Highlight: The Foundation of True Justice

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I posted today just a link from the Daily Wire of their live -streaming of the actual court, the trial that's taking place, and somebody posted immediately after I just shared it, okay, here's a live stream, share it so everyone can see it, and also

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I want to be able to go back myself and watch it later. And so I shared it, and somebody put immediately under this, they said something like, how exactly is this edifying for Christians?

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And I thought to myself, you know, I didn't want to be abusive to the man, I thought to myself, well, if you don't think this is edifying talking about these things, you should stay away from Deuteronomy, Exodus, and Leviticus, because that's like all that's about, like it's talking about justice, and court, and righteousness, and false witnesses, and what do you do, and cross -examination, all that stuff.

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It should be edifying for Christians to be concerned with justice. I'm not saying that every trial you watch is going to be edifying, but in terms of a conversation, it can be very edifying to talk about justice and how it should actually play out in the courts, and you being able to examine these things.

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Because I just want to say at the front, when you look at the situation happening right now with Kyle Rittenhouse, we're accustomed as Americans to look at a situation like this and say, okay, charges are filed, this is a court case, you've got a judge, you've got a jury of peers, and you've got a defense, and you've got an offense.

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You've got the prosecutor and the defense, you have advocates for the state, advocates supposedly for the victims, and you've got advocates over here for the person who's supposed to be seen as innocent until proven guilty, and you've got an advocate.

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So I want to just say, we're just accustomed to it because we're raised in the West that has been a beneficiary of all that took place in history of Christians actually speaking the

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Word of God into this context. So even the situation of having an advocate being presumed innocent until proven guilty, and having cross -examination and witnesses brought forth, all of that is a gift to the world from the

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Bible, from the Christian worldview, okay? So if love that stuff, if you love witnesses being demanded, if you love logic and reasoning, if you love the whole thing of cross -examination, if you love all of that, you've got to say, praise

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God for Moses, okay? You really do. You have to say, praise God for Moses, because we just are so ignorant of this today.

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Many of us raised in the public education system, the government education system, we don't understand oftentimes how in history and present day, today, you don't have that standard of justice, those standards of justice, just as the norm, right?

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You don't. I mean, you can look at, goodness gracious, things that are happening today. I often use it because I think it's the most dramatic effect.

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Someone steals a loaf of bread, and you get your hand cut off. Is that justice? That would never fly in God's law.

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It's about repayment, making the person whole again. You had issues that the Christians were dealing with in England, specifically where they were, at times, you could have guards or police officers just break into your house, go through your stuff, you didn't even know what you're being accused of, and they didn't have to have really any evidence.

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It could just be based upon suspicion, or someone just made a claim, and they just start going through your stuff, or they haul you into court, and the entire court proceeding is actually given in a different language, and you're being asked even to swear an oath against yourself, and to speak in defense of yourself.

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Christians were viewing this situation, and when the Bible got put into the commoner's language, the common person's language, these

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Christians are now reading the Bible, and they're reading the first five books, didn't take them long, and they're going, hmm, cross -examination, these people are supposed to be, you have to have witnesses, you got to have multiple witnesses, you have to have multiple lines of independent testimony, all this stuff, goodness gracious, if a witness lies in court, they're supposed to get the punishment that would have been given to the accused, and so now

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Christians are starting to influence, via the Word of God, the law of their land, that was taking place in their land, and so transformation and reformation was taking place.

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We just take it as just, that's just the way things are, right? We have cross -examination, you've got lawyers, you've got judges, you've got the necessity of witnesses, but the thing that I read at the beginning of the show today,

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I think is important, beyond the case law examples in the Old Testament, where God actually specific, specifically tells them how to execute justice, he condemns false witnesses, don't go with the crowd, the mob, you must have equal weights and measures, all that stuff, you got to have like two to three independent lines of witness, all that, besides all of that, you also have wisdom throughout the

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Scriptures, but specifically in Proverbs 18, I read you 13, and I read you 17. 13 says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

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And the other one says, the one who states his case first seems right until the other one comes and examines him.

