James Merritt - Justice Is Served
One of the most unbelievable true stories I’ve ever come across is about a woman named Vera Sherach. I’m sure you’ve never heard of her, but this is an amazing story. She was living in Prague in 1972, and she was thinking about one of two things: suicide or murder. She had just discovered that her husband had been having multiple affairs, and it drove her into both despair and anger. She really was saying to herself, «Should I kill myself or should I kill him?»
However, her conscience wouldn’t let her murder her husband. So, she just couldn’t take the anguish and decided she was going to commit suicide. They lived in an apartment building in Prague on the third floor, so she jumped out of the third-floor window, expecting to die. Well, days later, she woke up in the hospital and couldn’t believe it; she didn’t even remember hitting the street. She was sitting there, wondering, «Where in the world am I? What am I doing here? How did I survive?» Then the doctor walked in and said, «Miss Mack, I have some good news and some bad news.» She asked, «Well, what is the good news?» He replied, «The good news is you have a few broken bones, but nothing serious, and you’re going to be just fine.» She then asked, «What is the bad news?» He said, «Well, you landed on top of your husband, and he died.»
Now, when I read that story, I couldn’t help but think about a phrase that’s often used after a trial when someone is rightly guilty of a crime: «Justice is served.» What it means is that the legal system has provided fair treatment for the proper punishment that this lawbreaker deserves. We care a lot about justice in this country; it’s one of the reasons our founding fathers set up the system they did: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. They made the Supreme Court the most independent of all branches; they are not elected, but appointed for life, because they cared about justice. They know we care about justice. When someone commits a crime, we all want that person brought to justice. Well, that’s not just a human desire.
The reason why you want justice, and I want justice, is because God wants justice. It’s not just a human desire; it is a divine desire. And I’m going to prove it to you. If I were to ask you to fill in this blank: «God is ____, » what’s the first word you would put in that blank? Love, right? God is love. I mean, you know, and you’d be right. You’d be correct, because the Bible says, «God is love.» That’s right.
The Bible says in First John, but that’s really not the first word that you ought to put there because the number one attribute of God is not love; it is that God is holy. That’s what Isaiah said. The number one thing that makes God, God, is that God is holy. Well, let’s do some math, because that leads to something else. If God is love but that love is a holy love, then that means not only is God love, and not only is God holy, but it also means that God is just. The reason why Jesus Christ died on the cross was not only that God’s so loving He wanted to forgive our sins; God is so holy He must punish our sin because justice demands it.
Now, if you’re a guest of ours for the first time or watching for the first time, we’ve been in a series we’ve been calling «The God Life, » and it’s all about this prophet named Elijah, maybe the greatest prophet in all of the Old Testament. The reason why we’re studying Elijah is that he is a perfect picture of what it means to live the God life. What I’ve been saying to you over and over again is this: God did not put us here to live the good life; God put us here to live the God life. And God has called us to live the way Elijah lived because he portrayed what the God life looks like.
Now, the danger is when you study someone like that in the Bible, you automatically think, «But that was Elijah; I’m not Elijah. I could never be like Elijah.» But I’ve told you every week that I know that’s not true because the Apostle James said this about Elijah: he was a man just like us. Well, if Elijah was a man just like us, then we can be a person just like Elijah. So today, I want you to take God’s word and go to the book of First Kings. It’s right before Second Kings. Just go to the book of Genesis and turn right to First Kings chapter 21. I want to share with you today a story I think is one of the most important stories in the entire Bible.
Let me tell you why. This story is going to teach us today that in a world where money, bribes, good lawyers, and sometimes crooked judges can let criminals go free, crimes go unpunished, and innocent victims suffer, here’s what this story tells us: There is a God who is just, and justice will be served. There is a God who is just, and justice will be served.
Now, there’s a great preacher. Most of you have never heard of him, but if you would like to hear one of the greatest sermons you will ever hear in your life, go to YouTube and type in «payday someday.» It’s absolutely one of the two or three greatest sermons I have ever heard in my life. It was preached by a man named Dr. R.G. Lee. He preached on this very text because this text really does resonate for everybody who doesn’t come to God, for everybody who doesn’t come to Jesus, and for everyone who leaves this world without Christ—justice will be served.
