Do Ye Even so to Them

Introduction: The Golden Rule in Context

0:05 Turning again this morning to the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, we come in our studies to verse 12, Matthew chapter 7 and verse 12.

0:22 By way of introduction, we remind you of the setting of this text. It comes in a real sense at the conclusion of all that has followed from verses 19 and 20 of chapter 5, where our Lord declared that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but He came to fill them to the full, and that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, we shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. And our Lord has been laying out that exceeding righteousness, that practical godliness, which is the mark of all God's people. It is not that by being this they become His children, but they are this and seek to be this because they are His children by His own infinite grace. And at the conclusion of this section, in which He touched on the matter of our attitude toward others, being spared on the one hand from a hypercritical attitude, judging not that we be not judged, and on the other hand from that gullibility. We considered our Lord's tremendous promise of the grace that is available for everyone who faces this standard and cries out,

1:48 Who is sufficient in our Lord's wonderful promise in grace? Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

2:01 So it is as though our Lord said, Having given you all of this standard, I now give you a rule, God-Word, by which you may lay hold of grace. And then at the conclusion of that, He gives us a rule in our relationship to men that we may manifest grace. And so the summary of the whole section, God-Word, ask, and it shall be given you. And now a summary of our entire responsibility, man-Word, therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you.

2:35 Do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets. And so this morning we want to consider what has been commonly called the Golden Rule. And to think our way through, we will look first of all at a conclusion drawn from the context, and then we're going to look at the command our Lord enunciates with clarity, and then we want to look at the commendation that He gives of this command, and then some practicality. And then some practical observations that flow from it.

Conclusion Drawn from the Context: Vertical and Horizontal Relationships

3:08 First of all, then, our Lord draws a conclusion from the context. Notice the first word of the Golden Rule is therefore. Whenever you find the therefore, you stop and ask, why is the therefore there? Therefore.

3:27 Immediately telling us that whatever our Lord is saying in verse 12 is not isolated and cut off from its context. And we want to look at a conclusion drawn, first of all, from the immediate context, and then from the more remote context. What conclusion is our Lord drawing from the immediate context? Well, we studied in detail, verses 7 to 11, in which our Lord gave this wonderful promise of grace that when we feel ourselves so absolutely helpless before this standard of righteousness, and we come to the conclusion that we are not alone, we are not alone.

4:06 When we cry out out of despair, how can it be that we have this promise to come to? There is a God who gives good things to His children. Therefore ask, therefore seek, therefore not. And now it's as though our Lord says, Would you receive the good things of God's grace?

4:27 Therefore, you must be gracious toward your fellow man. Would you receive good things from God? No. Therefore, you must be gracious toward your fellow man.

4:37 Therefore, you must do right things to your fellow man. And so we are immediately struck with this principle that we cannot separate our vertical relationship with God from our horizontal relationship with our fellow man. Our Lord inseparably joins them together. It's not as though we can face the standard of the Sermon on the Mount and say, well, I'm born of God and therefore I long for that standard, and storm the gates of heaven oblivious to my fellow man and their rights, their privileges, their dignity as human beings.

5:16 No, no, our Lord says. Would you be bold in asking grace? Would you be one of those desperate ones who knocks and who seeks and finds? Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them.

5:36 For this is the... The law and the prophets.

5:39 The principle being very clearly stated that we do not separate our vertical relationship from our horizontal. Let me give you several instances in Scripture, Old and New Testament, where our Lord makes this very clear. In Isaiah chapter 1, God tells His people that He's sick and tired of their praying. In fact, God says He wants them to stop praying until they do something with their horizontal relationship.

6:04 See, they thought no matter what they were doing, to their fellow men, just so long as they'd come into the temple and cry out to God, all was well. God says, no, that isn't true. So He says in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 15, When you spread forth your hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. When you make many prayers, I will not hear.

6:24 Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil.

6:34 Learn to do well. Seek justice. Learn to do well. Learn to do well.

6:37 Seek judgment or justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.

6:45 God says, until you make some adjustments in your horizontal relationships, I don't want your prayers. And God says, when you make those adjustments, then you can come and prevail with me. Why is it that some of us may not be receiving the grace we need in order to be the kind of man described in the Beatitudes, to be the kind of person who walks in the light of the length and breadth of God's holy law, to be the kind of person free from the nagging sore of anxious care? Be not anxious about the moral.

