We've been taking something of a digression from the 1689 Confession in chapter 31. which talks about the state of man after death and the resurrection of the dead. And yet, this digression has a purpose to give us more foundational information about how we understand, in particular, the doctrine of eternal punishment. That doctrine is founded upon God himself, really, and several of his attributes in particular. We looked for several weeks at God's holiness, and last week we started looking at God's righteousness and justice. And this will help us to understand God first and then understand what God has ordained. Last time, we just sort of got into the doctrine of righteousness and justice. And those terms are often barely distinguishable from one another. We said that you could make a distinction by saying God's righteousness is who He is in Himself, and His justice is how His righteousness is expressed. So God is righteous in the sense that He is the standard, He is the law. He doesn't just give laws, but He is that law Himself, and the laws come from His character. And when He demonstrates that righteousness, That is what we could call justice. It's a legal or royal application of righteousness. So we see the term justice, we see God as a king or a judge sitting on his throne ruling the world. We saw some descriptions of God's righteousness last Sunday. We saw that he himself is righteous and thus his works are righteous and his word is righteous. Also, His promises are fulfilled in righteousness. That is, when God makes a promise, He keeps that promise because He is a righteous God. We also looked at the fact that the Son is righteous. He is often called the Just One, particularly in the book of Acts. Let's look at a description of God's justice. As I mentioned before, this idea of justice pictures God on His throne as a King and a Judge. We know that God is a judge, but if you were to think of words to describe God, you might think of God as a father, as a shepherd, as a friend, as a helper, all those sorts of things that are more, in our view, positive. Things that show God's goodness, God's love. But we often don't think of God so much as a judge in our first reflex. Because even for us who are saved, there's a sense of dread and awe in that description of Him. Knowing not that God's judgment is going to fall upon us because we are saved, but because of the great price that Christ paid for us in receiving God's justice upon himself for our sakes. What are some characteristics of a judge? Now the judges in the Old Testament, particularly in ancient times, were a little bit different than they are today. Judges had the authority to make and enforce laws. Not like today, although many of us would gripe that judges spend too much time making laws, as they're not supposed to do, but technically they're not supposed to make laws, nor are they supposed to enforce laws. That's up to other branches of our government to do that. in ancient times they could make and enforce laws. And God as judge requires adherence to his law. This isn't one of those laws like we have today where somebody makes a law but nobody really cares whether it's kept or not. Sort of those unenforceable laws. God makes laws and he requires that people obey them. We also can see God as a judge is good and right. Those are characteristics required of any judge, but especially it's true of God Himself. Genesis chapter 18 is a chapter where Abraham is praying on behalf of Sodom. God has revealed His intention to go down and destroy Sodom for their sin. And Abraham acknowledges As he says, would you destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Verse 23. Suppose there were 50 righteous, would you spare it? Verse 25. Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked. Far be it from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? So, Abraham here acknowledges, even without a whole lot of revelation about God himself, that God is a good and righteous judge. We also know that God is wise and knowledgeable about these matters. Verse 20 and 21, earlier in this chapter, God said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me. And if not, I will know. Now of course God in his omniscience knew what was going on down there, but he manifests himself in a human form and goes to visit this region himself, just a way for him to show he goes to the nth degree to demonstrate his fairness and his knowledge. So just as he were in effect to see it with his own eyes. Let me just turn to Psalm 54 verse 1 briefly here. Psalm 54, sorry, 51 verse 4. 51 verse 4. Remember, in this psalm, David is repenting for his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah. He says in verse 4, "...against you, you only, I have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight, that ye may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge." God is aware of all the evil and the good that we do, and so when He speaks against us in judgment and when He judges us, He is blameless in doing so. We know, as those of us who are parents, We see circumstantial evidence that leads us to believe that one of our children has done something we've told them not to do, and we bring an unjust accusation against them when we find out later they haven't really done that thing at all. And we need to ask forgiveness when we do that. But God never does anything like that because he is all-knowing, And He