The Need for Justice

Those of you familiar to seeing me at Church of the Messiah, I always bring my black book up.

And you're going to need your Bibles at some point in time for this.

We're going to be looking at Judges chapter 19, 20, and 21, because we're going through the book of Judges.

Judges 19 · chapter mention

And let's just pray.

Father, we're going to look at a very, very hard passage of Scripture.

We ask that the Holy Spirit would bring your word deep into our heart,

and that you would fan into flame within us a deep longing and yearning, Father, to know you and to be known by you.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I always start my timer as well at this point in time.

You know, it's really, really hard to believe that on March 14th, I think that's like 15 days ago or something like that,

March 14th, I was sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops working on my sermon.

That seems like so long ago.

And I think a lot of us have this sense of longing and wishing that things could go back to the way they were.

And it's not just sort of like a nostalgia type of thing.

We actually have a type of longing and yearning, I think, many of us.

So we could just go back to the way it was.

Many of us maybe wish we could just go see our friend or sit in a favorite restaurant or something like that to hug somebody.

I don't know, because we're missing physical contact.

But a lot of us right now have a longing to get back to before.

So here's the thing which is very, very interesting is that I think that most of our longings are stopped too short.

Like it's as if a longing is a bit of a direction or an arrow that goes somewhere.

And I think if you think about it, we not only do we have a bit of a longing just maybe to get back to the way things were before, but our longings are deeper than that.

They go further.

Like, I don't know, I'm going to give you a couple of analogies.

And it just depends a little bit, I guess, how you're wired and everything like that.

But, you know, some of us, we've all had experiences where everything just seems to be right.

And at the same time that everything seems to be right, excuse me, we have a sense that there should be more, that we're on the edge of something more.

Maybe for some of you, you're by yourself, you're somewhere in Algonquin Park or some other provincial park or even in some non-provincial park, some area of wilderness.

And you're in a canoe, in a canoe all by yourself.

And it's early in the morning and there's the steam rising off the river.

And you're just there and it's still and you can see the sunrise.

And you just have this profound sense of how at one you are with everything.

And at the same time, you have this great sense.

You have a sense that there must be something more.

You know, maybe for some of you, it's not something like that off in nature.

It's at your favorite patio and you have your friends.

And I know sometimes when you have friends, it can be not go very well.

But this is one of those times when you have just your best friends.

Everything is just fantastic.

The food, the drink, the day, the temperature, the ambiance, the music.

And you just have this profound sense.

And you almost wish that this moment could go on forever.

Or maybe for some of you, it's you're in a car, whether it's with your family or your best friends.

And it's just you're together.

Everything is just so wonderful.

And you have this sense of just the rightness of things.

And you wish and you long that it could go on forever.

We're going to look today at what most scholars...

This is a text that virtually nobody ever preaches on.

You virtually never have Bible studies on it either.

And most scholars acknowledge that it's maybe one of the darkest parts of the Bible.

A very, very, very, very hard text.

It's Judges 19, 20, and 21.

And it's 103 verses.

It's too long for me to read from cover to cover.

So what we're going to do is I'm going to tell part of the story.

And we are going to look at a couple of parts of it just so you can see it.

But you might want to have Judges 19, 20, and 21 open.

And you can follow along with it as I sort of tell the story.

But it's a very, very dark text.

It talks about genocide.

It talks about rape.

It talks about murder.

Very, very dark.

And sort of the way it begins in Judges 19,

it's sort of a little bit like if you were to connect last Sunday's sermon with this,

because we looked at the story before this.

It's as if, just imagine two men in a bar.

Corner in the bar.

And they get talking to each other.

And then one of them says,

So let me tell you a story.

And then I want to tell you a story about there was a Levite

who went from Bethlehem to Ephraim.

And the other one says, after they tell us a story, and it's a dark and terrible story.

And then the second guy said, well, that was a really interesting story.

But let me tell you an even darker story.

I'm going to tell you a story about a man who went from Ephraim to Bethlehem.

And that's where we are with this particular story.

It exactly sounds, it is exactly how it works.

In this story, there's a man who's a Levite.

And you might not know much about this,

but in what Christians called the Old Testament,

and our Jewish friends called the Tanakh,

Levites, back when there were such things,

there are no longer such tribes.

