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The Biblical Doctrine Of Love And Hate

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• Our Bibles, 1 John chapter 4, and we're going to read verses 7 and 8. 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. The title of the message today is "The Biblical Doctrine of Love and Hate." The biblical doctrine of love and hate. I think you'll understand as I get into this message why I'm teaching it. It's not so much for the benefit of each one that is here, but for a number of people who listen, especially on Sermon Audio and YouTube and any other way. But notice if you would 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." Now, there's a very simple statement: God is love. The statement is certainly a truth of Scripture. But the question has to be asked, what does it mean, and how do we understand love? Many problems that we are experiencing today in our families, in our churches, in our governments, arise from a misunderstanding of the biblical doctrine of love.

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• We are taught, usually from a child, that we should love everybody. But we are not even taught what love is. But the truth of the matter is, it is impossible to love everybody. Moreover, it is impossible to always live peaceably with everyone. That is why in Romans 12 and verse 18, the Scripture says, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." If it be possible, because there are some people that you just cannot live peaceably with. But when you talk about love, you have to understand that there are many and varied definitions of love. For instance, the hippie generation or the flower children, as they were called, advocated free love. But what their definition of love was, was just simply sex without the bonds of marriage.

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• Instead of love, they were advocating lust and fornication and idolatry because they were placing themselves and their bodies before God. Today there are many people crying, "We need to love, love, love," but their definition of love is for toleration. So if you love according to their definition, you love sin, you love wickedness, you love rebellion, you love idolatry, you love whatever someone decides what is best for them. And if you love according to them, you will also tolerate illegal immigrants who destroy your nation, collect undeserved welfare, and while at the same time demand that you submit to their religion and their practices.

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• And you must tolerate their insults, their demands, their prayer times, their rooms, and their prayer rugs as well, even to the extent of blocking traffic. So, if you love according to their definition, you just simply tolerate everyone and everything. Then when you begin to look at the leftists and the liberals, their definition of love is compromise. In other words, you must compromise your faith and your standards to accommodate abortions, socialism, or whatever the government decides.

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• For instance, Hillary Clinton, in a speech on women's health, said this, I'm quoting: "Far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health and safe childbirth. All the laws we've passed don't count for much if they're not enforced." Clinton said, using the euphemism for abortion, that is, reproductive health. "Rights have to exist in practice, not just on paper," Clinton argued. "Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will."

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• "And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed." So, according to Hillary, if you love women and their rights to abortion, you must change your faith and compromise for the political will so that that shall prevail. It doesn't matter what you believe or what the Bible teaches. So, there are many and varied definitions of love. Let me give you one more. Everyone understands that there are many of my sermons that are on sermonaudio.com.

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• They're also on YouTube and I don't know where all else. Facebook, I think. But when you go to the sermons on sermonaudio.com, you can download them, you can listen to them. But there is also a place for comments. And every time anyone comments on a sermon, an email is sent to me and I get to read their comments. I might point out that over the years I've received, I don't know, hundreds, maybe even thousands of comments, and probably 99.9% of those comments have always been very favorable and very appreciative of the messages. Every now and then I might get one that is critical or one that is really far out in left field.

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• So I received a comment this past week from a listener. And I wanted to make sure that everyone understood how wrong this individual was. He had listened to my message on the biblical doctrine of self-defense. I might point out the fact that there are two parts to that message. Evidently, he had only listened to one of them. But there is a comment title then after he puts the comment title that he can put the comment, but the comment title that he put was this: "Old Testament gone." Now the comment title demonstrates that he knows absolutely nothing about the continuity of Scripture, nor the truth that the Apostle Paul enunciated in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. For there the Apostle Paul wrote, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." So when the Apostle Paul wrote, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," that is God-breathed or God-exhaled, he had primarily in mind the Old Testament.

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• Because the New Testament had not been written at that time. Of course, it would have included any New Testament books that had been written, but primarily it referred to the Old Testament. Now, you have to understand when an individual or someone tries to do away with the Old Testament, at the same time he automatically does away with the New Testament. Because we only have one Bible. Let me put it like this: the New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. So when you say the Old Testament is gone, when you do away with the Passover lamb in Exodus chapter 12, you do away with the anti-type Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 when it says, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." And when at the same time you do away then with the law in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy chapter 5, you also do away with the law in Matthew chapter 5, 1 Timothy chapter 1, and a host of other places.

