Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

You've Heard It Said Pt.10

Good to see everybody got home safely. We had probably one of the greatest lessons on sovereignty that you'll ever experience as we were in Tennessee. There is no other explanation. The race is not always to the swift. It's an amazing thing to watch when you are a part of something like that. In our teaching on sovereignty it makes you really wonder. The question is asked so often, "Does sovereignty go into every aspect of our lives? Does it go into the buying of the Lotto ticket?" I know probably nobody in here buys Lotto tickets. But if you do, it's something to realize that God's in charge of that thing and you probably won't hit it. But what about the guy that backs into your car in the mall, "that idiot?" You all know who I'm talking about, right? They're out there in great numbers. We talk about accidents. We talk about fate and futility, and we're really talking about pagan mythical gods. The fact of the matter is nothing happens that God does not orchestrate and allow, and ultimately work for His eternal good; amen? Can you say, "Praise God" for that?

There just aren't the explanations for many of the tragedies of life that are truly tragedies or even things such as a competition like this. Are these things something that works into the sovereignty of God? They have to! Either God is absolutely sovereign or there's fate and chance, and I believe in God; amen? So whatever it is, it's for an eternal purpose that we won't know. Character is built, demonstration of our ability to have proper goals, all of these different things. I just want to say I am absolutely proud of all of our kids, the way they handled themselves both on and off the court, the way they handled these disappointments. I think many of them couldn't have done it last year. I told the team as they were getting ready to take the team picture that I felt that this was one of the most spiritually mature squads that we've ever had, a growth process, a true commitment, and a working of the Spirit in their lives. We're proud of all of the kids. Our young ladies conducted themselves well, had a great tournament, a great game, played their hearts out. Many of these different things that we realize that's not our life; amen?

As I was talking to the directors of the tournaments, the guy was still kind of taken aback. They'd heard it, but it was really evidence of itself. I said, "You see virtually every kid on that team, with the exception of one, I prayed over them and committed them to the Lord. They were born in the fellowship, watched them all raised up together, praise God!" I pointed and said, "Look up there in the stands. You see all of those little kids? They're coming on, praise God!" Amen? And their kids; I expect to be here for their kids, praise God! After Hope and Hailey have their children, I might go, Lord willing.

Father's just done great things here in the family. The testimony of that is something that reaches very far. So thank God for all of you that went down there. You know what that speaks? It makes people really not like us, but at the same time they're saying, "Who are these people? Behold how they love one another." Amen? That's the message. We just thank God for every one of you.

Let's turn to Matthew and pick up where we've been in Jesus' teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. Again, we'll be talking on some of the sovereign aspects. When you're young people, especially, and old people, too, and you're a competitor, it's just tough to take. That's all there is. There's just no easy way about it. But pretty soon you just forget about it. Like three years ago in Rockingham when I lost by three one-thousandths of a second in the finals of the national event. I've forgotten totally about that. And last year at Mason Dixon in the finals, one one-thousandth of a second break-out and lose the finals. I don't ever think about it--hardly. But we realize that there are things that are so important. Those of you, I know, have the champion's heart. Things that you're looking at right now, just thank God that you have the prize that's worth pressing toward; amen? All of the other things do fall into perspective where they should be.

Matthew, Chapter 5, just want to allow ourselves to continue through Jesus' teaching here. We're talking about studying the Sermon on the Mount, preparing us for the hour that we're living in. We've tried to address each topic based upon our walk in the spirit in these last days and the spirit of the world. Not only the aspects that we'd addressed earlier on the lust aspects, men being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, denying the power thereof, all that's in the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life, 1 John says. We look at all of these things and ask ourselves, as we contend with this spirit, "What's one of the qualities that is really going to help us to be able to stand?" We talked about this aspect of fate versus sovereignty. I think one of the things we need to develop to stand in this last day, this spirit of selfness and pride, and we, as Christians, need to take on humility and sobriety in our last days. Because the fact is, we're going to be persecuted and we'll respond one way or the other. We're going to retaliate in the natural. We're going to feel that we've somehow been mistreated. "We need to lobby. We need to get involved in politics." Or, as it pertains to God's sovereignty, we're going to step back and say, "This is what God said was going to happen," and pray for the grace and the mercy to stand. Amen?

Now, this teaching that I'm going to do this morning is probably one of the hardest subjects that I have to personally deal with. When you slap me, my natural tendency is not to turn the other cheek. It's a very difficult thing when people say all manner of evil against you and slander you, not to retaliate and justify yourself. You know, retaliation isn't always just trying to get back at somebody. Retaliation is trying to justify yourself. "I'm going to make sure that this is just and people understand what's true here." It's very difficult to stand as Jesus did and keep your mouth shut (Amen?), when people are saying all manner of evil against you. At least that's what I say. I've never experienced that. I've never had anybody upset with me, or bad-mouth me, or say anything about me that wasn't true. But if it ever happened, I think it would be difficult to deal with. To deal [with it] like Moses did and just fall on your face, be quiet, and trust God.

In this last day, beloved, we're going to get a lot of that as Christians. We're going to be accused of things that we haven't done. We're going to be--because of our love for people, because of our love for God and our desire to walk in holiness; people are going to try to take advantage of us. We can rise up and say, "Bless God, you're not going to treat me that way! I'm an American. I have rights," or we're going to walk in kingdom principles and believe that vengeance belongs to the Lord; amen?

I don't know about you; this is a tough subject for me. I think it is for all of us just naturally. So what we're really talking about here is being able to rest in the justice of God, the sovereignty of God, the goodness of God; amen? In this last day we're going to be treated wrongly. We're going to be taken advantage of. We're going to be hated. We need to understand what the Master says is expected of us so that we can be identified with our Father in heaven who is perfect. So we're being called to perfection here, to maturity, to completeness. I think another way to say this is complete death to self, complete reliance on Father. You see, when we talk about perfection, we're talking about completeness, complete reliance on Father, complete death to self. We always want things to be right, don't we, especially as it pertains to us? "That's not right. That's not fair." We're going to deal about letting God be the judge of all the earth. "Who," as the Scripture says, "always does right."

Now between the divorce and adulterous issues He makes one quick little segment here. I'm going to speak only one thing toward this and then go on. Not that it's unimportant, but it isn't as applicable to the spirit of the age as these other subjects that we're really speaking about. That's the fact about oaths, or profanities.

Profanity is not cussing. Profanity is profaning the name of the Lord and making unnecessary vows or cheapening the name of the Lord by attaching it to "The Lord told me to buy Green Giant" instead of whatever kind of green beans. And, "The Lord told me to buy gas at Costco instead of Exxon." No, the price told you that! It's profanity to start using "The Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said, the Lord said" about many things that the Lord isn't saying, to give credibility to them. That's profanity. That's profaning the name. To take cheap oaths, "I swear to God," or, as the Pharisees would do, "We swear on the temple," or "We swear on the holy mount," or if you're a good mobster, in the Mafia, "I swear on my mother's eyes," or whatever. (That's why they were all blind. Poor old ladies were blind because that was a lying group, right?)

Who is this guy that has to swear to God? "I swear to God, this is the truth." "You mean everything else you've ever told me in your life is a lie that you have to now emphasize?" We, as Christians, are to let our yea be yea and our nay be nay. Amen? Anything that proceeds more than that is evil. It comes out of an evil heart. I don't have to swear on anything. "My word is my bond," as they said decades ago, when you didn't need lawyers and contracts. What a man said was binding. And what we say, we're going to do. It's very important that we understand that principle. So he talks here about making the oaths.

Now, I'm not going to get into the few exceptions. The Scriptures, if you'll study them out, allowed oaths to be made. Jesus actually made one. So it's talking about--not an absolute letter of the law to where Christians take this to the extreme and would not swear in court. Civil law, because of our Christian roots, had to change the wording, "I do swear or affirm that..." as if that changes anything. But for many people's consciences it allowed them to take an oath in a court of law, without taking an oath.

We realize, then, that the motive is always what Jesus is addressing here. He's talking about the fact that we don't have an established character or reputation of speaking the truth; that we don't use these as ways to manipulate; that we're not cheapening the name of the Lord, profaning it, and attaching it to so many mundane things. [But], to establish in our character that our words are binding, that our words are true and to rest on that. "...let your communication [verse 37] be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." So be very careful how we use the name of the Lord, what we attach it to. It's the spirit of it. Many of us use things that sound like--it's the spirit of profanity and cheapening the glory of God and the glory of His temple and His presence. So that's something that we need, as Christians, to be very clear.

When you speak, do people believe you? Is your word good? When you say you're going to be there, are you there? When you say you're going to be there at a certain time, are you there on time? Are you dependable? You're going to help out. You're going to bring counsel. You're going to be there to support or lift up hands or whatever. Don't be afraid to say, "No." If you're not going to do it, say, "No." "No, I'm not coming. No, I'm not interested."

It's so cheap and people--I remember when we were in Africa. They're so used to manipulating things. One bishop asked me--we were going in a certain direction--and he asked, "Can so-and-so ride with you?" I said, "No, it wouldn't work out now. We've got business to conduct in the car and stuff that he doesn't need to be privy to." So we're getting ready to get in the car and this guy comes up with the fellow himself now and says, "Pastor Scott, this is so-and-so that I was talking to you about that really needs a ride into town. Would you be able to reconsider helping our brother out?" I said, "What part of ‘No' didn't you understand?" They're not used to this. It's like, "Well, now you're obligated." I said, "I told you, ‘No.'" I turned to the guy next to him and I said, "I don't know if he lies to you all the time, but I won't. When I tell you, ‘No' I mean, ‘No.'" The guy finally understood that I meant "No." Growing up, when I'd tell my children, "No," it's no. It's not "Maybe." It's not "Whine-a-little-longer." It's not, "Try to work around it." Let your yes be yes and your no be no. So this is where we are as we relate to truth, and to integrity, and these different aspects as it pertains to our communication and our relationship to others.

Then Jesus goes on and He starts bringing up another issue. He says: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth..." That definitely had been said. People have misunderstood this for years. People have thought this was kind of harsh. But actually, the law was introduced because it minimized retribution or retaliation. In the pagan circles they didn't believe an eye for an eye. "You take out my eye, I'm taking off your head!" So this is not in some way a malicious or a violent statement that God is making here. It's restraining. It's taking man's passions and the evil heart of man and the spirit of retaliation and it's controlling it through the law. He said, "I want to tell you something. You can't expect greater payback than the loss."

Now have we gotten away from that? McDonalds, cup of hot coffee, ten million dollars. I'll guarantee you one thing, that burn wasn't worth ten million dollars. That is not just. That made the price of my McDonald's purchase go up. It's not fair to any of us. As we go into this part of the study, remember one thing: Civil law is originated by God to restrain evil so that men can live peaceably on the earth. It's to establish momentary constraints, not eternal justice. Should I say it again? Momentary restraint of evil, not eternal justice. Our justice system, the justice system of the world is not eternal justice. God's going to work it all out in the end for good and right, but it doesn't always seem to work that way momentarily.

So He says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." We study these things out and we realize that is part of the Scriptures. Turn to Leviticus 24, verse 17. We'll take just a moment again and look at the wisdom of God. We'll look at how He tries to bring restraint on evil men. And then, also, not only restraint on the evil, but the momentary equity of our coexistence, fairness. And he that killeth any man [verse 17], shall surely be put to death. We need to start doing that again. Because we don't fulfill what's equitable, what's right, there is no fear in men's hearts any longer. There is really no justice.

Part of what's going to happen--you have two different consequences of this. You're going to come to man taking things into his own hands, specifically vigilante, or you're going to come into complacency. We're kind of there today. We realize that if we would follow through on God's wisdom and God's plans we'd have greater peace and a greater community. But men are departing from the Word of God and becoming foolish and calling good evil and evil good. Verse 18, "And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again." It didn't demand it to be done. It allowed it to be done if, in fact, the injured party requested that.

Now Jesus is going to take it a little step further. He's going to say, "Look, if accidentally somebody knocks your tooth out.... Even natural man would say, ‘It was an accident or whatever. It's the providence of God. Just forget about it.'" Now, by the law, he could require retribution. It was allowed only to the extent of the loss. That's one of the things we need to see that Jesus is trying to teach us in the Sermon on the Mount, "You don't need to go there. In fact, you need to be willing to unjustly experience purposeful persecution without retaliating." We'll get to that issue in just a moment. But the establishing of the law here is important to see that God allows a place of retaliation. Or a better word in this particular sense would be "retribution" or another word would be "vengeance."

