First of all, Romans chapter
3, 1 through 8, then Psalm 89, 14, and then other passages certainly
will come before us on such a great subject as the divine justice. Paul writes here in chapter 3,
what advantage then hath a Jew? What profit of circumcision? much every way, chiefly because
that under them were committed the oracles of God. Then a question. What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true,
but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be
just in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged. Now, that is a reference to Psalm
chapter 51 and verse 4, David's great penitential prayer and
confession, you remember, verse 5. But if our righteousness,
commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous that takes
vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid,
for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of
God hath more abounded through my lie unto glory, why yet am
I also judged as a sinner? and not as we slanderously are
reported and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good
may come whose damnation is just. And that in Psalm 89, 14. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. When it comes to a study of the
character of God, and a study in the way that he works, makes
himself known, and that he deals with the human family, and with
people, both the lost and with the saved, there is a most blessed
attribute that is to be found in so many of thee. In fact,
a study of the person of God or a study of the attributes
of God will bring in the other. They must go together. Any study
of God will carry us to a study of the attribute And any study
of the attribute will certainly carry us unto the purpose person
of God. Somebody has called the attributes
of God an inherent characteristic. when we say this is an attribute
of God, meaning it is an inherent characteristic of the just and
holy God. So that the attributes of God
then are the constituent features in the character of God. They are what God is. They are
what God is made up of. God's attributes then, strictly
speaking, are not one and the same with his nature or his essence,
but neither are they possible to separate or to be separable
from the essence of God, for God by nature is what he is. Now, the attributes of God are
manifestations of his character or nature, and they define for
us what an old timer by the name of J.P. Boyce described as, quote,
the peculiarity which constitute the mode of the character of
his being. His attributes are therefore
emanations. His attributes are things that
emanate out of him and out of his being, and they actually
have their source in his nature or in his essence. And it would
be right to say that his attributes do not make him God, but being
God, He possesses every one of them unto perfection and unto
infinity. Furthermore, His attributes are,
each and every one of them, without exception, they are eternal. They're not acquired. They're
not something that lately was added unto him. Any attribute
that is an attribute of God is an eternal one and is unacquired
and unbestowed. We might be tempted to say, so
long as he has been God, and that is forever and forever,
so long has he had his Attribute they were with him forever. They
are eternal even as he is eternal But God has always been there
was never a time when God was not there was never a time when
he did not exist when he was not in existence or have his
beginning or have his being so he is the eternal and and the
uncreated God. Thus it follows that all of his
attributes are eternal and undonated as well. None were acquired later
or developed along the way or became necessary for him to take
home that he might therefore deal with the human family and
all that came about. Now, I think it's possible that
his attributes should be viewed in a twofold way. First of all,
essentially or absolutely. That is, dwelling as present
in the nature of God. They are there, they are present,
even if they might be what we call inactive and have nothing
at one time to display themselves upon. But secondly, in respect
to their manifestation and their exercise in that each and every
attribute of God was with God, in its full extent even before
there was an object or before there was an occasion upon which
they might be operative or they might be made manifest or they
might be exercised or displayed. In other words, let's say it
like this, to prove the point that God was powerful before
he created. God was all-powerful before he
moved to create a single thing. He was holy before sin entered
into His creation. He did not become holy then,
but He was holy forever and eternally. He was just before there were
sinners and sin in need of punishment at His hand. And God was righteous
before there was any evil to be dealt with in His creation. and he was patient and he was
long-suffering before sinners filled up the earth and God's
patient was exercise. And he was love and he was light
before creation or before any other creature or thing was created
by him. Even so, in all of these, and
yet even more present in God to the fullest extent and to
absolute perfection before there was a created universe, or there