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• When you do away with the creation in Genesis chapter 1, you also do away with a new creation in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Moreover, if you throw out the Old Testament, you don't even know who Jesus Christ is. He would just appear on the scene in the New Testament as an interloper because you would know nothing about Him because all the prophecies concerning Him happen to be in the Old Testament. So when you deny one testament, you automatically discard and deny the other. Now this was just the title of the comment: "Old Testament gone." Now, here is the comment.

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• I want you to listen carefully and I'll break it down for you. The comment is this: "We are not under the Old Testament. It does not matter what the founding fathers did. It doesn't matter what military code says. Jesus said love your enemy and that doesn't include blowing his head off. No wonder atheists think Christians are hypocrites. Even an atheist knows what love your enemies mean." Really.

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• Well, let me just point out the fact that, first of all, that message, the first part, is really on the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" or "Thou shalt not murder." And I'm pointing out the positive of that is "Thou shalt preserve life." And you have the responsibility to preserve your life and the lives of others as well. Then I pointed out historically how the founding fathers always carried their weapons to church and they would always stack them in the aisle.

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• The men sat on the end, the women and children sat in the middle. So if the British attacked or the Indians attacked, they would just simply get their weapons and go out and fight and defend their families. And then thirdly, I only pointed out I think it was Article 3 of the Universal Military Code where it says that if you are captured by your enemy, that you have a duty and responsibility to try to escape. And I pointed out the fact that escaping was not just so that you could get back and report to your superiors what you had seen, but it was part and parcel of the Sixth Commandment because you have a duty to preserve your life. And if your enemy is going to incarcerate you, enslave you, and kill you, you have a duty to try to preserve that life.

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• Now the interesting thing is this, the last comment here he says, "Even an atheist knows what love your enemy means. Really." Well, that last statement is certainly not true. And it cannot possibly be true in light of 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14. Because there the Word of God says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

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• Which just shows you, if you deny one part of the Scripture, you end up actually denying all of the Scriptures.

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• Now, while it is true that our Lord said in Matthew 5 and verse 44, "Love your enemies," it must be taken in its context. And it certainly does not mean to allow your enemies to murder you or your family or anyone they please. There's a vast difference between loving your enemies and defending your life. And so, as I read the comment, I kind of smiled and laughed, and I thought, "Hmm, I wonder if I should email this fellow back and ask him if he thought that that was a loving comment. Did he think it was an example of biblical love to imply that I'm totally ignorant and dumber than an atheist?" Well, obviously, there is his definition of love and there is what the Bible defines love. So that brought me to a very interesting question, and that means this, and that question is: Who defines love? Who tells us what is the essence of love? So if you let any individual or any group define love, there's going to be so many different definitions.

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• Who would be the one to say that your definition is not right? The point I'm trying to make is there must be an objective standard. There must be an objective definition of love or else you're going to have absolutely nothing but confusion. So if you'll look very quickly at 1 John chapter 4, verses 7 and 8. Let me just cover it before I get started. Because John says this, especially in verse 8, that's the verse I want. He said, "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." Now in verse 7, he said, "Let us love one another." He's talking about Christian love, brotherly love. "For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God." So in this passage, the Apostle John is pointing out the necessity for biblical and Christian love one for another. So he is telling us if we are without love for the brethren, we are without love for God. In fact, in 1 John 3 he says, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."

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• That is one of the evidences that God has really genuinely regenerated us. But if we are without love for the brethren, we are without love for God. So clearly if we do not love in the biblical sense, we do not know God, for God is love. That means this: God defines love, not man. One aspect of the character of God is revealed in 1 John 4 and verse 8, and that is God is love.

