A. Have you noticed in life that justice can be hard to come by?
1. One day a defendant stood before the judge and the judge announced, “Tell me, sir, do you have anything to offer this court before it passes sentence?”
a. The defendant replied, “No, your honor, I have nothing to offer this court, my lawyer took my last cent!”
2. Another business man was fighting a case in tax court.
a. The man said to the judge, “As God is my judge, I do not owe this tax!”
b. The judge said, “Sir, God is not the judge in this case, I am, and I say you owe this tax!”
B. One of the great promises of God that gives us an anchor of hope is the promise that justice will prevail.
1. I think this is an especially good sermon to follow our last week’s sermon where we talked about the pain and frustration of injustice that our black brothers and sisters have faced for hundreds of years in our country.
2. Last week’s sermon was a call for all of us to hear their pain and to do what we can to bring help and change so that justice and equity will exist in our community and country.
3. But even if justice does not ever prevail in this world, God’s promise is that justice will prevail in the next world.
C. Before we continue with today’s promise, let’s be reminded of the promises we have explored so far in our series, since it’s been three weeks since I preached a sermon from this series.
1. We started with the promise that death is not the end of life – I shared that sermon on Easter Sunday, and that was a good subject for resurrection Sunday.
2. Next, we explored the promise that you are somebody important to God – we are made in God’s image and loved by God.
3. Other promises we’ve covered are: you have an inheritance, and you can defeat your enemy.
4. To defeat our enemy, the devil, we have other great promises: Jesus understands us and will help us, Jesus prays for us, we have power from the Holy Spirit, and our prayers have power.
5. Aren’t you thankful that our God is a promise making and promise keeping God?
6. Now let’s explore today’s promise that brings hope: God says: “Justice will prevail, I promise!”
D. On December 14, 2012, 7 year-old Daniel Barden awoke early.
1. The Christmas lights illuminated the rooflines of neighboring homes in their Newton, Connecticut town.
2. The morning was filled with tender moments – hugs and kisses to his brother and sister as they left for school, and a loving goodbye as his mother left for work.
3. All in all it was a joy-filled and carefree morning – no one imagined it would be Daniel’s last.
4. Daniel was one of the 20 children and 6 adults who were shot to death by a deranged gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School later that morning.
5. Sandy Hook wasn’t the first massacre in American History, but it seemed the cruelest.
a. This wasn’t a gathering of adults; it was a classroom of kids.
b. This wasn’t a war zone; it was a quiet neighborhood.
c. These weren’t gangsters; they were snack-eating, Santa Claus – loving, young children.
d. And it was Christmas season!
6. These children didn’t deserve such a death and their parents don’t deserve such grief.
E. This incident was another all-too-common reminder that life isn’t fair.
1. When did you first hear or say those words and learn that lesson? It’s not fair!
2. What deed exposed you to the imbalanced scales of life?
3. Did a car wreck or cancer leave you fatherless or motherless?
4. Did friends forget you, a teacher ignore you, or an adult abuse you?
5. Have you ever prayed the psalmist’s prayer: “Lord, how long will you look on?” (Ps. 35:17)
6. Have you ever asked the prophet Jeremiah’s question: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?” (Jer. 12:1)
a. Why do drug peddlers get rich? Why do sex offenders get away with it? Why do Charlatans get elected? Why do murderers get out and cheaters get by with it?
F. These are good questions! How long will injustice flourish?
1. God’s answer is direct and comforting: Not long!
2. Scripture states it clearly: “For [God] has set a day when he will judge the world” (Acts 17:31).
3. God is not sitting idly by. God is not twiddling His thumbs.
4. Every flip or turn of the calendar brings us closer to the day when God will judge all evil.
5. God has “set” a day, which means a day has been singled out and written on God’s calendar.
6. The Judgment Day has been chosen and the moment has been reserved.
7. Judgment is not a possibility, rather it is a sobering reality.
G. The idea of there being a “judgment day” is unpopular and is scoffed at by many.
1. This is ironic – many long for and value justice, and yet they have disdain for judgment.
2. In reality, you can’t have justice without judgment – the one is dependent on the other.
3. The Bible makes clear the reality of God’s judgment that is coming.
a. Paul wrote: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10).
b. The Greek word for judgment seat is bema and the term denotes a court in session.
c. When Jesus was condemned to crucifixion by Pilate, Pilate sat on the judge’s bench (bema) (Mt. 27:19).
4. John’s apocalyptic language in Revelation calls the judgment seat the “great white throne.”
a. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books (Rev. 20:11-12).
