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A Fresh Look at the Golden Rule

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:12

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I invite you today to turn with me again to Matthew chapter 7. We come today to one of the most familiar verses in all the Bible. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 12. Roman Emperor Alexander Severus ruled from AD 222 to 235. He was absolutely not a Christian. But Severus was so impressed by Matthew 7 verse 12 as a helpful guide to right living that he had these words inscribed in gold on the wall of his throne room and since the 200’s this verse has always been referred to as the “Golden Rule.” It comes at the end of a paragraph that we have been studying together. Let me read for you once again this paragraph beginning in Matthew chapter 7 verse 1 and running down through verse 12. These are our Lord’s words to us:

Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to 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, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 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 what is good to those who ask Him?

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Now as we have seen, this paragraph is about relationships. In verses 1 through 6, Jesus teaches us how to respond to the sin of others in our relationships. In verses 1 to 5, to the sins of fellow believers. In verse 6, to the sins of antagonistic unbelievers. He leaves how to respond to the sins of others in verses 7 through 11 to teach us the importance of praying for God’s wisdom for our relationships. In the context, that’s the major focus of verses 7 through 11. It’s about prayer, yes, but it’s about prayer in our relationships. In verse 12, Jesus is still on the same theme—the theme of relationships and He provides us in verse 12 one over-arching principle on how to conduct our relationships. It is a comprehensive summary of our entire duty to all of the people in our lives. Think for a moment about the relationships you have. For all of us it’s varied. Perhaps as a parent, a child, a sibling, a relative, a friend, a boss, an employee, a co-worker, a teacher, a student, a fellow student, and on and on it goes. Many different relationships in all of our lives.

Matthew 7 verse 12 is Jesus’ summary of everything that God expects from you in every one of those relationships. Look at it again in verse 12: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Now, notice first of all, that this famous saying of our Lord’s doesn’t occur in isolation from its context. The word “therefore” tells us there is a logical connection with what has gone before. So, what is the connection of the Golden Rule with what’s come before? Well, there are three options. Some would say that verse 12 is a summary and application of the paragraph that I just read to you. In other words, if we treat others as we would want to be treated, we would never be judgmental or harsh or critical. And we won’t be quick to see and confront the sins of others without first dealing with our own.

A second perspective says “No, it’s really a summary and application just of verses 7 through 11.” Those who take this approach argue that because God is incredibly generous with us when we ask Him, when we seek from Him, we ought to be generous with others, and we ought to treat them as we ourselves want to be treated. I think there is truth in both of those options, but I really think that verse 12 serves a much larger purpose. I think it is a summary and application of the entire body of the sermon from chapter 5 verse 17 through chapter 7 verse 12. You see, verse 12 marks the end of the body of Jesus’ sermon. As we will discover, the rest of chapter 7 is really conclusion; it’s invitation; it’s application. It is not a coincidence that Jesus begins the body of the sermon and ends the body of the sermon in the same way. Let me show you: turn to back to chapter 5 verse 17. After Jesus has laid out the character of those who are in His kingdom in what we call the Beatitudes, after He has described their influence as salt and light, this is how He begins the body of His sermon—here is how the citizens of His kingdom ought to live. Here’s how they ought to behave, verse 17 of chapter 5: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Notice that expression “the Law or the Prophets.” Now notice how similar that is, turn to chapter 7 verse 12 again: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” The expression “the Law and the Prophets” is a technical term from the first century that describes the Hebrew Scriptures: the Law referring to the Pentateuch, the first five books of what we call the “Old Testament”; and “the Prophets” to the rest of the Old Testament. In the first century, when you said, “the Law and the Prophets,” you were describing a set list of books that are the equivalent in content to the 39 books in our Old Testament. So together, we are talking about the Old Testament. Jesus began the sermon by saying that He didn’t come to destroy the Old Testament but rather to fulfill it in His teaching and in His life. And He finished the body of His sermon by summarizing the Old Testament’s message. You see, Jesus was correcting the thinking of His disciples about the meaning of Scripture that they had been taught by the Pharisees and scribes. And much of what He taught them had to do with our relationship with one another. Matthew 7 verse 12 is Jesus’ summary of everything that God expects from you in every human relationship. It is a summary of the sermon. Martin Luther writes: “With these words He closes up the teachings of these three chapters and ties them all up in a little bundle.” It’s remarkable.

