Justice, Mercy, and Grace

By Justin Edwards
 
Justice is getting what you deserve, mercy is not getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you don’t deserve.

When we are witnessing to the lost, it is oftentimes important to define the terms we are using to communicate the Gospel.  In one conversation last night during our weekly outreach, after one gentleman expressed he must prove that he was deserving of salvation, I quickly asked him what grace is.  He defined it as love, so I proceeded to explain to him what justice, mercy, and grace is as defined by Scripture.  These terms and their meanings seem to largely be lost among today’s society, so let’s briefly take a look at each in hopes they will help you better understand and communicate the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Justice is getting what you deserve.

When we hear of justice today, it’s usually in the form of its antonym, injustice.   We hear of social justice and perceived abuses of justice, but it is rare on the streets when someone can provide a correct definition of justice.  The best way to do this is to figuratively take the individual into the courtroom.

If we break the law, there is a consequence.  For example, if we get a ticket for going 55mph in a 35mph speed zone, the right or just thing for the judge of the court would be to fine us for our violation of the traffic law.  If 20 people showed up in the courtroom that day with traffic violations in the same speed zone, the judge should still fine every person for the violation against the law, regardless of “everybody else was doing it”.  We, individually, are responsible to obey the law, and when we violate the law, we each are responsible to pay the debt owed.  The judge is a good and just judge when he gives us what we deserve.

In the same way, we have all broken God’s law.  We have all lied, stolen, blasphemed God’s holy name, lusted and murdered in our heart, among many other offenses against Him.  Because God is a good and just judge, the Supreme Judge of the universe, He must punish the crimes committed against Him.  If He overlooked our crimes as if they never happened, or merely accepted an apology from us on the day of judgment and let us go free out of His holy courtroom, then He would be corrupt and unjust.  It is because of His goodness that our sin must be punished, and it is why we deserve His justice and death sentence to eternal hell.

See this article for more on the justice of God:  Jesus: Holy and Righteous God of Love and Wrath – Part 3

Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

Mercy is deliverance from the justice we deserve.  The Bible says that God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) and saves us not because of anything we have done, but because of His mercy alone (Titus 3:5).  We deserve His justice and His wrath against us in the eternal lake of fire because we have sinned against an infinitely holy God.  Even so, God has chosen according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 2:5) to be merciful to some (Romans 9:22-23) to forgive them their debts owed to Him.

It’s important to understand that God does not show mercy at the expense of His justice.  In fact, overlooking these crimes would be a great injustice as mentioned before.  The Bible says that God’s wrath must be satisfied (1 John 4:10), which means every sin, or crime, that has ever been committed against Him by any human that has ever walked the earth, whether thought, word, or deed, must be punished.  That’s why Christ had to die on the cross – to shed His blood to make atonement (to pay the debt) for these sins.  All who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by repentant faith had their sin transferred to Christ and their crimes were punished through Him.  The very wrath we deserved was poured out on God’s own Son – He bore our iniquities and took our punishment (Isaiah 53).

So though God shows mercy to His sheep, their sins do not go unpunished.  Justice is either served through the shed blood of Christ, or justice is served through the punishment of unrepentant sinners in hell for eternity.  Christ paid a debt He did not owe because we had a debt we could not pay.  Because God’s wrath was satisfied and justice served, His mercy abounds for those He saves.  That is justice and mercy working together.

Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.

The man we spoke with last night believed he had to prove himself worthy of salvation – that is what Catholics and Mormons believe.  Indeed, if we had to work for grace, then it would not be grace at all, it would be merited favor.  The Bible teaches that salvation is absolutely and completely of the Lord (Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31).  Even our faith and repentance are gifts, otherwise they would be works (2 Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:1-10).

In the last moments of Christ’s crucifixion, as He hung there in spiritual agony as the result of the weight of sin of the world and God crushing His Son with His full wrath, Jesus said, “It is finished”, and then He gave up His spirit (John 19:30).  Not only was His work to save men from their sins completed, but He affirmed there is nothing left to be done.  No more work, no more sacrifice, nothing at all.  There is nothing any of us can do to add to the finished work of Christ.  It is finished!  The person who believes they have to prove themselves worthy of salvation does not understand the price paid for sin, nor do they understand grace and are still dead in their sins.

We are born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1), we are blinded by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and it is impossible for us as natural men to understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).  We are deserving of God’s justice, but according to His will (John 1:12-13) and the glorious riches of His mercy, He has chosen to deliver His people from His wrath and give them what they don’t deserve.

God’s justice and mercy are hinged upon the cross by His sovereign grace.  He gives us what we can never earn, namely eternal life, while meeting all the requirements to satisfy His justice.  Now that is amazing grace!

