Well, if you were following along
with Brother Randy's reading there in Romans 3, just hold
your place there. I'll be looking back at that
a little bit later in the message. But for now, turn to Psalm 9
and John 12. Mark both those places if you
want to follow along with the Scripture. Psalm 9 and John 12. I'm going to be continuing here
in a series of messages that I started a while back, and I'll
explain that series a little later on in the message here.
But let's look at Psalm chapter 9 and verse 16. In the middle
of this psalm, we see this verse that I used in the last message,
and it's appropriate to knowing God, the God of the Scriptures.
It says, capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah who saves, our God, our Savior. The Lord is known by the judgment
which he executed. The wicked is snared in the work
of his own hands. Higayshun. Sheila, think about
that for a minute. Consider that, if you will, the
Lord being known by the judgment which he executes. Now, this
will shock some, but it's nonetheless true. No son or daughter of Adam
knows the God of the Bible by nature. We're not born knowing
the God of the scriptures. That scripture that Randy read
there in Romans 3 says none are seeking after God, not the God
of the scriptures. Now we're seeking after a God.
It's just not the God of the scriptures. We know a lot about
God by nature. For instance, we have some concept
of God's love, but that concept of God's love is flawed. It's
inadequate. It's inconsistent with the word
of God. At best, our notions of God's
love are tainted with our own preconceived notions. Also, we
have some concept that God saves sinners, but again, our ideas
of God's salvation are inadequate. They're limited, and they're
not according to God's testimony. Knowing about God is not knowing
God. There's quite a difference. To
know God is to be able to distinguish Him from idols. It's to be able
to distinguish Him from that God we're seeking after when
He brings us and sits us down under the gospel. To be known
by a sinner, God must reveal Himself. See, we don't know Him
by nature, and the only way we will know Him is if He reveals
Himself. He must make Himself known. We don't know the judgments
which God has executed by which He makes Himself known. And in
our ignorance, according to this verse right here in Psalm 9,
in our ignorance, we are snared by the work of our own hands.
In our ignorance, we are snared into following a way that seems
right. but it's a way that ends in death.
In our ignorance, we're snared into following a god of our own
or some other man's imagination. In part one of what will probably
be a four-part study here, I outline three judgments which God executes
and by which he makes himself known. Let's just briefly review
that outline. First, God is known by the judgment
he executes against sin, the judgment he executes against
sinners, I'm going to be speaking a lot more about that in today's
message because that's where this series is going to continue.
The second way God is known by the judgment he executes is in
his justification of ungodly sinners. God justifies the ungodly. How can he do that? How can he
justify one that Randy read about, which describes all of us by
nature? How can God be doing right and do that? That's what
that message will be about. And thirdly, God is known by
the judgment he executes in salvation. In other words, the judgment
he executes in the in a sinner, in the hearts, minds, and will
of a sinner, of those he saves. He changes minds. He changes
affections. He changes wills. He makes rebels,
who don't follow Christ by nature, follow Christ and rest in him
for all of salvation. Now this study today is about
how God is known by the judgment he executes against sin, the
judgment he executes against sinners. A just God punishes
sin. He must punish sin, as Jason
said in the 10 o'clock hour. That can't be avoided. He's either
going to punish sin in the person of the sinner, or he's already
punished sin in the person of Christ. God's justice demands
the punishment of sin. Sin demands death. Sin demands
the eternal wrath of God. Eternal death is God's just punishment
for any sin or every sin. Now God has revealed his judgment,
his wrath against sin in many places throughout the scripture.
He revealed his wrath against sin in the flood that took this
whole world except for eight souls. That was a picture of
God's wrath against sin. He revealed his sin to Pharaoh
and the Egyptian people. He sent ten plagues to warn them
and to show them that those who remain obstinate against God,
that sovereign God, those who remain against him, They have
no hope. He revealed his wrath against
sin at Sodom and Gomorrah, when he rained fire and brimstone
on a city whose inhabitants made a mockery of God's revealed way
and promoted their own evil way. He revealed his wrath against
sin in the Law of Moses. For 1,500 years, he revealed
his wrath against sin. The innocent victim in that,
under the ceremonies and sacrifice, that innocent victim bore the
judgment of God for the people he represented and the people
benefited from the blood of that slain victim. So God has revealed
his wrath against sin in many different ways, but these are
only types. They were only temporary manifestations of God's judgment
against sin. They were only pictures and types
of a greater judgment to come. God's ultimate judgment against
sin is eternal. God has been clear from the beginning.
