Now, the part of the chapter that I wanted to focus on there in Romans, chapter 5 and starting in verse number 6 where the Bible reads "For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous will one die, yet per adventure for a good man some would even dare to die, but God commanded his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." I want to continue my sermon that I was preaching this morning. I didn't get to a lot of the points that I had in my sermon this morning, so I want to kind of just pick up where I left off. Just quickly what I was preaching about this morning was having compassion upon the unsaved. We read from Jude verse 22 where it says, "Of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh." We were talking about having love and compassion in our heart for those that are not saved and caring about them and being merciful onto them.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 24, verse 12, it says that in the last days that because inequity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. In the last days, God tells us it will be a time where people don't have a lot of love like they used to and because inequity and sin abounds, that causes the love of many to wax cold. What I want to continue preaching about tonight is about loving people and loving the people that are unsaved. In Romans chapter 5 here, we see that Jesus Christ loved those that were ungodly. It says in verse 6, "When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." Verse 7, "For scarcely will a righteous man will one die."
What the Bible's saying there is that it's rare that you would see one person willing to sacrifice their life for someone else. I mean, the Bible says, "Greater love hath no man than this than that a man lay down his life for his friends." That's pretty much the ultimate show of life when you would actually lay down your life for someone else or sacrifice your life for someone else. The Bible is saying that scarcely or barely would you even be willing to do that for someone who you consider a righteous person. If you were going to sacrifice your life for somebody, would you personally lay down your life and sacrifice your life for just anybody? If we're to just be honest, are you willing to die for just any person that's out there? Now, it says, for a righteous person you might be scarcely willing to die, you know hopefully you'd be willing for someone that you had great respect for and great love for. Your spouse or someone that you love very dearly, but you probably wouldn't be willing to die for somebody who was an ungodly person or just somebody that you didn't even like or didn't like you.
What the Bible's saying, verse 7, is scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per adventure, per adventure means maybe, for a good man some would even dare to die. If someone was a really good person, there would probably be people willing to lay down their life for that person, but God commanded his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, and what the Bible's saying here is that Jesus Christ's love is much greater than our live, because our love might compel us to die for someone that we had great respect for that was a really good person, a godly person. We might think, "Oh, this is a greater person than I am, I'll sacrifice my live that they might live." The Bible's saying God commanded his love towards and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, all the modern versions, they all change this verse 8 to say something different. It says, "God commendeth his love toward us." All the new versions will say something along the lines of God demonstrated his love toward us or God shows love to us.
Really, what the word commend there means, if you look at the word command and if you think about when you've heard that word. You might think of a police officer getting a commendation, what does that mean? He's getting some kind of praise or he's getting some kind of recognition for something that he's done? If I say, "I commend you, brother fair." What am I saying? It means that he has done something great and I'm drawing attention to that and acknowledging that and I'm giving him accolades, I'm praising him for what he has achieved. The Bible's saying God commendth his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. What's he saying? That God's love is on such a higher level than our love because he's willing to die for those that have nailed him to the cross. He literally said of those who nailed him to the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." That's a higher love than you and I have as human beings.
It says, "God commendeth his love." Meaning he exalts or shows how much greater his love is than our love by being willing to die for us when we were yet sinners, when we were ungodly. Therefore, as Christians, should we only love those who are very godly and very righteous people, or should we also love those that are unrighteous and ungodly, if we're going to follow in Christ's example? Now, one thing you have to understand is that even when people get saved, they're a babe in Christ. I mean, when a person first believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, they're not just going to immediately be on board with everything about the Christian live that they should be. You don't just get saved and then the next day you're just living this godly, righteous, Christian life. You're a babe in Christ and you have to grow and it takes a lot of time to grow.
If we think about our own lives, it took us a long time to grow and get where we are. Why don't we just turn around and just instantly expect somebody to get saved and just be where we are, even though it took us years to get here and we just expect everybody to be right there. You'll hear testimonies like this and I think a lot of them are just lying, they're just bogus, but you'll hear testimonies of just, "Man, what I got saved, I never smoked a cigarette again, I never even wanted to, and I never took a drink again, and I never said a cuss word again, and I never watched a movie again!" It's just like, "When I got saved, I got all the way saved!" First of all, there is no all the way, you're either saved or you're not. There's no kind of saved, I'm all the ... No, you're just either you're saved or you're not, and you're saved by grace through faith not of works as a man should boast. A lot of people will boast like, "When I got saved, I gave up this and I gave up this!" They'll make statements like, "I never wanted another cigarette, I never ..." Those are misleading statements, because many people that are saved, they still want that cigarette right now, they still want to commit sin right now?
Why? Because when you get saved, the flesh does not die, the flesh is there, alive and well, the sin nature is there, the old man is there. Every day when you wake up in the morning, that sinful old nature is there to lead you astray and that's why the Bible says that we have to die daily, we have to daily take up the cross and follow Jesus, we have to daily deny self, we have to daily decide to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the less thereof. This idea that when somebody gets saved that everything just boom is just right where it needs to be, that's a false doctrine. I mean, let's call it what it is, it's false doctrine, it just isn't true, it just isn't real.
Yes, there can be a dramatic change when people get saved if they immediately start walking in the spirit and immediately get in church and immediately start reading their Bibles and doing all the right things. Yeah, you can see a very dramatic change in people, but there is still is going to be a growth that needs to take place. You can't just sit there and just assume they're just an adult. The Bible teaches that they're babes in Christ, they're newborn babes, they need to desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby. The Bible says that precept must be upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little, they learn doctrine, they grow in the Lord, they grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, not this Pentecostal doctrine of just you just get saved and it's just boom you never sin again, boom you're within sin, boom! They take the verse that you're a new creature and old things have passed away and behold all things are become new and they misinterpret that the flesh isn't in the picture anymore.
