Jon Kim, “When Justice Met Mercy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1WQVzp0qSc
TEXT: Joel 2:30-3:21
[30] “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. [32] And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
[1] “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, [2] I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, [3] and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
[4] “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. [5] For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. [6] You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. [7] Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. [8] I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the LORD has spoken.”
[9] Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate for war;
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
[10] Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
[11] Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD.
[12] Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
[13] Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
[14] Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision.
[15] The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
[16] The LORD roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
The Glorious Future of Judah
[17] “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
[18] “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD
and water the Valley of Shittim.
[19] “Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
[20] But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
[21] I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,
for the LORD dwells in Zion.”
SERMON: “When Justice Met Mercy”
We thank God that God is a God of justice AND mercy. And we see the perfect display of God’s mercy and justice in the cross of Jesus… our only hope.
The God of Justice
The God of Mercy
When Justice Met Mercy
So first, the God of Justice. Today, it can feel confusing and overwhelming about what’s exactly happening in our passage. But it’s actually pretty simple. The picture that Joel is giving you today is this…. And God is sitting on top of this fiery mountain, a volcano. And God gathers all the nations that are against the people of Israel into this valley called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. He gathers Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, Edom. And according to our passage, as God sits upon his throne, he judges all these nations. And this will happen on the Day of the Lord. Throughout the book of Joel, you see the judgment of God falling upon God’s own people, but today, you see a shift where God’s judgment falls upon other nations. That’s it, that’s what our passage is describing. It’s about God judging the nations. But now, you may be wondering…. What does any of this have to do with me? In Ventura County… How does knowing that God judges the nations affect my life today? And I think the way that it connects with your life is this… The judgment that you’re seeing today in our passage in Joel… It is a foretaste, it is a foreshadow of the judgment that is to come when Christ returns. This judgment in the book of Joel is just a shadow of the final judgment that you see in Revelation. Throughout the book of Revelation, you see the same thing that you see in our passage today…. God gathering the nations to judge them. And what this means for you is this… One day all of you, myself included, will stand before God. And all of us will be judged by him. Judged for every thought, word, and deed. Every sin and secret will be revealed. There will be nothing hidden. The people living in the US are not exempt from God’s judgment. And this is scary. That you will be judged, and everything that you did to hide yourself won’t matter, you will be fully exposed. Every judgment you made, every thought you had, you will be held accountable. That is scary. But I promise you that there is hope in our passage. But before we get to our hope… my desire today is also to show you that there is something good about God’s judgment. Usually, we view God’s judgment as something bad. Who wants judgment… Who wants to be punished.. Who wants to be held accountable for every little thing that you’ve done… But the reality is this… everybody in their inner hearts desire judgment… Because God’s judgment is good and necessary. And I am not talking about judgment in general, but I am talking specifically about God’s judgment.
And I want to give you a few reasons why God’s judgment is both necessary and good from our passage today. The first reason why God’s judgment is good and necessary is because God is the only one who understands the worth of a human. As our creator he knows your worth. And when you are treated wrongly, he doesn’t like it. What made God so furious and mat at Tyre, Sidon, Philistia? And you see this in verses 2-3. It says this… And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it. These nations took the people of Judah and Israel. And they basically human beings like trading cards. And they traded human lives for pleasures, for wine. They viewed humans as currency and property. And God hates that because he understands your worth of a human, and he understands that you bear his image. So that’s the first reason why God’s judgment is good and necessary, because he knows your worth, he knows exactly how much pain you’ve. Gone through.
The second reason why God’s judgment is good and necessary is because we need somebody who is objectively fair. We are not fair. No matter how much you may disagree, we have our favorites, we have the people that we get annoyed of. We don’t treat people equally because we are not objective, but God is. He doesn’t show favoritism. What does God do to punish the nations that sold the children of Israel? This is a tough pill to swallow, but I’m just going to read it. According to verses 6-8, God judges fairly. 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.” What you see in God’s judgment is fairness. You see this principle of fairness in Exodus 21:23-25. This is what it says, “But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” The problem with humans is that we are not always fair. All of us have our own bias. We all have disagreements on how a person should be treated for their crimes. But with God, because he is truth and justice, people will receive the appropriate judgment for their sins. The third reason why God’s judgment is good AND NECESSARY is because God’s judgment makes things right.
