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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a

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moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And

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today, what is the single most important issue at stake in this election cycle? Yes, with the

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election date bearing down upon us, there is, as I see it, a one issue that is most important for us,

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and that is justice, justice, God's justice. God says in Deuteronomy chapter 16, you shall not

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pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe. How many of our

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politicians in the District of Criminals are on the take? They are taking bribes, everything from

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defense industries to the drug companies, right? You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds

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the eyes of the wise, and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice you shall

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follow, God tells Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 16. Justice, what is justice, dear listener? Well,

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justice is quite simply the administration of consequences according to a standard, that is,

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punishment for disobedience, and reward for obedience. And in the West, that standard has

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always been God's law. Well, if this is the case, dear listener, then there is a whole Trump tower full

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of justice to be administered here in the United States of America for the next few years. There's a

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maxim in English, jurisprudence, that can be traced back to our text for today, and that is, justice

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delayed is justice denied. Let me read our text for today that highlights the idea of justice, and that

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is Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verses 10 through 13. And you can reference this if you would like.

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Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verses 10 through 13. Maybe read along with me, and that text reads thusly,

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then I saw the wicked buried, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verse 10. Then I saw the

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wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they

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had done such things. This is also vanity, he says. Because the sentence against an evil deed

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is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. Though a sinner does

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evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God

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because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his

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days like a shadow because he does not fear before God. Oh, unquote. Ecclesiastes 8, 10 through 13.

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Very significant for our own day and time, dear listener. And of course, the corresponding

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maxim in English jurisprudence is justice delayed is justice denied, right? Because the sentence against

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an evil deed is not executed speedily, Solomon says, the heart of the children of man is fully set

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to do evil. Well, the furthest back in English history that this maxim can be traced is the Magna

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Carta. And the Magna Carta says, to no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay, right? Or

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justice, for justice delayed is justice denied. Oh, dear listener. Warren Berger, back in the 60s,

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the Supreme Court justice from the 60s, Warren Berger said, and I quote,

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a sense of confidence in the courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free

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people. And three things could destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to society.

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What are those three things, dear listener, that Warren Berger says could destroy confidence

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in the American system and do incalculable damage to our society? Those three things are, number one,

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and I quote him, he says, that people come to believe that inefficiency and delay will drain

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even a just judgment of its value. How has this been done in our culture, dear listener?

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We've lost our right to a speedy trial, for example. The J6ers, the January Sixers,

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have languished in the D.C. gulag system for six months or over a year before even coming to trial.

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And then they've been thrown in jail for years and years and years, dear listener. Yes, we have lost

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confidence because of the inefficiency and delay of justice. And secondly, he says, and I quote Berger

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now once again, he says for number two, that people who have long been exploited in the smaller

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transactions of daily life come to believe that courts cannot vindicate their legal rights from

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fraud and overreaching. Oh, yes. Oh, dear listener, our votes, for example, were stolen in 2020 and

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they're being stolen now in 2024. We hear it daily on the news broadcast. And when this issue is then

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brought before the courts, the courts dismiss it or else they rule in favor of the fraudsters. Yes,

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people who have long been exploited in smaller transactions of daily life, we have now come to

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believe that courts cannot vindicate our legal rights from fraud and overreaching. Well, the third

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reason that destroys the confidence and does incalculable damage to society, that third factor is number

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three, and I quote Berger, that people come to believe the law in the larger sense cannot fulfill

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its primary function to protect them and their families in their homes, at their work and on the

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public streets, unquote. Oh, how this has come true in our society. For example, not only are illegal aliens

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flooding our borders unchecked, but they are also raping and molesting our families. Illegal aliens are

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taking over our streets and our living spaces, the apartments in Aurora, Colorado, for example, and they are

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also committing crimes against the persons and property of American citizens. Yes, people have come to

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believe that the law, as Berger says, in the larger sense, cannot fulfill its primary function to protect

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us and our families in our homes, our work, and on our public streets, unquote. Right? Is this not the case?

