I want to have established a fatherly relationship by Grace with me that frees me to love rather than saying you got to get loving your enemies or you will not be become ever enter into a relationship with me as father if that's what he's saying then I'm cast back on my own resources to work my way into his family how can we find the inner resources to love our enemies in this episode of light and Truth John Piper opens Matthew 5: 43-48 to examine how God's love and forgiveness provide what we need to love as
God commands this sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on May 14th 1995 what I want us to do first is to catch the the nearer context of this command to love our enemies and what we see in the nearer context is that leading up to it in chapter 5 there have been six statements of contrast between what was taught before and what Jesus is teaching I want I want you to see these because we won't understand what's going on here unless we catch why Jesus is doing this they begin in verse 21 but
just before verse 21 comes a very key verse namely verse 20 which says I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven and then after he's saying your righteousness has to surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees he gives these six statements you've heard that it was said but I say to you let's read them let's just look at them one at a time there's six I'll just cite them verse 21 you have heard that the Ancients were told you
shall not commit murder and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court but I say to you everyone who's angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court number two verse 27 you have heard that it was said You shall not love you shall not commit adultery but I say to you everyone who looks on a woman to Lust For or her has committed adultery with her already in his heart number three verse 31 and it was said whoever sends his wife away let him give her a certificate of divorce but I say
to you everyone who divorces his wife except for the cause of unchastity makes her commit adultery number four verse 33 again you have heard that the Ancients were told you shall not make false vows but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord but I say to you make no oath at all either by heaven for it is the Throne of God or by the Earth for it is his foot stol number five verse 38 you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say to
you do not resist him who is evil number six verse 43 you have heard that it was said You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies now what's Jesus doing he is saying here unless your righteousness that I am spelling out now in these six statements unless your righteousness goes beyond their hypocritical superficial performance level righteousness you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven something very profound is being assumed here I going make a case for this that when you read love your enemies don't swear don't
lust don't be angry when you read these in The Sermon on the Mount Jesus is assuming a massive conversion that has taken place a transformation of the heart in here a new birth an adoption into the family of God the indwelling of a kingdom power that enables and releases this kind of freedom and authenticity in life he's assuming all of that that has to happen first something very deep has gone on now I I need to show you that from The Sermon on the Mount itself and then close by showing you the pieces of his
teaching outside the sermon that would show us how we experience that that conversion so let's stay with The Sermon on the Mount for just a moment and I'll try to show you why it is I think that this righteousness is a righteousness that we are called to live out not perfectly we will not live it out perfectly but we live it out authentically powerfully deeply real go with me to verses 44- 45 right here in the text that Steve read but I say to you this is verse 44 of chapter 5 but I say to
you love your enemies pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven now that's a very troubling text isn't it love your enemies in order that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven what does that mean in order that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven here's two possible meanings one it could mean get on with the business of trying to love out of your own moral resources built in by creation so that you can win your
way in into being a child of God which would be a frightening interpretation the second possible interpretation would be love your enemies and thus prove yourself to be a child of God a chip off the old block having the character of your father evidencing the spirit of your father within because he loves his enemies which is what the rest of the text says he makes the sun rise on Minneapolis both the good and the evil he made rains come yesterday so that Pagan farmers and godly Farmers both would have crops that grow he loves his
enemies day after day after day be like your father show that you are are a child of God now which of those interpretations is right and I want the second one to be true fits my theology I want to have a established a fatherly relationship by Grace with me that frees me to love rather than saying you got to get loving your enemies or you will not be become ever enter into a relationship with me as father if that's what he's saying then I'm cast back on my own resources to work my way into his
family now which of those is is true let me show you two or three three reasons from The Sermon on the Mount why I think the second one namely that God has freely graciously established a father relationship with us which we'll talk about how in a minute with us which then frees us to love first of all look at chap 5: 16 let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven now notice two things he doesn't say the one who might
