I want to talk about leveraging God's justice in Isaiah 59 4. He writes none, Calle for justice nor any pleade for truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies, they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. I invite you to meditate this verse because it's incredibly pregnant with meaning for our current
day. Almost no one invokes God's justice. And the reason for this is because we aren't honest people. We like to live in fantasy and we like to sort of imagine up what reality is instead of searching it out and reacting to it and anticipating it. We kind of make believe as if we can sort of just generate
things in the fashion that we would like them to be. That's what it's talking about when it says trust and vanity and speak lies, conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. Um It turns out that the Gospel in one sense, it's about the discovery of reality. And um God's justice is just another application
of this. We see it as almost a uniformly negative thing. If you talk about God's justice, uh Most Christians will assume what we're talking about is punishment, but justice doesn't mean punishment. It means the application of things that have been merited. Justice is only punishment for the wicked. So
how does this work with the atonement? Well, uh let's see, repentance washes away your sins, but you retain your righteousness. Justice for the righteous person means blessing and repentance is about forgiveness of sins. But it doesn't supplant mercy. Repentance is not the same as sanctification. Repentance
is about justification or forgiveness from the effects of past sins. But it doesn't magically qualify you for the rewards of righteousness. You actually have to become righteous. And so to get to the place where we want to invoke God's justice, we have to actually merit positive blessings and we should
live so that we can invoke God's justice. And if we have a skewed version of what repentance and grace and justification and sanctification mean, then we can never get to that point. Ok. So even Christians are living in the description that Isaiah gave, ok, we're gonna shift gears. So what does it mean
to withhold? It means to hold back something that is due and maybe that gives you a clue as to where I'm going with this because we just talked about meriting things. God is just, just is the root of justice. He operates through cause and effect according to the law that he has appointed, which describes
reality. What I just gave you is a very nontraditional description of religion and Christianity in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is nevertheless true. God knows all things and he teaches us and offers us the gospel is a way for us to reconcile to the degree of reality that he is aware of. And his
commandments are just a vehicle for that. Uh In some cases, they describe reality and in some cases, they lead us along a path where we can uh withstand the description of reality because we're not prepared for it where we stand currently. So here's a question. Does God ever withhold his justice? In
other words, does he ever postpone the delivery of effects whose causes have already occurred? The answer is yes, absolutely. He does. Um There are multiple descriptions of him doing so in the scriptures in job 24 24 4, I encourage you to read the chapter job 24. They're exalted for a little while but
are gone and brought low. They are taken out of the way as all other and cut off as the tops of the ears of the corn. If you read the full chapter, uh He's describing the wicked and how often it seems the case that they're rewarded for their wickedness, they live quality lives in spite of the fact that
they're wicked. And what this verse tells us is they might temporarily, in other words, God withholds His justice for a little while, but eventually it always comes in Second Peter 39, we get the same message. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, inferring that some people observe Him being
slack, right? Or interpret what they observe as his being slack. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. As some men count slackness but is long suffering to us. Word, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So Peter not only acknowledges this observation, but
also explains why it is that God sometimes postpones his judgment to give room for repentance, Malachi three. It says you have said it is vain to serve God. And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts and now we call the proud happy
. Yeah, they that work, wickedness are set up. Yeah, they that tempt God or even delivered. Or in other words, why are we bothering to do all these things that God tells us to do? Because all these wicked people have wonderful lives verse 16. Then they that feared that the Lord, the Lord spake often
one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord. And that thought upon his name. In other words, it's really nice to read the scriptures because it reminds us that God is just and even though his justice sometimes uh is
postponed, it always comes and they shall be mine saith the lord of host in that day, when I make up my jewels and I will spare him, spare them as a man, spare his own son that serve him. Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between Him that serve God and him that serve
him. Not justice always comes. But it isn't always swift. It's like sending a package through international mail and someone can call you and say, hey, it, I sent you a package and you're like, great and then you expect it in some cases, it takes forever to get there. Um In some cases it gets stolen
and that doesn't happen with God's justice. So let's move on. There's limits to every analogy. Um So I mentioned that in the case of the wicked, he delays justice sometimes to give time for repentance, but he also delays justice for the righteous. And one reason that we're gonna talk about is to increase
the positive effects of justice. This is huge. It's a key and with it, you can exercise much greater power with God. So I hope you pay attention to what comes next. Here's a graph. It's about compound interest. It's not what we're talking about here, but it's a good analogy. And so we're gonna use this
