God is Just

Introduction

On Monday of this past week, much of the nation took the day off in recognition of the fact that we as a nation have not always treated a certain segment of the population the way they should have been. WE have not lived up to our founding principles that all men are created equal. We have, judged people, as Dr. King stated, by the color of their skin and not the content of their character.

And, just as egregious, if not more so, this Friday marked the anniversary of the legalization of abortion in our nation, a holocaust that has cost more than 63 million babies their life, many of them the ones that Dr. King fought so hard for.

We recognize, in a lot of ways, that we live in a world where injustice prevails. Where wrong is celebrated as right, where up is considered down, and down is considered up. We celebrate perversion and mock those who would hold to traditional, Biblical, godly beliefs and values. And we find ourselves wondering if perhaps God is not who He claims to be or why is God not acting justly over a world that seems to have forgotten Him.

This is no doubt the question that Abraham is mulling over in his mind in our text today. To set the scene, God appears to Abraham and lets him know of God’s intention towards the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. WE know that Sodom and Gomorrah was an exceedingly wicked city. The men were full of perversion, burning in homosexual lust towards each other. In fact, listen to

Genesis 19:4 ESV

But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

I read those words the other day and was stunned to see them. The men of the city, both young and old, all the people to the last man.

Abraham is told of God’s intentions towards Sodom and Gomorrah. The wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah had angered and grieved God to the point that he must judge the city.

Genesis 18:20 ESV

Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,

And so, God determines to go and examine, to see if the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah was as bad as he thought it was. Of course, God knows how bad it is and he appears to Abraham and tells him, I am going to judge the cities for their wickedness.

What does Abraham do? He begins to plead for the city. He cries out to God and says, surely you won’t destroy the city if there are 50 wicked people in it. After all,

Genesis 18:25 ESV

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

This, of course, is the question we want to consider this morning. Isn’t God just? Doesn’t God do the right thing all the time because He is God?

I. Defining the concept of being just.

The word justice is thrown around a lot in our society, our vernacular. We are told that we should have racial justice, environmental justice, economic justice. We want to be a just people. But what exactly does all this mean? Is it possible to be just without a standard, without a clear measure in which to judge ourselves with?

When we say that God is just, we mean that He is perfectly righteous in His treatment of His creatures. God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34), He commands against the mistreatment of others (Zechariah 7:10), and He perfectly executes vengeance against the oppressors (2 Thessalonians 1:6; Romans 12:19). God is just in meting out rewards. He is equally just in meting out punishment. Justice and righteousness, which always work hand in hand, are the foundation of God’s throne (Psalm 89:14).

In fact, the words just and righteous are closely intertwined with each other in the Bible. Both in the Hebrew and the Greek there is only one word group behind both words. And so, to say that God is just is also to say that he is righteous.

And this means that we can define God’s just ness, or righteousness, as follows. This is Wayne Grudem’s definition from his systematic theology book. (slide follows)

God’s righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is Himself the final standard of what is right.

In other words, we know that God always does the right thing, and the right thing is defined by Himself. He is the measure, He is the standard, He is the one by which right and wrong is determined.

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Psalm 19:8 ESV

the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

Isaiah 45:19 ESV

I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right.

In other words, God is eternally the standard of what is right and wrong, He is the one whom everything else must be compared with and to, and He is eternally right and just in all His ways. He is a just God. And this is what Abraham is wrestling with, dealing with in his question. I know God that you are right, you are just in punishing Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, for their brazen sinfulness, but aren’t you also right in sparing the city if there are righteous people living in it? Aren’t you right in dealing with the city in mercy as well as justice? You will do the right thing because you are the just judge of all the earth.

Now saying this raises questions, as it should. Why do some people get away with murder (literally)? Why do children suffer and die while wicked people live to old age in seemingly good heath? What is the reason for the seeming injustice that is prevalent in the world in which we live in? That is the question we will attempt to address as we consider

II. God’s Justness in a sin filled world.

We ask those questions about why there is sin and brokenness, why evil seems to be abundant in this world and we consider a few things.

A. We can not conflate God’s justness with man’s wickedness.

The word conflate simply means to bring together, to fuse into one. And this is unfortunately what we see happening all the time. We seem to think that man’s rebellion against God is the same as God not being just.

But we have to recognize the evil that exists in the heart of mankind. Listen to the words written by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3

Romans 3:10–18 ESV

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We can couple that with

Romans 1:28–32 ESV

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. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 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.

The simple fact is, man is what the problem is with our world. WE are the ones who cause the grief and chaos in our societies and cultures. The great philosopher of Britain’s yesteryear was famous for allegedly writing an editorial in the London Times.

Is it true that The Times once sent out an inquiry to famous authors, asking the question, “What’s wrong with the world today?” and Chesterton responded simply,

“Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton.”

Our sins, our rebellion against God is what leads to a world where right seems wrong and the wrong seem to get away with injustice.

But it’s not just the wickedness of man that is the problem. We must also realize that

B. Justice delayed is not justice denied.

This is a point that we need to consider. WE worry, we get upset, we think that God is not just when we see the problems in the world, but we must understand that God is just and He will do what is right.

Listen to the words of Psalm 73

Psalm 73:1–19 ESV

Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

In other words, the Psalmist is stating that he does not understand why the wicked are rich, why they are in good health, why they prosper? He begins to wonder if he has not served God in vain. But then he says, wait, I go back to God and I understand. These wicked people are truly living on borrowed time. They are truly in a slippery place.

Peter talks about this as well when he mentions the fact that

2 Peter 3:8–10 ESV

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

The truth we believe in as Christians is that God will come, God will avenge the world, God will right the wrong and He will come one day as the great judge of all the earth.

Revelation 20:11–13 ESV

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

We must not conflate God’s justice with man’s rebellion, we must not take justice being delayed as justice being denied, and finally,

C. The Cross is the answer to God’s justice.

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So we see what it means that God is just, we see His justness in a sin cursed world, and finally

III. Our response to a Just God.

A. As we await justice, we seek and pray for mercy.

James 2:13 ESV

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

B As believers, we seek to live justly in our own lives.

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

C. As believers, we understand that justice will ultimately come when Christ comes again.

2 Peter 3:13 ESV

But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.