Matthew 5, verses 43-48.
Jesus is going to say to us,
let me clarify this hate your enemy thing.
An enemy is someone who is a constant threat.
An enemy is someone who is constantly looking
to make life hard for you.
Now, we know our enemies, spiritually speaking,
the devil is our enemy, sin in us is our enemy.
But Jesus has been talking about really
kind of personal relationships
all throughout this section in the Sermon on the Mount.
This morning we're talking about other people
who've got it in for you.
Who hate you.
Who see you as their enemy.
Maybe you hurt somebody years ago
and they've had it in for you ever since.
Or maybe you're just looking to follow Jesus.
You're just looking to be faithful to your Savior and King
and you've taken a stand for Jesus in some areas
and you know what?
Now you suffer for it.
People actually hate you for it.
This morning, right now,
the beginning of this message,
I want to ask you,
is there someone in your mind right now?
Is there someone in your mind right now
that you know has it in for you?
Another person.
They hate you.
They want to make life hard for you.
Well, if you have an enemy who hates you,
the temptation is to hate them right back
and to be justified in that.
But Jesus tells us this morning,
not my followers.
In Matthew 5, 43-48,
Jesus commands us Christians,
His followers,
citizens of His kingdom,
to love your enemy.
Let's look at what Jesus actually says.
Matthew 5, 43-48,
you've heard that it was said,
you shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.
But I say to you,
love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you
so that you may be sons of your Father
who is in heaven.
For He makes His sun rise
on the evil and on the good
and sends rain on the just
and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you,
what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet only your brothers,
what more are you doing than others?
Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
You, therefore, must be perfect
as your heavenly Father is perfect.
I can summarize what Jesus is saying
to Christians in five words.
You must love your enemy.
It's a command.
Jesus is commanding you.
You must love your enemy.
And this morning, I want you to see
five reasons why you must love your enemy.
So here's reason number one.
You must love your enemy
because according to Jesus,
your enemy is actually your neighbor.
In verse 43, Jesus quotes
what the Pharisees,
the religious leaders and teachers
of the day were teaching the people.
They were saying,
look at verse 43,
you shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.
That's what they were teaching.
It's a reference back to Leviticus 19,
verses 17-18.
Love your neighbor as yourself
is what verse 18 closes with.
And what appears to be happening is this,
that the Jewish leaders of the time
understood that word neighbor
to mean just their fellow Jews.
And everybody else fell into
some kind of non-neighbor category.
Do you remember the parable
of the Good Samaritan?
It's one of my favorite parables of Jesus.
It's in Luke 10.
In this parable,
Jesus totally reorients this word neighbor.
There is a lawyer who puts Jesus to the test.
There seems to be a lot of lawyers
putting Jesus to the test
throughout the Gospels.
And he asks Jesus,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus responds by saying,
well, what's written in the law?
The lawyer responds by saying,
in a session,
this is my summary.
Love God with everything you got
and love your neighbor as yourself.
And Jesus replies,
well, that sounds right.
You do that and live.
And then in verse 29,
we see a little kind of the truth
of where this lawyer's heart is.
And he asks,
and who is my neighbor?
In other words,
who am I obligated to love?
And that little verse 29
gives you a glimpse into the mindset
of the Pharisees of Jesus' day.
What they were doing is
they were drawing lines
along all the people around them.
Who is my neighbor?
And if this person is my neighbor,
I'm obligated to love them.
Anybody not,
I'm not obligated to love.
And it's to that question,
who is my neighbor,
that Jesus speaks the parable
of the Good Samaritan.
And ironically,
He makes the hero
in the Good Samaritan
to be a Samaritan,
a Gentile,
whom the Jews hated.
And that Good Samaritan
showed mercy on a beat up Jew
outside of a road in Jerusalem
on the road to Jericho.
That Samaritan,
in that parable,
he did not discriminate.
He did not discriminate
along the lines of race,
ethnicity,
appearance,
gender,
political position,
background.
Background.
The Samaritan saw a beat up Jew
on the side of the road,
saw him as his neighbor.
And then he showed that Jew mercy.
Jesus' point of the parable
of the Good Samaritan
is not just speaking to Jews
and saying,
yes, your Jews are your neighbors.
Jesus is saying,
everybody's your neighbor.
Everyone is your neighbor now.
Nowhere in the Old Testament
is God's people explicitly commanded
to hate their enemies.
Nowhere.
And so what the Pharisees have done
is they limited love your neighbor
to their own people
who look like they do
and eat what they eat,
and then they added to it
and hate your enemy.
There are Scriptures
that can be wrongly used
to justify hating your enemies.
But nowhere is there a command
to hate your enemies.
And so the Pharisees
had added to God's Word.
And were just seeing their fellow Jews
as their neighbors.
They conveniently dropped, too,
if you didn't notice this,
the as yourself.
Love your neighbors
and hate your enemies.
There's no real reference
of how they're to love their neighbors.
So what we see Jesus doing here
in verse 44 is this.
But I say to you,
love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
Jesus is correcting
this wrong teaching of the day.
What were the Pharisees teaching?
Love your neighbor,
hate your enemy.
And Jesus is saying,
no, love your enemy.
And in so saying that,
He's saying,
because your enemy
is your neighbor.
Jesus doesn't give us
this non-neighbor category.
Everyone is our neighbor now.
So, a little while ago,
I asked you to think of a person
that is hostile towards you.
That you would consider an enemy.
Jesus is wanting to help you
this morning.
And help you see this person
who's hostile to you.
Not to ignore the hostility.
But to see them as a neighbor.
A fellow image bearer of God.
And when you begin to see an enemy
as a neighbor,
it starts to change your heart
towards them.
Don't do what the Pharisees have done.
They make a convenient,
compartmentalized approach
to people.
My neighbor and my enemy.
What Jesus does is He says,
no, no, no.
Your enemy is your neighbor.
That's the first reason
why we're to love our enemies.
They're our neighbors.
And we're going to treat them
a certain way.
The second reason
why we are to love our enemies
is what we see
in the latter part of verse 45.
It's because our Heavenly Father
loves His enemies.
We read,
so that you may be sons
of your Father who is in heaven.
For He, your Father in heaven,
makes His Son
rise on the evil
and on the good.
And sends rain on the just
and on the unjust.
Our Heavenly Father
doesn't discriminate
when it comes to
causing the sun to rise
and the rain to fall
on all people.
This is a common grace
of God to all.
God is lovingly causing
the sun to rise
and the rain to fall
both on the evil and the good.
On the unjust and the just.
Out of mercy,
God in His love
treats all people
with kindness
regardless if they fear Him or not.
We've got an amazing God.
He literally causes
the sun to rise
and the rain to fall
on all people
so that they can eat
and live.
He also gets at the scope
and scale of His sovereignty.
He's in control of all things.
This is called common grace.
Out of mercy,
God shows kindness
to even those who oppose Him
so that they can live.
And we learn from Romans 2
and Acts 17
that this common grace,
this common love for all
is intended to lead people
to God.
And the point that Jesus
is making here
is that this common grace
is an outworking
of His indiscriminate love
for all mankind.
He's kind.
He's kind to all.
So here's what Jesus
is getting at.
If God loves His enemies
this way,
so should we.
We should look out
for the general welfare
of our neighbors
which includes our enemies.
And so we read something
like this
in Romans chapter 12
the Apostle Paul says
don't take vengeance.
Vengeance is mine
says the Lord.
And then he goes on to say
if you have an enemy
who's hungry,
feed them.
If there's an enemy
who's thirsty,
you give them something
to drink.
He's quoting Proverbs 25
and he says
you'll put kind of coals
on their lap.
But it's also
showing them kindness.
And so vengeance
is in God's hands
so we overcome evil
with good.
good.
But I just got to
remind you
of the guy
who's speaking
these words.
So not only
does God
show His love
for all people
with common grace,
sun and rain,
God has shown
His love
for all people
including
His enemies
with a saving grace.
Jesus and the cross.
And it's the one
who's speaking.
In just a couple
of years,
Jesus,
who is saying
these words,
love your enemies
and pray for those
who persecute you.
In just a couple
of years
from Him saying this,
He's going to be
on a cross.
And do you remember
what He prays
on the cross?
Father,
forgive them
for they do not
know what they do.
Do you know
what He's doing
right there?
He is praying
for His enemies
while dying
for His enemies.
That's Luke 23,
34.
What we see happening
at the cross
is the single
greatest demonstration
of God's love
the world
has ever seen.
There,
our holy,
loving God
dies
for a sinful,
rebellious people.
God's love
is at the
is the genesis,
the drive
of His saving grace.
Do you remember
John 3, 16?
For God so loved
the world
that He gave
His one and only Son
that whoever believes
in Him
shall not perish
but have eternal life.
Why would the world
be in danger
of perishing
if the world
was not
a composition
of sinners
and rebels?
God's love
demonstrated
by sending
His Son
to die on the cross.
A.J. quoted
from Romans 5, 8
earlier
when he was
talking about
life groups.
But God demonstrates
His own love
towards us
in that while
we were yet
sinners,
Christ,
the Messiah,
King,
died for us.
And in 5, 10,
if there's any question,
Paul talks about
these same sinners
as enemies.
God's demonstrated
His common grace,
His common love
to all mankind
in sending
the sun and the rain
so that people
can live.
But He's demonstrated
His saving grace,
His saving love
very clearly
at the cross
of Jesus Christ
where He gives
spiritual life.
He offers that
to all mankind
His enemies.
Now,
if you have
any question,
you were
God's enemy.
You were
rebelling
against Him.
I was
an enemy
of God.
And despite
my rebellion,
God loved me
and Jesus
died for me
and He died
for you
and He offers
salvation
to all.
This is the kind
of love
our God
loves with.
This is the
wonderful agape
love that we
read about
throughout the
Scriptures.
The agape
love,
that's a Greek
word,
agape.
It's a love
for the
unlovely.
Loving those
who don't deserve
to be loved.
And furthermore,
it's loving
people with
the realization
they're not
going to love
you back
in and of
themselves.
That's the
kind of love
with which God
loves His
enemies.
And so,
we see here
in verse 45,
God loving
His enemies,
both the evil
and the good,
the just
and the unjust,
with a common
grace,
and what I've
sought to show you
this morning
and a saving
grace.
It's the guy
speaking.
We're at least
to love our
enemies with a
common kindness.
Jesus points
to something
very specific.
He says,
pray for those
who persecute you.
You know that
person I ask
you to be
thinking of
at the beginning
of the sermon?
This person
who is a threat
to you?
Who's hostile
to you?
Do you pray
for them?
Do you show
love for them
and praying
for them?
There was a
time years ago
where there
was someone
who was
hurting someone
I loved.
And that
person I saw
as an enemy.
I saw
as an enemy.
I hated
this person
for what
he was
doing.
I did.
And I began
to pray for
them because
of this
command.
And I
began by
praying
what's
called
the
precatory
psalms.
Calling
down God's
wrath on
this person.
But what
this person
was doing
was wrong.
Hurtful.
And over
the course
of months
I started
to hear
my own
prayers.
And I
started to
realize
God I
don't want
this person
damned.
I don't
want them
to be
apart from
you for
eternity.
I don't
want that.
And it was
actually through
my praying
that God
transformed
my heart
from seeing
this person
as an
enemy to
finding myself
praying for
mercy for
this person.
That God
would rescue
this person.
That God
would deliver
this person.
This person
never became
my friend.
But I
began to
love this
person.
are you
praying for
your enemies?
God
is good
for you
as you
pray
for your
enemies.
Pray for
the one
who's your
threat.
And if
they're not
a threat
to you
and a
threat to
somebody
else but
you still
feel anger
towards them,
pray for
them nonetheless.
us.
