SCRIPTURE: Psalm 51 (ESV)

DATE: 2-10-19

It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know — and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time with us or if you’re worshipping at our North Main campus — is that God loves you and I love you too. 

SERIES INTRODUCTION

And a quick reminder as we’re finishing up our Evil series. The topic for today is meant for a mature crowd — meaning if you’ve got elementary age — or younger — kids with you — you may want to get them to Kidway right now — or be prepared to have an interesting conversation on your way home. So there’s your parental guidance warning.

Now we’ve been calling this series Evil because we’ve noticed a tendency among us to call things good that God has said are evil. Where we blur the lines between good and evil, acquire a taste for evil, and even allow evil practices to become acceptable. And this is just as true in the church as it is anywhere else. So we’ve been looking at the ways we exhaust God by calling good — what He’s said is evil — and what it means to experience His justice for doing so.

And the idea behind this series is found in the Old Testament book of Malachi who wrote these words.

“You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (Then the prophet gives some examples of the evil going on in his day.) “Then I (that’s God speaking…then I) will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:17; 3:5 ESV)

And these two verses have been our guide in this series. 

We began by looking at God’s justice and we discovered that it has both a retributive and a liberating side. There’s the side of justice we usually think of — judgment — punishment — getting what you deserve. But there’s also an unexpected freeing — a liberating side to God’s justice. 

Retributive justice is — generally speaking — what our nation’s criminal justice system is built on. Where the role of the judge is “to punish misconduct…to punish violations of court orders, and to enforce an order to make a person refrain from doing something,” — the judge makes the decision about whether a person is “innocent or guilty.”

And because this kind of justice is what we’re most familiar with — we apply it to God. So we view God as a judge — which is true. He’s given us laws and — if we break them — He’ll find us guilty and will punish us accordingly. 

But that’s only one side of God’s justice. And a fault of ours — is that for many — this is our only view of God’s justice. But there is a liberating side to it. Where slaves are set free, orphans find a home, and victims are rescued. And in this series, we’ve been looking at how these two aspects of God’s justice apply to common situations in our world today.

For example, we saw how God’s justice applies to people who practice the many different religions in our world. Pastor Ben showed us how God’s justice applies to the areas of immigration and sanctity of life. 

Last week, we looked at God’s justice at how it applies to lying. And today, we’re looking at God’s justice for the adulterer.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Now this isn’t the first time that Malachi has brought up marriage and the brokenness we experience in this relationship. Earlier — in chapter 2— God brings up two things against His people. First, they’ve committed a type of spiritual adultery.

“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!” (Malachi 2:10-12 ESV)

The men were marrying foreign women who worshipped false gods. And this led to idolatry for God’s people — they abandoned worshipping God alone and committed spiritual adultery by worshipping the false gods of these foreign women.

But that’s not all — there’s a breakdown happening in the marriages of God’s people as well. “And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”” (Malachi 2:13-16 ESV)

Marriages are falling apart. Men are being faithless to their wives. They’re divorcing their wives so they can marry foreign women all while bringing offerings to God that they think are pleasing to Him. And God says — in doing all of this — they’re clothing themselves in violence. Not exactly a fashion statement you want to make. “What brand are those jeans? Oh they’re violence and destruction from the Lord because I’ve been unfaithful to my spouse. Want to try them on?” No thanks!

Now for some of us — I know this is a first — a sermon on the topic of adultery. It’s a first for me — so we’ll see how this goes. But here’s why this topic is relevant.

• Surveys show that, in the United States, nearly 22% of married men and 14% of married women have committed some kind of an adulterous act at least once in their life. 
• 36% of adulterous relationships happen with a co-worker and/or on a business trip. 
• And this one’s pretty sick — 17% of infidelity is with a brother or sister-in-law. 

Now there are all kinds of ways to respond to statistics like this — my reaction is — “those stats seem way to low” — but how do you respond to them? 

One response is to not see anything really wrong with adultery. Sure it might be harmful in some situations, but maybe you’re someone who can see adultery as being the right thing to do in certain circumstances. Many — who’ve committed adultery — have said, “What else was I supposed to do? My marriage was miserable and I finally found happiness with someone. Was I supposed to stay miserable?”

This is the narrative found in films, television, and books — where adultery is made out to be exciting and romantic — and they paint a picture of how giving into your passions for someone who’s not your spouse — can be the right thing to do if you’re unhappy in your marriage. 

Another response — you may’ve had to the statistics — is to grieve — because you’re the spouse who was betrayed. You’ve experienced the pain of losing trust in your partner — of seeing them run off with someone else. You know what it’s like to question whether or not you’re worthy of being loved, of feeling like maybe you did something wrong that caused your spouse to betray you — you’ve felt the full weight of a broken marriage. 

But not only will the betrayed grieve — it’s possible — if you’re the adulterer — to grieve as well. You’ve experienced the embarrassment of getting caught — or maybe you haven’t been caught but you never imagined being someone who’d betray their spouse, and maybe you’re afraid because you know that you deserve punishment from God.

Others — here — may be in a different place. You haven’t committed adultery — yet — but you’re in the midst of great temptation. Maybe you thought of a co-worker who you know things have crossed a line with. You’re in an unhappy marriage right now and are longing for affection from someone at work, at church, a friend who you desire to share and do things with that should only be done with your spouse. You haven’t committed adultery, but are dangerously close to doing so.

And for some — even for Christians — giving in to this sin has pulled you away from the healing presence of God and from the people who love you. 

• You may be struggling with depression because of this sin. 
• You may feel hopeless because of this sin. 
• And even with all of the consequences — you’re still tempted to do it again.

And — you should know — that adultery is a Christian problem. Current statistics show that we Christians are deeply confused about adultery. In a recent survey, people were asked, “How often, if ever, would you say the following activities would be cheating on your spouse?” Here are the results for evangelical Christians — people like many of us:

• Watching porn without your spouse – 31% consider this cheating. 69% of Christians think this isn’t cheating as if watching porn at all is a God honoring activity!
• Sending flirtatious messages to someone besides your spouse – 58% consider this cheating. 42% of Christians like us think this is OK.
• Sending sexually explicit messages to someone other than your spouse – only 75% agree that this is cheating. 25% of Christians think this is OK. It doesn’t get any better folks.
• Romantically kissing someone other than your spouse – 78% agree that this is cheating. 22% of people — claiming to be disciples of Jesus — think this isn’t cheating.
• Having a one-night stand with someone other than your spouse – 78% say this is cheating. Again, 22% of evangelical Christians think a one-night stand isn’t cheating.
• And — finally — having regular sexual relations with someone other than your spouse. You ready? Only 82% consider this cheating. Somehow 18% of people — who claim to be a disciple of Jesus — think regularly committing adultery isn’t actually committing adultery.

So what does this tell us? As one blogger has said, “we can no longer assume that even those in our churches are aware of what constitutes inappropriate sexual behavior.”

Now look, I get that anyone can claim to be an evangelical Christian. So I get that not everyone who responded to the questions are actual believers in Jesus. But let’s not be fooled. There are folks just like them among us — people who you know — maybe even someone listening to my voice right now — who’d say quick as anything — “Yeah, I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus. I’m going to Heaven when I die. Hold on a second, I’ve got to call my girlfriend — no, not my wife — my girlfriend — to schedule our next sexcapade.”

So with all of this humbling — and disheartening news — let’s turn to our Bibles for hope — because hope is what we all need in this adulterous world we live in.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

If you have your Bible please turn with me to Psalm 51. We’ll be looking at the entire psalm today.  

And, if you’re a guest with us, something I like to do is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text it to the number printed on the sermon notes sheet or you can submit it on the Gateway app.

TEXT SETTING

Now if you look at the heading of Psalm 51 — it tells us why this psalm was written. In my Bible it says: “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” Now what happened with Bathsheba is pretty well known — you can find the story in 2 Samuel chapter 11 — but here’s the short version. 

David is king. And at this point in his life, his soldiers have told him to stop going out into battle — “You’re too valuable as the nation’s leader to keep risking your life in war” — they say — “so stay home.” 

So his army is out fighting and David’s home. And one day, he goes up onto the roof of his house — which was basically a large balcony — this is his version of a front porch or a back deck — and as he’s looking out over his kingdom — David sees a woman bathing who’s described as being “very beautiful.” Now here’s what David didn’t do.

• He didn’t bounce his eyes. “Whoops, that beautiful woman is bathing — look away!” That’s not what he did. 
• He didn’t flee from temptation— “I know I’m going to look again so I’m headed downstairs.” Didn’t do that either. 
• He didn’t get one of the palace workers to become his accountability partner — “Next time I go up on the roof, you’ve got to come with me in case that woman is bathing.” Nope.