No sin, no sinner will go unpunished. God will not clear guilty sinners
of the just punishment they deserve. He will not clear anyone of the
just punishment His eternal justice demands of every soul that sins.
Listen to two verses out of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 18 and verse 4. God says,
Behold, all souls are mine as the soul of the father, So also
the soul of the Son is mine, the soul that sinneth, that soul
shall die. And then in Exodus 34 and verse
7, God forgives all kinds of sin. He pardons iniquity of every
sort, but He will by no means clear the guilty. That sin He
pardons, that sin He forgives, will not go unpunished. Every
sinning soul must die. Every sinning soul must suffer
the punishment they deserve. Every sinning soul must suffer
the punishment God's justice demand. We see the reality and
truth of this in the death of Christ on the cross when we're
given eyes to see it, not before then. Turn to that scripture
I asked you to turn to earlier. Let's look at John 12. And we'll
read in verses 31 through 33. John 12, 31. Now, in this context, Christ
announced a judgment his father was about to execute on this
world. John 12, 31. Now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying what
death he should die. Now, the judgment Christ is talking
about here is his impending death. He declares it the judgment of
this world. But this judgment is not against
the world in general. It was rather the judgment that
God was about to and did execute against the world of his elect,
the world Christ represented, the world Christ substituted
himself for. Also, this judgment Christ is
declaring would not be executed against the persons of the elect. It would rather be executed against
Christ, the substitute, the surety of God's elect people. The first
judgment God has executed by which he makes himself known
is his judgment against sin. He executed this judgment in
Christ at the cross, and in Christ's death and resurrection, we see
three things about God. What's different about these
things about God than the things we knew by nature? Well, these
three things identify God. These three things make God known. These three things distinguish
the God of the Bible from the idols of men's imagination. So
these things are important. These things are worthy of our
consideration. And these three things will be
the content of our study here today. Here's what we'll see
in the death and resurrection of Christ. These three things.
First, we'll see that God is just. Second, we'll see that
God's punishment of sin is eternal. And thirdly, we'll see that Christ's
death was effectual. First, in Christ's death, we
see that God is just. It's in the death of Christ that
we see that. It's here that we see that God
shall, that He must, punish sin. He must do what's right. It's here that we see the just
God of the scriptures. Now, your physical death and
my physical death will be the results, the effects of sin. Sin will eventually take its
toll, so to speak. God will eventually stop restraining
the effects of sin in us. That's what He's doing now. He's
restraining the effects of sin. I mean, sin, if God had not started
immediately after the fall restraining the effects of sin, it could
have just wiped out the whole human race. So that's what God's
doing with us right now. Now, eventually, He's going to
stop doing that. There'll come a day. It's appointed
unto man once to die a physical death. Our immediate death will
be the result of God removing his restraint on the effects
of sin. But Christ's death was not like our death. Christ was
not a sinner. His death was not the result
of any sin found in him. Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. Christ did no sin and knew no
sin. Christ is the just one. He died
the just for the unjust. So why then was Christ on the
cross? How could Christ be put to death? Who put Christ on the cross?
Well, you say wicked men did, and that's true, but his father
did. Listen to Acts chapter 2 and
verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know, Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain." Now wicked men took him.
Wicked men put him on the cross, but what does it say? Being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God put
him there ultimately. Here's another verse that says
his father put Christ on the cross. Listen to Romans 8 in
verse 31. You can turn to Romans 8 if you
want to, but listen to this verse. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now I'm going to look at this
verse in a lot of detail in just a few minutes, but for right
now, I want you to see that it's God who put his son on the cross.