This article was originally posted at The Speak:Truth Project

Jesus Died for Me

By Justin Edwards

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:18

Jesus died for me.  A wretched sinner.  I lived as an enemy of the cross.  I loved the world.  I loved my sin.  Though I loved God with my lips, I hated Him with my lifestyle.  My mind was set on earthly things.  I pursued the riches of this world.  I was proud.  I wanted to control my life.  I wanted to do things my way.  I was a hypocrite.  Compared to others, I was a good person.  Compared to God, I was hopeless.  "Moral values" were my god.  As long as I didn't hurt others, it was ok for me to hurt myself through a reckless lifestyle.  I was a professing Christian.  I trampled on the blood of Christ.  I took pleasure in the sin that nailed Him to the cross.  I was religious.  I was lost.  But Jesus died for me.  For me!

What did I do to receive this greatest act of love where Jesus laid His life down for me?  Nothing, absolutely nothing.  What could I do?  There was nothing good in me.  There was nothing in me that God looked upon me favorably to say, "Ah yes, this one deserves My grace."  No, I did not deserve God's grace.  No one does.  The only thing any of us deserve is His justice and wrath - the due punishment for our crimes against an infinitely holy and righteous God.

There was no amount of effort that could make me deserving of heaven.  There was no amount of good works to outweigh by bad works.  There was no amount of cleaning myself up that would warrant me worthy of salvation.  After all, it was actually impossible for me to clean myself up, and trust me, I tried many times.  The reality was that I was a slave to my sin.  I was in bondage to the works of the flesh, and the reckless and proud lifestyle I lived was merely an outward manifestation of the condition of my heart. And because I was "saved and baptized" when I was 8 years old and was taught "once saved always saved", it really didn't matter what kind of lifestyle I lived because I was forgiven and eternally secure.  Little did I know grace was not a license to sin, nor does a prayer or "decision for Christ" equal salvation.  Even so, my pride caused me to believe God would overlook my sin, even though my lifestyle was an abomination to Him.

So why did God save me 2 years ago?  I can tell you it had nothing to do with me, but everything to do with Him.  A secret only known to God, He chose me before the foundation of the world to lay His life down for me.  While I was dead in my sins and was an enemy of God, He chose to extend His mercy to me.  To bring glory to Himself, and for this reason alone, He chose to give me a new heart so that I could see exactly who I was, and more importantly, I could see Who He is.  I am nowhere in the equation, but solely for His glorious purposes, of which I know not, He chose to make me His son and a co-heir in the Kingdom of Christ.

That is grace, my friend.  There is no other way.

I deserved the punishment, but Christ took my punishment instead.  I deserved the wrath of God, but Christ bore this wrath for me.  Every single sin - whether thought, word, or deed - I deserved to recompense, but Christ paid my debt for me because I could not.  The perfect, spotless, Lamb of Almighty God took my hell, so that I could receive eternal life with Jesus in heaven.

That is love, my friend.  There is none greater.

It is for this reason I am able to love God.  If He had not loved me first, it would be impossible for me to love Him.  If He had not made me a new creation, it would be impossible for me to desire God.  If He had not given me a new heart, it would be impossible for me to serve and obey Him.  And if He had not shone His light through me, it would have been impossible for me to understand the Gospel.

But none of these things make any sense to those with hardened hearts.  As the Scripture at the top of this post indicates, the cross is utter foolishness to those who are perishing.  They think it folly that anyone can pay for their sin except for themselves.  They mock the blood of Christ and consider it disgusting to be covered by such a thing.  The god of this world, Satan, has blinded them so they cannot see the truth that is in the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4), and in their natural state as children of wrath,

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. - 1 Corinthians 2:14

But when God saves sinners by His grace alone, He gives us eyes to see and a mind to discern the things of God.  Because of this, we are able to respond to Christ with a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and God enables us to pursue Him with a passion to love Him with all of our mind, heart, soul, and strength.  This causes us to depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19), deny worldliness and ungodliness (Titus 2:12), to flee from idolatry and sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 10:14; 6:18), and to come out from under the influence of the world (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

Believers understand just how costly it was for Christ to lay His life down for His sheep.  Jesus paid our fine so we would not receive our just and eternal punishment in hell, and for that we are eternally grateful.  It is now our reasonable service to offer our bodies to Him as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him (Romans 12:1).  Out of love for Him and love for His beautiful yet gut-wrenching sacrifice, we have no greater desire than to obey Him and flee from the things that crucified Him.  We are compelled to lay our lives down for Christ because we have been the benefactors of the riches of His grace and mercy. 

Christ is our Savior.  Christ is our Lord.  Christ is our King.  And me, a wretched sinner, He laid His life down.

Christ died for me.  Did He die for you?

God Saves Bad People

By Justin Edwards

Did you know that God saves bad people? He saves sinners, that is, He saves sinners who recognize themselves as such. It doesn't matter what you've done, or who you did it with, there's nothing in your past or present that God will not forgive. He calls you to repent and place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He promises to save all who lay their life down before Him. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and submit to His rule and reign in your life, and the gift you receive will be Life Eternal.

Transcript below:

 God Saves Bad People

God loves to save the most despicable kinds of people. And that's certainly true in my case. In getting me God wasn't getting something good. In getting me God wasn't getting anything special, in getting me God wasn't getting anything that would add to Him or benefit Him in any way, shape, or form. Have you forgotten by any chance the sewer out of which God rescued you? Which means, dear friends that our hope, our joy is grounded in this: that our God is absolutely relentless in his passionate pursuit to save sinners, not good people. God doesn't save good people; good people don't need to be saved. God saves bad people! Are you a bad person today? Then I am exceedingly glad that you are here, because that's what this congregation is, a congregation of bad people. Why do you come to this place? So that you can hear of the God Who saves bad people, Who loves bad people, Who rescues and delivers and extends mercy to bad people. Why bad people? Because doing so reveals the glory of His grace and the expansive boundaries of His love. Because doing so exposes the true potency of His saving accomplishments in His Son Jesus Christ. God loves to save bad people.

We raise our fist in God's face and we say, "Why do You save some and not others?" And it makes us mad. In our arrogance it makes us mad. As the pot, we think we have rights to the Potter. "Why do You save some and not others?" And you understand of course the predisposition that's behind all of that: the assumption that we're all innocent. But when you understand as Rahab does that we are all guilty, then suddenly the amazing thing is not that God saves some and not others, the amazing thing is that God saves any! When you understand that we're all guilty, suddenly saving any becomes the most amazing display of the grace of God.

This is the Christian God. The God Who saves bad people. The God Who has revealed Himself to you most fully in Jesus Christ. The gracious God, the generous God, the warm-hearted God, the open-armed God, the God Who is for sinners! Are you a sinner? A sinner like Rahab, dominated by sin because of your enslavement to sin? The God of the Bible is full of power and full of love and eager to save. And He does so, dear friends, by the One Who is now come to us through the redeemed womanhood of Rahab, God's Own Son Jesus Christ. You are not beyond the reach of God's grace. It makes no difference, dear friend, how scandalous your sin may be; even if it's as ugly as that of Rahab's. Like Rahab, ask God to save you from death, and He will in ways far greater than you could ever begin to imagine. Ask God, like Rahab, to save you from death. Because of the One Who has come to us from the lineage of Rahab, because of Jesus Christ, God will give you life.

(HT to Greis Vllahu for transcript)

Edwards and Spurgeon on Divine Sovereingty and Election

By Justin Edwards

Jonathan Edwards

"From my childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God's sovereignty. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to this sovereignty of God, and His justice in thus eternally dealing with men, according to His sovereign pleasure. My mind rested in it; and it put an end to all those quibbles and objections. And there has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, with respect to the doctrine of God's sovereignty, from that day to this. God's absolute sovereignty…is what my mind seems to rest assured of, as much as of any thing that I see with my eyes. But I have often, since that first conviction, had quite another kind of sense of God's sovereignty than I had then. I have often since had not only a conviction, but a delightful conviction. The doctrine has appeared exceedingly pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God. But my first conviction was not so."

"When men are fallen, and become sinful, God by His sovereignty has a right to determine about their redemption as He pleases. He has a right to determine whether He will redeem any or not. He might, if he had pleased, have left all to perish, or might have redeemed all. Or, he may redeem some, and leave others; and if He doth so, He may take whom He pleases, and leave whom He pleases. To suppose that all have forfeited his favor, and deserved to perish, and to suppose that he may not leave any one individual of them to perish, implies a contradiction; because it supposes that such a one has a claim to God's favor, and is not justly liable to perish; which is contrary to the supposition. It is meet (right) that God should order all these things according to His own pleasure. By reason of His greatness and glory, by which He is infinitely above all, He is worthy to be Sovereign, and that His pleasure should in all things take place. He is worthy that He should make Himself His end, and that He should make nothing but His own wisdom His rule in pursuing that end, without asking leave or counsel of any, and without giving account of any of His matters. It is fit that He who is absolutely perfect, and infinitely wise, and the Fountain of all wisdom, should determine every thing [that He effects] by His own will, even things of the greatest importance. It is meet that He should be thus Sovereign, because He is the first being, the eternal being, whence all other beings are. He is the Creator of all things; and all are absolutely and universally dependent on Him; and therefore it is meet that He should act as the Sovereign possessor of heaven and earth." (Edwards, The Justice of God in the damnation of sinners)

Charles H. Spurgeon

"There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation - the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands - the throne of God, and His right to sit upon that throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by world-lings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne."

