In the 1980’s, a western film hit the theaters called Silverado. Taking place shortly after the civil war of the 1860’s, one scene opens with a black man entering a bar to get a drink.

But instead of giving him whiskey, the bartender calls out two white thugs to take the black man down. But the black man shows he’s no pushover and creams his assailants. Then comes in the sheriff, “We don’t accept your kind here.” The black man looks at him hard and says, “That ain’t right!” This slogan keeps coming up through the movie as the black man suffers injustice from the whites. As you watch, your gut is wrenched with anger. You can’t help it. You desire justice.

God made us that way. When a little girl is raped, when an innocent civilian is shot, when a politician makes promises bigger than the state of Texas just to get into office, we get angry.

But do you realize that this craving for justice, this sense that the innocent should not be mistreated and that the devious should receive penalty, comes from God? You desire justice because you were made in the image of a just God.

The big question...

But this presents a very difficult question: If God is perfectly just, what does that mean for you and for me on Judgment Day?

The answer is found in Romans 2. Paul writes, “...on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Rom 2:16).

You don’t usually see “judge” and “gospel” in the same sentence. This is an odd statement. What on earth do these have to do with each other? Much! The gospel says that God’s justice punished Jesus in our place. God cannot just forgive people when there is no payment made for the huge debt sin incurred. God must punish sin because God is infinitely holy. So God judged His Son in the place we should have suffered, so that He could show us mercy and forgive us. Christ’s death was both an act of judgment and mercy at the same time. God judged His Son but He showed us, the guilty, mercy.

But this same Christ whom God judged in the place of sinners will return some day and judge every human ever born. Only those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior will be saved and forgiven, in spite of all their sins.

Compared to Bundy, Manson, and Stalin...

Many people hope to get to heaven by what is called comparative righteousness. Compared to mass murderer Joseph Stalin or serial killer Ted Bundy or the demonic Marilyn Manson I look pretty good. Yes, and stand next to a Proboscis monkey (arguably the ugliest animal on earth) and you’ll look good any time of the day.

But God doesn’t compare us to Stalin or Hitler or Bundy or Marilyn Manson. He compares us to Himself.

I used to think I was a pretty tall guy. It made me feel good. Compared to my seven year old son, Josiah, I do look pretty tall. And as long as I keep reminding people of how short he is compared to me, I can convince myself that I’m one tall dude. But put me next to someone six foot seven and I look like a halfling. What happened? The standard changed.

As long as the standard we used to measure our righteousness is people worse than us, we will always end up looking better. But God does not judge us based on what other people have done, but what Christ did, and Christ was perfect. He never sinned—not even once.

God is the measuring tape of true righteousness. He is the mirror of perfection, and if He judged you by any standard lower, He’d be an unjust God. God does not grade on a curve or judge on a sliding scale. His justice is spotless.

Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray once informed a man who had appeared before him in a lower court and had escaped conviction on a technicality:

I know that you are guilty and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and that there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to law.

Why you need mercy...

So you see the problem. Now I want to offer you the solution. It’s tempting to think, “I’m going to clean my life up. I’m going to become a better person. I’m going to get my life right by drinking less, lying less, lusting less, and telling the truth wherever I go.”

My friend, that won’t help you on Judgment Day, for two reasons:
Reason #1: The first problem is not your actions but the heart from which those actions flow. Your heart is sinful and all the good deeds in the world will not change a sinful heart. God doesn’t just judge our sins; He judges our sinfulness.

Reason #2: Being a better person won’t help you. You’ve already fallen short of God’s standard. To break just one law of God and then to live a perfect life for the rest of your life is still one sin too many. Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “You shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If God is good, and we know He is, then He cannot lower His standard of holiness to accommodate our unholiness.

At first, this is devastating news. You’re a sinner, as I am. You’ve sinned against a holy God. And you’d rightly conclude like one fellow did whom I spoke with just a few days ago, “Then we’re all doomed!” That would be true were it not for God’s mercy.

Fell sinner, you need mercy.

But where does mercy come from? Through none other than Jesus Christ.

I don’t ask for justice...

A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death.

"But I don't ask for justice,” the mother explained. "I plead for mercy.”

"But your son does not deserve mercy,” Napoleon replied.

"Sir, the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.”

"Well, then,” the emperor said, "I will have mercy.” And he spared the woman's son.¹

Fellow sinner you don’t want God’s justice. You want His mercy. And that is offered to you freely through Jesus Christ!

Endnotes

1. Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1984.