June 16, 2025 • 31 mins
In this installment of our Summer in the Psalms series, Pastor Benjamin Kandt reflects on Psalm 37:27–28, a passage that calls us to actively pursue goodness in a world marred by brokenness. Pastor Kandt unpacks how God's steadfast love for justice is not only a comfort but also a call—to live distinctively as His people. We are invited to turn from evil, do good, and trust that the Lord will not forsake His faithful ones.
This message reminds us that God's justice is not delayed, forgotten, or passive. Instead, it is deeply rooted in His character and woven into the lives of His saints. As we consider what it means to be preserved by God and to dwell forever in His care, we are challenged to embody righteousness in our ordinary decisions and relationships—confident that the Lord loves justice and never abandons His beloved.
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Episode Transcript
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Rev. Damein Schitter (00:05):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Gina Fickett (00:20):
Please join me in praying the prayer of
illumination.
Please join me in praying theprayer of illumination.
Heavenly Father, may your wordbe a lamp to our feet and a
light to our path, through JesusChrist, our Lord, amen.
Today's scripture reading isfrom Psalm 37, verses 27 and 28.
Turn away from evil and do good, so shall you dwell forever,
(00:46):
for the Lord loves justice.
He will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever.
But the children of the wickedshall be cut off.
This is God's word.
Please be seated.
Benjamin Kandt (01:01):
I would like to believe in God.
I simply can't.
That's a line from Ta-NehisiCoates' book which is entitled
we Were Eight Years in Power,and the reason he gives why he
can't believe in God is he saysthat when I was nine, some kid
beat me up for amusement andwhen I came home crying to my
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father, he said fight that boyor fight me.
He goes on to say at thatmoment my dad taught me that we
live in a godless world and thatthere was no justice in the
world except the justice we dishout with our own hands.
Happy Father's Day.
Welcome to Worship with NewCity.
We're going to talk aboutjustice today.
Now, if that feels like thatdoesn't go hand in hand,
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consider this the Lord inGenesis 18, 19 says that he
called Father Abraham.
He chose him to teach hischildren to keep the way of the
Lord by doing justice andrighteousness.
In other words, integral tobeing a father is teaching your
children to do justice.
This is actually deeplyrelevant from a biblical
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worldview.
So what is justice?
Well, thomas Aquinas famouslydefined justice as to render to
each what each is due.
To render to each what each isdue.
That's good.
To expound that a little bitwhat justice is really.
It's giving people what theyare due, whether provision or
protection or punishment,whether provision or protection
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or punishment Surrender to eachwhat each is due.
And so, listen, I want to dojustice to justice, but I can't
say everything there is to saythis morning.
So next week will be kind of apart two of sorts, but this
morning, really, what I want toget at is that I personally feel
a growing ache to do justice,to love mercy, to walk humbly
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with my God, and I want that foryou too.
But if you're anything like me,there's something that happens
when you sense that a call to dojustice, you sense that call,
but then you also hear and feelthat something's a little bit
off in our society's calls forjustice, and so you feel
conflicted a little bit.
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And so what I want for you is Idon't want you to give up on
God's call to do justice justbecause there's probably some
injustice in our secularsociety's calls to justice,
tracking with that.
And so my intent for the sermonis to contrast Psalm 37's
biblical vision of justice withour cultural moment, secular
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social justice models.
It's important for me because Idon't want you to think that
you're not able to do justicejust because you disagree with
what you see on your news feed.
And so what that means is, aswe look at Psalm 37, we're going
to see that justice belongs tothe Lord, that he loves it, he
defines it and he will bring itabout.
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And so, to that end, I havethree points the motive of
justice, the standard of justiceand the goal of justice.
If you have a Bible or a deviceor your worship guide, go ahead
and get Psalm 37 in front ofyou.
We're going to look closely atthis text together this morning.
I want to begin in Psalm 37,verse 27, where our scripture
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reading started this morning.
This is what it says Psalm 37,27.
Turn away from evil and do good, so shall you dwell forever,
for the Lord loves justice.
So when we ask the question ofthe motive of justice, we're
saying for what reason?
What should be the motivatingprinciple as we do justice?
(04:33):
Well, I'm helped becauseJohannes Kepler, the 17th
century astronomer, he wrotethat in all of his science he
was simply thinking God'sthoughts after him.
I love that language.
That's a really great way totalk about the motive of
disciples.
We, as disciples of Jesus,we're simply trying to think
God's thoughts after him, feelwhat God feels after him, what
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makes God mad and sad and glad.
I want that to resonate in myown heart.
But we also want to love whatGod loves and hate what God
hates.
And in Psalm 37, verse 28,.
It says the Lord loves justice.
Do you love justice?
Do I Like?
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When you watch the news orscroll your feed, do you hear
the cries for justice among yourneighbors?
Does it move you?
This dates me a little bit, butthe song that was a big deal
when I became a follower ofJesus had a line in there which
I loved which was break my heartfor what breaks yours.
But instead we often plug ourears to the cries of justice
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because it's too hard for ourown hearts to bear.
But the Lord loves justice.
This matters deeply to God andso therefore it ought to matter
deeply to us.
But there is a limit to feelingGod's feelings after him.
Look with me at verse eight.
It says this refrain from angerand forsake wrath.
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He can be wrathful at injustice, but you all refrain from anger
and forsake wrath.
He can be wrathful at injustice, but you all refrain from anger
and forsake wrath.
Fret not yourself.
It tends only to evil.
Let me make that plain you canbe unjust in your pursuit of
justice.
The motive of secular socialjustice is often vengeance,
bitterness, resentment and rage,but this text says that that
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tends only to evil.
Instead, christians are tonever avenge ourselves but leave
it to the wrath of God.
For it is written vengeance ismine.
I shall repay, says the Lord.
So how do you avoid vengeancein your pursuit of justice?
What does that look like?
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Well, verse 5 puts it like thisCommit your way to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act.
He will bring forth yourrighteousness as the light and
your justice as the noonday OnJune 1st, rev Reynolds was up
here teaching us that commityour way to the Lord means to
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roll your life onto him.
So what does that mean?
What does it actually look likein practice to roll your life
unto the Lord when it comes toour pursuit of justice?
