I invite you to turn with me tonight in the Old Testament to Psalm 5, Psalm 5, as we read that psalm together, in the New Testament to Romans chapter 6, as we read verses 8 through 23, considering specifically verse 23, and doing so in connection with Lord's Day 4. A lot of places for you to turn at this moment. Psalm 5, Romans 6, and also if you would turn to Lord's Day 4, page 11 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. The last Lord's Day in the first section with regard to the greatness of man's sin and misery. If we could turn our attention first of all to Lord's Day 4, reciting these answers together of questions 9, 10, and 11. Page 11 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. Question 9. But doesn't God do man an injustice by requiring in His law what man is unable to do? No. God created man with the ability to keep the law. Man, however, tempted by the devil, in reckless disobedience, robbed himself and his descendants of these gifts. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished? Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with, as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge, he punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. But isn't God also merciful? God is certainly merciful, but He is also just. His justice demands that sin committed against His supreme majesty be punished with the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul. Turning our attention to God's Holy Word, Psalm 5. Hear now the Word of God. Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation. You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil. With you, the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors. But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house. In reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies. Make straight your way before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted. Their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongue they speak deceit. Declare them guilty, O God. Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you be glad. Let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them that those who love Your name may rejoice in You. For surely, O Lord, You bless the righteous. You surround them with Your favor as with a shield. Romans chapter 6, where Paul speaks of being dead to sin and alive to Christ. And picking up at verse 8. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? By no means. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey Him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we travel the path of knowing the undeniable fact of the greatness of our sin and misery as we have been considering, we can't help but to notice that with all that we have considered so far in this first section of the catechism, it can be quite depressing. It can be quite depressing and cause one to ask, well, is it worth it? Is life worth living? Because it includes the hard truth that can drive one to utter hopelessness as if there is no way out. Yet, as we have maintained all along, the gospel will not truly be good news until one acknowledges their guilt and responsibility and hardly agrees with the just judgment of God. Then that good news is not simply good news, but to use our superlatives, it becomes the greatest news. And as we have also said, that is the path of the catechism. Remember, the catechism takes us on that journey, as it were. It starts out with the sinner being convicted of their sin and wanting, first of all, to blame God, as we considered last week. Well, is it God's fault? Did God create that man that way? No, He didn't. Well, are we that bad that we can't do any good? Yeah, that's pretty much how it is. And we see the complaints. We see the objections once again tonight in Lord's Day, chapter 4, all the way to the point where the sinner, the believer who is convicted of their sin and misery, comes to the point, is brought to the point by the power of the Holy Spirit where they acknowledge their sin and misery and that there's nothing they can do, that there's no hope for themselves outside of Jesus Christ. However, again, that path is filled with objections and complaints. The sinful heart challenges that hard truth because that heart is self-focused. That heart is selfish. And therefore, that which has wrong, the one who has committed the wrong, wants to accuse others of wrong. We find that in our relationships with each other, don't we? If someone is accusing you of wrong, especially when we're younger, hopefully we mature a little bit by the time we become adults and outgrow this somewhat. But especially as boys and girls when we're younger and somebody accuses you of doing something wrong, very quickly we want to shout back, yeah, but you, you did in order to justify oneself and justify one's actions as if what I did may be bad, but it's not as bad as someone else did. The one who commits the wrong wants to accuse others of doing wrong. And we also find that in our relationship with God. We see that as we consider the truth of God's justice and mercy. now knowing the truth that hard truth of ourselves as we have been considering knowing that we then may not like to hear of god's justice we may not i dare to guess we don't like to hear about god's justice we don't want to hear about what we deserve his mercy yes we want to hear about that but we don't want to hear about his justice however we are to be reminded we are to remember that his mercy is meaningless it does not exist apart from His justice. We see this in Romans 6, verse 23. For the wages of sin is death, God's justice, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's mercy. Now that verse, of course, is the climax. It's the summary of all that Paul has preached in this chapter. The context, again, is that he is addressing the church. He is talking to believers here. Those who were once alive in sin and dead to Christ, but are now dead in sin and alive to Christ. Those who are no longer slaves of sin, but are now servants of righteousness. And throughout this chapter, he contrasts sin and righteousness with the point that the two don't mix. In Christ Jesus, we have a new Master. And you cannot serve two Masters. You cannot be a slave to sin and a slave or a servant of righteousness at the same time. That's not saying that believers are not sinful, that