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Dear listener, justice denied is justice delayed. Well, what can we say about God's justice and all

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these things? God's justice. Where is he, right? Why doesn't he intervene and settle these scores and

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these issues? Well, Solomon has some things to say concerning these issues in the text that I've just

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read for you. He faced them squarely. The issues we encounter today are not new. What is more,

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his commentary is inspired commentary, too, unlike that of our politicians and pundits and philosophers,

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yes. Just a couple of points I'd like to make with you. First of all, number one, justice. That's what

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we're talking about after all. Justice. Although God's justice may appear slow and diffident, it is

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actually certain and thorough. This is encompassed in verses 10 through 13 of chapter 8 of Ecclesiastes.

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Although God's justice may appear slow and diffident, it is actually certain and thorough. Oh, yes.

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All this I observed, Solomon has said back in chapter 7. He says, all this I observed while applying my heart

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to all that is done under the sun when man had power over man to his hurt. Ah, yes, this is

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entirely in consonance than with our text today. Our founding fathers understood to their toenails

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that man's tendency is to lord it over his fellow man to his hurt and to their gain. This is true

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regardless of the system it may go by. Dear listener, are you pharaoh, the embodiment of the gods, while the bulk of

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the people are there to serve you, building mighty marble pyramids as a cosmic sarcophagus for you and your

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descendants? Well, you still exercise power over man to his hurt, wicked in all your ways. Or perhaps you are a

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French king ruling your subjects in ermine and gold, dwelling in the palace of Versailles? Well, you still

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exercise power over man to his hurt, wicked in all your ways. Are you president of a socialist republic as

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the Harris-Walls ticket? Aspires to do. President of a socialist republic, acting as the Marxist dictator

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of the proletariat, waiting for the workers' paradise to be ushered in. And make no mistake, Harris and

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Walls believe these things to their tone as well. You still exercise power over man to his hurt, wicked

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in all your ways. Harris and Walls are wicked in all their ways. Well, despite what critics of our

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founding maintain, our founding fathers knew the science of government, as they called it, and

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they structured our own government to minimize the scope, extent, and power of government, giving the

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maximum latitude to the states and to the individual. When asked, for example, when Franklin, Benjamin

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Franklin, was asked, what kind of government have you given us, Mr. Franklin, after he was seen

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leaving the Constitutional Convention? Well, Franklin quipped, a republic, if you can keep it.

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Franklin and the founders knew that wicked men abound in every generation. And as Adolf Hitler noted,

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and I quote him, how fortunate for rulers that men are stupid, unquote. That's what Hitler thought of

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the common man. How fortunate for rulers that men are stupid, or as our present dictator says, men are

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garbage, right? Trump supporters are garbage, nearly half the voting public. Oh, our founders knew that

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only an educated religious people could govern themselves in a republic. If ever Americans grew

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ignorant of their rights and their system of government, while at the same time becoming morally degenerate,

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as we have, well, the republic was lost. The grand experiment in self-government that was the United States

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of America would be bound to fail. As John Adams puts it, he says, and I quote John Adams, he says,

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we have no government armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality

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and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our

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Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious

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people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other, unquote. That is profound.

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Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. That is after the Christian

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religion. That's what he had in mind. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.

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It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. All government begins with self-government,

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dear listener. If you can't govern yourself, how will you be able to govern others? Oh, what say you,

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dear listener? Are we there yet? Are we losing our republic? We see many symptoms noted by Solomon

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right in our text. The wicked, of which there are plenty in our system today, they go in and out of

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the holy place that is the center of worship of government, the temple in Israel, and in our day,

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Washington, D.C. in the United States of America. And those wicked have prominent places,

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and they have privileges and prerequisites that they grow to love and expect all on the public dime.