Now we can divide this famous command of our Lord, in order to better understand it, into three elements or three parts this morning. Let’s look at it together. The first element has to do with the specific audience of the Golden Rule: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.” Now notice the word “treat.” It’s an imperative; it’s a command in both Greek and English. In English, the subject of an imperative is often not expressed but rather understood. For example, if I say, “Close the door” you understand that I mean “You close the door.” The subject is understood. Often it is the same in Greek. The subject of the imperative is included in the ending of the verb, like a lot of inflective languages. But in first century Greek, if you really wanted to emphasize who the subject of the sentence was, you could include the pronoun separately to make a point. Jesus does that in verse 12. Literally in the Greek text, He says, “You yourselves treat people the same way.” Now Jesus is speaking to whom here? Well, notice the context just in the verses before in verses 9 through 11. He has just spoken of those whom God has adopted—those who can legitimately call God “Father,” and that’s the same group that He is addressing in verse 12. So, the Golden Rule then is not some generic ethical principle for all men to follow. Rather, Jesus addressed it specifically to His disciples. Let me just be very pointed: if you are not a believer, if you have never repented of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ, you should keep, you are morally obligated to keep the Golden Rule because it is a summary of God’s law and you are commanded to keep His law, it is a requirement of God to you, but you don’t keep it, moreover, you can’t keep it. In fact, you can never truly obey any one of God’s commands in a way that is acceptable to Him. Let me put it to you this way: if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, then you have never once in your life obeyed God in a way that is acceptable to Him. Not one time. Listen to Paul in Romans chapter 8 verse 7. He is talking about unbelievers. He says, “The mind set on the flesh”—that is, in context again, he is talking about those who have not come to Christ—“is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God,” it does not submit to God’s law “for it is not even able to do so.” The mind of an unbeliever not only refuses to submit to God’s law but even if he wanted to obey God’s law is not able to do so in a way that is acceptable to God. Oh, you may not commit murder, the act of murder, but you haven’t kept that command in the way that honors God because you haven’t obeyed the positive side of it, and you haven’t done it with a motive to God’s glory. But if Jesus is your Lord and if God is your Father, if God has already changed your heart, then the Golden Rule is for you to follow. Leon Morris writes, “You is emphatic, others may not follow this rule, but there is no escaping it for [His] disciples.” If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, this is Christ’s command to you. So that is the specific audience.

Let’s notice secondly the unique standard of the Golden Rule. The unique standard. And it is unique. The critics of Christianity have attacked this simple statement often and for various reasons. For example, the radical ethicist, Peter Singer, which, by the way, he is one of the most dangerous men in America today. He is professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and he has radical ideas that he is instructing the next generation of this nation’s leaders with. He tries to downplay the uniqueness of the Golden Rule. Listen to what He writes, “The major ethical traditions all accept in some form or other, a version of the Golden Rule that encourages equal consideration of interest.” What he is telling his students is “Listen, this is not unique. This is old news. Jesus came along with something that had been said many times before. He is really not that special.” Now it is true that there are variations of this command in most of the world’s religions. For example, in ancient Egypt, we read this, “Do for one who may do for you that you may cause him thus to do.” Confucius wrote, “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you.” The Apocrypha written between the Testaments, “What you hate do not do to anyone.” The Talmud records, it was written after Jesus, but it records that around 20 BC a Gentile proselyte asked the famous Rabbi Hillel to teach him the whole law in the short time that he could balance himself on one leg. Rabbi Hillel said this, “What is hateful to you do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law. All the rest is only commentary.”