become your father if you do enough good works he says let your life so shine that men may see your good works and give glory to the one who is now your father as you do these good works in heaven it's very crucial secondly notice in that that it says when you do good works they're going to glorify your father not you why why because it's your father within you who's freeing you enabling you empowering you loving you into loving others so that the light that is shining is the light of God within you that's
the light when Jesus says let your light shine that then may that men may see Glory they mean God's glory he means God's glory and the glory of God Is That Wonderful Grace that he has poured into US poured on to us is working through us toward others so if we just take that one verse 5:116 it's clear that these disciples are already children of God and they're doing good deeds like loving their enemy is done in such a way that God gets the glory not them and therefore it must be God and his life
and his glory and his life energizing and empowering and freeing them that came first so don't miss this don't misread The Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount says many things things that if you took them just in in the sentence all by itself love your enemies in order that you may be sons of God you might walk away from that says man that's in no way that's I can't ever work my way into becoming a child of God I don't have any love within me and we don't apart from God something went
first in the Sermon on the Mount here's a second clue that that's the case look at chapter 7 verse 11 and 12 it says Jesus speak to his disciples now if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your father the notice there but he he is their father he is their father this is not becoming he is how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him now not only does that verse say he is your father and
he loves to hear your prayers and he loves to give you what you need so that you can do what you need to do but it calls us evil ain't that great and the reason that is so great is because you might conclude that if you stumble if you fail if you fall I don't have that relationship anymore whereas this text here is Jesus he's looking out on these disciples and he he's saying if you being evil so unflattering and unsentimental not trying to enhance our self-esteem here is if you being evil know how to
give good gifts to your children how much more will your father your father you failing stumbling evil disciple I just find that so helpful I just find that so helpful therefore verse well therefore however you want people to treat you so treat them for this is the law and the prophets This is Love Now where does love come from According to verse 12 he says your father in Heaven is a prayer hearing beneficent loving caring God come to him and he will give you what you need he may not give you the exact thing you
ask for you ask for a loaf of bread bread he may not give you bread he may give you kale tape but he won't give you a stone give you a stone having a father like that therefore love it isn't the other way around oh I I hope you know I I I know that I tend to be a uh grammatically oriented preacher and oh he he he he gets all involved in grammar oh that I could make grammarians of you all I don't care if you've ever been to school everybody needs to know the
difference between therefore and because because the whole theology hangs on it if I said if I said do unto others as you would have them do unto you and therefore God God will be your father that'd be heresy it' be heresy you got to see this you got to see this he said if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give you good things when you ask him therefore therefore because youve got that kind of father take the risks it takes to love
you can do that now got that that's my second argument for why verse 44 in chapter 5 when it says love your enemies in order that you might be sons of your father does not mean love your enemies so that you could earn your way into the family it means love your enemies so that you show what family you belong to okay you got the difference third clue one more clue chapter 7 verse 16 you will know them by their fruits grapes are not gathered from Thorn bushes nor figs from thistles are they even so
every good tree Bears good fruit and every bad tree Bears Bad fruit which means you cannot become a good Tree by bearing good fruit can't do it you cannot hear God say to get into the kingdom you must be a good tree and they say oh what shall I do oh I know what I'll do I'll bear good fruit and and thus become a good tree it's totally backwards you've got to become a good tree that is a child of God born again indwelt by the powers of the age to come forgiven for your sins
cleansed by the blood loved by Christ you got to become a good tree so that you can bear fruit so there it is again in The Sermon on the Mount itself you don't have to go to Paul's theology or John's theology or anybody else's theology you just have to read carefully and see Jesus is teaching that something happened massively in a conversion before you can love your enemy now what is this thing that has to happen to you that makes you a good tree that makes you a child of God that gives you the inner
resources that don't come from yourself so that when you hear the command love your enemy you don't say good night there's no way but rather you say Lord that's a big big demand but you're a big big big God and you love me that way and and what what what what happened to us let me just spell it out with six verses I'll just cite them make a sentence and we'll be done number one the first one is in The Sermon on the Mount chapter 5:3 it's good to know where the sermon starts what the
