"But I Say..."

Okay. Last week, last Sabbath, we went into part two of the Sermon on the Mount, and we talked about the Beatitudes. Hopefully you're able to grasp the depth and the gravity of the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you will be filled. That's what Christ was teaching. Blessed are those who are merciful, for they shall obtain...what? Mercy. And then blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And then we finished up with blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. So today, I'd like to pick up where we left off in Matthew 5 and verse 10. Matthew 5 and verse 10.

Here is another B attitude. Blessed are the persecuted. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, you can imagine, as we talked about last week and the week before, those who were hearing this, those people who were struggling, those Galileans, mostly as they were around the hills of Capernaum at the time, what they must be thinking. Not only was this incredible teaching something different from what their teachers were teaching them, but now he says, blessed are you who are persecuted, because they knew something about persecution.

But he's saying, blessed or happy are you if you are persecuted. That's kind of hard to get your head around. And it was such an impactful statement that, and shocking to the audience, that it takes three verses to explain this concept. It's the only one of the B attitudes. Most are just a liner. But it says in verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. That's really hard to do. That's hard for anybody to do, to be persecuted, and then be happy about it. I can't say I really am a great example of that. When something doesn't go my way, or I feel this way, I tend to want to feel something in my stomach, feel something to begin to heat up a little bit, as I want to justify myself. But then I realize why God has called me and is working with me now.

And hopefully the scriptures run into your mind, because it doesn't just say, He says, who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. So He's saying, blessed are you if you're looked upon as odd, weird. What are you doing meeting on Saturday? Don't you know most people that worship God meet on Sunday? Then you keep these holy days, and you don't even celebrate Christ's birth at Christmas time? What's wrong with you people? You're just weird, odd, peculiar, strange. And then even about what we believe in death, we read the scriptures, and it tells us that you don't go up to heaven, yet you go to most funerals, and where are they preaching everybody?

Come up to heaven. No, she's gone to be with the Lord up in heaven. But we're to follow what the Bible says. And then He finishes in verse 12, and He says, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So persecution is going to come because you follow Christ.

He said, if they persecuted me, or if they hated me, they're going to hate you, because you're doing what this book says. And today we see the news, and we see it even this week, and all the tragedy. And I heard people on the radio just this week calling into a talk show as I was driving, saying how we need to solve the problems in this country.

We need to solve the problems in the world by just getting together and talking about it. Let's just talk it out. Everybody understands everybody. I've been hearing that ever since I was this big. I thought that's what they'd been doing, and I think that's where the mass comes in. Because they want to solve their own problems, and they want to get rid of this book. Or it has the answers. And you know, it is encouraging when you read Daniel 12 and verse 1, when you read Revelation 21, and you read Philippians 4 and verse 3. Because it talks about the book of life, and how our names are written in the book of life. Powerful!

Isn't it interesting? We come to the Sermon on the Mount, and we come at the end of the Beatitudes. And some will say, some have said that there are eight Beatitudes. Now we just went over. But I bring the question to you today. Is it possible there are ten? Just like the...when the Ten Commandments were given on that incredible mountain outside, I... And he gave these ten instructions or commands. Now Christ, is it possible that he, standing on top of this mountain, is giving ten instructions or really commandments for those who truly want to follow him. They truly want to follow God. And is it possible, or would you consider, that the next four verses are also part of an attitude that we need to be like? Except he changes his tone here. Because he is saying, you are the salt of the earth. In verse 12, you are the salt of the earth. He says, you are the light of the world. Could that be nine and ten? I want you to think about that. Salt and light. You feel like salt? Why did he compare us to salt? Well, salt flavors, right? You add a little flavor to the world, to your little corner of the world. It also preserves. Are we preserving his word? No matter what the world turns to, will we preserve his word and keep it? It also purifies. Are we purifying ourselves by trying to take out sin out of our lives? And living a life, or a walk, worthy of our calling? Salt. It's also very valuable. I'm sure Annie can tell you that... Come out already. I'm sure Annie can tell you that without salt, somebody's going to die, aren't they, Lanny? You have to have salt. It is very valuable to us. But there's one thing about salt. It is stable. It's a stable element. And I've had people ask me before, but wait a minute. Christ said, You are the salt of the earth, in verse 12, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. But salt doesn't lose its flavor. This is poor Christ. He didn't even know that. He created the universe and created salt, but he didn't even understand how it worked. No. He knew exactly. So how does salt lose its flavor? It's when it's mixed with stuff that's not like it. One of the things they used to pay Roman soldiers in salt. That's where the word salary came from in Roman time. And it became common. I don't think I would do that to many Roman soldiers, but they would then find something that looked like salt and put it in a little container like sand, and they would mix it with just a little bit of salt and try to pass it off. Was there any salt really in it that loses flavor by putting? No. So Christ is actually telling us, let's make sure we do not become so mixed up with other stuff in the world that we lose our flavor. That we're contaminated salt. And what they did with contaminated salt was they threw it out when ice was on the ground to freeze off, to break up the ice on their concrete since the Romans did. Or the inventors of concrete. And they did have that at the time. But then he says, you are the salt of the world. He says, and you are the light of the world. What does light do? We all like light. Right? Light illuminates. You pull those drapes right there, it's going to be dark in here. You turn that light off, it's going to be dark. So it illuminates. But you know what light also does? It exposes. It exposes things. You ever had cockroaches in your house? You get up in the morning, turn the light on. What happens? Exposes it, right?

