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The Justice of God

A sermon delivered
At the HeartCry Missionary Society Conference
Thursday Evening, September 8, 2005
at Waldo Baptist Church, Metropolis, Il.
by S. Michael Durham

© 2005 Real Truth Matters

Jeremiah 12:1

Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of [thy] judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

I am sure that when we are done with this conference we will not be able to define God much better than when we began. Not only is our subject indescribably vast but we are also indescribably little, especially the one who stands before you. Collecting several blind men together gives you no more sight than one blind man. The speakers this week are not blind, having been touched by Heaven’s Physician, but as for me, my report is much like the blind man who Christ touched and all he could see were men walking as trees. My vision of God is but dim, and through a glass darkly I see. Surely our prayer should be, “Lord, touch our eyes again that we may see thee more clearly.” 

I have been assigned the task of speaking to you on the subject of God’s justice. If you please, I will use the word righteous mostly tonight. Most systematic theologians use the words justice and righteousness as synonyms, describing the same attribute of God.

I.  CONFUSION ABOUT GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

Frankly, the prophet was confused. He knew what God stood for and demanded from His man-creatures. But Jeremiah also saw that men were not obeying their Creator, and it seemed to him that the unrighteous were prospering in their disobedience. Therefore, he asks, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (ESV). If God is righteous, then the wicked man should get his comeuppance. He should receive the due penalty and not prosperity was Jeremiah’s thinking. And I must admit he seems to have a point.

When it comes to God being righteous, there is some confusion. There was in the days of the Bible and there is today. However, the confusion that seems to cloud the modern mind is a little different than the perplexity of Jeremiah. Today, the new-fangled complaint about God’s righteousness is not why do the wicked prosper, but why do good people suffer? And, of course, everybody is good. 

We have a propensity by nature to play the unfair card with God. Larry King has perfected the question, “if there is a God and He is good, why does He let good people suffer?” Anytime a tragedy occurs he is asking the same question, challenging God’s justice. I watched him interview former president Bush and his wife Barbara about the relief work to aid the suffering storm victims of Hurricane Katrina. King, knowing that the Bushes claim to be Christians, asked Barbara Bush if she questioned her faith during catastrophes like this; if ever she wondered why God could do or let something like this happen? She replied no, but the former president said he did. His comment was that he asks why. Knowing that God is a good, loving and forgiving God, he found it hard to accept this kind of devastation, but in the end he felt like he had to keep believing in God.  

I won’t tell you what I think about that answer, but I will tell you what I think about the question. It is a question that is without foundation and totally demonstrates an arrogant, narrow-minded and an extreme view of righteousness. First, the question is erroneously based on a view that God’s justice is like ours. I will say more about this later, but let me say now that it is the height of human arrogance to believe that we should lecture God on righteousness, thinking we have a superior perspective on the subject. That’s what the question reveals about its inquirer.  

The second problem with the question is that it wrongly presupposes all men to be good. Thirdly, it simply is the wrong question. If a question must be asked about God’s justice and equity, then Jeremiah’s question is much more in line. And frankly, it is the question of our hour in light of Katrina’s fury.  

The question Larry King and others ought to be asking is why did God allow the hurricane to destroy the Gulf Coast and not allow hurricanes, tornadoes, famines, floods, and invading enemies to destroy the entire country? That seems to me to be a much more accurate question. Why, in light of this nation’s desire to walk in the moral sewage of this sin-flooded land, does God not destroy it? 

We have raised the high hand against God, and we have transgressed His ways. Justice should be administered and judgment fall on us as it did on Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, why is God so merciful to a people who are so wicked? That to me is the greater question when discussing God’s justice.  

You may answer and say, “It’s because God is a merciful God.” Yes, He is, but is His justice held hostage to His mercy? Would you say a policeman that watches a criminal do his reprehensible deeds and does nothing is just? No, you wouldn’t. This was Jeremiah’s problem. He knew God was righteous, and he knew that God was also merciful. But his problem was, does mercy trump justice and, if so, where is righteousness? 

Confusion about God’s righteousness reigns today and it does so in a very damaging way. This generation has completely turned away the idea of God being righteous in favor of a message that He is loving and forgiving. Justice has been eliminated from the discussion, and we have a God who is incapable of rendering equity. To the Christian culture, as well as secular, mercy has trumped God’s justice. 

Let me now direct your attention to another thought of the text. That is,

II.  THE DECLARATION OF GOD’S JUSTICE 

Righteous [art] thou, O LORD

Jeremiah declares the Lord’s righteousness. He was not questioning the integrity of God because he knew God could not be unrighteous. His problem was the delay of justice.