7:23 Why is it that some of us seem to go down again and again before a censorious spirit or before a gullible spirit, and we've asked for grace and there is none? Could it be that God is saying to us, I don't want your prayers. For this, until you make some adjustments here. Therefore, whatsoever ye would that men do unto you, do ye also unto them.

7:49 And this is not only enunciated in the Old Testament. I've just chosen a specimen passage. There are others. But notice carefully how our Lord enunciates this in the New Testament, that reference in the Sermon on the Mount.

8:02 If ye pray and forgive not, neither will your father forgive you. But let's jump to one in the Gospel of Mark, where we see this same connection. Mark chapter 11.

8:15 And remember, what we're trying to see is that we cannot isolate our vertical relationship with God from our horizontal relationship with our fellow men.

8:27 Mark chapter 11, verses 24 and 25. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them, and, the Lord says, don't stop, and when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. You see what our Lord does? Here's this tremendous promise about the prayer of faith.

9:01 And he says, whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe ye receive them and you'll have them, what greater activity can there be when the soul lays hold in faith of the promise of God. But the Lord says you can't do that without taking some accord of your horizontal relationships. When you stand seeking to pray the prayer of faith, whether for personal or other needs, be sure that you're right in your horizontal relationships or your prayers will not avail. So that's the first conclusion drawn from the context, the immediate context, and then from the context in general, in the light of the whole Sermon on the Mount, our Lord, has given many detailed instructions about Christian conduct.

9:46 He's told us how to act when people abuse us. He's told us how to act when people would take us to court. He's told us how to act when we've got bills that we can't pay and how we're to react in terms of human physical need. Now, if we're to put all of that in a nutshell, is there some little rule of thumb that can guide us in the great majority of these instances where we don't know how to act to our fellow man?

10:11 Our Lord says, I'll give it to you all in a nutshell. You must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. And he spends much time going into all the details and now he comes to the conclusion of the section and says, you want to know what I've been saying in a nutshell? This is the entire message of the Law and the Prophets in terms of human relationship.

10:30 Here it is. As ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them. So there's a two-fold conclusion from the context, one from the immediate context, telling us if we would prevail this way, we must be right this way. And then the second conclusion, if we would have a portable rule of conduct which can measure almost all of our actions with regard to our fellow men, here it is.

The Command Enunciated with Clarity: Scope and Substance

10:58 Therefore, this is the summary, whatsoever ye would that others do, even so do ye to them. All right, hurrying on now, having seen a conclusion drawn from the context, let us consider this command, which is enunciated with clarity. And remember, it is a command. King Jesus is speaking as the sovereign of his people.

11:22 This does not come to us as a suggestion. It does not come to us as a challenge. It does not come merely as something to instruct our minds. It comes as a mandate from the sovereign of his people, even him who is our prophet, priest, and king.

11:41 Look. First of all, at the scope of this command.

11:46 All things whatsoever.

11:53 In its scope, it's comprehensive. All things whatsoever. It takes in all of our actions toward our fellow men. All things whatsoever.

12:04 Now, you can't get much more general than that. And it's not only comprehensive in the things that it touches, but it's universal in the people to whom it applies. Notice. All things whatsoever.

12:15 All things whatsoever. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you. He doesn't say that your brethren should do to you, but that men should do to you. Here is a rule that applies not only in our relationship to our fellow Christians, but to all men, simply because they are men.

12:36 Now, we spent two weeks trying to show that our Lord taught that man is basically evil and sinful. If ye be evil. But, though man is a rebel, against God, though man is blinded through the fall, though man's will is set in opposition to God, and though man is dead in trespasses and sin, and under the curse of God, the Bible also teaches that man has a certain dignity because he is the creature of God. And that dignity is to be respected.

13:08 And as Christians, as those who have come under the scepter of King Jesus, and under the canopy of His grace, and forgiveness, we are to, in all of our contexts, take heed to this command. So, we've looked at the scope of the command. Comprehensive. It takes in all our actions.

13:29 Universal. It applies to all people. Now, look at the substance of the command. What does our Lord say?

