← Back to sermon library

In Matthew chapter 7, our focus 
tonight is on the golden rule. Verse 12, I thought it was a 
fitting capstone to our studies in the Ten Commandments. I do 
want to read the chapter and then our focus will be on Matthew 
chapter 7 at verse 12. But beginning in verse 1, Judge 
not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, 
you will be judged. And with the measure you use, 
it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck 
in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your 
own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the 
speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite, 
first remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see 
clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give 
what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, 
lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear 
you in pieces. Ask, and it will be given to 
you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened 
to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will 
be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks 
for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will 
he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will 
your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who 
ask Him? Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do 
also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Enter by 
the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way 
that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 
Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads 
to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets 
who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous 
wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes 
from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good 
tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good 
tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown 
into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you 
will know them. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my 
Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons 
in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will 
declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who 
practice lawlessness. Therefore, whoever hears these 
sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man 
who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, the floods 
came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did 
not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who 
hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like 
a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, 
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, 
and it fell, and great was its fall. And so it was when Jesus 
had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at 
His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not 
as the scribes. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
thank You for this passage of Holy Scripture. Thank You for 
this rule, this golden rule. God, we confess at the outset 
we don't live like this, and we need the power of Your Holy 
Spirit to guide us, to direct us, and to help us. For God, 
this is the Law and the Prophets, and I pray that You would give 
us a willing heart, an obedient heart, a heart desirous to treat 
one another with the respect, the dignity, and the love that 
You call us unto. And to that end, Father, please 
provide now Your Holy Spirit, that He may take these things, 
that He may apply them in our hearts, that You may cause us 
to hide Your Word in our hearts, that we might not sin against 
You. We thank you for the power of the gospel. We thank you for 
the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Again, Father, 
just bless this time as we look at this particular passage, and 
we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, I just 
wanna give a brief overview of the structure of the Sermon on 
the Mount. If you go back to chapter five, Jesus begins with 
the Beatitudes. This is a description of kingdom 
citizens. And then in Matthew chapter five, 
verses 17 to 20, Christ highlights his relationship to the law and 
the prophets. He says, do not think that I 
came to destroy the law and the prophets. I did not come to destroy, 
but to fulfill. In other words, Christ regards 
the Old Testament. Christ regards the Law and the 
Prophets. Christ came to fulfill them, 
to confirm them, to strengthen them, to show our obligation 
to them. He then goes on to a series of 
antitheses between what they had heard and what was the original 
intent by God. He says, you have heard that 
it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And then 
he says, but I say to you, the antithesis is not him and Moses, 
rather it is Moses and his bad interpreters. So Jesus is clarifying, 
Jesus is showing and distinguishing the goodness and the glory of 
the law. And he does that through the 
rest of chapter five. In chapter six, he deals with 
religious observances on the part of his people. He deals 
with almsgiving, he deals with prayer, he deals with fasting. 
He then cautions his people against a carnal anxiety. That's where 
the latter half of chapter six is. And then in chapter seven, 
he cautions us against a judgmental attitude and mindset. And then 
in chapter seven, verses seven to 11, he gives a strategy, he 
gives a means, he gives a help to promote God's assistance in 
this present world. It's a gracious remedy for the 
anxiety that he has talked about, the judgmentalism that he has 
talked about, and the discernment. And then when he comes to verse 
12, therefore, whatever you want men to do, do also to them, for 
this is the law and the prophets. That doesn't just speak specifically 
to what immediately proceeds. It's the entirety of the Sermon 
on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is a 
pronouncement of law. It is Christ as law giver, as 
legislator, prescribing how people ought to conduct themselves. 
