdom of darkness hasbecome more hostile than ever,
(03:20):
hostile to the light, hostile tothe gospel, hostile to Christ,
hostile to the church, hostileto the truth.
And that hostility is beingramped up at a level we have
never seen in our society, beingplayed out perhaps in its most
(03:40):
dramatic form.
Up in Alberta, as seminarymaster, seminary graduate, james
Coates languishes in prison foranother couple of months
because the judge would notgrant him bail because he would
go out and preach the gospel,while at the same time releasing
a child molester, causing thepolice department to send out a
(04:04):
bullet, and they knew he woulddo it again.
This is like a microcosmillustration of where this
culture is release the childmolester and keep the preacher
in prison.
We rightly resent the wickednessof that.
We rightly resent thelegalizing of the murder of
(04:26):
infants.
We rightly resent sexualperversion in all its form.
We hate the fact that the roleof men, the role of women, the
place of children, the family,are being systematically
destroyed.
We are deeply saddened atracial going on by identity,
(04:49):
breakdown of the social order,where we are no longer feeling
like.
We are a nation ruled by law,we are concerned, which empowers
the elite even more and takesaway freedom.
Socialism and freedom aremutually exclusive by definition
.
The combination of all thisdominant wickedness growing at
(05:15):
such a rapid rate, and while wehave been able to communicate
the truth in the midst of this,we feel like we are slowly being
canceled, so that we're notgoing to have the opportunity to
say what we say, to proclaimthe truth in the forms of media
that have been available to usin the past.
(05:35):
It's hard to get your heart inthe right place because these
things are hostile to us andthey are reproaches that,
primarily, are directed at God.
And, as the psalmist said, thereproaches that fall on you fall
on me.
When God is dishonored, I feelthe pain.
What God hates, I hate.
What makes God angry makes meangry, but that's not to be our
(06:03):
attitude here.
We just saw it in this cleartext.
We are to be like God in thatwe love our enemies.
We have talked so much about thehostility that's around.
It's escalating.
We've talked about comingpersecution.
We've talked about thecriminalization of righteousness
(06:25):
and the legalization ofunrighteousness.
We've talked about a worldbeing flipped on its head.
We need to hear the message ofthis text Now.
This is from the Sermon on theMount and there are six
contrasts, starting in verse 21.
(06:47):
Jesus is talking to the Jewsand he is acknowledging that
they have been taught by theirscribes and Pharisees certain
things, but they areinconsistent with what God wants
them to know.
(07:07):
And so you have six times thislittle couplet, starting at
verse 21,.
You have heard verse 22, but Isay Verse 27, you have heard,
but I say Verse 31, it was said,but I say Verse 33,.
You have heard verse 34, but Isay" Verse 31, it was said, but
I say Verse 33,.
You have heard Verse 34, but Isay Verse 38,.
(07:29):
You have heard, but I say andthen finally down to verse 43,
you have heard, but I say theLord is making a stark contrast
between what he commands andwhat commands and what exists in
the apostate, traditional formof Judaism.
Our Lord is attacking corruptJudaism.
(07:53):
You will notice in your Bible,very likely, that each time
Jesus says you have heard, thereis a statement in uppercase
letters which means it's drawnfrom the Old Testament.
It wasn't that they ignored theOld Testament.
Each of those has a referenceto an Old Testament text.
They had built their system onan Old Testament text.
(08:19):
Our Lord's issue with them wasthat it was too superficial.
It was all on the outside.
When God commanded not tomurder, he also bound up in that
command not to hate.
When God commanded not tocommit adultery, bound up in
that command is not even to lookon a woman to lust after her,
(08:40):
or you've committed adultery inyour heart".
When God said don't divorce, hemeant don't divorce for any
reason other than immorality.
They had come up with many,many justifications for divorce.
(09:01):
When God said don't make falsevows, don't lie, god didn't mean
unless you swear by heaven andthat somehow covers your lie.
When God said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, he wasn't
turning over vengeance to you.
Vengeance belongs to Him.
It wasn't that they didn't haveBible verses to go with their
(09:21):
system.
They did, but theymisrepresented them.
And never is there a more clearmisrepresentation than in verse
43 where he says you have heardthat it was said you shall love
your neighbor and hate yourenemy, but I say to you love
your enemies.
The religion of Judaism hadflattened God's commands to one
(09:45):
external dimension, to justifyhate, to justify lust, to
justify divorce, to justify lies, to justify vengeance, to
justify anger.
But holiness is much deeperthan that.
(10:10):
But this is a classic look atsuperficial, pharisaic
externalism.
There are certain things theydon't do, but below the surface
they're full of dead men's bones.
They're marked by anger, lust,divorce, lies, vengeance and
(10:30):
hate and consequently they'reliving in violation of God's
commands and God's will.
It's the heart issue thatconcerns the Lord, always the
heart issue, and that's theissue that he addresses in the
(10:53):
text before us.
I want you to look at the finalmatter.
Then verses 43, and followingwhich I read to you this matter
of loving your neighbor and alsoloving your enemy.
Second great commandment loveyour neighbor as yourself, right
.
And the Jews wreaked havoc withthat by defining neighbor so
(11:17):
narrowly that it came back downto only the people that they
chose to love, essentially onlythe people in their group.
They went so far as to say thegeneral population was cursed
and they had legitimized theirdisdain for the general
population, if not their hate,they love their neighbor.
(11:38):
All right, if you let themdefine their neighbor.
So let's look at that.
We'll begin with the traditionof the Jews, then we'll look at
the teaching of the OldTestament and then the truth
from Christ.
So let's look at verse 43.
You have heard that it was saidyou shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.
This is the superficialrabbinic form of low-level
(12:04):
theology in defective Judaism.
You have heard that it was said.
The familiar phrase thatintroduces the teaching of the
rabbis you have been taught youshall love your neighbor.
That's a good start.
Leviticus 19, 17 and 18 commandsthat you love your neighbor.
Matthew 22,.
Jesus said this is the secondgreat commandment love your
(12:26):
neighbor.
By the way, they left out asyourself, purposely, because
that's too much to ask.
There is, by the way, nocommand in the Bible to love
yourself.
That's just part of your fallencorrupt command in the Bible.
To love yourself, that's justpart of your fallen corrupt
nature.
(12:46):
You do that by default.
The Bible doesn't command youto love yourself.
The Bible commands you to loveyour neighbor as yourself.
And how do you love yourself?
Well, you ought to be familiarwith it.
It's what you do all the time.
Our love to ourselves isunfeigned, fervent, habitual,
(13:09):
permanent.
It respects all our needs, allour wants, all our interests,
all our desires, all of ourhopes, all of our ambitions.
It prompts us to do everythingpossible to secure our own
happiness, well-being,satisfaction, welfare, comfort,
interests.
It seeks our own pleasure andfulfillment, knows no limit in
the effort and secures all thisand protection from any harm.
(13:35):
And oh, by the way, our lovefor ourselves is very forgiving.
Have you noticed?
It's a rare person who loveshis neighbor that way.
So immediately we are facedwith the reality that we don't
love the Lord, god, with all ourheart, soul, mind and strength,
(13:56):
which is the first commandment.
So we fall short there.
And we certainly don't love ourneighbor as ourselves.
So we fall short there andconsequently we are all under
divine punishment.
You can take the law in itsseveral parts, or you can reduce
it down to ten commandments, oryou can reduce it down to two
commandments, and whatever wayyou look at it, we fall short.
(14:21):
The Jews justified the fact thatthey hated their enemies by
adding you shall love yourneighbor and hate your enemy.
Now, that's after they hadalready narrowly defined
neighbor.
Neighbor was another Jew,another Jew in their group, not
(14:46):
tax collectors, not the rabble,as I mentioned.
John 7, 47 to 49 says theycursed the rabble, the Jewish
population in general.
Their narrow definition ofneighbor was somebody in their
group and everybody else outsidethat highly defined group.
(15:11):
They had a right to hate.
They conveniently ignored whilethey're looking at Leviticus 19
, 17 and 18, which says loveyour neighbor as yourself.
They conveniently ignored verse34, which says the stranger who
sojourns with you shall be toyou as the native among you and
(15:35):
you shall love him as yourself.
Oh, that's pretty selective.
They took verses 17 and 18 andignored verse 34, which says
you're to love the stranger asyourself, and they ignored
Exodus 12, 49,.
There shall be one law for thenative and for the stranger who
sojourns among you.
(15:56):
You don't have the right topick and choose, but this hate
of anybody outside the group haddeveloped in some very
sophisticated ways.
There was one of the familiarsects of Judaism called the
Essenes.
They were kind of a monasticsect.
They lived out by the Dead Sea.
(16:17):
That's where the Dead SeaScrolls originated.
And the Essenes say things likethis, and this is from their
teaching Love all that God haschosen and hate all that he has
rejected.
Love all the sons of light,each according to his lot in
God's community, and hate allthe sons of darkness.
The Levites curse all the sonsof Belial.
(16:40):
And who are the sons of BelialNon-Essenes?
So if you're not in our group,you're cursed, and this was
viewed as a level ofrighteousness that proved that
they really knew the mind andthe heart of God, at least to
them.
