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When God Hides His Face

Sunday, November 10, 2024
Pastor Jojo Ma

 

1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? 2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. 4 Then they will cry to the LORD, but He will not answer them; He will hide His face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

I.         A God who rebukes the wicked [vv1-3]
II.        A God who refuses to hear their prayers [v4]
III.       A God who rejoices to offer forgiveness

I.         A God who rebukes the wicked [vv1-3]
1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? 2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.

1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel!

1...Is it not for you to know justice?

Mic 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Biblical Justice vs. “Social Justice”

What is biblical justice? It’s to do good and it’s to punish evil. And nobody does those two things better than God.

1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? 2 you who hate the good and love the evil.

John Calvin: When God judges a nation, He gives it wicked leaders.

2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.

Do we take sin lightly too, like these rulers? Is our conscience getting hard and calloused?

There is never a good reason to sin. But there is always good reason to repent.

II.        A God who refuses to hear their prayers [v4]
4 Then they will cry to the LORD, but He will not answer them; He will hide His face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

One way God chooses to punish evil leadership is to not hear their prayers.

4 Then they will cry to the LORD, but He will not answer them; He will hide His face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

Is 59:2 your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Ps 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Jn 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him.

1 Pet 3:7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

God will watch how leaders --- whether presidents or pastors or parents or husbands --- God will watch how that authority is used.

III.      A God who rejoices to offer forgiveness
Our hope, all our hope, is Christ. He is our life. He is our love. And he must have our highest allegiance.

Jn 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.