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Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000716S
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:08 Sermon #B716 - Justice Has Been Served 00:21 Dr. Byrd: It's time for us to get into the word of God now. Originally, 00:25 we were supposed to be sharing part three of our series on Church Growth, specifically from the Book of Acts. 00:33 But as you know, God is a God of spontaneity and because of that, 00:39 given what has transpired in our world this week specifically in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 00:45 with the verdict of the Derek Chauvin case, we switch gears a bit. And so with that, 00:51 we want to let you know that on next Sabbath, May 1, we will close out our three-part sermon series on Church Growth 01:00 and Acts 1 and Acts 2. 01:03 But today we're going to deal with the subject "Justice Has Been Served". Justice has been served. 01:15 And so, if you have your Bibles at home or wherever you might be, I invite you to take them 01:19 and turn with me to the Book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 12. The final chapter in the book of Ecclesiastes 12. 01:27 We're going to go to the final two verses of chapter 12, verses 13 and 14. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. 01:38 This text is a very familiar one. And so, I'm going to recite it from the King James Version of the Bible. 01:44 You can follow along if you're reading from the King James Version or another version. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. 01:56 Let us read together as I recite the word of God. Says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 02:02 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, 02:12 with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 02:20 Let us pray. Father in heaven, right now we need your power and your presence. 02:26 So send your Holy Ghost right now, not just in this Sanctuary, 02:31 but Lord I ask that you would send your Holy Ghost to hospital rooms, nursing home rooms, bedrooms, living rooms, 02:42 kitchens, family rooms. Send your Holy Ghost to the park. Send your Holy Ghost over the airwaves, the internet, 02:51 television, wherever people are watching right now. And we pray that the power 02:56 and presence of your spirit rain down on your people. Speak to me today. Forgive me of my sins. 03:05 Hide me behind your cross and Lord do what you do at the appeal time. 03:11 Because of the power of the presence of your spirit through the sermon at the appeal time, 03:15 when we get to the culminating act of this message. I pray that men, women, boys, 03:20 and girls would surrender their lives to you. Give me clarity of thoughts and give your people receptivity of heart 03:27 and mind. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. 03:35 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: 03:44 for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 03:56 whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Justice has been served. Many, if not all of us, 04:09 were waiting with bated breath this past Tuesday for the verdict in the George Floyd and Derek Chauvin case. 04:20 Would it be an Emmett Till verdict? Would it be a Rodney King verdict? Would it be an Eric Garner verdict? 04:35 A Philando Castile verdict? A Terence Crutcher verdict? A Breonna Taylor verdict? Would it be a guilty verdict 04:49 or not guilty verdict? 04:52 But on Tuesday afternoon, April 20, 2021, when the verdict was read guilty on all three counts. 05:08 There were cheers and tears throughout the country. People paraded in the streets. Gasps of finally 05:20 and thank you Jesus were common phrases. Tweets and posts of Hallelujah were rampant on social media. 05:31 But you need to also know there were emotions of disgust and disappointment. Everybody was not happy. 05:40 Some people were mad. Some people were angry. Some people were upset. But in the end, justice had been served. 05:53 Or should I say, legal justice had been served because true justice would be George Floyd still being alive? 06:02 Let me be clear for someone who might be a little confused today. This wasn't about justice for George Floyd. 06:11 George Floyd will never see justice on this Earth. 06:16 Justice for George Floyd would be George Floyd holding his baby girl today. 06:22 But this verdict was about Derek Chauvin facing accountability. And the sad reality today is, 06:31 if a 17-year-old girl at the time by the name of Darnella Frazier had not shown quick wits 06:38 and courage by recording Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck for over nine minutes, 06:45 there may have been a different outcome on Tuesday. If she didn't record, legal justice may not have been served. 06:52 If she didn't record, a picture of a drug user would have been painted and probably stuck. 06:59 If she didn't record, we wouldn't have the same story that we have today. If she didn't record, 07:06 that narrative would have been very different. But today, I want to praise God for Darnella Frazier. 