Word of Salvation – Vol. 24 No. 35 – May 1978

 

A Question About The Justice Of God

 

Sermon by Rev. B. Gillard, B.A., B.D., on Lord’s Day 4

Scripture reading: Genesis 3:1-24

Psalter Hymnal: 192; 270; 445; 253; 487

 

Introduction: The General Complaint Against God.

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

The question raised in Lord’s Day 4 touches upon the justice of God.  And the question is: “Does not God, then, wrong man by requiring of him in His law that which he cannot perform?”  This is a very serious accusation indeed.  And it shows us once again the audacious heart of man, that he should dare to ask or even think such a thing about the Holy God.

But isn’t this what we see right throughout history?  It’s one of the earliest charges brought against God.  Satan was the first to say it, when he said to Eve, “You shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  In other words God was unfair and unjust to Adam and Eve.  He was keeping something from them out of sinister motives, or malicious intent.  And they fell for it.

And how many have fallen for the same line ever since?  Don’t you hear it almost all the time?  Isn’t it often asked: why does God allow the innocent to suffer?  Atrocities to be committed?  Children born deformed?  And many other things.

And what lies behind such questions as these?  Is it not the one raised in the Catechism that touches upon the justice of God?  And is it not being suggested that God is somehow wronging us in what He allows to happen?  Yes, God is accused of acting wrongly towards us in many things.  Adam also said it after the Fall.  It wasn’t really his fault that he had eaten the forbidden fruit.  Oh no, it was all God’s fault.  After all if God had not given that woman to him the whole thing would never have happened.

But it isn’t only the unsaved who find fault with God, beloved.  Even the godly ones come very close to it at times.  Remember the man in Psalm 73?  How he compared his circumstances with those who professed the living God.  He saw the prosperity of the wicked and the sufferings of the righteous, and he began to wonder about the goodness of God.  And didn’t James have to deal with a similar problem in his epistle?  Yes, the sinful heart of man is quick to rise up and find fault even with the Almighty Himself.

The Specific Charge Against God. 

But now let us notice exactly what it is that God is being charged with in the question asked in L.D.4: “Does not God, then, wrong man by requiring of him in His law that which he cannot perform?”  The first thing that we should notice here is that the Catechism affirms the fact that God still requires perfect and entire obedience to His law, not withstanding man’s total inability to keep it.

That is a point that needs repeated emphasis today.  Because the problem often is that man no longer thinks in such terms as these.  Speak to any unconverted person about salvation and you will soon discover that he does not really think that God requires perfection.  Nine out of ten, if not ten out of ten, are under the mistaken notion that their best efforts at a good life will suffice to gain acceptance with God. 

Well, if there is anyone here today who thinks this way, take careful note that the Catechism says it is not so.  Did not the Lord Jesus demand perfection from the rich young Ruler who came enquiring about eternal life?  Our God has not changed one bit when it comes to the demands of His holy law, notwithstanding man’s inability to perform it.  Even the Christian sometimes loses sight of this.  But even for him, God has not altered His demands.  The Lord Jesus Himself said to all who follow Him: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt.5:48.)

I do not say that our salvation depends upon our ability to be perfect.  Nevertheless, it is still that which God requires of us.  So then let us not think for a moment that the Catechism in L.D.4 has nothing to say to those of us who are saved by grace, and only speaks to those who are unsaved.  Not at all, we are all included, even though there is a great difference between those who are saved by grace, and those who are yet unsaved.

Well then what about this question?  Does God wrong man by requiring of him in His law that which he cannot perform?  In order to be true to the Catechism, we should note that the Catechism does, however, have a primary reference to the sinner in his fallen and unconverted state.  And so let us note in conclusion why God is not unjust in requiring from fallen man that which he cannot perform.

Answering the Accusation.

The first reason given is that man is fully responsible for his own inability to keep the law.  You will notice that the Catechism draws our attention especially to this, when it says: “not at all, for God made man capable of performing it.”  That’s the thing that the sinner overlooks.  God did not make man incapable of keeping the law.  He made him fully capable of keeping it.  If God had made man like he is now, then there would have been some truth in the charge brought against Him.  But He didn’t, He made man perfect, and that puts God always in the clear, and puts man always in the wrong.

