Jesus and Social Justice

The Church’s Loss of Biblical Justice

So, as I mentioned before, I think that we've lost our way as a church in the area of justice, and it becomes, I think it is that way, there's I think a number of reasons you could say why we lost our way in the area of justice, God's law, the standards of God in culture and society.

I think in many ways it's a response, but in a way an overreaction to liberal theology. You see, we actually just did a radio show and a TV show this week with an expert on one of the heroes of the faith, Machen, Machen was actually an amazing man of God, Machen actually was the guy who gave to us Westminster Seminary, a fantastic seminary even to this day.

He was a part of so many fights, worthy fights, and wrote a book, Christianity and Liberalism, because he saw the influence of liberal theology creeping into the church and was responding to that, and ultimately liberal theology would deny really the sufficiency of the scriptures.

It would deny that we can have certainty in the word of God, or that God has ultimately preserved his word. And so liberal theology brought so much corruption into the church, and we're still reeling from it today.

And so I think the response of Christians, reformed Christians, orthodox Christians, genuine Christians to liberalism is to sort of like pull back and revolt to their theology. The liberals essentially diminished so much of the story of Jesus, they diminished the teachings of Jesus, and they went the area of the social gospel, and they really diminished the holiness of God, the need to repent and believe, to come to Christ for forgiveness and salvation, and they've really opted for more of a social gospel.

Salvation is not what the Bible says that it is, and so they get weighted to the idea of quote-unquote social justice. It's a popular word today in our culture, everyone in here has probably seen videos of the SJWs, you know who they are?

The social justice warriors, right? And so it sounds so appealing too, so attractive to be concerned with justice. And liberal theologians were that way, they'd emphasize God's desire for social justice, and they went the way of the social gospel, and so genuine Christians who believe the Word of God in the Bible sort of moved away from that idea because it's a scary thing.

That became actually a scary word, when you hear the term social justice, that worries an orthodox or genuine Christian, because you know where some people have gone to corrupt that idea, and so we want to go away from that, we want to stay away from the idea of social justice because it sounds liberal.

And so I think we've lost our way because ultimately people have co-opted social justice in the name of Jesus, disrupted the message of the gospel, the need to repent and believe and submit to His Lordship, and so we've sort of lost our way.

Add to that the bad eschatologies of our day, people saying things like, well, the worse the world gets, the better it is for the church. Why? Because it just means that Jesus is going to snatch us out of our undies, leave behind our shoes, and so it's better, right?

I saw in my history come up this week on Facebook, you know, you have your memories pop up in the morning, you can say, oh, what are my memories? See the stuff that happened in the last couple of years, and I saw a meme that I had shared about a year ago, and the meme was a real meme, it wasn't like, I mean, it was probably from their perspective a real dank meme, right, it's a good meme, only the young kids know what that's about, right?

But they meant it, it wasn't a joke, it was a sincere meme, it was from a Christian group that was saying, like, don't worry, Christians, the worse it gets in the world, the better it is for the church, because it means that Jesus is coming to take us out of all this.

So we have this perfect storm of legitimate, genuine, real Christianity, stepping away from the idea of justice and social justice, because we're responding to liberal theology that has stolen that and distorted and disrupted it, and you also have the problem of bad eschatology that says for Christians to get out of the world, step away, this is the kingdom of God over here, kind of, it's not really here yet, they'll say, but kingdom of God over here, the kingdom of darkness over here, so we have a cultural retreat taught as pious.

That's actually a godly piety, step away from culture, don't engage culture, create a ghetto over here, stay away from that. And so the idea of justice is not something we understand as well as our forebears.

Biblical Justice in Puritan and American History

When you think about our history in this country itself, we have Christians who were not perfect, that had sacrificed a lot, had experienced a lot over in Europe, had a whole history behind us of fighting battles with the word of God to bring justice to culture and society.

These Christians, the Puritans, pilgrims, they come over to this country to bring the kingdom of God to this part of the world, and when they were creating their civilizations, their communities, their culture, they were pointing to Jesus Christ in everything.

It was never a question, who's in charge? It was never a question of where do we look for the answer? If you are creating a community, you knew who the boss was, it was Jesus. If you are creating a justice system, you knew where to look, it's the Bible.

As a matter of fact, if you look in our own nation's history at someone like John Jay. John Jay was our first Supreme Court justice. He was also a part of Bible societies that were trying to distribute the Bible all over the world, and when he was creating a system of law in our nation, he was looking at how do we actually legislate?

Where did he look for the standard as our first Supreme Court justice? He looked not to himself, not to Demas, the people, the God of this culture today, the people. He looked to the Word of God, and he referenced the Word of God when he wanted to decide what was just, what was good, what's the standard, and so we've lost our way.

If you look at the Puritans themselves, just think about those people, those believers in history. If you look at them, they didn't do everything right. They sure did do a lot right, though, but we can look at them, and when they were creating communities and they said, now, we need to know how to deal with justice.

We want to glorify God by being people that actually love justice like God calls us to. They would point to the Word of God, to the law of God. Now, they didn't always get it right, and we know where they didn't get it right because we see that it contradicted Scripture, but they would look to the law of the Lord to say, what is just?

What's the standard for our civilization? I want to say, as Christians have stepped away from culture, as we've stopped speaking prophetically to the world around us with the Word of God, we begin to see that our salt has lost its savor.

Jesus says in this very book before us, the Gospel according to Matthew in chapter 5, he tells the church, the people of God, after bestowing the blessings upon us, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, he starts giving us these blessings, he then moves into telling us, you, Christians, you, church, you are the salt of the earth, you're the light of the world.

Jesus tells us that right in the same section where he says, what? Do not even begin to think, me namaste, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them, and then he says to his people in the context of saying, you be light to the world, salt to the world, he says that if you teach anybody to disobey even the least of these commandments, you'll be least in the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God.

And so this is an important text before us because, listen, it says so much from a powerful text of the Old Testament. So I mentioned at the beginning, we opened up our service today to worship God together, I said that this section before us, Matthew chapter 12, is the longest quotation from the Old Testament in the gospel according to Matthew.

If you open up your gospel according to Matthew and you look in the first two chapters, you see that Matthew starts right away quoting from the Old Testament. He wants to show you, watch, this is not a novelty.

Jesus is not a novelty. This is the expected, long expected Messiah finally broken into history. The kingdom of God has arrived in history and he wants to demonstrate it by connecting his story with God's story in the Old Testament.

It's the same God, same scriptures, same message, now right before us. That's how Matthew tells the story. But right before you now in Matthew 12, you have a long section from Isaiah. Now people have called, people have called Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, or if you're from the UK, Isaiah, Isaiah, okay, they have called it the gospel according to Isaiah because he speaks so much about Christ, his being Messiah, his lordship, and his salvation coming to the world.

So just consider that. Isaiah is so messianic. It's just chocked full of all these different portraits of the Messiah. And I have to say this, I've said it before, but I'll reiterate it. You can kind of understand why first century Jews are a bit mixed up about Jesus because they have this portrait, and you're going to see it right here, a portrait of the Messiah that he wins the world, that he brings justice around the whole world.

And so now you understand a bit of their being perplexed. They see Jesus coming and they say, we found the Messiah, we found the Messiah. Yeah, he's from Nazareth. Nazareth is this little nothing town, right?

This town where nobody comes from that's important, right? And it's this backwoods kind of town, right? It's out there. No one cares about Nazareth. And then Jesus comes in and there's nothing to him.

From their perspective, there's no like flowing robes and red carpets, and you don't have any of that. There's no money to be spoken of. And yet this guy, this is the Messiah from Nazareth? This person's going to transform all of the world.

All the families of the earth are going to return to worship Yahweh because of this guy from Nazareth? You begin to understand if you read Isaiah and you see the dramatic impact of the Messiah's ministry in the world, and Matthew pulls from it and he says, that was Jesus.

The Messiah’s Hidden Ministry and Isaiah 42

So again, because of time today, I can't fill this out as much as I would like to today, but I'm going to do my best to give you a broad overview of the important things. So let's just look just for a moment, cursory look at the beginning here.

By the way, we're going to do an entire message series. We're going to be saying, why'd you skip the Sabbath thing? Well, because I knew about the time that we have together and I want to do a good message on the Sabbath.

So we'll jump ahead to where Jesus heals somebody on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, verse 14, how to destroy him because of how he's confronting them, because of what he's doing on the Sabbath.

