“Justice, Mercy and Grace” Author and Writer Ronald Nelson

TODAYS BIBLE VERSE:

 "...the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." Psalm 84:11

ENCOURAGING WORD:

There are three words that came together at Calvary:

          Justice

          Mercy

          Grace

Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don't deserve. This may sound a little confusing, but listen to it again. Justice is getting what we deserve. If we rob a bank or commit a murder, to mention a few things, then we will receive justice. You will be convicted of your crime and then sentenced for the crime that you committed. That is justice, no way out. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. If we deserve to go to jail for a crime that we have committed, but for some reason we are pardoned, that is mercy. If somebody wrongs you in a certain way, and then you forgive them and don’t hold it against them, that is mercy. We all deserve death and eternity in hell, but for those that have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and have become born-again into the Holy Spirit, will be forgiven of all their sins and they will be found pure in the sight of God. Once you have become born-again, it is as if you have never sinned, and you will be forever with Jesus Christ in a more beautiful environment than we could ever imagine. 

In Luke 18:6-8; we read, “And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you; he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” 

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and have become born-again into the Holy Spirit then you will receive your just rewards for things that you did after you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You will receive those rewards at the Bema Seat of Christ!  Anything good that we did before we were saved will not be rewarded because good works cannot save us. We read in the following Bible verse;

2 Timothy 1:9; “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”

This is a huge misconception in the Christian denominations. The mainline denominations teach that you are saved by believing on Jesus and by doing good works. They believe that Jesus + good works saves them. Whern in reality, Jesus plus nothing else saves you. What does the Apostle Paul say about this.

Romans 11:6; “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.”

We can’t be saved by works no matter what we do and no matter how hard we try. Like the Apostle Paul said, Works is works and Grace is grace, you can’t have both. Now, once again as I have made perfectly clear in the past, once you become born-again, and receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, then good works will be a part of your life style. If your life style does not produce good works, then your confession of faith was only lip service.

This is also where people get confused with once saved always saved. There is argument on both sides. See what they don’t understand is this, True faith produces good works and if your confession of faith was true and you gave your life to Jesus Christ, then you are saved, Nobody can take that away from you. Listen to what Jesus said in the following Bible verse.

John 18:9; “that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.” 

John 10:28-30; “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

Not even you can pluck yourself out of Gods hands. Once you are truly saved, you are saved forever. Remember the Bible verse that says, Luke 14:4-6; “ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

If a Christian backlslides, then Jesus will come for them and bring them back, even if He has to put us through a trail. We would be considered one of His sheep. Jesus said in;

John 10; “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

What does it say, Never! We either believe what the Bible teaches, or we don’t. These religions that teach that you can lose your salvation, are blind to the truth because they are not born-again. They don’t even teach that one must be born again. We read this truth is the following Bible verse.

 

John 3:1-21; “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Three times Jesus said, “You must be born again” What more do we need to know. But yet, the main line denominations do not teach that you must be born-again. They are blind to the truth because they are not born-again. Hear what the Bible says about those that are not born-again.

2 Corinthians 4:4; “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

The Bible is very clear that those that are not born-again are blinded to the truth by the god of this world, which, for those that don’t know who it is, it is Satan. Once man fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, God gave the world over to Satan because that is what man chose. But do not fear, Jesus is coming back soon to take back what He purchased on the cross two thousand years ago.  Once the last person turns to God in faith, or in other words, or becomes born-again, the Father will say to Jesus, “Go get them.” Meaning the born-again believers. Or in better terms, The rapture of the church.  That day is coming soon. We will meet the Lord in the air and forever be with Him in paradise.

Now, If you are not a true follower of Jesus you will get what you deserve. You will appear at the White Throne Judgement and be sentenced to eternal separation from God for all eternity. God cannot receive sinful man into His Holy Kingdom! Justice is not what you want if you reject the only provision for your sins, for sin has to be dealt with. You will hear people say, they want justice, but when it comes to sin, you want Grace. Mercy will give you a break and there may not be consequences for what you did, but in the end, only grace can save you. We also need to extend mercy to those that wrong us. Hear what we read in James 2:13.

James 2:13; says, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” 

If we want mercy, then we have to show mercy. If we judge our neighbor according to everything he does, and don’t show him mercy, then our Father who is in heaven will not extend His mercy to us. We reap what you sow.

In Titus 3:5; we read “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

We should all get what we deserve, which is death, but because of Jesus's unending love for us, God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 

1 Peter 1:3; confirms it with this verse, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

Ephesians 2:8-9; “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

Grace is a free gift from God that was made possible through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on a wooden cross 2000 years ago. Since we cannot pay for our own sins, because we ourselves are sinful, God had to come down to Earth in the personage of Jesus Christ. He had to live a perfect sinless life, which He did, and then He willingly took all of our sins of the world upon Himself, and nailed them to the cross. By receiving His free gift of Grace and accepting Him into your heart, you will be justified. It’s as if you never sinned.

Romans 11:6; “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” 

Grace is free, works are earned, and therefore since you cannot earn your way into heaven, Grace is the only option for us to be saved. Keep in mind, it is grace that cost a lot to the giver, which was Jesus Christ. It was not cheap. Grace cost the life of God's Son. Jesus gave freely of Himself in agony and blood.

Did you know that grace has to chase us down? If God didn't run faster than us, we would never be saved! Grace seeks to give to vile and wicked people that which they don't deserve and can never deserve. Everybody needs to ask themselves one serious question: “Why would you refuse this free gift?”

