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Heavenly Justice - July 2026
Vol. CVIII Number 2 July 2026.
Contents
HEAVENLY JUSTICE
JUSTICE WILL BE DONE
By Rev Mark Weeden
EDITOR’S LETTER
JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
By C H Spurgeon
PREPARING FOR JUDGEMENT
By J H Jowett
JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS: PART 2
By C H Spurgeon
THE CROSS TO THE NATURAL HUMAN
By Mrs Jessie Penn-Lewis
STOPPING TO LISTEN
By Capt. J C Metcalfe
“All are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3 v24-26).
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JUSTICE WILL BE DONE.
By Rev Mark Weeden
A preacher once said, “There’s got to be another life to explain this one.” Human experience has so many mysteries, questions and loose ends, so we can identify with that observation. One of the most troubling situations has to do with justice, or perhaps more accurately, injustice. From childhood we are all aware of this, from the unequal division of cake or desert, or playground disagreements, right through into adult life.
Whilst there are specific differences within all of us, there is an innate sense of what ought to be, and a keen awareness when it is not so, especially if we ourselves have been on the wrong side of injustice. Worse still when this is seen in the courts, with public concern of bizarre rulings. Jesus’ parable of the unjust judge (Luke 18 v1-8) not only encourages persistent prayer, but also makes the point of God’s justice. Using the Jewish principle of logic known as ‘kal vaChomer’, or a ‘light-heavy’ argument, He says that if an unjust judge can be moved to render justice, how much more can God be moved to administer justice.
Abraham knew this. When interceding for Sodom, and no doubt keenly aware that his nephew Lot was residing there, his bold appeal was, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18 v25) Of course He will. All the imperfections of the world and the miscarriages of justice will one day be resolved, as the Book of Hebrews points out, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9 v27).
For the Christian, there is the blessed conviction of a Saviour who has taken all our sins upon the cross, and the experience of forgiveness of our sins and peace with God. However, we can be, and often are sinned against, and struggle with why the Lord seems to allow others to get away with it? Some of the people of Isaiah’s day suffered in this way too, saying, “The justice due me escapes the notice of my God” (Isaiah 40 v27). Isaiah himself struggled with this. In serving the Lord, he thought, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity” (49 v4). Christians serving in ministry may feel this at times, and wonder, is it worthwhile? There seems to be so little appreciation, so little fruit. Yet the prophet went on to say in the same verse, ”Yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.”
Whilst Isaiah 49 is one of the Servant Songs, speaking of the Messiah and His mission, it portrays the believer’s experience too. Asa was encouraged by the prophet Azariah, “be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15 v7). Likewise, the apostle Paul encouraged the Galatian believers to not grow weary in doing good, because there would be a reaping in due time (Galatians 6 v9).
Sometimes justice is seen in this world, as dramatically happened when Herod unrighteously had the apostle James put to death, but soon after was struck by an angel of the Lord and died a gruesome death. However, mostly justice will be meted out in eternity by the just judge of all the earth. So Paul exhorts us all, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15 v58).
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THE EDITOR’S LETTER.
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the July issue. The theme of this issue is ‘Heavenly Justice’. It was the heart of our Heavenly Father that no one should perish and so He sent our Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins and sure destruction. This was the Heavenly Justice of the Cross. Those in Him will go from glory to glory as they seek His face. And it is all because of grace that we stand forgiven by our beautiful Saviour.
For those without this assurance there will be a White Throne judgement where the thoughts and intents of their hearts will be laid bare before Almighty God. But while we all have breath, let us consider and ponder, in this issue, our Lord’s perfect righteousness, fairness and holiness.
In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, the concept of justice is conveyed in the word ‘Mishpat', meaning legal justice, fairness or judgement as well as the word ‘Tsedaqah’, meaning morality. Together they are total heavenly justice, in other words: charity and equality. This was continued by the New Testament writers who used a Greek word translated as “righteousness”, meaning the justice, equity and fulfilment of our Lord’s requirements.