So with all of that as a backdrop, I just want you to think about this. This is a story we are about to read where God finally brings to justice the most wicked king and the wicked queen, the most wicked queen who has ever lived in the history of this world. So if you want to know what my sermon is in a simple sentence, here it is: When justice is deserved, it will ultimately be served. When justice is deserved, it will ultimately be served.
See, the God of life not only desires justice; it demands justice when a situation calls for it. So, if you’re one of those people out there right now and you say, «Somebody pulled the rug out from under me. Somebody did me dirty. Somebody cost me my job. Somebody did me an injustice.» And it looks like they got away with it, let me tell you something: Don’t fret. Don’t worry. Because somewhere, somehow, somebody, someplace, at some time, you think somebody got away with it. Nobody gets away with it. Nobody.
So, there are three things I want you to remember as we study this message. If you’re taking notes, three things. Number one: we must realize that justice is flouted. That word «flouted» means ignored, means not cared about. And that’s true. If you live long enough, justice is going to be flouted. Let me give you the background of what’s going on. It’s been almost 20 years since Ahab and Jezebel have reigned over the nation of Israel. And under Jezebel’s leadership, they have led Israel into a level of idolatry, immorality, and iniquity never before seen in the history of this country. Everywhere you look, God was being denied; His commandments were being disobeyed almost everywhere by almost everyone.
And if you remember, as we’ve been studying this, this man, this lone ranger prophet, this country bumpkin named Elijah, he’s the only guy out of the 7,000 people who claim to love God, who claim to follow God. Elijah is the only one who would stand up to this king, the only one who would speak the truth, the only one who would deliver God’s word. He’s been a thorn in their side. And if you remember the story, he’s been hiding. They’ve been looking everywhere for him, but they have not been able to find him. It’s been years since they’ve seen each other because even though they both have everything they could possibly want, even though the king and the queen are living in luxury, it’s still not enough.
So we pick up the story: Sometime later, there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, «Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden since it is close to my palace. In exchange, I’ll give you a better vineyard, or if you prefer, I’ll pay you whatever it’s worth.» But Naboth replied, «The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.» So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, «I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.» He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, «Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?» He answered her, «Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard, or if you prefer, I’ll give you another vineyard.' But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.'» That was funny.
Now, to me, this is just beyond low. Here’s a king and a queen living in a palace, a prime piece of real estate, eating prime rib for breakfast, having practically everything they want, and surrounded by some of the finest real estate and landscapes, living in the lap of luxury. There’s a little old country farmer named Naboth, minding his own business. He has this little vineyard; he lives in low-income housing. This is all that he has to his name. But Ahab wants to take his land and use it for a vegetable garden. Now, you might say, «Well, but you left out one detail. Ahab said he would give him a fair price, and Ahab said he’d give him another vineyard. What’s the big deal?»
Well, when God gave Israel the land, it came with a law. The law said that everyone had a perpetual right to a personal piece of property. That’s where we get the concept of private property. When God gave the land and the law that said, «Hey, this is your property, » it was never to be sold and was always to stay in the family. So, God gave you the land; you died, you gave it to your son; he died, he gave it to his son; he died, and he gave it to his son. God said the land should never leave the family. It wouldn’t be sold for money, marbles, or chocolate. So, if Naboth had sold that property, no matter what the price was, he would have broken God’s law. Well, Naboth was obviously a godly man, more concerned about obeying God than making money. Because Naboth knew, deep down, what I tell you over and over, though some of you don’t believe it. Here’s the truth: we don’t own anything; God owns everything. Can I get a weak «amen» to that?