Sure, I know the new creature's an all new creature, but what about when you're walking in the flesh? Plus, there's growth, there's knowledge that you need to gain, and so we need to be patient with people that are at a lower stage of growth than we are and not look down on them, not be unloving to them, because maybe they're a little bit newer in the faith or newer to church, and you know maybe they are still smoking a cigarette, maybe they are still struggling with certain things. Give people time to grow and a chance to grow, and don't look down your nose, "Ah man! I can't believe this guy! I can't believe her!" Think back in your own life, and sometimes we forget where we came from. You have to stop and think about wait a minute, what about when I was a teenager? What about when I was younger? What about a week after I got saved? You never want to lose sight of that because you don't want to look down you nose at someone who's a new believer and who is still learning.
Maybe people just don't know doctrine that. You don't know that? What? Everybody knows that? Well, no they don't, and people need to be given a chance to read their bibles and grow and come to church and learn more. We need to be careful that we don't just have love and affection for those that are righteous and godly, those are the people that are easy to love. People that are righteous and godly, good people, they're easy to love. We need to also love people that are still struggling with sins and they're still living a lifestyle that's not exactly where it should be, they're a babe in Christ, they need to grow a little bit, and especially people that are unsaved. How do you expect people that are unsaved to life a godly life? They're not even saved, why would they live a godly life? You've got to love them for who they are and try to reach out to them and win them to Christ, and not just expect everybody or you're not going to love them. That's what the difference is between a godly love and just human love that just loves those that are good, well that's easy, but God's love reaches out to those that are ungodly and that are sinners.
Now, look at Luke chapter 10, let me show you another aspect of love that we need to focus on. You know, obviously, I'm going to cover this later in the sermon, are there some people that we should not love? Well yeah, the Bible does teach that they are certain that we shouldn't leave, really bad people that are pedophiles and rapists and whatever, but that's not 99% of people though, you know reverberate evil, wicked people, I'll cover that later in the sermon. Number 1, I want to say this, we should love people who are unrighteous and ungodly. Jesus loved the people who are even nailed him to the cross and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He loved the ungodly, he loved us while we were yet sinners, we should love those that are unsaved, even that are unrighteous and ungodly, and even those that are saved if they're at a lower stage of growth. We need to be patient and gentle and loving with them and not just expect everybody to be an adult.
Do you think I'm going to look at my newborn baby and get angry at him for soiling his diaper? "Aw, you [inaudible 00:12:15], what are you doing? You go to the bathroom in your diaper again! Aw, man, you're making a mess!" That would be ridiculous because you say, "Well, he's a baby, that's all he can do." Now, isn't that the same mentality that looks at somebody who just got saved and just gets real angry because they're soiling their diaper so to speak. They're a babe in Christ, they're not living the Christian life that they're supposed to live. Would I just accuse, "Well, I don't think you're human because all the humans that I'm around, they feed themselves, and they go to the bathroom and toilet, you must not be human." Well, no, you're just a baby, it's just different. To say, "Well, they're not even saved, because they're immature, because they can't feed themselves, because they're not getting themselves to church." My newborn baby has never gotten to themselves church. I've never had, out of all the 7 children I've had, none of them have ever gotten themselves to church as a baby, they were always brought to church as a baby.
Maybe, that's what we should try to do with people that we win to Christ, try to bring them to church. You win somebody to the Lord and you want them to church, offer to pick them up and give them the ride. Sometimes, the babe in Christ might need a little extra motivation to get them in church because they're a baby. Not only should we love the unrighteous and ungodly, but the Bible also teaches us in Luke, chapter 10, verse 30 is where we're going to start reading in the story of the good Samaritan. We should love those that are not neccesairily just like us. It's easy to love people that are like us because we can relate to people like us, but we should also be willing to love people that are not like us.
Let's look at this story, it says in verse 30, "And Jesus answering said, 'A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves which stripped him of his ramen and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead, and by chance there came down a certain priest that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side, and likewise, A Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side, but a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine and sent him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him, and on the marrow when he departed, he took out 2 pence and gave them to the host and said onto him, 'Take care of him, and whatsoever though spendest more when I come again I will repay thee.' Which, now, of these 3, thinkest though was neighbor onto him that fell among the thieves?'" He said, "He that showed mercy on him then said, "Jesus, let him go and do though likewise."
In the story, we have an unfortunate man who's attacked by thieves, almost killed, almost beaten to death, left in a ditch, stripped of his clothing, wounded and naked. When a Levite comes by that way, and by the way this guy's an Isrealite that's in the ditch and the Levite comes by who is his fellow countryman and actually the Levite is supposed to be a full time servant of the Lord, because if you read the book of Exodus and the book of Numbers the tribe of Levi were supposed to be serving the Lord full time. The priests also were obviously serving the lord full time, but even just the tribe of Levi that were not priests, that were not of the sons of Aaron, they would do a lot of the menial tasks of just setting up and taking down the tabernacle and just ministering about the holy things. The whole tribe of Levi was like that.
These guys were supposed to be religious minded men, the priests and the Levi. Not only that, this is their fellow Israelite, their fellow countryman. They both, when they come to him, they go to the other side of the street just to get as far away from this guy as they can, they just don't want anything to do with this guy. Do they love this guy? If you love somebody, you're not going to leave them in a ditch to die, they have no compassion, they have no mercy. They have what we talked about this morning, indifference, they don't care, so they just walk right by.
Then the Bible says in verse 33, "But a certain Samaritan came where he was." He makes a point to go to this guy, and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. The Samaritan who is basically of the northern kingdom of Israel, remember when the kingdom of Israel split after Solomon into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah? Well, that northern kingdom of Israel went captive to the land of Assyria. They took all of the people that were wealthy and important and they transported to Assyria and they brought in people form all different nationalities of the Assyrian empire, and those people basically mixed in with the poor people of the 10 tribes of Israel. This became a new nation, because if you think about it it's not really the 10 tribes of Israel anymore now that they've intermingled with all these other heathen nations that have come in, so now it kind of formed its own new nationality of people called the Samaritans.
