The Love of God - Part 5 "Love your Enemy"

Our Great Commission
The Love of God
Part 5: Loving your Enemy
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith – www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org


ANNOUNCEMENTS

6:00PM Evening Service at the church –
“Seminary Students will be preaching”

WHERE WE ARE AT

† Maturing in Christ
† Understanding in Christ


This Series: The Love of God

Previously:
Part 1: The Love of God
Part 2: Love your Neighbor
Part 3: Love your Neighbor II
Part 4: Love your Brother




TODAY’S SERMON: Our Great Commission
The Love of God
Part 5: Loving your Enemy



OPEN IN PRAYER





Greatest Command:

Love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul.

The second is just like the first, love your neighbor as your self.

Neighbor = unsaved

Jesus said, “What you do to the least of these, you do unto me”

And He also said “If you love me, you will do what I command.”

Love is “action” which brings about feelings and emotions.

NOT emotions or feelings that bring about actions.

LOVE GOD

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

LOVE YOUR BROTHER

Today…LOVE YOUR ENEMY

Romans 12:17-21
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Deuteronomy 32:35
35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip;
their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them."


Proverbs 25:21, 22
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.



Do not repay anyone evil for evil

If we were to do so, then we too would be acting in evil instead of love as we are commanded. If we act evil, we as children of God, paint a picture of our God being evil.



Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody

Not that what we do is what they consider to be right, but that we DO what the Lord says is right in the eyes of everybody. In this, we will rightly represent the Lord, and be a great witness of His love and forgiveness.



Live at peace with everyone

Not that we can ever control others, but we are commanded to control how we behave, and living at peace with other allows those who are truly seeking escape from the world, a path of least resistance to come to the truth.


Do not take revenge, leave room for God’s wrath

The last thing we want to do is to come between God and His work at hand.

You do not know what work God has begun, or is yet working on within someone’s heart.

We may actually stop or destroy the work that God is doing in someone simply by acting towards that person in an ungodly manner, while claiming with our mouths that we are children of God, and therefore represent God on earth as ambassadors.

We can not see the heart of man, or know the mind of God, or comprehend the work that He is doing within a person, therefore, we must always behave and treat others in love, so as not to offend the work that God is doing.

We MUST treat an enemy with LOVE.

Remember, Love is an action that brings about a feeling or emotions.

When we ACT we will bring about feelings and emotions in others.

We give the praise to the Lord for our actions, and those we love will know that they were loved BECAUSE of our God, which will cause feelings and emotions in them, and they will see that the Lord our God loves them, and they will want a relationship with the God who loved them first.


20… "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

“Heap burning coals on his head” is not meant to be a mental attack on your enemies as some see it.

The scriptures mean that their mind will judge itself with the love you have given them against their evil.

They will not be able to stop thinking about the love that was shown to them.

21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This love will overcome evil.


Matthew 5:43-48
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.


Luke 6:27-36
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Romans 5:6-10
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!


Love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul.

Love your neighbor (the unsaved) as yourself.

Love your brother (the saved).

Love your enemies.


Love is the action that the Lord has commanded us, as His followers, to show to the world.

When we do, we are showing the Love of God to others, and rightly representing the one who sent us.

We are told in scriptures that without love we have nothing, have achieved nothing, and are nothing.

We are also told that anyone who does not love is not a child of God.

So let us obey Christ, show love to all others, and rightly represent the Kingdom of God.