Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the profound love of Jesus for His enemies, illustrating how we often resist acknowledging our own sins and shortcomings. He reflects on the story of the Canaanite woman, who humbly accepted her status as a 'dog' in need of mercy, demonstrating that true faith comes from recognizing our need for grace. Beach challenges the congregation to confront their pride and self-righteousness, urging them to embrace humility and seek forgiveness at the foot of the cross. He reminds us that human love can turn to hatred when our self-image is threatened, but Jesus calls us to love our enemies as He loves us. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deep, honest relationship with God, where we acknowledge our sins and accept His mercy.

Lord, we just want to come to you this morning in need. I want to acknowledge that I really believe that I'm the one in greatest need here this morning, and I just feel that I'm not worthy for you to come to my house, and I look to you to speak to my heart today, Lord, and to teach me. You're the great teacher. Teach me, Lord, and help us together, Lord, to be conquered by you, we pray, Lord. Jesus loves his enemies, and I know that not only because the Bible says so, but because he loves me. I wish I could say I was his friend, but I can't, because Jesus said that his friends do whatever he commands. I don't do that. If you do, please pray for me, okay? If not, then you can join me at the foot of the cross, where sinners can find mercy. Jesus is teaching me why I'm his enemy. Only Jesus loves me enough to teach me why I'm his enemy and then still love me. Isn't that wonderful? I'd just like to read a few scriptures here. John chapter 2, beginning in verse number 24. John chapter 2, beginning in verse number 24. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them. Jesus didn't trust them. Jesus said to me, son, don't trust what I don't trust. Jesus did not trust them, because he knew all men. He knew all men. He's the only one that does. And needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. He did not commit himself to any man, for he knew what was in man. There's a little note I want to read from someone I know. Recently, the Lord has been teaching me that I can look for human love, but cannot trust it. Jesus knew what was in man. Therefore, he did not commit himself to any man. The Lord's been teaching me, this note I'm reading here. It's not important who wrote it. What's in it here? Human love turns to hatred if self is attacked. Jesus knew what was in man. Therefore, he did not commit himself. All right. All right, Lord. Let's stop talking in generalities. You know, generalities are one of the most effective ways the devil keeps us blind. Most anyone get up and say, I'm a sinner. But few will say, Lord, I'm guilty of adultery. Forgive me, Colette. Forgive me. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. But few will say, forgive me, Lord, for thinking that my children's sins are worse than mine. Few will say that. Oh, I'm a sinner. But few will say, Lord, forgive me for praying that horrible, ugly Pharisee prayer. I thank thee, O God, that I am not like others. Oh, I'm a sinner. So if you ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life, he will not speak in generalities to you. And number two, he won't give you deep, mysterious revelations about your brother's sins. So if you're preoccupied with those, you need to repent and ask the Holy Spirit to come back into your life because you're full of pride and self-righteousness and you're blinded by the deceitfulness of your own heart. Yeah. If your tongue is jabbing about others, you need to pray God will have mercy on your soul because you haven't seen who needs prayer more than anyone else. The Lord knew, though, what was in us and he didn't commit himself to any man. Okay. I said, Lord, why am I your enemy? He told me I was. Reconciled, what is enemy? Help me, Lord. So I'll help you. Human love turns to hatred if self is attacked. I love you and I love Jesus with human love. And therefore, if you attack me, my self and you tell me the truth, Jesus attacks me and tells me the truth. And he can either do it through his word or he can do it through you. And my love for you will turn to hatred. But then to compound things worse, I'll be phony about it and I'll still come up and say I love you when I don't. So I end up becoming a hypocrite. I don't have you can't stand you. I can't stand you because you told me the truth about myself. Truth about myself. Jesus loves sinners, say sinners. Repentant sinners. Who agree with what God says, human love turns to hatred if self is attacked. We love God and each other. With far too much human love, and when the Lord attacks our self life, exposing it for what it truly is, behold, our shining love turns to bitter hate. We hate the vessel God uses to attack our self life and reject both the message about ourself and the messenger. Until we stop justifying ourselves before God. And