For our scripture reading this morning, turn with me to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7. I'd like to begin at verse 11 instead of verse 20 as I had indicated in the bulletin. Hebrews 7 beginning at verse 11, reading through the chapter. And then also we consider this morning the first Lord's Day in the second section of the Catechism dealing with deliverance from sin and misery. Lord's Day 5, which you find printed on the insert in a bulletin. One side has the outline for this morning's sermon. On the other side we find the Catechism questions and answers printed there for us. First we read together Hebrews 7, beginning at verse 11. You will recognize that the writer of Hebrews has been talking about Melchizedek, the high priest. And then we begin at verse 11. If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, for on the basis of it the law was given to the people, why was there still need for another priest to come? One in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron. For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe. And no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry, but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect. And a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever. Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now, there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak. But the oath which came after the law appointed the Son who has been made perfect forever. Then if you would turn to that insert where we find questions 12-15 of Lord's Day 5 as I read the questions and we confess together what we believe by reciting the answers. Question 12 then asks, Since then, by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment. Is there no way by which we may escape that punishment and be again received into favor? God will have His justice satisfied. Therefore, we must make full satisfaction to the same, either by ourselves or by another. But can we ourselves make this satisfaction? By no means. On the contrary, we daily increase our debt. Can there be found anywhere a mere creature able to satisfy for us? None. For first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man has committed. And further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it. What manner of mediator and deliverer then must we seek? One who is a true and righteous man and yet more powerful than all creatures. That is, one who is with all true God. Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ, together we have traveled down that path of our sin and misery as we have previously considered the first section of the Catechism. Being reminded of the reason we suffer this depraved condition and just how bad it is. We suffer it because of ourselves. It's our fault. And we are totally depraved. And although the Catechism's biblical treatment of man's sin and misery is the shortest section of the Catechism, only nine questions and answers, it's been a long and difficult road because sometimes the truth is hard to take. Sometimes the truth hurts. Yet, it's a very necessary road. Yes, we sit here this morning together as a church building full of professing Christians with our children. Many of us have grown up in the faith. There's not a day for most of us in which we cannot remember being taught at least that Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But that doesn't mean that we may dive into Scripture's teaching of deliverance from sin and misery until we have first been reminded why we need it. If we are not reminded of our urgent need, then like much of what calls itself church today, we face the danger of forgetting why we need the kind of deliverer that we need. And I believe, congregation, that it's when we fail to preach about man's sin and misery, as hard as that may be to preach it, when we fail to do that, we begin to question the teaching of God's Word about redemption and how that took place and how that needed to take place. And it's then that man fabricates in his mind alternative ways of salvation. Boys and girls, I used to be a salesman. And he used to sell metal, copper, and brass in long sheets and strips. And I would call on customers that were called metal fabricators. They would take this metal and they would bend it. They would twist it. They would shape it. They would poke holes in it whatever they needed to do to fabricate whatever part they wanted to make. And that's what I'm talking about here. Man fabricates in his mind. He takes Scripture and twists it. bends it does whatever he has to do with it pokes holes in it to make it fit his way so that he comes up with alternative ways of salvation the truth is in order to truly rejoice in the god of our salvation we must first hit bottom now we're used to that phrase when it comes to say an alcoholic or or a drug addict or maybe one who has a gambling problem or or some other difficulty that they will only see their need when they have first hit bottom. That is, only when they understand how severe their problem is and that their hope is beyond them. It's only when the elect child of God hits bottom in the knowledge of his sin and misery that he can truly confess how sweet the name of Jesus sounds. It's only when we truly understand our spiritual condition, our spiritual need by the illumination of the Holy Spirit that we will also look for hope and that's the beauty of the Christian faith isn't it it alone gives hope of course all other religions promise freedom in some way shape or form but only Christianity the faith of the Bible and faith in the God of the Bible truly delivers that freedom and that's because the hope of scripture is a A living hope, as Peter says. Beloved, the darkness that had set on our sin and misery as we traveled through that first section of the Catechism, that darkness reminding us that we are the ones to blame, throwing away all of our excuses, that darkness begins to be illumined by the shining hope that there is a way out. Now, Lord's Day 5 does not yet introduce to us Jesus Christ by name. We come to that in Lord's Day 6. But Lord's Day 5 leads us on one more necessary biblical journey to understand what kind of a Savior we need. And therefore, we consider this truth I preached to you this morning, the hope of salvation earned by satisfaction. And we want to notice, first of all, the necessity of satisfaction. Secondly, the impossibility of satisfaction. And then thirdly, the possibility of satisfaction. After challenging God's Word and God's very being and His demand in Lord's Day 4, and having once again exhausted all of our arguments