For Scripture reading this evening, we want to turn to two portions of the Scripture. First of all, we turn to the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 43. And we read the verses 18 through 25. And then we will turn to the first epistle of John, chapter one, the verses one through 10. But first we turn to Isaiah, chapter 43, the verses 18 through 25. And then we read God's holy word. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old, Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters in the wilderness and the rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen. These people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of Thy burnt offerings, neither hast Thou honored me with Thy sacrifices. I have not caused Thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied Thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with honey. Neither hast thou filled me with the fat of the sacrifices, but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. Thou hast buried me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake. I will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare thou that thou mayest be justified. Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. And now we turn to the first epistle of John chapter 1, verses 5 through 10. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us." So far the reading of the Word of God. Let us turn to the Heidelberg Congregation, Lord's Day 21. Question and answer 56. Lord's Day 21 of the Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 56. What belief is thou concerning the forgiveness of sins? That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long, but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God." Beloved congregation, the Heidelberg Catechism is guiding us in the Twelve Articles of Faith, which is a summary of the Christian faith. we have arrived at the tenth article of faith, namely, I believe the forgiveness of sin. And this confession includes the most important gift of salvation from Christ. Why? Well, because each and every other gift from the Lord Jesus follows this one. All the treasures of salvation which are found in the Lord Jesus Christ are given through the channel of the forgiveness of sin. And without propitiation, you cannot be a partaker of Christ and His benefits. The Heidelberg Catechism asks the following question, what belief is now concerning the forgiveness of sins? And if we listen carefully to the beginning of the answer, we hear nothing but gospel. Gospel, since the answer starts with God and not with man. The answer does not begin with the words, that all my sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, or that I feel and experience that I am absolved from all my sins. No, the answer starts with God, that God will no more remember my sins. We want to pay attention to this miracle of the gospel. And with the help of the Lord, I will unfold something of this miracle. And we write above the sermon, I believe the forgiveness of sin. First of all, what needs to be forgiven? Secondly, how sin can be forgiven? And thirdly, living out of this forgiveness. I believe the forgiveness of sin. What needs to be forgiven? How sin can be forgiven? Living out of this forgiveness. Answer 56 of the Heidelberg Catechism starts with comforting words. If you want to say something about the forgiveness of sin, we need to start with God, since He is the source of the forgiveness of sin. There is no forgiveness of sin if this were not true. So, the beginning of the answer, namely that God forgives, is the source of wonder and happiness. God forgives. Because He works, there is forgiveness of sin possible for you. This lofty beginning is humbling. The rich message of the gospel is always humbling. The forgiveness of sin cannot come from me. It is God's work alone. And therefore, it is impossible for you to earn the forgiveness of sin by good works. The sins you have done in the past, the sins you still do, and the sins that will be committed in the future cannot be blotted out by yourself. This clearly reveals you and my misery. What is your misery? That you transgress all God's commandments. You emphatically oppose God's will. Every trespass is against God's commandment of love. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." Maybe you perform many good works. Maybe you are quite committed to the church. If, however, love is lacking, You fall short, and you are reproaching the Lord. God requires perfect love that is hundred percent pure and full love. That means that you glorify God, glorify His name, His attributes, and that you seek the salvation of others. And when you get a sight of God's holy and righteous requirements, and at the same time your eyes are opened for your lawlessness, yes, for your rebellion against God and your enmity against your neighbor, then you discover that you have sinned. You have sinned, not against some commandments, but against all. God's commandment of love declares you bankrupt. Have your eyes ever been opened for this appealing reality? You are guilty of death and your list of sins is endless. Your and my misery is that we are blind to this reality. By nature, we have no clue of the dreadfulness of our guilt and death before God. This, however, will change when the Holy Spirit opens the blind eyes of your soul. The Spirit points out your sin one by one. And He convicts you of sin and of your rebellion against your Creator, of whom we can say that He is nothing but good. And no plight is so awful as to be guilty before God. It is