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• I want you to understand something. John does not say that love is God. He said God is love. These two phrases are not interchangeable. God is love. But the character of God that is revealed in love, that character that is expressed by biblical love, and that love is not defined by man, but it is defined by God. So love is not God. Your definition of love is not God. Only God's definition of love is right and accurate. That's why the Bible says God is love. Now, while it is true the Bible says God is love, that is not the only attribute that is revealed about God in the Bible. 1 John 1 in verse 5 tells us that God is light. John 4 in verse 24 tells us that God is spirit. But then the Bible also tells us that God is just.

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• For instance, Deuteronomy 32 in verse 4, "He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." And when you get to Isaiah 45 and verse 21, listen carefully. God says, "Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me." So God is not only love, He is light, He is spirit, He is just, and He's a number of other things that He's revealed in Scripture. So let me just point something out. One cannot say that God is love and be accurate and be biblical while at the same time denying that God is light and God is spirit and God is just or anything else that is revealed about God in the Bible. Thus to try to believe that God is love while at the same time denying that God is light and God is spirit and God is just is simply to deny God, because God is just as much spirit and just as much light and just as much justice as He is love.

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• So the only God that exists is the God of the Bible. And that God is exactly as He's revealed Himself in the Bible. He is not a figment of your imagination. You cannot make God up. You cannot make Him into what you believe. Let me give you an illustration. Years and years ago, I was at a pastor's office, and he and I were talking about the doctrine of election. Well, the door was open, his secretary was sitting out at the desk, and we'd probably been talking about election, I don't know, 15, 20 minutes, something like that. And all of a sudden, she burst into the room, and she looks at her pastor, and she says, and I'm quoting exactly, she said, "I don't care what the Bible says, I know God's not like that." The pastor looked at her and said, "Did you hear what you just said?" So this is why I'm telling you, God is exactly as He's revealed Himself. It's not up to you to define God. It's not up to you to define His attributes.

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• He's revealed Himself. Now, since God is love, God is the only one that has the absolute right to define love, and He does define love, and He tells us exactly what love is. So I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 13, and let's begin reading there with verse 8. Romans 13, and look if you would please at verse 8. We're going to read through verse 10. Romans 13, verse 8, look what he says: "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."

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• Now watch verse 9 for this: "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Now, I want you to note that love is defined in relationship to God's law. And according to God, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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• It is not about feelings. It is not about emotions. It is not about sentimentality. It is not about personal quirks. No, it is about fulfilling the law. Now look if you would back at verse 8. He says, "Owe no man any thing." Now when he says, "Owe no man any thing," stop and think about this. He is telling us that we are to render to every man his due.

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• And he is trying to tell us what biblical love really is. It does not matter if that man is a superior. It does not matter if that man is our equal. It does not matter if we think that that man is our inferior. What our God is telling us is that we must discharge biblical love toward him, and that biblical love is defined as fulfilling the law. So verse 10 then clarifies and explains verse 9. So why does he say in verse 8, "For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law," and then he begins quoting some of the Ten Commandments, not all of them, but some of them, such as "Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet," and then he says, "And if there be any other commandment." And then he goes down to verse 10 and he says, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." So what is love? Love is obedience to God's law.

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• It is acting out biblically God's law. So how do I love my neighbor? How do I love my enemy? How do I love my God? Well, the answer is, if I love my neighbor, if I love my friend, if I love my enemy or anyone else, I'm not going to commit adultery with his family. I'm not going to kill. I'm not going to steal. I'm not going to bear false witness. I'm not going to covet anything that he has. I will treat him in a biblical manner as God has commanded me to do so. So God's law is nothing less than love in action. Okay. So when I came in today, I greeted each one of you. I did not grab you around the neck and hug your neck and start crying and slobbering all over you and telling you I loved you. But as long as I do not steal, I do not kill, I do not covet, I do not—as long as I obey God's law towards you, I love you in a biblical sense of the word.

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• Now, turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5 and look at verses 2 and 3. 1 John 5, verses 2 and 3. A lot of ground to cover. 1 John 5, verse 2. He says, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments." How do I know that I love each of you? Because I treat you the way God tells me to treat you.

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• You haven't caught me at your house stealing. You haven't caught me at your house coveting or committing adultery. You haven't caught me defrauding you. No. So he says, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments." Now watch verse 3. If you really want to know what the love of God is, here it is. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." So love then is keeping God's commandments. One of His commandments is, "Thou shalt not kill" or "Thou shalt not murder." And the positive is, "Thou shalt preserve life." You have a duty and an obligation and responsibility to preserve your life.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 12. Let me try to tie some things together for you. Romans chapter 12, and we're going to begin reading there with verse 19. Romans 12, verse 19. You have to understand that biblical love is obedience, it is acting biblically in every area, in every circumstance, in every situation. So in Romans chapter 12, beginning there with verse 17, he says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

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• Now look at this in verse 19: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

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• Now I want you to note what he is saying in verse 19. We're not to try to plan vengeance just because Steve does something to me that I don't like and that I believe that is wrong and maybe it might even be hurtful. I'm not to say, "Mm-hmm, you just wait, big boy. Your time's coming. I'm gonna skin you alive. I will nail you sooner or later." No, he says don't do that because "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Okay, now watch: "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him." Now, what is God saying? If Steve has done something wrong to me, and he comes to me and he's hungry, God does not command me to buy him a T-bone steak. He said if he's hungry, feed him. He can eat whatever I'm eating. I'm willing to feed him. If he's thirsty, I give him a cup of water. That's what I drink. God does not command me to buy him the most expensive cup of Starbucks coffee. What is he saying?

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• He is saying that just because someone does me wrong does not give me the right to do wrong in return. That I am to keep my heart, I am to keep my spirit regardless. And in demonstration that I am not filled with a vengeful, retributive, and bitter attitude, as I fulfill God's law toward him. If he is hungry I feed him, if he is thirsty I give him water.

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• Now watch what he said in verse 20: "In so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." So let me explain it like this. So if James stood up and cussed me out, the most natural thing for any man to do is cuss him back. Okay? So just because he cusses me out does not give me the right now to turn around and cuss him back. No, I'm still going to do what's right toward him even though he's done me wrong and done me ugly. And God said as long as I'm obedient to him and sweet and do what's kind and right, I'm heaping coals of fire upon his head because he can't figure out why I'm not cussing him out and why I'm not fussing back at him. In other words, I'm playing with his mind is what it amounts to. I like the story about the woman who came to the pastor for counseling.

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• She and her husband were having problems. And so he looked at her after he listened for a few minutes he said, "Well, have you tried heaping coals of fire on his head?" By that he meant returning good for evil. She said, "No, but I've tried hot water and that don't work either." Anyhow, but look what he says in verse 21: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." So if James stood up and cussed me out, I'm not going to cuss him back. And then he turns around and comes to me and says, "I'm hungry." I said, "Well, I'll share what I've got with you. You may have it. I'm not gonna be ugly to you just because you were ugly to me."

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• It's that simple. That is all he is saying right here. Love is in essence the fulfilling of the law. It is that simple. So how do I love my enemy? The answer is by not cherishing a hateful, vindictive attitude toward him and still acting biblically toward him even though he does not act biblically toward me. So when Paul says in Galatians 5 and verse 14, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," he is saying exactly what he said in Romans 12 and what he said in Romans 13 as well. All the law is fulfilled in one word, namely this: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

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• So as long as I treat other people the way I want to be treated by obeying God's law, what he is saying, if I don't want to be stolen from, I don't need to steal. If I don't want anyone to try to commit adultery with my wife, I don't need to be committing adultery with somebody else's wife. If I don't want someone coveting what I have, I don't want to be coveting what they have. In other words, if I desire to be treated biblically, then I should treat other people biblically as well.

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• Now, let me show you where the rubber hits the road. What most people do not understand is this. When you understand biblical love, it is also connected. Not only connected, but it's absolutely impossible to have a biblical love without at the same time having biblical hatred. You could say that biblical love and biblical hatred are the two sides of one coin.

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• Now, I just read to you from 1 John 4 and verse 8 where the Bible says that God is love. But I'm going to show you a few scriptures very quickly where you can find the infinitely holy, righteous God who is love incarnate, where He hates. So let's go in our Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 44, and I want us to read verses 3 and 4. Because in Jeremiah 44 and verse 3, God is talking about the wickedness of the people and how they have been committing sin, rebellion, and wickedness and idolatry. And look at what He says: Jeremiah 44, verse 3, "Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate." God says, "Don't do that which I hate." Now let that sink in. The God who is the God of love hates.

