I. the Call for Justice Is the First Call

Resound Church Leah Ramirez

He is Just

God is Just. He is Righteous. He is absolutely fair. He never shows partiality. He is immovable. He is resolute. There is no darkness in Him. Have we encountered this God? Have we encountered the God who cannot be manipulated? Have we encountered the God who would crush His only Son to appease the cause of justice? Do we know Him? This God, who loves us and sacrificed all for us…He is just. He sacrificed because His justice demands a payment for our sin. Justice must be met before mercy can be received.

I. THE CALL FOR JUSTICE IS THE FIRST CALL

Genesis 18

17The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19For I have chosen[6] him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

A.The first call and setting apart of a man, the father of our faith, Abraham, was a commission to do righteousness and justice. Abraham was commissioned into justice. He was called to keep the way of the Lord. This alone is what sets him apart. He is consecrated to demonstrate the righteousness of God.

B.Abraham was chosen to command his children to keep the way of the Lord. He was called to proclaim a way of life. To manifest the quality of God, His justice in the earth. This is the first call of a man.

C.Is it possible that the nations of the earth are blessed through Abraham because of his calling to keep the way of the Lord. The nations are blessed because there is a man who has been set apart to demonstrate the righteousness of God. This is how they are blessed through Him. They are the watchers of justice, possibly even the recipients.

D.The first prophetic word Paul receivedwas from Ananias. There is a familiar ring to it…

Acts 22:14

“Paul, the God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the just One, and hear the voice of His mouth, for you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and what you have heard.”

E.There is an apostolic mandate from heaven in this hour, calling us back to experience the spirit of revelation, so we can know, see and hear the Just One through the written word. It is the Father’s great and divine pleasure to reveal His son in us. Justice begins with responding to the call of God to again turn our gaze to the Son of God, that the nations of the earth might do the same, and usher in the Second Coming of Jesus.

F.The church needs to see the Just One. We need to be apprehended by God as He in fact is. Idolatry is just a prevalent today as it was in ancient days. We don’t bow before sticks, but we gladly pay homage to the Jesus of our own making. In our imagination, He is weak. We have misinterpreted His meekness…We have misunderstood that the man who possesses all authority is restraining Himself for the Day of the Lord. He is patient…not impotent. He is obedient…not insecure.

HE WILL COME IN JUSTICE

Isaiah 42

1Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4He will not grow faint or be discouraged[1] till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

5Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

A.In Isaiah 42:1-4, the Lord establishes a very clear outline of what is in His heart concerning the issue of justice. As mentioned before, the central theme of the passage is the beauty of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord. It is as if God were saying: I have a great and glorious plan for the ending of every form of social injustice and I want my people to partner with me in the process. I want to end abortion, immorality, human trafficking, governmental corruption and oppression, ethnic strife, poverty and war, but before we start I want to talk about my Son, my Servant.

B.The Spirit of the Lord upon Jesus will bring forth justice to the nations! His first coming paved the way for mercy. The requirement of the Law was fully met in Him on the cross. He absolutely and completely fulfilled the requirement of God.

10Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. 11Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands. 13The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. 15I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands,[2] and dry up the pools. 16And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. 17They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”

C.And the Lord is coming again to bring everything into alignment with His heart. He will not forsake justice. He will come to judge and destroy everything that hinders our love. He is absolutely committed to this.

Isaiah 9

6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon[4] his shoulder, and his name shall be called[5] Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

D.God has a plan and He is zealous to accomplish it. There will be no peace until there is justice. There is no rest until there is righteousness.

E.I know so many who seem to floating through life, smelling flowers moved by every new wind that blows. But I want to know the God who is coming in justice. His zeal unfolds His plan. He is patiently partnering with us.

A JUSTICE MOVEMENT IS COMING

Luke 18

1And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

A.What kind of person comes again and again to the Lord? The poor in heart. Those who understood the constitution of Christianity…The poor in spirit will receive the Kingdom of Heaven. They bring injustice before the Lord and they ask Him to bring His kingdom and rule to bear into time and space.

B.God will bring justice…it is who He is. But Jesus questions the last day generation. Whom is waiting on whom? The question isn’t whether God is moving, the question is the condition of our own heart.

C.God is coming in justice. He is coming to reign on the earth in all righteousness. Everything that is not right, will be made right. Period.

Revelation 15

15:1Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

2And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3And they sing the song of Moses, the servant[1] of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations![2] 4Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

5After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent[3] of witness in heaven was opened, 6and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

D.How are His acts revealed? They are revealed through a chosen people, a royal priesthood. There will be a people in the earth who stand with justice. There will be a people who reveal God in the earth.

E.But first we have to see The Just One. We have to see Him as He really is.

F.Walk4LIFE, April 25, 2009.

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