"Getting Clear About God's Justice" - 2 Samuel 21:1-14

How can King David help us get clear about God's justice?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, I'm so grateful to be with all of you here this morning. It's the joy of my heart to be with you. And uh, you know, we're getting towards the end of a sermon series for our visitors and those who've been kind of in and out as we've gotten towards the summertime here. We're wrapping up our series in 2 Samuel. I think this is the twelfth week in the series. We're gonna finish it out here in the month of June. And uh the series, as you can see on the screen, is called Faithful and Flawed. We've been learning a lot from King David, a man of great faith who ran after God's own heart, but also a man of great flaws who ran after God's amazing grace. And that's really the key is that grace and truth. We're gonna balance that today with a really heavy topic. In fact, today, as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 21, verses 1 through 14, the title here today, and this is kind of a heavy one, I'm gonna be honest, but it's one that we need to face, both in our eternity and also in our earthly life here right now, is getting clear about God's justice. Getting clear about God's justice. Now I want to begin by just sharing a story. I don't think what I'm gonna share with you is unique. I bet some of you have been through this before, but it's a good reminder about how God has been delaying his justice, but there's gonna come a day where everything in the darkness is gonna be brought to the light. So when I was at seminary North Carolina, I got a phone call one day from a good friend of mine. I call him Papa John. He lives in Emmanuel County. He's been a kind of an adopted father for me uh for the last two decades. Uh and he lives again, lives out in Emmanuel County. Well, I was at seminary, North Carolina, and a scammer called his phone. And the scammer, when he answered the phone, said, Papa? Well, I'm the only one that calls him Papa. So he said, Is this Bo? And the scammer said, Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is Bo. Is everything okay, Bo? No, no, Papa, no, I'm I'm in desperate need. I need you to wire me some cash quickly. And he basically told him to go down to the local store and get green dot cards and put I don't know how many hundreds of dollars on several cards and then call him back and read these numbers to him. Well, all this happened, and then after the transaction took place, I'm not sure how much money shifted hands. Papa John kind of started saying, wait a minute, that didn't sound like Bo. That didn't come from his number that's saved in my phone. And he's in North Carolina at seminary, and he didn't mention anything about that, so he went in his contacts and called me. And he said, Please tell me that you've that you're the one that's been calling me the the last several hours. And I said, No, Papa John, I've been in class all day. He said, Okay, I've been scammed. So later that day, the scammer calls him back asking for more money. And Papa John said, Listen, I have figured out at this point that you're a scam. I just have one question and one statement. And the scammer said, What? He said, Why did you do it? And the scammer said very clearly, sir, I have a drug addiction and I'll do whatever it takes to get my next fix. I'm addicted. And John very plainly, very calmly, without losing his cool, he said, Son, I'm gonna pray for you that God will redeem you because you need to know there is a day of reckoning. And I'll never forget the way Papa John told me that on the phone. He said, I told that young man, there is a day of reckoning. This is a reminder to all of us that every single thing that we do in the dark, it will eventually come to the light. Now, what I want to say, I want to give you an image in your mind that you and I need to have today, okay? Because I think when a message like this is preached, people go way in one extreme or the other. Okay? Some are so ironclad, passionate about this that they're scared to death to make a mistake that God's gonna strike them down, and then you got people way over here that say, Well, I'm saved and I'm good, so I'm gonna go spend the rest of this life belly aching about everybody else. No, the sweet spot is to be aware of the justice of God, that all sin needs to be accounted for, but also rest in the grace of God that Jesus did everything for us, but we need to walk in repentance and faith and continue to walk with him faithfully. And here's the image I want to give you. So uh people ask me all the time, have you ever lived in a foreign country? And I say, yes. For one full year I lived in California. And I'm dead serious when I say that. I've lived in six states and seven cities. That is its own country. But let me tell you something I learned about California. They know how to build buildings for hurricanes. Or not hurricanes, earthquakes. I've lived in Florida. They're still learning how to build buildings for hurricanes over there. In California, they know how to build a building for earthquakes. Now, what I've learned is when you're building a building to sustain an earthquake, you don't make it too loose or too tight. All right, to the ones that think you've got to have more steel, more concrete, tighter bolts, make it more firm, it will crack when the vibrations of an earthquake come. Whereas those that don't use good materials at