Father, you are so good to us. And in many ways, we are really spoiled. A big part of that is the country we live in, where we have so much freedom, so many provisions, so much medical care, and just on and on it goes, compared to a lot of the world that suffers greatly and dies young. And with that, those privileges come responsibilities. So as we don't take lightly your son's death and his crucifixion and giving his life, his body and his blood for us, and we remember that in communion, so we don't take lightly that we have an opportunity to listen to your word. Help us to take this in and put it to practice in our lives. Not just more information to our heads, but may our hearts be changed. May we be deeper and more seriously in love with you. and telling others about it. As I think of people right now, some of whom I was able to witness through this week, I asked Father that you would fill this building up with new believers, that you would give us the privilege of not only sharing the gospel, but of seeing them come to know you and of making disciples and taking what we're learning even today and passing it on. Thank you for this time. Blessed for your glory alone, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. We are in Matthew 5, verses 38 to 42. Next week, Lord willing, we will cover the end of chapter five, and then on Thanksgiving weekend, The 27th, I will do an overview and wrap up something, however God leads in that final. My message is on the book or the message of the Sermon on the Mount. Isaac will be here on the 4th of December. Be praying for him and he'll jump right in. I gave him every opportunity to take a little longer. He's ready to go. So you pray for him as he makes preparation, as they make a move in the winter. I looked at weather across the country today and rejoiced. When Ben was colder than us, I always rejoice. And they were freezing down in Texas where we looked at visiting friends and family and I went, yes! It's good for them, it's really helpful. So, sorry, I shouldn't rejoice over their struggle. But as we live in the freezer here, it often brings back memories. But we have opportunity in this warm, heated building, in these comfortable chairs, with a great meal coming, to look at Matthew 5, 38 to 42. And we've brought up to you numerous times, the Beatitudes changed people. When they came with spiritual bankruptcy, and they mourned over their sins, and they submitted to God in total meekness, and as that process went on, they could finally relax. Are you around unbelievers these days that are stressed to the max? They don't have answers. They don't have hope. They're really panicking. They're panicking over a potential recession, depression that might be coming. They're panicking over how they're going to lead. They're panicking over they're taking away your guns. They're taking away all these things that people see. And when you get into the Scriptures, none of that matters. So that's why when I get into the Word, it just releases me to relax, to trust God. But they're stealing the election. Did the Romans come into Israel by invitation? Didn't they steal the country of Israel? And you watch how everything happened there and how God told the people, the Jews especially, in the first century, to submit to him, to trust him. And he's gonna give some instructions regarding that as we go into this passage this morning. So realize again, as you're looking here, the law is very helpful. Okay? The law's not a bad thing. We're not talking about legalism where you think the law is gonna do something for you spiritually, that you can keep the law and it's gonna save you in some way. That never happens. That's not what the law was given for. Did we lose Mark? Oh, we got him back. Okay, good. Everybody's looking up there, so I'm realizing you're not listening to me. I'm gonna have to start throwing potato, mashed potato, something at you to get your attention as you're licking your lips. but he's trying to bring up some good things for them. We fight this. You're gonna get some new laws coming in because of elections. And your attitude is? Yes, Lord. Use it for your glory. Teach me to let go so that I don't try to go up in the rapture pulling the hearse or pulling the U-Haul with the hearse. And so many people think they can take it with them. You're not taking anything with you. Let it go. Surrender. Trust God. This is ultimately what Jesus Christ is not only saying, but what He's going to do when He goes to the cross, to the extreme that we'll never go to. So the law is a very good thing. It's protective, it's beneficial to mankind in general, to the Jews in particular. And so he starts in another one here. As we get to a fourth area that he's covering, he says in verse 38, you have heard that it was said, quotes a couple little lines that are found numerous places in the Old Testament. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Never by itself like that, always with broader information around it. All right? But these two is where he zeroes in as he's trying to deal with them because they were the ones that would have caught their attention. It's from their religious teachers. It's from the scriptures. The rabbis, the scribes, the Pharisees, the experts in the law were passing on what it said to the people. They didn't understand what it meant. They thought it was a ritualistic, legalistic, rigid, physical, external thing that I had to do, instead of realizing what He was after. God was after, from the beginning, with the Ten Commandments, was the heart. They knew the law. They knew the Ten Commandments. but they weren't following it from the heart. They desired, as too many of us do some days, personal revenge, retaliation, getting even with somebody who has mistreated us, stabbed us in the back, caused us to lose our job, or worse, lose our reputation. So as you go into this, which commandment do you think he's dealing with? We talked about the others here. We talked about you shall not murder, commandment number, I can't always be giving you the answers. You have to tell me. What commandment is thou shalt not murder in the 10? Number six. What number is the number of man? Number six. So I always, see I have little things that help me to lock onto that. Then he gets to a second one. What's the next one he covers? 