Refuting the Social Gospel..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well, good evening once again, brothers and sisters. We are back here this evening.

We're working our way through in a small detour from the book of Acts. And we said that what we're going to do is we're going to do a four-week study. It's just a small detour, a four-week study in relation to the social justice, probably relating to the social justice movement, which is finding its way or creeping its way into the church. in the social gospel. Now, my intent in this week is not so much to bring out the different elements of the social gospel movement.

That will be next week, by God's grace. But rather this week, I want to consider what the Bible says in relation to justice. justice. Now, it may be a bit strange that we've attempted to clarify the dangers of a particular element of the social gospel. And for the most part, we're neglecting anything to do with it for about three weeks.

And we're not going to mention it till the last week of our study. But that is on purpose. You see, as Christians, it should be our heart's desire to think biblically about everything. Our time and efforts should be spent in the word of God. It should be meditation on His Word day and night, with the goal that God's Word will dwell in us richly.

to edify our thinking and to conform us into the perfect image of Jesus Christ. You see, the Word is central. It is the supreme source of truth, as our brother Nelson said for us a few weeks ago. And if it dwells in us, then God's truth abides in us. So when confronted with counterfeits, counterfeit truths, we're able to identify them, not because we know the elements or we can identify them in and of themselves, but rather because we know the truth.

Because the genuine truth is well known to us and it abides in us. And we're able to pick the false and the counterfeit from that which is true. You see, that's only possible if we know the Word of God. It's only possible if we test everything by the Word of God. Beloved, because the enemy does masquerade like the angel of light, it is so important that we meditate upon God's Word, and we know it not only in our minds, but it resides and sinks into our souls.

Now, we all come to some degree or another, we all come to hear the word justice thrown around about us quite frequently, probably over the last few years. The social justice movement is growing in momentum around the world. And as I said earlier, the facets of the movement are finding their way into the church, creeping in through what we call a social gospel. Now, we have to be very careful because the world sometimes hijacks what belongs to God alone. In particular, we'll see this evening, justice belongs to God, and he belongs to God alone.

What can naturally happen to our hearts is when we see that the world hijacks some of the terms that belong to Scripture, sometimes we can have a bit of a negative effect in our heart towards them. But beloved, we must not let that be so. We must not let that happen. If the world uses those terminologies falsely, we must not allow them to take what is so gloriously found in our God and in His Word. So beloved, justice is a divine attribute of the Holy Triune God.

Justice belongs to the Just One. And never forget that. Never forget that. Don't allow your hearts or minds to be affected by the world's interpretations, but rather, as I said earlier, set your hearts upon the true knowledge of God's Word, and allow it alone to feed your understanding in order to make residence in your soul the truth of God's Word. Okay?

Justice. So what is justice? Well, it's a legal term. Justice is to uphold what is right, and what is good, and what is fair. It's conformity to the law.

The act of being just is to act towards others in an accord with moral precepts of the law. So then a violation to the law is injustice and one would expect that there would be punishment with that violation. This is where the judicial system, such as judges and magistrates, come into the picture. Now, that's good and all. All of us here in Australia, we know about the law.

We understand the law. In fact, we're reminded about those who uphold the law. We see them driving around in their blue and white cars, maybe even daily. We see them all the time. We're familiar with laws.

We're familiar with how it all works. We understand justice. We understand people who break the law and the recompense that they need to pay because the arm of the law comes down upon them. We have our phones. We read the news.

So we're familiar to all these things. We're no strangers to the law. That's on a local level. We must ask the question of greater importance. Who gives the local or the federal, even the world authorities their power?

They're comprised of people, are they not? So the question is, who are they accountable to? Who is every human being on the planet accountable to? Of course, we know the answer to that question. We know that it is the Lord God.

He is the supreme law giver. Why? Because he created everything. The whole universe belongs to Him, all of it. He laid its foundations, He determines its measurements, and He sets the boundaries of His universe.

This universe is created by Him, and the universe is created for Him. It showcases the glory of God, and He laid down its rules. And He laid down rules not only for the created order, but He laid down the rules for people as well. And beloved, He expects nothing short of perfection, nothing short of perfect obedience. That is His right.

That's His right. Now, beloved, the world has bought into the lie. It's bought into the lie of evolution. in order to remove God from the equation. We know that.