Let me tell you a story aboutthat.
Martin Lloyd-Jones was a pastorin the 20th century in London
and one time, during World WarII, lloyd-jones was preaching at
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Westminster Chapel and as hewas preaching, a bomb was
dropped by the Nazi Air Force,the Luftwaffe, and it was
dropped on a building across thestreet.
But it was such an intenseexplosion that it caused dust
from the ceiling to fall down onthe congregation where he was
praying.
He was praying in that moment,so what did he do?
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He paused and then he just keptpraying.
Later, in another sermon, hesaid about this particular
instance.
He said I was never worried fora second about a man like
Hitler.
It was enough for me to readPsalm 37.
That is so punk rock.
I love that.
We need preachers like thatthis day.
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Where are they?
Listen, he was talking aboutverse 35.
He says this I have seen awicked, ruthless man spreading
himself like a green laurel tree, but he passed away and behold,
he was no more.
Though I sought him, he couldnot be found.
Where is Hitler now?
Or Stalin, or Nero, or Herod,or Mao.
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Where are they now?
Verse 36, quote behold, he wasno more.
You see, imagine what it wouldtake for Nazis to be dropping
bombs on your city and saying Iwas never afraid of Hitler
because I read Psalm 37.
What would that take?
How did Martin Lloyd-Jones dothat?
How do we do that?
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Well, in psychology there's thisconcept called a mutual mind
state.
A mutual mind state is whenyou're like seeing your kids
play and they fall and they skintheir knees, and then they look
at you to figure out if theyshould freak out or not.
In that moment, what'shappening is their mind is
syncing up with your mind, andyour mind, if it's calm,
regulates their mind and makesit calm.
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Look at verse 13.
It says this in our text theLord laughs at the wicked, for
he sees that his day is coming.
Listen, if the Lord isn'tworried about the future,
neither should we.
Now the Lord looks to thefuture.
We want to feel his feelingsafter him.
He's not fretting.
Why are we?
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But here's the reality is thatGod looks to the future and
laughs, not because evil isfunny, but because it has an
expiration date.
And so we look at our father'sface and we say you're not
anxious, I'm not anxious Mutualmind state, but the ultimate
freedom from anger, vengeanceand anxiety is actually found
somewhere else.
It's found in the cross ofJesus Christ.
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I've been apprenticed underRachel Denhollander in this way.
She was a gymnast and, in 2018,was the first woman to publicly
accuse Larry Nassar of hisheinous abuse, if you know that
story, which led to hundreds ofother women to come forward and
share their own stories.
Now, after Denhollander didthis, she actually wrote an
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article with her husband calledJustice the Foundation of a
Christian Approach to Abuse.
You see, she's a Christian.
I actually think she's in thePCA, our denomination, and she
said she argues in this article.
I would read it.
It's great.
She says the way forward reallyis through this classic doctrine
of the substitutionaryatonement of Jesus, which says
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that on the cross, jesus tookthe penalty for our sins so we
could be forgiven.
She's saying that's the wayforward for justice for victims
of abuse.
I don't know if your mind wentthere.
Hers did, because she's trainedand deeply immersed in a
biblical imagination.
Now she gives four reasons whythat's the case, why the cross
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of Christ can give both comfortand vindication for victims, and
she says this?
Number one the reason isbecause the cross means that God
hates evil and the injustice ofabuse.
The cross says that.
So then, a victim's sense ofinjustice and desire for
vindication it's actually upheldat the cross.
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Injustice and unrighteousnessare real and God hates them.
That's what the cross of Christsays.
But number two the cross showsus that forgiveness and justice
can be friends, not enemies.
You see, jesus bore the divinewrath against sin on the cross.
So then, we are freed toforgive, because we know that
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every sin against you, everyevil done against you, every
injustice against you is eithergoing to get what it deserves on
the cross of Jesus Christ or inhell for an eternity.
That means that justice andforgiveness can go together.
They're not enemies, they'refriends.
Number three the cross redeemspower dynamics.
Think about the misuse of powerin abuse.
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But the cross redeems itbecause the strong God becomes
weak to strengthen weak sinners.
You see, at the cross, the sonof God sets aside his divine
prerogatives and the strongbecomes weak, so that at the
cross, god can act for others,using his power to act for
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others to overcome evil, touphold justice, to free the
enslaved, to restore creation.
God himself perfectlyidentifies with the victim on
the cross of Jesus Christ.
Fourth and finally, in herarticle she says the cross shows
that both victim andperpetrator need forgiveness and
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justice, something oftenmissing in secular social
justice.
Both oppressor and oppressedneed forgiveness and justice.
Both oppressor and oppressedneed forgiveness and justice.
You see, the cross actuallyhelps Christians to refrain from
viewing criminals and abusersas the other and as
fundamentally different fromourselves, because we know the
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seeds of every sin dwell inevery human heart.
Den Hollander actually put thistheology to work in the
courtroom when she looked at herabuser in the eyes and she said
quote I pray you experience thesoul-crushing weight of guilt
so that you may somedayexperience true repentance and
true forgiveness from God, whichyou need far more than
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forgiveness from me, though Iextend that to you as well.
More than forgiveness from me,though I extend that to you as
well.
Where did she learn to dojustice like this?
Well, she learned it from theonly true standard of justice,
which is the point two, thestandard of justice.
Look at verse 27 with me again.
It says this turn away fromevil and do good, so shall you
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dwell forever.
What is good and evil?
Who has that knowledge.
We all know that there is rightand wrong, but we disagree where
it comes from.
If we've evolved, then where dowe get this sense of justice?
Vladimir Soloyev says it likethis.
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Vladimir Soloyev says it likethis man descended from apes.
Therefore, let us love oneanother.
Do you hear the silliness ofthat?
We laugh, but that's what we'rebeing told.
Why is it wrong to be violent,arrogant or oppressive?
If we live in a world ruled bythe survival of the fittest,
where the strong eat the weak,then why do we feel outraged
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when people use power to oppressothers?
Why?
Who are you to tell me what'sright and wrong for me?
Where do you get this idea offairness or justice, of rights,
if there is no God?
You see, secular social justicecannot give what it offers.