Let’s discuss Jeremiah’s statement, “Righteous art thou, O Lord.” 

A.  God’s Nature is Righteousness

First, we can see that it is God’s nature to be righteous. God’s justice is a part of His nature and not just an act of His will. God is righteous. “Righteous are you, O Lord.” It is His essence and quality as well as a description of His character. God acts righteously because he is righteous. Righteousness is not only something God does but righteous is what God is. 

B.  The Definition of Righteousness

Secondly, I think we should define what we mean when we say the word righteous or righteousness. As the word asserts, it has something to do with rightness, being right or in accordance to law. But in the case of God, is there a law that He submits to? No, the law of God is merely a written reflection of God’s character. Therefore, it is inaccurate to say that God conforms to law. It’s like saying God conforms to Himself. He is Himself and He cannot be what He isn’t. He is God and not conformed to anything outside of Himself. God is just being who He is and He is righteous. You could no more expect God to be unrighteous than you could expect a man to be a chicken or a cow. Why? Because the nature of a man is completely different than the nature of a chicken and cow. It is morally impossible for God to be anything less than righteous. 

C.  The Implications of God Being Righteous 

Thirdly, let us think about the implications of that statement, “Righteous art thou, O Lord.” 

Rightness is determined by God and not man. Such preaching flies in the face of the post-modernists, as demeaning to man’s goodness. It is not “politically correct” to suggest a higher righteousness that makes man’s goodness insufficient.  

The corrupt world cannot stand to hear of such a God. And here’s why. If God is so righteous that a Mother Teresa would appear filthy in comparison, then what chance does anyone have? This is the way the world thinks. If Billy Graham is seen as a scoundrel compared to the brilliant righteousness of a gloriously holy God, then how shall the common church-goer have hope of heaven? Man says no to this. He will not have such a God.  

Therefore, man invents a god who is a lesser standard of righteousness. If the standard of righteousness is lesser, then God must be lesser because He is the standard. Thus man is guilty of idolatry; he worships a different God from the God revealed in Scripture. He may say this God is Jesus, but it is not the same Jesus that the apostles preached. The God revealed to us in the Bible is a God whose justice is impeccable and all that He does is above reproach. But the God that post-modern Christendom worships is a God whose righteousness does not exceed their own righteousness. The average man in church sees his religion or righteousness as sufficient to gain him access to heaven. This must mean that he sees God’s standard of righteousness being the same as his own. If God will accept man’s righteousness, then God’s righteousness cannot be any higher. Why? Because a perfectly righteous God could not in the least condone the slightest transgression or evil. To do so would prove that the deity in question is not righteous, but is to be considered evil also. Therefore if God would accept man’s righteousness, then God would be as evil as the evil He condones. 

Second implication is that God and His righteousness is the standard by which we shall be judged. 

Man is not the ultimate judge of goodness. Men may be willing to be lenient to someone because they have never been in trouble or they have done many helpful things for society. But God judges on a completely different scale. His standard is nothing less than His own character, and how could it be anything but this?  

I remember as a child my father playing a game with me. Taking a broom handle, my father would hold it close to the ground, and I would jump over it. He would raise it a little higher, and I would jump over it again. On this would go until I couldn’t make it over the hurdle anymore. The hurdle into the kingdom of God is the righteousness of God, and God is not playing games. You must be as separated as God is from sin in order to escape condemnation.   

Many times I have heard preachers and teachers say that when judgment day comes we will be judged by the Ten Commandments or by some other standard found in God’s Word. But the Bible does not say that. It says mankind will be judged by the plumb line of God Himself. The holy and righteous nature of God will be the perfect pattern by which all will be measured. The Apostle Paul defines sin not as coming short of the Ten Commandments or any other standard, but as coming short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).   

Here then is the question: why a so impossible standard of judgment? The answer is that if God would lessen the standard of acceptance, then he would no longer be righteous. God must act out of His holy nature and love of all that is good and perfect. He cannot require any less out of us, nor can He wink at our sins.  

The gospel reveals the righteous standard by which we all shall be measured—God Himself. Therefore, the Bible tells us that justification is being righteous just like God. If you want to escape God’s condemnation and be declared acceptable to God, you must be just like God. Now, I understand your apprehension, but salvation can be nothing less than this. Here again, modern preaching has failed to understand this and make it plain. 

