Aaron McKee – The Relenting and Unrelenting God – Class 3 – The God Of Justice (Deu. 32v1-47)

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This is Class 3.
The overall subject is the

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relenting and unrelenting God.
Our speaker is Brother Aaron

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McKee and the third class is
entitled The God of Justice.

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Well, good afternoon again,
brothers and sisters in the Lord

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Jesus Christ, and thank you
brothers, for your reading.

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Our world cries for justice,
doesn’t it?

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We see this outcry practically
everywhere we look.

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We see it in protests over world
events decrying destruction of

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nature and and deaths of
innocence.

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We see it in depravity of the
impoverished.

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We see it in cases of corruption
and and abuses of power.

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Brunch sisters.
We see it in out cries against

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lawlessness, oppression of power
imbalances, governments to

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citizens, countries to other
countries.

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You have husbands to wives.
You have civil and social

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injustice and brun sisters and
seeing these things and

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witnessing this world around us.
Well, maybe not personal to us.

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It it certainly feels personal.
There are certainly moments

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where you see we we see
injustice and it sits in our

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stomach.
It it weighs in our heart.

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In fact, huge portions of
society are built around

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alleviating that feeling.
You, you have unions, you have

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law firms, you, you have
political parties, rightly or

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wrongly, all capitalizing on
man’s desire for justice.

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And this fixation, this drive in
the heart of man to enforce

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right in the face of wrong
justice and face of injustice,

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That is nothing new, brothers
and sisters.

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In fact, you could go to the
earliest records of humanity, to

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the earliest societies of
humanity and see man aspiring

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for justice.
In fact, one of the oldest

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samples of writing ever found, a
stone pulled from the deserts of

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Iran in 1901, is 500 lines
etched in stone dedicated

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exclusively to the enforcement
of justice.

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It declares justice to the poor,
justice to the impoverished,

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retribution for the wrong.
And it is thousands of years

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old.
And in seeing these things, Bren

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sisters and every form of
society and witnessing in

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ourselves, we have to reconcile
one thing and that’s that

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justice is biological.
You know, as many of you have

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come to find Rose and I have a
little 7 month girl who’s been

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floating around the hall today.
And right about this stage of

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her development, she’s, she’s
starting to form a a sense of

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right and wrong.
You know, developmental

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psychologist, they, they know
this.

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Then children as young as six
months of age, they begin to

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show signs of moral intuition.
They respond to helpful puppets

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over harmful ones that they show
distress in the face of unfair

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treatment.
Children ages three to five act

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on this sense of fairness.
I’m still waiting for that for

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my 3 year old.
But so I’ve been told they they

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they begin practicing equal
sharing.

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They begin enforcing rules and
games, even to their detriment.

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And all the straws brun sisters
to a very simple, very

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purposeful, powerful
understanding and an important

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one.
And that’s that God is placed in

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the heart of man, a quality
central to who he who he is.

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And it is this unwavering
character of our God, Brun

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sisters, his commitment to
justice, what it means to him,

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how he will use it, how it
relates to his grace that we’re

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going to be considering this
afternoon.

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Come with me to Deuteronomy 32.
You see, our God is a God of

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justice for and sisters, and we
can know this in many different

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ways throughout our Bibles.
We can see it in the the holding

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of Israel to an account.
He gives them this law, cast

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them out into the nations
because they transgress it.

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Well, there’s perhaps no better
place to get a sense of just

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how, how intimately justice
relates to the heart of God

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then, then the words of Exodus
32.

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And we think of that for a
moment, Bron sisters, because we

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identified that that that is
really a turning point in our

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Bibles.
We reflected that, that when

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Moses this morning was given
there, it’s not just a, a

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proclamation of God’s name.
What’s given wasn’t just a, a

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passing description of our God.
It was the character of God that

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would always guide his hand with
man.

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And that’s what we have there,
Bron Sisters, it is a blueprint

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for how God will work in our
lives.

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And what did we see in verse 6?
He will be a God gracious to the

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thousands, he said.
But Moses, by no means will I

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clear the guilty.
Our God, brothers and sisters,

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is unequivocably a God of
justice, one who holds a moral

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order, one to whom
accountability matters, one who

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will never ignore our turn from
injustice.

