Oh, thank you for the great singing this morning. We're continuing in our study on God's attributes, and we're looking this morning at divine justice. One of the great unchanging, unbreakable truths about God, and contrary to the world's beliefs, and even the belief of many in the evangelical church, is that God is just. And God's justice system and the world's justice system are not comparable. The world's system is, and always has been, because of man's sinfulness, flawed or imperfect Our ideal is that our justice would be blind, that is it would not see any favoritism, would not see any partiality, would not see any merit in the accused, would not see any benefit going to anyone including the accused or those who defend or those who prosecute or those who judge. Blind justice is just that, blind to everything but the facts. And it is to judge solely on those facts, giving no preference to anyone regardless of their status or race or social, financial or political standing. Sadly, however, our justice system is not always blind Although it is God-ordained in Genesis 9, verses 5 and 6, God-ordained the justice system for our protection, for our good, even though God has done that, it still remains flawed, defective, and imperfect. A National Review article from this year, January 2016, stated that American prosecutors win 99.5% of their cases, 97% without a trial, because the plea bargain system coerces incriminating evidence from witnesses in exchange for reduced sentences or immunity from prosecution, including perjury. and threatens them with prosecution if they decline to cooperate. The article goes on to say that the United States has six to eight times as many incarcerated people per capita as the comparable large prosperous democracies, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. One senator said that either those other countries don't care about crime, which is ridiculous, or Americans are unlikely or uniquely addicted to committing crimes, which is equally ridiculous, or the American system doesn't function well, which is really the case. Another article takes a slightly different slant on our American justice system. The American criminal justice system is failing at actually serving justice. Too many criminals are walking free or not being adequately punished for their crimes. Too many people are wrongfully convicted and too many people are given sentences that don't match the severity of their crimes. Most importantly, too many victims are watching their victimizers walk free. In too many cases, the system doesn't even allow its own process to play out. People who commit heinous crimes aren't even brought to trial because of failures in the investigative process. Or criminals avoid judgment for their crimes because of technicalities exploited by their lawyers. supporting what this previous article has just said. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are plenty of people who face unduly harsh consequences of the American criminal justice system due to exploitation. People from marginalized communities are far more likely to be bullied into a plea deal by public defenders who have had less than 10 minutes to review their cases. They're also more likely to be bullied into false confessions by police, or they're subject to mandatory minimum sentencing rules that force judges to incarcerate them for years for minor nonviolent offenses. Too often, systemic prejudices also pollute the American criminal justice system. In some cases and in certain parts of the country, systemic racism results in people of color being treated more harshly while white people are given more leniency. In other cases, systemic sexism results in blaming or disbelieving the victim and valuing men's futures over women's safety. And religious intolerance results in justification of crimes against people who believe differently. We also are all too familiar with a two-tiered justice system, one for people of extreme influence and money, and another for those with less influence and less money, particularly of late, in our political system. So without question, prejudice and greed has corrupted at least some of our justice system. But even when justice is blind, It can still be flawed because it is working with incomplete evidence and those arguing and judging the cases view and evaluate evidence in different ways and contribute to that the sin nature. And even when all of the viewing and evaluating is done, a wrong verdict can still be rendered even when those rendering judgment are honest and sincere. It's estimated that over 4% of all convictions in our country are false convictions and incarcerations. In an April 2014 article in National Geographic began with this question, is there a more tragic story than an innocent person going to prison? goes on to say, that's why the movie Shawshank Redemption is one of the most beloved movies of our time, a story of a falsely convicted man who eventually escapes prison and exposes the corruption of the warden, his guards, and the system. In the same article, it spoke of a falsely convicted man who was actually exonerated in March of 2014 After his release, as Louisiana's longest serving death row inmate, he said, my sons, when I left, was babies, now they're grown men with babies. To date, as long as we have been keeping records, 143 people on death row have been exonerated. Their time spent on death row ranging from one to 33 years, with the average of 10 years in incarceration. And with this many false convictions and sentencing, there are certainly more on death row now that have not yet been exonerated, but should be. All this proves in one way or another that we have a flawed justice system. some of it corrupt, some of it sincere, yet imperfect. But God knew from the beginning the propensity for man's justice to be both corrupt and imperfect. God knew that. This is why He gave Israel laws warning them to execute justice fairly. And if you want to follow along with me, you can. Leviticus 19, Leviticus 19 and verse 15. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. and to prevent as many false convictions as possible under Israel's justice system, even though in some cases God knew that the guilty would go free, He commanded that at least two or three witnesses testify in the judgment of the accused, particularly in capital crimes. He said in Deuteronomy 17, Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death, Deuteronomy 17, 6, on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Now God knew even if the one witness was correct, He couldn't use one witness. had to be at least two or three to corroborate the evidence. In Deuteronomy 19.15, it says, one witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, the matter shall be established. And God took false testimony very seriously, so seriously that He said this in Deuteronomy 19, and I think this passage is worth underlining, Deuteronomy 19.16 and following. If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother. So you shall put away the evil from among you. And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. Life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." So at least from God's standpoint, because of man's inherent propensity to be partial or prejudiced towards certain individuals, or simply flawed, even though sincere, he warned Israel against corruption, and he also advised them as to how they were to adjudicate cases in that community. But even though man's justice is corrupt and imperfect, God's justice is neither. And that's what we're going to look at this morning. So, I want to look at, first of all, God's justice stated. Just some simple statements concerning God's justice, biblical statements. The Bible is clear that God is a God of justice. And unlike men, He executes His justice perfectly and without partiality. Deuteronomy 32.4, it says this, God is the rock. His work is perfect. For all His ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice, righteousness and upright is He. This is a beautiful statement of God's impartiality and perfection in judgment and in justice, administering justice. In Job 8.3, Bildad, one of Job's friends, asks these rhetorical questions. He says, does God subvert judgment or does the Almighty pervert justice? Obviously, the answer is no. unlike man's justice. Elihu said in Job 34.12, surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice. He said again, Elihu said again in Job 37.23, as for the Almighty, we cannot find him. He is excellent in power, in judgment, and abundant justice. He's excellent. There's no flaws. David said in Psalm 33, 5, God loves righteousness and justice. He said again, or the Psalmist said again, in Psalm 89, 14, he said that God so much loves justice, that righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. That's a pretty weighty statement. Righteousness and justice are the foundation on which God's throne sits. Isaiah 30 verse 18 says, The Lord is a God of justice. Speaking of God's servant, Messiah, which Isaiah often speaks of, and the Messiah's coming ministry, as well as His second coming. Isaiah 42, verses 1-4 says this, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause a voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and all the coastlands shall wait for his law." So when the Lord Jesus Christ came and when he will come again, he will exhibit divine justice. So clearly God is a God of justice. His justice is perfect and it is the foundation of everything he does. But I want us to look secondly, and this is where we will spend the rest of our time, God's justice exercised. God's justice exercised. Secondly, his justice exercised. Because God is righteous and holy, He must be just in punishing sin. I think we understand that. The great theologian Louis Burkhoff said, Sin is a very serious matter and is taken seriously by God, though men often make light of it. It is not only a transgression of the law of God, but an attack on the great Lawgiver Himself, a revolt against God. It is an infringement on the inviolable righteousness of God, which is the very foundation of His throne, and an affront to the spotless holiness of God, which requires of us that we all be holy in all manner of living. And concerning God's righteousness, we've already mentioned Psalm 97, 2, which says righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. But concerning God's holiness and how it relates to us, 1 Peter 1, 16 says, be holy for I am holy. We are to be holy as God is holy and not put ourselves in a position where God would see fit to judge us. So because God is righteous, which means He's always right in what He does, and because He's holy, which means He's separate from His creation and separate from sin, He must be just and punish every sin. So what is His justice? We might define God's justice as this. His giving every person his or her due in treating him or her according to their thoughts, speech, or actions. It's a pretty simple definition. Giving every person his or her due in treating him or her according to their thoughts, speech, or actions. God's justice then is His act of giving men what they deserve because of how they live in relation to His standards or laws. And with this understanding, God's justice is both positive and negative. And that's where we'll start breaking this down. The Bible bears out the fact that God executes justice both for good and bad, for the wicked and for the righteous. Ecclesiastes 12, 14 says, For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. God's gonna evaluate everything, not just the bad. He's gonna evaluate the good as well. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 27, for the son of man will come in the glory of his father with his holy angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. And the reward here can be reward of punishment or reward of gifts. when Jesus returns in the Second Coming. Even concerning believers, 2 Corinthians 5.10 says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. I'm not sure we think about that much. I'm not sure we think about Us as believers standing before Christ one day and having having to answer for good or for the good we've done And the bad we've done For some reason we've got this in our mind that because Christ has paid for our sins and we're forgiven That we're not gonna have to answer for anything anymore. Well, that's not what the Bible says We're all gonna have to answer for everything we've done even as believers I don't know what that's going to be like, I have no idea. That's all we know is one statement that we're going to stand before God and be evaluated. I'm thinking about, and I think about this a lot as a pastor, there's a few reasons why I'm not like other pastors. Number one, I've got a very narrow set of gifts. You might say one gift, and I don't know how well I do that. But the reason that I'm not like many other pastors is because I take Hebrews 13 very seriously. And I have to ask myself when I see some of the stuff that goes on in some of these other churches, if anybody's ever read this or if they've read it, do they believe it? in Hebrews chapter 13, and this is directed to the congregation, this is directed toward you, Hebrews 13, 17. Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch for your souls as those who must give an account. Pastors, the only authority that pastors have is the same authority you have. It's this. None of us has more authority than anybody else. This idea that the pastor runs the church and everybody's got to do what he says is ridiculous. And I know there are a lot of churches, particularly small churches, that are operated that way. That's not how we're supposed to operate. When it says obey those who have the rule over you, it's talking about elders. You're supposed to obey your elders, but you're only, you're supposed to obey your elders only so far as they are telling you what this says. In other words, thus says the Lord, you need to obey this. And I have no problem standing in this pulpit telling you that. Okay? God says this, you need to obey it. Okay? That's what it's talking about. If I tell you, you know, you need to come over and wash my truck, You're not supposed to obey that. That's not what this is talking about. Although, if you want to come over and do that, that would be great. You're supposed to obey the elders insofar as they give you the Word of God and tell you what God demands of us. That's what you're supposed to obey. And be submissive. Be submissive to what they're telling you about God's Word. So there's nothing inherent in pastors or elders, which are the same thing, pastors or elders, elders or pastors, nothing inherent in our calling or in us that makes us any different or any higher than you are on the divine food chain. Matter of fact, we're supposed to be servants of all. We're supposed to be the lowest on the chain. That kind of gets messed up in a lot of places too. But the reason that I, I take this very seriously. We watch over or watch out for your souls. That's the reason we tell you what God wants and what he doesn't want. But look at the rest of the verse. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. In other words, don't give your pastors or elders a lot of grief. because they're just going to agonize over it. Don't put any more stress on the pastors and elders than they already have, because that's going to be unprofitable for you. That's where you're going to give an answer. Don't do it with giving them grief by disobeying what they're telling you God says. If this verse is true, and I'm going to let pastors and elders in other churches decide, because I'm sure they're familiar with it. I'm sure they've read it at least once. I'm going to let them decide for themselves if they believe it or not. But I take this very seriously. I'm going to have to stand before Christ one day. And sometimes I shake when I think about that, because I have no idea what that's going to be like. I'm hoping it's going to be well done, thou good and faithful servant, or you did a pretty good job, here's a few things, or you did a horrible job. All your works are burned up, 1 Corinthians 3. I don't know if I'm going to get door number 1, door number 2, or door number 3. I want to get door number 1, but just because I say it doesn't mean it's going to happen. I've really, and to go along with this, I've really never prayed for us to be a big church. Ever. Honestly, I've prayed for us to be a church of 75 to 100 people. I've prayed that for going on 13 years. That's all. And matter of fact, and Dennis can corroborate this, Kurt, When we first started the church, we said that we would never want to get over 200 if God ever blessed us, because whenever we hit that mark, we'd send out 50 or 60 people to start another church. That has never been the goal of this church. And one of the reasons it's never been a goal for me is because of this verse. I got to give an account for as many people as I shepherd. Well, if I don't know if I'm getting door number one, two, or three, How many people do I want to be accountable for? That scares me, okay? So, I believe in the sovereignty of God. I've got exact amount that he wants me to have. And I still keep praying for the 75 to 100 so we could have viable