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So what should that do to the normal person who loves the Word of God, and wants to be submitted to Christ, and cares about justice and righteousness in the world around them, and loves their neighbor?

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It should make you pause, always. So basically what it's telling you is like, look, we're in the fallen world, you're going to have tussles, you're going to have conflict, you're going to have murder, death, theft, all that stuff, and so the first thing you're supposed to do is shut up and hear it, right?

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So you don't just flip off right away and just go with your presuppositions and assumptions about someone's guilt and start flying off into it and saying, guilty, guilty, guilty.

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You're supposed to hear the thing first. You're supposed to hear the matter first before you come to a decision on it.

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You want to have all the details. You're going to figure this out. Why? Because God's people are supposed to be concerned with truth. But there's also this amazing one here that says, the one who states his case first seems right until another one comes to examine him.

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There's cross -examination right there, and that also gives the child of God, it gives the godly woman, the godly man, the foundation to say, look, this person sounds very convincing, but there's probably another side to this.

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Everyone wants to tell their story and give it their own spin. God is telling you, you wait until you can get the other side before you determine the matter.

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And by the way, this specifically, the Proverbs is wisdom, obviously, for all of us across life. But some of this is actually directed just directly to the king.

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It's those who are supposed to exercise judgment in the land. And so this is just telling somebody who's in that kind of position, you need to hear both sides.

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It's important as Christians, if we're going to have any light in the midst of darkness and the assaults of the culture, I think we need to lay down these foundations to say

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God's word has standards as to the court and how it's supposed to operate, and how we're supposed to actually operate in community with one another when somebody's actually accused.

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The answer is always God's law is innocent, innocent, innocent, until there is adequate proof and evidence that someone's actually guilty.

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And from the beginning of the Bible, literally throughout the New Testament, you still have that standard of two to three witnesses before a person—you know it from Paul, where he talks to Timothy, where he says, receive no accusation against an elder unless it's on the basis of two to three witnesses.

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All he's doing is applying the law of God from the court into the situation with elders.

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Don't receive an accusation unless there's two to three independent lines of witness and evidence. In other words, see the person as innocent until there's evidence otherwise, to the contrary.

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And so we live in a situation today where all the media has to do is just tell you the story, we see this person as guilty.

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We're going to call them the Kenosha shooter, sort of a thing. And you're being asked today to simply believe somebody because they make an accusation.

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Just because they made an accusation, believe it. We've got, of course, recent examples, fairly recent in our own history in the last six years, where you've got examples of, say, women accusing men of raping them with no evidence necessary.

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But as soon as the charge is made, this person's a rapist, everyone's just supposed to believe it. And then that dude's life is over.

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You're just automatically guilty. And the news cycle moves so quickly now.

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Sometimes it's just a matter of a refresh on your internet browser that sometimes someone is falsely accused, and by the time it actually comes to them being vindicated of that false accusation, no one even cares about the case anymore.

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So in everyone's mind, it's just, it's kind of over, and that person's always known as that one guy that...

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Exactly. Now, by the way, this is so great. It's so providential because I'm back in Matthew this coming

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Sunday in church, and I'm actually going to be talking about the trial with Caiaphas.

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Caiaphas is the high priest. He's supposed to be the one who's in charge, and the buck stops with him, sort of a thing.

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But they're so corrupt at that day, and they're so envious of Jesus that they're pulling together false witnesses to testify against him in court.

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Now, what's amazing here is that when Jesus first has these people come to him, he has temple police coming to him with clubs, and he's got

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Roman guards police coming to him with swords. The temple police weren't supposed to have swords, so they had clubs to beat people down with, but the

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Romans were concerned with executing against crimes. So the temple really could only prosecute things that were like religious crimes, like Rome only let them have religious crimes like blasphemy, you know, temple stuff,

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Jewish stuff. But if you were guilty of a crime, like murder, rape, theft, something like that, that's where Rome is involved.

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The strange situation going on with Jesus is when you have like a thousand people coming and pulling up on Jesus and the disciples of the garden, you've got

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Roman police and you've got temple police. This doesn't make any sense. Why are they together? No one even knows what the real charge is.

