I wasn’t able to watch the PPV show of the fight since I preached at our church in Victory Pioneer. Just finished watching the fight today and have read commentaries on the controversial win of Manny Pacquiao over Juan Manuel Marquez.
The most important lesson I’ve learned which is actually a spiritual one.
IT IS THE JUDGE’S DECISION.
This in not a blog to say who won or who I think lost. I think I can’t say since I am not a judge and I don’t have the statistics to prove if Marquez hit more than Manny.
Marquez might have felt cheated so did the thousands of people who saw the fight. So as I review the fight, it seems like Marquez really should have won.
BUT the point is I am not the judge and it is only the judge’s decision that matters. I can rant, blog, tweet, write an article about the decision but it won’t change the outcome.
The fight is like our relationship with God. God is the judge.
Revelation 20:12 ESV And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Even if we feel that we deserve to be judged favorably because of our own good works and moral behavior – the judge says it is not good enough.We were declared spiritually bankrupt, click here to read the blog on spiritual bankruptcy.
Hebrews 9:27 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
One day we will face the judge. We might say we deserve to win. We deserve God’s blessing. We deserve heaven but the gospel declared otherwise:
Rom. 3:10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
Rom. 3:11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
Rom. 3:12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”And to put the nail in the coffin:
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY.
Man has been carrying God’s judgment on him the moment he disobeyed God. Guilty as charged. We have fallen short of God’s justice and we deserve His wrath.
BUT the verse does not end in verse 23. Just like the Pacquiao and Marquez fight, the ending had a twist.
Romans 3:24-30
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Let’s look at some key phrases in this verse:
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
We have been justified freely by what? By God’s grace through Christ’s redemption at the cross. It means that soembody paid for the penalty of our sin.
God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness.
God made Jesus as the payment of God’s wrath over man’s sin and rebellion. We deserved death, punishment and hell and we were guilty as charged but Christ paid for our sin and took our place at the cross.
that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Since God is just, He must punish sin. That is the problem. We all have sinned against God and we deserve punishment because God is just. If He does not punish sin then He becomes an unrighteous judge.
On the other side of the coin, God is love and He wants to save us from the punishment of our sin. So what did he do?
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He gave us the greatest gift of all – His Son Jesus. Through Christ we receive forgiveness and eternal life. Instead of eternal condemnation, he paid the penalty of our sin and made us righteous and holy because of Christ’s death at the cross.
The Judge send his one and only son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin. The judge that was supposed to give us a one way ticket to hell gave His Son so that we can experience eternal life in Christ. Instead of fearing the eternal judgment of God we can now be assured of his everlasting love for us.
Just like Pacquiao, we might feel like we’ve lost- but it is not our feeling but the judge’s decision.