Articles
Justice, Mercy, and the Cross--Transcript
Once again, welcome to everyone.
It's good to see you back tonight for another time of worship with God.
What a great time it is to come together and to be together before we start our week to be together one more time to encourage one another.
So it's good to see everyone here.
If you're visiting with us, we're glad you're here to be with us also.
Micah the sixth chapter in verse eight, it says, he has shown you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God.
I preach the sermon on this verse once more focused on this being our duty of what God requires of us.
But it comes to my attention that when we look at this verse, those things tell us a lot about the nature of God himself, that he is one who is just merciful and he also shows us grace.
And those are some of the things I'd like to speak on tonight.
You know, summer's here and the sun's shining, the grass is growing.
Some of you might like to keep your yards just really neat and perfect looking.
I'm not really one of those people, but dads, maybe you are like that and you take great pride in your lawn and you've got those mowing and you've got the stripes that just go just as straight as anything.
You've got the flower bed that looks so nice that it should be, you know, featured in Home and Garden Magazine.
Imagine one hot Saturday, you go inside and your kid goes outside and he decides, I'm going to help dad today.
So he jumps on the lawn more and he starts just going off in all different directions, zigzagging around right through the flower bed.
Flowers are gone everywhere.
And then you come outside and you see what has happened.
The zigzags, the scalped grass in different patches, the flower bed destroyed.
And you come outside and your lawn now is not the perfect looking lawn like the green at the masters, but instead it looks more like a herd of goats had come through.
Now three things you could do, you could get angry.
You could look at your child and say, you ruined the yard and I'm going to have to pay somebody to fix this now and you're not going to get any allowance until it's all paid for.
That's justice.
Child gets what they deserve for doing what they did.
You could take mercy on your son and say, well, you know, I know you didn't mean to do it.
You were trying to help, so I'm not going to punish you.
Well, that's mercy, not getting the punishment you deserve.
Best of all, you could say, son, you made a mess, but you were trying to help come inside.
Let's get some lemonade and sit down and I'll teach you how to mow at the right way next time.
That's grace because not only did he not receive the punishment, but he got a blessing that he didn't deserve.
You see, this story helps us to understand those three important things about the character of God, his justice, his mercy, and his grace.
And today we're going to look at those things and what they mean and why they matter in our lives.
Many things are clearly telling us from Micah 6 and verse 8 what God requires of us, but it also tells us about the nature of God himself.
It invites us to understand the vital questions are, again, not just rules for us to follow, but it's really a reflection of who God is.
And we consider those things, we will see how God's justice demands righteousness and how his mercy offers forgiveness and how his grace poured out through Jesus on the cross provides us with a new way to live.
So let's think about the idea of God's justice, his mercy, and his grace and how that applies to the cross of Jesus.
First of all, as we look at the idea of his justice, God's justice, he is always righteous.
Justice means fairness.
It means right judgment.
It's the righteous application of the law.
It means getting what you deserve, good or bad.
When you break the rules, there are consequences.
Romans 6 and verse 23 points out that the wages of sin is death.
That's justice.
You get what you deserve.
If you sin, then there's a consequence to it.
And God is a God of righteous justice.
If we go back to the Old Testament and look in Deuteronomy 32nd chapter and verse 4, it says, he is the rock.
His work is perfect.
For all his ways are justice.
A God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is he.
So it describes God as a God of justice and of righteousness.
And that is what God is.
And so what that means to us is that sin pays a price.
It pays a real price.
God can't just overlook sin because he is holy and just.
And will we consider the question, well, why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn't God just extend mercy and grace to us without Jesus having to go to the cross? Well this is why, because if God is going to be just and righteous and we see through that just how bad sin is.
That indeed a price had to be paid because of sin.
We see God's justice displayed throughout the scriptures.
We look this morning at Adam and Eve.
We can go back and look at that again and think about after Eve sinned and after she gave to Adam and he sinned, God came and he talked to Adam and he talked to Eve and he also talks to the serpent who tempted them to start with.
And in verse 14 of Genesis chapter 3, the Lord says to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the cattle and more than all the beasts in the field on your belly you shall go, you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.
He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel, that prophetic statement that was made there.
But what we see is God looks at the serpent and says, here is a consequence to the actions that you did.
Here is the consequence to you tipped Eve and Adam and them as a result sinning.
But Jesus, but God didn't stop there.
He looks to the woman and he says in verse 16, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception and pain you shall bring for children.
Your desire will be for your husband and he shall rule over you.
He then looks at Eve then and says, here is the consequence for your sin.
And then he didn't leave Adam out either.
He goes and we see that he tells Adam in verse 17, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it.
Just is the ground for your sake and toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles that shall bring forth to you and you shall eat of the herb and the field and the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till the return to the ground for out of it you were taken.
For dust you are and dust you shall return.
From the very beginning God established this idea of justice and there has to be consequences for sin.
He said it to the serpent, he said it to Eve and he said it to Adam.
