Series:
Psalms
Title: What
to Do to Enemies
Text: Psalm
35: 11-18
Date: April
26, 2018
Place: SGBC,
New Jersey
Psalm 35: 11:
False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew
not. 12: They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
The speaker
says false witnesses rose up and charged me with things that were not in my
thoughts, words or deeds. We know this is written concerning
Christ when it says, “False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my
charge things that I knew not.”
Matthew 26: 59: Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the
council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; 60: But found
none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the
last came two false witnesses, 61: And said, This fellow said, I am able
to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. 62: And the high
priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which
these witness against thee? 63: But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest
answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us
whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 64: Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast
said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65:
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what
further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 66:
What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. 67: Then did they
spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms
of their hands, 68: Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote
thee?
In thirty
plus years of being in the faith I have never seen or heard of God’s true
preachers and God’s true people rejecting a professing believer because of
error in doctrine. I have never heard of God’s people slandering someone
who professes to believe the gospel of God’s grace simply because they do not
agree with one another on some aspect of doctrine. God’s people do not go
on websites and slander other professing believers. Those who have
experienced the power of God’s grace continue preaching and supporting the
gospel and wait on God to work in the hearts of those who oppose us.
However, I
have seen a handful of preachers who separated themselves and told professing
believers not to associate with us. I have seen men who do so change
their doctrine from what they once preached and suddenly refuse fellowship with
the very men they once called their brethren in Christ. While men refuse
those who once were their brethren they align themselves with those they once
claimed preached lies.
I have
experienced, and I have heard of brethren experiencing, the wrath of
unregenerate men who reject us for trying to show them the truth of the
scriptures concerning Christ and him crucified.
Nothing hurts
and frustrates us like being accused of something we did not do. It is common
for believers to be falsely accused because of the hatred men have for Christ
and his gospel. Even when we declare the gospel, they accuse us of saying
things we never said.
But remember
they did it to our Lord. And so did we when we were dead in trespasses
and in sins. Throughout his life on this earth, and at last on the cross,
Christ said, “They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my
soul.” Christ only did good when he walked this earth. He
healed the sick: made blind to see, lame to walk, deaf to hear, cleansed the
lepers. Christ fed multitudes with a few fish and a few loaves. He
preached the Gospel and saved the souls of many. Yet, we rewarded Christ
with reproaches and persecutions, and at last with the shameful death of the
cross. You and I who now believe by his grace once hated Christ and his gospel
and despised those who tried to tell us the truth.
So, brethren,
we should not think it a strange thing, as though some new thing happened to
us. Depraved sinners persecuted the prophets, even Christ himself. And we did
the same while dead in our sins.
Subject: What to Do to Enemies
Proposition: We learn what to do to our enemies by how Christ dealt with us
when we were enemies in our minds, hating him and persecuting him.
CHRIST
TREATED US AS OUR NEAR KINSMEN
Psalm 35: 13: But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was
sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own
bosom. 14: I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed
down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.
Christ says,
“When they were sick.” How sick were we? We were blind and
deaf to everything spiritual. From our mother’s womb we came
forth lame, unable to work righteousness, to justify ourselves or even to come
to Christ believing on him. We were diseased with the
leprosy of sin. In our nature we got from Adam, we were dead in
trespasses and in sins. Colossians 1: 21 describes us as “alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works.”
Yet, Christ
says, “when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.” Sackcloth
was a rough garment made of camel’s skin worn to signify humility and mourning.
In order to recover God’s elect, who were Christ’s enemies, the Son of God came
down from heaven’s glory and clothed himself with the sackcloth of humanity
like unto his brethren.
What should
we do to those who are enemies of Christ and of us in their minds? We
should humble ourselves in the dust, mourning for them, knowing that is what
Christ did for us when we were in the same condition.
When faced by
his depraved elect who hated him by nature, Christ said, “I humbled my soul
with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.” We tend to
not understand what a true fast is in the scriptures. There is much more
to a true, spiritual fast than merely depriving the body of food.
However, it
is simple to understand a spiritual fast if you consider what happens when men
fast physically. In a fast, the flesh is starved—Christ said, “I
humbled my soul with fasting.” But in a spiritual fast, while the
flesh is denied, the believer feeds his spirit—Christ said, “And my
prayer returned into mine own bosom.” Where you find Christ fasting
in scripture, you also find him engaged in prayer. What was he doing?
