Hi friend, you've tuned in to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm Phil Johnson, and in light of last week's stunning assassination of Charlie Kirk, which has rightly received massive news coverage in the United States and around the world, we're breaking from our original schedule to bring you today's broadcast. Charlie Kirk was an admirer of John MacArthur, and he was a friend to our ministry.
So we are grieved by his death, and what happened to Charlie is horrific evidence that this world just keeps getting darker. Jesus Himself told us to expect persecution as Christians, that the world would hate you and even kill you because of His name. And so when you face hostility because of your beliefs, because of your faith in Christ, how should you respond? What does the Lord expect from you? Thankfully, the Bible doesn't leave us in the dark, as John MacArthur's study today will show you.
It's called How to Think and Act in Evil Days. John's going to be looking at Matthew chapter 5 today, so if you have a Bible, you can turn there now. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 5. This is the underlying attitude that puts us in a position to do evangelistic work, which we're called to do, around the world, no matter how the world treats us. Matthew 5 is in the Sermon on the Mount.
The Lord gave that sermon to the leaders of Israel in particular to dismantle their false religious system and expose them to how God thought. And there are a series of things that are said here which our Lord. directs at the Jews and he does it in quite an interesting way. Uh starting in verse 21, he says, You have heard. And then verse 27, you have heard.
And then in verse 31, it was said, and then in verse 33, again you have heard. And then in verse 38, you have heard. And then in verse 43, you have heard.
Now, what he's talking about is their theology that had been taught to them by the rabbis. You have heard, you have heard, you have heard, you have heard, you've heard such and such about murder, you've heard such and such about sexual immorality, you've heard such and such about. Divorce. You've heard this. About oaths and vows.
You've heard this about retaliation, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. You've heard this about how you deal with your enemies. This is your theology. This is the rabbinic. Extant theology that had gripped the populace of Israel at the time of our Lord.
In contrast to that, He says in verse 22, but I say, Verse 28, but I say. Verse 32, but I say, Verse 34, but I say. Verse 39, but I say. Verse 44, but I say, I'm giving you a new theology here. We're overturning your conventional thinking.
You have heard, but I say, you have heard. But I say.
Now, let's just go to the final one of these. Comparisons down in verse 43. And let me just read it to you, and then we'll talk about it. You have 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 causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax Collectors do the same. If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Pagans do the same. Therefore, you're to be perfect as your heavenly Father. is perfect.
Now, Jesus gets to the end of this discussion comparing traditional apostate. Judaism, the morality of traditional apostate Judaism, with the heart of God.
Now, as we look at this text, I just want to show you three things. Number one is the tradition of the Jews. And then the Teaching of the Old Testament. And then the final truth from our Lord. The tradition of the Jews.
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor. And hate your enemy. By the way, that command, love your neighbor, appears originally in Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19, 17 and 18, it's verbatim. Love your neighbor.
That's where it comes from. the Mosaic scripture. You have heard that it was said, that's the familiar phrase that introduces the teaching of the rabbis that developed into their traditional morality. and was passed down as the acceptable standard. That their tradition then was.
Very simple. Love your neighbor and They added, hate your enemy. Love your neighbor, hate your enemy.
Now they conveniently omitted something. They omitted love your neighbor as Yourself.
So they diminished the requirement of that love. Love your neighbor. But of course, you don't want to love your neighbor like you love yourself. Because you're far more important than your neighbor. You deserve more love than your neighbor.
And that would define the culture in which you're living right today. The self-centered, self-fulfilling. Self-aggrandizing. Self-esteem. Mentality.
But the Old Testament says, love your neighbor as yourself. What does it mean? It's not a command to love yourself. Please, I've heard people preach on that. You're to love yourself.
No, you're not. You're not commanded to love yourself. You already do that. We love ourselves in an unfeigned, fervent, habitual way. We love ourselves, we meet our needs, we meet our wants, we attend to our interests, we fulfill our desires, our hopes, and our ambitions occupy us.
We are more interested in what we say in a conversation than what somebody else is saying. That's why it's so hard to be a good listener. We do everything we possibly can to secure our own happiness, our own well-being, our own satisfaction, to make ourselves welcome and comfortable, and to fulfill our interests, to seek our own pleasure and fulfillment. And we are really good at forgiving ourselves. For all our failures and all our weaknesses.