Our God is the upholder of those who diligently seek Him, He works on behalf of the widow and the orphan, He brings justice to the oppressed, lifts the sinner out of the mire and puts His children on display before the World as trophies of grace. Justice was satisfied on the Cross, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3 v18). When we are made a new creation, we receive His divine mercy and forgiveness. And, “do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6 v2-3). Justice is a central theme of Scripture. From the breaking of the law of Moses, to the perfect justice of the Cross of Calvary and the final judgement of the world, ushering in the eternal Messianic reign of the Lord Jesus Christ where pure justice, sovereignty and grace will rule forever. “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom” (Psalm 45 v6).
In Christ,
Mark
JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.
By C H Spurgeon
The death of our Lord Jesus Christ manifested the manifold wisdom of God. To angels in heaven and saints on earth, God appeared infinitely wise in the plan of salvation by the substitution of His Son for sinners. That death also revealed God’s amazing love. It proclaimed how “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3 v16). The atonement of the suffering Christ purified His people, so that He could sanctify them by His own blood. He loved His Church, and gave Himself for it, so that He will “present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5 v27). By Christ’s blood we are made one. There is in Christ “no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3 v11). The same sacrifice broke down the wall which separated both Jew and Gentile from God, “to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2 v16). The alienation continued until the reconciliation by the precious blood of Jesus. We remain enemies in our minds by wicked works until we see His great love, and then that love melts our heart, and makes us friends of God.
The Cross is more than just a simple piece of wood. I see it in a vision. I see it growing till its top reaches the most excellent glory, lifting up the elect to the very throne of the Most High. I see its base sinking as deep as our miseries plunged us in hopelessness, going down until it reaches the depths of the vengeance of God. I see its arms spread over all whom God has chosen and they are sheltered beneath them. And all humankind receive some favours which they never would have had if it had not been that the Saviour offered His one sacrifice for sin. As when the servant of Elijah saw a little cloud, the size of a hand, and the prophet marked in that the sign of abundance of rain. So, when I see the cross of Calvary, it is as a little cloud, but faith beholds it spread all over heaven, and then drop down in mighty showers of mercy to bless humanity. If you could count the drops that fall from that cloud, you would think “infinity”.
One main purpose of the sacrifice of Christ was the manifestation of the righteousness of God. The apostle assures us that, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, to demonstrate His righteousness” (Romans 3 v25). The death of Jesus Christ is a manifestation of divine righteousness. When we think upon that we will notice that divine righteousness, the morality of the Almighty, was cleared by the death of Christ of two difficulties to which reference is made below.
JESUS’ DEATH MANIFESTED DIVINE JUSTICE
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The expulsion of our first parents from the garden of Eden manifested the justice of God, but not fully. They were only expelled from the Garden, but their lives were spared. In strict justice, they should have died. “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2 v17). Although that curse was not confined to natural death, it certainly included it. Had justice been fully done in Eden, then the human race would have been utterly destroyed. The expulsion of the sinner does not fully show God’s righteousness as does the atonement of the Saviour.
The justice of God was exhibited in fearful ways like the Flood that swept humanity from the earth. Yet the ark was full of eight sinners. Justice again was not fully done. The number may be few, but in strict justice, apart from the atonement, not even Noah could have escaped, and certainly not his unrighteous son Ham. The eight, indicate the exercise of some other prerogative than that of absolute justice.
Then comes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities of the plain burnt by fire. But here divine justice was upon one atrocious sin, a sin which will forever bear the name of the place. It was not the declaration of God’s justice against sin as sin, so much as against sin in a certain form of evil that had developed.
In the Red Sea when the water stood upright and then suddenly descended to kill the large Egyptian cavalry, we see justice done, but you do not see it completely done, because the multitude of sinners at the front escaped this destruction. Here, a blessed type of our Lord Jesus Christ is evident, but there is not a complete declaration of divine justice, for had divine justice been on all the sinners on that occasion, Israel would have been drowned as well as Egypt. It was the pride of Pharaoh that was subdued, rather than the sin of Egypt. The judgment fell only upon the leader of Egypt, but judgment must come upon the little as well as upon the great, when it comes from the hand of the Most High in its absolute force.
Of all the other judgments which we find mentioned in Scripture, it is enough to say that they were manifestations of divine justice, but they were not like those we have in Christ. Divine vengeance slept, and all those judgments were only the beginning of its sleep. God had not yet shown His right arm, judgment. He did not put His hands to the tremendous work of punishment as He did when His only begotten Son stood before Him. The Just in the place of the unjust, and the Guiltless with the guilt of humanity upon His shoulders.