So in tradition, in what haddeveloped in Judaism, the
(17:02):
command to love your neighborsbecame a license to hate.
One of the maxims of thePharisees I'll quote if a Jew
sees a Gentile fallen into thesea, let him by no means lift
him out thence, for it iswritten thou shalt not rise up
against the blood of thyneighbor, but this man is not
thy neighbor.
End quote.
If you see a Gentile drowning,let him drown.
(17:25):
You have a right to beindifferent.
It is a small wonder, then,that the Romans charged the Jews
with hatred of humankind.
So they were very selective inpicking Old Testament texts to
avoid.
What God actually said was tolove everyone as you love
(17:50):
yourself.
What does the Old Testamentactually teach?
That's their tradition.
But let's look at the OldTestament.
The Jews entered Canaan youknow the story, of course and
they were commanded toexterminate the Canaanites.
They were told Deuteronomy 23,that the Ammonites, the Moabites
(18:12):
, the Midianites were not to betreated with kindness.
As a people, you got that.
They were not to be treatedwith kindness as a people.
In fact, they were to beexecuted.
And you would say, reading theimprecatory Psalms, it seems as
(18:34):
though God's hatred towardpeople is severe.
Why is it wrong for us?
For example, in Psalm 69, verse22, this the psalmist prays may
their table, speaking of hisenemies, their table before them
(18:55):
, become a snare, and whenthey're in peace, may it become
a trap.
May their eyes grow dim so theycannot see and their loins
shake continually.
Pour out your indignation onthem and may your burning anger
overtake them.
May their camp be desolate.
May none dwell in their tents,for they have persecuted Him
whom you yourself have smitten,and they tell of the pain of
(19:16):
those whom you have wounded,adding iniquity to iniquity.
And may they not come into yourrighteousness.
May they be blotted out of thebook of life and may they not be
recorded with the righteous".
Wow, pretty severe.
What is that?
(19:39):
That is a psalmist affirmingthe divine design of God to war
against the nations thatthreatened Israel.
The wars of Israel were the onlyholy wars in history, the only
holy wars in history authorizedby God as acts of judgment.
(20:03):
God doesn't withhold judgment.
He drowned the entire world,didn't he?
In the day of Noah.
The Old Testament is filledwith many, many judgments.
The wars of Israel were notacts of personal vengeance by
the Jewish people.
They were commands by God forjudgment to fall on those
(20:24):
nations surrounding Israel whichproved to be a deadly threat.
God is the only one who cancommand that, because the
vengeance belongs to the Lord.
I will repay.
Only by divine command can animprecatory psalm be prayed on
(20:49):
the head of an enemy of Israel.
By the way, there's no suchimprecation in prayer in the New
Testament.
This was tied to God'sprotection and preservation of
His people in the Old Testamentso that they would be sustained
to the arrival of Messiah.
(21:12):
In the imprecatory Psalms, thepsalmist don't speak with
personal hatred, personalanimosity.
They speak as a representativeof God.
They speak as a representativeof God's people and he regards
the idolatrous wicked as theenemies of God.
Psalm 69.9, as you heard.
(21:33):
So that is the only set ofdivinely authorized holy wars in
history.
The issues were judicial on thepart of God.
He was bringing judgment, justand righteous judgment.
At the time he deemed it neededto be done.
(21:53):
It was never personal, but thePharisees and the scribes and
the rabbis had personalized allof that and used Scriptures like
that to justify their personalhatred.
They took essentiallyprerogatives that belonged only
to God and operated them intheir personal relationships.
(22:13):
Even in the New Testament,jesus shows a different attitude
than God took in dealing withthe nations to protect Israel.
Jesus looked at Jerusalem andwhat did he do?
(22:33):
He wept.
He wept Jesus, the Judge towhom all judgment is committed,
wept over the rejecters.
(22:54):
There is a kind of perfecthatred.
I will admit that because it'sin Psalm 139 and it's expressed
clearly.
Listen to verses 19 andfollowing oh that you would slay
the wicked, o God.
Depart from Me, therefore, menof bloodshed, for they speak
against you wickedly and yourenemies take your name in vain.
(23:17):
Do not.
I hate those who hate you, oLord, and do I not loathe those
who rise up against you?
I hate them with the utmosthatred.
They have become my enemies".
That is a perfect hatred.
That is a righteous hatred.
(23:38):
That is the attitude of themartyrs in Revelation 6 and the
fifth seal, who are under thealtar praying that the Lord will
put an end to the persecutionof the time of the tribulation.
(24:01):
It is right to hate what Godhates and love what God loves in
the broad sense it is right tofeel the pain when God is
dishonored.
The reproaches that fall on youfall on me.
I remember the story of HenryMartin, a missionary to India,
and when he arrived there hewent into a Hindu temple where
(24:23):
there were all kinds ofatrocities, forms of idolatry,
and he watched what was going onand in his own writings he
wrote this as he left "'I cannotendure existence if Jesus is to
be so dishonored'".
I feel that pain, and so do you, don't you?
You feel that pain.
(24:46):
The reproaches that fall onyour Lord fall on you and you
feel the pain and you hate that.
You hate that God is dishonored.
You hate that Christ isdishonored.
You hate that the name of JesusChrist is used as a swear word.
You hate when Jesus is demeanedand blasphemed.
(25:08):
You hate that and you haveevery reason to hate that.
That's a holy hatred, that's arighteous indignation.
That's the Spirit of God in you, showing you what to love and
what to hate.
But clearly that doesn't giveyou justification to hate
(25:29):
individual sinners.
Listen to Exodus 23, verses 4and 5.
If you meet your enemy's ox orhis donkey wandering away not
much chance of that.
Now that you get the point, youshall surely return it to him.
If you find somebody's donkeyor ox straying away, take it
(25:50):
back to him.
If you find somebody's donkeyor ox straying away, take it
back to him.
If you see the donkey of onewho hates you lying helpless
under its load, you shallrefrain from leaving it.
You shall surely release it.
If you find somebody's donkeyon the ground because the load
is too great, even if it's yourenemy, you relieve the donkey of
(26:14):
its burden.
You express kindness not onlytoward your neighbor or your
enemy, but toward your enemy'sanimal.
I think there's a couple ofreally graphic illustrations of
this.
You remember the story in 1Samuel 24 when David went into
the cave same cave Saul was in,and Saul was trying to find a
(26:38):
way to kill David.
And David was hiding in thevery same cave that Saul was in.
And Saul was in the cave, theBible says, relieving himself,
and David could have killed him.
He was in a compromisedposition, but David went up and
cut a little piece off hisgarment and David refused to
take his life.
(26:59):
And it says in 1 Samuel 24.10,because David pitied him.
He pitied him, he had a senseof compassion toward his most
severe and deadly enemy andwould not take his life.
(27:21):
There was Shimei in 2 Samuel 16who started cursing David.
People said ìTell him to stop,tell him to stopî.
And David said ìNo, no, let himcurseî.
There's a purpose in this,that's goodness to evil enemies.
In Job 31, 29 and 30, job,defending his godly virtue, said
(27:46):
these words ìHave I rejoiced atthe extinction of my enemy or
rejoiced when evil befell him?
No, I have not allowed my mouthto sin by asking for his life
in a curse.
There are some enemies prettyseriously doing damage to Job.
(28:07):
Right, I didn't ask for hislife in a curse.
Proverbs 25, 21,.
If your enemy is hungry, givehim food to eat.
If he's thirsty, give him waterto drink, and the Lord will
reward you.
So there's plenty ofinformation in the Old Testament
(28:28):
to separate personal attitudetoward enemies from judicial
actions on the part of Godagainst nations who are a threat
to His redemptive purpose.
So that's a little bit abouttradition and Old Testament
teaching.
But let's look at the mostimportant point the truth from
(28:51):
Jesus.
In the text before us.
Our Lord is going to correcttheir misrepresentation of God's
will with three sequentialprinciples that correct this
faulty understanding.
They are sequential and theyare ascending.
(29:11):
Love your enemies, pray foryour persecutors, manifest your
sonship.
So let's look at verse 44, loveyour enemies, but I say to you
love your enemies.
No one has a problem lovingfriends.
(29:32):
That's what defines a friendsomebody you love.
Jesus goes to the real issue.
This is what the divine law isspeaking about when it says love
your neighbor as yourself isthe second great commandment.
It must embrace your enemy.
It's anybody in your life,anybody in your world, anyone
(29:55):
who comes into your space.
The beautiful and familiar storyin Luke 10 and verse 25,.
A lawyer stood up and put Jesusto the test and said "'Teacher,
what shall I do to inheriteternal life?
And he said what's written inthe law?
How does it read to you?
And he said you shall love theLord, your God, with all your
(30:18):
heart, with all your soul, withall your strength, with all your
mind, and your neighbor asyourself.
And he said to him You'veanswered correctly.
Do this and you will live,which of course, is impossible.
And that's the point he wasmaking.
Wishing to justify himself, hesaid to Jesus who's my neighbor?
(30:39):
Give me a definition ofneighbor.
Jesus replied and told thestory of the good Samaritan.
Didn't he A man, going downfrom Jerusalem to Jericho, fell
among robbers.