Later on as we look throughout the Old Testament a few other examples to look at that.
I think about Nadab and Abahiu, they were referenced this morning in our Bible class.
They disrespected God's commandment, they offered unauthorized fire and they were punished, they were being struck dead on Leviticus chapter 10.
There was a consequence to pay because they sinned and did not offer the way that God had told them to.
We go to the New Testament, another example is Ednais and Sapphira.
Remember they came and they laid down money that they had sold a field, they left the impression that they had given all of it, but because they had kept back part and were dishonest and they lied they were also struck dead consequences to sin.
We look at that and we think well that seems cruel, but the reality is God's justice is not cruelty.
It is upholding what is right.
If God were not just he wouldn't be good.
It is necessary for him to be just.
So we think about the justice of God.
Without justice there would be chaos, but justice does mean consequences.
God can't simply look the other way when sin occurs.
His holiness demands justice, which means sin must be dealt with.
God's justice is not a lack of love, it's actually the foundation of love as we will see.
But without justice there's no moral order.
If God ignored sin he would not be holy.
Justice reminds us that sin is serious and God's justice sets the stage for our need for salvation.
Salvation that brings us to the next point.
We think about God's justice, but we also think about his mercy.
He withholds the judgment that we deserve.
He's not only just, but he's merciful.
As we said mercy means that we don't get what we deserve.
It flows out of God's love.
It flows out of God's compassion.
It flows out of really his patience that he has with us.
He restrains his righteous wrath toward sinners.
In Lamentations chapter 3 verse 22 it speaks of the mercy of the Lord.
It says through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because his compassion fell not.
They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
From our scripture reading a moment ago in Psalm 103 that entire Psalm is a wonderful picture of the mercy and grace of God.
It speaks of his justice in that Psalm as well.
But again let's focus on verse 10 and 12 where it says, He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as his heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him.
As far as the east from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us.
That's the mercy of God.
We sin, we deserve death, but because of God's mercy we don't have to experience that because he has made a way of escape through Jesus.
I think about the life of David after his great sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband to cover up what he had done.
And we see that David was one who recognized his sin.
You remember when Nathan came to him and he realized his sin and says, I have sinned.
And it was something that I believe David kind of carried with him through his life.
And we see in many of his psalms, David mindful of not only that sin, but other sins that he had and mistakes that he had made in his life.
But in Psalm 51 and verse 1, he says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness.
David understood he needed the mercy of God and what he knew made that possible was God's loving kindness, God's compassion, God's love for him and for us.
In Luke chapter 15, I picture the prodigal son as he comes back to his father.
And his father is standing there seeing him afar off and his father shows mercy to him.
He welcomes him back.
He throws a party in his honor and celebrates the return of his son.
He shows mercy.
His son didn't deserve that.
He didn't do anything to earn that.
But yet that's what his father, because he loved him and had compassion.
He showed him mercy when he returned.
Mercy is God seeing our failures, but still drawing near to us.
In James 2 and verse 13, it says, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment.
God delights in mercy.
He is slow to anger.
He's rich in love and compassion.
He holds back what we deserve and he gives us time to repent and to turn to him.
So we think about God's justice, the fact that he is righteous.
We think about God's mercy, that he though is compassionate and he'll keep that judgment from us that we deserve.
But then we think about God's grace.
And God's grace goes even a further step.
Not only does it withhold the punishment that we deserve because of our sin, but it gives us something that we don't deserve.
That's God's grace.
If mercy is not getting what we deserve, grace is getting what we don't deserve.
And it's a gift.
It's not earned, but it's freely given by God.
Ephesians 2 and verse 8, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourself.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Notice a few things in that scripture.
We're saved by grace.
It also says through faith, which is an obedient faith that we may add.
It's not though something that we ourselves deserve.
There's no way that we can live in such a way that we ever earn or deserve salvation.
But no matter what we do, it's still ultimately a gift from God freely given to us.
Nothing we should boast about because without the mercy and then the grace of God, it would not be possible for us at all.
Titus chapter 2 and verse 11 says the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Let's add Romans 5 and verse 8 that says God demonstrates His love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
We put those two verses together and it's a very important message to us, because it is the grace of God.
Number one, it's available for everybody.
It is there available for anyone.
And that God loved us and had compassion on us when we were our worst, while we were still sinners is when God made it possible, when He showed grace and made it possible for us to overcome our sins.
So this gift of grace is made possible for anyone and it is something that God has given us.
That grace is God giving us His Son, giving us His spirit, giving us His kingdom.
And we've done nothing to earn any of that.
I think about Paul who persecuted Christians, but he was transformed by the grace of God.
He said in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 10, by the grace of God, I am what I am.
We all know and we refer to it this morning as well, the background of the Apostle Paul.
He was the Saul of Tarsus before he was the Apostle Paul.
And we see the total change in his life from one who persecuted Christians to one who now was speaking the message of the Gospel.
