Obedience in Justice

u003c!u002du002d wp:heading u002du002du003enu003ch2u003eIntroductionu003c/h2u003enu003c!u002du002d /wp:heading u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennThis week’s lesson moves us into the last unit of lessons u003ca href=u0022https://newfoundfaith.org/tag/fall-quarter-22/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003efor this quarteru003c/au003e with this unit of lessons being titled – Obedience in Society.  As you know, I am u003cemu003ebig u003c/emu003eon preaching to the conduct of the believer as I just finished preaching a u003ca href=u0022https://newfoundfaith.org/tag/faithful-and-just/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eseries of sermons on being more than fairu003c/au003e in our society.  We will see the Lord’s instructions for how the children of Israel were to conduct themselves, and we will be able to apply these instructions to ourselves.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:heading u002du002du003enu003ch2u003eBeing Justu003c/h2u003enu003c!u002du002d /wp:heading u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennOur lesson opens with the Lord instructing the children of Israel not to put their hands with the wicked and an unrighteous witness; they were not supposed to circulate a u003cemu003efalse u003c/emu003ereport (v.1).  So, why do you suppose that God instructed the children of Israel u003cemu003enot u003c/emu003eto put their hands with the wicked and the unrighteous?nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:heading {u0022levelu0022:3} u002du002du003enu003ch3u003eNot having part with the wickedu003c/h3u003enu003c!u002du002d /wp:heading u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennWell, let us consider for a moment who the wicked and the unrighteous are?  Those who are truly wicked and unrighteous are those that live in u003cemu003etotal rejectionu003c/emu003e of God and His instructions.  So, in other words, the wicked and unrighteous are sinners.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennAnother question I feel I must ask is this:  can the wicked and the unrighteous be just?  Let us consider what it means to be just.  Now, to be just is to be proper, fair, and u003cemu003elawfulu003c/emu003e.  So, one that is unjust is one that is unfair, dishonest, and faithless.  The wicked and the unrighteous cannot be just by u003cemu003eGod’s u003c/emu003estandards.  The reason being is because the wicked and the unrighteous live in a manner where they choose not to abide by u003cemu003eHis u003c/emu003eway.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennSo, why did the Lord desire for the children of Israel not to join in with the wicked and an unrighteous witness?  I believe the answer is very clear to us.  God desired for the children of Israel to be as He is — God is both faithful and just.  Let us remember the wickedness of the children of Israel around this point in time and how they questioned the Lord and worshiped the calf of gold.  God was faithful and just towards them.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennWhy should the children of Israel have acted any differently than the Lord?  This same thing holds true for us today.  God is a faithful and just God in how He deals with us and our wickedness.  So, the Lord desires for the believer to be as He is – faithful and just.  Again, this was a big talking point in my most recent series of sermons that I certainly encourage all of you to go check out if you have not done so already.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:heading {u0022levelu0022:3} u002du002du003enu003ch3u003eNot Perverting Justiceu003c/h3u003enu003c!u002du002d /wp:heading u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennWith that understanding in mind, God then instructed the children of Israel not to follow a crowd to do evil, nor were they to take the side that would u003cemu003epervert u003c/emu003ejustice (v.2).  Again, I ask, why do you suppose the Lord did not want the children of Israel to follow a crowd to do evil?nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennThese questions may sound rather simple and the answer may seem the more obvious, but I feel that these questions are important for us to ask today.  The reason I say this is because there is work to do u003cemu003etoday u003c/emu003ethat can benefit u003cemu003emore u003c/emu003ethan just one group of people.  You see, the Lord loves u003cemu003eall u003c/emu003epeople and He has commissioned us, as believers, not to serve just some people but to serve u003cemu003eall u003c/emu003epeople.  We are to minister the good news to all people.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennGod desired for the children of Israel to treat all people u003cemu003eequallyu003c/emu003e.  Notice there in the next verse, that God even instructed the children of Israel not to show bias in a dispute to someone just because they were poor (v.3).  In essence, if the poor had done something wrong, they should have been held accountable as someone who may have been more fortunate.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennAgain, this is God being u003cemu003efaithful u003c/emu003eto all people.  Think about it, when He gave the world His only begotten Son, did the Lord not give Him to everybody?  The children of Israel were, again, supposed to be as their Father who is u003cemu003erighteousu003c/emu003e.  For all of us who genuinely believe today, we are to be just as our Lord – righteous.  The unrighteous would move in a manner that perverts judgment, and therefore, justice as well.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:heading {u0022levelu0022:3} u002du002du003enu003ch3u003eDoing right by the enemyu003c/h3u003enu003c!u002du002d /wp:heading u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennLet us remember that the Lord, in the Ten Commandments, commanded the children of Israel to love their neighbor.  In the commandments, they were commanded not to murder, commit adultery, nor steal from their neighbor (u003ca href=u0022https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex.+20%3A13-15u0026amp;version=NKJVu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eEx. 20:13-15u003c/au003e).  The children of Israel were not to bear a false witness against their neighbor (u003ca href=u0022https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex.+20%3A16u0026amp;version=NKJVu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eEx. 20:16u003c/au003e) nor to covet anything of their neighbor (u003ca href=u0022https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex.+20%3A17u0026amp;version=NKJVu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eEx. 20:17u003c/au003e).nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennWe will recall that Christ shared with us that loving the Lord with our whole heart is first and great commandments.  However, and this is very important, the second great commandment is like the first in that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (u003ca href=u0022https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.+22%3A36-40u0026amp;version=NKJVu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eMatt. 22:36-40u003c/au003e).  So, all of what we are seeing here today about the conduct of the children of Israel is falling in line with what was commanded in the Ten Commandments.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennTaking this love and justice even further, we will see that God had instructions for how the children of Israel were to u003cemu003edo rightu003c/emu003e by their enemies.  The Lord instructed that if the people came across the u003cemu003elostu003c/emu003e cattle of the enemy, they were not to simply let it remain lost.  No, God called the people to return the cattle of the enemy (v.4).  Even more, if the cattle of the enemy was injured, they were to help with the injury (v.5).nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennSo, again, this all falls into line with what Christ taught about loving your enemies, even when they spite and persecute you (u003ca href=u0022https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.+5%3A44u0026amp;version=NKJVu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eMatt. 5:44u003c/au003e).  This is such a hard u003cemu003eideal u003c/emu003efor believers to understand today, but the idea is that we are to u003cemu003estill u003c/emu003eshow love to those who may not love us.  Why should we do this?  Let us consider that when the world u003cemu003ehated Godu003c/emu003e, He gave the world His only begotten Son.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:heading {u0022levelu0022:3} u002du002du003enu003ch3u003eNot perverting righteousnessu003c/h3u003enu003c!u002du002d /wp:heading u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennThe next instructions from the Lord speak to being one that moves to always uphold righteousness.  God instructed the people not to u003cemu003epervert u003c/emu003ethe judgment of the poor in his dispute (v.6).nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennWhat’s interesting about this is that we just read that the children of Israel were instructed not to be u003cemu003ebias u003c/emu003eto the poor; they weren’t supposed to always take the side of the poor, especially in a matter where they had done wrong.  So, what is stated here is essentially what was stated earlier which is to say, be u003cemu003efair u003c/emu003ein any judgment of the poor.  If the poor had done wrongly, they should be held accountable.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennIf the poor brought something up that was wrong against them, the people were to listen to them and to move u003cemu003efairly u003c/emu003eon their behalf.  I feel like this is something that is greatly missing in our conceited society.  As I said all of last month, there are several high minded people that solely live and look out for themselves rather than live and look out for others.  We are to be more than fair, u003ca href=u0022https://newfoundfaith.org/true-to-our-calling/u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022 data-type=u0022postu0022 data-id=u00229891u0022u003ewe are to be faithful and justu003c/au003e — be righteous in your judgment.  The way that you and I can be righteous in our judgment is by being one that follows and lives by the Lord’s instructions.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennIn being one to uphold righteousness, God instructed the children of Israel to stay far from a u003cemu003efalse matteru003c/emu003e; not to kill the innocent and righteous.  The Lord said that He would not u003cemu003ejustify u003c/emu003ethe wicked (v.7).  So, when one u003cemu003eknew u003c/emu003ethat a matter was u003cemu003enot rightu003c/emu003e, they were not to stand on the side of what was not right.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennThis, again, is something that many believers struggle with today – what is right and what is wrong when it comes to dealing with our neighbor.  How can we determine what is right and what is wrong?  Well, according to scripture, we determine what is right or wrong by whether or not it u003cemu003eupliftsu003c/emu003e another.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennSo, are you bringing harm to another or are you helping to uplift?  If the action that you take is an action that brings harm to another, then you are not doing right by that person, are you?  If the action that you take is an action that uplifts another, then you would be doing right by that person.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennIn not perverting righteousness, the children of Israel were not supposed to take bribes; this would cause them to pervert their judgment (v.8).  Righteousness should never be for sale.  God’s righteousness cannot be bought.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennLastly, the children of Israel were instructed not to u003cemu003eoppress u003c/emu003ea stranger (v.9); they were not supposed to treat them unfairly.  Again, this was something that I preached about in my most recent series of sermons.  We, as genuine believers, ought not ever move to burden others to the point that they cannot even move.  Again, the believer should be uplifters in our society; never should the believer be one to bring others down.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ennThese instructions which were given to the children of Israel are also instructions, through the teachings of Christ, that we should be living by.  If more people would live by these instructions, we would not be seeing what we see happening today in our society.nnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e