Checking Our Transformation - Part 1. 9-13-26

Checking Our Transformation – Part 1 9-13-26 Mat 5:38  “You have heard that it was said, ‘EYE FOR EYE, and TOOTH FOR TOOTH.’  Mat 5:39  “But I say to you, do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also.  Mat 5:40  “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  Mat 5:41  “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.  Mat 5:42  “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.  Lev 24:17  ‘Now if someone takes any human life, he must be put to death.  Lev 24:18  ‘But the one who takes the life of an animal shall make restitution, life for life.  Lev 24:19  ‘If someone injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so shall it be done to him:  Lev 24:20  fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a person, so shall it be inflicted on him.  Rom 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  2Ti 3:1  But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  2Ti 3:2  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  2Ti 3:3  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  2Ti 3:4  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  2Ti 3:5  holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.  In Matt 5:38 Jesus is not negating the rule of Law Slapping with the back of the hand was a horrible insult in Jesus’s day. We use the term “that was a slap in the face”. When we are insulted we are not to return. If we are slapped in the face we cannot return the slap, but he gov’t can take action. In Matt 5:40 – taking the cloak and not returning for nite in Jesus’s day means that the person would sleep in the cold without his cloak, which was valuable in the day. Exo 22:26  “If you ever seize your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets,  Exo 22:27  for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else is he to sleep in? And it will come about that when he cries out to Me, I will listen to him, for I am gracious.  Deu 24:12  “And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.  In Mat 5:41 – Jesus tells his disciples to go 2 miles when a roman soldier asked him to carry his things (which was Roman law) In Mat 5:42 – Give to those who are poor and in need. Deu 15:6  “For the LORD your God will have blessed you just as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.  Deu 15:7  “If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother;  Deu 15:8  but you shall fully open your hand to him, and generously lend him enough for his need in whatever he lacks.  Deu 15:9  “Be careful that there is no mean-spirited thought in your heart, such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry out to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.  Mat 5:43  “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’  When we pray for our enemies: God forgive them That they know Jesus They know the truth and power of God