Beth-El Baptist Church

02/01/2009

Greg Tomlinson

How can God's justice be perfect without any real penalty?

Not every violent crime is solved. Murderers and rapists who are never caught are never brought to man's justice. If these same murderers and rapists come into a true faith relationship with Jesus Christ then it can be argued that they are never brought to God's justice as well.

1. What would perfect justice require?

Exodus 34:6-7 Ezekiel 18:20

Proverbs 18:13, 17; 25:2 Psalm 7:11-14

Perfect justice requires a diligent search of the facts of a case in order to arrive at an understanding of the truth. Once the truth of case is known, then perfect justice requires that those who are guilty of the charges raised against him pays the penalty required by the law.

2. Is God's justice truly perfect?

Ezekiel 18:4, 25-32 1 Chronicles 29:17

Jeremiah 11:20; 17:10; 20:12 Psalm 7:9; 11:5

Proverbs 17:3 1 Thessalonians 2:4

Isaiah 6:1-5 John 2:25

1 Samuel 6:20; 16:7 Job 41:10-11

Revelation 6:17 Hebrews 4:12

James 2:10-12 Romans 3:9-20, 23

God's justice is perfect because He is the only one capable of knowing the completeness of the truth of a matter. God's judgment does not look at just the evidence that man is able to provide but He also looks at the heart of the individuals involved. By looking at the heart, the intentions behind the decisions will be uncovered. Since all of mankind is guilty before God, justice must be carried out. The sentence for being guilty before God, in any matter, is death or eternal separation from God.

3. How can God's justice be served without the individual sinner's death?

Leviticus 1:2-5; 3:1-3, 6-8, 12-14; 5:1-10; 16:5-10

John 1:29; 10:16-18 1 Peter 1:18-20

Genesis 3:21

From the beginning of history, God has made a way that justice could be served while protecting the eternal soul of the offender. This is through the substitutionary sacrifice of another on behalf of the guilty one. The sacrifice must be clean and pure so that he is capable of taking on the sins of the other without need to have his own sacrifice. In the Jewish temple system, this was accomplished with a sacrificial lamb, goat, bull, or pigeon. In the New Testament system, this is accomplished through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. Being of the same divine nature as God, only Jesus is truly pure enough to be that sacrifice for mankind. The sacrifice of Jesus does not cover the sins of man as a burnt sacrifice would but it actually takes the man's sins away as the scapegoat would.

4. What does it mean that a man has truly repented of his sins?

Ezekiel 18:21-23 Psalm 51:1-4

1 John 1:8-10

True repentance is the deepest of convictions that God is right and righteous and that the individual is absolutely in the wrong and deserving of the punishment of God. As a result of agreeing with God concerning the reality of sin and the just and proper punishment for sin being eternal death in hell, the only only hope is to find someone or something acceptable to the judge (God) to take the punishment on his behalf. This requires the crying out to the judge for mercy while at the same time a willing sacrifice to take his punishment for him in order to satisfy the justice that is demanded.

Summary:

While a murderer or rapist who is never caught and thus never spends time in the “justice” system of man may not seem just or right but in the eyes of God, the man who truly admits to his sins and seeks God's mercy through Jesus Christ has his sins adequately paid for. Justice has been served. In reality, the murder or rapist who turns himself over to God by faith in Jesus Christ would be forced by the spirit of God to admit his own failures and seek restitution with who he has violated. The murderer and rapist does know that he is deserving of punishment and that while his eternal punishment has been paid for by Jesus Christ, there is still the temporary punishment of man that he recognizes is in need of being paid for. Jesus never claimed to die for the temporary punishment, just the eternal.