ministries and we can, you know, pay the bills and those kinds of things. But beyond that, Verse 17 has always been concerning to me. So, that's just a little bearing of the soul here. But the point is, we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Related to Hebrews 13, 17, I'm thinking about James 3, verse 1. It just came into my mind. And here it is. Speaking of leaders, speaking of teachers in the church, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. So we're the servants of all, but we receive a stricter judgment. That's why we're supposed to be real careful about who teaches. We're supposed to be real careful in evaluating whether we think God is calling us to teach or not. This word stricter, it's a relative term. If we receive a stricter judgment, what does that mean for people who don't teach receive? A strict judgment. So people in the church who don't teach are going, at the very least, everyone receives a strict judgment. Teachers happen to receive a stricter judgment, right? So, there's even divine justice when it comes to Christians. Now, it doesn't mean that there's any condemnation involved for Christians. We know that, right? Romans 8, 1, there's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. But that doesn't mean there's still not a judgment. We go before the judgment seat as believers. It's not going to change our standing in Christ, but something's going to happen there. where every Christian is going to be evaluated for good or bad, and then pastors, elders, teachers are going to be evaluated even more. So, I don't know if it's the same judgment that I'm going to go to as everyone else, and it's just stricter in that sense, or am I going to go to the 2 Corinthians 5 judgment, you know, for every believer, and then I got to go to another judgment? for teachers and then I got to go to another judgment? I mean, I might be going through three judgments. I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us. But anyone who is teaching or an elder or a pastor, honestly, they should be taking that very, very seriously. So, and by the way, that's another reason why I take preaching very seriously because I don't want to get it wrong. I mean, I know I do. I just don't know where I get it wrong. You know, you don't tell me. I mean, you know, I want you to. If you find something that I'm not saying right, you need to tell me. But, you know, Calvin said that he gets 80 percent. On his best day, he got 80 percent of his theology right. That was Calvin. And he wasn't saying, well, I know what the 20% is that's wrong. He wasn't saying that. He says, just knowing what I know about myself, I probably get about 80% right. And the guy wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible except three or four books. I mean, the guy was just a genius theologian. He knew the Bible frontwards and backwards. If Calvin got a B minus, where does that leave me? So, you got to take it seriously. Jesus says in Revelation 12, or 2212, of both the positive and the negative judgment or rewards. He says, Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. So sometimes when the Bible says reward, it's not always a good thing. He might be rewarded with punishment, okay? Punishment or gifts, you know, positive and negative. So Jesus said, when I come back, everyone's gonna be rewarded, some negatively, some positively. So the Bible is clear that God deals justly with individuals according to how they live, whether good or bad, and he does that because he's a God of justice. Perfect justice. Well, under this, what we've just talked about, let's go to number one here. Two types of divine justice. There's two types of divine justice. And these are basically theological categories. You're not going to see a lot of this terminology in the Bible, but just from categorizing the verses on God's justice, we can split them into two types. Positive justice And this is where God executes remunerative justice. Remunerative justice. That is, He rewards positively those who obey Him. He makes a judgment, okay? And this is probably what's going to happen at the judgment seat of Christ, right? Probably what's going to happen with teachers and pastors. 1 Corinthians 3, talking about teachers and pastors. Hebrews 13, talking about elders, which would be pastors. And then James chapter 3, which would be talking about teachers, which would also include pastors and elders. From a positive standpoint, God rewards those who obey him. David said in Psalm 1911, that in keeping God's commandments, there is great reward. Not just a reward, but great reward. Psalm 5811 says, surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely he is God who judges the earth. So if God can judge the whole earth, surely He can judge His own people. Proverbs 11, 18 says, He who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. So, sanctification, you know, if you're really striving to be holy like Christ is holy and walk with Him, you have a sure reward from God. Proverbs 25, 21, 22 says, If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you. So, if you're kind to your enemies and show that kindness through giving them something to eat or giving them something to drink or helping them out in some way, obviously these are just representative categories. If you're doing something practical for those who are your enemies, you will have a reward from the Lord. Isaiah 40, verse 10, when the Lord comes in the Millennial Kingdom to Israel, speaking of all the faithful at that time. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him. God is a good God and there is more about God's rewards, positive rewards in the Bible than there are about his punishments. The Bible is filled with God's rewards. In the New Testament, we find the same language concerning God's remunerative justice. Jesus, who taught more on God, he taught more on God's rewards than his punishments. He said in Matthew 5, 11 and 12, when they revile and persecute you, this is right after the Beatitudes, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven." It's not just a reward, it's a great reward for suffering for Christ's sake. Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 6, verses 3 and 4, when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. So, in your giving, if you just give, because your heart is telling you to give, and you're not sitting at your calculator and, well, I can give an extra half a percent or whatever. You don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, just give. And when you do that, God's gonna reward you openly. I don't know what that means. I've preached on it. I don't know what that means. I don't know, openly here, openly in heaven before everyone? I don't know. He's going to openly reward us if we do that. Verse 6, and this is again in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in a secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. God rewards secret prayer. You know, I can stand up here and pray and, you know, I mean, I'm kind of a meat and potato prayer, you know, I don't get real flowery and stuff, but, you know, God's not gonna reward me for praying in front of you. It never says that in the Bible. I'm gonna get a reward when I'm on my knees in my bedroom or my closet or wherever I pray. That's where I'm gonna get rewarded. Same for you. Matthew 6, again, in verses 17 and 18, when you fast, Did you catch that? It doesn't say if you fast. When you fast, Jesus assumes that people who know him fast, okay? Anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. So that's Jesus' triad in Matthew 6 on giving, and on praying, and on fasting. And He assumes that believers do all three. But when they do, and they are sincere, and they do it secretly without sending out an email or a blast text telling, I'm fasting today, pray for me, right? No, when you do it in secret, He rewards openly. Okay, Matthew 10, verse, I mean, I'm just giving you a tip of the iceberg here. Verses 41 and 42 say, this is Jesus again, He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. These are all promises, will, not maybe. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in my name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, or verily, verily, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward." These are absolute promises from God. When the faithful servant was addressed by his Lord in Matthew 25, verse 21, the Lord said to his servant, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. And of course, Jesus was using this parable to illustrate what would happen when he comes back at the end of the Tribulation, at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, there's going to be a reward. There's a judgment, and He judges that you have been faithful and that you receive a reward. When the king separates the sheep and the goats at the end of the Tribulation in Matthew 25, 34, the king says, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It's a reward. It's a judgment. When the king had people stand on the right and on his left, court was in session. It was a judgment. There was both negative and positive rewards. Those on the left got the negative, those on the right got the positive. When Paul was describing God's justice, basically his general justice in Romans 2, verses 6 and 7, he said that God will render to each one according to his deeds. He's talking about every human being. He's going to judge. Court will be open. It will be in session. And in this general judgment of all people, we have remunerative remunerative justice. He says, he will render to each one according to his deeds, and what do those who are his receive? What do those who have done good receive? He says, eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. That's the mark of a believer. They receive eternal life because they were patient and continuing in doing good and seeking for glory, honor, and immortality. He's describing a believer. Speaking of those who evangelize and teach in the church, 1 Corinthians 3.8 says, He who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. That's what God will judge. How much? Who? Again, in verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 3, it says, and this is again speaking of teachers and pastors, if anyone's work which he has built on the foundation of Christ endures, he will receive a reward. Even Paul warns us in Colossians 2.18, he says, let no one cheat you of your reward. And there he's talking about false teachers coming in and you listening to them instead of listening to the Word of God. Don't let anybody cheat you because you can lose your rewards if you go down the wrong path. And this is God's promise in Colossians 3, in verses 23 and 24. Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. And speaking of those of us who are working for employers or, you know, slaves and masters type relationship, whatever you do, do it heartily to the Lord. It doesn't matter if you've got a horrible boss or a great boss, a horrible master or a good master, it doesn't matter. Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not to men. It's irrelevant what your boss is like, or your master is like. That's irrelevant. You're not doing it for them, you're doing it for Christ. Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. I can't tell you how many Christians I talk to where they're complaining constantly about their job, their employer, whatever. You know what? Get a different job and stop sinning because every time you complain about that boss, male, female, tall, short, whatever, bad, good, you're sinning against Christ. You're not working for them. You're working for Him. You might as well just be complaining about Him because He sovereignly put you in that position. Even Moses, according to Hebrews 11, 26, esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Why? Because he looked for the reward. He looked for the reward from God. He didn't care what he went through in Egypt. He didn't care. His reward's in heaven. It's not here. 2 John 1.8 says that we can diminish our reward. John tells the believers there, look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we work for, but that we may receive a full reward. Anybody here want half a reward? I want the whole enchilada. Don't cut it in half. Don't cut it in quarters. Don't lose a full reward. And there again, it's talking about entertaining false teachers. Don't do it. So in both the Old and New Testaments, we see that God judges His people and rewards them with gifts. And these gifts are purely by grace. Don't ever think you're meriting a reward. It doesn't work that way. The only thing you merit is eternal punishment. That's the only thing that you merit. Everything you have beyond spending eternity in hell is purely by God's grace and mercy. Even the rewards you get are not because you earned them. It's because God was gracious enough to work in you for you to do that for Him. They're not earned by God's people by any sort of merit, because we can't merit anything from God. And there's a lot of false teaching on this in the Church. I mean, you know, it's that, well, you know, you're saved by grace, you're justified by grace, but you're sanctified by works. That was the error that Paul addressed in Galatians. Listen, you get justified by grace, you're sanctified by grace. There's no difference. By faith. Faith and grace. That's it. Both. The whole thing. From the time you believe in Christ until He takes you home, it's all by grace through faith. All of it. Paul even said in Acts 26, or Jesus told Paul, that you are to go and preach to those who have been sanctified by faith in me. We're sanctified by faith and by grace. So, okay. This is what we call remunerative justice. God giving his people what they don't deserve because someone else has earned it for them. And who would that be? Jesus, right? He earned it all for us. And because we're in Him, God then gives us gifts based on His merit, not ours, but negatively. Let's look at the negative side of this. Retributive justice, right? Retributive justice. And that is, God punishes those who don't obey Him. And whereas God graciously gives good gifts to His children purely out of His love for them, not because they deserve it, right, or earned it. In retributive justice, God deals with sinners giving them exactly what they do deserve, His wrath and punishment. And of course, we've got one end of the Bible to the other filled with passages on this, I'll give you a few of them. Exodus 34.7 says that in contrast to those God has mercy on, and these are the ones who fully deserve His punishment but don't receive it, God by no means clears the guilty. This means He meets out to them, and that would be those who don't have anyone to earn their favor for them, which would be Christ. He meets, God meets out to them what they fully deserve according to His justice. So we get what we don't deserve, they get exactly what they do deserve. Deuteronomy 32, 39 and following, it speaks of God as a judge who will surely exercise His justice on His enemies. This is God speaking. Now see that I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, nor is there any who can deliver from my hand. For I raise my hand to heaven and say, as I live forever, if I wet my glittering sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives from the heads of the leaders of the enemy." Speaking of God's perfect and unyielding justice, Psalm 7, verses 11 to 13 say, God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If He does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword. He bends His bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for Himself instruments of death. He makes His arrows into fiery shafts. God is going to deal with those who don't know Christ unimaginably. We can't even imagine. It's beyond our comprehension how bad it's going to be for those who don't know Christ. I mean, it's going to be like God has fiery arrows that He's going to shoot into His enemies. And that's what David is describing here. He's describing a battlefield. And there's going to be blood all over the place. Hosea 4.9 says to Israel, who was at the time steeped in idolatry, God says, so I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their deeds. They will get exactly what they deserve. Speaking of punishment under the law of Moses, the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2.2, the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, speaking of the law of Moses, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward. You broke the law of Moses and you were immediately punished. So that's remunerative and retributive justice. He has two sides to His justice, a rewarding justice for those who are His and a punishing justice for those who are not His. But I also want to look at the nature of divine justice, and I'll try and get through this quickly, the nature of divine justice. Punishment for sin is a result of God's justice, but the punishment comes in three ways. And I'm going through this because I'm trying to dissect this so we can see how life works for people, okay, and why things happen to people the way they happen to people, and why things happen the way they will in the future. But the first type of divine justice would be, A, an indirect