They suppress the knowledge of God and the truth of God in unrighteousness. Why would they do that? Why would they kick out God from creation? Well, it's simple, really. Getting rid of God means you get rid of His law, and you get rid of His law means you're getting rid of punishment, right?

You can do as you please, live as you want. But beloved, the world has kicked God out of creation. It doesn't matter what the world says. What matters is the word of God and we're told in his word that God is the creator God he's the one who created all things and everything he has created is accountable to him accountable to him that's the truth that's what's found in God's word his perfect revealed word and beloved everyone everyone who has ever existed is accountable to this God. He created the sun, He created the moon, He created the birds of the air, He created the animals or the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea.

He created everything, but the crowning glory of His creation is man. We're told, so God created man in His own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them, Genesis 127. Creation belongs to God.

Man belongs to God. And the relationship between creature and creator is one of complete subordination. What do I mean? In other words, the only right response that a creature has to his creator is one of perfect obedience. That's it.

That's it. Perfect obedience is necessary. It's to live righteously according to his law. It's to live justly according to his precepts. Because the greatest good for man is to do the will of God, and his will is revealed in his law.

His law reflects his goodness. His law reflects his holiness. His law reflects his character. That's the standard. Man must obey.

And as creatures we don't have the right to ask, why? We can't ask why. Who asks the Creator why? We hear it said, we hear it asked, but the Bible is clear. It's His prerogative to do as He pleases, and what He does is good.

We can't ask why. So let's open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 1. Let's open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 1. Let's ask the question, Ask the question why we should not ask why. What does we know that this Genesis chapter 1 is the account of creation.

God created the heavens and the earth and he created and populated everything in them in six consecutive days. But what do we find on no less than seven occasions as we read through the chapter? What do we find in verse 4? And God saw that the light was good. Verse 10.

And God saw that it was good. Verse 12. And God saw that it was good. He looks back on what he had created that day and he looked back and he said it is good. Verse 18.

And God saw that it was good. Verse 21. Verse 25. And God saw that it was good. You know why he said that?

Why did God say that it is good? He looks upon His creation and says, it is good. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 119 and let's read verse 68. I was going to say, if you can memorize this verse, if you can memorize the chapter even better, but that's a tough ask for most of us. Psalm 119, but if you can't, then at least try to make an effort to memorize this verse, beloved.

And it says, you are good. and you do good, teach me your precepts." You see, God is good, and because God is good, all he does is good. He's holy, he's righteous, and by definition everything he does is right, and he's just, and he's good. He can do no other.

Therefore, the law he gives is not an oppressive or harsh law to his people, but it would be consistent with his nature, consistent with his character. It's good. His glory, his holiness is displayed through his law, and although his creatures have no right to ask him why, we can know for sure that his statutes and his precepts are for our best. both in relationship with him and in our relationship with others, which his law covers both. Clearly, we've seen, without a doubt, obedience to the biblical laws advance human flourishing.

We've seen that, of course, and we know that's the case because it's under the care and the love of God. Because again, he is good. It reflects his good character. And all throughout history we see, and throughout the Old Testament, we read all throughout the Old Testament and the New, we see that God's people declare over and over and over again that they're not oppressed by the law of God, but rather they delight in the law of God. So often in Scripture we read that this is the hard attitude, it's one of love, it's one of delight, it's one to find treasure in what God has revealed of Himself and the law He's revealed for his people.

Listen what he says in Psalm 1, Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, and on his law meditates day and night. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Psalm 19, 7. Oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all day.

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies for it is ever with me. Psalm 119 verse 97. God's people from all generations have recognized that the Lord's will is revealed through his law and his law is good because by definition God is good. Psalm 119, again, 68 says, you are good, so you do good. Everything that God does is good.

Everything. But there's another aspect that we need to consider here. Because yes, it's God's right in His sovereignty to demand perfect obedience to His law. We mentioned that earlier. And yes, His law is good because He is good.

But as a good God, He always does what is right and in accordance to His character. And that means also that He needs to be exact in His justice. Disobedience must be met with flawless justice. It must. It must.

Remember, He's good and He cannot overlook disobedience to His law. God is just. Sins cannot be overlooked. He's a good and righteous God, and He cannot just look the other way when His creatures sin. He's a just judge.

This is a fearful thought that runs throughout Scripture, is it not? That God is a just judge. Deuteronomy 34, 32 says, The Rock, His work, is perfect, speaking about God. For all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness without iniquity, just and upright is He.

