SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to Haven City Church and Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: The following sermon was recorded on March 11th, 2018.
SPEAKER_00: We're winding down our time at the Compassion Center.
SPEAKER_00: Moving on to the book of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: And this text that we're looking at here in this sermon is Luke chapter 6, verse 27 through 49.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so uh Luke 6.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 6, we've got some good ground to cover here.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 6, verse 27 through 49.
SPEAKER_01: And um we're gonna read just uh 27 through uh 36 to start off with.
SPEAKER_01: It says this, but I say to you who listen, love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
SPEAKER_01: If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also.
SPEAKER_01: And if anyone takes away your coat, don't hold back your shirt either.
SPEAKER_01: Give to everyone who asks you, and from um who uh from the one who takes your things, don't ask for them back.
SPEAKER_01: Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.
SPEAKER_01: If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
SPEAKER_01: Even sinners love those who love them.
SPEAKER_01: If you do what is good to those who uh are good to you, what credit is that to you?
SPEAKER_01: Even sinners do that.
SPEAKER_01: And if you lend to those uh from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?
SPEAKER_01: Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full.
SPEAKER_01: But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.
SPEAKER_01: Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most high.
SPEAKER_01: For he is gracious, he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.
SPEAKER_01: Be merciful, just as your father also is merciful.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, we just, as we look at this text and even beyond this, um, we we want to yield our lives to you.
SPEAKER_01: We want to just throw up the white flag in our lives and say, we surrender our ambition and who we are to you.
SPEAKER_01: And you we want you to be the king of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to just come in and say we want the benefits of the kingdom but reject you as the king, but we want you to be the king in our life.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, as we look at this text and the things that you, Jesus, were teaching throughout the Galilee region, we pray that you would speak into our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We walked through this door this afternoon with different things going on in our lives, and we are in desperate need of you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that you're you are forgiving towards our sins.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we've messed up this week, Lord, we've fallen short, and so we are so grateful for the forgiveness that we have in your Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being merciful, merciful to us, and we pray that, Lord, you'd extend that mercy to us this evening by speaking through your spirit to us.
SPEAKER_01: Take this text and animate it for us.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So Luke chapter 6 is the continuation of um what we started last week, which is this um outline of Jesus' sermon.
SPEAKER_01: It's very probable that Jesus spoke this sermon repeatedly.
SPEAKER_01: And what we said last week was you could literally read through the sermon that starts back ear uh, you know, about uh ten verses earlier.
SPEAKER_01: You could read through this whole thing in two minutes, two or three minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Um the same material is found over in Matthew, and you could read through all that material in Matthew within seven minutes, chapter five through chapter seven.
SPEAKER_01: And so what's probable is that Jesus isn't just teaching seven-minute sermons, it's likely that this is the outline of what Jesus was saying as he went from town to town and as he's proclaiming the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And so um what um we see here in this section, all the way through 49, are some really key some key teachings.
SPEAKER_01: Some people have said this is um the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_01: Um, maybe it's like the the the platform um for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: It's taken on different forms, but it's um it's really Jesus speaking to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Right before this message starts, he prayed all night and he selected twelve apostles out of his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And as we went into the beginning of this last week, it says that he's saying these things to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: So it's very important to understand that that this message here is not the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: This is not, you can't do what the Sermon of the Mount says and get saved.
SPEAKER_01: This is a message to the followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And we've been really honing in on the fact that Jesus is calling us not to just be the crowd, um, not just Jesus isn't trying to draw a big crowd, he's looking really for followers.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus doesn't mind saying hard things that will alienate some because what he's looking at and looking at in our lives is he's looking at our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: He really wants to draw us to himself as followers, not fans.
SPEAKER_01: He wants followers, right?
SPEAKER_01: And he's and and the whole idea of discipleship is the idea that you are an adherent of this individual.
SPEAKER_01: Like you've bought in.
SPEAKER_01: You want to dress like him, you want to talk like him, you want to know what he thinks about everything in your life, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then you want to you want to live in a way that would just please him.
SPEAKER_01: That that's like that's what a disciple is.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus here is speaking to his disciples last week.