The death of Christ more clearly set forth the righteousness of God than all these punishments put together. In some respects, even Hell itself cannot exhaust infinite justice. In Hell it needs a whole eternity to set forth all the justice of God in the punishment of sin, to show to the unrepentant who suffer there, all the vengeance of God’s anger.
Behold the Lamb of God. In Christ, all at once the vengeance of God against the sins of humanity was seen, the cup of trembling drained to its dregs. The victory was accomplished. He sank beneath the wrath, and rose again. He finished the endurance, and paid the debt that none could calculate. There is more of the vindication of justice on the Cross than can be seen at any other time, even in the lowest depths of Hell.
The death of Christ gloriously demonstrated divine justice, because it clearly taught that sin can never go without punishment. It is a law of God’s moral universe that sin must be punished. He has made that as necessary as the law of gravity. He can suspend the law of gravity, but never the law of justice. He will not spare the guilty. “The one who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18 v20). “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law” (Galatians 3 v10). As the Lord had appointed the salvation of His people, even the dearest desire of His soul does not lead Him to tamper with His sacred law. No, a Substitute was provided, who paid the whole price that His people owed. There was no pardon without punishment, because God rules the universe. He rules it with wisdom that knows that it would be unsafe if sin was ever permitted to be removed without satisfaction being received. Christ, therefore, gave himself as a satisfaction for sin. God will not pardon sin by overlooking it, there must be redemption before there can be remission.
This was shown very clearly in what the Saviour had to endure. A part of the penalty of sin is shame. The wicked will rise “to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12 v2). Rebellion against God is the most contemptible thing that angels ever heard of. The devil became the object of mockery, when our Saviour took the sinner’s place.
Jesus “was despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53 v3a). His own disciples, as it were, hid their faces from Him, “He was despised, and we did not care” (Isaiah 53 v3b). They that sit in the gate spoke against Him, they spat in His face, they mocked Him, they put Him to a slave’s death, they gave Him the place of shame at the centre of the three crucified ones. Never was shame more shameful than in the experience of our Lord. Here God seemed to declare, once for all, how shameful sin is in His sight. When sin lay by imputation upon His own dear Son, an object of scorn.
Transcendent was His sorrow as well as His shame. We cannot discover His meaning when he said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26 v38). Your sympathy can never interpret those pangs of heart which forced the blood to stream from every pore.
His physical sufferings alone are enough to make us faint, if we could clearly think about them. As for His soul’s sufferings, it is enough to melt our hearts in grief that we should have caused Him to die like that. When Christ sank into the deep mire where there was no standing, then God declared most loudly how evil sin is, how supremely just, and how jealous of His justice, He is.
In the Saviour’s sufferings, shame and sorrow were deepened by divine desertion. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27 v46). Here He cried, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”. Every word of it was emphatic, every syllable needs to be pronounced with the awful force of one who was dying, for the Saviour could truly say, “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me” (Psalm 116 v3-4). No answer came, for God had forsaken Him. His enemies persecuted Him, and there was no one to save Him. Here, in the leaving of His only-begotten Son, His ever-obedient Son, God showed His intense righteousness and hatred of sin.
Nor was Christ spared the ending either, He died. Here shame, sorrow and desertion reached their peak when the Saviour died. The holy soul was parted from the pure and blessed body, He suffered death. Though immortal, He died. Brightness of the Father’s glory, He slumbered in the tomb. Imagine Him, as the disciples took Him down, drawing out the nails, one by one. Imagine Him, as they laid Him in the sheet which the women had prepared, and wrapped Him up in the spices which loving Nicodemus and wealthy Joseph of Arimathea had brought. Imagine the Saviour, as they put Him in the tomb, and go away sad. Imagine Him whom angels worship sleeping as a captive in the grave. Jehovah here revealed how He hates sin in that He did not spare His own Son. Christ had to die.
The excellent Person who suffered all this is the platform upon which God displayed His righteousness. He who suffered was the Just One and spotless King, “the King of the Jews.” He was the Messiah whom God had ordained to be the Mediator of the covenant. He was the Son of the Highest, begotten of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. Mounting higher still, He was “very God of very God.” It is a great mystery, which we receive with reverence.