a guilt you will never be able to remove. Much misery can be found in this world. The world is in turmoil. There may be many personal difficulties. Your situation may be dreadful. And some of us know of a lonely fight because of physical or mental hardships. The cross that has to be borne can be very heavy. But there is no plight so miserable as your guilt before God. And their congregation has this reality ever made you restless? If God would punish you in accordance to your sin, you will be in the place of torments? Or if the Lord Jesus has said that there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth? And what about you? If the Lord calls you out of this life today, can you stand before God? The Lord requires payment of every single sin you have committed. What to do? If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" The instructor of the Heidelberg Catechism provides a biblical answer. God will no more remember my sins. We read in Psalm 130, verse 4, God forgives. And that's the gospel of free grace. This only can comfort a miserable sinner. This provides hope to those who are hopeless in their awful plight. This provides hope to every sinner who has bent his knees before the Lord with confession of sin. How can this precious message be applied to my own heart? God forgives, and therefore your sins can be forgiven as well. How does the Lord forgive sin? Not by considering sin as not so terrible as He has revealed in His Word. Not by our reasoning that God ultimately will pass by every sin since God is so merciful. Not by turning His face from our sins, pretending they don't exist. Not by downplaying sin by reasoning that all men commit sin. It is so natural. We cannot help it. Oh, there are reasonings which are produced. These are reasonings which are produced in hell. How does the Lord forgive sin? Just by taking sin seriously. Our second point, how sin can be forgiven? By taking sin seriously. The Lord can only forgive sin by treating sin in accordance with his own holy justice. What is the sentence of the heavenly judge on sin? According to his law, the sentence is, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. God cannot remove your guilt except by payment for it. The penalty needs to be paid. Your sins can only be forgiven if the penalty is paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. He has paid in the stead of His people. Hence, we read in the Heidelberg Catechism that God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, That means that God is satisfied with the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Christ's sacrifice corresponds with God's justice. What is according to God's justice? To love God above all and to love your neighbor as yourself? It is according to God's justice that sin has to be paid with death, with eternal death. And God is faithful to His own Word. This includes that God's just requirements need to be satisfied. Only then God is able to forgive sin. God's Word reveals to us that God's wrath against sin is so great that rather than it should go unpunished, He has punished the same in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with the shameful death of the cross. God demands the punishment of sin by the shedding of blood. by the suffering and death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God cannot be and is not willing to be a God who overlooks sin without payment. God's justice needs to be satisfied. God does not forgive superficially. It is not so that God can forgive sin just because God is love. God is righteous. God loves His justice. And His justice needs to be satisfied. And the bloody service of the Old Testament has already illustrated this. God, however, has His punitive justice revealed, particularly in the suffering and death of His Son. Only Christ has satisfied God's justice. And the Lord Jesus went the way He was not obliged to go. He, however, voluntarily went into the deep way of suffering as surety and mediator. in order to satisfy God's wrath against the sin of all His people. He has satisfied that which no man could do in all eternity. How did the Lord Jesus satisfy God's justice? First, by adopting our human nature. He has become very man, though without sin. He has become frail and weak and experienced the results of sin in his own body. But this humiliation was not enough. He has been tempted. He has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin. But this was not enough. He needed to suffer. He has crawled us as a worm in the dust in the garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. But this was not enough. His blood has been pressed out of His pores, but it was not enough. He has been mocked and reproached by men, beaten and spit on. But it was not enough. Though he was innocent, the civic and spiritual judges have sentenced him guilty to death. He has been condemned to suffer the penalty of crucifixion, but that was still not enough. He has been forsaken by God. He has suffered hellish pain and agony. And then, yes, then it was enough. Then he could call out, it is finished. It is enough. I made perfect satisfaction. And God has confirmed his satisfaction. by rending the veil of the temple in two. It is finished. Peace is achieved. Sin can be fully forgiven. This is the meaning of the solemn expression, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction. It is because of His satisfaction that the Lord will never remember the sins of His people. We read in the first epistle of John chapter 1 verse 7, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Psalm 103, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." And Isaiah 43, verse 25, "'I, even I, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." It is striking that the catechism points to the joyous gospel tidings that God will no more remember the sins of His people. They could also have been written that the Lord forgives the sin of His people. The instructors of the Heidelberg Cargaison point to a treasure of the gospel which easily can be misunderstood. With these particular words, the instructors make clear that the forgiveness from God differs from the forgiveness by man. When we forgive, we hardly forget. Guess you have forgiven someone who has treated you rudely. You will not easily forget. Though you have sincerely forgiven someone, and the desire is expressed not to recall it, but every time you meet that person, you still remember what happened in the past. We hardly ever forget someone's bad behavior. It can unconsciously affect our attitude toward the other. A measure of annoyance lingers in your mind, and that's not good. We have to fight against these thoughts and feelings. We need God's grace to forgive and to forget the sins of others. The Lord is altogether different. When the Lord forgives, He will also not remember. When the Lord forgives, He will not recall the sin for all eternity. Micah 7, verse 19, He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea. This is God's revelation. Your experiences may differ. There are sins you have committed which you impossibly can't forget. They regularly pop up in your mind, and you consider them with regret time and again. And maybe you wonder, are these sins really forgiven? Why do I still remember them? You cannot forget them. You cannot forget them since these sins are so bitter. Paul counts himself as the least of the apostles. He's the least. Why? He says, because I persecuted the church of God. He suffered under these sins his life long. This was the bitter part of his life, and it kept Paul humble and low. But on the judgment day, the Lord will not recall the sins of the past. No, there are no sins anymore, since they are covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He blots out all the sins of His people. Children, think of a blackboard at school. Maybe sometimes you are allowed to clean it with a wet sponge. That's such a nice job, isn't it? The board becomes so nice clean. Imagine this blackboard. It's covered with a list of all the sins you have committed. And there are many. And when God forgives your sins, When He blots out your sins, then it's like a wet sponge that the teacher takes and moves across the board from the top to bottom. He wipes it with the sponge, and you see nothing anymore of what was written on the blackboard. How does God take away all sins? He cleanses the heart from all sins. by the blood of Jesus Christ. They are forgiven. God does no more remember them. We could also say that when God looks at his people, he observes them through a haze of blood. Once your sins are forgiven, they are completely forgiven. Isn't that a joyous gospel congregation? Maybe someone counters, I don't know whether my sins are forgiven because sin is still alive in my heart. Yes, you are right. You still have a sinful heart and a corrupt nature. But it does not mean that your sins cannot be forgiven. Even after conversion, we still commit sin. Many indwelling sins remain in your heart. Daily, you have to fight against your sinful nature. The catechism calls them my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long. Unfortunately, a child of God still commits many sins. These are sins which return time and again. The truly correct address remains, sinner. In spiritual life, you increasingly experience to be a sinner in yourself. You never will achieve a sinless state, not even when you grow old and some sinful lust abate. Maybe you will become 100 years old, but your depraved nature will remain. You need to beseech the Lord for mercy during your entire life. But God will no more remember sin, since He remembers His people in grace for the sake of Jesus Christ. Christ has paid the penalty by His death. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And now we have already entered our third point, namely living out of this forgiveness. God's people live out of the forgiveness of sin through a daily exercise of faith. What is their daily exercise? They daily struggle with their sinful inclinations. We experience a daily spiritual warfare. When we live from the grace of Christ, when your sins are forgiven, you experience a sorrow over your sins. Your indwelling sin becomes a burden to you. You mourn over your sinful inclination, and you look forward to the day that you will be released from this burden. The doctrine of the forgiveness of sin is such a comforting confession. This gospel comforts those who see themselves as the chief of sinners. After all, God looks upon me in mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ. God beholds the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ instead of all my evil, guilt, and misery. The light of God's salvation shines in the darkness of my sinful existence. His love is the opposite of my enmity. Who will not hate sin because of God's eternal love, whereby He has surrendered His beloved Son to suffer for my sins? You cannot but struggle with sin. You acknowledge with Paul, Romans 7, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Where are your sins? Are your sins forgiven? Maybe you don't know for sure. You know there's only