We misunderstand that. Vengeance can be good or evil. Vengeance really has to do with "vindicating." It is not always vindictive in the negative sense, but a vindicating of justice, or doing what's right. So it has to do with motive. As you study the words out and you begin to look at some of the aspects in the Greek, you'll see that it speaks toward some of these clearly, whereas we loose sight of it and usually look at it in the negative connotation. But it can mean justice, a standing for justice. "‘Vengeance is mine,' sayeth the Lord." See, God's vengeance is justice. It's the retribution and the administrating of what is right in any given circumstance of conflict.

Let's read on and see here. Then we'll get back to what Jesus was saying. "And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God." You can't have a duel system. "Here's how we treat our enemies. Here's how we treat each other. Here's how we treat the rich. Here's how we treat the poor." So we realize that we're to be those that are heralding not only the love of God, but the justice of God. Now in the society that we're living in today, this gets strange. This is very difficult.

I don't know about you, but it's very frustrating. I try not to even put thought into it. I've tried to step back and rest in the sovereignty of God or the justice of God. I know if I wasn't a Christian in this day that we're living in that I'd be in big trouble. I know that. It's not in me to sit back and watch what's going on and not do anything about it. I'd have to. But in the spirit, I'm able to rest in God and trust in the justice of God and the sovereignty of God and not in my own perception of what's just and right and what should be done. So I'm able to look at injustices and pray and believe God as to how to take these situations and preach the gospel. I'm able to point people to eternal justice even in the midst of all of the chaos that we're living in when, "Every man's doing," the Scripture says, "what's right in his own eyes."

What about this aspect of retaliation? What should we do? Jesus goes on; let's go back to Matthew. Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you... Let's take it a little bit further. Retribution, it's acceptable, but let's deal with your hearts for just a moment," Jesus says. "What are you going to do when you begin to suffer unjustly for My name's sake? What does the Scripture say to do? Count it all joy when you fall into all manner of temptations, tests, and trials. When you're persecuted for My name's sake." So in the midst of the afflictions and the tests that men are going to put on us in these last days, when God Himself allows us to be spoken evil against for His name's sake, He said, "They hated me first, they're naturally going to hate you. What are you expecting? Rejoice in it. Count it all joy. But I say unto you That ye resist not evil: [That's a tough one!] but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

That's a tough one in the natural. You smite me on my right cheek; I'm going to deck you, right? What is the spirit of that and what's behind this? We're not talking here about an assault. We're not talking about a mugger coming and jumping you. You've got to understand the spirit of what's being spoken of here. To help you understand it a little bit, you remember back in the days of the romantic era of duels? The man would come up, take his glove, smack you, and challenge you to a duel, right? (He'd slap you with his gloves and the next thing you know, they name a candy bar after you later, 3 Musketeers.) Here you are and you're out doing your dueling, or with the pistols, right? Now you know if you're not a Christian--I don't know about you, but one step, I'd turn, shoot, and you're down. I'm out of here! This isn't about justice. This isn't about honor, this about preservation. Well, they had guys standing around to stop that. If you did that you'd pay a price. I understand that, that's why you have buddies to take them out. See, you've got to have a provision. Isn't that what's in men's hearts? Preservation.

What we're talking about here; listen very clearly. What we're talking about here, when Jesus says somebody smites you; it's the ultimate public insult. When you're insulted, publicly mocked, this is mockery. What's more demeaning than somebody slapping you in the face? Doesn't that tick you off when people just slap you? It's one thing to respond in frustration and different things, but this is a purposefully demeaning act, an insult.

Jesus said, "What do we care what people think? Don't let it enter your heart to vindicate yourself or justify your position." Because what He's speaking to here is what they're being persecuted for, being reproached for, being demeaned for, was His name. He said, "When people begin to treat you this way in public and they demean you, and they smite you, and slap you, turn the other cheek." He's talking about a spirit.

Now, you know Jesus was slapped and didn't turn the other cheek. How many of you remember that? He rebuked them. You know, when you're perfect you can do that. It wasn't in Him. Every response He had was a response of justice, and love, and mercy, and compassion. Jesus didn't speak back and rebuke that man to vindicate Himself, but to establish the truth and possibly deliver that man's soul.

So we realize that He's speaking toward our natural tendencies of self-vindication and the retaliatory response that is in every one of us. He said, "When you're mocked, when you're rebuked, when you're reviled for My name's sake, just delight in it. Rejoice in it, praise God, and be ready to suffer a reproach." We don't have any reputation. When you lose your reputation, people can start talking about you and it just doesn't bother you anymore. I know these were things that I've learned and am learning. But I've come a long way in the deaths that I've been able to experience in these last years of the reproach of men as we've stood for the Word of God, and the mockery that we've experienced. Being able to delight in hearing, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," and let that be our treasure.