is good. He is wise and knowledgeable in the way He sees everything that happens under the sun. So we know that God, when He judges, will judge precisely according to the truth. And a corollary to that is that God is also fair when He judges. Again, as parents, we try to be fair. But as limited human beings, fallible, sinful ourselves, we don't know all the circumstances. And so, again, I know there's been cases when I've unfairly treated my children, my older one in particular, because I didn't understand what he was doing or I didn't understand the circumstances. Maybe I saw the aftermath but didn't see what had happened before. And so I've unjustly accused him when it wasn't right for me to do so. but God is always fair in all His dealings. Ezekiel 18 24-32 This is the Lord speaking here. But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed. Because of them he shall die. Now we have here in this verse a man who claims to be righteous, who appears righteous on the outside, maybe like the Pharisees, and yet eventually by his deeds he is known, his wicked heart is finally revealed. Verse 25, Yet you say the way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not my way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he has committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not fair. Oh, house of Israel, is it not my ways which are fair and your ways which are not fair? You see here maybe stories like the penitents who approach Jesus in the Gospels when Jesus forgives them of their great sin. And those around him say, hey, don't you know what kind of woman that is or what kind of man that is? Why do you forgive these wicked people? And Jesus says, it's not the righteous who need a physician, the well-needed physician, but those who are sick. It's not the righteous who need forgiveness, it's the sinners. And so we have these people, in these verses I just read, who see their wickedness, who see themselves falling short of God's standard, repent of that sin, and God forgives them. So on the one hand we have a righteous man, or a seeming righteous man, who is judged by God because he is really wicked, and we see an unrighteous person who repents, and God lets them live because they have turned from their wicked deeds. Verse 30, Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore turn and live. So God here calls him to repentance. He is fair. He knows the heart as well as the deeds and will judge accordingly. Now this passage though is incomplete because God here says in verse 31, get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. And yet the full truth in all this we see in Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26. And I think a number of you know this verse well. God here again is speaking, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. So while God appeals to them to get a new heart and a new spirit, it is really only God himself who can grant that to them and who can give it to them. a good example of God's never requiring less than perfect righteousness. He always demands it. And yet, it's impossible in and of itself. Yeah, and that's one of the purposes of the law, to demonstrate we see God's perfect standard, we see in God's grace how far short we fall of it, and cast ourselves at God's feet and say, I can't do this, I need your forgiveness. And on the basis of Christ's perfect righteousness, that gets applied to our account. Good point. And we'll look later on at how You know, if you look just at God's righteousness and justice, you would be despairing, because there is no hope for any of us. But we see God's love, as Wally mentioned last week in Psalm 87, when mercy and justice have kissed at the cross, that's where we are able to satisfy God's demand for justice as Christ's righteousness is given to us, and also be placed into his kingdom as his children, because we have been forgiven our wickedness. So we have a judge who has the authority to make and enforce laws. This judge requires adherence to his law. He's a good, right, wise, knowledgeable, and fair judge. And also this judge has the power to execute the sentence. So God is, in a sense, the judge, jury, and executioner of his laws. Now let's look a bit more at God's justice in both Testaments. And we don't have a lot of time, but let me just remind you of a few things. Adam and Eve, of course, we see right away when sin comes, God judges. And yet, of course, we see mercy as well. They deserved immediate death, eternal death, and yet God provided a covering for them. And yet the earth was cursed because of that sin. We also see the flood when God brought judgment upon the whole earth where the wickedness of man was a stench in the nostrils of God. He saw their wickedness, their violence was continual. And so he brought a great flood, a great judgment upon the earth. We see again and again that the judges, the prophets that God sends to the people saying, turn from your evil ways and repent. And the people may or may not repent for a time, but then they go back into their sin. You see this endless cycle in the Old Testament of God appealing to them, and then they come back, and then they fall back into sin. Then God appeals to them again, especially in the book of Judges. Again and again and again, God reaches out His hand of mercy to them. they accept it for a while, then they slap it down later on, and then God judges them for it. In the New