Suppose you were to contract a builder to build you a house.  And suppose you advanced him the entire amount to complete the job.  And suppose further that he went out and recklessly gambled it all away and could not fulfil the contract.  Would that make you unjust if you still demanded that that irresponsible contractor fulfil his responsibilities towards you and complete the contract?  Even though he had lost the ability to do so?  Of course the answer is no.  And so it is with God.  He is not unjust in demanding from man that he pay and fulfil that which He gave him every ability to do.  It is not God’s fault that he threw it away and lost his ability.  No, the responsibility rests entirely upon man himself.

It is true that the sinner is now in a hopeless mess (hopeless from his point of view) even more hopeless than the man in our illustration.  He has an obligation to render unto his Maker a perfect obedience of His holy law.  And yet that is the one thing he is totally unable to do.  For as the Catechism tells us, he foolishly listened to the lie of the devil, and by his own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of these gifts and the ability to obey.  And that’s the one thing the Catechism and the Bible really wants the unconverted sinner to see.  Not only to see it, but also to feel it and to know that his case is quite helpless before God so far as He Himself is concerned.  And why is this?  Because God takes delight in tormenting the sinner?  No, just the opposite, so that the sinner in seeing how hopeless his case is, might turn away from himself to trusting in the grace and mercy of our God.

Before the unconverted sinner will do that, however, there is still one other thing that he has also got to be convinced of.  And that is, he has got to be convinced that God not only demands perfection, but that He will punish every imperfection that He finds in man, either in man himself, or in a substitute.  And this is something that the unconverted sinner still finds difficult to accept.  He has this notion that if he does his best and makes a token repayment of his obligations, notwithstanding the fact that he falls far, far short, then all will be well and God will forgive and forget the many debts that have gone unpaid and the innumerable offences that have been committed.

The Catechism also recognises this problem and sets out to dissuade the sinner from thinking too lightly of the justice of God when it goes on to ask: “Will God suffer such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?”   And the answer is no, a thousand times no.  God cannot and He will not, just as the Catechism says: “He is terribly displeased with our original as well as actual sins, and will punish them by a just judgement temporally and eternally, as He has declared, cursed is everyone who continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.”  And if there is anyone here today who still wants to argue with this, then I invite you to come to the place called Calvary and look up into the twisted agonising face of the figure on the central cross and listen to Him as He cries out, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me.”  And then try and maintain in the face of that, that God is such a One as we; that He will pass sin by without punishing it as it deserves to be punished.

It is not until the sinner sees these things, then, and is convinced in his heart that they are true, that he will also see that his position before the Holy God is indeed a hopeless one as far as he himself is concerned.  But thanks be unto God that when he does see it and really feel it, then a ray of hope may begin to shine for the first time.  For now he will also begin to look away from himself and look to God for His grace and mercy.  And this too, is one of the marks of a truly converted sinner.  He is a person with, a truly contrite and broken heart, because he has seen and felt his lost condition and his hopeless failure so far as the perfect keeping of the law of God is concerned, and he knows that there is but one way of escape for him.  Not in an unjust God Who turns a blind eye to sins committed and righteousness omitted.  Nor in the best efforts that the sinner can make.  But in the God of all grace and mercy, Who has punished every transgression of the law for the elect sinner in the person of His only begotten Son.  And assures us that all who turn to Him in true faith and repentance, He will not cast out.

Conclusion.

If you have never really seen and felt your lost condition apart from Christ, then may the Holy Spirit be pleased to expose you to the terrors of judgement through the command of God for the perfect keeping of His holy law.  And also cause you to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ Who is full of mercy and compassion and Who will receive you if you truly repent and believe in Him for salvation.

And for those of us who have already come to know Him, let us never forget that God still demands that we keep His law as His children out of love and gratitude for all that He has done for us.  And let us thank Him for His grace which enables us to say with the Apostle John, “His law is no longer a burdensome to us.”  And to Him be all the honour, the praise and the glory.

AMEN.