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• Let's go further. Let's go in our Bibles to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. I could multiply scriptures. I'm not going to, but I want to show you just sufficient. Look in Psalm 5, if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 4. Psalm 5 and verse 4: "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man."

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• The Lord will abhor, that is a strong word for hatred. The Lord will hate the bloody and the deceitful man.

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• Now the Bible says very plainly in verse 5, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." And then the Bible says in verse 6, "The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man."

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• Now, turn right over to Proverbs chapter 6. I could multiply passages, but let me just try to do it with these three passages because I'm only trying to prove one particular point. If you look in Proverbs chapter 6, let's begin reading there with verse 16. Proverbs 6 and verse 16: "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." Wow. Now go back and look if you would at verse 16. "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him."

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• That phraseology is a Hebraism. And when he says, "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination to him," what he is saying is there are many more. This is just a summary of some of the main things that he hates. So what does God hate? A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, and He lists all of these things. So the point should be clear that the God of love hates. He hates sin. He hates wickedness. He hates iniquity. He hates rebellion. He hates idolatry. He hates any and everything that is contrary to Him. Moreover, moreover, He commands those who love Him to hate as well.

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• Now listen to what I'm going to tell you. You cannot love God unless at the same time you hate everything that is contrary to Him. So since we're close to Psalms, turn right back to Psalm 97 and look at verse 10. Psalm 97 and look if you would please at verse 10. Psalm 97:10: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. Now, without turning there, let me just quote Amos 5, verse 15, because we're fixing to go to Psalm 139. But in Amos 5 and verse 15, God says, "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate." Hate the evil, love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. Now, if you look in Psalm 139, Psalm 139, and notice if you would, please, beginning there. Oh, let's begin with verse 20 to show you that David is talking about God's enemies, not his personal enemies, but they turn out to be our enemies because they're God's enemies. But in Psalm 139, verse 20: "For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." Now look what

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• David says concerning God's enemies: "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I want you to note in this passage, David is proclaiming his holy hatred for all of those who are rebelling against God, seeking to overthrow Him. And he has perfect hatred in this passage because he has a perfect heart of love for God. He then asked the Lord to "Search me, O God, and try me, and know my way, and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." In other words, here is an expression of what you and I would call a holy hatred. It is not emotionalism. It is not sentimentality.

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• It is not a vengeful spirit. It arises out of a pure heart of love for God.

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• Now, if you understand Psalm 5, I could also show you Psalm 10 and a multitude of others, but if you understand Psalm 5, if you understand Psalm 139, you will also understand the ridiculousness of the statement that you've heard all of your life, that you must love the sinner and hate the sin. Has it ever dawned upon you that there would not be any sin if there were not sinners? It is sinners that sin. Sin exudes from sinners. You cannot separate a sinner from his sin. Sin is not some little abstract thing floating around the universe somewhere. Sin is in individuals. That's why Psalm 5 said, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." Not just their works, but all the workers of iniquity.

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• "The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." That's why David said, "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that rise up against thee? Yea, I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies." So you cannot separate the sin from the sinner. So, it is impossible to have a biblical love to God without at the same time having a biblical hatred for everything that is contrary to God.

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• These two things go together. So let me show you. I'm going to call this the classic illustration. If you will turn in your Bibles to John 2, John chapter 2, everyone familiar with this story. You've heard this story since you were a child. But I want you to think about it in light of what I'm teaching and preaching. John chapter 2, and let's begin reading there verse 13. John 2, verse 13: "And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in

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• the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

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• Now here is a clear passage of what I would call biblical love and demonstrating that it includes biblical hatred. It is impossible to have one without the other. So you could ask, did Jesus Christ love his Father? The answer is yes. Did He love Him with a perfect love? The answer is yes. So now you have to ask, why then was Jesus Christ so forceful and demanding that the money changers leave the temple? Why did our Lord improvise a weapon, physically drive them out, He overthrew their tables, He spilled all their money? Why did He do that?

