If you have your Bible, you might want to turn into the third chapter of the Book of Romans, the first twenty verses of that third chapter, as we continue with our study and the Paul's letter to the Romans. For we do that, it's Monday, let's go before the throne, before we go before the book. Father, we are glad for another week, we're glad for life, and for health, and for a sense of well-being, and we recognize that those things are a gift of your grace. Father this week, we don't know what's going to happen, but we know you and you know. Father this week, enable us to be faithful, and able to love more than we have, and to be less critical than we've been, help us to be obedient to your law, help us to shine as lights in a dark world. And then Father, remind us that we belong to you, and that you're a God of great compassion and forgiveness when we fail. So this week, help us to be sensitive to your agenda. You know the problems that we will face. Father that's a part of being in a fallen world, and you've told us that, but sometimes it's really hard to praise you when we're weeping, and so Father, meet us at the point of our needs. When we have financial problems, when we have family problems, when our lives fall apart, Father you come, it's no time for boys. You come, and may we sense your presence and your power. And then Father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches that you would forgive him his sins, for they are many, we would see Jesus and Him only, and we pray in Jesus' name, I'm in. All right, we're looking at Romans 3, 1 through 20 this week, as we continue with our study in Romans, and if you're in a place where you can open a Bible, you might want to open into the 3rd chapter of Romans, where my good friend Paul writes as follows, what advantage then has the Jew, or what is the prophet of circumcision, much in every way, chiefly, because to then that is the Jews were committed the oracles of God. For what is some did not believe, will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect certainly not? Indeed let God be true, but every man, a liar, as it is written, that you may be just divided in your words and may overcome when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust to inflicts wrath? I speak as a man, certainly not. For then who will God judge with the world? For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as inner? And why not say, let us do evil that good may come? Because we are slanderously reported, and it's some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just what then? Are we better than they, not at all, for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all understand? As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God, they have all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asp is entlander their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of feasts they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who run to the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God, therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is knowledge of sin. Now before we main turn to the main thrust of this text, I want to give you 30 side observations that are not unrelated to the main text. Side observation number one, first I want you to see that God does as he pleases and he does it right well. In other words, God is God, Romans 3, 4, b, that you, God, may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged. Let me tell you something important, we are here for God, not the other way around. The early Puritans used to ask young men who were entering the ministry, would you be willing to be damned for the glory of God? Now I don't know how I would have answered that question honestly. I'm not sure that I could say that I would be willing to be damned for the glory of God. Bill bright my friend. Sometimes praise, Father, kill me before I bring dishonor on your name. Now I don't know if I'm spiritually mature enough to pray that prayer, but let me tell you something. I want to be spiritually mature enough to pray that prayer. St. Teresa said, Lord, help me to love you even if there is no heaven and to fear you even if there is no hell. Let me tell you something. The world was not created for your benefit, it was created for his benefit. This is God's show, he wrote it, he's the director, it will end the way he wants it to end, and he will be glorified, and you don't get a vote. Paul makes that very clear in this. This thing is about God, you know what bothers me about prosperity theology. Now I'm not, this ministry is not a ministry where we throw rocks at other people. Did you see Forest Gump just as inside? There was this wonderful statement in Forest Gump that was the best statement made in the entire movie. You remember that his girlfriend later wife had been abused by her father, and they went out after the father died to the old house that was about to fall down. And Forest and his girl began to throw rocks at the house. Forest Gump made a profound statement, he said, sometimes, sometimes they're just aren't enough rocks, oh I feel that way sometimes, but I've been told by the father that this broadcast isn't to be a broadcast where I go after other Christians and tell them where they're wrong. The Lord told me I was wrong enough to keep me from doing that. But there is something that bothers me about prosperity theology, you know it bothers me when people don't believe God ever says yes either. The thing that bothers me about prosperity theology is that it assumes that God's business is to make us happy, that's not God's business. That's not what we're about Stephen Spender said, man, stands up and says to the universe, I exist. And the universe replies, yes, but that does not create in me a sense of obligation. Mr. Barnhouse used to say that theology is like a seesaw. When you have a man-centered religion and it's a God-centered religion is down. And when