Sunday, July 19, 2009 am
A
STUDY OF GOD (12)
ATTRIBUTES OF JUDGMENT
In the past few
lessons we have examined several attributes of God related to man’s
relationship with Him. We
have discussed the significance of the love of God (along with grace,
mercy, longsuffering, etc.).
In our last lesson we noted that God is good, faithful, truth and
wisdom, as well as light. We
noted these describe the benevolent side of God.
We also noted that there are many whose study of God ends there
(especially when you consider believers).
But there is another side of God that we need to give
consideration to. You might
call these attributes of judgment.
Tonight, we want to examine some of these attributes.
a.
Psa 116:5,
“Gracious is the Lord, and
righteous; Yes, our God is merciful.”
b.
Recall how
last week we made a distinction between righteous and good (good being
better) while righteous means one who keeps the law (cf. Rom. 5:6-8).
God is certainly good, but He is also righteous.
c.
The word
righteous means, “observing divine and human laws; one who is such as he
ought to be.” (Thayer) As noted, it describes one who keeps the laws.
We know that God is not bound by human law – but the laws He has
made He keeps and therein lies His righteousness.
Associated with righteousness is the word just.
In fact, in the Greek language, the same word (dikaios) is used
to describe both terms. The
word just helps us understand what it means to be righteous.
When we think of God’s justice we know that He is fair to all and
impartial in His judgments.
It is a part of being righteous.
When considering the righteousness of God, it means God is RIGHT and
JUST. This is evident in
His holiness as well as His infinity.
In other words, God does not submit to the standard of another.
His standard is RIGHT!
He is right in His judgments, His words, His demands and in His
actions. We dare not question Him
or His ways!
d.
Our
blessing lies in the fact that He is good and cares for us.
God could have been tyrannical, impossible to obey or indifferent
toward us. But He is not.
Instead He is righteous and just toward us.
Psa. 145:17, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.”
Psa. 119:142 reveals that
His righteousness will never change.
“Your righteousness is an
everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.”
Also vs. 144.
e.
His
righteousness revealed –
i.
Rom. 1:17 speaks of His
righteousness revealed “from faith to faith” to the gospel.
ii.
His word
reveals His righteousness – cf. Rom. 1:16-17
Also
Psa. 119:172 “My
tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are
righteousness.”
iii.
Romans 3:25-26
– He demonstrated His righteousness
by sending Jesus to die for us.
Because of sin, God would be righteous and just to simply destroy
us, but the greatness of His righteousness is seen in His provisions to
give us a second chance to make ourselves right.
AND in providing and implementing a plan to forgive us – we see
the depth of that righteousness.
iv.
But there
is another side to His righteousness – punishment of the wicked.
Being righteous God MUST deal
with those who do NOT obey His will.
Romans 2:5 warns, “But
in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are
treasuring u for yourself wrath in the day of wrath ad revelation of the
righteous judgment of God.”
v.
One
might ask, how can God be righteous if He forgives the sins of some
while not forgiving others?
The answer lies in His universal call.
God has offered the same plan to ALL mankind and is willing to
forgive all – His RIGHTEOUS judgment will be based individually toward
each person based upon whether or not he is willing to comply with His
instructions.
f.
Let each
of us learn from His righteousness to live righteously. Rom. 1:18.
a.
In Exodus
20:3-5, the 2nd and 3rd commandments, we read, “You
shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what
is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the
earth. You shall not worship
them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…”
WHAT does it mean that He is a jealous God?
b.
When we
think of jealousy, we usually see it in a bad sense.
And jealousy often is evil.
But we sometimes confuse jealousy with envy.
Envy is a desire to have that which belongs to another and to
deprive them of it; while jealousy is a passion for that which
rightfully belongs to you (even then it can involve wrong attitudes).
Interestingly, the word translated jealous in the Greek language is
zelos, from which we derive our word zeal.
At times it is translated zealous and at other times jealous.
The Old Testament word is similar in its use.
A good example of the use of jealousy would be the marriage
relationship.
Properly: When a husband
or wife sees someone trying to seduce their spouse and alienate them it
is time to be jealous – jealous enough to do something about it (take
appropriate measures to secure your marriage).
(cf. 2 Cor. 11:2, “For I am
jealous for you with a godly jealousy…”, also Prov. 6:34)
On
the other hand, if a husband sees his wife just talking to
another man and he becomes resentful or angry he is actually not acting
in the interest of his marriage – rather he is acting out of selfishness
and possessiveness.
This usually leads to more problems and damages the relationship.
c.
God is
jealous in the good sense.