People love Karma. And why do people love karma so much? And Tim Keller tried to give an answer to this question and I think he’s right. People love Karma, because it’s simple. It’s neat. You get good if you do good. You get bad if you do bad. You give to the universe, and the universe will give back to you. You get what you deserve…. It’s a math equation. But there is one thing in my opinion, that can completely shatter and destroy one’s perspective and belief of Karma. And the thing that completely shatters and destroys one’s belief of Karma is this…. Unjust suffering…. What if you get what you didn’t deserve? What if bad people won more in this life? What if the nicest and kindest person you met, experiences something you would never wish upon even your own enemy. You see this unjust suffering in verse 19 of our passage… God judges Egypt and Edom… why? Because they have shed innocent blood in their land. Blood that did not deserve to be shed. There is a reality of suffering, where sometimes you don’t get what you deserved. I’m sure we can think of many evil dictators who have caused millions to suffer that probably didn’t get what they deserved, while we can think of kind, nice families where something happened that shouldn’t have happened. And that is why God’s judgment is necessary, because the human courts of this world don’t get to make a full and right judgment with evil… but God does… Often times, I think there’s an idea where people think God’s judgment is just for himself.. God judges people angrily because it brings some sort of fulfillment to himself. Or I think sometimes some pastors explain it in this way, God’s judgment brings glory to himself. And I’m not necessarily disagreeing with the idea that God’s judgment brings glory to himself, but what you learn about God’s judgment in our passage is also this… God’s judgment is not just about punishment. It’s not just for himself. God’s judgment is about making things right. It’s for you. He says that he is judging these nations on behalf of his people, Judah and Israel, so that his people can live in a land where they do not have to fear. God’s judgment is for people who have been wronged in their life. The things that happened on this earth, the things that happened to you, the suffering you went through the hands of other people, that suffering, that pain doesn’t just disappear. There will be a judgment where all things will be made right. And that judgment belongs to God. God’s judgment is necessary to make things right again. And that’s where there’s so much beauty in this passage for you and me. Judgment is scary in this life…. But without judgment, there is also no such thing as making things right again. Imagine if we had no court system. Without judgment, there’s only wrong that’s allowed to continue, to go unchecked. And so there’s so much hope from God’s judgment. But yet, as many of you know, there’s a huge problem that still continues to exist. Judgment is great, when our enemies are the ones being judged.. When we’ve been treated wrongly and God is angry at our wrongdoers. But judgment is scary, when you’re the one being judged. And this leads me to my second point.
The God of Grace. Because God is a just God, God doesn’t display his justice only to foreign nations. But he also shows his justice to his own people. If you learned anything from the book. Of Joel, it’s this…. just because you call yourself a child of God does not mean that you are somehow immune from sinning and being held accountable. Throughout the book of Joel, we’re had to see God’s. People. They had to go through the locust plague. They had to face God’s army. And all of us will one day be judged before God. Every careless thought, word, or deed. And that probably should bring a chill down your spine, because if I had to guess, all of us, have done things, said things, and thought things, we shouldn’t have. And I think it’s easy to look at the nations in our passage today and think, oh yeah, they deserve God’s judgment. They sold humans for their own pleasure. But if it comes down to objectifying humans for your own gain and pleasure, what you find is that we are not too different. How many times have we brought down another person for the sake of a laugh. How many times have we gossiped about someone so that we can be seen in better light or to entertain. guests. How many times have we used people just to get something out of them? We are not too different from these nations, we’re just better at hiding our selfish intentions… And what makes matters even worse for you and me is that, it is now even harder to be righteous before God.
When Jesus came to earth, our savior, Jesus did not make God’s law somewhat easier to follow, but he actually made it even harder. Throughout Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this phrase, you have heard it said…. But I say to you. That increases the difficulty and accountability of God’s law. For example, Jesus says, you have heard it said, you shall not murder… but I say to you, even anger and insults towards others are liable to the judgment of murder. Jesus says, you have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery… but I say to you even lustful thoughts are the same as committing adultery. Jesus says, you have heard it said, an eye for an eye… but I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. There was a professor who assigned the Sermon on the Mount to a class of secular college students. They were to read through the sermon on the Mount and share their thoughts. And these are some of the comments that these students have made. “This stuff is completely impractical.” “If anyone actually lived like this, they’d get crushed in the real world.” “This teaching is nuts — no one can actually do this.” “It’s extreme — you’d never survive if you didn’t fight back or stand up for yourself.” “This would ruin society if people actually followed it.” How can anybody live like this? How can anyone be righteous according to Jesus’ way of life…. When you look at the sermon on the mount… even people who don’t believe in Jesus understand how difficult it is to love your enemy. To look at a person without selfish intent. To not fight back and lose your life while another person somehow benefits from your pain. And when you are brought before this judgment throne, where God exposes you of all your sins and thoughts… It’s hard not to think, we are doomed. Deep down inside, all of us struggle with guilt. Not just the guilt of breaking God’s law, but also guilt for not living up to societal pressures, for not doing enough, not making enough.