SPEAKER_01: What we saw is this idea of how they're in these different circumstances that the world would call as negative circumstances, we can live as a blessed people.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Blessed are those who are poor, blessed are those who hunger, blessed are those who are cursed and who are shunned.
SPEAKER_01: And then he he says, here's what the blessing looks like in that place where you're at.
SPEAKER_01: So he's gonna continue this message, and in verses um 27 through 35, it's all about love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: All about love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: So you'll see very quickly that he says in verse 27 and also in verse 35, he says, love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: And then through this whole paragraph there, or what we call a pericope, it's this um condensed thought, we see the word love or agape over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is telling his followers that you need to love these people that are difficult to love.
SPEAKER_01: So think just for a second about your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the people that um hate you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh he goes on, he says there's people that hate you, that curse you, that mistreat you, the people that borrow and do not repay.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you have to, at this point in your life, had some encounter with somebody who is like that.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember who it was?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Did there is a does their uh face come to mind?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is saying, you've got these people, and what I'm commanding you as my followers is to love them.
SPEAKER_01: Is to love them.
SPEAKER_01: He pushes, and then he what he does is he says, I want you to love your enemies, not just to love your um the people that love you back, not just the ones that reciprocate love to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he uses this phrase, he says, Where's the credit?
SPEAKER_01: You don't get credit for that.
SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting thing for Jesus to say.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know uh when he says credit, if he's talking about um in that setting, uh is he talking about, hey, the world isn't gonna give you credit that and think Christianity is special because you are doing something that's abnormal?
SPEAKER_01: Or is he saying you get these rewards in heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Because he goes he he goes on further on, he says you do get these rewards in heaven for living in this way.
SPEAKER_01: One way or another, whatever Jesus is meaning here about getting credit, he's saying, love beyond those who love you.
SPEAKER_01: Like let your love for people go beyond the circumference of those who appreciate you and love you.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Do good to those beyond those who are just doing good to you, and lend to those who you know will not repay.
SPEAKER_01: As followers of Jesus, the followers of Jesus are are typically, as we go through the whole Old Testament and New Testament, the people who follow God are oftentimes alienated.
SPEAKER_01: They're people that are um disenfranchised or um uh they're in on the fringes, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so um a part of experiencing the call to to follow Jesus and to be a disciple of Christ is to um is to live as one who is in exile, one who is disenfranchised.
SPEAKER_01: Like the the there's there's oftentimes sometimes in this church to kind of blend in and to um be a part of uh to not stick out like a sore thumb.
SPEAKER_01: Um and and there have been times where the church has been super cheesy and they've stuck out as a sore thumb because they're so cheesy, and their quality of what they produce is like so bad.
SPEAKER_01: And um, yes, amen.
SPEAKER_01: And so um and so you know, we don't want to stand out in that way, right?
SPEAKER_01: What we but what we do want is we want to live as a people that are in exile.
SPEAKER_01: Like, like look, think of the Hebrews, right?
SPEAKER_01: They were called to be God's unique, called out people.
SPEAKER_01: And do you remember as God gave the Hebrews, he made them a people, he gave them all these crazy rules about here's what you can eat, and you need to have these festival days.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, God shaped his people into a unique people.
SPEAKER_01: And so if we're gonna be followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus, we need to understand that we are called to not just love those who are gonna reciprocate it, or be good to those who are gonna reciprocate it, or lend to those.
SPEAKER_01: We live as followers.
SPEAKER_01: We live in a way that is different, that is um alien to uh how the world lives in their way.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Jesus gives um a basis for this love of enemies.
SPEAKER_01: He says there's a credit.
SPEAKER_01: Um He says that in um verses uh 31, 32, 33.
SPEAKER_01: And then he also says, though, in verse 35, he says, Then your reward will be great.
SPEAKER_01: Your reward will be great.
SPEAKER_01: And then the third benefit or basis for this type of love is that you'll properly represent God.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is telling his disciples, look, this is how I want you to live, and the reason for it is because it's gonna benefit you.
SPEAKER_01: There's rewards in heaven, but it also is living like uh living like the Father.
SPEAKER_01: He goes on in verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Um, then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most high, for he is gracious uh to the ungrateful and the evil.
SPEAKER_01: So as we live as those who love our enemies, what we are doing is that we are imitating God.
SPEAKER_01: The hero of the story is always Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the hero.
SPEAKER_01: So when we look at this text, we want to, Jesus is obviously teaching his followers.
SPEAKER_01: We're followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We want this teaching, right?
SPEAKER_01: We want these things here to be real in our life.
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, when we look at this text, the hero of the story is always Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is, is that we were enemies of God.
SPEAKER_01: Over in Romans, in Romans uh chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, it says, Since we have been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him?
SPEAKER_01: And then he says this for if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life?
SPEAKER_01: God reconciled us to himself while we were his enemies.
SPEAKER_01: He died on the cross while we were at odds with him, right?
SPEAKER_01: Our disposition towards God was a uh one of animosity.
SPEAKER_01: When we are born, we are born as the enemies of God, needing God's merciful love.
SPEAKER_01: So as Jesus is teaching his followers to love their enemies, what he's doing is he's saying, Be like me, do what I've done.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we read this text, and and part of part of the difficulty with this is you're like, well, how wooden is this?
SPEAKER_01: How literal are these commands?
SPEAKER_01: You may look at it and you may say, won't people walk all over you?
SPEAKER_01: Um, what about abusive relationships?
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, as a pastor, I do lots of counseling with with um different individuals who are in very difficult marriages where maybe the husband is abusive or the wife is abusive, and it's it's difficult.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so how do you live out these passages um in light of real life, right?
SPEAKER_01: We do have enemies.
SPEAKER_01: We do have enemies that maybe we bump into, maybe it's like a neighbor that we have to deal with once a month.
SPEAKER_01: But then there are other people who they're like, I'm married to my enemy, right?
SPEAKER_01: How do you apply this text in that way?
SPEAKER_01: Um and I will say, I will say this, um, Wearsby, Warren Wearsby, who's a great commentator, here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, we must not look at these admonitions as a series of rules to be obeyed.
SPEAKER_01: They are described, they describe an attitude of heart that expresses itself positively when others are negative, and generously when others are selfish.
SPEAKER_01: All the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it is an inner disposition, not a legal duty.
SPEAKER_01: We must have wisdom to know when to turn uh the other cheek and when to claim our rights.
SPEAKER_01: And the he quotes a couple of other scriptures where we even see Jesus, where Jesus speaks up for himself when he's being falsely accused.
SPEAKER_01: So this is an attitude that Jesus is conveying to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, You need to be a people that are ready to love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Um this does not mean that uh you're called to live in an abusive relationship or have no boundaries, but it means that the Holy Spirit is going to author in your life a different way of being human than the world uh does human, right?
SPEAKER_01: So um uh we don't know.
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes, sometimes um there's a counseling situation where somebody says, um, this is a very difficult relationship, and um I and it's like, well, what should I do?
SPEAKER_01: And and part of the answer is like, I don't know exactly what you should do.
SPEAKER_01: I think as a pastor, I can give you permission to um step away.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a parental relationship that's abusive, and it's like, yeah, you know what, you can step out of that.
SPEAKER_01: You can distance yourself and have some boundaries there in that relationship.
SPEAKER_01: But we also need to remember that the Holy Spirit wants to give birth to this lifestyle in us.
SPEAKER_01: And so we are we are called to suffer with Christ through some difficult things.
SPEAKER_01: So if if if you are in a place where you're like, um, I don't know if I can handle my enemy any longer, I don't know if I can put up with this person who is just hurtful and spiteful and hateful towards me, I know that the Holy Spirit can give you wisdom, as it says in James 1, and how to do your life there.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that your king and my king is the one who did suffer silently many times as he was accused.
SPEAKER_01: And so we want to we want to just trust that the Holy Spirit is gonna take this text and again animate it in our own personal story.