note struck at the beginning is blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven qualification number one for the kingdom is bankruptcy okay anybody that begins with bankruptcy poverty of spirit knows they're never ever going to qualify on their own they're never going to earn their way into the family they're never going to produce enough loving Deeds or good deeds in order to get into the family it cannot be done Jesus holds out these gospel hands and he says blessed are the poverty stricken blessed are the bankrupt who mourn who mourn
second text Mark 10:15 truly I say to you Jesus says truly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all so the first step in someday entering this kingdom is to like a little child receive it that means don't come to the kingdom and put on any Airs of self-sufficiency well I quality qualifi because I'm better than so and so I don't do those things I fast twice a week and I I I must surely qualify if you do that you're not coming poverty-stricken
and you're not coming like a little child a little child did you see those little children here if they had set those little children down here and we all walked out they'd be dead in two days every one of them dead there's nothing they can do they are totally dependent on mommy and daddy that's the way you are if you don't if you don't awaken to that fact and relax in that fact and and just ww your way into the kingdom then you won't make it poverty stricken childlike here's the third one mark 21:17 it
is not those who are healthy who need a physician but those who are sick I did not come to call the righteous but Sinners so are you sick or healthy if you're healthy you don't qualify if you think you're healthy you don't qualify only bankrupt people helpless little children and sick people ify that's what those three texts say this is the gospel as Jesus articulated this is the gospel of grace this is the gospel of the Open Arms This Is The Gospel that says you cannot perform your way in you cannot work your way in
you cannot pay your way in you can only bankrupt your way in childlike your way in and stick your way in that's all the only people who get in are sick people helpless children and bankrupt people that's the gospel we're all on level ground here unless unless you have some airs you want to put on before one another and say I don't like being called poverty stricken in fact I worked hard all my life to not be poverty stricken and I don't like being called a little child and I don't like being called sick look
I don't like it either but I am so thankful that that's what he offers the kingdom the kingdom of God salvation a relationship with the father for bankrupt childlike sick sinful people text number four the self-sufficient saw Jesus doing this doing it not just saying it but doing it and you remember what they said this man receives Sinners and eats with him and they got brittle and a you remember what Jesus said in response to that he told three parables the main one the climactic one was the parable of the prodigal son if you ever
ask yourself why did he respond to that criticism this man eats with Sinners he receives Sinners and eats with them why did he respond to that by saying there was a father who had a wayward son who squandered his living and became so bankrupt that he ate with pigs and came came to himself that's what I'm praying is happening right now in some of you came to himself and said maybe he'll have me back as a slave I just go home he starts home and his father undignified pulls up his robes starts running running toward
his G arms out the point of that Parable is Jesus is saying that's what I'm doing when I eat with sinners that's what I'm doing I am the love of God I am the love of the father I am my whole Ministry is like this to Sinners text number five Matthew 21:31 the almost Unthinkable truth which is the conclusion of all the others Matthew 21:31 says truly I say to you tax gatherers and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God before the priests and the elders takes your breath away harlots with his prostitutes are
going into the kingdom before the pastors how can that be how can that be well everything we've set up until now shows you how it can be the issue was not shape up the issue was will you recognize that you're bankrupt will you recognize that you're as helpless as a child will you recognize that you're sick and these tax gatherers and these prostitutes they didn't have any they were they just knew it and so they sat down and when he ate with them they couldn't believe it the grace just was all over them and he
won them in and if you ask which we do ask and this gets very close to Paul's way of writing how can that be how could that be he's a holy God prostitutes and these greedy complicitous tax gatherers Yak who wants to be in a kingdom with them and the last text says Mark 10:45 Jesus says the son of man did not come to be served he came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many including prostitutes tax gatherers that's the foundation there it is you don't need to go Paul or
John Peter here it is all right here right here the son of man came and he didn't come to be served to have people work their way into his Fellowship he said I came to serve he's down on the floor he's got a towel on he's washing their feet and the last thing he does is put himself on a cross and nobody takes his life from him but he gives it up in order that he might Ransom people so if you feel this morning I hear you talking but my debt is deeper and wider and
more horrible than you've ever known John Piper and that's probably true but it isn't deeper and wider and more horrible than God knows or than the son of man knew when he said you can't pay it I pay it and he gave his life as a ransome so this Ransom was put on the table that you might go free me and the price bankruptcy helplessness sickness and receiving the physician this is light and Truth god- centered preaching to help you see Christ clearly and treasure him truly I'm your host Dan crr thank you for listening
on our next episode John Piper continues our 11 part series loving like God loves with a sermon titled who is our enemy I hope you'll join us for more resources visit desiringgod.org
