THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
Mark I Webster
John 1: 14; 4: 34; 5: 30; 8: 29
Romans 2: 1-4; 3: 21-26
The verses we read in Romans 2 speak of the judgment of God; they speak of the God who judges according to truth. That, I think, would raise a question with any concerned soul as to the standard by which God judges. I wonder if you have ever thought of that. Where do you stand, friend, in relation to that? I read the passages in John, not to dwell on the detail, but to draw on them to speak firstly about the One who is God’s standard, the Lord Jesus. This gospel brings out not only the glory and the greatness of the One that was found here in manhood, One no less that the Son of God; it brings out too, the holy perfection and beauty in manhood of that blessed One. The One who, unlike you and me, who fall short of God’s glory, was committed to, indeed came to fulfill the will of God; He took that great matter up. He alone, of course, could take up the full will of God; that is, in relation to what was given to Him to do, but as Man what was seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus was One that committed Himself fully to the will of Another.
The writer, John, starts by referring to the glory of the One that came in - the Word. Earlier in the gospel, at the beginning, he brought out the greatness of that One, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, chap 1: 1. In the verse I read it says, “the Word became flesh”; that is that God was manifest there; the Word became flesh. You think of the wonder of that! The hymn writer refers to it so beautifully:
God manifest in flesh, O wonder of the universe!
(Hymn 400)
There in holy manhood was One who in His Person was and ever remains God. There were persons who took account of Him; they contemplated His glory; they considered and took account of Him as the One who was full of grace and truth. What a Man! What a Man the Lord Jesus was – “full of grace and truth”. All that God is, was expressed fully in Jesus, and therefore we can say without doubt, that in the holy manhood of Jesus here on earth there was that which ever pleased God, and met the full divine standard of God in relation to man. How wonderful that is. It had never been expressed before, but it was expressed when Jesus came into manhood. There, you might say, for the eye of man to consider, was God’s ideal, God’s standard. What a glorious Man! Dear friend, have you considered this glorious One that came in, that was found here amongst men, as the gospels bring out, serving men, drawing near to them in all their need, displaying in abundance the grace and kindness, to men as another scripture brings out, of the Saviour God, Titus 3: 4. How fully was expressed in Him all that man should be before God. His food, as John 4: 34 brings out, was to do the will of Him that sent Him, and that He should finish His work. Have you come across any other like that? What about you? I do not know about you; God knows about you, but what I can say as to myself is that what I find is the desire to do my own will. The Lord Jesus never had that desire, because He came from God with the objective of fulfilling the will of God. It has been said that, because of who He was, of course, and the holy character of that which was displayed in His manhood, had He exercised His will, it would have been perfect. But the Lord Jesus came in to do the will of God, not to exercise His own will. Some of us were reminded recently that that was a righteous necessity that was placed upon Him. It would not have been right for the Lord Jesus to exercise His own will because He came in order to do the will of Another. What a Man He is: how different to what you and I are. His food, His very sustenance even as Man, was to do the will of His God and Father. He drew upon it, sustenance for His soul, and He was found here in holy perfection. What a wonderful matter: His words reinforced by what He also said as recorded in John 5: 30, “I do not seek my will, but the will of him that has sent me”. That which was ever before the Lord Jesus when here in manhood, was the will of God. He sought it out, and He did it; He fulfilled it in all its totality.
I desire to speak a little later about what that involved, but consider for the moment the great fact that He never turned aside for anything else; He was committed in full and complete devotion to the will of His God and Father. In John 8: 29 it is recorded that He said, “I do always the things that are pleasing to him” – the Father. Again, what a contrast between Him and what we find in ourselves. There is the inherent desire in ourselves to please ourselves, to do that which ministers to our own will and our own desires. That was never found in Jesus - and therefore never expressed by Him. How perfect, how holy, how attractive is that blessed One. Well, that One is God’s standard; God’s ideal, but God’s standard.
Now God in the gospel, I believe, ensures that the Lord Jesus is set forth in order that the presentation of Him might have an effect upon you and me. That is why I read in Romans 2: 1-4. The background and the context of what the apostle Paul writes in these verses is in chapter 1; I will not go into that, but it leads him to raise this question: “despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee to repentance?”. In the gospel God ensures that Christ is presented; it is a consequence of His goodness. I believe that any soul with whom God is working - and I trust every one here might be exercised from their side that this is the case - would in the goodness of God be presented with the Lord Jesus Christ that, if not hitherto, the presentation of Him would lead them to move in repentance towards Himself. How can I do otherwise, when presented with the divine standard so fully and perfectly expressed in the Lord Jesus, but acknowledge before God that I fall very far short? Now, what about you, friend? How do you stand in relation to that standard? Do you meet it? Have you ever thought of that? If like me you fall short of that standard, then I trust the realisation of that will cause you, if you have not done so before, to turn to God Himself and acknowledge it. God in His goodness would appeal to you; He would present Christ to you that the effect might be, if not hitherto, that you acknowledge before God that you have fallen short. The scriptures bring out that all have sinned – “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”; that is indeed the truth, but is that solely a passage of scripture to you, friend?
I trust that some consideration by you of the glory and greatness of Christ Himself might cause you in your soul, if you have never done so before, to recognise how far short you come. God in His goodness would wait, and He operates in order that all who come under the sound of His word - all who are affected as they come under it - might be led this way of repentance. God is waiting; think of that, the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long suffering causing Him to wait for you and me. How long has he waited for you? He waited long for me; I could not tell you how long He waited for me - that is His matter, and mine too - but what about you, friend? Is God still waiting in forbearance and long suffering upon you? The day in which we are, the day of God’s grace, is extended. It is a wonderful matter - the long-suffering of God has kept open this day to the present moment. Think of that!
