Is God Being Fair?

1. 0:00Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 4.
2. 0:12But 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.
3. 0:24Man, however, at the instigation of the devil, in willful disobedience, robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.
4. 0:33Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
5. 0:38Certainly not.
6. 0:40terribly angry with the sin we are born with, as well as our actual sins.
7. 0:45God will punish them by a just judgment both now and in eternity, having declared, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all things written in the book of the law."
8. 0:58But isn't God also merciful?
9. 1:00God is certainly merciful, but he is also just.
10. 1:04His justice demands that sin committed against his supreme majesty be punished with the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul.
11. 1:17We're working our way through the teaching of the catechism.
12. 1:20We've come to Lord’s Day 4 and it's teaching on misery.
13. 1:25This is the last of the three Lord's Days that deal with our misery.
14. 1:30The purpose of this Lord’s Day is to ensure we get it, we acknowledge it, and we understand that we cannot get around it.
15. 1:39Each of the questions and answers in Lord’s Day 4 have kind of a character of "but, but God, but why not this?"
16. 1:49or "but God, that's not fair." And the questions almost sound impertinent, the questions almost sound disrespectful, They're important questions for us to ask, even if we ask them in a sense of despair,
17. 2:07because they're leading us to answers that will help us to know and to bring us to confess our dependence upon Christ alone, our only comfort in life and in death.
18. 2:19The first objection in question and answer nine, doesn't God do man an injustice by requiring in his law what man is unable to do?
19. 2:29It doesn't seem fair.
20. 2:30God says, "Love me with all of your heart, soul, mind, "and strength," and we're taught to confess we don't, and we can't, and we're not interested.
21. 2:38We simply don't have the ability and it seems unfair. So our objection is saying to God, "Lord, you're asking of us what there's no way we can provide." It's like asking to get blood from a stone or
22. 2:51asking a fish to walk down the street or a cow to fly. But I think we're seeing it wrong and the catechism is helping us to see that God has created us with the ability to keep the law,
23. 3:03we have robbed ourselves of that ability.
24. 3:06So our inability is a reality, but we are responsible for our inability.
25. 3:14It would be kind of like a drunk driver, a drunk driver saying, "You know what?
26. 3:19I'm not responsible for all of those cars I mowed down as perhaps even injured somebody along the way I'm not responsible because I was simply incapable of driving properly I was under the influence of alcohol
27. 3:35Now it may be true. He was incapable of driving properly, but he is responsible for his inability and that's what the Bible is teaching us with regard to our creation in God's image
28. 3:47God created us with the ability to keep the law but by willful disobedience we have robbed ourselves Man has robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts So God doesn't take away his expectation.
29. 4:03God doesn't say to us, now that you're unable, you know, all that I said to you about love me with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength, forget about it.
30. 4:12I'm not concerned about that. That would be silly.
31. 4:15God cannot do that because he's God. God cannot deny himself.
32. 4:19So, the first objection, "But God, that's not fair."
33. 4:23Well, but it is fair.
34. 4:24God is God.
35. 4:26God is faithful and just.
36. 4:28Second objection, question 10, "Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?"
37. 4:34And the catechism is very plain in its biblical answers.
38. 4:39He is terribly angry with the sin we are born with, as well as our actual sin.
39. 4:45So we are guilty and responsible for original sin, the sin we're born with, and the actual sins we commit every day.
40. 4:53And God is terribly angry. That sounds harsh. But God's anger is a righteous anger.
41. 4:59anger. God is just. It is intense, but it is right. It goes on, the catechism says God will punish our sins. God will punish them by a just judgment. His judgment will be right.
42. 5:14It's exactly what we deserve both now and in eternity. Having to "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law."
43. 5:26That's a reference from Galatians, which is quoting Deuteronomy.
44. 5:30And the reference there is, it has to do with everyone.
45. 5:36It has to do with all the things written in the book of the law.
46. 5:39So we're all guilty for all of our sins, and God will punish all of those sins of everyone with a just judgment.
47. 5:50Finally, I think we have to be happy about the reality that God is just.
48. 5:56God doesn't just say something and say, "I changed my mind," or, forget about it. We can do that as parents sometimes. We lay down expectations and demands
49. 6:04and we change our mind or we're too tired to follow through. God is just. God will not deny himself. God is faithful to what he says. I think it's a comfort for us to know there
50. 6:15will be perfect justice with regard to every sin ever committed.
51. 6:19committed by everyone who's ever lived.
52. 6:23There's one more objection in this Lord’s Day, but isn't God also merciful?
53. 6:29And it's the final way in which we sort of raise our excuses.
54. 6:35And sadly, it's another way in which we would keep ourselves from God.
55. 6:39Isn't God also merciful?
56. 6:41And I love the way the catechism answers this.
57. 6:43God is certainly merciful.
58. 6:46Praise God, he delights in mercy.
59. 6:48That is, that's what he delights in.
60. 6:51He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he delights in the salvation of sinners.
61. 6:57But the catechism says he is also merciful.
62. 6:59So if we were to really understand mercy, we must not find a way around justice.
63. 7:06We must not find a way to try to ignore justice.
64. 7:10We must realize that God's mercy comes at the cost of perfect justice.
65. 7:16He is also just and is just Justice demands that sin committed against his supreme majesty be punished with the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul.
66. 7:29And what the catechism is doing for us in answering in this way is making sure that we are not taking a superficial refuge in some abstract concept.
67. 7:39of mercy. I heard God is merciful. Everything is going to be okay. And people will take refuge in a concept and stay away from God. And so the catechism is making sure that all of our objections
68. 7:52are taken away and we're left facing the reality of God's supreme penalty, of eternal punishment of body and soul. That is the reality of hell and it's
69. 8:04perfect justice. But it's when we face that reality that we are in a position to understand and confess our misery and our need and to find our only comfort in Jesus Christ.
70. 8:19you

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