were angels, or there were men, or there were objects toward
which God might manifest and display His great attribute. And concerning the exercise or
the manifestation of God's attribute in His sovereign will, and his
infinite wisdom, we can see, by dividing the human and the
angelic families into both elect and reprobate. This is a great
wisdom on the part of God, and it allowed the exercise of each
and every one of the attributes of God that we read about in
the scripture. Had he saved all that were fallen,
some attributes would not be known or manifested. such as
wrath and hate and judgment and so forth. But they had lain more
or less hidden had he saved all. Had he damned the whole world
and it pleased him to save none of mankind, then other of God's
attributes, such as grace and mercy and goodness and so forth,
had, as it were, lain unexercised and hidden. But the subject of
the divine attribute is an ocean that is so vast that it does
not seem to have bank nor bottom and cannot be searched out for
its depth. So today or this evening, we
kind of restrict our study to one single attribute, the great
and eternal and mighty God and that is the justice of God or
the divine justice of the Almighty. John Owen a very prolific and
a very learned writer and call the justice of God like this,
quote, the most illustrious of all of the divine perfection,
but especially of his vindicatory justice, unquote. We see that
and think about it as it is in the scripture. Now what is said
of the other attribute is surely true of this attribute of the
divine justice. Number one, it is eternal and
absolute. Like all attributes, God's justice
is eternal and absolute. Secondly, it has occasion for
its exercise or its manifestation or it going forward. Again, if
I might quote from Owen on this subject, I maintain sin punishing,
he said, to be both natural and its exercise necessary unto God,
unquote. Not only is it natural that God
be just and exercise it, but it is necessary for the upholding
of the righteousness of God that he exercise his attribute of
justice. Now first, I think, It might
help us if we seek to define justice, especially as it relates
unto God and what we are interested in this evening in our study. Justice and judgment, we read
in Psalm chapter 89. Verse 14 and then it said are
the habitation of thy throne They dwell there they are at
home there. They are natural there they dwell
in God Spurgeon said on this verse out of the psalm they are
the basis of the divine government the sphere on which his sovereignty
moves and operates." That God in the exercise of his sovereign
rule can never do anything that is unjust or that is unwise from
his standpoint, seeing that he is too holy to do anything that
is unrighteousness, and he is too omniscient to ever be mistaken
about any event that might occur in the future or in history. Such cannot be said of human
rulers. Not at all. Some of them are
only corrupt, miserable tyrants, so that their throne is established
in unrighteousness and in wrong judgment, unlike that of God. Now see how the two things are
put together. Justice and judgment in that
verse. Because he is just, therefore,
his judgments are right. His judgments are right because
he always acts in justice. He is just when he judges. Every judgment of God is just. Or he judges righteous judgment,
we might say. Psalm 51 and verse 4 and we read
it in Romans chapter 3 and verse 4 that you might be Justified
when you speak and be clear or literally blameless when you
speak that you are when you pass sentence. David is confessing
there his sin, and he confesses that whatever sentence God passes
in regard unto his activity, his act, and his sin, that God
is just. Paul quotes that passage, therefore,
in Romans chapter 3. For David says, My sin is heinous,
and it is against you, and it is against you, O God. Are you
just in whatever sentence you pass upon me and against my sin? Now Paul takes the passage to
another end, it would seem here, in Romans chapter 3. And that
is, his vindicatory justice of the
condemnation and the judgment of God in the cases that are
mentioned here in this text in chapter 3 of Roman. Paul is confirming
two things here in Romans chapter 3 verse 1 through 8. Number one,
he is confirming that the unbelief of some, that is of many Jews,
does not invalidate the faithfulness of God and it does not impugn
in any way the word of God. And you have that in verse 3,
that the unbelief, that some have not believed God gave Israel
the oracles of God, some or many of them did not believe, but
the unbelief of them has not invalidated the faithfulness
of God or has it impugned the word of God, the written word. But secondly, that the unrighteousness
of men, that is their sin, is an occasion for the manifestation
of the righteousness and of the justice of God. The righteousness
of God in the gospel to save sinners. It's not unrighteous
of God to save sinners. However, this cannot be concluded
to mean that since the unrighteousness of sinners provides the occasion
for God to manifest His justice and His righteousness and such
like, therefore God is not unrighteous. when he taketh vengeance upon