He says to us here, "Don't worry about your personal reputation. Don't always try to justify your stand or your position and explain it. Just turn the other cheek. You don't have to answer." He stood dumb before His shearers. It's very important in this hour that we're coming into that we take that kind of a spirit. It will do two things: It will keep us from getting into the arm of the flesh and into politics, into--you know Christians in South America are taking up arms to stand for righteousness in the name of Jesus. Sounds like Muslims to me. Christians aren't that way. This isn't our kingdom. The meek are going to inherit the earth. Meekness is not weakness. It's a spirit of trusting God, of walking in faith.

What do I do when a guy mugs me? You know, a guy jumps me and he wants to mug me and he's assaulting me. He's trying to assault my wife, my children. He's going down! This isn't talking about that. This is talking about pride, personal reputation. It's not talking about self defense. And so don't in any way mistake that. Jesus said, "I did not come to destroy the law. I came to what? [Fulfill it.] You see all those laws that we read about, "blemish for blemish," they're still in effect. He's talking here about a heart attitude. He's talking about pride. He's talking about reputation and all these things. He's not talking about self-defense. So if you're coming after me, you better bring an arsenal. I have no problem taking you out, but I'm not going to stand up for my reputation, and pride, and these different areas.

He says, "...if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." The Scripture talks about this. It says that if people are poor and all they have is this covering--many of them slept under their robes. That was the only thing they had. If you took that as collateral for some of the different functions that were taking place, you had to give it back to the guy at sundown. It was the right thing to do. This guy doesn't have anything else. You can't take advantage of the poor. He's going to get into that in just a moment. Yet at the same time, He says, "If you're mistreated and you come in and a guy sues you and he wants your coat, then give him your cloak." What are we saying here? We know that the law is for the lawless. We're talking about the spirit of reliance and trust in the provision of God, not in the courts and not in the civil system, not in trying to vindicate ourselves, but reliance upon the Lord.

"A man comes and bids thee to go a mile, go with him twain." What's this speaking of here? We realize that in the days of Rome and throughout Persia and some of these different areas that two different things would take place. They would send many of their messengers through town and would want to borrow your horse and keep the message of the king going or the province going. And it said, "Don't get into a conflict with these people. We're not opposing government. Even though they're taking advantage of you or the military is coming through and they confiscate you from whatever your little kiosk is here and say, ‘I want you to carry this burden for a mile.'" They were allowed to do that. The Roman army, as they came through, they were able to put their burdens upon the citizens. They would tell them, "I want you to carry this thing a mile for me." Jesus said, "Don't oppose that. Don't feel like you've been abused and taken advantage of. "I'm the One that brings up governments and brings them down. Who are you trusting in?" So He said to do what? If they bid you to take it one, then do what?

(I had a kid come up to me one time. He said, "Wouldn't that tick them off?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, if the guy lived a mile down the road and he asked you to take his thing for a mile and you took it then for two, then he's back in the same predicament!" "You didn't quite read this right." This was in our youth group out in California. Another one read that thing where they were filled with the Spirit. I can't remember the exact wording, something, "and about 12." He said, "Man, they were young!" "No, that's how many were there, okay?" It's interesting how young people, as you're reading different things, the things that go through their minds.)

They bid you go one; take it two. Do twice as much as you're asked. How many of us would like to give half as much as we're asked or nothing at all? "How dare you impose on my personal life? What right do you have?" Well, the Lord raises up and He brings down. Many of us don't complain about the good things we have.

We're looking at, basically, Jesus dealing with elevation of self, the elevation of self worth, the despising of governments. I told you this was a very difficult thing. I'm for government. I believe that the second best form of government is democracy. The best is theocracy. But a lot of things are messed up, aren't they? We could complain. I have that tendency. So basically I try to stay out of it, in my mind. I'm not only talking about taxes, the use of our military, the misuse of our whole system, the imbalance of power going to the justice system and Congress and the impotence of our presidency and we've lost balance. I don't think about these things. Congress says, "What right does the President have to send troops to...." He's called the Commander in Chief of the military! You're a farmer from Iowa, elected to represent your corn. If we wanted you in charge of the troops, we would have elected you President. That's all I have to say about that.