They stripped him, beat him,went away, leaving him dead.
A priest came by, passed on theother side.
A Levite came by, passed on theother side.
A Samaritan, a half-breedoutcast hated by the Jews, saw
him and felt compassion, boundup his wounds, poured oil and
(31:02):
wine, put him on his own beast,brought him to an inn, took care
of him, gave money to theinnkeeper.
Take care of him.
Whatever more you spend, I'llgive you back when I return.
Which of the three do you thinkproved to be a neighbor to the
man who fell into robber's hands?
He said, the one who showedmercy toward him.
Who is your neighbor?
Anybody who needs your mercy.
(31:22):
It doesn't matter if thatneighbor is one who hates you,
as the Jews hated the Samaritans.
The rabbi and the priest didn'twant to touch the man because
their theology said he's in theproblem.
He's in because he's sinful.
(31:43):
They went around the other sideof the road.
The despised and hated andrejected Samaritan had
compassion on the man who wassocially an enemy.
Love your enemies.
Ekthran-su.
Tan-ekthran-su means yourpersonal enemy, not talking
about some collective.
(32:04):
It's your personal enemy.
Agapate from agapao, thehighest, noblest form of love
and, in the present tense, beconstantly loving your enemies.
This is the love of the will.
This is not the love of emotion.
This is the love of the will.
(32:24):
It is not related to anypersonal gain or personal
fulfillment.
It is the love of unconquerablebenevolence.
It is the love of unconquerablebenevolence, it is the love of
invincible goodwill, just aloving heart that wants to free
(32:45):
the enemy from any thought ofhate, wants to rescue the enemy
from sin, wants to see his soulsaved.
It's the highest love.
One writer says ìI cannot like afalse, lying, slanderous fellow
who perhaps has vilified meagain and again.
(33:10):
I cannot like him, but I can,by the grace of Jesus Christ,
love him, see what is wrong withhim, desire to work to do him
only good and, most of all, tofree Him from His vicious ways.
In Luke 6, jesus said ìDo goodto those who hate youî.
(33:31):
So loving your neighbor meansseeking the highest good.
Thatís the noblest kind of love.
And loving your enemies meansthe same thing seek the highest
good.
Now, how does that play out?
Second point pray for yourpersecutors.
It shows up then in prayer,verse 44,.
(33:56):
Pray for those who persecuteyou.
Those would be your severestenemies.
You have a lot of enemies whodon't personally persecute you.
So let's just take the mostextreme situation people who
persecute you.
Those are the ones you pray for.
Go back in chapter 5 to verse 10in the Beatitudes Blessed are
(34:16):
those who have been persecutedfor the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom ofheaven.
So this assumes you're going tohave persecutors.
"'blessed are you when peopleinsult you and persecute you and
falsely say all kinds of evilagainst you because of Me?
If they're doing that to you,you're blessed'".
Isn't that wonderful?
Doesn't that turn it on itshead?
(34:36):
I think about that a lot.
Not only are you blessed, butverse 12, "' and be glad, for
your reward in heaven is great.
What they're doing is adding toyour eternal reward.
Come on, bring it on.
For in the same way theypersecuted the prophets who were
(35:00):
before you, you're in goodcompany.
I wonder if these persecutors offaithful people understand that
their efforts are beingreversed by God and out of their
persecution comes blessing, andout of their persecution comes
(35:20):
joy and gladness, and out oftheir persecution comes eternal
reward.
That's very important, folks,very important.
That is a very important thingto realize, because it causes
you to see persecution in acompletely different way.
(35:42):
If you see persecution doingdamage to you, you will change
your message.
If you see persecution addingto your eternal reward, you
don't change anything, right,right, I mean, this is the
(36:08):
upside-down reality.
You preach the Word of Godfaithfully, you proclaim the
gospel faithfully and you gethostility and animosity and
maybe you cower and you try tomake some adjustments so you can
stop offending people.
If you're a preacher, you takethe offenses out of the message
and consequently you miss theblessing, the gladness, the joy
(36:32):
and the eternal reward thatcomes with faithfulness that
faces persecution.
But it's not just a passivehope for eternal reward.
That is the correct response.
There's a third point here.
You not only pray for those whopersecute you.
(36:56):
You go further than that In 1Timothy.
It's not a vague kind of prayer.
Listen to this 1 Timothy 2,.
I urge that entreaties andprayers, petitions and
(37:18):
thanksgivings be made on behalfof all men for kings and all who
are in authority.
Now we've elevated to thepeople who have the most power
to persecute and we're prayingfor them so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in allgodliness and dignity.
This is good and acceptable inthe sight of God, our Savior,
(37:40):
who desires all men to be savedand to come to the knowledge of
the truth".
So what are we praying for?
Their salvation?
We pray for God to show themtheir sinfulness.
It would be a sin not to pray.
We have wicked president, vicepresident, people in power and
(38:05):
leadership, locally, statewide.
Are we supposed to sit andsmolder in anger?
No, we're supposed to pray forwhat?
Their salvation?
Get them at the top of yourprayer list.
Jesus said on the cross Father,what Forgive them?
(38:28):
They know not what they do.
That prayer was answered in athief and a soldier and people
in the crowd.
Stephen prayed lay not this sinto their charge, and that was
answered in an apostle namedPaul.
That was answered in an apostlenamed Paul.
(38:49):
This is an opportunity for youto take on evangelistic praying.
It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer whowrote.
This is the supreme commandThrough the medium of prayer, we
go to our persecutors, stand bytheir side and plead to God for
them.
Dr Vilmer, in 1880, wrote thisit's good enough to read this
(39:20):
commandment that we should loveour enemies and forego revenge
will grow even more urgent inthe holy struggle which lies
before us.
The Christians will be houndedfrom place to place, subjected
to physical assault,maltreatment and death of every
kind.
We are approaching he wrote in1880, an age of widespread
persecution.
Soon the time will come when weshall pray.
(39:42):
An age of widespreadpersecution.
Soon the time will come when weshall pray.
It will be a prayer of earnestlove for these very sons of
perdition who stand around andgaze at us with eyes aflame with
hatred and who have perhapsalready raised their hands to
kill us.
Yes, the church which is reallywaiting for its Lord and which
discerns the signs of the times,must fling itself with its
(40:06):
utmost power and with the armorof its holy life into this
prayer of love".
Loving your enemies meanspraying for your persecutors.
And then there's a thirdelement Loving your enemies
(40:33):
means manifest your sonship.
Manifest your sonship.
We'll pick it up in verse 45.
Actually, I'll justwe'll startthere, so that you may be the
sons of your Father who is inheaven.
Here's the basic principleYou're never more like God than
(40:54):
when you forgive your enemies.
Simple You're never more likeGod than when you forgive your
enemies, because the whole ofsalvation is based on the fact
that God has forgiven Hisenemies.
We cannot manifest that we aregenuinely the sons of God unless
(41:15):
we love the way God loves.
And God loved enemies becausethose were the only people that
existed.
He doesn't have any friends inthe fallen world.
The apostle Paul understoodthis and wrote at the end of the
(41:39):
fourth chapter of Ephesians"'Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving eachother, just as God in Christ
also has forgiven you.
Therefore, be imitators of Godas beloved children.
That's the only place in theNew Testament where it says be
imitators of God, want toimitate God.
Forgive enemies.
(41:59):
What does Romans say?
While we were enemies, christdied for us.
God shows His love for Hisenemies Verse 45,.
For he causes His Son to riseon the evil and the good sends
(42:24):
rain on the righteous and theunrighteous.
For if you love those who loveyou, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectorsdo the same.
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than
others?
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame.
Therefore, you're to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
(42:45):
perfect, and that are you doingthan others.
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame.
Therefore, you're to be perfectas your heavenly Father is
perfect, and that means you'reto love the way he loves.
Clearly God loves good peopleand bad people and shows it by
showing temporal favor andkindness to them.
Causes the rain to fall on theevil and the good, the righteous
(43:08):
and the unrighteous, the sun toshine on them.
Psalm 145 says the eyes of alllook to thee.
Thou dost give them their foodin due time Thou dost open thy
hand and satisfy the desire ofevery living thing".
God feeds the entire world.
(43:30):
In Luke 6, we get anotherinsight into this.
Luke 6, verse 27,.
"'but I say to you who hearlove your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
(43:51):
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who mistreat you.
Whoever hits you on the cheek,offer him the other.
Also, whoever takes away yourcoat, do not withhold your shirt
from him either.
Give to everyone who asks ofyou, and whoever takes away what
is yours, do not demand it back.
Treat others the same way youwant them to treat you.
(44:13):
If you love those who love you,what credit is that to you?
For even sinners love those wholove them.
If you do good to those who dogood to you, what credit is that
to you?
Or even sinners do the same.
If you lend to those from whomyou expect to receive, what
credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners inorder to receive back the same
amount.
But love your enemies.
(44:35):
And how Do good Lend, expectingnothing in return, and your
reward will be great and you'llbe sons of the Most High, for he
Himself is kind to ungratefuland evil men.
Be merciful just as your Fatheris merciful".
This is talking about generalbenevolence.
(44:55):
Show love by being unselfish.
It was John Calvin who dubbedthis as common grace.
