The Justice of God - Holy One of Israel Part 7

Well good morning, I came down with this thing in my throat my chest last night so will you pray for me. If you would, and I'll do my very best to get through. How's that sound to deal are good. Hey, you know, were involved in a series of messages entitled the holy one of Israel and it's a series of messages all about the attributes of God and so far we've covered six of the wonderful attributes of God. We've talked about the fact that God is eternal God is holy, that God is omnipotent God is faithful that God is omniscient and that God is our heavenly father and I hope if you missed any of these messages you pick up the tape for the CD in the bookstore or you'll go on our website and download the message and you'll catch up with this book today were going to go on in part seven and were going to talk about the fact that God is just now.

It's imperative for us to understand as followers of Christ that the justice of God is. It is linked up as a blood brother with one other attribute of God and that is the righteousness of God. When we say that God is righteous. What we are saying is that God always does what is ethically right what is morally pure and what is utterly virtuous.

I mean, Psalm 92 verse 15 says the Lord is upright and there is no unrighteousness in him. Daniel chapter 9 says the Lord is righteous in everything he does. But the fact that God is righteous also means that God cares about his creation operating righteously and this forms the foundation of another attribute of God, namely, that God is just what exactly does it mean when we say that God is just, well, it means that God is committed to repaying the every act of unrighteousness of wickedness and corruption and injustice.

Every one of those kind of actions.

God is committed to repaying them to and that if that were done here on earth with appropriate payback and you know the verse that I want to share with you the talks about this in the New Testament is found in Galatians chapter 6 hears God's promise in this regard, he says in Galatians 6 verse seven do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked is a yeah is people mock God in my office throughout my school every single day. No, that's not what the person saying literally in the Greek it means nobody makes a fool out of God and the reason the Bible says that is because the this verse is going to go on and tell us about a law of human behavior. A law of human conduct that God has set up that nobody escapes if someone could escape this law. They make a full out of God, but the Bible says that's not going to happen and what is that law will the verse continues, and says for whatever a person sows, that is precisely what they will reap you know are years ago my wife Brenda talk me into planning a garden.

Now I don't know anything about planting a garden. She said would be really good if the boys could see something grow out of the ground and they could see us like harvest something and put it on the table and feed him and I was like alright I whatever and so I mean Jewish people don't garden you understand what I'm trying to sell you don't know anything about gardening, so she said it's not that hard to go up. Fill up the soil.

You put little fertilizer down before the season you cover him up water and it's not that hard right so I went to the store and I bought some bell pepper seeds. I love bell peppers on my salad and I thought wow, how cool would this be to grow my own bell peppers in my garden and cut them up, put them on the salad to put them in the ground fertilized and put the water on the whole 9 yards and I couldn't wait for them to come up and when they came up they didn't exactly look like bell peppers. They were, long and skinny and I kept figuring well maybe they start like that and then they just balloon out and become bell peppers. I don't know what I never ballooned out. What I discovered was I actually bought jalapeno pepper cities and I planted jalapenos. Well, now jalapenos. I don't like on my salad so the whole thing was kind of a waste of time but I learned a very important lesson I learned that whatever you so that's what you really do so, jalapenos. You're not getting bell peppers you not getting out rutabagas and you not getting asparagus you get in the jalapenos were friends.

This is not only a law for gardens. This is a law for human behavior. God says and God assures us in this first Galatians chapter 6 whatever person sows even though it may take a long time, even though it may look like that is not going to happen. God says you can be eternally sure. I am going to see to it that whatever they so that's exactly what they reap that we have some sayings in our world. We say what. Whatever goes around ride we say the chickens always come home to what drew what we say what we say in the very same thing that God saying here except were leaving out in these human statements. The fact that God himself has committed himself to see to it that this happens, I might say we know a lot.

All of this that you're saying here kind of scares me a little bit because the Bible says Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 7 that there is not a righteous person on earth who continually does writing never sends I'm certainly not one of them standing up in front of you. I doubt if you're one of those people and so you know you might say with a lot of under the if I'm going to have to reap in eternity. Everything I sold here on this earth that could be a really ugly situation and you're right, it could be so friends, what are we going to do to remedy that we were going to face a just God in eternity, who is going to see to it that everything we've so if we haven't read it already working to repeat their so how well we got a deal with that since we don't all. So the best stuff in our life well is a lot.

I've got a remedy for that. That's why come to church.

That's why sing in the choir. That's why put money in the offering plate and take communion into all the other religious stuff.

