March 10, 2025 • 28 mins
Kaden Brown continues our Sermon on the Mount series with a message on turning the other cheek.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, welcome tonight .
What a beautiful song.
Holy, there is no one like you.
I hope that tonight, as I amteaching from God's Word, that
you guys would truly be able toknow holy, there is no one like
(00:23):
you.
Be able to know.
Holy, there is no one like you.
What an amazing thing once aChristian realizes who his true
master is, that it's not himself, but it is Christ who is his
master, that it is not him whorules his life anymore, yet it
is Christ.
And when you are met with thistruth, the only thing that we
can bear to say is Holy, holy,holy.
(00:47):
There truly is no one else likethe God whom we serve.
Well, good evening.
If you don't know who I am,garrett kind of introduced me,
but my name is Caden Brown.
I co-lead the junior-seniorgroup with Andrew.
What a wonderful leader he is.
I'm delighted to be speakinghere tonight, and tonight we're
(01:09):
going to be going over Matthew,chapter 5, and continuing the
series of the Sermon on theMount, and I get so excited to
come and teach every time.
Garrett asked me to come,because I get to do one thing,
and my one thing and my onedesire for tonight is to simply
(01:29):
lead you to Christ and leave youthere for you to make a
decision whether you're abeliever or whether you're an
unbeliever, whether yourecognize Christ as Lord and
Savior or whether you don't.
My prayer for this time is thatI can lead you to a place to
(01:50):
accept Him or to dismiss Him,and I pray over everyone that
everyone would accept, but thatis your choice.
Tonight we're going to read fromMatthew 5, starting in verse 38
and going through 42.
Let's pray, lord, we just thankyou for tonight, we thank you
(02:44):
for your word and we thank youfor the truths that are in them.
Lord, I pray that I canaccurately display these truths
and, lord, we pray that youwould be moving in the hearts of
everybody here to come into acloser dependence upon you.
Lord, we just pray these thingsin your name, amen.
If you guys don't get anythingI say here tonight as we go
(03:09):
through this text, this is theone principle, the one thing
that I wish and I desire and sayI get it.
This is my main encouragementfor you and it's very simple.
It's three words, and thesethree words are you need Jesus.
Whether you're a Christian ornot, your need of Christ never
(03:34):
changes.
You needed him for salvationand you need him for
sanctification, which is theprocess of becoming more like
him, which is the process ofbecoming more like him.
Jesus has built a standard inMatthew, chapter 5.
His whole point of this sermonis to bring you to a place of
saying how am I supposed to livethis life?
(03:55):
This life seems impossible.
This life seems like I can't doit.
He says, if I just look at awoman with a lustful eye, I've
committed adultery.
What If I have anger against mybrother in the sense of wanting
to hurt him?
I am a murderer?
What?
How am I supposed to live thislife?
(04:18):
And he gives us the standard inthe end of chapter 5.
The standard here that Jesus ispreaching is in verse 48.
He says, therefore, you are tobe perfect, for your heavenly
Father is perfect.
That's the point that Jesus istrying to get across to us.
That's the desire for his heartto see that his standard is
(04:41):
perfection and you cannot cometo the Father unless you're
perfect.
It's impossible, it's literallyimpossible.
The Christian life is notdifficult.
It's impossible.
No matter how hard you try, nomatter how hard you strive to
(05:06):
live this life that God hascalled us to live, you can't.
It's impossible.
There's nothing within you thatis able to be able to live out
all the commandments of the NewTestament, everything that Jesus
desires for you, because we'reall going to mess up.
None of us are perfect.
Anybody with two brain cells inthis room is not going to sit
(05:29):
here and say I'm perfect,because we would all know you're
a liar.
We all know that we mess up insome sort of way.
We all know that we have somesort of flaw, even the most
simple commandment that Jesushas given us love the Lord, your
God, with all your heart, allyour soul and all your mind.
Not one person on earth hasever been able to truly live
(05:55):
this commandment out, because atsome point in your life, in
some point in the time thatyou'll live on this earth, you
are going to love yourself morethan you love God.
But the one person that wasable to live this commandment
perfectly pure was Jesus.
Now you're probably sitting hereand saying, well, where's the
(06:18):
encouragement in that?
That sounds terrible.
You're telling me that this isa waste of time.
You're telling me that I can'tlive this Christian life.
I come to church, I come toWednesday Night Youth Group and
I learn these principles.
I learn these things that Ineed to apply to my life.
And now Caden gets up on stageand tells you I can't do it.
(06:40):
Well, there's only twopossibilities from that it's
either I'm a liar or there'ssomething more to this.