Israel used to be in 12 tribes.

There's a special group of people set aside for God,

set aside to worship God, to help with the worship of God,

and they have a special obligation, in a sense,

to maintain his word, his command,

and the religious ceremonies and the prayers and the sacrifices,

which were important to the people.

And there's this man who lives up in Ephraim,

and he has a concubine.

Now, here's one of the things you have to notice about the story.

Just about it, nobody in this story is going to look good.

Everybody does terrible things.

This Levite shouldn't have a concubine.

Why? Because a concubine is sort of a half-wife.

It's a person, a woman, who's both the man's slave,

but also a second-class wife.

And the Bible doesn't condone that.

It doesn't permit it.

And he shouldn't have one.

But anyway, his wife, it's not clear in the original text

whether she commits adultery,

cheats on him,

or whether she just flies into a blind rage, or both.

But something like that happens,

and she runs away from him,

and she goes back to her home in Bethlehem.

The Levite, four months later,

decides he wants to go and get her back.

So he makes a trip down to Bethlehem

to go get his concubine back.

Now, this is another part of the story,

which is just really weird.

Let me tell you,

if some man married one of my daughters,

first of all,

made my daughter a slave,

and then married her,

that wouldn't be something,

I wouldn't be happy about the man,

to put it very mildly.

But when this Levite goes to see,

to find his concubine,

the concubine's dad welcomes him warmly.

They spend three days eating and drinking

and having a great old time.

Then the Levite wants to go home,

and the dad says,

no, no, stay and party a little bit longer.

Same thing the next day.

And then finally, on the fifth day,

the Levite said,

listen, I really have to be going home.

And so even though it's late in the day,

and we can't travel that far,

he gets off on the road.

And as he's walking with his servant

and his donkey and the concubine,

and it's starting to get dark,

he comes to what we now call Jerusalem,

but used to be called Jebus.

And the servant says to him,

let's go and spend the night in Jerusalem, Jebus.

And the Levite says,

no, I don't want to spend time

with a group of people that aren't Jewish.

I want to go to a Jewish community.

So let's keep going and get to Gibeah.

They come to Gibeah,

and they come to the square of the village,

the small city,

and nobody welcomes them into their house.

There's no hotels or anything like that back then.

And nobody welcomes them into the house.

And they start to set up

as if they're going to spend the night

in the town square.

But an old man comes

and he looks at them and says,

listen, you guys shouldn't spend,

and there's actually a bit of an ominous part

in the original text.

If you're looking at it,

it's as if there's something evil

about the town square.

And the man wants to rescue him from that evil

and says,

you should come and spend the night with us.

And so the Levite does,

and they start to have a great old time

eating and drinking,

et cetera, et cetera.

And then something absolutely terrible happens.

A large group of men from Gibeah

come and start banging on the door,

trying to break into the house.

And they say,

that man that's come to visit you,

that Levite,

we want him to come out.

We want to assault him and rape him.

Now, this old man,

who sounds like he's a really good man,

you now start to realize

that he's not actually that good a man

because what he does

is he shouts out through the door

and says,

listen, this man's a guest of mine.

You shouldn't come and rape

and assault him.

But how about if you take my young daughter?

Instead,

we're the man's concubine.

And then the Levite doesn't say,

no, you can't do this.

I mean, really,

these two men should be defending the women.

They should try to sit it out.

Like, why is nobody in the community

trying to stop some terrible thing

like this happening?

The end of the day,

what happens,

or the man, the Levite,

sends his concubine,

quickly throws her out the door,

maybe when the crowd is looking

for some other way to get in.

And this crowd of men

sexually assault her

and physically assault her

all night.

And in the morning,

the Levite very callously opens the door

and says,

okay, dear, so to speak,

let's keep going.

And he finds that she's dead.

What he does then is even more callous.

He picks her up,

takes her the rest of the way to go home,

and when he gets home,

he cuts her into 12 pieces,

12 pieces,

and connects each piece

with some type of a message

and gets 12 couriers

to go to each of the 12 tribes of Israel

so that,

to say,

look at,

with a message

of what the people in Gibeah have done.

Now, this ends up enraging

the entire nation,

all except Benjamin,

which is the tribe that Gibeah is in.