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And not only do we witness that
there, brothers, sisters, but

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that resonates all throughout
Scripture.

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That’s a basic tenant of all our
Bibles.

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We see it in Isaiah.
I, the Lord, love justice and

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hate robbery.
We see it in the words of David.

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You Lord, maintain the cause of
afflicted and execute justice.

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We see it in the Psalms.
Righteousness and justice are

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the foundation of your throne.
And we see it, brothers and

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sisters, and the words of
Deuteronomy 32, the words of

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verse 4.
What does Moses say?

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All your ways are perfect and
all your ways just all your

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ways.
In other words, there is nothing

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he says in the character of our
God that will ever compromise

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his pursuit of justice.
Now, now, I don’t know about you

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brothers, sisters, but that
makes me start to feel a bit

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uncomfortable.
God won’t compromise his pursuit

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of justice.
You know, maybe that’s OK.

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That’s that’s how he treats the
the truly abhorrent things of

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this world and and maybe the
other sinners down the road.

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But but what if that’s how he
treats me?

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Not exactly a devotional thought
this this afternoon, is it?

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Because you know, when I when I
start to dwell on this character

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of Gobron sisters, my mind goes
to passages like Deuteronomy 32,

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verse 41, some of the other
verses we see in this chapter.

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What does it say?
I, the Lord, sharpen my sword.

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My hand stretches to justice.
I take vengeance on adversaries.

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I repay those who hate me.
I make my arrows drunk with

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their blood.
My sword devours and takes

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vengeance.
And in reading these things and

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seeing moments of God’s justice,
well, I walk away with a fearful

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assessment of our God.
I fear as justice, as cold and

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mechanical.
I fear it in the face of my

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faults.
I fear it where if I’m making

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mistakes, I will wait sometimes
years for the day I’m made to

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pay for them.
You know, it is so easy to judge

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ourselves on that concept of
justice.

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I did it, so I deserve it.
It’s easy because that’s how man

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perceives justice from sisters.
That’s how we practice it.

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You see, our society practices
retribute of justice.

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Somebody does you wrong, you can
pay them in kind.

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Isn’t that the premise for which
all justice is found?

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You know, we phrase, we use
phrases in society like like

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punishment should fit the crime,
or if you do the crime, you do

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the time.
Because surely the moment

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justice is met is the moment we
get even.

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But it’s so important we ask
ourselves, brothers, sisters, is

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that all that justice means to
God?

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Is that how he judges us?
Is that what he expects in our

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judgements of others?
Come with me to Genesis chapter

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3 and we refresh ourselves in
this chapter brothers, sisters,

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because you see here in the face
of man’s first sin, the face of

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the first moment of justice that
was ever to be enforced in this

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world.
We we see something really

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important.
That’s that’s worth noting

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because what do we see in verse
19 God says to dust you are to

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dust your return.
He holds himself to be a God of

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truth.
He helds into account the wages

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of sin were death.
He delivers it, but before he

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even pronounces that judgement,
brothers and sisters, before

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justice has ever executed.
What is he saying, verse 15?

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The seed of the woman will crush
that serpent.

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In other words, the first moment
of justice.

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The the first moment of
retribution, of, excuse me, of

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justice.
It’s framed in the context of

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future restoration.
Paul in Romans 8 speaks exactly

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to what we’re noting here.
In fact, he he highlights the

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same thing he writes in verse
20.

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Creation was subjected to
frustration.

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The justice of God delivered not
to anger, not to vindictiveness,

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not to get even, but in hope, He
says judgement was made that

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hope could come to man.
That’s how God, brother and

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sisters, chose to execute the
first moment of justice.

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And this dynamic that we see all
the way, the beginning of our

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Bibles, brother and sisters in
the garden of a justice that led

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man to hope.
That’s a blueprint of all the

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judgements of God throughout
Scripture.

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We see it in Hebrews when
speaking to the effects of guns.

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Chastening.
It’s written for a moment.

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All this discipline is painful.
Later it yields the fruit of

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righteousness.
We see it in Revelation, the

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words of Christ, the latest he
of those I love.

