Justice Meets Mercy at the Cross

The question of how God can be both just and merciful haunted humanity until the cross provided the perfect answer. Today we'll explore how God's justice and mercy kiss at Calvary.

Romans 8:1-3 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh."

The story of the woman caught in adultery—whether it was originally in John's gospel or not—raises a question that every human heart wrestles with: How can God be just and merciful at the same time?

Think about the dilemma. The Pharisees throw this woman who was caught in the very act of adultery before Jesus. They say, "The law says such a woman should be stoned. What do you say?" They're trying to pin God's mercy against His justice. If Jesus says, "Let her go," then He's compromising the Old Testament law. If He says, "Stone her," then He's contradicting the compassion and mercy He's known for.

This is the question Paul asks in Romans 3:26: How can God be just and the justifier of the ungodly? How can He be a righteous judge who never lets the guilty go unpunished, yet also justify lost, depraved, wretched sinners?

The answer is the cross. Jesus can tell the woman, "Neither do I condemn you," because a year later He's going to bear the full weight of condemnation and shame for her sin. Forgiveness isn't cheap—it's costly. It costs the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes in church settings people will say, "I'm not trying to condemn you or put shame on you." But I want you to understand—if you're not in Christ, when someone talks about sin, you should feel heaps and heaps of shame, unbearable weight of condemnation. That's the whole point of Pilgrim's Progress. He's weighed down by a burden.

It's only in recognizing that burden of sin and shame and condemnation that you cry out for mercy. No more of the precious blood of Jesus Christ was needed by the woman caught in adultery than by my three-year-old pastor's kid daughter. Every single one of us needs the same power, the same resurrection power.

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." The law offers zero forgiveness—only justice. But what the law could not do, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin.

At the cross, as in Psalm 85:10, God's mercy and justice kiss. God can be just and pour out the full measure of wrath toward sin on His Son, and offer you mercy. That's how God remains perfectly just while justifying the ungodly. The condemnation you deserved fell on Jesus. The righteousness you needed was provided by Jesus.

This is why Jesus tells the forgiven adulterer, "Go and sin no more." Grace is never received as a license to continue in sin. It's received as the motivation for why you want to be more like the One who bore your condemnation.

Every time you come to communion, you're remembering this glorious exchange. Your sin for His righteousness. Your condemnation for His mercy. Your death sentence for His life.

Stay dialed in.