Now God, being who He is, could come in in judgment; He could exercise judgment. None could challenge the rightness of that, if God was to exercise judgment. But, thank God, He is not exercising judgment; the reality of judgment in relation to unsaved souls alive at present has been delayed to this present moment. And the day of opportunity is still open. God in His goodness would operate with you that you might be brought this way of repentance. That is to say, your acknowledgement in reality before God that you fall short. Now I would add that you might have heard it said, ‘Well, repentance is simply that you acknowledge that you have done some things that are wrong and you say that you are sorry to God’. No, repentance is more than that; repentance involves that you recognise that there is a divine standard that has been expressed so fully in the Lord Jesus, and as you are compared with that standard, you fall far short. That is God’s view. But God does not look upon you and condemn you, friend; thank God for that. But as He looks upon you in your sins, if you remain in them, the question remains for you as to how do you stand compared with that divine standard? God would desire that you might come around to His view of yourself. And it is His goodness that leads you to do so. You might say, ‘Is that all? Where does that leave me? That leaves me a hopeless case, does it not?’. But, thank God, as we read in Romans 3, that glorious One, He who is the divine standard, the Lord Jesus, has Himself effected that which was necessary in order that you and I might be cleared before God.
Now that is a wonderful thing, is it not? The scripture in Romans 3: 24 speaks of “being justified freely”, that is, before God, “by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”. That One, that blessed One, that glorious One, has gone into death and has shed His precious blood. What a work has been effected by Him in obedience to God’s will, to enable the sinner to be forgiven and to be justified before God. Only the Lord Jesus was able for it for He was without sin: “in him sin is not”, 1 John 3: 5. And what a work it was that He accomplished at the cross. The One that was without sin alone was able to take up the great matter of the clearance before God of our sins and the judgment of sin itself. He alone was able to take them up and resolve those great moral questions that stood out against man. And He has done that, friend, at the cross; He has suffered there, suffered the just for the unjust. I trust you can say that ‘He suffered there for me, the unjust’. He suffered and died and His precious blood has been shed. What a matter that is. That blood - God has taken account of it; He is fully satisfied. In the old system for God’s earthly people Israel, the blood was placed upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat. This reminds us that God has been fully satisfied in the work of Christ; that God can come out to man in forgiveness and man can approach Him as fully justified in the One who has suffered, has died and has been raised. Every claim has been met before Him and God is able in His grace to come out towards the sinner and justify those that are of the faith of Jesus. “Being justified freely”, as it says, “by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”.
Where is your faith, friend? Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus, the One now in glory above, and in His precious blood shed at the cross? You might say you have come to that point where you recognise that before God you are a sinner; you have fallen short of that divine standard; you have fallen far short. What a moment it is to realise that the blessed God, against whom you and I have sinned, has Himself provided the remedy and it is available to you. The One who has fully expressed that divine standard is the One who is available and presented as a Saviour. What a wonderful thing! Now God acts righteously. He acted righteously at the cross and He acts righteously toward you. In the day in which we are, God’s righteousness can be yours. It is presented on that basis, the righteousness of God revealed on the principle of faith, Rom 1: 17. As you stretch out in faith, and believe on the Lord Jesus, you are clear before God of all your sins, and justified before Him. How wonderful that is to be clear of all liability and need!
I trust everyone here has stretched out in faith and received the Lord Jesus. There are two necessities I have spoken about for you to arrive at and experience the blessing. I make no apology for speaking about them. How fundamental they are. May none of us be lulled into a sense of false security, or into the idea that just acceding to these things in our minds, is sufficient: no, it is not sufficient. The way that is sufficient, that is needed, is available to you, requiring as it does these two great matters so fully and clearly presented in the scriptures – “repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus”, Acts 20: 21. They are essential, fundamental and most precious to experience. Your salvation from your sins, dear friend, rests in nothing else than that. The goodness of God is abounding towards you now. Now is the accepted time. There is opportunity given for any that may be uncertain or unsure to come that way. The divine standard is there in that glorious One, our Lord Jesus Christ! We all fall short of it. But as acknowledging that in deep reality before God, a way of salvation is freely available to us in the One who not only is the divine standard, but is also the Saviour of sinners. It is an opportunity full of divine grace and it is available to everyone of us now.
Now in closing I just want to say that the day of judgment is coming. What a solemn time that will be. The One that I have sought to present to you, the One that has expressed the divine standard, is the One that will take up the reins of government and will also act in judgment. Only He is able for it. Morally, He is the only one qualified to take up everything for God, and He will take up all things for Him. He will take up the matter of judgment; all judgment has been given into the hand of the Son, John 5: 22. And there will be a day when those still in their sins will be judged by Him - what a solemn prospect that is for any unsaved. I trust none here will stand before Him there in that day of judgment. I am referring to that awful matter of the great white throne before which the unsaved will appear, Rev 20: 11. What a day, what a solemn day that will be. I trust none here will be careless as to that matter, because as I have said, now is the day of opportunity, the day of God’s grace. I do not know how long it will continue; God knows.
May everyone here know what it is to avail themselves of the opportunity and move in reality in the acknowledgment of what they are before God; and embrace by faith that One, the Lord Jesus, by faith in whom, we are justified fully before God. May it be so for His Name’s sake.
Sunbury
17th February 2017