MAT 5:25-26 says, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."

To be reconciled unto God is to be reconciled to His will. In EPH 4:32 we read, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you." The will of God is for us to be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.

Can we come before God and claim reconciliation with God and be enemies with our brother? The answer is no. For Christ’s sake, for the sake of that blood of His cross, God’s mind is reconciled. Are we able to make peace with the blood of the cross? Are we able to take up our cross and follow Him? Are we able to make sacrifices and suffer wrong for peace? We are not greater than our Master. Can we not condescend to our brother to beg conditions of peace?

ROM 12:16 says, "Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits." When we speak of our brother, we are speaking of every human creature on this earth. We must be able to condescend to men of low estate and beseech them for conditions of peace. This brings us all before the mirror of the law of love, and then we all have to lay our hand on our mouth and cry out "unclean, unclean." We then understand what it is to become a leper in the sight of God. When we understand, we bring that gift. What is that gift? It is the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. We have to come and lay that before the Lord and remember His death until He comes.

How can any prayer be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, except that we come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? We have to come to plead that meritorious and sacrificial death of Christ. How can we do that and harbor the least ill thought in our heart? This verse tells us to be of one mind. Don’t be heady and high-minded. Don’t be so set in your own ways that you cannot give.

Verses 17-21 say, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire [coals of LOVE!] on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

SON 8:6 says, "...love is strong as death...the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it..." "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of [love] on his head," ROM 12:20.

MAT 5:25 says, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." i.e., while you are still in the day of grace. Agree with him quickly while you still have life and there is still time to be reconciled; don’t put it off until tomorrow. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath because you can’t go to prayer without a clean heart. How can you go to sleep without going to prayer?

While the quarrel continues, you are not fit to bring your gift to the altar, i.e., your prayers are hindered. You cannot come into communion with God; you are not fit to meet God! This is an awful thing. What if He should come to you and say as in LUK 12:20, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee," and you are not prepared to meet Him? You are not ready because your heart is not right. Then when you come before the judge, He says you will go to prison, and you will not come out until you have paid the last penny.

We must look at the Lord as our adversary anytime we look at our brother as an adversary. We must meet our adversary in the way and agree with him quickly. We must come to terms of peace. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also," 1JO 4:20-21.

Our text says, "lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." This speaks not only of literally wounding our brother, and he has brought us to the law; it is also speaking of the Lord as judge.