And here in verse 12, we have this encapsulated principle called 
the golden rule. Now, what remains in the Sermon 
on the Mount is simply a call to decision. In other words, 
he wants his hearers to take active response in terms of their 
compliance with his word in the sermon. So verse 12 is a fitting 
summary for all of the law teaching that Christ has given in the 
previous portion of the Sermon on the Mount. Now, the common 
description of this saying as the Golden Rule is traditionally 
traced to the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus. He lived in AD 222 to 
235, who, though not a Christian, was reputedly so impressed by 
the comprehensiveness of this maxim of Jesus as a guide to 
good living that he had it inscribed in gold on the wall of his chamber. So he so liked it, even though 
he wasn't a believer, he nevertheless had it inscribed in gold on this 
wall. Well, I want to look first at 
the explanation of the rule tonight, and then secondly, at the application 
of the rule. And with reference to the explanation 
of the rule, notice in verse 12, we have it in a positive 
statement. He says, therefore, whatever 
you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the 
law and the prophets. Now, this golden rule is not 
unique to Jesus. In fact, in 20 BC, 20 years prior 
to the birth of our Lord Jesus, there were two rabbis, Hillel 
and Shammai, and a Gentile asked them which was the most important 
law, or rather, he asked to be taught the whole Torah while 
he was standing on one leg. So the Gentile comes up to these 
rabbis, he stands on one leg, and he says, teach me the entirety 
of the law. And Rabbi Hillel replied, what 
is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole 
law, all the rest is commentary. So that's a negative version 
of it. An early Christian teaching manual 
called the Didache, which is dated around AD 100, maybe 120 
at the latest, so it's very close to the New Testament documents, 
gives the golden rule in a negative framework as well. It says, but 
whatever you do not wish to happen to you, do not do to another. So, the negative form is good 
insofar as it goes. If we don't want people to mess 
with us, then we shouldn't mess with that, right? Pretty easy 
rule. Live and let live is kind of 
another way to address this particular maxim. So, if we don't want to 
be messed with, then we shouldn't mess with others either. So, 
that's the negative form, but the positive form calls on us 
to engage in a particular course of action. Therefore, Jesus says, 
whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this 
is the law and the prophets. Now, with reference to the positive 
form of the rule, the first thing we ought to appreciate is the 
comprehensiveness of the rule. The comprehensiveness of the 
rule. It is a summary statement of 
the law and the prophets. It is a summary statement of 
the way that we should treat other people. It's the way that 
we want them to treat us. So we don't have to have a detailed 
law code for every possible encounter that we will ever have. We don't 
need the federal government writing new laws for us each and every 
day when we have this golden rule. The Lord God has given 
this principle, this maxim, so that in our day-to-day life, 
we don't need, you know, as I said, reams of paper telling us how 
to interact with one another. J.C. Ryle says it settles a hundred 
difficult points. It prevents the necessity of 
laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases. So the therefore points back 
to what he said in terms of the law, and the whatever shows, 
again, the comprehensiveness of this particular law. Whatever you want men to do, 
do to them also. Now, secondly, it is a perpetual 
law or a perpetual rule. The tenses of the verbs used 
indicate that this is an ongoing principle. It's not something 
that we just try to do once in a while. It's not like on Sunday 
or Monday when we sort of plan our week, okay, on Thursday do 
something that nods at the golden rule. Do something that sort 
of shows that you're a team player in the way that it is on Thursday. 
No, this is supposed to be part of our fabric. This is supposed 
to be how we operate. Again, not a detailed long list 
of rules for every possible or potential encounter, but a general 
rule on how best to deal with people that we have contact with. 
whether it's family, whether it's church, whether it's society 
at large. This rule affects us in totality. Thirdly, the action involved 
in the rule. Notice what Jesus says, whatever 
you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the 
law and the prophets. The rule demands action on the 
part of God's people. The negative part doesn't. If 
I don't want people to mess with me, then I won't mess with them. 
That's the negative expression of the rule. The positive expression 
calls upon you and I to engage in a particular course of action. 
He says, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. 
In other words, you need to be an active agent with reference 
to promoting this rule as you live in the here and the now. 
And then notice something that the rule mandates. Look at what 
the rule says. Whatever you want men to do to 
you, do also to them. I think there's sort of a strange, 
perverse, alternate rule that we put into practice at times. 
