When you think about it, because
the justice, you know, what do we always cry out when someone
does wrong? Well, justice should be done. Justice should be done.
Well, it's the same with God. He's a just God, isn't he? And
he will give that which is due, that which is due. Now grace
preachers again proclaim the justice of God in our messages
and the fact that Christ has satisfied the law and justice
of God in the place of his people. And this is a truth that must
be proclaimed. It must be proclaimed because
he who is our righteousness is is the one who fulfilled the
justice of God for us in our place, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So it must be proclaimed. It must be proclaimed. And we
are clothed through the through the righteousness or in the righteousness
that Christ established for us. And again, this is a missing
note. Again, Brother Matt and I have
talked about this many times in our studies about how how
the righteousness of God is a missing note in in today's preaching,
and so is the justice of God. And a lot of times, the law of
God. It's not spoken of a whole lot either. It's more based upon
what you do. Now the justice of God, again,
speaks of how our God is just and holy. He's a God of truth. He's sinless. He's absolutely
sinless. He's just, He's holy, and He's
right in all things. in all things. We're going to
look at a few scriptures here, but let's look at this one first
in Deuteronomy chapter 32. We'll read verses 1 to 4 in Deuteronomy
32. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as
the small rain upon the tender herb, and as showers upon the
grass. because I will publish the name
of the Lord, ascribe you greatness unto our Lord. He is the rock. His work is perfect. All God's
work is perfect. All of it's perfect. For all
His ways are judgment, a God of truth, without iniquity, just. And this again speaks of His
justice. He's a just God. Just and right is He. So let
us consider today the justice of God. And this speaks of how
our God is perfect righteousness, perfect righteousness. He's not
only our maker and our ruler overall, but beloved, he governs
all the affairs of this world, all the affairs of this world.
All things visible and invisible are under his sovereign hand.
Everything, everything. There is not one, I like what
one guy said one time, there's not one maverick molecule. There's
not one molecule that's going off on its own, not one. He governs
and controls it all, all of it. That's how intricate our God's
sovereignty is. Now in the scriptures, we have
many instances where we find God's justice on display by the
punishment of sinners. Remember the ground open and
swallowed core and all the rebels. We see pictures of God's judgment
and his just judgment upon rebels. And he punishes the disobedient. Those who are disobedient to
His holy law and His holy justice, because His holy law must be
satisfied and His justice must be satisfied. And as I said many
times, it is either in the sinner or in the Savior. Either in the
sinner or in the Savior. Now God has a law and that law
comes from Him. Everything that comes from Him
is a holy law. And his justice is holy, and therefore he's just
in punishing disobedience to his holy law. And again, his
justice must be satisfied. Now, in the scripture, we find
many instances of this. Think of how. Think of this,
think of how Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Was
there anything in Noah? Was there anything in Noah that
that made God find find him or give Was there anything in Noah
for him to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord? Nothing. Just like with you and I. There's
nothing in us that would prompt God to show us grace and mercy. Nothing. But yet he does. Yet
he does. And think of this, that the most
clear picture and the fact that God's justice must be satisfied
was manifested to us in the sufferings and the death of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. That is the greatest manifestation,
not only of His love for His people, but of the fact that
His holy law and His holy justice must be satisfied, must be, must
be, must be upheld. When Christ died as our substitute
on Calvary's cross, it was manifested that the justice of God must
be satisfied. Turn, if you would, to Job chapter
37. Job chapter 37. Let's look at a few scriptures
here which speak of the justice of God and the fact that he is
a just God. We'll read verses 22 to 24 here,
but I'll just comment on the verses as we go here. 22 to 24, three verses here. Job
37, 22. Fair weather cometh out of the
north, with God is terrible majesty. So we see here, right here, a
scribe to who is in full control. Who's in full control of the
weather of all things? Fair weather cometh out of the
north, with God is terrible majesty. And look at the proclamation
at the end of this verse of God's sovereignty, with God is terrible
majesty. Now this verse is describing
that which is due to our great God and King. He alone is King
of Kings. He alone is Lord of Lords. And
He governs over all things, again visible and invisible. And what
should this lead us to do? It should lead us to bow before
Him in awe and reverence, shouldn't it? That's what it should do.
