Sunday School Lesson

1. Matthew 5:17-22, 43-45
Carrying His Values
January 17, 2016
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
The glory of God!
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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.
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2. January Memory Verse
Joshua 1:9 ESV
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for
the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
State Street Wednesday
Adult Discipleship Classes
Begins Wednesday
January 20, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
4th Floor East wing.
The Education Department of FBCJ desire is:
Multiplication of Christ followers who love God, love others and obey His Word in
Disciple Making.
Please Pray For
The Pastor Search Committee
Ross Aven Rodney DePriest
Laurel Ditto Susan Lindsay
Chris Maddux Joe Young
Paul Moak, Jr. (Chairman)
Sunday
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Matthew 7:13-21, 24-27
Two Paths, One Choice
January 24, 2016
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

3. TODAY
Carrying His Values
Matthew 5:17-22, 43-45
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Matthew 5:17-22, 43-45 NKJV
Christ Fulfills the Law
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to
destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and Earth pass
away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
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4. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and
teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever
does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom
of Heaven.
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Murder Begins in the Heart
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and
whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that
whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the
judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the
council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
Love Your Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do
good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and
persecute you,
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45 that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven; for He makes His sun rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 7:17-22, 43-45 NKJV

5. John MacArthur, Jr.
(born June 19, 1939)
Radio program: Grace to You
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John Piper
Born: January 11, 1946
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John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of
Bethlehem College & Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of
Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Desiring God
But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies, Part 2
May 21, 1995
Message by John Piper
Scripture: Matthew 5:43–48
Topic: Loving Others
Essence of this lesson:
1. You will be persecuted (Matt 5:44)
2. Love your enemies (Matt 5:44)
3. Pray for your enemies (Matt 5:44)

6. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus said:
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses (exceeds) that of the
scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven.”
Jesus had almost no dealings with the Sadducees (old money, priests) during His
ministry.
His interests were with the common people and this brought Him into continual
conflict with the scribes and the Pharisees.
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It was not until His popularity seemed to threaten the peace of Jerusalem that
the high priest, with the Sadducees at his back, was moved to decisive action.
After verse 20, we see six statements: "You have heard that it was said . . . but I
say to you." Jesus is explaining in these six statements what the righteousness
looks like that He requires beyond what the scribes and Pharisees require.
These six statements serve as illustrations contrasting the false righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees with the true righteousness of God.
1. 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.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall
be guilty before the court."
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7. 2. Verse 27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'
28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has
committed adultery with her already in his heart."
3. Verse 31 "And it was said, 'Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a
certificate of divorce'; 32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his
wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery."
4. 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.' 34 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 footstool."
5. Verse 38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth
for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil."
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6. Verse 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor,
and hate your enemy.' (perversion by an omission and an addition) 44 But I
say to you, love your enemies."
The Sermon on the Mount and the command to love our enemies are not
isolated ethical teachings.
They grow up out of a great foundation of grace in the life and teaching of Jesus.
Jesus is speaking here about personal standards of righteousness, not civil law.
The standard God had given the Jews was supernatural rather than natural.
Jesus put His word on a par with Scripture and made it clear that He Himself was
the standard of truth, that He Himself was and is the Truth!
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.”
Matthew 7:28 NKJV
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were
astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and
not as the scribes.

8. Jesus was saying.
"By My own authority, I declare that the scribes and Pharisees are false teachers
and have perverted God's revealed truth. The divine truth is My truth, which is
that you shall love your enemies."
True love, agape love, is need-oriented (the Good Samaritan, Jesus) - the love
that seeks and works to meet another's highest welfare.
Agape love may involve emotion but it must involve action.
God's love embraces the entire world (John 3:16), and He loved each of us even
while we were still sinners and His enemies (Romans 5:8-10).
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Love's question is never who to love — because we are to love everyone — but
only how to love most helpfully.
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Those who refuse to trust in God are His enemies; but He is not theirs.
In the same way, we are not to be enemies of those who may be enemies to us:
from their perspective, we are their enemies; but from our perspective, they are
our neighbors.