SPEAKER_01: Um I think that's what it does do for us is it says to you you to you and me, it says, hold on a little bit longer, be patient, trust in God, don't count your life as valuable, allow God to uh make full use of you in a difficult circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: Um it's also important to understand that Jesus is teaching individuals in this text, not a government, right?
SPEAKER_01: So government has an important role within society to execute justice.
SPEAKER_01: And so um there is no conflict in our ethic as we may um allow um, as we may bear and as we may love people that are spiteful to us, that does not mean that the government should be um uh should should let sin continue, right?
SPEAKER_01: So the government has a different role from what is laid out in this text.
SPEAKER_01: And and it and we get into some problematic um or area once we try to take Jesus' teaching for his disciples and apply it to government or authority figures.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a if you're a um overseeing a school, you know, and you've got kids that are bullying other people, you're not gonna say, hey, you know, we just need to love our enemies.
SPEAKER_01: This kid's a this kid's an enemy of, you know, 50 other kids.
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna put up with it.
SPEAKER_01: No, if God's given you an authoritative role, then your job there is to represent God in his justice and bring his justice in.
SPEAKER_01: So that is a very intra important kind of distinction to make.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go to the next set of verses, 36 through 45.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read it here as we're going through.
SPEAKER_01: Just notice the um imagery that Jesus uses.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jesus says in verse 36, be merciful, just as your father is merciful.
SPEAKER_01: Do not judge, uh, you will uh do not judge and you will not be judged.
SPEAKER_01: Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive and you will be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Give and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_01: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap.
SPEAKER_01: For with the measure you use it, it will be measured to you.
SPEAKER_01: He also told them this parable Can the blind lead the blind?
SPEAKER_01: Will they not both fall into a pit?
SPEAKER_01: The student is not above the teacher, but every one who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
SPEAKER_01: How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?
SPEAKER_01: You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
SPEAKER_01: No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.
SPEAKER_01: People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, nor grapes from briars.
SPEAKER_01: A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart, for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you love that?
SPEAKER_01: For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
SPEAKER_01: If I could summarize this whole text right here, is Jesus is saying, you need to be merciful like God, not judging, not condemning, but forgiving and giving.
SPEAKER_01: Not judging, not condemning, but forgiving and giving.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 35, Jesus brings to mind the Father who is merciful.
SPEAKER_01: Read Psalm 103.
SPEAKER_01: It's this praise of God where we're blessing God over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: It's just this like, bless you, God, bless you, because you have been merciful to us.
SPEAKER_01: We are a recipient of the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus here is saying, You and I need to be like God by not judging and condemning, but instead forgiving and giving.
SPEAKER_01: This is speaking to the critical heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this whole context, it flows together.
SPEAKER_01: So we should still have in mind the um the person who is at at odds with God and maybe at odds with us, the person that is not a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: These are the ones that he's saying, look, don't judge, don't condemn.
SPEAKER_01: Now, um at this, Jesus isn't saying here um that there that you're checking out of a moral discernment, but what he's saying is he's saying it is not up to you and I to play God's role in or on earth and determine their eternal destination or where they're at in their relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It does us no benefit to be able to determine exactly what the other party is doing wrong and to have figured it out.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's fun.
SPEAKER_01: It's fun when we're angry to muse on others' uh wrongdoing, but it's toxic to our soul and does no benefit for us or for the other party.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Paul takes this and he he takes it even further.
SPEAKER_01: Look at Romans chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a second to look over at Romans 2 verses 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_01: Pull it up, phone or wherever you're at in your in your Bible, because Paul takes this a little bit further.
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know the word um self-awareness, right?
SPEAKER_01: This is self-awareness uh within within culture and and cultural commentators, uh, and like um sell uh the the what are they called the self-help books that are written.
SPEAKER_01: Uh self-awareness is a huge uh thing that that people are talking about, of just being being able to kind of um be circumspect or or almost kind of have an out-of-body experience where you can look upon yourself and know um yourself like you're able to evaluate um other people around you, right?
SPEAKER_01: The more self-aware you are is is really a gift.
SPEAKER_01: And um and Jesus is appealing to this idea.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans chapter 2, 1 through 3, uh uh Paul says this you therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else.