God spared him not. When it came time for the substitute
and surety to pay the sin debt that he had obligated himself
to in eternity, what did God do? He spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. The Father put Christ on the
cross. And why did the Father put his son on the cross? How
could God deliver one who's holy, harmless, undefiled to the cross? Well, the scriptures know of
but one reason that that could happen. One reason. Christ did
not die as a result of sin. His death was for the punishment
of sin. He went to the cross because
of imputed sin. He was there to bear the just
punishment, the legal guilt, the wrath of God that his chosen
people deserve. You can quote with me 2 Corinthians
5.21. We quote it so much from up here,
I'm sure you know it by now. For God made Him to be sin, who
knew no sin, that we should be made the righteousness of God
in Him. The one who knew no sin, God made sin. He charged, He
imputed, He accounted the sins of those Christ represented to
Him. Christ was on the cross to answer those charges. He was
there to pay the debt of punishment His people deserved, the debt
we owed. He was there because God is just. He was there because a just God
punishes sin. Now, man in his natural state
does not believe that God punishes sin. That may shock some of you
too, but it's nonetheless true and I'll explain it. Man in his
natural state does not believe that God will not clear the guilty. How is that so? Well, in our
natural state, we don't see Christ's death as the true, absolute punishment
for sin. In other words, in our natural
state, we don't believe that every sinner Christ died for
has been punished so completely that the sinners he died for
cannot be punished. We don't see that by nature.
The natural man does not believe that the death of Christ has
delivered from all legal guilt, all liability to punishment,
every sinner he gave his life for. The natural man believed
that although Christ died for your sins, you'll still perish
unless you believe, repent, reform, put in there whatever you want
to. It doesn't matter. Now that leaves Christ's death
not quite getting the job done. He died for you, but that didn't
save you. There's a little bit more to
be done. It requires the sinner's part
to be complete. It requires the sinner's part
to make Christ's death effectual to you. That same natural-minded
sinner believes that the saved will not be punished for their
sins. I mean, we don't believe God's going to punish the sins
of those who get saved by nature. So if Christ's death didn't punish
sin, and the saved sinner is delivered from punishment, Where
then is sin punished? Where is the just God? Where's
the justice of God in salvation? Well, it obviously goes lacking
under that sort of theology. A just God who must do right,
a just God who must punish sin is not known in that theology. The God of that theology is a
figment of man's imagination. God's justice is revealed in
his punishment of sin. God saves from wrath. but he
only saved those whose sins have been justly punished in the death
of Christ. God pardons and forgives sin,
but he only pardons and forgives those sins that have been fully
punished in the death of Christ. Until you and I have a thorough
understanding of God's justice in the death of Christ, in other
words, what I've explained to you, what right did God have
to punish Christ with death? Until you have a thorough understanding,
then you can't have a right view of God's justice and the salvation
of ungodly sinners. And until you have a thorough
understanding of God's justice and salvation, you're not looking
to the scriptures, you're not looking to a just God and Savior. The first thing you must know
to know God, I told you these things distinguish God from idols.
And the first thing you need to know to know God is how He's
just in all that He does. That knowledge begins with how
He was just to send Christ to the cross because of imputed
sin, and then how He's just to show mercy to those and only
to those Christ paid the sin debt for. The justice of God
is what's missing in this world's religion. In Romans chapter 3,
that scripture that Randy read for us in the beginning, we have
what I call an indictment against fallen humanity. And it states,
and I'm going to paraphrase what Randy read for us in detail,
It starts out, none, not one of us is righteous. This indictment
says not one of us is seeking after God, the God who's provided
the only righteousness that meets his requirement. And here's the
bottom line on that indictment. There is no fear of God before
our eyes. Not one of us has any regard,
any reverence for God doing right when he shows mercy to a sinner
who is not righteous and not looking to Christ alone for salvation.
In other words, we don't know about God's justice and we don't
care about God's justice in the salvation of ungodly sinners. That's all of us by nature. You
might wonder why I'm making so much of this issue of God's punishment,
and I have good reason. I'm going to give you three reasons
here, short reasons. God makes an issue of his punishment
of sin. The first thing God did when
Adam rebelled against his standard was slay an animal. He shed the
blood of an innocent victim, and in doing so, he was showing
that sin demands death. sin will not go unpunished. That's the first thing he was
shown. He then clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of that innocent
victim. And the picture there is this.