27 down to 32. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Which commandment? Number seven. What's that? Then he gets into the third one, talks about you should not make false vows. Which two did I grab onto last week? Number three, to not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. I swear to God, don't do that when you're not gonna keep that vow. You shouldn't need to do that anyway. And then what was the other one we brought up? Number, you guys slept since then, I can tell. Number nine, to not bear false witness, to not say something, not to lie, not to pass on something that isn't true. Okay, we're caught up, right? What are you gonna do with this one? Which commandment is he dealing with? This is a toughie. You wanna lean towards some of them. I saw number 10 volunteered. What's he saying? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. What did the 10th commandment say? You shall not covet. Which one do you think I would lock onto? Because that's the only thing that matters here, right? I'm the one speaking. It's my opinion that matters for the moment. You can ignore me the rest of the day and the week and the month and the year. Okay, could come down to a general one about loving your neighbor. But when he's talking about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, that would cover that. But what if I told you I thought it was number one? What's number one? You shall have no other gods before you. What are you doing when you become the judge? You're making yourself out to be God. So I know I'm pushing it a little bit on that one. And it really does cover the six, to love my neighbor. But at the same time, I go to James and tell him, you make yourself out to be God, or judge, you make yourself out to be God. You shall have no other gods before you. Kind of see where I'm going? Give me a little bit of wiggle room with that one that I can maybe squeak it in there. He gives them instructions in light of what they knew and what they're supposed to be doing here. Verse 39, but I say to you, do not resist him who is evil. So as he covers this, I went back up and I pulled out some locations. So I want to go to some of those. Exodus 21, you can see them right there on your outline. Exodus chapter 21, where you memorize many verses from, right? 22 to 25. Exodus 21, 22 to 25 says this, in the midst of all the law giving, right after giving the Ten Commandments, he said, if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as a woman's husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there's any further injury, then you shall appoint as penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Interesting passage. You see how Jesus only grabbed onto an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth? Which one do you think we use a lot? Those. It's just kind of the ones that roll off our lips. But he gave a broader section in an interesting place. And I put the word prevention up here. What's he trying to prevent? in the giving of this law in Exodus 21. You can't take more than the rightful amount. So you can't have revenge. You can't pay somebody back double for what they've done to you. It just puts a limitation on it. But in the context, to make sure you understand, the woman has a miscarriage does not mean the baby died. That's how we use that word today. That is not how the Hebrew word, what it means. It should not have been translated that way. How many of your Bibles say miscarriage? Okay. It leads us in America down to the idea that the baby died. That's not what happens. The baby simply, the term that he's describing there is an untimely birth that literally says the baby came out. So the way I know the baby didn't die is because of what he says. There's no further injury. So there's nothing wrong with the baby. There's nothing wrong with the mother. The mother healed up, the baby healed up, maybe from a premature birth that caused some complications, but there's no further injury. You shall surely be fined as a husband may demand. Why would the husband demand some kind of fine? Not out of revenge. What did it possibly cost this woman? Let's say they injured her and caused her to be unable to use her hand. I'm not gonna say broke her hand, but she was unable to use her hand in this struggle. They just smacked her and her hand was hurting really bad. What kind of injury does that cause for the mother? What is she unable to do? Maybe take care of the baby, maybe hold the baby. There's some things, so maybe they bring in a nurse or a family member or somebody has to come in to follow up. So the husband says, you're going to pay my sister-in-law's travel, you're going to pay for her while she's living with us, and she's gonna be here for a month, you're gonna pay for that. That's the injury. So just to give you an example, it may not be a major deal, but it would require something that those men did because they were fighting, but they didn't kill the baby. This is where you find people today trying to justify abortion. The baby didn't die. Go check it out. Go look up your Hebrew words, get in your concordance, and check it out for yourself. But what does happen when you go down further in verse 23, if there is further injury, you shall appoint as a penalty life for life. Is this just the mother's life? No. This is the baby's life as well. If that baby died because of those two men, what was the law requiring of them? Death. Those men would die. So think twice about what you're doing around other people. It has consequences that are gonna cost you. But the first thing you notice here, he puts limits. You can only do the amount that it costs, okay? So eye for eye, tooth