SPEAKER_01: For whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Because you who pass judgment do the same things.
SPEAKER_01: Now we know that God's judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
SPEAKER_01: So when you are a mere human, uh being, a human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?
SPEAKER_01: So what Paul is saying is that look, you it's like the whole saying, if you point your finger, you got three pointing back at you, right?
SPEAKER_01: When you are and I are sitting in a place where we're on the judgment throne critiquing other people's lives and saying, you know what, God's they're separated from God, or kind of making an evaluation on their relationship with God, um, we are we're judging ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We're saying, I have an awareness of uh wrongdoing, and we're only opening ourselves up to God's judgment in our own lives.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus uses images to help his hearers understand this point.
SPEAKER_01: Did you see some of those images there?
SPEAKER_01: He has the image of the a blind guide leading other blind people, right?
SPEAKER_01: So this is a bit of humor that Jesus is using.
SPEAKER_01: You can you can bring to mind the idea that somebody who's who is blind is not the person we're gonna go to to lead a tour around Fells Point.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the person we're gonna rely on for directions.
SPEAKER_01: The second image is the arrogant pupil or student who is attempting to outdo his teacher, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying no student is gonna outdo their teacher.
SPEAKER_01: The third image is the man with a log in his eye attempting to be an ophthalmologist.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody, right, he's he's like, oh, I could be a great.
SPEAKER_01: I I'll help you get the right glasses, right?
SPEAKER_01: But meanwhile, he's got a log hanging out of his eye, right?
SPEAKER_01: So uh Jesus again is just calling people to evaluate themselves.
SPEAKER_01: So then you got the fruit that corresponds with the type of tree, right?
SPEAKER_01: That good trees bear good fruit, and bad trees bear bad fruit.
SPEAKER_01: All of this, right?
SPEAKER_01: All of this is Jesus saying, Look, why are you spending your time with a critical spirit judging other people's sins, foibles, failures, and you're you're meditating on it, you're chewing on those things, you're finding a sense of superiority because you can identify what other people are doing wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying, stop, stop, stop.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to, you, you need to, you need to be worrying about your own blindness, you need to be worried about the log in your own eye.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Paul, Paul was uh criticized by other people as a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul's this great missionary.
SPEAKER_01: He would go plant a church, but then other people would attack Paul, the missionary.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says in 1 Corinthians, he says, I don't even judge myself.
SPEAKER_01: Paul talked about, in a sense, like, I don't make a call on like what kind of fruit I'm gonna have in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, I'm not even like worried about that.
SPEAKER_01: There is this circumspectness where we want to look in the mirror and say, where do I stand?
SPEAKER_01: But in terms of like what my heavenly reward is gonna be, Paul's like, I'm not judging myself in that regard.
SPEAKER_01: I'm leaving that up to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just doing what I've been called to do.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is admonishing his disciples to not live with a critical spirit towards others, but instead to evaluate themselves.
SPEAKER_01: There is a sickness within our nature where we meditate on the shortcomings, the errors, and the sins of others.
SPEAKER_01: We can stew on these imperfections, we can become bitter and angry over other people's faults, right?
SPEAKER_01: I was recently, I was taking a guy to court, and as I was driving him to court, he spent most of the time complaining about other people's faults.
SPEAKER_01: And I just found the irony in that.
SPEAKER_01: Here I'm driving you to court because you did something wrong, and I'm having to give up my time and my gas money to get you to court to get this thing figured out, but you want to complain about what other people are doing wrong in their life to you.
SPEAKER_01: And there's an inappropriateness, and that's why Jesus uses this beautiful of these beautiful images to try to just say, you hypocrite, doesn't he ultimately get there, right?
SPEAKER_01: He says, You are a hypocrite, right?
SPEAKER_01: You are focused on other people, and you have this log hanging out of your own eye.
SPEAKER_01: Our ability to identify other people's errors or faults does nothing for our spiritual health, right?
SPEAKER_01: We think, we I I've I've been in groups and I've I've been guilty of this.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm bitter at the it's a Christian organization.