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It was true in Israel. It was true in England. And now it's increasingly true in America. The wicked

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arrogantly assume entitlement to power and oppression. They are also praised and lauded for their wickedness

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and their achievements in pursuit of their wicked ends. Even as David's sons increasingly enlarged

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oppressive government over the people, taking the people's wealth and their children into government

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service, even as Samuel warned that the kings would do. Well, so wicked men in our government grow it,

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and they rob us of our wealth. They too are praised for their achievements, whether a failed trillion

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dollar stimulus or a draconian health care system. And we also see that sinners do evil a hundred times

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and prolong their lives, as Solomon says. And as a psalm notes for us, they have no pings until death.

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Their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are. That is the wicked,

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Psalm 73. It goes on to say, they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. They scoff and speak with

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malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongues

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strep through the earth. So it is with the wicked, dear listener. And finally, then as we noted right out

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of the gate, justice seems delayed. Justice delayed is justice denied. Or as verse 11 says,

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because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man

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is fully set to do evil. Oh, please, dear listener, be very careful when considering at what level this

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verse speaks. Two points here. Number one, this verse speaks to kings and government below the sun that

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is on the earth, not in heaven. Justice is an attribute of God, but it is an aspiration of man.

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As Joseph Addison puts it so well, he says, to be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature.

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To be so to the utmost of our abilities is the glory of man, unquote. When men wickedly refuse to practice

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justice, exact, impartial, and swift justice, what does it nurture? What does that nurture? Does it nurture

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godliness? No. Does it nurture goodness? No. Does it nurture righteousness? No, no, no, no. As Solomon says,

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the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. And the Hebrew is very strong here.

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The heart that is the central core of our being is fully set. That means there is no other thought

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or leaning of the will to do anything other than to do what? To do good? No, to do evil. For example,

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when justice is delayed for those criminally responsible for unleashing the COVID virus on us,

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including the draconian lockdown, remember the masks and the distancing and the stay in your homes,

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right? Or the deadly vaccine, as it was called, which did multiple times more damage than it did

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good. Oh, when it comes to these things, men like Albert Borla of Pfizer or Anthony Fauci or Bill Gates,

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these kinds of men, as long as they come, fail to come to justice, they continue to do evil.

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Their hearts are fully set on doing evil. Or when justice is delayed for voter fraud in the 2020 election,

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we still have to come to accounting for that. Well, then the hearts of the wicked remain set on doing

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evil, as we see playing out all over the country during the 2024 election. Oh, yes. These kinds of

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men are evil and their hearts are fully set on doing evil. And then number two, it speaks to man's

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attribution of God's approach to justice above the sun too. This text also speaks to man's attribution

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of God's approach to justice above the sun. Is God unjust because he does not execute justice

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immediately? This is the oblique implication of this statement. Is it because God does not punish

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evil immediately, right after his commission by the wicked, that the, therefore, excuse me,

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the wicked is encouraged in his wickedness, right? They say to themselves, because it is in the mind

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of the wicked, they say to themselves, God does not see, he will not bring us to account, right?

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They go on then and sin with impunity. They defraud the innocent. They lie in court. They use the

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justice system to rob others. They complain that a neighbor puts his fence line over his property

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while they steal the water that would otherwise flow onto his neighbor's thirsty land. Now, all these

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things I have seen while living in Idaho. Yet God does not act to vindicate the righteous and punish

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the wicked. Is he not in heaven? Does not the God of justice do right? Well, to both of

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these issues, Koheleth, that is Solomon, he does speak. Now, you may have noticed that I have left

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out the qualifications to which he addresses his speech. For example, these wicked ones who vex the

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righteous, they do die. Koheleth says, I saw the wicked buried, right? And the wicked lives and rain.