1 Peter 4:10; tells us, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 

Looking through the history of humanity, we see that forgiveness/mercy has always been a challenging process. But it also proves to be worth it. And the Bible provides several profound examples of just how powerful it can be. Even with thousands of years between us and these stories, chances are we can relate to several of them. 

I will share two such stories even though there are many more.

ADAM AND EVE, AND THE INTRO TO FORGIVENESS

When God created our world, He said it was “Very Good” 

Genesis 1:31; “ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

The animals were perfectly friendly, Adam and Eve had a wonderful relationship with God…life was incredible. Then, Entered the serpent whose intent was to cast doubt about God. The serpent asked Eve, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 

Genesis 3:1; “ Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

Eve replied that she could eat fruit from any tree accept from the tree of good and evil. But Satan, talking through the serpent, convinced Eve that the reason they weren’t to eat the fruit was because they’d become like God. Their eyes would be opened, and they would be like God, knowing good and evil.

Genesis 3:4-5; “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Eve tried the fruit, then Adam ate some. When God came by to visit, they felt immediate vulnerability. So they hid. But despite the pivotal choice they had made, God promised deliverance. And this deliverance would cost Him everything. 

Yet, His love for humanity gave Him reason to forgive and to deliver.

John 3:16; “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

God’s Son, Jesus, would come to save us. He would offer forgiveness and healing. With Adam and Eve’s choice to see what a world of both good and evil is like, sin and the need for forgiveness entered into our existence. We have all experienced the need to be forgiven, and we have also been faced with opportunities to forgive.

In the once-perfect garden, now marred by sin, God set up the plan of forgiveness, of redemption, of unconditional love. From the Garden of Eden, we have the promise of restoration and healing.

Jesus’ whole life was one of forgiveness. One incident that illustrates this clearly is the story of the woman who was thrown at His feet—the woman caught in adultery.

NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU

The woman knew she shouldn’t be selling her body. She knew if she was caught, the punishment was stoning.

John 8:4-5; “ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

Yet, she persisted. Was she alone and desperate? Did she need money? Was she searching for love? Was she being forced? We may never know the answers to these questions. We only have the response of Jesus to this unfortunate situation. Jesus was creating quite a stir during His ministry on earth. His teachings were revolutionary. And this was in the face of the rigid teachings of the current religious leaders, who now realized they were losing their authoritative grip on the people. 

So they tried to stop Jesus. If they could trap Him in an appearance of law-breaking, they could get the Roman government involved. And if the Romans suspected insurrection, it would be a death sentence. So when Jesus was teaching some people out in the open, the religious leaders stormed onto the scene, dragging a woman with them. They dropped her right in front of Jesus.

Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say? I'm always questioning, where is the man. Doesn't it take two? We will never know, it was most likely a trap tso they would have something to use against Jesus.

But moving on, instead of confronting the situation as they wanted Jesus to do, Jesus appeared to ignore it. He stooped down and started writing in the dirt. Infuriated, the religious leaders drew close. What could possibly be more important than answering their question? When they looked at what was written, they were horrified. The Bible says they were “convicted by their conscience.” They “went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

“John 8:9; “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

What secrets did Jesus pencil into the dirt? What did they read that caused them to give up all hope of trapping Jesus? Then He looked up. He and the woman were alone.

“Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

John 8:10-11; “When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Here we see Jesus offered both forgiveness and healing. He gave her a chance for a new start. While He certainly disapproved of adultery, He also most definitely disapproved of humiliating someone for selfish gain. We also see the mercy of God in His treatment of the religious leaders. He didn’t write His message in stone so that future generations could read whatever it was that embarrassed those men. He wrote it in the dust. In just a few moments, the record was erased—removed by the wind.

Forgiveness is an incredible gift. But does forgiveness remove the consequences of our actions? Is it possible to be completely forgiven by God and still have to deal with the results of what we’ve done?

The ultimate—and severest—consequence of sin is death. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23; “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This not only refers to physical death, but to eternal separation from God: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.

“Isaiah 59:2; “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”

This is the foremost consequence of man’s rebellion against God. Yet many want to believe that God is so “loving” that He will overlook our “little faults,” “lapses” and “indiscretions.” Little white lies, cheating on the tax return, taking that pen when no one is looking, or secretly viewing pornography—these are peccadillos, not worthy of death, right? The problem is, sin is sin, big or small. Though God loves us, His holiness is such that He cannot live with evil. The prophet Habakkuk describes God this way: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong”

Habakkuk 1:13; “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he?”

God does not ignore our sin. On the contrary, “you may be sure that your sin will find you out. “Numbers 32:23; “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Even those secret sins we hide in the recesses of our hearts will one day be brought to light: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

Hebrews 4:13; “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Paul made it abundantly clear that sin has consequences: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”

Galatians 6:7; “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

Paul then describes the end of those who indulge in sinful behavior: “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction”

Galatians 6:8; “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

The phrase “sinful nature” refers to one’s unregenerate, shameless self. Though the sin nature may promise fulfillment, it can result in nothing but “destruction.”

So, Are you a grace-giver or one who shows mercy? Find someone today and do a favor for them. Something for which they couldn't possibly repay you. Perhaps it will even be for a stranger you will never see again. Receive Gods free gift of grace today, and feel the true joy that can only be felt by those that are saved by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ! 

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

May God Bless you in all you do and take care!