"We give our hand to every man that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, be he what he may or who he may. The doctrine of election, like the great act of election itself, is intended to divide, not between Israel and Israel, but between Israel and the Egyptians, not between saint and saint, but between saints and the children of the world. A man may be evidently of God's chosen family, and yet though elected, may not believe in the doctrine of election. I hold that there are many savingly called, who do not believe in effectual calling, and that there are a great many who persevere to the end, who do not believe the doctrine of final perseverance. We do hope the hearts of many are a great deal better than their heads. We do not set their fallacies down to any willful opposition to the truth as it is in Jesus but simply to an error in their judgments, which we pray God to correct. We hope that if they think us mistaken too, they will reciprocate the same Christian courtesy; and when we meet around the cross, we hope that we shall ever feel that we are one in Christ Jesus."


For two short but excellent articles on God's sovereignty and election in our salvation, please see the following two articles by John Samson:


God is at the Center

What is meant by Divine Election?

Sovereign Grace in the Garden

By Justin Edwards

I recently began reading Dr. Steven Lawson's Foundations of Grace: A Long Line of Godly Men, volume 1 of a 5-volume series on the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God. In my thirst to gain deeper understanding of the doctrines of grace, I found the premise of Foundations of Grace to be most intriguing. In this first volume, Dr. Lawson surveys the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, from Moses to the prophets to Jesus to the Apostles, to clearly show these doctrines resound through the Word of God. As this first installment is the foundation from which the remaining series will be built, latter volumes will focus on the early church fathers, the reformers, the Puritans, stalwarts of the 17th and 18th centuries, and modern men of God who were chosen by Him to proclaim these sovereign truths. For more details on the projected series, please go here. You can also read Amazon reviews in addition to the foreword and afterword from John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul, respectively, here.

The second chapter of Foundations of Grace titled, "Where the Long Line Begins: The Lawgiver Moses - Genesis", takes us through God's sovereignty in creation and His sovereign attributes in relation to the salvation of sinners. It further displays God's sovereignty in the lives of His chosen vessels found in the book of Genesis. In reading of God's sovereign initiative for the redemption of His people, I stand in awe to witness this truth come alive from the first pages of Scripture. Though Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God, His mercy and love for His children is reflected through a bloody sacrifice to restore Adam and Eve to Himself. This is a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ would one day accomplish to redeem His people - the innocent Lamb of God sacrificing Himself for the guilty.

The following excerpt is taken from page 64 of Foundations of Grace:

Specific Substitution. In the garden, God also gave a symbolic picture of the future death of Christ for His chosen ones. By His sovereign initiative, He made conveings for the nakedness of the first couple:

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

The Lord Himself killed an innocent animal and made coverings for the nakedness and guilt of Adam and Eve. This was the first death in God's newly created world - a slain sacrifice. This animal was killed at the hands of God Himself, and He provided its skin freely for the first couple as an expression restoring Adam's and Eve's relationship with Himself. This bloody sacrifice pictured the coming of Christ into the world to redeem His people. God's Son would be the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of His people (John 1:29, 36). His sacrifice alone would provide a covering for the exposed nakedness of Adam and Eve's guilt.

In explaining this substitutionary death, [Dr. James] Boice points out that it symbolized the shed blood and perfect righteousness of Christ. Boice writes: "In order to make clothes of skin, God had to kill animals. It was the first death Adam and Eve had witnessed, as far as we know. It must have seemed horrible to them and have made an indelible impression. 'So this is what death is; this is what sin causes,' they must have exclaimed. But even more important, the death of the animals must have taught them the principle of substitution, the innocent dying for the guilty, just as the innocent Son of God would one day die for the sins of those God was giving to him. When God clothed our first parents in the animals' skins, Adam and Eve must have had at least a first faint glimmer of the doctrine of imputed righteousness...God saved Adam and Eve from their sins by clothing them in the heavenly righteousness of Jesus Christ, which he symbolized by their being clothed with skins of animals."

I hope that gives you a taste of what to expect from this most fascinating book demonstrating the "joy-giving, life-changing, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying, missions-motivating, evangelism-encouraging, and discipleship-promoting truths" of the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God (1). Though I am just beginning chapter 3, I am driven with anticipation to grow deeper in understanding of these magnificent truths. The more I learn of God's sovereignty, the more I rest in His grace and humbly rejoice in His mercy toward me. If you would also like to discover or sharpen your understanding of the doctrines of grace, then Foundations of Grace is a must-read for you. May God be glorified in our pursuit to know and love Him more.

(1) Review by J. Ligon Duncan III, PhD, Senior Minister First Baptist Church, Jackson MS

Endless Mercy (VLOG)

By Justin Edwards

Welcome back, brother!

Our Father in Heaven is FULL of a mercy that has no end. There is something extremely important that we can learn from this...