SPEAKER_01: I'm bitter, and and I would sit around and and just be bitter with my coworkers of like, why don't they do this and why don't they do that?
SPEAKER_01: And we would we would just kind of chew on our critiques as if that was kind of making us more righteous or spiritual because we could identify what was wrong with the system.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing changed because we could identify what was wrong with the system.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing got better.
SPEAKER_01: We only were a bitter people because we were so critical, but we sat and we chewed on it, right?
SPEAKER_01: Have you done that?
SPEAKER_01: I think we've all done that, where we've had those relationships where the basis of our fellowship is chewing on the critique of other people.
SPEAKER_01: Those are toxic relationships, right?
SPEAKER_01: Somebody has got to make a decision in that relationship to say, we're not having that conversation anymore.
SPEAKER_01: We're going a different direction in what we talk about.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: So here's what it says in James chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: James chapter one says this therefore get rid of our all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
SPEAKER_01: Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Do what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror, and after looking at himself, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
SPEAKER_01: But whatever looks intently into the perfect, whoever looks intently, into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they've heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do.
SPEAKER_01: So James, the brother of Jesus, is saying to us as followers of Jesus that we need to not just listen, but we need to take seriously our own growth.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: We're called to be disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We have sin that is in our life that needs to be eradicated out of our life.
SPEAKER_01: That sin is getting in the way of our fruitfulness and our fellowship with God.
SPEAKER_01: You and I have been given key relationships where we are called to be a blessing to the people around us.
SPEAKER_01: And yet we are our sin is getting in the way of those things.
SPEAKER_01: We have enough sin that needs to be dealt with by God that we don't need to worry about the next guy's sin, right?
SPEAKER_01: We're in relationships where it is tempting to worry about other people's sin, right?
SPEAKER_01: It is tempting to look at that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing God says, You're my follower.
SPEAKER_01: I want to work in your life.
SPEAKER_01: I've given you a mirror in God's word.
SPEAKER_01: When you read it, you need to continue in what you've read, right?
SPEAKER_01: Look, if you got that down, great, you can be the judge, right?
SPEAKER_01: What did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: What did Jesus say when they brought the woman to him who is caught in the midst of adultery?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: What did he say about stoning her?
SPEAKER_01: He who is without sin casts the first stone.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is like, great, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01: You can be the judge if you're without sin.
SPEAKER_01: And he says that to us every day.
SPEAKER_01: Look, are you a follower of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: I ask that to you sincerely.
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be a disciple of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to follow him?
SPEAKER_01: Good.
SPEAKER_01: Then you need to go back to his word and you need to allow his word to really deal with your life, right?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is that he's convicting you of, but he's gracious enough, he's loving enough to put his spirit in our life to just convict, put his finger on the stuff he wants to set us free from and change in us.
SPEAKER_01: And those things need to be changed, right?
SPEAKER_01: They need to go.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants to set us, he loves us enough to set us free from those things.
SPEAKER_01: So ultimately, Jesus sees our guilt perfectly.
SPEAKER_01: He's not blind, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is not the blind man.
SPEAKER_01: He looks at us, he is the only one qualified to judge us.
SPEAKER_01: He was the only one qualified to judge his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, this is the Jesus who had Judas, right, who would betray him.
SPEAKER_01: This is the Jesus who had Peter who would deny him.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he loves and he shows mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus invites us to be a faithful branch, right?
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to be that good tree.
SPEAKER_01: He invites us to be that faithful branch, abiding in him, the true vine.
SPEAKER_01: And then Paul says in Romans 8, there is no condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives a life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot, as believers, get up on our spiritual, moral, high horse and critique culture.
SPEAKER_01: It is not for us to condemn the culture that we live in.
SPEAKER_01: That is not why God made Facebook, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus allowed Facebook.
SPEAKER_01: He allowed Zuckerberg to invent Facebook so that the light of the glorious gospel could be communicated to our lost friends, right?
SPEAKER_01: Not the condemnation for sin, because sinners do something really good.
SPEAKER_01: It's called sin, right?