It should just bring us so low and then raise us up in praise
to Him to think that He had mercy upon us. But it puts us in the
dust, doesn't it? It puts us in the dust and it
puts God where He rightfully is, on the throne. On the throne
of grace. On the throne of grace. At His
sovereign disposal. Think of this. All the kings
of the earth, all the rulers of this world are at his disposal. All the people of the earth are
at his disposal. With God's terrible majesty. He's in full control. Everything
is under his rule. Everything. Look at verse 23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot
find him out. He is excellent in power, in judgment, and in
plenty of justice he will not afflict. Notice what's proclaimed here.
And we know the truth of this. We cannot know God unless He
reveals Himself. Touching the Almighty, we cannot
find Him out. See, in our natural state, we
have no clue who God is. And we cannot find Him out. But
what does God do? What does God do? What does God
graciously do for His people? The same thing He did for Noah.
And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He reveals Himself
to us. He reveals Himself to us, beloved.
It's amazing. He reveals Himself to us, all
by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And then we look to Christ. We see Christ as our Savior.
We never saw Him as our Savior before God revealed Himself to
us. We didn't. We may have heard it. We may
have heard those things that are proclaimed in the Bible,
but we really didn't hear them. They went into our ear, but they
didn't go to our heart, did they? But when we were born again in
the Holy Spirit of God, oh my, oh my. Now, now we see Christ. Now we see God is a God of terrible
majesty, meaning He's in full control, that He reigns over
all things. And we know now, touching the
Almighty, we cannot find Him. We know that He had to reveal
Himself to us in order for us to know Him. Now, notice this. He is excellent in power and
in judgment and in plenty of justice. He will not afflict. Now, look at look what's proclaimed
here. He's excellent in power. Why? Because he's the almighty.
No one compares to him. He's excellent in power. And
this is what the scripture proclaims. This is the God of the Bible.
This is the God of the Bible. And and and how How can we see
it manifested His Almighty Power? Just look around. Look at your
own bodies and see how intricate your body is. It's incredible. Look at what we're comprised
of. Look at how not one of us have the same fingerprints. It's absolutely incredible. Look
at the beautiful world around us. His power is on full display,
beloved. His majesty is on full display
in the works of creation. And then think of this. We were
talking to Joshua about this yesterday. Think of how the fact
that He sustains this world. Folks always say, well, we're
going to run out of this and that. If we do, it's because that's
what God decreed. But think of how long, from the
time of Adam until now, we've had trees, we've had resources.
It just keeps coming. It's incredible. Food. Think
of how many billion of people have lived upon this earth. God
sustains this world. He provides. He provides for
the just and for the unjust. His rain falls upon the saved
and the lost. Oh my. He's excellent in power. And think of this, how he's excellent
in power, it says here. And think of this, how he's excellent
in power, and how that's displayed in the work of salvation. In
the work of salvation. Think of how God's power is displayed
in the work of salvation. Think of how God's power is displayed
in the redemption that we have through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Think of how God's power is displayed in the fact that we are born
again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. See, we could
not, this scripture says we couldn't find God, could we? Well, we
can if He reveals Himself, we know Him then, only because He
reveals Himself. But on our own, we have no power. Do you see how God's power is
on display even in our salvation? Even in our salvation? And don't forget, God's power
is on display in our salvation by the Father. He planned and
purposed this. and sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to be our Savior. His power is on display when
our Savior, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, walked upon
this earth and lived the perfect life that we could never live,
went to Calvary's cross and redeemed us with His own precious blood,
and God the Holy Spirit's power is on display when we're regenerated. So the whole Trinity, the power
of God, the power of the Almighty, is on full display in our salvation. And we are undeserving of this,
aren't we? Of this mercy and grace. And yet he bestows it
upon his people. Oh, what a gracious God. What
a gracious God. And then think of this. God's
power is also displayed in the fact that he supports and protects
and preserves his people from destruction. He keeps his people. Left to ourselves, beloved, we'd
destroy ourselves. We would. We'd run headlong. We would. And we know we would. but He keeps His people on Him. Think of this, even before we're
saved, He keeps us. We do not know Him. We don't
even know we're one of His sheep. We come into this world not that
we grow up and live our lives as young people. And then, if
the Lord's pleased during when we're young to reveal Himself,
it's amazing. But sometimes He waits till we're
older, right? But at the appointed time of
God, at His perfect appointed time, He reveals Himself to us.