9. Because persecution is so often the world's response to God's truth, the Lord
assures us that, just as He was persecuted, so will we be (John 15:20).
Jesus taught that every disciple who makes his faith known is going to pay some
price for it, and that we are to pray for those who exact that price from us.
The best way to have the right attitude, the agape love attitude, toward those
who persecute us is to bring them before the Lord in prayer.
We may sense their wickedness, their unfairness, their ungodliness, and their
hatred for us, and in light of those things we could not possibly love them for
what they are.
We must love them because of who they are — sinners fallen from the image of
God and in need of God's forgiveness and grace, just as we were and we are to
pray for them that they will, as we have done, seek His forgiveness and grace.
Our persecutors may not always be unbelievers.
Christians can cause other Christians great trouble, and the first step toward
healing those broken relationships is also prayer.
Whoever persecutes us, in whatever way and in whatever degree, should be on
our prayer list.
Talking to God about others can begin to knit the petitioner's heart with the heart
of God.
Prayer is the very highest summit of self-control and it is evidence that we have
most brought our lives into conformity to God's standards when we can pray for
our persecutors.
Self-control is one of the flavors of the fruit of the Spirit.
The more control we give to the Holy Spirit over our
lives, the more self-control that He returns to us.
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10. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor who was killed in Nazi Germany, wrote of Jesus'
teaching in Matthew 5:44, "This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of
prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God."
This is where we get the power to love—that He loved us while we were poor
and diseased and helpless and enemies, and gave Himself for us.
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Romans 5:10a NKJV
10a For if when we were enemies (of God) we were reconciled to God (we were
put on friendly terms with God) through the death of His Son,
Colossians 1:21 MSG
21 You yourselves are a case study of what He does. At one time you all had your
backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of Him, giving Him trouble
every chance you got.
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Now who are our enemies?
And what does loving them actually look like?

11. We need to rightly understand Matthew 44 and 45: "Love your enemies . . . in
order that you may be sons of your Father Who is in Heaven."
One of the reasons some Christians shy away from the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5–7) is because of conditional statements like this. "If you love your
enemies (the way God loves His enemies), then you will be His children."
This does not mean we can earn our way into God's family by loving our
enemies.
Rather it means that when we love our enemies, we prove ourselves to be in
God's family.
"If you love your enemies the way God loves His enemies, then you show that
you are a child of God. You are seen to be a child of God."
Loving your enemy doesn't pay for your birth into God's family; it proves you've
been born into God's family.
How did Jesus offer a relationship with Himself and His Father?
How does it get started, so that we have the power to love and can prove that
God is at work within us?
The answer is in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of Heaven.”
We receive Jesus and His kingdom through bankruptcy—by admitting the
poverty of spirit.
More of the answer is in Mark 10:15, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not
receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”
We receive Jesus and His kingdom by admitting that we are as helpless as a
little child.
Then in Mark 2:17 we see, “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.”

12. We receive Jesus and His kingdom by admitting that we are sick and in need of
the spiritual Physician—namely, Jesus.
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In other words, the commands of the Sermon on the Mount are not the first things
in the matter of our relationship to Jesus and His Father.
The first things are free Gospel promises that He will be the Forgiver and Healer
for our sin-sickness, the Father for our helpless childlikeness, and the Supplier for
our poverty stricken heart – through our relationship with Him that we that we
received by faith.
Jesus said to the weeping prostitute “Your sins have been forgiven.” . . . “Your
faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48, 50)
This is how the Christian life starts.
It doesn't start by measuring up.
It starts by realizing that we don't measure up.
We are poverty-stricken, helpless as a child, and sin-sick in need of the Great
Physician.
Then we hear the Gospel news that Jesus "came not to be served but to serve
and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45); and we hear the free offer
that by trusting Him our sins we will be forgiven, God will be our Father, and the
power of the kingdom will come into our lives, and we will have the Helper
(God’s Holy Spirit) we need to live out the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in
him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

13. We are grafted into the vine by faith in the all-satisfying promises of Christ.
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We abide there by faith—drawing on His power and His enabling.
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So the fruit we produce, like loving our enemies, is not produced in our own
strength, but by the strength of the Vine.
"Without Me you can do nothing."
Think about who our enemies are, and what it means to love them, and how this
is possible.
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14. Who Is Our Enemy?
In this text Jesus is responding to a misinterpretation of the Old Testament
commandment to love your neighbor as your love yourself (Leviticus 19:18, 34).
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.”
"Neighbor" is not just friends and brothers.
One of the reasons we know Jesus thought it was wrong to interpret "neighbor"
merely as friend or brother or comrade is that in Luke 10:29, when he was asked,
"Who is my neighbor?"
He answered by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan.
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In that parable the man who loved was a Samaritan and the wounded man
whom he loved was a Jew.
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And the Jews and Samaritans were anything but friends and brothers.
They had nothing to do with each other.
There were religious and racial animosities.