those whose sin has been the occasion of the manifestation
of the righteousness of God. And beside he said down in verse
6, if God were prohibited from taking vengeance and sending
wrath on the unrighteousness of men because such gave an occasion
to the display of God's righteousness, how then would God ever be able
to act the part of the judge of the world? If such a foolish
thing be admitted, if such were true, to punish the wicked is
injustice, then how can God act the part of a judge? How can
He bring all men and all sin into judgment? Such an arrangement,
therefore, would divest God of His office and the offense and
the exercise of His judgment and of His justice. Before we
move along any further, let us notice in verse 7 of our text
how Paul takes occasion to turn their perverted logic against
them and to break it upon their very own head by referring to
the false teacher's conduct toward the treatment of the apostle
himself. They call Paul a liar. In that
verse, they called him a heretic, they called him a sinner, and
they called him a proclaimer of false doctrine and a blasphemer
against God. So we need to notice the parentheses
in the 8th verse of that text to understand what Paul means
by my lie when he uses that in verse 7. Then the brackets in
verse 8, as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that
we say. And what had they accused Paul
of? He knows he's been accused. What
had they blasphemously charged against him. What were they telling
about Paul and on Paul and against Paul? How did they sum up Paul's
theology? What did they say that Paul was
preaching? The answer? They call Paul, if
I might use a modern term, a stinking antinomian in his doctrine and
in his life. And they said in verse 8 that
Paul preached this, let us do evil that good may come. That's how they understood or
that's how they portrayed the preaching of Paul that they might
impugn his character, put a stain upon him and give him disfavor
in the eyes of the people. Let us do evil that Good may
come. They said that's what Paul preached.
That's what his doctrine amounts to, if I might say it like that. We are in Romans 6, 1 and 2 in
the morning. where they misconstrued salvation
by grace, and a false charge there was that salvation by grace
will lead unto sinning. Paul, in verse 8 and the last
part, is speaking of the charge laid against him, that his teaching
is antinomian, that it is perversion. His enemies had misconstrued,
intentionally maybe, misinterpreted his doctrine as a doctrine of
licentiousness and of antinomianism. Someone has said that you have
not preached the gospel of Christ until you have been called an
antinomian. That might have a lot of truth
to it. But again, the last words there in Romans chapter 3 and
verse 8 Their damnation is just. That is, their condemnation or
their judgment is just. All such person who draw and
conclude that are worthy and deserving and shall receive,
if they continue in it, damnation. And God is just in so judging
them after that fashion or after that manner. But coming back
to the broader view of the justice of God, it has been of old the
settled persuasion of those who know God and who understand the
word of the Lord that justice is absolute and is essential
to God's nature and to God's action. And that is Abraham Booth. who wrote a book entitled The
Reign of Grace, and he said this, it must be displayed in the punishment
of sin, unquote. That is, the justice of God is
bound to be displayed in the punishment of sin and of sinners. John Owen wrote much the same
thing, quote, I maintain sin-punning justice to be natural and is
exercise necessary unto God. Not only is it natural, but it
is necessary that God exercise His justice. Now, to invert the
order, God would be unrighteous not to punish sin. It would be
an unrighteousness on the part of God if he being holy and hating
sin did not punish it. And because he is God and most
holy and upright and hateth all iniquity, he therefore must punish
it. And because he is just by nature
and by being, he will act in strict justice in all matters
whatsoever. In all of his dealing, whether
with angels or with men, he will act in accordance with the strictest
of justice. And then do you ask, what is
the definition then of justice? What do we mean by justice? We
mean not what men and not what people, not what our legal system
might call justice, for there is a so-called justice system
in human government that are perverted and that are biased. An unjust person will not dispense
pure justice. You won't find that in an unjust
person. So what then is this divine justice
that we speak about? Justice has been defined simply
as giving to each one exactly as they deserve, and exacting
of each one the due reward of their deed. As the penitent thief
on the cross, cried out. In Luke chapter 23 verse 40 and
41, in their condemnation, in their being nailed under the
cross, he said this to his companion there, ere they died, we indeed
are dying justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. what is being done unto us, and
may I say, only a penitent heart could come to that conclusion.
Only a heart touched by grace could ever make that confession.
We indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our sin. We're hanging here, not for any
fault of others, but for our own sin. Now, Marshall's Greek-English
interlinear, and I thought it was interesting, added, things
worthy of what we did, we are receiving back, unquote. The words of the penitent thief
upon the cross. Then Berry's interlinear has
it, we receive a due recompense of what we did." That's the thief
whose heart has been touched, cries out, Lord, remember me
when you cometh into kingdom. Of course, he's speaking here
in regard to that civil law that put him on the cross in that
day. And for what they had done, They were being justly recompensed,
and in no way was there an injustice being done unto them. Now as
for the justice of God, we read something in Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 2, I believe it is. If the word of God spoken by
angels was steadfast, Every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward. How shall we escape? How shall we escape? He speaks first of the law, then
of the gospel. The law was sure. The law was
steadfast. Every transgression was duly
compensated under and by and because of the law. God's justice
is in connection with his law and with his will. In that, he
sets the standard. He gave the law. He says what
is right to be done and what is wrong. And he has the final
say in all matters pertaining unto that. In Romans chapter
2 and verse 6, He will render to every man according unto his
deed. Now, this is a warning to such
as in Romans chapter 2 and verse 5. According to their hard and
impenitent heart, treasure up wrath unto themselves against
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God. For he will bring every Work
in the judgment. Every work must come before God
and all must pass before the bar of Almighty God. Now, upon
what principle does God punish sin? His righteousness and His
justice is satisfied. Is it because he can? Is it because
he is pleased to inflict punishment? Is it done because he is the
sovereign of the universe and has all power? Does he inflict
only because it pleases him to do so? Secondly, does he punish
because sin is deserving of punishment and God is righteous and justice
and judgment are the habitation of his throne? You know, it might
make our jaw drop and somebody to rub their chin to hear sentiments
of that heretic, Socinius, who lived in earlier days. I'm quoting
him, I contend that the origin of our damnation is derived not
from divine justice, but from the free will of God." Booth
called a detestable and a shocking assertion from any. As to the
justice of God and justice in punishing sin, could we truthfully
say that sin is never fully punished to the absolute this life in
any sinner never fully punished in this life in any person nor
can it be fully satisfied in bodily suffering or loss of goods
or whatever might come upon us in this world. Still, there is
punishment and judgments, the foretaste of the eternal judgment
and punishment of God, which is seen in the vindicatory judgment
of God In Providence, for example, consider Romans 1 and verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness and all ungodliness of men who
hold or literally suppress or hold down the truth in unrighteousness. The truth in unrighteousness. Wrath is revealed. It is laid
open to observation. Evidences of it can be seen. There are examples of the wrath
of God in numerous instances in the scripture and in everyday
life. The Apostle Paul is moved to
say that God is making his wrath and his anger against sin revealed,
and as one commentator put it, that his justice and wrath against
sin, quote, should appear by innumerable examples and punishment
inflicted on mankind for their sins in God's providential government
of the world." And not only so, but that they be such clear manifestation
that there is no room for doubt or debate. These are the judgments
of God out of heaven. Now, how is wrath manifested,
as Paul said in Romans 1.18? In what way? Well, we read in
the Old Testament, we read there again and again in the blessed
Old Testament, such judgments as famine was one that God sent,
earthquakes were others, The earth at times did open itself
up, literally swallow up dozens and hundreds of them alive, delivering
the Jews over into the hands of their enemy, and captivity
were exercises of the judgment of God. And then I would ask
us to think about, look out upon today's world. Oh, how people
are ignorant of the hand of God and the work of God, the justice
of God, and the wrath of God. All about us are floods, gigantic
forest fires almost every year, drought. tsunamis, hurricanes,
earthquakes, mudslides, all these things are visited upon our country,
our nation, and even upon the world. Does society see these
as acts of God? In our present day, they do not,
but there was a time when they did. I remember being on vacation
in Colorado way back in the 50s. Signs in the motels, signs here
and there said, not responsible for any act of God. People recognize that in another
day, but not anymore. It's mother nature or it's being
us bad or treating the earth bad. But next, let's consider