divine justice, indirect. And what I mean by this is there are divine punishments which are the natural results of sin that men cannot escape. And as soon as I give you the first one, you'll probably have a dozen that go through your mind. These are all the consequences of sin that God has put in place in the natural order. Okay? God is not judging directly. He's judging indirectly through the everyday consequences of sin and the everyday affairs of life. Okay? The natural order. And because of the nature of these punishments, Man cannot escape these simply by repenting, okay? He can repent or not repent, it doesn't matter. The consequences are going to be there. And these punishments serve as a reminder to the sinner of his past transgression. For example, the drunkard comes to the point of losing his job and family. And there's nothing he can do about it. Even if he reforms, It's not going to mitigate the consequences in most cases. Now, we all know of an exception here and there, but for most cases, it's over with. He's made his bed. He's got to sleep in it. He can repent all he wants. It's too late. We see the same thing with the fornicator or the homosexual who contracts a serious disease through his lewd behavior, or the criminal who commits a capital crime. He can repent in front of the judge all he wants, the judge isn't gonna say, okay, I get it, you're free to go. It doesn't work that way. The consequences are set in stone, and these are natural consequences to sin. God has not directly judged the person. Turning from these evil ways will not mitigate one single consequence. They're punishments from God in the form of natural consequences for sin that He has placed in His creation. And the Bible speaks of this type of divine justice very frequently. Job 4.8 says, even as I have seen those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. That's just the natural law. Psalm 915 says, "...the nations have sunk down in the pit which they made, in the net which they hid their own foot is caught." They're just reaping what they sowed. It's natural. That's what's going to happen. Speaking of the consequences of their sin in Psalm 94.23, It says, God has brought on them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness. The Lord our God shall cut them off, but he cuts them off through natural consequences. Proverbs 5, 22 and 23 says, his own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin. He shall die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray. And these are the things we need to teach our kids. You do certain stupid things in life, you're going to have lifetime consequences. Proverbs 23, 21 says, For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. It's his fault. and he just reaps what he sows. King Lemuel's mother, if you have read Proverbs any number of times, this would stick with you. King Lemuel's mother warned him of this form of divine justice in Proverbs 31.3, Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings. She knew the natural consequences of sin. Certain sins are going to have certain consequences that you cannot escape. Repent all you want, it's not going to help. In the New Testament, Paul said the same thing. He's basically summarizing everything that the Old Testament talked about. He said in Galatians 6-7, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. It's the same type of natural consequence. That is an indirect divine judgment or divine justice. B, we'll look at mediated divine justice. Mediated divine justice. You say, what are you talking about? Well, these are not divine punishments by the natural order, but punishments directed by God through His chosen community. In other words, these are consequences that have to be meted out by other people on those who break God's laws or standards. In the Old Testament, God gave Israel a very specific set of laws. It's called the Law of Moses. And if individuals did not live by that law, the community was to punish the evildoer. And there are numerous laws that dealt with this type of punishment. Exodus 21 and verses 22 to 25 says, If men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished according as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm does follow, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. The community is supposed to carry out the punishment. This is mediated divine justice. We're doing it according to God's law. Exodus 22, 18 to 20 says, you shall not permit a sorceress to live. Capital punishment. Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death. Capital punishment. He who sacrifices to any God except to the Lord only, he shall utterly be destroyed. Capital punishment. But the community was to carry that out. God didn't send fire from heaven and devour these people. In the New Testament we see the same type of justice. When believers openly sin and will not repent, the church is to discipline them, right? Matthew 18, we're all familiar with that. Matthew 18, 15 to 17, Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you shall have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and tax collector. Don't have anything to do with him. That's what the church is supposed to do. They're supposed to execute divine justice on this person. 1 Corinthians 4, 4 and 5, there was a problem with incest in the church. that needed to be dealt with. And Paul is very direct in saying, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, that's in a church service, along with my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one, the Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You deliver this guy over to Satan. You pray, God, take this person, turn him over to the devil, and we're getting rid of him, and hopefully that's gonna bring him around. but that's the community exercising divine justice. 