And it enrages the nation.

And so they gather from all over

to see what on earth they should do.

And the Levite gets up and speaks.

And if you go back and read it

in the beginning of chapter 20,

you'll see that what he does

is he tells part of the truth,

but he fundamentally lies

about his own role in what happens.

He doesn't tell them about the fact

that he actually voluntarily

gave the concubine.

He tells some things which are true

and other things which paint him

in a very good light

and are fundamentally a lie.

And the result is

that the entire nation is enraged.

They send messages to Benjamin

saying,

give up the people in Gibeah

who did this.

And for some reason,

Benjamin,

who hasn't been present at this,

they say,

no way,

we're not going to give up these guys.

We're going to defend these guys.

And so war ensues.

The tribes decide

that they're going to invade Benjamin

and try to deal with it.

Now, one of the things,

those of you who know me at all

know that I never want to hide

hard parts in the Bible

from the congregation.

I'm not going to skip over something

because as you're going to see

for the rest of the story,

there's something that happens

in this story

which at least at first blush

doesn't make the Lord look very good.

Because the fact of the matter is

is that the tribes consult the Lord,

that is the God,

about what to do.

Look at chapter 20, verse 18.

The people of Israel arose

and went up to Bethel

and inquired of God,

who shall go up first for us

to fight against the people of Benjamin?

And the Lord said,

Judah shall go first.

So the Lord says

Judah should go first.

Now you'd have to look at geography

as to why they,

if you see how narrow

some of the valleys are,

et cetera, et cetera,

you could figure out

why this is a bit of a thing

one tribe at a time.

But the bottom line is

they go and attack first

and Benjamin beats them.

They all come back

wailing and crying.

And our story continues

at verse 23.

And the people of Israel

went up and wept

before the Lord

until the evening.

And they inquired of the Lord,

shall we again draw near

to fight against our brothers,

the people of Benjamin?

Note what they say,

our brothers.

And the Lord said,

go up against them.

So the people of Israel

came near

against the people of Benjamin

a second day.

And once again,

they end up losing.

They end up losing.

And so they come

and they cry before the Lord

again another time.

And this time,

if you jump down

to verse 28,

and Phinehas,

the son of Eliezer,

son of Aaron,

ministered before it,

that's the shrine

in those days,

saying,

shall we go out once more

to battle against our brothers,

the people of Benjamin,

or shall we cease?

And the Lord said,

go up for tomorrow.

I will give them

into your hand.

And they do.

They go up.

And this time,

and you can read the story

about how they set up

an ambush,

et cetera, et cetera.

And this time,

the army of the 11 tribes

of Israel

defeat the Benjaminites.

But once again,

this very, very awkward

and telling phrase

in verse 35,

just skipping down

once again.

And the Lord defeated

Benjamin before Israel.

Note what it said.

And the Lord defeated

Benjamin before Israel.

And then note this next bit

because it's very important.

I'll explain it more

in a moment.

And the people of Israel

destroyed 25,100 men

of Benjamin that day.

All these were men

who drew the sword.

Now, if you go back

and you read the story

from here on in,

what happens is

there's a bloodlust

which is unleashed

amongst the tribe of Israel.

And they end up committing

basically genocide.

They not only destroy,

it's not just that

they defeat the army,

they destroy the army.

They kill all of the army,

all but 600 men.

And they go into the villages

and the cities of Benjamin

and they kill everybody.

They kill all the men,

women, and children.

It is literally

a description of genocide.

And then,

and this is,

this is the story

just gets crazier

and crazier

and crazier and crazier

because then

after the genocide is over,

the people of Israel,

the troops,

they gather together again

and they start to cry

that the genocide has happened.

And if you read the story,

they actually make it look

as if the Lord

is responsible for it,

but they're the ones

who actually did

all of the killing.

And then you discover

that the stupidity

and the evil

gets deeper and deeper.

They'd made two

very foolish vows.

And one of the vows

was that none of them

would ever give

any of their daughters

to a person

from Benjamin in marriage.

And the second vow

that you discover

that they made

was that anybody

who didn't join them

in this battle

and in this fight,

they were going to kill them.

And so here they're all

trying to think,

how are we going to,

there's only 600,

only 600 men of Benjamin

have survived the battle.