SPEAKER_01: Sinners sin well, right?
SPEAKER_01: And we are not saved so that we can look down our noses at all of our unbelieving friends on Facebook and Instagram and find a moral superiority.
SPEAKER_01: No, we are those who have, what did he say in the text?
SPEAKER_01: What did Jesus say about the one who is our God?
SPEAKER_01: He is the one who is gracious to the ungrateful and the evil.
SPEAKER_01: That's verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: He is gracious to the ungrateful and to the evil.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've got to resist that temptation to judge, to condemn, because Jesus wants to work through us and express his love to our enemies.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to express his love to our enemies and his enemies through us.
SPEAKER_01: Finishing off, we'll close it up here.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 46 through 49, he says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you don't do what I say?
SPEAKER_01: As for anyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.
SPEAKER_01: They're like a man who built a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: When a flood came and the torrent struck that house, but could not shake it because it was well built.
SPEAKER_01: But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground with a found without a foundation.
SPEAKER_01: The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus calls his disciples to follow his teaching and guarantees a life that is beneficial, right?
SPEAKER_01: There is this foundation in the life of the obedient person.
SPEAKER_01: The whole thing starts off with, why do you call me Lord?
SPEAKER_01: And I ask this to you sincerely.
SPEAKER_01: I asked this of myself, right?
SPEAKER_01: Very sincerely.
SPEAKER_01: If you call Jesus the Lord of your life, the question he says, why do you not do what I say?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you not do what I say?
SPEAKER_01: And then he gives this beautiful image of a house that has this firm foundation.
SPEAKER_01: The storms come.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that Jesus isn't saying that storms will not come to the person?
SPEAKER_01: No, he says, the storms come.
SPEAKER_01: What kind of foundation do you have?
SPEAKER_01: What's your life based upon?
SPEAKER_01: Is your life based upon the teaching of Jesus, or is your life based upon what you think is a good idea?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes Jesus says hard stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes Jesus says hard stuff to follow, and we are confronted by obedience to Christ and the life that we're currently living.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to be willing to let go of what we're holding on to, and we need to follow Jesus because here he's given you a promise.
SPEAKER_01: He's given me a promise.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Your life, you will be the one who has a foundation, so that when the storm comes, you will not be rocked.
SPEAKER_01: So again, this is the mirror.
SPEAKER_01: We go back to the mirror and we say, mirror, mirror on the wall, right?
SPEAKER_01: Not who's the most beautiful of them all, but what do you have to say to me?
SPEAKER_01: And he gives us his spirit.
SPEAKER_01: His spirit speaks to us about our life, not the next guy's life.
SPEAKER_01: That's not why we have our quiet times in the morning.
SPEAKER_01: It's so we can judge others, right?
SPEAKER_01: No, we go into our quiet times so that God can speak to us.
SPEAKER_01: And he can say, This is what I want to work on in your life, Joshua.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want to change in Josh's life.
SPEAKER_01: He's uh ultimately, ultimately, this is fulfilled in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Could there be a greater storm than having your followers betray you and abandon you?
SPEAKER_01: You're falsely accused, you're beat, you're crucified, you're severed from your relationship with God, and yet Jesus is raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing: our King lived this text for us and was raised in victory.
SPEAKER_01: You may look at the at Jesus' commands and go, that's too hard.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to let go of this sin that I'm holding on to.
SPEAKER_01: And yet Jesus lived the obedient life to the Father even to the point of the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And what did God do on his behalf?
SPEAKER_01: God raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: God holds up his son as the vindicated one, the champion, the ruler, the king.
SPEAKER_01: Where we fail to obey this sermon, Jesus will remain victorious.
SPEAKER_01: He has won, right?
SPEAKER_01: He has weathered the storm on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And he has said, look, I want to give you life so that you can live in obedience to me.
SPEAKER_01: If you are blessed, there are people that are blessed and they interpret the blessings in their life as God's approval on their disobedience to his word.