believers do not sin. Paul addresses that in chapter 7, making it very clear that we do struggle with sin. But his point being, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot be tied to sin and tied to righteousness at the same time. You cannot be used of God, Jems, and used of Satan in the same way, at the same time. And with this text, Paul brings together both the justice and the mercy of God. The justice of God in death for sin. And the mercy of God in life through Christ. He brings them together, the justice and mercy of God, describing, first of all, what all men deserve. And secondly, what believers receive. First of all, as we consider the justice and mercy of God, what all men deserve for the wages of sin is death. Again, that's God's justice. But on this path again, it comes in the face of accusation. Question 9 says, But doesn't God do man an injustice by requiring in His law what man is unable to do? Remember, question 8 said we're unable to do any good. Okay, we get that. We acknowledge that. We're unable to, yet God says, do what is good. We're unable to, but He says, do what is good. Now that, to the sinful mind, is nothing less than injustice. My rights are violated. Certainly we have rights in this, don't we? You see, beloved, we don't complain when our rights are violated and it turns out to be for our good, when it turns out to be to our advantage. For example, when you and I receive something good that we did not deserve or when we do not receive something bad that we did deserve. Boys and girls, how many of you, if you know you deserve a punishment, if you've been promised a punishment, if you do something wrong, you did that something wrong and you have that punishment coming to you, How many of you, when your parents don't punish you, you go and say, Dear parents, you know, I have my rights. You promised me a punishment. And I would certainly like to receive that. Yeah, you do that? I don't know about that. Who of us does that? We don't complain when our rights are violated and it works out to our advantage. But we do complain when our rights are violated and we believe that it's to our disadvantage when we believe that it cheats us or deprives us in some way. But what about God's rights? What about God's rights? He deserves perfect love and obedience because He is holy. He is the only one really who has rights. He deserves it because He is holy. However, we are very good at ignoring that, aren't we? The true question ought to be, doesn't man do God an injustice by not giving Him what He is due? And the answer would begin, absolutely yes. But instead, the sinful man accuses. Sinful man says God is unfair. And God, of course, is accused of being unfair in many ways. He's accused of being unfair when it comes to the doctrine of election. For those who just can't quite grasp that and don't like that, they would say, well, what do you mean? A father who pampers a few of his children but disowns others? How can that be? That's injustice. Or those who would say, what about the countless heathen who have never heard the Gospel or who have never had the opportunity to hear the Gospel, yet God holds them responsible? How can that be? That's injustice on God's part. Or what about the godless who prosper? They have everything going well for them while believers struggle. That's not fair. That's injustice. These are all ways that many see God wronging man, but especially here, requiring of and holding man accountable for something that man is unable to do, like expecting a child to do a full-grown man or woman's work and then blaming that child because there's no way they can do it. It's not fair. How can that be? It's unjust. And therefore, there's a further question. Well, can't God have a heart? Can't He back off a little bit? Can't He just lighten up? You see, in a sense, that's the question of question 10. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished? In other words, can he just ignore it? Can he just let it go? Can he just turn away? That's what parents often do. Not keeping their word, especially when it comes to a warning for a punishment again and forgetting that punishment that is well-deserved. Yet, and the boys and girls will not like it that I say this, but that's not truly helpful to the child. It really promotes disobedience. And as parents, we must confess that we often do that. We often slacken up a bit because parents are sinful, but not God. You see, asking God to just turn His back on it, to just overlook it is asking Him to be less than He is. It's asking Him to break His Word. It's asking Him not to be God. And if God were to turn His back and not keep His Word, then we could never trust His Word about anything. We could never even trust His Word about Christ's work. It's impossible that He would turn His back because He is holy and pure and perfectly just. And it's because He will not turn His back. It's because He will not let sin go unpunished that we can trust Him for our salvation. He will not, He cannot and will not let sin go unpunished. He will uphold the truth of His Word that the wages of sin, His death, deserved by virtue of what is earned. Man was capable, answer 9 says, God created man with the ability to keep the law. As Genesis says again, when God created all things and especially man, He saw what He had made, it was very good, He said. Adam began his life in perfect harmony with God. He began it in perfect fellowship with God. He began it with perfect holiness and righteousness and obedience. When he fell, he knew it. He knew full well that he had blown it. That's why he went to hide. Yet in sin, when God drew him out, what did he do? He didn't confess his sin. He blamed everybody else, even God, the woman that you gave to me. The man was capable. He had the ability to perfectly obey God. But man willfully turned, as answer 9 says, Man, however, tempted by the devil in reckless disobedience, robbed himself and his descendants of these gifts. Reckless disobedience. Indeed, it was reckless to be sure. The older version of the catechism says willful disobedience. And I think that that's probably better. Reckless, I'm afraid, can give the impression that it was simply out of Adam's control and maybe it was accidental. But willful is more clear that it was knowing disobedience. It was deliberate disobedience. It