13:38 All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. Luke 6.31, which is the parallel passage, makes it a bit more clear when the Spirit of God says, as ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them. Now, it is not saying, do exactly what you want people to do to you, but do as you would have them do to you.

14:04 Let me illustrate. Suppose I were to come to your house, or let's switch. You were to come to my house, and my wife was going to serve steak for dinner. And maybe I like my steak smothered with mushroom, and I like it rare.

14:17 So rare that when you put the knife in it, it moves, you know, and jumps across the plate a little bit. Now, if I apply this in this way, what you want others to do to you, do to them, well, if I were coming to your house, and you were feeding me steak, I'd want you to smother it in the mushrooms and have it rare. I'm not saying that's the way I am, but I do like it, but just say I did. Now, suppose I do that to you.

14:40 Assuming now that this is what it teaches, what you want others to do to you, do to them, I say, well, I'm really going to please Mr. So-and-so, and so I fix. Fix your steak and smother it with mushrooms and serve it to your rare. When the way you like steak is well done with absolutely nothing on it but a little bit of A1 sauce or Heinz 57 steak sauce when you're done.

15:02 So, in projecting what pleases me onto you, I have not pleased you. In fact, I've grieved you. You've got to sit there and pick through that piece of meat and just force every bite down. Now, an application of this rule would make me do, as you would that men do to you, so do to them.

15:23 If I were coming to your house for steak, I'd like you to call me up before I come or when I get there, say, we're just about to boil the steaks. How do you like your steak? So, as I would that you do to me, so I should do to you. So, I don't cook the steak till you come and I say, now, how do you like it?

15:39 You like it medium, rare, well done, with mushrooms, without mushrooms. Now, see, if I do what I want people to do to me, I may be as far as night from day in pleasing you, but if I will do as I want others to do to me, you see, what our Lord is saying is this, as I want other people to take the time to discover what pleases me and then to do the thing that pleases me, so, our Lord says, you must seek to discover what pleases other people and do the thing that is pleasing unto them. Now, I've used the very, very silly illustration, but I think it helps to crystallize what our Lord is saying. We are to act toward men in such a manner as our hearts and consciences would deem it reasonable that they should act toward us in a similar situation. That's the substance of our Lord's command. As you would that men do to you, so do to them.

Searching Demands of the Commandment

16:46 Now, let us consider some of the searching demands of the commandment. If you and I are to obey this command, there are three things that we've got to do and they're going to demand that we think. It's going to demand that we take some time. First of all, it demands that I discern what kind of treatment pleases me in any given situation.

17:09 As you would that men do to you, all right, I've got to stop and think, what do I like people to do to me in given situations? When I'm going out to eat at their house, what do I like them to do to me? Do I like them to put the food on the table and then fill up my plate with things I don't like? No, I like them to pass the food so I can take what I want, all right?

17:29 That means in the same situation, I'll do that for them. So I've got to take time to find out what pleases me in a situation when I go out to eat. What pleases me in a prayer meeting? Do I like it when somebody prays on and on and on until I can't follow and get weary and my mind wanders?

17:47 No, I don't like that, all right? As I would that others do to me in a prayer meeting, so do to them. I've got to find out what pleases me in a prayer meeting. What is pleasing to me when I go out to eat?

17:57 What is pleasing to me as a husband when I come home? Do I like to meet my wife with a frown and a growl or do I like to meet a wife who's smiling?

18:08 All right, then I'd better be that kind of a husband, see? You begin to apply this, it's going to take time for you to think through what pleases you in any given situation. What pleases you in certain reactions when you're going to eat? What pleases you in certain reactions?

18:21 When you're going to eat? When you're going to eat? When you're going to eat? When you're driving your car down Bloomfield Avenue and you're coming out on one of these side streets where there's no light?

18:26 What pleases you? Well, when somebody in that long line of traffic has got a little ounce of the milk of human kindness and puts on his brake and waves to you. My, it's just like the sun breaking through on a rainy day. All right?

18:39 As you would that others do. You see how this will have to be thought through? You've got to think this through. And you can't obey the command until you think.

18:48 And that's the first thing you've got to do. You've got to take some time today to sit down at home and think through how you like to be treated, how you like to be reacted to in the given circumstances of life. Second thing it demands, if we're to obey this command, we must learn to place ourselves in the situation of others and then apply the principle. We've got to learn to identify with others in their situation.