It comes from God's love formankind and it's not limited to
some narrow definition ofneighbor.
(45:16):
Sun shines on the mostreprobate God-hating people in
the world and the rain falls onthem as well.
If you want to love like Godloves, you have to love those
who hate you, according to whatwe just read in Matthew 5.
You have to love those outsideyour group, your social group.
(45:45):
It's not enough to just lovethe people in your group.
Pagans do that and the sum ofit, verse 48,.
You want to be like God.
Love your enemies the way heloves enemies.
To grasp the character of God'slove for the world of wicked
(46:07):
sinners is not easy.
God has a general, universal,nondiscriminating, unconditional
love which he extends toeveryone.
(46:28):
You remember the story of therich young ruler in Mark's
account in Mark, chapter 10.
Unrepentant, christ-rejecting,proud sinner walked away from
Christ and the story ends inMark.
But Jesus, looking at him,loved him.
John 3.16,.
(46:51):
God loved the whole world.
How does God love the enemy?
Well, there's four ways that Godexpresses common grace or this
general love.
First, goodness to all.
(47:13):
And we just read that he makesthe sun rise on evil and good
and the rain fall on righteousand unrighteous.
In that sense, 1 Timothy 4.10,.
He's the Savior of all men, ina physical, temporal way.
He doesn't give the sinner whatthe sinner deserves.
Romans 2.4 says he exercisespatience and forbearance with
(47:34):
sinners.
Sinners fall in love.
They have children, they enjoythe beauty of creation, they eat
a good meal, they are folded into temporal blessing in God's
creation and His world.
(47:55):
A second way that God lovesenemies is with compassion.
There's a general sense of pity.
This is not just in the NewTestament.
I'll read you one passage.
There are a number in the OldTestament, but in Jeremiah 13,.
Verse 15, listen and give heed,do not be haughty, the Lord
(48:21):
says, for the Lord has spoken.
Give glory to the Lord, yourGod, before he bring darkness
before your feet stumble on thedusky mountains and while you're
hoping for light, he makes itinto deep darkness and turns it
into gloom.
Listen to this verse 17, "'butif you will not listen to it, my
(48:44):
soul will sob in secret forsuch pride and my eyes will
bitterly weep and flow down withtears'".
Have you ever imagined Godweeping for the lost?
This is pity.
(49:06):
This is love, not based on thepresent value of something, but
on the lost value the love ofGod for one in His image
eternally defaced.
So God's love to all is shownin this common goodness and in
(49:27):
compassion.
Thirdly, in warning, incessantwarnings, constant warnings.
I think of Luke 13, where thestory is told about the tower
that fell down, killed thepeople, about Pilate's men who
(49:47):
came in and sliced up theGalileans who were worshiping in
the temple.
And the people asked Jesus,were these people worse than
anybody else?
And that's why this calamityhappened.
That was kind of Jewishtheology.
And Jesus said repent, or thesame thing is going to happen to
you.
The warnings, constant,constant warnings.
(50:09):
We find them all the way fromthe beginning of Scripture to
the end Warnings.
The first chapter of 2Thessalonians talks about the
Lord Jesus verse 7, beingrevealed from heaven with His
(50:30):
mighty angels in flaming firedealing out retribution to those
who do not know God and thosewho do not obey the gospel of
our Lord Jesus.
These will pay the penalty ofeternal destruction, away from
the presence of the Lord and theglory of His power.
That's a warning.
That's a warning.
The book of Revelation isfilled with warning.
(50:54):
So how does God love everyone?
In general goodness inexpressions of grief, pity and
compassion, in the relentlesswarnings of Scripture and, one
final way, in the gospel offer.
God's general love for mankindis revealed in His incessant
offer of salvation all throughhistory to sinners in all times
(51:17):
and all places.
And he told the church to gointo all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.
The path of salvation has beenlaid out.
John 1.9 says Christ is thelight that lights every man.
Jesus said Come unto Me all youwho labor and are heavy laden.
(51:37):
Matthew 11.28, I'll give yourest.
Matthew 22, he told a parableabout people who wouldn't come,
the Jews.
And he said to His disciples goout in the highways and byways
and compel them to come.
Gospel preaching, gospelinvitation is an extension of
(52:01):
God's love To His enemies.
Then he offers general goodness, showered on them all their
life long.
Pity and real grief over theirplight, warning and admonition
concerning devastating andeternal judgment and the
pleading offer of the gospel.
(52:21):
So if you want to love yourneighbor the way God loves, show
pity and compassion, warn themand give them the gospel.
And that one final thought,that's how to be perfect, as
(52:43):
your heavenly Father is perfect.
Well, that's not possible, butthat's the goal.
That's the goal.
You say you're a son of God.
You say you're a child of God,then you can't hate your enemies
, you have to love them.
(53:04):
That's the evidence that youare a child of God.
That's the evidence that thelife of God is in you.
This is how we are to live inthe world.
Nothing short of this willsatisfy our Lord.
(53:24):
So as things become difficult,more difficult, increasingly
difficult, remember this whenpersecution comes your way,
you're blessed.
Blessed when they falselyaccuse you, you're glad, you
(53:49):
rejoice.
Why?
Because it is increasing yourreward where In heaven, and that
then becomes incentive forloving your enemies.
Let's bow in prayer.
Our Father.
(54:15):
We come to you at the end ofthis section of Scripture
feeling like we've sat at thefeet of Jesus and we've been
taught.
And that's exactly whathappened.
We are so privileged.
There's a sense in which youlove your own uniquely.
(54:37):
You love us according to John13, 1, to completion, to the max
, to the limit, eternally.
And greater love has no manthan this that he lay down his
life for his friends.
We thank you that you lay downyour life for those you love
(55:03):
savingly.
And then you asked us to lovesinners around us the way you
loved us when we were yetsinners and Christ died for us.
May we be known for our love,not only our love for each other
(55:27):
, the family, but our love forthose who are the most devoted,
avid and dangerous enemies.
May they be at the top of thelist for us to love and to pray
(55:48):
for.
We do pray for the leaders ofthis country, pray for the
president, vice president,senators, congressmen, governors
, politicians, all the way downthe line.
We pray for their salvation.
That's what we pray for,because that's what you told us
(56:13):
to pray for.
We pray, lord, that you wouldsave them.
We would be so bold, lord, toask that the Spirit of God would
break in and convict them ofsin and righteousness and
judgment, that they would fallon their knees in penitence and
(56:36):
embrace Christ.
It doesn't depend on them.
It depends on you and Lord, weask that you would be gracious
and save some of these who haveorchestrated such hostility
toward your truth.
Save some people at the top ofcorporations, big tech included,
(57:00):
some of those who control media.
Save them, lord, for your glory.
May the testimony be sopowerful the transformation of
these people that it'sinescapable to see what the
(57:22):
gospel can do.
And having said that, we dounderstand that, as laid out in
Scripture, there will not bemany mighty, not be many noble,
because You've chosen the lowlyand the nobodies, the base
things.
But, lord, be glorified in thesalvation of sinners and even
(57:43):
the salvation of leaders.
We ask it only for your honorand your glory.
And may we be known for ourlove and relentless evangelistic
prayers for all those who areenemies of your truth.
Turn them into friends by yourgrace and use our prayers in
(58:05):
that way.
We pray with thanksgiving Amen.
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and this
month's Biblical Talks bookoffer for September is Hard
Sayings Understanding DifficultPassages of Scripture, by RC
Sproul.
God gave us his words that wemay know Him and live by His
truth.
So what should we do when we'rereading the Bible and a
difficult passage stops us inour tracks?
Sometimes the solution is rightthere on the page if we know
(58:34):
where to look, while otherpassages gain clarity in light
of the rest of the Bible or itshistorical background.
With the help of an experiencedguide, we can overcome the
obstacles to our progress andknow God's Word more deeply.
In hard sayings, rc Sproulapplies his wisdom as a
theologian and biblical teacherto some of the most challenging
(58:55):
verses in Scripture.
By showing us how to navigatetough texts in the Old and New
Testament, he outlines keyprinciples to help us grow in
our knowledge of God.
For any amount of donation toBiblical Talks, we will send you
the book.
Please go to BiblicalTalkscomand click the Donate here tab.
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
Welcome to Biblical Talks.
Sermon of the Week.
In Matthew, chapter 5, verses43 to the end of verse, jesus is
talking about loving yourenemies.
Now this rule, I say I believe,is for the kingdom.
(00:22):
The Lord Jesus lived withoutthe Mosaic law to the ninth
degree.
He said that in the kingdom theenemy is to be loved instead of
hated, and that's hard for usto do in our own power and
strength.
The believer today operates ona different principle.
(00:43):
We are commanded to love allbelievers, even brothers and
sisters we disagree with, and weare to express our love to our
enemies by getting getting tothem the gospel of Jesus Christ,
giving them the message of Godsaving grace that is able to
bring them to heaven Beloved.
(01:05):
Let's listen to Dr JohnMacArthur as he preaches on
loving your enemies as God does.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
To wrap up this long, long year of very special,
unique messages.
There is one more that I needto discharge before the Lord,
from my heart to yours, and itis drawn out of a text that I
want you to turn to now.