The hand that was stretched on the Cross is the exact hand that wields the sceptre of universal empire, the heart that was pierced is the heart which will beat on throughout eternity in love for His people. The very Being, who became capable of suffering, was He who built the heavens, and scattered the stars like dust along the sky, who spoke and said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1 v3) and sent forth the Spirit to brood over chaos, and brought order out of confusion. “Without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1 v3). He is the express image of His Father’s glory and person, “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2 v9). This theme demands an angel’s tongue to sing. Sing of Him who stripped Himself of His azure mantle, and hung it on the sky, and took away His golden rings, and hung them up like stars, and laid aside the clothes of His glorious reign, and came to dwell in humble garments of clay. Oh, mysterious love, He came to suffer, bleed and die. Oh, mystery of righteousness, that He should have bleed, and been obedient, unto death, even the death of the cross. Never did righteousness receive such vindication as when God, the mighty Maker, having assumed flesh, in that flesh died for us, because of our sin.
Continued on page 15.
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“For the Lord will not forsake His people; He will not abandon His heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it” (Psalm 94 v14-15).
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PREPARING FOR JUDGEMENT.
By J H Jowett
“Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things” (2 Peter 3 v14). Let us look at what things are recorded. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (3 v10). Here is an apostle vividly anticipating an awful day of judgement. In that final judgement righteousness will be triumphant, and iniquity will be finally defeated. The coming day is sure. It will definitely come, but it will come as a thief. The affairs of everyone are moving forward to consummation and crisis. There are details in the apostle’s outlook, which I do not understand, and which I shall make no attempt to explain. There are three outstanding characteristics of this crisis in the soul.
The anticipated judgement is to be a time of dissolution. “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (v10). The impression is that the judgement is to be a season of disruption, of exposure of foundations and the display of the parts of things. In that day the substance of things will be revealed.
Secondly, the anticipated judgment is to be a time of division. This event will mark not only a culmination, but a crisis. Things are to be analysed, tested and judged, and there will be a separation of the healthy from the corrupt. “The wicked will not stand in the judgment” (Psalm 1 v5).
Thirdly, it will be a time of transformation. Out of the dissolution and division there will arise a changed world. “But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3 v13). Out of the crisis is to be born a new morning, with new light and atmosphere, and a new home. Such are the characteristics of this overwhelming event in which every earthly life is to culminate in the judgement presence of God.
The Challenge
And now with this foreground of severe and sanctified expectancy, the apostle proclaimed the following challenge, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” (3 v11). How ought people to live in the face of a hereafter and a sure and awesome judgement? With that towering possibility confronting us, which to the apostle was a great and solemn certainty, we ought to seriously consider each day. Let us mark the coolness and sanity of the apostle’s reply. For there is nothing heated, sensational or crazy in his speech. He does not tremble in fear when looking upon this amazing event, his life is cool, calm and full of vigour. “Since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (3 v14). That is not counsel for broken people when older life comes, it is counsel for those in the prime of life which seeks the creation of a rich, consecrated and effective character, all along the way. If there is going to be a judgement, and if there is crisis tomorrow, as there surely will, then in these robes we will meet it with eager fearlessness, “spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (v14).
Found at Peace
Let us forget the common interpretation of peace. In the ordinary mind peace is synonymous with quietness and rest. We are walking in a great city at noon and are jostled by the hurrying crowd. We turn from them into the cool quietness of a big church and we are tempted to say to ourselves, “How peaceful it is”. But this is not a symbol of Christian peace, however pertinently it may express the secret of stillness. Peace is not stillness, but a certain kind of movement. It is movement without friction, cog works into cog with perfect and noiseless harmony. Everything moves without jar, and there is no dirt in the wheels. Peace is not the absence of noise, but the absence of discord. When we look at the root of the word we find its primary contact is “perfect joining”. Nothing works out of its place. Everything moves with everything else. This is peace. Peace is harmony and then absence of the rebel, the extinction of strife. And so, if there is to be peace in my life, all the powers in my life must cooperate without friction and move in harmony under the supreme council of the sovereign will of God.