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I discipline, He says, so that
so that you may be found waiting

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for me, that you might have
hope.

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We see it in the words of
Jeremiah, where in the dark

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years of Israel’s captivity,
what does God say?

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I brought you to this state.
I subject you to these things

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that you might have hope.
What a contradiction brought in

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sisters.
What a contradiction that seems

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to us that that justice is a
means to a better end for the

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offender.
We see this in the words of

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Ezekiel 11.
This is a powerful thing from

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Sister Ezekiel 11 and Speaking
of times to come and Speaking of

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a day of judgement and justice
has come to this world.

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What does he say in verse 8?
I will bring the sword to you,

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Israel.
I will deliver you up to

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nations.
I will bring my justice to verse

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19 for the intent of putting a
new heart in you that I might

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restore you to me, says God.
That’s our keyword, Brunn

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sisters restoration.
You see, in contrast to this

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justice of man, a justice rooted
in retribution, the justice of

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God aims for restoration.
Come with me to Romans Chapter

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11.
You see, Paul draws us deeper

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into how closely related these
two qualities are justice and

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and restoration.
In fact, he elaborates further

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on this this pattern we
witnessed brothers and sisters

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of of writing of the judgments
of Israel.

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How does he describe it?
What does he say?

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He says justice is given, verse
22, that goodness might come to

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you.
Justice is executed, says Paul.

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That greater restoration comes
in this world for Gentiles.

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Behold, he says, the goodness
and severity of God.

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You see, brothers and sisters,
Paul pairs these two qualities

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together, not something isolated
from each other, not something

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in contrast to each other, not
severity forsake of severity.

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It is severity forsake of his
grace.

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In Paul’s words, we are drawn to
the fundamental understanding

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that the justice of God and the
grace of God work together.

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And you see, while Paul
emphasizes this aspect of of

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God’s justice in in the
judgement of Israel, Brothers,

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sisters, don’t we see the
goodness and severity of God all

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throughout our Bibles?
Don’t we see it in the

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condemnation of Egypt, which
through their judgement brought

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restoration to his people and a
witness to all nations?

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Don’t don’t we see it in Samson,
who by the grace of God’s

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justice lost his eyes that it
might restore his heart?

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Don’t we see it in Paul’s own
life, who by the grace of God’s

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justice lost his eyes to restore
his heart?

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Don’t we see it in David, who by
the grace of God’s justice, he’s

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confronted with Nathan to
restore his heart time and

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again?
The judgement of God?

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Brown sisters, it is executed
never in contrast to His grace.

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But it’s an Ave. for it.
It is always executed with the

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purpose of restoration.
But as I say that justice aims

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to restore.
Well, brothers, sisters, if

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you’re like me, you, you might
instinctively think to, to how

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00:14:49,830 –> 00:14:54,600
that’s not the case, because if
you’re like me, these traits are

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00:14:54,600 –> 00:14:56,520
something, you know,
diametrically opposed.

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00:14:56,520 –> 00:14:59,320
These are two characters of God
that are, that are two sides of

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00:14:59,320 –> 00:15:02,320
a coin where, you know, once God
runs out of his mercy, then

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00:15:02,320 –> 00:15:06,720
justice comes to replace it, or
once you’ve exercised enough

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00:15:06,720 –> 00:15:10,560
mercy, now justice falls.
In fact, it’s so abrasive what

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00:15:10,560 –> 00:15:12,440
we’re discussing from the
sisters, the things that we’re

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00:15:12,440 –> 00:15:14,640
noting that that some
theologians that go back to the

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00:15:14,640 –> 00:15:18,240
cases of of Exodus 34, they see
the qualities of God’s character

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00:15:18,360 –> 00:15:21,160
revealed to man and they say
surely it’s been altered.

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That can’t be what the original
text says because because surely

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these things aren’t compatible.
But what we see in these

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00:15:28,640 –> 00:15:30,680
examples is the fundamental
truth proof.

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Brun, sisters, one quality never
forsakes the other.

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All your ways are just, said
Moses.

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Psalm 25, verse 4 to 10.
Show me thy way, says David.

