Mercy vs. Injustice

[@robgrant01]

Clarity is Dr. Sproul's gift and we all benefit from it.

[@krazo4Christ]

Genesis 18:25 "Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (ESV) It is difficult to grapple with the idea of free will, along with the idea of a Sovereign God who predestines the end from the beginning; but the two concepts are not mutually exclusive, it is just difficult for us to comprehend the magnitude of God's sovereignty in a way that reconciles our understanding of freedom. Are we free to do what God has not forseen? No. Does God choose who will be saved based on how they are predicted to respond? No, because that would render God dependent on our actions. God does as He pleases, and no action on our part, past, present, or future, can merit salvation. The often unasked question is, how then does God decide whom He will save, and whom He will not save, and for what reason? The Bible happens to answer that question. 1 Corinthians 1:27 "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." So, God's decision to save the specific people He chooses to save is based on His own desire to (1) humble the self-righteous, and (2) to glorify His own righteousness. He has chosen the dregs and scum of humanity as a way of condemning the proud and arrogant, and as a way of displaying His grace and mercy at its most graceful and merciful. For, if even the greatest humanity has to offer is deserving of wrath, how much more so the least of us? Yet, God has chosen the least in order to display His power at its greatest, by not only forgiving the most wretched, but also by sanctifying them with His own Spirit, and by perfecting them through the glorification obtained by His own precious blood. It is all for the glory of God.

[@readJames48]

I miss RC!...beautiful memories on tape like this!

[@davidclark790]

This is so clear. Excellent.

[@Reformedtousen]

amen

[@ineedtruth.2075]

If I don't receive mercy at least I hope my family does. So frustrating they won't wake up to what is happening.

[@winnen3]

There is no such thing as NON-JUSTICE. You cannot find one(1)Reformed theologian in the history of the church who ever used this term. God is JUST in Christ in showing mercy to His Elect.

[@norbertjendruschj9121]

Every judge will tell you from personal experience that the 3 categories of justice, injustice and grace are not so neatly seperated as Mr. Sproul thinks.

[@austind1202]

What a sad worldview. He openly admits there is no distinct between those who will suffer eternal conscious torment and those who will inherit paradise but an unknowable will. Let the horror of that sit for a second before you rationalize it.

[@ramarokevin]

Those who will inherit paradise because of their faith in Christ, they initially merit eternal suffering. So it is unconditionally and by pure grace, not out of our own merit, that we are saved. It is just because of God's love, as HE pleases. And as we don't merit to be saved, none of us.

[@austind1202]

Kevin A. Ramarozatovo I’d ask how men that cannot merit heaven could merit hell? I’d ask how if it is just to send all men to hell based on their human condition, how is it love and not injustice to exempt some of those men for no measurable reason?

[@ramarokevin]

@@austind1202 the tension is because we don't realize who God is, and what we sinners are. God is totally holy, perfect, righteous, good and loving. Because of Adam's disobedience, our hearts and nature are fallen and opposed to him. We disobey to an eternal being who is perfect, the punishment is proportional to the offended, God. It's as if we spit in his face, while knowing his decrees are good and right. We can obey sometimes, but try that in a court : "Judge, I know I've done bad things, but I've done good things too, can't you just let it through and forgive me ?" That would really be injustice. That criminal merits punishment. Nobody can be saved through what they do because our works are soooo not enough to grant us eternal life. The standard is too high we all have fallen in a way or another. Thus, we merit eternal punishment. But in His love, God sends his son, living the perfect life we couldn't live, he is the only one who ever walked on earth who merits heaven, died and suffered in the place of criminals, us sinners. God doesn't just forgive us without punishing. He actually sends that punishment unto his own son, in our place, so there's no condemnation for us if we believe that we are sinners meriting hell, and that we place our whole trust in Jesus' perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection and abandon our sinful ways. That forgiveness of sins, is given freely to those who believe in that message. Unconditionally of what they've done before. Just because of God's grace, mercy, unconditional love. One should be humbled and really touched by that. At the cross, justice is accomplished because Jesus God the son takes the punishment for sin, and love is showed since he sends his own son who is crushed in our place, even though we don't deserve it.

[@austind1202]

Kevin A. Ramarozatovo Well is the Tension that we don’t know him or that we Spit In his face while knowing him. You can’t have it both ways. Of course no mans deeds warrant heaven, but if you’re content with the metaphor of a judge: what fair judge decrees eternal punishment for a finite transgression? What fair judge damns you do unthinkable torment for all eternity, when as you freely admit, there’s nothing we were destined from birth to commit the crime and it was the judge himself who wrote that destiny?

[@austind1202]

Kevin A. Ramarozatovo It’s also contradictory to frame salvation as a gift when we have no say in acceptance or rejection of it. Moral responsibility without free will has no logical basis.