Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

I once got a $465 speeding ticket. I was meeting my church in TN for a mission trip, going over 100 miles an hour. I had to go to court for it. I’m glad that the judge didn’t throw me in jail, but I wish he would have been more like Jesus, who would have taken out his wallet and paid the fine for me.

“Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:19-24).

Jesus did exactly what God the Father wanted him to do. We want our children to grow up to be mature, God-fearing believers. We want them to follow us when we get things right, like Hannah did when she imitated the faith of her parents and how they pray. I get a lot of joy in seeing my children begin to practice their faith. My daughter will go on and on and on in prayer, thanking God for many many things. My son will raise his hands in the air and say, “Praise Jesus!”

But we don’t want our children to be just like us, making the same mistakes. It breaks my heart when I realize how I’ve been a bad example to them. At our old house, we would kick the door in order to open it because it would stick. At our new house, even though the door doesn’t stick, our kids will kick the door as I open it!

But Jesus followed in his Father’s footsteps perfectly, because He had a perfect Father (v. 19). His Father is a God of grace to all, especially toward those who call on him. This is clear in the New Testament (Rom 5:8, 1 John 3:1). But many people think that God is not a God of grace in the Old Testament. But did God change? No, the concept that the God in the Old Testament was more harsh is not true. We constantly see God in the Old Testament being described as loving (Ex 34:6). God does not change.

But God is also just, and he intensely hates sin. In the New Testament, the fullness of God’s grace was shown. But we must never forget the fullness of God’s wrath. As a Father disciplines his children, so God disciplines us (Ex 34:7, Heb 12:6).

So also Jesus, the Son of God, is our judge (v. 22). It’s not enough to believe in God. We must trust in Christ (v. 23). When we place our trust in him, he becomes the kind of judge that we want (v. 24). Our verdict is always guilty. But when we call on Christ as Savior, he takes on the penalty for our sin.
He is the righteous judge who pays our penalty, because we could not pay it ourselves.

I was able to pay my $465 speeding ticket, but the penalty of sin is much greater. It is an eternity separated from God, spent in Hell, a place of eternal torment. Some say that God is unjust in condemning people for an eternity based on their short lives. But it’s not God that condemns them, its their own sin. God offers us grace.