The organ is a very complex musical instrument and there is a movement in it known as ciphering. This is the sound of an organ-pipe having a note that sticks, and it is independent of the player. Harmony is dependent upon the obedience of each note to the organist’s authority. If any note breaks out of its own accord, the harmony is broken, and the listeners are the victims of harsh discord.
Now, everyone’s individuality is like a complex organ. There are many varied parts, and the harmony of any individual is dependent upon the cooperation of all their parts. Yet how frequently the harmony of life is broken by a part sticking. Some action is rebellious and breaks away from the control of the will. How often the player upon the instrument has to confess, “I cannot control my temper,” or “I cannot control my imagination,” or “I cannot control my passions”. But there is a distinction between ourselves and a musical instrument. The organist at the keyboard has no control over the sticking note, it is independent, and works entirely away from the player’s will. But an individual has resources from the Lord at their disposal, which reproduce the dynamics of grace, by which every ability can be subjected to the holy purpose of our Lord. It is possible for the individual to be “found at peace” and for all that is within them to bless God’s holy name.
The Body
Let us investigate this “organ” of the individual self. There are powers of the body. These should be “found at peace”. They are to work in harmony with one another, and under the control of the sovereign will of God, and they are to move as subjects of the King. “Offer your bodies” (Romans 12 v1). We must bring our energies to the Lord, and have these bodily forces subdued to the higher harmonies, like the profound notes of the organ that give body and fullness to its tender and sweetening melodies. I do not want my passions to be destructive. I want them turning to useful energy. I want the sword changed into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning hook, and I want the beast at the base harnessed to the imperial and holy purpose of God, “I keep my body under control” (1 Corinthians 9 v27). Every bodily desire is held in the leash, and all work together, and are “found at peace”.
The Mind
There are powers of the mind. I speak of wandering thoughts that are rebellious and that visit forbidden fields. We have unrestrained imaginations, fancies that go off on their own charges and ask no question concerning the lands in which they roam. “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10 v5). It is possible for all our mental powers to be “found at peace”. We have more power over our thoughts than we often know. There is much reserve of authority which has not yet been used. We can refuse a thought, and that refusal enormously strengthens our self-control. Make every thought bow down to Jesus before you give it utterance. But if we still find that our sovereignty is ineffective, we can refer our weaknesses to the Spirit. We can take these rebel thoughts and can say to the Holy Spirit, “These thoughts, my Great Companion, are beyond me. I have no power to deal with them. I hand them over to You.” And marvellous will be the rearranging of this discord and the subjection of the mental chaos into harmony and peace.
The Inner Person
These are powers of the soul and these also must be “at peace”. Our sense of right must not be allowed to join the rebellion. Our sense of the sublime must not be permitted to run after degrading superstitions. Our highest powers must pay obedience in the holy place, and acknowledge in awed communion the holiness of the Lord.
All this is peace and harmony, the powers of the body, mind and soul all cooperating in producing a musical melody that is well-pleasing to God. And this is the character with which one can confidently meet the day of judgement. “Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (2 Peter 3 v14).
Without Spot
The word “spotless” is very significant. It describes a life characterised by no corruption or disease, that is neither lame nor defiled. Our God desires the entire life, and He resents a defective offering, He wants “a spotless lamb” (1 Peter 1 v19). None of our powers are to be made weak by disease, and none are to be rendered diseased by abuse. Surely this person’s mind is not in any way limited by the coming judgement. Their ambition is to diligently present their whole being in working order. We may have different types of talents, but they should not differ in their purity. One may have ten talents, and another only one, but in both instances the life can be perfectly clean. One may be like a cathedral organ and another like a harmonica, but both lives can be kept in perfect purity without corruption, and every part sounding out an obedient note.
Without Blame
Is it possible to be “blameless”? I may get my body under, and I may succeed by the grace of God, in freeing every part of my being from sickness and disease, but is it within the bounds of possibility that I can stand in the judgement blameless? I think of my life. I retrace its steps. I mark its deliberate rebellions, its sins of selfishness and desire, its bad speech, its disloyalties and secret treacheries. This life appears to not be blameless, yet it is gloriously possible. It is the good news of grace, that on the day of judgement, people whose lives were once defiled can stand before the Almighty and no word of blame or rebuke shall fall upon their ears. They shall come to judgement, but there shall be no condemnation. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8 v1). But this can only be possible when the life is lost “in Christ”. We are regarded and judged as being in Him. What He is we are, for as He is we shall one day assuredly become. “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3 v3). It may be still only weak, and the footprints of the beast may be barely erased from our life, but one day we will be manifested in His beauty. It fills me with amazement that I, once a vagrant, and having signs of my sin, shall one day walk in His likeness. Yes, and those old days, are never to be named by Him in whose holy presence we are all to stand. “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8 v12).