The Lord loves justice, Psalm 37, 28. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. He sits on a throne of righteousness and justice. Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you, the psalmist writes in chapter 89, verse 14. But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

Isaiah 5.16. And again, what does Isaiah say once again in the 30th chapter? He says, For the Lord is a God of justice. And I love this one.

I love this one. Psalm 145 verse 17. The Lord is righteous or just in all of his ways. In all of his ways. Everything he does is right.

Everything he does is just. Everything he does is fair. Man may look to God and say, you're not being fair from their point of view. But everything God does is perfectly righteous and perfectly just. perfectly righteous and perfectly just.

So God is a God of justice. He's righteous, he's just, and he must work or act in accordance to his holy character. So then we have to back off a little and ask the question, what happened in the garden? Adam was told that he was to be obedient to God. Right?

Now that shouldn't have been a problem for Adam because he was created upright. He had no sin in him and not only did he have no sin but he also had the ability to lovingly obey his creator. God graciously gave him everything he needed And much, much more. God walked with him in Eden. It's incredible privilege.

But that wasn't enough. See, Adam breaks obedience with God, and in doing so, he must receive the just punishment, right? Because God is just. And that punishment is what comes with disobedience. Now, he was warned already, and he was told already, if he breaks obedience with God, what will happen?

And the warning came in Genesis 2, verse 16. God says, you may eat of every tree of the garden, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in that day that you eat of it, you shall surely die, or die you shall die. But then something interesting happens. The story of Adam and Eve continues.

It continues. The question is, why didn't they die? We know they violated God's command and should receive the just wrath of God, which is death, because on that day you eat of it, die you shall die. But instead, the Lord expels them from the garden, but allows them to live long lives. Adam got to 930 years from memory.

In fact, God even shows them grace by killing an animal to cover their nakedness. So what's going on? Is this just? Did God actually act justly in that occasion? It seems like mercy to me, not justice, what Adam and Eve received.

What gives? We just spent a lot of time now and moments ago to say that God is just and he must act perfectly in his justice. It's important that he acts consistent with his holy, good, righteous, just character. So was God violating his justice in the garden? What happened?

Well, beloved, it's very important that we understand this point, because if we don't understand this point, not only will we not understand the justice of God, But more importantly, we won't understand the gospel. You see, God's action in the garden were actually perfectly consistent with his holy character. perfectly consistent with his righteousness, perfectly consistent with his goodness, and yes, even perfectly consistent with his justice. You see, what we didn't realize until Adam sinned is that God in his goodness would allow for his perfect faultless justice to be satisfied with a substitute to bear the righteous demands of breaking of his law by another. In other words, one life for another.

The intricate details of an acceptable substitute, of course, would be revealed over time. But what's seen in the garden that day is God was making a way, or had already predestined a way, to show his mercy and yet be perfectly just at the same time. If we are careful, we would have seen some of this back in the garden. If you remember when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God clothed them with animal skins. Now we know you can't take the skin off an animal unless the animal is dead.

but God clothed them with animal skins and we know that the animal needed to die and that dead animal was a type of the substitute that would one day come a substitute that would be accepted by God to bear the brunt to bear the wrath upon Adam's sin a substitute that would make God perfectly righteous, or not make him, my apologies, he is perfectly righteous, but would show he's perfectly just and he is also merciful at the same time. You see, that substitute who is to come will bear the punishment and he will come, he is one of God's own choosing, and he will come in history, and bear the wrath in order for God to show His mercy. And so from this point on, brothers and sisters, we need to see something. God's full satisfaction for justice will be delayed, you might say, until the Judgment Day. And His mercy and grace will be evident throughout human history.

Now, does that mean that all his justice will be postponed until then? Of course not. Adam and Eve were actually banned from the Garden. They were expelled from the Garden of Eden and their bodies did decay. And all who were in the loins of Adam, that's all the sons and daughters of Adam.

That's all of us. That's all humanity. All humanity, except, of course, for Jesus. They will suffer the consequences of Adam's sin. as is written, therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

Romans 5.12 You see, physical death will take place for most during this age, and God's judgment is manifest in various ways in history, but His full satisfaction for His justice will be executed upon lawbreakers who were thrown in the lake of fire to come, or on a substitute, the seed of the woman, Genesis 3.15, who will crush the head of the serpent. Now, it's important to realize that in God's mercy to allow humanity to continue doesn't mean that mankind is able to say, OK, then we're born in sin, we're depraved by nature. We are under the judgment of God and therefore we can do as we please.

