have wrestled to reconcile God’s holy justice with the seeming brutality of God’s judgments, especially in the Old Testament.

Before facing the difficulties head on and “staring the Old Testament God in the face,” Sproul rapidly dispatches some of the common yet unacceptable solutions to this problem. Then, instead of choosing some of the easier passages to explain and defend, Sproul takes head-on the most difficult and offensive passages in the Bible:

* The judgment of Nadab and Abihu for offering an unauthorized sacrifice (Lev. 10:1-3).
* The judgment on Uzzah for touching the ark (1 Chron. 13:7-11).
* Capital punishment for multiple crimes.
* The command given to Israel to slaughter thousands of Canaanites.
* The killing of Christ on the cross.

This chapter on God’s holy justice is the most outstanding chapter in an outstanding book, and, I believe, one of the greatest chapters Sproul has ever written. Although he deals with each of the above passages in turn, here’s my attempt to gather together and summarize the common threads in each section:

God’s judgments were pre-announced
In the cases of Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah, God cannot be accused of unexpected, whimsical, or arbitrary judgment. Rather, God gave clear instructions and unmistakeable prohibitions and, in the case of Uzzah at least, clear and unmistakeable sanctions for disobedience (Ex. 30:9-10; Num. 4:15-20). These were not innocent men and these were not sins of ignorance.

God’s judgments are holy
As God’s justice is according to His holy character, His justice is never divorced from His righteousness. He never condemns the innocent, clears the guilty, or punishes with undue severity.

God’s judgments are delayed
Although the New Testament seems to reduce the number of capital offenses, even the Old Testament represents a massive reduction in capital crimes from original list – instant death for each and every sin.

The OT, therefore, is a record of the grace of God, because every sin is a capital offense and deserving of death. The issue is not why does God punish sin but why does He permit ongoing human rebellion and ongoing human existence. The OT is a record of a God who is patient in the extreme with a rebellious people, delaying the full measure of justice so that grace would have time to work.

God’s judgments are against sin
We don’t understand God’s judgments because we don’t understand sin. Sin is cosmic treason – treason against a perfectly pure sovereign. It misrepresents God whose image we are called to bear, and it violates others – injuring, despoiling, and robbing them. In commanding the Israelites to slaughter the Canaanites, God was not giving injustice to Canaan and justice to Israel; He gave justice to Canaan and mercy to Israel. The Canaanites were not innocent, but a treasonous people who daily insulted God’s holiness (Deut. 9:4-6).

God’s judgments were approved by Jesus
Christ called the Old Testament God, “Father.” It was the Old Testament God who sent His son to save the world, and the Old Testament God’s will that Jesus came to do. It was zeal for the Old Testament God who slew Nadab and Abihu that consumed Christ (John 2:17).

God’s greatest judgment was experienced by Jesus
The most powerful act of divine vengeance in the Bible, and the most violent expression of God’s wrath and justice, is seen at the cross. If we have cause for moral outrage, let it be focused on the cross. Yet, the cross was the most beautiful and the most horrible example of God’s wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history.

God’s judgments destroy entitlement
Since we tend to take grace for granted, God reminded Israel through His judgments that grace must never be assumed. God’s judgments challenge our secret sense of entitlement, and changes the question from “Why doesn’t God save everybody?” to “Why did God save me?” But if we insist on insisting on what we deserve, we will get justice, not mercy.

“Many atheistic books and blogs seethe with anger. Remarkably, the authors do not limit their anger to Christians. They seem most livid with God. I don’t believe in leprechauns, but I haven’t dedicated my life to battling them. I suppose if I believed that people’s faith in leprechauns poisoned civilization, I might get angry with members of leprechaun churches. But there’s one thing I’m quite sure I wouldn’t do: I would not get angry with leprechauns. Why not? Because I can’t get angry with someone I know doesn’t exist.” – Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good

“Know this! They (false prophets) are the judgment of God upon a wicked defiled people who although they have a knowledge of God they do not want him. And so God sends them the teachers that they themselves desire.” – Paul Washer

“Among these tenets [of the Pelagians]…is the evil and tenuous seed of the others, namely, that God’s grace is given in answer to men’s merits…In this manner, grace is no longer grace, because, if it is rendered for merit and does not itself cause what is good in man, then its name is meaningless.” Prosper of Aquitaine, 5th Century

“When we see that others are saved, we should not make so bold to say that they were worthy of salvation, since of course God could have condemned them in justice had He so chosen. But the reason why He does not save all or saves some in preference to others, there is no need for us to inquire, nor is it possible for us to find out. Without considering the reason for that discrimination, it should be enough for us to know that mercy does not do away with justice, nor justice with mercy, in Him who condemns no one except in justice and saves no one except through mercy.” – Prosper of Aquitaine, 5th Century

“The Holy Spirit has brought us into an inseparable union with Christ — one that is as secure as the Father’s love for the Son, as sure as God’s love is for himself.” – John Piper

“Some make man God’s co-worker, to ratify election by his consent. Thus, according to them, man’s will is superior to God’s plan. As if Scripture taught that we are merely given the ability to believe, and not, rather, faith itself!” – John Calvin

“Bold-hearted men are always called mean-spirited by cowards.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“If you want to follow Jesus because He’ll fix your marriage, if you want to follow Jesus because He’ll give you a better life, that’s idolatry. Follow Christ for the sake of Christ; He is worthy!” – Paul Washer

“Faith is the means by which the righteousness of Christ is given to us.” – R.C. Sproul

“The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them. Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.” – John Calvin

