If God Kept a Record of My Sins

Since we must make full payment for our sins and since neither we nor any other creature can pay,  a special Mediator and Deliverer is needed. 

Q. Since, according to God’s righteous judgment we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, how can we escape this punishment and be again received into favor? 

• temporal — in this life (in time) 
• eternal — in the "life" to come 

A. God demands that His justice be satisfied. 

• satisfied — fulfilled, the demands are filled, completely appeased, completely paid off.

Therefore we must make full payment, either by ourselves or through another.

Q. Can we by ourselves make this payment? 

A. Certainly not. On the contrary, we daily increase our debt.

• debt — that which we owe God. 

Q. Can any mere creature pay for us? 

A. No. In the first place, God will not punish another creature for the sin which man has committed. 

Furthermore, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.

• eternal wrath — God's wrath against sin is part of his holy character. He does not lash out angrily, but because of his holiness he cannot stand sin and sinfulness. God hates sin. He abhors sinfulness. Unreconciled sinners will be consumed in his righteous judgment. 
• sustain — carry, bear, support 

Q. What kind of mediator and deliverer must we seek? 

• deliverance — rescue, salvation, ransom.  

A. One who is a true and righteous man, and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is at the same time true God.

For the Bible Tells Me So...

Psalm 130:3 — If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 

Romans 2:4,5 — Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 

Nahum 1:6 — Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? 

1 Timothy 2:5 — For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

The Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 5