19:16 As you would that men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them. I'll never do that until I learn how to put myself in their situation. If you don't do this, you can be one of these who'll grumble for ten minutes that nobody ever lets you out of a side street on Bloomfield Avenue and yet you can go ten years and never let anybody else out and never see the inconsistency of it. Never.

19:41 Why? Because you haven't learned to project yourself into someone else's situation. See? So not only do we have to think through what pleases me in the given situation, but the second, the second searching demand of this command is this, I must learn to place myself in the situation of others and apply the principle.

20:01 Then the third thing, I must then think, say or do the thing that would please me in a similar situation.

20:13 I tell you, dear ones, that puts some demands on us. And this kind of an attitude, applying this principle, has got to be cultivated. You don't go get it at a weekend conference on the deep end. You don't go get it for life and you won't get it by listening to me preach this morning.

20:28 It has to be a habit of mind and soul that is cultivated. And even the most mature, Christ-like man or woman is far from cultivating this to perfection. But it is something that you and I must work upon in cooperation with the grace of God working in us. Now, having looked at the scope of the command, it's comprehensive, all things, it's universal to all men.

Application to the Home: Husband, Wife, and Children

20:55 Having looked at the substance of the command and some of the searching demands, now may I make some very simple but I trust helpful applications of this command. Let's apply it, first of all, to the home. God is saying in the husband-wife relationship, as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye unto them. Husbands and wives, in the responsibility of the work of the home, as you would that your mate should do unto you, even so do ye unto her or to him.

21:32 Put yourself, you husbands, in the place of your wives,

21:36 facing the four walls, day after day, the same dishes that you dirty and the kids dirty, the same dirty duds until they wear out and you get some new ones to get dirty and get worn out.

21:48 As you would have it done to you in the circumstance, so do you unto them. What would it mean to you in that situation if someone came to you after you've been in that for four or five years, five straight days and just said, now look, I want you to get out of the kitchen, I want you to go in, read the paper, go on off and take a walk and I'm going to do the dishes tonight and help get the kids to bed. Well, that's just a little thing, isn't it? But it can be just that thing that sets a woman loose from a sense of oppression and bondage to her work that can make her get that added impetus to come back into it with fresh zeal and with a fresh sense of the meaning of life.

22:28 This is just that. They're practical. As you would that it should be done to you, so do you unto that wife. Now, you wives switch.

22:38 Your husbands have been out, sure, they haven't been in the four walls, but they've had to face that same grumpy boss or if not that grumpy boss, that grumpy work companions day after day. They've had to live in a world full of sin and filth and hear the rotten conversation of the men about them. Now, if you were in that situation, how would you want to be treated when you came home?

23:05 Do you want to see more sour faces and hear more ugly words? No, you'd like at least your home to be a little oasis in the midst of that sea of moral filth or I should say desert of moral filth to keep the analogy an oasis in the desert of moral filth and that which would discourage. All right, you wives, then, even though you don't quite feel up to par, just get yourself together and crank out a smile.

23:34 You see, no husband ever goes to a place where he doesn't have to just tromping around into other pastures as long as his own pastures satisfy him. Many a man is driven to immorality by the ugly face that he's got to meet when he comes home. Thank God I don't speak from experience, personal experience, but I do from observation of other situations, as ye would that others do to you, do to them. In the area of the husband-wife relationship, taking responsibility in the home, in the area of the discipline of children, may I speak with clarity this morning and thorough.

24:17 It's a lot easier, isn't it, to just tell a wife, well, you take care of it.

24:22 That's breaking the golden rule. As ye would that others do unto you, even so do ye unto them. And as you would like a husband who would stand with you if you were the wife in the discipline of the children, so in God's name, men, stand with your wives and stop pushing off the nasty responsibility to her or to the television. Woe, woe be unto you, parents, who sneak out of the responsibilities of disciplinary action by turning on the TV and turning the kids loose to watch it, rather than sitting down and talking out the problem.

25:02 Sure, it may mean you've got to jump your plans for the evening, but you're building into an immortal soul and into a future husband and a future wife and a citizen. And it takes time. It takes time. I think back and with gratitude thank God for my dear mother.

25:18 I don't know how she did it.