He looked at that and he said it was only the grace of God that made him who he was.
But not only that, I think you look at the other side of Paul.
After Paul was converted, Paul was quite successful I would say in the spreading of the Gospel and leading many to Christ and being kind of influential, influential within the first century church.
And for some people that could go to their head and they could become boastful about that and think, well, look what I did, look what good I have done.
And certainly we could look at the Apostle Paul and think all the good that he did.
Well, certainly he deserves salvation.
Paul wouldn't tell you that about his own life.
Paul understood it was still.
No matter what good he accomplished, no matter how many people he led to Christ, no matter how many sermons he preached, no matter how much persecution he went through serving the Lord and for the cause of Christ, no matter all those things.
Paul understood it was only by the grace of God that he could be saved.
And it wasn't something that he had earned or deserved in any way, but it was something that was freely given to him by God.
Grace doesn't just save us though, it teaches us, it strengthens us, it carries us.
I think we also see that in the life of the Apostle Paul because not only did the grace save him, but also we see it was the grace of God that got him through those persecutions.
Who brought him through the many trials that he faced, the imprisonments, the beatings, the shipwrecks, all those things that he mentions that he went through.
It was the grace of God that allowed him to withstand those things.
So when Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am, it was one, a statement of humility on Paul's part and one that knew that he completely depended on God and God's grace for his salvation and to get him through the things that he faced in this life.
So we go back again and think about these three things, God's justice, God's mercy, and God's grace.
Justice is that sin and there's a price that has to be paid.
Mercy is though we don't have to pay that price ourselves and grace is there's a reward for us that we don't deserve.
What's interesting is these three things come together at the cross of Christ.
God's justice, God's mercy, and God's grace all come together at the cross.
That's where those meet.
Justice is satisfied.
As Jesus went to the cross, sin was paid for.
That's why Jesus had to die.
God is a just God.
And because of that, as we said, he can't look the other way when there's sin.
He can't ignore it and act like it wasn't there.
There had to be a price paid for sin.
Jesus was that price because he came to this earth.
He lived a life of perfection that no one else ever did or ever will do.
And because of that, it made him the perfect sacrifice for the sins of us all.
That's how justice was satisfied at the cross when Jesus willingly went and was nailed to the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.
At the cross is where mercy is shown.
Because of what Jesus had done, that mercy is we don't have to face death.
Jesus took that for us.
He took the death that we deserve because of our sins.
God's mercy at the cross.
We are spared judgment.
And we also see God's grace at the cross of Jesus.
We're made children of God.
We have the hope of something better beyond this life.
It's not only that God is going to look and say, you could be forgiven of your sins.
You don't have to take the death that you deserve because Christ has done that for you.
But in addition to that, I'm going to give you an eternal life with me in heaven.
Something we don't deserve, but something that God will freely give us.
Not only that, the grace of God in helping us in this life, as we said with Paul and what he went through during his life.
And we know that God says that we can look to him, to cast our anxieties on him that he cares for us.
We know that God says that he will help us in those times.
And that's the grace of God that we experience now in this life and benefit from along with the hope that's still to come.
All that made possible at the cross of Christ.
And Romans the third chapter, verse 23.
And it says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness.
Because in his forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
All have sinned and fall short of God, but through Christ we can be justified.
And there it is by his grace through faith is how that's accomplished.
The prophecy that was said about Jesus in Isaiah 53 says that he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement for our peace was upon him.
It says by his stripes we are healed.
And we like sheep have gone astray.
The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
That's grace.
Jesus took it for us.
He was bruised for what we did.
He died for our sins.
So we think of these things, the justice of God, the mercy of God, and the grace of God, all part of his nature.
But also as we see it's something that is all part of what happened at the cross of Christ.
And it's so important for us because what it means to us is salvation.
We have the obedient faith that the scriptures tell us.
If we go back to Micahs chapter 6 again in verse 8, it says he has shown your old man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
I said these are also instructions for us.
Not only telling us about the nature of God but also instructions for us about what God wants for us to do justly, to stand for what is right, to love mercy, to walk humbly, be quick to forgive, and never forgetting that everything we have is by grace.
That's what God wants of us.
Maybe today you feel like that kid that wrecked the lawn.
Maybe your life is a mess and maybe you've made some big mistakes.
God isn't waiting to punish you.
He's inviting you inside saying, let me teach you a better way.
Let me show you the way that you need to go.
He's offering you justice paid, mercy given, and grace overflowing that's made possible through Jesus.
Because we've all sinned, we're deserving of death, that's justice.
God's mercy keeps us from having to suffer that fate and His grace will give us the blessings that we never deserved.
But obedient faith is the way to that mercy and grace.
Repent of your sins, be baptized, and come in contact with that grace of God that offers forgiveness for your sins and have that hope.
You've done that in the past and maybe your life's not what it should be in your relationship with God.
Repent and ask Him to forgive you.
If we can encourage you in any way, will you come while we sing?