In every passage that deals with the jealousy of God it addresses
loyalty to Him. It involves one taking that which belongs to God -
worship, praise, honor and devotion – and giving it to another.
We find this most frequently
dealing with idols.
The point of God’s jealousy is that He DEMANDS that those who
belong to Him act like it.
We must put Him first.
Ex. 34:12-14 – warning
Israel to not make a covenant with the nations of Canaan because of
their idolatry we read, “For you
shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is
a jealous God.”
Moses, in his farewell address said, “For
the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Deuteronomy 4:24
Joshua 24:19, in his farewell speech where Joshua challenges
Israel to choose between Jehovah God and the gods of the nations they
had yet to drive out of Canaan the people respond that they would follow
the Lord. Joshua, who knew
their will said, “You will not be
able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God.
He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or
your sins.” He was
speaking of idolatry.
You see the jealousy of God in passages such as
Isaiah 42:8 where He says,
“I am the Lord, that is My name;
And my glory I will
not give to another, Nor my praise to carved images..”
1 Cor. 10:22, even in the
New Testament where Paul says, “Flee from idolatry” (14) he explains
that they cannot serve God with divided interests.
Vs. 22 says, “Or do we
provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Are we stronger than He?”
James 4:5 where he says
that friendship with the world is enmity with God we read, “Or
do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in
us yearns jealously?’”
d.
Truly God
is a jealous God, but ONLY in the sense that He wants what is best
for us. He is jealous
when others try to steal us from Him AND He is jealous when we try to
divide our loyalties that belong to Him with another.
e.
NOTE:
Have you ever considered this in light of the chastisement of
God? Heb. 12:5-11 speaks of the chastening of God.
We may not fully understand how God chastens us today.
I suspect that one way He does so is by withholding His goodness
and blessings when we are living in sin and refuse to repent.
When His children are misbehaving they often suffer
- sometimes physically (consequences of actions, things do not
work out, etc.) and at other times emotionally (their conscience
torments them). If you are
living in sin and your life is miserable - be thankful! Why?
Because God has not given up on you yet.
He is JEALOUS for your service and for you to come back.
But know that such will only last so long!
a.
The word
impartial means to act or think without bias.
To render action or judgment equitably to all.
It also means to act without prejudice.
b.
God is
truly impartial –
1 Pet 1 :17 says, “And
if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to
each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay
here in fear…”
Ac. 10:34,35 as Peter spoke to Cornelius, the first Gentile convert he
said, “In truth I perceive that
God shows no partiality. But
in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by
Him.” (See also Gal. 2:6,
Eph. 6:9)
c.
One other
point on this – while God is impartial it does not mean that all will
receive the same judgment.
His impartiality lies in the STANDARD by which all will be judged.
And he will use that standard universally.
In our lesson thus far we have spoke of God’s righteousness,
justice and jealousy. EACH
of these DEMANDS that He enforce His standard without partiality.
Colossians 3:25 says, “But
he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no
partiality.”
Romans 2:6 & 11 also
concurs with this noting that God with righteous judgment “will render to each one according to his deeds.”
a.
Rom. 11:22 again notes,
“Behold the goodness AND severity of God…”
The severity of God in this verse
actually takes us back to the 2nd chapter where Paul spoke of
God’s judgment. In that text
Paul spoke of the hope the godly have, but he also addressed the wrath
of God.
When we think of wrath we think of uncontrolled anger and rage.
While it involves rage and anger, it is FAR FROM uncontrolled in
the hands of God.
The wrath of God has reference to how
He does and WILL respond to sin that has not been repented o f.
If you were to study the history of Israel you would see many
instances of the wrath of God.
It was ALWAYS directed against the rebellious and ungodly.
Why? Because God, by
His nature, will NOT and CANNOT tolerate sinfulness and rebellion
against Him (it is contrary to the attributes we have discussed today,
as well as others).
Romans 1:18 says, “For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…”
Romans 2:5-8 after
appealing to God’s goodness leading to repentance, Paul says of some, “But
in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are
treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of
the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to
his deeds…to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but
obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,
on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the
Greek”
b.
Have we
lost the reality of God’s wrath?
One of the results of the ecumenical movement is a softening of
teaching on the severity and wrath of God.
They preach His love and goodness, but they ignore His demands
for righteousness and justice in our lives toward Him.
They ignore the consequences of disobedience.
As a result there is no fear of God.
Therefore man does whatever he wants “in the name of the Lord”
and ASSUMES God will accept it. How wrong He is!
Conclusion: Rom.
11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God!...” It has been my goal
in this portion of our study to examine some of the attributes of God.
May this understanding help us truly appreciate Him as we strive
to serve Him as He commands.