Where Justice and Mercy Meet
Download MP3If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 3. If you're new to Redeemer, we have been working our way slowly through the book of Romans. We have spent the last 3 weeks, on the same paragraph. This kinda dense section in chapter 3. We've been taking our time just savoring each word.
Jeffrey Heine:I've actually heard from a couple of you. First time I thought it was odd, and second time I realized it's just a pattern. Saying that, a couple weeks ago, the the sermon really had a profound impact on them and they wanted to talk about it. I was like, that's great. What do you wanna talk about?
Jeffrey Heine:And they said, the show alone. I'm addicted now. I've started, I've launched into season 7, and, I mean, Roland's just camping while everybody else is trying to survive, and they just wanna talk about that. And so I'm really glad I've changed your life in that way, but I would prefer talking about Jesus after a sermon instead of just alone. Jesus is who we're going to talk about tonight, but hopefully it will be, as life changing.
Jeffrey Heine:So Romans 3, we're gonna look at that same paragraph, verses 21 through 26. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and this is the section we'll be looking at tonight, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness.
Jeffrey Heine:Because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. If you would pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Father, we do ask that your spirit, he would come, he would be with us, he would open up our eyes and our hearts to your word so that we might hear from you, that we might grow in our adoration of Jesus and his gospel. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:So last week, we looked at 3 words. We spent all of our time just pretty much defining 3 words. That first word, righteousness. And then it was justification. And then it was redemption.
Jeffrey Heine:Now what we're gonna do is not so much look at a word, but really a couple of concepts or ideas. We're gonna look at the forgiveness of God and the justice of God, and how those two things interact with one another. And really, we're gonna look at how problematic God's forgiveness is of us. If you remember, I began the sermon last week by raising some questions that either you have had or perhaps been scared you might be asked by someone. Asked by some unbeliever.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, maybe they're gonna ask you a question like, if God loves everyone, then why doesn't God forgive everyone? Uh-oh, how can a loving God send people to hell? Or perhaps, what is all this talk about the blood? I mean, talk about being drowned in the blood, plunged in the blood, it just sounds a little creepy. Or why can't Jesus just work for you, and you allow what works for me, work for me.
Jeffrey Heine:We talked about some of these questions that we're kinda scared as Christians to be asked. I didn't raise the question that most people are fearful of being asked. And that's the question, how could a good God allow such evil and suffering in the world? I mean, that kind of is, you know, that's the low hanging fruit question that unbelievers tend to ask us Christians. Oh, if you believe God is so good, then why is there so much evil in the world?
Jeffrey Heine:But I'm here to tell you that actually is not the most problematic question we have. There's actually a a much deeper, harder question to answer about our faith, and this is the question that Paul is going to address here. And the question is this, how is it that God can be so kind? How is it that God can be so righteous and yet also so forgiving of us? Paul is essentially saying, this is the question that should be keeping us up late at night, how can God be kind to sinners?
Jeffrey Heine:Because his kindness to us is actually a huge theological problem. Forgiveness can be problematic. You probably felt that this past week, when you were watching the news and I think it was Monday, in which we had the bombing happen in cabal at the airport there. I mean, this this horrific terrorist act, killed, I think, 13 of our, 13 of our soldiers, over a 100 Afghan people. And do you remember the press conference that happened the next day?
Jeffrey Heine:President Biden, he gets up there and he is, he gives a speech and the whole world is listening in. And what he says, it became the headline. There's just this this one line, it became the headline in almost every paper in the US and even papers all across the globe. He said these simple words, we will not forgive. Do you remember that?
Jeffrey Heine:We will not forgive. And as Americans, we're like, that's right. We will not forgive. Because to forgive in something like that would be wrong. That what ISIS did was completely evil.
Jeffrey Heine:But let's let bygones be bygones. I mean, let's just kinda forgive and forget, and let's just move on and pretend this never happened. I mean, could you could you imagine the the public outrage that people would be having against our president if he said such words, because that would actually show that he didn't care about the lives of our troops. He didn't care about the Afghan people. He didn't care about the safety of a community.
Jeffrey Heine:Forgiveness can be a huge problem because justice demands judgment. Let me give you another example. Imagine a criminal standing before a judge. You know, this setting we've had in Romans chapter 3 has all been kind of a courtroom setting here. So let's play this out again.
Jeffrey Heine:There's a criminal standing before a judge. And this criminal, I mean, the evidence against him was massive. He has committed mass murder. He even confessed to doing it. He actually confessed that he enjoyed killing people.