all, it's just gonna fall right over. No, the key is the buildings that last an earthquake, they learn how to ebb and flow with the tremors and return to their normal state afterwards. I think as Christians, we need to think the same way. When we think about the justice of God, we don't need to tighten down too hard and just think about his justice and forget about his love, but we also don't need to just rest in his love in such a degree that we don't think he cares about our sin and that he's forgotten about what we've done. No, we need to rest in his love, but we need to confess our sin because there will be a day of reckoning. The things that we do in the darkness, they will be brought to the light, and we need to remember this in different ways. And so as we look at this, I'm gonna be the way I'm gonna handle this, as we look at this passage in 2 Samuel, I'm gonna talk about the context of the passage, and then for you and I, I'm gonna talk about our eternal consequences, but then our earthly consequences, so that we have some categories that we can understand this. Uh, but we're gonna be looking at the life of David here in 2 Samuel 21, and David is basically having uh to deal with a sinful issue that happened well before he ever took over as king of Israel. But because he stands as the representative of Israel, he's got to deal with a sin that King Saul broke a vow many, many years before. And in this we're gonna see the justice of God. So, what's our big idea as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 21, verses 1 through 14? In one sentence, here it is. David's radical response to a severe famine helps us to get clear about God's justice. David's radical response to a severe famine helps us to get clear about God's justice. So if you want to know more about this, we're gonna look at the first 14 verses of 2 Samuel chapter 21. If you're new to the Bible, it's after 1 Samuel and it's before 1 Kings. If you don't have a Bible, grab the Pew Bible in front of you or beside you. We're on page 321 in your Pew Bible. And if you would stand at this time, out of the reverence to the reading of God's holy, infallible, inerrant, and fully sufficient word, we are in 2 Samuel chapter 21. And again, as we read this and we get done, I'm going to give you the context. If you're new to the Bible, I'll catch you up as quick as I can. 2 Samuel chapter 21, reading verses 1 through 14. Hear God's word to us, starting in verse 1. It says, Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, There is blood guilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them. Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. And David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement that you may bless the heritage of the Lord? The Gibeonites said to him, It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What do you say that I shall do for you? They said to the king, The man who consumed us and has planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul. The king took the two sons of Rizbah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armani and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Mirab, the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, the son of Barzelli, the Mahelithite, and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of barley harvest. Then Rizbah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens, and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day or the beasts of the field by night. When David was told that Rizbah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Gabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboah, and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged, and they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin and Zilah in the tomb of Kish his father, and they did all that the king had commanded, and after that God responded to the plea for the land. Let's pray. Oh Lord, there's a lot there. There's a lot in this passage. Lord, my prayer is that we would not read this and be so disconnected from this culture that we just don't even understand what's happening. Lord, I pray that you would overcome my shortcomings and speak through me, that these words would apply directly to where we are in 2026. Help us to recognize you, Lord, as a God who is holy and loving, as a God who is filled with justice and grace. Help us to understand, Lord, how this affects our eternity, but also our earthly life with you right here and right now, Lord. Be with us. Let David be our teacher and let your spirit be our guide about how we can respond and get clear about your justice. Be with us right now, I pray. In Jesus' name and God's people said. Amen. All right, there's a lot happening in that passage. I'm gonna hit the high notes, but I'm really, my goal is to be as practical as I can so that as you and I leave today, we recognize how the concrete truth of this passage affects us because God does not change. And so his truth does not change. We apply it in a different way. But today we're talking about the justice of God. Now, if you're new to the Bible, maybe you're new to the Christian faith, maybe you're visiting and all this is just foreign to you. When I say the justice of God, what I want you to picture in your mind is that God is a perfect judge. He's perfect in all of his attributes. And one of them, he is omniscient, he knows all things, he's omnipresent, he's everywhere at all times. He's