And so Jesus was aware of their plot to destroy him, and so he withdraws from there. And people are following him and he's healing them all. But what he says to them is kind of odd, right? Healing everybody, he's the Messiah, he's come to save the world, Jew and Gentile together, and he's doing all these amazing, mighty wonders, and yet he tells people, don't say anything.

Don't tell anybody. And so you get this lowly, meek kind of ministry happening. In the Old Testament, conqueror of the world, also suffering servant, that's there too, but he wins the entire world. And now Jesus comes in and says, don't tell anybody.

Seems like a contradiction, right? Why not tell anybody? Why not? You're supposed to win the entire world, Jew and Gentile, descendants as numerous as the stars, every enemy under your feet. What do you mean don't tell anybody?

And Jesus comes into Jerusalem. You know, we just had Palm Sunday not long ago. Jesus comes into Jerusalem on a donkey, right? He's not riding on the war horse, which is symbolic. You see that in Revelation, he comes riding on a horse, coming to do battle, right?

Coming to destroy his enemies. You see that portrait of Jesus in Revelation, but here's Jesus now in his earthly ministry coming on a donkey, which is a sign of peace. And now Jesus in his ministry, don't say anything.

Don't tell anybody. Don't make it known. And then what Matthew does, he interprets what Jesus did through divine inspiration as fulfilling what Isaiah said in Isaiah 42. And this is the text, behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

Now what's powerful, I want you to do this for today. Keep your finger in two places. If you have a paper text before you, which I highly encourage, Matthew chapter 12, keep your finger there, and go ahead and get another finger ready in Isaiah 42.

Isaiah chapter 42, one of my favorite passages about the Messiah's reign. I love this text. I have for a very, very long time. If you don't know it, get to know it guys, because it is awesome. We have, Christians have their favorites, right?

We have Isaiah 9 -6, Isaiah 53, you've got Psalm 22, the passion of the Messiah. We have our favorite messianic prophecies, and this one is hardly ever brought up. And I suspect I know why. I think it has a lot to do with eschatology, because if you read this text, you see the scope of the Messiah's victory.

It might be kind of hard to envision how does that work if we don't believe he really brought his kingdom. So keep a finger in Isaiah 42. Just a couple things to point out quickly. One, behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

You see, the identity of the Messiah is someone that God has chosen. This is God's plan for the Messiah. It's God's chosen servant to bless and heal the world. But you'll notice that he says, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

Now, that should already sound familiar to you, right? Because if you're reading the same text in Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew, you've already seen that in Matthew 3 -17. Who said that about Jesus?

Who said it about Jesus? The Father, right? So you have the story of John the Baptist in the gospel according to Matthew. John the Baptist is there and he's giving this baptism to Jesus, this anointing him as a priest, right?

Because John was a priest, his father was a priest in the temple, and now Jesus is following the law by being anointed for the priesthood. And so that's all taking place, but what is this amazing moment where the Father actually speaks audibly, audibly from heaven, right?

You don't always get to hear that, and this moment is so special in history that the Father says with witnesses everywhere, this is the son of my love in whom I am well pleased. Now, if you don't know your Old Testament and you read Matthew for the first time, you might be thinking, oh, that's a very precious moment where God just sort of says some random thing about Jesus.

No. Do you see, if you were raised in Jewish Awanis, if you were raised under the hearing of the Torah and the Tanakh, if you were under the hearing of the word of God in synagogue, you heard all these stories about the Messiah who was coming, the beloved, the one with whom God was well pleased.

And now you're at the baptism of Jesus and from heaven you hear this voice that you never heard before, and that voice is shouting to the world before eyewitnesses. This is the son of my love, and I'm pleased in him.

And the amazing thing is, is it should have caught the attention of everybody who was raised under the hearing of the word of God. This is God from heaven confirming, this is my chosen servant. Now watch, let it do something that it's supposed to do, please.

Think for a moment now, if you were a Jew raised under the hearing of the word of God with all the promises of Messiah, think about it, the Messiah is coming to bring descendants as numerous as the stars to Abraham.

He's coming to win the entire world, Jew and Gentile, not just Jews, but Gentiles also. He's coming to bring the families of the earth to worship God. He's coming to bring justice, finally justice in the world.

You know that's coming, right? And you know it's the servant of God, the chosen, the one that he loves and whom he is well pleased. Now watch, you're there at the baptism of Jesus now. And now you hear from heaven, it's him.