Ultimately it comes back to resting in Father, doesn't it? This is what Jesus is trying to tell us here. There's going to be injustice. You're not going to agree with the way things are going politically. You're not going to agree with the way you're being treated by society, by the secular. But the natural tendency of pride, and selfness, and all of these things, He said, "You need to die to that so you can be perfect as you're Father in heaven is perfect.

He's going to bring us down to the next thing. He's going to say, "You need to learn to love your enemies." Amen? "Because if you can only love the people that love you and believe what you believe, what difference is there between you and the pagans? They love their kind." You see the thing that, as Christians, should make us different is our ability to stand for righteousness, to be absolute in our doctrine and in the proclamation of our gospel and the uniqueness of this message, and at the same time, love across boundaries: to love the unlovely, to love those that persecute us, to love those that are different than us. We love Muslims. We love homosexuals. We love Catholics. We don't agree with their doctrine, their gods, their lasciviousness. We in no way tolerate their sin, but we proclaim the gospel equally to all; amen? God is not willing that any should perish.

In these last days it's going to be easy to start disliking people. We see the special interest groups getting special treatment and our rights as Christians start diminishing. They start giving recognition and advantage to homosexuals and to the women's lib movement and to minorities. I guarantee you as it comes to where we are as a nation today, the one thing you do not want to be is a middle class, white Christian, because you have no rights. "You've abused everybody that ever lived on the planet." It's insanity! If you're not careful, you can begin to resent, as those who have been special interest groups resented, and be just like them. Or we can come from one of these little groups and when we become Christians, we're no longer Jews, or gentiles, we're no longer males or females. We're no longer free or bound; amen? We're children of God. So all of those things that used to be of interest to us drop off and we're interested in one thing: the kingdom of God and man as a whole. We want to see all of those [people] saved and part of the kingdom of God.

As we see the deterioration around us in these last days and the hatred for Christianity--do you understand that "tolerance" does not include Christianity? You know the new doctrine? The world doctrine of tolerance does not include Christianity, fundamentalist Christianity. We have no right to say Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no man comes to the Father but by Him. I won't get off into it today, but if you study every major religion, they are all exclusive. Only Christianity is pointed out as being intolerant. I won't get into that right now. It's a whole different study. But if you're interested, study it sometime, because this is going to be the thing in our day. "Christians, you're so narrow-minded. You're so intolerant." All religions believe they're the only way. It's just that they make room to include others into their way. We don't amalgamate. That's one of the things that is distinctive.

The only one that says it's all inclusive is the B'hai. But their definition of what they're including isn't the definition of what they're including, so they're not inclusive. In other words, what they define a Christian to be is not what a Christian is. "Oh, we love Christians." "No, that's not what a Christian is. Here's what a Christian is." "Oh, well that's not right!" So we realize that all are, all religions are exclusive, but we're the only one that's right. Isn't it great to be right? Isn't it great to know you're right? To not have to have an answer, and when you come in some type of confrontation, you don't have to get emotionally charged and upset because you don't have anything to prove. I've always found that people that get really exercised and are defensive; it's because they're getting uncomfortable. When you don't have anything to prove, you're absolutely at peace. You can take it or leave it. It doesn't change anything. You can deny Him. He can't deny Himself. Amen? So we rest in that.

Jesus is speaking here. He said, "Deal with this self-involvement with this selfness. If you're asked to go a mile, go two. Verse 42, "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." Some of you are going, "Ah, glory! That's a great Scripture! I love that. Praise God! Got a dollar?" I've walked the streets of the poorest cities in the world. I've said, "No." to children in Port au Prince, Haiti; Calcutta, India; the slums of Africa. "Well, that's not nice. He said, ‘If they ask, then you shouldn't turn anybody away.'" "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." What is this talking about? Some commentators will try to argue and they'll say, "Well the Greek word "borrow" is the Greek word for "borrow-with-interest." But that can't be what Jesus is talking about here." I agree, somewhat, with that.