We don’t own anything; God owns everything. It wasn’t Naboth’s land to sell because it belonged to the Lord. Remember what Naboth specifically said? He said, «The Lord forbid, not me.» It’s not that I can’t give it to you; it’s not my land. The Lord forbids that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors. So, Naboth said this loudly, clearly, and plainly. He said, «Listen, sire. Listen, king. If I wanted to sell you the property, I can’t. It’s not my property; God gave it to me, and God gave it to my family. It’s to stay with me, and it’s to stay in my family because there is this big difference between Naboth and Ahab. For Naboth, God wasn’t gold, and his land was the Lord’s. But to Ahab, God was his gold, and greed was his creed. Greed was his creed.
Now here’s what we all do: we’re sitting there, and you’re like me. If you’ve got any sense of justice at all, your veins are popping out on your neck right now. You’re thinking to yourself, „How dare the king do that? Why can’t the king just let him have his little piece of land? He’s not bothering anybody. There’s other land he could buy. Just leave him alone.“ We think that, but here’s the problem: I’m talking to me first and you second. Let’s all be honest. There’s a little Ahab in all of us.
How many of you have ever coveted something somebody else had that you didn’t have? And don’t look at me so holy this morning, Pastor. Have you ever coveted someone’s church because it was bigger than yours? Yes, I have. Men, have you ever coveted another man’s wife because maybe you thought she was prettier than yours? Yes, you have. Ladies, have you ever coveted somebody else’s home because it was twice as big and nice as yours? Yes, you have. We’ve all got a little bit of Ahab in us.
You may ask, „Why is that true?“ Let me tell you; it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. If you want to know why we’re so selfish and greedy, when you look at something that God says you either don’t need or shouldn’t have, you’ve got to go all the way back to a garden.
You remember the story, right? God puts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and he places all these trees in the garden. I don’t know how many there were; there were probably thousands of trees. So God plants these trees and says to Adam and Eve, „You can eat from that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree, that tree.“ He goes through every tree, but he says, „But you see that tree right over there? That’s the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That tree you can’t eat from.“
Well, where was the first fruit they ate? What tree did they pick? They picked that tree. Now here’s what’s mind-boggling: there are 23,000 varieties of trees in the world, and of those 23,000 varieties, thousands of them are fruit trees: oranges, almonds, cherries, mangoes, coconuts, bananas, olives—everything you can imagine. Let’s take just the apple tree by itself. Do you know how many varieties of apple there are in the world? One hundred. In fact, somebody calculated that Adam could have eaten a different fruit from a different tree every day for three years in a row. But what did Adam say? „I want that fruit; I want that tree.“ He had all the other fruit, all the other trees, but he wanted that tree. Well, neither God nor his law nor an innocent man is going to stop this demonic duo.
So here’s what we read: Jezebel’s wife said, „Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat. Cheer up; I’ll get you the vineyard of Nabboth the Jezreelite.“ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed a seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Nabboth’s city with him. In those letters, she wrote, „Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Nabboth in a prominent place among the people. But see two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges. He has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.“
So the elders and nobles who lived in Nabboth’s city did as Jezebel directed. In the letter she had written to them, they proclaimed a fast and seated Nabboth in a prominent place among the people. Then, two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Nabboth before the people, saying, „Nabboth has cursed both God and the king.“ So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Then they sent word to Jezebel, „Nabboth has been stoned to death.“ As soon as Jezebel heard that Nabboth had been stoned to death, she said, „Ahab, get up and take possession of the vineyard of Nabboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive but dead.“
When Ahab heard that Nabboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Nabboth’s vineyard. Classic case. They framed Nabboth with false witnesses. They brought him into a kangaroo court with no defense attorney. They didn’t even allow him to testify in his own defense. The judge immediately pronounced him guilty. There is no court of appeal. They took him out immediately and stoned him to death, and nobody said a word. The nobles, the elders, and the upper class sat on their hands, kept their mouths shut, and watched an innocent man die. No justice here. Nobody cares. Everybody goes about their business, and you sit there, saying to me, „Yeah, we see it all the time.“ Yes, we do. We see it every day in this country. Justice is not served. People seem to get away with it, and nobody seems to care.