The second
reason why
we must
love our
enemies is
because our
heavenly father
loves his
enemies and
we were one
of his
enemies.
Reason
number three.
We must
love our
enemies because
we are now
children of
God.
We love our
enemies because
it's who we
are now.
now.
Look at
verse 45,
the beginning
of verse 45.
But I say to
you, love your
enemies and
pray for those
who persecute
you so that
you may be
sons of your
father who is
in heaven.
If Romans 5,
8, and 10
are true, we
were sinners,
enemies of
God.
We were
once enemies
of God.
We were
hostile to
God.
We were
rebellious.
We were
worshipping
anything but
God.
But God
loved us
anyway.
We were
unlovable and
he loved us.
We had no
interest in
loving him
back and he
loved us.
He sent his
son for us.
And when we
received Christ,
having believed,
God gave us the
right to become
his sons and
daughters.
On the basis
of what Jesus
did on the
cross, he
gave us the
right to become
the children of
his father.
We were once
enemies,
opposed, but
now by God's
grace, we are
children who are
fully accepted
into God's
family, fully,
fully loved.
That's who we
are now.
love.
We've been
given all the
rights and
privileges of
children of God.
We have been
brought into a
new family.
We've been given
a new status.
We've been given
a new nature.
The Spirit of
God comes and
indwells us.
We have new
hearts.
We are now
capable of what
we were never
capable before.
To love like our
Father loves.
So when Jesus
says, love your
enemies and pray
for those who
persecute you so
that you may be
sons of your
Father in heaven,
don't think that
he's saying, love
your enemies in
order to become
sons and daughters.
We cannot earn
the right to
become children of
God.
We receive that as
a gift of God's
grace.
What he's saying
is that our love
for our enemy and
praying for those
who persecute us is
evidence that we
are children of
God.
Sons and
daughters of
God most high.
It's because we're
children of God that
we are able to love
our enemies with the
kind of love our
Father has loved us.
And it's a distinct
family trait.
It sets us apart.
We love as our
Heavenly Father
loves us.
You must love your
enemy because you're
a child of the
Heavenly Father.
Reason number four.
We love our enemies
because this kind of
love sets us apart.
love makes us distinct.
This makes us salt and
light in a decaying and
dark world.
This kind of love is a
witnessing kind of love.
It speaks a word.
God uses our enemies
hatred for us as an
opportunity to advance
His kingdom in the way
we love them.
Look at verses 46 and 47.
It's really kind of
interesting.
He's making a point.
He has four rhetorical
questions here and there's
a point to it all.
Read with me.
For if you love those
who love you, what reward
do you have?
Do not even the tax
collectors do the same?
And if you greet only
your brothers, what more
are you doing than others?
Do not even the Gentiles
do the same?
What is Jesus getting at
here?
What are all these
rhetorical questions
getting at?
Well, He's kind of
saying this.
If you just love those
who love you, what's the
big deal in that?
Everybody else does
that.
The Heavenly Father
doesn't reward that kind
of everyday, common
loving of one another
because you're being
loved back.
That's an easy and
convenient kind of love.
Jesus' point is it's
relatively easy to love
someone who loves you
back.
When someone hates you,
that is the challenge
to love them.
Jesus is saying, hey,
if you love those who
love you, it's nothing
to write home about.
Even the tax collectors
do that.
Who are these tax
collectors?
Well, Jesus is talking
about Jewish tax
collectors.
And in Jesus' days, Jews
did not like Jewish
tax collectors.
And here's why.
They were seen as a kind
of traitor.
A Jewish tax collector
was a representative of
the Roman government.
They were collecting
money for the invaders.
They were fraternizing
with the enemy.
They were not looked well
upon because of that.
And then there's the whole
tax collecting system.
tax collectors were seen
as thieves because the way
that these taxes were
collected was you charge
a little bit for your
service to collect the tax.
So you put a little
surcharge on it.
But the system was such
that extortion was just
shot through it.