Not only does the majority of today’s teaching on the gospel eliminate or avoid the discussion of God’s righteousness, it fails to really explain what God says is necessary to declare the sinner not guilty. Telling people that if they confess they are a sinner and pray a prayer falls terribly short of what the Bible requires for eternal life.   

A young man who was recently converted told me how a retired preacher had tried to convince him that he had been saved since he was a small child because he had professed a belief in Jesus very early in life. My friend, as a boy, walked the aisle and came forward in a church service. He told me he had “asked Jesus into his heart” all because a friend of his had come forward the same service. There was no conviction of sin, no repentance; he was simply following the example of a friend. Nonetheless, when my friend explained this to the retired minister, the older gentleman asked him if anyone had ever asked him through the years if he was a Christian. My friend replied that he had been asked that before, and that he had always replied that he was a Christian, even though he had never repented of his sin or with his heart believed upon Christ. The old preacher told him that his confession of salvation was sufficient to make him a Christian. In the preacher’s theology of salvation all God requires for salvation is for one to confess with his mouth that he believes in Jesus. Sadly, this preacher is not an occasional exception. He is the norm. 

This is typical, popular Christianity. But this is not Biblical Christianity. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that what is required for salvation is a meaningful and sincere prayer. Rather, it clearly and repeatedly states that what is required for salvation is righteousness—Godlike righteousness. Human righteousness will not avail; the sinner must somehow become righteous just like God. This only is life eternal. Far too long have people thought of salvation as nothing more than forgiveness or confession of sin. Salvation includes these things, but it also exceeds them. 

In Romans 2:13, Paul states that justification or salvation, in this case, is doing the law, or in other words, being perfect as God is perfect. Every righteous act that one should perform and the avoidance of every thing that is evil is the quota of salvation. Paul says, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” This cannot be avoided. All who do not possess this kind of righteousness are damned.   

This has always been the standard, and grace does not remove this standard of righteousness. If we were to believe that grace removes the standard of righteousness, then surely we are antinomians.  

The Lord Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Jesus substantiates their righteousness in his parable of the Pharisee and the publican as being one who prayed much, fasted twice a week, tithed on everything he possessed including his spice garden. The Pharisee was not guilty of immorality or extortion. In conduct and behavior he was above reproach. Sounds extremely righteous! How does your behavior stack up against the Pharisee? But even the Pharisee’s righteousness is not the righteousness of God, and thus not enough to merit eternal life.  Salvation is to be as righteous as God is.  

If the Bible presents eternal life as being as righteous as God, then there is only one conclusion—we are all sunk! We are in big trouble. Our righteousness may be commendable as far as men are concerned, but it isn’t on par with God’s righteousness. Like the Pharisees of the New Testament, we may look good on the outside, but it’s on the inside where we have problems.   

Let me proceed to yet another fact from our text . . . 

III.  THE EXECUTION OF GOD’S JUSTICE 

God will execute justice. Justice will not forever be delayed. God responds to Jeremiah; and in verses 14-17, He tells Jeremiah that He will bring justice to bear on Judah and her wicked neighbors.  

Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, "Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15 "And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. 16 "Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17 "But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it," declares the LORD (Jeremiah 12:14-17). 

God shares with Jeremiah His righteous intentions. He would judge His people Judah as well as her neighboring countries for their sins. 

Yet in justice God again displays His mercy. 

15 "And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. 

Our Lord dispenses justice and yet cannot do so without showing mercy. It almost seems that judgment is a difficult thing for our Lord. He seems to be sorry for doing so and quickly reverses the judgment. Well, this is not quite an accurate assessment, but the Bible teaches that God would rather forgive than execute his justice.  

In Ezekiel 18:32 God says, “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” It would seem from this verse and others like it that judgment is a strange work to God. He appears to delight in showing his mercy to sinners rather than his wrath.  

From Psalm 86:5 we get this analysis of God, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” David again says in Psalm 103:8 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” Micah the prophet writes, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy (Micah 7:18).  

Jeremiah’s question seems to be very relevant and very close to the heart of God. Where is full and complete justice? “I know you are righteous God but where is your justice displayed?”  

The truth is the full and complete revelation of God’s righteousness did not appear at all in the Old Testament. To find God’s greatest demonstration of his righteous judgment against sin you have to leave the Old Testament and go to the New Testament. You have to travel to just outside of Jerusalem and ascend a small hill called Calvary. On the crest of that hill was the greatest display of God’s righteousness ever known to men and angels. In the death of God’s Son is the full demonstration of righteous judgment.   

Paul in Romans 3:21-26 shares the redeeming message of the death of Jesus Christ.  He says in Romans 3:21-22 that it is now possible for men to be considered righteous just like God is through Jesus our Lord. He says,  

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. 

Our only hope of salvation is to have a righteousness that is the same as God’s, and this has been given to all who believe. But how does God do this? Does He simply look the other way and ignore our sins? Oh no, He has given us His righteousness not at the expense of His righteousness but by its fulfillment and satisfaction. He says in verse 24, 

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 

The apostle says the Christian’s position with God is he is justified. We, the guilty, have been declared not guilty. This is what justification means. The word has often been defined as an acquittal, but that definition minimizes the impact of what God truly does when He justifies a sinner. In a human court of law when a man has been acquitted of a crime it is the same as declaring the accused innocent. The evidence says he did not commit the crime. But you and I have broken God’s laws and committed crimes against His kingdom. We are not innocent. Yet, God has justified us. The guilty is declared not guilty. It would seem at this point that God’s desire to be merciful overcomes His desire for justice. This is the very thing the Bible has said that God cannot do. 

Were it not for the words, “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” we would be left with the idea that God is not righteous. God freely forgiving sinners is inexcusable unrighteousness.  

But what should the words, “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” tell us about God’s righteousness? A great deal! These words tip the scale from God being seen as unrighteous to being viewed righteous as He truly is. In other words, our redemption is now a just thing for God to do. The apostle will explain this in verses 25 and 26. He will explain that the cross is a declaration of God’s righteousness. 

For the majority of Christians, the cross is a demonstration of God’s love for sinful man. Nothing more. It is undoubtedly true that our Lord’s death is the epitome of love, but it is so much more.  

The death of Christ serves a judicial purpose as well as being a demonstration of God’s amazing love. To insist that the death of Christ is only a demonstration of God’s love is dangerous to our justification, and here’s why—the cross loses its power to reconcile. If the cross is only a demonstration of God’ love, there is no justification. It simply would be God satisfying His attribute of mercy at the expense of His justice. It would mean the contradiction of God, which would mean the end of God, which would mean we are still in our sins and without hope. 

As Paul takes us to the heart of the gospel in verses 24-26 of Romans 3, he does so by showing us what God’s purpose was in having his Son put to death. In verse 25 Paul writes,  

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation... 

God put his Son on display as a means of the removing of the wrath of God from the believing sinner. That is what this word propitiation means. There is a sacrifice that not only appeases this righteous anger but also removes it from us. This is great love. But this also means that the cross is a demonstration of God’s righteousness. Paul spells it out clearly when he continues to write in verse 25,  

...to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. 

The Apostle Paul says that God publicly displayed his Son on the cross in order to make a statement. The statement is that He, God, is righteous. However, this righteous demonstration in verse 25 is not mentioned in connection with the forgiveness of our sins, but the forgiveness of the Old Testament saint’s sins. Paul says that God did extend remission to sins that were past. Remission in this case means to pass over. It actually carries the idea of being relaxed, that God was lax about the sins of the saints in the Old Testament. Instead of giving them what they deserved, he gave them mercy or pardon.   

The truth that Paul is stating is radical truth. In other words, Paul is saying that God did exactly what has been argued God cannot do—He pardoned sinners without satisfying His holy justice. He ignored His justice and granted forgiveness to all who believed in Him. From righteous Abel to the John the Baptist, all of the Old Testament saints had been shown mercy without appeasing the wrath of God, without justice being served, without righteous judgment being executed.  

While one may argue that God had been propitiated by all the animal sacrifices that the justified saints offered, we must remember that it is quite plain from both testaments, Old and New, that animal sacrifices were not sufficient to provide forgiveness. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). David acknowledged this when he sought God’s forgiveness for his sins, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:16-17). Animal sacrifices could only provide an external cleanliness, which was ceremonial, allowing the people to enter into the worship of the tabernacle or temple. Another way to say it is that the blood of the animals sacrificed to God could at best cover the people’s sins but not remove them. 

Therefore, God justified or pardoned sinners by merely granting them mercy without dealing with their sins. You may say that God forgave them on account that He looked forward to the propitiatory sacrifice that Christ would offer for His people. Yes, this God did, but that doesn’t remove the fact that for millennia justice was delayed waiting for the fullness of time. Nor does it remove the fact that God appeared to be unrighteous in His dealings with all those in the Old Testament. He was liable and open to accusations of unrighteousness. Men could say that God had a double standard. With some He executed justice but with others He ignored justice in order to show leniency. This is a result of the fact that God had forgiven some without justice being satisfied.  