and challenges as to why we should not be to blame, then finally the believer asks in question 12, Since then, by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment. Is there no way by which we may escape that punishment and be again received into favor? Congregation, that is a beautiful question. finally, by the grace of God and admission of guilt. This question alone includes these things, a confession of guilt before God, a prayer for relief from God, and a desire for fellowship with God. And these things are evidence of a broken spirit and a contrite heart which God will not despise, as the psalmist says. This question shows the reality of understanding by God's grace one's fatal condition that in sin one is separated from God. You see, a true knowledge of sin must lead one to repentance. Of necessity, it must. It must lead one to surrender to the truth. One who is convicted of his sin and misery no longer tries to make excuses and run away from God, but instead runs to God. The only source of hope crying with the publican, God have mercy on me, a sinner. So now I ask you, after having previously examined the previous three Lord's Days dealing with sin and misery, can each one of us make that confession? God, be merciful to me, a sinner? Has our time in Scripture's teaching through those Lord's Days been fruitful by God's grace? Because congregation, if you can't make that confession, you can't move forward. You will not move forward. And in order to answer that question, maybe you only need to examine how you deal with adversity. Is your response to difficult times and situations, why me? I don't deserve this. Or is it why not me? God knows best. This seems good to Him. He never makes a mistake. And I would never want to change what He has determined for my life. But this confession of guilt is also a confession of God's righteousness, that His judgment is right and true and that I deserve temporal and eternal punishment. Congregation, to confess that, is to be set free from pride and to be set free from the lie, as well to be set free from conceitedness. It is to be set free from myself to gaze upon the righteousness of God, praying for relief. is there no way by which we may escape that punishment? In other words, as we learned previously, God's justice demands eternal punishment of body and soul, but is there any way out? You see, based on what we've learned so far about God's justice, we might think that that question is completely out of line. We learn that there is no escape. There is no other way out than through the valley of extreme, everlasting punishment of body and soul. Yet our God is a God of hope, isn't He? The psalmist in Psalm 142, verse 5 says, I cried out to You, O Lord. I said, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. This is a prayer for God to make the impossible possible. That which is impossible for us. It is a prayer for a miracle in order to once again be received into fellowship with God. You see, it's not possible. to be truly convicted of sin and pray for relief, but then not desire fellowship with God. That's not possible. That would be nothing more than spiritual selfishness. The rich man in the parable of the rich man of Lazarus was like this. We read that in Luke 16, verses 19-31. Boys and girls, ask your parents to read that to you today. Maybe at your dinner devotions. And we notice that we know what it says. Lazarus was a beggar. He had nothing. He ate nothing but table scraps. When he died, no one noticed. There was no pomp or circumstance, no big processional for his funeral, but his soul was carried to Abraham's bosom to heaven. The rich man had everything he could ever want. When he died, there was a huge procession for him for his funeral. His soul went straight to hell. But by reading that, we also notice that even in hell, the rich man did not repent. Even in hell. In his selfishness, of course, he wanted a little relief for his tongue, that drop of water, but nothing more. And his motivation for his brothers was not to send Lazarus back to warn them, to bring them to God, to have fellowship with God, first of all. That was not his motivation, but that they might escape hell. That they might not come to this terrible place. The people of God, the highest good for the sinner is to be restored to fellowship with God Himself. And that's what salvation is all about. Sin separates. Salvation reunites. And our interest is not to be in God's gifts, first of all, but in God Himself. Because you cannot separate the gift from the giver. In Exodus 33, we read that Moses would not be satisfied with anything less than the presence of the Lord Himself to lead Israel into Canaan. We read in verse 15, Then he, that's Moses, said to him, the Lord, If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. Because Moses knew that it would be better to be in the desert, in the wilderness, with God, than to be in the land flowing with milk and honey without God. And that's also what makes heaven so wonderful, isn't it? We read about the beauty of heaven in Scripture, the streets of gold, the gates of pearl, the sea of crystal, but that's not what makes heaven so wonderful, but that God Himself is there. And that too was the comfort of the criminal on the cross. As Jesus said, today you will be with Me in paradise. Well, how can that fellowship be restored? Answer 12 makes it clear that the only way our sin can be dealt with is through satisfaction. God will have His justice satisfied. Therefore, we must make full satisfaction to the same, that is to God, either by ourselves or by another. God will have His justice satisfied. Now this at first may seem harsh to the repentant sinner. One who is sorry for his sin. But again, the fact of the matter is satisfaction is necessary. That means that the debt must be paid down to the very last penny as we sometimes say. And what is that debt? That debt is death. But God's demand for satisfaction certainly isn't new in the New Testament. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament demonstrated this necessity. A satisfaction, to give it a dictionary definition, means to do enough. To make sufficient. To comply with a certain demand. Boys and girls, it means to make things right. Now think about it. When you are satisfied, that means that you are content because everything is fine. Nothing is out of place. Everything is where it ought to be. With God, everything must be made right. It must be put back into place. And again, this is hard news for you and me after learning about the severity of our sin and misery, that it's our fault. This is like pushing a drowning person right back into the deep water. But this is also God's way of pointing us to the right way. Pointing us to the only way. When one is satisfied, that means that nothing is lacking. If you owe someone money, maybe you can't pay it back. They might forgive the debt. They might say, that's okay, just forget about it. But it's never really forgotten because they can always hang that debt over your head in the future. But when God's justice is satisfied, that means nothing is lacking. Everything is in place. It means, as He says in His Word, that He will not remember our sins. And as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. We hold things over each other's head. We indeed say we forgive, but we have a hard time forgetting. We like to keep that sin against us tucked in our back pocket as a trump card to pull it out just at the right moment and stick it in another's face if the opportunity arises. But those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God will never have to worry about their sin being used against them. Again, I say it for the third week in a row, God is just. He will not punish our sin twice. But this does not mean that we may sin intentionally, that we may go on sinning so that grace may abound, as Paul addresses. It does not mean that we don't have to worry about how we are to live. One who has that kind of an attitude is a demonstration of one who is not redeemed. But you see, those who are born again, those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, those who know their sin and misery, their salvation from it, desire to live according to the law of God. They're very conscious about how they live. They are very concerned about what they do and what they say. They desire to live in gratitude according to the law of God. Notice that this answer, as it speaks of the fact that God will have His justice satisfied, it doesn't jump automatically to the comfort of John 3, which tells us, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. And a bit later, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. It doesn't jump right to that portion of Scripture. Because first, we need to be taught, each and every one of us, that no one can escape. No one can escape. There's absolutely no room for any sort of self-redemption. And as one commentator says, God does not place grace instead of justice, but grants grace through justice. And that's what Isaiah 1 verse 27 teaches. Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her penitence with righteousness. God will have His justice satisfied. Now, congregation, again, that may seem harsh to some, But that may be of extreme comfort to you and me as believers because we ought not desire anyone who would settle for anything less than perfection. God will not settle for anything less, which means that God's people will not receive anything less than perfection in the life to come. But in order for God to be satisfied, He must approve of the way of satisfaction. And what is that way? As Ezekiel says in chapter 18, the soul whose sins shall die. But again, before jumping to John 3, we must be taught that certain requirements must be met in order to be approved of God. Yes, we are given that glimmer of hope. Therefore, we must make full satisfaction to the same either by ourselves or by another. The writer of the catechism indeed makes it seem to us that there is the possibility there. That's our glimmer of hope. But again, before we find that hope, that hope will now become real until we first understand the impossibility of satisfaction. Now we need to admit that after hearing an answer like that, that God will have it satisfied either by us or someone else, that the natural place to start is to ask, as question 13 does, but can we ourselves make this satisfaction? Can I do it? Is that possible? You see, it's hard for us to declare bankruptcy. To say that we can't pay our debts is to lose respect in the eyes of men. But notice the catechism doesn't mince words. It answers, by no means. On the contrary, we daily increase our debt. Before the flood, we read in Genesis 6, verse 5, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In other words, the evil in man never rested. And Job describes man as abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water. But then Hebrews 7 verse 26 describes what is necessary. One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. We owed God perfect righteousness, holiness, and obedience. But the truth is we gave Him zero, even negative righteousness, holiness and obedience in and of ourselves and the truth is beloved that even if we could be perfect and indeed were perfect from this moment on for the rest of our lives we could not pay our back debt to God we can't do it daily we add to that sin we know that there are those who believe that they can pay back this debt to God in some small way. Many falsely believe that through a spiritual installment plan of some sort that they are able to do their part to satisfy God. But it doesn't matter how many prayers one says, how much one gives to the church or to missions or to the Christian school or how many poor people you help or how many good things you do. All of that counts nothing towards satisfying God. Of course, those things are expected and are the desire of one who is born again. But even those good works are as filthy rags stained with sin. Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. And nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling. It is impossible for me to satisfy God even in the tiniest little bit. But what about another? The catechism also says that maybe that's a possibility. What about another? Well, question and answer 14. Can there be found anywhere a mere creature able to satisfy for us? None. For first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man has committed, and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it. You see, beloved, man sinned, therefore man must pay. Animals are not approved by God. They did not offend God. They will not satisfy Him. Yes, He required animal sacrifices in the Old Testament to serve as substitutes, but what were they? They were symbolic. The blood of lambs and bulls and goats pointed forward to the blood of the Lamb of God. Those Old Testament sacrifices did two things. They demonstrated the seriousness of sin and also the mercy of God. Those animal sacrifices demonstrated to the people that there must be death and the shedding of blood to satisfy God's wrath. But as the writer of Hebrews in chapter 10 