And everybody knew it.
So they were seen as
traitors and thieves.
And they were also seen
as unclean because a lot
of their tax collecting
had to do with Gentiles.
They were interacting and
becoming unclean because of
that.
So Jews were kind of put
out because tax collectors
were traitors, thieves,
and unclean.
And so Jesus is saying,
hey, these people you
despise, they love each
other.
What's the big deal?
There's nothing to be
impressed about if you love
each other like that.
In verse 47, he goes in
another direction.
If you greet only your
brothers, what more are you
doing than others?
Do not even the Gentiles do
that?
Hey, if you greet your
brothers, hey, isn't
everybody else greeting
those who look like them
and they like?
Gentiles greet each other
on the street.
What's the big deal?
If you just greet your
brothers, you're just like
the Gentiles.
What's so distinct
about that?
By the way, Gentiles were
seen by Jews as being
perpetually unclean.
Eating things they
shouldn't eat.
Doing things they
shouldn't do.
Touching things they
shouldn't touch.
They're gross.
And so do you remember
in Acts 10, the story of
Cornelius who was a
Gentile?
God calls Peter to share
the gospel with Cornelius
in Acts 10.
We see Peter walking
into the home of
Cornelius.
Do you realize what was
happening right there?
That would have been the
first time Peter, as a Jew,
would have entered a
Gentile's house.
Look at verse 28 of
chapter 10.
Gentiles were seen as
unclean.
And so Jesus is saying,
hey, if you're just going
to greet one another,
hey, the Gentiles who you
despise, they do that
too.
What's the big deal?
There's nothing distinct
about that.
The argument here is that
that kind of love, that
kind of greeting, that's
common.
That's normal.
That's usual.
Loving those who love
you, greeting those who
you like, you're peeps.
There's nothing unusual
about that.
Here's what's unusual.
I think Jesus is being
very subtle.
But if you, as a child of
God, love those tax
collectors who extort you
and greet those Gentiles who
make you unclean because
they are your neighbors,
that's distinctly a
God-like love.
That's something to be
rewarded.
That's something to be
commended.
That's something to write
home about.
When you love your enemy
as your neighbor, that is
the fulfillment of the law.
We are to love our
neighbors because it's
distinctly God-like.
You overcome the evil of
those who hate you with
good.
That's Jesus-like.
When someone insults you
with a hurtful word, you
respond with a word of
kindness.
You pray for those who are
hostile to you.
You greet someone who hates
you on the street.
That, this is all being
salt and light in a
decaying and dark world.
People take notice of this
kind of love because it's
uncommon.
It's abnormal.
It is unusual.
God even uses our enemies'
insults and attacks to
further His kingdom and the
way we respond to them.
That's the upside-down way
of Jesus.
So Jesus is saying, you
must love your enemy because
it's an opportunity to be
salt and light.
It sets you apart.
It is distinct.
You're a child so that God
would get the glory.
Reason number five.
You must love your enemy
because you are commanded by
Jesus to be perfect.
It's Matthew 5.48.
Be perfect as your heavenly
Father is perfect.
That word perfect means
complete.
Fully mature.
And if you were to read
Leviticus 19.2, it's that
what God says, be holy for I
am holy.
When you read Matthew 5.48,
there's a similar cadence.
Be perfect as your heavenly
Father is perfect.
Be holy for I am holy.
There is this holiness
component to this perfection.
Moral rightness.
A righteousness that exceeds
even the Pharisees.
What I want to help you see
is that verse 48 is the
concluding verse of this
entire section that began
in verse 17.
Look at verse 17.
Do not think that I have
come to abolish the law or
the prophets.
I have not come to abolish
them, but to fulfill them.
And then Jesus gives six
examples of how the law is
fulfilled when it comes to
anger, lust, divorce, oaths,
retaliation, and now love for
your enemies.
Jesus is showing us through
this teaching what the
perfect fulfillment of the
law looks like.
To be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
To be perfect in how you
perfectly fulfill the law.