The 10 tribes by the time Jesus Christ came on the scene were already to the point where it was hard to distinguish, and even today these 10 tribe are not recognizable, you can't really today the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, the tribe of Simeon. If you try to research where those people are, no one knows because they were intermingled, they became the Samaritans. They were also scattered into all nations and just intermingled with all nations. The Samaritans today are probably ... If you wanted to find the Samaritans today, it probably would be a lot of the Arab world. Everybody likes to just simply and say, "Oh, the Arab world, it's all the sons of Ishmael." There are a lot of other nationalities than just to say, "Oh, it's all the sons of Ishmael!" I mean, it makes for great preaching. "The Jews and Israel are the sons of Isaac, all these other people are the sons of Ishmael." What about all the other median and what about all the other 10 tribes, because the people that are living in Israel today, the Jews, if anything descend from 3 tribes, I mean 90 some percent would come from Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, because the other 10 tribes were scattered and mixed in and would be amongst the Arabs.
If you went to Lebanon and Assyria, those aren't just Ishmaelites. A lot of those people are from the 10 tribes, and even a lot of the 10 tribes are scattered throughout Europe all the way to Spain, even the Assyrian empire went into western Europe and even some of them ended up there in that place, even to the British isles, okay? What I'm saying is that there's ... Maybe that was a little too much information, but I like to teach who the Samaritans are and who the Jews are, because a lot of people mistakenly think that the word Jew refers to all 12 tribes, when it's important to realize that there's a separation that took place and you have the Samaritans and the Jews. The Jews are of the southern kingdom, the Samaritans are of the northern kingdom.
This guy, the Samaritan, he is of a nation that does not really get along with the Jews, because if you remember when Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, the Bible tells us the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Here you have 2 nations that are right next to each other, [Siaria 00:19:47] and Judea at the time of Christ, and they have no dealing with each other, they don't get along. When Jesus walks up and starts talking to a Samaritan, she says, "Why are you talking to me? The Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans!" You can tell these people are not friendly toward each other. We have the neighboring country of Canada and a neighboring country of Mexico, but wouldn't you say that we have dealings with Mexico and dealings with Canada and we get along with them?
This is different, this is people that they don't have dealings with them, that they don't get along with. These are people that they don't like. Samaritans don't like the Jews, the Jews don't like the Samaritans, it's just they're not friends. Yet this guy, who's a Samaritan sees the guy in a ditch and loves him, has compassion on him, takes care of him, pulls him out of the ditch and puts in oil and wine on his wounds, put him on his own beast and he walks, he goes on foot, while this guy rides the beast. Then, he says in verse number 34, it says halfway through there brought him to an inn and took care of him and on the morrow when he departed he took out 2 pence and keep in mind inflation, all right? 2 pence, and gave him to the host and said onto him, "Take care of him, and whatsoever though spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." Which now these 3 thinkest though was neighbor onto him that fell among the thieves and he said, "He that showed mercy on him." Then said, [inaudible 00:21:15], "Go and do though likewise."
Let me ask this. When the Bible's telling us, love thy neighbor as thyself, is he saying when you love your neighbor, you're only loving people of your nationality? You're only loving people that are like you? God expects us to love our neighbor as ourself and that would include people that are different than us. Nationality is not the only difference, but obviously we should love people of other nationalities as we love ourself. If someone is, black or Asian or Hispanic or white, we should love them even if they're not like us. We have a tendency to love people that are like us, and it might be easier for us to love people that are like us, just naturally because we relate to people that are like us, and not just with nationality, but what about your economic background? Maybe some people have a lot of money, some people are poor, some people are middle class, but we should love that are not like us.
This usually goes both ways, a lot of people just think, "Oh, it's just white people that are just racist against everybody else." Is that really the way the world works? No, I mean because you could find Chinese people that hate Japanese people more than any white person ever hated any black person. You're like, "You're both Asians!" To them, it makes a difference! I mean, there could even be Native American tribes that could hate each other or there could be Asians that hate each other, and there could be North Koreans and South Koreans could hate each other or there could be people that are black that hate white people or there could be Mexicans that hate black people.
It could go across all different combinations, because if you look at it, when you're in the new testament, the Jews, they don't want to eat with other nations, and remember God has to show them, "Hey look, you need to eat with people of other nations. You need to stop thinking that you guys are some elite group as the Jews. You need to realize that Jew and Gentile need to go to church together, we're all baptized into one body whether we be Jew or Gentile." Remember in the old testament, when you look at the story of Joseph, the Egyptians, they're refusing to eat with the Hebrews, and they say, "It's an abomination for us as Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews." Then, the Hebrews are like, "Well, we don't want to eat with the Egypt ..." It goes both ways. It's not just ... People even accuse people of being racist against Jews, but here's the thing Jews are often racist against everybody else, so it goes both ways. Black people could hate of other races, white people could hate people of other races, Hispanic could hate everybody and think that they're [foreign language 00:24:03] and they even have a magazine like that, [foreign language 00:24:06]!
Imagine white people coming out with a magazine called the race, it's all about white people, you know what I mean? It's just stupid to sit there and think that it only goes 1 way, when really, you know what? People have had a tendency from the beginnings of mankind until now to basically just easily love people that look like them, act like them, talk like them, and to disdain people that are different from them. I mean, that's just a tendency, but that's part of a sin nature, because God expects us to love people that are different than us, and not to look down our nose.