This is the one who's going to bring salvation. This is the one who's going to heal the world. This is the one, listen, who's going to restore the garden. This is the one that's going to bring people reconciled back to God.

This is the one who's going to establish justice in the earth. How do you know that? Because you know Isaiah 42, the beloved, the servant, the chosen, the one in whom God is pleased. The father says it from heaven.

So what do you look at Jesus with now? Eyes filled with hope, finally salvation, finally not just salvation, but justice in the world. God eradicating all the evil and injustice in the world through this Messiah.

The story is bigger. Listen, here's my point. It is so much bigger than the Western evangelical allows it to be. It is not simply about my own private salvation before God. The story of the gospel, we have truncated it to just about my own personal salvation and going to heaven one day.

Is it true that in Christ through faith, apart from any work of law, I am going to heaven? Answer, yes. Eternal life is a gift from God. When you turn from sin to trust in Jesus, you are given eternal life, no longer condemned.

But it's a truncated gospel to think that salvation is merely about individuals going to heaven when they die. You see, the Old Testament gave a much bigger picture. It wasn't merely about heaven one day, escaping the earthly realm.

The story of the Messiah was a kingdom that was going to heal the entire world and bring salvation and justice. And now here he is, here's Jesus. The Father confirms this is the one, and so your eyes and heart filled with hope for the future.

I don't know how this is going to work out, this guy from Nazareth, but that's what Isaiah said. That's the one that's God's chosen servant. That's the one with whom he is well-pleased. You see, the eyes are filled with hope because the vision and scope is so big, it's so grand, it's so large.

And Matthew says, Jesus is the one Isaiah was talking about. Now we need to talk for a moment about this next portion. Look here, it's in verse 18. I will put my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

Now he says it again, if you look in verse 20, the last part of verse 20. He says, in a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory. We need to talk for a moment about justice.

Follow me now, this is important. The word justice from the Hebrew text in the Old Testament that Matthew's quoting from is the Hebrew word mispat. It means a state or condition of justice or fairness in disputes.

Now that's an important concept in the Old Testament, it's said over and over and over again. I want to point you to a text that I need you to have in your hearts because it can't be missed as Christians, and that is God's concern with justice.

So I'll give you a big one. Go to Psalm 89 .14, Psalm 89 .14, and look what the Bible says about justice and God. Psalm 89 .14, it says, righteousness and what? Justice are the foundation of your throne.

Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. That is a verse to memorize, brothers and sisters. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. What holds up God's throne? Righteousness and justice.

God is just. He is not partial. He is just. He always does right. The Bible says he is just and he will do right. God's throne is established on justice. Here's some passages, you can reference them later, write them down, a couple passages I want you to hear.

Listen to what Isaiah 9 .7 says, well, I'll get to that in a minute actually. Let's do Proverbs 29 .4. It says, the king gives stability to the land by justice, but a man who takes bribes overthrows it.

So it says, watch, that stability is given to the land by justice. So what's that mean? Think about the inverse. If you have a nation where there is no justice and God's word is the certain standard of justice, if there is no justice in a land, there is no stability in a land.

You want stability in a land? You need a lot of people to know God and you need God's own standards of justice. No justice, no stability, Proverbs. Isaiah 1 .7 says, learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

Deuteronomy 16 .20, justice, listen, listen, God's speaking to His people, justice and only justice you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you. God says to His people, listen to me, justice and only justice you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

God says His throne is established on justice. He calls His people to seek justice. The land is given stability through justice. Deuteronomy 27 .19, cursed is He, cursed is He who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan and widow, and all the people shall say, Amen.

Cursed is He who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan and widow. Another one, Job 37 .23, the Almighty, we cannot find Him, He is exalted in power and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.

God will not violate justice. It says in Psalm 33 .5, He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of the Lord. Psalm 140 .12, I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor.

Proverbs 28 .5, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all things. You see, we can go on an entire service today, listen closely, we legitimately could have an entire service today just simply reading the text from God's Word where God talks about His love for justice, His demands of justice in the world.

So brothers and sisters, the reason why I am emphasizing this today, it goes back to what I said about a truncated gospel. You see, it's amazing, right? We have this Old Testament revelation that has God's perfect Word, God's perfect law, which is built upon love for God and love for neighbor.

That's what it was in the Old Testament. It's not a new standard and a new, different from the old. It's the same standard, love God, love neighbor. And you've got this perfect system of law and social order and justice in the Old Testament.

