Human Power Prevails for a Time

"Human Power Prevails for a Time" – Psalm 103:6 "The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed." Human power can prevail for a time, but it cannot hold on forever: dominion ends when justice arrives. The study starts from the truth that God is just and defends the oppressed, and that His children must therefore live in righteousness and in peace instead of in strife. It follows the thread into Ecclesiastes, where Solomon sees wickedness in the place of justice and concludes that God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, that to every thing there is a season, and that God shall bring every work into judgment; and it ends in Romans 12:19: avenge not yourselves, but give place unto the wrath of God. God's silence does not mean God's absence, and justice delayed does not mean there will be no justice.

I. "The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed" (Psalm 103:6).

A. Growing in the Lord is learning to live in righteousness.

1. God is known through the years, not on the day of conversion. That day brings freedom and forgiveness; after it we keep adding years in the Lord and go from glory to glory.

2. From father and mother we learn the love that cares and protects, and the hour comes when the child must watch over them. What we do not like we must swallow and do what is right, and that sets us free.

3. It is not about knowing what the person next to us is like, but about taking a hard look at ourselves: knowing what is inside us. What God requires of one, He requires of all.

4. Whoever grows becomes a sober person: not quick to the flesh, nor to speak, nor to think, and pleased to live in righteousness.

B. The LORD executes righteousness: that is why we can live in peace.

1. If each one acts on whatever he thinks, what we have is not justice but "what is mine." The saying "nobody gets into my life" is very common, but what we must learn is that the LORD is the one who executes righteousness.

2. Whoever does not live this way wakes up fighting with the neighbor and with everyone, and falls into stress that blows up. If something comes that does not sit right with us, the LORD will do justice.

3. But we too must do justice, because we are children, and children bear the qualities of the heavenly Father.

C. Human power prevails for a time.

1. Dominion ends when justice arrives. Whoever wants dominion must be righteous. Let us not look for justice in people: let us examine ourselves to see whether we are just.

2. Whoever wakes up angry and kicks what he stumbles over loses what he bought, hurts his foot and also receives the punishment, because heaven is watching. Anger must be taken out of the heart.

3. If someone at work drives you crazy, you live in righteousness. Human power can prevail for a time, but it cannot hold on forever.

4. Some pull away from everyone because people are difficult, and live fighting and picking at everyone's faults until they stop being humane. What does it cost to step aside? It is a matter of a second.

5. "You don't know what I am suffering." Stop suffering it: love justice and read the word to see what it teaches you each day. Living as if the earth were ours brings the day of bitterness near.

D. God is just, and the church must be just.

1. The LORD executes righteousness because God is righteous. If we are His sheep and the King of our lives is just, I must be just, and the church must be just.

2. Everything is written, because on the day of the great judgment the books will be opened. The one who is condemned is the one who did not know how to forgive, how to love, or how to live the excellence of righteousness.

3. The word must be received and settled in the heart like a weight, where it hurts; there it produces repentance and growth.

4. God sees everything that happens on the earth and acts according to truth and justice. So let us be still: strife makes the heart sick, and there is nothing better than living a life of peace.

E. "Judgment for all that are oppressed": God defends the oppressed.

1. Judgment here is justice, right judgment: defending what is just and upholding the cause of the one who has been oppressed. God is a defender, and He always comes out in favor of the righteous.

2. Even though men may judge wrongly, God knows the truth of everything. Stop digging: let the day pass and a new dawn begin.

3. Whoever spends seven days on the same thing is poisoned with bitterness and strife, makes no one happy and drives his own away. We must seek one another and live in righteousness.

4. Life is one; do not waste it or grow bitter. The days, the years and the decades wear away, and life ends little by little.

5. The suffering of those who are oppressed does not go unnoticed before the sovereign God. God sees injustice and defends the oppressed: close your mouth and let God be the one who does you justice.

6. There are times when one cannot defend oneself, and our cause can be placed in God's hands. Going word against word wearies and torments the soul; hope in God and rest in Him.

7. You are a sheep, not the wolf. The church must not act like a wolf, but be mature, without taking the liberties everyone else takes. God puts things in their proper order, and His justice is perfect.

II. "I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked" (Ecclesiastes 3:17).

A. Solomon saw wickedness where there should have been justice.

1. The righteous are also brought low: a bowed back is better than walking with the chest out saying "I am doing fine."

2. In the previous verse Solomon observes that in the place where there should have been justice there was wickedness, and he says it of his own people, bound to keep the law and the rules.