Well, those people treat me like garbage, so I'm going to treat 
them like garbage as well. Notice what Jesus does not say. Treat them in a particular way 
insofar as they treat you in a particular way. This is one 
of those passages where it's tough as a preacher because this 
is a pill that's tough to swallow. You have to obey God, you have 
to be consistent before God, you have to be compliant with 
the golden rule, even if everybody around you is not. It's intriguing 
that when Paul comes to deal with husbands and wives in Ephesians 
chapter 5, he does not say, husbands, love your wives insofar as they 
have made themselves lovely for you. That's not what he says. 
He says, husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved 
the church and gave himself for her. He never says to women, 
wives, be submissive to your own husbands as to the Lord in 
so far as they are worthy of your submission. The point is, 
is that we have to obey God irrespective of other person's neglect of 
obedience to God. The rule is calculated not as 
a quid pro quo, but rather we are to do to men what we want 
them to do to us. not what they do do to us, but 
what we want them to do to us. Now you're all looking a bit 
puzzled, but you need to embrace this, you need to feel the reality 
of it, and you need to identify that this isn't always easy. It is always easy to say, well, 
that person doesn't say hi to me, so I'm not gonna say hi to 
them. That person doesn't call me, so I'm not gonna call them. That person couldn't care one 
bit about me, so I'm not gonna care one bit about them. I hope 
it's not quite so severe epic like that, but you get the point. 
We cannot let our lives live in a passive way and insofar 
as persons do good things to us, then we will reciprocate 
and do good things to them. No, you treat people the way 
that you want them to treat you. That's the specification by our 
Lord Jesus. That is the mandate relative 
to the golden rule. Whatever you want men to do to 
you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. 
The ethics of the kingdom are revolutionary. We are to obey 
Jesus Christ even when everybody else doesn't. We are to obey 
Jesus Christ and not turn these rules around to fit into our 
own perverse way. But rather we are to take them 
as they are given, pray to God for the grace and the power and 
the presence of the Holy Spirit so that we may comply. And when 
we don't comply, when we do sin against God, we need to remember, 
there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. I 
always step into the pulpit when preaching on the law with a certain 
degree of fear and trepidation, because preachers of the law 
might be interpreted as men who really are good at keeping the 
law. Brethren, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood 
and righteousness. But nevertheless, we have to 
deal with these laws and we have to see how they apply in our 
lives. Do not treat people the way they 
treat you if it is bad, but rather treat people the way you would 
like for them to treat you. And you don't have to dance on 
their grave if that's the case. You don't have to say, well, 
I'm always good to you and you're never good to me. No, just do 
what Jesus calls you to do and be faithful in the application 
of the golden rule. Now, fourthly, the relation of 
the rule to the love command. Leviticus 19, 18 tells us, you 
shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children 
of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 
This is repeated in Matthew 5, 43. It's repeated in Matthew 
22, 39. When that man asked, which is the great commandment? 
Jesus says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it, love 
your neighbor as yourself. So the golden rule and this love 
command go hand in hand. They go together like hand in 
glove. The golden rule is simply the 
application of the love command. Whatever you want men to do to 
you, love you, then you do also to them, love them. This is how 
Paul quantifies love in Romans chapter 13. We are supposed to 
obey God's law with reference to one another. And so this golden 
rule goes hand in hand with the love command. And then notice 
fifthly, what Jesus says, the function of the rule as a summary 
statement of the law. He says, for this is the law 
and the prophets. In other words, this is a summary 
of the gist This is a summary of the orientation. This is a 
summary of the focus of the Law and the Prophets. The Law and 
the Prophets seek to regulate the conduct of God's people so 
that they function in a manner that is consistent with that 
love command of Leviticus 19. They don't function based on 
a quid pro quo, you treat me like garbage, I'm going to treat 
you like garbage. No, I'm going to seek by grace 
to treat you with love, to treat you with respect, to treat you 
with dignity, to treat you with kindness, to treat you with all 
the things that I would like for you to treat me with. You 
see, it's not that quid pro quo. And it doesn't mean that my standard 
is the standard for righteousness. But it's based on the reality 
that we know good from wrong. We know what is right conduct 
and what is wicked conduct. And we want to treat people in 
a manner that is consistent with their bearing the image of God, 
which is consistent with them either being in family with us, 
being in church with us, being in society with us. We treat 
them with the dignity that is owing to them based on this particular 
rule. This is a summary statement of 
the law and the prophets. And I think by rigorous necessity, 
If an antinomian, if an antinomian is such, he ought to reject wholesale 
the golden rule. I don't know that antinomians 
do that, but the law summarizes, or this rule rather, summarizes 
the law and the prophets. A summary statement is only as 
good and binding as that which it summarizes. So to dispense 
with the Golden Rule means to dispense with the Law and the 
Prophets. Or to dispense with the Law and the Prophets means, 
again, by rigorous logical necessity, that we dispense with the Golden 
Rule. But nobody has degenerated to that particular framework. 