Let me just give you oneexample as a case study.
The best-selling author, yuvalNoah Harari, says it like this
in an interview with NPR.
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The title of the interview isthis why did humans become the
most successful species on earth?
This is what he says.
Quote most legal systems todayin the world are based on a
belief in human rights.
But what are human rights?
Take a human being, cut himopen, look inside you'll find a
heart, kidneys, neurons,hormones, dna, but you won't
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find any rights.
The only place you find rightsis in the stories that we have
invented and spread around overthe last few centuries.
They may be very good stories,but they're still just fictional
stories that we've invented.
Did you catch that?
Without God, human rights are afiction that we've invented.
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Dostoevsky puts it like this ifGod doesn't exist, everything
is permitted.
If all moral values arerelative and social constructs,
then how can you make the casethat we all ought to treat
others with love and not exploitthem?
You cannot, if you'd rather.
Another philosopher, homerSimpson.
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He says the truth is more of ahunch that you're willing to die
for.
That's the basis of secularsocial justice a hunch that
you're willing to die for,because rights don't exist.
You can't cut a human open andfind them there.
They're just in the fictionalstories that we tell.
Listen, since Genesis 3, humanbeings have been grasping for
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what's called the knowledge ofgood and evil.
In other words, secular socialjustice is built on this right
to determine good and evil forourselves.
But here's the problemResistance to submit to God's
definition of good and evil isitself the source of all evil
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and injustice in the world.
So what is the standard ofjustice?
Look with me at verse 30.
It says this the mouth of therighteous utters wisdom and his
tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in hisheart.
His steps do not slip.
Jesus taught us that out of theoverflow of the heart, the
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mouth speaks.
So how do we quote speakjustice, verse 30?
Well, we need the law of God inour heart, verse 31.
You see, we need a transcendentmoral reference point of good
and evil.
Francis Schaeffer said if thereis no absolute by which to judge
society, society is absolute.
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One of the questions I ask whenI'm talking to people about the
Christian faith and moralrelativism is hey, do you think
the Nuremberg trials were a goodidea?
That's when Nazis were judgedfor their crimes against
humanity by non-German cultures.
If everything's relativistic,how can one culture impose its
values on another culture?
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How can one culture impose itsvalues on another culture?
That's the principle ofmulticulturalism.
It doesn't work.
If there's no transcendentreference point by which all
cultures can be judged, thenright and wrong is just whatever
the society discerns it to be.
Here's the thing.
I think we don't want astandard outside of ourselves,
because if there was one, wewould realize we haven't lived
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up to it.
It's like that moment whenyou're driving in the car and
you realize that you're speedingin a school zone and you do
that little panic move, maybeslam on the brakes real quick.
That's what all of usexperience existentially, if
there's a transcendent moralabsolute outside of ourselves by
which we all must be judged.
Now, some of you might notagree with that.
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I understand it, that's okay.
But I just want you to considerthat maybe you haven't even
lived up to your own standardsof justice.
There's this illustration aboutif you had let's just imagine
your whole life.
You were born and you had avoice recorder hanging around
your neck and every time youmade a moral judgment by which
you bound someone else sheshouldn't do that, he should
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really do this it just clickedon and started recording your
own voice.
And then you die and on thatgreat day when you stand before
God as your judge, all he doesis says can I see your voice
recorder?
And he simply presses, play andplays back every one of your
own moral judgments, every timeyou bound somebody else by what
they should or shouldn't do.
And then he just looked at youand pointed at it.
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How would you fare in thatmoment?
How do you feel right now?
That's our own standard ofjustice, not even God's standard
of justice, which is muchhigher, much more exacting, much
more pervasive in itsassessment of our existence.
In our call to worship in Romans3, it put this forward that
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Christianity believes thatbefore God, every mouth will be
stopped and the whole world willbe held accountable to God.
That day is coming.
But listen, that day is notonly just, it's actually humane.
It's humane because what itmeans is that there is no
elitism before God, and ifthere's no moral elitism before
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God, then there ought not be anybefore man.
In other words, male and female, black and white, rich and poor
, gay and straight, oppressorand oppressed, all stand before
God as lawbreakers in need ofhis mercy.
You know that you've receivedthis just mercy because it will
make you merciful in yourpursuit of justice.
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Augustine of Hippo says it likethis there is no saint without
a past and no sinner without afuture.
Let's look at that futuretogether when we look at the
goal of justice.
This is where we'll close.
Look at verse 27 with me Turnaway from evil and do good, so
shall you dwell forever, for theLord loves justice.
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He will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever.
But the children of the wickedshall be cut off.
Where is justice headed?
This is a good question to askyour not yet disciple friends
and neighbors.
You ask them a question,something like if your religion
or your ideology was perfectlyattained, what would that look
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like?
What's the end game?
That's the question we ask whenwe talk about the aim of
justice, the goal of justice.
Now, secular social justicecan't agree on this, because for
libertarians, justice meansindividual freedom.
For progressives, justice meansfairness for all.
For utilitarians, it's maximumhappiness for the maximum amount
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of people.
For postmoderns, it'ssubversing oppressive power.
Who's right, you see, forfollowers of Jesus, justice is
heading somewhere far morebeautiful than any of those,
because it's not about a utopiathat we build, it's about a
kingdom that we inherit.
Look at verse 28.
It says this the Lord lovesjustice.
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He will not forsake his saints,his saints.
They are preserved forever.
Because biblical justicebelieves that the goal of
justice is actually the glory ofGod and the healing of all
things under his reign.
That's the goal we're after.
That's the aim, the end, thetelos of justice for followers
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of Jesus, and the Bible gives usa picture of that in that
future in Revelation 7-9.
It says this there's a greatmultitude that no one could
number, from every tribe, everynation, from all tribes and
peoples and languages, standingbefore the throne and before the
lamb, clothed in white robes,with palm branches in their
hands and crying out with a loudvoice.
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Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne, and to
the lamb.
This is where biblical justiceis going Not merely peace, not
only equity, but a multi-ethnic,multilingual, united people,
forever reconciled around thethrone of God Almighty.
That's the end, the goal ofjustice.
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So I want to pause here for amoment.
