DEPENDS UPON WHOM YOU ASK ~ Biblical Justice ~ Part 2

People don’t want to hear negativity, only the positive. They ask, “Why don’t we hear more good news?” What they are really saying is, “We want to feel good in general and about ourselves.” Sometimes we are forced to hear the bad news, and the bad news is just reality. There is a lot of bad news being reported today reflecting the sad state of affairs in our country. While this is nothing new, because it is affecting everyone, it seems more out of control than ever. Let’s face it, 2020, although a memorable year so far, has not been easy for any of us.

People have used 20/20 to mean clarity or sharpness of vision for as long as I can remember. Most will even remember the television news show called 20/20. The program’s name derives from the “20/20” measurement of visual acuity. But how far does the Christian go in believing any secular news reporting? Can the secular news media see clearly? We must have a grid of truth through which we can sift all “the facts” presented to us. And we do. If those who profess to follow Christ do not believe that the Bible is sufficient for all things, to know all truth, then their basic premise to all understanding is thwarted. When Christians ask the question, “As a Christian, how am I to respond to this issue?” they are really asking, “Who am I supposed to believe?” The answer is always the same!

When Jesus was speaking to the disciples in parables and his disciples asked Him about it, His response was: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” (Matthew 13:11-16) (See also Acts 28:26-27, Isaiah 6:10.) There were those in the crowd around Jesus who thought they could “see” clearly, but they could not. America may have been a “Christian nation” at one time, but that is not the case today. As such, in this present state, we will not be able to return to Him for the healing of our nation unless there is widespread repentance. Right now our nation, as a whole, does not have eyes to see clearly.

Listen carefully to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:2b-6—…but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves by Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

We see people who just can’t seem to grasp the truth. It is only going to get worse as they continue to reject the truth; instead, they embrace or believe lies. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 speaks of this time when the anti-christ agenda, that spirit of anti-christ which has always been active in this world, culminates in the appearance of the actual Anti-christ. …and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.

I am not speaking to those outside the church who have their own agendas which is obviously not Christ’s agenda. I am speaking to those inside the church, especially to those who are being sucked into a movement seeking ultimately, I believe, to divide the church.

Like Paul in Ephesians 1:18-23, my prayer for all of us in the Church, is that we would have eyes to see the truth.—I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

I want to camp on Ephesians 2 for a couple days to show you why the issue of social justice should not be an issue that is allowed to come into the church and divide it. We are familiar with Ephesians 2:1-10, but it is always good to review, as a reminder, what we all need always.

First, like the indictment in Romans 3:10-18, all men were born in this state: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:1-2) All men were born in Adam in this very sad, hopeless state. All men were born spiritually dead. Before such time as one is born again to new (spiritual) life, he can only walk according to the course of Satan. This is the same spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (vs. 3)—Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Christians: I walked this way, and so did you. We didn’t think we were, but the Bible says we were. Let’s stop and apply this thought to our present lives. As believers, we are to be always inspecting fruit in the lives of those who profess to follow Christ. (Some of us have lied to ourselves in this important aspect of following Christ. For whatever reasons, we have chosen to overlook some of the rotten fruit that is mixed in with the good fruit.) We know that when God saved us, not only our lives began to look different, but our thoughts began to change. Our very thinking began lining up with the truth of Scripture. We gained a new worldview that was biblical. Before, we could not think biblically, even if we had tried to because, as we saw above, our eyes were blinded to truth. In fact, truth be known, we hated the truth! We could not please God in our flesh, and we did not care because our greatest desires were to please our self.

All believers love these two little words that come next. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10) We were all in a sad state spiritually, even if life in this world looked pretty good to us. We appeared to be successful and prosperous; people in the world praised us, but our souls were headed for condemnation and the wrath of God to come—and we had no idea. Even if people told us that was the case, we did not care because we were living for the here and now. What starts, “But God…” begins the new state of every true believer upon whom God has chosen to set His affection and everlasting lovingkindness.

We must look at verse 10 to understand why He chose to save us. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. In essence, we were not this at the time we were saved, but God chose us for this, and always knew He would. God had a purpose for the life of every single believer, and this is it! God saves us. First, do not get that twisted. We did nothing to save ourselves! When we believe we had something to do with our own salvation, that snowball begins to gain speed as it moves down the hill of every other false idea and theology. Salvation begins with God. God saves us by grace through faith. Period. Once God saves us, He changes us, renews our minds, and gives us the strength and power to walk in good works.

Galatians 5:13-26—For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Before we were saved, we could not please God. We could not obey God. We could not choose to do anything that would cause us to gain favor with God giving us a right standing before Him. When God saved us, however, we became free to walk obediently in the truth. In John 8:31-38, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen in My Father; therefore, you also do the things which you heard from your father.”

In yesterday’s blog post, I pointed out that there are only two groups of people in this world—believers and unbelievers. We are getting our information from one group or the other. Because Satan is so crafty and his intentions are only to deceive, we must be discerning because the truth is often not easy to wrestle free from the entanglements of the lies with which they are mixed. On every issue, not just the social justice issue, believers must learn to hear not only what is being said, but who is doing the talking. Who are you turning to for answers? More to come tomorrow.