15. So Jesus doesn't just say, "I have two commands: one that you love your
neighbor and one that you love your enemy."
He says, "I have one command: love your neighbor and I mean, even if he is an
enemy."
What does He mean by "enemy"? What kind of enmity does He have in mind?
From the context we can see that He means a wide range of feelings from very
severe opposition to minor snubbing.
"If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who
does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not
seen" (1 John 4:20).
Ask who in your experience comes closest to being your enemy, and be
praying that God will use His Word, even now, to give you the heart to love
them.
Of course, one category of enemy is Those Who Persecute You…
The first meaning of enemy is found in verse 44, But I say to you, love your
enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
So, clearly, by "enemy" He means people who oppose you and try to hurt you.
"Persecute" means to pursue with harmful intentions.
It might include very severe hostility like the hostility Jesus faced.
In some parts of the world Christians are still being crucified in addition to the
beheadings that we have heard of recently.
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16. Even twenty years ago widows and orphans of slain Christian men were being
sold into slavery in north Sudan and Libya for $15 per slave.
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In China there are reports of persecution, rising hostility, and government
crackdowns on Christians.
Many arrests have been made with charges of distribution and of receiving
Bibles.
Jesus says, "Yes, love them. If they kill you, love them. If they take away your
father, love them. If they destroy your home, love them. Love your enemies. Be
that kind of person. Be so changed on the inside that it is really possible."
Those Opposing You in Less Dramatic Ways:
But Jesus also has in mind situations much less dramatic than persecution.
Verse 45b gives another pointer to the kind of hard relationships in which we
should love.
Matthew 5:45b
45b “for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust.”
In what is called common graces, God is indiscriminate in His benevolence.
Those common grace blessings are given without respect to merit or deserving
because if they were, no one would receive them.

17. His divine love and providence in some forms benefit everyone, even those who
rebel against Him or deny His existence.
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Since God does that for everyone, His children should reflect that same
generosity.
The evil and the unrighteous are people who defy the laws of God - they resist
His will.
They do not submit to His authority.
• A lot of these people do not admit that they are God's enemies.
• They would resent being told that they are God's enemies.
• But Jesus mentions them to illustrate God's love for His enemies, and our
love for our enemies.
• So another way to understand "enemies" in this passage is that they are
people who are repeatedly going against your desires.
• They may not call themselves enemies.
You may not even call them enemies, but they resist your will.
• They are contrary and antagonistic.
• In this sense, the enemy might be a rebellious child.
• He might be an uncaring, non-listening, ill-tempered husband.
• He might be a cantankerous neighbor that complains about everything
you do to your yard.
Jesus says, "Love them. Love your enemies."
Another category that Jesus was thinking of is: Anyone Who Doesn't Love You or
Is Not Your Brother.

18. Another illustration of the enemy is given in verses 46–47:
46 “If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-
gatherers do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do
more than others?”
Here in verse 46 the "enemy" is anyone who doesn't love you.
If you (just) love those who love you, you are not loving the way Jesus
commanded.
And in verse 47 the "enemy" is anyone who is not your brother.
If you greet your brothers only, you are not loving the way Jesus commanded
you.
So the point seems to be: don't stop loving because the person does things that
offend you, or dishonor you, or hurt your feelings, or anger you, or disappoint
you, or frustrate you, or threaten you, or even kill you.
"Love your enemies" means keep on loving them.
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What Is This Love?
Now we must ask; What is this love?
This time let's work backward in the text.
Something as Simple as Greeting Them.

19. In verse 47 loving your enemy means something as simple and gracious as
greeting them: "if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than
others?"
Greeting your non-brothers is one form of the love Jesus has in mind.
That may seem utterly insignificant in the context of threatening and killing but
Jesus means for this text to apply to all of life.
Whom do you greet when you leave this service?
• Only those who greet you?
• Only your close friends?
• Only those you know?
• Jesus says, “Greet those you don't know.”
Greet those who are at odds with you.
You have no warrant from Jesus to snub anyone – ever!
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The citizens of God's kingdom are to have a much higher standard of love, and
of every other aspect of righteousness, than does the rest of the world.
Christians should be noticed on the job because they are more honest and
more considerate.
Christians should be noticed in their communities because they are more helpful
and more caring.
Christians should be noticed anywhere in society they happen to be because
the love they exhibit is a divine love.
"Let your light shine before men," Jesus had already said, "in such a way that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven"
(Matthew 5:16).