There's something more than mystriving, there's something more
than my discipline in the faith.
Let me encourage you now.
Listen up.
(07:04):
I'm going to crack the secretof the christian life.
You wonder why you don'texperience all the joys and the
blessings that we come up hereand we talk to you and we say
the joy of the lord is yours,just accept it.
And you go back home and yousay I'm not experiencing the joy
(07:25):
of the Lord.
Where is it?
Well, the secret of theChristian life is you need Jesus
.
And if you don't get anythingthat I have to say today through
Matthew, chapter five, I wantyou to get this.
That is why I've camped out onthis message, on this simple
(07:47):
truth of we need Jesus.
It should never get tired of ushearing it, because it is the
most important truth in all ofour lives, in every area of our
life.
Now you may say what's this gotto do with the text that you
have to go through?
What does this have to do withMatthew, chapter 5?
What's got everything to dowith Matthew, chapter 5?
(08:10):
Because the principle Jesustalks about here are imperative
or vitally important toChristian living.
But if we just hear theprinciple and say, okay, okay,
now I'm going to live thisprinciple out, now I'm going to
do it, I'm going to go out andI'm going to strive and I'm
going to be this humble person,or I'm going to be this person
(08:32):
who doesn't get mad at mybrothers, or I'm going to be
this person who doesn't look ata woman with a lustful eye.
Now I'm going to do it with allmy strength, with all my might,
with all my power.
I am now going to live thislife.
You've missed the point.
It's not about you, it's notabout your strength, it's not
(08:59):
about your power, it's not aboutyour discipline, it's not about
your striving, christ andChrist living in you, as you've
accepted him as your Savior.
Now he is able to live throughyou, and it's through Christ's
power, christ's might, christ'sperseverance, christ's striving
(09:22):
we can now live thesecommandments out and bring these
principles in.
There's a teacher at his hill,which is the place that I work,
and he says this this life isall about him, it's not about me
.
He just simply allows me tolive in who it's all about.
(09:44):
So let's read this text verseby verse, and now let's get into
it with this in mind that it'snot about me, it's not about my
striving, but it's about Christ.
Verse 38 says this the OldTestament law was a fair law.
(10:07):
It was a law in which youcommitted a crime and your
punishment equals the crime thatyou committed A tooth for a
tooth and an eye for an eye.
And I think it would be veryprofitable for us to churn there
in Leviticus 24 just to see howjust and how fair God's law
(10:28):
truly was at this time.
This comes from a passage inLeviticus, chapter 15, eye for
(10:51):
eye, tooth for tooth.
Just as he has injured a man,so shall it be inflicted on him.
Thus the one who kills theanimal shall make it good, but
the one who kills a man shall beput to death.
There shall be one standard foryou.
It shall be for the stranger aswell as the native, for I am
(11:11):
the Lord, your God.
We see that the Lord hasestablished His law in the Old
Testament to be a fair one, thatif you do something,
something's going to happen toyou equal to the crime that you
committed.
But yet Jesus challenges ushere in verse 39 of Matthew,
chapter 5.
(11:31):
And he says the law says atooth for a tooth and an eye for
an eye.
But I say to you, verse 39, donot resist an evil person, but
whoever slaps you on the rightcheek, turn to him.
Also.
The scripture often gets usedagainst us as saying oh look,
(11:57):
christians can't fight back.
Oh look, christians can't sayanything back.
Christians, if I slap achristian, he's not allowed to
retaliate.
Well, that's simply not true.
That is not what jesus istalking about here.
Look at the specifics of thecheek the right.
Well, what's that have to dowith anything?
Well, if I'm going to want tophysically harm someone as
(12:20):
someone who gets mad, I guessand I want to punch that person,
and I'm right-handed, whichmost of the population is
right-handed, and at this time,actually being left-handed was
looked down upon.
So a lot of left-handed peopletried to become right-handed.
And so if I'm going tophysically hurt someone with my
right hand and I punch them,which is a physical assault,
(12:44):
what side of their face am Igoing to hit?
If I throw my right hand, I'mgoing to hit their left cheek.
So Jesus isn't talking about aphysical assault here.
So what's he talking about?
Well, what he's talking about is, in this day, or even to today,
if you were to get backhanded,it's not really a physical
(13:07):
assault as much as it is aninsult.
It's embarrassing to getbackhanded by somebody.
I don't know about you guys,but my mom, several times when I
talked back to her, backhandedme because I was being a little
brat.
And it's embarrassing even whenyou're only in the presence of
your mom because it's like youdon't mean anything, you know.
