A Sermon on the Perfect Justice of the Cross and the Imperfect Justice of Sinners

 Dr. MA Petillo

Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of life;
Let me more of their beauty see,
Wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty,
Teach me faith and duty:
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Christ, the blessed One, gives to all,
Wonderful words of life;
Sinner, list to the loving call,
Wonderful words of life.
All so freely given,
Wooing us to heaven:
Sweetly echo the gospel call,
Wonderful words of life,
Offer pardon and peace to all,
Wonderful words of life.
Jesus, only Saviour,
Sanctify for ever:  (TH, 722).

The Apostle Paul accomplished much in Christian ministry.  That is, he wrote much of the NT Scriptures.  However, his very name means "little."  All of us creatures are finite and God does not necessarily need us.  Sinners should not think of themselves as the center of the universe.  Man is not the sum and substance of this world.  Rather the centrality of our attention should be the Triune God alone.  The NT Scriptures speaks of God's people decreasing and Jesus increasing.  It means that Jesus must increase in our lives and we must allow God to have His way with us in the pursuit of holiness.  Every Christian ministry is foreordained of God.  He used the Apostle Paul to share the Good News with the Gentile people.  Paul knew that the Gospel could save sinners.  The power of God is not in man, but in the Gospel (Rom 1:16-17).  For Paul was a great sinner who was called from his mother's womb (Gal 1:15) like the OT prophet Jeremiah.

But I observed that, although I was such a great sinner before conversion, God never burdened me heavily with the guilt of sins committed while I was in ignorance. He only showed me that I was lost if I did not have Christ because I had been a sinner. I saw that I needed a perfect righteousness to present me without fault before God, and this righteousness was nowhere to be found but in the person of Jesus Christ.  (John Bunyan , Grace Abounding, Evangelical Press, 2000, p. 143).

Paul calls himself the chief of sinners,  "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1 Tim 1:15 KJV).  Every sinner whether small or great should view themselves as the greatest sinner whoever lived.  If it is done through the heart, it is evidence of the Spirit's mighty work.  For JC Ryle wrote,

"If Christ had not gone to the cross and suffered in our stead, the just for the unjust, there would not have been a spark of hope for us. There would have been a mighty gulf between ourselves and God, which no man ever could have passed."  (The Cross: A Call to the Fundamentals of Religion).

Paul preached Jesus as the ONLY WAY (Acts 4:12), 

The summary of the gospel is that our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, has revealed the will of His heavenly Father to us, and with His innocence has redeemed us from death, and has reconciled us with God. Therefore, Christ is the only way to salvation for all those who have been, are, and will be.  (Ulrich Zwingli, Quoted in: Is Jesus the Only Way? Crossway, 1999, p. 45).

Before Paul's conversion, he was a pre-converted sinner outside of Christ.  God freely chose him without regard for civil works (Rom 9:11, 16).  Paul was born at Tarsus in Cilicia (Acts 22:3) and he was born as a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25-28).  Paul before Christ found him was called Saul (Acts 9:11; 13:9).  God is behind all the affairs of human history, but especially St. Paul.  That is, God changed the name of Saul (who was Paul) to Paul.  God changes the name of His people at a special time for a call to Christian service.  Some doubt that this was of Jesus Christ but simply providential coincidence.  The Bible refers to the apostle Simon but his name is changed to Peter by Christ.  This is a clear example of God's special Hand at work to glorify Himself through His chosen vessels for Christian ministry in the cases of Paul and Peter.   

Alexander MacLaren writes, "The gospel is not speculation but fact. It is truth, because it is the record of a Person who is the Truth."  R.W. Dale writes, "The real truth is that while He came to preach the gospel, His chief object in coming was that there might be a gospel to preach."  The Gospel is Jesus Christ alone.  It is meant to give Him alone the glory.  

The Father punished sin upon the eternal Son alone.  This is the essence of perfect justice.  No earthly court could equal this perfect justice.  Those who say it is an easy way to escape true justice simply do not understand the perfect satisfaction of Jesus Christ at the Cross.  No sinner has their sins excused through injustice or a mishandling of the facts in dealing with a holy God.  Some escape justice through injustice.  The Cross is a way to escape punishment through the punishment of another who was supernaturally able to bear the infinite wrath of God.  This is why the Cross is unequaled compared to court or prison.  The Cross in the final analysis has no equal.  There is a greater justice than imperfect justice.  The supreme court is not in the United States of America.  Rather the Supreme Court is the throne room of Jesus Christ alone.  He must pronounce or forensically declare the sinner righteous or just.  He does this through the historical, prophetical and supernatural Cross of Jesus Christ where our sins are imputed to Him alone and His unified righteousness alone is imputed to us (Phil 3:9) through a heaven-born faith (Eph. 2:8-9).  No court system could equal this cosmic and eternal justice.  It does not mean that there is not a place for civil government or civil prosecution.  We are called by God for the approbation of civil government (read Romans chapter 13).  Sometimes (not all the time) civil prosecution for civil crimes committed are forgone.  Is it better to forgo a criminal case through more injustice or non-justice (mercy)?  