20. As J. Oswald Sanders comments, "The Master expects from His disciples such
conduct as can be explained only in terms of the supernatural."
"Love your enemy" means something as simple as, "Greet them."
It also means – Practically Meeting Their Physical Needs.
Second, verse 45 illustrates what love is: “He [God] causes His sun to rise on the
evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
In this case love is a very practical effort to meet a person's physical needs.
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Sunshine and rain are the two things that plants need to grow so that there will
be food for human life.
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This is the kind of thing Paul had in mind when he quoted Proverbs 25:21 in
Romans 12:20.
20 Therefore
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him,
and if he is thirsty, give him a drink;
for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”

21. Romans 12:21
21 do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Loving your enemy means practical acts of helpfulness in the ordinary things of
life.
Since God gives His enemies sunshine and rain, you give your enemies food and
water.
Love your enemies by Praying for Them.
Third, verse 44 gives one of the deepest meanings of love for your enemies. It
says, “I say to you, love your enemies, … and pray for those who … persecute
you.”
Prayer for your enemies is one of the deepest forms of love, because it means
that you have to really want that something good happen to them.
You might do nice things for your enemy without any genuine desire that things
go well with them.
But prayer for them is in the presence of God Who knows your heart, and prayer is
interceding with God on their behalf.
It may be for their conversion.
It may be for their repentance.
It may be that they would be awakened to the enmity in their hearts.
It may be that they will be stopped in their downward spiral of sin, even if it takes
disease or calamity to do it.
The prayer Jesus has in mind here is always for their good.
This is what Jesus did as He hung on the cross:
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22. “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
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And it's what Stephen did as he was being stoned: Falling on his knees, he cried
out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:60)
These are examples of obedience to Jesus command: "Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you."
Jesus is calling us not just to do good things for our enemy, like greeting them
and helping supply their needs; He is also calling us to want their best, and to
express those wants in prayers when the enemy is nowhere around.
Our hearts should want their salvation and want their presence in Heaven and
want their eternal happiness.

23. So we pray like the apostle Paul did for the Jewish people, many of whom made
life very hard for him, in Romans 10:1 Paul says -
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Where Does Power to Love Like This Come From?
Now how can we do this?
Where does power to love like this come from?
Just think how astonishing this is when it appears in the real world!
Could anything show the truth and power and reality of Christ more than this?
Part of the answer is found in Matthew 5:11–12.
Matthew 5:11–12
11 “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say
all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 Rejoice, and be glad,
for your reward in Heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who
were before you.”
Jesus says that not only can you endure the mistreatment of the enemy, but you
can also rejoice in it.
Why?
Because your reward in Heaven is great.

24. Which means that the command to love your enemy is a command to set your
mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the Earth.
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The command to love your enemy is a command to find your hope and your
satisfaction in God and His great reward—not in the way people treat you.
“The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life.” (Psalm 63:3)
Loving your enemy doesn't earn you the reward of Heaven.
Treasuring the reward of Heaven empowers you to love your enemy.
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Essence of this lesson:
1) You will be persecuted (Matt 5:44)
2) Love your enemies (Matt 5:44)
3) Pray for your enemies (Matt 5:44)

25. Matthew 5:44 NKJV
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to
those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
you,”
http://jgarbison.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/love-god.jpg
Matthew 5:48 NKJV
48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”
That perfection is also utterly impossible in man's own power.
To those who wonder how Jesus can demand the impossible, He later says, "With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)
That which God demands, He provides the power to accomplish.
Man's own righteousness is possible, but is so imperfect that it is worthless; God's
righteousness is impossible for the very reason that it is perfect.
But the impossible righteousness becomes possible for those who trust in Jesus
Christ, because He gives them His righteousness.
That is precisely our Lord's point in all these illustrations and in the whole sermon
— to lead His audience to an overpowering sense of spiritual bankruptcy, to a
"beatitude attitude" that shows them their need of a Savior, an Enabler Who
alone can empower them to meet God's standard of perfection.
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End John Piper

26. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.”
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
 Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
 Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
 The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be
My son.”
 Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to become an overcomer.

27. Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist
Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/