Merciful Justice

Intro

There is some beautiful study to be done around the attributes of God. God is unchanging. We often hear people say that there is nothing God can’t do. I think the heart with which people say that is good, but that statement is not true. There are indeed things God can not do, and that is why we can trust in Him. We can trust that God is faithful and that will never change because He declared that he is unchanging in Malachi 3:6 ““For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

The author of Hebrews makes this same point in Hebrews 6

Hebrews 6:17–20 ESV

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

We have faith because God is unchanging, he cannot lie, he cannot be defeated, he cannot change. The attribute of God that we are going to focus on today is God’s justice. God cannot be unjust. The questions we seek to answer today are…

What is justification?

What is the punishment for sin?

How can God be simultaneously just and merciful?

Romans 3:21-31

Paul transitions now from the doctrine of sin, to the doctrine of justification. This is a relatively well know passage of scripture, and it is chock full of words with loaded meanings. In the training world, we call those words abstractions. We all have those words and phrases that we use at work. We might hear words or acronyms like P&L, CRM, through-put. In the tree world, we have one we use all the time. If someone yells headache, run, because something is going to hit you in the head.

We pick these words up as we hear them used, then begin using them ourselves. Often, we’re too embarrassed to ask what something means, so we may not even fully understand what the word or phrase means. Christianity is full of those words, and I want to unpack a couple today.

Justification

First, what is Justification?

This exact question is found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism , question 33, and they answer as follows,

“Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone”

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

Pardon- To release (a person) from punishment or disfavor for wrongdoing or a fault

(Expiation) Psalm 103:11–12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Justificaiton(dikaioo)- to be declared righteous

Righteousness(dikaiosyne)- to be in right standing with the character of God, revealed to us in His Law

Propitiation(Hilasterion) Hebrews 9:5 describing the mercy seat of the ark

Imputation

Conclusion

“True faith will inevitably manifest itself in the performance of works of obedience… the performance of works are the result of faith and the fruit of justification

We can walk into church on Sunday morning with mixed feelings. Some of us come feeling needy, guilty, lost, broken, and God, in His unchanging character is telling you that all you need to do is trust in Him, and His spirit in you will do the work. You can leave your fear, your doubt, your guilt at the door. God is worthy of your trust. He is infinite, infinite in goodness, infinite in faithfulness, infinite is wisdom, infinite in glory, infinite in holiness, infinite in love. He is the beginning and the end, He is the Alpha and Omega. Omnipotent- all powerful, omnicient- all knowing, Omnipresent- everywhere, all the time,