If there is to be any mercy, if there is to be any pardon
and forgiveness of sin to sinners, it will be by the merits of the
one punished. It won't be by the merits of
those who deserve the punishment. It'll be by the merits of Christ
alone. So God makes an issue of sin's punishment. That's the
first reason I'm making an issue of it. The second reason I'm
making an issue of it is because the natural man is totally ignorant
of this subject. As I already explained, the natural
man does not believe that God punishes all sin, every sin,
with eternal death. The natural man does not believe
that God punishes every sin with the punishment that sin deserves
in God's justice of man. And this world's religion never
brings it to our attention. This world's religion is all
about ways that seem right to men. But you know what those
ways tell us? They tell us how to avoid God's
punishment. They don't tell us anything about
God justly punishing sin in Christ. They tell us about those ways
that seem right, but they're ways that end in death. No sinner
hears about the justice of God until God brings them and sits
them down under His gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. That's where we first hear that
God is just. That's where we first hear of
God's just punishment of sin. So the second reason is because
we're ignorant of it and we need to be taught. The third reason
I'm making so much of an issue of the punishment of sin, because
fear, not reverential fear, but legal fear, fear of punishment,
is what motivates us all until God delivers us from this fear. Listen to Hebrews 2 in verse
14. Or as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
Christ also himself likewise took part of the same flesh and
blood, that through death he might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Now y'all heard Bill talk about this scripture last week. He
said that that Satan has no power to put
us to death physically, but he does have power over us all by
nature. He has power to hold us in condemnation. See, when we don't know anything
about God's just punishment of sin in a substitute, what do
we do? Well, we go to church and we
hear the preacher say, If you don't want to go to hell, but
you want to go to heaven, here's what you need to do. You need
to walk this aisle. You need to read your Bible.
You need to start praying. You need to start giving. You
need to get serious about religion. Stop playing games and get serious. That's what we do. Well, that's
how Satan holds men in condemnation. That's the power of death it's
talking about in these verses. We need to be delivered from
that power of Satan. We need to be delivered because
that motivates us to go and about to establish our own righteousness.
That motivates us to move by the fear of death, the fear of
punishment. It says in this passage here
that we are all our lifetime subject to that bondage, the
fear of punishment. until God delivers us from the
fear of punishment under the gospel. When we see a just God
and Savior punishing sin in Christ and that punishment settled forever
in the court of God's justice and that righteousness Christ
brought in by which God justifies the ungodly. So I make an issue
of the punishment of sin because God does, because men are ignorant
of it by nature, and because the fear of punishment is what
motivates us until we're delivered. The first and main thing we learn
from Christ's death is that God is just. He will do right. He must do right. He did right
when he sent Christ to the cross, bearing the sins of his people
imputed to him. And he's doing right to pardon
and forgive every sinner Christ died for because Christ suffered
the punishment those sinners deserve. And God is doing right
to declare those sinners justified, not guilty, but righteous in
his sight based on Christ's righteousness imputed to them. Under the gospel,
we learn some things about Christ's death that none of us knows by
nature. First thing we learn is that
God is just. And a just God punishes sin. I didn't tell y'all, but that's
the title of this message, by the way. A just God punishes
sin. The second thing we learn from
Christ's death under the gospel, that the punishment of sin is
eternal. It's not something we can deal
with. We're temporal. And the punishment of sin is
eternal. A just God punishes sin and that punishment is eternal.
Listen to Romans chapter 6 and verse 23. It says, For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin, well that's
what sin earns. It earns death. And that death
is eternal. All sin is against an infinite
God. All sin is against God's infinite
justice. Therefore, the death sin earns
every sinner is eternal. Being contrasted with the eternal
life which is given, every soul that remains charged with sin,
every soul that remains legally guilty must suffer the eternal
death God's justice demands because that's what sin earns us all. You notice in that verse, Eternal
life is not earned. It's not worked for. It's a gift.