07:12 Praise God for her recording. Praise God legal justice was served. And I'm so glad that Psalm 37:28 says, 07:24 "For the LORD loveth judgments, and forsaketh, not his saints; they are preserved forever: 07:31 but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off." 07:36 This week's verdict was a step towards accountability that no one is above the law. 07:43 This past Tuesday was a step in the right direction, but the fight continues. The fight is not over. 07:51 We still have work to do. We still have to march. We still have to speak up. 07:58 We still have to advocate for more police training. We still have to push for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. 08:08 The fact that Daunte Wright was killed last week 08:12 and Ma'Khia Bryant was killed this week is still proof that unnecessary killing still continues. 08:19 Jesse Jackson was right when he said that Derek Chauvin's verdict was a first down, not a touchdown. 08:26 We still have a long way to go. 08:29 Now, I'm clear today as I preached this sermon is some folk are not pleased with me right now, 08:34 but that's alright. I'm aware that everyone does not feel the same way I do. 08:39 There are some people who don't agree with the verdict. And I realize that that's just not along racial, 08:48 ethnic, or color lines, because even though we all saw the same video, even though we all saw the same footage, 08:56 even though we all saw George Floyd in handcuffs, face on the ground with a knee to his neck for 9 minutes 09:04 and 31 seconds, there is disagreement even in the church regarding the verdict. And we don't like to talk about it. 09:13 But we don't just have race challenges in the world. We also have race challenges in the church. 09:19 I wish I had a church in this place right now. We also have race challenges in the body of Christ. 09:25 It's the elephant in the room, but nobody wants to talk about it. But in the name of Jesus, I've got the mic now 09:34 and I'm going to talk about it anyhow. Do I have a witness online? 09:37 The collective corporate church has yet to deal transparently and honestly with slavery, racism, 09:48 and privilege. The schism is reflected in how we worship, it's reflected in our facilities, 09:56 it's reflected in our equipment, it's reflected in our properties, it's reflected in our money, 10:03 and it's reflected in our personnel appointments. Let me be clear. 10:09 Integration is not the less dominant culture nearly taking on the traits 10:15 and the characteristics of the more dominant culture. Integration is shared customs, shared ideas, shared ideals, 10:25 and shared practices. 10:28 Somebody said, "Pastor Byrd, why do you keep preaching on this?" I'ma keep preaching on it until we get it. 10:34 You don't say that when I keep preaching on the Sabbath. I keep preaching on the Sabbath until we get it. 10:40 I keep preaching on the state of death until we get it. 10:43 I keep preaching on our bodies being God's temples until we get it. So I'ma keep preaching on equity, fairness, 10:50 and social justice until we get it because we're in denial. 10:57 Some people, some of you, try to criticize the fight against injustice by trying to provide a history lesson on 11:06 the origins of the Black Lives Matter movement when those of us fighting for racial justice isn't thinking about 11:14 advocating or following the philosophical, metaphysical, or theoretical beliefs of the founders of the Black Lives 11:22 Matter movement, but we're just simply saying Black Lives Matter and the continued disparagement, denigration, 11:29 and disrespect of black people must stop. 11:34 Let me needle this a bit more. When people say black lives matter, 11:39 that's a call to the attention to the fact that black people are presently the ones being marginalized, 11:44 wrongfully targeted, and affected. 11:47 Let me throw this in. Let me say one more thing since whoever's mad, you may have already. 11:52 Let me throw this in. Blacks are not inherently dumb, lazy, slow, or immoral. Stop believing all those lies 12:03 and propaganda that all we do is play dominoes, all we do is play spades, all we do is eat watermelon, 12:10 all we do is eat fried chicken or in our case fried chick and make babies out of wedlock. 12:16 The truth and I would have you to know is that most blacks go to work every day. Most blacks pay their bills. 12:23 Many blacks are college-educated . Many blacks have and come from stable two-parent homes, go to c hurch, 12:30 and are trying to make their life better for themselves just like everybody else. I'm not trying to start a race war, 12:37 I'm trying to end one. Don't get it twisted. This is not black versus white or white versus black. 12:43 This is right versus wrong. A doctrine of black supremacy is just as evil as a doctrine of white supremacy. 12:52 God made us in His image after his likeness. And yes, I want the police to protect me, 13:01 but I just don't want the police to kill me. Not all police officers are bad people. 