Now these variations of the Golden Rule that were given before Christ are simply part of what Paul calls, “the substance of the Law written on every human heart.” And as we will see, they also trace back to a common source, even Jesus’ words trace back to a common source and that is the Old Testament. But and here is what I want you to understand, the other forms of this command differ significantly from the Golden Rule in several ways: first of all, the other forms of this command are all negative. For example, Confucius, the Jewish teachers, they are negative: don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you. Jesus, on the other hand, was the very first to state this positively. Why is that important? Well, because the negative form is a lot easier to do. It simply forbids sins of commission against others as opposed to sins of omission. It only forbids us from doing certain things to others. For example, if you don’t murder your enemy, then you have kept the negative form of the Golden Rule. Jesus, on the other hand, teaches us that we must bless them, we must pray for them, we must do good to them as God does to us. That is much more difficult.

In fact, it’s interesting. If I had time, I would take you to Matthew 25. You remember, in Matthew 25, there’s the judgment of the nations that happens after the second coming. And at that judgment, Jesus shows the behavior, they are not saved by their works, He shows the reality of their faith by their works, and He says to some of them, “Listen, I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink.” To those He condemns He says, “I was hungry, and you didn’t feed Me. I was thirsty and you didn’t give Me to drink.” What is interesting about that is at that judgment, people are condemned not merely for their sins of commission, murder and adultery and so forth, they are condemned by Christ for their failure to do what they should have done positively.

Another significant difference between those other ancient examples of this command and that of Jesus is that the motivation in those commands were usually selfish. For example, did you hear what Confucius said? “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.” It’s negative. And then he adds, “Then there will be no resentment against you.” It’s about you. It’s about getting what you want. With Jesus, the motive is genuine love for the other person. In fact, in Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, he attaches the Golden Rule specifically to the command to love other people as God loves them.

But there is a third significant difference, and that is the non-Christian versions of this rule treat it as something that is entirely doable. It can be done in our own strength. However, apart from the work of God’s Spirit, the New Testament teaches it is impossible for any of us to obey God in any way, certainly in such a comprehensive command as this. Romans 8 that I mentioned to you before, the mind that is unredeemed cannot, does not have the ability to obey the Law of God. Apart from God radically changing who you are, the Golden Rule is simply not doable. You know, a lot of people think Christianity is just sort of another form of moralism: just be a better person. Nothing could be farther from Christianity than that. Christianity is God has to make you a new person. Jesus says in John 3, “You must be born again.” God has to make you from scratch all over. In the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians, “We are a new creation.” The moment you repent and believe in Jesus Christ, God recreates your soul in the sense that He makes you new. In the sense that He gives you new desires and new affections. Only then is the Golden Rule doable—when you are a new creation. So, when compared with the other ancient versions of the Golden Rule, the standard that Jesus sets here is utterly unique. It is not negative. It is positive. It is not selfish, but it is others focused. It’s love focused. And it is not doable apart from a divine work of grace. Remember how the Sermon on the Mount begins? As a beggar in spirit. Someone who has never done this.

So, let’s look then at Jesus’ Golden Rule very carefully. “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.” Here’s the standard we are to use in determining how to respond to the people in our lives. It is very helpful because Jesus has given us a lot of very specific commands in terms of our responsibilities to others in this sermon. And now He gives us this all comprehensive, all-encompassing rule: “Treat people the same way you want them to treat you.” By the way, I need to just say this because we live in a fallen world, people twist this. It’s taken for granted here that what you wish for others to do to you, is something that is right before God—something good. In other words, it is what you ought to wish the other person would do for you if you weren’t a fallen, sinful being. Notice the main verb in verse 12 is an imperative—it's a command. There’s a good reason this is called the Golden Rule and not the golden suggestion. Jesus commands us to use this standard in our interaction with others. Literally, this is the standard: He says, “In this manner also you yourselves do to them.” “In this manner”—that is, in keeping exactly the same way you want them to treat you. And notice how comprehensive it is, how it begins, “in everything.” In the Greek text, that’s actually plural. We could translate it like this: “in all things whatsoever.” There is nothing excluded from the scope of this rule. Now think about that for a moment. Every day of your life, in every circumstance you will ever face, with every person you will ever encounter, Jesus says, “Here’s the simple test of what I expect from those who belong to My kingdom. Are you treating that person the way you want him or her to treat you?” I want you to think for a moment about your relationships, especially those that are difficult. If our Lord Himself were to come and stand on this platform this morning and call you up and were to ask you about this, could you honestly before God, before your Lord say that you are making every effort to try to treat those difficult people in your life exactly as you long for them to treat you?