And God points to it as good and do justice, seek justice and only justice. My throne is established on justice. And He says, cursed is the one who distorts justice on behalf of the widow and the orphan and the alien.

God cares about justice. We have this perfect blueprint and model of justice in God's Word. And we truncate the gospel today, we say, oh, God's not concerned with that anymore. Well, what is God concerned with?

Oh, He's concerned with people going to heaven. You see, that's what the gospel is today, right? Here's the gospel. Pray this prayer with me so you can go to heaven one day. We've truncated the gospel.

Yes, that's part of the good news is you hear about what Jesus has done, that He's saved His people. You repent and you believe, yes, but it's not done. You see, what we've missed is this, watch. Evangelicals in the West understand this.

We understand the gospel. And what we mean by that is that we get to go to heaven one day. Would you like to go to heaven? Yes? Then pray this prayer with me. That's typically how it's given, right? You want to go to heaven?

Pray this prayer. That's the gospel. We get to go to heaven one day. But you see, what we don't understand is that it's not just the gospel, it is the gospel of the kingdom. And it's almost like we don't know what that means anymore.

How is it good news that there's the kingdom? How is the kingdom good news? I'll tell you how it was good news to the Jews who first heard it. It was good news that God was restoring the world. It was good news that the Messiah was going to bring redemption and salvation and, listen, here it is, justice.

It's good news that God's going to put the world right again. It's good news that God's going to extend His reach to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And that is good news of His reign. The Messiah is going to reign and He's going to do what's right in the world.

He's going to start by saving people and then that salvation is going to have ripple effects that bless the entire world. There's more. God's throne established on justice. But if you want to write this down, write this down.

The mission of the Messiah. It all goes along with this issue of justice here. The mission of the Messiah was, of course, salvation. Read about it in your Old Testament. Read about it in Isaiah 53 as a starting point.

Isaiah 53, pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His wounds we are healed. He's numbered among the transgressors, right?

He justifies the many as He bears their iniquities. Salvation. But we also know there was salvation to the world. Not just individuals. It contained the world. We know the promises to Abraham. Abraham, what is it guys?

You're going to have descendants as numerous as the what? Stars. It's a lot of stars. It's a lot of stars. You're going to have descendants as numerous as the stars, Abraham. Paul says that we are all descendants of Abraham through faith in Jesus.

You also have the promise in Genesis, not just you're going to have descendants as numerous as the stars, but you have Genesis 49, 10. The one who's coming, one of my favorite ones, what's it say? Some texts call him Shiloh and it says to him, the one coming, is going to be, listen, the obedience of the peoples.

It's important to note, listen, that in Paul's gospel, Romans, in Romans 1 and 16, he bookends that book with this statement, that their purpose was to bring about the obedience of faith among the nations.

He bookends Romans 1 and 16 with the verbiage of Genesis 49, 10, that the obedience of the peoples is going to belong to him, Messiah. Paul says, that's what we're here to do, to get the obedience of the peoples.

We also have Psalm chapter 2. What's the promise? I hope you know by now. I've said it so many times. I've tried to make sure I say it as much as possible so you memorize it. Psalm chapter 2, the father says to the son.

The father speaks to Jesus in the Old Testament and he says this, ask of me and what? I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession, Jesus. Then he says to the kings, what?

Be wise, O kings, obey the son or you'll perish. We know that the salvation was coming to the ends of the world. It was Jesus' possession. You know Psalm 22 where it says, after the passion of the Messiah, what?

It says, all the families of the earth will return to worship the Lord. Now that was what God said in salvation in the world, but here's what I want you to write down. If you're taking notes, write it down.

Memorize these texts because they're critical and they're right with Isaiah 42. Isaiah chapter 2, here's the text. I'm going to read it to you. This is one of those promises, the things they expected in the Messiah's ministry.

Here's the word. Isaiah chapter 2, verse 2, and it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills, and listen, watch, and all the nations shall flow to it.

Watch, you've got the idea of water flowing up a mountain, being drawn up this mountain. And many peoples shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go the Torah, the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. You see the picture of when the nations are coming up to God, now the law is going forth from the people of God, and as a result of the law coming forth and the nations being saved, people are now turning things that were once used for weapons into tools to cultivate the world.

So, watch, as salvation occurs, what happens in the world? Peace. That was the promise. Another promise of salvation and justice and law, Isaiah 9, 6 through 7. Most of you probably already have this memorized by now.

It's like one of Apologia Church's life verses, right? Isaiah 9, here it is, listen, 6 through 7. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. And what do we do? What do we do? We put it on our Christmas cards, and we say, what? That's Jesus. He is the mighty God. He is the Father of Eternity, the Eternal One.

He's the one that has the increase of his government and of peace. We say, yep, that's Jesus. Put it on your Christmas card. Take that, covenanters. Actually, I've got to specify, it's Facebook covenanters, yes.

Take that, Facebook covenanters. But what do we miss? We miss the next part. Look what it says. It says, on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with what? Justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

There's a promise of justice to come in the Messiah's kingdom. One more text with justice in the law. Go to Isaiah 51, quickly, Isaiah 51. Here's the text. Listen to how similar it sounds. Listen to how much it sounds like Isaiah 42.

Isaiah 51, verse 4, give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the people's, listen, the coastlands hope for me, and from my arm they wait.

What's the promise? What? Salvation is coming, and what's coming with it? Justice. But you notice the constituent element of justice keeps coming back to what? The law of God. As salvation crosses over the earth, justice is in the earth, but what's coming out from the people of God?

The law. And so God promises in the Messiah's kingdom justice in the earth. Now, quickly, I'll just say this, how does it take place? You just drop God's standards of justice on society? You just drop the law of God on society?

No. What's Jeremiah 31, 31 say? He said, I'm making a new covenant with my people. Not like the covenant they broke, even though I was a husband to them, God says. He says what? I will put the law, where?

Within them. And they're inward parts. What's God do? In the new covenant, he saves people, and he takes the law from being on stone tablets to now it's written on their hearts. It's coming from within by God's spirit.

That's how justice starts to take place. People know God, and then God's law and standards are within them. They desire justice. They desire his standards and his truth, but it's from within. And then finally, Ezekiel 36, God says what?

I'll remove a heart of stone, give a heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit within them and cause them to observe my statutes. That's how it takes place. So go to Isaiah 42, we'll finish here. I want to say just quickly, when he says he will not cry aloud, verse 2 of chapter 42, or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street, a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench, just say quickly.

It's what's so appealing and beautiful about Jesus. It's what makes him so appealing. Even to unbelievers who don't want to hear about his calls to repent, unbelievers who don't want to hear about his demands on their lives, unbelievers who don't want to repent and believe in Christ because they know what that means, they'll still talk in very endearing terms about Jesus.

He was so meek. You're not being like Jesus. He loved people. He was so meek and gentle, and they're right. They're absolutely right. What you see in the life of Jesus as he comes to hurting broken people, described in this text, watch, like bent reeds.

And he doesn't come in and snap them. You see, Jesus is described as this meek and humble one who comes into people who are like these bent reeds, easily snapped, weak people. People that Jesus calls those who mourn, the meek, the poor, and spiritually bankrupt.

Jesus comes to them not snapping them. It's a light that's barely there. He doesn't snuff it out, which, by the way, makes a lot of sense of when Jesus is in his ministry and the Pharisees are trying to destroy him.

Jesus says, don't announce. He's not making a big kerfuffle over himself, and he's not causing all these issues and problems and crying out and creating revolt. Jesus is ministering to hurting broken people, not breaking them.

But look what it says. He will, end of verse three, faithfully bring forth justice. Watch. He will not grow faint. Some texts say fail, or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his what? Law.

Now, I'll end on this. What do we mean when we say God is bringing justice in the world? Well, listen, can I just say? We don't mean anything other than God's standards of rightness and justice. So when we say, what does that look like?

We say, well, what does the Word say? What does God say about justice in the court system? That's the kind of justice he's bringing. What does God say about justice for the poor? What does God say about justice for the widow and the orphan?

We ought to care. Why, brothers and sisters, is the church in the 21st century taking a backseat in the discussions about justice in the world? Can I point something out? It's not as though when the church steps away from the culture and the area of justice, that there are no conversations of justice going on.

What it means is, is if Christians step away and stop being salty, it means that other institutions that are not believing, that don't know God, will try to establish their own versions of justice. So for example, when the church steps away from widows and orphans and the poor in a culture, it's not as though now it's a void nobody's addressing.