What's the Relationship Between Justice, Justification, and Black Lives Matter? with Special Guest Dr. Michael Horton

In view of the Black Lives Matter movement. What's the biblical relationship between justice and justification? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. And this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at eight three, three the core. That's one eight three three eight four. Three twenty. 73. And of course, you can e-mail us with your question at questions at core Christianity dot com. Now we have a special guest joining us today. Our good friend, author and theologian Michael Horton from the leadership team here at core Christianity. Welcome, Mike.

Hi, Bill. Great to be with you again. April, you as well. Good to have you back, Mike.

OK. First up today, guys, we have a fun good news story to share with you. A 95 year old California man known to his neighbors as Bicycle Bob has been treated to a celebration after he logged his 100 thousandth mile of cycling. Bob met Tower, known as Bicycle Bob to locals, said he took up cycling when he retired in the 1990s and he's been logging his miles ever since. As Bob rode his 100 thousand mile last Tuesday, he was honored by friends and neighbors at the Costa Grand, a senior mobile estates in Santa Maria, California. Bob says he rides his bike nine miles every day, regardless of the weather. And guys, I don't know about you, but I hope I can still walk to the bathroom when I'm ninety five.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dead by then. You know, I'm 56 and I all I have to say is that's just a just crushing pressure on me.

Thank you, Bill. That's. That was uplifting. We all, we all feel better about ourselves. Yeah.

We should get spinning bikes, see if we can catch up with this dude. Oh, right.

Man, that's bad testing.

Pretty amazing inspiration. Well, let's get to our first question of the day. This is a call we received from Jean in St. Louis.

I'm wanting to know, how is a person really saved? Because I hear preachers say, say a prayer, receive price into your heart, and then God will save you. And I don't find that in the scriptures. So could you help me out? Show me where they get that from. Oh, why is it that way? It does. Well, saved me. I didn't do any of that. He just let me new out. No, I needed a savior. I surrendered to that tugging and pulling of the Holy Spirit in my heart to help me with that so that I won't lead people astray. I've be misled myself. Thank you so very much, Jeanne.

Thank you for for that question. And I love the way you put it there at the end so that I don't lead people astray and so that I'm not led astray. And I think that's a really important thing for all of us to to be able to say we want to know the scriptures well enough that we don't lead other people astray and we want a home for ourselves, too, so that we can be led into the truth more and more and know God better. And immediately listening to your question, I think about the question that was posed to the apostle Paul in the Book of Acts by the Philippine jailer.

What must I do to be saved? And Paul gave him a very clear answer.

I'm going to read you the text. It's Acts Chapter 16. I'll give you some of the context. Beginning in verse 25, it says this About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself. For we are all here in. The jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear.

He fell down before Paul and Silas, and he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, And here's your answer, Jean. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.

It really is quite simple. Now, I think you're right. A lot of a lot of times today you hear, you know, these formulas that people will give, like if you want to be saved, you need to ask Jesus into your heart, or maybe you need to have some some kind of experience. But nowhere in scripture do you have that language is you see this sort of idea of the center's prayer where I have to ask Jesus into my heart? No, it's always repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that that believing is not so much a work that you do.

It's receiving the good news of the gospel. It's receiving what God in Christ has done for you. God is the one who saves us according to His Grace. Not according to what you do. It sounds like you really understand that. And so believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing I will say is there's confusion today about even what it means to believe.

We're not talking here about you sort of embracing the fact that Jesus existed. It's not believing in Jesus in the same way that you believe that Abraham Lincoln existed or or any other historical figure.

It's believing on Jesus, trusting in Jesus for your personal salvation. It's recognizing that you need him. As you said, you know, when the spirit of God is at work in a person's life, convicting them of their sin and they recognize men, I'm I'm lost. It's not trusting in yourself. It's trusting in Jesus. So Paul said it very clearly there in Act 16, 31, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Thanks for your question.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Admiral Sanchez and theologian Michael Horton. Here's a question that came in, Mike, on our Facebook page from our same our same says, in view of Black Lives Matter. What is the biblical relationship between justice and justification?