I do so may be all about will offset just a little bit the justice of God. Well folks, it's good you do all this stuff, but that's not going to help. See Romans chapter 3 says, verse 20 therefore by human effort, even religious human effort. No one will ever become righteous in God's sight. No one will ever escape the justice of God by human religious effort. You say well then Juan, we are all in really big trouble are we. Well, not exactly, because that's why Jesus came, look at this, but now the next verse says. Romans 321 now the Jesus is God on the cross. Now that he's paid for our sin with his blood. Watch away to be righteous in God's sight, a way to satisfy the justice of God. Apart from human effort has been made available to us. This righteous standing.

Paul continues in God's sight. Watch comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

You see, my friends, the death of Jesus on the cross satisfies the justice of God for every single person who avails himself of that death who appropriates that death and makes it bears who makes that their trust in their confidence as they face the justice of God and once the death of Christ has satisfied the justice of God, then God becomes free to shower us with the mercy of God.

It's a beautiful system. Romans 326 says the cross enables God to be just wise. He just because our sins been paid for by the blood of Christ it's done to remain Jost and at the same time to acquit to show mercy to those who have faith in Jesus Christ. In this amazing transaction that allows God's justice to be satisfied fully and at the same time allows God to shower mercy on us as the people who committed those sins that Jesus paid for this tremendous transaction is available to every human being on the face of this earth, but but what did Paul say only he says, through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Hey, if you're here today you never trusted Christ in real and personal way. Then at this point in time you're facing the justice of God, all by yourself.

My friends that's a scary thought. And I want to urge you if you never embrace what Christ did for you on the cross.

I want to urge you not to walk to the cross. I want to urge you to wonder.

The cross and avail yourself of the blood of Christ which will then satisfy the justice of God and allow you to remain in the mercy of God because the justice of God is been satisfied for you. I hope you will think about is Avalon. This is great. I'm a follower of Christ the justice of God is been satisfied to me when I go into eternity. All of these things are sewn down here. Christ paid for. That's wonderful. So does that mean that I can do anything. I feel like doing down here with complete impunity.

I can just live anyway. I want to live so anything I want to so no it doesn't. Folks listen and this promise of God. Galatians 67 whatever person sows that's what they'll read you know that applies to believers on this earth as well as nonbelievers. If you don't believe it asked David the man after God's own heart. He sold some pretty ugly things and you know what he read some really bad things here on this earth for doing that as Samson as some of these other people you read about in the Bible just because were followers of Christ and just because the justice of God eternally is satisfy by the death of Christ that does not in any way free us from this law of reaping and sowing here on this earth that God tells us about where is subject to that is nonbelievers are so be careful. This is why God calls us over and over in the Bible to obedience and to obey him because when we disobey where is subject to this law of human behavior as anybody else's. Be careful. I let's summarize what we learn we learn that because God is righteous, he cares about his creation operating righteously, we've learned that because his God because God is Jost. He is promised to see to it that justice will be done for every unrighteous act ever committed on this earth.

And because God is God nobody he says is going to escape his justice and make a fool out of God.

Now that's as far as we want to go in our passage because we want to start now. We want to ask the most important question. So are you ready you sure alright here we go one to three yeah you say Launcelot say this is great. I appreciate what you're saying but how is any of this really affect me Monday to Saturday hothouses change my life or how I live my life.

Well that's what I want to talk about in the time we've got left. I don't know if you remember the incident a few years ago over in suburban Maryland, but if you don't let me tell you about it.

One night a man and his wife had a big fight and that he header and he heard her and she decided she was going to get even. And so she waited until he went outside. Later that evening, and while he had his back turned to his wife.

She got in her car and ran them down from behind it. He and then she dragged her critically wounded husband into the house and let them lie there on the floor for two days without calling for any medical help whatsoever until finally he died. Now what lesson do we learn from this incident is Avalon. The lesson I learned is never turn your back on your wife that's what I learned out of this know well that may be a lesson but that's not the lesson were trying to learn from this lesson we learn from this is that the desire for justice. The desire for revenge over desire for payback runs really deep in the human spirit and when we feel like justice is not being done at the pace we want to see it done.

It's really a very human thing to take matters in our own hands and help justice along like this woman did well you know folks are to be really honest. Everyone of us here knows what it's like to be hurt like this woman was hurt everyone of us here knows what it's like to be betrayed or mistreated or abused or taken advantage of or victimized. Maybe it was our parents.

Or maybe that was done to us by an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend or an ex-spouse.

Maybe it was a friend. It workers a friend at school or whatever. But how should we as followers of Christ live differently because we've learned today that God is just God's promise that he will repay everything that is done on this earth that is unrighteous unfair and hurtful. How should that change our response to how people treat us well.

Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 12. Here's what he says.

He says verse 17 do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Do not take revenge. He goes on to say, my friends, but leave room get out of the way and leave room for God's justice, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

Vengeance is not yours, my friend.

Nor is it mine. It's God's now Paul goes on to say.

Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feeding if your enemy is thirsty, giving something to drink for doing this you will heap burning coals on his head. Why because you're handing them over to God for justice.