. So let's assume, and this is laughable that you can get 7% interest from the bank. Well, um the principal or the amount of money that you initially invest is here in dark green and that doesn't change. So you just, you have a chunk of money, you throw it in the bank. And the question is what happens
when you leave it there? So if you, if you uh set it up, so that the bank cuts you a check every time you earn interest, then the amount of interest you earn is in the light green bar here. If instead you leave it in the account, then what happens is something called compound interest. And the amount
of money you have in total is this orange bar. And if you do the math, you'll end up with about four times more money at the end of 30 years, if you just leave it there. So this is harder to do because we want the money. So who wants to wait for 30 years? But it turns out that the principle of compound
interest is really important both in accumulating wealth and also in accumulating treasure in heaven. Or in other words, in increasing our relationship with God, because God is just, it turns out that you can voluntarily waive your right to the blessings that you have earned in Hebrews 1135. This is
referenced when Paul describes others who were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. If you want to receive the fruits of your obedience to God immediately, you will be like this like green line. If you instead invoke your option to waive the justice that you
have earned. You will invoke compound interest from God. I hope this doesn't sound hokey. It's straight from the scriptures and it is very much a true principle. Now, principle means two words and I'm sorry, because there's a financial sense like the balance of your investment and then there's the sense
like an idea or a rule and we're using it in both senses. But I hope that doesn't confuse you, but you can live off of the balance of your investment when it comes to justice. And this is the way you should try to be. Because if you do this, you'll have exponential growth with God, you'll make much better
use of your time. Here on earth, here's a passage passage from Matthew six where Jesus says therefore, when thou dost thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men verily, I say unto you, they have their reward
. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy father, which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prays thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for, they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in
the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou when thou prays enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the father, which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. OK? So they have
their reward is the key phrase. Here, there are things that you can do in the gospel where you have your reward and there are things that you can do instead where you're investing that reward. OK? This is one example. Here's another one. This is more explicit. It's a really nice passage. So this is from
DNC 98. It's the Lord's law of revenge. So it talks about what you can do when someone attacks you and what you can opt to do and what the difference will be in terms of your reward. This is talking about war, but the general principle is true of anything, anything with the Gospel works like this. So
he says now I speak unto you concerning your families. If men will smite you or your families once and you bear it patiently and revile not against them, neither seek revenge. You shall be rewarded. But if you bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being meted out as a just measure
unto you. What does this mean? If someone smites you or offends you or whatever and you respond proportionally, you have your reward. God owes you nothing continuing and again, if your enemy shall smite you the second time and you revile not against your enemy and bear it patiently, your reward shall
be a hundredfold. Whoa You see that. What's the interest rate there? If you opt not to cash out your chips, there's an immediate large increase in the reward continuing. And again, if he shall smite you the third time and you bear it patiently, your reward shall be doubled until you fourfold. OK? So
uh you went from a one X reward to a two X reward to a four X reward. And now verily, I say unto you that if your enemy shall escape my vengeance, that he be not brought unto judgment before me, meaning he's gonna handle it. God, then you shall see to it that you warn Him in my name, that He come no
more upon you, neither upon your family, even your children's Children under the 3rd and 4th generation. And then if He shall come upon you or your Children or your children's Children unto the 3rd and 4th generation, I have delivered thine enemy into thine hands. And if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt
be rewarded for thy righteousness and also thy Children and thy children's Children unto the 3rd and 4th generation. Nevertheless, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified. OK? What happens here every time you opt to not cash out your chips, to not invoke God's justice, to not take out the
interest on your principal. God doubles, your reward eventually gets so large that it no longer just affects you. But you have obtained blessings that will flow to your Children and to your children's Children. Unto the 3rd and 4th generation, there is massive power in God's justice. And if you live
it accordingly, if you live it to your interest, not trying to make a pun on the word interest there. If you live it to your benefit, you actually can use it to secure blessings for people that aren't even born yet. Abraham did this. He was so righteous and, and by the way, you, you see this and it was
counted to him for righteousness. That's your clue that the law of justice was just invoked and that someone let it ride, someone invoked interest on their principle. And he lived so righteously that he actually broke a multigenerational curse that had come down through his father and instead replaced
it with a multigenerational blessing that lasted for a long time, long time, many generations. And this is something that you have the power to do. If you're willing to bear it patiently, if you're willing to trust in God and have faith in his justice, in his unreal justice. And if you exercise that