2 Thessalonians 3, 10 and 11, Paul addresses lazy Christians who won't work to feed themselves. They're mooching off of the church, okay? He says, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Don't give him any bread, don't give him any food, don't invite him over for dinner. If he's not gonna work, he doesn't eat. He'll wake up, but if you keep feeding him, what is he gonna do? He's going to keep doing the same thing. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. In the same chapter, in verses 14 and 15, 2 Thessalonians 3, it says, And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person, do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet don't count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. So there are social consequences, fellowship consequences in the early church. There should be today too. These are mediated divine punishments. But then there is C, unmediated divine justice, unmediated divine justice. And this is where God supernaturally inflicts His justice on people. And this is all through the Bible. to mention a couple of them to you. In the Old Testament, we see the flood, right? God supernaturally brought the flood, destroyed everyone but eight people. He had the Tower of Babel. God confused the language of the entire earth. That was supernatural. Okay, God directly intervening with judgment. The Egyptian army that was drowned in the Red Sea, that was supernatural. God taking the wheels off the chariots and then pushing the water on top of the Egyptian army. Supernatural judgment. Nadab and Abihu, remember when they brought strange fire in Leviticus chapter 10, God sent fire from heaven, devoured them right on the spot. Israel didn't have to intervene there. They didn't have to carry out the capital crime. God did it supernaturally. You got the same thing with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Numbers 16, where the earth swallowed them up, purely supernatural. No mediation there at all. The New Testament, we have the same thing there. Ananias and Sapphira, Acts chapter 5, they lied to the Holy Spirit. They both dropped dead right at Peter's feet. Peter didn't have to kill them. God did it. Simon the sorcerer, what happened? Blindness. Elamist the sorcerer, blindness because he was opposing the gospel. God supernaturally blinded these sorcerers because of their disobedience. Believers in Corinth, God killed them for abusing the Lord's Supper. Believers in the church. Of course, unbelievers at the end of the age when they're cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 20. All supernatural judgments, these are unmediated examples of unmediated divine justice. How much of this type of justice still happens today? I have no idea. I'm not even gonna guess. I'm sure it does. I'm sure there's people dropping dead here and there that I don't know about that are directly judged by God. But God exercises justice on sin in a number of ways. The third and final thing, I'll just leave you with this, God's justice on Christ. We've talked about this quite a bit. Christ is a substitute. He deserved nothing, right? He didn't deserve God's justice in divine wrath, but he got it on the cross for three hours, right? He paid the penalty for sin. He became the sin bearer for us. You know, God never gives a pass on sin. There's not one single sin that's ever been committed or ever will be committed that is not dealt with by divine justice. Either sinners, unrepentant sinners will pay for their sins in hell for eternity, or Christ will pay for it on the cross. But God will exact justice on every single sin. And the reason unbelievers have to spend eternity in hell is because they have committed offenses against an infinite God. It's not that their offenses are infinite, it's that their offense is committed against an infinite God, which demands infinite punishment. Now, when Jesus took three hours on the cross to pay, for the sins of those who would believe on Him. He endured infinite punishment in three hours. That means He had to be God. No human being could do that, right? That's proof of the deity of Christ, right there. He had to be God to do that. He had to be man to die, to pay for the wages of sin, which is death. God can't die. So He had to be the God-man. There's the proof of the hypostatic union. There could not be a more perfect plan God, because of His infinite holiness and by His perfect justice, requires that all sin be paid through infinite divine punishment. And for us who know Christ, He's paid that penalty for us. For those who don't know Christ, they still have time to place their faith in Him, right? They can trust Him, His work on the cross to save them from their sin, as the one who stood in their place at Calvary, and then believe that He was raised three days later. That's how you switch who pays for the sins. Thank you, Lord, for this time. It's kind of a whirlwind here on divine justice, but I pray that we've got the drift of it, and I pray that it would at least help us to think about these things more seriously and more soberly. Thank you for the multitude of data, biblical data, on this subject. And we thank you that you are perfect, because if you weren't perfect in justice, you wouldn't be perfect in your other attributes either, and we would not have a perfect God to trust in. So thank you for being who you are, and thank you for your Son being absolutely perfect as you are perfect. And the Holy Spirit who indwells us, absolutely perfect as you and your Son are perfect, so that we know that we have absolute perfection available to us in how we deal with things, even though we still sin. And we just say thank you for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.