What about us? What do we expose?

Light also gives warmth. Do we give that to the world? But light also directs. If you've ever been in a cave in Tennessee, we have a lot of caves there. And if you went caving, which I did a couple of times in my youth, because the holes are so small, it'd be hard to get in now, but you would get in these caves, you'd go back. And there were so many twists and turns, sometimes you would have to put a mark or something or a little rock right there because you just had this little bit of light. You were trying to find out, wait a minute, did I go down the right way? And you begin to wonder until you turn your light off inside and then you can begin to see that there's a light at a distance. And it helps direct you to where you needed to go and out.

And the one thing light does is secures things.

People put on the eve of their houses lights that turn on when something comes by, so it helps secure your house. What are we like? Have you examined your life and said, am I more like the world or am I a lot of salt and a lot of light? And where do I need more light? And where do I need more salt? Because Christ said, if you're His followers, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. So, ten mandates for the disciples of Christ. Ten actual, if I can say, rules of progression combined with promises, because that's what we saw in the last verses. But as we look at this Sermon on the Mount, I'd like you to consider something today as we go through this now, this chapter 5, the rest of it, because the people do have questions. But one of the things that's most brought out is Jesus Christ is going to make some statements, but He's also going to say, you have heard, but I say. I believe if Jesus Christ came in here today and He was standing over here and you were listening to me, but He said, Chuck says, but I say, I believe, wouldn't we have a tendency to listen to what God of the universe said?

Carries a lot of weight. Here He is clarifying. He is giving a sermon, the greatest sermon ever given, a sermon given by a God.

Never done before. And after His life was ended, never given again by a God. But I want you to look at this chapter, look at this sermon, and I ask you, can you explain or teach this chapter 5? Most of you have read it, right? Many times. Can you explain it to someone that asked you? It's what I want to bring out today. Because if you can, you can teach the greatest sermon ever given. If you can, you can actually talk and teach like a God. That's how important these words are. And the world, if nothing else, they need God today. Because we've just seen the tip of the iceberg on violence in this country, whether it's because of race or whether it's because of religion, whether it becomes because of the country you live in. Turkey almost had a coup and everybody said, well, boy, of all that in the Middle East, Turkey's the most stable.

More and more and more. And violence is popping up where it used to be a couple of times a year. Now it's every month and then it's becoming every other week now.

If at any time in the history of man do they need God, need that understanding, and need some light and need some salt, it is now. I'd like you to go with me, Matthew 5, verse 17. One of the most misunderstood scriptures in all the Bible. Because so many people quote Colossians 2, verse 14, that talks about God's law nailed to the cross. It doesn't say anything. It says requirements. But they say that we don't have to keep the Ten Commandments today because they've been done away with. Right? Did Christ say that? He said the exact opposite, didn't He? Let's go there. Let's go there, verse 17. Do not think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets.

I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Water. It's three quarters full.

I talk about fulfill. What am I going to do? Take it off? If it's been done away with it, it means that water is no good. There's not water there. Actually, the word fulfill means to level up, to fulfill, to fill up.