It's Matthew, chapter 5, verses43 to 48.
(01:39):
Matthew 5, 43 to 48.
I'm going to read these wordsto you and then introduce the
direction of this text for us,and then we'll dig into it.
Our Lord speaks and says youhave heard that it was said, you
(02:08):
shall love your neighbor andhate your enemy.
But I say to you love yourenemies and pray for those who
persecute you, so that you maybe sons of your Father who is in
heaven, for he causes His Sonto rise on the evil and the good
and sends rain on the righteousand the unrighteous.
For if you love those who loveyou, what reward do you have?
(02:34):
Do not even the tax collectorsdo the same.
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than
others?
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame.
Therefore, you are to beperfect, as your heavenly Father
(02:55):
is perfect".
Pretty direct point.
If you want to be like God,love your enemies.
I suppose in my lifetime andyours.
We have not had as manyaggressive enemies as we do
today, at all levels.
The kingdom of darkness hasbecome more hostile than ever,
(03:20):
hostile to the light, hostile tothe gospel, hostile to Christ,
hostile to the church, hostileto the truth.
And that hostility is beingramped up at a level we have
never seen in our society, beingplayed out perhaps in its most
(03:40):
dramatic form.
Up in Alberta, as seminarymaster, seminary graduate, james
Coates languishes in prison foranother couple of months
because the judge would notgrant him bail because he would
go out and preach the gospel,while at the same time releasing
a child molester, causing thepolice department to send out a
(04:04):
bullet, and they knew he woulddo it again.
This is like a microcosmillustration of where this
culture is release the childmolester and keep the preacher
in prison.
We rightly resent the wickednessof that.
We rightly resent thelegalizing of the murder of
(04:26):
infants.
We rightly resent sexualperversion in all its form.
We hate the fact that the roleof men, the role of women, the
place of children, the family,are being systematically
destroyed.
We are deeply saddened atracial going on by identity,
(04:49):
breakdown of the social order,where we are no longer feeling
like.
We are a nation ruled by law,we are concerned, which empowers
the elite even more and takesaway freedom.
Socialism and freedom aremutually exclusive by definition
.
The combination of all thisdominant wickedness growing at
(05:15):
such a rapid rate, and while wehave been able to communicate
the truth in the midst of this,we feel like we are slowly being
canceled, so that we're notgoing to have the opportunity to
say what we say, to proclaimthe truth in the forms of media
that have been available to usin the past.
(05:35):
It's hard to get your heart inthe right place because these
things are hostile to us andthey are reproaches that,
primarily, are directed at God.
And, as the psalmist said, thereproaches that fall on you fall
on me.
When God is dishonored, I feelthe pain.
What God hates, I hate.
What makes God angry makes meangry, but that's not to be our
(06:03):
attitude here.
We just saw it in this cleartext.
We are to be like God in thatwe love our enemies.
We have talked so much about thehostility that's around.
It's escalating.
We've talked about comingpersecution.
We've talked about thecriminalization of righteousness
(06:25):
and the legalization ofunrighteousness.
We've talked about a worldbeing flipped on its head.
We need to hear the message ofthis text Now.
This is from the Sermon on theMount and there are six
contrasts, starting in verse 21.
(06:47):
Jesus is talking to the Jewsand he is acknowledging that
they have been taught by theirscribes and Pharisees certain
things, but they areinconsistent with what God wants
them to know.
(07:07):
And so you have six times thislittle couplet, starting at
verse 21,.
You have heard verse 22, but Isay Verse 27, you have heard,
but I say Verse 31, it was said,but I say Verse 33,.
You have heard verse 34, but Isay" Verse 31, it was said, but
I say Verse 33,.
You have heard Verse 34, but Isay Verse 38,.
(07:29):
You have heard, but I say andthen finally down to verse 43,
you have heard, but I say theLord is making a stark contrast
between what he commands andwhat commands and what exists in
the apostate, traditional formof Judaism.
Our Lord is attacking corruptJudaism.
(07:53):
You will notice in your Bible,very likely, that each time
Jesus says you have heard, thereis a statement in uppercase
letters which means it's drawnfrom the Old Testament.
It wasn't that they ignored theOld Testament.
Each of those has a referenceto an Old Testament text.
They had built their system onan Old Testament text.
(08:19):
Our Lord's issue with them wasthat it was too superficial.
It was all on the outside.
When God commanded not tomurder, he also bound up in that
command not to hate.
When God commanded not tocommit adultery, bound up in
that command is not even to lookon a woman to lust after her,
(08:40):
or you've committed adultery inyour heart".
When God said don't divorce, hemeant don't divorce for any
reason other than immorality.
They had come up with many,many justifications for divorce.
(09:01):
When God said don't make falsevows, don't lie, god didn't mean
unless you swear by heaven andthat somehow covers your lie.
When God said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, he wasn't
turning over vengeance to you.
Vengeance belongs to Him.
It wasn't that they didn't haveBible verses to go with their
(09:21):
system.
They did, but theymisrepresented them.
And never is there a more clearmisrepresentation than in verse
43 where he says you have heardthat it was said you shall love
your neighbor and hate yourenemy, but I say to you love
your enemies.
The religion of Judaism hadflattened God's commands to one
(09:45):
external dimension, to justifyhate, to justify lust, to
justify divorce, to justify lies, to justify vengeance, to
justify anger.
But holiness is much deeperthan that.
(10:10):
But this is a classic look atsuperficial, pharisaic
externalism.
There are certain things theydon't do, but below the surface
they're full of dead men's bones.
They're marked by anger, lust,divorce, lies, vengeance and
(10:30):
hate and consequently they'reliving in violation of God's
commands and God's will.
It's the heart issue thatconcerns the Lord, always the
heart issue, and that's theissue that he addresses in the
(10:53):
text before us.
I want you to look at the finalmatter.
Then verses 43, and followingwhich I read to you this matter
of loving your neighbor and alsoloving your enemy.
Second great commandment loveyour neighbor as yourself, right
.
And the Jews wreaked havoc withthat by defining neighbor so
(11:17):
narrowly that it came back downto only the people that they
chose to love, essentially onlythe people in their group.
They went so far as to say thegeneral population was cursed
and they had legitimized theirdisdain for the general
population, if not their hate,they love their neighbor.
(11:38):
All right, if you let themdefine their neighbor.
So let's look at that.
We'll begin with the traditionof the Jews, then we'll look at
the teaching of the OldTestament and then the truth
from Christ.
So let's look at verse 43.
You have heard that it was saidyou shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.
This is the superficialrabbinic form of low-level
(12:04):
theology in defective Judaism.
You have heard that it was said.
The familiar phrase thatintroduces the teaching of the
rabbis you have been taught youshall love your neighbor.
That's a good start.
Leviticus 19, 17 and 18 commandsthat you love your neighbor.
Matthew 22,.
Jesus said this is the secondgreat commandment love your
(12:26):
neighbor.
By the way, they left out asyourself, purposely, because
that's too much to ask.
There is, by the way, nocommand in the Bible to love
yourself.
That's just part of your fallencorrupt command in the Bible.
To love yourself, that's justpart of your fallen corrupt
nature.
(12:46):
You do that by default.
The Bible doesn't command youto love yourself.
The Bible commands you to loveyour neighbor as yourself.
And how do you love yourself?
Well, you ought to be familiarwith it.
It's what you do all the time.
Our love to ourselves isunfeigned, fervent, habitual,
(13:09):
permanent.
It respects all our needs, allour wants, all our interests,
all our desires, all of ourhopes, all of our ambitions.
It prompts us to do everythingpossible to secure our own
happiness, well-being,satisfaction, welfare, comfort,
interests.
It seeks our own pleasure andfulfillment, knows no limit in
the effort and secures all thisand protection from any harm.
(13:35):
And oh, by the way, our lovefor ourselves is very forgiving.
Have you noticed?
It's a rare person who loveshis neighbor that way.
So immediately we are facedwith the reality that we don't
love the Lord, god, with all ourheart, soul, mind and strength,
(13:56):
which is the first commandment.
So we fall short there.
And we certainly don't love ourneighbor as ourselves.
So we fall short there andconsequently we are all under
divine punishment.
You can take the law in itsseveral parts, or you can reduce
it down to ten commandments, oryou can reduce it down to two
commandments, and whatever wayyou look at it, we fall short.
(14:21):
The Jews justified the fact thatthey hated their enemies by
adding you shall love yourneighbor and hate your enemy.
Now, that's after they hadalready narrowly defined
neighbor.
Neighbor was another Jew,another Jew in their group, not
(14:46):
tax collectors, not the rabble,as I mentioned.
John 7, 47 to 49 says theycursed the rabble, the Jewish
population in general.
Their narrow definition ofneighbor was somebody in their
group and everybody else outsidethat highly defined group.
(15:11):
They had a right to hate.
They conveniently ignored whilethey're looking at Leviticus 19
, 17 and 18, which says loveyour neighbor as yourself.
They conveniently ignored verse34, which says the stranger who
sojourns with you shall be toyou as the native among you and
(15:35):
you shall love him as yourself.
Oh, that's pretty selective.