We're under judgment anyway. No, no. The law of God was not put aside. It was not put aside. God still requires perfect obedience from his creatures, and his creatures are required to give it, even though in this state they're not able to be perfectly obedient.

The more they sin, the more judgment that will come. The Bible's clear on that point. That's justice. It's delayed, yes, but it'll come in full measure. in the exact amount.

No one will receive less, and no one will receive more. Remember, God is just. Everyone will receive exactly what their sin deserves. But one thing is for sure, and we have to keep this in the back of our minds. In Adam, humanity has lost all its rights.

All its rights are lost. The only thing we have right to in Adam is divine judgment from God. That's it. Do you see what that means? It's important that we see this point.

It means we don't deserve anything good from God. Nothing. We deserve nothing good from God. Nothing. And beloved, the whole discussion of justice, we are to remember that the only person ultimately robbed of his rights is God, not man.

When sinners, apart from God, cry out, apart from Christ, cry out for justice, what they don't realize is if they get what they're entitled to, then they get death, and they get eternity in hell. Because that's the only thing that sinners are worthy of. We have no rights before God. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We robbed Him of what was rightfully His.

Anything from this point, every breath, every meal that we eat, every new day we experience is mercy. Mercy, mercy from the hand of God. Every morning His mercies are renewed. Lamentation 3.23.

We would do good to remember that. Every morning, every day is mercy. But as I said earlier, because of mercy, because of the substitute to come, God in His good pleasure has destined for life to go on. But now, humanity knows she's under divine judgment. For the soul that sins shall die.

The only remedy is to look to Him who is merciful by faith, to look to Him by faith, to trust in Him and to believe that He is the only one who is able to provide forgiveness. And the Lord showed the people of Israel, the people of His covenant, how that would occur. And those who look to Him by faith would receive forgiveness. But this also means that fallen creatures still have the same obligation before God, as I said earlier, and that obligation is for perfect obedience towards their Creator. Because, beloved, that never changes.

It never changes. The relationship between creature and Creator is one of perfect obedience. That never changes. That never changes. God is still holy.

His character hasn't changed. He's still the same before the fall as he is after the fall. Remember, he's always perfect. You can't add to perfection and you can't, if you take anything away, you're no longer perfect. And so he still demands his faultless obedience.

And that's the problem because no one can give it. So over time he progressively revealed more and more of his law, and it becomes more and more evident that no one can actually keep the law, because the more revelation of the law... it reveals his perfect righteousness. No one can keep his perfect righteous standards. So what we see from that point on is we see both mercy and we see justice.

On the one hand his divine just retribution and on the other hand his mercy for undeserving sinners. We see this side by side throughout the Old Testament. We see both of them running side by side. I'll give you some examples. The worldwide flood that was justice For those whose thoughts and their intent of the heart was only wicked continually, justice upon them, mercy upon Noah and his family.

We think of Sodom and Gomorrah. Justice upon the rebellious people and the depravity that was going on in that city, but then we see justice, or then we see mercy upon Lot and his family. about the Amorites, the people that the Lord showed Abraham when he took him up and said, this is the land I'll give to your ancestors. But he said something, he said, but their sin hasn't reached or their iniquity hasn't reached to the completion. But when he had reached the completion, then God then poured out his justice, or you might say he vomited them out of the land by destroying them.

But then on the other hand, we see mercy, the children of Israel. also undeserving, receive mercy. We see this side by side throughout the Old Testament. Of course, no one is deserving of mercy. We've already established that.

All humanity deserves penalty for their sins, and that's what we call justice. But God chooses to show mercy on who He wills, and He also chooses to be fair and equitable on who He wills. They receive justice. We can't ask why. We have no right as creatures to say, Lord, why this person and not this person?

Why Israel and not the Canaanites? We have no right to ask those questions, beloved. We have no right. But this is something we know for sure. We know that no one receives injustice.

No one, because God is just. Some receive justice and others receive mercy, but no one receives injustice. And this is actually beautifully displayed in the people of Israel when the Lord, in his mighty hand, had poured out the plagues upon Egypt. And then the last plague, if you remember the firstborn, of every household in the land was going to perish. The destroyer would come by and destroy the firstborn.

