We're turning in the Word of God to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter number 32. Deuteronomy, chapter number 32, and we'll read the opening verses here in the chapter. Deuteronomy, chapter number 32, and we'll commence our reading at the verse number one. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak. And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as a small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all his ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. They have corrupted themselves. Their spot is not the spot of His children. They are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy Father, and hath bought thee? that hath bought thee, hath he not made thee and established thee? Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee thy elders, and they will tell thee when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance. When he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the weast, howling wilderness, he led them about. He instructed them, he kept them as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, flutterth over her young, spreadeth out broad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead them, and there was no strange God with him. Amen, and we'll end our reading there at the end of the verse number 12. Let's just seek the Lord with a word before us here open. Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee that before the throne of God above, we do have a strong and a perfect plea. A great high priest whose name is love, who ever lives, and who pleads for me. We thank Thee for our righteous advocate before the Father, Lord, we thank Thee for His unceasing pleadings for us. Rejoice, O God, for our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And as we come, dear God, again to Thy Word, we pray that we might be instructed from it. We pray that our hearts might be stirred and enlivened and quickened. Help us to see and to behold our God once again. Help our eyes and our affections to be taken up with Him. Grant, O God, that everything of this world, Lord, that it will all grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and of his grace. Close us in with God, we pray, for these moments. And magnify thy darling son. Grant, O God, help in the preaching of the word. We pray these are petitions in and through Jesus' most precious and wonderful name. Amen and amen. Well, our subject matter for today is but the natural follow-on from what we were considering last Lord's Day, namely, the holiness of God. For today, we want to come and consider together the justice of God. The justice of God is the next communicable attribute in the shorter catechism's definition, if we could call it a definition of God and His being. Wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. God is not only most wise, as the larger catechism puts it, but he is also most just. It was the theologian W.G.T. Shade who spoke of God's justice as the mode of his holiness in relation to its manifestation and expression. We could put it this way. The justice of God is His holiness in exercise. It is really His holiness in exercise. Now while God's holiness is a general term denoting the quality of God whereby He is right in and of Himself and right in all of His actions, God's justice is that phase of God's holiness which is seen in his treatment of the obedient and of the disobedient. It is this attribute whereby God gives to everyone what is their due. It is the attribute whereby a just God gives to everyone what is their due. Really, God's justice is the application of His holiness. We would say it is the outworking of His holiness towards all, all of His creatures. Now, as we think of the justice of God, I want to draw you to a number, your attention to a number of scriptures that affirm that our God is a God of justice and that He, in and of Himself, is just. He is right in all things. If you turn to Psalm number 89 and the verse number 14, you read these words, justice and judgment. the habitation of thy throne, mercy and truth shall go before thy face." Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne, mercy and truth shall go before thy face. In Jeremiah chapter 23 the verse number 5 we read, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch and speaking of Christ, and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. We remember throughout the Word of God that God is spoken of as a just God. God is just in and of himself. We read that in our reading today in Deuteronomy chapter 32 in the verse number 4. He is the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. In the book of Isaiah chapter 45 verse 21 we read again of God being a just God and therefore a God of justice. We read there, and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior, there is none beside me. Go into the New Testament and you find Pilate's wife having to admit concerning the just nature of the Son of God, sending a message to Pilate, that woman said these words in Matthew 27 verse 19, have I nothing to do with that just man. I have suffered many things in a day in a dream because of him. Repeatedly the apostles and the early Christians spoke of Jesus Christ as being just and from his just nature there proceeds just justice. It is the natural flow. The apostle Peter said in Acts 3 verse 14, but he denied the Holy One and the just. and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. Stephen, he spoke of the God being just in Acts 7, 51 and verse 52. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, do ye always resist the Holy Ghost? As your fathers did, so do ye, which it were. The prophets have not your fathers persecuted, and they have slain them which have shown before of the coming off the just one, of whom ye have now been the betrayers and the murderers." Paul, when he was relating his conversion experience to his audience in Acts chapter 22, he relayed how Ananias spoke of God being a just God, recalling Ananias' words to him in Acts 22 verse 14, and he said, speaking of Ananias, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just one, and should hearest the voice of his mouth. God is a just God. He is a just God. Now while I happily admit that there are more pleasing things to the flesh to speak on, more pleasing attributes with respect to God, His goodness, His truth, His love, His mercy, His grace. If I am to faithfully declare the whole counsel of God then, then I must speak on this attribute of God's justice. The view God is only love. and to refuse to contemplate Him as just will result in us manufacturing a God of our imagination that is simply not true. It will mean that we form in our minds or we will create in our minds a caricature of the true and the living God that is simply not biblical and simply not true. God is just as much as He is love. Now, there are a number of truths that I want to focus your mind upon today as we consider the subject matter, Behold, You're Just God. Behold, You're Just God. In the first place, I want you to think about the nature of God's justice. the nature of God's justice. There are a number of facets to the nature of God's justice that I draw your attention to in this message. In the first place, God's justice is impartial. It is impartial. It is justice. God is an impartial judge. What I mean by that is that God judges every case in light of the full unbiased evidence that is set before him. Now impartiality does not always mark the justice that is meted out by men or by judges in this world. Men often judge a person and not the cause or not the case and really that's not justice. Because when someone judges the person and not the case, that is malice. That's not justice. There are judges in our judicial system who before they even hear any evidence, they already harbor favoritism towards a certain people. Or they have a prejudice against a certain grouping within society. And such judges are said to be partial in their judgments. And we don't have to go too far this week to have heard of that. With respect to the impartiality or the partial nature of a judge who's sitting and presently deciding whether he will withdraw himself from a certain case. There is a question mark over his impartiality. Has he got favoritism or has he got prejudices towards a certain grouping of people? However, God's justice is impartial. And that truth is presented to us in the words that we find in 1 Peter 1, verse 17. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, past the time of your sojourning here in fear." That phrase, without respect of persons, 1 Peter 1 verse 17, that little phrase simply translates to mean impartially, impartially. And if you call on the Father who impartially judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." Peter notes that God the Father judges all men impartially. And he bases his judgment on what? Every man's work. On the evidence. On that which is true. He simply makes and passes judgment and passes and executes His judgment on the basis of the evidence that is before Him. An example in the Word of God where we see the impartial justice of God being exercised is found in Genesis chapter number 18. You'll know the details of the chapter. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, they come up before the Lord. But before God exercises justice, God himself personally comes down and inspects the activities of the city before he meets out his judgment upon those cities. His judgment is not based on some hearsay. that maybe an angel has told him. No, rather it is based upon the cold facts and light of day, Genesis 18, 20 and 21. And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now. and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which has come unto me, and if not, I will know." You see, before God executes His judgment against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, God is going to make sure that His just nature is upheld. He's not going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah if their cry is not in accordance to their practice. No, he's going to base his justice upon what he sees and the evidence that is presented before him. Let's bring this home to our hearts today. Maybe sometime in your life you have been on the receiving end of justice that you felt was partial in nature. You felt that a prejudice was against you. Maybe some event in your life, maybe at school, you felt yourself to be hard done by. You felt the headmaster or some school teacher is always at you because maybe you're a Christian. You feel that there is, at times, there is a partialness to the justice that is meted out to you. Can I say to you that such will never take place? Such will never take place when it comes to the justice of God. God will always be impartial when it comes to judging you and me. His judgments will be based upon the cold and the hard facts. And as the scriptures remind us time and time again, we're all going to be judged according to our works. God's children are often found to be the object of ridicule and sometimes the most ill-deserved treatment by men. We find ourselves in that state many times in the places of employment, in our places of school. We find ourselves to be mistreated, ill-deserved treatment by men. Alexander the coppersmith was a man who did much evil against the Apostle Paul. But do you know what he did? Do you know what Paul did, folks? Instead of seeking revenge against Alexander, Paul left the matter in God's hands. He allowed God to deal with Alexander the coppersmith in an impartial way. Listen to what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 verse 4. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. on the basis of what he has done, so will be the reward to Alexander the coppersmith. We could all learn from Paul when it comes to those who malign us, those who misrepresent us. Let me ask you, have you suffered wrongfully in recent days? Have you been misspoken about by others? Have people leveled accusations against you that are simply untrue? Commit the judgment of those people to heaven's impartial judge. He will avenge his elect and he will vindicate you in his own good time and his own good way because vengeance belongs to God. It belongs to God. William Macdonald in his book Alone in Majesty, the attributes of a holy God remarked when the Lord sits on the great white throne, His judgment will be absolutely righteous. His verdict will be based on truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He will show no respect for persons. His decisions will be based on perfect knowledge of everything and will be completely impartial. MacDonald went on to say, No sinful person should ever ask God for justice. If we receive justice, he said, we would all be doomed and damned. We need grace. That's what we need, grace. God's justice is impartial. I draw your attention to a second facet to the nature of God's justice, namely that His justice is perfect, perfect justice. Man's justice is oftentimes found to be deficient because the information at hand upon which any judgment is based upon may not be true at all or may have but a smattering of the truth about it. However, when it comes to God's judgment, that justice and judgment is based upon information that is true and accurate. He is an omniscient God. He is an all-knowing God and possessing an infinite knowledge of every detail that happens in this world, God is able to judge a matter perfectly with information that has been untainted and that which is unbiased. And oftentimes it amazes even me to hear two different accounts about something that happens maybe even within an assembly of people. And the two accounts are completely pole opposites. There has been a twisting, a manipulation. a tainting, a biasness that has been placed upon the information that has been given, whereby judgment must be passed upon. But God never finds Himself at a loss when it comes to His justice and the carrying out of His judgment upon a certain case that is brought before Him. No, because God possesses infinite knowledge of all things. He was there. He saw it. He heard it. He cannot be hoodwinked, and I say that reverently, that which emanates from his perfect being is always perfect. Perfect love, perfect grace, perfect mercy, perfect long-suffering, perfect wisdom, perfect truth, yes, and also perfect justice. It emanates from his perfect being, and God is most perfect. Therefore, there is no need for a higher court for men to appeal to when it comes to God's justice and judgment. No appeal or supreme courts are required, for every judgment of God is perfectly administered by a God whose justice is perfect. Maybe, sinner, you expect to put God right. You expect to put God right when he comes to judge you for sin. Or maybe you plan to appeal to a higher tribunal when the guilty sentences pass and the words from God uttered to you, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire. Can I remind you of words that we find in Romans chapter three, verse 19? Now we know that what things whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. And all the world may become guilty before God. The reason why every mouth will be stopped is because every sinner will see that God is perfectly just in condemning them to hell and will have nothing to say by way of complaint, will have nothing to say by way of criticism as they see the perfect justice of God being executed against them for their sin. So every mouth will be stopped. God's justice is impartial. God's justice is perfect. God's justice is unchanging. Folks, we live in a world where the goalposts are ever-changing when it comes to what is deemed acceptable and what is not when it comes to behavior and practices within society at large. Our justice system is influenced by the shifting sands of public opinion And so what was illegal in the past is now made legal. Because it has become, why? It has become acceptable by society at large. Let me give you a few examples. It's only a few decades ago that the murder of the unborn child was an illegal practice within our nation. However, today, abortion on demand is provided by our National Health Service. Approximately 98% of abortions happen on the NHS. Since the introduction of the Abortion Act of 1967, when it came into effect on