But you know He's protected us all that time and kept us all
that time from destroying ourselves, beloved. And then He keeps us
all through this life. Trials come and tribulations,
and He keeps us, beloved. So we see His power on full display
in our lives, beloved. We see it on display. Oh, it's
amazing. And then what does he do at our
death? The minute we breathe our last breath, we're in the
presence of the Lord. He takes us home just like that.
Oh, my. His power's on display there.
Because what do the saints say? Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.
They're proclaiming the great work of our God. Worthy is the
Lamb who was slain. He's the one who's redeemed us.
He purchased us with his own precious blood. Oh my. Notice here that God is also
excellent in judgment. It says, touching the Almighty,
we cannot find him. He is excellent in power and
in judgment and in plenty of justice he will not afflict."
Now it says here he's excellent in judgment because he governs
the world as he's pleased. He rules in righteousness. He
rules in absolute righteousness. And you know when he will appear
to do that? When it will be manifested to
men and women that he does that? At the Great White Judgment Throne,
won't it? When none shall escape. When none shall escape. Oh my. Now the believers clothed in
the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. And we won't be judged
for our sins because Christ paid for it all. But we'll be there.
We'll be there. And we'll see judgment fall upon
billions and billions of people. Oh my. Oh my. And it'll be a
just judgment, beloved. And the only reason we're not
there is because of what Christ done for us. Oh my, it'll be a just judgment.
Like Bruce Crabtree told me when my mom died, God will do what's
right with your mom. That's a wonderful point to put.
It's in God's hands. It's in God's hands. Now look
at this. Look at our latter part of our
verse here. Plenty of justice and plenty of justice. So he's
an excellent governor. with all power, and it says here,
in plenty of justice. This speaks of our God as being
righteous in all His ways. He's righteous in all His ways.
He's holy in all His ways. He distributes justice to all,
acting according to the rules of it, in all things and towards
all persons. And He is great in power. And
He does not abuse the power that He has. He does not abuse the
power, but He is just. He is just in His judgment. He
is just in His judgment. And then the verse ends with
this, He will not afflict. This speaks to the fact that
God will not afflict without a cause. Without a cause. Without a cause. And without
reason for it. So think of this in light of
our trials and tribulations we go through in this life. They
are all for His glory. And God gives us strength to
bear through all the trials and he gives us grace to help in
time of need. I was talking to a brother this
weekend, this week from California. He brought up a point that made
me chuckle. We were chuckling a little bit. I'd never talked
to this brother before, I mentioned him earlier, or at the beginning
of this morning's message, and he called to encourage me and
encourage the work here, that here he is out in California,
he doesn't have a church to go to, and he's listening in and
just rejoicing in the message of God's free and sovereign grace.