Let’s be even more specific, let me give an example. Let’s say that there is conflict in your marriage. Let’s say that your relationship is not all that you want it to be or all that it should be before God. Are you responding to your spouse as you would want your spouse to respond to you if the roles were reversed. Really? Honestly? That is our Lord’s standard for how we are to treat one another in all our relationships. You can see how this infiltrates into the cracks of every part of our lives. That is a unique, unique standard.

Now the third element of this command is the ultimate motive behind the Golden Rule. Look at the end of verse 12. Here’s the motive: “For”—because—“this is the Law and the Prophets.” Now that is amazing. Did you notice what Jesus does not say? He does not say, “Treat others as you want to be treated so that they will treat you as you want to be treated.” This is where we usually go, isn’t it? You know, I share this concept with people that I am counseling, let’s say, even in marriage counseling, share this concept, and they go, and they are happy to try it for two days. And it doesn’t work. Why doesn’t it work? Well, it doesn’t work because I’m not getting what I want. I’m treating them as I want to be treated so that they will treat me as I want to be treated. And it’s not working. Listen, that’s not what our Lord is teaching here. He’s not

encouraging pragmatic selfishness. He’s not saying, “Do this because it’s going to benefit you. They are going to treat you better.” It’s like the saying, “honesty is the best policy.” It’s a ridiculous saying. What is the implication of that? The implication is that you need to be honest with others because it will be to your advantage. What is the other part of the implication of that? If it’s not to your advantage, don’t worry about being honest. Our Lord here is not teaching anything like that. William Hendriksen writes, “We are not to follow the Golden Rule for our own advantage. The rule’s gold then degenerates into the pyrite of utilitarianism.” It becomes fool’s gold. It’s all about me—what I get. Instead look again at verse 12. This is remarkable. Jesus says, “We should treat others the way we want to be treated. Not because we get something. Because it is what the Scripture commands.” In other words, do this because you ought to obey God. And the Golden Rule simply tells you how to do it. Jesus is saying, “This command summarizes the Scripture in what it teaches about our duty to man. Notice again the end of verse 12: “For”—because. Here’s the reason I want you to follow the Golden Rule. “This”—that is the command I just gave you. “Is”—that is, it’s the essence or summary of the Law and the Prophets, the entire Old Testament Scripture and today we could say the entire Scripture. John Broadus says, “Our Lord now gives one single precept for the regulation of our conduct. A simple working rule which is not merely a summary statement of what He has been teaching in this sermon, it’s a summary of all the Scripture.

Now that is really important because the Golden Rule was not truly original with Jesus while He was upon the earth. Rather, it’s roots are buried deep into Old Testament soil. Turn back to the first time this principle is recorded. The first recorded revelation of this command came from the pen of Moses fourteen hundred years before Christ. Look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.” There is the command about fellow Israelites. Go down to verse 33: “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” Here’s where the Golden Rule comes from. Jesus is the One who originated it but not while He was here as a human being, but when He gave the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. And it becomes the prevailing governing principle of our relationships. Paul uses it this way in Romans. Turn to Romans. In fact, many New Testament authors do. Let me just show you one example Romans chapter 13 and notice verse 8: “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another.” Basically, your moral obligation to others is to love them. “For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” And then he gives four examples of the second table of the Law: adultery, murder, stealing, coveting—“and if there is any other commandment, it is summoned up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Why is that? Notice verse 10, because “love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” If you love your neighbor, you are not going to steal from them; if you love your neighbor, you are not going to commit adultery with his spouse; if you love your neighbor, you are not going to covet what belongs to him and so forth. To love is the ultimate fulfillment of what God requires of us. This is truly amazing. Sinclair Ferguson writes,

For Jesus, the Word of God is not an impossible complex of rules and regulations placed on men’s shoulders as a heavy burden. Rather, it is the outworking of the principle of love. Grasp this and everything else falls into place. The Christian life is indeed demanding but in essence its principle is simple. It is knowing the grace of God working so powerfully in your heart that you are free from the mastery of sin and self you can now serve others and bring blessing to them as the Lord has brought blessing to you.