This is a good order for our conduct, and it's something we 
need by grace to regulate our lives with. I mentioned Romans 
chapter 13. Paul says there in verses 8 to 
10, Oh, no one anything except to love one another. Now, I think 
this is one of the most ingenious passages in the New Testament 
in terms of love. I mean, people love 1 Corinthians 
chapter 13 because Paul, the poet, writes about how glorious 
love is. I mean, that is one of those, 
you know, for the plaques and for your wall and whatever, love 
is, you know, all the things that Paul describes there in 
1 Corinthians 13. But this, what Paul does in Romans 
13, 8 to 10, is he quantifies, he objectifies for us what love 
looks like. In other words, love isn't necessarily 
just being in the presence of one another. Love isn't just 
necessarily dwelling in the same house together, but love is active 
obedience to God's law with reference to other people. This is Paul's 
point when he summarizes the Law and the Prophets in Romans 
13. He says, Oh no man anything except 
to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the 
law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you 
shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false 
witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, 
are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor 
as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor, 
therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. I think in a generation 
that's got love defined for them more by Hollywood than they do 
Bible, this is a great and objective way to look at love. It is an 
act of love that we demonstrate one to another when we don't 
steal from each other, when we don't commit adultery with each 
other's spouses, when we don't murder one another, whether it 
be physically stopping somebody's heart from beating or by way 
of reputation. This is concrete. This is love. This is moving from the abstract 
to the actual and putting it into practice. This is what the 
Golden Rule does. Treat people the way you want 
them to treat you. Galatians 5.14, If all the law 
is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your 
neighbor as yourself." James 2.8. If you really fulfill the 
royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor 
as yourself, you do well. Again, these two things are closely 
conjoined, the golden rule and that love commandment. And then 
we see that the golden rule is the very summary statement concerning 
law and prophets. It doesn't exhaust the law and 
the prophets. There are things that the law 
and the prophets address that aren't sort of encapsulated by 
that rule, but you get Jesus' point. If you want to know how 
to deal on a daily basis with your fellows, Treat them in the 
way that you want them to treat you. It's very easy. It's very quick to memorize. 
It is very concrete in terms of our relationships with one 
another. If you know that something irritates 
somebody, don't do it. You know that something bothers 
somebody, don't do it. This is real practical in the 
family situation. I read recently where there was 
going to be some challenges to domestic tranquility when persons 
found themselves isolating together. Persons that aren't used to spending 
24-7 together are now asked to spend 24-7 together. And if you are not walking in 
terms of the golden rule, there's going to be a lot of animosity, 
perhaps some enmity, and some things that are very unsavory. 
We are to treat others as we want them to treat us. So that 
is an explanation of the rule. Let's look secondly at the application 
of the rule. I would suggest first the standard 
with reference to the golden rule is the Decalogue. If this 
is the law and the prophets, And if, as we've seen, it's connected 
intimately with the love command in Leviticus chapter 19, well 
that second table of the law directs us, in terms of our relationships, 
one with another. So with reference to the fifth 
commandment, if you are a subordinate, function as a subordinate the 
way you would want subordinates over you to function. In other 
words, don't be a hard-nosed, don't be ungodly, don't be unrighteous, 
don't be unkind, don't exasperate your inferiors. If you're an 
inferior, treat others the way you want to be treated as an 
inferior. That fifth commandment is an 
expression of our love for one another. The sixth commandment, 
we ought to protect the lives and the reputations of others 
because we want them to protect the life and the reputation of 
us. Remember, we're not treating 
people the way that they treat us, but rather we are treating 
people the way that we want them to treat us. Brethren, if somebody 
maligns you, if somebody speaks ill against you, if somebody 
slanders or gossips about you, the right response is not to 
do likewise. Now, I'm not suggesting we can 
never defend ourselves. I'm not suggesting we don't try 
to clarify. I'm not suggesting we don't try 
to clear our good name. But we never are called to fight 
fire with fire. If somebody gossips against us 
and we gossip against them, we are violating the Golden Rule. 
