I want to have established a fatherly relationship by grace with me that frees me to love rather than saying you got to get

loving your enemies or you will not be become ever enter into a relationship with me as a father. If that's what he's saying, then I'm

cast back on my own resources to work my way into his family.

How can we find the inner resources to love our enemies?

In this episode of Light and Shrewd, John Piper opens Matthew 543 to 48 to examine how God's love and forgiveness provide

what we need to love as God commands. This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on May 14th, 1995.

What I want us to do first is to catch the nearer context of this command to love our enemies.

And what we see in the nearer context is that leading up to it in chapter 5 there have been

Six statements of contrast between what was taught before and what Jesus is teaching.

I want you to see these because we won't understand what's going on here

unless we catch why Jesus is doing this.

They begin in verse 21,

but just before verse 21 comes a very key verse.

And only verse 20, which says,

I say you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the

scribes and the Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

And then, after he's saying, your righteousness has to surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees,

he gives these six statements.

You've heard that it was said, but I say to you, let's read them. Let's just look at them one at a time.

There's six, I'll just cite them.

Verse 21, you have heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.

But I say to you, everyone who's angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court.

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