David was so captivated — the biblical word is tempted — that he had to know who she was. So David uses his power as king to discover her identity — he wasn’t going to let this go until he knew who she was. He was clearly obsessed — and — oh by the way — he’s married. And so is she. And not to each other.

And someone recognized her and said, “Isn’t that Bathsheba? Isn’t she married? Yeah, she’s married to Uriah?” But David doesn’t care. 

• David, a man chosen by God to be king of Israel. 
• David, a man who wrote words that are in our Bible. 
• David, who’s described as being a “man after God’s own heart” — sends someone to go get this woman and his only purpose was to have sex with her. 

And they did. And then she went home. And apparently twenty-two percent of evangelical Christians don’t see anything wrong with what they did. So that’s the end of story, right? Wrong. 

Bathsheba’s pregnant! And she let’s David know because the baby is definitely his. You see, Uriah — her husband — is one of David’s soldiers. He’s out fighting on David’s behalf. He’s out in harm’s way for his king — who’s home sleeping with his wife. This is like an ancient soap opera. 

So David does what you do when you’ve sinned and are about to get caught. He tries to cover it all up. David calls for Uriah to come home from the battlefield. David thinks, “Problem solved. Uriah will come back and — like any soldier who’s been off to war — he’ll be eager to be with his wife. And the timing will all work out and Uriah will think the child is his.”

But the Bible describes Uriah as being “too noble” to do this while his fellow soldiers are still out in battle — he refuses to go in and sleep with his wife while his men are at war. 

So what does David do? Does he admit the truth? Does he tell Uriah what he did — that he had sex with Bathsheba, and that she’s pregnant with his child? No. David thinks that getting Uriah drunk will solve the problem — surely a drunk soldier who’s just returned from war will go and sleep with his wife. And when that doesn’t work — David arranges to have Uriah killed — and that’s what happens. And David quickly marries Bathsheba in an attempt to cover up his sin. 

Do you hear — can you see — the depth of control this sin had on David? David had a man killed to cover up his sin. 

And in one of the most understated sentences in the Bible, the story ends with: “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” (2 Samuel 11:27b ESV)

You think?

And only after being confronted by a prophet sent by God to expose his sin — does David break down and confess what he had done. 

So let’s talk justice. What does David deserve? He committed adultery, he got a guy’s wife pregnant, and then had her husband murdered in order to marry her — so what does David deserve? What does justice look like here? 

Now — if you only view justice through the lens of retribution — of getting what you deserve — if there’s no liberating — or freeing justice — then there’s only one way this ends for David, right? And it ain’t good because David’s committed adultery and murder.

But astonishingly, Nathan — the prophet sent by God — tells David this: “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” (2 Samuel 12:13b ESV). 

David experiences the liberating justice of God. There are still consequences for his sin, but — as we’ll see — God’s liberating justice changes David. This is the context in which we need to hear David’s words in Psalm 51. 

PSALM 51

David writes, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. (David turns to his only hope — his merciful and loving God.) 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! (He’s no longer denying or trying to cover up his sin, David’s asking God to wash him — to make him clean — to purify him of his sin.) 

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

(He’s conscious of his sin — it’s constantly before him — it grieves him.)

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

(David’s not denying that he’s hurt others — like Uriah and Bathsheba — but he knows that ultimately what makes sin sin is that it’s against God. Sin is an attack on God — it’s a belittling of God. Hurting another person is bad — but sinning against God is infinitely worse. David says…)

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

(David acknowledges that the seed of this sin has been with him before he was born — he has a sinful nature — but he doesn’t use this as an excuse — “I can’t help it — I was born this way” — that’s not what he does — though we often do. He doesn’t excuse his sin, but he acknowledges that he’s corrupted by it.) 

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

(David says that God has been his teacher. God has made him wise — if you read the stories about him you see that David has done many incredibly wise things. Yet — here — at this moment in his life — sin got the upper hand. And — listen — some of you have done incredibly wise things but you’re not beyond sinning in destructive ways — I’m not beyond it either. Let David’s words be a warning to you. “I’ve been blessed with so much knowledge and wisdom — God’s been my Teacher— so how deep must my depravity be that I could sin against God like this,” he says.) 

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. (After turning to God for mercy — after praying for forgiveness and asking God to cleanse him — after confessing the depth and greatness of his sin and corruption — David now pleads for renewal. He’s passionately committed to being changed by God. And he’s going to pray for things that — no matter the sin you’re guilty of — if you want to be changed by God — if you want to experience a renewal of your heart so you have the desires of God’s heart — here are things to ask God to do in you. First, David prays for a heart and spirit that are new and righteous.) 

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (He’s saying that he wants to be done with the kind of instability that he’s just experienced. And — as he asked for earlier in verse 8 — he wants temptation to be replaced with joy and gladness in God. Second — he prays that God would confirm to him that he’s held within God’s loving election.) 

11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (David’s not thinking — “maybe I’ll lose my salvation” — he’s meaning, “Don’t treat me as someone whom You haven’t chosen, God. Don’t let me prove to be bad soil for the seed of Your Word. Confirm to me that I’m Your child and that I’m securely held in Your hands.) 

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (David returns again to what he knows is key in battling any kind of temptation. Notice he hasn’t said anything about adultery — so even if this isn’t a sin that’s close to home for you — what David’s saying still applies to your sin struggles. 

David constantly returns to the idea of joy. If you want to fight sin — if you want to not give into temptation — if you want to be renewed — the key is to have joy in the Lord. Because every temptation is ultimately promising you one thing — this will give you joy — this will give you happiness. And every time you or I sin it’s because we believe the lie that sin will give you a joy that Jesus can’t give. 

So how do you have joy in the Lord? By remembering. Remembering who God is by studying who He is in the Bible — because we’re a forgetful people. We say things like “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.” But have Ohio State lose to Michigan in a football game and let’s see how good you think God is. Or when you do your taxes and find out you owe the government money. God is good — right — all the time? 

But if we fight to remember how good God is — those situations won’t affect us like they do. And neither would whatever it is in your life that’s caused you to forget and doubt the goodness of God. 

• Or that He loves you unconditionally. 
• Or that you’re His son or daughter — if you believe in Jesus. 
• Or that He’s forgiven you. 
• Is kind towards you. 
• Has a plan for you. 
• Loves to hear from you. 
• And on and on I could go. 

We lose our joy in the Lord because we don’t take time to remind ourselves of who He is and who He’s said we are. But when you listen to Him — when you allow God’s Word and Spirit to remind you of who God is — joy is the supernatural byproduct. And look at the result of having joy in the Lord. David says…) 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 

(Do you want to know why you don’t share your faith with others — why you don’t evangelize — like you know you should? I know this is true for me. It’s because you lack joy in the Lord. We say things like, “Well I don’t really know what to say” and “I don’t want to mess it up” or “I don’t want to be the weird guy who ruins the dinner conversation” but nobody else does that. People who love the Patriots right now are talking about them winning another Super Bowl whether you want to hear about it or not. I’ve heard guys talk about spring training starting up — why — because they love baseball — it gives them joy. And when you have joy in the Lord you tell others about Him. You get excited about talking about Him because you’re excited by Him. This is one of the most convicting things in my life — God give me greater joy in You so I talk about You more to others. David continues…) 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

(Repentance and forgiveness lead to worship that pleases God. I wonder how many of us come here each week to offer God worship while having refused to repent of sin? Where we’re coming in here stained by our sin and guilt — even the sin of adultery — not broken before Him — standing prideful in our sin — and thinking that He’s pleased with our offerings of praise?) 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. (In all of this — to worship God rightly — we need His help. That’s how helpless we are — how broken — how in need of renewal.)” (Psalm 51:1-19 ESV)

CONCLUSION

And renewal is only possible because Jesus graciously offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. When it comes to this topic of adultery, sometimes we forget that Jesus is described as the faithful husband to His bride — the church — to us. And though He’s faithful — we’re unfaithful. We’re an unfaithful spouse who cheats on the One who died for us by seeking joy in things other than Him — by devoting our lives to things besides Him — by not listening to Him — by ignoring Him. 

And know that because of this, we’re all guilty. We all deserve the retributive justice of God. And — yet — our faithful Savior offers us the forgiveness and renewal that David writes about in Psalm 51. Jesus offers all of us freedom — not only from the sin of adultery — but from all sin. 

• So know that Jesus sympathizes with you if you’re a spouse who’s been cheated on. He knows how it feels to be betrayed. 
• Know that Jesus offers forgiveness to you if you’re the adulterer. He died for your sins — including adultery. 
• And know that Jesus is warning you if you’re unrepentant. Receive His liberating justice now or receive His retributive justice later — but you will receive His justice. 

My prayer is that all of us — like David — will ask God to create in us a new heart — to renew a right spirit within us — to restore in us the joy of His salvation — and to help us — all of us — find our joy in Christ alone. Only then will we stop blurring the lines between good and evil. Only then will we be faithful husbands and wives. Only then will we be a faithful church and bride of Christ. 

Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out all of our transgressions. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for Your faithfulness towards us. Even when we are faithless — Jesus — You remain faithful to us because You cannot deny who You are. So, help us to walk in the assurance that You are always faithful. You are always good to us. You always extend forgiveness when it is asked for. You always are gracious, slow to anger, patient with us, often giving us things we do not deserve — like Your loving kindness. 

Father, Son, and Spirit —  help us all — no matter what our sin of choice may be — to be faithful. Faithful to our spouses. Faithful to our families. Faithful to our church. And — most importantly — faithful to You. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION

Receive God’s liberating justice and may your joy always be in Jesus. Amen. 

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Multiple

DATE: 2-3-19

It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know — and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time with us or if you’re worshipping at our North Main campus — is that God loves you and I love you too. 

SERIES INTRODUCTION

We’re in week five of our series that we’ve titled Evil. And we’re calling this series “Evil” because there’s a dangerous tendency to call things good that God has said are evil. Where we blur the lines between good and evil, acquire a taste for evil, and even allow evil practices to become acceptable. And this is just as true for the church as it is anywhere else — so we’ve been looking at ways we’re exhausting God by calling good — things He’s said are evil. And what it means to experience His justice for doing so.

And the idea behind this series is found in the Old Testament book of Malachi who wrote these words. 

“You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (And then the prophet gives some examples of the evil going on in his day.) “Then I (that’s God speaking…then I) will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:17; 3:5 ESV)

And these two verses have been guiding us in this series. We began by looking at God’s justice and we saw how it has both a retributive and a liberating side. There’s the side of justice we usually think of — judgment — punishment — getting what you deserve — and then there’s the unexpected freeing — liberating — side of God’s justice. And we’ve been seeing how these two sides of God’s justice apply to life.

For instance, we’ve seen how God’s justice applies to the different religions in our world and to the foreigners living among us and to the topic of life. 

Next week, we’ll finish this series with something a bit spicy — we’ll look at God’s justice for the adulterer. Now two things about next week. First, you’ll want to make sure your young children attend Kidway as the topic is definitely meant for a more mature age level. And — second — bring your teenagers with you. Do them the favor of hearing from God’s Word on this subject because the world is teaching them all kinds of lies about adultery — that’s next week. 

And today we’re going to look at how God’s justice applies to lying. So let’s turn to our passages for today and — yes — we’ll be looking at quite a few.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

If you have your Bible please turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. We’ll be looking at verses 16 and 17. Then we’ll head to some other places in the Bible. But — for now — find 2 Timothy chapter 3.

And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text it in to the number printed on the bottom of the sermon notes sheet or you can submit it on the Gateway app.

RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT

Here are the words found in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Beginning in verse 16. 

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

SERMON INTRODUCTION

So here’s how we’re going to tackle this topic. We’re going to look at God’s justice for the liar — but with a twist. 

• We’re going to look at four different ways where we claim to know better than God. 
• Where we say that we’ve got things figured out better than He does. 
• Where we say — and this may shock some of you — but where we say, “God, You’re the liar.” 
• Then we’ll look at how God’s justice applies to those who call Him a liar.

And here are the four ways we call God a liar — this is where we’re headed for the rest of the sermon.

Way #1 — We call God a liar when we say that what His Word says isn’t true.

Way #2 — We call God a liar when we say that what His Word commands isn’t what I must do.

Way #3 — We call God a liar when we say that who His Word says He is isn’t who God really is.

And way #4 — We call God a liar when we say that who His Word says I am isn’t who I really am.

So let’s begin.

WAY #1

The first way we call God a liar — here’s how we blur the lines between good and evil — we call God a liar when we say that what His Word says isn’t true. We call God a liar when we say that what His Word says isn’t true.

Here’s what our verses in 2 Timothy teach us. That all scripture — the entire Bible — is breathed out — or inspired — by God. That means that God’s Spirit guided human authors so they wrote down God’s words exactly as He intended. Just as God spoke the universe into existence, so He spoke His Word into the Bible. 

And notice that Paul says that all scripture — not some of it — not the parts you like — or only the parts you agree with — but all of the Bible is God’s breathed out — inspired — perfect Word. So all of the Bible is true. And what Paul’s wanting the Christians in Ephesus to understand is that because all of the Bible is breathed out by God, they were to believe and live under the authority of all of it.

And that’s to be our view of the Bible as well. This book — being the Word of God — is to be believed and lived under as the supreme court of your authority on truth. And if it’s your supreme court of authority on truth, then you’ve got to know it — read it — study it — so you understand what it says so you can use it — as Paul says — for being made complete and equipped for every good work. 

One pastor has said that the Bible “shapes our beliefs as well as our lifestyle. It relates to both doctrine and conduct, and it is totally sufficient to shape us into the image of Christ by the power of the Spirit.”

So — to say that God’s Word says something that isn’t true — is to call God a liar — because the Bible is His Word to us. 

Now, if you’re here and you’d say you’re not a Christian, you may be thinking, “Who cares about the Bible?” Maybe you believe there is no God or — if there is — God can’t be known. So — for you — the only thing we can do is figure out the best way to live for ourselves — right and wrong are purely subjective. Or maybe you believe there’s no such thing as a universally binding absolute truth — so everyone has to choose for themselves what’s right and wrong. 

The problem — and I’m not the first to point this out — is that to say that right and wrong are purely subjective is itself an objective statement. To say there’s no such thing as universally binding absolute truth is — itself — a universally binding absolute truth statement. Here’s my point:  Everyone believes in absolute truth. Everyone is dogmatic about what they believe — everyone thinks they know what’s right and wrong — not just religious folks.

But the question for all of us is this:  Who determines absolute truth — who’s the author of the truth you believe in? 

Are you the author? Do you really think you’ve got the authority to determine truth? And if so, can you please rewrite the truth about metabolism slowing down as you age cause I love pizza, ice cream, Cheetos, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups but the truth is — whether I like it or not — the older I get the harder it is to eat those delicious foods without gaining weight.

So if you’re not the author of truth — and neither am I — we can eliminate all other humans as well. So what are we left with? Either there is no truth — which can’t be true — or God is the author of truth. And if God is the author of truth, then we call Him a liar when we say that His Word isn’t true. 

Now this sermon isn’t meant to be a defense of the Bible, but a resource I highly recommend for you to check out — this is for the skeptic and for the Christian — a resource I’d recommend to you is Why Trust the Bible? by Greg Gilbert. This book gives a good overview of the common arguments against trusting the Bible and — especially for those who think the Bible is untrustworthy — it’s a good way to understand why we Christians view the Bible the way we do. We don’t have our heads in the sand. We’re not idiots — at least not all of us — and even if we are — that doesn’t make the Bible untrustworthy. Check out this book to understand why the Bible is reliable and can be trusted.

WAY #2

On to the second way we call God a liar — another way we blur the lines between good and evil. We call God a liar when we say what His Word commands isn’t what I must do. We call God a liar when we say that what His Word commands isn’t what I must do.

OK. So if you believe that God’s Word is true, you can still call Him a liar by not believing His commands are what you’re supposed to do. Now I can think of a few reasons for someone doing this. The first is you just don’t know the Bible — so you don’t even know what God expects of you. That’s one reason. 

An example of this is found in Peter’s second letter. “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant (that words means the uneducated and unlearned — the ignorant…) and unstable (those who are not firmly set, those who don’t have a solid foundation of what they believe — so the ignorant and unstable do what? They…) twist (things) to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:15-18 ESV)

Peter’s writing about people who want to talk about the Christian faith without knowing the Bible. They want to discuss things like the patience of God without going to God’s Word on the matter. And what happens? They twist things around due to their ignorance of the Bible. And what’s the end result? Their destruction. Now there’s a compelling reason to know your Bible. One way to disobey God’s commands.

Another way people do this is by knowing the Bible, but you disagree with parts of it, so you pick and choose what you obey. This is what we see when Jesus speaks to some religious leaders in Matthew’s gospel. 

“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.‘” (Matthew 15:1-9 ESV)

Jesus calls out the religious leaders because they were blatantly ignoring God’s commands. They created their own rules so they could ignore God’s rules. And Jesus says — in doing so — they were making God’s word void — they were — through their actions — calling God’s Word invalid — not true — in essence — they were calling God a liar. Another reason people disobey God’s commands.

And — finally — and I’m sure there are other reasons but this is all we’ve got time for — but a final reason is that you know the Bible and you want to obey it, but life…is…war. We give in to sin, we get attacked by the enemy, we experience physical, mental, emotional, and relational conflict that weakens our resolve and we disobey God’s commands. 

Paul uses a lot of war imagery in describing the Christian life. He talks about putting on the armor of God and preparing for battle. And war — though sometimes necessary — is always tragic because there are always casualties. 

But it’s not just attacks from others that causes casualties. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy. Paul describes this in his letter to the Christians in Rome. He writes, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15 ESV)

He then writes about going back and forth between doing good and doing evil and just when he’s on a doing good streak — evil’s right there — coming from within him — to get him off the path of obedience.

Now — let me say — this last scenario isn’t really us calling God a liar so much as the struggle — the wrestling — the war going on — which proves that you believe God’s commands are to be obeyed — you’re just in the muck of spiritual conflict. I bring it up so that — if this is you — you don’t carry an unnecessary burden. Keep fighting by the power of God’s Spirit and the authority of His Word. 

But the other two scenarios, well I don’t know how else to understand them. Either through ignorance or by picking and choosing what you want to obey — you end up calling God a liar by saying what His Word commands isn’t what you must do.

WAY #3

We’re to the third way we call God a liar. We call God a liar when we say that who His Word says He is isn’t who God really is. We call God a liar when we say that who His Word says He is isn’t who God really is.

Now all of these ways kind of build on each other don’t they? If you don’t believe God’s Word is true, then you won’t believe what it commands or what it says about God. If you don’t know the Bible, then you’ll be ignorant of its commands and what it says about God. And — obviously — just like you can purposely pick and choose which commands you obey, you can pick and choose which parts of the Bible you allow to tell you something about who God is.

But the goal — for the Christian — should be to allow this Word to shape your understanding of who God is — because this book is God’s Word to us. And God has told us much about Himself in the Bible — and — we’re going to fly through a bunch of these — but here are some things that God has told us about Himself.

He is eternal — He has no beginning or end. The first verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1a ESV) 

God is Creator — He has made all things. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 ESV)

God is love. The apostle John writes, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8 ESV)

God is patient. Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 ESV)

God is all powerful. The psalmist writes, “He (God) determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.” (Psalm 147:4-5 ESV)

Those last words tell us that God knows everything, which we also find in Isaiah. “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’” (Isaiah 46:8-10 ESV)

God is good. Psalm 107 begins by declaring, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1 ESV)

God is holy — He is completely pure, untainted by sin, perfect. The apostle John records a vision of Heaven. “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”” (Revelation 4:8 ESV)

God is the giver of every good gift. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17 ESV)

And — there at the end — we learn that God does not change.

And — finally — and by finally — I mean the final one for this sermon — because this would go on for a long time if we looked at all the ways God describes Himself in the Bible — but the last one for us —God is wrathful. In the gospel of John we read, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 ESV)

Paul writes about God’s wrath in multiple places. In his letter to Christians in Rome, he writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Later he writes, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 1:18, 12:17-21 ESV)

To ignore what God has said about Himself — in His Word — is to call Him a liar. It’s to — intentionally or unintentionally — it’s to say that you know who God is better than He does. Sounds pretty silly, right? A bit arrogant? I mean you should probably have a book or two in the Bible named after you if you’re so knowledgeable about God, right? 

Yet we do this all the time, don’t we? Because there are some things about God that make us uncomfortable. There are some things about God we don’t understand. There are some things about God that frighten us. 

But He’s told us who He is and to ignore what He’s said about Himself is to find yourself at odds with God.

WAY #4

And — finally — a fourth way we call God a liar — another way we’re blurring the lines between good and evil — we call God a liar when we say that who His Word says I am isn’t who I really am. 

Let’s take that last characteristic of God — His wrath — and learn something about ourselves. Paul writes these alarming words. “And you (if you believe in Jesus — you can insert your name here — and you — Josh) were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-4 ESV)

Now Paul’s writing to Christians — to believers — to people like many of us. And notice how he describes them. Prior to believing in Christ, they were spiritually dead — not sick — not unhealthy — they were dead in their trespasses and sins. They were spiritually dead, but notice — in verse two — they were physically alive. Spiritual zombies walking around. 

So you — yes you — if you’re a Christian — this was you — and if you’re not a Christian — this is you. So you were — or are — spiritually dead, following the ways of the world, following Satan — that’s what the prince of the power of the air means. You lived — or are living — carrying out the passions and desires of your flesh, and you were — or are — what? How does Paul describe us at the end of verse three? He describes us as “children of wrath” — that’s God’s wrath by the way.

But hardly anybody — even Christians — see this as who they are or who they used to be. Because — if we did — we’d be a lot more humble and definitely more obedient. Because we’d know that we owe everything to the One who’s saved us out of this disastrous situation. You see — your and my obedience — is usually lacking when we think, “Ahhh, I wasn’t really in that bad of a situation before Jesus saved me.” I mean, if Jesus didn’t have to save you from that bad of a situation, then you don’t really owe Him much, do you?

But if you were dead, a child of wrath, destined for Hell, and Jesus rescued you from that — well then — He’s got your number now doesn’t He? 

But that’s OK — right — because we just had a glimpse of how wonderful He is — so no need to fear Jesus having your number — it’s more like — I can’t wait for Jesus to call me — oh wait — He already did — He’s told me everything about who I am and who He is and all that I’m to do — it’s all in His Word.

But to ignore what the Bible says about you is to call God a liar — it’s to change the scenario you were rescued out of — or maybe the situation you’re in right now. You see, Jesus didn’t die for spiritually sick people. He died so dead people would experience a resurrection — both spiritually and physically. 

CHRIST CONNECTION

And all of these ways we call God a liar are directly related to what you believe about Jesus. The apostle John calls Jesus the Word of God in the opening of his gospel. Later on in the gospel, Jesus calls Himself the “way, the truth, and the life.” So we can trust that God’s Word is true because Jesus is the Word of God who is truth. You can’t really believe in Jesus and not believe that God’s Word is true because Jesus is God’s Word.

Jesus shows us that obeying God’s commands isn’t an option for us to choose or reject. He didn’t view God’s commands this way — instead He obeyed all of them on our behalf, in order to fulfill the requirements of the law for all of us. Jesus shows us that God’s commands are to be obeyed by His people.

Jesus also shows us that God has revealed Himself to us in the Bible. Jesus is the visible image of God. Through His actions and words, Jesus reveals to us who God is, what He’s like, and what He values.

And Jesus shows us who we really are. As one pastor is fond of saying, “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” In the Bible, you discover your truest self on both fronts — the side revealing how sinful and flawed you are — and the side revealing how deeply loved by God you are. But you only find both of these truths about yourself in the Bible — only when you let God have the final say on the matter. Where you stop blurring the lines between good and evil and start listening to the One who has been more honest to you than you’ll ever be to yourself.

CONCLUSION

Blurring the lines between things God has said are good and evil shows us something about ourselves: That we’re often quick — and comfortable — with calling God a liar. And He promises justice for the liar. His retributive justice will come on all who trust their own words more than God’s Word. But God offers His liberating justice — His freeing justice — to those who submit themselves to His Word as being the final say on all things — allowing the Bible to be the final word on what’s good and evil — what’s right and wrong — on who He is — and who we are — and what He’s commanded us to do. 

How have you determined who God is and what He expects of you? Who are you listening to when it comes to what you believe about yourself? Who has the final word in your life? Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, first we thank you for Your Word. How gracious of You to not leave us floundering around, spiritually blind, and unable to know Your Word on all things. Yet even with this gift You’ve given us, how often do we chose to flounder around, walking in spiritual blindness, remaining purposefully ignorant of Your Word? So help us — Father, Son, and Spirit — to be people of Your Word.

And Jesus — You are the Word of God. You have revealed to us who we are and who God is. That we were spiritually dead — You the giver of life. We — prisoners of war — You the liberator who sets captives free. We — children of wrath — You the beloved Son of God who satisfied God’s wrath on our behalf so we could be adopted as God’s sons and daughters.

Spirit, guide us. Teach us. Lead us towards a greater desire to know the Bible better so we stop blurring the lines between good and evil — so we stop calling You a liar — and submit ourselves under Your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION

May God’s Word be the final word in your life. Amen. God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 19:16-30; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (ESV)

DATE: 1-6-19

It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know — and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time with us or if you’re worshipping at our North Main campus — is that God loves you and I love you too. 

SERIES INTRODUCTION

Just about a year ago, we took some time to look at topics that are divisive in our country. It turned out to be a pretty popular series and so we thought we’d return to a similar kind of series this year. 

And we’re calling this series “Evil” because there’s a dangerous tendency to call things good that God has said are evil. Where we blur the lines between good and evil, acquire a taste for evil, and even allow evil practices to become acceptable. And this is just as true for the church as it is anywhere else — so we want to look at the ways we’re exhausting God by calling good — what He’s said is evil. And what it means to experience the justice of God as we do these things.

That’s the imagery in the opening video. Evil things that were called good by some. Some of those evil things were done by the church. Evil things people did while thinking they were pleasing God.

And the idea behind this series is found in the Old Testament book of Malachi who wrote these words. 

“You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (And then the prophet gives some examples of the evil going on in his day.) “Then I (that’s God speaking…then I) will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:17; 3:5 ESV)

And these two verses are guiding us in this series. Last week, we looked at God’s justice and we saw how it has both a retributive and a liberating side. There’s the side of justice we usually think of — judgment — punishment — getting what you deserve — and then there’s the unexpected freeing — liberating — side of God’s justice. And we’re taking these two sides of God’s justice and seeing how they apply to the different groups that Malachi mentions.

Next week, we’ll look at how God’s justice applies to the foreigners among us — that’s what the word sojourner means. Pastor Ben is going to help us see how God’s justice applies in this area of life. Then in two weeks, Ben will help us explore how God’s justice and sanctity of life come together. 

Then I’ll help us connect God’s justice to lying — or swearing falsely. And we’ll wrap up this series, by looking at God’s justice for the adulterer. And odds are this will either be the least or highest attended weekend in a long time because — this topic — is a wee bit prickly. But I’m praying especially for this week as I want us all to see how God offers freedom for the adulterer — we won’t ignore God’s judgment for the unrepentant — but my hope is that many who walk in shame because of this sin will find the freedom that Christ offers.

And today we’re going to look at God’s justice and how it applies to the different religions in the world. So let’s turn to our passages for today.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Matthew 19. We’ll be looking at verses 16-30. And then you’ll want to find 1 Corinthians 15 — as we’ll be looking at some verses there as well.

And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text it in to the number printed on the bottom of the sermon notes sheet or you can submit it on the Gateway app.

RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT

Here are the words found in Matthew 19. Beginning in verse 16. 

“And behold, a man came up to him (him being Jesus), saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matthew 19:16-30 ESV)

And now turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We’ll begin in verse 1. First Corinthians chapter 15 — verse 1.

The apostle Paul writes. “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ESV)

SERMON INTRODUCTION

There’s a quote — by a Christian theologian — that says, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” The theologian was Augustine who was born in North Africa in 354 AD. His mother was a Christian and his father a pagan. Augustine was a notoriously rebellious teenager who lived with his girlfriend, joined what was basically a cult, and ran away from his mother and her faith.

He went on to become a brilliant teacher of public speaking and was living the life he always wanted. No sin was to great for him as he tried to find pleasure in all that the world could offer. But in the words of U2, he “still [hadn’t] found what [he was] looking for.” 

After spending some time listening to the preaching of a man named Ambrose — Augustine turned away from his secular career and became a monk. And his quote shows us that he came to realize that all of the stuff that he thought would make him happy — from all the sex a man could want, to having a prestigious job, to “trying out” a new and exciting spirituality — he realized — after becoming a Christian — that those things wouldn’t satisfy him. He realized that the only way for his longing heart to be put at ease was to find satisfaction, joy, love, and peace in God. 

And like Augustine, many of us have recognized this same kind of longing. We feel it with each waking moment, but our temptation is to try and appease this longing with things that don’t last — money, material possessions, relationships, sex, even spiritual experiences that we think offer a way to God, but ultimately fall short and end in disappointment. 

And it’s in this longing to find fulfillment that many have turned to any number of religions. Now there are a few ways you may view religion. I’ve heard these views from non-Christians and from people who claim to be a Christian. And what we find in these views is a blurring of the lines between what God has said is good and evil — these two views are a way that we exhaust God by ignoring what He’s said is good and evil — when it comes to spiritual faith.

First, you may view all religions as being basically the same. You see all religions as trying to grasp at the same divine truth and — so instead of dividing over religion — you wish that people would embrace all religions for the uniqueness each brings as a way of experiencing spiritual things. 

An example that’s been used, is that all religions are like blind men touching an elephant. The first blind man put out his hand and touched the side of the elephant. “How smooth! An elephant is like a wall,” he said. The second blind man touched the elephant’s trunk. “How round! An elephant is like a snake.” The third blind man touched the elephant’s tusk. “How sharp! An elephant is like a spear.” The fourth blind man touched the leg. “How tall! An elephant is like a tree.” The fifth blind man touched the ear. “How wide! An elephant is like a fan.” The sixth blind man put out his hand and touched the elephant’s tail. “How thin! An elephant is like a rope.”

All of the blind men are touching the same elephant — but they’re all limited in their understanding of what the elephant actually is. And that’s religions — for you — all grasping a part of spiritual truth but none of them understanding all of it. And if they’d listen to one another they’d have a better understanding of the spiritual truth they’re all trying to grab hold of. Maybe that’s your view of religion.

A second view of religion is the opposite — you view all religions as damaging and destructive. You think we’d be better off if all religions were rejected. Maybe you believe that there’s no ultimate spiritual truth — and so — you think religions are comprised of superstitious — maybe even irrational people — and things would be better off if these people would get a clue. 

Now there are things that I appreciate about both of these views. First — for those who say that “all religions are the same” — I can appreciate how this idea often comes out of a deep longing for people to get along. You long for peace and you see how religion can be divisive and so — in an effort to find peace — you want to show how religions are more alike than dislike one another.

And — as hard as this may be for you to believe — I even have appreciation for folks who hold the second view — where religions are damaging. For many who hold this view — their skepticism is based on religious movements that have used people — brainwashed them — controlled unsuspecting folks. And that’s evil. I’m thankful that there are people — even unbelievers — who hold religious leaders and organizations accountable for how they treat people.

But both of these views have some things I disagree with. For example, to say that “all religions are the same” actually denies the uniqueness of the various religious traditions. And often people who make these claims do so without listening to the people who practice the religions. You see, most devotees of the major religions would not say that all religions are the same. People who practice the major religions in the world know that many of their central claims are quite exclusive and contradict the claims of other religions. 

For example, the heart of Islam isn’t the prophet Muhammad — which is what most people think — the heart of Islam are the revelations he said he received. The first words spoken in the ear of a Muslim infant are: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” That shows us the significance of Muhammad’s revelations — his messages. To deny his messages would mean that you have a significant disagreement with the Muslim faith. 

And guess what? Other religions deny Muhammad’s revelations. Muhammad believed he was receiving words from the creator of all things — yet Buddhism doesn’t believe in a creator god. In fact — this may surprise you — Buddhists don’t worship Buddha — Buddha isn’t even a god. Buddhism is a religion focused on wisdom, enlightenment, and compassion. It has some gods, but they’re not nearly as important as in other religions.

Like — say — Hinduism — a religion that has 33 million gods. Islam has one god, Buddhism doesn’t make a big deal about gods, and then Hinduism has 33 million gods. And Hinduism teaches that the “ultimate cause of suffering is people’s ignorance of the Self,” which Hinduism teaches is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, perfect, and eternal.” The self — not God — is all knowing, all powerful, present everywhere, perfect, and eternal. 

Then there’s the Jewish faith. They have much in common with Christianity up until we get to Jesus — He kind of drew a line in the sand — a line that many Jews have refused to step over. Jews are waiting for the Messiah to come — Christianity claims the Messiah has come — His name is Jesus.

And then there’s the Christian faith. Central to it is Jesus Christ. His life, His death, His resurrection, His divinity and humanity. To Muslims, Jesus was a great prophet, but not God. To Jews, Jesus wasn’t the Messiah. Even among the religions that believe in one god — there’s no agreement about Jesus.

So with all of these differences — all of these very distinct beliefs and teachings — including their different views on Jesus — how can you say that all religions are essentially the same?

And to the person who’s skeptical of religion — or believes that the world would be better off without religion — well — if this is you — I think you may have overlooked the significance that religion has done for good — especially Christianity. The ways in which the Christian faith has helped to shape the world we live in for the better. For example, how many hospitals have a name that comes from the Christian faith? So whether or not you agree with the truth about Jesus, it’s hard to avoid the fact that much good has been — and continues to be done — in His name. 

THE RELIGIONS OF OUR WORKS

But something that all religions — but one — do have in common is this:  Ultimately, getting into Heaven, eternity, nirvana, eternal bliss — call it whatever you like — all but one religion believes that you have to work to get there. That’s what the story from the gospel of Matthew is about. 

A rich young man comes to Jesus asking what he must do to be sure that he has eternal life. He wants to know how to get to Heaven. And Jesus asks him about his obedience to the commandments. This is the standard for a lot of people when it comes to getting into Heaven. “I’m a good person. Here are the good things I’ve done and here’s a list of the bad things I haven’t done. For instance, I haven’t murdered anyone.”

I was meeting with some staff and we were talking about this and I said to them, “When someone says — ‘I’m a good person; I haven’t murdered anyone’ — I want to say, ‘Well welcome to the club, buddy. In the history of mankind the majority of people have never murdered anyone. Not murdering doesn’t make you all that particularly special.’” 

But this rich young man doesn’t realize that it’s easy to deceive oneself about your true inner desires. That’s what Jesus shows him when He basically tells the guy, “Well you’ve almost got this whole eternal life thing figured out. Just two things left for you to do and Heaven is yours. Sell everything you own and follow Me.” What a test. “You say you’re a good person — well let’s see — because surely a good person would be willing to give up all the treasures of the world in order to show how good, and noble, and God centered they are.”

But the guy doesn’t do it. His heart loves money more than it loves God. And that shows us that the young man — though he may never have murdered anyone — had broken the first commandment — to have no other gods in his life but the one true God. Money was his god.

That’s the thing about working your way to Heaven. You can’t slip up once or you’re done for. James said, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” (James 2:10-11 ESV)

James says, “You want to talk about works and earning your way to Heaven? OK. If you break one commandment — you’ve broken them all. Game over.” Now this is so obvious that it hardly needs mentioning, but do you know the ninth commandment? It’s about not lying. Game over for all of us.

Paul takes it one step further when he writes, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16 ESV)

Even if you somehow deceive yourself into thinking you’re doing a pretty swell job at obeying the law — that your works are out of this world — well guess what? No one will be justified by the works they do. Justified means to be declared not guilty — to be justified means that you’re declared to be — by God — worthy of Heaven and His presence for all eternity. And no one will receive that news based on what they do.

But this is what most people think of when they think of religion. And this is what most people think will get them into Heaven — even many who claim to be a Christian. They think of religion as a bunch of rules — things to do and not do. And usually you have to do a bunch of stuff you don’t want to do and you’re not supposed to do all of the fun stuff you want to do. That’s religion — that’s how you work your way to Heaven — no fun — whatsoever.

But then — in the name of being irreligious — some people make up all kinds of new rules that sway the “I’m going to Heaven when I die” scale in their favor. 

• You know, where the command to not lie isn’t really that big of a deal. I mean, “Who doesn’t lie?” 
• So we’ll scratch that one off the list — but keep don’t murder on the list — because most of us pass that one. 
• Scratch off anything about not being greedy — because we love our money and stuff — but put on the list something about not being a University of Michigan fan — that’ll earn some points with God for sure. 
• Doesn’t it all sound ridiculous? But why do so many of us believe that what we do is what will get us into Heaven? 
• And I know that your list may or may not include the things I just said — but don’t be deceived — your list is just as ridiculous. 

And if Jesus came to you today — like He did to that rich young man — He’d ask you to give up the very thing that’s keeping you from really following Him. And — listen — I say this because I love you and your eternity is too important for me to not say the hard things in love — the very thing Jesus is asking you to give up is the very thing that He knows will lead you straight to Hell. 

• For the young man, it was his money. For some of us, it’s money. 
• For others, it’s shacking up with your boyfriend or girlfriend. 
• For others it’s what we watch on our screens. 
• For others, it’s how we use our time. 
• If you asked Jesus, “What do I need to do to get to Heaven?” — what would He tell you to give up? 

THE RELIGION OF JESUS’ WORK

But only those who know it’s not what they do that gives them eternal life — are the ones who are willing to give up all things for Jesus. Because there is another option — a truly different kind of religion — one not based on our works — but based on Someone else’s work. A religion that’s utterly unique when compared to all of the other religions of the world. And that’s the religion of true Christianity — true faith in Jesus. It’s what Paul writes about to the Corinthians.

What Paul says was of first importance is the work that Jesus accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection. 

• A work where He obeyed all of God’s commandments during His life — not breaking even one of them. 
• A work of paying the debt for the sins of those whose works always come up short. 
• A work of substituting His death on a cross for the eternal death we deserve for breaking God’s commands. 
• Jesus’ work is a perfect work. A complete work. An “it is finished” work. 

And Jesus says to us, “If you believe in the work I’ve done for you — the work that I’ve accomplished on your behalf — a work of rescuing people who realize that their works will never earn them Heaven because the admission price is too high for them to pay and their works earn to little compared to the price of admission. But I’ve paid the price for their admission into Heaven. And the ticket — that I earned with my blood — I now give to them as a gift.”

“But,” Jesus says, “know that the ticket is costly in two ways. First, it cost me My life — My life was the cost of your admission into Heaven — that’s the first cost. And second, it’ll cost you your life too. For when I pay for your sins, you are now mine. And this shouldn’t frighten you — for I am good — I’m your friend — I’m the one who willing died for you because I love you. This shouldn’t frighten you — this should free you — release you — liberate you — so that you’re willing to give up all things for Me because I gave up all things for you.” 

JUSTICE FOR ALL

And here’s the good news for people of all religions. Here’s good news for the person who thinks that all religions are the same and for the person who’s skeptical of religion. Here’s good news for all of us. 

Jesus doesn’t discriminate who He receives into His family. Anyone — no matter what their religious upbringing, their race, their gender, their nationality — anyone — through faith in Jesus — can be made right with God.

That — as we’ve been seeing — God’s liberating justice is possible for all kinds of people — even for people of all religions — if they turn to Christ in faith. Because God’s liberating justice sets captives free from working their way to Heaven. 

• From trying to earn their way into Heaven. 
• From thinking that some day they’ll measure up to a standard that they gave up on when they broke their first commandment. 
• That God delights in pouring out His liberating — freeing — justice on those who believe in His Son who appeased His retributive justice on their behalf.

And know — dear friends — if Jesus did not appease God’s retributive justice on your behalf — then God will pour it out on you for all eternity. Your sin debt must be paid in full. And I’m pleading with you — Jesus is pleading with you — to receive His gift of paying your debt in full. 

• Turn to Him in faith. 
• Give your life to Him. 
• He is good. 
• He can be trusted. 
• He will do you no harm.

CONCLUSION

Are all religions the same? Not even close. Only one offers the eternal hope that Jesus has made possible. That’s what Augustine discovered after searching for years to fill the void in his life that only Jesus could fill. And filling that void is what so many are still searching for in religions, in stuff, in sex, in all kinds of things that are sure to disappoint — maybe that’s you. But know that what you’re searching for isn’t hidden — it’s right before you — you can find what you’re looking for. His name is Jesus. And He’s eager for you to receive the gift of eternal life — and hope and peace and joy and purpose — that He’s offering you through faith in the work that He’s done on your behalf. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

God of justice, help those who are here to receive the gift of eternal life that Jesus has made possible through His perfect work on their behalf. Help us all to give up the notion that we can work our way to Heaven. The price of admission is to high for our works to pay the cost. 

But the amazing — wonderful — awe inspiring — news of the Christian faith is that You have done for us what we can’t do for ourselves. You sent Your Son — Jesus — to come and live the life of perfect works that we’ve failed to live. To suffer the punishment of Your retributive justice on the cross — so that we might experience Your liberating justice. For Jesus came to set us captives free. Free from Satan, sin, death, and Hell. Free from trying to work our way to Heaven. Freedom from trying to fill the longings of our heart with things that are sure to disappoint.

Spirit, help us to be honest with ourselves — even those of us who claim to be a Christian. Help us to see if we’re believing solely in the work of Christ for our eternal hope — or if we’re trying to earn our eternity by our works. For only through faith in Christ alone will anyone experience everlasting joy with You forever. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

BENEDICTION

May you go trusting in the perfect work that Jesus has done for you. Amen.

God loves you. I love you. You are sent.

SCRIPTURE: Malachi 2:17-3:5 (ESV)

DATE: 12-30-18

It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And one thing I want you to know — and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time with us or if you’re worshiping at our North Main campus — is that God loves you and I love you too. 

SERIES INTRODUCTION

And we’re starting a new series this week. Just about a year ago, we took a few weeks to look at some topics that were — and still are — dividing our country. It turned out to be a series more popular than I anticipated and so we thought it’d be a good idea to revisit some similar themes as we’re about to begin a new year together. 

And we’re calling this series “Evil” — as there’s a dangerous tendency to call things good that God has said are evil. Where we blur the lines between good and evil, acquire a taste for evil, and even allow evil practices to become acceptable. And this can be just as true for the church as it is anywhere else — so we want to look at some ways that we’re exhausting God by calling good — things He’s said are evil — and what it means to experience the justice of God for doing so.

That’s what the imagery in the video you just saw was showing. Evil things — that some called good. Evil things — even done under the umbrella of the church. Evil things — that people did for God thinking their actions pleased Him.

And the idea behind this series is found in our text for today — which is Malachi chapter 2 — verse 17 — through chapter 3 — verse 5.

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

So if you have your Bible please turn with me to the Old Testament book of Malachi — chapter 2. We’ll begin in verse 17.  

And, if you’re a guest with us, something we like to do at Gateway is let you ask questions. So if you have a question during the sermon, you can text it in to the number printed on the bottom of the sermon notes sheet or you can submit it on the Gateway app.

RE-ANNOUNCE AND READ THE TEXT

Hopefully you’ve had enough time to find the book of Malachi. Here are the words found in Malachi chapter 2. Beginning in verse 17. 

“You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” 1 Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 2:17-3:5 ESV)

SERMON INTRODUCTION

“Where is the God of justice?” I wonder how many of us have asked this question or something like it? Maybe you’re not so sure about the whole “God part” so you’ve just asked, “Where’s justice?” 

We wake up each morning — check the news on our phones — some of us still unfold an actual paper — but regardless of how we get the news — I don’t know about you — but most days I feel like I’m better off avoiding the news altogether as it just seems to be one story after another after another about evil and injustice happening in our world.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” And that sounds great and all — but sometimes it’s hard to see any kind of arc bending towards justice when you take a look around us. I mean — forget the trajectory of the world for a moment and just look at the trajectory of our country — what is going on? 

• Doesn’t it make you sick that we’ve got more and more women sharing stories of abuse? Abuse in Hollywood and in the church! 
• We’ve got racists spewing out words of hate in our country. 
• We’ve got unborn children being murdered in the womb. 
• We’ve got families sleeping on the streets. 
• There’s hopelessness all around us — physical hopelessness, emotional hopelessness, relational hopelessness, spiritual hopelessness — it’s all around us. So much for this being a Happy New Year’s message!

And in seeing all of these injustices — it makes a lot of sense — that out of fear or despair — that we’d cry out “Where is justice?” Or even, “God, where are you in the midst of all of this?” But we’ve got to be careful. 

A few months ago, Robert Bowers opened fire in a synagogue in Pittsburgh — killing 11 people. Found later, were multiple social media posts by Bowers showing his hate for Jewish people. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries during his exchange with the police. And working in the hospital was a Jewish trauma nurse who saw Bowers being wheeled into the emergency room. 

As a child, this nurse was often singled out because of his Jewish faith. Students would write, “Die Jew. Love, Hitler,” on paper and stuff the notes in his locker in high school. So this nurse sees Bowers being brought into his ER while yelling, “Death to all Jews!” 

OK — so — timeout. What’s the “just” thing to do in this scenario? Imagine that this guy’s being wheeled into the ER that you work in. Yeah he’s injured, but he’s being escorted by police because he just murdered 11 people of your faith — pure evil that this sick man has said was good. So what’s the just thing for this nurse to do? What’s justice look like here? What would you do?

Now some of us — if we’re honest — if you were the nurse — you’d go take a smoke break — I don’t even smoke, but suddenly I’ve got the urge to start a bad habit just so I don’t have to take care of this guy — justice. Some of us would be more honest and be like, “Let him die” and walk away. I mean — that’s justice, right — eye for an eye and all? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate of him “getting what he deserves?” 

But the nurse didn’t do that. The nurse said, “I chose to show him empathy.” And the nurse took care of a man who had just murdered people of his own faith.

OK — question. What is it about the way we think of justice — especially here in the US — that makes it so hard for us to think about justice in any way other than “getting what you deserve”? Because the nurse showing this guy empathy doesn’t sit well with us does it? It doesn’t feel like justice does it — the murderer getting treated for his wounds? Is justice always vengeful — is that all that it is? 

Now — if it is — it’s easy to blame God for not doing something to right all of the wrongs we see. But if justice is always “getting what you deserve” then we may be setting ourselves up for a very unhappy ever after — because most of us — dare I say all of us — ignore the ways in which we contribute to the injustices in our world — we’ve justified the reasons why we call things good that God has called evil. And — in doing so — we have no idea how we’ve set the scales of justice against us — if justice is only about getting what you deserve.

And — as bad as that scenario is for us — do you want to know an even worse place to be? The place where you’ve exhausted God’s patience — where — after all of this blame shifting and accusing God — and saying “Why haven’t you done something about all of these bad things that are going on” — after all of that — you find yourself at the end of God’s patience and at the beginning of His just — “I’m going to give you what you deserve” — judgment.

EXHAUSTING GOD (2:17)

That’s how our passage begins. “You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”” (Malachi 2:17 ESV)

Now let’s get an idea of what’s going on in this Old Testament book. The book of Malachi is set up like a courtroom. In the beginning, the nation of Israel is the prosecutor and do you know who’s the defendant? God is. The nation of Israel is putting God on trial and — just so you know — that never goes well. 

So what are their accusations against God? 

• They say He doesn’t love them. 
• That He’s not being a just God — He’s being unjust. 
• They accuse Him of not fulfilling His covenantal responsibilities — they say He’s broken His promises to them. 

And then — and the people really don’t have any say in the matter — God flips the scenario and puts Israel on trial. God’s like — “I’m done with your accusations against me. So let’s do this — it’s my turn.” And — FYI — that’s not a good spot to be in either — where God’s like — “I’m done. Let’s do this.” — that’s not gonna end well for you. 

And with the roles reversed — God is found innocent and guess who’s guilty? Israel is. The verdict is read. And though they’re guilty — we learn something about God’s justice that should surprise us. But we’ll get to that surprise in a moment. 

And so our verse — verse 17 — is right at the end of Israel’s accusations — this is the moment when God turns everything against them. This is what none of us want to experience — where God is done — where He’s exhausted with us — where He’s ready to serve us justice.

So how did they exhaust God — or even better — how do we exhaust God? First, we say that evil is good and that He approves of the evil. 

Now it’s easy to do what we constantly see the Israelites in the Old Testament do — and that’s this:  Evil is always out there. It’s in those people — it’s never in here — evil’s never among us — it’s always among them. Evil is somebody else’s problem — not ours — definitely not mine.

You see, God had given the Israelites clear instructions as to what was good and what was evil. He’s told them plainly that evil isn’t to be tolerated — it’s not to be welcomed — and it’s definitely not to be celebrated. Yet God’s people — let me say that again — God’s people are being found guilty of calling things that God has said are evil — good. And then they go even farther and say that God delights in those who do evil.

So let’s pause and talk about us — and by us — I mean us Jesus followers. So if that’s not you — you’re off the hook here — I want to talk to us Christians — like Malachi was talking to God’s people in his day. So if you’re not a Christian, sit back, get some popcorn, and enjoy the show.

Christian — what has God called evil that you’re calling good? Now stop. Because you’re already thinking about what someone else approves of — so stop that. Don’t let this be some abstract — “let me point the finger at someone else and not wrestle with how I do this” — kind of thing. Ask yourself, “What am I calling good that God has said is evil?” 

Doesn’t the question itself make you sick? If you have any sensitivity at all to God’s Spirit — I don’t know how it can’t make you sick because you know there’s evil junk that you both approve of and hate — you’re attracted to it and you despise it — all at the same time. 

I remember a pastor saying — and this shook me to my core — I heard him say, “How dare we find entertaining something Christ had to die for.” And — at first I was all like, “Legalism.” And then the more I thought about it, I was like, “That’s not legalism; that’s brutally convicting.” 

I don’t even have to get all that specific, do I? I don’t have to say this book is good and this one’s bad. This show’s good and this one’s bad. I don’t have to do any of that because if you have God’s Spirit in you He’s already bringing to mind some things you find entertaining that’s wicked and evil. 

What do you find entertaining that Christ had to die for? 

Sexual immorality? Murder? Hate? Taking the Lord’s name in vain? Racism? Abuse? Poverty? What evil has scratched your “I need to be entertained” itch? 

And then we say that God’s delighted in all of this — delighted in us. How sick are we? 

• We have this way about us where we’re so desperate to justify our evil behavior that we lie to ourselves and say that God’s shifted His moral compass to match ours. 
• Where we don’t have to change — what we do, what we value, what we approve of, what we call good and evil — “you don’t worry about any of that stuff because God loves you just the way that you are. I bet He’ll even change His standards for you — that’s how much He’s in love with you. So don’t worry about a thing — God loves you.” Doesn’t it all sound crazy stupid?
• Now God does love you, but don’t confuse His love for you as agreement with your definition of what’s right and wrong — of what’s good and evil. Our definitions are to align with His — not His with ours.

