Wrestling with the Justice of God

Appreciate Eddie for leading our songs this morning and the song that he led before the lesson kind of ties in with what we’re going to be talking about this morning as we continue our series on wrestling with God. And in this series, we’ve been talking about how we are wrestling with God, with the truths that God has to give us in His Holy Word.

When we think about 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 25, it reminds us that we are in a wrestling match every day to strive for that prize. The Apostle Paul wrote, “…and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”

We are competing for that prize, wrestling for that prize, so to speak. And as we think about wrestling for that prize, we’re going to think about this morning, and we talked about this word, agonizomai, which means to wrestle and struggle and agonize. But this morning, we’re going to be talking about wrestling with the justice of God. And that’s why that song is so appropriate this morning, as we think about the justice of God.

Let’s open to Psalm 99. Psalm 99 and verses 1 through 5 to begin with this morning. And we’re going to read the relationship of God to justice. The Lord reigns. Let the people tremble. He dwells between the cherubim. Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy. The King’s strength also loves justice.

You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool. He is holy. There is an emphasis here upon the Lord’s love for justice. His justice proceeds from His holiness. Because He is holy, that is, separate and apart from all things, God can execute justice perfectly.

And that’s the point that the psalmist is making here. This idea that the Lord loves justice is repeated in Isaiah 61 and verse 8. For I, the Lord, love justice. We do enjoy discussing the love, the grace, the mercy of God.

But we need to understand that the justice of God is what makes us love those wonderful attributes of God so much, His love, His mercy, and His grace, because we need salvation from God’s justice. And so this morning, let’s talk about wrestling with the justice of God because God loves justice. First of all, God will judge every word and deed. Yes, every single person will be judged.

In Romans chapter 2 and verse 11, the Apostle Paul wrote, “…for there is no partiality with God.” He is not going to judge one group of people separate from another. He is not going to be partial in His judgment. He Judges all alike, all equally. There is no partiality with God.

And when it comes to the judgment day, when all will stand before His throne and the books will be opened, everyone will be judged. Revelation 20 and verse 12 says, And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. All will be judged. Everyone will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

In Acts chapter 17, in verse 31, there the Apostle Paul says to the people of Athens, “…because God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

And so every single person will be judged. Every word and every deed will be judged. In Romans 14 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul wrote, Each of us shall give account of himself to God. And we will give an account of all of our words and of all of our deeds that we have done.

In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10, we read, “…for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

And God will not miss a single thing, because He knows all things, and He sees all things, and He will judge all things. In Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 14, we read, For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. And so no one is going to escape the judgment of God. There will be no word that escapes His judgment. There will be no deed that escapes His judgment.

And the standard of judgment that God uses will be the same standard for every single person. And that standard is the words of Jesus Christ. In John chapter 12 and verse 48, Jesus said, He who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which Judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. And so it’s the words of Jesus Christ that are going to be that standard of judgment.

The Apostle Paul echoes this thought in Romans 2, verse 16, when he says, “…in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” The gospel that the Apostle Paul preached, that all the apostles preached, that Jesus Himself preached, that will be the standard of justice. And so, because God loves justice, He will judge every person and He will judge everyone’s words and everyone’s deeds.

Because God loves justice, He will punish every injustice. No matter how big or no matter how small that injustice may be, We find that the Bible teaches that all of them will be punished. In Romans 3 and verse 23, we read, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. These sins are offenses against God’s holiness, and these offenses will each one be judged, all of them.

In Proverbs chapter 15, verse 3, the Bible says, “…the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” And so even the slightest offense against God will merit punishment. No one will be punished more than he deserves. In Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41, it says that Jesus Christ will be the executor of God’s wrath.

Then He will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. In 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 7 through 9, the Apostle Paul, in writing to those who are being persecuted, said, “…and to give you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. And so God will judge every injustice, no matter how big it may be. Jesus Christ will be the one who executes the justice. And there will be no exceptions for anyone who does not know Jesus Christ.

In John 14 and verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Peter said in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Yes, Jesus will be the one who Judges. It will be by His words that are the standard. And the Father will give Him the assignment of executing the wrath of God upon those who are guilty. And so there’s not going to be anyone who’s going to be able to say, well, I never knew the gospel or I never knew Jesus. No, everyone will be judged.