We do know that in the culture that Jesus was addressing, primarily the house of Israel first, but as they rejected it we know that this went into all the world. The Bible, the law, in fact didn't prohibit lending. It encouraged lending, and caring, and almsgiving, but among family you could not lend with interest. You couldn't lend to another covenant child with interest. We Americans don't believe that. I tell you that's why [immigrants are] so strong as a people. They help each other. Many cultures we see come in here and they make it. They move in here. They work together. They live in the same house. They sacrifice. They don't charge each other. They lend money. They buy a house for that guy. They move in. Fourteen families live in this house. They pay that house, and twelve move into that house, and they pay that house off. The guys that were living in these houses are paying to get that guy's house. They're all helping each other out, they're not charging interest, and it's very productive.

We Americans with our Anglo background, savages, individual, very individualistic, we're different. Jesus is speaking toward the spirit of man. Let me just sum up what He's saying here. Nothing of what Jesus says here negates the principles of Proverbs about being lazy, okay? He's not saying the guy that lies around the house all day, turns on his bed as a door does on its hinges, who comes up and says, "Please give me some money," you're supposed to give him something; any more than it negates Thessalonians that says if a man doesn't work he shouldn't eat. So when you study the Scriptures you've got to see what God is saying.

There's a reason for what He's saying here. He's talking about haughtiness and pride, a spirit of, "Hey, I've made mine, you go make yours." He speaks toward this in Timothy when He says to the rich, "Don't think you got this. God blessed you with it. Be ready to distribute and ready to communicate." Amen? It's not your own. Don't say when you enter the land of promise, "Look what my arm has attained," but "God's blessed you!" He's talking about this spirit of realizing Who the provider is and that God has blessed us. He's talking about treating and dealing with people that are truly in need. He's talking about invalids here. Remember back in that day they didn't have all the social programs that we have today. Things have changed. The government takes care of everybody. Your taxes are taking care of everybody. The people that are out on the streets today, the majority of them, probably ninety-nine percent of them could be working. So we have to look at the spirit of what's being said here.

Jesus is speaking here toward that haughtiness, that self-righteousness, the pulling of these robes around ourselves. He's not talking about provision for someone who's truly in need. He's talking about a calloused heart. We realize that it does not negate the basic principles of, "If a man doesn't provide for his own house," he's what? Worse than an infidel. I don't rob from my obligation of my house to give to everybody that comes and asks me for something. Because if you gave to everybody that asks you for something, what would you have left? Nothing. And then what would you be doing? Then you'd be begging. All I'm saying is, we take these principles sometimes and we get stupid with them. It's the spirit of it. Ready to distribute, seeing people who have less than we do and being ready to communicate to them. Give a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus.

He's going to qualify this as He goes a little bit further. He says, "If your enemy hungers, feed him." Even your enemy! Now the enemy doesn't mean there's a guy--you guys have been warring back and forth shooting bullets at each other and whatever. Finally he collapses of hunger. You go out there and you strengthen him up, and as you turn around to go back inside, he shoots you. Remember who our enemies are. He's going to talk about neighbors here. Who did these people have trouble with? The Samaritans. They were dogs, less than dogs. Jesus is talking about "Who's my neighbor? Who's my enemy? Who do I love?" He's talking about a willingness to communicate the gospel to everybody, to help those who are truly in need. [This] enemy is not the guy who's trying to kill me in a war, but the Samaritan that might have collapsed alongside the road that I go and help. I don't pull my pharisaical robes about me and go to the other side of the road. He's talking about that spirit here. That's what we need to realize.

So you "Give to him that asketh thee," those that are truly destitute. I know over the years, and I'm sure you've done the same thing. When I've been different places and people--only one time have I had somebody. (Jay, remember that guy that we took to eat when we were preaching that meeting? Was it down in Virginia Beach, or whatever that big church down there? There was a beggar guy and we said, "I won't give you any money, but we'll take you to eat. Were you there with me that night? Do you remember that? Well you're getting old. Your memory doesn't work quite as well as mine.) I can't remember the pastor's name. We had held a meeting. We were getting ready to go somewhere afterwards and there was this guy begging. I said, "I'm not going to give you money for you to go down and buy some wine, but if you're hungry I'll get you something to eat." The guy said, "Fine." So we took him into the restaurant and ordered him dinner and shared the gospel with him. So there are times I try to be sensitive in my spirit. I don't give money to winos down in DC. But I'll take him to the vendor if he looks like he's really in trouble.