And even we sometimes ask the question, „So where is God?“ Well, buckle up! The line has been crossed. God hasn’t missed anything; He has been there the whole time. He knows everything, He sees everything, and He’s kept all the records. He’s got all the receipts. And as the greatest philosopher who ever lived, Yogi Berra, said, „It ain’t over till it’s over.“ Yes, we see justice flouted.
Point two: Not only do we realize that justice is flouted, we must reveal that justice should be feared. Now Ahab is enjoying that new piece of property. You know, did you notice this when she walks in and says, „Hey, don’t worry about it. Naboth is dead.“ Ahab–he doesn’t ask what happened to Naboth because he didn’t care. So, Jezebel comes into his bedroom. She says, „You’re not going to believe this; Naboth is no longer alive. He’s dead. Merry Christmas, sweetheart; the vineyard is yours.“
Does Ahab shed a tear? Does he send flowers to the family? Does he go to put flowers on the grave? Nope! He just walks out the door and takes over the land that was bought with the blood of an innocent man, and everybody just keeps going about their business. Except this familiar face shows up, and he’s about to get into Ahab’s business.
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: „Go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He’s now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he’s gone to take possession of it. Say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property? ' You say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood, yes, yours.'“ And that really happened because I saw dogs in Athens licking up blood yesterday.
Dogs will lick up your blood, yes, yours! Ahab said to Elijah, „So you have found me, my enemy.“ It’s been six years since these guys have seen each other—six years since Ahab walked into the palace and said, „Buddy, it’s not going to rain again until I say it’s going to rain.“ Six years Elijah’s been on the shelf; he’s been in hiding. God’s kept him under wraps. But now the timing is perfect; Ahab’s time has come. The moment they face each other, and look how they face each other—it’s really kind of funny in a way. No warm greeting. I mean, Elijah didn’t look at Ahab and say, „Hey, your mama.“
Ahab didn’t look at Elijah and say, „Man, I missed you.“ There’s no warm greeting here. Elijah gets right to the point, tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He said, „Let me tell you something, sir. You didn’t buy that land; you stole it, and you murdered the man that owned it to get it. And in the place where the dogs licked up his blood, they’re going to lick up your blood.“ So what does Ahab do? Does he apologize? Is he broken? Does he plead guilty? Does he agree with the verdict? Nope. The dialogue continues.
Ahab says to Elijah, „So you have found me, my enemy.“ „I have found you, “ Elijah answered, „because you now keep this word in mind: you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.“ Now we all agree, right? This meeting’s really not going well. Ahab calls Elijah his enemy. And this is one thing, after all these years, they finally agree on. Elijah says, „You are exactly right; I am your enemy. And I am your enemy because you are God’s enemy. An enemy—any enemy of God is an enemy of mine.“
Here’s another reason why I love Elijah. Not only do I love the guy because he’s got guts and courage, but he’s got backbone. You know why I love him? Because he’s a little bit like me. He’s a smart aleck; he talks trash. I love to talk trash; you probably picked that up. I love it! So he sticks the knife in because when he says to him, „You have sold yourself.“ Do you know what that word „sold“ means in Hebrew? It literally means „married.“ Here’s what he said: „You know what? You’re not only mean as a snake; you married one. You know what? You’re not just sinful; you’re stupid. Only a stupid man would marry a Jezebel to begin with, and only a stupid man would choose a wicked woman over a sovereign God.“
You say, „Wow, that’s tough.“ Oh, Elijah’s just getting started. He says, „I’m going to bring disaster on you. I’m going to wipe out your descendants. I’m going to cut off from Ahab every last male, slave and free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah because you have aroused my anger. You have caused Israel to sin.“ And also concerning Jezebel, the Lord says, „Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country.“
There was never anyone like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel, his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols like the Amorites, whom the Lord drove out before Israel. When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. All the pent-up righteous anger in Elijah is now coming out. And I mean, Elijah empties the clip. He doesn’t hold back. He says some things to this king that no one would want to hear, no one would like to hear, no one would want to believe. And if you were the king, if you were Elijah, it would make you a lot of enemies.