13:08 They just need to protect everyone and respect everyone, not just the people who look like them. 13:15 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 13:18 I share all of this today because the day is soon coming that justice, God's justice will be served, 13:28 not in the County Courts, not in the Circuit Courts, not in the Supreme Court, 13:36 but justice is going to be served in God's Court. And I just believe that at least in the church, 13:45 the body of Christ, we've got to try and get this race thing right 13:50 because we're not going anywhere until the church tries to get this right. We can't ignore it. We can't deny it. 13:57 We can't snub it. We can't overlook it. We can't disregard it. If we love God like we say we love God, 14:04 we've got to deal with it. 14:07 So, our text says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: 14:17 for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 14:24 whether it be good, or whether it be evil." The text says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter", 14:34 which means, after all, is said and done the bottom line, the total summation, 14:41 the total package at the end of the matter, the conclusion, the final judgment, the peak of the discussion, 14:50 the big picture at the end of the day, the final word is summed up in two commands: 14:58 Fear God, and keep his commandments. 15:02 Let me remind somebody today that God made you. God made me. God made us. We are God's creation. 15:11 In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. In the beginning, was the word, and the word was with God, 15:17 and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God all things were made by Him 15:22 and without Him was not anything made that was made. God is King of Kings. God is Lord of Lords. 15:30 God is the president of the galaxies. God is the CEO of the universe. 15:34 You didn't vote Him in and you can't vote Him out. You can't impeach Him. He is not going to resign. 15:39 He is God. He is our Creator. And because we were created by God, we are His. And He had a reason for putting us here. 15:50 Our purpose was more than just living until we die, but fearing God and following God are what we were created to do. 15:59 When His angels get in His presence, they just cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty". 16:06 But here on this Earth, God wants us. God wants human beings who were made a little lower than the angels to fear Him 16:13 and keep His Commandments. The Ten Commandments were given to set the standard for our relationship with God 16:18 and with others. We can't be obedient to God unless we are maintaining the right relationship with Him 16:23 and those around us. When Jesus was asked what is the great commandment of the law in Matthew 22:37-40, 16:30 He said that the Ten Commandments were summed up in one basic command, and that's to love. 16:36 Love God and love one another. The first four of the Commandments deal with our love for God. 16:42 The final six of the Commandments deal with our love for each other, 16:45 and we're ever going to get to heaven to worship and live eternally with God, we have to love God 16:51 and love each other down here. 16:55 So excuse the double negative. I know English. But you just can't have no other gods before God. 17:03 You can't just not worship graven images. You can't just not take the Lord's name in vain. 17:13 You can't just remember the Sabbath, but you also have to love your fellow man. Love your fellow woman. 17:22 Love that black man. Love that black woman. Love that white man. Love that white woman. Love that Hispanic man. 17:33 Love that Hispanic woman. Love that Asian man. Love that Asian woman. Love all men. Love all women. 17:43 You've got to love. Fear God and love. 17:48 Now, there are times when we think that the word fear, fear God, 17:51 we think of fear as being synonymous with scared. Now, while that is the meaning of the word, 17:57 the Biblical definition of this text means something else. Fearing God in this context of this text means reverence. 18:07 It means owe as opposed to terror or fright. When the Bible talks about fear of God, it means an inner state, 18:15 an inner condition of awe, amazement, and wonder before the magnitude of the love, the power, and the greatness of God. 18:22 Fear of God is an inner condition of respect. Fear and trembling before not only the power 18:29 and the Holiness of God but also the love and the mercy of God. The world, it puts us in prison to its rules, 18:38 its regulations, and its limitations. And so, we are bound by our prejudices, our preferences, and our perceptions. 18:49 But God is trying to free us to live before Him as we were made to. To fear Him and follow Him. 18:59 Obedience follows fearing God. And we obey not to be our own savior, but we obey to please our Savior. 19:10 God does not say to us, "Obey me, and I'll save you". God says, "Obey because I've already saved you." 19:19 We think fearing God will lead to dread, but the Bible says fearing God leads to happiness. What am I talking about? 19:27 Proverbs 28:14 says and clear, "Happy is the man that feareth always." We were created friends of mine to love God 19:37 and love each other. But the text continues. The text says, "That God shall bring every work into judgment, 19:49 with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil". In other words, 19:59 the judgment of God is not something we can avoid. Everybody, saint and sinner, will experience the judgments of God. 20:12 Corinthians 5:10 is clear, "For we must all appear", that's everybody, "before the judgment seat of Christ; 20:18 that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 20:24 Psalm 96:13 says, "Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: 20:30 he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." 