One of the truths that God has
revealed to us about Himself is that of His justice. Since God is completely
just it follows that He cannot leave sin unpunished. In Romans chapter one the
apostle Paul talks about the depravity of man apart from God, and he begins
that section in Romans 1:18 by saying - "For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the
truth in unrighteousness." He then goes on to talk about the sin of man in
all its wretchedness, turning from God and serving self, fulfilling all our
selfish desires and worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. In Verses
28-32 we read - "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any
longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not
proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of
God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they
know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of
death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who
practice them." Therefore, he goes on to say - "And we know that the
judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things."
The wrath of God can difficult
subject to deal with, and when approaching this attribute of God the church by
and large tends to go to one of two extremes. One group of Christians seems
almost to be embarrassed about the wrath of God and seem to think that it is
something that we need to apologize for. This group treats divine wrath as if
it were a blemish on the character of God. Another group goes to the other
extreme. They glory in the wrath of God and seem to think that it is their job
to run around and tell everyone that God is going to send them to hell. Neither
extreme is right. On the one hand you're taking away something that God has
revealed to us about His divine character in judging sin, and on the other hand
your taking away something that He has revealed to us about His love for
sinners and His desire to save them. There is a delicate balance here, and we
need to make sure that we don't take one truth about God at the expense of
another. Everything that God has revealed about Himself in His Word is
absolutely true, and there is no one attribute of God that is more true of Him
than another. He is perfectly just, perfectly loving, perfectly good, perfectly
wrathful, all at the same time. He doesn't switch on and off His attributes
depending on His mood, everything that He is He always is and always has been,
and He can never be other than He is. And as we look through the Word of God
and see what the Lord has said about Himself we will see that there is no
conflict in His character. There is no contradiction.
So, what do we know about the judgment of God? Well, the
verse we started with says - "And we know that the judgment of God
rightly falls upon those who practice such things." Throughout the Word of
God we see Gods righteous judgment being poured out on sin. One of the first
accounts of this is found in Genesis chapter 18. In this chapter the Lord and
two angels come and visit Abraham. And as the Lord is leaving Abraham they
begin to walk together in the direction of Sodom and the Lord reveals to
Abraham that He is going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because
their sin is exceedingly grave. It's at this point that we're given a very
interesting conversation between God and Abraham where Abraham is appealing to
Gods righteousness. We read in Genesis 18:23-25 - "And Abraham came near
and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose
there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place
and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You
to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that
the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right?"" The answer is obviously, yes,
the Judge of all the earth will judge righteously. In the case of Sodom and
Gomorrah, although there were not found ten righteous people in the cities and
the cities were consumed by fire, God brought the righteous out before His
judgment fell. Righteousness underlies all of Gods judgment. He cannot judge
unjustly, that would be against His nature and character. Since God is just in
judging sin, does this mean that He doesn't love sinners and want them to
repent and turn to Him? And taking it a step further, if God does save sinners,
doesn't this make Him unjust? If the wages of sin is death and all have sinned
then the logical conclusion is that all must die. However, we know from
Scripture that God is both loving and just at the same time. He is obligated to
judge sin, otherwise He wouldn't be righteous, but at the same time He loves
sinners and desires to save them. So how does this work out? How could God
justly save sinners? Gods plan of salvation is so spectacular that only He
could have come up with it. Romans chapter 3 really is a marvelous chapter, and
this topic is covered in great detail in that chapter. In the first half of the
chapter the apostle is dealing with the sin of man and how there is none
righteous, but the Law has shut up all men under sin. However, God demonstrated
His righteous judgment by pouring out His wrath on Christ on the cross. As 2
Corinthians 5 tells us, Christ became sin for us that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. By His sacrifice of Himself, Christ has opened the
way for sinners to escape the righteous judgment of God as a free gift of His
grace. And as we read in Romans 3 - "This was to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins
previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the
present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus." This is a marvelous statement. Through Christs
death on the cross God can be both just, by righteously punishing sin, and the
justifier, that is He can save the one who has faith in Jesus. Our sins were
taken on Christ on the cross, now we can come to God for salvation because the
sin problem has been dealt with. Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. And through this plan that only the mind of God could contrive, He is
both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
In his sermon on Mars Hill the apostle Paul spoke of the
righteous judgment of God. Acts 17:30-31 - "Therefore having overlooked
the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should
repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in
righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to
all men by raising Him from the dead." The righteous judgment of God is a
part of the gospel message. Sin has a foothold on this earth, but that will not
always be the case. God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in
righteousness. To a certain extent all men recognize that Gods love and His
judgment of sin are connected. When sharing the gospel you'll hear questions
like, "If God is good, then why do bad things happen to good people?"
or vise versa. Or, "If God is loving than why is there so much sin and
injustice in the world?" Mankind in general recognizes that if God is good
then sin must be judged, and we know that that is certainly the case. The
answer is that in a coming day all these wrongs will be righted, God has fixed
a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. By and large people
want sin to be judged in general, but they seem to overlook the problem of
their own sin. They don't recognize that if God is really just and if He
actually does judge sin then that means He has to judge their sin too,
otherwise He wouldn't be just. And this inconsistency needs to be pointed out.
Because the fact is that a day is coming in which He will judge the world in
righteousness, and when He does no one who is outside of Christ will escape. So
God is now declaring that all men everywhere should repent. The Lord is slow to anger and great in
power, and the Lord will by no
means leave the guilty unpunished." The apostle Paul talks about this
coming day in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 saying - "This is a plain indication
of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the
kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only
just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief
to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to
those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord
Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be
glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have
believed—for our testimony to you was believed." We're told in John
chapter three that for the one who doesn't believe, "the wrath of God
abides on him." But the Lord Jesus says in John 5:24 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and
believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment,
but has passed out of death into life." We know that the judgment
of God rightly falls upon sinners, but God has made a way of salvation through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and through Him, He has is both just and the justifier
of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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