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Teach me thy paths.
All the ways of the Lord are

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00:15:45,920 –> 00:15:48,480
mercy and truth.
There is never a moment when

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God’s grace is sacrificed for
His justice, or His justice

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diminished by grace.
He redeems through judgement.

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He will punish sin in ways that
make mercy possible.

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And brothers and sisters, we see
that even in places that’s hard

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to find.
We think to the law in which we

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00:16:20,440 –> 00:16:24,200
have verses like Exodus 2124,
which advocate an eye for an

243
00:16:24,200 –> 00:16:26,840
eye, or maybe Numbers 3531.
Maybe you think to that it

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00:16:26,840 –> 00:16:29,480
advocates a life for a life.
And you know, we might think,

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00:16:31,640 –> 00:16:34,440
isn’t this God teaching us
retribute of justice?

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00:16:34,520 –> 00:16:38,960
But even in that law, brothers,
sisters, that law, which was

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never the sum of of what justice
meant to God, Paul calls it only

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a shadow of what he’s trying to
accomplish in this world.

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Even that shadow glimpses God’s
justice.

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We see it in cities of refuge.
Justice demanded life for a

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life, but given a chance that
that if a person reached that

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00:16:55,480 –> 00:16:57,400
they could live, that they
could, they could reform

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00:16:57,400 –> 00:17:00,560
themselves.
We, we, we see it in laws of, of

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thievery, the offender wasn’t
just supposed to pay back what

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00:17:04,480 –> 00:17:07,440
they owed, they were supposed to
pay back extra to restore

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00:17:07,560 –> 00:17:09,319
relationship.
We seen in the days of Jubilee

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and which is enshrined in the
law every 50 years, a moment of

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00:17:13,000 –> 00:17:19,400
restoration of slaves, of debts,
where relationships are restored

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00:17:19,480 –> 00:17:21,520
between God and man.
We sit in the art, brothers,

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00:17:21,520 –> 00:17:24,200
sisters, in which contains the
law of God and what’s it

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00:17:24,200 –> 00:17:27,560
surrounded by?
A seat of mercy, a symbol of

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00:17:27,560 –> 00:17:30,000
grace and truth that are
harmonized.

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00:17:30,000 –> 00:17:38,680
These are moments that allow
people to see beyond the letter

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00:17:41,040 –> 00:17:44,040
and glimpse sconce desire of man
to understand the law, not as as

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00:17:44,040 –> 00:17:45,840
punishment forsake of
punishment, not not as

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00:17:45,840 –> 00:17:49,560
punishment to get even or a box
to be checked, but as correction

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00:17:49,760 –> 00:17:55,840
leading to restoration.
For that reason the prophets

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00:17:55,840 –> 00:17:58,800
could write as Hosea.
Did you desire love and not

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00:17:58,800 –> 00:18:03,160
sacrifice and the knowledge of
God more than burnt offerings?

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00:18:03,160 –> 00:18:05,400
Or reflect as David wrote,
sacrifice and burnt offerings

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00:18:05,520 –> 00:18:08,800
you do not desire, but a broken
and contrite heart or right is

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00:18:08,800 –> 00:18:11,520
in the Proverbs.
To show mercy and justice

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00:18:16,960 –> 00:18:28,470
pleases God more than sacrifice.
And there’s so many other things

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00:18:30,520 –> 00:18:32,840
that we could note about the
justice of our God.

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Brown sisters, You know, we, we,
we might relate it to his

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00:18:35,280 –> 00:18:36,880
faithfulness.
You know, we read in Deuteronomy

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00:18:36,880 –> 00:18:39,880
32 that what does it say?
All his ways are perfect and

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00:18:39,880 –> 00:18:45,520
just a God of faithfulness.
And we can mention that his a

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00:18:45,520 –> 00:18:48,680
justice is a reflection of
faithfulness and commitment to

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00:18:48,680 –> 00:18:50,480
truth.
Hath he spoken and shall not he

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00:18:50,480 –> 00:18:52,040
make good reads?
Numbers 23.

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00:18:52,040 –> 00:19:00,040
This is a God who remembers his
promises, who defends those he

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00:19:00,040 –> 00:19:02,440
loves, who holds guilt to
account, those who persecuted

284
00:19:02,440 –> 00:19:05,120
and harmed and use the ways of
this cursed world for selfish

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00:19:05,120 –> 00:19:07,200
gains.
God says, I will not let that

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00:19:07,200 –> 00:19:09,320
go.
I will hold it to account.

287
00:19:09,320 –> 00:19:15,080
And I don’t know about you,
brother and sisters, but I don’t

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00:19:15,080 –> 00:19:16,440
think we’d have it any other
way.

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00:19:21,740 –> 00:19:26,800
We could mention that there are
times when justice falls in

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00:19:26,800 –> 00:19:28,320
different ways for the same
offense.

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00:19:28,320 –> 00:19:30,440
You know, we we see this
particularly in in Nineveh

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00:19:30,440 –> 00:19:34,240
versus the account of Second
Chronicles 28 verse 6.

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00:19:34,240 –> 00:19:37,000
Both cases, there’s a city of
120,000 people.

294
00:19:37,000 –> 00:19:40,640
Both commit the the the fault
before God of idolatry. 1 spared

295
00:19:40,640 –> 00:19:45,000
the other put to the sword.
And we might look at that

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00:19:45,000 –> 00:19:47,000
brothers, sisters and say, you
know, isn’t that isn’t that

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00:19:47,000 –> 00:19:51,120
inconsistency in it is another
powerful truth of the justice of

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00:19:51,120 –> 00:19:54,440
God, and that’s that it is never
one-size-fits-all.

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00:19:57,000 –> 00:19:59,760
The justice of God fits the
individual.

300
00:19:59,760 –> 00:20:02,520
I the Lord search the heart and
test the mind, he says, and give

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00:20:02,520 –> 00:20:05,560
each according to their ways.
No2 hearts are the same brothers

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00:20:05,560 –> 00:20:09,960
and sisters.
No2 judgements are the same, and

303
00:20:09,960 –> 00:20:12,600
because of this we can have
confidence that in our God’s

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00:20:12,600 –> 00:20:18,320
wisdom he will not break us, nor
injustice give us more than we

305
00:20:18,320 –> 00:20:20,520
can bear.
A bruised Reed he will not

306
00:20:20,520 –> 00:20:23,040
break, writes Isaiah.
A burning Wick he will not

307
00:20:23,040 –> 00:20:30,960
quench, yet he will faithfully
bring forth justice.

308
00:20:38,360 –> 00:20:43,880
We could also note that at times
justice certainly looks

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00:20:44,120 –> 00:20:45,840
retributive.
And I think of this brothers,

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00:20:45,840 –> 00:20:49,320
sisters, my mind went to the
words of the author, CS Lewis,

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00:20:51,480 –> 00:20:53,440
and he went once wrote this
curious thing.

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00:20:53,440 –> 00:20:55,800
It stuck in my mind.
He said that there’s essentially

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00:20:55,800 –> 00:20:57,280
two types of people in this
world.

314
00:20:57,280 –> 00:21:00,560
Those who say to God, thy will
be, thy will be done.

315
00:21:05,840 –> 00:21:10,240
And those to whom God says thy
will be done.

316
00:21:13,680 –> 00:21:18,360
What CS Lewis is observing,
brothers, sisters, is that while

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00:21:18,360 –> 00:21:21,920
the justice of God seeks
restoration far past the

318
00:21:21,920 –> 00:21:26,240
patience and endurance of man
will, it will always honour

319
00:21:29,720 –> 00:21:35,640
human choice.
Hasn’t God framed service to him

320
00:21:35,640 –> 00:21:37,200
in this way?
I’ve set before you life and

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00:21:37,200 –> 00:21:38,840
death, he says.
When, when giving the law,

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00:21:38,840 –> 00:21:42,720
choose life and live.
Our God desires relationships,

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00:21:42,720 –> 00:21:47,280
brothers and sisters, not
something forced, not something

324
00:21:47,280 –> 00:21:50,080
coerced or mechanical, but
somebody knowingly, persistently

325
00:21:50,080 –> 00:21:52,480
and purposely rejects God’s
love, light and truth.