Though Christ
knew no sin, when faced with his enemies, in his flesh, Christ was tempted in
all points as we are. He was touched with all the infirmities caused by sin
that you and I are touched with though he knew no sin. But instead of leaning
on the arm of the flesh, Christ fasted. He denied his flesh. While he did so,
he fed his spirit in prayer to the Father. He says, “I humbled my soul with
fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.”
Therefore,
Christ walked in the Spirit rather than reacting to his enemies like our sinful
flesh reacts. So he declares that the fast he chose is to do to his enemies
that which was righteous and holy.
Isaiah 58: 6: Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to
loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7: Is it not to deal
thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own flesh?
The reaction
of our sinful flesh is just the opposite. The self-righteous fasted physically
but they did it only in an attempt to merit God’s favor and to exalt themselves
over other sinners.
Isaiah 58: 3: Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou
seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no
knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your
labours. 4: Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist
of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice
to be heard on high. 5: Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man
to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to
spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the LORD?
The reaction
of self-righteous flesh is to smite our enemies with the fist of wickedness and
exact upon men grievous rules and regulations that are impossible to
bear. Sinful flesh does so to make their voice to be heard on high in an
attempt to make the enemy obedient rather than humbling the flesh, praying to
God in spirit and waiting on God to make his people obedient in the heart.
Christ did not
do that. He denied his flesh even though there was no sin in his
flesh. Still, he humbled himself before the Father, praying the Father
for his people. Therefore, toward his enemies, Christ said, “I behaved
myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one
that mourneth for his mother.” As he fasted and prayed, he mourned
over us as his friends and brethren, when all his elect were enemies to God by
wicked works.
Instead of
condemning us with the fist of wickedness, instead of yoking us with the curse
of the law, Christ “loosed the bands of wickedness and the heavy burdens,
and he let the oppressed go free, breaking every yoke” by laying down his
life for us on the cross and delivering all his people from the curse of the
law.
While as yet
we despised him in our fallen sin-nature, he sent us the gospel and
“dealt his bread to the hungry.” Sinful flesh casts out enemies. But
Christ “brought us—the poor that are cast out—to his house?” Sinful, self-righteous
flesh sees the enemy in the nakedness of depravity rejecting the gospel and
hides from men who are our own flesh. Christ found us “naked and
covered us in his own righteousness.” Christ “hid not himself from his own
flesh.” Now, by his finished work, Colossians 1, describes his
redeemed, regenerated, believing people this way,
Colossians 1: 21: And you, that were sometime alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22: In
the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight:
Brethren,
Christ is the brother indeed born for adversity—a friend at all times. Even
now, when we in our flesh act as though he is our enemy, he comforts us “as
one who mourns for his mother.” (Pro_17:7; Isa 66:13; Joh 15:13-15)
So what do we
do to those who are enemies in their minds, rejecting Christ, rejecting us,
rejecting the gospel? Brethren, let us heed the word of Christ our Master and
our Savior and do more than unbelievers do. Let us go above and beyond toward
those who are our enemies. Christ said,
Matthew 5: 43: Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44: 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; 45: 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. 46:
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the
publicans the same? 47: And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than
others? do not even the publicans so? 48: Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Every
believer has an old nature and a new nature: so we are in a warfare between our
sinful flesh and the new spirit created within by the Holy Spirit.
Sadly, just
as we are very diligent about feeding our physical flesh, so we are diligent to
feed our sinful flesh. Physically, when we miss a meal, our flesh reacts. We
have to eat for the sake of our physical flesh. But sadly the same is true when
it comes to feeding our sinful flesh.
But we need
to feed the spirit. We ought never go days without feeding the inner
man. Instead, we ought to set aside time to starve the lusts of our
sinful flesh, by spending that time feeding the inner man by hearing the gospel
preached, by studying God’s word, by going into our closet in prayer. And this
we should do for our enemies. It is impossible to walk in the Spirit and
feed the lust of the flesh at the same time. Notice, how Paul says that. He
says as we walk in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God prevents our flesh from
doing the sinful things we would.
Galatians 5: 16: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17: For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to
the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18: But if ye be led
of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Think about
this in terms of when we are slandered by those who oppose Christ and his
gospel. We tend to feed our flesh by reacting in a fleshly, sinful way.
We should fast. I do not mean literal fasting from physical food. But we
should starve our sinful flesh, by feeding the inward man with the gospel, the
word and prayer. If we do so then in regard to our enemies the fruit of
the Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of that fast which Christ has
chosen. As we humble ourselves and deny our sinful flesh to react, we
will give our enemies the gospel or bring them to God’s house to hear the
gospel and thus choose the fast Christ has chosen,
Isaiah 58: 6: Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to
loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7: Is it not to deal
thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house?