It has nothing to do with skin color, because if you go to Europe, everybody's pretty much white and they all hate each other. You're like, "Oh, yeah, that country, it's right near this country." They're like, "No, man! We have nothing to do ..." You're like, "What in the world?" There are so many in Europe that just, man, they hate the people around them, because I've been there, I've been to Germany and France. It's like, man, they are really nationalistic and they hate their neighbors, and they're like, "These people, you know, back in the 1300s ..." It's like, whoa, you know, let it go, it's been 700 years, it's all water under the bridge now.
It doesn't even have anything to do with skin color, because even white people in Europe hate each other or Asians in Asia, that to us, we just think they're Asians, but they hate each other. Obviously, our society has an agenda, the media has an agency to try to foment anger and hatred between races and make it about skin color, when really it's not even about skin color neccesairily, it's just different people have different preferences of just liking people that are like them. Even forget [inaudible 00:25:55], remember when you're in high school, there's like the rockers, and then there's like the country western people, and then there's like the skaters, and then there's the tweakers, and then there's the hip hop crowd. There are like these groups, right, where people just kind of gravitate toward people that are like them.
Here's the thing, as Christians, as God's people, we need to be able to look past that and love people that are different from us, and really the thing that we should strive the most in common, not our ethnicity, not our skin color, not what kind of style we dress, not our economic background or where we're from. We in the church should not group off into those kind of groupings, but we should rather try to love everyone in the church and to love people that are different from us. Sometimes it comes more naturally to love those that we relate to, to love people that we have something in common with, but we need to work as Christians at loving people that are not like us.
You need to really examine your heart if you really do love people and when you go out soul winning, we talked about it this morning, this morning's sermon was mainly about soul winning, but you need to love the people that you're giving the gospel to. Sometimes, that person is going to be someone who's easy to love, they remind you of yourself or you have a lot in common with them, or they remind you of someone that you love. Some people might be of a different nationality then you're used to loving or maybe it's another economic background, maybe you've been well to do your whole life, now you find yourself in the ghetto, soul winning, knock on doors. You need to have love and compassion, not look down your nose and people and think, "Oh, these people, oh man." Instead of actually just loving them and caring about them, having compassion on them.
It's easy to love those that are good looking. Somebody opens the door, they look nice, they're dressed nice. What about when somebody opens the door and they're a complete slob? Do you love that person also? What about when somebody's laying in the ditch half dead? What about when you open the door and maybe somebody is not ... They don't look good, maybe they look terrible, but you still love that person in spite of whatever's wrong with them. People could be handicapped, people could be mentally ill. You run into strange people that are just mentally ill or people that are a little crazy. Do you love them or do you just only love people that you like being around because they're easy to be around and they're fun to be around, they remind you of yourself. We need to broaden our love to where we love people that are different than us and not just this childish, juvenile, high school mentality of, "Well, I'm just going to hang around with people that are just like me and that's my crowd, that's who I like."
We need to expand to love people that are different than us and be able to reach out to them, give them the gospel, and also just in the church to love. Now, as a pastor, and I know many men that are in this room would like to pastor someday and plan to pastor someday, this is especially important as a pastor to be one that can relate onto all people. Because what if I, as a pastor, just kind of picked and chose certain people that are the people I like, and that's who I'm going to spend my time with, that's who I'm going to talk to, that's who I'm going to care about, and then say, "You know, a large percent of the church, you know, I just don't really like that much." No, see, as a pastor, I need to love everybody in the church, and I need to be everybody's friend, and not just have a few friends in the church. I need to be everybody's friend, okay. You know what, you in the pews, should be the same one, where you can be friends with everybody and you can love everybody in the church and not just certain people that fit your certain criteria.
Let me just say this on the subject of ... Because this story brings up this difference in nationality between the Jews and the Samaritans, 2 groups that hate each other. Let me just say a little more about the subject of nationality or race. Our society today has become really overly sensitive about this, because it's just a point loves to just milk. Keep in mind the media has an agenda of shaping the way that you think, they want to ship your thinking, that's why they bring up sodomites every week, just in some way. Thank you, every day, yeah. Every single day, it's like you can't turn on the radio or the TV without some mention of sodomites. Either, "Hey, they're getting married over here, or hey, they're doing this over here, or hey, it's on this TV show." The goal is to get you thinking about that all the time, just so get used to it.
When I go and speak at the community college to the heathen students there, and some of them are saved, thank God, but a lot of them are just non Christian. I go and speak over at the community college and we just have an open question and answer after I preach and speak onto them, then it's just opened up for questions. There's not a class that goes by where they don't ask me about homosexuality every single time about what the Bible says about homosexuality. Why are they asking? Is it because they just all have this personal interest in homosex- No, it's because their minds are brainwashed and programmed to think that's the big issue, that's the big issue we need to talking about, that's the big thing in our generations is the gays and the queers, even though it's some tiny percentage of people that are actually the gays and queers and faggots, there I said it.
Even in some tiny demographic, it's just like, "Oh, man, let's talk about that all day long." Why? Because you're being brainwashed to think that way, and that's why you need to quit watching TV, quit listening to radio, get in this book and get the renewing of your mind from the Bible, from the word of God. Here's the thing, they have other agendas, they always want you to just think of race, race, race. They made a big deal about how Obama's black, that's the big thing. You know what? Everybody I know who didn't vote for Obama, it's not because he's black. They couldn't care less if he was black, and if there was a black guy that would believe what we want and do what we want, I'd vote for that guy in a heartbeat. If there was a godly black man, I would work for him and campaign for him. If he [inaudible 00:32:36], who cares? You know what, nobody cares except the media that just tells everybody that there's all this racis-
It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, it actually makes probably become more racist just because they keep hearing it and it just gets us thinking along those lines, when in reality in America are already past that and don't really care what color you are. Do you really care what color people are? I don't. I believe that God has made all nations of the earth of one blood! I don't believe that there is even any such thing as race biblically because the word race is only mentioned in the Bible around running a race. It doesn't ever say that there's 3 races, white, brown, and black, or 5 races, white, brown, red, yellow ... How's the song go? Red, and yellow, black, and white, and brown. What I'm saying is there's not ... It's not that simple to sit there and say, "Well, these people are from Sham, these people are from Ham, and these people are from Japheth." It's been 4,300 years, it's so mixed in 4,700 years later, it's ... You know what I mean? It's not that simple anymore. Who cares, get over it. In Christ, there's neither Jews nor Gentile. It doesn't matter, we're all of one blood, get over it.