Be Diligent
Here is a great ambition, that on the day of unveiling we may be “found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (2 Peter 3 v14). And see with what intensity this apostolic ambition is to be pursued. The apostle uses three very strong figures of speech. “Make every effort”. It is again the favourite image of the business person. We are to pursue the riches of this finished character with all the passion of an expert. We are to be inventive, earnest and prompt, using every opportunity for moral and spiritual enrichment.
Beware
We are also to have watchfulness. Having got a pearl, I am to guard it as one of the crown jewels. “Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown” (Revelation 3 v11).
Be Steadfast
Then we are to show the unshakeable and unshrinkable loyalty of a soldier on duty. In seeking this glorified character, we are to be faithful at our post, “and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6 v13). Go forward to the judgement, seeking peace, spotlessness and blamelessness with all the diligence of a business person, with all the vigilance of a watchman, and with all the daring obedience of a soldier on the battlefield.
A life like that, hiding in Christ, and always cherishing the Father’s business, fears nothing that tomorrow may bring. For that kind of life and judgement will have no terrors. If we live toward God, we shall not fear to see Him. No, here the apostle is bold enough to use very daring and exuberant words, “looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along” (2 Peter 3 v12). That day is the very music of this Epistle. It was music to the apostle, as indeed it was music to the Apostle Paul, who gloried in a “crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4 v8).
From: an old issue of ‘The Overcomer’.
JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS: PART 2.
By C H Spurgeon
THE GREAT MANIFESTATION OF DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
When Christ became a propitiation, He declared God’s righteousness for the remission of sin. We are pardoned through the patience of God. For thousands of years, humans lived and sinned, and yet were justified, restored and forgiven. For thousands of years, poor fallible people claimed righteousness, and entered into the rewards which belong exclusively to those who are justified before God. A long line of patriarchs, prophets and warriors who believed in God, and this was imputed to them for righteousness. Now here we are in a difficulty. A just God is saving all these sinners, and taking them to heaven, without any sort of outpouring of His justice. But Christ declared the righteousness of God, “because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” (Romans 3 v25) and all the difficulties of the Old Testament times are cleared up at once.
Another difficulty, is how God can be just, and yet the Justifier. The apostle says that, “He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3 v26). This is the great problem which the world has been trying to solve. It is interesting that no religion can be popular unless it deals with a sacrifice for sin, and where this is left out in any ministry you will soon find there are few hearers, and very soon none. This is a significant circumstance.
If someone were to open a shop to sell bread, and were to sell nothing but stones, it is certain that the shop would have no customers. The baker’s shop is the last that is shut in the community. This will live, even if other trades die out for we must have bread, and so, if everything should pass away, the Gospel is certain to survive because it meets the needs of humanity.
One Sunday, a friend said to me, “I am often asked why so many people come here, and, my friend, I cannot give any answer. Except, that you try to preach what souls want, the essential point of how we are saved and justified before God through Jesus Christ. And so if you keep to that theme, there is no fear that there will not be enough hungry souls to feed upon that bread.” I agree to this, because if a person wants a subject that will never wear out, then preach Christ crucified. You don’t need philosophies, nor many books, to find out some novelty, the old story is ever new. There is nothing so new as Christ. We say of Him, “your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew” (Psalm 110 v3), for Jesus Christ’s sacrifice exactly met the needs of our humanity.
There is a sacrifice provided, and that sacrifice answers the question which God has put into everyone’s mind, “How can I be saved, and yet God be just?” Humans have the often unexpressed conviction that God is just. Every sinner knows that sin must be punished. You can never get any peace of mind, until you learn the truth that God punished Christ instead for you. Christ has so honoured the law of God that He can forgive you, without being unjust. God is satisfied, and He can now be discovered to be infinitely pure, just, and at the same time infinitely gracious and merciful. My heart remembers when I first understood that. These words, “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth” were the source of my comfort (Isaiah 45 v22). I saw that Christ suffered for me, that Christ stood as a Substitute for believers, and that precious doctrine of substitution was the window of light to my dark soul.