And so they're crying

about this genocide.

As if they have

no responsibility for it.

So they go to the 600 men

of Benjamin

and they come up

with a brilliant plan.

But it's a terribly,

terribly,

terribly evil plan.

And the terrible,

evil plan is this.

They realize that there's

a little tiny area

of Israel

where nobody from that area

came to the battle.

So they come up

with this plan

and they go

and they kill

every man,

woman,

and child

in that area

except for 400

marriable

or marriageable

women,

young women

who are of the

marriageable age

and haven't been married.

They kill

all of their family,

all of their friends.

They kidnap

these 400 women

and they give them

to the men of Benjamin.

In a sense,

they allow the men of Benjamin

to rape them.

That still leaves

some 200 short.

Once again,

bound by these vows

that they should have

repented of,

that were evil

to begin with

and they should have

repented of,

they come up

with a brilliant plan.

And the brilliant plan

is they tell the other

200 soldiers

who don't yet have a wife

that there's this

celebration taking place

just down the road,

so to speak,

just down the valley

and just hide

and when the celebration

happens,

you just rush out

and you kidnap

the young woman

that you want.

And when the men

and the families

come to complain

we'll just basically

tell them to be quiet.

And so once again,

remember this all started

over the rape and murder

of one woman.

And now we have

these people

murdering

tens of thousands

and by the end of it

600 women

have been kidnapped

and raped.

And the crazy thing

is when they leave,

and this is all terrible,

and when they leave

at the end of it,

they think they've done

a good thing.

They're all pleased

with themselves,

and this is in the Bible.

So,

it's a terrible story.

It really, really,

really, really

is a terrible story.

So,

here's the first thing.

Some of you

are going to say,

George,

you say this is

a terrible story,

but you know,

I've been following along

and I'm familiar

with this text

and when I look at the text,

here's the problem,

George.

You say it's a terrible story

and that's a really good thing.

I'm really glad you said

it's a terrible story

because it is a terrible story,

but the Bible doesn't say

it's a terrible story.

You're saying that

because you have virtues

and values different

than what the Bible says.

So,

George,

how can you say this?

Well,

here's the thing.

It's not the case

that I said this

just because I'm a good person

and the Bible

doesn't say

that it's terrible.

I left out one verse,

the very,

very,

very,

very last verse

in the story

and if you turn with me

to 21,

25,

the very last verse

in the book of Judges,

it says this,

it says,

in those days

there was no king in Israel.

I'm not going to cover that.

The very last words

are the ones

which are very important.

It says this,

everyone did

what was right

in his own eyes.

Not everyone did

what was evil

in his own eyes,

but everyone did

what was right

in his own eyes.

In other words,

the text itself

is telling us

that what they did

was wrong

and that the problem

is that

they did

all these wrong things

because they were

only doing

what was right

in their own eyes.

The Bible tells me

to recognize

that the things

that go on in the text

are terrible things.

They're evil things.

But,

and you know,

if you think about it

for a second,

isn't this fundamentally true?

Like,

just think of the terrible,

terrible things

that are going on

in the Middle East

and in Syria

and failed states

which are down there

and in Iraq.

And in every particular case,

people do what's right

in their own eyes.

All the bloodshed,

all of the stealing,

all of the pillaging

and raping,

they always do

what is right

in their own eyes.

And you just think

of so many problems

that we have in life

all over the place.

Like,

look what happens

right now in the United States

as they're trying to figure out

what to do about this

and what to do about that

and there's,

you know,

a hold up of this

and a hold up of that

and denouncing of this

and denouncing of that

and everybody's doing

what is right

in their own eyes.

Think of what just went on

in Canada

where the liberal government,

I'm not being political

about this,

but they made definitely

a power grab.

Everybody says that,

but they did what was right

in their own eyes.

But here's the thing.

How do we discuss

these issues

when we have people

doing what is right

in their own eyes?

What we would do

is we try to have

a discussion about it,

don't we?

If you think about it,

we have a discussion.

And when we have a discussion,

like, you know,

like you just think

what happened

in the House of Commons,

right?

Well, we want to do this

and everyone says,

no, that's terrible.

And you have a discussion

back and forward about it.