Here's the thing, though, there are people in this world who do have an attitude that says, "Hey, I believe ... You know." I've met people that say, "I believe that the races should be kept separate." I don't believe that, I don't believe that they should be kept separate, I don't have that doc- That's not a biblical doctrine, but there are people out there who believe. There are some people out there who would say that interracial marriage is a sin, and they'll say like, "I don't think it's right for people to marry outside of their ..." By the way, it's not just white people that are saying that. There are black people who get angry if their child marries a white person, or they'll be Native Americans who get angry if their child marries a white person or marries a black person or marries a Hispanic.
There are people who have an attitude that says, "Hey, let's keep our culture, let's keep it separate, let's keep the nationality or the race or whatever you want to call it." I don't believe that, I don't agree with that, I think it's okay, I don't have a problem, I perform wedding ceremonies of people inter-racially. I don't have a problem with it, I don't believe that that's a biblical Doctrine, I don't agree with people who think that. Let me tell you something, I do not hate people who think that. See, and then it gets quiet. You know what I mean? Just as we shouldn't hate other races, we shouldn't hate people because they think that races should be kept separate either, because you know what, just because people are wrong about that one thing, should we hate those people now, and turn around and say, "Oh man! This guy thinks that inter-racial marriage is wrong! Let's kill him! We hate him! He's a devil! He's wicked!"
Look, some people that are from the older generation, that's how they think, and some people that are from certain parts of the world and from certain parts of the country, that's how they think. They think, like, "Hey, we ..." A lot of them that you talk to, they don't hate people of other races, they just think it should be kept separate. Now, do I agree with that? No, I don't agree with that, but should I turn around and just hate people who think and just says that they're bad people, they're wicked people because they think that race should be ...
Look, I have a good friend, who's a black guy and he flat out told me, this guy's in his 40s, he said, "I am only going to marry a black girl. I will not marry anyone who's not black." Now look, if that's what he wants to do, if that's what he believes, if that's his preference, should I just consider him a wicked person and hate him? See, here's the thing, we're so brainwashed by the media that as soon as somebody has a viewpoint that's different than what the media is cramming down our throat 24/7, we just want to turn on that person and tear them apart and hate them. Again, I don't share that viewpoint, people are going to walk out of here and say that I do, but I don't really care, because I don't. I've been called a racist so many times, I don't even care anymore, I'm going to say whatever I want, I'm going to say whatever I think is biblical.
I don't hate other races, I don't believe in racism, I don't think we should separate the races whatsoever, but I don't hate people that do have that viewpoint. I actually love people and am okay with people if they think, "Hey, I'm white, I'm going to marry a white person. I'm black, I'm going to marry a black person. I'm Hispanic, I'm going to marry ..." You know what? I think that that is a perfectly reasonable opinion for them to have. It's not biblical, if they say, "Hey, the Bible says ..." Well, then they're lying, because the Bible doesn't teach, because the Bible teaches we're all of one blood. That's not going to get a lot of amens, but it's the truth. Again, we can't just sit there and just hate people and get angry at people and think that they're so wicked because they just have different preferences and different opinions and different attitudes about things. Maybe they come from a different generation or a different upbringing.
For example, we had somebody visit us that's a relative of ours that kind of had this viewpoint because they're from a different part of the world where things are a lot different than they are in America. I tried to tell this person, I said, "Look." Because they've been in a place where it was kind of like the brown people in that place were bad people. They came here and I told them, I said, "Look." I say, "You're wrong to basically dislike of other races." I said, "Look, in America." I said, "I could show you all kinds of good godly people of all nationalities." Yes, there are ungodly cultures in other parts of the world and places, but I told him, I said, "Look, here's what the Bible says." I said, "Let me show you." After having here for several weeks, he said, "You know what? You're right." Because he said, "I'm seeing people in your church of all different nationalities that are godly people. I'm seeing and that are very sensible, good, nice people, and I'm seeing people out even in public in America of all different nationalities that I can tell nice people and normal people and righteous people."
What I'm saying is some people just haven't been exposed enough to other races. You know what I mean? They just haven't been exposed to enough examples of people of other nationalities, and they're kind of maybe being brainwashed in their own way where they live. Should we just hate those people and be angry at those people? I think we need to get balanced view of the subject from the Bible and say, "You know what? We love people of all nationalities, every nationality is welcome at our church, no one is second class, everybody is on the same level, but if somebody has a personal preference where they think, 'Hey, I think that we should stay within our tribe of Native American or I think we should stay ...'" You know what? We shouldn't just hat that person and jump all over them, we should love those people too and just be a little more tolerant of views that really aren't that important, although the media's going to tell you, "That's the biggest most important thing every day that we need to talk about is race and homosexuality."
Here's the thing, is they want you to group those 2 things together. You know what I mean? They'll be like, "Yeah, you know, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and gays." It's like no, because you know what, black people are every bit as good as white people and Hispanics are every bit good as white people, but you know what? Homosexuals are perverts, and they're not born that way, it's not a race, but you're being brainwashed if you watch TV and listen to the radio that homosexuality's like the new racism. I preached a sermon against homosexuality and [inaudible 00:40:46] you're a racist. What? It doesn't even make sense, folks, but this is the kind of brainwashing where it's like, "Yeah, this is the new civil rights issue. This is the new thing, you know in the 60s, it was the blacks, and now in the today, it's the homo ..." If I were a black person, I'd be very offended to be lumped in with these bunch of faggots when you're just a god fearing heterosexual black person.