25:21 With all those little ones running around, and most of you know I'm one of ten children, about every two years another baby came into the house. With all the responsibilities and pressures. And it took 15 minutes a half, an hour, an hour to deal with an issue and see it through. She saw it through.

25:44 As you would that others do to you. Husband and wife in the area of work, discipline. Paul applies that whole principle in the area of the physical responsibilities of husband to wife. First Corinthians, 7 is just an application of this.

25:56 The wife hath not power over her body nor the husband. Let the wife render to the husband his due. Let the husband render to the wife his due. That's just an application of this.

26:07 As you would that others do unto you. You wives, you want to express your affection for your husbands. You don't want to be spurned. All right, as you would that others do to you do to them.

26:17 You husbands, the reverse is true. And the Bible speaks clearly of this. God's not embarrassed and throw this under the rug for something to be hushed, hushed. God says these are our conjugal responsibilities.

26:31 One to another. As you would that others do to you, so do to them. In the area of the home, husband and wife. Parent to children.

26:40 Oh, listen, parents, have you learned to apply this rule to your children? As you would that your parents did to you as a child, so do to your children. Some of you mourn to this day the fact that your parents were too busy earning money to put clothes on your back to take time to be a friend to you. They were too busy to identify with you.

27:05 All right, you grieve over that. You wish it were otherwise. If you had it to do over again and you were the child, you wanted a parent who was not so busy earning money to put clothes on your back that that parent couldn't sit down and keep the channels of communication open and go out and be fascinated with the opening of a bud in spring and squat down together over a little train of ants and be fascinated at the world that God has made as you would that others do to you, do to them. Can you remember as a child when you came with a problem and your father and mother just threw it off and said, oh, forget it?

27:42 Can you bear the scars of that unanswered question to this day as you would that others do to you, do to them? And as you would have wanted a parent who was understanding and who had always two big buckets for ears to listen to the problem and be sympathetic, so be this to your own children. That's the golden rule. Parents to children.

28:06 Some of you say, oh, that I only had a parent who by example taught me how to handle money. How to discipline desire when they saw things to wait until they had the money to get it instead of going head over heels in debt and bringing reproach upon the name of Christ. Some of you regret that you had parents who set no example in the handling of money and learning the value of a dollar. All right, as you would that others do to you, so do to them.

28:34 I tell you, parents, this thing applied to parental responsibility to search you right down to the bottom of your shoes as it searches me. But isn't this how sweeping it is? All things, whatsoever you would that men do to you, so do to them. Now you kids, listen to me, you apply this to your parents.

28:51 Someday, the Lord tarries, you're going to be a mom and a daddy. Not both, but one or the other. Now, when you've got a seven, eight year old son or daughter and you ask him to do something reasonable like take the garbage out, dry the dishes, that's not unreasonable. Mother and dad spend hours every week earning the money, making provision for your physical necessities and the keeping the home together.

29:25 Now it's not unreasonable to ask you to just do the dishes. How would you like it if you had a mother seven or eight year old turned around and began to squawk and fuss and fume as though you asked him to build a Brooklyn bridge in the backyard? You going to like that? You say, no sir, I'll spank him good and proper.

29:46 I'm not going to take that. All right, as you would that others do to you, do unto them. You see, you kids who profess to know the Lord, you need to apply this in relationship to your parents. Suppose you're in your, you're going to have a sixteen year old son or daughter, fifteen.

30:01 You may want to start taking the liberties of a twenty year old. They want to go out and date unchaperoned. Nobody else is doing it and you've got such concern for them. You don't want them going out dating unchaperoned at that age.

30:13 You know they're not ready to.

30:16 And out of love for them and concern for them, you try to set a framework of social contacts that's wholesome and biblical and Christian. For their good, not because you're mean, not because you think sex is dirty, not because you don't trust them, but because you know that during that difficult period period, they need your guidance and out of love for them, you set a standard that is biblical and sensible. How would you like it then if your child turns around and acts toward you like you're just out to spoil his fun and kick him in the teeth? It hurts you pretty deep, won't it?

30:50 It hurts you pretty deep, won't it? All right, as you would that others do unto you, do unto them. You'd like to have a son or daughter who'd look up and say, well, dad or mom, I don't quite understand all your reasons, but I know one thing you're loved for and you've got my good and heart and dad and mom, I'm going to trust you and I'm going to trust your judgment even though I can't understand it. Isn't that what you'd want your son or daughter to do?

31:13 Huh? Come on, isn't it? Come on, boys, girls, isn't that what you'd want your son or daughter to do? Come on, is that right?

31:20 Yes or no? I think so. All right, as you would that others do to you, you do to them. Pretty practical, isn't it?

31:28 Hmm? It touches the father, mother in their relationship to each other. It touches the parents in relationship to children, the children in relation to parents. Now, hurry on to another area of application.

Application to Church Life, Work, and General Conduct

31:40 Apply this to church life.

31:43 As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye unto them. Remember what I said about the prayer meeting?

31:51 Oh, you hate it when somebody gets praying on and they forget that they're in a public prayer meeting. They think they're in their closet and they start telling the Lord everything going around the world. That's all right for the closet.

32:01 But, oh, you can get kind of weary in the prayer meeting, can't it? All right, as you would that others do to you, do to them. You just discipline yourself to pray specifically and definitely for those things that are on your heart and recognize, I ought to leave some other things for others to pray for. You apply it in the area of what color are we going to paint the church?

32:20 In honor, preferring one another in love. Do I want people to respect my taste? All right, then, I must respect theirs. See how practical this is?

32:30 If this rule were applied, it would solve 99% of church buses. Simply because we have failed to identify with the viewpoint of another and we see everything through the glasses of our own selfish ideas and our own selfish interests.

32:50 Suppose in weakness you've hurt someone and you go and you ask their forgiveness. How do you want them to treat you? Do you want them to hold you off and say, no, you've stepped on my toe and as long as you've done that,

33:05 no fellowship. No, when you go and you're really sorry, you want them to say what? Oh, my brother and my sister, I forgive you. All right, as you would that others do to you, even so do to them.

33:19 Do you want them to say with tongue in cheek, yeah, I forgive you, but I don't think you really mean it. Doesn't that hurt when you sincerely ask someone's forgiveness and they look at you with a jaundiced eye and say, you know, cuts, doesn't it? You like to be treated that way? All right, as you would that others do unto you, even so do unto them.

33:41 That's what the Bible means when it says in Ephesians 4, be kind-hearted, be tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. The Bible nowhere teaches we're going to get to the place where we don't need to have a climate of forgiveness. We're going to sin against one another as well as against the Lord. But we can have a climate in which we're applying the golden rule and receiving one another as Christ receives us.

34:07 Apply it to work. Some of you are employees. I don't think we have one or two who are employers.

34:15 As you would that others do to you, do to them. Suppose you were the boss and you're paying your guys a fair wage for eight hours' work, 40-hour week or whatever that week is. What do you want from them? Well, unless you're a tyrant, you don't want 60 hours' work out of 40, but you do want 40 out of 40 that you're paying them for.

34:34 All right, as you would that others do to you, do to them. You put yourself in the place of your employer and you'll have absolutely no problems with goofing off on the job, snitching materials, cutting corners. You'll be on the job. Honorable.

34:49 Upright. Diligent. Any of you who are employers, you switch it. If you were an employee, and no doubt you were at one time, very few go right from the status of a young person out of college into an employee.

35:05 Most of us have been into an employer. Most of us have taken the place of an employee.

35:12 What did you want from a boss? Did you want someone who'd condone your weaknesses? No, not if you're a Christian. Did you want someone who'd overlook shoddy work?

35:21 No, you wanted someone who would correct you where needed, but do it in graciousness, in love, in tenderness. You wanted someone who'd give you the proper kind of guidance, someone who'd give you commendation where it was right and necessary and proper, honor to whom honors do. All right, God says you'd be that kind of employer as you would that others do to you. So you apply it to the home, to the church, to work.

35:43 Apply it to life in general. Apply it to your traffic habits. I dare you to. I challenge you to apply this rule to your traffic habits as you would that others do to you.

35:55 I mentioned earlier in the message and I guess that's mostly on my mind because I've made that trip down Bloomfield Avenue and back this past week every night to Union. So I go down, back, and then Friday night teaching down at the Newark Evening Bible School, down, back, and I've never seen such a breach of the golden rule as I've seen this week. I've needed no more proof of the depravity of human nature than to drive up and down Bloomfield Avenue seven times in a week.