You've got to realize what you're dealing with. One of the beggars they did an exposé on, you'd look at this guy, and you would think he'd been on the street for twenty years. They did an exposé on him. He was making close to two hundred thousand dollars a year! Begging! He would, at the end of the day, they finally followed him with the camera, blocks and blocks away, he would go and get in his Mercedes and go home. In India they purposefully cripple their children. Literally, will purposefully cripple their children so that there'll be more compassion so they can make their living.

But we're ready to communicate. What about the lame man? See, this is what we're talking about, the man that was lame and begging for alms. Nobody despised this guy. Nobody said, "You need to go get a job." The guy was crippled. He couldn't walk. He didn't have all the civil provisions for him. So we're ready to communicate and minister to this guy. But what we need to have is even more than that and say, "I don't have any money on me right now. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus rise up and walk." Amen?

So over the years I've taken people to eat. I've taken them in these different areas. You wouldn't believe how many times you say, "I won't give you any money but I'll take you to get something to eat." They'll say, "No, that's alright." They're not hungry. They want drug money. They want booze money. That's not what Jesus was talking about.

"He that would borrow of thee..." So many of us are so fearful of what we have. "I'm not going to loan you my new chainsaw. I've worked hard for this. What if you break it?" Well, there's provision for that. "I don't trust you." It's getting down to that aspect. What He's saying here is, "Trust your brothers and sisters and be willing to work together. If your brother wants to borrow your chainsaw, then loan it to him. If he breaks it, the law tells him what he's supposed to do." If he comes back and the engine's blown and the chain is hanging down and it's leaking oil and he says, "Thanks." And you say, "What are you going to do about this?" "I don't have any money. That's why I borrowed yours." Then what do you do? You take him by the throat; throw him in prison until he's paid the last...right? Trust God. Don't be afraid of being taken advantage of.

"When you give, it's given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over." Amen? This isn't talking about every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes up to you out in the street. He's talking to the community. These are principles for the covenant children. These are not principles for humanity. These are principles for Christians, how we relate to one another. We have enough trouble trusting one another much less the world; amen? When some guy rolls in, comes driving by my house and says, "I'd like to borrow your car." "Take a hike. You're not borrowing my car. I'm not loaning my car to you. I don't know you." That's not what Jesus is talking about.

So we see the spirit of community and trusting God and trusting our brothers and sisters. We'll end with this one: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" [so that you can be perfect as your Father is perfect.]

I didn't realize it was so late. We'll pick this up tonight.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We just ask that You would strengthen us in this day of self-preservation, selfishness, covetousness, and fear. In the day when men's hope is in men and the government, our trust is in You, Father. Yet in every one of us there's the natural fear, the move toward self-preservation, our own code of justice. So we ask that we would humble ourselves before Your mighty hand and that we would trust You to do right in our lives. That we wouldn't despise those that seem to be different or prospering, but we would trust in the goodness of our God and in the day of the vengeance of the Lord. Help us to be without reputation in our own eyes. Let us live without the need to retaliate or vindicate. Just to boast in You, how good our God is, that we might be perfect, complete, as our Father in heaven. Father, we'll give You all the praise for that and all the glory, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays for us, we'll take just a moment. These are some very practical things. They're not often spoken of in the church. I think, because they are so very real. Nothing we have is our own and as there are needs among us, we respond to those needs. The Scripture clarifies it, "To the household of faith first. You don't give the children's bread to dogs." Yet we're ready to help those that are in need in the community. And then those that are without, yes, there are times to help them. Those that are truly in need, those that are truly destitute, of course, the cold water in the name of the Lord.

Those of us that are prosperous and blessed, we would never pass by a truly destitute person that we sense in our spirit, "I want you to minister to them," and despise that. But understand also, Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you." You can't go to India--it's bigger. It's not only bigger than your wallet; it's bigger than everybody's wallet in this country. That's not what Jesus is talking about. He said, "The poor you will always have with you." But how do you respond personally? Be sensitive to hear. Be ready to communicate and distribute.

Give us Your spirit, we ask, Jesus. Let's sing it together and worship Him. "Oh, Lord, You Have Been Good." Hallelujah! Father, we thank You for the faithfulness of Your Spirit, Lord, for Your goodness to us. Help us just to love as we've been loved. Help us to rest in Your justice, in Your great mercies toward us, and not in our own right arm. We give You praise, Father, for what you are doing and will do in Your church. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "Be perfect as your Father is perfect."

Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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