by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
God does indeed love us all. He “so loved the world<\/em>” that He gave His only Son (John 3:16). But, did you notice that even though He loves all, many will “perish<\/em>“? Many will go to hell, even though God loves us all. You see, telling people that God loves them is not enough. We must tell people that justice is also a necessary part of goodness.<\/p>\n God cannot be absolutely good if there is no justice with Him. His justice is absolutely perfect. If we sin, and we all do, then God’s justice means we must be separated from God, Who is absolutely holy and perfect. However, mercy is also a part of perfect goodness.<\/p>\n If there were no mercy, there would be only justice, and we would all be forever separated from God’s pure goodness. Mercy is compassion. God is just and merciful! So, His love, justice, and mercy provided a way for you to come back into His favor or grace through the sacrifice of His Son. You are not automatically in His grace.<\/p>\n You have “access” to his grace (Romans 5:1-2), but you must seek and utilize that “access” route into <\/b>His grace. God loves you and wants you to return to His grace, but you must want it and access it properly.<\/p>\n God has provided a way out of condemnation, but you must take the way out. If you don’t, you remain under condemnation! This is why hearing and believing the gospel is so important. Three thousand came into grace and out from under condemnation in Acts 2:36-41. Have you taken advantage of “access into His grace<\/em>?” Be sure! God wants you to come into <\/b>His grace through faith. The 3000 in Acts 2:37-41 shows you how to access His grace through submissive faith. Obey His gospel the same way they did!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton God does indeed love us all. He “so loved the world” that He gave His only Son (John 3:16). But, did you notice that even though He loves all, many will “perish“? Many will go to hell, even though God loves us all. You see, telling people that God loves them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,523,65,519],"class_list":["post-82825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-grace","tag-justice","tag-love","tag-mercy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23275,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/confusing-mercy-with-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":82825,"position":0},"title":"Confusing Mercy with Justice","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford The other Sunday, I was approached by one of the younger sisters at church. She had a couple of questions. They involved hypotheticals that many of us have encountered before. What about the tribesman in the Amazon jungle who never gets to hear about the gospel?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Balance-Scale-300x236.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":94481,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/stop-trying-to-neuter-the-god-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":82825,"position":1},"title":"Stop Trying to Neuter the God of the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brad Harrub, Ph.D. Somewhere along the way, much of modern American Christianity decided that the best way to attract people to God was to soften Him and make everyone \"feel good.\" Sermons became filled with comforting thoughts, gentle encouragements, and repeated reminders that \"God loves you.\" Churches highlight the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29648,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-justice-requires\/","url_meta":{"origin":82825,"position":2},"title":"What Justice Requires","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Micah 6:6-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The concept of justice is rarely applied evenly. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Justice is the quality of being right or proper. It carries the idea of fair and equal treatment. There is no favoritism with justice. People get what they deserve. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People want justice when they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38530,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-desire-for-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":82825,"position":3},"title":"The Desire for Justice","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Justice is an idea that is not made of materials. It is not something we can physically hold, scientifically measure, or weigh with scales. It is conceptual, grasped only by the mind, and based upon an even more foundational notion about right and wrong, good and bad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-god-of-mercy\/","url_meta":{"origin":82825,"position":4},"title":"My God of Mercy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several years ago I taught High School math and science in a private school \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As happens occasionally, one student copied from another and turned in the assignment. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The school\u2019s policy was to give zero grades to both the cheater and the one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83332,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-goodness-and-severity-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":82825,"position":5},"title":"The Goodness and Severity of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim Mickells via Biblical Insights, Vol. 14, No. 9, September 2014 \"Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness,\u00a0if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off\" (Romans 11:22). It seems that many, if not most,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}