Here’s exactly what he said: „You have sold your soul to the devil. Every one of your male offspring is going to be cut off and perish. Your position will be terminated. Your blood’s going to be licked up by the dogs in the same spot where Naboth’s blood was licked. Your wife will be eaten by the dogs in the city of Jezreel. Your rebellion, wickedness, and sin against God are going to cause you to destroy your entire family now and forever. Other than that, Ahab, you’re going to have a wonderful life.“ We’re going to see how many times—you’re going to see it so many times—justice will be flouted, but justice should be feared.
Now let me be honest: justice is not always done on this earth. But at the end of the day, God has the last say. The Bible says in Psalm 37, „Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong.“ For the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming. Now, this king and this prophet will never meet again—not on this earth, nor in eternity. So how does he leave Ahab? Let’s read it again: when Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He donned sackcloth and went around meekly.
Oh, Ahab’s no longer the intimidator; now he’s the intimidated. He has read the handwriting on the wall, and he knows justice will be served. The last thing is, yes, justice will be flouted, but justice should be feared because we must remember that justice will be faced. Justice will be faced. Now, if you were living back in that day, on the outside, you would have never known it. You would have never known the moment that Elijah pronounced that punishment on Ahab. You would have never known it. But from that moment, they were the walking dead. God had taken the alive sign off the wanted dead or alive list. It was just dead. So don’t you ever forget that when you think injustice wins the day and you believe sin goes unpunished, you think crimes go unsolved.
Hey, there are two great equalizers out there. Don’t ever forget them. And here they are: are you ready? Death and judgment. Those are the two great equalizers; they never, ever fail. See, this story perfectly illustrates Hebrews 9:27. Remember what it says? Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. Now, here’s what you don’t know if you keep reading the story: one year goes by, and two years go by, and three years go by, and Ahab and Jezebel are still eating the fat and drinking the sweet, living it up, and things are good. And maybe even Ahab began to wonder, „Well, maybe I will get away with it. Maybe this won’t happen. Maybe Elijah was wrong. Maybe I will escape.“
Wait for it. Wait for it. Because when you go over to chapter 22, you read about how Ahab and Jehoshaphat, who is the king of Judah, decide to go to war with the king of Aram. Well, the prophet Micaiah is sent by the Lord to tell Ahab, „Ahab, don’t go fight this battle. Don’t go to war with Aram. Don’t go to war beside King Jehoshaphat, because if you do, you will die.“
Well, Ahab thinks, „I think I can cheat death. I think I can beat death.“ You’re not going to believe how stupid this king is. What do you think he tries to do? He’s going to go into the battle. So what do you think he’s going to try to do to escape what Elijah had prophesied? Are you ready for this? He tries Halloween. He puts on a disguise. Dressed up like a smurf—I don’t know what he did, but he puts on this disguise. He says, „They’ll never figure me out. They’ll never know who I am.“ But what he’s about to learn is what we all learn one day about God, and about death, and about judgment. You can run, but you can’t hide. So he goes into the battle.
Now the king of Aram had ordered his men, „Don’t kill Jehoshaphat; I’m not after him; I want Ahab.“ They had bad blood between them. He said, „You make sure you kill Ahab.“ Well, when they came upon this king, they thought it was Ahab. They were about to kill him, but it was not Ahab; it was Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat cried out, „I’m Jehoshaphat! I am not Ahab!“ They put their swords back in their sheaths and lowered their bows. But just as Ahab had been hunting for Elijah, now Ahab is the hunted.
So we read this seemingly innocent verse; I love the way the Lord puts this: „But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor.“ The king said to his charioteer, „Wheel around and get me out of the fighting; I’ve been wounded.“ Oh, just at random! Just at random a soldier draws his bow, shoots an arrow—what happens? It goes right between Ahab’s face and armor, and he’s mortally wounded. That very evening, he died. They took him back to the city and dumped his body out like day-old trash.