It's time to be honest.
Does anybody in the room love
their enemy with a perfect
God-like love?
No.
We don't.
And we all know it, don't we?
None of us can perfectly obey
this perfect fulfillment of the
law and prophets that Jesus has
just laid out for us.
None of us can.
What are we to do?
This command to be perfect is a
command to the impossible.
This is out of our reach.
We can't do it.
How can we do the impossible?
What's impossible for man is possible for God.
What we're unable to do, God has done.
We're unable to do it.
So what are we to do when we are tempted to hate our enemy
instead of love our enemy?
We're to preach the gospel to yourself.
We're to call to your mind your perfect Savior
who is perfecting your faith.
Jesus, God incarnate, is the only human being
that has perfectly lived out this perfect fulfillment
of the law and prophets.
He's the only one.
So Jesus never murdered,
and He was never sinfully angry.
Jesus never committed physical adultery,
and He never committed adultery in His heart.
He never lusted.
Jesus never divorced,
and you may be saying,
well, He was never married.
Actually, He is married.
To the bride of Christ, the church.
And He will be faithful to us all the way through.
He will never leave us or forsake us.
When it comes to oaths,
He never spoke a word He didn't keep.
His yes is always yes.
His no is always no.
He perfectly keeps His word.
He lived out perfectly
that what He said,
do not resist the evil one,
the one who is evil.
When He was reviled,
this is 1 Peter,
when He was reviled,
He did not revile in return.
When He suffered,
He didn't threaten,
but continued entrusting Himself
to the one who judges justly.
It's perfect.
And with what we saw this morning,
He perfectly fulfilled,
love your enemy
and pray for those who persecute you.
He lovingly died for us
who was His enemies.
He's praying for them on the cross.
He did what none of us could do
in order to accomplish the impossible.
To make imperfect sinners perfect
in God's sight.
In Christ,
remember,
He is the perfect Savior
and He's the perfecter of our faith.
I want to encourage you just quickly
with a couple things here.
Do not forget
that Jesus has made perfect
your record.
He's made it perfect.
He died for your sins,
erasing all sin,
and He imputed to you
His righteousness.
He justified you.
And He is in the process
of making us perfect.
For one sacrifice,
He made perfect for all time
those who are being sanctified.
in the process
of being made perfect.
And there's coming a day
when He will complete His work in us.
He will perfect it.
We will be completely released
of all sinful inclinations.
Unhindered by sin.
That's when we're glorified.
His perfect work of salvation
is past, present, and future.
He's the perfecter of our faith.
And when we are tempted,
when we are confronted
with this call to perfection
and we look to ourselves,
don't go there first.
Go to your perfect Savior.
He is your confidence
when we are faced
with our imperfections.
You have a perfect record.
He's making you perfect.
And there's a day
when you will be perfect.
What ends up happening
is this call to be perfect
as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
It's a call to trust
your perfect Savior.
We've looked at five reasons
this morning
as to why you love your enemy.
Love your enemy
because your enemy
is your neighbor.
That person you thought of,
that person's your neighbor.
and your Heavenly Father
loves His enemies
and you were one of them.
That's the second reason.
The third reason is
you're now a child of God.
You're able to love your enemy.
The fourth reason was
you can distinctly love your enemy
with the Father's love.
It's an opportunity
to advance the kingdom.
And the fifth,
you're to love your enemy
because you've been called
to be perfect.
And we obey that
by first looking
to our perfect Savior.
So this morning,
the question you may have
is where do I start?
I've got an enemy.
I'm going to walk
into an office tomorrow
into hostility.
What do I do?
On your way in,
pray for your enemy.
That's where to start.
Let's pray now.
God in Heaven,
thank You for loving us.
We were Your enemies
and that did not stop You.
We were unlovable
and yet You loved us.
You knew we didn't have it
in ourselves to love back,
but You loved us still.
God, would You perfect us?
Would You make us a people
that when we encounter
hostility,
we respond in a way
that pleases You.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.