the 27th of April 1968, it is estimated that 8.7 million unborn children have been killed, murdered in the womb. 8.7 million. Those are figures taken from 2016. Take another example. The sin of homosexuality was illegal up until the same year as the Abortion Act was introduced, 1967. Today, homosexuality is legal, sodomy, created in our cities without any blush upon the faces of the perpetrators of such sin. Things have changed within the justice system because of the shifting sands of public opinion. However, when it comes to God's judgment and that which governs and regulates His justice, such hasn't changed since time began and such will never change, never change. You see, the outworking of God's justice against the sinners of Noah's day, and the outworking of God's justice against the sinners that were in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, the outworking of God's justice in the days of Christ will be the same justice that God will govern God's dealings with sinners in this day and in the days to come. It is an unchangeable justice. Since God's justice cannot change because he cannot change, God must execute His judgment upon those who defy Him, those who break His law, those who have no concern for His glory, those who have never yet trusted Him as Savior. God will not, God cannot, God cannot change His will, He cannot revoke His word, He cannot rescind His awful threatenings against the unregenerate man or the unregenerate woman. Because it is an unchanging justice. Think about it. Just think about it. If God changed His justice with respect to you, sinner, that would mean that God has changed. But He cannot change. If he changed, he would no longer be God. I've quoted it before, an American evangelist, he put it this way in a very coarse way, but a very true way, but it is striking in his truth. If God does not judge the sinners of this generation, he is going to have to apologize to the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah. But God's never going to do that. Because God's justice, the benchmark for his justice has never changed. Ours has changed. There is an acceptance of many a sin within our nation, but God's benchmark hasn't changed. It is an unchanging justice. So let me ask you, sinner, what makes you think makes you think that God is going to deal with you any differently than the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah when it comes to exercise his justice against you. His unchangeableness means that he cannot deal with you any differently, justly speaking, and he has dealt with sinners in the past. God's justice is never going to change. Because he's not going to change. And his law, his law that regulates his justice, that governs his justice, that's not going to change. How do I know that? Because I know his law was written in stone. Not wax, not sand, but stone. He came to what? To do? To fulfill the law. Uphold the law. And that law will be the benchmark by which we'll be judged for our sin. God's justice will not change. Would it not then be wisdom on your part, sinner, to make salvation from your sin your chiefest of concerns today? We've considered the nature of God's justice, impartial justice, a perfect justice, an unchanging justice. But I want you to think secondly about the execution of God's justice. When we think about justice, we often think about it from a negative viewpoint. When that word justice comes into our mind, we often think about the outworking of justice with respect to the punishment of some guilty criminal. They have received justice. But folks, justice can also be looked at positively. It's looked at in that way whenever the innocent are rewarded. There are two aspects to God's justice. Like a coin has two sides, so God's justice has two sides to it. The light side, the dark side, the positive side, the negative side. We read of it in the Word of God. Broadly speaking, God executes His justice in one of two ways. Either He rewards the obedient, or he punishes the guilty or the disobedient. We'll look at those two for a few brief moments. Consider then firstly the rewarding of the righteous. That's part of God's justice. Part of God's justice will be when executed, when exercised against us or towards us, there will be the rewarding of the righteous. God will be just in that. The scriptures have much to say about God's rewarding of those who live righteous lives by the help and grace of God. Psalm 58. Let's turn there, Psalm 58. It'll keep you awake, Psalm 58. Because it is a couple of verses that really brings these two sides of God's justice neatly together. these two aspects of his justice, the rewarding of some, the punishment of others. It's Psalm number 58, the verses 10 and the verse number 11. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. This is speaking of God's vengeance against the ungodly. The righteous shall rejoice. Think of that sinner. Think of that believer. When you see God's justice executed against the ungodly on the day of judgment at the great white throne, when sinners are cast into hell, the scripture says that you're going to rejoice. Now you may find that to be a statement that you don't believe because there is that natural affection obviously within our souls with respect to our unsaved loved ones and those who know not Christ. But I tell you sinner, we will rejoice because God will be upheld. His justice will be upheld. God's going to be vindicated on that day and we're going to rejoice at that. It goes on to say, The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Verily, he is a God that judgeth in the earth." See the two aspects, the punishment of the disobedient. See the reward of the righteousness brought together in that single verse. Matthew 5 verse 11 and 12, blest are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward. heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you Matthew 10 verse 42 and whosoever shall give to drink on to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple Verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward first Corinthians 3 13 14 every man's work shall be made manifest and And for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. Colossians 3 23 and 24 and whatsoever you do do it heartily to the Lord and not unto men knowing that of the Lord Ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ James 1 verse 2 blessed is a man that endureth temptation For when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. And I could repeat many scriptures that speak of future reward that is laid up for the righteous. And that day of reward is based upon God's justice. And therefore God is not going to hand out rewards like sweeties. There you go, there's a reward for you. No! It is a perfect rewarding based on perfect justice and it will be based on the cold hard facts. What did you do for God? How did you do it for Him? What was the motive behind it? If any man's work shall abide the fire, he's going to receive a reward. Reformer John Calvin said, the works of the faithful are not without reward, because they please God, and pleasing God, they are sure of remuneration. What is the reward? The crown of life? Heaven? Eternal life? The heavenly mansion? It may incorporate those things, but is the reward of the believer, is it not Christ? He's our reward. Paul spoke of winning Him. Like a prize at the end of the race, win Christ, I win Christ." Now this truth that God justly rewards the righteous ought to do a number of things in our lives, this is the application. It ought to make our labors here in this world and in the Church of Jesus Christ that much sweeter, as we think of the reward that is waiting for us in the world that is to come. I'm not seeking reward here on earth, as it were, But what I do for the Master, for my Savior, I'm laying up for myself treasures in heaven. There's reward in heaven for me there. And that ought to make your work and your labor for God here on earth that much sweeter. That God being just, He is not unrighteous. To forget your work and labor of love, which you do minister unto the saints, and ye do He will reward you. Secondly, it ought to see a groundswell of industrious labor from every saint of God as they come to appreciate that only those who labor for God and earth will be rewarded in heaven. That should cause a groundswell of industrious labor from every believing child of God. If I'm expecting reward in heaven, I need to do a little bit of work here on earth. Secondly, it ought to sustain us in the work of God. When it seems that our work is taken for granted, when acknowledgement for our service is never given from the pulpit, when our reward or when reward or praise is never forthcoming, It ought to sustain us that God will reward me. God will reward me. God will see to it that he will reward me. In the fourth place, it ought to drive away the accusation of the devil who would whisper in your ear that it is pointless in serving the Lord. My reward is with me. That's what the scripture says. I think it's the book of Malachi. I could stand to be corrected. They were saying, what's the point in laboring? What's the point in working for God? And God says, my reward is with me. It's coming. It's just yet future. So when the devil would tell you, no point teaching the Sunday school, no point in going to the open air, no point. helping out in the work of God, God would remind you that when doing so you're laying up treasure. Fifthly, it ought to drive away our fear of death and any reluctance that we have of dying, for the death of the righteous, what do they enter into? They enter into their eternal reward. That's what death is, an entering in to our eternal reward. Thomas Watson said, surely those who know that when they die they go to receive their reward should neither be fond of life nor fearful of death. I trust that you have lived and are living in such a way that there is a reward waiting for you in heaven. And if not, then start from this day to live for God. serve Him in whatever way He directs you to serve Him, and you'll begin to lay up for yourself reward. He'll reward you. The righteous judge, He'll give me on that day. That's what Paul said about the crown, the righteous judge. God's justice is not only seen in the rewarding of the righteous, it is seen in the retribution of the wicked. Coming to a close in the message, where the sinner may go on in their sin, comforting themselves with the delusional thought, and it is a delusional thought, that because judgment has not been forthcoming because of their sin to this moment of time, that judgment will never come. There is coming a day, sinner, when you will experience the justice of God because of your offenses and your crimes against Him. That is clearly revealed time and time again in scripture. I don't have time to read them all. Exodus 34, verse 6 and 7. You