man-centered religion is down, God-centered religion is up. He said that God is one. And if you are a zero and stand beside Him, you become a ten, and if you're a double-zero, you become a hundred, and if you're a triple-zero, you become a thousand. The point is simply, this God does as he pleases, and he does it right well. In other words, God is God, and you're not. We give you another side observation. Note that God does His will despite our disobedience and our sin, Romans 3, 3, 3, 5. For what if some did not believe, will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true in every man a liar as it is written that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you were judged. I have a friend who had a number of years ago who did something really bad. She slept with a man who was a pagan. She came into my office and she was crying and weeping and said, I've done a horrible thing and she told me, and I said, yes, that is the horrible sin. And I said, why don't you go tell your friend that? She said, what? I said, go tell him. You ask his forgiveness and telling the one to whom you belong and she did. She went to him and she said, you know, I did a horrible thing last night. And it wasn't because I didn't like you because I like you a lot. What I did is I betrayed the one to whom I belonged. I betrayed Jesus Christ. Let me tell you about him and he told him about Christ and he ended up receiving Christ. Let me give you a principle. God, if you let him, will take your sin and build a monument to his glory. Let me repeat it again. God, if you let him, will take your sin and build a monument to his glory. Some of you guys are wondering because you've fallen if you'll ever get up again. You wonder if God can ever use you. You wonder if you'll ever be of any use to anybody and certainly probably not to God. It's not true. Let me read you a passage of scriptures from Genesis 45 and if you're in a place where you have the Bible, you might want to flip over to Genesis. It's a story of Joseph and his brothers. You remember his brothers did some really bad things to Joseph and then Joseph ended up being the chief Hanjo, the big old Kahuna in Egypt and the brothers thought he was dead and then they found out the truth and it was an interesting thing and it's one of the most moving passages in Scripture. I'm going to read the first eight verses and then I want to flip over into the 50th chapter and read you a few verses beginning at the 15th verse there. Listen to this. Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him and he cried out, make everyone go out from me so no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers and he wept aloud and the Egyptians and the House of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, I and Joseph, does my father still live, but his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence, and Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me. So they came near and then he said, I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into each of, but now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life. Then and down in the 50th chapter Joseph says to his brothers, you man it for evil, but God man it for good. God can take your sin and your failure and build a monument to his glory. Now this is a new inside observation number three. Attitude determines a whole lot about how God deals with a question, Romans 3.8. And why not say, let us do evil that good may come as we are slanderously reported and it is some affirm that we say their condemnation is just. You know whenever the gospel is presented it is really good news. We Christians make it sound like bad news, but it is really good news. We tell people, you know, you can be forgiven of all your sin past, present, and future because of what Jesus did for you on a cross. Now somebody can say to you, or to me they have numerous occasions, well man I am a sinner and I can hardly wait to sin some more if I am forgiven for all the sin that I have committed and all the sin that I am ever going to commit, that means I have got free sin. And I am going to go out and swing. Is that right? And I always say no, it is not. In fact it is so far wrong, I can't tell you, but somebody else may come to me and say Steve, I know I am a sinner and I have listened to what you have said. And I don't think I am going to get a whole lot better and that kind of scares me. So if I give my life to Christ, then I got to live it and then what if I don't live it? Will He still forgive me and I say yes? Absolutely yes. Now you need to know those questions are the same. Many are the same questions. It is a matter of attitude. The first person wanted to be a liver team. The first person wanted to say look, I want to live in sin and enjoy it and I want to be forgiven. And God says no you can't do that. The other person in note is just a matter of attitude, says, you know I am not a very good person and I fail a lot. What if I fail? Well I be forgiven. I say yes. The answers are different. Why? Because the attitude is different. Now let me give you a principle. It is not what you do, but the attitude with which you do it that determines God's reaction to what you do. Say Steve, would you repeat that one more time? Yes I will. And slower for the slower among us. It is not what you do, but the attitude with which you do it that determines God's reaction to what you do, yes true in my family. I get a lot about the critical letters we get at key life and I ask for them. In what I do and I verbally ask for letters even if they are critical. So we get about 7,000 letters every month and a lot of them are very critical. And some people say some really critical things under the rubric that I am a preacher and preachers are to be nice and they can't respond. So sometimes I want to send them a quarter and say call somebody who cares or get a life. But let me tell you something, you never said anything