Justice My Friend



It is an astounding thing that such a sinner as I could ever call the justice of God my friend. God is infinitely and unchangeably holy. I know that. Also, He is just and His justice is inflexible, the same for all as it pertains to sin. He must and He will punish all sin. Being a sinner, there is no way that I in myself could ever look at divine justice with anything but absolute terror and fear! Having made myself an enemy to God, I became a fugitive from His justice. At least that’s what I thought for a good portion of my life. What I didn’t know and what I found out at His appointed time, was that He had already dealt with the matter of my sins.

He had already dealt with them justly, satisfying His justice by demanding the full penalty of them against Another. He had in grace appointed a Substitute for me, the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God had become Surety for me. He had assumed all the responsibility for my sins before I was even born. God had been pleased (for a reason known only to Himself), out of His free and sovereign grace to not impute (-charge) my sins to me. In turn, He imputed them to my Substitute who came into this world and in His own body bore that penalty on the cross. The death my sins deserved He died on the cross. I found that what I did not deserve which was eternal life, forgiveness, mercy, I now must have!

I must have it because God’s justice now requires it! I found that the justice that would have required my eternal death now requires that I have life! I found that this is the good news of the gospel of God’s grace to sinners like me. For that reason, He sought me out and brought to me a messenger with that message. The message of grace, of salvation in Christ, of imputed righteousness, of blood redemption. What I thought was bad news to me the sinner was really good news!

The message was that He had died in MY place! Paul’s words in Romans 5 clearly state this: “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18). The “all men” here is ALL IN CHRIST. All those the Father chose, all Christ represented, all the Holy Spirit calls. This was wonderful news! God is just to forgive my sins and He wouldn’t be if He didn’t. Justice my friend!


-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard

Sovereign Grace Baptist church of Jacksonville, North Carolina USA


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JESUS - Rock of Ages

Jesus remains the same in all ages. He is the One who is constant when everything and everyone else fails. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our R ock [I SAMUEL 2:2 ] . In the Old Testament, in Exodus 33, Jesus is pictured as the Cleft Rock. In that chapter, verse 18 and following, Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord, but was told, "You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see My face and live.” And the Lord said, “There is a place by Me, and you shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by." Notice that as Moses stood upon the rock, the Lord hid him in the cleft. This wonderfully applies to us today! Believers are both standing on and hidden in Christ [COLOSSIANS 3:3 ] . We are both in and on the Rock. As life with its many bitter events presses upon us, ...
Read more

CHRIST OUR ONLY AND PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

" The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." —Galatians 5:17 [KJV] Christian experience fully proves this apostolic truth. Hence the children of God cannot do the things that they would: nor have we any authority from God's word to conclude this lusting ever ceased in any of the saints till they got to glory; none are delivered from it while in the flesh. For, as the renewed soul or spirit loves to enjoy spiritual and heavenly objects, so the flesh, or unrenewed part, lusts after those objects it is naturally conversant with, and from which it derives its happiness.  Here is thy conflict, O Christian. Hence the necessity of thy Lord's command, "Watch always." This is the use of the doctrine. What woeful effects have fulfilling the lusts or desires of the flesh produced in eminent saints! Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. The conceptions of lust are the productions of sin.— see James 1:15 . The commission of sin contracts fresh s...
Read more

GLORY ALONE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

" Lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." -Judges 7:2 [KJV] Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon. He knows what is in man. He sees the pride of the human heart: how prone we all are to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of His own glory. Gideon’s army of two and thirty thousand, is brought down to three hundred. By this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain the victory of the Midianites. The Lord’s wisdom in this was, “Lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand hath saved me.”   But I have not transcribed the text right. There are two little words of great import, which I have omitted. Mind then, O Christian— against Me. Now remember, whenever thou dost boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, ditties, conditions, and performances in order to be saved, thou art then, as it were, two and thirty thousand strong. Thou vauntest thyself against the Lord . Thou art gloryi...
Read more