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This man hated God.
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And he just thought it
was the greatest thing
-
to try to provoke this godly woman.
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She was God fearing.
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She was a holy woman.
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And he was a wicked man.
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Of course, he was old.
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He'd be there at home with her
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while husband's off at work.
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And he would just try to provoke her
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and he would speak in
foul, wicked language.
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He'd try to make her life hard.
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He tormented her.
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Foul, perverse language;
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insults, mocking...
-
he knew she was a Christian.
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And he was just trying to get her
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to blow her testimony.
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He just tried to jab at her.
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And on the inside, she was angry.
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She would have to leave the room and weep.
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He was trying to provoke her.
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She was exasperated.
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You know how it can be,
-
if you try to go to your husband
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in a situation like that
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and it's his dad.
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Well, it's not that bad.
-
Well, whatever happened,
-
she wasn't able to get the kind of help
-
she was obviously looking
for from her husband.
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So she went to her pastor.
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She said, pastor, here's this situation...
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you know what the pastor told her?
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Every time he provokes
you, return kindness.
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Every time he tries to get you;
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every time he speaks wickedly;
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every time he tries to provoke;
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every time he's cruel;
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every time he's unkind;
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every time he acts wickedly towards you
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return his evil with kindness.
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And I'll tell you, that good woman
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by the help of Christ,
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she went back there
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and it wasn't easy.
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She felt provoked inside.
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There'd be tears.
There'd be hurt.
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Inner turmoil.
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But she sought to return good to that man.
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And I can't remember in the story
-
how long that went on;
-
how much time went by,
-
but I can tell you this,
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there was one day he did
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an especially wicked thing to her,
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and she went over and she
began to cook cookies.
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She turned away from
all her other chores
-
and all her other household work.
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She cooked those cookies.
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You know what?
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They were the favorite
kind of that old man.
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And she put them on a plate,
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and as graciously as she could,
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she came over,
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and she set that plate down on the table
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in front of him.
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And you know what?
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That old sinner couldn't take it anymore.
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He fell out of that chair
on his face on the floor
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and he just wept.
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And she hadn't seen that coming.
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She didn't know what
was going on inside.
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Every time she was returning
that kindness to him,
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it was grating on his conscience.
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It was stabbing him.
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And it was hurting - it was
like a burning coal in there.
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And finally, this was too much.
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It just broke that wicked old man.
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Like burning coals...
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And you know what?
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The testimony is that
that man was converted.
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That man repented.
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That man saw in the example
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of his godly daughter-in-law something.
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He asked God to forgive him.
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He asked that lady to forgive him.
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He was broken.
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He's in glory now!
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Because she lived like that.
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Brethren, let me tell you something.
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This is the Word of God.
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This is for real.
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One of the reasons we
don't know more of this
-
is because we don't live more like this.
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That's a reality.
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Folks, it's not because it isn't true.
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It's not because it doesn't work.
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It's because we are far more often
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avenging ourselves than trying to show
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love and kindness when we're wronged.
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We tend to do what
Jesus Christ did not do.
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You know what? We get offended.
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We get hurt.
We get wronged.
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What happens?
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This little thing comes up in us.
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We want to get even.
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And even though we
may not strike out
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in a way that is just manifestly visible,
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what do we do?
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By our words, by our actions,
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by our avoidance,
-
we give these little subtle deals.
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Well, I just won't talk to them.
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I'm just going to avoid where they are.
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And it may not be just the outward strike,
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but we've been offended.
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We're going to respond.
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We're going to make it known.
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We're going to get back.
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We're going to somehow deal a blow
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for the blow we feel like we've received.
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Brethren, are you really hearing this?
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That's the thing.
-
Are you hearing this?
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Can you imagine what it
would be like for this church
-
if every time somebody grieved us,
-
offended us or hurt us,
-
we immediately responded
with a loving action?
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A loving gesture?
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Folks, when someone wrongs us,
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we know it.
-
Right?
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Folks, enemies are called enemies
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because they do the things
that only enemies would do.
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And that doesn't mean that sometimes
-
that enemy isn't another Christian.
-
Basically, we can size
up an enemy this way:
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It's not just a lost person
that does this evil.
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It's anybody that
strikes out against us.
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And the fact is, that even when
-
it's an enemy that
strikes out against us,
-
we can leave that
vengeance to the Lord.
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The Lord will repay.
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You say what? He's going to repay them?
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Not if there a child of God,
-
but there's going to be payment.
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Christ will take that payment.
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Which you should be glad of that
-
because He's taken yours too,
-
and you've offended other people.
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But I'll tell you what,
-
an enemy is anybody
that comes against us.
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It's anybody that mistreats us.
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And I mean it's a true mistreatment.
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It's a true offensive deal to us.
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It's a true persecution to us.
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It can come from any quarter.
-
And bottom line, enemies
do what enemies do.
-
And we feel what enemies do.
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This isn't a mystery to us.
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If anything in our
life gets our attention,
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I mean really gets it,
-
it's the actions of enemies against us.
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We feel it.
-
And you know what Paul says?
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He comes in right there
-
and he says, OK, I can say this to you:
-
It isn't something you have to
wonder whether it happened.
-
When you feel offended,
when you feel hurt,
-
you know you do.
-
And what he's saying is,
-
right at that point,
-
take that hurt,
-
and return in love.
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It takes the grace of God.
-
Natural man cannot do this.
-
What did God say?
-
What is the promise?
-
He says we are
predestinated to be conformed
-
to the image of Christ.
-
If you're a true child
of God, I guarantee you,
-
this will be conformed
into your very image.
-
It will be stamped in there.
-
By the grace of God,
-
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
-
you can do this.
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Folks, take every offense, every hurt;
-
let their wrongdoing to you
-
be an immediate prompt in your life
-
to love them.
-
Are you really hearing what I'm saying?
-
Look, if you're not hurt right now,
-
you're thinking, I can do that.
-
But when you've been
hurt, it's not so easy.
-
And I can imagine in a church like this,
-
as the church grows...
-
OK, let me give you an example.
-
OK, we've got a sister.
-
Sister hears some ladies
got together for coffee.
-
How come I wasn't invited?
-
And by the way,
-
who was it that planned that thing?
-
Who was it that did the inviting?
-
They didn't invite me?
-
I'm hurt.
-
Well, you know what?
-
Next time I have a gathering,
-
I'm not going to invite her.
-
You know what?
-
You'll laugh,
-
but I know the way people think.
-
And I know what hurts people.
-
And you know what?
-
In a church where a lot of sinners,
-
saved though many of them may be,
-
try to live together
and function together,
-
we hurt each other.
-
And look, we could be talking
about enemies out there,
-
but there are things that
people do in here as well.
-
And the thing that I'm saying is,
-
whether it's an enemy out there
-
or whether it's somebody in here,
-
you hear down through the grapevine,
-
so and so said such and such about you.
-
Well, that hurts me.
-
Well, you know what?
-
Rather than saying by
my retaliatory words,
-
or by my avoidance or by my silence
-
to that person I'm going to get them back,
-
you know what you do?
-
You say, "that hurt."
-
Now, Father, show me
specifically how to do and act
-
a specific manifest act
of love toward that person.
-
If we have a church
that's functioning like that,
-
guess what?
-
We don't have people like
I've heard some people
-
that have left the church
because they didn't feel like
-
they were being given enough attention.
-
You know what you
do when you get hurt
-
because you don't feel like
you're getting enough attention?
-
You specifically according
to this don't retaliate
-
by I'm going to show them - I'm leaving!
-
That's exactly the opposite of this.
-
What this is is saying if somebody does
-
strike out against me like that,
-
then I'm going to return love.
-
If somebody offends me,
somebody comes against me
-
I'm going to do this.
-
Folks, take every hurt, every wrong,
-
every unkindness, every attack,
-
every provocation, every offense,
-
every criticism, every crushing, mauling,
-
biting, wounding thing,
-
and make it specifically an occasion for
-
doing that person good.