Many who have lost loved ones, children, spouses, friends, especially in a tragic way, question the justice of God. I don't think He takes that personally. It is during these times we have to have faith in the justice of God. God is just regardless of what happens to me, or to those I love. Only God can see the big picture. Only God knows some of the "whys" of life.

Gladys Ayllward, missionary to China more than fifty years ago, was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng. But she could not leave her work behind. With only one assistant, she led more than a hundred orphans over the mountains toward Free China. In their book The Hidden Price of Greatness, Ray Besson and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker tell what happened:

"During Gladys's harrowing journey out of war-torn Yangcheng...she grappled with despair as never before. After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13-year-old girl in the group reminded her of their much-loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

"'But I am not Moses,' Gladys cried in desperation.,

"'Of course you aren't,' the girl said, 'but Jehovah is still God.'"

When Gladys and the orphans made it through, they proved once again that no matter how inadequate we feel, God is still God, and we can trust in him.

God is still God, and God can always be trusted!

We are now in the third part of this message series concerning: What We Believe andWhy We Believe It Concerning God.

So far, we have learned six important truths about God. God is...One, A Three-Fold Personality, Spirit, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent!

This evening, let me share three more truths about God showing us, God can be trusted!

I. God Is Infinitely Just.

Once upon a time, in a far away country, there lived a little girl called Red Riding Hood. One day her mother asked her to take a basket of fruit to her grandmother, who had been ill and lived alone in a cottage in the forest.

It happened that a wolf was lurking in the bushes and overheard the conversation. He decided to take a short-cut to the grandmother's house and get the goodies for himself. The wolf killed the grandmother, then dressed in her nightgown and jumped into bed to await the little girl.

When she arrived, he made several nasty suggestions and then tried to grab her. But by this time, the child was very frightened and ran screaming from the cottage.

A woodcutter, working nearby, heard her cries and rushed to the rescue. He killed the wolf with his ax, thereby saving Red Riding Hood's life. All the townspeople hurried to the scene and proclaimed the woodcutter a hero.

But at the inquest, several facts emerged:

	The wolf had never been advised of his rights.
	The woodcutter had made no warning swings before striking the fatal blow.
	The Civil Liberties Union stressed the point that, although the act of eating Grandma may have been in bad taste, the wolf was only "doing his thing" and thus didn't deserve the death penalty.

On the basis of these considerations, it was decided there was no valid basis for charges against the wolf. Moreover, the woodcutter was indicted for unaggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Several nights later, the woodcutter's cottage was burned to the ground.

One year from the date of "The Incident at Grandma's," her cottage was made a shrine for the wolf who had bled and died there. All the village officials spoke at the dedication, but it was Red Riding Hood who gave the most touching tribute.

She said that, while she had been selfishly grateful for the woodcutter's intervention, she realized in retrospect that he had over-reacted. As she knelt and placed a wreath in honor of the brave wolf, there wasn't a dry eye in the whole forest.

Justice in many cases and in many court rooms has become a joke!

One wit has said, "In America we'll try anything once - except criminals".

Judges are certainly getting tougher on criminals. They're giving them much longer suspended sentences.

What about the O.J. verdict? Some are convinced he murdered Nicole and Ron. Some are not sure. All of us wonder if justice was done.

Recently, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was found not guilty of murder in helping to end the life of an older person. Was justice done?

Is there justice in our Land?

I don't know, but I do know our God is Just. Infinitely just! There is never a time God has been wrong in any of his decisions, regardless of who agrees with them, or even if we agree with them.

God does not care if we think He is just - He is just JUST! He has to be, He is God! The Scriptures says about God...

Psalm 89:14 - Justice is the foundation of His throne

The bible says...Romans 3:23-26, God did the just thing even when it had to have been personally painful for him to do so. I wonder who hurt the most while Jesus was on the Cross? The Father or the Son?

You can't read the OT without raising your eyebrows a bit. When you read God ordered the death of certain person, or an entire nations, you wonder, is this really a Just God?

Do you think God relished the idea? Do you think for a second the Father of all creation was enjoying His justice. God is just. God has a just reason for every decision he makes, even when we cannot always understand them.

Many who have lost loved ones, children, spouses, friends, especially in a tragic way, question the justice of God. I don't think He takes that personally. It is during these times we have to have faith in the justice of God. God is just regardless of what happens to me, or to those I love. Only God can see the big picture. Only God knows some of the "whys" of life.

Before we move on to the next point it's important to know this: God cannot be bought off. God doesn't cut deals. God cannot be bribed. God cannot be argued with God cannot be lied too... He is just.

