WHO SAYS, "IT'S NOT RIGHT!"

Numbers 15

Pastor Rick Jackson

Scenario #1: A judge ordered Paris Hilton to spend 45 days in jail because she violated the conditions of her probation from a DUI twice! This high school dropout child of privilege had lied to the police, assumed the law didn't apply to her and blamed the whole mess on her publicist. The sheriff, acting contrary to the judge's explicit instructions sent her home with an ankle bracelet. She came back under the judges orders and he sent her back to jail. She screamed as they took her out, "It's not right! Mommy!"

Scenario #2: I was in line in my truck. Two vehicles in front of me was a van with a bumper sticker that read "THE DEATH PENALTY: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" The people who made the bumper sticker think Jesus would be against the death penalty. I know that because another sticker on their van read "THE DEATH PENALTY IS A HATE CRIME". Both bumper stickers are incorrect as we will prove, Lord willing, from the Word of God in the Sunday evening service. But if you asked many people about the death penalty they would say, along with Paris, "It's not right!"

What's not right? Punishment for crime? Punishment for sin? Unequal treatment? By whom?

I. THE TRUTH ABOUT HUMANS

1. They can make "honest" mistakes [Num. 15:22-29]

-raising a child to be a rebel [Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.[

-not accepting their little angel is a sinful being

-wrongful imprisonment concerning certain crimes [Acts 21:30-40]

2. They can do wrong intentionally [Num. 15:30-31]

3. They can do right by the grace of God [Luke 17:10So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.]

II. THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD

1. God never makes mistakes [Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.]

2. God never does wrong [Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?]

3. God always does right [Deuteronomy 32:4 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.]

III. THE TRUTH ABOUT PUNISHMENT

1. Man has a responsibility to punish sin [Gn. 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.]

2. Every sin will be dealt with by a thrice holy God [Rev. 20:11-13]

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3. Everyone deserves Hell [Rev. 20:14-15]

-no matter how bad a person's life is it's better than what he or she deserves so if anything is not right it would be their complaining about their lot in life (I know that isn't pleasant to think about but it is true nonetheless)

-the man born blind [Jn. 9:1-3]

-Job [James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.]

-you and me

Acts 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

2 Thessalonians 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: