Luke 6:27-36
"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat. Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful," Luke 6:27-36.
In the sermons preached from Luke 6:20 to where we are presently at, Jesus has made a clear distinction between those who are saved and those who are lost. We have looked at the biblical fact that all of mankind is unable to save themselves. Salvation is totally a working of our Sovereign God which magnifies God's grace. God saves the lost sinner and God transforms us. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new," II Corinthians 5:17. Let II Corinthians 5:17 ring in our ears. This Scripture is not a suggestion, it is a biblical fact. When the Lord saves you, you are not the same person you used to be. Ask yourself, has there been a change in my life as a result of Christ saving my soul? Also, am I continuing to see sin in my life as exceedingly sinful, and am I in the process of getting sin out of my life? Am I living a life of repentance? Am I hearing the Scriptures, and am I obeying the Scriptures (I Corinthians 2:11-14)? The lost person will view what Christ is teaching in Luke 6:27-36 as foolishness. What Christ is teaching does not come naturally. What Christ is teaching goes against every fiber of our being.
In these verses we have a command to start doing something and continue to do it. These things Christ commands us to do strikes hard against our pride. Look at the first command in Luke 6:27, "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you." Can we agree that this is impossible to do of our own power? It is natural for us to hate our enemies and do evil to those who hate us. Not only is this natural, it is also gratifying. How many people rejoice when they see someone fall? We will say things like, they had that coming, or they got what they deserve. How easy it is to forget what we had coming and what we deserve. These commands from Jesus Christ should change how we view other people. We can be extremely prejudice of anyone who is not exactly like us. We put people in groups because of their lifestyle or their ethnicity. Though we may not say it with our words, our actions proclaim that we would love to see them in the torments of hell. Have y'all ever known someone who was extremely selfish? Everything was about themselves? They viewed everyone as a means to an end? They would gather people around them who were just like them, but hate all others outside of their circle. This is natural. It is not natural to love your enemies.
Notice again that Jesus Christ tells us to love our enemies. What does this mean? "Love" in this verse is the Greek word "agapao" and means to wish well or to do good to. To love one's neighbor, one's enemies. "Enemies" "echthros", is someone who hates, is hateful, is hostile. We are commanded to love them, but not their actions. For example, abortion is murdering the unborn. We hate abortion, but we are commanded to love the abortion doctor and the woman who is allowing the doctor to murder her baby. We hate the actions of terrorist, but we are to love the terrorist. We hate the actions of the drunk driver, but we are to love the drunk driver. We hate the actions of the drug dealer, but we are to love the drug dealer. This is not natural. What comes natural is vengeance! We want an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We want those who have caused us to suffer pain and heartache to suffer the same or worse. This is our natural response, but when Jesus Christ saves our souls we view ourselves different, and we view other people different. Turn to Matthew 9:35-38. Christ preached the gospel to all, even to the pharisees and the sadducees. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots," Luke 23:34. Turn to I Peter 2:18-25. "And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep," Acts 7:60.
Living the Christian life is not something we do casually. We fight our own flesh until the day we die (Romans 7). All through the epistles we are commanded to stop doing certain things and start doing that which pleases God, and then to keep doing those things which pleases God. Our lives are no longer our own. "When Christ saves, He saves from sin-from its power and pollution, and therefore from its guilt. And the very essence of sin is the determination to have my own way (Isaiah 53:6). Where Christ saves, He subdues this spirit of self-will, and implants a genuine, a powerful, a lasting desire and determination to please Him." A.W. Pink.
All whom the Lord saves have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are no longer our own. We once were slaves to sin, self, and satan, but now we are slaves of Christ. In making us a new creation in Him, we now view ourselves different, and we view other people different. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth," Philippians 3:1-2. When we are Kingdom minded, we will seek opportunity to share the gospel. "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger," Proverbs 15:1. This doesn't mean that we are weak, or that we let people run over us, but instead in all that we do we follow the perfect example that has been given to us in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ was bold, He did and said what needed to be done and said, but His life was not about Himself. Christ came to do the Father's will. He only did and said what His Father would have Him do and say. If you knew exactly what the Father would have you do and say, would you be obedient? If Christ gave you a list of things to do, would you do them? Let us read again Luke 6:27-36. We have been given everything we need to live as Christ would have us live, our problem is our pride. This is a battle we will be in until we die, and we have been given what we need to fight this battle. Every believer has the Holy Spirit, and we have the Scriptures (Romans 12:1-2.)
Send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
