The Broken Law Demands Punishment — E.A. Johnston

The title of my message this morning friends is The Broken Law Demands Punishment. This is a solemn sermon, and it comes with a warning not to perish in your sins and be sent to the burning regions of hell for all eternity.

The Golden Calf and Israel's Rebellion

I want to read us a passage of scripture, friends, which I believe depicts the broken law of God through sin. This passage is a vivid illustration of how God views sin and the transgression of his holy law.

This passage is found in the book of Exodus. You can turn your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in chapter 32. It's about the rebellious Jews and their worship of the golden calf. Let me read us a striking passage of scripture to us at this time.

And it is my prayer that the Spirit of God will attend the reading of his holy word. Here now is the word of God. And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand.

The tables were written on both their sides. On the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

Let me pause here, friends. For young Joshua was right. There was a war in the camp of the Israelites. It was war against Almighty God through their grievous departure from God in sin, in a drunken orgy of flagrant and provoking sin.

Now allow me to return to our text. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing, Do I hear?

And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the sheep dancing. And Moses's anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.

I will stop there. Picture that terrible scene in your minds, friends—the molten calf, the rebellious people of God, the angry leader of the people of God, and the broken law of God. I want to address you now, friends, how God views sin by the breaking of His law, and that His law is strict, and His law is severe, and God is holy, and He must punish sin.

Christ's Cross and the Punishment of Sin

If you don't believe that, go take a look in the Bible, and see Jesus on the cross. See how His hands and feet are fastened there by nails, and see His precious blood as it runs down that wooden cross.

That cross had His blood all over it, because of sin—my sins, your sins, our filthy, rotten sins. See how God turned His face away from His beloved Son, when Christ became sin for us. The sentencing of the law must be carried out.

When I was on jury duty, I sat in court and listened to the attorney bring forth his evidence against the accused criminal, and the jury made their decision based on the evidence presented. A verdict was given to the judge, who sat on that bench of authority.

Guilty was the verdict, and the judge then pronounced the sentence for the crime committed because the sentencing of the law must be carried out. As a human judge must punish the criminal for the crime through imprisonment or death, so too, friends, must the judge of all the earth be true to his nature, and punish the sinner who breaks a strict and severe law.

Final Judgment and the Guilt of Every Sinner

Hell is the prison that awaits the guilty sinner who has broken the law of God. Listen to me, friend. This world, it's just a sinking ship, broken up on the rocks of time. There's a coming day of judgment that awaits all mankind, and there the judge of all the earth will sit on a holy white throne, and books will be opened, cases will be reviewed, evidence will be presented.

Every single member of the human race will stand before that judge as a guilty rebel without excuse. God demands perfection to get into his holy heaven, and no man is perfect. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

If you stand there in your own marriage, friend, and your life is lined up against the strict law of God, you will fail that test and be sent to a devil's hell. Listen to me, friend, and listen to me closely.

Christ as the Sin Substitute

I know I'm a sinner, and I need a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ, and so do you, friend, so do you. The broken law demands punishment for sin. Hell is a chamber of horrors to all guilty souls locked up in there, in that region of terrible flames.

Moses broke the tables of stone because the people broke God's law by their orgy of grievous sin, and thousands were immediately slain by the sword and cut off from this earth. If you have never seen yourself as a big sinner who deserves hell, then your self-righteousness will send you to hell, even if you are the chairman of the deacons.

Repentance and God's Abundant Pardon

Listen to me, friends, you're not a sinner because you sin, rather you sin because you're a big sinner. Repent immediately, friend, and turn from your wicked ways, and seek an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the remedy for sin.

Listen to this gospel, please. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Amen. Let us pray.