INTRO.- ILL.- A shoplifter was caught red-handed trying to steal a watch from an exclusive jewelry store. "Listen," said the shoplifter, "I know you don’t want any trouble either. What do you say I just buy the watch and we forget about this?"
The manager agreed and wrote up the sales slip. The crook looked at the slip and said, "This is a little more than I intended to spend. Can you show me something less expensive?"
Brothers and sisters, we know that this is not how it works. If you’re caught stealing you go to jail. You don’t get to bargain your way out of it. If someone lets you make a bargain to keep you from going to jail something may well be rotten in the wood pile!
We must admit that there are many unjust things in this world or many injustices. There is much deceit and crookedness in our world.
ILL.- A West Texas judge has rejected country singer Willie Nelson’s plea bargain that would have resolved his marijuana possession case with a fine. Hudspeth County Judge Becky Dean-Walker told The Associated Press Wednesday that she rejected prosecutor Kit Bramblett’s suggestion that Nelson plead guilty and pay a $500 fine for possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor not punishable with jail time.
Dean-Walker says, "It’s not right simply because he doesn’t do that for anybody else." She wants Nelson charged with the misdemeanor of possession of marijuana, which could mean up to one year in jail.
It doesn’t sound like Willy Nelson is going to get off without a bigger fine or perhaps a jail sentence. There are many times, however, in the lives of the rich and famous where they do get off easy.
There are many injustices in our world! One of the biggest that made the news is the murder trial of Casey Anthony.
ILL.- I saw a Fox news online survey where people were asked “Do You Agree With the Casey Anthony Verdict?”
Yes. The prosecution did not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 16.4% (37,043 votes)
No. I think Casey got away with killing her daughter. 72.48% (163,669 votes)
Not sure. I think Casey did something but the prosecution didn’t convince me. 11.12% (25,114 votes) Total Votes: 225,826
In the light of what many consider to be an injustice, let’s consider what God says.
PROP.- Some Biblical thoughts we must remember when it comes to justice and the injustice of this world.
1- We must remember to judge the world
2- We must remember not to judge others
3- We must remember there will be an ultimate
judgment
I. WE MUST REMEMBER TO JUDGE THE WORLD
ILL.- A tourist stopped at a combination service station and general store in the country. An old man was basking in the sun, holding a short piece of rope.
“What’s the rope for, sir?” the tourist asked.
“It’s a weather gauge,” replied the old man.
Puzzled the tourist asked, “How can a piece of rope tell the weather?”
“Simple, sonny,” said the old man. “When it swings back and forth the wind is blowing. When it gets wet it’s raining.”
That’s one way to predict the weather and you wouldn’t miss doing it that way.
Luke 12:54-57 54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? 57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?
What a powerful thought! What a powerful question! Jesus is saying, “You can discern the weather but you can’t discern what is right or wrong in life?!
We know about many things in life but what about life itself?
ILL.- I worked with a meat cutter at Safeway many years ago that knew everything about cars and drag racing. In fact, he had an old Willys car (1930 some model) with a big Oldsmobile engine that I believe was supercharged. He built that car and he’d race it at the Mokan Dragway near Joplin, MO. It was fast and he knew his cars.
He knew how to cut meat too. He was the meat department manager. He knew he business, but he didn’t know the Lord’s business. In fact, he didn’t know the Lord. His wife was a Christian but he was not. He knew many things about life, but he didn’t know the giver of life!
Brothers and sisters, no matter how much we know about the things of this world and there is one thing we must know and that’s the Lord! And by knowing the Lord we can discern what is going on in this world.
WE MUST JUDGE THE WORLD! We must judge the world in the sense of making judgments about the world and about what is right and wrong in order to do right in this world!
John 8:12-16 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.
How powerful are the words of Jesus! He said, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness...” How true are those words! When you know the Lord you know the truth about life. You see the big picture about life.
He said, “My testimony is valid. My words are valid, accurate, athoritative, true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going.”