You see,
brethren, a spiritual fast is a reversal of our normal pattern. Instead of
feeding the sinful flesh, you feed the spirit and depend upon Christ to set his
people free through the preaching of the gospel in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Another way
to consider what a spiritual fast is is to consider when we are asked to
do something for our brethren that will require sacrifice, changing our plans,
going out of our way. Our sinful flesh does not want to sacrifice for
brethren. It is the old man of sin that does not want to be inconvenienced by
brethren, especially not by our enemies. So if we say “no I can’t help”
then we are gorging our flesh rather than fasting and depriving our sinful
flesh. We are doing what our sinful flesh wants. Fasting is
starving the flesh by walking in the Spirit and doing that which goes against
our sinful flesh. Christ said, “Is not this the fast that I have
chosen?...when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide
not thyself from thine own flesh?”
So when our
old sinful flesh flares up, before we feed that mangy mutt, remember Christ
broke our every yoke, fed us and clothed us and brought us to his house not by
treating us as an enemy but as a friend, as a brother, with the love and
kindness of a son who mourns his mother. We never know but that one
treating us like an enemy may be one of God’s elect. It may be one for whom
Christ died. The Lord may be using us to bring them to his house where the
Spirit of God will quicken them through his gospel. May God help us to not feed
the flesh but look to Christ.
COMMIT ALL TO
CHRIST
Psalm 35: 15:
But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea,
the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not;
they did tear me, and ceased not: 16: With hypocritical mockers in
feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. 17: Lord, how long wilt thou
look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. 18:
I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among
much people.
Do you see
what Christ did when his enemies falsely charged him and nailed him to the
cursed tree? He committed his cause to God his Father, “Lord, how long wilt
thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the
lions. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee
among much people.”
When faced by
an enemy of Christ, look to Christ and commit all to him like as he committed
all to his Father.
1 Petere 2: 19: For this is thankworthy, if a man for
conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20: For what glory is
it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?
but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is
acceptable with God. 21: For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23: Who, when he was
reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself
to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25: For ye were as sheep going
astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Christ
committed his cause to God our Father. He said in the first verse of our Psalm,
“Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me.” This is part of
a spiritual fast. He not only did not lean to the arm of the flesh, also
he said, “my prayer returned into my bosom.” It is not just
praying to say a prayer. It means he committed all to the Father.
And God our Father faithfully delivered our Substitute once he had accomplished
the redemption of his people and declared God just and the Justifier.
Yes,
brethren, it may get worse before it gets better. It did with our
Substitute on the cross. But when God has fulfilled his purpose between you and
the enemy who opposes you, as he did in justifying all his elect on the cross,
Christ will deliver you from your enemy. He very well may do so by
calling that one who is an enemy to life and faith in Christ.
By this
gospel, Christ is doing what he promised the Father he would do, “I will
give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much
people.” You and I believe because Christ entered our newly created
heart and praised God our Father so that in his Light we beheld the glory of
God. So not only does Christ’s resurrection declare to us that God
is faithful to judge righteously and deliver us, the fact you and I believe is
proof that God is faithful to judge righteously and deliver. He raised
Christ and gave him the glory as the GodMan to enter our hearts and give thanks
in you who make up his great congregation and brought us to praise God, giving
him all the glory, among the much people that make up his church. So we know,
without a doubt, that God judges righteously. So we have every
encouragement to commit our cause to Christ like as he committed his to the
Father.
THE LAST
THING
So what do we
do when opposed by the enemy?
First, let us
humble ourselves in sackcloth remembering that we too were once an enemy of
Christ in our minds and could do nothing but despise Christ, his gospel and
that one who declared the truth to us. Therefore, let us fast, starving
the old sinful flesh, and let us feed the inner man in spiritual things.
This way we will choose the fast Christ has chosen which is to love your
enemies and do good to them. You never know they might be one of Christ’s
redeemed.
Secondly,
since you and I both know we cannot do this of ourselves apart from Christ our
Strength, rather than revile again, commit your cause to Christ that judges
righteously. “When he was reviled, reviled not again; when he
suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth
righteously.” As we fast and prayer returns into our bosom let us do
the same, committing all our cause to Christ.
Lastly, when
Christ has delivered us from our enemy let us speak to our brethren doing what
Christ did, “I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will
praise thee among much people.” In the great congregation, amongst our
brethren, let us give thanks and praise where it is due, to God our Father and
his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, giving God our Savior all the glory!
Amen!