Therefore, he says do not allow other peoples evil to overcome you don't go down and lower yourself to their level to get revenge.

Don't go down and cheapen yourself and employ their tactics to get revenge, but instead you overcome their evil Paul says, with good friends. In short, God is telling us here is that when people mistreat us and people hurt us and people do things to us the damage us. God tells us to take the high road. God tells us not to lower ourselves and cheapen ourselves and go down in mud wrestled with these people on their level.

God says you don't have to because I have seen everything that's happened I understand everything they did. And vengeance is mine, I will repay them.

So you leave room for my justice, God says you don't have to go down and deal with them. You can count on me. I'll avenge the wrong done to them done to you by them and listen I'll do a much better job of that than you'll ever do so just leave them with me.

They say I long so when somebody hurts me so when somebody wants me what exactly is God asking me to do, always asking us to do two things friends number want to believe them when he tells us that he'll take care of it. And number two. He's asking us to leave room for God's justice to give up our own vigilante justice and just to let it go Jost to turn it over to him. You know the Lord Jesus live this way. Peter talks about in first Peter chapter 2, he says that the Lord Jesus left us an example that we should follow in his steps and what is that example when they hurled their insulted him. Peter says he did not retaliate instead he kept entrusting himself to God judges justly, and God is asking you and me as followers of Christ, to walk in the very same footsteps, the Lord Jesus walked rather than becoming consumed bitterness and revenge and payback. Instead, God says you do what Christ did. You keep entrusting your self to God because God has promised that he will see to it justice is done. You don't need to know when we stopped for a moment and say that there is a caveat here. I want to mention, and that is that in all of this, we are not talking about people committing crimes against us. We are not talking about criminal actions or illegal actions taken against us. You know the Bible tells us that the apostle Paul exercised his legal rights in Philippi as a Roman citizen to get out of jail and again in acts chapter 26 he exercised his legal rights and appealing his case to Caesar because there were there a Jewish mob that wanted to kill him and that was the only way out and and friends when someone commits something against you and me as followers of Christ, that is criminal that is illegal. The Bible is not asking us to forgo our legal rights to prosecution against those people. That's not what we're talking about here we are talking about in Romans chapter 12 God's focus. There is on non-criminal acts of unrighteousness and mistreatment the people due to you and me.

Those things are still rotten and they're still nasty and they're still shameful, but they're not illegal or not criminal.

God says when it comes to these kinds of personal hits that we all take in life as followers of Christ. God says what I want you to do is take the high road no way I'll always remember this really helps me is a little device that a man told me about years ago that I never forgot. He said you no longer way to really put this in the practical terms is that God wants us to be tunnels and not walls.

Let me explain what that means if your wall and somebody does something mean and nasty to you. Oh, it hits you and it just drops right there at the base of the wall and it sits down there at the base of the wall and it decays any putrefy and it stinks and it pollutes and corrupts you and everybody else around you. You become bitter and angry and cynical and spiteful but you see a tunnels different when you're when things get a tunnel where they do push they go right on through. And you know what God is saying is don't be a wall.

Don't let all this mistreatment of other people stop with you and drop down and pollute your life and the life of everybody around you by turning into anger and bitterness and hatred. You just let it go right on through and God says I'm right on the other side with my catchers mitt an American you just let it come right on through. I got I got the let me tell you as a pastor of a church. I get a lot of opportunity to practice this little device I just told you about, and you know what is a person living in our world.

You get a lot of opportunity to pat the practices and God is saying look be a tunnel. Don't be a wall, let it come on through. I'm here.

I got it. Nobodies get away with anything, but don't let their evil overcome you. Don't let their evil drag you down.

Don't let their evil pollute your life you be a tunnel. Let me have it in you overcome their evil with good.

And you know what it'll mean that you live a healthy life and I'll take care of and I'll do a better job than you. You understand what I'm saying now. Tell your fellow who live this way was David. I just got back from Israel this week and we were down in the area south of Jerusalem out of the Judean wilderness were David hid in the caves from Saul for seven years for seven years Saul chased David around branded him as an outlaw tried to kill him multiple times. I mean, it was horrible. David didn't even do anything wrong.

David wasn't trying to take Saul's kingship away. What doing anything and you know there was one time Saul came into this cave and David was hiding in the back of the cave and David could've easily killed Saul and his men were all saying to them, David, David Kelly killing killing people kill you if things were reversed to run you through go out and killing you know you're the next king of Israel. Samuels already proclaimed you the next king killing Kelly and Oliver Davidson listen to what he said for Samuel 26, he said, as surely as the Lord lives. The Lord himself will deal with Saul. What's David saying there he saying hey fellas, tunnel. I'm not a wall you know. I've let everything Saul's dunamis go right through me and right on the Lord Jesus himself, and you know what none of that stuff.

