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The Book of Luke, The Sermon on the Mount – Love Your Enemies, Part – Lesson 81
By studying the Sermon on the Mount we can easily see what the Lord Jesus Christ expects of those who follow him.
When he preached throughout the land of Israel he said, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
And because the kingdom of heaven was at hand he broadcast the requirements of those who received him and who believed in him and would follow him.
Those who follow Jesus Christ are to be a prepared people, a people prepared for His kingdom for they are to rule an reign with him.
They are to be a people who have the grace of God operable in them in order for God to conform them to the image of his son, Jesus Christ.
This passage in Luke 6:41-42 show his continuation of this theme as he commands his disciples to examine themselves so that they will be a fit servant, a seeing servant, able to help and minister to others.
Luke 6:41-42, And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.
This person who beholds a fault in another while purposely ignoring any fault of his own is called a hypocrite by our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is describing a person who chooses to be an eye doctor while blind, who tries to perform an operation on someone else’s eye.
He is describing a person who sees himself as righteous and others as unrighteous and in need of an operation which only one as righteous as he can perform.
But only by the grace of God can the beam from the eye of this eye doctor be removed so he may see clearly enough to take the speck out of his brother’s eye.
And that removal is a spiritual activity that is only done under the guidance of the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul writes in Gal. 6:1 in this way:
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
So the message of Christ is clear.
Jesus Christ does not provide service to the blind from the blind.
He provides service to the blind from the spiritual.
And who are the spiritual?
The Spiritual are those who have been given eyes to see, those whose beam has been removed by the Word of God.
That is the only way the beam can be removed for without the light of the word of God you cannot perceive the beam in your own eye.
Jesus Christ is the only one who can make spiritual for he is full of grace and truth.
Jesus Christ is the only one who can make the blind to see!
He is the only one who can bring forth a good tree. As he said in:
Luke 6:43-44, 43For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
This is the same message as before.
A person with a beam in his eye cannot be a blessing to the blind because he himself is blind.
Neither can a corrupt tree be a blessing because it only brings forth corrupt fruit.
Only a good tree can be a blessing because only a good tree brings forth good fruit.
The fruit of a person is expressed in his attitudes, his words, his deeds, his speech, what he confesses, and what he teaches by his life.
The overall message of Christ is that He is the only one who can make fruitful.
He is the only one who can make a good tree.
He is the only one who brings into a life the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
And only the fruit of the Spirit will clear up all eye problems and make a Seeing Eye doctor to help those who are blind.
Only a man with a new heart that is yielded to the Word of God can help the blind.
Only a man who hears Jesus’ sayings and doeth them can be an effective eye doctor and bring sight to the blind.
The Jews had been going to a thorn tree expecting figs, and a bramble bush expecting grapes.
They were blind, not knowing a good tree for they could not see.
And they did not wish to see for they forsook the only one who could bring sight to the blind.
Did not Jesus Christ tell one of their own Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Except a man be a good tree he cannot bless by his fruit.
Except a man have a good store in his heart he has nothing to bring to the table.
Except a man have a well stocked pantry of the heart he has nothing to bless with.
Jesus Christ continues this theme in Luke 6:45 of having to have a new heart in order to serve him.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
The heart then is a receptacle for it contains treasure.
It holds good treasure or it holds evil treasure.
The heart of the good man holds good treasure but the heart of the evil man holds evil treasure.
It is not mixed treasure in either heart.
There is no spark of divinity in an evil heart.
Nothing good can come from the evil heart.
The new heart that Jesus Christ gives through the new birth only holds good treasure.
The evil heart of the natural man never holds good treasure so therefore the heart of the evil man only brings forth that which is evil.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us to, Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
That word “keep” means to guard and to protect.
It means that a person is always to be on guard duty.
This verse means that what goes in the heart will come out.
All actions, all behaviors, all thoughts, all deeds all affections, all desires, all motives; all pursuits come from the heart.
The mouth, the eyes, the feet, the hands, all is directed by the heart.
So what is deposited in the heart determines what comes out, evil or good.
Only good comes out of the new heart that is given at the new birth but only evil comes out of the old heart.
For it is out of the good treasure of the heart that a man brings forth good things.
But good things cannot be brought out of a heart unless good things have been deposited.
There needs to be regular deposits into the treasury of the heart if the right withdrawals are to occur.
And those deposits to the heart are to be the Word of God.
They are to be the Word of Jesus Christ.
And when the appropriate time comes they are to be withdrawn and obeyed.
I remember that fateful September 11, 2001 when out country was attacked.
Nancy and I were in Bergen, Norway on that day far, far from home and on that day it seemed a world away.
The first thing we saw of what was happening in New York City was a replay of the falling of the towers.
The television pictures were awesome and our hearts were heavy.
But later my wife told me that when she first saw those images and understood the immensity of the event an immediate withdrawal from the treasure of her heart took place.
The first thing she thought of when she realized what was going on was Psalm 46:10 which reads,
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
That treasure pointed her to the eternal God and away from the temporal circumstances which horrified the world.
She had treasure in her heart that helped her at that tragic time.
There had been a deposit of that treasure in the past and now was the time for the withdrawal.
But there can be no withdrawal unless there have been deposits.
Jesus Christ expects of his disciples daily deposits of treasures into the new heart that he has given. When the Lord calls you home that new heart will be going to heaven with you don’t you know?
You will leave the old evil heart behind but the new heart is eternal and the treasure that you fill it with will stay with you in heaven.
The new heart contains gold, silver and precious stone but the old heart simply contains wood, hay and stubble.
But on this earth those treasures placed in the heart will come out of the heart and be displayed by obedience to God’s word.
The treasure of the heart is not withdrawn only for tragic times but is to be withdrawn all the time, all through life.
We may be chastened but the treasure comes forth and tells us in:
Heb 12:5, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
We may sin against God but the treasure from our heart tells us:
I John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We may be given children to rear and the treasure shows itself to us in:
Prov 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Prov 29:15, The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
Trouble may come in our life but that treasure again reminds us that:
Psalm 46:1, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
And doubts may rise in the night but faithful treasure is again withdrawn when we remember that:
Acts 4:12, Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Only obedience to the commands of our Lord proves a person to be a true follower of Christ, and can only be done by having his treasure in the heart consisting of His Word.
Jesus taught that it is not enough for disciples to call Jesus, Lord, they must prove He is Lord by obeying His commands. |