Jeffrey Heine:And now it's time for the sentencing. And now that he's standing before the judge and he knows the sentence is about to come down on him, he says, can I can I say a word? And the judge says, go ahead. Said, you know, now that it's here, I kind of feel bad. So, can I just say I'm sorry?
Jeffrey Heine:And can you imagine if the judge at that moment said, oh, you're sorry. Well, that changes everything. I mean, why didn't you say that earlier? Well, I guess you're free to go. I mean, that's that's great.
Jeffrey Heine:You could go if you're sorry about it. Could you imagine when it's time for that judge, it's time for him to, to be reelected? Do you think that judge is gonna be reelected? No. Because the judge wasn't just.
Jeffrey Heine:By letting the criminal go free, the judge is what's wrong with this world. That's why the world has become evil. That's why the world is so full of evil and suffering, is because judges like that let sinners go free. There's no way you would elect a judge like that. So can't you see how problematic forgiveness is?
Jeffrey Heine:How can God just forgive the sinner? There's an accusation being leveled against God. Your forgiveness, and you just keep handing out forgiveness after forgiveness. You're not just. You're not righteous.
Jeffrey Heine:God, you're what's wrong with this world, when he allows sinners to go free. And so Paul is addressing this here, verse 25. This is what Paul is talking about when he says that in God's divine forbearance or in God's, divine patience or his kindness, he had passed over former sins. In the past, God has just passed over sins. Meaning, He didn't do anything about them.
Jeffrey Heine:He didn't punish them. And as a result, now God's righteousness is being questioned. We used a couple of weeks ago the example of King David when we were looking at the law of God, and we said, you know, King David, we know he at least broke 9 of the commandments. I'm guessing all 10, but 9 were easy to see. So after David commits murder, adultery, you know, theft, lying, covering up, all of that stuff, God sends the prophet Nathan to him.
Jeffrey Heine:And Nathan comes up to him and and just traps David in in this incredible way. He tells David a story. Says David, King David, there was a rich man who went and stole this poor person's lamb and that lamb was like his pet. It was the only thing this poor guy owned and this rich man just took it. David gets so angry.
Jeffrey Heine:He goes, that man deserves to die. And Nathan turns Adam and he says, hada hanish. It's Hebrew 4. You the man. There's not even a verb there.
Jeffrey Heine:It's great. It's just you the man. Hadahanish. And David just, he melts. He goes, you're right.
Jeffrey Heine:I have sinned. You read about this in 2nd Samuel 12. And you know what Nathan's next words are? It's okay. The Lord has put away your sin.
Jeffrey Heine:He just put it away. And you're left wondering, put it where? I mean, like, where did it go? Did God just, you know, take David's sin and sweep it under the rug? Did he just, you know, throw it in the closet?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, we're talking about adultery and murder. You you can't just put it away. Do you think Uriah's family was happy that God decided to just put away David's sin someplace, to not hold David accountable to this? Where exactly did the sin go? And where have all the sins been going that God has been putting away or just passing over as Paul says here in Romans 3?
Jeffrey Heine:Can can you see how God's kindness to sinners is becoming a huge problem? At the start of the service, we read from Psalm 103 together. Beautiful Psalm. And I wanted to make sure we all corporately said these words. That we read, God does not deal with us according to our sins or repay us according to our iniquities.
Jeffrey Heine:Didn't you love saying those words? God does not deal with us according to our sins. He does not repay us according to our iniquities. But did you think of how problematic those words are? You're basically saying, God, you are not just.
Jeffrey Heine:God, you're not just. Because how can a just God do this? We run into the same problem in Exodus 34, one of the more famous passages in the Bible. This is when Moses gets to see God's glory. And in the story, God allows Moses, said, you know, you can't see my face, but you could catch a glimpse of me as I pass by.
Jeffrey Heine:And He hides Moses in the cleft of a rock and the Lord's glory just passes by. And Moses just catches a glimpse of them. And as the Lord is passing by, he declares his name. And with his name, he declares his character, who he is. And we read these words in Exodus 34.
Jeffrey Heine:The Lord says this, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for 1,000, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And we love those words. I mean, those words are gonna just resound over and over again all throughout the Old Testament about how the Lord is merciful and gracious and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and how he is forgiving. But the very next phrase is this, but who will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, and on the children's children's children, and on the children's children's children's children.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, I'm confused. I mean, God, I'm really confused about your character, because you just said that you were kind and you were forgiving. And then you just said that you will judge people for their sins. Which is it? And that was just kinda the question that was out there that was just floating around for over a 1000 years.