can take it down, but let me read Psalm 9, verse 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God. Psalm 96 verse 13, for he cometh to judge the earth, he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth. You know, sinner, you may deny the justice of God and it's outworking now, but there is coming a day when you're going to find out to your eternal ruin and to your everlasting damnation that the judge of all the earth always does that which is right. And you're going to find out that as you're being cast into hell, and as you start to experience the just outworking of God's justice against you for sin, there is punishment for the disobedient. It's part of God's justice. We thought about the nature of the execution. Let me close very quickly by drawing your attention to the greatest display of God's justice. It'll come as no surprise to you that the greatest display of God's justice came on a hillside outside Jerusalem, the cross of Calvary. You see, justice demanded sin to be punished. That could never be reversed. The soul that sinneth it shall die, and the day that thou readest her off thou shalt surely die. That which had gone forth out of God's lips and out of God's mouth could never be retracted. Justice now demands the sinner to die. However, Christ, the just one, died for us, the unjust ones, and thereby upheld justice. while at the same time provided salvation for the trusting repentant sinner. The death on the cross of Calvary of Christ fully satisfied, fully satisfied the justice of God. Never ever think that God sets aside his justice to forgive you the sinner. That cannot happen. Justice must be paid. Justice must be satisfied. And it is either satisfied in Christ and His death on the cross, or by your eternal damnation in hell. But justice will be served. Never think that God sets aside His justice. No! Justice is upheld and satisfied before any sinner can be forgiven, and such satisfaction, thank God, was given on the sinner's behalf by another, by a worthy substitute, Jesus Christ. preachers he thought about Christ's work of satisfaction on the cross said, God's justice was preserved in the midst of the triumph of his grace. Or to put it like this, in the words of the hymn writer, on the Mount of Crucifixion, fountains opened deep and wide. Through the floodgates of God's mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide. Grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above, and heaven's peace and perfect justice kiss the guilty world in love. Psalm 85 10, mercy and truth are met together, righteousness or justice, can be translated that way, justice and peace have kissed each other. there is reconciliation at the cross. Thank God justice found its meeting point, its focal point on Jesus Christ and not us. It found its meeting point just like a magnifying glass when tipped to the sun and it's placed upon a piece of paper. There is a focal point a point, an exact locality, where that beam finds its resting place. Well, there on Calvary's cross, God's justice found its meeting place on the body of Jesus Christ. He, who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God by Him. And He hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Justice met Christ. Christ fulfilled the just demands of the law. He has satisfied it. And if I would come to him as a sinner and receive what he did for me on the tree, then I am set free. And I am forgiven justly. Justly forgiven. Because Christ has paid my sin debt. Thank God the flaming sword of God's justice was quenched in the holy and loving heart of Christ, and that sword woke not against me, but it was plunged into the very sheath of Christ's heart, the just sword of divine justice. Have you believed that? Will you believe that? I trust that you will. Our God is a just God, and therefore He is a God of justice, an impartial, an unchanging, and a perfect justice. Oh, may God help us to understand these things for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Thank you for your attention. We appreciate your listening. We trust that you've understood a little of what God reveals of himself within his word. May God help us to bring all of our cases, those cases that we believe that we've been misdealt, Maybe those cases that we feel that we haven't received what we ought to have received, bring it to the Lord. Bring it to the one who without respect of person judges. Leave the matter with him. God will vindicate ever truth and righteousness. Not in this life, certainly in the life that is to come. O God, our loving Father, we bow before Thee again. Acknowledge in this house today how much and how little we know of Thee. Confess, Heavenly Father, that at times we feel ourselves to be on the wrong end of justice. We bless Thee that the judge of all the earth will do right. And so we commit it. We commit it all to our God. Lord, come and execute justice against our enemies on our behalf. How, O God, we are never exhorted to take matters such as this into our hands. Vengeance belongs only to thee. O God, we believe that thou wilt do right, ever right. Help us, dear Father, to live our lives by the just demands of God. and help us to keep before us the judgment day when perfect justice will be found to be executed even then. Answer prayer and bless our hearts through thy word for we pray these are petitions in and through Jesus most precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.