before others, remember earlier, no one likes being called names. It's because we don't like the truth. I'd like to read a scripture in Matthew, chapter 15. And I want to say that Jesus is going to offend us because he's going to call us a name. We're going to need a lot of help because we're going to despise him. And we're going to stumble. And we're going to be tempted to be offended at the Lord. We're going to go on with this little note that I got, which is really helping me a lot. It was written by a, all I could say is a sinner person I know. But it's helping me because I sense the Lord gave it to this person. It's helping me. All right, let's go now to Jesus's words. All right. Is your back bothering you, Carrie? Yeah. Okay. Are you glad Jesus loves his enemies? Where would we be if Jesus didn't love his enemies? I know maybe you would say, well, he should just destroy those people. Excuse me? Those people, those people, Lord, should we, Lord, these Samaritans are your enemies. Should we send fire down from heaven and destroy your enemies? You don't know what spirit you're of, my dear disciples, because if I did that, you'd be the first ones to burn. Not us, Lord. God, he doesn't thank God. He doesn't destroy his enemies. At least now he's not. Anyway, during the day of grace, I tell you, I'm relieved. Okay. Matthew chapter eight. Is anybody else relieved? Matthew chapter eight. If I can find it here, I'm not even sure this is the correct scripture reference. Oh, no. Matthew 15, I think. Right. He says, love your enemies the way I love you, my enemy. All right. Matthew 15, verse 21. Jesus is so good to this poor old sinner. Talking about me now. Matthew chapter 15, verse number 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me. Oh, Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. And he answered her not a word. How angry we get when we're ignored, when we don't get it just the way we want. And he answered her not a word. How insensitive of the Lord. How insensitive of the Lord. Not even to answer her a word. Oh, we're too high. I don't think we can even hear. We're going to have to get much lower, beloved. Much lower. And he answered her not a word. Then to make things worse, his disciples came and said, send her away. So first of all, she cries out for mercy and he doesn't answer her. And then his disciples say, get away. Pride. Anger. Who does he think he is? What's his problem? No, she didn't say that. Verse 26. But he answered and said, It is not me. It is not right. It is not appropriate to take the children's bread and cast it to who? Excuse me? Huh? Dogs. He called her a name. She's got a lot of things going against her, doesn't she? Have mercy on me, Lord. Not a word. Get away from us. You're bothering us. Number two. Number three. Then he speaks and says, I'm sorry, but it's not right for me to give bread to dogs. We hate the vessel God uses to attack our self-life and reject both the message and the messenger until we stop justifying ourselves before God and others. Pride has blinded our eyes and we do not know the depths to which our hearts are deceitful and sinful. So he keeps attacking self and we keep despising both the message and the messenger. But he loves his enemies. He died for them and commands us to do the same. He tells me is what this person is saying that wrote this. He tells me to keep loving my enemies as he has loved me, his enemy. I can only trust the work he does in my heart and in the heart of my brothers and sisters. Anything other than that is sweetness that will soon turn bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter hatred and disgust. Love for our wife, husband or children will be an enemy of God if God attacks the self-life and our love is human love. We will despise the message and the messenger that attacks the self-life of the one we love with human love. Oh, how sad corrupt human love is. Human love will always find a way to be just before God and reject his wounds, the wounds of our only faithful friend that loves us. Then he says, please pray for me. I stand most guilty of this sin, but have asked my Lord who adores me, though I am his enemy to help me. And he promises to help the helpless. And that is my hope. She cried out and he ignored her. First test. Then his disciples said, get away. Second test. Then he says, sorry, it's not right for me to give bread to you because you're just a dog. A dog meant an unclean, horrible, rotten, filthy sinner. That's what a dog meant back then. You're just an adulterer. You're a fornicator. You're a thief. You're a robber. You're a lover of self more than God. You say you love me, but when I cross your will, you hate me. And then you say you love me and you're a hypocrite because you really don't love me. This bread isn't for dogs. I hate that message and anyone that gives it to me. But like this dear sinner friend of Jesus, I stand most guilty of this sin, but have asked my Lord who adores me. I don't know why he adores me, but he does carry. He does. He adores me. I