Here’s what we read: „The dogs licked up his blood.“ It’s like, wow! Oh, that’s just the first domino. We’re not done yet. Not long after that, we’re told in 2 Kings chapter 9 that Queen Jezebel was thrown out of a window, trampled to death by horses. Dogs ate every part of her body except her hands and feet, just as Elijah prophesied. You might say, „Wow, I wonder what I’ve done yet.“ The third domino falls: a king by the name of Jehu wipes out every single one of Ahab’s descendants and all the priests of Baal. His entire family was eliminated, just as Elijah had prophesied. Now let me tell you why we’re coming to this part of this story of Elijah and what it has to do with you and me. We’re living in a time in this country where we have true prophets and false prophets, and both sides claim to speak for God.
You may say, „Well, Pastor, how do you tell the difference?“ It’s not hard; a false prophet will tell you what you want to hear. A true prophet will tell you what you need to hear. I’m not throwing stones when I say this, nor am I speaking out of jealousy, but there are many magnificently huge auditoriums packed to the gills with people because there are prophets who will tell them what they want to hear. We’re living in an age where the best way to draw a crowd is not always to tell people what they need to hear. So while more and more of this nation is forgetting God, forsaking God, and failing God, some of us are rightly asking the question: Where is the Lord God of Elijah with abortion, gay marriage, the transgender movement, hypocrisy in the church, declining attendance, and spiritual apathy? Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
I’d like to ask a different question: Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God? Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God? Where are the men, and where are the women? Where are the boys, and where are the girls that are willing to live the God life, no matter what it costs? Listen, I realize—I’m in the same boat you are. I realize the days look exceedingly dark, the waves look exceedingly high, and evil seems exceedingly strong. It looks like every day true justice is just left behind. Well, St. Anne of Austria, a 16th-century saint, once wrote these words: „God does not pay at the end of every day, but at the end, He pays.“
One day, justice will be served; one day, the right will prevail. And I know that because of two things: a cross and an empty tomb. They tell me right will prevail; wrong will fall. Right will stand; God is just. Things that ought to be set right will be set right, and they will be right forever and ever and ever.
Nobody put it better than Martin Luther King Jr. when he wrote these words: „Those of us who call on the name of Jesus Christ find something at the center of our faith which forever reminds us that God is on the side of truth and justice. Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately, it must give way to the triumphant beat of the drums of Easter. Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but that same Christ will rise up and split history into AD and BC, so that even the life of Caesar must be dated by his name. The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.“
There is a God that is love; there is a God that is holy; there is a God that is just because of a man who died on a cross and came back from the grave. And one day, He’s going to set everything right. Justice will be served; you can count on that. Here’s my simple final question: You’re either going to die and go to Him, or you’re not going to die, and He’s going to come to you. And when you meet that God who is holy, who is love, but is just, He will hold two things in His hand: He will hold justice, and He will hold mercy. The only chance you have of receiving mercy is because of what we call God’s amazing grace. See, when I was a nine-year-old boy, I lost all fear of the judgment of God because I settled my case out of court.
See, justice in my life has been served; it was served on the one who died for my sins. There are some of you here today; you better settle your case out of court because, at the end of the day, all your sweetness, all your kindness, all your goodness, all your church membership slips, and all the money you gave to charity, and all of that good stuff will still result in God’s justice. But it’s when you call on Jesus that you receive His mercy. So as you bow your heads and close your eyes, whether you’re watching right now online or by television, and you’re in this room, I just want to ask you this one simple question: You meet Jesus today. You meet Jesus today. Which hand will be open: justice or mercy? The only way mercy will be yours is because of the grace that was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus.
If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, I just want to give you the chance to do that today. All you’ve got to do is say something like this:
Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner, and I need a Savior. I realize now that I don’t want your justice; I don’t want to get what I deserve; I want to get what I don’t. I believe you died for my sins. I believe God raised you from the dead. I believe you’re alive right now. And Lord Jesus, I want you to come into my heart. I want you to save me. I want you to forgive me of all my sins. I repent of my sin; I turn away from it. I trust you as my Lord; I receive you as my Savior. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Thank you for forgiving me today. And Lord Jesus, please help me for the rest of my life to be an Elijah who stands for truth.