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July 14, 2020 12:01 am
The Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, went to the cross for the redemption of sinners. Why was this necessary? Today, R.C. Sproul teaches that the justice of a holy God must be satisfied on our behalf if we are to be reconciled to Him.
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Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind. God's justice has to do with his own internal righteousness. His internal character that defines everything that God does.
God never acts according to injustice today when that we often hear people asking why would a loving God send anyone to hell since God is merciful. Why can we just let everyone into heaven let's listen as Dr. scroll gets to the heart of these questions and was entitled the necessity of the cross. When we think through the passing of time in church history.
There are certain theologians that stand out as giants in the course of church history.
People like Augustine and Aquinas and Luther and Calvin Edwards, and so on that normally we would say that St. Augustine was the greatest theologian of the first millennium of church history, and then during the Middle Ages. We don't hear too many great thinkers apart from course Thomas Aquinas and saw the theologian, philosopher, who in those early days made an enormous contribution to church history was a man known by the name of Anselm of Canterbury, Anselm left us a legacy of three very important works, all of which were quite short and brief in their volume. The first two were works in apologetics. One is called the monologue he and the other one is the process low VM in which he gives his arguments for the existence of God and so on. And Anselm is famous for being the architect of the historic ontological argument for the existence of God, but perhaps his greatest contribution to church history was in his little work that appeared under the Latin title her values home? Her see you are diagnosed a EUS Homo HOMO and what this title of this book says or asks by where the question is this question why the God man. Why the God may why an incarnation why Christ that's the question that Anselm proved so brilliantly and at the heart of Anselm's thinking was his understanding in the first instance of the character of God.
Anselm saw as the chief reason for the need for a God man. The need for a Redeemer. The need for a Savior, the need for incarnation is the justice of God is not strange because usually when we think of the cross and we think of the atonement of Christ. We think that the thing that most strenuously motivates the sending of Christ into the world is the mercy of God or the love of God and we tend to overlook that characteristic of God's nature that makes the atonement absolutely necessary, and that is the justice of God.
God's justice has to do with his own internal righteousness. His internal character that defines everything that God does.
God never acts according to injustice. God never violates any of the standards or canons of righteousness because the simplest definition that I can give you of God's justice is God's eternal and immutable commitment always to do what is right for the Jew justice is never an abstract thing justice inevitably in the Old Testament is linked with the concept of righteousness. And what does righteousness me but doing what is right L4 background in our study of the cross of Christ and of the atonement of Jesus. I want to turn our attention to a narrative that takes place in the Old Testament that I find both fascinating and instructive.
It's found in the 18th chapter of the book of Genesis and it is the story of the intercession of the patriarch Abraham in behalf of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah just to say those names Sodom and Gomorrah conjures up the most ghastly imagery imaginable of corrupt and decadent cities. Sodom and Gomorrah were so evil in Old Testament times that they became later on literary symbols for corruption. Let's go back to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and listen to this narrative as it unfolds in chapter 18 of Genesis.
Beginning at verse 16 then the men rose from there and look toward Sodom and Abraham went with them to send them on the way and the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I'm doing since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, for I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he had spoken to him to seek God is musing in this narrative should I let Abraham know what I'm planning to do here or should I keep it back from him, but he's obviously about to tell Abraham what he is going to do because God who has promised Abraham that he will be the father of a great nation and has made his covenant promise to Abraham and to his descendents has a destiny for his people. Which destiny is defined here in the text by the terms justice and righteousness.
God has not selected Abraham out of the pagans of the world just for the fun of it, but he's creating a nation that is to be a holy nation, a nation that is set apart a nation that will bear witness to the character of God, by themselves, imitating God in the pursuit of justice and of righteousness will now in the narrative we hear the announcement that God has for Abraham in verse 20 we read in the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grave I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether.
According to the outcry against that that has come to me and if not, I will know and then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom. But Abraham still stood before the Lord and Abraham came near and said would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked, but he get the drama of what's going on here. God said I'm going to go down and take a look, I'm going to visit with my judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah because I hear this great outcry of the severity of their wickedness and the gravity of their evil. I'm going to go down and check it out.