for tooth, I don't know how you've locked that in your brain. Many people teach it today as if it's my right to get revenge, and it's just the opposite. It limits what you can do and you can only extract what they took from you. You can only get that back. You see how that kind of fits in there? We'll give you a couple more, but I need to see heads moving, okay, or moving, whether or not it makes sense. So as he's going through, he's touched on one and covered this area, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, much more broadly. Look at the next one. As you look down in Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 19, verses 15-21. He's going to bring it up again. Another book of Moses. Deuteronomy 19, verse 15. He says, A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which has been committed. On the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both of the men then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. And the judges shall investigate thoroughly. And if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother." Whoa. Will that settle some lawsuits out of court? Thus you shall purge the evil from among you, and the rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. Thus you shall not show pity. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Gideon's making this equal responsibility. If the guy lies, and the penalty was going to be, because of what he said about me, that I was going to be put to death, guess what? They execute him. How many false witnesses do you think we'd have in court today? If they were gonna take their testimony and thoroughly investigate it, they're gonna go talk to witnesses, they're gonna go check the videotapes, right? They're gonna go find out, and you've seen this in many movies you've watched, where the investigators lie and say, well, that's not what the videotape said, and they go, then all of a sudden they realize somebody saw it, and in reality, there never was a videotape. They do that over and over and over. That's called lying. God doesn't want us doing that. But all of a sudden you see the reaction in the person. They realize, I did do it and they caught it on tape. I'm in trouble. So how does God figure it out? Why are the priests involved with the Jews? They're gonna go at it from all angles, spiritual as well, and there are ways that they could test. But the end result here is, same thing he's trying to bring out, it gives protection. You can't go around lying about somebody else. You better have two or three witnesses that can confirm the matter and it gets checked out thoroughly. But if they find out those two or three lied, what happens to them? Same thing, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But when you have two or three, you're expecting them to be real, except when they tried Jesus. How many witnesses came forward? Two different witnesses came up and said he was going to destroy this temple, or that he would resurrect it again in three days. Like, oh yeah, right. The temple that took 46 years to build. But they got two witnesses, because they thought that would carry the weight. They both lied. How do you think God processed them when they died? They're gonna answer to God for that. So here's the second one he's trying to bring out. Justice must be by two or three witnesses. It's not my word, his word. It protects the innocent. So innocence is protected by the law. The law was given there to give protection. We think of it being there to get in our way. All the law is good for is to keep telling me what I can't do. And why does it do that? Why does your dad, when you're little, tell you not to play in the street? He's so mean. He's so legalistic. He's so restrictive. Or is he really trying to help you? So God is doing the same thing. Do you get this? Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. We're trying to change your thinking over. It's not about retaliation. It's not about payback. It's about restricting how far you can go. God's the ultimate one who's gonna judge. God is the one who's gonna bring vengeance. He knows everything. He sees everything. He is the videotape. You can't hide anything from him. Look at the third one that he brings up. Back to Leviticus. This is your favorite book to memorize from. I've learned that in recent days. Leviticus chapter 24, verse 17. Leviticus 24, starting in verse 17. And if a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. including the unborn, as we mentioned earlier. And the one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life, and if a man injures his neighbor just as he had done, so shall it be done to him. Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death. Is capital murder a righteous thing to do? Yep, God's the one who instituted it. There shall be one standard for you. It shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God. What happens to the Gentiles who are living amongst the Jews? Same standard, same requirement. Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel and they brought the one who had cursed outside the camp. Ooh, just had cursed. Outside the camp and they stoned him with stones. Thus the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses. When they're the executioners, what are they thinking? If I do that, this is what's gonna happen to me. Do I really believe they did that? Or am I executing an innocent man? When a woman caught in adultery is brought before Jesus and he writes in the sand, we don't know what he wrote, but all of a sudden they start wandering away. And the guess is they were writing down either the names of the people standing there, or even more so the sins that they had committed. They had no right to bring that woman. Because the penalty, same thing should have happened to them. So as you're processing this information, it's to deter crime is why he says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It's to protect the innocent. It's to limit punishment. And so as you're looking at this, Jesus tries to clarify. Okay, now you know what it's all about. So let me explain to you a little bit. I say to you, do not resist him who is evil. What's Jesus doing with the law? He's modifying it, it seems, or is he? Okay, he's not modifying it, is it? Clarifying it, okay. What's he doing with the law? What did the law demand? Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, that was pretty clear. Jesus comes in and says, but I say to you, do not resist him who is evil. What point is he trying to get at here? He's going after the heart. It's your attitude that he's talking about. This resistance, and I put it down there for you, to withstand, to oppose, to stand against, to fight them in some way is what it would have come down to. Only God knows everything. Sometimes, have you ever made a rash, immediate decision and then verbalize it only to find out two seconds later that you were wrong in a crowd of people? How's that make you feel? Super, right? No, it's humiliating, which is good for us. But the issue comes down here. God is the only one who's impartial. I don't know everything. I rush to conclusion because of what happened to me. I've been noticing a lot. When I touched on gospel a while back, I have been picking up, I've been super, super sensitive to what I'm hearing and then what I'm letting out of my mouth. And I thank God over and over again. Close it, Jack, close it, close it. No, no, close it. Don't say anything. Very dangerous. I wanna give my opinion when my opinion is not godlike. God has not given the judgment of other people to me. That's why I can't murder. That's why I can't seek revenge. No vengeance, no getting even, no paybacks, no retaliation, just like Jesus Christ. You notice how he functioned on earth? Did you ever hear him pray, Father, go get him? Could I have just five angels, that's all I need. Five angels to go take out Chorazin. Nasty people up there. You don't hear him praying that way. He's not vindictive. He knows vengeance is coming. He knows in spite of what's being taught today that the majority of human beings are gonna spend eternity in hell, well, in the lake of fire. In hell initially and then ultimately in the lake of fire. That's been totally denied in the church today. I bet you, and I don't bet, I'm not a betting man, but I bet you you could probably have trouble finding 5% of churches in America that teach a literal hell that people stay in forever and ever. You got variations. Some say, well, it's not really that bad of a place. You know, all my buddies are there. We could gamble and play games and smoke and drink and whatever we want to do while we're waiting. They turn it into all kinds of things, but it is a literal place that Jesus talked a lot about. But they don't want to recognize that there really is a vengeance. It's just not mine to carry out. They water it down. So when they take the law away from America, what happens to America? It's chaotic. It's very selfish. Every man does that which is right in their own eyes. And that's how we have America running today, if you haven't picked up on that. That's why they're voting the way they're voting. Yes, there may be some illegal things going on in the voting, but ultimately, God is turning America over to what they really want. So many that are on the good side, whatever your definition of that is, are just as evil as the ones on the bad side. Their language, their attitudes, their vindictiveness, their greed, their dishonesty, all of that is fitting in with the system. And you can watch what they're saying. What they promise and then what they do, they don't fulfill. They don't keep their word. And so we make a joke out of it, don't we, Bernie? You can't trust politicians, lawyers, Used car salesman. You were listening last week. So some of those things that are out there, but what he's trying to bring out, let me give you a verse in the New Testament, Romans 12. This really, really clarifies some things for us. Romans chapter 12, verses 17 to 21. I'm gonna skip a little bit in there, but the majority of them I'm gonna read. The first statement, very clear, Romans 12, 17, never, how often? Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Isn't that what Jesus is saying here? Do not resist him who is evil. That's not your job. It doesn't mean God won't do it, but it's not your job. Skips down to verse 19. Another word, never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Where's that found? Where's that quote from? Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Your favorite book in the Old Testament, where you've memorized? Leviticus. Deuteronomy is your second favorite book. Question? Well, yeah, it's brought up in the New Testament. But he's quoting here. As Paul writes, he's quoting from the Old Testament. And he's bringing out this line from Leviticus 19.18. And he reminds them, which they should have known, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will reap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Agathos, overcome evil with what is beneficial to them. Give them what they need. You're not helping them in their sin, but you're helping them in their literal needs in life. So he's bringing this up as he tells us not to resist the devil, or the devil, do resist the devil, but do not resist those who are evil. And ultimately, what do I do to them? I don't just ignore them, which is my tendency. I minister to them. I can pray for them, but I'm literally giving them food, water, I'm heaping burning coals, what does that refer back to? And again, here's another quote out of Proverbs. But what does that refer back to, that you're heaping burning coals on their head? When your neighbor's fire went out back in the day and they came to your house, how much coal would you share with your neighbor that they could take back in their little dispenser to get their fire going again? Enough to get it going. Were you stingy or generous? What makes a decision if I'm stingy or generous? Two things. What I think of the neighbor and how much I have in my own fire. How much did Jesus give? All. What's the worst thing that could happen? Couple hours later, I go back to my neighbors who's got a roaring fire going and I borrow my coals back. You supply enough for them, then you've got a friend who is going to help you in times of need as well. I got a tickle. But the struggle here is that I want to, I kind of process it through my own lens of what I think of the person. So I want you to take a moment, no, no positive, I mean, no verbal responses. I want you to think of the worst person that you know in your life right now who's still alive, even though you've wished them dead a number of times. They're still alive. The person that you're struggling the most with, because this whole idea of evil here is a person who's wicked, bad, malicious. I like the word pernicious, which simply means destructive, harmful. So they're as bad as they can be to you. And this is the person that I don't resist. They come to me with a need and I am overjoyed to be able to meet their need. Not to be superior over them, but because I have the opportunity and the privilege to love them. So you got that person still in your brain, right? You're picturing right now, what can I do for them? Can I have them over for Thanksgiving? Isn't that feeding and watering? Can I look for a need in their life and try to help meet that? Humbly, not taking advantage of them. Well, you're pretty dumb. You waited till the last minute to get your firewood. So here's some firewood. Throw it on the ground, walk away. That's not what we're talking about. It's a hard attitude that Christ is after. He's talking to a crowd of people that are used to living this way, of getting their own revenge, of paying back people and going back and quoting an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. You're only getting what you deserve. And I love the fact that I got to give it to you. It's not for you. It's for the judges. It's for the priests. It's for two or three witnesses. It's outside of us individually. And this is what makes all the difference when it comes to vengeance. It's not my job. My job is to love them, which we'll talk about next week, Lord willing. My job is to win them, which is why I bring coals of fire. And I heap it up. They carried it on their head. You kind of think that's nuts, but it's just what they did in their culture. I don't know if that was a safe place, keep it away from the little kids. Don't know. But just how they process a lot of things they carried. But as they're wrestling with this, he's telling them not to resist evil. but to minister to those around you, be a benefit to them. So then he gets into four specific areas as he moves from this truth, from the tradition to the truth into this training. And now he's gonna straighten them out in four areas that they're not gonna wanna hear. Unless they have been spiritually bankrupt, have been mourning over their sin, have become meek. What's the next one? I never go any farther. What's the fourth one on the Beatitudes? Spiritually bankrupt, mourning, meek, blessed are those who... Hunger and thirst after righteousness. You're in the Bible. You got up today 15 minutes early to make sure that you could spend time in the word of God. Don't answer whether or not you did that. You got up an hour early. And you got into it and the next thing you know, you're late for church. I was having such a good time with God. I was interacting in His Word. He taught me some things I hadn't seen before, or as Jim mentioned the other day, things that we'd gone over and over and over, and then all of a sudden, wham, here's something in the same passage, Wednesday night it was, that you see and you go, oh, I hadn't seen that before. So you're having this great time with God, this time of fellowship and enrichment and training and teaching, and you're learning from Him and worshiping Him and enjoying Him. Question? Studying His words secondary to being with Him individually. When you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I'm not saying studying is a bad thing. This also commanded of God, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. I can worship at home. I can worship on the internet. I can worship on the TV. You say, well, that's not corporate worship. Okay, find me a verse that talks about corporate worship. And those are talking about assembling together. I can learn away from the church. I evangelize away from the church, typically. So what's left? Why do I come to church? What's a driving force? If it isn't worship, which I got in trouble for bringing up one time to this guy. I told him, we don't gather on Sundays to worship. He went, what? Well, you can worship, but that's not the primary thing you're doing. What are you here for that you can't do alone? Fellowship. Go look at Acts 2 when the church got together, what were they doing? Sharing their meals from house to house. Taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart. They interacted with each other. That's what you can't do alone. That's why you gather, you're checking in, you're being held accountable, you're interacting about your needs, you're finding out the needs of somebody else so you can pray for them. But it's a body life that goes on on Sundays. And worship's great, I'm not against worship, but worship should be going on 24 hours a day. Getting me off on another subject. How much time do I have left, Mark? Oh, thank you very much. Ooh, you shouldn't have done that. Okay, four things. He's gonna cover four areas that are really critical. Look at the first one. He says, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. You ever been slapped? How many people in this room have been slapped on your cheek? Okay, well, impressive. Okay, how many in this room were slapped on your cheek by somebody other than your parents? Okay, there's still a few. That tells me what your parents did to you. But that tells me what you did to your parents. My sister got her mouth washed out with soap one time. Oh, I forgot, I'm putting all this out on the line. She'll tell you about it. and it was well-deserved, but I learned, don't do that, and you won't get your mouth washed out with soap. But the idea of being slapped is not a fun thing. I was playing a video game one time. I was in the seventh grade, because the kid that slapped me was in the eighth grade, and he was much bigger than me. but I'm playing a video game at a bowling alley. My dad gave me a dime, I'd rather have the dime back, it was a silver dime, back in the day when they were still silver, and he handed it to me and let me go play the video while he's turning in the shoes and checking out, and I've shared this with you before, some of you, and I'm standing there and I get in there and I'm all excited, my brother Brent is standing there watching, and I'm playing the game and this guy comes up and just pushes me out of the way. He said, that's my game. And I was taught, as an Ebner, I didn't get revenge, I just got one of my game back. So I stood up to him and whack, right across the face. Good thing he didn't punch me in the nose. I didn't bleed. Well, he's standing there and I'm in shock, because I can't take the kid on, he's too big. And Brent was too little to help me. But here's my dad walking up and he saw the whole thing. The kid starts telling my dad that I took his game away. My dad didn't do a whole lot, didn't seek vengeance on this young lad, but he told him, get out of there. He said, I just watched what you did, and that dime I gave to my son to play the game. I got justified right on the spot, but it didn't take away this red mark on my face, or the fear of that kid when I saw him at school. But I know what it's like to be slapped, because he hit me about as hard as he could. And you're looking at that, and you're going, this is very, I put on your outline, indignant. To the Jews, it was demeaning, it was a contemptuous action, an attack on one's honor, an act of insult, a horrible form of dishonor, to slap somebody. Now what do we know about slapping on the cheek? We see it in the movies, what do they do in the movies? Somebody offends somebody and they walk up and they go, and it means you're gonna have a duel. It's just how you initiate the duel. Sometimes if they're really proper people, they take a little glove and they hit you with the glove. So they really don't hurt you too much. But they insulted you. They hurt your pride. And what's Jesus tell them to do when they do that? Turn the other, turn to him the other also. What? I can't avenge myself. I didn't do anything. I'm just playing a video game and whack, across the face. I'm not to retaliate, I'm to surrender my rights to God, I'm to give up the video game to the kid, and what? And call my dad, yeah, let him straighten it out. This requires humility. Look at 1 Peter. I gotta keep you moving because some of you are falling asleep on me. And you haven't even had turkey yet. 1 Peter chapter two. Feel free to stand in the back if I'm putting you to sleep. 20 to 23, some of you maybe didn't sleep well last night, I'm not picking on you. 1 Peter 2, verse 20, what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. And my answer to that is a Hebrew word, rats. I don't like to read that. I want to be able to defend myself. Look at verse 21. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, being slapped and beaten and all the rest of it, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. And he himself bore our sins. I slapped him. in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you were healed." I need to act like Jesus Christ. Now you're thinking, oh, you're just, you're telling me I'm just supposed to be a pushover. That anybody can come up and do anything they want to me anytime. That's not what he's talking about. The law hasn't changed. The eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is still valid. If somebody's sinned in a way that's bad, you want to turn them in. Not out of vengeance. I've told wives in counseling, the moment I find out their husband is beating them, now I'm trusting the wife that it's true, because I've had some wives that have lied. So how do you do the witnessing there? But once that happens, I said, if that's genuine, you need to go to the authorities and turn him in. Not as a payback, because he needs help. God isn't trying to break up your marriage, which is what's gonna happen if he's a wife beater and you don't wanna be around him, you're done. He needs help to get the authorities a crack down on what he's done wrong, to straighten out his life, maybe come to Christ if he isn't a believer, and for him to stop hitting you, but to restore your marriage. That is not popular today. I keep talking to people, some out of state, they keep giving me explanations. Well, my pastor said it's okay to divorce for this, this, this. I said, really? Show me that in the Bible. God hates divorce. He didn't give freedom for divorce. There may be a separation because of just what I just said, that you're being beaten. But if it's turned in, the police will arrest him. If there's evidence on you because you show up at the hospital and you're all beaten, and they can connect that his blood is on, or your blood is on him or whatever, you need to be doing this because you love him, and I'm picking on the men today. Not out of revenge. Not as a payback. And you can name a dozen or 500 other sins that may go along with it. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Show humility. Don't get the dueling pistols out. I'm gonna teach him a lesson. The second one, verse 40. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Why was that a big deal? Lawsuits were common. The Corinthians struggled with it when you get into 1 Corinthians 6. I'm not gonna read it, but 6.1-8. Here we have the Jews, and the courts carried great weight. The court could reward your shirt in a lost case, but the court could not give away your coat. That's kind of interesting. When you look at the idea of a shirt here, it would have been a long, sack-like inner garment, so we think of them almost as long johns, made out of cotton or linen. A poor man would have had two of those. Even a poor man. Because you had to have one washing, drying, cleaning on the side while you wore the other one. All right, so it would have been normal even for a poor man to try to acquire two shirts so the court could give one of yours away. That means you had to work harder or take some of your savings if you weren't so poor and go buy another one. That's what it cost you. But they couldn't take your coat. The coat was a great blanket-like outer garment. It was a robe by day, it was a blanket at night, and typically you only had one. Now, you go to scriptures like, and I believe it's Exodus 22, yeah, it's one of them. You could give your coat to somebody as a pledge, but they had to give it back to you at nighttime for you to sleep with it. Exodus 22, 26 to 27, just for one example. It's also in Deuteronomy. You could choose to do that, the court could not. That's an interesting limitation. So even though someone wants to sue you and the response is on your part that, well, the court found you guilty, they're going to take away your shirt. He says, give them your coat also. Knowing what? They're going to give it back to you tonight to sleep with. So you're gonna have this constant exchange between no coat during the day, in the wintertime it's bad, Jerusalem even gets snow in the winter sometimes, and having your coat back to sleep with at night. What's that gonna force? Interaction between you and the person who's come after you. How long does it last? How long do you give them your coat? What's he after? The heart. that you're not angry and vindictive and trying to find some way. How dare the courts do that to me? He gives a third one here. So I'm volunteering my coat. I'm volunteering my other cheek. And in verse 41, whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him too. The Roman mile was about 423 feet short of the mile we know as 5,280 feet. So it was a little bit shorter, but it was a Roman mile. And he's saying here, whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with them too. We've now switched over versus 39 and 40 are Jewish issues. When he deals with slapping and the courts, now he switches over to a Roman issue, which they saw all the time. When you saw Roman soldiers, you avoided them. When you saw one coming down the road a little ways, go find someplace to hide, wait for them to pass by. Because what might happen? They'll walk up to you, they'll take their backpack, they'll sit it down next to you, as I talked about the other day, and they'll walk off. What's your requirement? You take that pack, even if you have a pack on already of your own, you carry that pack for a Roman mile, 4,800 and something feet. What? I don't even want to carry it the first mile, and now you're telling me that if they force me to do that, then I'm to go with them too. And what he's after, just like he was in the earlier ones, is you're trying to make a friend out of what someone may be an enemy. All the Roman soldier is doing is trying to get some relief. He may have been walking for miles and miles and miles. He's been assigned to go somewhere, and legally he's allowed to have you help him for a mile. That's it. You count the steps, one, two, three. When you get to the proper part, you just drop it on the ground and turn and walk away. What's wrong with your heart? I'm mad. I had plans. I was supposed to be somewhere. Somebody's depending on me. Now they're wondering what happened to me. How long does it take to walk a mile? 15 minutes at four miles an hour, so then I gotta walk back. So I just took a half hour minimum, and that's if I'm walking at four miles an hour. Does it mess up your day? Try it. Take 30 minutes when you're really busy and donate it to somebody. but this is what was going on, and they were used to it, and he brings this up, so notice he didn't start with this one, because they may have bristled, and some of them may have gotten him walked away, but he's really clear when he gets to this one, now I'm getting to the real heart attitude. Your goal here, it isn't about you, and it isn't about vengeance, it's about you winning and loving your neighbor. It's gonna cost. There's gonna be things that they do. I know somebody, who found out the property line was off, shifted their property over a ways. The one neighbor found out, took the land immediately. I mean, they were in there in no time whatsoever and put up a fence. That's where their driveway was. So as the neighbor plugs up the driveway, they had to punch a new road through the trees back to their house, which probably went back at least maybe 100 yards. What do you think they did with the neighbor next to them where the property shifted over onto their property? They let it go. I'm not going to retaliate. I'm not going to try to get my land back because it doesn't matter. It's their land. They've been using it for years. It was a survey from way back. And so they just let it go. These are examples of ways that I can respond to people around me. It's a great heart check. The elections, you think it's all about whether or not Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or Independents win. It's got nothing to do with that. It's all about God preparing his bride for his son's return. How's the bride doing? Is her dress a little bit soiled? Is she a little bit frustrated and distracted? Is she neglecting her savior, her groom? Not even spending time with him because she's just so upset about the world. You think Jesus slept well at night? Example of that is, what'd he do on the boat in the storm? They all think they're gonna drown, where's Jesus? Asleep. That's how we should be 24 hours a day. Never panic, unless you go fishing with your brother and he takes, remember the story, he takes