Jeffrey Heine:How can God be both of those things? Cause he seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth. And here God is presenting evidence. That's when we read this phrase, when it says he he is doing something to show his righteousness. You you see that phrase twice, to show his righteousness or to give evidence that he is righteous.
Jeffrey Heine:He presents this something to say, I am just. I am righteous. And what he presents is his son, Jesus. Jesus as a propitiation by his blood. Look at verse 24 and 25 again.
Jeffrey Heine:Since we are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. How does God show that he is righteous? He puts forward his son.
Jeffrey Heine:And I didn't share this last week because we had already done too many Greek things. Too many translation things. But the word righteousness and the word justice, justification, they're the same word. So, righteous, justice, same word. And so, Jesus is being put forward to show that God is just.
Jeffrey Heine:And we get to this unusual word here, propitiation. Any of you use that word this week, like, for anything? Like, dinner time, just it just come out? I mean, it's a it's a rare word. Most most people wouldn't know how to define it.
Jeffrey Heine:We don't really know what it means. Even in the Bible, it is a highly highly unusual word. It is only used twice in the New Testament. It's used here and it's used one other time in Hebrews. Your Bible might translate it and use a different word.
Jeffrey Heine:Something like sacrifice of atonement or expiation. The word in Greek is the word, hilasterion. Hilasterion. I know that every time I say something in Greek, somebody always comes up to me after the service and they're like, could you spell that for me? I'm like, well, you just make up your own spelling.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's Greek. You just transliterate. So whatever sounds good to you, write it that way. And also know you're asking a dyslexic how to spell something for you. And so, like, it's just, it's not gonna go well.
Jeffrey Heine:If if you were to look at my notes, you would not be able to make sense of them. I literally spell things phonetically. So spell hilestarian however you want. It's actually a combination of 2 Greek words. You have Hellos, which means I reconcile.
Jeffrey Heine:And then you have the word, sterion, which is a place where something happens. So, hilasterion is a place where reconciliation happens. That's what propitiation means. Once again, it is a very rare word in our Bible. Or in the New Testament, only used twice.
Jeffrey Heine:It is used more often in the Old Testament. We find it more than 20 times in the old testament, but it's always an association with the sacrifice. So, if you want to understand this word, you really need to understand why the Israelites practiced animal sacrifice. I mean, why did God command the Israelites to do such a, you know, barbaric ritual? When I was 10 or 11 years old, and I I can't quite remember how old I was, but, going into Christmas, I only wanted one thing from Santa.
Jeffrey Heine:Anybody's guess? BB gun. Okay? I mean, very original. Right?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, a young boy, that's that's all he wants for Christmas, is a BB gun. And, you know, my parents, or at least my mom was like, you'll shoot your eye out, which didn't happen. I mean, a BB did go through my sister's lip and got embedded in her gum, but but no one's eye got shot out, okay? And my parents, they were really concerned about it, but thankfully my dad really believed in the second amendment and wanted to teach me early. And so, he he got me a b or Santa got me a bb gun.
Jeffrey Heine:And not just any bb gun, it was the Daisy 550. I still have it. The 550, it was a single pump, and with one pump, a BB would go 5 50 feet per second. Do you know how fast that is? It's fast enough to go through your sister's lip and get embedded in her gum.
Jeffrey Heine:That's how fast that that BB can go. So that's what I got. And I used to love racing home from school, and I would get out my Daisy 550, and I would go and I would shoot different targets. And I love shooting little army men. I would never shoot animals or anything like that.
Jeffrey Heine:Just the targets, just the little plastic army men. But one day, I'm out in the yard and a Blue Jay lands about 50 feet away. And, I love Blue Jays. They're actually my favorite bird. I think they're gorgeous.
Jeffrey Heine:And, it lands 50 feet away and I'm just shooting different things and then, so I, you know, cocked the gun and just from the hip, I just went Because I knew there was a chance of me hitting that thing, not a prayer of me hitting that thing. And then I see the bird just gone go, go, go, go, and just go fall over. And I couldn't believe I was like, oh my gosh. And I I ran up to this bird and, it's struggling. And I literally picked up the bird and I just watched it bleed out in my in my hands.
Jeffrey Heine:It was terrible. I had a funeral for this bird. I put it in a shoe box. I buried it. I knew I had done something terrible.
Jeffrey Heine:You need to have this picture in mind when you think of animal sacrifice. Why does God demand animal sacrifice? Because he wants them to know they've done something terrible. He wants them to know that sin is horrific. When when a Israelite grabbed an animal, looked it in the eyes and lifted up its neck and got a knife and slit and watched the lifeblood go out of the animal, they knew at that moment, I am doing something horrible.