H. While Christians disagree in their interpretations of Scripture about the number and timing of the judgments of God, everyone agrees that God’s judgments will be final.
1. All unbelievers will be judged by Christ and all believers will be judged through Christ.
2. Unbelievers will be punished and believers will be saved by grace and commended for their works.
3. From His throne, Jesus will forever balance the scales of fairness.
4. Let’s take a few minutes to consider what will take place at the time of God’s judgment.
I. First, God will publicly pardon His people.
1. In that passage we read a minute ago from 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul said that “we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.”
2. “We” includes all humanity, and by using “we,” Paul included himself and us.
3. We may wish we were excluded from appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, especially when we consider that it will be “the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2:16).
4. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anyone to hear about my secret thoughts or deeds.
5. Why will Christ expose every deed and every desire of the Christian heart?
6. He must do it for the sake of justice, in order to declare each sin forgiven.
7. We, believers, won’t stand before God’s bench alone, thankfully Jesus will be at our side.
8. As each sin is disclosed, so will be the forgiveness. Perhaps it will sound like this:
a. “David lied to his teacher.” Jesus: “I took his punishment.”
b. “David stole a toy.” Jesus: “I died for that sin.”
c. “David lusted in his heart.” Jesus: “I know and have forgiven him.”
9. Max Lucado tells about a friend of his who stood trial on 66 counts in federal court.
a. The trial lasted 3 agonizing weeks, and if found guilty the friend would spend the rest of his life in jail.
b. Max was traveling when the verdict was being revealed, he received a text: “The jury is back and the verdict is about to be read.”
c. Max waited for another text to come with the news, but no text came.
d. The minutes passed, Max grew impatient, so he sent a text: “why is it taking so long?”
e. The reply was: “The judge has to render a verdict on each of the indictments, one by one.”
f. It took 20 minutes to read the verdict and Max’s friend stood as the judge declared him “not guilty” 66 times.
g. Everyone present, the jury, the legal team, the packed courtroom, the court reporter and the accusers heard the verdict – “Not guilty! Not guilty! Not guilty!”
10. God promises the same public proclamation of acquittal for you and for me.
11. All will be disclosed and all will be forgiven.
12. This public display of forgiven sins will prompt eternal gratitude for our Savior.
J. A second thing that will happen at the judgment is: God will applaud the service of His servants.
1. In 1 Corinthians 4:5, Paul wrote: So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.
2. At the judgment, God will walk each of us through our lives day by day, moment by moment, issuing commendation after commendation.
3. “You gave up your seat on the bus. Well done. You welcomed the new student in your class. Fine job. You went on a mission trip, or donated money for one. Way to go. You stayed awake during David’s sermons. I’m so proud of you!”
4. Look at Hebrews 6:10: For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them.
5. Our God will recognize faithful service and stewardship.
6. If we invest our treasures to honor Him on earth, He will give us more gifts in heaven.
7. If we enlist our talents to His honor, He will give us more talents.
8. And guess who will be waiting for us at the finish line? Jesus will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy” (Mt. 25:21).
9. For the past 25 years some of us guys have made an annual trip to Lake Placid for a hike.
a. Many times our trip coincided with the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon.
b. An Ironman triathlon is a competition where a person swims two miles, bikes 120 miles, then runs a marathon – crazy, huh?!
c. The Lake Placid Ironman is one of the most difficult anywhere because of the mountains.
d. But of all the Ironman events around the world, this one stands out for its community participation.
e. The final mile of the race is run on the track of the high school stadium.
f. The residents of Lake Placid (population twenty-five hundred) pack the bleachers to cheer on the finishers.
g. The people arrive early in the afternoon to celebrate the winner and linger into the night to wait for the stragglers.
h. Many of the runners don’t reach the stadium until well after the sun has set, even though they began the race at 8 AM that morning.
i. Max Lucado’s friend Dan was one of the stragglers who after swimming, biking and running for 12 hours wanted to quit because his legs were cramping and his feet were sore.
j. Dan was a few miles from the stadium when he heard the roar of the crowd.
k. The cheers of the assembled raised his spirits and he quickened his pace, telling himself, “Keep going, you’re almost there.”
l. A half an hour later, Dan had reached the stadium parking lot, the noise from the stadium was deafening.
m. Dan straightened his back, took a deep breath, and ran through the entrance of the stadium.
n. Over the public address system he heard: “From San Antonio, Texas, Dan Smith!”
o. The place erupted and people who didn’t know him were chanting, “Dan! Dan! Dan!”
p. Gone was the pain, forgotten was the weariness, for now he was surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses and encouragers.