So, the principle behind the Golden Rule is not what I am going to get, if I do this, then I am going to manipulate them into treating me the way I want to be treated. Instead, it is genuine love for that person.

Now obviously the Golden Rule doesn’t summarize every Old Testament command. Because a lot of the commands in the Old Testament have to do with our relationship not with each other but with our relationship to God. That’s why in Matthew 22, you remember, when Jesus is asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” What does He say? “You shall love the Lord your God

with your whole being. And the second is like unto it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Together, those two commands, half of which is here, summarize everything in the Scripture. But the remarkable thing is when you and I treat others the way we want to be treated, from a heart of love and not selfish pragmatism, we are at the same time expressing genuine love for God Himself. First John 4:20, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” We express our love for God by loving the people around us who are made in His image. So, understand then, the Golden Rule is simply an application of the second great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And genuine love for that person rather than self-interest and ultimately genuine love for God is what has to move me and motivate me to treat that other person as I want to be treated.

What do we do with this? Well, there are two extremely practical applications of this command. Let me just give them to you briefly. Number one: the Golden Rule is an impossible standard that drives all men to Christ. It’s a summary of God’s Law—a large portion, half of God’s Law—our relationship with others. Therefore, it serves the same purpose as the Law. Turn to Galatians chapter 3. I wish I had time to walk you through this whole passage. Let me just jump in, verse 22. Back in verse 19, he’s talking about the law being added because of transgressions and he says in verse 22, “The Scripture”—that is, the law—“has shut up everyone under sin,”—it has condemned us all—“so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those believe.” Verse 24, here’s the key: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” We could say that the Golden Rule as a summary of God’s Law serves the same purpose. How does it serve as a tutor to drive us to Christ? Because it sets an impossibly high standard. You know, there are people who actually think that someday they are going to stand before God, and they are going to rehearse what they have done and think that God’s going to be OK with that. He is going to like that and accept that. You want to be accepted before God based on your own efforts? OK, here you go, here’s the standard: you love God every moment of your life with your whole being. And secondly, you love your neighbor as yourself every moment in every relationship your entire life. Do that and God will accept you based on your own righteousness. Listen, you and I have no hope of meeting that standard. In fact, let me put it to you bluntly. You and I, we have never, one time in our lives met that standard. Not for one second, one heartbeat. We have no hope if that’s the standard. And that drives us to the cross. It drives us to Jesus Christ to say, “God, I need Your forgiveness and I need Christ’s righteousness to stand in the place of my righteousness because I don’t have any. He is the only One who loved You perfectly every moment of His life. He is the only One who loved others as Himself every second that He lived. I need His righteousness and I need the benefits of His death.”

But for us who are in Christ, the Golden Rule serves a second purpose. The Golden Rule is a helpful summary that directs the Christian’s conduct. Not only does it summarize all of the commands in Scripture about our responsibilities to others, but it even serves as a template for deciding what to do when the Scripture is silent about a circumstance in which we find ourselves. As one author calls it, it is a remarkably flexible ethical principle. I like better what William Hendriksen writes. Listen to this: “In order that the believer might be ready for any emergency”—that is, in order that he may know at any definite moment how to conduct himself toward his neighbor—“the Lord lays down a rule which is like a pocketknife or a carpenter’s rule, always ready to be used even in a sudden emergency when there is no time to ask for the advice of a friend or to consult a book.” Think about that. The Law of God is summarized in this simple command—it’s like a pocketknife I can break out when I need it, at that moment—what does God expect from me in this relationship? What does He want me to do? How does He want me to respond to this person? Here it is: “In everything treat others as you want them to treat you.” Bishop Ryle writes: “It settles a hundred difficult points which in a world like this are continually arising between man and man. It prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases. It sweeps the whole ground with one mighty principle.” So, you have in the Golden Rule for you who are in Christ, you have a remarkably handy little pocketknife—a little tape measure—you can break out at a moment’s notice and use to determine how you ought to respond to that person and that situation. But even as believers, we cannot obey this command apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. And so, verse 12 pushes us right back

