The Justice and Mercy of God

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>The Justice and Mercy of God</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id487.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Meal With The Majestic One"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id489.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Justice and Mercy of God (Part 2)"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"The Justice and Mercy of God" (Part 1), Genesis 18:16-33</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, Nov 13-14, 2004</B></div> <bR> <div>      "In the movie <I>Patch Adams</I>, the main character ([played by] Robin Williams) is an uncoventional medical student who believes that humor and compassion are the most important tools of the doctor's trade. His idealism is shattered when his girlfriend, who has helped him start a free clinic based on these principles, is murdered by one of the psychotic patients. As Patch stands on a high cliff pondering suicide, he has the following monologue with God: `So answer me please  - tell me what you're doing ... You create man, man suffers enormous amounts of pain; man dies. Maybe you should have had just a few more brainstorming sessions prior to creation. You rested on the seventh day - maybe you should have spent that day on compassion.' ... Whenever we raise questions about God's justice, we tacitly suggest, as Patch did, that we would be more just if given the chance. When we question God's love, we imply we can be more loving" (John Walton, <I>Genesis, </I>NIV Application Commentary, p. 487-8).</div> <div>      In the movie "Bruce Almighty" . . . (quoting from the review of Anna Waterhouse at ChristianityToday.com, 5-29-03), "Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) sees his life as mediocre. Self-involved and immature, he loves his longtime girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston), but has never gotten around to proposing. His job as a tv reporter in Buffalo, New York, doesn't satisfy him. When he is denied the only thing he truly covets, an anchor spot, his simmering discontent boils over. Bruce accuses God of being negligent, even sadistic. / That's when God (Morgan Freeman) challenges Bruce to do better. And so Bruce Nolan becomes God for a time-only to discover that omnipotence [isn't] all it's cracked up to be." He uses his new powers for selfish ends: He parts traffic like the Red Sea. He commands his dog to use the rest room in the apartment, and he does. He answers "yes" to everyone's prayers, so the lottery system and society itself goes haywire. He makes his rival at work look like an idiot while he is on TV.</div> <div>      We sometimes say, "If I were God, I would . . ." What would the world look like if <I>you</I> could be God for a week? And in what ways would <I>others</I> complain about it? In what circumstances are we tempted to be the judge and jury of God's actions? Do we have a right to judge God?</div> <div>      Please read Genesis 18:16-33. Is God just? Will he do what is right? The specific question at issue: will he sweep away (destroy) the righteous along with the wicked (vs. 23). Is he just in punishing the wicked, the unbelievers? Is he just in allowing believers to experience pain and suffering in this life? People of faith have to wrestle with such questions at time.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. Is God just? Will he do what is right? Three observations in Genesis 18.</B></div> <div> A. <I>God makes his mercy available to all (vss. 17-19).</I> His purpose was to create his own people, who are committed to him and to his ways, and he offers the opportunity to all who will believe.</div> <div> B. <I>God judges fairly, according to the evidence </I>(vss. 20-21). He investigated first-hand the charge against Sodom. The two angels would go and serve as two witnesses (the law says that by the testimony of 2 witnesses a matter will be established). In Revelation 20:12, judgment on unbelievers is out of the books recording what people have done. He does not judge based on hearsay and assumptions.</div> <div> C. <I>God will delay his judgment on the wicked because of the presence of the righteous</I> (vss. 22-33). Proverbs 14:34 says, "Godliness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to people."</div> <bR> <div> <B>God is just and will do what is right.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>II. When we are tempted to question, when circumstances cause us to not be so sure, what can we do?</B></div> <div> A. <I>Affirm the reality of God's character</I> (vs. 25). </div> <div>      Many people malign God's character, because they don't know anything about the whole story. It's written for us to be aware of who he is and what he does, and what he will do.</div> <div> B. <I>Approach God with humility</I> (vss. 27). </div> <div>      Even though we have the Word, we don't have the whole story; we don't know everything! We can't see the scene from his perspective.</div> <div>      One writer wrote, "In the June, 1980 issue of Our Daily Bread, I told how a Christian providentially escaped death. An unexpected delay in New York kept him from catching Flight 191 in Chicago, which crashed with all 254 aboard. That article brought this note from a reader: `I just had to let you know about one of God's great saints who ran to make Flight 191-and made it!' His name was Edwards E. Elliott, beloved pastor of the Garden Grove Orthodox Presbyterian Church in California. His plane from Pennsylvania was late, and a friend who had accompanied him to Chicago said he last saw him `dashing forward' in the terminal to make his connection. As I read about Pastor Elliott's fruitful ministry, the question I raised in that June devotional challenged me with new urgency: `Was Divine providence operating only in New York and not in Chicago?' Immediately the words of my correspondent came alive: `At the time, Reverend Elliott didn't know he was indeed running to Heaven ... Mrs. Elliott and her four married children comforted the entire church. Their Christian faith and testimony in sorrow was most extraordinary.'" D.J.D.  (Quoted by Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong, p. 268 (Bible.org, "God, Sovereignty of)).</div> <div>      The fact is, we don't know enough to pass judgment on God's plan. He is God; we are not.</div> <div> C. <I>Pray for God's mercy in the lives of others </I>(vss. 23-33). </div> <div>      In  Genesis 19:29, God remembered <I>Abraham</I> and delivered <I>Lot</I>.</div> <div> D. <I><U>Be</U></I><I>the righteous</I> (vss. 17-19). Be salt and light, be the "city on a hill," calling others to salvation and righteousness. Others will respond to God's mercy, not because we talk about it, but because we live by it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2004, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>