It is those individual sins that we commit that bring us to judgment. It is that offense that we do against God that brings us to judgment. And every single person will be judged and every single person will be punished appropriately for the sins that they have committed. Why? Because God loves justice.

He loves justice, and so He will punish every injustice. But because God loves justice, God paid the price for man’s sins. Without God paying this price, every single person would be doomed to an eternity of separation from God, to an eternity of living with the devil and his angels.

But because God loves justice, He decided to pay the price for man’s sins. You see, justice demands that a price be paid for transgression. And we understand that when we have those in our society who commit injustices, and they are caught and brought before a court of law, then the law demands that they pay some kind of price, depending upon what their transgression is.

If it’s a minor transgression, a minor price will be paid. If it is a major transgression, then a major price will be paid. This is the same principle that we find in the Law of Moses. In Exodus chapter 21 and verses 23 through 25, the principle of the punishment shall fit the crime is presented. It says, “…but if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

And that’s the principle of justice that’s found in the Scripture. For every injustice that is done, there should be an appropriate punishment that goes along with that injustice. But what is the price for committing injustice against God? What is the price for offending an eternal God?

We read in the scriptures that our iniquities and our sins have separated us from God, and they have hidden His face from us, so that without that price being paid, He does not hear us. He does not have a relationship with us.

God cannot be in the presence of those who are guilty of sin. And that would be a sad story, except that God does not desire the death of sinners. In Ezekiel 18 and verse 32, he says through the prophet, For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord. Therefore, turn and live.

And in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4, there the Apostle Paul wrote that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So it isn’t God’s desire that men would be separated from Him eternally. In 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, we read, The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And so God does not desire the death of the sinner, but rather He desires the sinner to repent of his sins. And because of God’s great desire for sinners to repent and for them to be forgiven of sins, God has paid for man’s sin through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, we read, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

That was the price for sin. That was the price for an offense against a holy and eternal God. And we could not pay that price, but God could. And so God did. He paid the price so that His His justice would be satisfied and that we might have an escape from an eternity in a devil’s hell.

In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10, thinking about that price that was paid for our sins, the author of the book of Hebrews says, By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, because Jesus, who was also God, willed for man’s sins to be forgiven, He came to this earth in a body, lived life as a man, And offered himself to God on our behalf so that our sins could be paid. In 1 Peter chapter 2, in verse 24, Peter reflects upon what he saw. He said, And who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed.

Why did God do this? Why would God send His only begotten Son to die on the cross for the sins of mankind? The Bible answers that question as well. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Why did God do this? Because He loved the world. Why did God do this? To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just He did it because He loved the world. He did it to demonstrate His righteousness, or His goodness. He did it because He loves justice, and He needed to be just. He needed there to be a payment for the sins of man.

He did it that He might justify those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the payment that He offered for our sins. And this is why we see in the book of Revelation, chapter 5, in verses 9 through 10, that everyone gathered around the throne of God praises Jesus.

And they sing a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us Kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.

Truly, Jesus is worthy of our praise because He has dealt with the problem of God’s justice on our behalf. You see, wrestling with the justice of God means that God will judge every word and deed, that He will judge every single person, and that every injustice will be punished.

But wrestling with the justice of God also means that God paid the price for man’s sins, that He sent Jesus to take the punishment for us, and that whosoever would believe in Him would not have to perish, but instead could have everlasting life.

Now, the choice stands before us this morning as we wrestle with the justice of God. Will we accept the price that God paid for justice in the person of Jesus Christ? Or will we reject that and say, no, I believe I will take God’s justice on personally?

That’s the choice for each and every one. To accept the justice of God through His Son, Jesus Christ, we need to listen to His Word and believe it. We need to repent of our sins for the times of ignorance God once winked at, but now He demands that all men everywhere repent. Acts 17, verse 30.

We need to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one who died on the cross for me, so that the punishment for my sins could be paid. And we need to be baptized into Christ, to identify with Him, to recognize what He has done, so that we then can be children of God, And not subject to God’s wrath for all eternity. This morning, we can make that choice to let God pay the price on our behalf. Or, we can make the choice to say, no, I believe I will take God’s justice on myself.

What will the choice be for you? God does not desire the death of sinners. He does not want that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance. He loves you and He wants you to be saved from His eternal wrath against those who rebel against Him.

Why not accept His offer this morning? Why not become His child by being baptized today? If you need to do that, we plead with you to do so while together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!