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They are all vaporous, not vain, but they're vaporous. They go by so quickly. This is also not

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vanity. If you're hearing the preaching of our book of Ecclesiastes, you know that rather than vanity,

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we see things as vaporous. That is, they evaporate so quickly. This is also vaporous. It goes by so

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quickly. Vanity is so then better translated as vaporous, precisely because no matter how long it may

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seem that the wicked prevail, it's not forever. And no matter how prosperous and full of success

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the wicked may seem, Solomon says, I know it is well with those who fear God because they fear before

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him. And of course, the wicked, no matter how long and full and prosperous they may seem on this side of

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time, they will not flourish on the other side of time, in the time above the sun, that is, to which

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all things progress. So, in the end, it will not be well with the wicked. And we can say that about the

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wicked in our own day, in our own culture, who do oppress us and wish to oppress us even further,

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right? It will not be well with them. God will bring justice. Neither will he prolong his days like a

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shadow. That is, the wicked will not prolong their days like a shadow. That is, even as a shadow in

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the evening lengthens far beyond the actual height of the person shadowed. It's an illusion on every

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front. Well, so, the supposed length of life and prosperity of the wicked is an illusion, dear

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listener. In the long run, it is a figment of the wicked man's imagination that only seems to thrive

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for the moment. In the end, his dream, his figment will perish along with his soul. This is the destiny

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of the wicked in our own day and age, our own culture. And so, although God's justice may appear

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on its face to be slow in coming and diffident, that word diffident, I really like that word,

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it means reticent or slow in asserting itself. It may seem that way. It may seem slow and diffident.

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Well, it will come, and it will come with full force and power. Justice and only justice shall you do

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in the land to which I am sending you, right? As St. Augustine puts it, when it comes to God's justice,

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he had faith in the ultimate triumph of God's justice. And St. Augustine says, and I quote,

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the imperfection of justice in this life is the strongest proof that in the next world,

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justice and vengeance will be fulfilled to the utmost, unquote. Indeed, God will fulfill justice

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and vengeance to the utmost. So, dear believer, do not judge by appearances. God will bring perfect

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justice in the end. And that brings me then to verses 14 and 15 of chapter 8, where indeed Solomon

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says, there is a vanity that takes place on the earth, that there are righteous people to whom it

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happens according to the deeds of the wicked. And there are wicked people to whom it happens according

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to the deeds of the righteous. Oh, I said that this is also vanity, right? So, when we consider

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verse 14, although God's justice, and this is point two, although God's justice may appear convoluted

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and inverted, it actually prospers the righteous joyfully. So, take heart, dear listener. Oh,

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there is a reversal of fortunes, as it's called, in which what is supposed to happen to the righteous

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happens to the wicked. What's supposed to happen to the wicked actually happens to the righteous.

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Isn't that the very definition of injustice, huh? Joseph knew this to his bones as his brothers.

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His master's wife and Pharaoh's cupbearer treated him unjustly. Or Daniel knew this to his bones,

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being thrown to the lions in his righteousness, when it was the envious satraps and counselors to

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Darius, who deserved that treatment that he received, and profoundly. In the end, this is the

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foreshadowed treatment of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even as we see in Acts chapter 8,

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verses 32 to 35, with the Ethiopian eunuch, the passage of Scripture he was reading, as chapter 8 says,

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was like this, like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is

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silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can

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describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth, unquote. That's from Isaiah.

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And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or

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someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good

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news about Jesus. Oh, justice was denied Jesus, wasn't it? Indeed, the Bible is dense with that

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profound theme. In a fallen world, there is by definition a reversal of fortunes, a direct expression

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of the curse, right? What are we to do then? Are we to sink into abject despair? All is vanity,

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all is meaningless and empty? Oh, let's just end it all now. No, hardly. Rather than empty and

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meaningless, this cursed circumstance is rather vaporous, it's brief, it's fleeting, it will not

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endure forever. Rather than vain, we should breed vapor, right? There is a vaporousness that takes

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place. This is also vapor. What then? Well, he says, I commend joy, for their man has no good thing

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under the sun, but to eat and drink and be joyful, right? So, do this, dear listener. Eat,

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drink, and be joyful here in the brief stay that we have under the sun, and know that God will bring

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justice. That does not excuse us, indeed, from laboring ourselves to bring justice in government

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and as citizens of a free republic. So, we must do so. Justice and only justice shall you follow.

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This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and New Geneva meets

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for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard,

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and you can call us for more information. Come and visit us on Sunday, 10 a.m., 101 4th Street,

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and you can call us for more information or feedback at 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.