December 24, 2007...11:47 am
What Was in The Cup? (Part II)
Proverbs 17:15
He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.
Throughout the course of the history of humanity there has always existed a problem between God and man: sin. The question throughout history has never been, (until the past 50 years) “how could a loving God send someone to hell?” But rather, how could a holy and perfect God forgive sinners and still be just?
You see if God loves something, He must hate the exact opposite. God’s love for holiness is equally as strong as His hatred for sinfulness. For example, I love babies; therefore, I hate the systematic killing of the unborn that we refer to as abortion. I cannot say in the same breath that I love the unborn and turn around and say that I love abortion. It is a total contradiction. In the same sense, God cannot be holy and at the same time not be holy by forgiving sinners without His justice being satisfied.
Let me give you an illustration. Say that you return home one night and you find your whole family on the floor dead and the killer is standing over them. The killer tries to get away but you tackle him before he can run away. You take him down to the judge and the judge says to the killer, “I am a loving judge, therefore, you are free to go.” If the judge said that, you would be outraged! You would be writing the papers and news stations saying that there is a judge who is more wicked and corrupt than the killer because he did not uphold justice.
In the same way, if God is just, He cannot forgive you without His justice being satisfied. Why?
Proverbs 17:15
He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.
The word abomination is a very strong word. It means disgusting, detestable, loathsome, and wicked. For God to not be just would cause Him to be a disgusting, detestable, loathsome, and wicked God which are all contrary to His nature.
So this is the problem. God needs to maintain His perfect justice and forgive His people. And this is the answer:
Romans 3:23-26
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by His grace
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness,
because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Let me quickly explain each verse:
23 – We are all sinners and fall short of God’s requirement for perfect obedience and holiness.
24 – To be justified means that we are declared righteous and holy before God through the free gracious gift of Christ and His righteousness. It is what the Reformer’s called the “Great Transfer”. My sin was transferred to Christ and His righteousness was transferred to me. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said in:
2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
25 – God executed His perfect justice and wrath on Jesus by crushing Him on the cross with His white, hot, holy wrath.
Isaiah 53:10
But the LORD was pleased to crush Him
That is captured by the word “propitiation”. To propitiate means to appease and satisfy the wrath of God.
When Paul says that God “passed over” the previous sins, He is simply saying, as the writer of Hebrews affirms, that the blood of bulls and goats never took away sin but were shadows that pointed to the sacrifice in Christ. Christ atoned for the sins that were passed over of Old Testament believers.
26 – This is how God is able to be both just and the justifier of wicked people. God showed us justice by pouring out His wrath on Jesus Christ and showed us grace by declaring us righteous through Christ.
This is the Gospel at its very core and my question to you is this: Have you confessed Jesus Christ as your Savior, looking to Him in faith that He is the only way that you can stand righteous before a God burning with holiness?
Leave a Reply