Complicated Justice
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A crime without a conviction.
A crime without a conviction.
How hard is it when a child goes missing and the kidnapper is unknown?
How hard is it when a disease ravages the world and the blame isn’t assigned to anyone?
When horrible things happen and someone is to blame but an answer never comes . . . what then?
This is our topic for today, when justice gets complicated.
I have an assurance for us and a challenge. We will see that:
1. Where men may fail, God will succeed.
1. Where men may fail, God will succeed.
2. Where the world may fail, the church is called to lead.
2. Where the world may fail, the church is called to lead.
Let’s dig into our passage today,
Read Deuteronomy 21:1-9
1 “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him,
2 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities.
3 And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke.
4 And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.
6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
7 and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed.
8 Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’
9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
Let’s break this passage down and look at the key elements:
Responsibility of leadership.
Responsibility of leadership.
Responsible to investigate
Responsible to investigate
1 “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him,
2 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities.
In any complicated case:
In any complicated case:
8 “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose.
9 And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.
In the case of false witness:
In the case of false witness:
16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing,
17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.
18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,
19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Responsible to seek atonement
Responsible to seek atonement
Who is responsible?
Who is responsible?
3 And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke.
What is required?
What is required?
Sacrifice
Sacrifice
4 And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
This is a symbol of recognition that innocent life was not protected as it should be. The leaders are not declared guilty but are reminded of their responsibility.
Intercession
Intercession
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.
6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
7 and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed.
8 Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’
What is accomplished?
What is accomplished?
Atonement
Atonement
9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
When justice is difficult.
When justice is difficult.
Recognize that God will bring Justice.
Recognize that God will bring Justice.
Nothing goes unseen!
Nothing goes unseen!
1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
Everything will be judged.
Everything will be judged.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Every sin will be paid for.
Every sin will be paid for.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
A payment has been made!
A payment has been made!
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Recognizing our role as a church and as Christians.
Recognizing our role as a church and as Christians.
Be Spiritual Leaders: Offer your life as an example.
Be Spiritual Leaders: Offer your life as an example.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Make intercession: Pray for your city, county, state, nation, and world.
Make intercession: Pray for your city, county, state, nation, and world.
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Proclaim the Atonement: Proclaim the Gospel.
Proclaim the Atonement: Proclaim the Gospel.
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.