you down the cliffs, no return, then you can panic. I give some exceptions. Now, you sit there, and I did, I spent a lot of time on those granite cliffs as I watched him disappear down the gorge. Fishing all the good holes and waiting. By the time I got there, there was nothing to fish. Scared them all. And I'm on, Lord, I'm going to die. I'm sliding down these cliffs. And it's brought me many times. One time I went up on a parasail. You're on a 300-foot tether about 250 feet off the ground. And zooming around on the lake, special permission, not all the college kids got it from their parents. Unless you were 21, he wouldn't give it to you. And I'm up there, my favorite song that I sing all the time now. My times are in your hands, oh Lord. When I sing that, I always think of that floating in the air. Gorgeous, but he also told us stories about what went wrong. And then people tell me stories of what went wrong in Mexico when they've gone down and done that. So you're sitting there having to learn to trust God, and that's all Jesus is doing here. It's God who has interrupted your schedule. It's God who sat the backpack down and said, walk. And it's God who said, I don't want you just to go a half hour, I want you to spend an hour with this guy. Well, a half hour with the guy and a half hour back. Because I want your heart to be right. This is what he's after in our lives. This is when you can sleep well at night, when you're trusting him, and you realize everything is in control. Look at the last one he gives us here. Verse 42, give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. The assumption here, based on scripture, based on what the Bible teaches, is that you were to assist those in need. We're not talking about some multimillionaire going around and knocking on doors and taking money from people. Okay, just put that assumption in the right place here. But to somebody who really has a need, give to him. Who asks of you. He requests. He desires. He's letting you know what the problem is. Do not turn away from him. Do not harden your heart when they want to borrow from you. And this can even be borrowing at interest. It's not what he's talking about. But he's just talking about the idea of surrendering my stuff. Had a talk with somebody the other day. And again, I don't want to go into details. But when I told him about this principle, he's not a believer yet. Praying for him. But when I told him about it, you could see his eyes get really big. It's like, what? People give, Christians give away money to needs. And what you have is legitimate need. He was shocked. He came back to me a couple times and he kept kind of questioning, like, what? The world is not used to this. This is a genuine believer who has come to spiritual bankruptcy, mourning, being meek, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and on it goes. That's the believer that Christ is trying to draw them into that kind of relationship. If you don't have that, you're not saved. Don't let Satan deceive you, don't let him dupe you, don't let him think that you have some product that you're gonna find out when you read the fine print. Oh, except for, and you're out. Christ made it blatantly clear what it takes to become a believer. When you look at this principle of what he's trying to teach him about not getting retaliation, go back in scripture, look at Abraham and Lot. What did Abraham do? He let Lot pick the best of the land. Didn't retaliate, never held it against him. Went and rescued him later when, because he made a dumb decision in a very bad area, he had to be rescued. Joseph with his brothers. They were evil. They were cruel. He didn't resist them. He took care of them. But he did it in such a way for them to learn. David to Saul. David was the rightful king. Saul should have submitted and let him rule. Seven years. Where's God? Why is God allowing this? David learned so much from that. A lot of his Psalms were written in those days. You can see some of them very specifically written about Saul and about being chased down, about wondering what would happen tomorrow. Stephen, to those stoning him, what does he say at the end in Acts 7? Forgive them. And then what does Jesus do on the cross? Where do you think Stephen learned it from? Father, forgive them. You have any grudges? Don't answer that question. Confess it to God. Let it go. Pretty simple. Why am I hanging on? Ultimately, you're hanging on and I hang on at times like that because I don't really trust God. You ever given up the last you had of something? and watch God provide. Maybe that next week you got five more back. And you kind of go, whoa. I'm not promising anything, but I've seen that happen a lot. I chose an occupation that didn't make you rich. Well, for most people. I could have been a televangelist, maybe I would have gotten rich. But I would have reaped the consequences. I've watched God bless and bless and bless He is so good. When I seek retaliation, I try to be God. You shall have no other gods before you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. You're the perfect God. You never forget anything. You never leave us or forsake us. You never stop helping us to grow. You never stop protecting us from what needs protection. If some today, and today they will, be executed for their faith on planet Earth, it's time for them to come home. We trust you. We thank you. We don't want to seek retaliation. because in doing so with Matthew 18, we're telling you that your forgiveness of us wasn't enough. We get to go back and not forgive others. Father, help us to let go. Help us to take those faces that came to mind a few minutes ago and to pray for them and to love on them and to yield ourselves to you as we let them have some things from us that really don't matter in the long run. So thank you for your perfect love and the fact that your vengeance didn't come down on us. It came down on your own son as he took our place. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen.