THE GOSPEL, LAW, AND JUSTICE
Notes
Transcript
Handout
TRUE JUSTICE
TRUE JUSTICE
1 Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”
2 The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”
4 But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”
5 And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”
6 But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”
7 As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
9 And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
10 And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.
11 But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
I. PAUL EXPECTED AN INQUIRY INTO THE TRUTH. (v. 1-2)
A. Paul appealed to the law of God, not the whims of a corrupt man. (v. 3; whitewashed referred to the priest’s sinful heart that broke the law and unjustly struck an “imager of God.” )
Just Laws flow from God.
His Precepts.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
His Promises.
Frederick Douglas saw the danger of relying merely upon the will of men. He called upon God and the nature God created us to live in view of injustice.
This speech came on the occasion of July 4th 76 years after the declaration.
I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered,
in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call
in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to
perpetuate slavery — the great sin and shame of America! “I will not equivocate; I will not excuse;” I
will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man,
whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess
to be right and just.
Later, Douglas notes that it is not the system, but the feckless silence to obvious injustices that allow the harm of slavery to continue.
Fellow-citizens! there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed
themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the
Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful
thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY
DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway?
or is it in the temple? It is neither.
Sadly, today, ignorance of the Bible and those early champions of justice and truth has adorned our educated elites. They would doom others to the tyranny of emotion and shackle us with a new form of injustice. Rather than lifting all men to equality, they want to create a new form of injustice. They want to surrender conscience and truth at the altar of human centered ideas and outcomes.
Douglas saw the injustice as a lack of commitment to the Lord and the laws of our land. He saw the need to establish justice and truth upon the character of God, not the administrations of people who compromise for gain or out of fear.
Ultimately, Just laws reflect His Person.
There is a tendency in our nature to ignore or confuse the Greatest Commandment, To love God with all your heart mind soul and strength. So often people merely want to claim the golden rule. We make ourselves to be the measure. When we do so, we do not feel the call to honor God. We ignore the worship of God, we ignore the danger of false idols, we become ignorant of the dangers of lying. We make excuses.
Beloved, there is a high price to low living. When we don’t seek to live up to God’s commands in the clear meaning, we become destined for the ditch of strife with each other and enmity with God Himself.
B. Paul did not blame the system for the sin of the Priest.
“If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself.”
“If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself.”
― James Madison
C. The Problem of came from the character of the Priest, not the system. He should have been checked. We see:
Don Lemon, a liberal commentator on CNN called out Nancy Pelosi claiming she had been set up by a salon owner. He said, come on, just admit you broke the rules.
We can say that of any many politicians. All will fail at some point. They are not perfect, but when God is no longer feared and revered, they become their own standard. We will inevitably see:
Abuse of Power.
Preferential treatment. Do as I say, not as I do. (v. 4-5)
II. The Danger of Disrespecting the Rule of Law.
Interesting that that some later manuscripts have a caveat added after verse nine: ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ
And there was loud shouting, and some of the scribes from the party of the Pharisees stood up and contended sharply, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man! But what if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
Most witnesses end the verse with “spoken to him?” but some later witnesses include “let us not fight against God.”
A. Tribalism. (Sadducees and Pharisees started battling).
They didn’t merely debate, they began to become violent. It went from looking for truth and justice to subjugating and fighting each other.
B. Terror. (v. 10; Imagine seeing someone torn apart?)
We believe in Marx freud and darwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and
after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes
UFO’s and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think
His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same-
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its
compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps
Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and
bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors .
And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth
that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds,
And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be
the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.
Steve Turner, (English journalist), “Creed,” his satirical poem on the modern mind. Taken from Ravi Zacharias’ book Can Man live Without God? Pages 42-44
II. What do we learn about the dangers of seeking Justice without accountability before God and others?
A. Once God and His Standards get removed, abuse will follow.
The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible Acts 23:9
Acts 23:9
ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ
And there was loud shouting, and some of the scribes from the party of the Pharisees stood up and contended sharply, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man! But what if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
Most witnesses end the verse with “spoken to him?” but some later witnesses include “let us not fight against God.”
Take time to value the gift of family with those you love.
Thank God for the freedom you have in our country. Pray for ways you can support the freedoms that allow for religious expression.
Be open to opportunities to assist or speak for those who get treated unjustly. Think about bullying or unkind treatment as well as bigger things.