It is not wrong to provide mercy for a crime but justice must be satisfied.  It takes a discernment in light of a future that possesses Jesus Christ.  How can justice be satisfied if they give mercy?  Look no further than the Cross.  No one will escape the justice of God unless Jesus has taken their place.  There is a place for those who practice injustice and habitual cosmic treason against the innocent in the land.  There is testimony for criminals excusing themselves through more injustice.  It just heaps sin upon sin that travels all the way to heaven.   God is ever watching and He knows everything.  In one moment, He could wipe a criminal off the face of the earth, because He deals with His enemies face to face.  Criminals unawakened whether providentially or salvationally do not invite correction.  

There is no way of escape though by appearance it would seem that they have escaped the civil law of God.  In addition, they despise Christ and His work.  This is the case of fallen man by nature.  If God leaves it unchanged, there is no spiritual hope.  Indeed, there is a civil reformation among criminals.  Is this the reformation God is talking about in His written Word?  Does this have real eternal value?  Civil reformation is worthless without the Spirit of God.  I suggest to you that a civil reformed sinner could enter hell and come back but still live an abomination in death turned forwards to hell again in light of what God really thinks.  How do we know?  God has revealed it in His written Word.  This civil reformation is something that hell has produced on earth.  Yes, the gates of hell have fallen because of Jesus Christ.  There is also a sense where hell has waged war in a pursuit of its own furtherance.  Sinners need an alien righteousness of Jesus Christ alone in extra nos (Gal 2:20) through God's free choice (Rom 9:11, 16) by faith (Rom 1:16t-17) and repentance (Mk 1:15). 

All the spiritual crimes of God's elect fallen creatures are paid on Christ.  That is, He satisfied divine justice through imputed sin to Him alone.  That is not the end of it.  Rather He imputed the divine righteousness of Himself alone to His chosen sinners.  No sinner escapes the divine justice of God or man through something unjust.  All sin was paid by Christ who literally took the place of His chosen people in Christ alone.  The sinners who do not have Christ as their sole substitute will have to pay their own debt for all eternity.  We call sinners to trust Christ, because Jesus commands the preaching of the gospel to every tribe, tongue, people and nation.  Everyone that belongs to God will respond in real faith in the real Christ.  In the final analysis no one escapes God's justice.  To the one it is perfectly satisfied at the Cross, but to the other justice never ends in eternal torment.  If you find yourself unable to believe, it may be a sign of blessed self-despair.  Blessed self-despair is when you come to terms that you cannot save yourself.  Everyone is called to make a choice, but a finite choice never saved anyone.  That does not mean there should not be a decision for Jesus Christ.  Everyone is called to make a decision for Jesus Christ.  Is God behind that decision or is it merely providential awakening (see Rom 1:19)?   The way you know you belong to Christ is an awareness of the Spirit's work of saving knowledge (1 Jn 5:13).  Do you repent of your sins through the all-exclusive Cross of Jesus Christ?  Remember what Jesus said to His few chosen, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you" (Jn 15:16 KJV).  George Whitfield writes, "Other men may preach the gospel better than I, but no man can preach a better gospel."

  

By the cross of Jesus standing,
Love our straitened souls expanding,
Taste we now the peace and grace!
Health from yonder tree is flowing,
Heavenly light is on it glowing,
From the blessed Suff'rer's face.
Here is pardon's pledge and token,
Guilt's strong chain for ever broken,
Righteous peace securely made;
Brightens now the brow once shaded,
Freshens now the face once faded,
Peace with God now makes us glad.
All the love of God is yonder,
Love above all thought and wonder,
Perfect love that casts out fear!
Strength, like dew, is here distilling,
Glorious life our souls is filling,
Life eternal, only here!
Here the living water welleth;
Here the Rock, now smitten, telleth
Of salvation freely giv'n:
This the fount of love and pity,
This the pathway to the city,
This the very gate of heav'n.  (TH, 185).