326
00:21:52,480 –> 00:21:55,640
And judgement falls, bronze
sisters, and not out of cruelty.

327
00:21:57,840 –> 00:22:00,440
Ezekiel writes, I take no
pleasure in deaths of the

328
00:22:00,440 –> 00:22:03,320
wicked, says the Lord, but it
falls because that person

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00:22:03,400 –> 00:22:07,000
becomes incompatible with a
greater restoration being

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00:22:07,000 –> 00:22:09,280
accomplished in our world.
And when that happens, brothers

331
00:22:09,280 –> 00:22:12,080
and sisters, the judgments of
God take two effects.

332
00:22:14,600 –> 00:22:17,280
And we see it in the words of
Malachi, the words of chapter 4,

333
00:22:17,280 –> 00:22:19,200
words of justice to come to this
world.

334
00:22:19,200 –> 00:22:25,080
What does he say in verse one?
Behold, the day of fire comes of

335
00:22:25,080 –> 00:22:27,840
judgement, which will burn the
arrogant and evil doers as

336
00:22:27,840 –> 00:22:29,840
stubble, and I will leave them
neither root nor branch.

337
00:22:29,960 –> 00:22:39,680
Yet for those who fear my name,
that same fire will be as the

338
00:22:39,680 –> 00:22:44,960
Sun of Righteousness that rises
with healing in its wings.

339
00:22:44,960 –> 00:22:48,800
The justice of God can either
restore us in grace for the

340
00:22:48,800 –> 00:22:58,040
sisters or by the hardening of
our hearts, we break ourselves

341
00:22:58,200 –> 00:23:12,460
on it.
In our time this afternoon,

342
00:23:14,380 –> 00:23:17,540
we’ve considered a few things,
brothers and sisters, on this

343
00:23:17,540 –> 00:23:20,220
character of God.
We, we, we considered that he is

344
00:23:20,220 –> 00:23:24,200
rooted in justice, not
neglecting wrong.

345
00:23:24,200 –> 00:23:27,160
We considered that that despite
this desire, his justice, it’s

346
00:23:27,160 –> 00:23:30,520
never in spite of Grace Bran
sisters, but working with it

347
00:23:30,520 –> 00:23:34,360
when aimed for our restoration,
when working good to those who

348
00:23:34,360 –> 00:23:37,600
love him, when, when relational
and adaptive to our needs.

349
00:23:37,920 –> 00:23:45,320
And now, brothers and sisters,
we’ll consider what this means

350
00:23:45,880 –> 00:23:48,040
for us.
And there is much we could say

351
00:23:48,040 –> 00:23:52,840
on that, couldn’t we?
We could reflect that as

352
00:23:52,840 –> 00:23:56,080
mentioned in the beginning, God,
God put justice in our hearts.

353
00:23:56,080 –> 00:23:58,800
And, and he does that because,
as said in the beginning, he

354
00:23:58,800 –> 00:24:02,760
made man in his image.
He desired.

355
00:24:02,760 –> 00:24:05,320
We reflect this character we
think to his words I’ve chosen

356
00:24:05,320 –> 00:24:09,480
you Abraham and your children
that they may do justice.

357
00:24:11,520 –> 00:24:14,880
We think of the words of Micah 6
verse 8 do justice, love mercy

358
00:24:14,880 –> 00:24:17,840
and walk before God and in these
words, Bron sisters is a simple

359
00:24:17,840 –> 00:24:19,720
essential lesson that God’s
character.

360
00:24:19,720 –> 00:24:21,440
This is where the things
considered this morning.

361
00:24:21,480 –> 00:24:23,440
It’s never something we just
understand.

362
00:24:26,120 –> 00:24:27,800
It’s something that we live
knowing.

363
00:24:27,800 –> 00:24:35,040
God is a call to action, to live
these qualities and who we are.

364
00:24:35,040 –> 00:24:37,960
To restore the hearts of people
as God seeks to restore them.

365
00:24:39,960 –> 00:24:42,360
To care for those as God would
seek to care for them.

366
00:24:42,400 –> 00:24:45,120
To see those who are suffering
as a result of this cursed earth

367
00:24:45,120 –> 00:24:47,440
and treat man as God would treat
them.