bad to me that my wife hasn't said also. And probably worse. I mean, I mean Anna has said stuff to me that is so harsh that you absolutely wouldn't believe it. But let me tell you the difference. The difference is her attitude is always one of love. And many people will criticize you and me, not from love, but just because they are neurotic. Now I'm not suggesting, wait hold it, back up just a second. I'm not suggesting for a second that when we get critical letters that they're coming from neurotics, we listen to everything that you say, pray about it, and then determine that you're wrong. Sometimes we determine you're right. But the difference, you know Anna, my wife can say anything she wants to, to me, she can be as critical as she wants to be because I know it comes from a heart of love. You know God reacts that way to the principle, let me give it to you again. It is not what you do, but the attitude with which you do it, that determines God's reaction to what you do. Now many Christians define sin by how much you enjoyed it. If you didn't enjoy it, it could not have been a sin. If you did enjoy it, it was a sin. Now those are the same people who see the law of God as God's major effort to make his people miserable. I mean if you like it, it's got to be against the law of God. The truth is just the opposite. And in fact, the law is a wonderful gift given to us by God so that we might be fulfilled not that we might be miserable. So the rest of the time this week I want to talk to you about a proper and biblical understanding of the law without further chit-chat. Let's dig in. First the law is a gift of God. Romans 3 and 1 through 2. What advantage then has the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision much in every way chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God? Jews consider the greatest gift they ever received to be Torah. The law of God, it made them different. It also caused them to be persecuted, but it also allowed them to understand God. The universe and their part in it. I believe the Christians are responsible for much and easy cynicism, by the way. I think I can document that in church history. We assume that they were being persecuted and cursed because they killed Christ. And we figured if God was going to do it, we were going to do it too. Listen, if you're a racist, the church and historic theology will tell you that you're wrong and you're a sinner. But if you dislike Jews, there are those who will tell you you're doing the right thing. And let me tell you something. That comes from the pit of hell, and it smells like smoke. However, there was persecution before the Christian era. Why was that? Well, in Alexandria, the Jews were always different, why were they different? Because of Torah, because they obeyed the law and the law made them different. But still, with that it was always a gift lie because it told them about the way the world was created and they're part in it. I'll tell you, a man and woman can deal with almost anything, but meaning less than that. And meaning comes from understanding God and the way the universe has been created and you are part in it. I used to play Gofishing. And then that developed into a habit of playing poker. It's sort of the domino theory about smoking pot. You end up with shooting heroin. You say, would you still play poker? No. No, I gave that up. And I really miss it, to be honest with you. You can learn a lot about God from playing poker. But I don't do that anymore because I'm a Christian in my witness and all that kind of stuff. You ever heard the name Ken Wise Camp? He was a judge who's very well known and he was appointed to a higher court and some tweets in Washington did some bad things to him. They really did some, I mean, they lied at any rate. Ken Wise Camp is a friend of mine and he's the moderator of the general assembly or was at one time of the denomination of which I'm a part. That makes him the big old co-owner of the whole thing during that year. We had a young man in our church who had been in an automobile accident. He was in horrible shape and he kept saying, Pastor, would you play poker with me? And I said, son, I can't do that. I played poker in 17 years on my pastor and I just can't do it. And he just kept asking me, so I figured, what's the harm? So I got a deck of cards and some chips and we weren't playing, we weren't gambling, we were playing for money. And so for the first time in 17 years, I played poker with this young man who was laid up in the bed and been there for months because I really wanted to be a compassionate good pastor. And I dealt out the cards. In the moment I dealt out the cards, Ken Wise Camp, who was then the moderator of the general assembly, walked into the room. And I threw the cards down and I said, can I don't believe this? For 17 years I've given up poker. I do not play poker. It will hurt my witness. And the one time that I do it out of compassion to a young man who's in the hospital, the moderator of the general assembly, walks into the room. Ken laughed and he said, it's not you're playing poker that bothers me so much. It's that you're stealing from that poor sick kid. No, I'm not into poker anymore. But you can learn a lot about life from poker. You can learn a lot about people by watching Ben Play poker. My friend who taught me to play poker because he made the rules as he went along, always won. And he would win a hand and I would say you never told me about that rule and he'd say, well Steve, that's how you learn. And then we'd play again and I'd find out about another rule and would lose. And I said, you can't do this. You didn't tell me about this rule. And he'd say, well, that's all right, I'll win and you lose and that's how you learn. I'll tell you, God isn't that way. The law of God are the rules of the universe. If you don't know the rules, you can't play the game and you certainly can't win the game. And that's