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would flip over to Deuteronomy chapter number 16. Deuteronomy 16. But while you're turning there, the Bible reads in Leviticus 19 15, ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. And so the first point that I want to make as far as a principle of justice is that the same rules of justice apply to everyone. The key thing about justice is that it needs to be applied across the board, no respect of persons, no partiality, the same rules for everyone. The Bible says don't respect the person of the poor, don't honor the person of the mighty, in righteousness judge your neighbor. Look down at your Bible there. Which Deuteronomy chapter did I have you turn to? 16. Deuteronomy 16 verse 18 says this, judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shall not rest judgment. Rest means to twist, sort of like you think of wrestling, right? Thou shall not rest judgment. Thou shall not respect persons, neither take a gift for a gift of blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is all together just shalt thou follow that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So he says do not respect persons. Don't let a gift that you've received somehow influence you like well this person has given me a gift or this person has been generous to me in the past or I like them they're my friend I get along with them so I'm going to go easier on them than I would go on someone else or if I it's a dispute between two people I'm going to rule in favor of the person that I like. This is wicked. It's unjust. It's unrighteous. It's ungodly and the Bible says we must judge righteously, justly, be fair and so the first principle of justice is that the same rules of justice apply to everyone. Okay go if you would to Deuteronomy chapter number one. Deuteronomy chapter number one. Often in our modern world the symbol for justice is a woman holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other hand and this woman is blindfolded and the reason that the woman is blindfolded is that it symbolizes the fact that justice is supposed to be blind meaning that it doesn't regard who is involved it doesn't really matter who it just blindly carries out what is fair what is right the scales have to do with the fact that the punishment is supposed to match the crime and the sword has to do with the fact that the punishment is often death you know when uh justice is carried out up to and including death which is carried out by the sword and by the way lest you think this is not an important subject here's what Jesus said in Matthew 23 verse 23 woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment what's the first thing when Jesus says you Pharisees you guys are hung up on all the wrong things you guys are worried about tithing on your mint anise and cumin you've omitted the weightier matters of the law the more important the more serious matters of the law is what the Pharisees neglected the very first thing is judgment that's a weightier matter of the law so if you want to say hey we need to emphasize the right things one of the things we need to emphasize is justice judgment that's what the bible says judgment mercy and faith those are considered the weightier matters of the law according to Jesus judgment mercy and faith so when we're looking up these judgments and justice scriptures we're looking at what Jesus considered some of the heaviest most important matters in the bible