So that has the exact opposite meaning of what the world teaches. That, wait a minute, Christ came and He took away the command. No, He didn't. He came to fill it up. He came to fill the cup. Give us a deeper understanding. He's the architect. He's the writer. He's the composer of this. He's the one that knows exactly what He was talking about. So He's explaining it. I used to read some John Gresham novels many years ago. John Gresham was a popular writer. When I would enjoy hearing John Gresham after I read the book, I would hear him on the radio or hear him on the... explaining those characters that he created and exactly where they came from and what they were all about. And it helped me have a deeper understanding of the book. This is exactly what Christ is doing. He knows why and what the intent and at the very core of the commandments and His teachings, what He wants people to do and how He wants them to understand it. And He wants to give that understanding to us. Do not think that I came to destroy the law. The exact opposite of what so many in this world teach us. Can you explain that? Because all you have to do is look at it, at what He's about to teach, and you can see He's not doing away with, just like adultery. He didn't say, oh, I'm sorry, go in and have sex with everyone you want to, that you're married. Is that what He said? No! He actually brought it to a greater understanding of the teachings.

But there was a reason. There was a reason He gave this at this time. He said in verse 18, for surely, what? I say to you, when He makes that statement, He is wanting us to listen. I say to you, I'm the God of the universe, and I say, I think we would listen.

Remember how it was on Mount Sinai? He thundered so loudly, the commandment, that they said, uh, uh, they were scared, oh no. Now, He's really saying, but I say. Big statement.

So for surely, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot are in the Greek iota, a little mark, not one, as we would say, period or comma, okay? Not one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Makes it straight down the middle. I'm not doing away with the law. And then He says, verse 19, that I've had some questions at. Can you explain it? You explain verse 19, where it says, 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. Well, wait a minute. You may teach you to break the commandments, and you're going to be great.

Are you going to be less than great? Is that what it means? Remember who He's talking to and who's also in the audience listening? The teachers, teachers of the law. They're teaching here. What have they been teaching?

I want you to look because the translation there means everything. So if you do not have this mark in your Bible, it will help. Because the word breaks, if you have that in your New King James, the word break, from the Greek word, it means to relax or loosen. Relax or loosen. It doesn't mean break. If you have a teacher teaching you, oh well, you shouldn't do this, but that's okay.

Oh, wait a minute. If you're, I wouldn't go that far in teaching the law that way. I don't think God meant this because we're about to see who He's talking to. Who was loosening because He said, teaches. Who were their teachers? He who teaches this. He's talking to ministers. He's talking to teachers of the law. He's teaching to me. I can't just go, oh well, no. The Sabbath day? Yeah, it's not really that important. Yeah, if you've got some, go do that. If you need to go do that.

That's relaxing. That's loosening. And we're about to see the other things that these teachers were loosening and relaxing. Because what does it say in verse 20? For what? I say to you that unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will what? You will in no means enter the kingdom of God. If you're going to follow these examples, you ain't going to make it.

Because they're not good teachers. Your righteousness must exceed them. Why? Because they might say something, but they didn't do that. Haven't you seen people who you've had a boss that says, oh well, we don't want to do this, but then he goes and does it? And you're going, wow, why shouldn't I be able to do it then?

Then he comes down to verse 21. He says, you have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But then he said, but I see.

And he goes on and explains about how you use your mouth.

Well, how people will say things and you will be held accountable for it.

When you call somebody something, they can actually sue you for this in today's world. Deformation of character. You can have these various things that they can do. He's saying this happened even back then. And then you can call somebody a moron.

But you actually get into your character. And he says, you'll be held in judgment of that.

What is he trying to teach here?

He's teaching about anger. He's teaching about keeping our mouth shut, about watching what we're doing. Because anger goes far enough and long enough, what's going to happen? It can lead to murder. So he's giving a spirit of the law here. Yeah, the letter law, I can't murder. But you know what it says?

And you know what the teachers are saying? You can't murder him, but boy, you can beat the living daylights out of him. He's saying, just don't get angry. Right? This is a godly trait.

There's a time to get anger, but it's righteous indignation. Not just, well, you know, that guy cut me off in traffic. You know what I'll do? I'll swerve over, and he has to take the side of the road, and nobody will know the difference.

And that'll teach him. Right? These are the things he's teaching. That, no, it's a matter of the heart. This is where we're going. Don't do that. And he actually follows up. He says, therefore, if you bring a gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you. Leave it and go make up with them. Get rid of this thing. He even mentions later on, it's done in Scripture. But not the sun go down on your wrath.

Get it out. There's no reason, because what happened all the way back to Cain? Cain and Abel. He told him, he was upset. If you don't get yourself in life, you don't get a hold of this. It's going to get a hold of you. And sin lies at the door. And what happened?

Cain didn't listen. Next thing you know, he killed his brother.

26, assuredly I say unto you, you will by no means get out of there till you paid the last penny. You know what he's saying? You keep losing your anger.

You're going to pay for it, one way or the other. You've got to learn to control yourself. So it isn't just, I didn't murder him.

What's the opposite of murder? Love. Can you show love? Show love to that person?

Very rare in today's society.

Because we all feel like we're justified in losing our anger. We're justified if somebody treats us.

Worse than we feel we need to be treated.

Isn't that amazing in politics, how people can get upset over...

And can I say this? People get upset about two lousy candidates?

Really?

You had your way, you probably had to deal with somebody and work with them in your little cubicle day in day out for 20 years. You wouldn't want either one of them sitting next to you. Right? And people get upset and go, oh!

Come on. He's that big a deal.

Lose your anger? And then Christ, he wanted to come down in verse 27. And he says, you have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery for her in his heart. Go back to where doing away with the law. He didn't do away with the law. He enhanced the law. He's taking it to a greater level. He's getting you so you don't commit adultery if you don't lust. It would be hard to say, I'm going to commit adultery with this woman I've never seen before. I don't... You see what I mean?

But he said, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.

Now, why did he have to say that?

What were the teachers teaching? What were the scribes and the Pharisees teaching?

You shall not commit adultery because they read from the law. They read from the book, right? Oh, what's this? Oh, I cannot commit adultery. That would be, what? In a course with the one-two married people.

Oh, that's what it is. That means I can do anything else as long as it's not the actual act of intercourse. Wow!

Remember the comment from 20-something years ago?

Well, one of our presidents couldn't figure out whether is is. Remember that? When he was asked.

Now, it had to be interesting because I remembered it, but I had to look it up. I kind of had lost it because I realized that this president has an IQ of over 160.

Probably one of the most brilliant men ever in the office. A very sharp man as a photographic memory.

But it so reminded me of this. He was asked and he said, there is no improper relationship.

It's when he was asked. And then when it was brought out, that maybe he did, he said it depends on what the meaning of the word is is. If is means is and never has been, that is not that that is one other thing. Is and was distinction of what day and time you are talking about. Because when this comment was, are you involved in an improper relationship?

His attorney said he was correct when he said no, because at that moment he was asked, he was not in an improper relationship because he was standing before them answering those questions.

Spirit of the law, you understand? This is what this is an example of the answers that the Pharisees and scribes and the teachers of that day. You remember the example of where they actually caught this woman in adultery and brought her before Christ? And they said we caught her in the very act. Scribes and Pharisees caught somebody in the very act. Where's the man?

If you caught her in the act, she had to be in the act with the man. Where was he? They didn't bring him up, did they?

See how you can loosen and relax the law of God?

These teachers were despicable. They would use the law because they were the teachers. They were despicable because they would use it when they wanted to rule against somebody else, but in their own life. Or if you knew them, they could give a different rendering.

Brethren, this is why it's important that we're able to teach this.

We're able to teach because the world doesn't understand. And he goes down and says in verse 29, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it's more important for you that one of your members perish, then for your whole body to be cast into hell, or gahanna, fire, second death. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. And people have taken this literally. Is it hyperbole? Yes! Because if you cut out one eye, you still have the other eye. You could lust with, right? But he's saying, don't let it go that far.

If you've got a problem with pornography and you're getting it from the internet, take the internet out and get rid of it.

If you had to work with a few men on the pornography problem, and it is a big problem.

And one of the things is because the computer now, or your smartphone, it's like pouring in your pocket. You can get it anytime you want, right? I have doot, doot, doot, doot, right there. And one of the things that we've had to do in the past, even in church, is have the guys go cold turkey, get off the internet. They've got to stop it. They've got to cast it out because they can't handle it. Satan knows exactly what you can handle and what you can't. But if these things come up, handle it. Don't let it take you down this, oh, it's okay. I only watch porn once a week. I used to do it every day. Or I used to lie four or five times a day just because it just rolled off my tongue. But now I only lie maybe once or twice a day. Well, the hyperbole is go ahead and cut your tongue off, because God would rather see you walk around and not be able to say anything than not make it into the kingdom of heaven. There's a lot of teachings here.

In verse 31, He said, Furthermore, as been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say in the beginning, it wasn't this way. That's what He was saying. But He says down here, But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife for any reason, except sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. They had their rule set up that when this divorce decree was given back at the time of Moses, because He said in the beginning, it was not so, but because of the hardening of your hearts, He gave this. But here we have the example. At that time, a man could divorce his wife for any reason. You write out a certificate. If she burned his toast, if she didn't cook his eggs, if she didn't take care of the house like he wanted, all you had to do was go over to the scribes and Pharisees, and she's just not really the wife that she should be. And he'd write it out, good, she's out of here.