The second way we exhaust God is by questioning His character — by asking “where is the God of justice?” So we entertain ourselves with injustice and evil and then ask God why He’s not doing something about this whole mess. We don’t even connect our behavior with the evil and injustices happening in our country. Something else is to blame — not us — so why not blame God for not doing anything about it, right? That makes no sense whatsoever.

Now questioning God — itself — isn’t that unusual. For example, we find it in the Old Testament. In the book of psalms questions are asked like, “Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?” (Psalm 89:49 ESV)

“God, where’s Your love — cause I don’t feel it. I’m not experiencing it. I’m not sure where it’s gone, but it’s MIA right now.” That’s a pretty bold question to ask.

We also find, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1a ESV)

“God why have you left me? Abandoned me? Rejected me? I thought You were supposed to be faithful?” 

Let’s be honest — those are some pretty radical accusations against God.

But what’s so disturbing about our question — where is the God of justice — is that now we’re questioning God’s moral character. There’s an accusation — in this question — about whether or not God is morally corrupt. “Maybe You’re not so pure — so holy — so good — after all?” That’s hinted at in our question.

And after approving people who do things that He’s clearly said are evil — after we blur the lines between good and evil — we then question His character! Some of us even question His existence — “well if this is what’s going on in the world the only conclusion I can come up with is that God must not exist.” That’s what some people think.

But as CS Lewis said, “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing the universe with when I called it unjust?”

But most don’t think as deeply as Lewis did. Most of us just say “this is good and this is evil” without any standard to compare to. And because of evil in the world — many people throw out the idea of God all together. But here’s the thing:  If God doesn’t exist — calling evil things good and good things evil — doesn’t even matter. Who cares? Why get so angry over things you think are wrong? Everyone should do whatever they want — if there’s no God — there’s no judgment — so why should we care about justice? 

That was the state of people in Malachi’s day — and I think you can see how we’re not much different. Which leaves us with a question. Not “where is the God of justice” but “what is justice?” And if we keep reading, we find some clues about justice — we see that it’s coming — God isn’t idle or aloof — justice is coming — but it’s coming with a surprise.

THE COMING JUST ONE (3:1-4)

Let’s read in chapter 3. “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.” (Malachi 3:1-4 ESV)

Now it’s easy to miss — here — but the coming of justice — the coming of the just one — shows us something surprising about justice. When we think of justice we usually think of someone who’s done wrong and deserves a consequence — some kind of penalty — they deserve to be judged — we say “they deserve justice.” But that’s only one part of what justice is — the retributive side of justice. 

The other side of justice is the liberative side. An example would be justice for the person in slavery when they’re set free. Justice for the orphan when they’re adopted into a family. Justice for the victim when their story is finally heard and believed. 

One author has said this about God’s justice. “It is not uncommon to find God acting in the Old Testament to liberate those who have been held captive irrespective of whether they actually deserve that liberation, in which case the criteria for so acting are not found in the merit or demerit of that [person] but in the character — the gracious “rightness” — of God himself. In these settings, God is effecting the release of his people from imprisonment by an act of ‘judgment…’”

Here’s what’s being said. 

• Though — as we saw earlier — we put God on trial. 
• Though we say that evil is good and that God’s delighted with the evil things we call good. 

What we see — in these verses — is that though we deserve justice in the way we usually think of it — we should be “getting what we deserve” — you’d think we’d find everyone being promised death in these verses — or the mention of destruction — or even hell — but what we find — to our surprise — is that God sends someone who refines the people. He makes them clean. He purifies the offerings the priests bring so they’re acceptable before God — and not only acceptable — but pleasing to Him. The people get — not retributive justice — they experience liberating justice. And here’s the real shocker — they don’t deserve it!

But there’s another question asked here — but this time the question is for us — not for God — and it’s this:  “Who can endure the day of his coming” — the day of the coming just one? 

• What’s being asked is:  How do you know if you’re going to experience the retributive justice of God or His liberating justice? 
• How do you know if you’ll experience justice that leads to judgment or justice that leads to freedom?
• When you stand before God, what kind of justice is coming your way?
• Which side of the justice coin will you receive? Is there even any way to know with certainty which justice is coming your way? 

And the answer is yes. The way of experiencing God’s liberating justice is through the liberating work of Jesus.

CHRIST CONNECTION

For it’s through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that we find freedom from our enslavement to sin — freedom from our enslavement to calling evil things good — even freedom from our enslavement of questioning God’s moral character. Jesus came to set captives free from Satan, sin, death, and Hell. He came to cleanse His people of their sin — to make them sparkle like a bride on her wedding day in a spotless white gown. 

In the gospels, you find Jesus telling people to be watchful — to be prepared — for His return. He tells them it will be unexpected that — like in the days of Noah — people will be going about life with their plans as usual on the day of His return. But on that day, there will be a refining. A refining — not just of God’s people — but of all creation. A day of justice — both of the retributive and liberating kind. Those who haven’t put their faith in Christ will experience the retributive justice of God and those who have put their faith in Christ will experience the freedom of God’s liberating justice as the chains of sin and sorrow and death and mortality all release their hold on them — forever.

And this coming day will be the ultimate act of God’s justice. While Jesus was here on earth, He showed us that God is a just God. He showed compassion and mercy to those society had excluded — the lepers, women, the poor, and children. Jesus challenged unjust social practices in His day. He rejected the idea of ethnic superiority when He talked with a woman in Samaria. He gave dignity to those considered as second class citizens. He befriended those with addictions and those who sold their bodies for money. 

Jesus advocated for the oppressed. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, cast out demons, and even showed compassion towards those who said things like, “I believe you can do this, but help me to really believe.” Jesus showed many the liberating justice of God.

But know that Jesus confronted the powerful — whose power was money, or spiritual authority, or political — Jesus didn’t care. He confronted those who used their power to call evil good. He opposed those who thought God was on their side when they were ignoring God altogether. He confronted injustice wherever He found it. Jesus showed many the retributive justice of God.

So what does this tell us? It tells us that to speak of justice and yet — reject Jesus — is to dismiss the just one. And when it comes to God’s justice — and the Day of God’s justice that’s before every one of us — what makes for a “healthy” view of that day is to look to it with an assurance because of God’s grace as revealed to us in Jesus — who died for us while we were still sinners. When you look to the Day of God’s judgment with confidence in knowing that — through faith in Jesus — that day is bringing to you the fulfillment of God’s liberating justice because Jesus took God’s retributive justice for you on the cross.

Where We’re Headed (3:5)

Which is the justice we see in our last verse.

“”Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:5 ESV)

Not all will experience the liberating justice of God. Some will experience the swift judgment of God on the day of Christ’s return.

And what we’re going to do — in the rest of this series — is look at these different groups that are mentioned in this last verse and show how the gospel is the only answer that ends in freedom for someone on the Day of Judgment. 

We’re going to look at sorcerers — well kind of — we’re going to look at other religions. How does God’s justice relate to all of the religions in our world? How do people of other religions discover the liberating justice we’ve been talking about? We’ll look at that next week. 

In two weeks — we’ll look at God’s justice for the foreigners among us — that’s what the word sojourner means. Pastor Ben is going to help us see how God’s justice applies in this area of life. Then Pastor Ben will help us explore how God’s justice applies to the area of life. 

I’ll help us connect what the Bible has to say about God’s justice with lying — swearing falsely. Then we’ll wrap up this series, by looking at God’s justice for the adulterer. 

And listen — I know some of you are already marking your calendars so you miss that weekend — but I am praying especially for this week in the series as I want us all to see how God’s justice applies here — because there is freedom for the adulterer — we won’t ignore God’s judgment for the unrepentant — but my hope is that many who walk in shame because of this sin will find the freedom that Christ offers.

So that’s where we’re headed over the next few weeks.

CONCLUSION

God is just. We may question His justice. We may question His existence. We may question His ways. But what I hope we’ll see in this series, is that there’s much more to God’s justice than what we may first think. He is a just judge — but He’s also a liberating rescuer. God sent His Son to set captives free and I hope that freedom is what many of us will find as we explore God’s justice together. Let’s pray. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for Your justice. It is more rich and complex than we give it credit. Your justice isn’t just about You giving people what they deserve — there’s a sweetness to Your justice as well — a freedom offered through it — a liberating power that sets captives free. Thank you for the freedom You offer to all of us through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. Help us to walk in the freedom He’s made possible. Calling good what You have called good. Calling evil what You have called evil. And not confusing the two. Help us to be people concerned with justice in our world because we worship a God who is just. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

BENEDICTION

May you go, walking in the liberating justice that Jesus offers. Amen.

God loves you. And I love you too. You are sent.