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• Well, the answer is given us in verse 17: "And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up," or "the jealousy of thine house hath eaten me up." Verse 17 is a direct quote from Psalm 69, verse 9. And in that Psalm, the verse says, "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me." So our Lord then was consumed with His Father's honor, glory, love, and worship. So He was driven and He was motivated by love.

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• Hence He overthrew the money changers. He turned over their tables. He took that scourge of small cords and drove them out. And by the way, whenever you look at these sickly, effeminate pictures of Jesus that are painted by some of the famous painters, may I remind you, you don't get sickly and effeminate and weak in a carpenter shop. Moreover, who's gonna run from a 90-pound weakling? Our Lord was a man's man. He took that scourge of small cords and He literally drove them out of the temple. The money changers were thieves. They defrauded, they coveted, they stole, they were idolaters. So if you came to the temple and you had a Roman denarius, and you said, "I want to give this to the Lord." "Oh, no, no, no, we can't take that. You have to have temple money. And it's going to take you 10 of those to get one of these." So here were these men who were not only covetous, and may I remind you that covetousness is idolatry according to Colossians 3 and verse 5.

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• So here they were in the temple reproaching, blaspheming God the Father, His worship, His honor, His glory, and the zeal and the jealousy of Jesus Christ drove Him to throw them out. He hated what they were doing. He despised how they were making His Father's house a house of merchandise and a den of thieves and doing everything that was contrary to God. Now when you get to Romans 15 in verse 3, the Apostle Paul quotes Psalm 69, verse 9 again and applies it to Jesus Christ when he says, "For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."

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• So let me ask you a question. Do not the reproaches of the wicked now fall upon the righteous? Christ is not here for them to hate, but they hate His people and they hate His seed. So in light of this comment by this listener, who said, "Even an atheist knows what love your enemies mean," which is not true. Here's my question: In light of the Law of God, and in light of what our Lord just did, would it be considered right, and would it be considered an act of love to allow a murderer to violently and viciously take my life, or the life of my wife? It certainly would not be an act of love toward my wife. And it would not be an act of love toward myself. Why would I not rather say, like David, I hate his violation of God's law. I hate his rebellion against God. I hate how he's usurping God's authority and violating everything that God says is holy. Why would I not hate his resisting and rebelling against truth?

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• And here's another question. Should I not prefer to live and to serve God? It is in no way an act of love to allow yourself or your family or your friends or your neighbors to be murdered, maimed, or harmed. It's not an act of love. It's an act of hate. If you love God, you're going to hate wickedness.

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• Now let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. It is true that our Lord said, "Love your enemies." But you have to also understand that everything has to be taken in its context. If I had time to go over Matthew chapter 5, I could show you where our Lord was correcting the misinterpretations and the misapplications of the law by the Pharisees. For instance, let's begin reading in verse 38. Matthew 5, verse 38. Our Lord said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

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• But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, 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 ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

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• Now let's go back and notice this. He said in verse 38, "Ye have heard that it hath been said." What is he doing? Who said this? The scribes and the Pharisees, the rabbis, they were misinterpreting God's law and they said, "You've heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Let me explain what he is talking about here. If Steve hit me and knocked out a tooth, that means I have the right to hit him back and knock out one of his teeth. If he knocked out my eye, I've got the right to gouge his eye out. When you go back into the Old Testament, you look at this phrase, "An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, burning for burning, stripe for stripe, foot for foot." That was given to the judges for the judges to execute justice. But what the Pharisees did, they took it and made it personal. "I've got a right to slap you back. I've got a right to poke your eye out." Well, that was never given to man; it was given to the judges to execute God's justice.

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• Now watch, he says in verse 39, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil." In other words, don't get worked up over this. He is going to explain it. "But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

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• Now I want you to think about this. If Francis is standing in front of me, and most men are right-handed. I know there are some left-handers. I understand that. But if Francis is standing right in front of me, and I'm going to knock his block off, and I'm going to come up with a haymaker, and I mean I'm just going to hit him as hard as I can hit him in the jaw. If I hit him with my right hand, which cheek is my right hand going to land on? His left. His left. What did he say? "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek?" So if I smote Francis on the right cheek and he's facing me, I have to do it with the back of my hand.

