Letters From Grandpa #548

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 548

Dearest grandchild,

Today we will have another letter about Judgment. Paul fills the first three chapters of Romans with evidence that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, or whether you have the Law or do not have the Law, all have sinned and are destined for damnation! To tighten the noose around our necks Paul reveals that “God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ.” (Romans 2:16) God not only knows everything we have “done” He also knows our “secrets” of sins we have wanted to do.

Again, the “Good News” is that we can be “Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24)

The late Don Smith was a personal friend who spent thousands of dollars on lawyers trying to get justice in a court of law. One day a friendly Judge took him aside and said: “Son, you don’t go to court to get justice, you go to court to get a verdict”. How sad! How true!

• The Jews took Jesus to court to get a verdict! They won! Jesus was innocent, but He was condemned. Barabbas was guilty but he was set free. Scarface Al Capone was a notorious gangster during the prohibition era. As the head of a crime family in Chicago he was guilty of bootlegging, bribery, robbery, and murder. He was believed to be responsible for the infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929 when seven members of a rival gang were murdered. Eventually he was declared public enemy
• 1 and yet he was walking the streets as a free man. It seems that he had bribed so many that he was untouchable. Walter Strong, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, argued to the F.B.I. that “Chicago was in the hands of the gangsters, and that the police and magistrates were completely under their control.” Unable to convict him for his gang for local crimes, he was ultimately sent to prison by federal police for tax evasion. In 1932, at the age of 33, he was finally sent to prison in Atlanta, Georgia. He had both syphilis and gonorrhea and his addiction to cocaine had perforated his nasal septum. In 1934 he was transferred to Alcatraz. He died January 21, 1947. Sadly, by this time his syphilis had attacked his brain and reduced his intellect that of a 12 year old.

U.S. Claims reported on unjust “verdicts” in September 2024: “Statistics reveal some disturbing truths about how many people are wrongfully convicted in the United States, with 233 exonerations in 2022 alone. Since 1989, the justice system has exonerated 3,175 people who were wrongfully convicted, collectively spending over 27,000 years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit. The average exoneree loses 16 years of their life to wrongful imprisonment, and 2022 saw record numbers of wrongful convictions. Specifically, how many people are wrongly imprisoned in the United States? Experts estimate that between 6% and 15.4% of people were wrongfully convicted. Given that approximately 2.3 million people are currently incarcerated, between 138,000 and 354,200 of those individuals may be wrongfully imprisoned at any given time.”

As we have previously pointed out: “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27) The only way you can escape your “appointment” with death is if you are alive when Jesus comes again! Note: “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you

that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Even thought you might escape death, you will not escape judgment: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

Now let us return to the saying about not going to court to get “justice” but to get a “verdict”. Since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, no rational person wants “justice”. What we really want is the “verdict” of “mercy”! David, who was guilty of both adultery and murder, prayed like this: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” (Psalm 51:1-13 kjv) MAY WE ALL SINCERELY SAY THE SAME PRAYER!

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce