"LOVE YOUR ENEMIES"

MATTHEW 5:4

A. "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 US YOU"
  1. This guideline to the followers of Christ:
    1. It paradoxical to the natural inclination of man
    2. The normal reaction by man is to measure in kind - love to love, and hate to hate - that is why the world is plagued by constant war and bloodshed
  2. But the Son of God came into this world:
    1. To change man's concept of the proper relationship to others
    2. Only Bible Christianity has the solution to the mutual hostility of man to man B. "LOVE YOUR ENEMIES"
  3. Is the Divine order for the followers of Jesus Christ:
    1. God is love - and "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" - Matt. 5:45
    2. God loved us when we were enemies to Him, in that He gave His only Son to die for us - Rom. 5:10; Col 1:21
  4. If and when we are born of God:
    1. The Sprit of love will dwell in our hearts - Rom. 5:5-8
    2. "For God commandeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" - Rom. 5:8
    3. Paul expresses this truth in these words, "For the love of Christ constraineth us" - 2 Cor. 5:14
  5. Love an enemy:
    1. Is a mark of a change of human nature from the carnal to the Divine - Examples: David lamented over Saul who sought his life - 2 Sam. 1:17. He sorrowed over Absalom who sought to kill him - 2 Sam. 29:33. The man of God prayed for the king that sought to kill hum - 1 Kings 13:6
    2. Love the enemy is the evidence of a new heart and a new spirit - it is a sign that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. C. LET US CONSIDER MARE FULLY THE NATURE AND BEHAVIOR OF LOVE
  6. Love is benevolent:
    1. It blesses those who least deserve its blessing; this is an important point to keep in mind as we continue to study the nature and behavior of love
    2. "God so loved the world that He gave" - John 3:16. He still is giving "live, breath and all things" - Acts 17:25
  7. Love is longsuffering
    1. Writes Paul, "Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind" - I Cor. 13:4
    2. Longsuffering is one of the attributes of God - Ex. 34:6-7; 2 Peter 3:9
    3. Picture, if you will, the longsuffering of a mother toward her children - there seems to be no limit to it
  8. Love alone conquers enmity:
    1. It did in the experience of Joseph and his brethren - Gen. 50:15-21; it worked in the experience of Jacob and his brother Esau - Gen. 33:1-5
    2. It does in the experience of every true child of God in whom the love of Christ dwells
  9. And may we repeat: "Love is of God" - if God's spirit dwells in our heart, it will be as natural:
    1. To love our enemy and pray for him as it is for the sun to shine upon the ungodly
    2. Said Jesus, "if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" - Matt. 5:46
  10. There is a sad note to be made in this connection:
    1. Jesus looking down through the stream of time to our day says, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" - Matt. 24:12
    2. And the true witness testifies to the church of Ephesus, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love" - Rev. 2:4
    3. Would to God, it could be said of us, what Jesus said to the church in Philadelphia "brotherly love" - Rev. 3:7-12


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