3. God left us a book to study and to be taught by the word, and it is for ourselves, not for the brother sitting next to us.

B. Human injustice does not mean that God has lost control.

1. There are people who seemingly do evil and suffer no immediate consequences, and righteous people who suffer injustice. But God sees both.

2. Man can be mistaken when he judges, not know the facts, or favor someone. God does not.

3. "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked" does not speak only of condemnation: in the end God will make a just evaluation of each person's works. We think in our own favor; God weighs with justice even the work we took for granted as good while expecting a reward.

III. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

A. Justice also has its time.

1. Justice has its appointed time, so there is nothing to weep over or fear. We want God to settle things right now, but that something has not happened yet does not mean God has not seen it.

2. God's silence does not mean God's absence. Justice delayed does not mean there will be no justice: there will be justice when God appoints it.

B. Everything is written.

1. Heaven is full of books. When God passes sentence and sets the day, as with Sodom, the books are opened and the angels carry out His order. Even the day each one will leave the earth is written.

2. Nothing escapes God's knowledge: thoughts, will, attitudes, aggressiveness or feigned affection. Those books will be opened on the day of final judgment.

3. God did not make us slaves: we are all created and we make the choice. Whoever wants what is good, let him sanctify himself more; whoever wants to see heaven, let him prepare.

4. The pastor walks upright because she wants heaven: that is her ambition. Each person has an angel who watches over them, though they have no contact with it; and demons go where they are given place. The only one who is omnipresent is God.

IV. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

A. To fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man.

1. What was done in public and what was done in secret, the good and the evil: nothing escapes God's knowledge, and the end of the book confirms it.

2. The commandments are sacred; they are not for the time of Moses, but from heaven, which orders them for the earth.

3. If you are punished, look for what happened; if you are blessed, give thanks and keep doing good. Blessings suit us, not judgments; in trials one either wins or loses.

B. God has an appointed time for each one.

1. God sees injustice, and knows the one who did evil and the one who acted rightly. When His appointed time comes, He will judge with justice: whoever did good will be blessed, and whoever did evil will receive his punishment.

2. That action is decreed by heaven, not by the pastor. The heart either hardens or does not.

3. We are warriors, not friends of sin: when someone profanes beside you, do not keep silent. Whatever does not follow the line of what pleases God is not so. Guard your soul, for it is the one in danger.

C. Let us not become judges.

1. When we suffer an injustice, we do not have to become judges or live consumed with seeking revenge. We can do what is right and trust in God: injustice may have its moment, but God will have the last word.

2. We came to the earth to go to heaven. Our existence is not the earth but heaven; the earth is what carries us there, and what there should be is joy for having passed through it without being defiled.

3. We live anxious over the things of the earth, but the things of the earth do not lead to heaven. There is a flame that never goes out, and whoever does not fight for his own soul and for those of his own is condemned and loses those he could have brought to the freedom of the blood of Christ.

4. On the day of judgment the books will be opened, and whoever did not want to follow God will have no other chance: after death there is no salvation. That is why we must weep and plead with God for our children and our brethren, and not live lukewarm.

V.

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19).

A. God does not want us to answer harm with more harm.

1. When someone does us an injustice, the first reaction is to want to collect on it. But God calls us not to take justice into our own hands. Never do harm.

2. Paul says "dearly beloved": an expression of affection. God knows the pain of the one who has been wounded or treated unjustly.

3. "Give place unto wrath": let God take charge of doing justice, and do not let the desire for revenge harden your heart.

4. Final justice belongs to God alone, who knows the intentions, the deeds and the heart. He will repay, not necessarily in our time nor in the way we expect; but no injustice escapes His knowledge.

B. Live in peace.

1. What must be done is to live in peace, ask the LORD to arise, and keep walking. The more one turns things over, the more sour one becomes.

2. Revenge is also carried out in intention, even when it is not physical; it does not directly affect anyone, but it harms you, and that harm can last a long time. As the good Shepherd did, so will we.

C. Conclusion: God chose us, called us and set us apart for Himself.

1. The pastor's love for the church is pastoral love: she is their pastor, and the brother is the companion. Each one may say about her what they wish; she knows what she has laid up in heaven.

2. God has been with the church since engineering and its salary were left behind to work for the church, with young children and no financial security. Let us be thankful, because God has been good to us.

3. All arrived as sinners and broken, repented, and God set them free. The goal is to be told: "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."