I want to speak to our brothersand sisters of color in this
room.
I simply just want to say I seeyou, I'm so thankful for you.
I want to name that because Ithink that there's a cost, an
unseen cost, that you pay to bea part of a church that's
majority dominant culture.
But you pay that cost and therest of us are so grateful and
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we bless you, we honor you forbeing in our midst.
But why would I say that?
Do I say that because you know,right now, diversity is in
vogue in our culture?
No, because if you studyhistory, you realize that
cultural values are fickle andflimsy like anything else.
I mean, just consider how manyDEI departments were developed
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and ditched in the last fiveyears.
No, I say that I can say thatwith joy, because Revelation 7-9
is what we're going for, it'sthe aim of our existence, all of
human history is heading inthat same direction and I want
New City to get in on it.
A multi-ethnic, multilingual,united around the throne of God,
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people of God that areworshiping, saying salvation
belongs to the Lord.
I want us to get in on this andso we can celebrate whatever
diversity we have in our midst,because, as one scholar says it,
the church does not merely havesome kind of relationship to
social justice, but rather thechurch is God's social justice,
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right here in our midst.
We are the people, what MartinLuther King Jr called the
beloved community, the peoplewho one day will cause mankind
to say surely there is a God whojudges on earth.
Psalm 58, verse 11.
So it's no accident that MLKalso said that the arc of the
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moral universe is long, but itbends towards justice.
He believed that deeply, andbecause he believed in a God who
judges the earth and makes allthings new.
That's why three times in Psalm37, it says for us, to quote
wait for the Lord.
Now, that's not a passivity,that's not an inaction.
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It's rooted in a confidencethat we can act because God will
act in our pursuit of justice.
Now, contrast that, because forsecular social justice there is
no moral arc to the universe.
If it in any way bends towardsjustice, it's because we must
bend it with enough force fromourselves.
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That's why secular socialjustice is so militant and
unforgiving and belligerent andself-righteous and hypocritical,
because it is imminent justice.
Ta-nehisi Coates said it likethis there was no justice in the
world except the justice wedish out with our own hands.
Now let me affirm somethinghere.
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We all share a longing forjustice, all of us.
But Christians believe in atranscendent justice that will
roll down like waters, becausewe believe, as we're going to
confess in a little bit here, webelieve that one day Jesus will
come to judge the living andthe dead.
We believe Psalm 37, verse 37,there is a future for the man of
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peace, but transgressors shallbe altogether destroyed.
The future of the wicked shallbe cut off.
What do we do with the comingjudgment of God.
You can't read this psalmwithout finding it Verse 9, 10,
20, 22, 28, 34, 38.
It is all over the Bible.
The idea that God will not judgeevil could only be invented in
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the secure suburbs buffered fromthe realities of human evil.
John Stott says it like thisGod's judgment is his steady,
unrelenting, unremitting,uncompromising antagonism to
evil in all its forms andmanifestations.
Only God's judgment can dojustice to our cry for justice.
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Someone else said it like thisfaced with a world of rebellion,
a world full of exploitationand wickedness, a good God must
be a God of judgment.
A God who would not judge, aGod who is not angry at
injustice, would not be worthyof our worship, because that God
would not be good.
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But if God judges evil, wheredoes God stop Systemic injustice
?
What about personal evils?
What about envy, bitterness,lying lust, gossip, greed?
Where does God stop For theself-aware among us?
We realize that if God judgesevil, god must judge me, and
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that gives us a sense of fear ofthe Lord.
But in that moment I want to goback to what MLK said.
Does that mean that the belovedcommunity is just better than
everybody else?
No, we're simply those who havestopped running from God and
started running to God.
This is verse 39.
The salvation of the righteousis from their own doing.
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It's not what it says.
The salvation of the righteousis because they're a little bit
better than their neighbors.
No, the salvation of therighteous is from the Lord.
He is their stronghold in thetime of trouble.
He is their stronghold in thetime of trouble and with God as
our stronghold, we waitpatiently, expectantly for
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justice to roll down like waters.
Let me give you a picture, aswe close here, of what that
might look like.
On January 1st 1863, abrahamLincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring allslaves free in the United States
of America.
But in Galveston, texas, slaveswouldn't hear this news until
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June 19th 1865, over two yearslater, when Union General Gordon
Granger arrived and he readGeneral Order no 3, which says,
quote all slaves are free.
We call that Juneteenth andit's actually coming up this
Thursday.
We'll celebrate it nationally.
It's a holiday.
It's worthy of marking andhonoring and celebrating, and so
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what happens here is thatfreedom had been won, but it
took time for the news to spread.
That's the moment that we livein now.
We live here and now, whereJesus has already won.
He has defeated all of thesources of injustice.
On the cross and in hisresurrection, jesus has suffered
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more injustice than any humanin the history of humanity.
But Jesus will also bring thesword of justice on every human
in the history of humanity,except for those who flee to him
as their stronghold.
So God could be both just andthe justifier of all who have
faith in Jesus.
But listen, the good news ofthat victory is still making its
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way into every corner of thisworld and into every corner of
our hearts.
We're living right now betweenproclamation and fulfillment,
between the cross and the crown.
And so what do we do?
What do we do in the tension ofthe times that we live in?
Psalm 37 says it like this weturn away from evil and we do
(30:40):
good.
We commit our way to the Lord.
We trust in him and he will act.
He will bring forth ourrighteousness as the light and
our justice as the noonday.
We live now in light of theking who will bring justice and
healing in his wings.
Let's pray, king Jesus.
We look to you now because youalone are worthy.
(31:03):
You alone hold together all ofthe cries for justice from all
creatures on planet earth, youyourself being the victim of the
greatest injustice that's everhappened that the perfect,
spotless, innocent son of Godwas slain and murdered on a
(31:24):
cross because of an unjust trial.
But you did it for us and forour salvation, and so we look to
you with hope.
Give us your spirit of justiceto enable us to lead us, to give
us the motive according to thestandard and towards the goal
(31:46):
that you have for justice inyour world.
We pray this in your name,Jesus.
Amen.
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Gina Fickett (00:20):
Please join me in praying the prayer of
illumination.