And of course God is saying I'm going to come down and visit them with judgment, because if it is, as the reports are course. God knows that this is part of the narrative. The God already knows what is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham comes to God with a question a theological question in this question it. Abraham asks makes the hair on my neck stand up coming. Abraham is indeed the father of the faithful. He's the venerable patriarch of the Old Testament, a man after God's own heart. A man who was a spokesman for goodness and justice and truth and all that stuff and so we would expect Abraham in his privileged position in his elevated status as the patriarch par excellence of the Old Testament not to be coming to the deity and asking questions that are thinly veiled forms of blasphemy. When we would think that Abraham would be a better theologian than he indicates in the question that he brings before God becomes a God and asked this question will the Lord destroy the righteous with the wicked, the innocent with the guilty will ask a question like that is to answer at with respect to God. I remember when I was a child growing up in the public school system. I wasn't a Christian but I did have some ideals and so on. Had this hope in my chest of the Great American dream of truth and justice for everyone. I listened to Superman where he fought for truth and justice is the American way of life and all that sort of thing.
I hated injustice.
Even as a child living in a white community were many of the people in the town had maids who were black, who were bussed into this white community.
We had a maid in our house who came from the black community and I love this one. She was so kind to me and I remember as a child coming to the dining room table at lunch time and the maid would be having her lunch out of the kitchen and I would say to my mother.
Mother why isn't Eva having lunch with us and my mother just looked invincible use don't understand, just drop it young man that's not your business creates on the kitchen I had this sense of range in my side. This is right. How can this be this not just why is this woman being treated that way. This was before the civil rights movement and all the rest, but there was something deep within my soul, but protested against that kind of discrimination because I felt that it was manifestly unjust and I did not like in justice and I can remember in school. Sometimes we would get in trouble. I remember one day when one of my friends lit a cherry bomb in the classroom when the teacher had her back turned to the class while she was writing on the blackboard and my friend David King*David drop this cherry bomb and in that close room and nothing blew up sound like the atomic bomb. The teacher jumped about 10 feet in the year to drop the chalk and turnaround were stricken and she said of course what far right did it matter not everybody in the class knew who did it but the vast majority of the people in the class would've just booted it and certainly the teacher had a good idea whodunit in this case because David had a reputation for these guys are priced and so I was sitting in the back room right next to David and I knew that he did but there was a code you don't rat on your friends you don't turn anyone in and the teacher stood there and said all right.
Who did. And nobody confessed, and nobody told and so she made the entire class. Stay after school until somebody confessed, or parent them in, and that bothered me. It was an effective device for pedagogy in discipline and so on, but it bothered me because it was not just because in order to get to the guilty party. Our teacher punished the innocent people who didn't know who did the crime, who were not in on the prank and yet they were forced to stay after school lose their freedom because of the teachers strategy wasn't just maybe effective may be practical, but it wasn't just I remember later on I became a Christian. I read the story in Genesis 18 and Abraham asked the question, will the judge.
You know more.
You will God judge and punish the innocent with the wicked will, God is not a frustrated schoolteacher. God is omniscient God doesn't have the play games like this to ferret out to the guilty party is God is just. God is righteous God would never ever ever punish the innocent and Abraham should've known that and asked the question that he asked of God was a downright insult to the deity. Let's continue with what happens in this narrative, Abraham begins to negotiate bargain with God. He says in verse 24 chapter 18. Suppose there were 50 righteous within the city. Would you also destroy the place and not spirit for the 50 righteous that were in it for me it from you to do such a thing as this to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked far be it from you shall not the judge of all the earth to write about my faith in Abraham's been restored. There is Manor home or not it in the first question Mary was asking such a ridiculous thing you will God actually punish the righteous with the wicked.
Now you speak correctly now is theology of sow.
They says far from you of God to punish the righteous with the guilty only thing I would say here is the link Abraham still grasped how far would be from God to do such and on just saying in his final question the rhetorical question is right on the money when he says to God will not, the judge of all of the earth do what is right. Now you're cooking Abraham. Now you understand by that question rhetorical question that has an answer. This manifestly obvious.
Of course the judge of all the earth will do what is right because that's all.