20:34 Acts 17:31 says, "Because he hath appointed a day, 20:38 in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; 20:43 whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." 20:51 One day. I said, one day you and I are going to have to give an account to God, 20:59 and God is going to bring every work, every deed into judgment. So all the mistreatment of people, 21:09 all the off-colored comments, all the inappropriate racist jokes, 21:16 all the supremacist support masked behind a Make America Great mantra, 21:24 which for some are cold words that we want our country back. 21:29 And this course could be an accepted language if it were coming from the Cherokee, Comanche, Navajo, 21:41 and Sioux Indians because they're the ones to whom this country belongs in the first place. 21:50 God is cooking and booking, and God's going to bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 21:58 and God can and God will because after all He created us and has the right to judge the outcome of our lives. 22:09 People don't like to talk about judgment anymore. People don't like to talk about judgment in church anymore. 22:15 God loves me. God understands me. God accepts me. You better fear God and keep His Commandments 22:26 because ready or not judgment is coming. And every deed will be judged. Every work will be judged. 22:37 Every secret thing. Nothing is hidden from our God. He sees all, and He knows all. He sees every secret thing, 22:46 whether it's good or whether it's evil. So God is watching. So that secret sin you are protecting, God knows it anyway. 22:58 So you better confess it and get rid of it because how we live this day 23:02 and every day will matter on that great and final judgment day. 23:07 There have been some famous trials in our world. The O.J. Simpson trial. 23:14 The Casey Anthony trial, The Menendez Brothers trial. The Ted Bundy trial. The Jeffrey Dahmer trial. 23:23 The George Zimmerman trial. But the most famous trial of all was the trial of Jesus when He stood 23:33 before Pilate before His death. But I'm here to tell somebody, even if you've never been on trial, 23:41 that Bible makes it clear that one day all of us going to be on trial. And the question is, 23:49 how will the jury decide? But I want to invite you to go with me to Heaven's courtroom. I love telling this story. 23:58 Indulge me one more time. Go with me to Heaven's courtroom and there I am a sinner 24:04 and I have been alleged that I am guilty. Satan is the prosecuting attorney. Satan is the prosecuting attorney. 24:12 Jesus is the defense attorney and God the Father is the deciding judge. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 24:21 That prosecuting attorney is Satan. God the Son, Jesus, is my defense attorney. God the Father is the deciding judge. 24:29 My odds are looking pretty good because God the Son is my defense attorney. 24:34 God the Father is the end judge who's going to decide my case. 24:39 The Father says, will the defendant rise? Satan makes his final arguments. Carlton Byrd is a liar. 24:48 Carlton Byrd is a cheat. Carlton Byrd is a sinner. Carlton Byrd deserves death. I rest my case. I rise. 25:02 My defense attorney, my Jesus, He rises with me. Hallelujah. Somebody, I wish I had a church in this place. 25:11 The Father, the righteous judge says, "Carlton Byrd, how do you plead?" 25:18 Well, I can't lie because everything the devil, the prosecuting attorney has said, it's the truth. I am a liar. 25:26 I am a cheater. I am a sinner. But I don't want to say that I'm guilty 25:32 because if I say I'm guilty I'm going to get death. But if I say I'm not guilty, 25:38 I'm going to get death because I'm lying. The judge, God the Father says, "How do you plead?" 25:45 I don't know what to say. I'm shaking in my boots. Sweat is falling out of my face. Carlton Byrd, how do you plead? 25:54 The tears are streaming down my cheeks. I can't say I'm guilty. I can't say I'm not guilty. 26:01 Carlton Byrd, how do you plead? 26:04 All of a sudden my defense attorney, my Jesus, whispers in my ear. He says, "Plead the blood. 26:12 Plead the blood." The judge says, "Carlton Byrd, how do you plead?" I say I plead the blood. The Father says forgiven. 26:23 The Father says pardon if we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins 26:32 and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I thank God for the blood. One day when I was lost, He died upon the cross. 26:49 But I know, oh, I know it was the blood for me. 27:02 That same blood that Jesus shed for me is the same blood that Jesus shed for you. 27:13 I don't know how a brown cow can eat green grass and give off white milk. 27:24 Just like I don't know how this brown soul can be dipped in red blood and come out white as snow. 27:36 But He did it two thousand years ago. He did it. 27:46 Today, whoever you are, your life does not have to be a guilty verdict. Not because of what you've done, 27:57 because it is based on what you've done, you're guilty. But you don't have to be guilty today 28:04 because of what God has done, what Jesus has done for you. The day is coming that God's justice will be served. |
Revised 2021-04-29