"Covenantal Justice: Guarding the Gates " Part 3 September 9, 2018 AM

Jeremiah chapter 22. Please hear the word of the Lord from Jeremiah beginning in verse 1. Thus says the Lord go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word and say hear the word of the Lord O king of Judah who sits on David's throne you and your servants and your people who enter these gates thus says the Lord do justice and righteousness and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor.

Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger the orphan or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place for a few men will indeed perform this thing. Then Kings will enter the gate to this house sitting in David's place on his throne riding in chariots and on horses even the king himself and his servants and his people.

But if you will not obey these words I swear by myself declares the Lord that this house will become a desolation. For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah you are like Gilead to me like the summit of Lebanon.

Yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness like cities which are not inhabited. For I will set apart destroyers against you each with his weapons and they will cut down your choices cedars and throw them on the fire.

Many nations will pass by this city and they will say to one another why has the Lord done thus to this great city. Then they will answer because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and serve them.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Heavenly Father we come before you and I ask for. I ask for help this morning as we consider the truths of your word as we put our attention upon the King.

I pray that you would direct our thoughts to your son Jesus Christ and she would lead us in submission to him. That you would renew us by the power of his resurrection his life-giving death and his life-giving victory over death.

I pray that we would truly worship you and that you would be our best thought in this life our highest focus. Put our attention upon your son whom you have given to us and fill us with your spirit that your will will be done in our lives.

And pray these things for the sake of Christ. Amen. This morning having looked at the last part of chapter 21 and then all through chapter 22 into chapter 23 there is such a focus of the word of the Lord through Jeremiah upon the king.

Obviously the king was not the only person living in Judah but he often is addressed as if he is. We need to understand that dynamic. If we're going to understand the instructions the the king is of such great importance in the life of Judah because of his representative role in the lives of those people.

There are many valuable excellent pivotal instructions in verse three. Things we ought to do to do righteousness and to do justice. Things we should not do if we would do justice and if we would do righteousness.

And these instructions are very much the topics and the themes of today about who is being done injustice and who is responsible to do justice. And all the conversation is on the commands. All the attention is on what we ought to do.

But I think there's very little attention on the king. God says to the king of Judah through Jeremiah. He says essentially this in these nine verses he says there will be there either be justice in your gates or judgment on your house there I would be justice in your gates or judgment on this house we talked about the Word of God to the king.

It's essential that we see that the Word of the Lord comes down to the house of Judah from the throne of God and the temple down to the throne of David clarifying the authority structure the chain of command.

The King of Kings the Lord of Lords is the one who instructs the one on the throne. And if we're going to be concerned about doing justice and doing righteousness we ought to listen to the word of the King of Kings because he's the one who defines what righteousness is and he knows who we are.

We've also talked about the importance of the King that the King is to reign by the Covenant. The task of Kings is very simple. The task of Kings is to mediate God's authority. And the one who sits on David's throne the one who is King of Judah as this very very specifically revealed to him.

After all he used to write a copy of God's law a personal copy for himself and to make sure that God's laws are done in among God's people. But this morning I feel the need to focus on the representative role of the king.

And this is going to be an examination of the text and its context. And really the the scriptures witness to this to back up a little bit. I think we've received a lot of clarity a lot of clarity over the course of the last week about the social justice debate.

Think impressive gains have been achieved in identifying those who are for and against justice. The oppressed and their allies are now more than ever easily distinguishable from the oppressors. And which one are you.

Which one are you. It all comes down to whether you're buying or burning your Nikes. So clear now. So clear now we know who the oppressors are. They burn their Nikes. And the oppressed and their allies are the ones who buy their Nikes.

And by the way do you think that the advertising executives at Nike see color. They do. They see the color green. And the vapidity continues. We need to remember something in all of this fervor about who's on what side.

And all of the conflict about injustice. Nothing that man ever schemes will achieve the harmony and the equity he so idealistically praises. And the reason for that is a very biblical and very simple reason.

Depravity runs too deep. The wickedness of man is great upon the earth. And every intent of the thought of his heart is only evil. Continually man is dead in trespasses and sins walking according to the course of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air.

Man is foolish disobedient deceived enslaved to various lusts and pleasures spending life and malice and envy hateful hating one another. There is none righteous. No not even one. There is none who understands.

There is none who seeks after God. Not. They have all turned aside together. They have become useless. There is none who does good not even one. Their throat is an open grave with their tongues. They keep deceiving.

The poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their way and the way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. And what I've just read to you from Genesis 6 5 and Ephesians 2 1 and 2 and Titus 3 3 and Romans 3 10 through 18 is the resume of every candidate weighing in on the social justice debate.

And this is the profile of every donor giving money to social justice causes. And this is the background check of every volunteer working in social justice programs. So what do you think. The outcome is going to be.