don't know if he adores the Pharisee. I'm not sure the Pharisee will stand or fall before his own master. But I know he adores donkeys. I know he adores sinners. I don't know what he thinks about the one who says, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like others. I don't know. I know he adores me, even though I'm his enemy because I want him to help me. I want him to help me. And that's the evidence that I belong to him. I want him to help me. That's the evidence that his grace is shining in my heart because I want him to help me. That's the evidence that there's hope because I stand guilty and say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. I pray, Lord, give me the heart of this woman here because I like what she said. I like what she said. Listen to what she said. Her self-life was attacked, wasn't it? Big time. She was ignored. She was chased away. And she was insulted by the Lord who told her the truth. He told her the truth. He called her a name, but it was the truth. Don't believe it when anyone ever calls you anything other than the truth. Don't believe it. It will only blind your eyes more. Don't ever believe anything. Next time someone says, you're a really horrible person, bow your head and say, I know. Pray for me. Sinners are justified before God, not righteous people. Next time you think about the sin of your husband, wives, say, Lord, don't show me that anymore because mine's much worse. You dog. Dogs. That's what we are. Gentiles. Unclean. Sinners. Not me, Lord. Then you have no part with me. Then you have no part with me. Now, check this out. Verse 27. And she said, true, true. You dog. True. The place of victory is acknowledged defeat. True, Lord. Oh, yeah, I know. I know. We'll take it when God gives it to us in our prayer closet. Oh, yes, Lord. You know what the Lord told me? Oh, we're so proud about God talking to us, aren't we? But take it when he dresses himself up in a brother or sister whose sins you think are worse than yours, then say true. We're too high. We're too mighty. We're too proud. That's why the Lord hides in the shadows because he waits. He's waiting for this old dog Canaanite woman to come to him and say, true, Lord, everything you said is true. It took Job 38 chapters, Carrie, before it says, and Job was silent before God and stopped trying to justify himself. 38 chapters. I'm 25 years and still justifying myself. But there's hope because I'm a sinner. True. Now, here's a little insight. Put your finger there and turn with me to John. Back to John. Remember that statement. True, true, true. Now, we wouldn't have a problem saying true if someone came and said, you're really a nice person. True. What a good husband. True. Oh, well, true. True. True. We don't consider that to be a name calling, but that really is calling us a name that's not true. That's how beautiful our hearts are. We love what is not true. And we resent both the message and the messenger. That is true. True. Okay. John chapter 3. Excuse me. Verse 19. And this is the condemnation. Light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be discovered, discovered, discovered. Adam, where are you? I hid myself. Why? I didn't want to be discovered. But Adam, grace is for sinners, but he that doeth truth, doeth continuous truth. To do truth is to continuously side with truth. Not doctrinal truth, but Jesus Christ, who is the truth. He's all right and I'm all wrong. He that doeth truth. God in the flesh looked at that woman and said, I can't give bread to the dogs. And this woman doeth truth. She said, true, Lord. True. You said the truth because you are truth. And if I'm a dog and I have to get up and tell the whole world that I stand guilty as a dog before God, then that's true. But to do evil is to side with the lie. The lie. What lie? I am something other than what God says I am. That's what my heart tells me I am, because my heart's deceitful. My heart will always look for a way to justify me before God and men, before my wife, before my children, before my brothers, before my sisters. God, if I am doing evil, then I hate the message and the messenger because my deeds will be exposed in the light of truth. But if I do truth. If I agree with truth as a broken hearted sinner, as this beautiful Canaanite woman. Yes, truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs. You're right, Lord. I'm everything you said and worse. I am what you say, Lord. But let me eat the crumbs. Who is fed the bread? True, Lord, what you said, I am that. And as that, as that, as a failure, not after I get it together, not after I try to improve myself, not after I go do my law and my rules and my religion and feel better about myself, but as that, I ask for bread. True, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. What a picture of taking the place of a sinner. Before a savior who attacked the self-life, who exposed it for what it is and out of the mouth of this sinner came I am guilty. Yes, Lord, I'm a dog, but I still want bread. There's hope. I still want