Jeffrey Heine:And God said, yes. I want you to have a graphic reminder of what your sin has brought into this world. Because otherwise, you'll just think sin is no big deal. And that's what we tend to think. It was just a little white lie.
Jeffrey Heine:It was just a little bit of theft. It was just a little bit of lust. No big deal. And God's saying, it is not only a big deal for you, but you multiply that by by tens, by 100, by 1,000, by tens of thousands of people, 100 of thousands of people, and your sin has infected my perfect world. You've destroyed the goodness and the beauty of my world.
Jeffrey Heine:And you need to be aware of what your sin does. Do you know what your sin brings? Death. That's what sin brings. And so animal sacrifice was this graphic visual reminder of how horrible sin is and that the consequence of sin is death.
Jeffrey Heine:So there's no such thing as a light sin and God wanted to remind us of this. I mean, other cultures, other pagan cultures all around Israel, they had animal sacrifices too, But for much different reasons. I mean, there they were trying, 1, to feed the gods. You know, they were serving the gods and the gods were apparently hungry. Or they wanted to earn the god's favor.
Jeffrey Heine:Maybe a sailor needed favorable wins, and so you tried to buy a god by, you know, by showing how much you, loyalty you had to them, how much you loved them and you would just sacrifice. Or perhaps you needed rain to fall on your crops and so you would make sacrifices to the rain God and hopefully get his attention. But that is not at all what animal sacrifice was for for the Israelites. It was to remind them of how heinous sin is. Stop sinning.
Jeffrey Heine:But it was more than that. It didn't just remind them of the seriousness of sin. It also showed them the love of God and that God would allow a substitute. God would allow this animal to act as a symbolic substitute for their punishment and receive the punishment they deserve for their sin. So animal sacrifice had this twofold purpose for the Israelites.
Jeffrey Heine:1st, it graphically reminded people of how horrible sin is and the consequence of sin that it's death. And second, it provided a symbolic substitute for them. God and His mercy said, that animal can die in your place. Now, the most important sacrifice of the year came during the Day of Atonement. This was the sacrifice of sacrifices.
Jeffrey Heine:This once a year event. And this is when the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was in their tabernacle. It was the the inner room of the tabernacle. And in there was the Ark of the Covenant.
Jeffrey Heine:Any of y'all seen Raiders of the Lost Ark? Best movie of all time? Okay. It defined my childhood. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:It's actually a really accurate picture of the Ark of the Covenant. Not the part where like the demons come flying out and the Nazi face melts, but like the actual the actual Ark. It was a very good description or visual of it, in which it's this golden chest. And in this chest were the Ten Commandments. How's the Ten Commandments?
Jeffrey Heine:And on top of this golden chest, there was a lid. And this lid had 2 golden angels cherubim, and, and they had their wings outstretched. And the lid on this ark was considered a throne. It was called the mercy seat. And it was the place where God's presence, his glory would come down and would meet with 1 man.
Jeffrey Heine:Would meet with that High Priest. And in a way, it was like going back to Eden again. You know, when when Adam used to walk in the garden and he would actually meet with God, walk with God in the garden. And then sin messed that all up and he got exiled. And, and you remember, you have the cherubim guarding the garden.
Jeffrey Heine:He can't get back in. But now, once again, you have the cherubim there. God comes down and man is finally allowed to meet with God again. But only through sacrifice. Sacrifices happened at this Mercy Seat.
Jeffrey Heine:And so, we read about this in Leviticus 16, and this is actually the most times that the word hilasterion, this is the most times you'll read about it in scripture. I think it's mentioned 4 or 5 times in this one chapter. So, hear these words. This is the Lord speaking. He says, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die.
Jeffrey Heine:For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way, Aaron shall come into the holy place. He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and 2 handfuls of sweet incense. And he will put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony or over the law or the 10 commandments. So that he does not die.
Jeffrey Heine:And he shall take some of the blood of the bull And he shall sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat and on the east side. And in the front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger 7 times. Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people. And he will bring its blood inside the veil and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat. Thus, he shall make atonement.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me pull this together for you. This word, hilasterion, is the word mercy seat. It's the word Mercy Seat. It's the place where God comes and brings reconciliation, makes reconciliation happen. It's the place where God's law was kept.
Jeffrey Heine:The Mercy Seat. It's the place where God's law was kept, the Ten Commandments were kept. It's the place where God's glory, His presence came down to dwell. It's the place where the sacrificial blood was spilled. And it's the place where forgiveness happened, Where we could be reconciled with God.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the place of atonement. Atonement is another made up word. It's really at one ment. At one ment. And it's when 2 parties become 1.