Please join me in praying theprayer of illumination.
Heavenly Father, may your wordbe a lamp to our feet and a
light to our path, through JesusChrist, our Lord, amen.
Today's scripture reading isfrom Psalm 37, verses 27 and 28.
Turn away from evil and do good, so shall you dwell forever,
(00:46):
for the Lord loves justice.
He will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever.
But the children of the wickedshall be cut off.
This is God's word.
Please be seated.
Benjamin Kandt (01:01):
I would like to believe in God.
I simply can't.
That's a line from Ta-NehisiCoates' book which is entitled
we Were Eight Years in Power,and the reason he gives why he
can't believe in God is he saysthat when I was nine, some kid
beat me up for amusement andwhen I came home crying to my
(01:23):
father, he said fight that boyor fight me.
He goes on to say at thatmoment my dad taught me that we
live in a godless world and thatthere was no justice in the
world except the justice we dishout with our own hands.
Happy Father's Day.
Welcome to Worship with NewCity.
We're going to talk aboutjustice today.
Now, if that feels like thatdoesn't go hand in hand,
(01:43):
consider this the Lord inGenesis 18, 19 says that he
called Father Abraham.
He chose him to teach hischildren to keep the way of the
Lord by doing justice andrighteousness.
In other words, integral tobeing a father is teaching your
children to do justice.
This is actually deeplyrelevant from a biblical
(02:04):
worldview.
So what is justice?
Well, thomas Aquinas famouslydefined justice as to render to
each what each is due.
To render to each what each isdue.
That's good.
To expound that a little bitwhat justice is really.
It's giving people what theyare due, whether provision or
protection or punishment,whether provision or protection
(02:24):
or punishment Surrender to eachwhat each is due.
And so, listen, I want to dojustice to justice, but I can't
say everything there is to saythis morning.
So next week will be kind of apart two of sorts, but this
morning, really, what I want toget at is that I personally feel
a growing ache to do justice,to love mercy, to walk humbly
(02:46):
with my God, and I want that foryou too.
But if you're anything like me,there's something that happens
when you sense that a call to dojustice, you sense that call,
but then you also hear and feelthat something's a little bit
off in our society's calls forjustice, and so you feel
conflicted a little bit.
(03:06):
And so what I want for you is Idon't want you to give up on
God's call to do justice justbecause there's probably some
injustice in our secularsociety's calls to justice,
tracking with that.
And so my intent for the sermonis to contrast Psalm 37's
biblical vision of justice withour cultural moment, secular
(03:30):
social justice models.
It's important for me because Idon't want you to think that
you're not able to do justicejust because you disagree with
what you see on your news feed.
And so what that means is, aswe look at Psalm 37, we're going
to see that justice belongs tothe Lord, that he loves it, he
defines it and he will bring itabout.
(03:51):
And so, to that end, I havethree points the motive of
justice, the standard of justiceand the goal of justice.
If you have a Bible or a deviceor your worship guide, go ahead
and get Psalm 37 in front ofyou.
We're going to look closely atthis text together this morning.
I want to begin in Psalm 37,verse 27, where our scripture
(04:11):
reading started this morning.
This is what it says Psalm 37,27.
Turn away from evil and do good, so shall you dwell forever,
for the Lord loves justice.
So when we ask the question ofthe motive of justice, we're
saying for what reason?
What should be the motivatingprinciple as we do justice?
(04:33):
Well, I'm helped becauseJohannes Kepler, the 17th
century astronomer, he wrotethat in all of his science he
was simply thinking God'sthoughts after him.
I love that language.
That's a really great way totalk about the motive of
disciples.
We, as disciples of Jesus,we're simply trying to think
God's thoughts after him, feelwhat God feels after him, what
(04:55):
makes God mad and sad and glad.
I want that to resonate in myown heart.
But we also want to love whatGod loves and hate what God
hates.
And in Psalm 37, verse 28,.
It says the Lord loves justice.
Do you love justice?
Do I Like?
(05:18):
When you watch the news orscroll your feed, do you hear
the cries for justice among yourneighbors?
Does it move you?
This dates me a little bit, butthe song that was a big deal
when I became a follower ofJesus had a line in there which
I loved which was break my heartfor what breaks yours.
But instead we often plug ourears to the cries of justice
(05:40):
because it's too hard for ourown hearts to bear.
But the Lord loves justice.
This matters deeply to God andso therefore it ought to matter
deeply to us.
But there is a limit to feelingGod's feelings after him.
Look with me at verse eight.
It says this refrain from angerand forsake wrath.
(06:03):
He can be wrathful at injustice, but you all refrain from anger
and forsake wrath.
He can be wrathful at injustice, but you all refrain from anger
and forsake wrath.
Fret not yourself.
It tends only to evil.
Let me make that plain you canbe unjust in your pursuit of
justice.
The motive of secular socialjustice is often vengeance,
bitterness, resentment and rage,but this text says that that
(06:26):
tends only to evil.
Instead, christians are tonever avenge ourselves but leave
it to the wrath of God.
For it is written vengeance ismine.
I shall repay, says the Lord.
So how do you avoid vengeancein your pursuit of justice?
What does that look like?
(06:47):
Well, verse 5 puts it like thisCommit your way to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act.
He will bring forth yourrighteousness as the light and
your justice as the noonday OnJune 1st, rev Reynolds was up
here teaching us that commityour way to the Lord means to
(07:07):
roll your life onto him.
So what does that mean?
What does it actually look likein practice to roll your life
unto the Lord when it comes toour pursuit of justice?
Let me tell you a story aboutthat.
Martin Lloyd-Jones was a pastorin the 20th century in London
and one time, during World WarII, lloyd-jones was preaching at
(07:29):
Westminster Chapel and as hewas preaching, a bomb was
dropped by the Nazi Air Force,the Luftwaffe, and it was
dropped on a building across thestreet.
But it was such an intenseexplosion that it caused dust
from the ceiling to fall down onthe congregation where he was
praying.
He was praying in that moment,so what did he do?
(07:51):
He paused and then he just keptpraying.
Later, in another sermon, hesaid about this particular
instance.
He said I was never worried fora second about a man like
Hitler.
It was enough for me to readPsalm 37.
That is so punk rock.
I love that.
We need preachers like thatthis day.
(08:11):
Where are they?
Listen, he was talking aboutverse 35.
He says this I have seen awicked, ruthless man spreading
himself like a green laurel tree, but he passed away and behold,
he was no more.
Though I sought him, he couldnot be found.
Where is Hitler now?
Or Stalin, or Nero, or Herod,or Mao.
(08:35):
Where are they now?
Verse 36, quote behold, he wasno more.
You see, imagine what it wouldtake for Nazis to be dropping
bombs on your city and saying Iwas never afraid of Hitler
because I read Psalm 37.
What would that take?
How did Martin Lloyd-Jones dothat?
How do we do that?
(08:57):
Well, in psychology there's thisconcept called a mutual mind
state.
A mutual mind state is whenyou're like seeing your kids
play and they fall and they skintheir knees, and then they look
at you to figure out if theyshould freak out or not.
In that moment, what'shappening is their mind is
syncing up with your mind, andyour mind, if it's calm,
regulates their mind and makesit calm.
(09:17):
Look at verse 13.
It says this in our text theLord laughs at the wicked, for
he sees that his day is coming.
Listen, if the Lord isn'tworried about the future,
neither should we.
Now the Lord looks to thefuture.
We want to feel his feelingsafter him.
He's not fretting.
Why are we?
(09:42):
But here's the reality is thatGod looks to the future and
laughs, not because evil isfunny, but because it has an
expiration date.
And so we look at our father'sface and we say you're not
anxious, I'm not anxious Mutualmind state, but the ultimate
freedom from anger, vengeanceand anxiety is actually found
somewhere else.
It's found in the cross ofJesus Christ.
(10:03):
I've been apprenticed underRachel Denhollander in this way.
She was a gymnast and, in 2018,was the first woman to publicly
accuse Larry Nassar of hisheinous abuse, if you know that
story, which led to hundreds ofother women to come forward and
share their own stories.
Now, after Denhollander didthis, she actually wrote an
(10:23):
article with her husband calledJustice the Foundation of a
Christian Approach to Abuse.
You see, she's a Christian.
I actually think she's in thePCA, our denomination, and she
said she argues in this article.
I would read it.
It's great.
She says the way forward reallyis through this classic doctrine
of the substitutionaryatonement of Jesus, which says
(10:45):
that on the cross, jesus tookthe penalty for our sins so we
could be forgiven.
She's saying that's the wayforward for justice for victims
of abuse.
I don't know if your mind wentthere.
Hers did, because she's trainedand deeply immersed in a
biblical imagination.
Now she gives four reasons whythat's the case, why the cross
(11:05):
of Christ can give both comfortand vindication for victims, and
she says this?
Number one the reason isbecause the cross means that God
hates evil and the injustice ofabuse.
The cross says that.
So then, a victim's sense ofinjustice and desire for
vindication it's actually upheldat the cross.
(11:26):
Injustice and unrighteousnessare real and God hates them.
That's what the cross of Christsays.
But number two the cross showsus that forgiveness and justice
can be friends, not enemies.
You see, jesus bore the divinewrath against sin on the cross.
So then, we are freed toforgive, because we know that
(11:49):
every sin against you, everyevil done against you, every
injustice against you is eithergoing to get what it deserves on
the cross of Jesus Christ or inhell for an eternity.
That means that justice andforgiveness can go together.
They're not enemies, they'refriends.
Number three the cross redeemspower dynamics.
Think about the misuse of powerin abuse.
(12:13):
But the cross redeems itbecause the strong God becomes
weak to strengthen weak sinners.
You see, at the cross, the sonof God sets aside his divine
prerogatives and the strongbecomes weak, so that at the
cross, god can act for others,using his power to act for
(12:35):
others to overcome evil, touphold justice, to free the
enslaved, to restore creation.
God himself perfectlyidentifies with the victim on
the cross of Jesus Christ.
Fourth and finally, in herarticle she says the cross shows
that both victim andperpetrator need forgiveness and
(12:56):
justice, something oftenmissing in secular social
justice.
Both oppressor and oppressedneed forgiveness and justice.
Both oppressor and oppressedneed forgiveness and justice.
You see, the cross actuallyhelps Christians to refrain from
viewing criminals and abusersas the other and as
fundamentally different fromourselves, because we know the
(13:17):
seeds of every sin dwell inevery human heart.
Den Hollander actually put thistheology to work in the
courtroom when she looked at herabuser in the eyes and she said
quote I pray you experience thesoul-crushing weight of guilt
so that you may somedayexperience true repentance and
true forgiveness from God, whichyou need far more than
(13:40):
forgiveness from me, though Iextend that to you as well.
More than forgiveness from me,though I extend that to you as
well.
Where did she learn to dojustice like this?
Well, she learned it from theonly true standard of justice,
which is the point two, thestandard of justice.
Look at verse 27 with me again.
It says this turn away fromevil and do good, so shall you
(14:03):
dwell forever.
What is good and evil?
Who has that knowledge.
We all know that there is rightand wrong, but we disagree where
it comes from.
If we've evolved, then where dowe get this sense of justice?
Vladimir Soloyev says it likethis.
(14:24):
Vladimir Soloyev says it likethis man descended from apes.
Therefore, let us love oneanother.
Do you hear the silliness ofthat?
We laugh, but that's what we'rebeing told.
Why is it wrong to be violent,arrogant or oppressive?
If we live in a world ruled bythe survival of the fittest,
where the strong eat the weak,then why do we feel outraged
(14:51):
when people use power to oppressothers?
Why?
Who are you to tell me what'sright and wrong for me?
Where do you get this idea offairness or justice, of rights,
if there is no God?
You see, secular social justicecannot give what it offers.
Let me just give you oneexample as a case study.
The best-selling author, yuvalNoah Harari, says it like this
in an interview with NPR.
(15:12):
The title of the interview isthis why did humans become the
most successful species on earth?
This is what he says.
Quote most legal systems todayin the world are based on a
belief in human rights.
But what are human rights?
Take a human being, cut himopen, look inside you'll find a
heart, kidneys, neurons,hormones, dna, but you won't
(15:33):
find any rights.
The only place you find rightsis in the stories that we have
invented and spread around overthe last few centuries.
They may be very good stories,but they're still just fictional
stories that we've invented.
Did you catch that?
Without God, human rights are afiction that we've invented.
(15:53):
Dostoevsky puts it like this ifGod doesn't exist, everything
is permitted.
If all moral values arerelative and social constructs,
then how can you make the casethat we all ought to treat
others with love and not exploitthem?
You cannot, if you'd rather.
Another philosopher, homerSimpson.
(16:14):
He says the truth is more of ahunch that you're willing to die
for.
That's the basis of secularsocial justice a hunch that
you're willing to die for,because rights don't exist.
You can't cut a human open andfind them there.
They're just in the fictionalstories that we tell.
Listen, since Genesis 3, humanbeings have been grasping for
(16:35):
what's called the knowledge ofgood and evil.
In other words, secular socialjustice is built on this right
to determine good and evil forourselves.
But here's the problemResistance to submit to God's
definition of good and evil isitself the source of all evil
(16:57):
and injustice in the world.
So what is the standard ofjustice?
Look with me at verse 30.
It says this the mouth of therighteous utters wisdom and his
tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in hisheart.
His steps do not slip.
Jesus taught us that out of theoverflow of the heart, the
(17:21):
mouth speaks.
So how do we quote speakjustice, verse 30?
Well, we need the law of God inour heart, verse 31.
You see, we need a transcendentmoral reference point of good
and evil.
Francis Schaeffer said if thereis no absolute by which to judge
society, society is absolute.
(17:42):
One of the questions I ask whenI'm talking to people about the
Christian faith and moralrelativism is hey, do you think
the Nuremberg trials were a goodidea?
That's when Nazis were judgedfor their crimes against
humanity by non-German cultures.
If everything's relativistic,how can one culture impose its
values on another culture?
(18:03):
How can one culture impose itsvalues on another culture?
That's the principle ofmulticulturalism.
It doesn't work.
If there's no transcendentreference point by which all
cultures can be judged, thenright and wrong is just whatever
the society discerns it to be.
Here's the thing.
I think we don't want astandard outside of ourselves,
because if there was one, wewould realize we haven't lived
(18:25):
up to it.
It's like that moment whenyou're driving in the car and
you realize that you're speedingin a school zone and you do
that little panic move, maybeslam on the brakes real quick.
That's what all of usexperience existentially, if
there's a transcendent moralabsolute outside of ourselves by
which we all must be judged.
Now, some of you might notagree with that.
(18:48):
I understand it, that's okay.
But I just want you to considerthat maybe you haven't even
lived up to your own standardsof justice.
There's this illustration aboutif you had let's just imagine
your whole life.
You were born and you had avoice recorder hanging around
your neck and every time youmade a moral judgment by which
you bound someone else sheshouldn't do that, he should
(19:10):
really do this it just clickedon and started recording your
own voice.
And then you die and on thatgreat day when you stand before
God as your judge, all he doesis says can I see your voice
recorder?
And he simply presses, play andplays back every one of your
own moral judgments, every timeyou bound somebody else by what
they should or shouldn't do.
And then he just looked at youand pointed at it.
(19:34):
How would you fare in thatmoment?
How do you feel right now?
That's our own standard ofjustice, not even God's standard
of justice, which is muchhigher, much more exacting, much
more pervasive in itsassessment of our existence.
In our call to worship in Romans3, it put this forward that
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Christianity believes thatbefore God, every mouth will be
stopped and the whole world willbe held accountable to God.
That day is coming.
But listen, that day is notonly just, it's actually humane.
It's humane because what itmeans is that there is no
elitism before God, and ifthere's no moral elitism before
(20:18):
God, then there ought not be anybefore man.
In other words, male and female, black and white, rich and poor
, gay and straight, oppressorand oppressed, all stand before
God as lawbreakers in need ofhis mercy.
You know that you've receivedthis just mercy because it will
make you merciful in yourpursuit of justice.
(20:40):
Augustine of Hippo says it likethis there is no saint without
a past and no sinner without afuture.
Let's look at that futuretogether when we look at the
goal of justice.
This is where we'll close.
Look at verse 27 with me Turnaway from evil and do good, so
shall you dwell forever, for theLord loves justice.
(21:02):
He will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever.
But the children of the wickedshall be cut off.
Where is justice headed?
This is a good question to askyour not yet disciple friends
and neighbors.
You ask them a question,something like if your religion
or your ideology was perfectlyattained, what would that look
(21:25):
like?
What's the end game?
That's the question we ask whenwe talk about the aim of
justice, the goal of justice.
Now, secular social justicecan't agree on this, because for
libertarians, justice meansindividual freedom.
For progressives, justice meansfairness for all.
For utilitarians, it's maximumhappiness for the maximum amount
(21:45):
of people.
For postmoderns, it'ssubversing oppressive power.
Who's right, you see, forfollowers of Jesus, justice is
heading somewhere far morebeautiful than any of those,
because it's not about a utopiathat we build, it's about a
kingdom that we inherit.
Look at verse 28.
It says this the Lord lovesjustice.
(22:06):
He will not forsake his saints,his saints.
They are preserved forever.
Because biblical justicebelieves that the goal of
justice is actually the glory ofGod and the healing of all
things under his reign.
That's the goal we're after.
That's the aim, the end, thetelos of justice for followers
(22:30):
of Jesus, and the Bible gives usa picture of that in that
future in Revelation 7-9.
It says this there's a greatmultitude that no one could
number, from every tribe, everynation, from all tribes and
peoples and languages, standingbefore the throne and before the
lamb, clothed in white robes,with palm branches in their
hands and crying out with a loudvoice.
(22:51):
Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne, and to
the lamb.
This is where biblical justiceis going Not merely peace, not
only equity, but a multi-ethnic,multilingual, united people,
forever reconciled around thethrone of God Almighty.
That's the end, the goal ofjustice.
(23:14):
So I want to pause here for amoment.
I want to speak to our brothersand sisters of color in this
room.
I simply just want to say I seeyou, I'm so thankful for you.