The Lord said to the people of Israel to get a lamb, slaughter the lamb, and then to paint the blood on the lintels and the doorposts. And the destroyer will come by and he will not enter and destroy the firstborn, if you remember. And that's a beautiful picture indeed. You know why it's a beautiful picture? Because not only is it a picture of the substitute to come, not only that, but also Joshua tells us later on in the book of Joshua, that the people of Israel, when they were in the land of Egypt, they weren't holy.

They weren't devoted to Yahweh. They were worshipping false idols just like the Egyptians. These people had sold out their heart to idols, to pagan gods. They were, as the Bible calls, they were whoring their hearts or prostituting their hearts to another. Beloved, the Israelites were not worthy to be saved.

Neither were the Egyptians. But God chose to pour out His wrath and enact His justice upon the Israelites that night. Because of the blood on the post, or what it symbolized more, better. He showed mercy on the people of Israel, not because they deserved it, but because he's good, and because of his elective purposes, which again we step back and we can't say why. I can't say why.

All we can do is bend our knee and worship Him. Beloved Abraham learned that lesson that God is a good judge. Remember how he said when he was pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah? Do you remember that? He said if there's 50, if there's 40, if there's 30, if there's...

In the end, even if there's 10, you're like, why would you destroy a city? Thinking he could soften the heart of God. But then God goes, okay, even if there's 10. Was there 10? There wasn't even 10.

God destroys the city. God is just. Abraham then says, when he's pleading with the Lord, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just? And you have to answer, of course, yes, forever and always. So in his mercy, He revealed more details of His law to His people, not only how to relate to Him as their God, and they as His people, but also how they would relate to one another.

This is revealed. The will of God is revealed to the people through His law. And as we read the Bible, we see more and more detail given as we read on. But no one, we realize, can do it to perfection. So His mercy is always needed, right?

His mercy is always needed, because no one can come before God and say, I've done it blamelessly. I've obeyed You, Your will, perfectly. No one can. In Adam, we are all fallen, and we all have the sinful nature. But His law still governs.

And He governs His people. He governs their behavior. Remember, He's got so many benefits. Not only do we know the righteousness of God and His wholeness through His law, but it also restricts the evil that comes in the land. It puts a stop to a lot of the evil because His law is good.

His law is good, and he has done that, and he does this, and he governs through his law, and he's established court systems and rulers and authorities to uphold his law. We see that throughout the Old Testament as well. How do we say that? We see institutes, and we see rulers, and we see authorities to uphold His law judicially. That is the priests, if you remember.

Then the judges, and then the kings, and the kings were the vice regents of God. God is the big God, and He's appointed what you call the Caesarean gods, the vassal God, my apologies. And He's the big God over all the universe, and the kings were to reign and rule and reflect the goodness of God. among his people that would enforce the righteous standards of God for the flourishing of mankind. So for example when God says man shall not shed blood of another man or by man his blood shall be shed as he said to Noah, then the civil magistrates are the ones We have the right to enforce that punishment, capital punishment, if necessary, upon crimes.

This was an Old Testament principle as well as a New Testament principle. We see this in Romans 13. But these authorities were to practice justice by ruling according to the law of God. You see, this is this is example for us in the book of Deuteronomy. Let's open our Bibles now to Deuteronomy chapter 16.

We'll read from verse 18. So the rulers and the authorities and the ones that God has placed over his people are to rule according to the word of God, not according to their own imaginations or their own understanding. So Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 18 through 20. And it reads like this, you shall appoint judges. And this is God telling Moses to speak to the people and speaking to the people of Israel just before they make conquest into the land flowing with milk and honey.

You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not accept the bribe, for a bribe blinds the eye of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice and only justice you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you."

Is God concerned for justice? Is God concerned that His people portray or reflect or mirror His own justice? Absolutely. And then if we flick the page over to chapter 17 and we'll read from verse 18, let's see what the Lord says of the kings in the land. Once they've given the land and the kings then sit on their throne, what is the instruction that God gives to the kings?

From verse 18. And when he sits, that's the king on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book, a copy of the law. Hear that? approved by the Levitical priests, and he shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of the law and the statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in the kingdom, he and his children in Israel." You see?

