God Will Give Me Justice - Life of Paul Part 51

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:03

God will give me justice. Well, you know, we hear a lot of talk in our world today about justice, but uh , I don't know about you. When I look around, I don't see a whole lot of justice being worked out in our world today at WorldCom, at Enron, at Tyco , at mgl , we see executives walk away with huge fortunes leaving faithful employees and trusting investors holding the bag. And of course, on a much smaller scale, you and I see people every day who seemingly get away with everything from cheating in school, to lying to customers, to padding their expense accounts. And it's really easy, you know, if we're not careful, for us to end up like young donez here in our clip from the Kani Christo , we begin confident that God sees everything, that God is going to give justice true justice to everyone. And before long we begin, we're losing all hope. And we begin wondering if there even is a God that's watching everything and seeing everything. And this is what we want to talk about today. We want to talk about justice. Does it exist? Will we ever see it? How does God figure into all of this? And the reason we're gonna talk about this is because this is the theme with which the Apostle Paul ends his sermon on Mars Hill. You know, be , we've been working through that sermon that Paul preached in Athens to the intellectual elite, not just of Athens, but of the whole Roman Empire. So far we've seen him talk about the creation of the universe. We've seen him talk about the creation of life on this planet, including human life. And I don't have time to review all that we've seen, but you can get tapes and CDs of those in our bookstore. But today we wanna move on and finish his sermon, and we're gonna find that as he finishes, this is the element that Paul talks about, the element of justice. We wanna see what he says. And then of course, we wanna always answer the question well, what difference does that make to you and to me? So let's do that together. Verse 29. Acts chapter 17. If you brought a Bible open with me to Acts chapter 17, and we're going to be continuing. We're in the middle of his sermon. And here's what Paul says, verse 29. Therefore he says, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that God is like gold or silver, or stone images idols made by man's design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. If you remember, we c we told you that the city of Athens was overflowing with idols and all kinds of religious activity. In fact, the Roman poet, livey , if you remember, said, there are more Gods in Athens than there are people. Now what Paul tells these people who are consumed with religious activity is that God is not at all impressed, but that what God wants from them is for them to repent. And to repent literally simply means to change your mind. God wanted these people in Athens to change their mind. You say, to change their mind about what? Well , to change their mind about how they were planning to get eternal life, about how they were planning to get right with God, to stop relying on their own human effort and their own religious activity, and instead change their mind and begin relying on the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to pay for their wrongdoing. Now friends, the same is true today. There's all kinds of religious activity in our world. Much of it is sincere religious activity. God is no more impressed with that than he was the sincere religious activity in Athens 1900 years ago. He says to the people of our world today , the same thing he said to these people in Athens, I want you to change your mind. Change your mind about how you're planning to get to heaven and get eternal life. It's not gonna be as a result of human works. It's not gonna work as the result of religious activity. Instead, we need in , uh, to , for you to rely on the blood of Jesus shell on the cross. Now, if you're here today and you've never done that, what does God want from you? He wants you to change your mind. He wants you to stop relying on yourself and your own activity and rely instead on what Jesus did for you. Hope you'll think about that. But Paul goes on from there and says this, he says, for God has a set of day when he will judge the world with justice by the man that he is appointed, meaning of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Jesus himself spoke of this, of this delegation of authority for the judging of the human race that God had given him. He says, John, chapter five, verse 22, God the Father judges no one, but he has entrusted all judgment to me, the son Jesus said in John 5 27, God, the Father has given me the authority to execute Judge , uh, justice and judgment. Peter said, acts chapter 10, God ordered us to tell people that Jesus is the one whom he is appointed as judge of the living and the dead . And Paul goes on in verse 31 here on Mars Hill and says, and God has given proof of this to all men, proof that Jesus really is who He said, proof that Jesus really is going to judge the human race. And where did that prove come from? Well, it came by raising this man, Jesus from the dead . Now, as soon as these intellectuals heard about the resurrection, the sermon was over. I mean, you get the clear impression. Paul had more to say here. He doesn't get to say it, that the , the , the whole meeting dissolves into chaos at the mention of the resurrection. And you know, a lot of commentators have gotten so caught up in the meeting, falling apart in chaos, that they, they skip over the full impact of what Paul just said in this verse . Let's go back