(13:30):
And so Jesus here is nottalking about a physical insult.
He's talking about a disrespect.
More than the pain of thebackhand, you're going to feel
disrespected.
Jesus is talking about a verbalinsult, not physical.
(13:55):
Jesus calls us not to returninsult for insult, but to be
like and to not be like the lawin verse 38.
To not return insult for insult.
When we're walking aroundschool and someone insults us
because of something that we do,are we so quick to insult them
(14:17):
back?
Are we so quick to bring themdown because we were just
brought down?
Jesus says don't do it.
Turn the other cheek Allow foranother.
But yet Jesus also says do notresist the evil one here.
But yet Jesus also says do notresist the evil one here.
And that's interesting to mebecause later on in the gospel
(14:44):
Jesus tells his disciples to goto a city and says if this city
refuses you, flee.
Well, fleeing is a type ofrefusing.
So Jesus isn't saying that inall situations that we just need
to be a doormat for people towalk on and to step on.
So what's the balance, caden?
How do I know when to defendmyself?
(15:09):
Comment slide.
It's a great question.
And that question comes back tothe simple answer of I don't
know, you don't know, nobodyknows, but you know.
Who does know is christ.
Christ will lead you and guideyou moment by moment when to say
(15:30):
something and when not to saysomething.
Jesus is drawing us here in aplace of dependence upon him.
Verse 40,.
If anyone wants to sue you andtake your shirt, let him have
your coat.
Also, jesus is saying ifsomeone wants to sue you and
(15:50):
take something from you, don'tjust let them take that thing,
but give them something.
Also, in this time, everybodyliterally had a legal right to
their coat.
It's back in Leviticus.
I'm not going to turn toLeviticus again.
But they had a legal right toown a coat.
It was like their God-givenright in this time, because the
coat was to keep you warm andsafe at night.
(16:13):
And Jesus says if they sue, youdon't only give them the shirt
off your back, but give themyour coat also.
I'm supposed to give them mycoat too.
What are you trying to tell meto do?
Let's continue on and maybewe'll get the full picture.
(16:33):
Verse 41,.
Whoever forces you to go onemile, go with him too.
Romans back in the day on theRoman roads could stop anybody
that they wanted and make themcarry their bag one mile.
Any direction that the Romanwas going Didn't matter if it
was the direction that civilianwas going and it didn't matter
(16:54):
if it was the total oppositedirection of that person.
But a Roman soldier could placetheir bag down and say you pick
it up, come with me for a mile.
And they had to do it.
They had to do it.
And Jesus says if he forces you, if he gives you the
inconvenience of you walkingpast this Roman soldier, and he
(17:17):
says walk a mile with me.
You should not only go one mile, but go two.
Don't just do the natural thing.
Don't just do what you have todo, but do the supernatural.
Jesus here is attempting to stirin us to do the supernatural
(17:40):
life.
A normal person who is insultedis most likely going to throw
an insult back.
A normal person who is suedwill most likely serve them more
than what they're asked for.
A normal person who is forcedto go one mile is going to drop
the bag at a mile and continueon with their day.
But Jesus is calling for hisbelievers, when insulted, to
(18:04):
allow it sometimes and churn theother cheek, allowing for
another.
Jesus calls for his believerswhen sued, to give more.
Jesus calls for his believershere when forced to go a mile
with the Romans and to even gothe extra mile.
(18:28):
Now the big question is why?
Why would Jesus want us to dothis, these three things that
I've laid out?
Why is Jesus calling us to dothis?
In my Bible I have this sectionActually, not this Bible, my
other Bible I have this sectionunderlined and underneath it
says the ultimate servant slashhumble walk.
(18:48):
Jesus has called us to benothing more than servants.
It is when pride creeps in thatwe think that we're better than
the person in front of us whenthey are insulting us, when they
are suing us, when they'reforcing us to do something that
we don't want to do.
Jesus is calling us to live inradical humility towards others.
(19:11):
A prideful man will not go aboveand beyond to serve those who
are around him, but yet he willhave the attitude like everybody
around him should serve him.
There's a book called Humilityby a man named Andrew Murray,
and he says that humility is thebeginning of all virtue.
(19:31):
Virtue simply just meanscharacter.
You cannot have the characterof Christ if you are not humble.
Remember the beginning of theSermon on the Mount.
Jesus said blessed is the poorin spirit.
What's he saying?
What's he saying?
Blessed is the man who realizesthat he needs me.
(19:55):
Blessed is the man who realizestheir depravity, their reliance
upon Christ.
Blessed are they, for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven.