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• In other words, it's a slap. It's an insult. Your life is not in danger. You're not being hurt or harmed. You're just being insulted. It's kind of like in the days when duels were accepted, men would take a glove and slap that cheek and say, "I challenge you to a duel." It's an insult. And so what our Lord is saying is this: don't get worked up and get bent out of shape when folks merely insult you. Turn the other cheek, take another insult. Don't get bent out of shape. This is a minor insult; it is an annoyance. Don't get worked up over it.

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• Look what else he says. Go down if you would please. He said in verse 40, "And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also." So if Steve wants my coat, and he covets it so badly that he's going to take me to court and sue me to get my coat, think of all the trouble, all the pain, all the expense, all the agony that I would go through to defend myself just to keep my coat. God said give him the coat, give him a cloak also. Just get rid of that minor inconvenience. Do not let it upset you, do not let it control your life. That's what he said. Look what else he said. Watch if you would please, verse 41: "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain." Back in Bible times, a Roman soldier could walk up to any man and compel him to carry his rucksack or his weapons for one mile. You talking about being an annoyance, especially if you're going somewhere and needed to be there on time, and now this Roman soldier comes by and says, "You got to carry this a mile for me," a mile out of the way, walking. Our Lord says carry it two miles. Don't get bent

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• out of shape over things that are not important. That's exactly what he's saying. So in this passage, when our Lord is telling us to love our enemies, our lives are not in danger. Our property's not in danger. We're not being harmed. We're merely being inconvenienced and annoyed. And what he's telling us in these annoying situations, we have to control our spirits. We cannot become vengeful, we cannot become bitter, we cannot become angry and hateful. So instead of reacting angrily and bitterly and vindictively, we control our spirits and we act biblically and righteously.

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• Now the Bible says in Proverbs 16, verse 32, listen carefully: "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." So God says if you can control your spirit, and if you can be slow to anger, you're better than a mighty warrior, even one that can conquer a city. And then he said also in Proverbs 25 and verse 28, "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls." So if you can't control your spirit, anyone can get in and get what you've got and get out, because they will make you mad. They'll make you angry. They'll upset you. They'll make you jealous. And when anybody can make you angry, they now have control over you. My dad used to box, and he taught me to box, and I never will forget one thing. He said, he said, "If you ever want to hurt somebody, the first thing you do is make him mad."

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• Because when you get mad, you don't think, you react. God says, we're not going to be like that. We're not going to do it. We're going to control our spirits. So loving your enemies simply means acting biblically toward them. It does not mean that it allows you or that you are to allow them to murder, maim, or harm you or your family out of love. No. In fact, you defend yourself out of love to God, His law, and His righteousness. Self-defense is an act of love first and foremost. The only hatred that is involved in self-defense is a hatred of that which is wicked and contrary to God and His law. So let me put it like this. It's not so much when we fight or when we defend our families or our lives. It's not so much that we hate what is in front of us. It's that we love so much that which is behind us that we're protecting. We love the Lord Jesus. We love His law. We hate all that is contrary to Him, His law, and His kingdom.

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• Now, if you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ and His law first and foremost, it will be absolutely impossible for you to pray, "Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Have you ever stopped to think about what you're praying? Out of love, you're praying for the total and the complete establishment of God's kingdom on earth, while at the same time, you are praying for the total and complete destruction of humanism and man's kingdoms. So in every act of biblical love, there is an act of biblical hatred. Love and hate cannot be separated.

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• Because they're the two sides of one coin. If we love the Lord, we will hate evil. If we love the Lord, we will hate everything that's contrary to Him. You do not get to define love. God does. And He has. For He told us that love is the fulfilling of His law. So when you are faced with a self-defense situation, out of love to God and His law, you defend yourself and your family and your friends and your neighbors. And you hate the wickedness and the rebellion that caused you to have to defend yourself. What is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your love, Your grace, Your mercy, Your goodness, and Your truth. Help us, Lord, to love Thee with all of our hearts and be obedient unto Thee, and to, Lord, apply Thy law in every area. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T21:48:10Z