Good News For Today 14 Author Unknown – The Judge Illustration (5:27 min).
Hello, I’m David Hibbert, and I’ve got some good news for you!
Here’s how one man explained the gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s say you were driving home this weekend, but you were going too fast. You were going 110 mph in a 60 zone. A police officer catches you, impounds your car, and brings you straight to the courthouse to face the judge. Well, the good news is that the city you got arrested in just happens to be the city in which your father is the judge. So you think that everything is going to be okay. Your father loves you, so he’ll let you off with just a warning. But just as you enter the courthouse, you remember that your dad is also a very just judge. He never punishes the innocent, but he always punishes the guilty. He is a good and just judge. So you get nervous, and you begin to wonder … Which is going to win out, your father’s love, or your father’s justice. He’s your dad and he loves you, so he will want to do good to you. But he’s also just, and therefore he’ll want to follow the law and render a just verdict. So what will he do, and which will win out – love or justice? So you stand before your dad the judge, and he says to you, “Son, this officer says you were going 50 mph over the speed limit. How do you plead?.” And because you were indeed guilty, you say “guilty”. So your father the judge looks at you and says, “Guilty as charged. That will be $500, or a week in jail.” Well, you don’t have any money, so the bailiff comes to take you away so you can start serving your time. Suddenly, your dad, the judge stands up and says, “Wait a minute, bring him back here.” Then he stands up, takes off his robe, and walks down from behind the bench. Then he reaches into his coat pocket, takes out his checkbook, and writes the court a check for $500, the exact amount of your fine. Then he offers it to you. Why did he do that? Your dad is a just judge, so he had to declare you guilty, since you are. And as a just judge, he demands that a penalty be paid. But because he is also your father who loves you, and he knows that you cannot pay the fine, he decides to pay that penalty himself, on your behalf. And as he stands there offering you the check, you must either accept his payment for your crime, or take the punishment yourself. This is a great illustration of what God has done for us. You see, God is completely loving, but He is also completely just. He loves us completely, and He always has. He cannot love us any more, and He will not love us any less. But God is also completely just. He always renders a just verdict, and He always does the right thing. Everyone one of us has broken his laws, and so we are all guilty before him. So should God’s love win out, so that He lets us off, or should His justice win out, so that He demands a penalty be paid? The Bible says that God declared us guilty, because we are, and demanded that a penalty be paid. But the penalty for our sin was not just a $500 fine. The Bible says that the penalty for sinning against a holy and righteous God is the death penalty. So God left heaven, came to earth, became a man, and died to pay our penalty. That is the price He had to pay – death with His own life, on our behalf. Then God comes to each one of us, and offers his life on our behalf. Just like your father with the check, God stands before you and says, “I’ll take the blame for every rotten thing you’ve ever done, and I’ll give you the credit of my perfect life. All you need to do is accept it.” And the choice you make, determines whether you accept His payment for your sins, or you choose to pay for your own sins, with your own life. I encourage you to accept God’s payment for your sins today. And that’s your Good News For Today!
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