Psalm 9:16 says, “The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth.” In other words, you know God by the judicial decisions He makes. We can know much about a judge by the judgment he renders in court. Let’s suppose that a criminal broke into your home and killed your family. Within hours of the crime, the guilty man is arrested. On his day before the judge, the prosecution presents the evidence that proves his full guilt against you and the accused even confesses his guilt to the judge.

After hearing all the evidence, the judge says, “I know you are guilty, and you have even confessed to the crime. However, since I am a Christian I want to be like my Heavenly Father who is kind and merciful. Therefore, I forgive you and declare you not guilty.” And with that the gavel falls and the criminal is a free man.

In response to the shocking turn of events what would you feel? Here is a guilty man walking away from a court of justice unpunished. How would you feel? Every fiber of righteous indignation would rise within you and cry “Unjust!” 

And what would you think of the judge? Not only would you want the criminal brought to justice, but also you would demand that the judge be removed from the bench. You could argue clearly he is not a just judge, but rather a wicked one.

David says that God is known by the justice He executes. If we would determine a human judge an evil doer by not satisfying justice, then surely we should make the same determination about a God who forgives the guilty and lets justice go unsatisfied. It appeared this was what God had done prior to Jesus coming and dying.  

Therefore, Paul repeatedly states that God demonstrated His righteousness in the death of Jesus. In fact he says it three times in one sentence. The first time we have already quoted, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness” (Romans 3:25a). The second statement of this great demonstration of righteousness is the beginning phrase of verse 26, “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness.” This is absolutely critical to the apostle. He must drive this emphasis home. It is central to the gospel—Jesus died in order to show principalities and powers, men and all creation that God is righteous. And so a third time Paul says that the reason for the sacrificial death of Christ is, “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26b). Three times it is stated that our Lord died in order to vindicate the name of God and establish the righteousness of his justice.

Jesus vindicated God’s public perception by receiving in His body the full cup of God’s anger toward all of those sins that were committed by those Old Testament saints. He satisfied the holy attribute of justice that had waited so long to be gratified. He was clearly a display that God is righteous and that the demands of the law will be satisfied. 

Christ Jesus received the blunt force of God’s anger toward sin. The pent up anger of justice delayed was unleashed like a dam breaking, causing a wall of water to destroy all in its path. All of those sins that had gone unpunished, Noah’s sins, Abraham’s sin, David’s sins were laid upon Christ. As a lamb offered, Jesus suffered as a substitute.  

Not one injustice or sin escaped the wrath of God as the Father poured upon Jesus the terror of holy vengeance for the sins of the Old Testament believers, but not just for the sins of the Old Testament saints but of all the saints of the New Testament. Paul includes his generation and the generations yet to come who would be redeemed when he said, “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 6:26b). Any who believe upon Jesus are recipients of God’s mercy because Christ suffered the penalty of their sins.  

IV.  APPLICATIONS OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IN CHRIST JESUS 

Jesus is the perfect revelation of God’s righteousness and He displayed it in His life and death. If you are to know how righteous God is, look upon His Son. God, says 1 Corinthians 1:30, has made Christ Jesus for us to be “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 

The first application of this full and complete display of righteousness in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ is the knowing of how God views sin. The death of Christ shows us God’s very attitude towards sin. He hates it with all of His infinite heart. He will reap from sin His eternal satisfaction and this He did in Jesus.  

If the Lord were to spare any in regards to sin, He would have spared His own Son. But not even His own Son was spared though He with strong crying and tears prayed unto him that was able to save him from death. Why then do you think He would spare you? Why would any man insist on such madness that he is more special to God than His only Begotten? 

If you reject this sacrifice that completely satisfies the Father’s justice, then there is nothing left for you but “certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:27). This is a clear implication of Christ our righteousness. 

Second application of Jesus being the righteousness of God is sheer overwhelming awe for the mercy of God that comes upon the beholder of Christ.  A thorough acquaintance with God’s justice produces a greater awe of God’s mercy. What is apparent today is that so many who claim to be Christians have been little acquainted with the righteousness of God. Therefore, they are little moved or astonished with the grace of God. But one who has come to know something of the righteousness of God will be greatly amazed that this God of justice would be so kind. This is the point of Jeremiah’s question. He marvels that this thoroughly righteous God could allow the wicked to continue without judgment. And it is not until you understand the awesome justice of this God that you are amazed by grace. 