and look at it. Paul says two very important things. Number one, he tells us that God has chosen a very special person to judge the human race. We're not gonna be judged by some computer, we're not gonna be judged by the matrix. But there's a person who knows all things, sees all things, understands all things that's gonna do this judging. Nothing is gonna get by him. No one is gonna trick him. He's gonna be the ultimate judge Judy, if you understand what I'm saying, that's gonna judge the human race. And number two, that this person, the Lord Jesus will judge the world with justice. Hey, there's our word with justice friends. There may not be much true justice in our world today, but Paul tells us here that there is coming a day when there will be true justice, when everything people have ever done, every word, every action, every deed, every motive is going to be held up and judged with true justice. And you know, the presiding judge, the Lord Jesus said that himself. Listen to what he said, Luke chapter 12. He said, for there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed. There is nothing hidden that will not be known. What people have said in the dark shall be heard in the light. And what they've whispered in secret shall be shouted from the rooftops. You know all those people out there that you know that are convinced they got away with it. You know all those people out there who are sure they pulled the wool over everybody's eyes and there's never gonna be any accounting at all for what they did. You know, all those people, well, guess what? Friends? They're wrong. Nobody's getting away with anything. Jesus said the things they whispered in the little tiny key secret corners of your office building, everybody's going to hear about it. It's gonna get shouted from the rooftop. All the little plans and innuendos and schemes that they worked out in the dark. Jesus said, don't worry about it. It's all coming into the light. Nobody is getting away with anything. And you say , well lon , how can I be sure this is really gonna happen? I mean, what assurance do I have? There's gonna be this kind of justice carried out. Well, the the answer friend is found in the character of God, who, God is. The Bible tells us that God is both a righteous and a just God. We find both of these elements together in Daniels a prayer. Daniel chapter four, verse 37, he says, all the Lord does is righteous. And all his ways are just now, what does it mean, first of all to say that God is righteous? Well, it means that God always does what is ethically right? What is morally pure and what is utterly virtuous that God can do no other thing. God is not capable of doing anything else. He is a righteous being. But beyond that, the Bible says God is just, and what that means is not only does God personally do what is righteous himself, but God also cares deeply about his creation, operating righteously. Cause God is just, it means that God cares about how treat people treat people because God is just, that means that God cares about the wrongs that people have done to you and that they have done to me. Because God is just, that means God is committed to repaying every act of injustice with appropriate payback. That when the time is right, when it's the perfect time in the wisdom of God, in the perfect way, God knows how absolute justice is gonna be administered to every human being. Because God is a just God. He's gonna see to it. He has to see to it. You say , well, lon just outta curiosity, where, where in the Bible does God make that promise? I mean, if I wanted to actually see a promise that says that in the Bible, where is it? Well, I'm happy to tell you that you'll find it in Galatians chapter six among other places. Look what God says there. He says, do not be deceived. Nobody makes a fool out of God for whatever a person sows. That is exactly what they will reap . God tells us here that he is set off an inescapable law when it comes to human behavior and human conduct. And here's that law. Whatever a person sows, that is exactly what they're gonna reap. You know, when my children were younger, my wife Brenda, what bugged me and bugged me and bugged me about planting a garden, about going up in the front, out in the front yard and digging up a piece of it and planting a garden. And I , I kept saying, I don't understand what is the big deal. I didn't really want to do it about planting a garden. And she said, well, I want our boys to know where tomatoes come from. Well, friends, you know, I grew up Jewish and I knew exactly where tomatoes come from. They come from the supermarket. I knew where they came from. See, we, you know, we didn't get anywhere near a garden unless it was for a catered party. You understand what I'm saying? And I'm like, plant a garden. I don't know anything about planting a garden. She said, well, I'm gonna teach you . And so we, we learned together how to plant a garden. And I learned this amazing law. This is a , it was a profound law. I learned whatever you sow , that's exactly what comes up outta the ground. If you put green beans in the ground, friends, you don't get broccoli, you don't get eggplant, you don't get Brussels sprouts. Thank God you get green beans. If you plan ru of bakers, you get ru of bakers. I mean that is a law of nature, a law of gardens. But you know what, this is not just God's law of gardens. This is God's law of human behavior as well. God is promising us whatever a person sows , that is exactly what they're gonna reap. And , and God says here, nobody is ever gonna beat this law. Cause even though it looks like some people may have beaten it, even though it seems like some people