bread. Then Jesus answered and said to her, Isn't this strange? The one who ignored her and called her a dog is now saying what? Oh, woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very. Matthew 11, 6. Blessed is he who is not offended in me. When Jesus comes to your house and attacks you, what will you do? What was the first scripture we read? Jesus knows what you're going to do, but you're still trying to say, Well, I'll respond. And what you'll do? Plunge the sword right into his side. Not me. Suppose ye that they were worse sinners. Remember last week, Jesus said, I tell you no. Still think someone's a worse sinner than you? John chapter 4, verse number 29. Come, meet a man. What happens when we meet this man? What does he do? What does he do? Does he flatter us and tell us nice, wonderful things about ourselves? What does this man do? Come, meet a man who calls me a dog. Come, meet a man who tells me the truth about myself. Come, meet a man who has told me everything I've ever done. Come, meet a man who has told me that I've broken every commandment. That I stand guilty before him. That I deserve separation and punishment. And yet, he calls me to repent and come to him for forgiveness. Come, meet a man who adores sinners and who abhors righteous people. Righteous people. People who are just in their own eyes. Come, meet a man who died for sinners. Is not this the Savior of the world? When Jesus comes to your house and tells you everything that you have ever done, what will you do? Stop justifying. Say, Lord, I'm tired. I'm tired. Help me. I come as a sinner. Help me. I come. Broken. Help me. Come unto me. For ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Learn of me, but you can't come, lest you come as a dog. Naaman was a leper, and he had to come as a leper. Not as Naaman, a military man, who had power and authority. Who could speak to his troops and they would obey. That's the man that had the plan of how to be healed from leprosy. He was going to go to the prophet's house. He was going to knock on the door and the prophet was going to come out and say, oh, I know who you are. Well, yeah. Well, yeah. I am that man. Yeah, I am him. Yeah, I do lead a significant army. Yes. But I have a problem, prophet Elijah. Oh, I know what your problem is. I'm a prophet. Now, what I want you to do is gather all your troops together. And I want them to surround you. And I'll first talk a little bit about how great you are and how you're so necessary for Israel. You're so necessary for God's victory. And then afterwards, I'll pray. And the Lord will come and heal you in the eyes of all people and they'll bow down and worship you. I mean God. That was Naaman's plan of how he was going to be healed. How he was going to be healed. Naaman, the leper. And then when he knocked on the prophet's door, the prophet sent his servant. That was the beginning of the mistake. That's not how I want it. I want to talk to the servant. I'm Naaman. I want to talk to the prophet. Dog. Sinner. Get rid of your title. Get rid of what you are. You're a leper. Remember, you've got leprosy. Not only that, but the servant comes and says, the prophet says, go dump in the filthy, rotten Jordan River seven times and you'll be made whole. What? What? What about the rivers of Damascus? That old Jordan River was filthy. The Bible says Naaman got angry. What will you do when Jesus comes to your house and says, leper, you want to be healed? You want to be healed? Then agree with me. Say truth, Lord. I am a leper. Get rid of your plan right now, brothers and sisters, of how you're going to work out the mess you're in. Get rid of it because it's not going to work. It's not going to work. Because you've got one person in mind. You. Saving your neck. It'll never happen. You'll never get rid of the leprosy if you stand before God as Naaman. Oh, the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness and the power that meets the broken leper. We never graduate from being. The moment we do, we fall. Alright, brothers and sisters, I closed with the last few sentences of this letter. Oh, how sad, corrupt human love is. Human love will find a way to be just before God and will reject his wounds. The wounds of a friend, Jesus, are the wounds of truth. But human love will reject the truth. Please pray for me. I stand most guilty of this sin, but have asked my Lord, who adores sinners. For me, he says, though I am his enemy, to help me. And he promises to help the helpless. And this is my hope. Dear Lord, help us. Today we pray. Help me today, Lord, I pray. You have come to my home. You have sought me out. And you told me everything that I have ever done. Help me to be silent before you. Help me to stand totally guilty that I might know the joy of being totally justified. Help me, I pray, Lord, to abhor myself as Job. Repent with sackcloth and ashes, and to find peace with my God at the foot of Golgotha, where my God and Savior bled because I crucified them with my sins. Please, Lord, do this. Do this for your sake, I pray.