[MARKET SOUNDS] There is a spiritual account with a balance kept in a settlement due that none of us will escape. Each of us, without exception, one day will settle that spiritual account.

We will that day face a judgment for our doings in mortal life, and face a foreclosure of sorts.

Justice, the eternal law of justice, will be the measure against which we will settle this account. There is no sympathy in justice alone, only justice. Our lives will be weighed on the scales of justice.

There once was a man who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life.

In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt. He had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. Just meet the terms of the contract. I expect nothing more, nothing less.

But it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. He was sure he could pay for it later.

[MUSIC PLAYING] The young man would pay it off sometime along the way. He didn't worry too much about it, for the due date seemed such a long time away.

He had what he wanted now, and that's what seemed important. [MUSIC PLAYING] Come. Come with us. Come with us. [INAUDIBLE].

Though he tried to shut the debt out of his thoughts, the creditor was always somewhere in the back of his mind.

The debtor made token payments now and again, thinking somehow the day of reckoning would never come.

It's obviously not all of the money, but things are looking a lot better.

But as it always does, the day came and the contract fell due. The debt had not been fully paid, and his creditor demanded payment in full. I cannot pay you. I have not the power to do so. Then I shall exercise the contract, seize your possessions, and you shall find yourself in prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced. Can you not extend the time, or forgive the debt? Arrange some way for me keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy. Will you not show mercy? Mercy is always so one-sided. It would serve only you. If I show you mercy, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice? I believed in justice when I signed the contract. It was on my side then. I thought it would protect me.

I did not need mercy then, nor did I think I would ever. Justice I thought would serve both of us equally well. It is justice that demands that you pay the contract or suffer the penalty. You agreed to it, and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rob justice. There they were, one meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other.

If you do not forgive the debt, there will be no mercy. If I do forgive the debt, there will be no justice.

Both laws, it seemed, could not be served.

There are two eternal ideals that appear to contradict one another.

Is there no way for justice to be fully served and mercy also?

There is a way the law of justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended, but it requires another.

And so it happened this time the debtor's friend came to help. He knew the debtor well. He knew him to be short-sighted. He thought him foolish to have gotten himself into such a predicament. Nevertheless, he wanted to help because he loved him.

I will pay the debt if you will free the debtor of this contract, so that he can keep his possessions and not go to prison. You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with, and can ask no more. It would not be just. If I pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor?

Yes. Oh, yes.

Then you will pay the debt to me, and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.

And so it was that the creditor was paid in full. He had been justly dealt with. No contract had been broken. The debtor, in turn, had been extended mercy. Both laws stood fulfilled. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share and mercy was fully satisfied.

Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit. One day the account will be closed and a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent, we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us. And by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended, save there is one who is both willing and able to assume our debt, pay the price, and arrange the terms for our redemption.

Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice, untempered, unsympathetic, must fall upon us.

There is a redeemer, a mediator who stands both willing and able to appease the demands of justice and extend mercy to those who are penitent, for he offered himself a sacrifice for sin to answer the ends of the law and to all those who have a broken heart and contrite spirit.

Come with us. [INAUDIBLE]. You work like a fool. And unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. [MUSIC PLAYING]