“The most effective sermons are those which make opposers of the Gospel bite their lips and gnash their teeth.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“Christians have a new identity. We are no longer ‘in Adam’ but ‘in Christ’; no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit…” – Sinclair Ferguson

“The true gospel…stands before the throne of God declaring, ‘Jesus did it all.'” – R.C. Sproul Jr

“The gospel is the good news that God bought for us the everlasting enjoyment of God.” – John Piper

“When God calls, it has the intensity of a shout and the authority of a summons. When He calls, He secures His own desired results.” – Steven Lawson

“If we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice in eternity.” – Jeremy Taylor

“We are not called to make a crowd of worldly folk happy–even worldly evangelistic folk happy–but so to labour amongst them that, through many tribulations, discouragements and misunderstandings, we form a faithful people of God, however small a remnant of the total congregation that may be.” – William Still in The Work of a Pastor

“You see no beauty in any action that you do. All seems imperfect, blemished, and defiled. You are often sick at heart of your own shortcomings. But now know, that Jesus can see some beauty in everything that you do from a conscientious desire to please him. His eye can discern excellence in the least thing which is a fruit of his own Spirit. He can pick out the grains of gold from amid the dross of your performances, and sift the wheat from amid the chaff in all your doings. Your endeavors to do good to others, however feeble, are written in his book of remembrance. He does not forget your work and labor of love, however little the world may regard it.” (J.C. Ryle, Holiness, pg.228)

“In truth, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, lost mankind is completely infected by sin.” – Steven Lawson

“The only righteousness that meets the requirements of the Law is the righteousness of Christ.” – R.C. Sproul

“A sinner is justified as soon as he, or she, believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. God pronounces us righteous immediately the instant we place our trust in Christ as the Saviour whom God sent into the world to live and die for us. There is no place whatever in justification for the merit, so-called, of our own good works. Neither the sacraments, nor prayers, nor devotions, nor good works of any kind enter into a sinner’s justification before God. This is the clear teaching of the Bible and it is essential that we do not allow any false teaching to spoil our understanding. The great Apostle Paul states: ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law’ (Rom. 3:28). We see from these words that nothing but faith justifies us. By ‘works of the law’ Paul means our observance of the Moral Law, the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments cannot save us. Our own good works cannot justify us, either in whole or in part.” – Maurice Roberts, ‘Finding Peace With God – Justification Explained’

“There is no little sin, because no little God to sin against.” – Thomas Brooks

“There is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest affliction.” – Thomas Brooks

“Take this for your motto; wear it in your heart; keep it in your eye; have it often in your mouth, till you can find something better. The cross of Christ is the tree of life and the tree of knowledge combined. Blessed be God! there is neither prohibition nor flaming sword to keep us back; but it stands like a tree by the highway side, which affords its shade to every passenger without distinction.” – John Newton

“Serve God with integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will lie upon your conscience.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“The character of God is the foundation of all holy joy, as his nature is the basis of all right theology, . . .” – William S. Plumer, (1872). Commenting on Psalm 119:137 in his book “Studies in the Book of Psalms: Being a Critical and Expository Commentary, with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on the Entire Psalter” (p. 1079). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.

Ask R.C. Sproul, Jr: Jesus told the rich young fool that he must sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. Is this true for all who would follow Jesus?

Yes. This, of course, is not what we typically hear about this text. We are told, for instance, that Jesus was tapping into the first use of the law rather than the third here, that rather than telling the young man what he must do to inherit eternal life He was demonstrating that despite the man’s claims, he had not in fact kept the ten commandments. Jesus here is saying, “Well, let’s look at commandment one. Do you have any gods before me? Money perhaps?” This is all true and good exegesis of the text.

Trouble is that we then go on to comfort ourselves by thinking, “Since I am not like this rich young fool, since I would be willing to sell all that I have and give it to the poor if Jesus asked, I pass this test.” We think that he failed an actual test because he was no good, while we pass a hypothetical test because we are good. It is, however, a very different thing to give up all your actual wealth than to merely hypothetically give it all up.

Now it may be that money is not actually an idol in your life. It may be that were Jesus to give you this command you would get right to work selling off assets. All of us, however, have idols, things we hold back from giving to the Lord. I discovered an idol in my own life several years ago when God in His providence didn’t ask me to give it away, but simply took it from me. I had at that time something of a reputation as a rather bold and prophetic fellow, someone who bravely didn’t much give a thought to his reputation. That reputation quickly morphed into a reputation as a bully and a cheat. And I learned rather quickly that I did indeed give a thought to my reputation, that I craved, longed for a reputation as one who didn’t care about his reputation. My deceitful heart had deceived me again.

When we sign on with Jesus we give up our wealth. We give up our reputations. We give up every gift that He had already given us, and every gift He will give us from that moment forward. When we become a part of the bride of Christ our pre-nuptial agreement reads, “All that I am and all that I have is yours O Lord, from this day forth and evermore.” When, therefore, He asks for anything, whether our wealth, our reputation, even our spouse or our child, we confess, “Yes, Lord.” The rich fool went away from Jesus sad for he had great wealth. We, however, walk toward Jesus, joyful, for we already had nothing. My Denise, and my Shannon, these are the golden crowns that I joyfully cast before His glassy sea. For they were always His, and because I am His always.

Do you have to give up your wealth? Of course. Even if the Master allows you to continue to steward it for Him. Do you have to give up your reputation? Of course, even if He allows you live in peace and quietness with all men. Will you have to give up your loved ones? Of course, even if they are with you until your home going. You have to give up everything, just like He did. And, like Him all you will receive in return, is everything.