Anyway, you say, "Oh man, you shouldn't say all that." I'm going to say whatever I want. I'm not going to let the media tell me what's politically correct and acceptable to say behind the pulpit. I am preaching the truth right now, everything I just said for the last 15 minutes is the truth, I can back it all up in the Bible that we should love people who have a different attitude than us, that we should love people who have different beliefs than us, that we should love people and we should not have an attitude that says people of different nationalities are inferior. Everything I said is biblical, so you can like it or lump it, don't let the door hit you on your way out, but look at Luke, chapter 14.
Luke, chapter 14, so point number 1 of tonight's sermon was that we should love those who are not neccesairily as moral and as godly as we think they should be. When we knock on the door of somebody, they might come to the door and we can just tell they're living a sinful life. We can just tell they're living an ungodly life, but you know, shouldn't we still love that person, want to get them saved, and not just think, "Oh man, this [inaudible 00:42:25], oh man!" No, we should think, you know what? I could be in that same boat if I weren't served. If I weren't saved, I'm sure I'd be a very sinful person. I'm a sinner now, but I'm sure I'd be very sinful if I hadn't grown up in a Christian home and hadn't grown up in church, so we should love those that aren't godly.
Number 2, we should love people that are not just like us, if they're a different nationality, different economic background, different opinion, even if it's a really politically incorrect opinion, we should still love people of a different opinion, even those who are maybe ugly, those who are mentally ill, those people who just have other issues that would make them unlovable. We should love people that are not just like us. Thirdly, we should not just love people who can benefit us, but we should love people who can do nothing for us in return.
Look in Luke 14, verse 12, it says, "Then said he also to them that him that [inaudible 00:43:20] him. When though makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsman, nor thy rich neighbors lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee, but when though makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and though shalt be blessed for they cannot recompense thee, for though shalt be recompense at the resurrection of the just." He's saying do loving things for people that can't return the favor. Love people who can do nothing for you in return.
That leads me to my last point, go to Matthew chapter 5, "Love those who will do nothing in return for you, they don't have anything to bring to the table, you're not getting anything back from them, just love them even if it's a one sided thing." That's what the Bible's teaching there in Luke 14, but look at Matthew chapter 5 and really we get the same type of a teaching in verse 46 where it says in verse 46 of chapter, "For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the Publicans the same?" He's saying don't just love people that love you, and another place he says even a heathen will loan something to somebody expecting to get the same thing back again, but he says, "Give people who you're never going to get it back from. Love people that can do nothing for you." Lastly this, we should not just love those who love us. We should even love our enemies.
Look at chapter 5 verse 43, so he says, "Don't just love those who are godly and righteous, don't just love those who are just like you, whether that be physically or economically or whatever. Don't just love those who can benefit you and fourthly, don't just love those who love you in return, love your enemies." It says in verse 43, "Ye have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy." Now, let me ask you this. Does it say that it was said by God or said in the old testament? Is that what it says in verse 43? Just because you heard that that was said, does that mean that ever came from the Bible? No. See, a lot of people will twist the sermon on the mount here, they don't understand it.
There's 6 examples that Christ gives here where he says, "It hath been said, but I say unto you." Some of the stuff that he says it hath been said, he's not neccesairily saying that it's Biblical. Some of it is, some of it isn't. He says, "It hath been said, 'whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a riding of divorcement.' But I say unto you, that whosoever puteth away his wife saving for the cause of fornication [inaudible 00:45:59] commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commiteth adultery." Here's the thing, those teachings can be found in the old testament also about divorce and fornication. Jesus is not coming to destroy the law or to even make changes in this particular passage, he's expanding upon it and just giving a more clear understanding.
Nowhere in the old testament does the Bible say hate your enemy. In fact, the old testament teaches you to love your enemy, because if you read in the book of Leviticus for example, we're not going to turn there for a second time, but in Leviticus, it clearly tells you love your neighbor as yourself, but then it also says, "If the ox or the ass of your enemy falls in the ditch, you pull out the ox or ass of your enemy and you return it to them and you help them and do right." That concept is found all throughout the old testament of overcoming evil with good and to love your enemies. Nowhere does the old testament teach love your neighbor, hate your enemy, because Jesus even said that love thy neighbor as thyself even includes the Samaritan, it includes the person of the other nationality, it includes people that maybe are your enemy. When they're in the ditch, you help them out.
When it says you have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, he's just saying that's what people have said, not that that's what God said, God never said that. God did say, "Though shalt love thy neighbor in Leviticus." But he did not say hate thy enemy. The Bible all the way through teaches that we should love our enemies all the way back to the mosaic law. Let's keep reading, it says, "You've heard that it's been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, 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 use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust, for if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the Publicans the same? If you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others, do not even the Publicans sow, be therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect."
What the Bible is saying here is that when we have someone who does wrong to us, they are our enemy because they despitefully use us, they persecute us, they curse us. We should love that person, bless them, do good to them, pray for them and overcome evil with good. Now, you can easily see how this would play out in your personal life. For example, you're on the job and a coworker blows up at you and starts screaming at you and cursing you. You're not in the wrong, you haven't done anything wrong. Let's say you decide to not retaliate. You're not going to turn around and just return fire. Oh yeah? Well, same to you buddy! Start laying into them. That would be violating this passage, but rather you're going to take the high ground and I could give you examples as from ...