Only a humble person canrecognize that they need Jesus
Christ.
A prideful man will not accepthis need of Christ, and Christ
(20:19):
is only limited to youravailability to him.
That is the only limitationthat he has, because he desires
to work through you.
He desires to work through you,he desires to work in you, and
if you're not willing to let Him, you're not allowing God to
(20:43):
work.
It's impossible, not just inappearance but in heart Without
the inward working of the Spiritof God and realizing that there
is nothing within ourselvesthat is good.
The only thing that is goodthat is in us is Christ, as we
talked about in the beginning ofthis sermon, we cannot do it.
(21:07):
We cannot live this radicallife that Christ has called us
to live.
It is only by the power andgrace of jesus christ working
through us that we may live inhumility.
The humble man is only humblebecause of the spirit of god.
Our outward expression or theway we behave around others is
(21:30):
simply just an example of ourinward reality towards Christ.
If you're willing to serve andto be a servant to others, we
can see that your inward realityis not because you strive to
serve, but it's because you knowwho your master is.
You know who you're serving andyou know that it's not in your
(21:53):
who your master is.
You know who you're serving andyou know that it's not in your
strength and in your power, butsimply in Christ's Allowing him
to live his radical life ofhumility that we were called to
live through us and abide in himand remain in him for the hope
that he would be of abiding inChrist.
(22:16):
This is the only way for me andyou to live up to the standards
of Matthew, chapter 5.
Not by striving, not by beingmore disciplined, not by having
more courage, not by having morepower, not by being more
disciplined, not by having morecourage, not by having more
power, not by trying harder, butby presenting ourselves to
(22:38):
Christ as a living and holysacrifice, as it talks about in
Romans 12, saying, christ, thislife is not mine, but it is
yours, god.
Let your will be done throughme.
Let my desires be put to theside, let my wants be put to the
side, for I know who my trueGod is and I know that there is
(23:03):
no one else like him, for he isthe holy of the holiest, for he
is the most powerful, mostamazing king that I could ever
serve.
That I don't even desire to dothe things that I want.
My only desire is the desire ofChrist and for him to live in
(23:24):
me and to work through me to beable to change the lives around
us.
Able to change the lives aroundus and when we present
ourselves to Christ and we say,christ, this life is no longer
mine but yours.
The discipline will follow, thehumility will follow, the
(23:45):
striving will follow, becauseChrist is now able to work in
you, because you've realizedthat it's not you, it's Jesus.
That's why my greatest desirefor you in this entire message
is the simple words you needJesus.
(24:09):
And as we go through the Sermonon the Mount the next couple
weeks or I don't know how longGarrett's going to be in it, but
for as long as he's in itremember these words you need
Jesus.
It's not about you, but abouthim.
Allow him to live in your life.
(24:29):
Truly, ask this question If youhave not experienced the things
that are in the Bible the joy,the peace, the comfort, ask
yourself this question have Itruly presented myself to Christ
as a living and holy sacrifice,saying God, it's not about what
(24:50):
I want, it's about what youwant.
You wonder why it's so hard toget up and read the Word in the
morning, or to stay up a littlebit later and read God's Word.
It's because you desiresomething more than the Word of
God, desire something that youwant more than desiring to meet
(25:12):
God in His Word, allowing Him tospeak to you, allowing Him to
use His Scriptures to show youHis beauty.
Jesus wants you to walk independence upon Him.
Colossians 2, 2, 6 says for aswe have received christ jesus,
so walk in him.
(25:32):
We receive christ jesus byfaith, so we shall walk by faith
.
Christian life never goes awayfrom our dependence upon the
Lord.
It is always in a place and aposition of Jesus.
I need you.
It should make us fall to ourknees when we get home in our
(25:56):
bedrooms and we say, lord, Iwant to live this life, but I
can't.
I need you, I need yourstriving, I need your you.
I need your striving, I needyour power, I need your
perseverance.
And the Lord is willing.
Remember that statement I made.
(26:17):
Remember that statement I made.
The Lord is only limited toyour availability towards Him.
Have you truly been availabletowards him?
Ask yourself that question.
Don't just let me ask it, askit to yourself.
Have I truly been available toChrist?
(26:40):
Let's pray, lord.
We thank you for today, lord.
We thank you for the principlesthat are found in your word,
lord.
But thank you for today, lord.
We thank you for the principlesthat are found in your word,
lord, but may these principles,but God, may we draw towards you
in realization that we need youto live the principles that
(27:03):
you've called us to live, lord.
We pray as we go to groups.
That conversation would beprofitable.
