God is a God of Justice: Judgment is Coming

God is love. God is also a God of Justice. In fact, His Justice is a function of His love.

People are uncomfortable with this reality, but it is a critical part of His character.

God cannot be properly understood without the understanding that God punishes evil and will continue to punish evil.

To understand God’s justice, we must understand sin as well. God HATES sin. God is going to punish sin.

Indeed, God hates sin so much that the penalty for it is death, the Bible teaches.

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin is not just a crime against those you sin against with lying, adultery, stealing, murdering, and so on.

The much more serious issue is that sin is a crime against God.

God is infinite, therefore the horror of our sin is infinite.

Psalm 51:4-5: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

There is nobody on Earth today who has not sinned against God.

Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And if you think you’re in the clear because you have only committed “small” sins, or “few” sins, think again.

James 2:10: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Because our sin is infinitely huge, there is nothing we or any other finite creature could do to save us from it.

And because God is perfectly Just, He must punish it.

Therefore, ONLY Christ could pay the penalty for it.

Revelation 20:15: And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Satan and his angels are also going into the Lake of Fire.

We have an obligation to warn others about this, just like we would warn others about a bridge being out or a train coming.

God actually tells us that if we do NOT warn others, WE will be held responsible.

Ezekiel 33:8-9: When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have [b]delivered your soul.

The question that arises, then, is: What is sin?

(1 John 3:4) Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

What do we see in America today? Total rejection of God’s truths, God’s laws, God’s moral code, and God Himself–even those truths that God has made plain to everyone.

The consequence of this rejection is being handed over by God to a reprobate mind, as He explains.

This means that the perversion and wickedness we see exploding across America today is both evidence of God’s judgment, as well as a precipitating factor in bringing down more judgment in the future.

Romans 1:18-32: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,[g] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Aside from individuals, God also judges entire nations and peoples. Remember what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah.

God even judged the whole world.

Genesis 6:5: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Only evil continually! And so, God responded.

Genesis 6:12-13: So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

However, just like God protected Lot when destroying Sodom, God protected Noah and his family from the flood. God has a history of protecting His own people.

While God used an ark to save Noah and his family, our ark is our salvation in Christ–the only safe place to be amid the coming judgement.

The Old Testament is filled with examples of God’s righteous judgement, including judgments on His Own beloved people and nation, Israel.

When they turn away from God and worship demonic idols, God sends foreign pagan enemies to oppress them, tyrants to tyrannize them, and even conquerors to enslave them as the King of Babylon did.

I believe America is in the midst of judgement. The signs are clear. It is going to get worse without massive repentance, and that does not seem likely without His direct intervention.

That means we need to be prepared, and beg God to protect His people from what is coming.

Who can deny that America deserves judgement? The blood of 70 million murdered babies cries out to him. The grotesque mockery of marriage–a symbol of the relationship between Christ and the Church–has been endorsed by the highest court in the land.

Worse still, America, through government and entertainment and commerce, is exporting this evil to the whole world.

If God judged Sodom and Gomorrah, He must judge America too.

And making matters worse, America and Americans once knew God! Our forefathers were pious people who came to these shores to glorify Him, worship Him, and spread the Gospel.

It is coming.

Matthew 24:37-39: “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 “and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Much of the Book of Revelation deals with God’s coming judgment on the world.

This is because of His perfect justice. Do we want evil to go unpunished? Do we want evil to exist and plague us for eternity?

God’s justice and His Judgement may seem harsh, but ultimately they are a function of His love and His perfection.

God will avenge His martyrs, too.

Revelation 19:1-2: After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! 2For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”

God’s people, who have been persecuted for millennia, will be avenged by their Perfect Father in Heaven.

And when Christ returns to Earth, it will not be as a baby in a manger. Read the description of His Second Coming from the Word of God.

Revelation 19:11-16: Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

We should thank God that He is a God of justice. And we should thank Him that He is a God of Mercy and Grace.

Each and every one of us deserves justice and eternal destruction.

Without the Mercy and Grace provided by Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, that is exactly what we would get.

May this realization make us more thankful for His Love than ever before.

[This sermon was preached by Alex Newman on Sunday, February 20, 2021]