368
00:24:47,560 –> 00:24:57,180
But we have to acknowledge that
in our desire to emulate God’s

369
00:24:57,180 –> 00:25:00,380
justice, there are times that we
fall far short of it.

370
00:25:03,540 –> 00:25:08,240
Times were unlike God, we take
satisfaction in our in our

371
00:25:08,240 –> 00:25:10,680
punishment of others.
Times we forget that the root of

372
00:25:10,680 –> 00:25:13,760
justice isn’t vengeance, it’s
correction leading to

373
00:25:13,760 –> 00:25:17,960
restoration.
Times where unlike God, our

374
00:25:17,960 –> 00:25:20,720
justice doesn’t really account
for how we’re going to restore

375
00:25:20,720 –> 00:25:22,720
the offender.
We’re unlike our God, it doesn’t

376
00:25:22,800 –> 00:25:25,280
account for circumstance or or
individual.

377
00:25:25,280 –> 00:25:31,320
And in our carelessness, we
break the weak and an anger

378
00:25:31,320 –> 00:25:34,720
drive out the vulnerable.
The challenge for believers is

379
00:25:34,720 –> 00:25:38,680
to create safe spaces and our
ecclesias for broken people

380
00:25:41,320 –> 00:25:43,400
without lowering God’s standard
of holiness.

381
00:25:45,360 –> 00:25:51,280
The challenge for believers is
to speak truth in love, to

382
00:25:51,320 –> 00:25:54,080
enforce God’s Word, but always
in a spirit of mercy so that it

383
00:25:54,080 –> 00:25:56,760
may never be said of us.
As was written long ago, justice

384
00:25:56,760 –> 00:25:59,160
is without mercy to one who had
no mercy.

385
00:25:59,160 –> 00:26:02,520
The challenge for believers is
to remember that a community

386
00:26:02,520 –> 00:26:12,000
without justice is lost and a
community without grace is

387
00:26:12,000 –> 00:26:17,320
cruel.
The standard we strive for are

388
00:26:17,320 –> 00:26:21,600
the words of Hosea 12.
Hold fast to justice and love

389
00:26:21,920 –> 00:26:35,780
and wait for your God.
But the final thing we’ll note

390
00:26:38,980 –> 00:26:40,980
is that while we might
understand this, brothers,

391
00:26:40,980 –> 00:26:46,660
sisters, while we might grasp
everything we’ve just discussed

392
00:26:46,660 –> 00:26:49,460
that that the judgements of God
aim to restore you.

393
00:26:49,620 –> 00:26:55,040
That does not mean that it is
easy or when you were in

394
00:26:55,040 –> 00:26:58,040
darkness that that you’re always
going to see that that light of

395
00:26:58,040 –> 00:27:00,120
understanding.
You know, as I was thinking to

396
00:27:00,120 –> 00:27:04,280
this, my thought went to a
speech I once heard.

397
00:27:04,280 –> 00:27:09,960
I didn’t hear it.
I read it by Abraham Lincoln.

398
00:27:13,720 –> 00:27:17,520
In fact, it was his second
inaugural address and he wrote

399
00:27:17,520 –> 00:27:20,840
this in 1865 and the context was
was quite dark for him

400
00:27:20,840 –> 00:27:22,480
personally.
You see, over the course of

401
00:27:22,480 –> 00:27:26,120
that, that long struggle of a
nation, he increasingly came to

402
00:27:26,120 –> 00:27:33,240
see the conflict he presided
over as an act of God’s justice.

403
00:27:36,360 –> 00:27:40,880
And he was trying to articulate
why it had to happen, why so

404
00:27:40,880 –> 00:27:44,000
many fathers could not come
home, why so many children would

405
00:27:44,000 –> 00:27:46,840
now be orphaned.
Why, why, why the nation had to

406
00:27:46,840 –> 00:27:49,360
suffer for these things.
And he was lost in the only

407
00:27:49,360 –> 00:27:51,600
thing he could comfort.
The only place he turned was

408
00:27:51,600 –> 00:28:00,370
this passage of the Psalms.
The judgments of the Lord are

409
00:28:00,370 –> 00:28:07,880
righteous and true.
Sometimes you will not

410
00:28:07,880 –> 00:28:10,680
understand the justice of God,
brother and sisters.