36:21 The absolute selfishness. The absolute thoughtlessness.

36:29 Well, there are people who don't know the Savior most of them and so that's understandable. But what about us? Does your relationship to Jesus Christ reflect in your driving habits? If the line of cars is unbroken and somebody needs to go out, are you the one who stops and breaks it?

36:46 Oh, you get people mad at you. I get people mad at me all the time because I dare to hold them up 30 seconds to 10 seconds to let somebody out. But frankly, I know of no one in which this rule hits me more continuously than the area of my driving habits. It comes back to me again and again and again and again and again and again.

37:06 As you would that others do to you. Do to them. Did you ever make a mistake and run through a stop sign unwittingly? You weren't out to kill people.

37:12 You weren't out to be a murderer. You had something on your mind. Maybe a car was blocking the stop. Do you ever do it unwittingly?

37:17 Not on purpose? All right, how do you treat the guy who comes through one? Do you immediately conclude that no good driver he doesn't want? Maybe he was doing what you did.

37:25 He just occupied. He didn't do it maliciously. Now, if you came through that stop sign, generally you're careful about them but you made a mistake, a human error, what do you want from the other fella? You want a little understanding, all right, as you would that others do to you?

37:39 Even so do you today. Now, I've given these many applications just to show you how broad this thing is in the entire scope of human relationships. You can apply it to your neighbors, apply it to making out your income tax, any area you want to as you would that others do to you. Even so do to them.

Commendation of the Command: The Law and the Prophets

38:00 Now, having looked at the command, its connection with the context, may we consider briefly our Lord's commending of this command to us in terms of the Old Testament. Notice what he says. Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for, here's the reason, he said, I want to commend this to you on this basis. This is the law and the prophets.

38:28 This is a summary of the whole of divine revelation concerning our horizontal relationships. The best commentary on this is Matthew 22, 39 and 40 where someone asked the Lord Jesus what is the great commandment and he answered, this is the great commandment, hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength and thy neighbor is thyself on these two commandments what? Hang all the law and the prophets.

39:00 So when Jesus said this is the law and the prophets he was not referring to the first great set of principles our relation to God but he's saying in the whole area of human relationships all that God has ever spoken can be summarized and hung on this one principle as you would that others do to you even so do ye unto them. This was clearly stated in the Old Testament. I could give you some references Leviticus 19.18 Exodus 23.4 where God said that the responsibility we had was to love our neighbor as ourself. Well what's the relationship between loving my neighbor and the golden rule? I think it's obvious isn't it? For the primary characteristic of true love is what?

39:46 Love seeketh not her own. Love is concerned with the well-being of its object Rust is only concerned about itself what I can get Love is always concerned with what it can give to the well-being of its object God so loved that he was that he gave and so the Lord says on these commandments hang the law and the prophets love thy neighbor as thyself and what's the practical expression of love? I will seek to know what pleases my neighbor in any given situation and in that situation do the thing that would be pleasing to him even as I would want the thing that pleases me to be done to me in the similar situation.

40:38 This tells us some very vital things it tells us there's no basic difference in the Old Testament and New Testament standards of conduct and any system of Bible study that would split up the Bible as though God contradicts himself in one section and another is completely annihilated by a text like this. All that the Old Testament said in terms of human relationship is summed up in this one principle we must demonstrate selfless love for one another that will seek to know what pleases the brother or sister and do that thing in every circumstance. So when people try to tell you that the Old Testament was just a set of wooden regulations with do's and don'ts and no spirit of love and grace absolutely no foundation to it they're not reading their Bible through the eyes of Christ. For he said this is the law and the prophets and so the whole Old Testament ethics ethic pours into this text and everything that flows out in the New Testament standards is based upon it. For when you read all of these commands about in honor preferring one another all bitterness and wrath and clamor be put away all of the details in the epistles what are they but an amplifying of this principle as you would that others do unto you even so do to them. Now in the New Testament conclusion this morning what do we do after we face a text like this?

