Law & Order... and It's Many Spin-Offs
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
“There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit and confessing sin as a child.” – C.H. Spurgeon
We’ve all seen this courtroom drama played out on our TV screens, whether it be a live broadcast of an actual arraignment or a reenactment as part of a fictional television series such as Law & Order (or one of its many spinoffs).
“How do you plead?” the judge asks the defendant.
Usually, the response is a defiant, “Not guilty!”
However, in a relatively few cases, the accused person looks sheepishly downward and replies in a quiet whisper, “Guilty, your honor.”
When a guilty plea is entered and accepted, there is no need for a trial. The judge or the jury simply skips over that process and goes straight to the sentencing phase.
Now imagine that the person who pleads guilty is a career criminal with dozens of “priors”, meaning that he or she has broken the law so many times that they are considered to be a habitual offender. In such a case, you would expect the sentence to be extremely severe, perhaps as harsh as life behind bars without the possibility of parole.
However, what if the defendant was the judge’s son? Do you think he would extend a bit more leniency?
That is the point that Charles Spurgeon is making in today’s quote. Someday, we will all stand before Jesus Christ – either at the Judgment Seat for believers or the Great White Throne Judgment for unbelievers. For believers, the guilty verdict will be erased and replaced with a not guilty one. Better yet, instead of a harsh sentence being handed down from the bench, eternal rewards will be bestowed.
Tragically, for the unbeliever, the only possible verdict will be “guilty as charged” and the only acceptable sentence will be eternity in hell, forever separated from God.
Between now and then, it is best to confess our sins in “real time” as they occur, knowing that our Heavenly Father will forgive, forget, and restore. As Spurgeon once said, “We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.”
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