It's given to every sinner found in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What
we earn is death. What we deserve is the eternal
wrath of God. If we have eternal life, it's
only because God has shown us mercy for Christ's sake. Where do we see that God's ultimate
judgment against sin is eternal? We don't see it by nature. We
see this judgment at the cross of Calvary, but only when God
blesses our eyes to see it under the preaching of the gospel and
the work of the spirit in our hearts. Christ's death proved
that God's punishment of sin is eternal. How so? Because of
who God appointed to deliver his people, to die as the substitute
of his chosen people. Who did God appoint to be the
substitute of his people? Well, he appointed Jesus. Because
according to Matthew 121, he shall save his people from their
sins. He appointed Christ, who is Emmanuel,
being interpreted as God with us. He appointed Christ, who
is the eternal word, who dwelt or tabernacled among us. He appointed
Christ, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
as his humanity, and declared to be the son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. That's his deity. He appointed Christ, who is the
God-man. The only one who can deliver
you or me from the eternal wrath of God, which we deserve, is
Christ, the God-man. That's why for you and me to
be looking for salvation anywhere but in the death of Christ alone
is a false hope. It's a false refuge. It's the
house built on the sand. It's the refuge that will be
swept away when God lays righteousness to the plummet. The cross of
Calvary was God's eternal judgment against sin on display. In other
words, the cross was God executing His judgment against sin. There
is the only place His eternal judgment has ever been displayed
so far. Now there is a judgment coming
and the scriptures speak of it prolifically, but the only place
God has put eternal judgment on display so far is at the cross
of Calvary. Look back at John 12. In verse
31, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of
this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. This Christ said signifying
what death he should die. As I already said on these verses,
Christ is speaking about his impending death on the cross
where God exercised his judgment against the sins of his elect
in him. But I want to look at this last
verse a minute. This Christ said, signifying what death he should
die. Now Christ's death was, of course,
a death of agony, a death of pain, a cruel and humiliating
death, the death of the cross. It was also a death of substitution. He was there representing a multitude
of sinners out of Adam's fallen race. It was also a death of
judgment, just like he said, now is the judgment. And he said
this signifying what death he should die. It was a death of
judgment. And it was a death that ended death. Ended death. Ended eternal death for those
he represented. Christ's death was equivalent
to what the scriptures called the second death. This is the
death which will have no power over those who are found in Christ. Listen to Revelation 20 and verse
6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. The first resurrection takes
place in regeneration when God delivers one who is spiritually
dead in trespasses and sin unto the resurrection of eternal life
and those that have a part in that first resurrection. In other
words, those that are looking and resting their whole salvation
in Christ, the second death hath no power. There at the cross,
having imputed to Christ the sins of his sheep, God poured
out his eternal wrath on Christ. In other words, he poured out
on Christ the just punishment his sheep deserved. God's elect,
Christ's sheep, have already been judged. They've already
been justly punished for their sin. In Christ, they've already
suffered the infinite, eternal wrath of God. No punishment remains
for them. Their punishment ended when Christ
said, it is finished, and surrendered himself in death. A just God
punishes sin, and He punishes that sin with eternal death.
Only Christ, the God-man, could satisfy the requirement of eternal
death. Only Christ, the God-man, could
satisfy the infinite justice of God. That's why the Scripture
says in Hebrews 9 and verse 26 that in His first appearance,
Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Sin's legal guilt,
sin's just eternal punishment was ended by the death of Christ
for every sinner he represented. The third thing proven by the
death and resurrection of Christ, I told you two things. God is
just and that he punishes sin and that punishment is eternal.
The third thing proven by the death and resurrection of Christ
is that Christ's death was effectual. It was not an attempt to save
sinners. It got the job done. Sinners
don't make Christ death effectual. God himself declared Christ death
effectual by Christ's resurrection from the dead. God's testimony
is that Christ's death alone assures the full salvation unto
the final glory of every sinner he died for. Nothing can be nor
is anything needed to be added to make Christ's death effectual
to those sinners. The prophet Isaiah, an Old Testament
saint, knew that the promised Messiah's death would be effectual
to all those that Christ would come in time and die for. Speaking
of God's elect, he said in Isaiah 53 in verse 4, Surely he hath
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. and with his stripes
we're healed. Now Isaiah is looking ahead,
he's speaking prophetically. When the apostle Peter quoted
that passage in 1 Peter 2.24, speaking to the church that he
was encouraging, he said, by whose stripes you were healed. Both writers knew the effectual
nature of Christ's death. Both knew that the stripes of
Christ, the death of Christ, would and did heal every sinner
he died for. What did it heal them of? It
healed them of all legal guilt. Christ's death in their place
delivered those he died for from all liability to punishment.