The judge of the earth knows how to do is what is right and in his mercy and his kindness. God is not willing to say. I'll spare the whole city. If we can find 50 righteous ones are Sullivan be merciful to the guilty. So far my from punishing the innocent. I'll actually let the guilty go in order to protect the innocent is not an amazing thing.
There is been so much interest in the United States over the murder trial of the century over O.J. Simpson and the length of that particular enterprise and people were getting angrier and angrier as that thing went on and on principle.
He's obviously guilty.
Why don't they just lock them up and forget about and the thing that that particular trial indicates is a kind of cork in our criminal justice system that really take seriously the principle of putting the burden of proof in any case like that on the prosecution and allowing such a clause as a reasonable doubt clause to protect the innocent.
Because the assumption is this, that in our system. We would rather 20 guilty people walk free.
Then that one innocent person should ever be convicted and sent to prison or to execution. In other words, since were not infallible and not omniscient. We don't always know for sure who really has committed the crime. If were going to her. The system says let us on the side of clemency rather than on the side of severity and this principle is taken from Scripture itself were here, God is willing to spare.
The whole city for the sake of 50 righteous people so the Lord said if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city. Then I'll spare the whole place for their six Abraham answered and said indeed. Now I who am but dust and ashes have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose there were five less than 50 righteous would you destroy all of the city for lack of thought so positive at 545. I will destroy Abraham's giving will more sheepishly. Ernie spoke to him again since opposer should be 40 that's all do it for 40 then he said let not the Lord be angry and I'll speak about 30.
If we find 30 God said I will not do. If I find 30 there and he said indeed militate upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 should be found in God's again.
I'll not destroy the second 20 Abraham's getting frightened. He said let not the Lord be angry all speak just one more time. Suppose tends to be found in God. So I will not destroy it for the sake of 10 and so the Lord when his way soon as he finished speaking with Abraham and Abraham returned to his place. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah confined to 10 in all of these cities, they can find 10 innocent people like Diogenes with his lamp, searching for the honest man to the streets of Athens.
So Abraham and his friends could not find the righteous left in some and Gomorrah and God's judgment fell on the city and the reason why God's judgment fell below that is not because God is cruel, and not because God is harsh and not because God is lacking in love because God is just and God is righteous and part of what he loves is his own perfect character and the importance of the maintenance of justice and righteousness, God hardens sinners, God makes great provisions for an expression of his mercy, but he will never ever ever negotiate justice. We need to understand that the cross of Christ will be utterly when the glorious truth we are unrighteous.
Because of our sin, but at the cross of Christ we are made righteous.
You know we live in a day when God's love is is often said against his justice. It's supposed that it a loving God would never show wrath against sinners. As we heard today, God's own perfect character demands that he punish sin, it would be unjust if he didn't, as we are portions of Dr. RC Sproul series, the atonement of Jesus that we will continue to consider the glorious realities of how God's love and justice meet in the gospel were making this entire series available to you on an MP3 CD for your gift of any amount. This offer also includes a bonus lesson from Dr. Spruill. That's our prayer that it will offer both understanding and encouragement to you to request this resource. Call us with your gift of any amount at 800-435-4343 can also go online to Renewing Your Mind.word will how would you respond to someone who says they don't need Christ is Dr. Spruill with a final thought would ask you later. Use your imagination a little bit suppose that Once upon a time you live in Sodom that you were an inhabitant of that city and God came to your city in search of an innocent person in search of 10 righteous people when you've been numbered among the staff. I don't know about you but I know I would've failed the test. I know that God would not have spared Sodom because of me.
He would not of rescued Gomorrah on my account because if he would've examined me he would've found a guilty person and if God would have exercised his justice upon me if I lived in that city. I would have perished with the city. One of the things that surprises me more than anything else is when I hear somebody say I don't need Christ will beloved, if you are a sinner, and if God is just than the thing that you need more than anything else in this world is the cross you need the atonement because God is not going to put away his justice just for you, or just for me tomorrow.
I Renewing Your Mind will ask why Jesus needed to die could gotta forgiving our sins without the cross. We hope you'll join us Wednesday as we continue our series on the atonement of Jesus