Justice, Christ’s Coming and the Final Judgment

Basic Truths God wants His People to Know, Part 12

By Pastor Dan Kennedy

© April 29, 2018

www.pastorkennedy.com

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.”

Psalm 89:14

“But the Lord sits enthroned forever;

He has established His throne for justice,

and He judges the world with righteousness;

He judges the peoples with uprightness.”

Psalm 9:7–8

The Inequities of Life, Demand Justice

“Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;

I call for help, but there is no justice.” - Job

Job 19:7

Everyone has a deep inner yearning for Justice.

1. •If someone has hurt you by being a liar, thief, abuser, or destroyer;
   
   

2. •If someone has blemished, sullied or trampled down your good name;
   
   

3. •If someone has misused your purpose or work to their own selfish advantage;
   
   

4. •If someone has broken into your property, stolen or decimated your valued and hard-earned assets;
   

1. •If someone has abused, manipulated or misused sex, your protected virtue, or violated your faithful spouse, or abused your precious child…
   
   

2. •Etc., etc.
   
   

Then you have experienced the need for Justice.

Who Can Provide Justice?

Everyone has endured unjust treatment sometime during his or her life, where Justice had been abandoned and deception, with even diabolical corruption, may have played a decisive role.  These selfish or vindictive acts against an individual or groups of people are demoralizing and destructive.  They can embitter even the sweetest, most innocent soul… for life.

Who will provide Justice for the embittered soul of the abused?  Who will set right those things that have deceptively been torn down?

How do People often Respond to the Lack of Justice?

• Some people live a life of quiet desperation and despair over injustices.  

o Unfulfilled justice may change one further into having a cynical or narcissistic view of life.

• Some lash out with deepening hatred toward those who perpetrated evil – knowing that their injustices will never be made right,

o And the residue of that hatred may then become even an unintended extension to those close around them.

• Some live a life planning revenge against perpetrators, thinking at last their soul will feel satisfied in retribution for gross injustices against them.

o But, even the most determined plan and execution of revenge will leave an emptiness, hollowness and lack of complete satisfaction, because only God knows the motives of every heart, and is able to execute the completeness of vengeance and retribution.

• Some rely on the unpredictable courts, or other civil options to seek to obtain justice.  

O Some win with a certain amount of success.  Others fail and are left with little other option – and the potential residue of retaliation.  

“Lady Justice”

1. 1. ◦Scale: Weighing the Evidence
      
      

   2. ◦Blindfold:  Impartiality
      
      

   3. ◦Sword:  Authority – swift and final
      
      

2. No one feels absolutely vindicated with the court’s “justice” when inadequate human opinions are rendered.
   

Misconceived Conclusions: “God is at Fault!”

1. 1. ◦Inability to find an adequate earthly authority
      
      

2. There is nowhere for an abused person to go to adequately find an authority perceptive enough to fully understand the violation, or powerful enough to judicially issue a decree strong enough to calm the turmoil of his or her violated soul.
   

1. 1. ◦Misdirected Blame on the Almighty
      

2. 
   

(Why do people use “God,” or “Jesus Christ” as a curse word of choice?  There are no curse words strong enough, other than these, to adequately express the distain of the troubled carnal soul, so these Supreme, Holy and Powerful Names are used with careless abandon.)  

Similarly, a carnal person lays the first blame of their sordid injustices at the feet of God.  This underlying deceptive lie is from God’s arch enemy (just as in the “curses’ pseudo-satisfaction” scenario.)

In reality, only the power of God can break injustice’s blatant power, give a just verdict strong enough to condemn and punish the evildoer, and restore emotional health to one’s weeping, justice-starved soul.  

Reconciliation of injustices with God is not always immediate, but it will always be complete.  Justice will either be partially meted out in this life, or in absolute completeness, in the next.

1 Timothy 5:24–25

24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not, cannot remain hidden.

How do People often Respond to the Lack of Justice?

1. 1. ◦Some people live a life of quiet desperation
      
      

   2. ◦Some lash out with deepening hatred
      
      

   3. ◦Some live a life planning revenge
      
      

   4. ◦Some rely on the unpredictable courts
      
      

2. 
   

    A God-Centered Way… (one has to believe in God for this to be meaningful!)

1. 1. ◦True Believers in Christ entrust their soul’s desperate hurt to a powerful and faithful Creator who will one day make all things right and is the only One who can do so.  It is a matter of faith – of faith “In God.”  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  
      

2. 
   

1 Peter 2:19–24

19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Hebrews 11:6

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Marching to a different tune than “the world’s drummer” – look at Jesus’ response when Pilate asked Jesus at His Trial, if He was the King of the Jews…

John 18:36

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

When we respond from an eternal perspective, we do not have the necessity for immediate temporal retribution.  Faith looks beyond and sees that which is incapable of carnal eyes; and, since we are those who believe in a Living God, this faith clearly sees and grasps eternal dynamics,

Justice can never be remedied (in this life) by quiet desperation, hatred, the courts, or vengeance.  Those who believe in God, rightly know that one day the only enduring Justice and Vengeance will be completely repaid by the only One who fully understands the motivations of each heart, as well as the intolerable acts and outcomes of those that perpetrated the injustices.  Peace (in time) and quietness of soul are more firmly grasp.