They took verses 17 and 18 andignored verse 34, which says
you're to love the stranger asyourself, and they ignored
Exodus 12, 49,.
There shall be one law for thenative and for the stranger who
sojourns among you.
(15:56):
You don't have the right topick and choose, but this hate
of anybody outside the group haddeveloped in some very
sophisticated ways.
There was one of the familiarsects of Judaism called the
Essenes.
They were kind of a monasticsect.
They lived out by the Dead Sea.
(16:17):
That's where the Dead SeaScrolls originated.
And the Essenes say things likethis, and this is from their
teaching Love all that God haschosen and hate all that he has
rejected.
Love all the sons of light,each according to his lot in
God's community, and hate allthe sons of darkness.
The Levites curse all the sonsof Belial.
(16:40):
And who are the sons of BelialNon-Essenes?
So if you're not in our group,you're cursed, and this was
viewed as a level ofrighteousness that proved that
they really knew the mind andthe heart of God, at least to
them.
So in tradition, in what haddeveloped in Judaism, the
(17:02):
command to love your neighborsbecame a license to hate.
One of the maxims of thePharisees I'll quote if a Jew
sees a Gentile fallen into thesea, let him by no means lift
him out thence, for it iswritten thou shalt not rise up
against the blood of thyneighbor, but this man is not
thy neighbor.
End quote.
If you see a Gentile drowning,let him drown.
(17:25):
You have a right to beindifferent.
It is a small wonder, then,that the Romans charged the Jews
with hatred of humankind.
So they were very selective inpicking Old Testament texts to
avoid.
What God actually said was tolove everyone as you love
(17:50):
yourself.
What does the Old Testamentactually teach?
That's their tradition.
But let's look at the OldTestament.
The Jews entered Canaan youknow the story, of course and
they were commanded toexterminate the Canaanites.
They were told Deuteronomy 23,that the Ammonites, the Moabites
(18:12):
, the Midianites were not to betreated with kindness.
As a people, you got that.
They were not to be treatedwith kindness as a people.
In fact, they were to beexecuted.
And you would say, reading theimprecatory Psalms, it seems as
(18:34):
though God's hatred towardpeople is severe.
Why is it wrong for us?
For example, in Psalm 69, verse22, this the psalmist prays may
their table, speaking of hisenemies, their table before them
(18:55):
, become a snare, and whenthey're in peace, may it become
a trap.
May their eyes grow dim so theycannot see and their loins
shake continually.
Pour out your indignation onthem and may your burning anger
overtake them.
May their camp be desolate.
May none dwell in their tents,for they have persecuted Him
whom you yourself have smitten,and they tell of the pain of
(19:16):
those whom you have wounded,adding iniquity to iniquity.
And may they not come into yourrighteousness.
May they be blotted out of thebook of life and may they not be
recorded with the righteous".
Wow, pretty severe.
What is that?
(19:39):
That is a psalmist affirmingthe divine design of God to war
against the nations thatthreatened Israel.
The wars of Israel were the onlyholy wars in history, the only
holy wars in history authorizedby God as acts of judgment.
(20:03):
God doesn't withhold judgment.
He drowned the entire world,didn't he?
In the day of Noah.
The Old Testament is filledwith many, many judgments.
The wars of Israel were notacts of personal vengeance by
the Jewish people.
They were commands by God forjudgment to fall on those
(20:24):
nations surrounding Israel whichproved to be a deadly threat.
God is the only one who cancommand that, because the
vengeance belongs to the Lord.
I will repay.
Only by divine command can animprecatory psalm be prayed on
(20:49):
the head of an enemy of Israel.
By the way, there's no suchimprecation in prayer in the New
Testament.
This was tied to God'sprotection and preservation of
His people in the Old Testamentso that they would be sustained
to the arrival of Messiah.
(21:12):
In the imprecatory Psalms, thepsalmist don't speak with
personal hatred, personalanimosity.
They speak as a representativeof God.
They speak as a representativeof God's people and he regards
the idolatrous wicked as theenemies of God.
Psalm 69.9, as you heard.
(21:33):
So that is the only set ofdivinely authorized holy wars in
history.
The issues were judicial on thepart of God.
He was bringing judgment, justand righteous judgment.
At the time he deemed it neededto be done.
(21:53):
It was never personal, but thePharisees and the scribes and
the rabbis had personalized allof that and used Scriptures like
that to justify their personalhatred.
They took essentiallyprerogatives that belonged only
to God and operated them intheir personal relationships.
(22:13):
Even in the New Testament,jesus shows a different attitude
than God took in dealing withthe nations to protect Israel.
Jesus looked at Jerusalem andwhat did he do?
(22:33):
He wept.
He wept Jesus, the Judge towhom all judgment is committed,
wept over the rejecters.
(22:54):
There is a kind of perfecthatred.
I will admit that because it'sin Psalm 139 and it's expressed
clearly.
Listen to verses 19 andfollowing oh that you would slay
the wicked, o God.
Depart from Me, therefore, menof bloodshed, for they speak
against you wickedly and yourenemies take your name in vain.
(23:17):
Do not.
I hate those who hate you, oLord, and do I not loathe those
who rise up against you?
I hate them with the utmosthatred.
They have become my enemies".
That is a perfect hatred.
That is a righteous hatred.
(23:38):
That is the attitude of themartyrs in Revelation 6 and the
fifth seal, who are under thealtar praying that the Lord will
put an end to the persecutionof the time of the tribulation.
(24:01):
It is right to hate what Godhates and love what God loves in
the broad sense it is right tofeel the pain when God is
dishonored.
The reproaches that fall on youfall on me.
I remember the story of HenryMartin, a missionary to India,
and when he arrived there hewent into a Hindu temple where
(24:23):
there were all kinds ofatrocities, forms of idolatry,
and he watched what was going onand in his own writings he
wrote this as he left "'I cannotendure existence if Jesus is to
be so dishonored'".
I feel that pain, and so do you, don't you?
You feel that pain.
(24:46):
The reproaches that fall onyour Lord fall on you and you
feel the pain and you hate that.
You hate that God is dishonored.
You hate that Christ isdishonored.
You hate that the name of JesusChrist is used as a swear word.
You hate when Jesus is demeanedand blasphemed.
(25:08):
You hate that and you haveevery reason to hate that.
That's a holy hatred, that's arighteous indignation.
That's the Spirit of God in you, showing you what to love and
what to hate.
But clearly that doesn't giveyou justification to hate
(25:29):
individual sinners.
Listen to Exodus 23, verses 4and 5.
If you meet your enemy's ox orhis donkey wandering away not
much chance of that.
Now that you get the point, youshall surely return it to him.
If you find somebody's donkeyor ox straying away, take it
(25:50):
back to him.
If you find somebody's donkeyor ox straying away, take it
back to him.
If you see the donkey of onewho hates you lying helpless
under its load, you shallrefrain from leaving it.
You shall surely release it.
If you find somebody's donkeyon the ground because the load
is too great, even if it's yourenemy, you relieve the donkey of
(26:14):
its burden.
You express kindness not onlytoward your neighbor or your
enemy, but toward your enemy'sanimal.
I think there's a couple ofreally graphic illustrations of
this.
You remember the story in 1Samuel 24 when David went into
the cave same cave Saul was in,and Saul was trying to find a
(26:38):
way to kill David.
And David was hiding in thevery same cave that Saul was in.
And Saul was in the cave, theBible says, relieving himself,
and David could have killed him.
He was in a compromisedposition, but David went up and
cut a little piece off hisgarment and David refused to
take his life.
(26:59):
And it says in 1 Samuel 24.10,because David pitied him.
He pitied him, he had a senseof compassion toward his most
severe and deadly enemy andwould not take his life.
(27:21):
There was Shimei in 2 Samuel 16who started cursing David.
People said ìTell him to stop,tell him to stopî.
And David said ìNo, no, let himcurseî.
There's a purpose in this,that's goodness to evil enemies.
In Job 31, 29 and 30, job,defending his godly virtue, said
(27:46):
these words ìHave I rejoiced atthe extinction of my enemy or
rejoiced when evil befell him?
No, I have not allowed my mouthto sin by asking for his life
in a curse.
There are some enemies prettyseriously doing damage to Job.
(28:07):
Right, I didn't ask for hislife in a curse.
Proverbs 25, 21,.
If your enemy is hungry, givehim food to eat.
If he's thirsty, give him waterto drink, and the Lord will
reward you.
So there's plenty ofinformation in the Old Testament
(28:28):
to separate personal attitudetoward enemies from judicial
actions on the part of Godagainst nations who are a threat
to His redemptive purpose.
So that's a little bit abouttradition and Old Testament
teaching.
But let's look at the mostimportant point the truth from
(28:51):
Jesus.
In the text before us.
Our Lord is going to correcttheir misrepresentation of God's
will with three sequentialprinciples that correct this
faulty understanding.
They are sequential and theyare ascending.
(29:11):
Love your enemies, pray foryour persecutors, manifest your
sonship.
So let's look at verse 44, loveyour enemies, but I say to you
love your enemies.
No one has a problem lovingfriends.
(29:32):
That's what defines a friendsomebody you love.
Jesus goes to the real issue.