Well, that's exactly how you should love your neighbor. That's exactly how you should love your neighbor.
Well, they left that part out because they weren't really prepared to take the command that far. But anyway, they did say you're to love your neighbor. And oh, by the way, they not only admitted part, they added something. And by the way, hate your enemy. Hate your enemy.
Your enemy then is not your neighbor. That they have just qualified neighbor. As non-enemy.
Okay. Narrowly defining neighbor. It would be a Jew, of course, for them because they. resented the Gentiles. But not not every Jew because um Tax collectors were not acceptable to them.
Neither was the common rabble in John 7:4. 49, the leaders of Israel declared the common people were common. cursed.
So they had narrowed down neighbor to exclude enemies and to even exclude people they thought were lower than themselves sociologically or economically. They had a very narrow Definition of neighbor.
So, in the tradition that had developed, the command to love your neighbor as yourself became a license to hate. Because they defined neighbor nar more narrowly and narrowly and narrowly until it excluded anybody outside their group and certainly excluded enemies.
So here is this is the existing theology. of Israel. Hate your enemies. And an enemy is anybody who's not a neighbor, and a neighbor has been so narrowly defined that it's this small little group of people that would be considered your friends and relatives. That's the tradition.
Let's look at the teaching of the Old Testament just briefly. People say, well, look, if you go to the Old Testament, mm, you might understand why they had developed this very narrow view of neighbor, because the Jews, when they entered the land of Canaan, were given the first command, the first responsibility was to exterminate the Canaanites. Obliterate him. They were told in Deuteronomy 23: the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Midianites were not a people to be treated with kindness. And if you get into the Psalms and you get into what are called the imprecatory Psalms, you can read like Psalm 69, 22 to 28, all these things that are prayers to God to destroy the wicked.
How does that kind of work with love your enemies? I think there's a very simple and lucid statement that was penned by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew what it was to be a Christian in the middle of vicious, vile... destructive slaughtering, murderous, Nazis. And this is what Bonhoeffer wrote, and I think it's true: the wars of Israel.
against the pagan nations. were the only holy wars in history. The only holy wars in history. The only wars. prescribed specifically By God.
against idolaters. for the preservation and protection of his people. For redemptive purposes, in the bringing of the Messiah and the salvation of the elect. He's right. The prescribed commanded holy wars.
That Israel engaged in Directly by the command of God, are the only holy wars in history. As for the imprecatory psalms, what do we make of those? David is praying these kinds of things.
Well, the way to understand that is the psalmist speaks not with personal animosity. These are judicial cries. They're not personal. vengeance and personal Animosity. The people of God take up the cause of God.
So, what you have here in Precatory Psalms are cries for the justice of God to go forth for the vindication of his name. Not personal. Retaliation. not personal vengeance. It's very different.
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. You don't take that into your own hands.
So what is instructing us here? Verse forty-four. But I say to you, Love your enemies. Love your enemies. Love your enemies.
Apart from a holy war, Apart from an imprecatory prayer, For the vindication of the glory of God and the dishonor of His name to stop. It comes down to the personal attitude of the believer. And what is my personal attitude toward the enemies of the cross, toward the enemies of the gospel, toward the enemies of the church? It is to love them. To love them, what does that mean?
What do you mean to love them? Maybe to desire that they will repent? That's where it starts: to desire that they will believe the gospel. to desire that they will be saved. To hate them?
No. to want them To go to hell? To want them to die in their sins. No. How about having the attitude of Jesus who looks at the city of Jerusalem and what does he do?
He weeps. He weeps. How often I would have gathered you as hen gathereth her brood, but you would not. You who murder the prophets. About to Slaughter me.
That has to be the attitude. No matter how vile or violent No matter how threatening. We love those enemies. The worst Islamic terrorist The most foul-mouthed, anti-Christian person that Irritates you. The one who criticizes Christ and dishonors him.
Uh until it literally causes pain for you. What's your attitude? It's an attitude of love. Let me say it again. To love them is to ardently and passionately and genuinely desire that they will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
And that has to be the heart attitude that we take into this dying world. In the 31st chapter of Job, Job defends his virtue, and this is what he says. Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy? What an interesting insight. You want to know my character?
Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy or rejoiced when evil befell him? Do I get some kind of pleasure when a terrorist blows himself up? Do I get some kind of pleasure Uh when um a politician, an immoral, ungodly, profane politician succeeds in leading some kind of movement that changes laws for the worse, uh do I? Do I rejoice when uh His plane crashes?
Well, Job said this, no. I have not allowed My mouth. to sin. by asking for his life. I've even heard people say Maybe the best thing would happen.
would be the president would be assassinated. What? The best thing that would happen would be the president would be what? Saved. Along with every other person who's on the other side.
of the gospel. Proverbs 25, 21, if your enemy's hungry, Do what? Feed him. If he's thirsty, Give him water to drink. And oh, by the way, the Lord will reward you.
That's Proverbs 25, 21, 22.
Well, that's the Old Testament. The Old Testament is love. Your neighbor, and your neighbor includes your enemy.
Alright, so you've got tradition in Jesus' time. Love your neighbor, and your neighbor is this very, very narrow group of people that you prefer and hate your enemy. That's tradition. Old Testament teaching, love. Your neighbor and your neighbor It means everybody, including your enemy.
And the final point is to look at the truth from Jesus. How did he... Give us clarity. 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. There's three things there that I just you can see them yourself. Three principles will correct a faulty understanding. Love your enemies. Pray for your persecutors.
and demonstrate your sonship. Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, manifest or demonstrate your sonship. Nobody has problems living with their friends. Jesus goes to the real issue in that second and great commandment: your enemy is your neighbor. Remember the Luke 10 Good Samaritan story?
That's a story about loving your neighbor. Uh y your neighbor was uh Was an outcast alien. Here is a Samaritan and a Jew, and they had no dealings. And yet there is an expression of love. Love your enemies.
The possessive pronoun there is very definite. Love your personal enemy. Love is aga pate. It's a present. Constant command.
Be constantly loving. And agapa'o is the love of the will. It's the noblest of all loves. It's the love that's not the love of feelings and emotion. It's not phileo, which has a shade of kind of affections.
It's the love of the will. It's the love that determines. It's the unconquerable benevolence of an invincible goodwill. Love your enemies. Love your enemies.
Luke six, Jesus says, to the point that you do. Good to those who hate You. Second, pray for your persecutors. It can come to that. Pray for those who persecute you.
Who's the best model of that? Jesus on the cross, what did he say? Father Forgive them. They don't know what they do. That forgiveness went into action fast.
Because the thief was forgiven on the spot, and so was the Roman. Centurion. Again, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, this is the supreme command. Through the medium of prayer. We go to our persecutors.
Stand by their side. and plead to God for them. You pray for your persecutors. You go to your persecutor's side. to your enemy's side.
Spiritually speaking, And you take hold of your enemy and you lift your enemy before God in prayer. It was back in 1880.
Some words were written that affected Bonhoeffer. By another He wrote this. This commandment to love your enemies and pray for your persecutors will grow even more urgent in the holy struggle which lies before us. The Christians will be hounded from place to place, subjected to physical assaults, maltreatment, and death of every kind. We are approaching an age of widespread persecution.
Soon, the time will come when we will pray. It will be a prayer of earnest love for these very sons of perdition who stand around and gaze at us with eyes aflame with hatred and who have perhaps already raised their hands to kill us. Yes, the church, which is really waiting for its Lord and which discerns the signs of the times of decision, must fling itself with its utmost power and with the armor of its holy life into this prayer of love. End quote. That has to be the attitude of the true church.
Love your enemies. Show it by praying. For your persecutors. And thirdly, that will demonstrate your sonship. Verse.
45, so that you may be.
sons of your father, Who's in heaven? That is just a profound statement. The most godlike thing you can do. The most godlike thing you can do is love your enemies. Let me tell you something.
If God didn't love his enemies, there wouldn't be any Christians. Right? Even while we were enemies, Paul says, he loved us. That's the basic principle. we manifest that we are genuinely the sons of God, when we love the way God loves.
We were all enemies, and he made us friends. He made us sons. He made us joint heirs. We are to behave toward our enemies. The way our Heavenly Father behave toward us.
How does God treat his enemies? He loves him. He loves them. How do we know that? Verse 45.
causes his son To rise on the evil. And the good? Sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. The world is full of the enemies of God, they hate God. They defy God.
They resent God. And the rain falls. and the sun shines. And they live life. and they smell the flowers and they eat the food and they fall in love and they have children.