And what happens is

if all you have in life

is doing what is right

in your own eyes

and all you have to do

is have recourse to power

and whoever can punch

the other person the most

or hurt or kill

the other person wins.

But they don't really win.

They just win

because they've eliminated

the opposition.

But what do we do

when we have two people

doing what we both think,

two groups doing

what they both think

is right in their own eyes?

What they do

is they appeal,

we appeal to a moral realm

or order

that is over both,

that is good

and is binding.

That's what we do.

We think,

no, no,

this is the principle

of justice.

This is the right way

to do this.

And the other person says

this is the right way

to do this.

And we have a discussion

about it.

But in both cases,

we're appealing to,

in a sense,

a moral realm

or a moral order

that's over both me

and the other person

and both groups

or all three groups

or all five groups

and there's an appeal

to a moral realm

and moral order

that we should abide by

that's bigger

than the individual

or the party.

But this opens the door

to an inconvenient truth

in Canada.

You see,

you think about it

for a second.

What could that order be?

Well,

it can't be completely impersonal.

It can't just be

something like energy.

Energy,

in a sense,

is no different

than a rock.

It can't be like a rock.

I mean,

a rock is just a rock.

It's not right or wrong.

It's just completely

and utterly impersonal

that whatever this moral order is

that we both appeal to

can't be like a rock

but it also can't be

something like an animal

because,

I mean,

you think about it for a second.

What do animals do?

Like a lion eats the gazelle

because it's hungry

and it can catch it.

It doesn't care

if the gazelle's mother cries.

It doesn't feel guilty about it.

It doesn't do any type

of moral reflection.

The moral order

can't be like animals.

But it can't also be like nature.

It can't be like everything

which is a very popular way

of trying to understand

how the world works.

It can't be like everything

because like,

well,

in everything,

everything includes,

well,

it includes cancer.

It includes COVID-19

which is no respecter of person.

It includes Parkinson's

and disease.

It includes lions

eating gazelles.

Like everything

doesn't give us

a moral order

or a moral realm.

And it can't be society

because,

I mean,

just look at the story

that we just looked at.

I mean,

society made,

the Israelites

make this terrible decision

to commit genocide

amongst their brothers

and then make

continual ongoing

terrible decisions.

And we just look

at the world order

and groups

and nations

and laws

make terrible decisions.

so,

if you see,

it has to be something

that's transcendent,

that's over and bigger

than just us

and it has to be personal.

It has to be

a person

because we're the ones

who know

about the fact

that there is something

called right and wrong.

And if that's the case,

we've opened

an inconvenient truth

to Canadians

that there in fact

might be a transcendent,

a bigger objective reality

to which we can appeal

that fundamentally

is a person

at which some of you

might say,

George,

that's a very,

very clever argument,

but here's the problem

you have,

George.

It can't be the God

of the Bible.

I mean,

you just read those parts

and that the Bible itself,

George,

shows that the Lord

is implicated

in all of those stories.

So,

I mean,

you know,

maybe it's going

to have to be

some person

or whatever

that we don't

entirely know,

but what we can know

is that because

the God of the Bible

is implicated

in this terrible story,

it can't be

the God of the Bible.

And if you said that,

if you're thinking that,

that's a very,

very,

very,

very,

very good point.

It really is.

But we need to just clarify

what actually happened

in the story,

and if you want,

you can go back

and read it later

very,

very carefully

about what it says

and what it doesn't say.

If you think about it

for a second,

remember there's no police,

there's no overarching government,

there's just these tribes

which are all loosely linked.

You have a terrible evil.

I mean,

we can't deny

that the original thing

is a terrible evil.

You can't deny

that if you have

a large group of men

who are able

with impunity

within this community

to barricade a house,

try to break in,

threaten this man

and end up going ahead

and raping

and assaulting

and murdering his wife

and nobody,

the concubine,

and nobody does anything

and if on top of that

that neither,

the village doesn't do anything

to bring the people

to justice

and that in fact

when they go

to the larger area,

if you're Americans

the state

or Canadians the province

and in fact

the province

doesn't do anything at all

that they in fact

are either turning

a blind eye

or in fact

are supporting

in what they've done

that there's a problem here.

So what exactly

did the Lord do

in all of this?

All the Lord did

in all of this

is he said,

yes,

you should begin

a military action

against these people

to defeat them.

Now,

in war,

defeating them

doesn't mean

that you kill

every person.

I mean,

when the Allies

defeated the Nazis

it didn't kill

every soldier,

they didn't kill

every German.

In fact,

as we know

from the Marshall Plan

that they in fact

afterwards

the Allies

invested millions

and billions

of dollars

into the German

and Japanese economy.

So in fact,

the Lord did

a very,

very reasonable thing.

He said,

yes,

we need to deal

with this

so go ahead

and invade them

and I will

help you win.

But the genocide

is on the people.

The bloodlust

is on the people.

At no point

in time

in the story

does the Lord

okay that.

In fact,

at the end

of it,

the commentary

is that the problem

is they were doing

what was right

in their own eyes.

But some of you

might say,

George,

this doesn't help.

Like,

why just Benjamin?

But George,

by your telling

of the story,

I mean the Levite

has done wrong

in terms of having

a concubine.

By your telling

of the story,

the dad of the concubine

has done wrong

by allowing his wife

to go back,

his daughter

to go back

into slavery.

The Levite

incites

all this violence

by not telling

the truth

and the people

perform,

the people

of the other

tribes of Israel,

they commit genocide

and then actually

they're very complicit

in murdering

another group

from within

their own thing

and kidnapping

600.

Like,

George,

like,

this,

the Lord,

why did the Lord

only pick

Gibeah?

Like,

why doesn't

the justice

go everywhere?

Once again,

that is a very,

very,

very,

very good point.

It really is.

But here's the thing.

You know,

because what we're

saying is

that you see

some justice

but you don't

see perfect justice

and that real justice

has to be closer

to perfection

and real justice

goes all the way

and isn't just

limited to this

one particular group.

I mean,

that's a very,

very,

very good point

about this story.

But there's an

unforeseen problem

with your point.

You see,

if perfect,

real justice

visited

this story,

everyone would die.

Because if perfect,

real justice

visited,

it would look

equally at

every person

and then

who could

stand.

But can you

start to see

the problem

that your good

question

and observation

is introduced?

Like,

if we,

in fact,

long

and think,

because you see,

one thing that

the story shows us

is that at the

very fundamental level,

each one of us

has a longing,

not just for

itsy-bitsy pieces

of justice,

but for real justice.

That's what we long.

That's why when we

read the story,

we get mad at it.

We get mad at

what happens.

I mean,

if you don't,

you have another problem.

You get mad at

what happens to the woman.

You get mad at

what happens in the story

time and time and time again.

It shows that we have

a longing,

not just for a

bitten piece of justice,

but for real justice,

which is equal.

But once we realize

that we're longing

for real justice,

which would actually

come and visit

and actually

touch

every person

equally,

then the question

is for you and me,

if real justice

visited us today,

who could stand?

Now,

as we all know,

there's very proud,

self-righteous people

who think they could stand,

who think their poop

smells better

than everybody else's,

and the rest of us

don't like people

who are proud

and self-righteous.

But some of you

might say,

okay, George.

George,

George,

George,

George,

George.

That's a Christian.

You've just described

a Christian.

like you've just

described a Christian.

That's one of the reasons

so many of us

don't like Christians.

There's so many,

like,

so here's the thing.

I agree that there's

many proud,

arrogant,

and foolish Christians,

but actually all this

conundrum,

only the gospel solves it.

Really,

truly,

only the gospel solves it.

You see,

because what you've come

to acknowledge

is if you acknowledge

that what you're really

looking for is

perfect justice to come

and visit

and touch everybody,

and we acknowledge

that if perfect justice

came,

no respecter of person

that no one could stand,

all you've done

is agreed with something

in the book of Romans

which says,

as my first point,

for all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God.

For all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God.

And it's a bit of

a longer sermon,

but you can just take it

that part of God's glory

is his justice.

In other words,

all have sinned

and fall short

of the justice

of God.

You see,

it's a central part

of the gospel,

and here's the other thing,

that the story,

there's another possibility

about why it is

in this case

and in any case

that perfect justice

hasn't yet visited

every single human being.

And the possibility

is that maybe

it has to do

with God showing mercy.

There's a very interesting text

in 2 Peter 3,

2 Peter 3:8

verses 8 and 9.