And he said, a lot of times, Wayne, my trials are self-inflicted. And I was like, oh my. You know,
Spurgeon used to say this, and I really appreciated this with
Spurgeon. He said, sometimes we take a
situation and we just blow it out of proportion to what it
is. Now, sometimes we don't, but
sometimes we do. And it becomes bigger in our minds than what
it really is. And we were chuckling over that because that's what
he was trying to bring out, that he self-inflicts some of his
own misery. But there's trials and tribulations
that we go through that aren't self-inflicted, right? That are
for God's glory. And even the ones that we self-inflict
ourselves with are for his glory, too, because we realize he takes
us through them all. He takes us through, he does,
he does, he takes us through all of them. And it's wonderful
to see his sovereign hand at work. And our God does not ever
give, think of this, too, our God does not ever give an account
of himself to anyone, right? To no one. To no one. He rules
and reigns over this world however he's pleased. He's answerable
to no one. To no one. To no one at all. And all his dealings with men
and his rule over men is a righteous rule. And as a result of these
truths being brought forth, look at verse 24. Men do therefore fear Him. He
respecteth not any that are wise of hearts." Men do therefore
fear Him. They should. They should after
reading of His greatness in power, His greatness in justice, His
greatness in judgment. We should fear Him. With a reverent
fear. Not a slavish fear. But we should
fear our God. with a reverent fear of who he
really is. God Almighty, God Almighty, man
should therefore reverence and adore him and should submit to
his will and patiently bear afflictions, should serve him internally and
externally with a reverence and awe and godly fear. Now, God's
people have this fear and reverence, don't we? We do. Psalm 89, 14, the scriptures
declare this. Justice and judgment are thy
habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. In God's power and justice. In God, power and justice meet.
Power holds the scepter and justice holds the balance. And remember
that God has several attributes and yet they all proceed from
him. Equal. Equal. Just as a tree has many
branches, so are God's attributes. But yet one tree. But yet one
tree. All of equal importance. And
we know from Scripture that God works all things for His own
glory. So who are we to question anything He does? Who are we
to question anything our great God does? Who is anyone to question what
our great God does? We submit. God's people submit
to Him. But remember, natural man has
an enmity towards Him. And we were all there. We all
had that at one time. We cannot understand the ways
of God. So this is why we are to pray for the lost. We are
to pray for those around us. Because we were once there. We
don't know who God's elect are. We have no clue. But we lift
up lost loved ones. We lift up lost friends. We lift
up lost neighbors. And we pray for them. We pray
for them. Praying that God would reveal
himself to them. Praying that he would give them
an understanding of who he is. That he would take them from
darkness, the darkness of their sin, into the wonderful light
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Justice is God's God's righteous
treatment of all. You know that justice is God's
is God's righteous treatment of all, giving them their due,
giving them their due. Turn, if you would, the Proverbs
chapter 24. Proverbs chapter 24. Now think of this, if God's justice
is righteous, which it is, and His justice is God's righteous
treatment of all, giving them their due, think of how we do
not get what is due us. Because the punishment for our
sin and the wrath of God that was due our sin fell upon Christ. So what do we get instead? We
get mercy, don't we? We get grace. But God's justice
still had to be satisfied, didn't it? And it was in the substitute.
It was in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this in Proverbs chapter
24. Reread verses 1 to 14. Be not thou envious against evil
men, neither desire to be with them. So when you see men prosper,
evil men prosper, don't be envious of them. Don't be envious of
the things they have, because think of the end that they have
come. Oh my. Oh my. Neither desire
to be with them, For their hearts study at destruction, and their
lips talk of mischief. Their wisdom is in house building,
and by understanding it is established. And by knowledge shall the chambers
be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is
strong, yea, a man of knowledge increases strength. For by wise
counsel thou shalt make thy war, and in multitude of counselors
there is safety. Wisdom is too high for a fool.
He openeth not his mouth in the gate. He that devises to do evil
shall be called a mischievous person. The thought of foolishness
is sin, and the scorner is an abomination to men. If thou faint
in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forbear
to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are
ready to be slain, if thou sayest, behold, we know it not, doth
he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul,
doth he not know it? And shall not he render to every
man according to his works? Now remember what the justice
of God is. It's a righteous judgment, a
righteous treatment of all, and giving them what is due. Look
what it says there. And shall not he render to every
man according to his works? My son, eat thou honey, because
it is good, and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste.
