Bible-readers quickly learn that God is both just and merciful. Regarding the former, Isaiah 61:8 says, “I, the Lord, love justice…. and I will faithfully give them their recompense.” Regarding the latter, Ephesians 2:4 tells us, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”

Anyone, however, who loves both justice and mercy must hold them in tension, because they are, by their nature, at odds with each other. Justice calls for the punishment deserved while mercy calls for a delay or pardon. If you are both just and merciful you have an inward conflict.

All parents can relate to that inward conflict. When a child deserves discipline, parents debate within themselves: “Do I spank this child now (justice) or just give him a warning (mercy) in hopes he won’t repeat the same behavior?”

In light of Jesus’ lordship, His grace must be limited to some degree. If, for example, Jesus was offering a license to sin by His grace, that would void His lordship. How could He be Lord if He has no behavioral expectations for His servants (whom He owns)?

Yet some professing Christian teachers advocate that Jesus’ grace is, in fact, a license to sin. They would never say it using those words, but they say it in other words.

For example, some claim there is nothing any Christian could do that would result in the forfeiture of his or her salvation. That, clearly, is a license to sin. It is a claim that, if I as a Christian become a serial rapist and murderer, it would not affect the status of my ultimate salvation. Worse, such teachers claim that if there is any behavioral requirement for salvation, that is equivalent to advocating “salvation by works,” and to nullifying “salvation by grace.”

One of the most common phrases used in Christian circles is the phrase, “accept the Lord,” as in, “I accepted the Lord when I was 19 years old” or, “We’re praying that my mother will accept the Lord.”

Interestingly, that phrase can’t be found in any English translation of the Bible, and the idea of “accepting Jesus” can only be found in a couple of fairly modern translations. Why is that? One reason is because, from a standpoint of theological truth, the phrase is inappropriate. The word “lord” carries an historic connotation of describing one who possesses supreme authority. Thus, lords aren’t people whom lesser people “accept.” They are people whom lesser people are supposed to honor, revere, and obey.

A lord, by dictionary definition is: “Someone who has power, authority, or influence; a master or ruler, as in, ‘lord of the sea,’ ‘lords of the jungle,’ or ‘our lord the king.’”

“Masters” and “rulers” exercise authority over their citizens or subjects. They expect and enforce compliance.

That concept is somewhat foreign to those of us who live in democratic societies. We expect that our leaders—whom we elect—should serve us. But God’s kingdom is not a democracy; it’s a THEOcracy. It’s a KINGdom. There is a king whom we’re supposed to serve and obey.

In my previous teaching titled Three Questionable Beliefs Christians Hold Concerning Modern Israel, I attempted to show that, because God is a moral being, He has not always historically sided with the nation of Israel. A moral being cannot side with people who become immoral. And for the same reason, God never gave the descendants of Israel perpetual, unconditional, sovereign right to the land called Palestine. If He did so apart from moral considerations, He would not be a moral being. That is Bible 101.

Of course, about 35 centuries ago, God did give the descendants of Israel a conditional right to the land today referred to as Palestine, but the Israelites ultimately failed to meet His conditions, and they were consequently expelled and scattered for their unbelief and disobedience. These points are so thoroughly and clearly contained in Scripture that they cannot be refuted.

Is modern Israel a divinely-favored nation? For many Christians, the answer is a resounding yes. 

Why is that?

Most of us know the biblical history concerning God’s calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the latter of whom became the father of Israel’s twelve tribes. We know the story of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and their subsequent God-ordered conquest of the land of Canaan, which became the geographical territory of ancient Israel. We know that Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah, and that His birth, ministry, death, burial and resurrection all took place in ancient Israel.

Over the past fifteen years, the ministry of Heaven’s Family has raised more than 30 million dollars to expand Jesus’ kingdom and serve “the least of these” (Matt. 25:31-46) all over the world. That 30 million dollars did not fall from the sky! Rather, it was raised through the very hard work of dedicated staff members, and given by thousands of people just like them, people who have also been transformed by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit. Praise God that the Holy Spirit turns selfish people into selfless people! Their cooperation, of course, is necessary, but the glory goes to God, and all of us will one day be casting our crowns at the feet of Jesus.

If someone’s salvation hasn’t yet affected their wallet and bank account, it hasn’t yet affected their heart. Those kinds of “Christians” need, as I once heard an old Pentecostal pastor say, “another dip”! I don’t think he was recommending that they be re-baptized with hopes of a better outcome, but that they be truly born again by a genuine faith.

Non-Calvinists often object to Calvinism’s doctrine of “Unconditional Election” based on its perceived injustice and immorality. Calvinists claim that only a minority of people are divinely and sovereignly predestined to be saved, and their being selected is based on nothing that God foresaw in them that pleased Him. That means that all others are predestined to be forever damned. It is therefore “double-predestination.” Non-Calvinists often say Calvinists, “Your doctrine of Unconditional Election makes God look like a monster, because you are saying that He created people just to torture them forever.”

Calvinists often retort by saying, “But you believe that God foreknows everyone who will choose to believe in Jesus and who will not choose to believe in Jesus, and yet He still creates the ones whom He knows will not believe in Jesus, and then He tortures them forever. So, if my God is a monster, so is yours!”

I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief (1 Tim. 1:13).

Paul, a former Christian-hater and persecutor, knew that he had received a very big dose of mercy from God. Why was the Lord so incredibly merciful towards him, but not as much towards other incorrigible characters of whom we read in Scripture?

One apparent reason was because of Paul’s ignorance. As he persecuted the early church, Paul thought he was serving God. His heart was right. And the Lord factored that in when He appraised him. But the Lord quickly eradicated Paul’s ignorance: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” From then on, Paul was without excuse.