A well informed way of putting it are seen, as you know, of course, this is a very tough question. A lot of tentacles to it. First off, we have to distinguish justice and justification from a biblical perspective. Justice is what to do. Right. We're all creating the image of God. God is our Lord, our creator. What is do God and what is do our neighbor? God is a god of justice. And he won't let the guilty go unpunished. We read that again and again in the scriptures. He knows everything and he records all of our sins against him and against each other as well as against ourselves. But we also know God is a God of mercy and grace, but he can't be merciful at the expense of his justice. He can't just let bygones be bygones. And so he found a way to be. As Paul says in Romans 326, both the just.

And the justifier of the ungodly. Well, how does a judge declare the guilty? Just how does he do that justly?

Well, he found a way to be both the just and the justifier of the ungodly. And Paul tells us in Colossians 213, how he did that. And you were dead in your trespasses and the UN circumcision of your flesh. God made a life together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by. Listen to this.

Canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross. There was a place C where justice had to be satisfied and it was satisfied there. He nailed your record of debts, Arsène. To the cross of Christ, that is what we received through faith alone. And because our sin is credited to Jesus and his righteousness is credited to us. We are just we are declared righteous in God's courtroom.

And that's why we're Tolin first on one nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn't that amazing? He is just when he forgives us our sins. It is because of his justice. Now his justice condemned us. But now, because we're just in Christ, we're righteous in him. God justly forgives us. So that's the difference between justice and justification. We're not justified by our works. Whether it's praying, going to church or marching in a protest. So we can't be saved by becoming just. That's not how God saves us by making us righteous. He has justified us, declared us righteous simply for the sake of Christ. But that means that now we're called to live thankful lives, seeking righteousness, justice and peace with our neighbors and also for our neighbors. Justified. Christians are going to disagree over how to bring justice to those who are denied it. But Christians can't disagree that Christ calls us to justice and not just through politics, but through involvement in the lives of others. Listening, understanding, caring. Now, when it comes to politics, are seen believers, of course, they're going to differ over specific policies. If you're going to district, disagree about how to read the data, about how to read the history, about how how to analyze the problems so that they can come up with the best policies. That's called Christian freedom. We have to give each other Christian liberty to have different answers because the Bible doesn't give us a blueprint for how to run, run a modern democracy. But we still have to use our biblical wisdom. No political movement or party is Christian. All right. None of them is based on on God's word, because there isn't a political blueprint in the Bible for how to run America. So we find ourselves saying yes to some positions and notah other positions. That's what it means to be a pilgrim in this present age. But we have to examine our conscience and ask ourselves if we are part of a group. As we exercise our our citizenship in this world as pilgrims, if we're part of a group that holds some views that go so far against explicit teachings of scripture, that we can't support it. Now, you could say that on both sides of the of the fence, conservative politics, that that favor sometimes in unjust policies and unjust rhetoric. We have to stand up and oppose that. But then on the other side, I think we have to also be very concerned that we're not supporting positions that are contrary explicitly to God's word, in my view, assing. There's a difference between affirming the hashtag Black Lives Matter, which I do. And belonging to an organization that has added all sorts of extreme positions regarding marriage, abortion and other issues that run counter to that very justice that we all should be seeking to preserve.

Now, again, let me add that Christians who are politically conservative have to also scan their conscience to speak up, speak out, and sometimes opt out of groups that promote positions that are just as offensive to God and contrary to his word as those between these extremes. I think. We should find we can find we should certainly look for a lot of common ground where we can debate the issues with respect for each other's Christian liberty of conscience.

And Mike, just thinking about all the things you were saying there, it seems to me like faithfully following Jesus will put you in a position to where, you know, you're going to make a lot of enemies, because I think today people want you to just be on one side or the other. It's yellow, black and white. The idea of saying, I know I'm critical of things in my own political party, too, or or, you know, I'm not just embracing everything hook, line and sinker. And you think about Jesus himself and his earthly ministry. I mean, he had no problem calling out the religious hypocrisy in Israel and also calling sinners, you know, to repentance that we'd like those who are not a part of the established system. And so know being there in the middle, I think sometimes can can be dissatisfying for a lot of people. But we have to follow Jesus.

We do. And I you know, this is where my grandma says you stop preaching and go into Medlen. I, I really think a drill that, you know, you have preachers on on one side who are really, I think, dragging Jesus name in the mud by supporting injustice and racism. And then you have preachers on the other side who don't seem bothered by the kind of accumulation of policies relating to marriage and abortion as long as there is a pursuit of greater justice in America. I think we have to be very careful about that. I mean, according to the Pew Research Group, African-Americans are. More likely to say homosexual practice is always wrong than white Americans are. So is there one out there where we can just focus on black lives mattering without bringing in all of these other issues? This is the problem, I think, in our country right now. And unfortunately, Christians on the right and Christians on the left have just become lackeys of those extreme positions.

Yeah, some great food for thought from both of you. Thank you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez and theologian Michael Horton. We have an opportunity we want to tell you about today. And it's called being part of our inner core.

Yeah, I hope as you listen to this program and even even just today's episode, talking about some of these really important subjects that you get the sense that we really want to root everything we say in the scriptures. Ultimately, we want to be faithful to Jesus and following him and loving our neighbors in light of what he's done for us. And if you've been blessed by this program on invite you to consider coming alongside of us as a member of the inner core, we're just so thankful for each inner core member and their regular gifts that help us accomplish our mission. Each and every day, new listeners discover core Christianity every day, and your support helps us keep reaching people all around the world with your monthly donation of twenty five dollars or more. You can be a part of the team making it possible for us to answer these questions. Faithful to the Scriptures to share the core truths of the Christian faith. Though I won't invite you again if if you've been blessed by this program, head over to core Christianity, dot com forward slash inner core to learn more or give us a call at eight three three the core.

And if you have any questions about anything regarding core Christianity or offers or being part of the inner core, just give us a call at eight three. Three. Eight. Four three. Twenty six. Seventy three. Well Adrià we had a call come in through our Web site. By the way, if you'd like to ask a question through our Web site, just go to core Christianity dot com slash radio. You'll see a little microphone icon there on the side of the page. You click on that and you can record your question. And here's one that we received through the Web site.

Hi, my name is Dave, does how I vote matter? Does God care if I vote one way or another? Or does the Bible say anything that could be applied to the topic of voting? Thanks.

Yeah. Dave, thanks for for that question.

I think Mike already began to scratch the surface on this one, but I would say, you know, let scripture be your ultimate authority and let it guide you in good conscience to vote in such a way that you are pursuing love for your neighbors. I think that there are really two dangers. And we think about you just engaging in the broader political sphere. One. It's completely cutting ourselves off from society.

This is the idea of, you know, it's all going to burn. Who cares? Let's just move to the mountains and stockpile guns and toilet paper and, you know, separate ourselves from everyone. Well, no, that's not the attitude that we should have as Christians. We want to engage in the kingdoms of this world for their good.

You know, Peter said in First Peter, Chapter four versus seven through nine, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. And there are a lot of people today who feel like it just it feels like the end of all things is at hand. Well, Peter said that a long time ago and he said, here's how you should respond. Love one another, be hospitable, pray, be committed to prayer. I mean, those are the things we should be committed to for the good of the church, for our own good and for the good of broader society, for the good of our neighbors. One danger is just completely separating ourselves, cutting ourselves off from the kingdoms of this world and seeking their good, the other dangerous. This putting our hope in political leaders and viewing them as quasi messiahs who are going to fix the problems that we face as some one hundred eighteen says it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in men. And there's only one kingdom that's going to endure into eternity. And that's the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. So between not isolating from society and not putting our hope in men, I think we have to find the balance of engaging in the kingdoms of this world guided by scripture, love for neighbor and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Seek the good of the people around you, justice. As Mike was saying and in the previous question, we want to see justice done for those who are vulnerable, for those who are oppressed, and not just your own prosperity. It's not just about you. It's about loving your neighbor as well. And so those are some of the guiding principles. And that's how I would approach this, I think. Yep. To be led by scripture and vote according to your conscience.