Conclusion: Need for Forgiveness and the Holy Spirit

42:05 The first thing that happened to me as I was preparing for the message was that I saw the absolute necessity of the forgiveness of God. If this is the standard of righteousness which God requires of men if this is the summary of the demands of the second table of the law touching human relationships then every man woman fellow or girl is in need of the forgiveness of God. Whether you're here this morning outside of Christ and have never fled for refuge and been justified by His grace or whether you're a child of God who's been on the road for years if every time you as a husband or a wife fail this principle in your husband wife relationship in the ordering of the home in the disciplining of the children in taking care of the workload of the home if every time I failed as a husband in this area that's sin and it is then I need forgiveness if every time you've driven down Bloomfield Avenue and been so concerned about getting to your destination that you left that guy sitting in the side street and said who cares about him if that's sin and it is then dear ones we need the forgiveness of God if every time you kids here this morning have grumbled at the reasonable demands of your parents only concerned about your plans and not thinking how do I want to be treated as a parent if that's sin then you stand in need of God's forgiveness if every time

43:32 you as a roommate there at the school have carried out your own plans at the expense of the plans of your roommate at the expense of his dignity and rights as an individual if that's sin every time you've selfishly done or said that thing that you would not want done or said to you in the same circle if that's sin then beloved I know there's one place all of us will be this morning and that's down at the foot of the cross pleading God's mercy pleading His forgiveness pleading the cleansing of His precious blood and a text like this that searches us can be our greatest friend if it drives us to the feet of Jesus seeking mercy the second thing it does it not only shows us our need of God's forgiveness whether saint or sinner but it shows us the absolute imperative of a supernatural work of the Spirit in our hearts to try to keep the golden rule with Adam's nature would be like trying to swim a hundred yards in the Passaic River with twenty pounds of water and a hundred pounds on blocks of concrete tied to each foot it couldn't be done all you'd do is make a splash as you went in and a little gurgling noise as you went down but that would be the end of it and when you come face to face with a standard like this and say well I'm going to keep it all you'll do is make a splash in the announcement unless you've got something more than Adam's nature to help you

44:58 and this shows us our desperate need of the work of the Holy Spirit as the first table of the law our requirements the requirements of our relationship to God show us that the heart is a rebel God says you'll have no other gods before me and my wicked heart says I'll have any God I want so the second table of the law shows that the heart is basically selfish in relationship to fellow man the heart's a rebel in relationship to God the heart is selfish in relation to fellow man do you see that this morning now what can overcome that basic disposition of selfishness only the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating us for the fruit of the Spirit is what love and what is the primary characteristic of love it seeks not its own and the nerve of selfishness can only be cut by a supernatural work of regeneration and then as the children of God how are we to see this applied in ever widening circles of influence only as we are baptized in love day by day and hour by hour and call upon God that he will give us a sensitivity to the needs of our brethren and people about us and a heart that can identify in that need can you imagine what a home is like where this is the rule of action between a husband and wife parents to children and children to parents

46:26 I've seen a few like that and I think it's about the next thing to heaven only one thing maybe a little better and that's where you've got a church that's operating on that principle so it's a when you come to a board meeting instead of people that are full headed and determined to railroad their own ideas what do you have you have what by the grace of God we experience in our board meetings and I say it to his praise and it will only be true as long as the spirit of God operates in our hearts you have men come with definite convictions about issues but the recognition that my brother is a creature of God and he's a Christian and indwelt by the spirit and his opinion is just as valuable as mine and something more it may even be wiser than mine so I believe you better hear him out and so you hear one another out and in honor prefer one another in love and the Holy Spirit brings you to discover the mind of God and when you don't have that and I say frankly not as a threat but simply as a plain statement the day that ceases to be in this place God will have long left us and if God's left us no sense keeping the doors open otherwise we'll board him up turn him back into a community hall and at least do some social good may God grant that this will be true of us in our homes

47:55 in our church beloved if it is some of us are going to have to make some adjustments some of you husbands are going to have to go home and face your wives today and fess up that you've not been keeping this rule in relationship to the wife you've been inconsiderate demanding some of you wives are going to have to fess up that you haven't filled this some of you kids ought to sit down with mom and dad and say mom and dad I've been breaking this golden rule and that's sin and I want you to forgive me maybe we'll see a little touch of revival if we simply took what God said today and did what God told us to do about it may the Lord help us all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you even so do ye unto them for this is the law and the prophets let us pray