So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to thy soul, when thou hast
found it, and there shall be a reward and an acceptation shall
not be cut off. But look at verse 12, the latter
part of verse 12. And shall ye not render to every
man according to his works? Our God's a just God. His justice
must be satisfied. There's a lot of talk about the
love of God in religious circles. A lot of talk about the love
of God. They magnify the love of God
at the expense of all of God's other attributes. I know, I was
in that. I was in religion. All they do is talk about the
love of God. Well, God loves everyone. Well, that's not what
the scriptures say. God loves his people. He loves
his people so much he died at Calvary's cross for them. And
our God is love, isn't he? He is. He's a God of love. He's
amazing. His love is incredible. But you
cannot take God's love and sacrifice all the other attributes of God.
You can't do that. God's a just God. God's a holy
God. God's a righteous God. And in
the study on the attributes of God, we've looked at many of
God's attributes. And this will in no means be
an exhaustive study, because if we were looking at all the
attributes of God, we'd be forever. We'd just never end. Just never
end. So we do not exalt one of God's
attributes at the expense of others. We just refuse to do
that. We refuse to do that. Our God is a God of great love.
A love that we can't even measure. But He's also a holy God. A God
so holy that sinners cannot be in His presence. He's a righteous
God. So righteous that we must be
clothed in the righteousness of Christ to be in His presence.
My! He's amazing. He's absolutely
incredible. So in light of our study today
on the justice of God, and knowing that this is about God's righteous
rule, and giving man what they deserve, ponder these words at
the latter part of this verse, and shall not he rendered every
man according to his works? Beloved men will give those who
reject him, or God will give to those who
reject him exactly what they deserve. exactly what they deserve. God will give them exactly what
they deserve. But we do not get what we deserve.
We do not get what we deserve. What what would we get if we
if we got what we deserve? Well, we'd be in hell. And also
the justice of God and the wrath of God would fall upon us. In the moment the sinner breathes
his last breath outside of Christ, he is in eternal torment. In the moment the saint of God
breathes their last breath, they are in everlasting glory, beholding
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Think of our loved ones who died
in Christ. They are in the presence of the
Lord right now. Right now, rejoicing, rejoicing. My. So think upon this. God must
be just. And his holiness is the cause
of his justice. His holiness will not suffer
Him to do anything but that which is righteous. He can be no more
unjust than He can be unholy. It's impossible. It's absolutely
impossible. And His will is supreme. His
will is the supreme rule of justice. It's the standard of justice.
And we know that His will is what? Wise and good. We know
that from Scripture, don't we? His will is wise and good. God wills nothing but that which
is just, and therefore it is just because He wills it. And
never forget that God's justice flows from His nature. Flows
from His nature. Now, man may act unjustly because
of our nature. And even after we're saved, we
still struggle with sin, don't we? But God will never act unjustly.
It's not in His nature. His will is a righteous will,
and he can never be forced to act unjustly. Because our Lord
love is righteousness, he love is righteousness. We know the
Lord loves righteousness, and therefore he must punish sin.
He must punish sin. The scriptures proclaim that
the wages of sin is death. Turn to Romans chapter 6, and
we see Paul here writing a response to those who would say that if
I believed like you did, then I could have a license to sin
all I want. Again, I said a while back, if
I had a nickel for every time someone said something, I'd be
a millionaire. Same with this. I've heard this
so much. I've heard this so much through the years I've been preaching.
Oh, if I believed like you. I could go do whatever I want.
No you can't. No you can't. And you won't. Because you'll be constrained
by God. The love of Christ constrains us. I never heard one grace preacher
ever say you can go do what you want either. Let's just put that
on record. Folks often accuse grace preachers of saying that.
I ain't never heard one say that ever. Never. Never. Not one. Look at verse 15. Shall we sin
because we are not under the law but under the grace? What
does Paul write? God forbid. See, he'd face the same questions. Well, if I believe like you guys
believe, then I can do whatever I want. God forbid. God forbid. For a man or woman is regenerated,
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We love evil. We love
sin and hate God. and hate his holiness. But after
regeneration, the born again child of God loves God, loves
his holiness, loves his people, loves the gospel. It's a total
change, beloved. It's a total change. And after
the Lord saves us, we're not looking for an excuse to sin,
right? We're asking God for strength to avoid it. Do you sin more
than you want to? I sure do. I sure do. Oh, my. I long for the day when we will
not sin anymore, do you? It'll be amazing. It'll be absolutely
incredible. Look at verse 16. Know ye not
that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants
ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience
unto righteousness. Here before us is a good way
to determine if we've been saved. We should know that if sin masters
us, if we delight to do evil, if we enjoy evil companions,
if we walk in darkness, then Christ is not our master. Very,
very, very clear. So the tenor of our lives, this
is what we've been looking at in 1 John. The tenor of our lives
reveals who our master is. What do you really enjoy? In
what direction are you really going? Who is really your Lord? Look at verses 17 and 18. But
God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you. Being then made free from sin, he became the servants of
righteousness. Praise be to our God. Praise
be to our God. We've been delivered from the
slavery and bondage of sin. We have been. God's people have
been. We're now the servants of righteousness. All because
of what God's done in us. Nothing to do with what we've
done. All what God's done. And see the word free there?
It means liberated, beloved. Liberated. We've been liberated.
We've been liberated. Remember the Jews in the camps,
in the death camps? They were liberated. We're free! We're free! Beloved, we're free! We're liberated! Oh my! We're no longer a slave to sin.
We're justified in Christ and free in Him. Free from the penalty
and condemnation. Now look at this. I speak after
the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh.
For as ye have yielded your members, servants, to uncleanness and
to iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants, to righteousness
and to holiness. For when ye were servants of
sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in these
things, whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of these things is
death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants
to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting
life. Look at this verse. For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now remember I said that we don't
get what we deserve? And the justice of God mites
out what man deserves? Look at this. The word wage is
there in verse 23. It means a soldier's pay, an
allowance, a part of a soldier's support given in place of pay. Metaphorically, wages. It's what
we earn. It's what we earn. The wages
of sin is death. We earn that by our sin. But
look at the latter part here. The gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So sin's wages are justly earned, spiritual, physical and eternal,
but God's gift is freely given in its eternal life in and through
Christ Jesus our Lord. We do not get what we deserve. We do not. Why not? Because God's
had mercy on us. Because God says, this explains
why the Son of God must become a man. Why he must bear our sins
at Calvary's cross as our substitute. Why our sins must be paid for?
Because the wages of sin is death. Right? So Christ goes and dies
in the place of his people. Oh, wonder of wonders, beloved.
What a salvation. The Word of God, the second person
of the Trinity, became flesh. and died on Calvary's cross in
our place, lived the perfect life that we could never do,
established the perfect righteousness, fulfilled the holy justice of
God and law in our place on Calvary's cross, and we are redeemed, we
are saved, and we have eternal life, all because of what Christ
has done. My, what a Savior, what a Redeemer. Heavenly Father, we thank you.
for allowing us to gather together and to study your word. What
a privilege it is to be able to look into thy word and to
see these wonderful truths before us. Oh God, be glorified. May you be magnified, Lord. You
don't give your people what we deserve, but that which we have
deserved is poured out upon our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus, and honor and praise for dying as
our substitute, for redeeming us with thy precious blood, for
purchasing us on Calvary's cross. And we will forever be grateful.
We will forever sing in glory with the saints. Worthy is the
lamb. Worthy is the lamb that was slain.
Oh, Lord, you're wonderful in our eyes, in the eyes of your
people. In Jesus' name, amen.