have gotten off SCO free friends, if people were able to beat this law of God, they'd make a fool outta God. And what did God say in this verse? Nobody makes a fool outta God. It ain't never gonna happen. Nobody's ever beaten this law. So let's summarize. What have we learned so far? We've learned that cause God is righteous, he cares about his world operating righteously. We've learned that because God is just, he's committed to repaying every act of unrighteousness. And finally because God is God, nobody is going to escape His law of sewing and reaping. What goes around is going to come around. The chickens are gonna come home to roost. Or as the apostle Paul put it, God has said a day when he will judge the world with justice, God is gonna see to it personally and what donez carved on the wall, God will give me justice. That is true. That is true. Now that's as far as we want to go in our passage cuz we have a very important question we want to ask here. And everybody knows our question, don't we? Yep . Yeah . All right . Are we ready? Yep . Okay. <laugh> good. All right , ready? Here we go. 1, 2, 3. So what ? Ah right, you say law. And so what say I , this is very interesting what you've said, but I've never been in prison in France, I've never been to France. I mean, what difference does this make to me? Well, I think it makes a lot of difference to your friends because I believe every one of us here can relate to this idea of justice. Every one of us here has had people in our lives who have hurt us, betrayed us, mistreated us, abused us, victimized us by some kind of unrighteous action. Some of us have been deserted by a father or abused by a parent. Some of us have been betrayed by a relative or been sold out by a coworker . We've had a member of the opposite sex , uh, use us. We've been stabbed in the back by a friend. We've, we've been cheated in a business relationship by a business partner. Hey, that stuff happens. And you know when it does, there's a part of us that cries out that things ought to be made right? That there ought to be justice worked out in this situation. And sometimes we're tempted to actually go out in our own human energy and try to help justice come about. Now, does God have anything to say to us about how he wants to hand ? He wants us to handle those feelings in light of his promise. That he is going to judge the world in justice , that he is going to make things right as followers of Christ. Should we react any different to these feelings than the rest of the world? The answer is yes. And that's what I want to talk about. But before I do, let's make sure that we understand exactly what I'm saying. Friends, I am not talking here about criminal activity. I'm not talking about people doing things that our legal system provides a punishment for. Hey, I think if somebody does something criminal, they ought to be prosecuted. We're not talking about that. We're talking about a whole host of other things that people do to people where you can't sue 'em, where there's no law against it. Where you can't take take 'em to court and put 'em in jail. But the stuff they do is still wrong. It's still unrighteous. It's still slimy, it's still nasty, it's still hurtful. Those are the kind of things we're talking about. All right ? Now, what do we do as followers of Christ in those situations? Cuz we've all had these things happen to us. Well, Romans chapter 12 gives us the answer. Here's what it says. Verse 17, do not repay anyone evil for evil. Verse 19, do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God's justice. For it is Renton in the Bible. It is mine to avenge I will repay, says the Lord. Friends, as followers of Jesus Christ, when we are mistreated, God asks us to display a completely different response than the rest of our society does. God says to us, to us here, take the high road verse 21. Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. God says, when these things happen to you, don't lower yourself. Don't cheapen yourself. Don't go down and mud wrestle with these people in a human attempt to make the score right to even the score. Don't do that. You say, why not ? Well, because the Bible says you don't have to. You don't have to. What did verse 19 say? God says, I will repay. I'll take care of it. I've seen what happened to you. I know what they did to you . I'm a just God. You can count on me. I'm gonna avenge every wrong. I'm gonna pay back every misdeed . I'm gonna settle every account that needs to be settled and I'm gonna do a much better job than you'll ever do. Just trust me and stay out of it. To put it simply as followers of Christ, God is asking us to take all the hurt that's ever been done to us and all the hurt that's still gonna ever be done to us. And to turn it over to him emotionally, to give it to him emotionally, to let it go emotionally, to believe God when he tells us He's seen what happened, to believe God when he tells us He's gonna make sure everybody get what they deserve. And friends, it may not happen as fast as you want it to happen and it may not happen in the way exactly that you want it to happen. But we have God's personal assurance that it will happen in God's time and in God's way. So rather than letting ourselves become consumed with anger and bitterness and malice and revenge, God says, Hey, just entrust it to me. Okay? Take the high road and just give it to me. I'll take care of it now . No , it's interesting to me. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did when he was here on earth. Listen to what one Peter says. And this is when Jesus, of course was hanging on the cross. One Peter 2 23 it says, and I quote, when they hurled insulted him, he didn't retaliate. When he suffered, he ordered no threats. I mean, Jesus never said, Hey you down when I get off this cross, I'm telling you, you better be out of town when I get off this cross. Jesus never said that. And you know why? Here's why. But rather, he kept on entrusting all these things people were doing to him, to God because he knew that God judges justly, that he could count on God to deal with this. He didn't have to deal with it. And friends, that's all God's asking you and me to do is to do the exact same thing that the Lord Jesus himself did. You know, when I first came to McLean Bible Church, almost 23 years ago now, I had an elderly man, a godly man who said, can I take you out to lunch? And I said, sure. So we went out to lunch and we were sitting there eating and he said to Melon , he said, you know, as a pastor you're gonna be mistreated, you're gonna be abused, you're gonna be hurt. He said, that just comes with the territory law . He said, but I'm gonna give you the most important and valuable piece of advice anybody could ever give a pastor. And I thought, wow, wow. I was a young pastor I'd ever been a pastor before in my life. I'm sitting on the front of my booth and Roy Rogers, right ready for the mo , this most profound thing to come my way. And so he says, here it is and I'm ready. And he says, lawn be a tunnel, not a wall. I'm like, what? Be a tunnel, not a wall. He said, I said, that's your profound piece of advice. He said, yeah. I said, I don't even understand what it means. He said, well let me explain it to you . He said, you know what a wall is like, don't you? When stuff hits a wall, what happens? Well, it stops right there. It just drops down right at the foot of that wall. It just lays right at the foot of that wall. And he says, lo , when it comes to the hurt and the pain and the wrong things people are gonna do to you, don't be a wall. Cause that stuff, if you all will lay at the foot of you, it will rot, it will petrify, it will stink and it will ruin your life and probably run you out of the ministry. You can't be a wall. He said , you gotta be a tunnel. He said , what's a tunnel? Do a tunnel. Lets stuff go right on through a tunnel. Lets stuff go right on to God. It doesn't sit there at the base of the tunnel and rot and petrify and stink.

Speaker 2 20:46

It just keeps right on going . He said, Lon , I want to set you free from the tyranny of what people do to you. You gotta be free of that. And the way to be free is you gotta be a tunnel and not a wall. Now I have to tell you something, 23 years has taught me, he gave me the most profound piece of advice anybody could have ever given me. I mean all that stuff he said was gonna happen to me has and worse. And the only reason I've made it friends is because I've learned by the grace of God to be a tunnel, not a wall. I let that stuff just go right on through and say, Lord Jesus, you see what's going on here. I'm not going down and dealing with this. I'm not gonna try to even the score. I'm not gonna mud wrestle with anybody, God, with your help, I'm just gonna take the high road. You deal with this. You see what's happening here. When you're ready you deal with this. And that's how I've lasted 23 years. Friends, you know what God wants you to do? The same thing. God wants to free you from the tyranny of what people do to you of how people treat you. And the only way to be free is to be a tunnel, not a wall. Walls aren't free. Walls are prisoners of what people do to 'em and the stuff rots and stinks and petrifies there and it ruins your their spiritual life. And it turns into emotional gang angry . God says, Uhuh , be a tunnel. Just let that stuff come on to me. I don't need your help. God says, I don't want your help in settling these accounts. God says, and frankly, I'm gonna handle it all by myself just fine. You're just gonna mess it up . Stay out of it. I'll deal with it. Be a tunnel. Friends, there's a lot of us here today who are walls. There's a lot of us here today that stuff people have done to us is still sitting at the foot of that wall and it's stinking up a storm. I'm here to tell you that you're still a prisoner of what people did to you. God wants to set you free and he will. If today you'll say God from now on and with all that junk, I'm gonna be a tunnel. It's coming to you. You deal with this stuff. I'm not gonna touch it cuz I don't have to. You're a just God. And you're gonna see to it , justice is done. Let's pray together, shall we? If you're here today and, and you've been a wall in some area of your life with hurt that's been done to you, I want to give you just a moment to do some business with God today. To say to God, God on those areas. And really from now on, I want to be a tunnel. You take this stuff, I'm not gonna deal with it. So if you need to do that, why don't you take a moment right now and and you talk to God, Lord Jesus. You know that we are wired as human beings to be walls. We're wired in such a way that when people do hurtful things to us, there's a part of us that wants to hold onto it , chew on it, ruminate on it, roll it over and over till it rocks and it petrifies in our spirit. God, my prayer is that you would teach us today about a different way of living, a way of freedom to become tunnels, not walls because we have a just God who said, I will repay. Give it to me. I'll take care of it. God free us today from the tyranny of what people do to us. Teach us to be tunnels and not walls, that the true joy of the spirit can be evidenced in our life. Change the way we live cuz we were here today, and I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.