Testament, we see God's justice as well. And we won't have an exhaustive look at this, but people who don't understand the Word of God very well will often say that the God of the Old Testament is a God of judgment, and the God of the New Testament is a God of grace. And while we see God's grace and His love perhaps more clearly because we see Christ Himself God never changes. And some of the greatest condemnations in the whole word of God are from the very lips of Jesus himself. It's convenient to ignore those words when you want to make an invalid point. But when you look at the words of Jesus, you see how seriously he takes his role, not just as savior, but also as judge. Matthew 21, We see Jesus in the temple. This is in the last week before his crucifixion. He went into the temple of God and drove, this is Matthew 21, verse 12. Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. So we see here a very localized example of Jesus and his justice. Verses 43 and 44, he's speaking to the Jews here. He's speaking here to the chief priests and the elders. He says, Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder. And Jesus is here referring to himself. This isn't just some mild-mannered, weak Jesus talking about himself grinding people into powder. We see God's justice in Acts chapter 5 in the situation with Ananias and Sapphira who were struck down immediately for their sin and lying. Let's look at Matthew 24, and we'll see a picture of Christ as judge. I won't read this whole passage, but I'll just get the introduction. When the Son of Man comes, Matthew 25, verse 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from the other as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come you, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And then we see in verse 41, speaking to the unrighteous, he will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed ones, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And verse 46 says, and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. So Jesus here is very, very harsh and judgmental against those who, who aren't his, who are those on his left hand. John 5, verses 22 and 23. We see here more explicitly information about Christ as the judge. John 5, verses 22 and 23. For the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Verse 26-29 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of myself do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will but the will the father who sent me so again Jesus here explicitly claiming that he it is the judge and he will be the judge X chapter 17 X 17 verse 31 this is Paul speaking to the Greeks in Athens says, but he, that is God the Father, has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, that is Jesus. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. So he's raising these people from the dead in order to be judged by Christ himself. Well, I wanted to take a look for a while at Psalm 73 and 37, but we're short of time and I wanted to be able to do it justice, so to speak. Are there any comments or questions about what I've said so far? I know it's been kind of short this morning, but I'd rather wait and do right by these Psalms next time. Amen? Okay. You can stretch it out a bit. Oh, thank you. Well, this is an important topic. It's not popular today. I know if you surveyed people who were unchurched or went to some of the more liberal denominations, they have a sort of a touchy-feely, fuzzy version of who Jesus was and is. Certainly, he was a gracious, good shepherd. He was kind and gentle. and all those things that we think of when we think of a good shepherd, and yet he is not only that. He is not just some mild-mannered guy who just wanted us to all get along as many would like him to be. While he was restrained, in a sense, as he was on this earth, he was veiled in his glory. Those who see him when he returns who don't love him will hide from him in terror because of the judgment that's to come upon them. And even on the earth, when necessary, he was confrontational in terms of, especially those who claimed to be righteous and yet had no love for God. And towards the end of Matthew, Jesus confronted them boldly for their sin. And so we must not have a wrong view of who Christ was then or who is now. He does sit at the right hand of the throne of God, and that is a place of judgment and power and righteousness. Why don't we pray and close this morning? Lord, though we've had a brief look this morning at your righteousness and your justice, we thank you for it. We know that you sit enthroned above the earth always doing what is right, even when we can't understand all your purposes, as we'll see next time in Psalm 37 and Psalm 73. Your way is hidden to us in so many ways, and yet we trust you as Abraham did. We say, will not the judge of the earth do right? Help us to remember that when we see the wicked prospering, when we see ourselves who love you and who want to serve you, perhaps struggling day to day with sin or with our material possessions that are easy to worry about. the things that are on this earth. Help us to remember what Jesus said, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, as we've been talking about, and all these things shall be added to you. May that be our goal, to seek you and your righteousness, and to not seek the things which are in this world. Give us the grace to do this, for Jesus' sake. Amen.