And they suck in all the wonders of Life and creation. This is what Calvin first called common grace. that manifest the love of God. for his enemies. Psalm 145, 15 and 16 says, The eyes of all look to thee.
And thou dost give them their food in due time. Thou dost open thy hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. Common Grace. Common grace. You know, when you think about But that uh Love of God that extends toward everyone.
I like to break it into four simple categories. We're running out of time, I'll give them to you quick. Number one is general goodness, general goodness, just life in the world. Just look around you. We're living in Santa Clarita.
How many real believers are in this town? But what a delightful Place to live. That's common grace. Music is a common grace. Food is a common grace.
Friendship is a common grace. Recreation is a common grace. Scenery is a common grace. But there's a second way in which God loves his enemies: compassion. compassion.
He feels pity for them. Matthew Jesus weeps. Luke 19 Jesus weeps. Jeremiah 13 and Jeremiah 48, Jeremiah literally cries the tears of God, tears of compassion. We see the compassion of God toward his enemies in the healing ministry of Jesus.
Why did Jesus heal people? He could have come into the world and demonstrated his deity a lot of ways. How about flying? Huh? Just standing there and levitate.
Go up to Galilee in the air. Take a few guys with you. Fly back, land. Pretty impressive. Or maybe he could leap a tall building at a single bound like Superman.
Why did he do what he did? Because He was not only demonstrating miraculous power, he was demonstrating divine compassion. There is compassion. Medicine is the evidence of God's compassion. There's a milk of human kindness we talk about in even fallen, wretched people that's part of the image of God that makes them care for people.
Not everybody that runs hospitals, not everybody that runs charities, not everybody that tries to relieve suffering is doing it because. The Holy Spirit is in them. But it's part of the image of God.
So, God's love for his enemies is shown in common grace and compassion, and thirdly, warning. God loves enough to warn. You must repent, or you will all likewise perish. That's what we saw yesterday. You're all living on borrowed time.
And the fourth. Way in which God demonstrates his love for his enemies is in the gospel offer. The gospel offer God's general love for mankind. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes, in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Tell them to repent. Tell them believe in Christ. to be saved. God's love. extends across the world.
Through us. to the corners of the world. to bring the gospel offer. to sinners. Does God love his enemies?
Yeah. How does he love his enemies? By being good to all? By showing compassion to all, By warning all, and by offering the gospel.
So just do that, okay? That's your assignment. Live the rest of your life. Loving the way God loves his enemies. That's how you live.
your life. You extend. to your enemies. Love. the way God extends love.
No different, can't improve on it. Show them kindness, goodness. compassion. Warn them of what is to come and offer them the gospel. That is your calling as long as you're here.
This is Grace to You, the Bible Teaching Ministry of John MacArthur. John's lesson today about loving and praying for those who persecute you. is from his study How to Think and Act in Evil Days. Again, we broke from our regular schedule to bring you today's special program. Our hope is that it has given some helpful clarity in light of Charlie Kirk's assassination last week, which has rightly been major news.
Now, just a reminder, the study titled Myths About Salvation, which we took a break from to air today's special broadcast, that series is available for free download. Just go to our website, gty.org. You can also get the complete study that you heard part of today. Again, it's called How to Think and Act in Evil Days. Get the MP3s and the transcripts free of charge at gty.org.
We'd also like to send you a free booklet by John MacArthur. It looks at the profound truth of the saving gospel, summing it all up. in fifteen words of hope. That's the title of the booklet, Request Your Free Copy of 15 Words of Hope when you get in touch with us today. Request your free booklet at our website, gty.org.
The title to ask for, 15 Words of Hope. You can also request your free booklet by phone. You will reach our customer service staff at this number 8005 Grace. or you can go to our website gty.org. At the website, be sure to download the MP3s and the transcripts for the series we aired today and yesterday.
Again, it's called How to Think and Act in Evil Days. You can also download our study from the previous few weeks titled Myths About Salvation. Just go to gty.org. And friend, thank you for remembering to pray for the Charlie Kirk family. Thank you for bringing his wife, Erica, his two children, and the rest of his family before the throne of grace.
Now for all of us here at Grace TU, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace TU Television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378 and be here next week as John MacArthur shows you why God's Word is enough to guide you through every aspect of life. even through the toughest trials. It's another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth. one verse at a time.
On Monday's Grace to You.