The outcome is going to be the same. Every time mankind tries to build for themselves a city and to make for themselves a name the confusion in the ungodliness of Babel. We should remember that our society is not the only one who has thought about these things and pagan laws written before Abraham was born.

Mesopotamian Kings struggled with matters of justice and righteousness. Urukagina wrote that he established a covenant with the god Ningirisu not to hand over the widow and orphan to the powerful. Ernamu promised not to hand the orphan over to the rich nor the widow to the powerful nor the possessor of one shekel to the possessor of one mina.

These are these are laws and concerns written down before Abraham ever walked the earth because made in God's image even pagan kings knew what was right and just though fallen in sin their pursuit of justice never laid hold of the prize.

This has been going on for a very long time for as long as sin has poisoned Adam's race the stench of injustice has permeated our relationships. Adam's abuse of power blaming his wife for his own sin.

Cain murdering his brother in jealous rage. Lamex polygamy and bloody revenge just the beginning of a very long line of injustices and when God has to talk about injustice to his people he puts his focus upon the king and I think we have the solution here in our text and throughout the scripture and it's a message I am jealous to promote only where Jesus reigns will justice rise only where Jesus reigns will justice rise.

It seems to me that there is a great deal of focus on all manner of names. The names of the people who are seen as the the leaders of promoting social justice both now and in previous generations. Pioneers and their followers this name and that name this name and that name raised up in praise and exaltation as someone that we ought to look to to instruct us about how to love others rightly but I do not hear the name of Jesus Christ being exalted in this discussion.

The name which is above every name the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth this name is not being declared this name is not being praised. When we look at our passage in verse 2 this is the word of the Lord God says to Jeremiah to say this he says and say hear the word of the Lord O king of Judah who sits on David's throne and any message to the king of Judah necessarily involves his people because he stands in for them in all the world and before God and so the natural continuation is this you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

This is the way it always is with the king the king of Judah the king of Israel represented all the people at once he stood for all of them in the world to address the king of Judah would be to talk to the whole nation of Judah he was their representative and he stood between them and God as God dealt with the king so he dealt with the nation and this is not something that we understand well in our own kind of government we have representatives we have we have a kind of representation in government but it's it's not as intense and it is not as full as what we find here in the life of Israel.

If we don't understand the representative role of the king of the life of Israel we're not going to grasp the significance of God's commands here when he says do justice and do righteousness. The point that we're going to see time and again is that the right king matters for righteousness.

The first reason is because of the king's great influence. The rest of Jeremiah 22 as we'll see the end of chapter 21 deals with Zedekiah but then the rest of chapter 22 deals with Jehoahaz and then Jehoiakim and Jehoiakin and pointing out these kings who are reigning in the house of David reigning over Judah are immoral and idolatrous and thus the whole of their nation is immoral and idolatrous as they represent their people they have great influence over the direction of their country so we saw that with with Josiah when he reigned righteously and turned the course of the nation in the in the correct way.

When it comes to a kingdom everything depends on what kind of king rules on the throne. Proverbs 29 verse 2 says when the righteous increase the people rejoice but when a wicked man rules people groan and everything that the king does or does not do impacts his subjects whom he represents.

Verse 4 of Proverbs 29 the king gives stability to the land by justice but a man who takes bribes overthrows it and it's easy to understand this that the corruption of a bad king seeps out through his nobles and then on to his people.

This is the pattern that we see here in verse 2 where the word is to the king and then to his servants and then to his people that the corruption spreads from the king to his nobles and then to all the people.

We hear the problem Proverbs 29 verse 12 if a ruler pays attention to falsehood his all his ministers become wicked. Because of the king's influence it matters a great deal who is king and so God speaks to the king primarily and by extension to all the people but if righteousness and justice is to be done there has to be a king who influences the people to justice and to righteousness.

This does not mean that the people are not responsible for what they do they are and just as you and I are responsible for what we do and the command to do justice and to do righteousness is obviously not restricted to whoever was on the throne of David or in the in the palace in Jerusalem it also applies to all the people and thus the command is also to us to do righteousness and to do justice.

There's great concern about injustice on the institutional level today but injustice only rises to the institutional level because injustices are not repented from on the individual level and you and I are responsible for whatever influence we have.

We are responsible to do justice and do righteousness and let's put it very plainly you and I are responsible to love others rightly. To love others rightly. I don't know what kind of mantle of influence you've been given.

You're a your husband or wife, parents, grandparents, member of a church. What kind of influence have you been given at your job and your work? What kind of influence do you have in your retirement and your connection to family and friends?

Whatever mantle of influence you have been given you are responsible for. Even as the king was responsible for the way that he influenced his people to do righteousness and to do justice you and I are responsible for whatever influence we have and the mantle of influence we have, let's be honest, is a burden.

It's not an outfit. It's not something we flaunt. It's something that we should carry very carefully. It should be something that has holes worn out in it and stains upon it as we bow before God in prayer and ask God to help us in bearing this influence to do justice and do righteousness.

To love others rightly. What influence do you have in the lives of other people? We are responsible for this. Brothers and sisters, we are responsible to love others rightly and this impacts others. Divorce and domestic abuse in church division are bitter fruits of unrestrained unrighteousness.

Husband and wife, are you loving your spouse rightly, justly? Every time you do you influence your spouse to do the same. Parents, are you loving your children rightly, justly? Show your children the way you want them to follow by the way that you lead them.

We need to be clear in our responsibility as church members that we would model right relationships with one another, seeking for one another's good even when we're hurt. Well, the king has great influence on the people.

That's easy to understand when you think about the history of Israel and Judah. When you had a bad, idolatrous, immoral king, the people tended to be very idolatrous and very immoral. But it's also the king's intercession that's part of his representation of the people.

God's priority on doing justice and doing righteousness begins with the king because the king mediates the authority of God as he represents the people. Not only does it matter in his influence but in his intercession.

Think of Josiah leading the nation in repentance. Think of Hezekiah orchestrating a cry for deliverance. We see that Judah's king on David's throne, he must intercede for the people. And if he cares nothing for justice and nothing for righteousness, where does that leave his people?

Except exposed to the wrath of God. Every once in a while I get asked, so what's Sunnyside running these days? And I usually resist the urge to say, oh, anything from a 5k to a full marathon. But the real response is, I don't really know.

We don't have that little placard on the back where it says Sunday school attendance and morning attendance and all of that. It's a bit of a squeamish question for me but I think I speak for all of the elders when I say that who came and who didn't come matters to us and our concern is tallied by your names and your needs.

That's what we're really concerned about. The numbers question really is a bad diagnostic for health and it's a slippery slope of pride as King David discovered. In 2 Samuel chapter 24 we find that it was time for the judgment of God upon the people.

And a particular moment at which God decided to unleash his judgment was in David's pride. In 2 Samuel chapter 24 David, having accomplished a lot in his reign, decided he wanted to find out how big of a nation he ruled, how big of an army he led.

So he told Joab to go number the people. Number all the people come tell me how many people we have. And this was such a bad idea that even Joab knew it was a bad idea. That's how bad the idea was. And so Joab went and numbered the people but not all the people because he couldn't stomach the thought of finishing the job.

And he came and brought the number to David and wow look at all the million people that the million man army that I lead. David's conscience was greatly burdened after this sin and he came to before the Lord and asked for forgiveness.

But God sent him a prophet, the prophet Gad. And Gad came and said David because of your sin great calamity will fall upon the whole nation and you have to pick what kind of calamity it is. Will you have a famine?

Will you be chased by your enemies or will a pestilence break out for three days? And David mortified by the options said let us fall into the hands of a merciful God we'll take the plague for three days.

And 70 ,000 people died. 70 ,000 people died because of David's sin. He bore such great influence. He had such great responsibility. He stood between God and the people and in his sin 70 ,000 people of Israel died.

And it says that the angel of the Lord with an outstretched hand was standing at the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite ready to deliver the killing blow to the entire nation of Israel. The one whom God this nation whom God had called his son.

This was the exact same place and the exact same mountain where Abraham had his hand outstretched with a knife over his son Isaac. And as God stayed Abraham's hand he stayed the hand of the angel of the Lord and as he provided a substitute sacrifice of ram caught in the thicket so the word came from Gad the prophet to David to offer a substitute sacrifice and David went up to the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite purchased that threshing floor the future site of the temple and offered up sacrifices to God interceding for the people and God stayed his hand and the plague was over.

When we talk about the king of Judah the one who sits on David's throne we have to understand the importance of that position the importance of that role and David interceded for those in Israel against whom God had brought this judgment.

God was angry with Israel and judgment was to fall and it also fell precisely because of David's sin as he represented them but David interceded for them and the question comes to me who do I intercede for?

Who do I intercede for? Is it not a matter of justice? Is it not a matter of loving others rightly that we intercede and we pray for their forgiveness that we pray for their justification? How many times do we fail to love others rightly in our words and in our deeds to their face because we have not been first on our faces interceding for them.

As we intercede for others pleading the blood of Jesus Christ does this not bring us into an awareness of our own wrongdoing? Does this not bring to our awareness our own injustices against others? Are we not led to love others rightly just by looking at the cross and repenting and to reconciliation?

As we think about the story from 2nd Samuel 24 which I think is the one of the most powerful stories that explains the importance of the role of the king in a life of Israel we should remember this that God treats his people based on his anointed one.

70 ,000 die because of David's failure but God treats his people based upon the merits of the anointed one and that was David. Beloved, that's good news. It's good news that God treats us based upon the merits of the anointed one Jesus Christ and when we think about who is king on David's throne it's Jesus Christ who reigns upon the eternal throne that God promised.

It's important that we remember God's focus in the scriptures upon the king. After Adam's failure to live in the image of God, God makes a covenant with Noah which is creation-wide. He then reveals that he will deal with all families throughout creation through one family, Abraham's family, then to Isaac and to Jacob and his sons and then he reveals in the progression of the Bible that he will deal with all the nations through this one nation a portion of Abraham's descendants for a particular amount of time and then he reveals he's going to deal with all of Israel and thus all nations and all creation through the king of Israel who sits on David's throne and all of this progressive focus down to the one person puts our attention upon the Messiah who is the son of David.

The son of David who is the fulfillment of Israel who is the seed of Abraham who reigns on an everlasting throne interceding for us and governing us and he will save us from global judgment and enter usher in a new creation as the new Adam.

Everything in the storyline comes down to a focus upon the king and the king will bring everything to righteousness. So when God commands the king do righteousness and do justice we see that that priority has to begin with the king and we know who the king is.

The command to do righteousness and to do justice is a command given to Christ who fulfills all righteousness and then calls all his people whom he rules to do the same. So this is not a passage this is not a passage for an endeavor of men by the power of men.

This is a passage calling for the obedience of God's people to Jesus Christ. Only where Jesus reigns will justice rise. First by Christ's intercession, by his intercession as our king. Intercession and then influence but first intercession.

Our Savior Jesus Christ in dying and rising has conquered sin, death, the grave, hell and the devil and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto him. He's ascended to the right hand of the Father and received in his enthronement a name which is above every name and he saves forever those who draw near to God through him because he always lives to make intercession for them.

And for you and I whose deeds of righteousness are as filthy rags before the eyes of a holy God that's good news because every attempt to do justice would be unjust before God unless we are made right with God through Christ.

This is the reason why no justice will ever be done except by the justified and it is essential for us to confess this in a social milieu where doctrine doesn't matter, deeds matter and where we are only seen to be righteous based on how much justice in the sight of men we have done.

That is the social milieu in which we live today. Doctrine doesn't matter, only deeds do and you cannot speak or have a voice or be an authentic church unless you do enough justice in the eyes of men to gain their approval.

And yet the gospel remains the same wondrous liberating message, Romans 8 33, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, not man. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

So it's by the intercession of Christ that justice will rise because he is the one who reigns over us, intercedes for us. Also by his influence, you look in your Bibles in Colossians chapter 3, it is remarkably consistent in the Bible that our holiness and our sanctification, that our living out the righteousness of God is entirely dependent upon Jesus Christ's enthronement, his ascension, and his session at the right hand of God.

When I say this that only where Jesus reigns will justice rise, I think Colossians 3 says it far better. Notice the first few verses, therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, if you have repented of your sins and turned to Jesus Christ by faith, trusting only in him for your salvation, if you've been born again, the Holy Spirit has so moved to give you new life, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, you see Christ the name above all names, the King of Kings.

And we are told to set our minds on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Why? For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put your focus on the King, he's the king on the throne, and what great influence does he have in the lives of those who have been raised with him. Look, verse 5, therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which amounts to idolatry.

In other words, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to unrighteousness, dead to injustice. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked when you were living in them, but now you also put them all aside.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.

A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free man, but Christ is all and in all. Putting aside all that once used to define us in our unjust ways of living, we find ourselves alive in Christ, and he is the one who identifies us.

Not some other name, not some other theme, not by our race, not by our class, not by our deeds, but we are defined by Christ. He is our identity. So, verse 12, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on the heart of compassion.

Oh, we hear so much about compassion, and compassion ministries, and compassion as an agenda. As those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, alive in Christ, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other.

Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Every single last measure that the world is seeking for today, in the name of social justice, that all these things would be present in our society, and in every institution in our world.

Everything they say that they want is only found in the life of Jesus Christ. Only where Jesus reigns will justice rise. It's not about what brand you wear. It's about who has branded you as his own. Those who have his name on their foreheads.

Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would help us to not get caught up with things that are on the earth. We can be so easily tossed to and fro by various opinions, various political statements. But Father, you know who we are.

You know our frame. You know that we are but dust. You have given us your Son Jesus Christ. You have given us your Son. How much more, then, with him? Will you not freely give us all things that we need to do justice and to do righteousness in his name for your glory?

And we pray these things, holding fast to Christ alone. Amen.