was criminal. It was not involuntary manslaughter. It wasn't accidental. It was very much voluntary, even though he was tempted by the devil. Indeed, man's fall was Satan's goal, but Satan did not make Adam and Eve sin. Yet his temptation makes the fall more serious in a sense, because the devil's lie was not only blasphemous, but it was transparent. Adam and Eve, who had enjoyed fellowship with God, who knew God perfectly and intimately, should have seen right through Satan's lie, you will be like God? How could they even imagine that? They should have seen right through it. Man, Adam robbed himself and all of his descendants, all of mankind, of the good gifts with which God had made him, created him. And in doing so, man earned the wages that God said he would earn. In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Look, God was being fair. God is perfectly fair. He's not going back on His Word. He's keeping His Word. Now, wages is something that we understand very well. Even the boys and girls understand wages. Wages are earned. We do our work for the wage that has been promised to us. We have it coming to us. We have a right to be paid it. And we want our wages when it comes to money wages. Paul's analogy with regard to wages is interesting and understandable. And therefore, we must ask then, well, by nature, what is it that man earns? What is it that man has a right to? Only death. Well, those wages we don't want too much, do we? But only death. Death is the only earning power of sin. Sin makes life look attractive. Sin makes many false promises and guarantees, yet sin only delivers destruction. It only delivers hardship. It only delivers death. Death in all of its fullness. It began immediately with spiritual death. Hatred for and enmity with God. Broken fellowship with Him. Spiritual death destroys the peace of the soul and the contentment with God's provisions and love for others with which man was created. It makes one's conscience numb. And then physical death. Until Christ returns, all will experience physical death. Some young, some old, some in between. All will face physical death. And apart from new birth, eternal death. Answer 11 says, His justice demands that sin committed against His supreme majesty be punished with the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul. Beloved, God is just. He keeps His word. Question and answer 10 again. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished? Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge, He punishes them now and in eternity. he has declared cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them you know god is just he keeps his word and we may not like it but in the very same way god did not like the sin that man chose over him david understood this in psalm chapter 5 you are not a god who takes pleasure in evil with you the wicked cannot dwell the arrogant cannot stand in your presence you hate all who do wrong you destroy those who tell lies bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors those who say God hates the sin but loves the sinner are dead wrong that's not what the Bible says God hated the sin that man shows over him the sin of thought and word and deed doing what God forbids that's called sin of commission Committing what God said don't do. Failing to do what God commands. Sins of omission. Omitting to do what God said to do. In some sense, for believers, sins of omission are almost more dangerous in the sense that we find it easy to keep from literal, physical murder and adultery. We can check those off the list. We haven't committed those. Yet, at the same time, we easily neglect the positive side of the law. We easily neglect promoting our neighbor's good. We easily neglect glorifying God with a fruitful life. Because we're too busy making time for ourselves. Too busy putting ourselves first. What do all people deserve? Since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Since there is none righteous, no, not one, as Paul says in Romans 3. All deserve death. I deserve death. You deserve death. The second death, especially eternal punishment of body and soul. Make no mistake about it, that's what each and every one of us, young and old, deserves. The torment of hell. Eternal separation from the favor of God and in its place, the eternal presence of the wrath of God, which the Bible describes with horrendous imagery, the lake of fire. Can you imagine? Well, we can't really, but try to imagine being immersed in a lake of fire. Or that place where the worm does not die. That's how disgusting and dreadful it is. Or where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's the torment of hell. But that's justice on God's part. And that's perfectly fair for each and every one. Well, as the believer who is being convicted of their sin and misery is being convicted in such a way, then there's another question. But isn't God also merciful? We really notice the tone, as I tried to mention last week. The tone really changes from accusation to reaching out. But isn't God also merciful? And we know that the answer basically reminds us that we are not to play God's mercy off against His justice as if one cancels out the other, as if He can't be both at the same time. His mercy is seen, secondly, in what believers receive. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. For the wages of sin is death, God's justice. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's mercy. The most precious gift. And by its very nature, undeserved. A gift is the opposite of wages. A gift is something that you do not, you cannot earn. It is free. It is given. Boys and girls, a birthday gift may be expected. No doubt you expect, even as adults, we kind of expect a birthday gift, don't we? We kind of like that. A birthday gift may be expected, but it's not deserved. It's not earned. It's graciously given out of love. The highest expression of God's grace is the gift of eternal life. Life everlasting. And that is the believer's assurance. Even today, as Peter says in 1 Peter 1, we have a living hope. It is that inheritance that is kept for us safe in heaven. It's ours already today. And it's fullness to be enjoyed in God's glorious presence. without end, with no sin or no effects of sin, no sorrow, no tears, only perfect communion and harmony and fellowship with God, only perfect righteousness and holiness and obedience and worship given to God alone. With His will being my only desire and His glory being my only delight. And beloved, we may look forward to that eternal life with unshakable confidence. Again, as David says in Psalm 5, 11 and 12, But let all who take refuge in You be glad. Let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them that those who love Your name may rejoice in You. For surely, O Lord, You bless the righteous. You surround them with Your favor as with a shield. The shield of God Himself. We may look forward to this eternal life with unshakable confidence. Even as we are called upon to face death one day, we can do so because this gift can and shall never be taken away. It shall never be lost. Why? Because of God's justice met. Because of God's justice satisfied in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We know what all men deserve. We know what we deserve, but He perfectly fulfilled God's justice by bearing and enduring that supreme penalty, descending to the depths of hell in order to bring His own to the heights of heaven. He has taken all of our punishment for sin, every last bit of it, so that though God still disciplines His children in this life to mold us and shape us and to bring us back to Himself when we look away for a season, Yet, that is not punishment for sin for God's people because He does not punish twice. He only punishes sin once. It's been punished in Christ Jesus. And God's mercy, beloved, does not mean that He dropped His justice. It does not mean that He compromised His justice. It does not mean He lowered His standards. Not at all. His justice is completely satisfied as Jesus Christ paid for our sins and by His perfect righteousness, He earned for us. We earn death, but He earned for us eternal life. He is our firm foundation. And we have the confidence as we sang that soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to His foes. That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. Well, indeed, those words were written by man, but it's taken from God's Word, isn't it? That's the confidence that we have in our God through Jesus Christ. And He also secured for us a transformed life for His people as we are born again. As verse 2 of Romans 6 says, we have died to sin. As verse 22 says, but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life. The benefit you reap leads to holiness. The gift of eternal life and the assurance of owning that gift, beloved, encourages God's people to offer themselves as servants of righteousness to, in faith, in truth, say, Lord, use me. Please use me. Those who in the strength of the Holy Spirit can offer ourselves as living sacrifices not out of fear of failure. We don't strive to obey God's law out of fear of failure. But it's a delight because we face it with confidence that when I do fail, the blood of Jesus has already covered all of my sin. And it is our honor, it is our privilege to give our lives to Him and for Him. In the strength of the Holy Spirit, we can proclaim the good news and that today is still the day of salvation. Indeed, as we talk about God's mercy, God's mercy has been demonstrated throughout the ages with His people. We look back, especially in the Old Testament, to God preserving His people, to God coming to the aid, to the rescue of His people, even though they didn't deserve it. God's mercy has been seen throughout the ages with the world, His long-suffering, His patience. He still today, as one commentator says, provides bread for those who use their mouth to blaspheme Him. He fills with treasures the hands of those who use their hands to work iniquity. But that day will come, beloved, when those who have rejected Jesus Christ, they will face the fairness of God's justice. Again, as David says in verse 10 of Psalm 5, God will banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. they will receive what they and what you and what I all really deserve. On that day, God will not be unfair to them. He will be extremely fair. But for those who by the grace of God forsake themselves and look outside of themselves to Jesus Christ alone for salvation, we receive, in a sense, what's not fair for us. We receive the gift of God, eternal life. Beloved, God's mercy is seen in the truth of what man deserves. Because only when that is fully understood by the illumination of the Holy Spirit will one see how utterly hopeless they are and have their eyes open to see God's provision in Jesus Christ. That when God could have done nothing, He did everything for you and me. His justice has been satisfied and therefore His mercy flows to you and me because of what Jesus has done. The cross of Jesus shows both the justice and the mercy of God. It is a demonstration both of what man deserves and what believers receive as God's justice was poured out upon His only begotten Son as He took upon Himself the wrath of God against all of our sin and as God's mercy is seen. and that it is perfect, it is accepted for you and me. That's the power of the cross. So is life worth living? Absolutely. Because as Paul says, to live is Christ. It's worth living because we belong to Him. And we have life through the selfless love of Jesus Christ. Amen. Shall we pray together? Once again, O Lord, we come before You in this evening hour at the close of this service together. And as we do so, Father, with humility in our hearts, we do praise Your name for Your greatness, Your majesty, Your love. your mercy and indeed for your justice. We thank you, O Lord, that you did not go back on your word and therefore we might know that we can depend on all that you have said. We can depend on all of your promises being true. Yes and amen in Christ Jesus. We can depend all the days of our life and forever on the truth that we will live with you forever in the glory of your kingdom. one day when all of Your enemies will have been put away forever and ever and You take Your children home to be with You. Father, may we look forward to that day and until that day again we pray that You will continue to pour out Your love and Your mercy upon us and indeed make us usable servants of the Most High God to be used in Your service for as long as You give us the breath of life. Thank you, O Lord, for your precious gift to us. In Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.