This is what the divine law isspeaking about when it says love
your neighbor as yourself isthe second great commandment.
It must embrace your enemy.
It's anybody in your life,anybody in your world, anyone
(29:55):
who comes into your space.
The beautiful and familiar storyin Luke 10 and verse 25,.
A lawyer stood up and put Jesusto the test and said "'Teacher,
what shall I do to inheriteternal life?
And he said what's written inthe law?
How does it read to you?
And he said you shall love theLord, your God, with all your
(30:18):
heart, with all your soul, withall your strength, with all your
mind, and your neighbor asyourself.
And he said to him You'veanswered correctly.
Do this and you will live,which of course, is impossible.
And that's the point he wasmaking.
Wishing to justify himself, hesaid to Jesus who's my neighbor?
(30:39):
Give me a definition ofneighbor.
Jesus replied and told thestory of the good Samaritan.
Didn't he A man, going downfrom Jerusalem to Jericho, fell
among robbers.
They stripped him, beat him,went away, leaving him dead.
A priest came by, passed on theother side.
A Levite came by, passed on theother side.
A Samaritan, a half-breedoutcast hated by the Jews, saw
him and felt compassion, boundup his wounds, poured oil and
(31:02):
wine, put him on his own beast,brought him to an inn, took care
of him, gave money to theinnkeeper.
Take care of him.
Whatever more you spend, I'llgive you back when I return.
Which of the three do you thinkproved to be a neighbor to the
man who fell into robber's hands?
He said, the one who showedmercy toward him.
Who is your neighbor?
Anybody who needs your mercy.
(31:22):
It doesn't matter if thatneighbor is one who hates you,
as the Jews hated the Samaritans.
The rabbi and the priest didn'twant to touch the man because
their theology said he's in theproblem.
He's in because he's sinful.
(31:43):
They went around the other sideof the road.
The despised and hated andrejected Samaritan had
compassion on the man who wassocially an enemy.
Love your enemies.
Ekthran-su.
Tan-ekthran-su means yourpersonal enemy, not talking
about some collective.
(32:04):
It's your personal enemy.
Agapate from agapao, thehighest, noblest form of love
and, in the present tense, beconstantly loving your enemies.
This is the love of the will.
This is not the love of emotion.
This is the love of the will.
(32:24):
It is not related to anypersonal gain or personal
fulfillment.
It is the love of unconquerablebenevolence.
It is the love of unconquerablebenevolence, it is the love of
invincible goodwill, just aloving heart that wants to free
(32:45):
the enemy from any thought ofhate, wants to rescue the enemy
from sin, wants to see his soulsaved.
It's the highest love.
One writer says ìI cannot like afalse, lying, slanderous fellow
who perhaps has vilified meagain and again.
(33:10):
I cannot like him, but I can,by the grace of Jesus Christ,
love him, see what is wrong withhim, desire to work to do him
only good and, most of all, tofree Him from His vicious ways.
In Luke 6, jesus said ìDo goodto those who hate youî.
(33:31):
So loving your neighbor meansseeking the highest good.
Thatís the noblest kind of love.
And loving your enemies meansthe same thing seek the highest
good.
Now, how does that play out?
Second point pray for yourpersecutors.
It shows up then in prayer,verse 44,.
(33:56):
Pray for those who persecuteyou.
Those would be your severestenemies.
You have a lot of enemies whodon't personally persecute you.
So let's just take the mostextreme situation people who
persecute you.
Those are the ones you pray for.
Go back in chapter 5 to verse 10in the Beatitudes Blessed are
(34:16):
those who have been persecutedfor the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom ofheaven.
So this assumes you're going tohave persecutors.
"'blessed are you when peopleinsult you and persecute you and
falsely say all kinds of evilagainst you because of Me?
If they're doing that to you,you're blessed'".
Isn't that wonderful?
Doesn't that turn it on itshead?
(34:36):
I think about that a lot.
Not only are you blessed, butverse 12, "' and be glad, for
your reward in heaven is great.
What they're doing is adding toyour eternal reward.
Come on, bring it on.
For in the same way theypersecuted the prophets who were
(35:00):
before you, you're in goodcompany.
I wonder if these persecutors offaithful people understand that
their efforts are beingreversed by God and out of their
persecution comes blessing, andout of their persecution comes
(35:20):
joy and gladness, and out oftheir persecution comes eternal
reward.
That's very important, folks,very important.
That is a very important thingto realize, because it causes
you to see persecution in acompletely different way.
(35:42):
If you see persecution doingdamage to you, you will change
your message.
If you see persecution addingto your eternal reward, you
don't change anything, right,right, I mean, this is the
(36:08):
upside-down reality.
You preach the Word of Godfaithfully, you proclaim the
gospel faithfully and you gethostility and animosity and
maybe you cower and you try tomake some adjustments so you can
stop offending people.
If you're a preacher, you takethe offenses out of the message
and consequently you miss theblessing, the gladness, the joy
(36:32):
and the eternal reward thatcomes with faithfulness that
faces persecution.
But it's not just a passivehope for eternal reward.
That is the correct response.
There's a third point here.
You not only pray for those whopersecute you.
(36:56):
You go further than that In 1Timothy.
It's not a vague kind of prayer.
Listen to this 1 Timothy 2,.
I urge that entreaties andprayers, petitions and
(37:18):
thanksgivings be made on behalfof all men for kings and all who
are in authority.
Now we've elevated to thepeople who have the most power
to persecute and we're prayingfor them so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in allgodliness and dignity.
This is good and acceptable inthe sight of God, our Savior,
(37:40):
who desires all men to be savedand to come to the knowledge of
the truth".
So what are we praying for?
Their salvation?
We pray for God to show themtheir sinfulness.
It would be a sin not to pray.
We have wicked president, vicepresident, people in power and
(38:05):
leadership, locally, statewide.
Are we supposed to sit andsmolder in anger?
No, we're supposed to pray forwhat?
Their salvation?
Get them at the top of yourprayer list.
Jesus said on the cross Father,what Forgive them?
(38:28):
They know not what they do.
That prayer was answered in athief and a soldier and people
in the crowd.
Stephen prayed lay not this sinto their charge, and that was
answered in an apostle namedPaul.
That was answered in an apostlenamed Paul.
(38:49):
This is an opportunity for youto take on evangelistic praying.
It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer whowrote.
This is the supreme commandThrough the medium of prayer, we
go to our persecutors, stand bytheir side and plead to God for
them.
Dr Vilmer, in 1880, wrote thisit's good enough to read this
(39:20):
commandment that we should loveour enemies and forego revenge
will grow even more urgent inthe holy struggle which lies
before us.
The Christians will be houndedfrom place to place, subjected
to physical assault,maltreatment and death of every
kind.
We are approaching he wrote in1880, an age of widespread
persecution.
Soon the time will come when weshall pray.
(39:42):
An age of widespreadpersecution.
Soon the time will come when weshall pray.
It will be a prayer of earnestlove for these very sons of
perdition who stand around andgaze at us with eyes aflame with
hatred and who have perhapsalready raised their hands to
kill us.
Yes, the church which is reallywaiting for its Lord and which
discerns the signs of the times,must fling itself with its
(40:06):
utmost power and with the armorof its holy life into this
prayer of love".
Loving your enemies meanspraying for your persecutors.
And then there's a thirdelement Loving your enemies
(40:33):
means manifest your sonship.
Manifest your sonship.
We'll pick it up in verse 45.
Actually, I'll justwe'll startthere, so that you may be the
sons of your Father who is inheaven.
Here's the basic principleYou're never more like God than
(40:54):
when you forgive your enemies.
Simple You're never more likeGod than when you forgive your
enemies, because the whole ofsalvation is based on the fact
that God has forgiven Hisenemies.
We cannot manifest that we aregenuinely the sons of God unless
(41:15):
we love the way God loves.
And God loved enemies becausethose were the only people that
existed.
He doesn't have any friends inthe fallen world.
The apostle Paul understoodthis and wrote at the end of the
(41:39):
fourth chapter of Ephesians"'Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving eachother, just as God in Christ
also has forgiven you.
Therefore, be imitators of Godas beloved children.
That's the only place in theNew Testament where it says be
imitators of God, want toimitate God.
Forgive enemies.
(41:59):
What does Romans say?
While we were enemies, christdied for us.
God shows His love for Hisenemies Verse 45,.
For he causes His Son to riseon the evil and the good sends
(42:24):
rain on the righteous and theunrighteous.
For if you love those who loveyou, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectorsdo the same.
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than
others?
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame.
Therefore, you're to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
(42:45):
perfect, and that are you doingthan others.
Do not even the Gentiles do thesame.
Therefore, you're to be perfectas your heavenly Father is
perfect, and that means you'reto love the way he loves.
Clearly God loves good peopleand bad people and shows it by
showing temporal favor andkindness to them.
Causes the rain to fall on theevil and the good, the righteous
(43:08):
and the unrighteous, the sun toshine on them.
Psalm 145 says the eyes of alllook to thee.
Thou dost give them their foodin due time Thou dost open thy
hand and satisfy the desire ofevery living thing".
God feeds the entire world.
(43:30):
In Luke 6, we get anotherinsight into this.
Luke 6, verse 27,.