You can check it later on.

2 Peter 3,

2 Peter 3:8

verses 8 and 9.

And Peter says this,

but do not overlook

this one fact, beloved,

that with the Lord

one day is as a thousand years

and a thousand years

as one day.

It's talking about God

being eternal

outside of time.

Here's the point.

The Lord is not slow

to fulfill his promise,

as some count slowness,

but is patient toward you,

not wishing that any

should perish,

but that all

should reach repentance.

Listen to that again.

The Lord is not slow

to fulfill his promise,

as some count slowness,

his promise of perfect justice,

but is patient toward you,

not wishing that any

should perish,

but that all

should reach repentance.

This is a very,

very important text.

You see,

if all we had in the Bible

was Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,

and then Joshua and Judges,

these seven books,

it would leave us

with a problem.

But the fact of the matter is,

I mean,

it would leave us

with riddles,

problems,

conundrums.

It really would.

But the fact of the matter is,

is if you read

the book of Judges,

you'll see that Judges

points beyond itself.

If you look at

the Samson story,

the key verse,

and one of the key parts

of the Samson story

is that God is beginning

to deliver through Samson,

and it points beyond itself.

It points,

in a sense,

to David.

And if you read

the story of David

in 1 and 2 Samuel,

you'll see that David

can't be that justice

and that deliverer

that we need,

that it points beyond itself.

And the riddles

and the conundrums

and the paradoxes

and the problems

which the book of Judges

poses to us

are all pointing beyond

to something that God

still has to do.

You see,

what you see in this story

is this.

My second point

is you have a yearning.

You have a yearning

for perfect justice

and mercy,

for perfect goodness

and love,

for perfect truth

and strength

in some place

with someone

not in this world.

Remember,

I began with the story

of our having,

you know,

the canoe,

the patio,

and it's just so perfect.

It fits,

but there must be

something more.

And then the whole thing

about the moral realm

and the one

has to be a person.

That has to be that more.

And then for this

perfect justice,

the fact of the matter

is that these stories

reveal to us

that you have a yearning

for perfect justice

and perfect mercy,

for perfect goodness

and love,

for truth and strength

in some place

with someone

not in this world.

Here we go back to Peter.

Peter,

that part that I read

to you about Peter,

it happened

just before he died.

And we're all familiar

with people dying

for causes,

for ideologies,

for all sorts of reasons.

But what we aren't

familiar with

and is very unique

about Peter

is Peter,

like the other apostles

who died martyrs death,

he died because of a fact

that he wouldn't give up on.

Like that's very unusual

and uncommon.

He died for a fact

that Jesus died

and then the grave is empty

because he rose from the dead.

He died for that fact.

If he just gave up for,

gave up that fact,

he could have lived.

See, here's the third point.

Why did he not give up

on that fact?

The third point,

in the death of Jesus

upon the cross,

human yearning

became fact.

In the death of Jesus

upon the cross,

human yearning

became fact.

What do I mean?

See, the story of Jesus

is this,

his sinless life,

his profound teaching,

his miracles.

But those are all

very, very, very significant.

And in the midst of them,

he continually predicted

something that

he couldn't possibly fulfill

or just manage

to orchestrate.

He predicted

he'd die a particular death

that he couldn't orchestrate,

that had to be,

in fact,

done by imperial Roman power,

which is to crucify him.

And he predicted

that he would die

a death upon the cross

of crucifixion.

And he predicted

that he would be dead

for three days.

And he predicted

that on the third day,

the grave would be empty

and that he would rise

from the dead

and he would prove it

to his disciples.

And Peter is an eyewitness

of that fact.

And if he, in fact,

did, Jesus did,

predict such a death

and such a resurrection,

it vindicates

who Jesus is.

It vindicates his message.

And what is his message?

His message is this.

That he is, in fact,

God, the Son of God.

That he, in fact,

is the image of...

I'm going to get some...

Just make it clear.

If you go back

and you read it,

what you see is this.

Every human being

is made in the image of God.

That's why it's only

in the scriptures

that you actually have

a true basis

for human rights.

That true basis

for the dignity of woman

and every different people group

and every different race

and ethnicity

is because

every human being

is made

in the image of God.

Every human being

is made

in the image of God.

And Jesus

is the image itself.