why you is a Christian. And if you're Jewish and you're listening to this broadcast, that's how you know the way the world is created. You know that it is the rules of the game that make all the difference in the world. I, I, I, I, I'm for George Gootsky used to come to churches where I was a pastor and I, I loved him more than I can tell you. And Dr. Gootsky one time said, when Jesus said I haven't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it, he was saying a truth, he was saying the law is still there. If you want to be happy, live by it. If you want to be successful, live by it. If you want things to go well in your life and live by it, Jesus came to give you the power to live by it. And when you can't, are you don't forgiveness? And that's what he meant by fulfilling the law. And so first you need to know that the law is a gift of God. And then secondly, I want you to know, the law is not only the gift of God, the law is the revelation of God. Look at Romans 3.19, for we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. What is God like? You know that's the real question, not is there a God? That's a stupid question. Thomas said the fool is said in his heart, there is no God. Let me tell you something, never buy a used car from an atheist. And I don't know if I want an atheist doctor ever doing anything important to me. Do you hear about the little boy who was going to go swimming? And there was a woman standing at the fence looking at the swimming hole and he went up to her and said, ma'am, do you go to church and she said yes. And he said, would you hold my quarter while I go swimming? You see he understood it. He understood that even if there isn't a God, the belief that there is a God has a tendency to conform oneself to the rules of propriety and it makes for a better society. I mean if I were an atheist teacher, I'd want him to pray in school because if they did, they wouldn't steal my car. So the question isn't, is there a God? Of course there's a God. Are you crazy? Of course there's a God. The question is what is God like? Not is there a God. Now notice what the law does. The law says that God is righteous and he plays by the rules. Whatever you think about the doctrine of election and I'm reformed and believe in the doctrine of election, it must not violate what God tells us to do. He calls us to love our enemies. He can't do less because he is a righteous God defined by his own laws of righteousness. I had a swimming coach once who made me swim 80 laps every morning. But he wouldn't swim those 80 laps. He made me pull 20 laps every morning with my arms, but he wouldn't pull 20 laps. He was fat and he was lazy, and it really irritated me that he gave me laws that I had to follow but wouldn't follow them himself. The God isn't that way he plays by the rules that he made. He is immutable. He doesn't change. Don't you hate change? Man, I do. My life is so different. I'm sitting in our new studio in Orlando, Madeleine, which is a suburb of Orlando. And two years ago, a little over two years ago, my life was totally different. I was living in a nice place in Miami, and then Hurricane Andrew came along, and my world came to an end, then my mother died. I mean, these past two years have been a time of great change in my life, but you know when I've learned in this time of great change, first I've learned don't hold too tightly to things because you're going to lose them anyway. How much did he leave when he died? Well, he left everything. He heard about the man who heard that and had his appendix taken out and his money put in, so he could take it with him. He can't do that. I hate change. And that's the first thing I've learned is don't hold too tightly the things you can't hold on to. But the second thing that I've learned is that every time I went to the throne, God was the same. My house changed three or four times, but God never changed. My life situation changed, but when I knelt down and prayed, God was exactly the same and the law says that He is immutable. And then the law says that God is a God who is holy. I love to read Greek mythology. I always surprise me that the Greeks could worship a God, or gods who sins and foibles were just like their sins and foibles, only bigger. Well, our God is different. He is heavy. He is holy. Isaiah 6. Isaiah is whistling a Jewish tune in the temple and polishing the candlesticks in the real God comes. And you remember the call before the throne, holy, holy, holy, that's holy to the third degree. Our little gods are too little. That's why they don't make any difference in our lives that God, God is big and He's holy. And the law says that He is different and He is holy. So the law then becomes a revelation of God, a God who makes the rules and then thank God plays by the rules. He is a God who never changes. When you kneel down and pray to Him today is going to be the same God that you kneel down and pray to tomorrow. He doesn't say, man, you surprised me by your sin. I think that I am going to change my mind and dislike you very much. If He loves you now He'll always love you and God is a holy God and calls us to holiness. And then thirdly, and this is brand new, the law is not only a gift of God and a revelation of God, the law gives superior knowledge, Romans 3.19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 3 too much and every way chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. It's an old story, but you probably heard it about the Baptist and Methodist and Presbyterian preachers who went fishing together one day. And the Baptist said after they were out in the middle of the lake, you know, I forgot my lunch and he climbed over the side of the boat and he walked across the water, picked up his lunch on the shore, walked back and got in the boat, Presbyterian watched this, shook his head and kept on fishing. Then the Methodist said, you know, I need another lure and he said, I'll be right