I want to name that because Ithink that there's a cost, an
unseen cost, that you pay to bea part of a church that's
majority dominant culture.
But you pay that cost and therest of us are so grateful and
(23:41):
we bless you, we honor you forbeing in our midst.
But why would I say that?
Do I say that because you know,right now, diversity is in
vogue in our culture?
No, because if you studyhistory, you realize that
cultural values are fickle andflimsy like anything else.
I mean, just consider how manyDEI departments were developed
(24:02):
and ditched in the last fiveyears.
No, I say that I can say thatwith joy, because Revelation 7-9
is what we're going for, it'sthe aim of our existence, all of
human history is heading inthat same direction and I want
New City to get in on it.
A multi-ethnic, multilingual,united around the throne of God,
(24:24):
people of God that areworshiping, saying salvation
belongs to the Lord.
I want us to get in on this andso we can celebrate whatever
diversity we have in our midst,because, as one scholar says it,
the church does not merely havesome kind of relationship to
social justice, but rather thechurch is God's social justice,
(24:46):
right here in our midst.
We are the people, what MartinLuther King Jr called the
beloved community, the peoplewho one day will cause mankind
to say surely there is a God whojudges on earth.
Psalm 58, verse 11.
So it's no accident that MLKalso said that the arc of the
(25:09):
moral universe is long, but itbends towards justice.
He believed that deeply, andbecause he believed in a God who
judges the earth and makes allthings new.
That's why three times in Psalm37, it says for us, to quote
wait for the Lord.
Now, that's not a passivity,that's not an inaction.
(25:29):
It's rooted in a confidencethat we can act because God will
act in our pursuit of justice.
Now, contrast that, because forsecular social justice there is
no moral arc to the universe.
If it in any way bends towardsjustice, it's because we must
bend it with enough force fromourselves.
(25:51):
That's why secular socialjustice is so militant and
unforgiving and belligerent andself-righteous and hypocritical,
because it is imminent justice.
Ta-nehisi Coates said it likethis there was no justice in the
world except the justice wedish out with our own hands.
Now let me affirm somethinghere.
(26:12):
We all share a longing forjustice, all of us.
But Christians believe in atranscendent justice that will
roll down like waters, becausewe believe, as we're going to
confess in a little bit here, webelieve that one day Jesus will
come to judge the living andthe dead.
We believe Psalm 37, verse 37,there is a future for the man of
(26:36):
peace, but transgressors shallbe altogether destroyed.
The future of the wicked shallbe cut off.
What do we do with the comingjudgment of God.
You can't read this psalmwithout finding it Verse 9, 10,
20, 22, 28, 34, 38.
It is all over the Bible.
The idea that God will not judgeevil could only be invented in
(26:59):
the secure suburbs buffered fromthe realities of human evil.
John Stott says it like thisGod's judgment is his steady,
unrelenting, unremitting,uncompromising antagonism to
evil in all its forms andmanifestations.
Only God's judgment can dojustice to our cry for justice.
(27:21):
Someone else said it like thisfaced with a world of rebellion,
a world full of exploitationand wickedness, a good God must
be a God of judgment.
A God who would not judge, aGod who is not angry at
injustice, would not be worthyof our worship, because that God
would not be good.
(27:41):
But if God judges evil, wheredoes God stop Systemic injustice
?
What about personal evils?
What about envy, bitterness,lying lust, gossip, greed?
Where does God stop For theself-aware among us?
We realize that if God judgesevil, god must judge me, and
(28:06):
that gives us a sense of fear ofthe Lord.
But in that moment I want to goback to what MLK said.
Does that mean that the belovedcommunity is just better than
everybody else?
No, we're simply those who havestopped running from God and
started running to God.
This is verse 39.
The salvation of the righteousis from their own doing.
(28:28):
It's not what it says.
The salvation of the righteousis because they're a little bit
better than their neighbors.
No, the salvation of therighteous is from the Lord.
He is their stronghold in thetime of trouble.
He is their stronghold in thetime of trouble and with God as
our stronghold, we waitpatiently, expectantly for
(28:49):
justice to roll down like waters.
Let me give you a picture, aswe close here, of what that
might look like.
On January 1st 1863, abrahamLincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring allslaves free in the United States
of America.
But in Galveston, texas, slaveswouldn't hear this news until
(29:12):
June 19th 1865, over two yearslater, when Union General Gordon
Granger arrived and he readGeneral Order no 3, which says,
quote all slaves are free.
We call that Juneteenth andit's actually coming up this
Thursday.
We'll celebrate it nationally.
It's a holiday.
It's worthy of marking andhonoring and celebrating, and so
(29:33):
what happens here is thatfreedom had been won, but it
took time for the news to spread.
That's the moment that we livein now.
We live here and now, whereJesus has already won.
He has defeated all of thesources of injustice.
On the cross and in hisresurrection, jesus has suffered
(29:53):
more injustice than any humanin the history of humanity.
But Jesus will also bring thesword of justice on every human
in the history of humanity,except for those who flee to him
as their stronghold.
So God could be both just andthe justifier of all who have
faith in Jesus.
But listen, the good news ofthat victory is still making its
(30:17):
way into every corner of thisworld and into every corner of
our hearts.
We're living right now betweenproclamation and fulfillment,
between the cross and the crown.
And so what do we do?
What do we do in the tension ofthe times that we live in?
Psalm 37 says it like this weturn away from evil and we do
(30:40):
good.
We commit our way to the Lord.
We trust in him and he will act.
He will bring forth ourrighteousness as the light and
our justice as the noonday.
We live now in light of theking who will bring justice and
healing in his wings.
Let's pray, king Jesus.
We look to you now because youalone are worthy.
(31:03):
You alone hold together all ofthe cries for justice from all
creatures on planet earth, youyourself being the victim of the
greatest injustice that's everhappened that the perfect,
spotless, innocent son of Godwas slain and murdered on a
(31:24):
cross because of an unjust trial.
But you did it for us and forour salvation, and so we look to
you with hope.
Give us your spirit of justiceto enable us to lead us, to give
us the motive according to thestandard and towards the goal
(31:46):
that you have for justice inyour world.
We pray this in your name,Jesus.
Amen.
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