411
00:28:12,960 –> 00:28:16,120
Sometimes the only comfort you
will have is knowing that all

412
00:28:16,120 –> 00:28:21,600
things come from His hand and
that He works good to those who

413
00:28:21,600 –> 00:28:24,120
love Him.
And sometimes that is enough to

414
00:28:24,120 –> 00:28:29,840
give you the strength of David,
where after living through the

415
00:28:29,840 –> 00:28:33,720
unimaginable, he could stand in
belief of God’s character that

416
00:28:33,720 –> 00:28:36,760
we’ve been reflecting on and say
as he did in the Psalms in Psalm

417
00:28:36,760 –> 00:28:40,480
51, I sinned.
That whatever God does to me, he

418
00:28:40,480 –> 00:28:44,760
might be just.
It makes you Abraham.

419
00:28:44,760 –> 00:28:47,480
And who moments of uncertainty
could cry out in conviction.

420
00:28:47,480 –> 00:28:50,000
Will not the judge of all the
earth do what is?

421
00:28:50,000 –> 00:28:53,640
Just as I was thinking to this
from the sisters, my mind went

422
00:28:53,640 –> 00:28:59,280
to this sculpture on the screen.
Several years ago.

423
00:28:59,280 –> 00:29:03,160
I had the the privilege of
seeing a full reproduction of

424
00:29:03,160 –> 00:29:04,080
it.
In fact, it’s a work of

425
00:29:04,080 –> 00:29:08,520
Michelangelo.
And as I looked at it, I was

426
00:29:08,520 –> 00:29:10,280
immediately struck by two
things.

427
00:29:10,280 –> 00:29:16,360
The first is that the subject
matter is immensely dark.

428
00:29:18,880 –> 00:29:24,280
It’s the artist’s imagination of
a moment after the cross in

429
00:29:24,280 –> 00:29:27,080
which Mary would have, for a
brief moment, held the broken

430
00:29:27,080 –> 00:29:30,560
body of her child.
It is a depiction of a mother

431
00:29:30,560 –> 00:29:34,800
holding her crucified son.
The second thing that struck me

432
00:29:40,920 –> 00:29:48,900
is that it is immensely
beautiful, bruh.

433
00:29:48,900 –> 00:29:54,540
And sisters of mortal man, in
all of our failings, can create

434
00:29:54,540 –> 00:29:57,940
something so beautiful from
something so tragic.

435
00:30:00,400 –> 00:30:04,920
What can God not do in the
darkest moments of our lives?

436
00:30:04,920 –> 00:30:07,360
What beauty can he not pull from
tragedy?

437
00:30:07,360 –> 00:30:10,160
What peace can he not salvage
from our chaos?

438
00:30:10,160 –> 00:30:12,720
O the depths and riches and
wisdom of our God, wrote the

439
00:30:12,720 –> 00:30:19,280
Psalmist.
How unsearchable His justice and

440
00:30:19,280 –> 00:30:22,280
inscrutable His ways.
Brothers and sisters and our

441
00:30:22,280 –> 00:30:28,320
time Tomorrow we will continue
our reflections of the God that

442
00:30:28,320 –> 00:30:32,960
Habakkuk writes in Wrath
Remembers Mercy, our God.

443
00:30:32,960 –> 00:30:36,120
As Isaiah records in chapter 29,
when His justice is in the

444
00:30:36,120 –> 00:30:38,240
earth, the inhabitants learn
righteousness.

445
00:30:38,240 –> 00:30:42,240
We will consider how we live in
the tension of these character

446
00:30:42,240 –> 00:30:47,880
traits, how we manifest this
quality of God in who we are,

447
00:30:47,960 –> 00:30:50,240
the pitfalls of it, and we will
bring our minds to the

448
00:30:50,240 –> 00:30:56,480
reflection of our God’s perfect
character, embodied in the glory

449
00:30:56,520 –> 00:30:57,080
of his Son.