10. And so are we! Hebrews 12:1 tells us that since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we should run the race with endurance, keeping our eyes on Jesus.
a. The great cloud of witnesses cheers us on during our race, and will rejoice with us when our race is over and God hands out our rewards.
11. Since God is a just God, on judgment day, He will declare the pardon of His people, and He will applaud and reward the service of His servants.
K. There is one more thing that will happen at the judgment: God will honor the wishes of the wicked.
1. Some of the people who stand before God on judgment day are described this way in Romans 1:21-23: “For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude…Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images…”
a. Many people spend their lives dishonoring the Lord and hurting His people.
b. Many people spend their lives living for themselves and doing what they want to do.
2. What will God do with those people who have wanted nothing to do with God and with obeying God’s commands?
a. A just God must honor the wishes of God-rejecters.
b. Even our judicial system, as flawed as it may be, forces no defense on the accused.
c. I’m told that a defendant is offered an advocate, but if he or she chooses to stand before the judge alone, the system permits it.
3. So does God – God offers us His Son as an advocate.
a. At the judgment, Jesus will stand beside of every person except those who refused Him.
b. Anyone who stands before God without Jesus will have their sins revealed, and rather than hearing those sins forgiven, there will be silence.
c. God will say, “You denied my presence and disobeyed my commands.” Silence. “You slandered my name.” Silence. “You abused my children.” Silence.
d. What response can be given? What defense can be offered? None!
e. Here is C.S. Lewis’ famous quote on this subject: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.” (The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis)
4. God is right, and God is just, and no one will accuse God of injustice when God announces: “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt. 25:41, 46).
L. Justice will prevail; that is God’s promise.
1. Remember, the Bible says: For God has set a day when he will judge the world (Acts 17:31).
2. This promise may not matter that much to you.
a. For some people, life feels fair and just.
b. If that describes you, then count your blessings.
3. But there are others for whom this promise means so much.
a. They’re the ones who fight a daily battle with anger about all the unfairness and injustice they have experienced and see in this world.
b. They’re the ones who have been abused and injured and feel they’ve been robbed, and they are waiting for justice to be served.
4. It’s easy to begin to wonder if the wicked will go unpunished or if injustices will go unaddressed.
a. So much evil has been done to people in the history of humankind.
b. Oppression and violence have bloodied every generation.
c. Does our globe have one square mile of unstained soil?
d. The Hutu slaughtered eight hundred thousand people, primarily Tutsi.
e. Hitler exterminated six million Jews and a half-million Gypsies.
f. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and tortured so many American soldiers.
g. American bombs devastated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
h. Suicide bombs explode in the Middle East, and a mass murderer devastated Sandy Hook.
i. No one can estimate how many have lived and died as slaves throughout human history, and today slavery continues in many forms: human trafficking, forced labor, child slavery, child and forced marriage.
j. There’s so much violence and exploitation involved in gangs, and the drug trade, and racism and police brutality continue to cause suffering.
k. Add to all this the suffering that comes from corporate and individual greed, whether its cigarettes, toxic chemicals, Ponzi schemes, self-serving government leaders or Wall Street insider trading.
5. It’s not right. It’s not just. It’s not fair that evil prospers and devastates.
6. God’s promise to us is that He will have the final word.
7. Psalm 7:11 says: God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day. (NKJV)
M. Until the day when God will judge and when God’s justice will prevail, we need to follow the example of the women of a Dinka village in Sudan.
1. Government-backed soldiers ravaged their settlements, butchering and brutalizing more than 100 people.
2. Muslim fundamentalists captured the strong, abandoned the weak, burned huts, and razed crops.
3. The horror, however, gave birth to hope.
4. A remnant of survivors, wives and mothers of the murdered and missing, gathered sticks and tied them together in the form of small crosses.
5. Before they buried the bodies and mourned their losses, they pressed the crosses into the ground; they did so, not as memorials to their grief, but as declarations of their hope.
6. They were Jesus followers and the crossed sticks expressed their living faith in a loving God who could and who would make sense of such a tragedy.
N. We need to do the same with our tragedies.
1. We need to place them in the shadow of the cross and be reminded that God sees injustice.
2. God will right all wrongs and will heal all wounds.
3. God has prepared a place where life will be finally and forever just – justice will prevail.
4. Let’s have faith in God’s promises, and be faithful and patient as we wait for God to fulfill His promises.
Resources: Unshakable Hope, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2018