The solutions in this life for Justice in this world are static and incomplete.  The most complete answers for Justice are with God from His eternal perspective and Judgment; but, it requires faith.

1. 1. ◦Should Justice be a Strong Part of a Christian’s Life?
      

2. 
   

    “Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness” - The Hallmark of a True Christian

The legalistic Pharisees had an undying passion for keeping the finer points of the Law of Moses, which they believed would make them righteous in the sight of God, but neglecting that which God deemed to be most important.

Matthew 23:23

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

What did Jesus believe were the weightier matters of the Law?

1. 1. ◦Justice:  An accurate assessment and accountability regarding attitudes, actions, mistakes and deliberate harm.
      

2. 
   

1. ◦Mercy:  A choice to pardon, forgive, or “cover over” (not “cover up”) (1 Peter 4:8; Prov. 17:9; James 5:19-20) a fault, failure, or sin, in order to seek spiritual health, victory and appropriate love, rather than criticize, convict, condemn and destroy.
   

3. 
   

1. ◦Faithfulness:  Loyal Love, Honorable Service, Stable Commitment, and Enduring Promise.
   
   

4. Is God Big Enough?
   

How can God know the details of all things and reward each person Justly?

Consider the depth and breadth of the universe and the profound display of incredible diversity and variation of life on earth:

The Maker, Creator and Sustainer of all life is unfathomable!

1. 1. ◦1.7 billion stars in the Milky Way (according to a recent statement and published picture of our galaxy from the European Space Agency)
      
      

   2. ◦Billions or Trillions of other galaxies, in the known universe, each with innumerable stars and planets
      
      

   3. ◦The huge diversity of God’s Creation on Earth.
      
      

2. The God who created and sustains everything in the universe can also perceive the most intimate and innermost need for justice in every living soul.
   

Since humankind has an inherent need for Justice, we must honestly conclude that there will be:

1. 1. ◦A Supreme Judge who can Faithfully give Justice,
      

2. 
   

1. ◦and a Time when Justice is faithfully Pronounced.
   
   

3. Jesus Christ, the Sacrificial Lamb, Is Worthy to be the Final Judge of the World
   

Revelation 5

The Scroll of Judgment and the Worthy Lamb

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

There is Justice in Christ’s Redemption

Admission, Repentance and Atonement are responses that universally are understood to provide steps to reconciliation with both God and man – while not bypassing the due process of law and punishment.  Pardon and forgiveness.

1 Peter 2:24

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

(see also Isaiah 53:4, 11; Heb. 9:28, etc.)

Matthew 12:18–21

    18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

    I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

    19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

    20 a bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

    until he brings justice to victory;

    21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

There is Justice in Christ’s Second Coming

1. 1. ◦Justice in Christ’s Return
      
      

2. 1 Corinthians 4:5
   

5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Matthew 16:27

27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

1 Corinthians 3:8

8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

Hebrews 9:27–28

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

2 Corinthians 5:10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

There is Justice in Christ’s Final Judgment

Pride, Arrogance and Non-admission of guilt are also universally understood (except to those blinded by the same), to be tragic culpability, deserving of shame and enforcement of appropriate and severe punishment without mercy.

1. 1. ◦Justice Requires Judgment
      
      

2. There is Justice at the Judgment Seat of Christ; and, the Final Judgment.
   

Romans 2:16

16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 3:13

13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

Revelation 20:11–15

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Conclusion

1. 1. ◦Does Everyone have a Deep Inner Yearning for Justice?
      

2. 
   

1. ◦How do People often Respond to the Lack of Justice?
   
   

3. o Some people live a life of quiet desperation
   

o Some lash out with deepening hatred

o Some live a life planning revenge

o Some rely on the unpredictable courts

o Many falsely conclude that “God is at Fault”

1. 1. ◦What is a God-Centered Way to Respond to Injustice?
      

2. 
   

True Believers in Christ entrust their soul’s desperate hurt to a powerful and faithful Creator who will one day make all things right and is the only One who can do so.  (1 Peter 2:19–24)

1. 1. ◦ Should Justice be a Strong Part of a Christian’s Way of Life?
      

2. 
   

1. ◦What three things did Jesus give to be the “Weightier Parts of the Law?”
   
   

3.                        O Justice,
   

    O Mercy and

    O Faithfulness

1. 1. ◦Is God Big Enough to reward each person Justly?
      

2. 
   

1. ◦Is There Justice in Christ’s Redemption?
   

3. 
   

1. ◦Is There is Justice in Christ’s Second Coming?
   

4. 
   

1. ◦Is There is Justice in Christ’s Final Judgment?
   
   

5. 
   

“For we must all appear

before The Judgment Seat of Christ,

so that each one may receive what is due

for what he has done in the body,

whether good or evil.”

2 Corinthians 5:10