I can remember specific examples where people on the job yelled at me, cursed me, blew up at me, and I just took it and I was kind to them. One guy, I remember, he laid into me, he blew up at me, he treated me like garbage, and a couple hours later at lunch time, I bought him a bottle of soda off the roach coach and I just said, "Hey, here man, you seem like you're having a rough day, buddy. I bought this for you, I know you like this." That guy treated me so well, that was the best 2 dollars I ever spent in my life, because that guy treated me great for the whole rest of the time I worked there, and this guy treated everybody like garbage except me, because I bought him a soda one time right after he cussed me out.
Sometimes, that can go a long way with people, just not always just feeling like, "Oh, I've got to get them back! I've got to retaliate!" Not always when somebody says something to you you just come right back at them. You're going to have people be rude to you and insult you and be a jerk to you, and look, all of us have the knee jerk tendency to come right back at them and burn them, and we've got an even better one liner than what they came at us with, we are going to burn them and we are going to humiliate them! Is that really what God what wants us to do? Is that really the right way to handle it when we have enemies? There are people ... This could go for your neighbors, maybe people in your neighborhood.
Sometimes you get in disputes with your neighbors, right? Let's say they're being too loud, or you're being too loud, or their yard looks like garbage, or your yard looks like garbage, or your dog used the restroom in their lawn, or your dog barked, or your rooster crowed or whatever at 4 in the morning, your rooster was crowing and woke them up. Aren't there disputes that can arise between neighbors like that? Sometimes people can become our enemies meaning ... Look, the Bible defines here what an enemy is. What's an enemy according to this passage? Someone who curses us, right? Someone who hates us, someone who despitefully uses us or persecutes us. Let me tell you something, there are a lot of people in this world who hate me and I don't hate them. There are a lot of independent fundamental baptist pastors who hate me, but honestly I don't hate them, I love them! I want them to succeed, I constantly, there are churches where I recommend people, "Hey, you're looking for a church in that area? Go to that church." That pastor hates me even though I recommend people to his church.
Why? Because just somebody's my enemy doesn't mean that they're neccesairily a bad person. I mean, is anybody who dislikes me a bad person, automatically? No. Is anybody who dislikes automatically just a horrible person? No. Sometimes, there are misunderstandings or sometimes we all just do wrong and sometimes we just hate people or get angry at people that we shouldn't. We're just human and it happens and that's why the Bible tells we should love our enemies because sometimes your enemies will eventually become your friends.
I remember there's this one guy that I went to school with and we were like 12 years old and this guy was my enemy. I don't even know why, but he and I were enemies and we even got in a few fist fights and obviously that isn't right to just get in these fist fights when you're 12, but it's just something that happens when you're 12 sometimes. I remember getting in a fist fight and meet me in the boys room and we were fighting in the boys room and there was blood drawn and this guy was just an enemy. I did not like this guy, this guy did not like me. Then, a few years later I showed up at a church where I didn't know anybody except him. Instantly he's like, "Hey, Steve." I'm like, "Hey, buddy." Then, we were just buddies and we were good friends. When we were 12, we hated each other, we were just at each other's throats literally, and then fast forward to 16, 17 and me and this guy actually became good friends and we just didn't even bring up that stuff from when we were 12, because it wasn't a big deal.
What I'm saying is your enemy today could be your friend tomorrow. If you actually love your enemies and do good onto them, you'll turn a lot of enemies into friends, you can really turn people around and overcome evil with good by doing good to people. There are people who've done me wrong, should I hate them? No! Should I curse them and retaliate to them?
I love the story of Samson, but I always have to laugh when I read the story of Samson, this one part that just cracks me up, and I don't know how applicable this is to the sermon, but I was just reading this a couple days ago. The part where Samson, he retaliates against the Philistines and then they retaliate against him and then he retal- He says, like, "Well, just this once more and I'll be avenged to the Philistines." He retaliates again. Then, they come into the land of Israel, the Philistines, and they're like, "We're coming to bind Samson!" The Israelites are like, "Well, why do you want to bind Samson?" "To do to him as he did to us!" Then they got to Samson, they're all like, "What are you doing Samson? These people are over us!" He's like, "Well, I'm going to do to them what they did to me!" It's just back and forth, it just never ends, right? Obviously that's a complicated story, but I just always think that's funny how they just retaliating, just keep back, retaliate, retaliate, retaliate.
That's how it can be with your neighbors and it could really be ... I just thank God I don't have any enemies amongst my neighbors. All my neighbors get along with me. When the rooster crowed, we gave them a dozen eggs. Before the cock crowed twice, they denied us thrice as neighbors, but anyway we basically don't have any enemies of our neighbors. If you have neighbors that are enemies, that can be a real pain, because they live right there, they're there all the time. People on the job, you dead sure don't want to have enemies at church. We need to make sure that when people do us wrong, we don't retaliate or avenge ourselves but that we love our enemies and try to overcome evil with good.
Now, a lot of people will misconstrue this passage, Matthew chapter 5, today and they'll translate love your enemy as love everybody. Pretty much the vast majority of baptist churches or evangelical churches will pretty much teach, "Hey, God loves everybody and we're supposed to love everybody." Now, I don't believe that, because that's not biblical, there are some people that we should not love. It's a very small group, it's a very small minority, but there are some people ... Let's just look at a few pages, go to Psalm 139, just to look at a few passages, and by the way, if you don't think Psalms is applicable, let me say this. The new testament church is commanded to sing psalms, these psalms. The Bible commands, listen to me, the Bible commands the new testament church to sing psalms, talking about the book of Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, that's 3 things. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we are commanded to sing as a new testament church.