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So they first bring Jesus to Annas and then to Caiaphas, and they're pulling together false witnesses and all the rest, and then they bring him to Pilate.

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But what's weird is he hadn't committed any crime. Why is Pilate seeing him? Where's the theft? Where's the murder?

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Where's the violation of another person? What's this doing before Pilate is the big question that everyone has to ask. It's totally nefarious, totally corrupt to begin with, but I wanted to point out something that in John chapter 8, everyone knows, by the way, that Jesus, like Isaiah 53 says that, you know, he doesn't open his mouth like a lamb led to the slaughter.

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Everyone knows that during the trials of Jesus, you've got all these accusations coming, and Jesus isn't playing into it.

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Like, he's not willing to play their game and self -incriminate, because he knows according to God's law, it's innocent until proven guilty.

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Where are your witnesses is the question. That's the question to ask. Like, where's your witnesses? If I'm guilty, where's your witnesses, right?

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And they can't figure it out, because all they're doing is they're pulling like false witnesses whose stories won't come together, and then at one point in Caiaphas' trial,

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Caiaphas wants Jesus to help him. Like, you know, he wants Jesus to participate a little bit. Like, give me something to work with Jesus, and Jesus doesn't have to answer anything, because he's the innocent one.

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Innocent person doesn't have to self -incriminate. They don't have to defend themselves, because if your witnesses are strong enough, they should be able to prove it, right?

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Also, so all that's—I'm preaching on this Sunday, so this is perfect timing, but this is 18,

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John 18, but it says in verse 19 of 18, the high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

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Jesus answered him, I've spoken openly to the world. I've always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all

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Jews come together. I've said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what

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I have said to them. They know what I said. When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck

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Jesus with his hand, saying, is that how you answer the high priest? By the way, isn't it funny?

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Like, here's this guy pretending to be a high priest, where Jesus is actually the high priest, and so Jesus gets hit.

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Jesus answered him, if what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong, but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?

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So here's what Jesus is saying. I've spoken openly. None of this is in secret. Everyone's heard what

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I said. If you want to know, go find some witnesses. Go ask them, right? So Jesus is essentially saying, they're like, go ask the witnesses.

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Like, why are you asking me? Go ask the witnesses. Everything I've said is open and public, so get your witnesses.

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And so then they hit Jesus, and Jesus is like, did I say something wrong, or is what I said right?

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If it was right, why'd you hit me? Because these people should know, under God's law, Jesus doesn't have to help.

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Go find your witnesses. You have to have accusers and witnesses, so what are you asking? Why are you asking the accused to answer for himself?

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I don't have to. So, by the way, that's a whole historical background there, biblical background. So the fifth amendment, the right to remain silent, not to self -incriminate.

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If you love the right to remain silent and not self -incriminate, then once again, thank Moses, thank the

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Bible, thank the Word of God as the foundation for that. But here's Jesus actually doing that, where he's being accused and essentially saying this, go get your witnesses.

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Everything I said is out in the open, so go find your witnesses. And then they hit him for saying that, and he's like, that's what you're supposed to be doing.

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Am I wrong? I mean, don't you know the law of God? So here's a good example. So by the way, it doesn't mean...it

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just means that the accused has all the rights in this moment. They have all the rights.

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The accused is innocent, and the accused has all the rights at that moment to basically say, I don't have to answer you.

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If you've got such a strong case, you've got all this evidence, then go ahead and present it. I don't have to answer a thing. But isn't it, this is what

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I always thought is amazing, is that when Jesus goes from mock trial to mock trial to mock trial, when all that takes place, he never plays into their false witnesses making accusations, and that irritates them.

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They're like, why aren't you answering? Because false witnesses are coming forward, and they can't get their story straight. And they're like, Jesus, can you help us a little bit with what they're...and

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Jesus says nothing. And they're so frustrated by the fact that he won't help the false witnesses.

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But I do love the fact that when they ask Jesus a direct question about truth, about his identity, that's when he answers.

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That's when he answers. I can testify to this. Yeah. I can answer that question, right?

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But he doesn't ever play into the hands of the accusers who are accusing him falsely. So I just, I love that in the