God demands of sinners two things, first, that you should keep His law. You cannot do this, for you have already broken it. On Mount Sinai there is no safety for you. Even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear” on Sinai (Hebrews 12 v21). Secondly, He demands punishment for the sins that are past, as well as a perfect obedience for the years to come. Can you endure the flames of Hell and the terrors of His vengeance? Your heart quakes at the thought. Well, as Christ has come into the world, He has provided for both needs. Christ has kept the law of God for you, and He has suffered the penalty of that law too. You have two answers to the Most High, and when conscience says, “You must be punished, for you are guilty” you can say, “No, not I, Christ was punished for my sins. God will never punish two for one offence. First the Substitute, and then the sinner for whom He was a Substitute.” And when conscience says, “But you cannot get a perfect righteousness,” you can answer, “Yes, I can, for Christ brought perfect righteousness, and He gave this to me, according to His own name, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness.”
Oh, that we might have grace to understand that everything God wants from us is found in Christ. You may think there is something for you to do in order to save yourself, but Christ has saved all who will be saved, and you will be saved when, by humble faith, you receive the salvation which Christ has won. To add to Christ anything of your own would be to put on filthy rags compared to His gold and silver-threaded garments, to bring your filthy cash to eke out the payment which He has laid down at God’s throne. God is content with Christ, so be content with Him, and as you see how God is just, see also how you may be happy and at peace.
And now I conclude by just drawing PRACTICAL LESSONS.
Let us remember how God hates sin. Christian, you must hate sin too. If I had to pass the place where a friend of mine was murdered, I would fear that spot. I think that I could never give the murderer any affection, and that I would feel moved to see justice done. Now, your sins have murdered your Saviour. Revenge here is holy and sacred. Work on your sins. If you feel any anger against the murderer of Christ, turn and see your face in a mirror. There stands one who killed his Friend who died to save him. In suffering murder that Friend gave Himself to bleed and die for the good of His murderers. Christian, you must hate the very thought of sin. We are sometimes severe on other people’s sins, but how much more should we be upon our own. The thought of sin, the very clothes spotted with the flesh, should be hated by the believer. We shall only feel more like this by dwelling more on the sight of the Saviour’s wounds, which can melt our hearts.
God did not spare His own Son. Surely, if the Judge dealt with His own Son so severely, He will not spare His enemy. But those who have no Saviour, and have never looked to Christ to take away their sins, what will they do when they have to stand before a Just God? Christ needed to be omnipotent to endure the Cross, but what will they do? “The wrath of the Lamb” is the worst thing a sinner can ever feel (Revelation 6 v16), when love turns to anger. To despise incarnate love, is to receive infinite misery. Those who perish without the knowledge of Christ, perish happily compared with them. It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those who despised Christ.
I have spoken of Jesus Christ in all the beauty of His mysterious sacrifice. Look to Him. If I have never been able to move your heart before, may God move it now. Remember the world to come. You shall soon pass through the gates of the grave, when the night of death shall seal your eyes. What will you do, in those few solemn moments when the last sands are trickling from the hour-glass, without a Saviour? Do not say that these are things not to talk of because they are too distant. Men and women, they will come to you. Tomorrow, you may be hurried to the grave. May God lead you to lay hold of Christ now, for if not, there remains for you nothing but the fearful judgment and then fire. The trumpet sounds, the dead awake, Jesus sits upon the Great White Throne, the heavens are opened, the angels come to gather God’s harvest. But now they come to reap, and with their sickles they cut down batch after batch of the wild vines of sin. If you are there, you must be gathered with the rest, cast into the winepress of the wrath of God, when He who once trod the winepress for His people, shall come to tread the winepress of His wrath for the last time. How dreadful when the “blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles” (Revelation 14 v20). Oh, the terrible vengeance of God, whose mercy has been despised, and whose grace has been ignored.
I usually love to plead the love of Jesus Christ to souls, and strong words must sometimes be used, or sleeping souls will never otherwise awake. Look to Jesus crucified, fly to those dear wounds of His. A Substitute for sinners, there He hangs, and bleeds, and dies.