omnipotent, he's all powerful. Since he's our creator, he has all authority. And he can speak into our lives, and he can judge every decision that we make. He is a perfect judge. So he sees all truth and he judges according to his standard of truth. All right, he's perfect in everything he does. And when we sin against God, okay, when I say sin, I mean all your thoughts, all your words, all your actions, and all your attitudes that don't reflect the image of his son, when you and I sin, God sees it. And there are earthly consequences for sin, and there are eternal consequences for sin. Now, praise God if you're in this room and if you have bowed your knee and confessed with your tongue that Christ is Lord, he has taken care of the eternal consequences of your sin. Romans chapter 8, verse 1 says, There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ. That means you and I, on the one hand, remember I said we got to be balanced. On the one hand, if you're a Christian, you should not be running around all day scared to death that God's going to strike you down by lightning. You are covered in the blood of Christ. You are adopted into his family as a child. All right, he loves you, and there is no sin that you can commit that is greater than his grace. If you are genuine in your faith in Christ, you should be enjoying walking with Jesus. However, even if you are a Christian, there is no sin so small that it is not going to affect your daily life, either in your relationship with God or in your relationship with others or in the mission that God has given you. Sometimes there's people that are so happy they're going to heaven, they want to kick their feet up and just coast the rest of their life here on this earth. But no, we're still going to face God. The great white throne is a judgment for those that don't know Christ, and they're going to be judged and find that they are not saved and they're going to be separated from him forever. But for Christians, we also face a different judgment. The judgment seat of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, it says that we all have to stand before God to give an account for what we've done in the body, whether good or evil. So if you're in this room and you say, I'm a Christian and you haven't been thinking about your own sin, I want to say this. It may not be an issue of salvation, it's an issue of intimacy and faithfulness, and you may stand before Him at the end of your life and realize, I didn't fulfill the mission God gave me because I let sin get in the way in my life. Now, if you're in this room and you don't know Christ, we're going to talk about this at the end of the message. You've got another judgment you need to be thinking about, and we're going to get to that. But for most of you in this room who've professed faith in Christ, those watching on video or listening to this podcast, this still applies to you. Sin is a real thing. It is a real thing. God, He doesn't turn a blind eye to sin, He's aware of all of it. Now, let's get in the context of this passage. You know, in Numbers chapter 35, verse 33, as the nation of Israel continued to grow and be established, this it talked about how blood being shed was a very important thing for the shedding of blood in the nation of Israel. It says in Romans, or in Numbers 35, 33, it says, You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Alright, so as the nation of Israel was being established, God was saying to Israel, You better not shed innocent blood, because if you do, it's going to come back on you. I'm a perfect judge, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. You shed blood, you're going to end up having to shed your own blood because of it. This was a warning as the laws of Moses were being handed out. It's very crystal clear in the book of Numbers. So that's the law. Here's the situation. Alright? You have King Saul, who understands that there is an agreement that the nation of Israel made with the Gibeonites. As Israel was settling into Canaan, the land of milk and honey, and all the tribes are spreading out. It says in Joshua chapter 9, verses 19 through 20, all right, they're making a special agreement with these Gibeonites. They're not Israelites, but they're people of peace. And they're basically saying, We want to live among you and make a covenant with you that we are not going to kill you and you're not going to kill us. And it says in Joshua chapter 9, verses 19 through 20, but all the leaders said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now have m we may we not touch them. This we will do to them, let them live, lest wrath come upon us because of the oath that we swore to them. So they stood before God. And Israel said, We're going to let these Gibeonites be our neighbors. We're going to love them and let them live freely without causing them any harm. We've taken a vow, and if we cause them harm, let the wrath of God be on us. That was in Joshua. Now, fast forward many, many generations to King Saul, and in King Saul's zeal, he kills the Gibeonites, completely breaking the vow. And God, who is a God of justice, does not always immediately punish sin. And so this carries on into the life of King David and deep into his reign as King of Israel. And then God decides he's going to bring this to the light by having a famine in the land. And don't you know God does the same thing in 2026? We just keep rocking on in our sin, and then we need a good old-fashioned tragedy. We need a recession. We need a whatever, a national tragedy. I mean, you think about all the things God has done to get our attention. And when he does, he shows us I've not forgotten about your sin. I was there when you did what you said you were not going to do. Today is a day of reckoning. And this is what David faces. And David realizes this didn't happen on his watch, but he's still in charge of Israel, and he's got to give an account on behalf of his people. And that's the context that we're looking at. And let me just say this before we walk into the text. I know, I know as your pastor, my gifts and my limitations and my convictions are different than any other pastor you've had. Every pastor's different, right? Every church is different, every culture's different. Some of you probably wonder why do I talk about confession so much? It's not an issue of salvation. It's an issue of, number one, each of us have to stand before God and give an account for what we have done to the body, whether good or evil. And if we're constantly frustrated with the world, we're typically not focused on our own sin that we need to deal with. And you're not going to be judged by the standards of the world. You're not going to give an account for their sins. You're going to have to give an account for yours. And so when I see us in kind of a perpetual disgust with the world, of course the world's going to be the world. But you're going to stand before God on your decisions. And the second thing that keeps me up at night is this. The book of Hebrews says, as a pastor, I have to stand before Him and give an account for the souls that have been entrusted to my care. Whew. I got enough to keep me busy until rapture. I really do. And I and I love the people in this room, but I'm going to stand before God for each of you. So I will say this. I'm going to keep rocking on and keep talking about confession. Not because I'm scared that you, those that are saved, are going to somehow just walk away from God, but because you're still going to have to give an account to Him. This is a serious thing. So let's walk through this together. We'll walk through it a good pace here. I want to look, number one, let's look at the reckoning of God's justice. Here it is, verse one. It says, Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, There is blood guilt on Saul and on his home because he put the Gibeonites to death. So right there, verse one, David says, Uh-huh. Now I know why we've had a famine in the land. God is getting our attention. This is the check engine light that comes on your dashboard when the oil's been leaking for quite a while. All right. Again, I want to say this for every single one of us. When you're going through a trial, it's a time for reflection. It's a time to regroup. It's a time to say, God, is there anything in my life that I need to bring to the surface and deal with that I've been keeping in the dark? Well, David recognizes right away, okay, this is the issue. There is sin that has not been atoned for in the nation of Israel, and now we got to do something about it. Now, as it as it pertains to us, I want to say for us, there's going to be an eternal day of reckoning, but there's also many earthly days of reckoning. Now, when I say the word reckoning, what do I mean? I mean everything in the darkness is brought to the light. Right? In financial terms, to The day of reckoning is a day where all accounts are going to be settled. All right, so eternally speaking, if you have not placed your faith in Jesus Christ, all the sins that you've ever committed, past and present, will be right before you. And because of those sins, one of two things has to happen. Either you need to be punished, or Jesus was punished for you. If you're in this room and you've placed your faith in King Jesus when he was on that cross hour after hour on Good Friday, spiritually he was taking the punishment for every sin that his children committed, past, present, and future. Praise Jesus for taking the punishment for our sins. That's the eternal day of reckoning. But let me just say this: even if you are blood-bought, spirit-filled, you still commit sins that get in the way of your relationship with God, they get in the way of your relationship with others, and they get in the way of you fulfilling your mission here on this earth. So what if right now in the service God can speak to you, and today can be a day of reckoning? If you were to die at this moment and go right into the presence of God, what are some things in your life that you've not confessed? What are some things in your life that you're not proud of, but you've not put them under the blood of Jesus? You've not expressed your remorse for them and turned away from them. What things does God still want to deal with in your life? I will say this: if he doesn't get your attention today, he'll find a way. I find that God is really good at clearing his throat when he needs to. It may be a pandemic, it may be a recession, or it may be a broken body part that lays you up in a bed for weeks. And God doesn't take joy in that, but he'll get your attention one way or the other. The Bible says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time you may be exalted. He gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud. Number two, as we look at verses two through six, I want to zero in on verse six as we look at the requirements of God's