faith, you'll be able to obtain massive multigenerational blessings, but only if you're willing to not quit because it's gonna be bad. Don't gloss over what's happening to the, the subject here in this passage, right? That you're being attacked by an enemy many, many times and people are dying probably
right. But if you don't fight back, this is what's gonna happen. God's gonna fight your battles for you. And if for some reason he doesn't, you're gonna have an even more massive blessing. OK. So what happens when you, when you lock all this in? Here's the phrase without compulsory means, it shall flow
unto thee forever and ever. Not only can you secure a multigenerational blessing and can you break multigenerational curses by doing this? But you can get to a point where you've locked in so much blessing through God's justice that he can no longer withhold it. Imagine the banks of a river overflowing
or if you're pouring milk into a measuring cup, it just kind of overflows. And if you have kids, you can imagine this because it happens like all the time. Um But you just keep pouring it in and it, it keeps overflowing because there's no more room to receive it. This is the meaning of the phrase, the
windows of heaven will open such that you will not have room to receive the blessing. This is what it means. OK. Uh What's an example of, of the Lord not being able to withhold? Remember we started with the definition of withhold um to uh I can't quote it. My mind's mush right now, but we, there was
a few slides ago, I'll just go back to hold back something that is due that really wasn't hard to remember, but I apologize to hold back something that is due. Do you get it if you willingly, if you willingly allow the Lord to withhold the blessings compound? But you can get to a point where he can't
withhold all of it forever. He, it has to sort of dribble out. Right. And so like the bank is too small to hold the interest anymore. So they have to give you dividends, right? That's may maybe a ridiculous analogy, but that's really how it goes ok with this. And here's an example. It's from Ether with
the brother of Jared. Really interesting story. Ok. Eo 1221 and after the brother of Jared had beheld the finger of the Lord because of the promise which the brother of Jared had obtained by faith, the Lord could not withhold anything from his sight. Wherefore he showed him all things for he could no
longer be kept without the bail. So there are a few interesting things about this one. The use of the word withhold means that the brother of Jared had merited something. Two, the use of the phrase could not could no longer be kept et cetera means that the Lord was actively trying to do this. So why
on earth would the Lord actively try to withhold blessings from us? Well, the brother of Jared was righteous and what did we say before about his motive with the wicked? It's to give space for repentance. What about with the righteous? It's to allow them to encounter, to compound those blessings into
something much greater. And it sure happened that way with the brother of Jared because he received this, this wonderful experience that other people hadn't had. Right? So he got to the point where the Lord could not withhold anything from his sight. He did it by faith. Ok? Now we're gonna switch to
Ether three and verses 25 and 26. It says when the Lord had said these words, he showed unto the brother Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been and also all that would be. And he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth for he had said on him in times before that
if he would believe in him that he could show unto him all things it should be shown unto him. Therefore, the Lord could not withhold anything from him for he knew that the Lord could show him all things. We could hit this passage from 10 different angles. I'm just focusing on one right now. And that's
his principle of getting to such a balance with the justice of God that he can't withhold blessings from you doesn't mean he pays you out all the ones you're due. It means that you, you get dividends on this interest because the interest is so great. Does that make sense? And you can actually without
compulsory means it flows to you. It flows like a river overflows its banks. You're not draining the river, you're not pulling the plug on the bathtub or the dam, but it overflows. Yeah, a dam is a good example. So it has the spillways where the overflow goes over the dam so that it, you know the river
continues to flow. That's what this is like can get so high that there's spillage, right? And this is good, good spillage to have. So I'm sharing this with you because if you can develop sufficient faith in God to invoke his justice in what you're willing to endure and how far you're willing to go without
any sign of His blessing you or maybe with minimal sign of Him blessing you and you just keep going, the rewards will go exponential. And I'm not preaching the gospel of uh blessings here. I'm saying that you can ratchet up your uh experiences with Him and your ability to bless others through living
the light and truth that He gives you. If you're willing to endure much, much more without cashing out your chips without receiving what is merited and you just keep going. So I encourage you to develop more faith in God to uh if there's a list of what it would take to turn you away from him, get that
list emptied and develop sufficient faith in him that no matter how long you have to endure whatever in his wisdom and love he chooses to give to you. Uh No matter what, you just don't quit. And there exists nothing that can turn you away from him, set your face like a flint and seek him with all of
your heart, mi mind and strength and trust him unconditionally. And if it's his will that for the rest of your life, you suffer agonizing pain, emotionally or physically, or you remain in a situation where you say it's, you know, others would be tempted to say it's not fair, it's not fair that I don't
have this, this and this and everyone else does get away from all that, trust him completely. And if you don't put a limit on what he can put you through, then you also take away the limit of what he can make you. And that's a glorious thing.