Injustice for All

I read an illustration...You fall off your bicycle and break your leg. You go to the hospital and they fix it. You stagger around on crutches for awhile. Then, rather gingerly, you start to walk normally again … . There is such a thing as putting something to rights, as in fixing it, as getting it back on track. You can fix a broken leg, a broken toy, a broken television. So why can't we fix injustice. It isn't for lack of trying.

We seek justice and that is plain as day. We seek injustice when we are the offending party. Justice is one of those love/hate things. But as we go through our time in Christ here on earth, justice become more and more confusing. Our current culture continues its redefining of values and morality that we find in many ways the good being called evil and evil things being called good. Pop culture continues its conquest and it continues to influence the church to the point where we question who is really evangelizing who.

So many today that we trust to know the difference between right and wrong and able to tell the difference between justice and injustice we are just not sure anymore. This is not just our government… even in the church there is scandal after scandal that its causing many in our nation to just avoid church altogether. The SBC alone has reported a loss of 1.3 million members in the last three years. The number 1 reason given is that people just do not trust the church anymore… the abuse of power and indiscretion of our convention has much to do with it. We are supposed to know better right?

The repercussions are already there, but what will we do when the judgement of God comes. There is a rise in atheism coming from people in the church. Sure we already suffer from functional atheism in the church, but now… it does not take much to just fall into absolute atheism. So many leaving the church because they just don’t believe anymore. When are we gonna wake up to the reality of this… people are falling into unbelief everyday, the judgement of God is coming, and our pulpits continue to preach the joys of the good life. The lies of living like kings. The deception of prosperity. Forgetting that the Bible warns of the sorrows and difficulty that comes with wealth and yet we still want it. Are we not able to tell the difference between justice and injustice in the church? Are we so lost that we are starting to love evil and hate good? Are we no longer able to tell the difference between good and evil?

Instead of preaching the reality of the law of God, we are embracing the redefinition of the law of God. We no longer want to call sin a sin anymore. We don’t want to offend the world so we no longer embrace the love the sinner hate the sin… we embrace the because we love the sinner we gotta accept his sin. But lets not call it a sin, lets call it a mistake, lets call it broken, or lets just get with the times and call it a good and natural thing.

And yet it still remains… judgement is real, it is coming and it will be terrible. What will you do when He comes? How many of us evangelical christians are gonna be ashamed of what we have done? Is there hope for us today? For sure… lets take a look.

Micah 3:1–4 NLT

I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones. Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot. Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!”

The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.

Injustice

Inhumane

Incredible

The first thing we will look at today is the reality of injustice on the part of all leaders in our world today. Second, we will look at the continued inhumane treatment of image bearers of God throughout history. Finally, we will see the incredible display of grace and mercy as the Lord does not abandon us but brings to us His incredible salvation for the glory of God.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world causes us to be apathetic to the looming judgement of God upon mankind, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that will cause us to see the reality of the coming judgement and rejoice in the salvation that we have in Christ and in Christ alone.

I. Injustice

- Do you know right from wrong?

A. Judgement is still coming… If you are a leader specifically governmental and judicial, you are supposed to be occupied in making sure that justice is done. You are supposed to be concerned about justice may be translated as “It is your duty to know what people ought to do” or “It is your responsibility to see that people act justly.”

B. But the Hebrew word here… Yah dah, is not just intellectual discernment but a preferred choice… used for “to love.”

Genesis 4:1 ESV

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

C. Which means… it is supposed to be an affectionate knowing. Leaders are to be intimately aware of justice and injustice. This comes with the job. This comes with the territory. It is the necessary pre-condition for who you are. It is unthinkable that you would not know justice and injustice. Instead you are the exact opposite of what you are supposed to be.

D. This is a horrible thing to be. You are those who hate good and love evil. Or another way… you hate to do good things and you love to do evil things.

Dr. Dempster - These judicial leaders define the good as the objects of their lusts and the evil as the obstacle that prevents their fulfillment.

E. This is a clear issue.

Amos 5:15 NLT

Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.

Romans 12:9 NLT

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.

F. And why is this a serious issue… it is a woe. What sorrow awaits. This is a clear warning with the worst kind of set up. Clearly compatible with...

Isaiah 5:20 ESV

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

G. This is the essence or nature of what it is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil. What sorrow awaits us when we call good evil and evil good.

H. They who are supposed to know intimately the reality of justice and injustice. They have become the opposite of what they are supposed to be. And they have done the worst imaginable… the unpardonable. They hate good and love evil.

I. But that is not the end of the accusation

II. Inhumane

- They practice spiritual cannibalism.

A. They were accused in the first cycle of robbing people of their homes and their possessions leaving nothing for the next generation. Now they are accused of robbing the skin of the people they are supposed to be serving. Tearing skin and flesh is seen here to show their unfeeling indifference to human exploitation and human suffering. They are supposed to care for them, but now they are robbing them of all human dignity.

B. And the people that they are supposed to be serving are now being served up to be eaten.

Psalm 14:4 NLT

Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord.

C. To show how badly they treat the people the most brutal and graphic pictures are used to describe it by the Lord. The living God is accusing them of cannibalism. You chop them up like meat. You break their bones which signified their using the marrow to make soup. You are like a butcher. You are like a wolf who devours its prey.

D. This is an awful thing to be accused of. In my studies in cultural anthropology we see the practice of cannibalism in some cultures and some are so embarrassed of the practice by their ancestors that today it is almost a hate crime to bring it up in conversation. Don’t even bring it up… even generations later still carry the shame of this practice.

E. And let us not think that this cannibalism is not happening in our culture. In Micah’s time even though there might have been the practice of cannibalism in surrounding nations, it was still to be understood as metaphorical. And is metaphorical cannibalism happening today? You bet it is. In a consumeristic culture, it is only a matter of time before we start to consume our own.

F. We even have a category called… “human resources.” It was done harmlessly, i’m sure. But it is inevitable that we would start to see people as something to be used. We now become a thing, a use, a function. Eventually, we stop seeing a person as an image bearer of God. We are starting to see people as less than even the animals. We are not animals, we are a disease and or a function to be used and disposed of.

G. Beauty is not seen as something to be admired anymore. It is something to be objectified and used to sell products on TV. And even more the human body is objectified to be seen as just things that exist to satisfy sexual and sensual desires.

H. Athletes and celebrities are not immune from this… Hollywood is known for using them up and kicking them to the curb when they get what they want. Athletes used and abused by their teams and simply cut when they are done.

I. Been privy to some information and training of human trafficking in our world today. This is a multibillion dollar industry. Not just sex trafficking, but even labor trafficking… use them to make money and to give you the evil that you love, and then when they are done cast them away like rubbish. How many people are sacrificing their actual bodies for money and fame making more money for those who write the checks.

J. We do more and more in our culture see people as resources more than image bearers of God. Our culture devours. We devour to give us the evil we love and to rid us of the good we hate. Our leaders today use people to get what they want. We think we are being served, but instead we are being served. The wolves come to devour and devour they do. They say they pray for us, but instead they prey on us.

K. And one day… the leaders will cry out to God for help.

III. Incredible

- The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

A. And there is gonna be a time where the leaders are gonna be in trouble and will cry out to the Lord in horrible distress. Ironically, they are gonna be crying out for justice. They will be crying out for the Lord to love good and to hate evil. They will be urging the Lord to serve. And what will be the result.

B. Because of what you have done, I will not even look at you. God will abandon them. There will be no answer from God. There will be no salvation. They will experience the worse thing a human can experience. Abandonment from God. Silence from God.

Proverbs 21:13 NLT

Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.

C. This is the reality of judgement. God did not listen and judgement came and the Israelites were taken into captivity. All that the Lord had promised concerning that judgement came to pass and it was a horrible catastrophe. Read Jeremiah. He did not listen. He did not stop it. He did not save them.

D. Today, know that judgement is real, its coming, and it will be terrible. And when it comes it will be too late. The sins we commit today are the same as that of the time of Micah. God will bring judgement on those who thrive in injustice. Those who love evil and hate the good. Who do not love their God and love their neighbor. Who use and abuse other people. Why would we think our punishment will be any different? Do not be deceived… justice is coming.

E. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous no not one. We are by nature children of wrath. By nature we are enemies of God. The wages of sin is death. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. If you have broken the smallest of commands you are as guilty as those who have broken all of them. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. We like sheep have gone astray each of us to his own way. We are guilty of doing what is right in our own eyes.

F. We deserve to be abandoned by God. We deserve to be forsaken. But He has not abandoned us. Judgement is coming and when it comes it will be too late, but now is the time. The Lord has made a way for us to be saved from the coming judgement to come. The sword of Christ is coming but we can be saved. Yes this is the gospel… today salvation is here.

G. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

H. And the promises continue. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Salvation is here.

I. Right now… God has not abandoned us. The word was made flesh and he dwelt among us. He came to us. We are blessed with His presence. He promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He said He will be with us always till the end of the age.