says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. The punishment was to be extreme, everlasting punishment of body and soul. Well, practically speaking, animals don't have a soul. They won't do. But angels won't do either. Angels are creatures of God, but they don't have bodies. The soul that sins, it shall die, and that is man. Now again, today we know there's much blame shifting, even in a court of law. If one who is really guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, we know he's guilty, yet the defense attorney continues to try to shift the blame while he's a product of his society. It's the way he was raised. It's what happened to him when he was growing up. So much blame shifting. We are to blame. Man sinned. Therefore, man must pay. But also, one mere man isn't sufficient to take the place of another man. One man, you or I, we cannot pay for our own sins, let alone pay for the sins of our neighbor. Ezekiel also says, the son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. And therefore, it's no use looking to the heroes of faith recorded in Hebrews 11. They won't do. It's a waste of time looking to our Hall of Famers or to all of the great men and women in the eyes of the world. They won't do. Paul says in Romans 11, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who does good or seeks after righteousness. All of the gold and silver and precious jewels and precious things of this earth would not be sufficient to save one soul from sin. In fact, Peter says that those things are perishable. The things that we give such a high value to. Only the blood of Jesus is imperishable. If one of us were to spend a million years in hell, that would not finish the atonement for our sins before the sight of God. The gap between the sinners that we are in and of ourselves and the saints that we are supposed to be, that gap is so great that not all of the bridges man can build could be put together end to end to bridge that chasm. People of God, indeed, the hope of salvation is earned by satisfaction, but where is that hope? For man, it is utterly impossible. No mere creature, for any creature, it is impossible, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin and deliver us from it. Question and answer 15. What manner of mediator and deliverer then must we seek? One who is a true and righteous man and yet more powerful than all creatures that is one who is with all true God. There's our hope. There is a possibility of satisfaction. It takes a miracle. But that doesn't cause the child of God to fear because we serve the God of miracles. Jesus said, This is impossible, but with God all things are possible. This Lord's Day congregation begins by looking for a means of escape. Is there any way to escape? but ends by seeking a mediator and deliverer. Only a man who is sinless can fulfill God's perfect requirements and only a man who is also God has the power and is able to endure God's justice and wrath. We need a priest with power of an indestructible life, as Hebrews 7 verse 16 says, and such a one God is satisfied with. Again, this is the one that Hebrews 7, 26 and 27 describes. Such a high priest meets our need. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priest, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day. First for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. Congregation, only one who is able to say unequivocally, I have done all that God commands, without a doubt, only that one will God receive. Beloved, not only is God's satisfaction, His being satisfied, not only is that possible, it's actual. It has been accomplished. As those who live on this side of Calvary, we have this confidence by grace through faith because Jesus Christ is the perfect mediator who bridges that gap between God and His people and lives to make intercession for us. He is the one who has delivered His people from the curse of sin. He has paid the debt down to the last cent. He is the one who is our living and eternal hope who is and is to be our heart's desire. You know very well that we live in a day when we are called to be tolerant of the teachings and religious beliefs of others, including how to be saved, that there are other ways of salvation. After all, how dare we close the doors of heaven to those who believe differently than we do, yet they are sincere in their beliefs, no matter who it is they might pray to. How could we be so intolerant? Yet, beloved, in truth, Scripture is intolerant. There's only one way to be saved. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. We need to be brought down this necessary path to see our complete bankruptcy and inability to satisfy God. And any thought that someone or something less than God can accomplish this necessary satisfaction, any thought of that must be removed and destroyed immediately. Because only when we understand that by faith, only when we understand that there's only one way to the Father, which is by grace through Jesus Christ, only then will we cling to His cross. Beloved, I pray how clear this message is, even to the boys and girls here this morning. There's only one way. Have you found it by the grace of God? If you haven't, then you are warned that all other roads lead to hell. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved in the name of Jesus. What a comfort for God's people. There is a way out. There is a way of escape. Jesus Christ. And we may live in the certainty that God is satisfied with those who are hidden safely in the cleft of the rock of ages. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, indeed, even in our study of recent weeks, You have brought us down this road which by Your grace we have been brought down before to understand our sin and misery, but also to be given that hope that there is a way of escape only through Jesus Christ. O Lord, may we never question You as to why You did not determine to give a multitude of ways to be saved that others might find it easier to come to the Father. But that we might be content to ask, O Lord, why did You even provide one way? We thank You for that. And there is no way more easy than to come through Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice. Oh, Heavenly Father, may this joy well up in our hearts. May this joy give us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. May this joy be that which we express in our thoughts, words, and actions even every day of our lives. We thank You, Father, for this precious hope that You have given to Your people so freely. So graciously. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.