How sad that so many take for granted the forgiveness of sin. They seem to view it as an entitlement, something owed to them. But one true look at Jesus, the slain Lamb of God, the broken and cursed for sin, will drive such stupidity from the soul. As you look upon Him writhing in agony, suffering your just penalty, how can you think lightly about your salvation? Oh, God deliver us from such foolishness! Let us see justice satisfied in Thy dear Son and see how much you hate our sin! 

The third application of beholding the righteousness of God in the face of Jesus is it creates a proper view of God’s love. God’s love must be viewed in the context of God’s righteousness. The sinner should not assume that God’s love is enough to overcome his sin; otherwise, repentance becomes trivial.  The sinner must know that because God is righteous, He is terribly serious about sin. He will not excuse the least of infractions. He is so serious that He exacted from His own dear Son an infinite price that paid the sinner’s debt.  

But when the sinner is told that Jesus’ death on the cross is a demonstration of God’s love without the context of holy justice, the sinner is made to think his sin is not that big a problem. God’s love is enough to make God overlook his sin. Because God is love without the context that God is also righteous God’s love becomes a perverted type of syrupy love that excuses our sinfulness and bids us come into his presence anyway.  

A friend of mine was street witnessing and walked up to a homeless man who was intoxicated. My friend walked up to him and said, “I’m here to tell you that God loves you.” The drunkard smiled and said, “Yes, I know God loves me.” And with that lifted his bottle and guzzled more of his wine. To him God’s love meant that God would not judge him harshly for his sin. And why wouldn’t he think that? If a person loves someone would he banish his loved one to an eternity of misery and unthinkable suffering? No, not unless that same person’s love for justice is as intense as his love. God is a God of love, but we must never forget that his love first and foremost is for His own glory. And His glory is in part that He is perfectly righteous. Holy love does not, nor can it, rejoice in sin.  

Sunday evening I watched a program where a man went into the streets of a major metropolitan city with camera and microphone interviewing people and witnessing to them. He interviewed some young men who were neither choir boys nor model Sunday School students, if you get my drift. They were talking about how much liquor they were going to consume that evening. The other man interviewed was a man whose language had to be edited often, and he also confessed to being the boldest sinner there ever was. Yet in both of these interviews, when the person witnessing pressed them about their sinfulness and God’s judgment of them, they all immediately became preachers and strongly affirmed to him that they were Christians because God loved them and gave Jesus to die for them. 

Where did that come from? I will tell you where it came from. It came from this problem of preaching a gospel that says God loves you and has a wonderful life for you without righteousness. It leads men to understand the love of God without the backdrop of the justice or righteousness of God. 

The final application that I will discuss tonight of this full and complete display of righteousness in the person of Jesus Christ is the fact that all who are truly saved are righteous as He is. Not only are the redeemed given the righteousness of our Lord Jesus, but they also have implanted within their souls a divine principle of righteousness. They are not only declared righteous, but they also live out the righteousness that has been conferred upon them by faith. This is the Beloved John’s theology, “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him” (1 John 2:29). John says “doeth righteousness.” This is not positional righteousness. In other words, “If you know God is righteous, then you must also know that everyone who practices righteousness is truly born from God.” Like produces like; kind after kind. If God is righteous, then those He begets are like Him. 

Can you say you are righteous as He is? Does right living characterize your life more than unrighteousness? We may not be perfected yet in thought, word or deed, but as time goes by we find righteousness becoming the norm while unrighteousness the abnormal. Is this how you would characterize your life? Is there something within you that hungers and thirsts after righteousness? Or are you content with a profession of faith that leaves you neither righteous nor holy?

God is righteous and all those who follow after Him follow after this same righteousness. We are not content to say to ourselves, “Well, I’m not perfect. God understands.” Oh no, we groan within ourselves because of our unrighteousness. We cry to be like our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Is that your cry as well, my friend? All those who are born of God walk in this same light even as He walks—righteousness.  

God is just, and, although at the present it may seem justice is delayed, be certain that there is a day of reckoning. Oh, what a frightful day that will be for all those who have believed in a God of love, but not a God who is righteous. The sea will give up its dead, the graves will release their hold upon the dead, and all the unrighteous will stand before the justice bar of holy God. On this day the sword of His justice will not be scabbarded, but unsheathed, and the blade bare. None will escape its edge. 

But those who are in Christ, whose only claim to righteousness is Jesus, shall prevail unscathed and unharmed. They will be sheltered under the righteous wings of their King who has suffered their unrighteousness for them. And all will say on that day, saved and unsaved, angels and devils, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Amen.