Both writers knew that Christ's death is the only basis, the
only ground of God's eternal blessing. Both knew that the
only reason any sinner can be found in God's fellowship is
because of Christ's death exclusively. Christ's death was an effectual
death. Now God's word is filled with
that revelation. Listen to Hebrews 9 and verse
11 and 12. But Christ being common high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
not of that old earthly tabernacle, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Christ's death
got the job done. Christ's death obtained eternal
redemption. His blood paid the ransom for
every sinner he died for. He ransomed every sinner he died
for from the wrath, the eternal punishment that sin deserves. Romans 8 and verse 1, that scripture
I read at the start of our service today, there is therefore now
no condemnation. In other words, no possibility
of eternal punishment to them which are in Christ Jesus. The
contexts in scripture that speak of Christ's effectual death are
too many to mention up here. So I want to confine our study
to just one more, and if you will, turn to Romans chapter
8 and verse 31. Romans 8, 31 and 32. Now, I want
you to see in this context that those Christ represented in his
death and those who reap the benefits of his death are exactly
the same people. No difference in name, no difference
in number, they are exactly the same. In other words, if Christ
died for you, you are the heir. the beneficiary of everything
he earned in his death. Romans 8 and verse 31. What shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Same people. If God is for you,
He spared not His own Son for you. If He's for me, He delivered
Christ up to the cross for me. And if He spared not His own
Son for us, then He will, without fail, freely, unconditionally,
give us all things. Every sinner Christ died for
is already the heir, already the beneficiary of everything
Christ's death earned for us. In Ephesians 1 we read about
a multitude of sinners which was chosen in Christ and given
all spiritual blessings before the foundation of the world.
Christ's death is effectual to the salvation and eternal blessedness
of that multitude. His obedience unto death put
away their sin and brought forth the righteousness by which God
declares them not guilty but righteous in his sight. None
of that multitude can perish. None of them can fall short of
final glory. Because Christ's death was effectual,
every sinner for whom he died will live eternally. Let's read
on in Romans 8, 33 and 34. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Can't even be charged with sin.
Why? Because their sin was charged to Christ, and they're charged
with righteousness. It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
that is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. God punishes and will not
clear the guilty. He has already executed His judgment
against the sins of His elect. He has already punished the elect
with all the punishment they deserve, all the punishment His
justice demands of them. And they will not, they cannot
be punished further. A sinner Christ died for is free
from eternal punishment. For Him, God's judgment against
sin was settled at the cross. And that issue will never be
brought up again in the court of God's justice. So God is known
by the judgment He executes and He is known first by the judgment
He executes against sin. He is known first by the judgment
He has already executed against His elect in Christ at the cross. Now if all that's true and I
I beg you to check it out by God's testimony. All that I've
said to this point is true according to God's word. And if all that's
true, then what's a sinner to do? What is a sinner to do who
hears the gospel? Well, the command and encouragement
of the gospel To every sinner who hears it is come to Christ
who has suffered and ended the eternal punishment of every sinner
he died for. Come to Christ who alone reveals
God's justice in the salvation of ungodly sinners. Come to Christ
the God-man who alone is able to save you from the eternal
punishment your sin deserves and God's justice demands of
every soul that sins. Come to Christ whose death itself
and whose death alone ensures the full salvation and final
glory of every sinner he gave his life for. John 3.36 says,
He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. Believing
doesn't cause it, it's the effect of it. He believes because he
has life given in Christ. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Come to Christ because a just God punishes sin, but in Christ
there is plenteous redemption. May the Lord bless His Word to
our understanding.