justice. Verse six, this is where David finds out what's going to have to happen for Israel to be restored. It says, Let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them. Right then and there. Again, we looked at the good, the bad, and the ugly with King David, right? He's a man after God's own heart. He worships so freely he doesn't care what people think. He's a man of great grace who let Mephibosheth, who was an invalid, stay at his table. And yet at the same time, we see the great sin, we see the adultery with Bathsheba, we see the accomplished to murder of Uriah. So we see the best and the worst of David. But one of the things I've learned is I've gone through this study is that when David faced God, when he saw the fingerprints of God on the things in his life, he knew it. This is why I believe he was a man after God's own heart, despite his sin. He knew when God was at work at something in his life. And he recognized right away this is an is this is an issue that has to deal with all of Israel, and I'm the king, so I'm not going to roll my eyes. I'm not going to defer to another day. This has got to be dealt with today. And he dealt with it in a severe way. Again, seven of the sons of Saul had to be handed over to be put to death, so the just requirements of God were met because of wrong bloodshed many, many years before. David, it was a great cost, but David knew he serves a great God. And he did what God called him to do. Now, for us in 2026, that's not a one-to-one ratio, okay? Praise God, we live on the other side of the cross, so we're not called to bloodshed. All right? Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, so we're not behind Cedar Street on Sunday afternoons sacrificing more animals and shedding more blood. Those days are over. Praise God. At the same time, we still have to recognize the requirements of God's justice. All sin has got to be dealt with. And if you and I don't deal with sin, it is a cancer that will spread and it will affect your relationships and it will affect your mission. I think some of us, we struggle in this life because we've been carrying our sin spiritually for so long. It has seeped into our bones and it's caused physical issues. Anxious people, and I've done, you know, I'm not an expert on this, but I've done quite a bit of biblical counseling, and I see when people are carrying around all this anxiety, there's so many issues that have not been dealt with. And when you over-medicate, you're just trying to numb an issue that God is trying to bring to the surface. Eternally speaking, the wages of sin is death. Again, if you're a Christian, Jesus took that death for you on the cross. But there are earthly consequences, and that's why we're called to repent, to be restored. We need to confess. We need to go make it right with people. If you're in this room, you've got a broken relationship. There's a blessing that God may be withholding in your life because He wants you to go and make it right. Now, I recognize there are some people that will not be at peace with you no matter how hard you try. That's why the scripture says, as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. In this room right now, there's things God wants to reconcile. In this room right now, there's families that are just split over silly issues, and you need to get over your pride, and you need to make it right with your family, and you need to make it right with your neighbors, and you need to make it right with God. If there's bitterness in your heart, it didn't get there overnight. Things have been piling up. And God wants to make it right. He wants you to address it, He wants you to cut it loose. That's number two. Let's move on to number three. So we've seen the reckoning of God's justice, the requirements of God's justice. Number three, the restitution of God's justice. All right, David said he was going to take care of it. He said he was going to honor the request of the Gibeonites, and that's exactly what he does. Look at verse nine. He says, And he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hang them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of barley harvest. That's a huge price to pay. But David knew the cost. David knew his God. David knew Israel's sin. And David said, I'm going to do what I have to do to make restitution. Bloodshed for bloodshed. Here it is. They requested these seven sons. I hand them over. He did that as a king representing a nation. That was Israel's restitution. Now again, I'm trying to make it practical for us. If you're in this room, there is eternal restitution that needs to be made for your sin. And once again, I'll say it for the third time. If you're a Christian, praise God. The restitution was God giving up his son for us. When Jesus was on the cross and he cried out these three beautiful words in English, it is finished. Now he said it in Aramaic. He said, tatelist I. You know what that is? Again, that's a financial term. It means paid in full. So for your eternal sin, there is no more restitution to be made. Jesus paid it all, and you and I should live a life of gratitude and praise for what it is that He has done. That's our eternal restitution. However, while we're still here on this earth, it's not an issue of salvation. Again, it's an issue of intimacy. It's an issue of relationships. It's an issue of mission. There's things that you and I have done that we got to do more than say, I'm sorry. We got to do what we can to make things right when we should. You know, one of the things I really appreciate, if you remember back to 2019, I believe it was, when we had, or maybe it was 2020, when we had Life Action come here and they led us in a several-day revival. It was no mistake to me. The first thing they did, because I've said this before, I've studied revivals in church history, and revivals break out when people get serious about confession and repentance. And if you remember, Life Action had us do a full catalog of our life and write down things that we've said or thought or done or left undone that God has put on our heart, and we had to write them out, and we had to make a commitment that we could go back as far as we could, and if there's a way that we can make restitution, we make it. Now, I didn't get his permission. I will say there's a friend of mine in this room who uh who took that seriously, and he he called people that he worked with 25, 30 years ago and sought to make it right with them. One thing that Shane Black, who led us in that revival, he stole a chainsaw from Lowe's about 15 years before he came to realize that God is a God of justice. And he went back to Lowe's, and I don't think they knew what to do with the money he handed them, but he made restitution for his sin. Again, hear me clearly. I'm not saying you need to try to earn your salvation. That is anti-gospel. You're not earning anything before God, but you're doing what is in your power to make it right for the damage that sin has caused. And some of you are struggling to have peace in your life because there are relationships that you have damaged, or there's things that you have taken, or there's things that you have done, and you just want to move on and you want God to forget it, and God is not gonna forget it. And when you and I start taking those sins seriously, it may hurt. You got a broken bone, you got to reset it, it doesn't feel good, but it leads to long-term healing. So in this room right now, is there restitution that you can make in your life? Can you go to a person that you greatly hurt and make it right with them? If you're in this room and you have financially stolen something, can you go back and make it right from who you stole it from, no matter how long ago it was? You say that's silly. Really? Well, you're gonna stand before God to give an account for your whole life. He doesn't forget. And it may not be an issue of salvation, but boy, I want to hear well done, good and faithful servant. And if I've got to embarrass myself here on this earth by saying I'm sorry to a thousand people, I'd rather make it right now and be at peace when I stand before God than try to play it cool now and be stripped naked before God and have great regret over the things that I didn't make right. That's number three. Fourth and finally, this is a good way to end. The results of God's justice. Look at verse 14. It says, And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin and Zilah in the tomb of Kish, his father, and they did all the king commanded. And after that, God responded to the plea for the land. Simply put, David obeyed and God restored. Now he paid a great cost, but there was healing in the land. Justice was dealt with. God, let me just, you know, the Bible says that we should go boldly to the throne of grace to expect help in time of need. Translation for that is God's grace is greater than all your sin, and he wants to forgive you more than you even want to be forgiven. It is his nature to want to forgive, it is his nature to want to restore, it is his nature to want to see his children flourish. But his children need to take their lives seriously. They need to be honest before a holy God. This is the God that we serve. And again, by grace through faith in Jesus, the eternal results of what Jesus did for us, we are restored in a relationship with God. God not only calls you his creation, now he calls you his child. It says, we have been given the right to be called children of God because of what Jesus did for us. That's the result. But let me just bring it down in the microscope here to your life right now. You want to experience intimacy with God? Do you want to have peace that has been lacking in your life right now? Get alone with God. Get alone with a journal, a pen, and a Bible, and ask him through his Holy Spirit to bring to your mind things that have been left undone. Again, relationships that have been fractured, things that you stole that you need to repay, things that you said that you need to give an account for. Now, the human nature is, Bo, you don't know what that person did to me. You don't know what they said to me. And you're right, I don't. But Jesus doesn't tell you to give an account for others. Jesus says, Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. He will repay. It's not your job. It's your job to keep your eyes on your own paper. It's your job to recognize the areas in your life that need to change. What you're gonna be held accountable for at judgment. And if we obey God's justice, if we repent of all known sin, if we let God do that work in our lives, we make a home for him in our heart. And the response is not that we're gonna live conflict-free, it's that we're gonna have peace in the midst of the conflict. You know, the famous psalm that everybody loves to read at funerals, Psalm 23.

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Right?

