[Think about your worst enemy - an x-friend, your mail-man/woman, a national public figure, your x-husband, your x-wife. Think of who it is while you read The Words of Jesus!]
Ch. 3
Jesus
Explained the Love that Fulfills the Law
Jesus
explained to His disciples the God-kind of love they were commanded to walk in
to fulfill the requirements of the law. And He lifted up His eyes on His
disciples, and said: “Love Your Enemies, Do Good To Them Which Hate You…and
of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again…And as ye would that men
should do to you, do ye also to them likewise…and if ye do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same…But love
your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again…And Your Reward
Shall Be Great, And Ye Shall Be The Children Of The Highest: for He is kind unto
the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is
merciful” (Luke 6:20, 27-36).
You manifest the nature of God when you love your neighbor as yourself.
The reason these Scriptures sound like a foreign language to most people today
is because they will not fit into today’s carnal doctrines. These doctrines do
not teach people to fulfill the law, nor do they conform them to godliness so
they can walk in the love that God requires. True disciples receive discipline
in order to walk in this love. This is the God-kind of love that Jesus perfects
in the body of Christ to fulfill the law.
Jesus
confirmed this God-kind of love that we are to walk in today by saying: “This
is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John
15:12, 13). We must be obedient to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in order
to be perfected in God’s love. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not
His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. And hereby we do know
that we know Him, If We Keep His Commandments…Whoso keepeth His word, in him
verily is the love of God perfected…He that saith he abideth in Him ought also
to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2: 3-6).
“Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Jesus described the
body of Christ by saying: "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be
your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to give His life a
ransom for many” (Matt. 20:26-28).
We
must understand that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is in agreement with
the law which says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus
referred to this law when He was asked about eternal life. “Master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What is written in the law?
How readest thou?” And he answering said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all the strength, and with
all thy mind; and they neighbor as thyself.” And he (Jesus) said unto him,
“Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live” (eternally) (Luke
10:25-28).
Jesus
continued to describe the love we are to walk in, “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 cloak 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…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 if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even
the publicans [the lost world] do the same? Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Even As
Your Father Which Is In Heaven Is Perfect” (Matt. 5:39-42, 44-48).
This
is the Gospel that brought such opposition to Jesus and His disciples. It has
not changed. Jesus was telling His disciples about the blessings that would come
on those who walk in His Love to fulfill the law. He continued to describe this
God-kind of love and blessings by saying: “Blessed are the poor in
spirit…Blessed are thy that mourn…Blessed are the meek…Blessed are thy
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness…Blessed are the
merciful…Blessed are the pure in heart…Blessed are ye, when men shall revile
you and persecute you…Ye are the light of the world…Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is
in heaven” (Matt. 5:3-16).
Jesus
explained in the next verse that this was the kind of love that fulfills the
law. He said, “I am not come to destroy (the law), but to fulfill” (Matt.
5:17).