SPEAKER_01: But I will tell you this that the accountant, God as the accountant in this text, who's the one who gives rewards, is not the one giving good gifts to the sinful so that they can seem approved by God.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans chapter 2, it says, Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
SPEAKER_01: If you are living a life where you are, things are good, maybe they've been better than they've ever been, that does not mean, it does not equate to us that God is okay with our sin.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean that God approves of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: What it means is that God is showing you his love and kindness, drawing you toward towards repentance.
SPEAKER_01: Because look what it says next.
SPEAKER_01: It says in verse 5, but because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
SPEAKER_01: You see, there are people that live their life presuming that because they are wealthy, or because they are good looking, or because they have a nice car, or they got, you know, the trophy wife, or whatever it is, they think that God has approved of their lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: And what Paul says is listen, listen, God has given you a measure of kindness hoping to draw you towards repentance.
SPEAKER_01: So, disciples, disciples of Jesus, followers of Jesus, let me encourage you with this.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, as your champion, as your king, he has paid for your sin and my sin.
SPEAKER_01: He has made a way for us to be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: But take seriously, take seriously the claim that he is the Lord of your life.
SPEAKER_01: May Jesus truly be the authoritative figure in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Do what his word says.
SPEAKER_01: Continue in it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm there with you.
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm taking account in my life.
SPEAKER_01: Like last week we were talking a little bit about the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: Take in account.
SPEAKER_01: Am I resting as I should?
SPEAKER_01: Take his word seriously this week.
SPEAKER_01: We've been given the gift of his word.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to be those people that are just loving him with our obedience.
SPEAKER_01: We're not just saying with our lips that Jesus, we love you, right?
SPEAKER_01: But we're obeying him out of our love for him.
SPEAKER_01: What an honor, right?
SPEAKER_01: What an honor to be saved by Jesus and to live out that love.
SPEAKER_01: Let's let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, we um we thank you for this text and we pray that that um we we want to um we want to follow you, Jesus, in this.
SPEAKER_01: You did it well.
SPEAKER_01: You loved us when we were your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: You there's no condemnation upon us, God.
SPEAKER_01: You've been merciful to us.
SPEAKER_01: When we're ungrateful, you are kind to us.
SPEAKER_01: And what recipients we are of your love.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And you want this to manifest itself in our life.
SPEAKER_01: And so, where we want to run from those who hate us, and where we want to run from the storms, God, instead of that, Lord, let us just be obedient followers of you in faith, trusting in you that you're gonna get us through, that you're gonna you're gonna preserve us.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, we just um we yield ourselves to you.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that you love us.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know that story, you know the difficult circumstance, you know what happened this last week, you know the burdens, God, and you care.
SPEAKER_01: And we need you to care, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We need you to be real.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for us this week in in this church, Lord, and in Baltimore that Jesus, you would make yourself known as the God who is real.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, would you be real in people's lives?
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we want to just pray in closing for um just the lost in Baltimore City, people that don't know you, Jesus, would you make yourself known?
SPEAKER_01: Would the light of the glorious gospel shine in hearts?
SPEAKER_01: Lord, in our friends that are um ensnared, Lord, in sin, whether, you know, it's my friends that are caught up in the gay lifestyle or people that are just um they're they're they're not in your thoughts, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The the people that I met with this week who um they they want just the benefits of the kingdom, but they just don't want to make you Lord of their life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I pray for these lives that we're connected with, that they would be radically turned towards you, that you would save them.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray for um our school, Lord, that we've adopted, that we love City Spring Elementary.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray for the staff, Lord, this last week, the the kids that got to go see Black Panther, Lord, and just that that practical demonstration of just sponsoring those kids to go see the movie, Lord, we pray that that there would be uh just a knowledge of Christ through just the kind acts that have happened at the school this this week.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the teachers, let the classes be peaceful this week, let the attendance be really good.
SPEAKER_01: Um Lord, we just ask that you would bless them, bless Perkins, Lord, and and our friends in Perkins and Douglas.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray for um just just your peace over the city.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Compassion Center this week, provide for it abundantly, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We pray that there would be encounters this week where people are just in real tangible ways experiencing the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, we just commit um this coming week to you, and we ask that you would be just the Lord in our life.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.