Our hearts would be encouragedin Christ.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, welcome tonight .
What a beautiful song.
Holy, there is no one like you.
I hope that tonight, as I amteaching from God's Word, that
you guys would truly be able toknow holy, there is no one like
(00:23):
you.
Be able to know.
Holy, there is no one like you.
What an amazing thing once aChristian realizes who his true
master is, that it's not himself, but it is Christ who is his
master, that it is not him whorules his life anymore, yet it
is Christ.
And when you are met with thistruth, the only thing that we
can bear to say is Holy, holy,holy.
(00:47):
There truly is no one else likethe God whom we serve.
Well, good evening.
If you don't know who I am,garrett kind of introduced me,
but my name is Caden Brown.
I co-lead the junior-seniorgroup with Andrew.
What a wonderful leader he is.
I'm delighted to be speakinghere tonight, and tonight we're
(01:09):
going to be going over Matthew,chapter 5, and continuing the
series of the Sermon on theMount, and I get so excited to
come and teach every time.
Garrett asked me to come,because I get to do one thing,
and my one thing and my onedesire for tonight is to simply
(01:29):
lead you to Christ and leave youthere for you to make a
decision whether you're abeliever or whether you're an
unbeliever, whether yourecognize Christ as Lord and
Savior or whether you don't.
My prayer for this time is thatI can lead you to a place to
(01:50):
accept Him or to dismiss Him,and I pray over everyone that
everyone would accept, but thatis your choice.
Tonight we're going to read fromMatthew 5, starting in verse 38
and going through 42.
Let's pray, lord, we just thankyou for tonight, we thank you
(02:44):
for your word and we thank youfor the truths that are in them.
Lord, I pray that I canaccurately display these truths
and, lord, we pray that youwould be moving in the hearts of
everybody here to come into acloser dependence upon you.
Lord, we just pray these thingsin your name, amen.
If you guys don't get anythingI say here tonight as we go
(03:09):
through this text, this is theone principle, the one thing
that I wish and I desire and sayI get it.
This is my main encouragementfor you and it's very simple.
It's three words, and thesethree words are you need Jesus.
Whether you're a Christian ornot, your need of Christ never
(03:34):
changes.
You needed him for salvationand you need him for
sanctification, which is theprocess of becoming more like
him, which is the process ofbecoming more like him.
Jesus has built a standard inMatthew, chapter 5.
His whole point of this sermonis to bring you to a place of
saying how am I supposed to livethis life?
(03:55):
This life seems impossible.
This life seems like I can't doit.
He says, if I just look at awoman with a lustful eye, I've
committed adultery.
What If I have anger against mybrother in the sense of wanting
to hurt him?
I am a murderer?
What?
How am I supposed to live thislife?
(04:18):
And he gives us the standard inthe end of chapter 5.
The standard here that Jesus ispreaching is in verse 48.
He says, therefore, you are tobe perfect, for your heavenly
Father is perfect.
That's the point that Jesus istrying to get across to us.
That's the desire for his heartto see that his standard is
(04:41):
perfection and you cannot cometo the Father unless you're
perfect.
It's impossible, it's literallyimpossible.
The Christian life is notdifficult.
It's impossible.
No matter how hard you try, nomatter how hard you strive to
(05:06):
live this life that God hascalled us to live, you can't.
It's impossible.
There's nothing within you thatis able to be able to live out
all the commandments of the NewTestament, everything that Jesus
desires for you, because we'reall going to mess up.
None of us are perfect.
Anybody with two brain cells inthis room is not going to sit
(05:29):
here and say I'm perfect,because we would all know you're
a liar.
We all know that we mess up insome sort of way.
We all know that we have somesort of flaw, even the most
simple commandment that Jesushas given us love the Lord, your
God, with all your heart, allyour soul and all your mind.
Not one person on earth hasever been able to truly live
(05:55):
this commandment out, because atsome point in your life, in
some point in the time thatyou'll live on this earth, you
are going to love yourself morethan you love God.
But the one person that wasable to live this commandment
perfectly pure was Jesus.
Now you're probably sitting hereand saying, well, where's the
(06:18):
encouragement in that?
That sounds terrible.
You're telling me that this isa waste of time.
You're telling me that I can'tlive this Christian life.
I come to church, I come toWednesday Night Youth Group and
I learn these principles.
I learn these things that Ineed to apply to my life.
And now Caden gets up on stageand tells you I can't do it.
(06:40):
Well, there's only twopossibilities from that it's
either I'm a liar or there'ssomething more to this.
There's something more than mystriving, there's something more
than my discipline in the faith.