That's so good, Adrian. I the only thing I would add to that is, man, what a privilege it is that in God's good providence, we live in a time and place when actually we have the opportunity to vote yes. One of the reasons we don't have a lot about voting in the New Testament is because nobody voted yet. You know, you didn't elect Caesar. He just it sort of happened. And what a privilege it is for us to exercise that gift, not of saving grace, but of common grace that we share with our non Christian neighbors. And as you say, seek the welfare of the city.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez and theologian Michael Horton. And Mike, here's a question that came in through an e-mail. This is from Dale. He says, I appreciate how you distinguish between the law and the gospel on your show highlighting the goodness and greatness of the Christian gospel. But I'm wondering if there are ways that we think and speak that support law rather than gospel. One way I see this is the widespread use of the phrase God calls us, too. That's the stick the law. What about the carrot, the gospel? Couldn't we presume that wherever the Gospel is understood, the heart and mind would be compelled to pray, read the Bible and worship God in the Communion of Saints? I blanch at taking on the mindset that within Christendom, everywhere I look, there's duties, callings and obligations. Am I being too sensitive here?

You're not being too sensitive here, Dale. All of the carrots, if you will.

Can we pick something different than a carrot? I mean, the gospel, you know, how about carrot cake? I would say yes. Yes.

It's a lot bigger than a carrot, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Because the gospel isn't calling us to do something. It's not. It's not. The gospel is there to lead us on to do something. The gospel simply is good news for sinners, but it does motivate. But that's not the main. The thing about the gospel.

This is just good news for senators, but Paul says in Romans 12, after showing people the vista of all that he God has done for us in Jesus Christ, he says now, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. So he does say God calls us, too. But after he's always keep your eye on God's mercies while you're doing it. I think the problem here, Dale, is that we begin to take the gospel for granted. OK, I needed that to get saved. But now that I'm saved, I can look away from Christ and look at my hands, my feet. The duties in front of me. Yeah, of course. In view of God's mercies. But I know all that. No, you don't. Neither do I. That's why we have to have the gospel preached to us every single week. In fact, every day. Because it's not natural to us. The law is natural to us. But the gospel is not. Everybody on Earth believes in the law. Everybody recognizes that you don't pull your sister's hair in the sandbox. But what people don't understand is that God justifies the wicked for the sake of Christ. That seems completely counterintuitive. But now that we are in Christ, now that we are made alive in him, we're no longer dead. Interest passes and sins. We still struggle with sand, but we're not dead and sin. Now that we're alive in Christ, we can say with the Psalmist in someone 19, Lord, how I love your law. Paul even says in Romans seven. Even when I fail, I fall.

I sin. I still love God's law. And that's the tension of the Christian life.

God has justified us in Christ, our acceptance before him is settled. But now he tells us, OK. This is what I like. This is what I don't like. Why should I try to please him with works that I've made up when he's given me clear instruction about what pleases him? So I would say, Dale, the thing to think about here is always keep your eyes on Christ. Always keep your eyes on the view of God's mercies. And then also in view of that. Present your body as a living sacrifice, as long as we have these distinctions in mind, I think. A good friend, Don Mazza, Lutheran pastor, said it's sort of like baseball first base. You become a Christian, you're excited. Your sins are forgiven. You're round second base and you get to third base. And that's where you have all the people telling you how to have a happy marriage, how to raise positive kids in a negative world, how to do this. How to do that.

The third use of the law, we call that not only to drive us to Christ, but to guide us in Christ. It's a good thing.

The problem is that's where you've got a thousand Christian resources out there piling up on third base, telling you how to live. The key is to run home, run home to Christ.

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