I'm not carrying any of that stuff that you seem to be carrying David goes on to say either God will strike him dead or Saul's time will come, and he will die naturally or he will go in the battle and perish, and it was the last of these three that actually happened but God forbid. David says that I should lay a hand on him that there's a tunnel friends.

There is a man who live not like wall like tunnel and you know what happened when Saul finally died. David took over as the King and there wasn't a single person anywhere in Israel who could point a finger. David and say all look what David did look what a bad thing. David did.

He schemed again.

Saul murdered Saul, he took revenge on David and was a David didn't do a thing. Friends, this is the beauty of living like this. The two great advantages of living like this. Number one, number one God does a far greater job of of accomplishing payback for the things people are going to Austin.

You and I will ever do a number two.

Living like this enables you and me to keep clean hands friends to keep clean hands, wonderful thing it is when God moves against some of these folks that have done awful things to us. And when God moves on. The problem is we all want God to move faster than he does know we all say Lord maternal maternal and let it go on through to you Lord you handle him today. Today Karen Lord today. Well, you know doesn't always work that way. Friends took seven years.

In David's case took 13 years and Joseph's case in jail in Egypt but you know what when God does move he move swiftly. He moves decisively is scary to watch God move in justice and when he does. If you and I would like tunnels. You know what our hands are as clean as a newborn baby.

We didn't do a thing we can do a thing.

Nobody can impugn our character or point to us and say yeah well you you we do anything God.

That's where God wants you to be. That's why he says in Romans 12 as much as it lies you be at peace with all men. Be at peace with all men, because there's great liberty, and that my friends, Jesus said you remember John chapter 8. If the Son of Man shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now, does that mean when the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus makes us free that we become free from alcohol abuse and substance abuse all kinds of other stuff. Yes it does mean that but it also means that when Jesus sets us free friends he sets us free and liberates us from bitterness and anger and hatred and malice and revenge that were carrying because we been walls because when Christ comes into our life. We really begin to understand that the just God of the universe has promised us he will pay back you know what we can turn it loose and we can be at peace with all men in this great liberty in being able to say you know what, to the best of my knowledge I'm at peace with all men.

I don't hold any grudges. I don't have any desire for revenge.

I'm not plotting against anybody.

I'm not scheming against anybody.

It's always God what what great liberty is and and so I want to challenge you today.

I know in in a in a crowd like this.

There's got to be in almost every one of our lives. People who have hurt us. It would damage us that honestly we are far more prone in our human nature to hate than we are to forgive people that we are far more prone to carry malice towards them. We are to return good to evil for them and I'm here to tell your friends that the person that will be damage the most by that malice. And that hatred and that revenge is us, not the person that did it damages us in Jesus wants to set you and me free. He wants to liberate us from that cancer that will eat up our lives in the beauty of it is if we understand that God is just. We understand his promise we can turn it loose. We can turn it loose. So I want to challenge you to do that today I want to challenge you today to stop being a wall when it comes to these people take all that putrefying decaying junk and today pass right onto the tunnel and give it to Jesus but Sprague with our heads bowed in our eyes close. I'd like to give us just a moment to do exactly what we just talked about. If you've got some folks in your life that you been a wall to the hurt they've caused you. I want to challenge you today to become a tunnel and to take all that rotten stuff that's really been polluting your life and today just relay to go right on through the tunnel turn it loose. Give it up and let Jesus have in the beauty as my friends these people on escaping justice you're delivering them into the hands of the one who was promise to accomplish perfect justice better than you'll ever do so. If you need to do that for some folks today. While we take a moment US the Lord's help to do that right now so you can get free Lord Jesus. Some of us have just prayed about what moms and dads did to us. Growing up with brothers and sisters did to us. Growing up, some of us have just prayed about what's been done to us by friends at work people at school of the relatives, neighbors, things that hurt things that have wounded us deeply and things that we have allowed to sit in our life and decay and rot and stink and pollute our lives in our spirits. Thank you Lord Jesus for your promise that you are just God and you will repay.

Thank you for your promise that if the Lord Jesus sets us free. We can be free indeed free to be able to say. As for me I am at peace with all men, maternal it's all gone to Jesus. So Lord help us today by the power of your spirit to turn loose of this stuff and give it to the one who can really deal with it most effectively.

Give it to the one who shoulders can really carry it without them. And that's not us, but it's you. Thank you that you are just God, thank you, Lord Jesus, that vengeance is yours.

You will repay in May that form the confidence that we need. So Lord, we can allow whatever people do to us not to drop at our feet. But to go right on through the Christ change the way we live.

Change the way we react to how people treat us because we were here today, we study the word of God and we pray these things in Jesus name God's people said a man came together we made it. Yeah but God bless you have