Let me encourage you now.
Listen up.
(07:04):
I'm going to crack the secretof the christian life.
You wonder why you don'texperience all the joys and the
blessings that we come up hereand we talk to you and we say
the joy of the lord is yours,just accept it.
And you go back home and yousay I'm not experiencing the joy
(07:25):
of the Lord.
Where is it?
Well, the secret of theChristian life is you need Jesus
.
And if you don't get anythingthat I have to say today through
Matthew, chapter five, I wantyou to get this.
That is why I've camped out onthis message, on this simple
(07:47):
truth of we need Jesus.
It should never get tired of ushearing it, because it is the
most important truth in all ofour lives, in every area of our
life.
Now you may say what's this gotto do with the text that you
have to go through?
What does this have to do withMatthew, chapter 5?
What's got everything to dowith Matthew, chapter 5?
(08:10):
Because the principle Jesustalks about here are imperative
or vitally important toChristian living.
But if we just hear theprinciple and say, okay, okay,
now I'm going to live thisprinciple out, now I'm going to
do it, I'm going to go out andI'm going to strive and I'm
going to be this humble person,or I'm going to be this person
(08:32):
who doesn't get mad at mybrothers, or I'm going to be
this person who doesn't look ata woman with a lustful eye.
Now I'm going to do it with allmy strength, with all my might,
with all my power.
I am now going to live thislife.
You've missed the point.
It's not about you, it's notabout your strength, it's not
(08:59):
about your power, it's not aboutyour discipline, it's not about
your striving, christ andChrist living in you, as you've
accepted him as your Savior.
Now he is able to live throughyou, and it's through Christ's
power, christ's might, christ'sperseverance, christ's striving
(09:22):
we can now live thesecommandments out and bring these
principles in.
There's a teacher at his hill,which is the place that I work,
and he says this this life isall about him, it's not about me
.
He just simply allows me tolive in who it's all about.
(09:44):
So let's read this text verseby verse, and now let's get into
it with this in mind that it'snot about me, it's not about my
striving, but it's about Christ.
Verse 38 says this the OldTestament law was a fair law.
(10:07):
It was a law in which youcommitted a crime and your
punishment equals the crime thatyou committed A tooth for a
tooth and an eye for an eye.
And I think it would be veryprofitable for us to churn there
in Leviticus 24 just to see howjust and how fair God's law
(10:28):
truly was at this time.
This comes from a passage inLeviticus, chapter 15, eye for
(10:51):
eye, tooth for tooth.
Just as he has injured a man,so shall it be inflicted on him.
Thus the one who kills theanimal shall make it good, but
the one who kills a man shall beput to death.
There shall be one standard foryou.
It shall be for the stranger aswell as the native, for I am
(11:11):
the Lord, your God.
We see that the Lord hasestablished His law in the Old
Testament to be a fair one, thatif you do something,
something's going to happen toyou equal to the crime that you
committed.
But yet Jesus challenges ushere in verse 39 of Matthew,
chapter 5.
(11:31):
And he says the law says atooth for a tooth and an eye for
an eye.
But I say to you, verse 39, donot resist an evil person, but
whoever slaps you on the rightcheek, turn to him.
Also.
The scripture often gets usedagainst us as saying oh look,
(11:57):
christians can't fight back.
Oh look, christians can't sayanything back.
Christians, if I slap achristian, he's not allowed to
retaliate.
Well, that's simply not true.
That is not what jesus istalking about here.
Look at the specifics of thecheek the right.
Well, what's that have to dowith anything?
Well, if I'm going to want tophysically harm someone as
(12:20):
someone who gets mad, I guessand I want to punch that person,
and I'm right-handed, whichmost of the population is
right-handed, and at this time,actually being left-handed was
looked down upon.
So a lot of left-handed peopletried to become right-handed.
And so if I'm going tophysically hurt someone with my
right hand and I punch them,which is a physical assault,
(12:44):
what side of their face am Igoing to hit?
If I throw my right hand, I'mgoing to hit their left cheek.
So Jesus isn't talking about aphysical assault here.
So what's he talking about?
Well, what he's talking about is, in this day, or even to today,
if you were to get backhanded,it's not really a physical
(13:07):
assault as much as it is aninsult.
It's embarrassing to getbackhanded by somebody.
I don't know about you guys,but my mom, several times when I
talked back to her, backhandedme because I was being a little
brat.
And it's embarrassing even whenyou're only in the presence of
your mom because it's like youdon't mean anything, you know.
(13:30):
And so Jesus here is nottalking about a physical insult.