the judgment of God in relation to redemption and atonement. Not just generally to the whole
world and the whole human family, but the justice of God as it
is in regard to redemption and atonement. There are two places
where the punitory justice of God is more clearly manifested
than in any other that we might mention. Where strict and absolute
justice carry the day. Two places that we look at. Number
one, in the cross. You look at the cross of our
Lord. God dispensing His justice there. His wrath is being poured
out. Against the sins of the elect
but punishing them in a vicar or a substitute Even our Lord
Jesus Christ the Holy Son of God He spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all Paul says in Romans chapter 8
so you look at the cross what do you see you see in the cross
the manifestation of the absolute justice of God with regard to
the saving of the elect. Secondly, the other place where
absolute justice is carrying the day is in the Lake of Fire,
where the justice and the wrath of God is manifest in that eternal
everlasting punishment of lost sinners and of reprobates and
of enemies and haters of God, in whom God is willing to show
his wrath. Now in the case of the death
of Christ, Two things are very clearly seen. As our Lord is
made sin and dies for those sin in the cross. Number one, we
see the demerit of sin. That when sin was laid upon so
darling of one as the sinless holy son of God. When sin is laid upon Christ. We behold its demerit in that
God spared him not. He did not lighten the load and
he did not lighten the stroke. He gave sin its full, complete,
and just due in the satisfaction made by the Lord in his death
upon the cross. So that justice is not slighted,
it is not perverted, it is not suspended, nor is God unjust
to forgive some who personally have been great sinners during
the course of their life. Justice had its measure in regard
to the sin of the elect. In nothing was justice slighted
when our Lord died upon the cross. God forgives the elect and he
fits them for heaven. Their sins are fully punished
and justice as fully satisfied in Christ's death for and behalf
of his people. And it will be for an eternity
of suffering for the reprobate, never fully made satisfaction
for in all of their misery. But the second thing we noted
is that justice was satisfied in the death of Christ for the
elect. so that nothing is lacking, nothing
will be required further from them, from their sin, nothing
more of Christ's suffering, nothing from them in so-called purgatory,
which is not a reality, nothing in the way of punishment in the
future life that might prepare them finally for heaven. Now,
moderns today, Big preachers seldom speak of the justice of
God, preferring instead to dwell upon the love of God, as we so
often hear them say. Men such as Osteen and others
speaking freely of the love of God. What a wonderful plan he
has. What a good and loving, merciful
God he is. But before love can bear its
fruit, It's sweet fruit. There must be justice for the
sins of those that God loves. Their sin must be fully punished
in the death of Christ. Sin must be justly, fully, and
absolutely punished and atoned for. For God to remain just in
forgiving the sin of the elect, they must be atoned for and they
are in the death of the cross. So when Paul writes in Romans
chapter 3, verse 25 and 26, to declare his righteousness, for the remission of sin that
are passed through the forbearance of God that he might be just
and the justifier of them which believe in Jesus. So there is
a manifestation or demonstration of God's righteousness in two
respects in Romans chapter 3. Number one, of past sins not
punished but passed over. Sins previously committed but
not fully punished. And secondly, in justifying them
which believe in Jesus. Not those that keep the law,
not those that abstain from sin, but those that believe in Jesus
Christ, for His justice is satisfied when Christ was made sin, bore
our sin upon the cross. Therefore, God is acting in accord
with strictest judgment when He saves those that Christ has
died for. And on the other hand, it is
no injustice to leave many in their way and to die in their
sin. He is just even and justifies
the personally ungodly, just in justifying personally ungodly
people for their sin has been punished in the death of Christ. He is just on the other hand
to pass many by in dispensing His grace and His mercy, and
be gracious to whom He will. He is just in hardening whom
He will and in gracing whom He will, just to leave many in their
heathen darkness without a knowledge or an understanding of the things
of God, just to leave the scale upon the eyes of some. justice
is served, righteousness is upheld, and grace is extended. in this manner of redemption
and atonement. And the justice of God has received
its full compensation for those to be saved and Christ has given
it to God a satisfaction and a propitiation. He is just, therefore,
to forgive the worst sinner that might walk upon the face of the
earth seeing Christ has died for him and that sin has been
punished in the Lord. Thank God for that great biblical
doctrine in the gospel.