"'but I say to you who hearlove your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
(43:51):
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who mistreat you.
Whoever hits you on the cheek,offer him the other.
Also, whoever takes away yourcoat, do not withhold your shirt
from him either.
Give to everyone who asks ofyou, and whoever takes away what
is yours, do not demand it back.
Treat others the same way youwant them to treat you.
(44:13):
If you love those who love you,what credit is that to you?
For even sinners love those wholove them.
If you do good to those who dogood to you, what credit is that
to you?
Or even sinners do the same.
If you lend to those from whomyou expect to receive, what
credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners inorder to receive back the same
amount.
But love your enemies.
(44:35):
And how Do good Lend, expectingnothing in return, and your
reward will be great and you'llbe sons of the Most High, for he
Himself is kind to ungratefuland evil men.
Be merciful just as your Fatheris merciful".
This is talking about generalbenevolence.
(44:55):
Show love by being unselfish.
It was John Calvin who dubbedthis as common grace.
It comes from God's love formankind and it's not limited to
some narrow definition ofneighbor.
(45:16):
Sun shines on the mostreprobate God-hating people in
the world and the rain falls onthem as well.
If you want to love like Godloves, you have to love those
who hate you, according to whatwe just read in Matthew 5.
You have to love those outsideyour group, your social group.
(45:45):
It's not enough to just lovethe people in your group.
Pagans do that and the sum ofit, verse 48,.
You want to be like God.
Love your enemies the way heloves enemies.
To grasp the character of God'slove for the world of wicked
(46:07):
sinners is not easy.
God has a general, universal,nondiscriminating, unconditional
love which he extends toeveryone.
(46:28):
You remember the story of therich young ruler in Mark's
account in Mark, chapter 10.
Unrepentant, christ-rejecting,proud sinner walked away from
Christ and the story ends inMark.
But Jesus, looking at him,loved him.
John 3.16,.
(46:51):
God loved the whole world.
How does God love the enemy?
Well, there's four ways that Godexpresses common grace or this
general love.
First, goodness to all.
(47:13):
And we just read that he makesthe sun rise on evil and good
and the rain fall on righteousand unrighteous.
In that sense, 1 Timothy 4.10,.
He's the Savior of all men, ina physical, temporal way.
He doesn't give the sinner whatthe sinner deserves.
Romans 2.4 says he exercisespatience and forbearance with
(47:34):
sinners.
Sinners fall in love.
They have children, they enjoythe beauty of creation, they eat
a good meal, they are folded into temporal blessing in God's
creation and His world.
(47:55):
A second way that God lovesenemies is with compassion.
There's a general sense of pity.
This is not just in the NewTestament.
I'll read you one passage.
There are a number in the OldTestament, but in Jeremiah 13,.
Verse 15, listen and give heed,do not be haughty, the Lord
(48:21):
says, for the Lord has spoken.
Give glory to the Lord, yourGod, before he bring darkness
before your feet stumble on thedusky mountains and while you're
hoping for light, he makes itinto deep darkness and turns it
into gloom.
Listen to this verse 17, "'butif you will not listen to it, my
(48:44):
soul will sob in secret forsuch pride and my eyes will
bitterly weep and flow down withtears'".
Have you ever imagined Godweeping for the lost?
This is pity.
(49:06):
This is love, not based on thepresent value of something, but
on the lost value the love ofGod for one in His image
eternally defaced.
So God's love to all is shownin this common goodness and in
(49:27):
compassion.
Thirdly, in warning, incessantwarnings, constant warnings.
I think of Luke 13, where thestory is told about the tower
that fell down, killed thepeople, about Pilate's men who
(49:47):
came in and sliced up theGalileans who were worshiping in
the temple.
And the people asked Jesus,were these people worse than
anybody else?
And that's why this calamityhappened.
That was kind of Jewishtheology.
And Jesus said repent, or thesame thing is going to happen to
you.
The warnings, constant,constant warnings.
(50:09):
We find them all the way fromthe beginning of Scripture to
the end Warnings.
The first chapter of 2Thessalonians talks about the
Lord Jesus verse 7, beingrevealed from heaven with His
(50:30):
mighty angels in flaming firedealing out retribution to those
who do not know God and thosewho do not obey the gospel of
our Lord Jesus.
These will pay the penalty ofeternal destruction, away from
the presence of the Lord and theglory of His power.
That's a warning.
That's a warning.
The book of Revelation isfilled with warning.
(50:54):
So how does God love everyone?
In general goodness inexpressions of grief, pity and
compassion, in the relentlesswarnings of Scripture and, one
final way, in the gospel offer.
God's general love for mankindis revealed in His incessant
offer of salvation all throughhistory to sinners in all times
(51:17):
and all places.
And he told the church to gointo all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.
The path of salvation has beenlaid out.
John 1.9 says Christ is thelight that lights every man.
Jesus said Come unto Me all youwho labor and are heavy laden.
(51:37):
Matthew 11.28, I'll give yourest.
Matthew 22, he told a parableabout people who wouldn't come,
the Jews.
And he said to His disciples goout in the highways and byways
and compel them to come.
Gospel preaching, gospelinvitation is an extension of
(52:01):
God's love To His enemies.
Then he offers general goodness, showered on them all their
life long.
Pity and real grief over theirplight, warning and admonition
concerning devastating andeternal judgment and the
pleading offer of the gospel.
(52:21):
So if you want to love yourneighbor the way God loves, show
pity and compassion, warn themand give them the gospel.
And that one final thought,that's how to be perfect, as
(52:43):
your heavenly Father is perfect.
Well, that's not possible, butthat's the goal.
That's the goal.
You say you're a son of God.
You say you're a child of God,then you can't hate your enemies
, you have to love them.
(53:04):
That's the evidence that youare a child of God.
That's the evidence that thelife of God is in you.
This is how we are to live inthe world.
Nothing short of this willsatisfy our Lord.
(53:24):
So as things become difficult,more difficult, increasingly
difficult, remember this whenpersecution comes your way,
you're blessed.
Blessed when they falselyaccuse you, you're glad, you
(53:49):
rejoice.
Why?
Because it is increasing yourreward where In heaven, and that
then becomes incentive forloving your enemies.
Let's bow in prayer.
Our Father.
(54:15):
We come to you at the end ofthis section of Scripture
feeling like we've sat at thefeet of Jesus and we've been
taught.
And that's exactly whathappened.
We are so privileged.
There's a sense in which youlove your own uniquely.
(54:37):
You love us according to John13, 1, to completion, to the max
, to the limit, eternally.
And greater love has no manthan this that he lay down his
life for his friends.
We thank you that you lay downyour life for those you love
(55:03):
savingly.
And then you asked us to lovesinners around us the way you
loved us when we were yetsinners and Christ died for us.
May we be known for our love,not only our love for each other
(55:27):
, the family, but our love forthose who are the most devoted,
avid and dangerous enemies.
May they be at the top of thelist for us to love and to pray
(55:48):
for.
We do pray for the leaders ofthis country, pray for the
president, vice president,senators, congressmen, governors
, politicians, all the way downthe line.
We pray for their salvation.
That's what we pray for,because that's what you told us
(56:13):
to pray for.
We pray, lord, that you wouldsave them.
We would be so bold, lord, toask that the Spirit of God would
break in and convict them ofsin and righteousness and
judgment, that they would fallon their knees in penitence and
(56:36):
embrace Christ.
It doesn't depend on them.
It depends on you and Lord, weask that you would be gracious
and save some of these who haveorchestrated such hostility
toward your truth.
Save some people at the top ofcorporations, big tech included,
(57:00):
some of those who control media.
Save them, lord, for your glory.
May the testimony be sopowerful the transformation of
these people that it'sinescapable to see what the
(57:22):
gospel can do.
And having said that, we dounderstand that, as laid out in
Scripture, there will not bemany mighty, not be many noble,
because You've chosen the lowlyand the nobodies, the base
things.
But, lord, be glorified in thesalvation of sinners and even
(57:43):
the salvation of leaders.
We ask it only for your honorand your glory.
And may we be known for ourlove and relentless evangelistic
prayers for all those who areenemies of your truth.
Turn them into friends by yourgrace and use our prayers in
(58:05):
that way.
We pray with thanksgiving Amen.
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and this
month's Biblical Talks bookoffer for September is Hard
Sayings Understanding DifficultPassages of Scripture, by RC
Sproul.
God gave us his words that wemay know Him and live by His
truth.
So what should we do when we'rereading the Bible and a
difficult passage stops us inour tracks?
Sometimes the solution is rightthere on the page if we know
(58:34):
where to look, while otherpassages gain clarity in light
of the rest of the Bible or itshistorical background.
With the help of an experiencedguide, we can overcome the
obstacles to our progress andknow God's Word more deeply.
In hard sayings, rc Sproulapplies his wisdom as a
theologian and biblical teacherto some of the most challenging
(58:55):
verses in Scripture.
By showing us how to navigatetough texts in the Old and New
Testament, he outlines keyprinciples to help us grow in
our knowledge of God.
For any amount of donation toBiblical Talks, we will send you
the book.
Please go to BiblicalTalkscomand click the Donate here tab.
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!