He's talking about a disrespect.
More than the pain of thebackhand, you're going to feel
disrespected.
Jesus is talking about a verbalinsult, not physical.
(13:55):
Jesus calls us not to returninsult for insult, but to be
like and to not be like the lawin verse 38.
To not return insult for insult.
When we're walking aroundschool and someone insults us
because of something that we do,are we so quick to insult them
(14:17):
back?
Are we so quick to bring themdown because we were just
brought down?
Jesus says don't do it.
Turn the other cheek Allow foranother.
But yet Jesus also says do notresist the evil one here.
But yet Jesus also says do notresist the evil one here.
And that's interesting to mebecause later on in the gospel
(14:44):
Jesus tells his disciples to goto a city and says if this city
refuses you, flee.
Well, fleeing is a type ofrefusing.
So Jesus isn't saying that inall situations that we just need
to be a doormat for people towalk on and to step on.
So what's the balance, caden?
How do I know when to defendmyself?
(15:09):
Comment slide.
It's a great question.
And that question comes back tothe simple answer of I don't
know, you don't know, nobodyknows, but you know.
Who does know is christ.
Christ will lead you and guideyou moment by moment when to say
(15:30):
something and when not to saysomething.
Jesus is drawing us here in aplace of dependence upon him.
Verse 40,.
If anyone wants to sue you andtake your shirt, let him have
your coat.
Also, jesus is saying ifsomeone wants to sue you and
(15:50):
take something from you, don'tjust let them take that thing,
but give them something.
Also, in this time, everybodyliterally had a legal right to
their coat.
It's back in Leviticus.
I'm not going to turn toLeviticus again.
But they had a legal right toown a coat.
It was like their God-givenright in this time, because the
coat was to keep you warm andsafe at night.
(16:13):
And Jesus says if they sue, youdon't only give them the shirt
off your back, but give themyour coat also.
I'm supposed to give them mycoat too.
What are you trying to tell meto do?
Let's continue on and maybewe'll get the full picture.
(16:33):
Verse 41,.
Whoever forces you to go onemile, go with him too.
Romans back in the day on theRoman roads could stop anybody
that they wanted and make themcarry their bag one mile.
Any direction that the Romanwas going Didn't matter if it
was the direction that civilianwas going and it didn't matter
(16:54):
if it was the total oppositedirection of that person.
But a Roman soldier could placetheir bag down and say you pick
it up, come with me for a mile.
And they had to do it.
They had to do it.
And Jesus says if he forces you, if he gives you the
inconvenience of you walkingpast this Roman soldier, and he
(17:17):
says walk a mile with me.
You should not only go one mile, but go two.
Don't just do the natural thing.
Don't just do what you have todo, but do the supernatural.
Jesus here is attempting to stirin us to do the supernatural
(17:40):
life.
A normal person who is insultedis most likely going to throw
an insult back.
A normal person who is suedwill most likely serve them more
than what they're asked for.
A normal person who is forcedto go one mile is going to drop
the bag at a mile and continueon with their day.
But Jesus is calling for hisbelievers, when insulted, to
(18:04):
allow it sometimes and churn theother cheek, allowing for
another.
Jesus calls for his believerswhen sued, to give more.
Jesus calls for his believershere when forced to go a mile
with the Romans and to even gothe extra mile.
(18:28):
Now the big question is why?
Why would Jesus want us to dothis, these three things that
I've laid out?
Why is Jesus calling us to dothis?
In my Bible I have this sectionActually, not this Bible, my
other Bible I have this sectionunderlined and underneath it
says the ultimate servant slashhumble walk.
(18:48):
Jesus has called us to benothing more than servants.
It is when pride creeps in thatwe think that we're better than
the person in front of us whenthey are insulting us, when they
are suing us, when they'reforcing us to do something that
we don't want to do.
Jesus is calling us to live inradical humility towards others.
(19:11):
A prideful man will not go aboveand beyond to serve those who
are around him, but yet he willhave the attitude like everybody
around him should serve him.
There's a book called Humilityby a man named Andrew Murray,
and he says that humility is thebeginning of all virtue.
(19:31):
Virtue simply just meanscharacter.
You cannot have the characterof Christ if you are not humble.
Remember the beginning of theSermon on the Mount.
Jesus said blessed is the poorin spirit.
What's he saying?
What's he saying?
Blessed is the man who realizesthat he needs me.
(19:55):
Blessed is the man who realizestheir depravity, their reliance
upon Christ.
Blessed are they, for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven.
Only a humble person canrecognize that they need Jesus
Christ.
A prideful man will not accepthis need of Christ, and Christ
(20:19):
is only limited to youravailability to him.
That is the only limitationthat he has, because he desires
to work through you.
He desires to work through you,he desires to work in you, and
if you're not willing to let Him, you're not allowing God to
(20:43):
work.
It's impossible, not just inappearance but in heart Without
the inward working of the Spiritof God and realizing that there
is nothing within ourselvesthat is good.
The only thing that is goodthat is in us is Christ, as we
talked about in the beginning ofthis sermon, we cannot do it.
(21:07):
We cannot live this radicallife that Christ has called us
to live.
It is only by the power andgrace of jesus christ working
through us that we may live inhumility.
The humble man is only humblebecause of the spirit of god.
Our outward expression or theway we behave around others is
(21:30):
simply just an example of ourinward reality towards Christ.
If you're willing to serve andto be a servant to others, we
can see that your inward realityis not because you strive to
serve, but it's because you knowwho your master is.
You know who you're serving andyou know that it's not in your
(21:53):
who your master is.
You know who you're serving andyou know that it's not in your
strength and in your power, butsimply in Christ's Allowing him
to live his radical life ofhumility that we were called to
live through us and abide in himand remain in him for the hope
that he would be of abiding inChrist.
(22:16):
This is the only way for me andyou to live up to the standards
of Matthew, chapter 5.
Not by striving, not by beingmore disciplined, not by having
more courage, not by having morepower, not by being more
disciplined, not by having morecourage, not by having more
power, not by trying harder, butby presenting ourselves to
(22:38):
Christ as a living and holysacrifice, as it talks about in
Romans 12, saying, christ, thislife is not mine, but it is
yours, god.
Let your will be done throughme.
Let my desires be put to theside, let my wants be put to the
side, for I know who my trueGod is and I know that there is
(23:03):
no one else like him, for he isthe holy of the holiest, for he
is the most powerful, mostamazing king that I could ever
serve.
That I don't even desire to dothe things that I want.
My only desire is the desire ofChrist and for him to live in
(23:24):
me and to work through me to beable to change the lives around
us.
Able to change the lives aroundus and when we present
ourselves to Christ and we say,christ, this life is no longer
mine but yours.
The discipline will follow, thehumility will follow, the
(23:45):
striving will follow, becauseChrist is now able to work in
you, because you've realizedthat it's not you, it's Jesus.
That's why my greatest desirefor you in this entire message
is the simple words you needJesus.
(24:09):
And as we go through the Sermonon the Mount the next couple
weeks or I don't know how longGarrett's going to be in it, but
for as long as he's in itremember these words you need
Jesus.
It's not about you, but abouthim.
Allow him to live in your life.
(24:29):
Truly, ask this question If youhave not experienced the things
that are in the Bible the joy,the peace, the comfort, ask
yourself this question have Itruly presented myself to Christ
as a living and holy sacrifice,saying God, it's not about what
(24:50):
I want, it's about what youwant.
You wonder why it's so hard toget up and read the Word in the
morning, or to stay up a littlebit later and read God's Word.
It's because you desiresomething more than the Word of
God, desire something that youwant more than desiring to meet
(25:12):
God in His Word, allowing Him tospeak to you, allowing Him to
use His Scriptures to show youHis beauty.
Jesus wants you to walk independence upon Him.
Colossians 2, 2, 6 says for aswe have received christ jesus,
so walk in him.
(25:32):
We receive christ jesus byfaith, so we shall walk by faith
.
Christian life never goes awayfrom our dependence upon the
Lord.
It is always in a place and aposition of Jesus.
I need you.
It should make us fall to ourknees when we get home in our
(25:56):
bedrooms and we say, lord, Iwant to live this life, but I
can't.
I need you, I need yourstriving, I need your you.
I need your striving, I needyour power, I need your
perseverance.
And the Lord is willing.
Remember that statement I made.
(26:17):
Remember that statement I made.
The Lord is only limited toyour availability towards Him.
Have you truly been availabletowards him?
Ask yourself that question.
Don't just let me ask it, askit to yourself.
Have I truly been available toChrist?
(26:40):
Let's pray, lord.
We thank you for today, lord.
We thank you for the principlesthat are found in your word,
lord.
But thank you for today, lord.
We thank you for the principlesthat are found in your word,
lord, but may these principles,but God, may we draw towards you
in realization that we need youto live the principles that
(27:03):
you've called us to live, lord.
We pray as we go to groups.
That conversation would beprofitable.
Our hearts would be encouragedin Christ.
In Jesus' name, amen.
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