Sure, I believe in vengeance, but God said, “Vengeance belongeth to Me.” I can’t take it! And if somebody mistreats me, there’s that personal instinct, possibly, to want to retaliate. But God said you can’t do that! “Vengeance belongs to Me. I…will…repay, saith the Lord!”

And if an individual mistreats me physically or verbally, unless that man repents, God’s going to take vengeance on that individual! Now, we need to realize that, and the church would be so much better off today if we’d let vengeance remain in the hands of the Almighty God instead of trying to take it ourselves. And we need to learn that.

Well, when did Jesus Christ act like a Lion? When they attacked what He taught! And I want you to listen to me carefully. If I’m not exceedingly careful, you know what I will do? I will completely reverse that order! If you want to see me act like a lion, then say something about me personally. Then I can come out like a roaring lion, attacking you and charging you and making accusations against you, and try to show the world that you’re worse than I am!

Then, you want to see me act like a little lamb? Just say whatever you want to about the Lord’s church. Say whatever you want to about baptism. Say whatever you want to about the Lord’s Supper. And what do I do? I act like a little lamb. I don’t open my mouth. I have completely reversed the order of the teachings of Jesus Christ!

So, we need to learn that in living the Christian life that vengeance belongs to God. We cannot personally retaliate. And we also must remember that we must stand up for the Truths of God. We must manifest the Spirit of Christ.

And then, to become a partaker of the nature of Christ, we must identify with the example that He set. In 1 Peter 2:21, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps….” I have an idea that just about everybody here—most people—have had children, possibly in school—maybe in kindergarten or the first grade. And that teacher has given that child some homework. She’s copied some perfect letters at the top of the page. We’ll say there are twenty-one lines on this page, and that child’s homework is to copy those letters. We would think on the surface that the best letters that child copied would be on line twenty-one, because the child had copied the letters twenty times, because we’ve heard all our life that “practice makes perfect.” That’s just something we’ve heard. How in the world could “practice make perfect” if you’re practicing something that’s imperfect?! That could never bring about perfection. The chances are [that] the worst letters the child would make would be on line twenty-one. Why? Because the child got so far away from the [perfect] example. Instead of looking back to the example, the child would most likely look at line twenty when the child was copying line twenty-one.

And you know the basic trouble with the average person trying to live the Christian life? He gets separated from Jesus Christ. And if you don’t remember anything else I say tonight, remember this: The closer one stays to Jesus Christ, the easier it is to live the Christina life. I really think it’s an ordeal for some people to attend service on Sunday night or Wednesday night. I really do. I think it’s a terrible ordeal for them to! Why? Because they’re getting separated from Jesus Christ.

Do you remember when they came to arrest Jesus, and Peter was standing by His side? And they were going to take Jesus? As we would say today, Peter was saying, “You’ll take Him over my dead body.” And so, he drew his sword—I think he meant to cut the man’s head off, but evidently the man dodged, and he cut his ear off. Let me ask you, “Would Peter have denied Jesus there?” No—a thousand times, No. But just a few hours later—not days, not weeks, not months—just a few hours later, the same man who was willing to die for Jesus Christ is out here denying Him! Three times he denied Him—“I don’t know who the man is!”He possibly said, “I never saw the man before! I just happened to be here! I don’t even know what’s taking place in there!” And then Peter heard that cock crow. You remember what Jesus said. [Luke 22:61-62: “61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the Word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. 62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.”]

Let me ask you this: Suppose Peter had followed Jesus into Pilate’s judgment hall, and when they’re questioning Jesus, Peter is standing there by His side. Do you believe he would have denied Him? No—a thousand times, No, he would never have denied Him, not standing there by Him. But he got separated from Jesus. And let me tell you something, my friends. When we get separated from Jesus Christ, we can…not…live…the Christian life! The closer we stay to Jesus, the easier it is to live the Christian life.

And then, in the conclusion, why is this reward great? Christ said, “…GREAT is your reward in heaven” [Matthew 5:12].

It’s a great reward because it is a reward of understanding. You know, there are so many things in this life that we don’t understand. There are so many things that are happening in the Lord’s church today that we can’t understand. We wonder why they happen. We wonder why an individual acted like he did, why he said so and so.