unworthiness on your side. The Heidelberg Catechism, however, pastorally points to the reason why God is willing and able to impute the righteousness of Christ to a lost sinner. God does this graciously, graciously. That means that God addresses the forgiveness of sin personally, not for your sake, but for Christ's sake. It means that you cannot merit or earn the forgiveness of sin. You will not become a partaker of Christ's righteousness by many prayers, by regular Bible reading, by fighting against sin. Oh for sure, all these things belong to the life of repentance and faith. These things will be present when you personally know of the forgiveness of sin. It, however, will never be a catalyst or reason for you to share in the forgiveness of sin. Maybe you wonder, what do we have to do to become a partaker of the forgiveness of sin? It's an understandable question, but you will never find an answer to this question apart from the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe this has been an urgent question for you for many years. How can my sins be forgiven? How can I become a partaker of it? Pay careful attention to your question. Are you not seeking for an answer in yourself? Do you seek after some qualification in yourself? If I have this or that, If I do this or that, if I experience this or that, then I will become a partaker of the forgiveness of sin. I hope you will never find an answer this way since you seek it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Why can your sins be forgiven? For Jesus' sake alone, who proclaims, O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Do you know what you have to do with all your questions and doubts? You have to go to Christ. lay them at the feet of the cross? If you have done so with a sincere prayer, do you still dare to ask such question? Do you think you will hear from the cross the declaration that your sins cannot be forgiven? Do you think that your sins and guilt are so bad that they cannot be forgiven? then you are like Cain. He considered his sins to be too great, but that is the language of unbelief. At the foot of the cross, you will find a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. With the Lord Jesus Christ, you find forgiveness of sin. And this is an uncovering and at the same time a comforting message. If you sincerely struggle with the question whether your sins can be forgiven or not, you will never find an answer but with the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to go to the place where God forgives sinners. That is at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. as a lost sinner. Where do you find Christ? You find Christ in His Word. You find the Lord Jesus in His Word and in prayer. These are the means whereby the Holy Spirit will apply the forgiveness of sin. These are the means whereby the Lord pleases to confirm and to assure His people of the forgiveness of sin and of eternal life. If your sins are forgiven, then God has imputed to you the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. What does this mean? The righteousness of Christ means that Christ has fully paid the penalty by his atoning sacrifice. He sacrificed himself as surety and mediator for his people. By his sacrifice, sinful people can stand before God. He has satisfied God's wrath upon their sins. God's righteousness, however, means also that the Lord Jesus has fulfilled all God's commandments. He has perfectly obeyed God's law in the place of His people. That consequently means that God sees His people as if they had completely obeyed God's law by themselves. because God's law is fulfilled. They deserve the eternal salvation. They deserve to enter eternal salvation. Yes, you hear it correctly. On account of Christ's righteousness, God's people are entitled to eternal life. Those who are partaker of the righteousness of Christ are clean in the eyes of God. No curse rests on them. No more need for a penalty to be paid. They all are perfectly holy in the eyes of God. And this spiritual reality will be experienced by God's people. They experience that all their sins are forgiven and that they are perfectly holy in the eyes of God. When the Lord confirms His people by word and spirit, I will no more remember your sins, neither your corrupt nature. I will graciously impute to you the righteousness of Christ. Do you know this miracle of faith? Do you live from the righteousness of Christ? What kind of life is that? Well, this, an open hand to live as a beggar from the righteousness of Christ. Come with your wickedness to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will receive forgiveness but from God's, you will not receive forgiveness, but from God's gracious generosity. It pleases God to give abundantly. And here we find the main reason why the gospel of forgiveness of sin is preached to you. It pleases God to forgive sin. You will never find any reason in yourself. You cannot do anything to earn the blessing of the forgiveness of sin. It is by grace alone. How quickly we try to do something to merit the forgiveness of sin. We are inclined to seek forgiveness of sin in the covenant of works. This do and thou shall live. We first try to improve our lifestyle. We try to convert ourselves. I need to experience something. I need to know a certain measure of my sinfulness, and then I can receive the forgiveness of sin. No, is the answer from Scripture. There is forgiveness of sin only through God's sovereign grace. You need to plead with the Lord. Lord, Thou hast promised to forgive sins for Jesus' sake. Thou art willing and able to do so. Lord, make me also a partaker of the forgiveness of sin, and impute to me the righteousness of Christ, so that I may live before Thee, and Thy name will be glorified. The Lord provides so many reasons to have expectations from Him alone. The question is whether you are willing to be a beggar. Are you willing to plead with the Lord without any rights in yourself? Are you willing to confess your sin and your guilt before God? To bow under the condemnation, I am guilty to die. Bow and do nothing but call upon the name of the Lord. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. This humble prayer will remain your entire life. Even the most experienced child of God views himself as the poorest child of God that does not even deserve the lowest place. And this humility will also be seen in your daily life. You struggle. You struggle with your proud character. You struggle with your temper or with your superficiality. Just recall the sermon of this morning. The fruit of the Spirit characterizes your lifestyle. The Lord teaches you to live in humility. You consider others better than yourself. This is the meaning of living from the grace of Christ. That provides joy and peace in your heart. You may be aware that there is a kind of preaching which teaches that this all is not necessary to know. It is not necessary to experience the depravity of your heart and the dreadfulness of sin. Some people argue that this is too much focused on man, and it makes the gospel needlessly complicated. The main thing is that Jesus Christ has suffered and died for your sins. You need to trust the Lord. You are allowed to believe that Christ has forgiven your sins. And if you believe, then the forgiveness of sin is yours. Then you are delivered from sin and guilt. It is unnecessary to ask whether you are partaker of this grace, since it is offered to you. Just receive it and accept the Lord in your life. Dear congregation, this kind of preaching maybe sounds faithful in your ears. It looks very simple. It is so easy to receive the forgiveness of sin. And it seems to correspond with the simplicity of the gospel. but it is not the true gospel. Do you know why? Because you do not need to crucify yourself. With this gospel, you can remain standing straight. You don't need to bend your knees in deep humility. You don't need to experience something of your misery. Jesus forgives your sin. And you can continue your lifestyle without true repentance. You don't need to struggle with your daily sin, since there is forgiveness with the Lord Jesus. And this is very superficial gospel. The Heidelberg Catechism takes us along to a deeply rooted biblical truth, namely that those whose sins are forgiven will experience a struggle with sin. And this struggle intensifies as I get a clearer sight on the forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. This struggle intensifies as I get a clearer sight on the forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. The one, however, who changes the biblical gospel into superficial grace deceives himself for eternity. How terrible. The struggle of the heart with sin is the other side of the joy of receiving forgiveness of sin. And there is no spiritual rejoicing without a daily struggle with sin. Some people think this preaching is too negative. To live from the forgiveness of sin causes joy. And for sure, the gospel is a joyous message. But on this side of the grave, there is a sighing as well. You sigh. Under the daily struggle with sin, the spiritual warfare demands your constant attention. And the sighing belongs to this lifetime. Those who claim to have been absolved from struggling and sighing deceive themselves. God's people daily struggle with their sins and corrupt nature. Daily they discover their shortcomings. The Lord points to their rebellion, which is deeply rooted in their corrupt nature. Every day I am guilty before God. Even my gratitude to God is stained by sin. What shall I render to Jehovah now for all the riches of his consolation? an embarrassing question since you experience that you fall short in true gratitude. It's a question out of love and caused by the longing to serve the Lord perfectly. You feel the pain. I can only serve the Lord in part. And this, beloved congregation, this causes a homesickness for a better country. This feeds the true hope, the hope for God's eternal future. This keeps God's people small. And at the same time, they feel so richly blessed because God does no more remember their sins. God imputes the righteousness of Christ. That means that the gate to heaven is opened. And when I die, no condemnation will be there. Oh, for sure, I will meet the heavenly judge, but then it will be heard, Come, he blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And then the soul will answer, Amen. Hallelujah. Holy Deo Gloria. And then it will be fully true. With steadfast step they walk, their countenance beaming, with brightness of the light that from thy face is streaming. Exalted by thy might from depths of desolation, they praise forever thy name, thy justice and salvation." Maybe you cannot sing along since you mourn over your sins. Your conscience judges you to be guilty, and your heart sounds the condemnation. You are lost, and it's too late. There will be no forgiveness of sin for you. Is this about you? Are you afraid to deceive yourself? Don't forget, God looks with compassion on all those who take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. With Christ is room for the chief of sinners. Amen.