Sermon - Judica 2024 - John 8:42-59

St. Patrick Preaching to the Kings, Franz Borgias Mayer, 19th Century

God’s Judgment

1. God is the judge

2. Judgment carried out on Jesus, the Lamb of God

3. We bind unto ourselves Jesus and His word, therefore, Jesus was our substitute

“Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge.” God is the judge. I hear it said occasionally: “Don’t judge me, only God judges me.” That’s entirely true, God will judge all of us. However, people usually say that meaning they don’t want anyone to be critical of their lifestyle or behaviors, and they think God’s judgment will be very lenient and easy. But, that’s not really the case.

We read in Hebrews: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Jesus told us that He is the judge, and the Lord will judge His people. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Indeed, the wages of sin is death. We are the heirs of Adam and Eve’s sin, and also the heirs of death.  Or as it again says in Hebrews: “If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” Those who have departed from the faith and willfully sin, as if sin were unimportant or had no consequences, will have to face the judgment of God and it won’t be pretty.

The judgment of God is much worse than the judgment of man. Usually the judgment of man is just someone disagreeing with us and telling us so. The worst man can do is kill us, and that’s pretty rare.  Even the Pharisees, the best that they could do to Jesus to judge Him was to try and throw stones at Him, and even that they failed at. The judgment of man is really quite tame in comparison to God’s judgment.

God’s judgment requires death and eternal condemnation. The attempted sacrificing of Isaac very powerfully illustrates that for us. Remember the story of Abraham and Sarah, when God, multiple times, promised that Sarah would have a child through whom the Savior would be eventually born. Abraham and Sarah had a hard time believing it, and Sarah even laughed at the prospect. Yet, they named their son Isaac, meaning “He laughs.” Truly, God had the last laugh, and I’m sure Isaac and Sarah laughed with joy as well. But today we heard God instruct Abraham to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering. No more laughing.

Abraham and Isaac immediately made their way up Mt. Moriah. It’s important to note that Abraham was quite old, around 130, and Isaac was probably in his thirties. Isaac wasn’t a little child that Abraham could easily manipulate and manhandle to sacrifice him. Isaac went willingly, even carrying the wood for his own sacrifice. When Abraham bound him to the altar, Isaac willingly consented.

Why did they do this? Did Isaac really want to die? Was Abraham crazy in his old age? Not at all! They willingly did this because they fully trusted God’s promise to preserve Isaac, since through him eventually the Christ would be born. Abraham told his servants: “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Abraham wasn’t going to come down the mountain alone, but he believed Isaac, though sacrificed, would survive this ordeal somehow.

He did. Not because Isaac was worthy, but because God is merciful and provided the Lamb for the sacrifice. “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” In the end Isaac, who appeared to be the Christ-like figure in the story, turned out to be spared from death. Instead, the Lamb was the Christ-like figure and it was the substitute for Isaac, taking his place and the judgment he deserved.

This illustration corresponds to Jesus. Jesus is our substitute. Jesus, the sinless, spotless, Lamb of God, the only-begotten, beloved Son of the Father was offered up instead of us. The judgment of God was carried out upon Christ Jesus. He is our substitute, and the judgment which we deserved was placed on Him, and so we are forgiven our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus. God is the perfectly just Judge, and justice was carried out. It wasn’t fair, since this isn’t what either we or Jesus deserve, and yet Jesus willingly went to the cross to be our substitute since the Father loves us.

Jesus’ sacrifice was made in our place. When we bind ourselves to Jesus and His Word, Jesus is our sacrifice. As our Lord promises: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” The Word of God is far from a burden for us, since through this blessed Word of God Christ’s sacrifice is made our own. So how can we hold onto His word? 

St. Patrick, in his powerful hymn, expounds upon keeping the word of God. “I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three. I bind this day to me forever, by power of faith, Christ’s incarnation, His baptism in the Jordan River, His cross of death for my salvation, His bursting from the spiced tomb, His riding up the heavenly way, His coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.” St. Patrick boldly lived in Christ Jesus since the Word of God had been bound to him through baptism, and that same word of God guided and shielded him throughout life.

Just to briefly illustrate what kind of power God’s word had on Patrick’s life, remember his story. Patrick actually wasn’t Irish, he was English, and as a child he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and taken back to Ireland as a slave. With the help of God he escaped his captors and fled home. At that point Patrick became a Christian and eventually a pastor and even a bishop. He vowed to return to Ireland so that he could convert the Irish who kidnapped him from paganism to Christianity. As an old man he finally had the opportunity to do just that. He returned to Ireland, even though it was very dangerous and people urged him not to go, because he knew that Christ and His Word had been bound to him through baptism, and therefore he had nothing to fear. Not even death could scare him. Upon his arrival he did bring the gospel to the people of Ireland and many were converted. In a way he truly did chase the snakes, meaning the demons, out of Ireland and helped usher in Christianity.

Patrick boldly went into Ireland, the place where he had been enslaved as a child, and brought them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He didn’t hate his captors, instead he loved them enough to drive paganism out of their hearts and replace it with the Gospel. It was a frightening place to go, and it was not safe for him to be there, yet he went unafraid because he knew that ultimately Jesus wins and when we are bound to Christ we win with Him.

Just as Abraham and Isaac willingly climbed the mountain, unafraid of the sacrifice, and trusting that God would provide for them, so may we go forward unafraid of the demon snares of sin and the troubles which face us, since the holy power of God goes with us. Jesus willingly and gladly climbed mount Calvary, unafraid of the sacrifice awaiting Him, because He knew that on the third day the Father would raise Him up again. So too, we face death unafraid, because Jesus who is the great I AM, God of God, Light of Light, has taken our place before the judgment seat and was punished in our place.

On that great and awesome day of the Lord when Jesus shall descend from heaven to judge the sheep and the goats, we will be judged. Those who stand before God on their own merits will go to hell. Those who stand before God, bound to Christ, who hold onto the Word of God, shall never see death. May we be those who are bound to Christ and numbered among the saints in paradise.