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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. That is an experience of the soul, and it's not the absence of conflict, it's the presence and intimacy of the shepherd. He wants to have intimacy with you, but he will not abide with sin. You must make it right with him. I'm telling you, I've seen it. I've seen people who have gotten serious with God about their sin, and they've stopped bellyaching about the world, and they've paid attention to areas, maybe even its attitudes in the heart. You've gotten bitter and hard-hearted towards the world. God wants to soften that heart. He wants to draw you near, he wants to cleanse and restore. That'll be the result when you take the justice of God seriously. So let me sum it up here, and then I'm gonna get really practical. In one sentence, here it is. Jesus handled all the eternal consequences of God's justice, but he wants to help us face our earthly consequences together. Jesus handled all the eternal consequences of God's justice, but he wants to help us face our eternal consequences together. Here's the book ends. Eternal consequences, Romans 8.1. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ. If you have given your life to Jesus, if you confessed your sin, you need to rest. That your salvation is not based on what you could ever do, it's based on what he has already done. Praise him and rest in that. But remember the other bookend. The other bookend is Galatians 6, 7 through 8. It says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap the flesh, will from the flesh will reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. Facing the justice of God means if you've been sowing to the flesh, if you've been doing things outside the will of God, if you have been, again, sinning against him, seeking the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, if you've been seeking pleasure outside of his will, power outside of his will, possessions outside of his will, if you've been, again, fractured relationships that God wants to make right, you keep living in that life. The fruit that you're gonna get is discontentment. The fruit that you're gonna get is just lack of peace, anxiety, frustration. But when you sow to the Spirit, you're living a life in keeping in step with the Spirit of God. You're not letting anything get in your walk. And if something happens that you've done wrong, you run to the throne and you confess it, or you go to your family or friends and you confess it and you keep short accounts. You keep short accounts with God. So as we close, here's how you can do this. All right, last slide. Here's how you can do this. Three questions for spiritual reckoning. Maybe one person in this room will actually do this today. It'd be the joy of my heart to know that somebody is going to be closer to God because they are willing to do this. I would get alone with God and I'd bring a journal and a pen and ask yourself these three questions. Is there a past or current sin I need to confess? Is there a past or a current sin I need to confess? Am I living a lifestyle that is in accordance with God's will? Because if it's not, it's only going to get worse. You will not find a place of peace if you will not do it God's way. The second, is there a person I need to reconcile with? Again, I want to say, as far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men. If there is someone that refuses to receive your offer of asking for forgiveness, you've done your part. You leave it with God. It's not your job to seek vengeance. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. And the third is, is there a way to make restitution for my damage? Is there a way that I can make it right? If I've taken something, can I restore it? Now I don't know if anybody in this room has stolen a chainsaw from Lowe's. That's pretty, pretty specific. But you know, people always ask when you look at uh the Ten Commandments, have you ever stole anything in your life? Most people say, Yeah. Even if it's a small thing I have. Well, if it's within your power to make it right, make it right. When you do this, you open up channels. You know, one of the things I pray daily when I'm confessing sin is I say, Lord, give make my heart a place of quiet for you to make your home. Make my heart your home, Lord. God says, okay, I want to move in, but you got some stuff in the closet that has got to go. This ain't gonna be no episode of hoarders. Like, we're gonna clear this closet out if you want me to move in. And some of you have been hoarding up sin, attitudes, and and and actions and thoughts and words that God wants to change. If you get real with him, no matter how painful or embarrassing it will be, you will experience the peace of God that transcends all understanding and will guard your heart and your mind in Jesus. So as we pray, this is between you and God. I will never know, it's not my business, but this is the invitation. Is there a past or current sin to confess? Is there a person that you need to make it right with? Is there restitution you need to make for your sin? And if you're in this room and you have never fully confessed your need for Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that's priority number one. When you stand before God, you do not want to be punished for your sin, because that means separation from God forever. You want that punishment that Jesus took on the cross to count for you, and Jesus said it will count for you if you confess with your tongue that Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Maybe that's what you need to make right today as you face the justice of God. Let's pray. God, every single one of us, myself included, we feel great shame for our sin. And by our shame we hide. We tuck away our sin. We pretend it didn't happen. And we just move forward trying to forget it. And in the meantime, things get worse, they don't get better. And Lord, you're you're you're the best parent there is. You're a good, good father, and you do not want anything to get in the way of our love and our relationship together. And so in your love, Lord, you bring a day of reckoning to us. You show us the things that you want to change. So I pray right now, in the name of your son, by the power of your spirit, as we enter into this time of silence, let us be honest. Bring to our minds right now, Lord, what's a sin that we've committed we need to confess? What is a life circumstance that we need to change? What's a relationship that we need to reconcile? What is restitution that we need to make? Lord, I believe that when you speak, your servant will listen. And I pray as we hear, we will over. Obey and get clear about your justice so that we can taste your steadfast love. Be with us right now, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.