We need to treat others, their lives and their reputation in 
the way that we want them to treat us, with reference to the 
Seventh Commandment. Brethren, we want people to respect 
our boundaries. We ought to respect their boundaries. 
We want people to respect our marriage. We ought to respect 
other people's marriages. We are not to intrude ourselves 
into the marriage of another person. We are to flee sexual 
immorality. We are to resist that temptation. 
We are not to engage in a breach of the seventh commandment. We 
are to treat others the way that we want them to treat us. The 
eighth commandment. We don't harm or damage or destroy 
other people's property. Why? Because we want them not 
to harm or damage or destroy our property. The Golden Rule 
is a most blessed guide in terms of an application of the Decalogue 
with reference to the Ninth Commandment. Do you like it when people speak 
lies about you? Do you like it when people speak, 
you know, slander or gossip about you? No, you don't. Of course 
you don't. So treat people in the manner 
that you wish to be treated. If somebody lies about you, the 
way to retaliate is not by lying about them. Again, you can try 
and clear your good name. You can furnish the information 
that perhaps is missing or absent, but you are never given authorization 
by God to go out and to destroy somebody else with falsity or 
with falsehoods. And then the 10th commandment, 
we ought to treat others in our hearts the way that we want them 
to treat us in their hearts. In other words, we not only show 
external love and kindness and compassion, but inwardly we're 
not hoping for their demise. Inwardly we're not hoping that 
bad things come upon them. Inwardly, we're for them. Inwardly, 
we want to see them promoted. Inwardly, we want to see good 
things obtained for them in their lives. So the Decalogue, the 
second table of the law, is a great standard with reference to the 
Golden Rule. Secondly, there are virtues that 
are consistent with the Golden Rule, and you can turn to the 
book of Colossians for just a moment. Colossians chapter 3. There's 
a number of passages we could go to in Paul's letters, but 
Colossians 3 is a good one to sort of sample a few things here. 
So the Decalogue is the overarching standard relative to this golden 
rule. Treat others the way we want 
them to treat us. And that standard of God's law 
is a great rubric or a great metric to apply to that situation. I don't want people to kill me, 
so I shouldn't kill others. I don't want people to destroy 
me with their wicked tongues, so I'm not going to destroy others 
with my wicked tongues. I don't want people to violate 
my marriage covenant, so I'm not going to violate other people's 
marriage covenants. It's a great rule. But there 
are certain virtues attached that we ought to seek by grace 
to inculcate. Notice the necessity to put on. 
Verse 12 in Colossians 3. Therefore, as the elect of God, 
holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, 
meekness, long-suffering. Those are the sorts of things 
that the Golden Rule enjoins upon the people of God. We want 
to be treated by persons in this way. If you were to ask, or you 
were asked, how do you want to be treated by people? Well, I'd 
like for people to put on tender mercies when they deal with me. 
I'd like for them to deal in kindness, humility, meekness, 
and long-suffering toward me. I would really appreciate if 
persons treated me in that way. Guess what the Golden Rule says? 