God will dispense justice to all creation regardless of what that justice means. For some it will mean eternity with Him, for others it will ultimately mean eternity without Him. God is just! Infinitely Just. There is never a time when God is capable of making a wrong decision.

II. God Is Infinitely Holy.

God is incapable of sin, or wrong, or error. There has never been a time and never can be a time when God is anything less than holy!

A.W. Tozer put it this way: "Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is the standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy."

Holy has the same root as wholly. It means complete.

God is whole - He is complete

The Word says of God... Isaiah 6:1-3 ~ Rev. 4:8 The only quality of God repeated 3 times!

Oswald Chambers said, "There is a danger of forgetting the Bible reveals, not first the love of God, but the intense blazing holiness of God, with his love as the center of that holiness."

The bible says - Revelation 15:4

	Is it any wonder Moses' face shone when he came down from the mountain?
	Can we understand why no one could see the face of God and live?
	Are we beginning to grasp why Moses was tucked away in the cleft of the rock and only allowed to see the back of God?
	Do we understand Isaiah "Woe Is Me"...I am a dead man for I have seen God.

Did you know the Scribes as they copied manuscript after manuscript, as they came upon the name of God "YHWH" would put their pen down, and bath? Then come back and write the name. I understand if the name appeared twice in a sentence, it was two baths... Why? God is holy.

It is when we grasp the holiness of God that we become acutely aware of our own unholiness. Our own need of His holiness.

God is holy...

Pakistani law used to state that anyone who was convicted of insulting the name of the prophet Muhammad would spend their life in prison. To us that may seem harsh, that is until in 1992, their Senate changed the law to impose the death penalty for such an offense. [National & International Religion report July 27.1992 p.6]

Extreme? As a nation we have forgotten God is Holy! We have forgotten God calls us to be Holy.

The bible says - 1 Peter 1:14

We are to be holy People. We are to be like God. It begins by realizing the Holiness of God It continues as we realize our holiness is only possible because he makes it so. Holiness cannot be regulated by rules expect what the Book says. Holiness cannot be written on a document and signed. Holiness cannot always be defined by asking, "Would Jesus do it"" Jesus went and hung out with drunks, gluttons and prostitutes" But we are too holy to do what our Holy Savior did... You figure that out...

It's far easier to live a holy life because the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us. We have a sense of right and wrong, of sin and righteousness We know... Now it's time to honor our holy God not only by knowing... But in our living as well.

God is holy... Could we accept anything less in a God. Can a Holy God accept anything less in us?

III. God Is Infinitely Good.

In all cases and in every situation God acts for the greatest good of the whole creation. I believe He does that for us as individuals as well. I'm glad, aren't you?

God is always looking to act in our best interests, for our best good.

The bible says there is only one who is good - Matthew 19:17

Look at three of the Psalms with me... 34:8; 86:5; 119:68

I don't suppose you need me to tell you how good God is. Most of you experience it every day. God has been good to all of us. We can really count our blessings.

He's saved us by the death of His Son. He's called us to Him. He's gifted us. He's given us each other, and most of the time, that is good. At least it's always just.

When Saul was killing Christians, God could have killed him, but God called him and put him to work - why, because God is good.

When Annanias and Sapphira lied he could have let them live, but he didn't. He took their lives, because it was in the greatest good for the Church to realize God did not want this kind of behavior from his children.

God is good. Be cautious here. Don't misunderstand. This doesn't mean that what we define as bad things will not come into our lives.

Bad things do happen. My dad died...God is still God. Wasn't his fault. I have two thousand dollars worth of dry-rot under my house - God is still good! The Chinese are threatening Taiwan - God is still Good.

Life may have sent you a couple of upper cuts when you weren't looking - they may be incredibly difficult to face, but you know, God is still Good.

One of the reasons I know God is good, is because even during the bad times, our good God walks beside us. He never leaves us or forsakes us, but hangs tightly to us.

I love that old prayer: "God is great, God is Good, let us thank Him for our food. Amen!"

IV. Personal Application.

The story is told of a small boy flying a kite high in the sky one April afternoon when a low drifting cloud encircled the kite and hid it from view. A passerby asked the little boy what he was doing with that string in his hand. "I'm flying my kite," the child responded.

The man, looking up and seeing only the cloud in an otherwise clear sky, said, "I don't see a kite up there anywhere."

"Mister," the little boy replied, "I don't see it either, but I know it's up there because every once in awhile there's a tug on my string."

Though often appearing foolish in an otherwise sophisticated world, I still cling to God and keep looking up...and every once in awhile...I feel the tug of an infinitely just, good, and Holy God.

Alan Walker is editor of The Preacher's Corner and Minister of Evangelism at the Mt. Vernon Church of Christ in Springfield, OR. He may be reached at adwalker@pond.net.

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