into verses 7 through 11: “Ask. Seek. Knock and it will be given to you.” We come saying Father, I don’t know how I ought to respond in this situation. I know You have given me this directive, but I am not even sure how to apply that in this situation. And even if I know how to apply it, I lack the resolve and strength to do it. Father help me. And Jesus says, “It will be given to him. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. For this is the Law and the Prophets.

Let’s pray together. Our Father, we thank You for the clarity of these words. Lord, use them I pray for those here this morning who are still depending on their own righteousness. May this powerful, simple axiom cut through their self-righteousness. Help them to see the standard that you have as impossibly high. They will never meet it. Never have met it. Never will meet it. And may they today recognize their spiritual bankruptcy and cry out for You to forgive them because of what Christ did on the cross, dying in their place, paying their penalty.

Father, I pray for us who are in Christ that you would help us to respond to others in this way. Lord, help us to see this as a command, an imperative from You to us that we must pursue in the strength of Your Spirit every day in every circumstance, in every relationship. Give us wisdom. Give us the resolve. Give us the strength we pray. Thank you as a good Father you give to Your children all things that are good. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen

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Tom Pennington Matthew 6:1
39.

For His Eyes Only: Giving to the Glory of God - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:2-4
40.

For His Eyes Only: Giving to the Glory of God - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:2-4
41.

Praying for the Wrong Reasons

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:5-8
42.

The Lord's Prayer - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:9-15
43.

The Lord's Prayer - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:9-15
44.

The Lord's Prayer - Part 3

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:9-15
45.

Hallowed Be Your Name!

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:9
46.

Your Kingdom Come!

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:10
47.

Your Will Be Done

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:10
48.

Give Us Our Daily Bread

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:11
49.

Forgive Us Our Debts

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:12
50.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:13
51.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:13
52.

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:13
53.

Forgiveness: A Spiritual Diagnostic

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:14-15
54.

The Practice of Biblical Fasting

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:16-18
55.

The Deadly Dangers of Materialism - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:19-24
56.

The Deadly Dangers of Materialism - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:19-24
57.

The Deadly Dangers of Materialism - Part 3

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:19-24
58.

Mastering Materialism - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:25-34
59.

Mastering Materialism - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:25-34
60.

Mastering Materialism - Part 3

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:25-34
61.

Mastering Materialism - Part 4

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:25-34
62.

Mastering Materialism - Part 5

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:25-34
63.

Mastering Materialism - Part 6

Tom Pennington Matthew 6:25-34
64.

Responding to the Sins of Others - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:1-6
65.

Responding to the Sins of Others - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:1-6
66.

Responding to the Sins of Others - Part 3

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:1-6
67.

The Guarantee of Answered Prayer - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:7-11
68.

The Guarantee of Answered Prayer - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:7-11
69.

A Fresh Look at the Golden Rule

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:12
70.

Two Gates, One Decision - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:13-14
71.

Two Gates, One Decision - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:13-14
72.

Wolves in the Pulpit - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:15-20
73.

Wolves in the Pulpit - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:15-20
74.

Wolves in the Pulpit - Part 3

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:15-20
75.

The Deadly Danger of Self-Deception - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:21-23
76.

The Deadly Danger of Self-Deception - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:21-23
77.

The Deadly Danger of Self-Deception - Part 3

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:21-23
78.

The Parable of the Two Builders - Part 1

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:24-27
79.

The Parable of the Two Builders - Part 2

Tom Pennington Matthew 7:24-27
80.

A Virtual Tour of the Sermon on the Mount

Tom Pennington Matthew 5:3-7:27
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