You need to treat people that way. You need to treat them in 
the manner that you want them to treat you, and these are some 
most excellent virtues to inculcate in the life of faith in the way 
that you deal with one another, whether it be in family, church, 
or society. Notice what he goes on to say 
in verse 13. Bearing with one another and 
forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, 
even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Brethren, if 
you want people to forgive you when you transgress against them, 
and you've asked them to forgive you, then forgive others. This idea that we somehow cherish 
the harms that persons have inflicted upon us, and we internalize that, 
and then we treat them like garbage because they ever dared to sin 
against such a holy one like me, that's wicked. That's terrible. We are to forgive one another 
even as God in Christ forgave us. This idea that obtains among 
some Christians where they say, I will never forgive, I will 
never relinquish, I will never let go. That does not come from 
a place of grace. That does not come from a place 
of redemptive benefit in Jesus Christ. That is old man ethic. That is bad stuff and you need 
to root it out. Brethren, if God in Christ has 
forgiven us the multitude of sins that we have committed, 
that we do commit, and that we will continue to commit against 
Him, then we ought to be able to forgive the various infractions 
that come our way in this lower world. Brethren, that is the 
reality, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, even 
if anyone has a complaint against one another. And then notice 
thirdly in verse 14, but above all these things, put on love, 
which is the bond of perfection. So the love command, Leviticus 
19.18, summarizing the law and the prophets, That command enshrouded 
in the golden rule, those things so inextricably conjoined is 
summarized here by Paul. I'm sorry, verse 14, but above 
all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And I've already mentioned where 
the relationships are that we have to deal with in the family. 
I mean, brethren, amongst married couples, we need to be about 
the golden rule. We are not to be exacting a pound 
of flesh for every infraction that comes our way. I love the 
way the New International Version in the great love chapter in 
1 Corinthians 13, it says that love keeps no record of wrongs. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Is that true of you? Do you have 
a special folder in your phone? Oh, he or she did this. Or you 
have a particular list that you're keeping, if not written, mental. 
That's not supposed to be the way you function or live. Brethren, 
you know that's not cool if somebody does that to you. Oh, you're 
doing that again? The 15th time this month? What 
do you mean, you're counting? Well, yes, I count every infraction 
that you ever do. That would just mow you over, 
wouldn't it? And yet, when it comes to us, 
we sometimes treat people in that manner. Husband and wife 
relationship, please enact. If you have not, please put into 
practice the golden rule. That little rule can facilitate 
happiness, joy, and the bliss of a good marriage in a way that 
other rules can't. If we treat our spouses the way 
that we want our spouses to treat us, I suggest that is going to 
be a blessed marriage. Again, it isn't the case that, 
oh, she or he did this to me, so I'm going to bring it back 
upon them. That should never be, brethren. We love the person 
we say, I do too. We are devoted to that person. We want the best for that person. 
And the best is encapsulated by Jesus in this summary statement 
concerning the law and the prophets. Of course, in church life, look 
at Ephesians chapter four for just a moment. Ephesians chapter 
four, Paul has a mission. He wants the people of God to 
have unity. But the way that he describes 
the achievement of that, or that pursuit of unity, is very appropriate. Notice what he says in Ephesians 
chapter 4 at verse 1. Now notice the ingredients to 
this worthy walk. With all lowliness and gentleness, 
with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul wants 
the church of Christ to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit 
in the bond of peace. In other words, Paul wants churches 
to be singing off the same page. Paul wants churches to be in 
agreement with one another. Paul wants churches to be a united 
whole. He doesn't want click here, click 
there, click over there. He doesn't want five churches 
in one. He wants one blessed unity among 
the people of God. Well, that endeavoring to keep 
the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace doesn't just happen. We are told here to endeavor 
to keep it. Right? That is our mission, that 
is our task, that is our job as church men and women. But 
the way to do that is with all lowliness and gentleness, with 
long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Brethren, 
this is indeed an application of the Golden Rule. We treat 
men with those particular ingredients in our own wok the way that we 
want them to treat us. So we have the family, we have 
the church, and we have society. And brethren, right now there 
is a unique calling upon us to engage in the golden rule. We 
ought to comply insofar as we are able with the governing authorities. We may not agree with every jot 
and tittle of their crisis management, but we are told to be a compliant 
people in terms of Romans 13, one to four. We ought to avoid 
people, not like the plague, but so that we don't inflict 
them with the plague. I mindlessly the other day was 
walking out of Costco and this lady was having a bit of trouble 
pulling her heavy box out of her cart. I offered to pick it 
up and she basically said, no, no, COVID, COVID to me and repelled 
me. I hadn't even thought about it. 