You see, the King of Israel, when he sits on his throne, he is to write with his own hand the law of God, get it approved by the priests who know the law really well, and he is to meditate upon it. It needs to be close to his heart. He needs to think it through and meditate upon it and chew on it and understand it real well. He needs to know the heart of God so that he can rule God's people with God's law. See, it's not ruling God's people with his own imaginations or his own thinking, because beloved human beings are in and of themselves are only capable of injustice.

God is concerned with justice. And so he gives his law and the king ought to meditate upon the law and keep it close to his heart so he can rule justly, so he can rule justly. uphold the law, rule in justice, and if he's going to issue any punishments, it must be without partiality. It must be an Israelite and a stranger alike, poor and rich alike, male or female alike. The law of God shows no respecter of persons.

I hope you can see this. I hope you can see this point, that true justice in God's universe must be rooted in the Word of God and in His laws. Remember, in sin we have no rights before God apart from receiving justice, and that's a really big point we need to remember. That in sin, in Adam, we have no rights, we only have the right to justice, and that justice means eternal punishment. We have to remember that and keep that in the back of our minds.

However, and this is the big point, God is king. It's still his universe and sons of daughters of Adam derive their value, remember our brother said that last week, from him. It's not that we have inherent value in and of ourselves just because this is the way we look, we have two eyes. No, we derive our value, our dignity, our worth from God, from God. All humanity still belongs to Him.

And beloved, hear this, He determines how His people are to be treated. He's the one who determines. That's biblical justice. Being obedient to how God says, this is how you treat others. That's biblical justice, to treat others as God commands.

He revealed his righteous standards in the Old Testament, in the law of Moses, in the Mosaic law. And he revealed that, and we know on the second table, the law, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not lie, do not steal, do not covet neighbor's property. And he expects his people to honor them, to act justly. But is it called mechanical obedience that he's looking for? Will that be a fulfillment of the justice that God requires from His people and how they are to treat one another?

Remember, man is created to reflect and mirror God. So I ask you, how did God respond to Adam and Eve's sin? Did He not show mercy? Isn't that a side of Him that we were able to see the mercy of God? You see, ruling authorities are to uphold the letter of the law, to protect the innocent, and to punish the evildoer.

But on an individual level, God requires more. Remember Micah 6.8? 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?

To love kindness, or some translations, to love mercy. You see, it's not a cold mechanical doing the things and the precepts and just to say that we've done it, but it requires love. And we know the summary of the law is to first love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. Yes, that is summarized in the New Testament, but remember when the scribes asked Jesus, what is the most important commandment? And Jesus said these things, the scribes said, you have answered, well, they knew.

They knew this is what God requires of them. But beloved, it's only when you love God in this way that you're equipped to now love your neighbor as yourself. You see, only then are people to know how and what God requires of them in relation to others. Because people who do understand that they deserve nothing from God, people who recognize that they are sinners and before God they have no leg to stand on in and of themselves, they have no righteousness, they have nothing of value to offer, only heads down shame for being lawbreakers, people like this who recognize that God's dealing with them is only through mercy, only through love, then people like this have had their hearts changed. Hearts inclined towards God in love, and hearts that are able now to look to fellow brothers and sisters and say, I know how to treat you with mercy.

I now know how to be kind. I now know I'm learning how to be compassionate. Now I understand how it is that I ought to love you. See, in the Old Testament, this was called the circumcision of the heart. I've mentioned twice in Deuteronomy, actually.

And then you, it's called to be born again. Because God's people know the only way they know how to treat others with that selfless love, albeit not perfectly yet, but it's acceptable, is not to try harder, but to have the love of God dwell in them. Because Beloved, as 1 John 4.19 says, we love because He loved us first. Apart from having the love of God in us, we cannot, we cannot fulfill the law of God, the law that is good, but we cannot fulfill the law of God without love.

It's impossible. Our Lord Jesus is the full expression of this selfless love. Is He not? He laid down his life for undeserving sinners. And that's the point I want to end on because there is still something unresolved, right?

The final justice of God we spoke about earlier, it's still unresolved in its totality until we said the day of judgment. You see, if we are to think of biblical justice, that's hearts filled with mercy and love towards others, then we must not neglect to do the most loving thing we can do, and that is to warn people everywhere about the coming justice of God. And that's a terrifying thought when you think about the God of the universe, the all-seeing eye, that his justice will be poured out. You see, the world is so immersed in trying to work out temporal justice issues affecting some, and some of these issues or some of these things are noble causes, so we need to realize that. But they're so entrenched in the here and now, they've neglected to see the greatest issue of justice is yet unresolved.