“Look, look, look and live. There is life for a look at the Crucified One. There is life at this moment for you” (hymn by Amelia M Hull).
If you believe in Him. God will give you the grace to believe, for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.
From ‘Sermon No 3038, May 2nd 1907’.
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THE CROSS TO THE NATURAL HUMAN.
By Mrs Jessie Penn-Lewis
Let us go to Calvary, and in the light thrown on it by the Prophecy of Isaiah, behold Him, Who for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross despising the shame. The hour had come for which He had entered the world. Hear the God-man cry, “It is finished” as He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit into His Father’s hand. We know now that He is the Father’s provided Lamb, the guilt-offering for sin. The One Who, with His appearance so disfigured beyond that of any human being, was wounded and bruised for our iniquities, so that by His stripes we are healed.
Paul received his Gospel by direct revelation of Jesus Christ, he was under no delusion as to its reception by humanity. Like Isaiah he knew that the Cross as the "arm of the Lord" must be revealed by the Holy Spirit, and so to the darkened intellect and rebellious will of the children of unbelief, the whole message would appear foolish (Ephesians 4 v18). They would say, “Salvation through the death of another? It is contrary to all justice. Humans are unable to save themselves. No, it is all foolish.”
To the Jews the word of the Cross would be a still greater stumbling block. It was written in their Scriptures, “anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse” (Deuteronomy 21 v23).
Again and again Paul must have had the words in his mouth, "accursed of God" or "an insult to God” as he preached to the Jews a crucified Messiah, for in speaking of the Lord Jesus, they often called Him by the name “the gibbetted one”, which they found in the original Hebrew of Deuteronomy 21 verse 23.
Apart from the illumination of the Spirit, the Jews could not see that the words in Deuteronomy interpreted the Cross of Christ, who became a "curse for us" on the tree of Calvary (Galatians 3 v13).
But they were looking for a Messiah who would reign as a King on earth, and in reading the prophecy of Isaiah they had only seen foreshadowings of glory and kingship in the Coming One. They had preconceived ideas about His symbols of authority which would have made their looked-for Messiah known to them. The Jews had often demanded of the Lord Jesus to give them “a sign" and with pain the Lord had replied, “a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign. But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12 v38-40).
Calvary and the grave, foretold by the prophet Isaiah and pictured again in the mysterious experience of Jonah the prophet, was the special "sign" promised by God to make known the Messiah, but Isaiah wrote of Israel, “Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes." (6 v10), and his prophecy concerning the blinded people was fulfilled. "The Jews demand signs" wrote Paul, but have not eyes to see the signs foretold by God, the "Greeks look for wisdom" and fail to perceive that "Christ crucified" is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1 v22-23).
From ‘The Cross of Calvary’.
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STOPPING TO LISTEN.
By J C Metcalfe
The thought of stopping to listen emerges in 1 Samuel. Saul had returned from battle. He and the people were overjoyed about victory, but God has been disobeyed and the uncompromising figure of Samuel casts an unexpected gloom over proceedings. “‘Stop’ Samuel said to Saul. ‘Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night’” (15 v16). A stillness is thus born in which the unimportant things fade into the background and in the newly created hush God pronounces judgment. There come times in all our lives when we stand alone at the bar of God’s justice.
His word leaves us without excuse. We see our sin in its true colours, and such times we would do well to be still. We need to set aside the noise of our excuse-making and to humble ourselves before God. We shall then see the wonder of His mercy. David witnessed this grace on the occasion of his sin in numbering Israel. This is found in 2 Samuel 24, when David was offered a choice of punishment, he said, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great" (v14). Then the word is used in verse 16, “When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, ‘Enough withdraw your hand’”. Can you imagine the relief? The plague that had been raging was stilled. Quiet takes the place of dread and anguish. The angel’s sword is sheathed and judgment is stayed. What a picture of our condition. The Cross is for us the stay of judgment. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8 v1). We may be in quietness, resting on the finished work of Christ and find ourselves launched into that new and wonderful life where “Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3 v11).
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A Psalm of David
“I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
and upholds the cause of the needy.
Surely the righteous will praise Your name,
And the upright will live in Your presence.
(Psalm 140)
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