I wasn't thinking I was a carrier and I was going to pollute. I 
just thought, hey, I'll pick that thing up for her. Hey, I 
respect that. If persons don't want to come 
into contact, we should respect that. We should treat people 
the way we want them to treat us. We don't want people to violate 
those things that we hold to that are near and dear to our 
hearts, so we shouldn't violate those principles either. We should 
treat persons with respect. We should treat persons with 
dignity. We should treat persons with love. We should realize 
that there is a great amount of disparity within the church 
concerning the very convening that we're engaged in now. There 
are persons who are adamantly opposed to the idea of Christians 
continuing to meet in the Church of Christ. Brethren, I think 
if we go down that road, we're giving up something that the 
Church never has given up before. We are essential. We are absolutely 
crucial. We are one of the most absolutely 
crucial and essential agencies on the face of the earth. And 
if we relinquish that, then that is not a good thing in my mind. 
But I do understand there are people that disagree, and I certainly 
don't want to get into a shouting match with them, I certainly 
don't want to fight with them, and I certainly don't want to 
go to the mat with them. But what I do ask is that people 
treat one another the way that they want to be treated. That's 
the golden rule. This is the law and the prophets, 
and this is what Christ the Lord calls us to in the family, in 
the church, and in society as a whole. We wouldn't have asked 
for this particular crisis, but it's upon us, and we have to 
conduct ourselves as God-fearing men and women. We have to listen 
not only to special revelation, but to general revelation. God 
communicates in the world as well, via natural theology or 
general revelation of the light of nature. We ought to be in 
tune with that and we ought to be able to go forward in a manner 
that does not compromise our commitment first and foremost 
to Jesus Christ, but as well does not compromise our witness 
and testimony to others. Nobody's commanded to come. If 
there's any hesitation whatsoever, please do not come. I don't have 
a list in my office, so-and-so didn't show up last time. Oh, 
you're gonna be, no, there's none of that. There is no overarching 
sort of scheme to keep an eye on. No, if you're wanting to 
be here, as long as we maintain the social distancing, we apply 
the golden rule as we are called to by Jesus, then God willing, 
we should be able to continue. But if for various reasons that 
is something that you choose not to do, there will be no ill 
reflection whatsoever. In summary, we need to listen 
to the exhortation of our Lord. Whatever you want men to do to 
you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. 
This may take us, at a moment's time, thinking, if I do this, 
is that something I would appreciate having been done to me? If the 
answer is no, then don't do it. Would I like it if my wife treated 
me this way? No. Then I'm not going to treat 
her that way. Would I like it if my wife treated 
me this way? I'm not picking on my wife. I'm 
just using an analogy. She treats me very well. She's 
a golden rule adherent and I'm thankful for that. It's got to 
be difficult living with me, but nevertheless, if there is 
something that would cause some sort of discomfort or hurt or 
hardship to another, let's not do it. Let's imbibe those activities 
that we want men to do to us. So we need to be exhorted. The 
emphasis is on the way you treat people, not on the way they treat 
you. Secondly, we need to examine 
our hearts. We need to ask the question, 
do I really live in this manner? Is my default setting to get 
defensive? Is my default setting to strike 
back? When somebody treats me poorly 
or treats me like garbage, is my first response to try and 
cut them down back? If that's the case, as you examine 
your heart, repentance is a wonderful thing. Confessing sin is a wonderful 
thing. Trusting in the free mercy of 
God to forgive and to cleanse us from this sin. And then I 
would suggest thirdly, by way of encouragement, there is a 
gospel and we ought to be thankful. I think at times people mistreat 
the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount. failing to recognize 
it as law, they preach it as gospel, and it will ultimately 
destroy people. If you tell them, this is what 
it means to be a Christian, go out and comply. Brethren, we 
know that we don't comply with the law. This law, this golden 
rule, this Matthew 7.12 should point us back to the cross. Two men who I think did get the 
Sermon on the Mount right said this. Machen said, the Sermon 
on the Mount rightly interpreted then makes a man a seeker after 
some divine means of salvation by which entrance into the kingdom 
can be obtained. In other words, when you hear 
the declaration concerning the law by our Lord Jesus in Matthew 
5-7, if you are a normal red-blooded human being, you should not pat 
yourself on the shoulder for your excellent performance. If 
you get through Matthew 5-7 and you are not humbled and you are 
not convicted, then you have not read Matthew 5-7 in the way 
that you're supposed to. In fact, Jesus says, be perfect 
as your heavenly Father is perfect. Does anybody congratulate themselves 
after reading Matthew 5.48? Yes, I've achieved perfection. 