And that's the justice of God upon unrighteousness. It affects not only the minority groups of human beings here and there, but it affects every single person that has ever existed. And if we think we know how we can or how we ought to treat others with biblical justice, with love and to do things in equity as God commands us to do, but have no concern for their guilty status before a thrice holy God, then beloved, we deceive ourselves. Because that's not loving. That's not loving.

You know, it's one thing to desire to tell others and to warn others about the impending judgment of God upon unrighteousness if they don't look to Christ in faith. It's one thing to have a desire, yet lack boldness. But it's another thing altogether, altogether, not to have any desire to warn others about what's to come. Because we can feed stomachs, hungry stomachs. We can put coats on people's backs.

And beloved, these are things we must not neglect. We must not neglect these things. The book of James is very clear. However, to neglect to tell people about Christ, to neglect to tell people about the judgment of God upon every person apart from faith in Jesus, apart from being cleansed, apart from that substitute, Jesus Christ and Christ alone, well let me tell you, that's not loving at all. Because every lie, every theft, every greed, every prideful thought, every thought of malice, every slander, gossip, every act of unfaithfulness, every lustful look, every bad thought will be judged in the divine courtroom of God.

Nothing will be overlooked. Absolutely nothing. He will pour out His just recompense. His eternal fury and His just wrath upon all unrighteousness. No one will escape His judgment.

No one. He shows no partiality. The poor, the rich, they'll be judged. Male and female alike, judged. Whether you're black or white, it matters not.

You'll be judged. No one will escape His just demands. No one. No one. But there is mercy and His grace available at the cross.

That's where His justice, His perfect justice meets and is put on display with His mercy and His love. Because the substitute we spoke of earlier, typified in the garden with the wrapped skins over Adam and Eve and the death of an animal, that substitute is the Son of God in flesh. That's Jesus. He's our human representative. He's perfected justice.

And He's perfected the righteous demands of God. That we could not perfect. And then he went to that cross and he drank the cup of the fury of God on unrighteousness. And he drank it in full. It was poured out upon him in full on undeserving sinners who would one day come to trust in him.

That's the price to satisfy God's justice. That's the love of God, beloved. But what about righteousness now? His death paid for our sins, but what about the just demands of God's righteousness? Now, if you remember, Adam and Eve were in the garden.

They were upright. They hadn't sinned. They were blameless. But God still said, you must obey me perfectly. So what about that?

Forgiven? Praise the Lord. But what about an active righteousness that God demands? Well, beloved, this is the beauty of the cross. That righteousness of Christ is imputed upon his people.

It wraps us. So the finished work of the cross is not only that we're forgiven, but we're also robed in the righteousness of God. That's an amazing thought, is it not? Beloved, at the very heart of biblical justice is a God who is angry with the wicked every day, but at the same time a God whose love and mercy is made known through Christ. We don't know how to treat others biblically, with biblical justice, unless first we know that the justice of God upon us because of our sins has also been dealt with by faith in Christ upon that cross.

Only then are we, as I said earlier, able to understand. Only then will we have the mind of Christ. which is what is required in order for us to understand, in order for us to be empowered by His Spirit to do what is required, to be kind and tender-hearted, to forgive one another, Ephesians 4.32. To count others more significant than ourselves, Philippians 2.

5. To clothe the needy and feed the poor, as James says in James 2.16. To be sympathetic and show compassion, as Peter says in 1 Peter 3.8.

and to love our neighbor, to love our neighbor as ourselves, by warning them, by warning them of the impending judgment of God to come, and then to share the hope. So we don't only warn of the judgment, we don't only say, hey, the just judgment of God is coming. That's not where we end. That's not where we stay. We don't pull up, sign up, and say, you know, this is God's wrath is coming.

Yes, we say that, but then we share the good news. And the good news is what Christ has done. The good news is the hope that is found in trusting in Jesus Christ as the substitute that bore the sin upon that cross. That's the good news. The good news is that the justice of God has been satisfied in one Jesus Christ who hung on that cross in a perfect display of mercy, love for his people.

That's the good news. I'll end with the clearest explanation of that truth that I know of in the Word of God. If you want to follow through, you may. It's in Romans 3. We're going to read 44 verses, Romans 3, 23 through 26.

Romans 3 23 and 26 listen to these beautiful words and I'll close with this. 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.