The book of Psalms is something that of course is something that we need today and we should be singing these if anything, but look what the Bible says in Psalm 139, verse 21. We could turn to like 20 places, but it says in Psalm 139, 21, do not I hate them, oh Lord that hate thee and am not I grieve with those that rise up against thee, I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies. This is not just the words of David, this is holy scripture, this is inspired by the Holy Ghost. The prophet Jehu in 2nd Chronicles 19, verse 2, flip over there if you would, 2nd Chronicles 19, 2. Again, I don't want to spend the whole sermon on this, I'm just showing you a few verses. The Bible does teach there is a time to love and a time to hate, and the Bible does talk about certain people that we should hate and in Psalm 139 he said we should hate those who hate the Lord.
Then, also it says in 2nd Chronicles 19, 2, "Jehu, the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, "Shouldest thou help the ungodly." Watch this, "And love them that hate the Lord, therefore his wrath upon thee from before the Lord." You can say, "Well, I'm just going to play it safe and just love everybody." Well, but the Bible tells us we should not love those that hate the Lord, and if the Bible says something 1 time in scripture you might say, "Well, maybe I'm just misunderstanding that." I just showed you 2 scriptures that said identical thing. 2nd Chronicles 19, 2 said, "Don't love those who hate the Lord." Psalm 139 said, "Don't love those that hate the Lord." We could show you a lot of other scripture, I could do a whole sermon on that, I could spend an hour showing you that, because there are scriptures like that that could teach that.
Let me ask you this, and it's so funny, because people just don't get this. No matter how many times I preach it, I just think they don't want to get it, because just it's not that complicated, because every time I preach Psalm 139 or 2nd Chronicles 19, 2, or I go to Hosea or I go to all different ... Even places in the new testament and I show them scriptures, they'll just say, "Well, but the Bible says love your enemy! What are you talking?" It's like, they can't get past that. Now, let me just break this down real simple, I don't want anybody to misunderstand this, it's real simple, okay? Let me ask you this. Do all of my personal enemies, and when I say personal enemy, we're letting the Bible define that, that is anyone who hates Steven Anderson, persecutes Steven Anderson, despitefully uses Steven Anderson, or curses Steven Anderson. Let me ask you this, do all the people who hate me and are my enemies, do they all the Lord? Of course not. Do you think that everybody who doesn't like me or attacks or fights me, just they hate the Lord? Of course not, that would be ridiculous.
What about the border patrol guys who beat me up, smash my face in, broken glass, and tasered me. Do they all just hate the Lord? Probably not, I mean it's possible, that one or more of them could, but if I had to guess, I'd say probably none of them do. I'm not saying that they're saved, but does everybody who's not saved just hate the Lord? No, but there are people in this world who do hate the Lord? Oh, yeah.
In Romans 1, the Bible teaches us, and you need to go home and read ... No, no, better, go memorize Romans 1, don't read it, memorize it, because you need it to sink down, because we're living in the day where Romans 1 is all around us. In Romans 1, it's real clear that there are people out there who the Bible says God has given over to a reprobate mind. Their hearts have been darkened and they've been given over to a reprobate mind, and the Bible clearly says that those are people are haters of God and not only does the Bible say in Romans, chapter 1 that they hate God, it says that they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. They wish that they would just never hear about God again, and don't you think there are people out there who just hate God, hate the Bible, hate Jesus, just uh! Those people that are reprobate, wicked people and the Bible talks about in Romans 1 that they go after strange flesh, that they are men who burn in less toward other men. They are women who burn and [inaudible 01:01:50] other women.
When we see people that are pedophiles and they are rapists and predators and just God hating monsters, the Bible's not saying, "Hey, you need to loves Charles Manson." What kind of a bizarre doctrine is ... How did we get here in America, today, in churches? Love Charles Manson, love Adolf Hitler, love Jeffery Dahmer, love pedophiles, love rapists, love murderers!" Look, the Bible's not saying to just love every wicked unimaginable monster of a person. Now, look, should we love sinful people? Yes. Should we love the prostitute? Yes. Should we love someone who's had an abortion? Yes. Should we love someone who is catholic? Yes. Should we love someone who's Muslim? Yes. Should we love someone who's Buddhist? Should we love someone who's a Mormon? Should we love people who are drunkards and drug addicts? Yes. Should we love someone who molests children? No. I mean, the Bible says they should be put to death.
They're so wicked, it's so bad, so what I'm saying is you say, "Well, where do you draw the line? Where do you draw the line?" Look, I love 90 some percent of people, but I don't love 100% of people. The vast majority of people I love. You say, "Who do you not love?" The people who hate the Lord are the people I don't love. If they hate the Lord, if they're a Romans 1 type, I don't love them, but here's the thing though, 99% of the people that we come into contact with are probably not in that category. Don't go around just hating every person that's not godly, okay? Should we hate people that are just horrible haters of God, reprobate, pedophile, sodomite freaks? Yes. Where does God draw the line? When they hate the Lord. Read Romans 1 to get the rundown on that, but to sit there and say that love your enemies is telling you to love everybody, that's just not what it says, because there's a difference between loving my enemies and loving those who hate the Lord.
There's a difference, because a lot of my enemies don't hate the Lord. Some of my enemies probably do hate the Lord, but probably a lot of them don't. Every person that I had a conflict with on the job, I don't think any of them hated the Lord or hated the word of God. They just hated me, perhaps, but we need to take the whole totality of scripture in view and not get an overly simplistic view of the world. What's the sermon about tonight? Love people, same thing we talked about this morning, love people that are different than you, love people that are not as spiritual as you, love people that can't do anything to benefit you, and even love people who don't love you, even love your enemies is what the Bible teaches. We should love more people.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and for the truths that are found therein, Lord. God, help us to be a loving church, help each of us in our personal lives just to love people. Help us when we go out soul winning and we run into people that are very different than us, maybe they're very unlovable, help us to love them anyway, help us to love our enemies, help us to love the people at our work and love the people at the head of our church, and just to love people and just to want to get people saved, and not to just love a select group that is lovable, help us to love the unlovable, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