Brothers and sisters, when we know the Lord and we know His word we will judge the world, we will make judgments about this world. We will know what is right and wrong. We will say, “That’s not right. I’m not going to participate in that. God’s Word says thus and so.”
II Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Psalm 119:1-3 “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways.”
Psalm 119:9-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
We must judge the world and the things of this world with the Word of God in order to know what is right and wrong and to do what is right in the sight of God.
II. WE MUST REMEMBER NOT TO JUDGE OTHERS
Matthew 7:1-4 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”
When it comes to the matter of judging others, we’re all guilty. How funny or strange that we can see all kinds of little wrongs in other people’s lives but never the big wrongs in our own lives. We are quick to criticize others, but not oursleves, not our own conduct. WE’RE ALL GUILTY AS CHARGED BY JESUS!
John Dryden (English poet) said: Everyone is eagle-eyed to see another’s faults and deformity.
ILL.- Remember Luke 18 where Jesus told about the two who went up to the temple to pray? One was a Pharisee who prayed, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other people; robbers, evil-doers, adulterers....” But the tax collector was correct in praying, “God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
Romans 14:3-5 “The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”
When I read this I almost laughed, because we all tend to look down on others. “What! You eat that stuff! Why, I wouldn’t feed that to a hog!” Or “You mean to tell me that you don’t like beans and cornbread?” “Something is wrong with you. You’re unAmerican! You’re not even Christian!”
In the context of the Christian life, we can eat whatever we want, however, there are some people who out of strong Christian conviction may not eat certain foods like pork or perhaps any kind of meat. We might think that’s strange but we must not be critical in our judgment of them.
Romans 14:10 “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”
When we look down on someone it’s the same thing as judging them to be inferior.
ILL.- A new family joined a church where I preached years ago and another lady in the church said, “They’re not our class of people!” She always thought of herself and her family as being better than other people.
James 4:10-12 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James is saying that whenever we judge another human being we are also guilty of judging God’s law of love, because God loves all men equally.
We certainly don’t want to be guilty of judging God’s law. To judge God’s law is to judge God! And who are we to do that?
To judge God is to say we are higher and better God. And that’s exactly what got Satan booted out of heaven. And it could boot some people out of heaven too!
III. WE MUST REMEMBER THERE WILL BE AN ULTIMATE JUDGMENT
ILL.- The floor manager of a department store got tired of his job. He gave it up and joined the police force. Several months later a friend asked him how he liked being a policeman.
“Fine, the pay is good and so are the hours, but what I like best of all is that the customer is always wrong.”
When it comes to the judgment or the judgment of God we’re all guilty, we’re all wrong and there’s only one way to be saved. And we know the way, the truth and the life.
Acts 17:30-31 “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”
God sees the true you. God sees heart and knows our motives.
II Corinthians 5:9-10 “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
Hebrews 12:22-24 “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
ILL.- Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields, a friend visited Fields’ hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. Asked what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, "I’m looking for loopholes."
There are no loopholes in the Bible. If there is any loophole or perhaps any way of escaping damnation it is through the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ!
ILL. - Justice Horace Gray of the Supreme Court (1881 -1902) once said to a man who appeared before him in a lower court and escaped penalty by some legal
technicality: “I know that you are guilty, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge. There you will be dealt according to justice and not according to law.”
The meaning is that you will be dealt with according to the just law of God and not the law of man.
If a person is truly guilty of a horrible crime in this world and they get a “not guilty” verdict in this world it doesn’t mean they’ll get off scott free in the next life. THERE IS ONLY WAY OUT, ONE WAY OF ESCAPE. And that’s through repentance and the grace of God!
II Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
CONCLUSION-----------------------
Don’t judge others too harshly. Judge yourself more than you judge others. Take stock of your own life. Judge what is happening in this world and live according to God’s Word. And remember there will be a final judgment.
There are many unjust things in this life and world, but God will set all things right in the next. And be assured that the unjust of this world will not be a part of His world!
Revelation 21:27 “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