We are made

in the image of God

and the image itself

comes and walks amongst us

and that means

that when Jesus lives

his sinless life,

his miracles,

his teaching,

what he does,

it can count

for every person

because we are made

in the image of God

and he is the image

in which we are made.

If something happens

to him

and he offers

something himself,

that can count

for everybody.

And so what do we see

if we listen

to the message of Jesus?

We see this,

that he,

his sacrifice

can be for all.

So on the cross,

Jesus who doesn't

deserve death,

has lived a sinless life,

is in complete

perfect relationship

with the Father

and he dies

upon the cross

and we know

that he comes to die

and what he is

in a sense saying

is this,

you cannot stand

before the perfect

justice of God

because I love you.

I came and sought you

and as I die

upon the cross,

I am bearing

in my person

and in my body

the perfect justice

that if you need

to deal with it

will lead in your death

but I don't want you

to die.

So the justice

that should fall

upon you

will fall upon me.

I'm willing

to take your place

and I'm willing

to not only

take your place

but offer you a trade

that as I take

your place,

you can take my place

my relationship

with God.

I take upon myself

the doom

that perfect justice

would demand of you

and I offer you

the destiny

that is proper to me

and I,

you can't earn it.

It's completely,

just,

it's just mercy.

It's just grace

and I offer it to you

and that's what happens

in the cross.

You see,

on the cross,

the perfect justice

of God

that should fall

on you

at the same time

the perfect mercy

of God

says,

that which you cannot

survive on your own,

I will provide

a way by which

my justice is maintained.

Justice is still justice.

The mercy isn't

weakening that

for a moment

but my mercy

is perfect as well

which is why

I offer you

this profound exchange.

Isaiah puts it

that the punishment

that brought us peace

was upon him.

By his wounds

we are healed

and we receive that

by faith.

So you see,

what we can do

is we can rename

the longing

that you have

and to rename

the longing

that you have

is this,

you have a yearning

to be with others

at home

in the garden

walking with

the triune God

in the cool

of the day

naked

and unashamed.

You see,

in a sense,

what you sort of

just know

is an abstraction

that there must be

have a longing

for justice,

a longing for goodness,

a longing for love,

a longing for mercy,

a longing for truth,

a longing for strength

and it's not just

abstractions.

what you're ultimately

longing for

is the source

and the ground

for all of those things.

You're longing

to be with others

at home

in the garden.

It's the description

of the Garden of Eden.

Walking with the triune God

in the cool of the day

naked

and unashamed

and only

by putting your faith

and trust in Jesus

where

yearnings

became fact.

Can you know

that

right relationship

with God

that begins

as you put your faith

and trust in Him

and continues

beyond

the veil

of this life

into death

and into the end

of all days

when a new heaven

and a new earth

when the garden

will once again

be real.

I urge you

to receive it

if you haven't

received it.

You see

to understand this

and to be gripped by it

is to begin to live

in a different story.

It's to begin to live

by which

there is a different

set of facts

that you understand

what is going on

in your experiences

and how the life works.

It begins

as you think about

the cross

and you think about

the garden

and the destiny

which is now in yours

when you put your faith

and trust in Jesus

and He takes you

as His own

and He never lets you go

and He is with you

through this life

every day of this life

and He's with you

as you enter the valley

of the shadow of death

and He's with you

in death

and onto the far side

of death

and into eternity

and into the garden

that once again

will be created by God.

When this begins

to grip you

the story

of what He's done

on the cross

and the destiny

that you have

in Jesus

as this begins

to grip you

it gives you humility

it gives you courage

it gives you a heart

to care for others

and it gives you

a confidence and joy

not rooted in yourself

but in Him.

I urge you

to consider Jesus.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Father we ask

for those of us

who have received

the Gospel

that you will once again

grip us with the Gospel

with how mercy

and justice

became fact

in the death

and resurrection

of Jesus

and how those

longings and yearnings

that we have

have been both fulfilled

in His death

upon the cross

and that they are

pointing us

to this eternal destiny

that we have

in Him

and only in Him

when we put our faith

and trust in Him.

And so Father

grip us with this truth

and if there are any here

who have not yet

been gripped by it

Father may you help

them today

and put their faith

and trust in Jesus.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.