Exalting God

As I prepare for this Sunday’s sermon from Genesis 18:16-33, the following statement by James M. Boice struck me:

“When sinners object, ‘Why doesn’t God do what’s right?’ they mean, ‘Why doesn’t God overlook my sin?’  But God does not overlook sin.  God judges sin.  What happens when the Judge of all the earth does right?  Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed; the earth is overwhelmed by the Flood; men and women are punished in the lake of fire.  And God is glorified in that punishment, as Jonathan Edwards argued in ‘The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners.’  This is what will happen to you if you refuse Christ.  You will be condemned, and God’s honor will be upheld in the process.  The only hope for you is that God’s justice is also revealed in the death of Jesus Christ for sinners, where his mercy is seen as well.  God commands you to turn from your sin to that Savior.”

- James M. Boice, Genesis Volume 2, 1985, pp.616-617

Boice’s insight into man’s objection to the judgment of God is penetrating and convicting.  Prior to redemption in Christ we desperately want God to overlook our sin, but through the conviction of the Spirit we learn that no sin is bypassed; all sin is judged.  Like Abraham, we need to intercede for those around us who show no interest in Christ or conviction by the Holy Spirit.  We need to pray that through our ministry to them their ideas about God will be shattered and that they will be confronted with the truth of God.