In 2021, a book titled “Crying in H Mart” became famous. 750,000 copies sold. The guilt of not being the best child, regret, if only I spent more time… You may live with this… Am I good parent. Am I bad child. All of us carry around this guilt. And so what is it that you deserve for what you have done…. Romans 6:23 - for the wages of sin is death. Death is what is deserving of sin. So where is the hope for you and me. The only hope that is possible when we are covered with guilt, when you’ve done everything wrong and failed to live according to God’s law or the world’s standard, or anything that is telling you that you’ve done something wrong is this…. Mercy…. Mercy… It is like getting an F in every class and getting to graduate because the principle said you could. And I know that sounds uncomfortable, because that doesn’t sound fair, because it doesn’t make sense in our equation of life. But when you are faced with God’s judgment, that is our only hope. It’s funny, sometimes what’s more terrifying than God’s law, is asking for mercy because it forces us to see ourselves as we really are, in need of saving. And mercy is not just saying you’re forgiven. It’s more than that. Mercy is also an action. It’s also the act of not treating a person in the way that they deserve. That even though the wages of your sin IS DEATH. You are not given death, but instead your are GIVEN LIFE! MERCY IS OUR ONLY HOPE IN THIS LIFE.
And where do you see mercy in the midst of God’s judgment in our passage today? And you see this mercy in Joel 2:32. It says this… And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. What are the requirements for God’s grace in the midst of judgment. Everyone who calls one the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is not those who do all the right things and kept the law perfectly. It’s not proving your worth before God. But those who survive are those who call out to him with need. It is not those who prove their worth. It is not those who have done all the right things, but those who are saved are those who call out to him. You see this same idea in Luke 18:10-14… Jesus telling a parable says this…. “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Those who escape with their lives are not those who say, look I am better than the next. But the one who escapes the judgment are the ones that say God, you are my only hope for my righteousness. Call upon Christ our God, our promised salvation.
And in this way as it says in verse 16 of our passage today… The Lord is no longer the judge we must fear, but he himself becomes our refuge in this life. He becomes our stronghold. He becomes the one we go to when we are afraid in this. We thank God that our God is a God of mercy. And there is mercy for you today. No matter what baggage you come with. No matter how difficult you’ve been struggling, mentally, emotionally, or physically. Those who call upon our great God will be saved…. (PAUSE) And this is beautiful news…. But there’s one question that mercy brings up is this… How is this fair??? How can God remain just if he simply overlooks the sins that people commit… You can’t have both. And this brings me to my last point….
When Justice Met Mercy. How can God be just if he shows mercy? And the answer to this question is this…. Because justice met mercy on the cross. God did not just simply forget our sins. If he did he would be unjust. But because God is a God who is both equally just and merciful, he made a way. The only way, the truth, and the life. Jesus on the cross… Where the perfect God who had everything in heaven who could have comfortably stayed in heaven above. The God who did not have to go through suffering of life… Came down and took our flesh. Entered our time and history. Faced hunger, thirst, pain like we did. Faced temptation like us. Live the perfect life. Yet he was completely innocent. Yet took the punishment of sinners. In many ways Jesus’ life and death was the most unjust thing that could ever happen to a person. I heard a pastor say this, and I think I agree… Everybody loves Jesus. I love Jesus. I want Jesus to be with me and be my God. People say I want to be like Jesus, kind and merciful. But nobody says, I want to live like Jesus and have the life that Jesus had. Jesus’ life in a nutshell is a life of disappointment, pain, and the suffering of life. His time was never his own, he was abandoned by his closest friends, he was betrayed by one of his closest friends, he was poor, he never got married, he died at a young age. And he had to die in the most excruciating way. Nobody wants to live the life that Jesus had. And yet, this is the life that the holy, righteous God came to live. The God who had everything who lost everything. Why? Because he loves you. The cross, Jesus’ life, he shows you that he loves you. Because he wanted to make a way where you wouldn’t have to face God’s wrath, because he doesn’t want to treat you an eye for an eye, he doesn’t want you to have to feel the sting of death.
Brothers and sisters, you are so loved. And you are so free. Romans 8:1 does not say, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It says, “There is therefore NOW (RIGHT NOW) no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because that condemnation was placed upon the cross of Jesus Christ. Where God’s justice met God’s mercy. Where those who call upon the name of Jesus will be those who survive. And what the cross does is this…. The cross gives you all freedom from condemnation. It frees you from fear and anxiety because it shows you exactly how God feels about you. That you would receive not just. God’s mercy through the cross, but you would receive all the benefits of his justice. But the cross, also gives you the ability to suffer. To suffer well even when you got what you didn’t deserve. Because Jesus suffered like we did and more. If Jesus didn’t suffer like us, what point would there be to listening to a God who told you to suffer well. But Jesus doesn’t just say to suffer well but he also says that he carried your suffering, that he is with you in your suffering. I know when we recite the Apostles’ reed it can feel very lifeless reciting something over and over again. But. There’s so much hope filled with the statement that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. He lived through injustice and understands when we suffer when it feels like we didn’t do anything to deserve what we got. And there will be a day when he will make all things right, when all injustices will be reversed. He will come back as our refuge and stronghold, and after his judgment he will create a new world where will never have to fear.
Would you join with me in prayer.
