This is the manuscript for the second in a thirteen-sermon series "The Doctrine of God"
You can watch a video recording of the entire service on the Christ Church YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/jOmK_cRp9fI
Scripture Reading:
Genesis 18:22-33 NIV The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.” Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.” Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Text: “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25 NIV).
Introduction
During the Great Depression back in 1938 Richard Whitney, who was president of the New York Stock Exchange at the time, was sentenced to only five years in Sing Sing prison on conviction of a $225,000 embezzlement count, with a parole possible in three and one-half years. Because this was during the Great Depression, there was a lot of resentment all over the United States for what was thought to be a very light sentence.
That resentment was illustrated by a St. Louis judge when a young man was convicted in court of stealing two dollars from a gas station. The judge said upon sentencing that young man, “Richard Whitney got five years for stealing $225,000, “That would be $45,000 a year, $120 a day, or $5 an hour. You stole $2. That would be twenty-four minutes. That is your sentence.”
The key to this story is the word justice.
The basic meaning of the word just is “straight” or “right.”
After God revealed to Abraham his intention of destroying Sodom, Abraham asked God if He would spare the whole city for the sake of the righteous in it.
Genesis 18:23-25 NIV Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Abraham asked the question based on his faith in the justice of God. It was a fair question, and a just God welcomed it, just as he welcomes our honest questions today. We believe from what we have read in the scriptures and what we have experienced that God is just.
Psalms 89:14 NIV Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
We believe that God is just. But what significance does this tremendous fact, that God is just, have for our lives?
The justice of God does at least four things for us.
The justice of God assures.
The justice of God implies.
The justice of God requires.
The justice of God warns.
I. The justice of God assures.
A. The justice of God assures us that it makes sense to pray
Abraham’s prayer or request was based on his faith that God is a righteous and just God.
The appeal to God’s justice and His mercy, in prayer, is the foundation of things. So that when we are face-to-face with problems that are too much for us we can take them to God in prayer with the assurance that He will be just and merciful.
An example of that is in one of Jesus' parables
Luke 11:5-13 NIV Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
B. The justice of God assures us that our world rests solidly on a moral foundation.
God supports what is right and opposes what is wrong. Although it looks like it sometimes, the world is not in a moral chaos where any kind of conduct is indiscriminately accepted. The God who governs the world examines, weighs, and judges the motives and actions of mankind, is not swayed by wealth, prestige, or position.
Deuteronomy 10:17 NIV For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
Romans 2:5-11 NIV But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
C. The justice of God assures us that the end result will be right and good.
In the end the right will prevail, because is on the side of the right.
Psalms 94:12-15 NIV Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law; you grant them relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance. Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
Sometimes there seems to be confusion between good and evil in the world; we don’t understand God’s ways and if we are honest, we grow impatient with him.
Still we can find refuge in the sure belief that God will do what is right in the end.
Psalms 37:35-40 NIV I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked. The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
II. The justice of God implies.
The justice of God implies that He will judge the wicked, the sinful, and the rebellious.
Every sin has consequences
Romans 6:23 NIV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is true because a God of justice rules at all times and under all circumstances.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 NIV I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
2. The justice of God implies his acquittal of the innocent and the oppressed.
If He doesn't oppose the evil that destroys us then He wouldn't be for us.
When Amos wrote;
Amos 5:24 NIV But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
He was saying that God is active and not passive in dispensing justice.
Here is what Paul says about God being for us.
Romans 8:38-39 NIV For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. The justice of God implies his eternal correction of earthly injustice.
We have the promise that one day all accounts will be balanced, all discrepancies made right. And the final sentence will be served forever. It could never be right that Elijah and Jezebel, Herod Antipas and John the Baptist, Paul and Nero, Billy Graham and Hitler, or you and Putin, be judged the same. They will not be because, God is just.
Revelation 22:12-13 NIV “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
III. The justice of God assures, it implies and, the justice of God requires something.
The justice of God requires a cross.
The justice of God requires that sin be punished and that it be punished by death.
Ezekiel 18:4 NIV For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.
The Scriptures also say that you will reap what you sow.
Galatians 6:7 NIV Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
So, if that is the case, how is it possible that any of us, with our corrupt, sinful nature, ever hope to cross the divide that separates us from a holy God? How could God’s justice ever be satisfied so that his mercy could be made possible?
There was only one way; and that was to provide a substitute to die in our place.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NIV All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus died for our sins on the cross where God reconciled us to himself.
C. The justice of God requires justification by faith as the gift of God.
Faith is the condition of God’s free gift.
Romans 3:22-24 NIV This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
IV.The justice of God assures, it implies the requires, and the justice of God warns.
A. The justice of God warns us that we are not to doubt God’s character.
Even though in our hearts we are committed to God’s justice, our experiences and observations often cause us to ask questions. God welcomes honest inquiry.
Jeremiah 12:1 NIV You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
This question has been asked thousands of years and has caused great saints of God to have negative feelings and doubts about the justice of God in their hearts. But we shouldn't do this because we know that God love us and the justice of God does not pit love and justice against each other.
With God they are one and the same thing. Too often we have viewed love as soft and naive sentiment, and justice as a hard-nosed demand for punishment. This contradicts the spirit of the New Testament. Jesus was never more just than when he forgave the adulterous woman, never more loving than when he drove the money changers from the temple. With God love and justice are one.
C. We should really be asking God for mercy and not justice.
A man once told Billy Graham, “When I get to heaven, all that I will ask is justice.” Billy Graham replied, “My friend, if all you get is justice, then you will go to hell. You won’t need justice. You will need mercy.”
Conclusion
For God to be just means that he is consistent, virtuous, innocent, and right. And since his justness is part of his immutable nature (meaning it cannot change), then he is always right and just in whatever he does.
In fact, God’s justice shines a bright light on his love, grace, and mercy in a way that nothing else could because not only is God just, but he is our justifier — meaning he alone has the power and ability to make us righteous before him.
Romans 3:23-26 NIV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
If we could pick only one passage from the Old Testament to answer the question, who is God? it would be hard to improve upon.
Exodus 34:6-7 NKJV And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
God is revealing himself to Moses, causing his glory to pass by Moses, who God has put in a cleft in the rock.
Exodus 34:6–7 is not a one-off description, it's not just a passing comment. It goes to the very center of who God is.
“Merciful and gracious.” These are the first words out of God’s own mouth after proclaiming his name. The very first words after saying I am the Lord He said merciful and gracious.
Two words Jesus used to describe Himself were gentle and lowly.
Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Jesus said He was gentle and lowly in heart and God the Father, described Himself as merciful and gracious.
Any study of the justice of God will always cause us to rejoice because of His grace. God is a God of justice, but he is also a God of mercy and grace.
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