What To Do With Spit In Your Face

Bunbury

Wed pm

10/08/2011

“What to do w/ spit in your face”

Intro: We have been focusing for the past two Wednesday nights on this text & so far we have looked at offences & the enemy that delivers the offence to our lives.

T/n we want to focus on something that Jesus singles out as being an offence that is not only directed at our physical / emotional well being but our spiritual wellbeing.

Jesus is dealing here w/ the power of a curse!

I can’t think of anything more demeaning than to spit in someone’s face…… more particularly to spit in their eye.

*** I remember a woman I knew years ago being involved in a conflict w/ another woman. She was hard core, tough & not very easily put off. What she said the other woman she was arguing w/ was what caught my attention – she said “You could spit in both my eyes & I’d still come out laughing!”

Well maybe she could but personally I couldn’t really imagine too many things that would be more demeaning than to have someone spit in my eye!

But in reality that is the approach that Jesus is telling us we need to be able to have if we claim to be His people.

So I want to preach a sermon tonight called “What to do w/ spit in your face”.

Text: Luke 6:27-31 ( NKJV ) 27“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

# 1. The curse.

A. Few people realise the power behind a curse but the Bible tells us that the power of a curse is real & very devastating.

a. We find the idea of a curse coming into the picture very early in Biblical history.

i. As a matter of fact as soon as sin appears on the pages of Scripture so does the curse, let’s think about that.

Genesis 3:14 ( NKJV ) 14So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, ……

ii. Here is the serpent h/s being cursed but we also see man who gave in to sin being cursed.

Genesis 3:17 ( NKJV ) 17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

iii. Think about that … in response to ruining the entire human race by plunging it into sin a curse was released!

iv. So it means that we are not only under the power of sin but – but under the power of the curse!

b. So what is a curse?

i. The Gr Word lit = to execrate – which is to detest utterly / abhor / abominate / imprecate evil upon / damn / denounce / doom.

ii. So when we think about the whole idea of a curse we are talking about something w/ incredibly evil force / sentiment behind it.

iii. In other words to curse someone is no light thing …… you were basically condemning / removing all hope of restoration from that person.

Matthew 25:41 ( NKJV ) 41“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

iv. Think about this parable where were ‘cursed ones’ relegated to? They were sent off into everlasting fire!!!

c. Let’s take this whole thought a little further – Jesus b/ca a curse for you & I.

Galatians 3:13 ( NKJV ) 13Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

i. So what did that mean …… Jesus b/co cursed for us? Of course we know that ultimately they hung him on a tree & in being crucified He was cursed.

Deuteronomy 21:23 ( NKJV ) 23his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.