And then you could go marry someone else.

It's not how it is. And He's saying that's not how it is in church. Matter of fact, an example, in Nashville, Tennessee, this wasn't in our church, but there was another smaller church there. And one of the men, I knew him, had been married to his wife for many years.

But he said she wasn't, I guess she just didn't do it for him anymore, and she wasn't the kind of wife, and so he divorced her.

And she was very sad about it, unexpected, but they continue to go to church.

And then he comes up and marries somebody in the church, a younger woman in church, and they continue to go to church. So you've got this screwed up family, screwed up relationship in the church. This is what he's saying. This stuff didn't go.

He said what God has put together, let no man tear it apart.

You don't do this.

But you see, they had been taught that, oh well, as long as you work within the teachers, okay, no, this is a guidebook. You see, you gotta realize that most people didn't have a scroll. They couldn't afford scrolls. They couldn't afford anything back then. They just came to synagogue to listen to it being read, and then it would be discussed by the teachers and the law. So they would give their rendering of it.

Very, very sad.

Verse 33. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oath to the Lord. But I say to you, just stop swearing. Oh, I swear by the life of my kids that I didn't do this.

If they made a promise, they would swear, oh, I swear by the temple in Jerusalem. He said, stop that.

You know what he said? Which was unfamiliar there, because you remember the scribes and pharaohs. When they said prayers, they made them real long and drawn out and wanted to say more words if they may be heard. Oh, wow, that's a religious guy. So if you, oh, yes, do you want, yes, will you do that for me? Oh, yes, I will do it, and I promise I will do it by the hair on my kids' head. And Christ said, no, it comes back to another thing.

It's time to keep your mouth shut and let your yes be yes and your no be no.

So when you say something, oh, will you be there this week? Yes. Because he said anything other than that, this pontification that you may want to stand up in front of people and make this thing, he said it's from the evil one. We need to be people of our word. Verse 38, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. Well, I don't know about you women. I got to tell you, being a man, that's hard to do, right? That's hard to do. I can be walking in the woods and somebody's walking in front of me and a little branch comes back and slaps me in the face and I'm ready to fight.

I'm like, in the face? You just get mad and try to tear the limb down, right? But he's saying here, what?

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was a great law. It would be a great law in this country if they would obey because it means if you knock my tooth out, I can't go and beat you half to death. Only thing I can do is knock your tooth out.

It regulated law and justice, but he's saying, okay, that's the law, but instead of if that person slaps you, then according to this, you have every right to go and slap them except you're probably going to want to slap them a little harder than they slapped you, right? And then they may come back and say, you know, he slapped me harder than I slapped him, so I'm going to slap him even harder, right? Where does it end?

Somebody's going to kill each other. Somebody's going to kill the other one.

And Christ is saying, don't live by that.

Who is he talking to? The Galileans, right? And why was he talking to them? They were occupied. They live in occupied territory.

The Romans walked around all the time, large and in charge.

And if they wanted something, they just took it. What are you going to do about it? Well, you can say, wait a minute. They came over here and I had this knife that I had made that I was carving for food, and the Roman soldier came over and he just took it.

Well, you know what? I'm going to go and take his. How do you think that's going to end up? Christ is saying, don't make a big deal. It's got to end somewhere, right?

He says, if anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him also take your cloak also. Verse 41, and whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too.

It was written in the law at that time that a Roman soldier could tell you at any time to pick up and carry his gear, carry his sword, carry anything he wanted you to carry. But it's written in the Judean law that you had to do it, but you only had to carry that one mile. He couldn't make you carry it past a mile. And you see what Christ is telling them then? Don't just carry it one mile. Carry it two. Can you imagine the hostility that would be squelched, that would be put out if you did this? Can you imagine how the Roman soldiers would view things differently? They go, here, sir, let me carry that for you. I'm going the same way. Let me carry your load. I look at the conflict now that's being escalated in this country, and I look at the black and the white. I look at the police, and I'm going, why? All it takes is both giving. That's what it takes. Okay. But what do you have? The exact problem that he's describing here.

Everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to be big. And Christ says, okay, let everybody else win. Then you win. You win. Win. 43 as we wrap this up. So you've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 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. Here, he's moving this to the new level. Wouldn't it be nice if we had policemen who would do that, who treated black people like they were special? And wouldn't it be great if you had white people who treated police with respect like they should? It would end all this. But you know what? God knows that this world, they don't want him around. They're not living by that. You know, it's interesting. He said, hate your enemy. You know what he said? Go back and look at it. Where it says, you have heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor. That's in Scripture, right? But it also says, and hate your enemy. That's not in Scripture. At no time did God say, hate your enemy. Look, you can't find it in there.

This was added. Now, Deuteronomy 23, he does talk about the Moabites and those who attack them, and so forth like this, and how you don't let them in your nation, and don't let them in the family, and so forth. He had that. But God's not about that.

Because he said, but I say to you, this is the intent. This is what God wants. Love your enemies.

Bless those who curse you. Can we do it? This world, brethren, cannot do it. We have to show them that we can do it. This is our example.

I hear people say to me at different times, oh, well, you know that they're black, or it's a black problem, or you know how they are. They realize that of all the churches I have, the nine churches I have, 90 percent are black people I work with, black and Indian. They're my family. I don't even view color. It's just like, I love these people. I just like, I cry with these people. I pray for these people. I don't even realize. Yes, even Jamaicans are different than St. Lucian's, than Trini's. All this kind of stuff. But they're just, they're loving people. We've lost. This country has lost its way. They look and see what divides us because my color is different than yours. Because I live in one state. You know, I'm urban. I'm rural. I say, come on! That's what's wrong.

We don't do that. We have to show. That's why we are the salt and we are the light. You see why this sermon was just so important? It's important today. This is how you're going to solve Bra. And we need to show it. And it starts with us. I used to. I don't go overtime too much.

I had a guy I worked with. He was a policeman in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Won't mention his name. And I got along with him fine. It's about that short, stocky Vietnam. He had been. And he was, in our town, he was a dirty hairy. He would solve more crime. He would put out things. He saved people. He would do all this stuff. But he got in more trouble because he didn't know how to draw a line. And when he discussed this with me about a young man who was a Hispanic, he was a Mexican.

And he had gotten suspended. And I was over at his house because he had wanted me to do something. And I said, what happened? He goes, oh, there was a fight at this bar and I went to pick up this Mexican. And he said, I arrested him and was going to take him to jail. He was intoxicated.

And he said, so I put the cuffs on him behind his back and was putting him in the car. And he turned around and he spit in my face. This was a chance to turn the cheek. He couldn't do it. And so he said, I put his, I made sure I grabbed his hair to help him get in the car and made sure that his head met the top of the car at such impact that he was unconscious when he took him to jail.

And he had suspended for it for two weeks. But you knew his words to me.

But that S.O.B. will never spit in my face again.

Brethren, you see where that's the world. We have to be the exact opposite of that. We have to be the one. If somebody wants to spit in my face, spit in my face. I mean, I've had worse things in my face than spit. I worked on a farm with dairy cows.

But he says, do good to those who hate you. Boy, isn't that hard to do. But he says, he didn't say, well, why don't you? He says, do it. But I say, and pray for those who spitefully use you. We've all been used in here, one way or the other, probably in the last six months, haven't we? Somebody used us. Are we praying for them?

He said, because if you do, you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Everybody does that. Even your worst people out here.

Love those who love them. But he says, no, you're called for a higher calling.

He said, do not even the tax collectors do the same? They were the most despised of them all.

And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? And he has two questions, 47, two questions there. Have you asked yourself those questions? Okay. If you greet your brethren only, your brothers, even your brothers in here, sisters in here, even your own family, if you greet them, oh yeah, everything's great, and then the world, you don't act that way out there?

He said, do not even the tax collectors do so?

Brethren, we have to do that. We've been called to a higher calling. As I wrap this up now, this is a very high calling. This is hard for almost everybody to do. And most people can't even do this. But he said, I'm calling you because I know you can. Because why? I've said it many times. Why does he call us? It's because of this, not because of this. It's because there's something in our hearts.

And we're going to... the only way we're going to help transform this world in the time we live in and in the future time is by using this and using this word.

And teaching this.

And he finishes up chapter 5, therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. It doesn't mean you're perfect. He says, you shall. This is a process. This is how you become perfect. We're all working towards that perfection now. Practice, brethren, makes perfect. So this work, let's look at these words and let's become you perfect. Next week, the sermon will be, not but I say, but it will be when you. Turns it up another level in chapter 6. Another lesson for us to take and to show this world exactly why God called us.