Jeffrey Heine:They're reconciled. They're atoned. And so when when Paul is trying to think of a word to describe who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, he's thinking hard. What word captures all of that? And he goes way back into the old testament.
Jeffrey Heine:He he picks the best word he can, mercy seat. The hilestarian. And it's an unusual thing to call Jesus a thing. But he said, it's the best picture of what we have of what he's doing. Because Jesus, in him, he kept the law.
Jeffrey Heine:The 10 Commandments were in him. Well, in Jesus, the presence of God came down. His glory came in fullness to dwell. Was in Jesus that we had the sacrifice. The the blood was spilt and Jesus bringing forgiveness and reconciliation.
Jeffrey Heine:And so the best word that Paul could think of is Jesus is he's the mercy seat. He's the place where all of this happens. Everything finds its focal point in Jesus. And he is saying that Jesus is this mercy seat in order to show that God is just. God does demand payment for our sins.
Jeffrey Heine:It's just that that we didn't pay it. Jesus paid for it. But God does not just sweep our sins under the rug. He doesn't just throw them under the, in the closet. When we read, your sins have been put away, you wanna know where they were put?
Jeffrey Heine:They were put on Jesus. That's where they were put. He paid the penalty for our sins. This is how God is both just and the justifier, which is what Paul says. He is just and he is the justifier.
Jeffrey Heine:And this is why the the moment after Jesus died and he rose from the dead, immediately after this, Jesus' followers never made another animal sacrifice. Which is remarkable because, Jesus' followers argued it it seemed like about everything else. I mean, they were wondering how does their Jewish faith translate over into this new Christian faith? They're wondering, and so they would argue about things like, you know, do we still have to eat kosher? Are we allowed to have bacon?
Jeffrey Heine:Like, can we do that? Do we have to be circumcised? Do we not? Are we supposed to keep the Sabbath day? I mean, they would argue about all of these other things, but one thing that they never argued about was a need to make a sacrifice.
Jeffrey Heine:There was no longer any need because Jesus was the sacrifice to whom all the other sacrifices pointed. He was the lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Just days before Jesus was crucified, we read that he went to the temple, which was also just days before this one important sacrifice, this day of atonement. So Jesus, he he goes to the temple, and remember what he did? He starts overthrowing tables, throwing over the money, changing tables, you know, coins are going everywhere.
Jeffrey Heine:And I don't know if you guys have ever seen someone throw over a table. It's a disturbing thing to see. I was actually in a room, 2 guys were fighting, I was trying to break it up, and, one of the guys just got the kitchen table and just threw it over. It was a violent, very disturbing act when you see that. And Jesus is going over throwing over tables, causing a huge scene.
Jeffrey Heine:And if you were like me, you know, growing up in Sunday school, you would hear all the reasons why they think Jesus did that. You know, those evil, corrupt money changers. Greedy. Jesus hated that and maybe that was part of it. Or maybe He, you know, He says this should be a house of prayer.
Jeffrey Heine:And he didn't want it to be a house of business. I'm sure that had to do with part of the reason he did it. But we also read this. Jesus, after he's overthrowing all the tables, he takes time to stop and to make a whip. I just like to imagine that scene.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus already just, I mean, chaos everywhere. Then He stops and He just starts making a whip. At that point, you know He's really serious. And he goes around and he drives out all the animal sacrifices. Every one of them.
Jeffrey Heine:That had to take some time because once again, think of the week it was. Everybody's bringing their sacrifices to the temple here. And he's driving them all out. And Jesus is just he gets them all out. Why?
Jeffrey Heine:Because he's ending the sacrificial system. There's no more need for it. He drives out every single animal. And then Jesus alone stands in the middle of the temple. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Jeffrey Heine:Since it's over, all of these animal sacrifices pointed to me. And Jesus took on our sins. Jesus became the mercy seat and He made atonement for us. So, how can God be both just and a justifier? We look at the sacrifice of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:You would pray with me, church. Father, we thank you that you are both loving and you are just. You're both righteous and you are forgiving. We thank you that you love so much, you did not leave us in our sin, nor did you punish us for our sin. But you took our sin and placed it on your son, Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:And our sin's been nailed to the cross, dealt with there forever, Now thrown as far as the east is from the west. And father, you have now given us your spirit, given us a new heart, and we get to live out our days to your glory in this new life and this new joy. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for allowing us to become your children. We pray this in your name.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen.