No, for most of us, we hear the Sermon on the Mount. It is law. 
It reminds us of our gross rebellion against a holy God and our need 
for the Redeemer. And that's precisely what Machen 
says. He says the Sermon on the Mount, 
like all the rest of the New Testament, really leads a man 
straight to the foot of the cross. So by all means, be exhorted 
with reference to the Golden Rule. By all means, examine your 
heart with reference to the Golden Rule. But be encouraged that 
there is a Savior who died for even the sin of our abuse of 
the Golden Rule. Lloyd-Jones says, there is nothing 
that so utterly condemns us as the Sermon on the Mount. Now 
maybe you don't know this in the history of the of Christianity, 
but the early part of the 20th century, you had a sort of a 
movement that came from Germany called neo-orthodoxy or liberalism. And one of the things that they 
emphasized was just love. Just take the Sermon on the Mount 
and love like Jesus. I mean, that sounds good in principle, 
doesn't it? But it neglects some very fundamental 
teaching of Scripture. The heart is deceitful above 
all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? So if 
you just take the Sermon on the Mount and tell a bunch of sinners, 
you just go out and love. Just go do what Jesus says. Well, 
that's what liberals and neo-orthodox theologians were doing. They 
were emphasizing the love command. They were stripping away the 
supernatural from the gospel and basically teaching that person, 
so long as they imitated Jesus, they would be okay. It's in that 
context that Machen wrote Christianity and liberalism. And he concluded 
that liberalism isn't a subset of Christianity, it is an altogether 
different species. It is nothing akin to Christianity. This mindset that we just imitate 
Jesus, no, that's not the mindset. certainly in the life of sanctification, 
empowered by the Holy Spirit, given the grace of God, all that 
stuff obtaining we follow Christ. But telling sinners to go out 
and live the way the Sermon on the Mount calls you to is to 
preach the destructive law to them in terms of their lives. 
And this is Lloyd-Jones. Again, he says, there is nothing 
that so utterly condemns us as the Sermon on the Mount. There 
is nothing so utterly impossible, so terrifying and so full of 
doctrine. Indeed, I do not hesitate to 
say that were it not that I knew of the doctrine of justification 
by faith only, I would never look at the Sermon on the Mount, 
because it is a sermon before which we all stand completely 
naked and altogether without hope. Brethren, that is a primary 
function of the Sermon on the Mount. It is a pedagogue to show 
us our need for the Savior, to drive us to the cross, and there 
find grace, there find help, there find forgiveness, and there 
find empowerment by our Lord, giving us the Spirit, sending 
us back to this rule and calling us to comply. But when we do 
sin, we have an advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ 
the righteous. Does it surprise any of us with 
reference to this Machen quote? The last words that man uttered 
before he died was, I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Jesus 
Christ. There is no hope without it. 
I would suggest a hearty amen in response to that dear brother. Well, let us pray. Our father, 
we thank you for your word and we thank you for this rule. We 
thank you for the conciseness of it. We thank you for the reality 
that it summarizes, the law and the prophets. And God, I pray 
that you'd help each of us to reflect upon this, help each 
of us in our homes, help us in our church, help us in society 
to function in a manner that is consistent with this rule. 
I thank you again for the people of God in this local church. 
My heart's desire and earnest plea to you is that you'd keep 
us all safe. Keep us safe physically. Keep us safe spiritually. Cause 
us all to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord 
and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we 
pray. Amen. We'll close with a brief time 
of meditation.