back and he climbed over the side of the boat, walked across the water, got a lure out of the back of his car, came back to the lake, walked across the water and got in a boat and a Presbyterian shook his head. He said, man, I don't know, they did that, but if they're, yeah, I'm not Presbyterian and if a Baptist and a Methodist can walk across the water, I certainly can too. So he said, gentlemen, I'll be back in just a moment. He stepped over the side of the boat and went, boom, right down the bottom of the lake. That just turned to the Methodist said, you think we ought to tell him about the rocks? You know what the law of God does? It tells us where the rocks are. Or to change the imagery, the law of God tells us where the minds are in the mind view. God says, if you want to be as happy as you can be in a fallen world, then this is the way to do it, obey my law. It'll make you happier than you are. I'll tell you something dear friends, the reason that things are so bad in America isn't because people aren't Christians. You know, when I became a Christian, it didn't necessarily make me happy. The reason is that we quit obeying the law that was revealed by God and applying it to the procedures of the politic in America. The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, that we're running on gasoline that was given by our forefathers and our forefathers new God, and they knew that the God of Nature, as our constitutional documents talk about, the Declaration of Independence, the God of Nature, had revealed certain methods of right and wrong. And what's happening in our time? We say, well, first of any God, and if there isn't any God, then there can't be any rules or any rules, then I'm going to look out for number one. I'm going to look out for me, and we have the highest crime rate in the history of America. We had teenage suicide that is rampant, and we kill over a million babies every year. What's happening in our country? Man, where's the last time you went out and just walked at night? You don't do that because you're afraid you'll get raped or beaten or mugged. Why is that? Let me tell you something, because we forgot about the law of God, and you don't have to be a Christian to understand that the law of God is the law of God, and certain things are right and certain things are wrong. And in our schools, we refuse to teach, I don't care whether they pray in our schools, but I want them to teach that there's a God, and the God says, you do this, and it's wrong, it's dead wrong. Instead, we have values, clarification, clashes. Values, clarification, where group of people get together and vote on what's right or wrong, and that's at the base of what's wrong with our country. That's right, the divorce law, but rate is up 50%. And you don't have to be a Christian to understand that, that there is a God, the God of nature, who reveals what is right, or what is wrong, who tells us where the minds are in the mind for you. And we don't know that anymore, and so we're stepping on these minds, and we're going to destroy ourselves as a nation. Remember, Woodstock? I guess all of the stuff that happened a couple of months ago at the New Woodstock, that everybody said was commercial and stuff. I tell you, I watch some of the television things at Woodstock, and I like some of the musicians all right, but you know, they were playing in the mud, and dirty, and tired, and the mosquitoes were eating my life. And if I'd been there, I'd turn to my friend and said, are we having fun yet? It didn't look like fun to me, but I'm an old guy, that's not my idea of fun, man. My idea of roughing it all day in, at any rate, I was looking at the New Woodstock and thinking of the old Woodstock when I was a young pastor when it happened the first time. And they talked about freedom from any rules, do your own thing, sex was free, and everything else was. And, you know, there was some kind of win some about that. Remember, the picture in Life Magazine of the hippie girl who put the flower in the gun barrel of the soldier? I mean, that picture was something else, and it was something that went about that flower power and all that kind of stuff. No rules, everybody's just going to love everybody kind of stuff. But then the bottom fell out, and that which had been the free generation, became the drug generation, and Satan read back and gave a great big old belly laugh, and we had the highest suicide rate in the history of our nation for young people. And, Satan was wrong, what's going on? What's going on? It was that we said no rules when there were rules. We said that God loved everybody, and you can do whatever you want, and God does love, but you can't do whatever you want, because he built a universe in a certain way, and we need to live that way. What am I saying? Just simply that the log gets superior, no, but God isn't saying these are the things that I want you to do because I don't want you to have any fun. He's saying this is the way the world works. This is how things are put together. This is what you're supposed to do, and for my money, they ought to be teaching that in the public schools, and we would see the crime rate drop significantly. I don't care whether they pray, and I don't care which God, they worship. It's no skin off my nose, but I tell you what is skin off my nose when they sit around in a corner and debate what's right or wrong when clearly God has revealed what is right or wrong. Well, enough of that. Moving on to the next point, fourthly, the law is not only a gift of God, a revelation of God, and does it bestow superior knowledge from God? The law shows us ourselves as we really are Romans 3, 19 through 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, as it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in a sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. There's a Middle Eastern story about a man who was eating pears in his house with the candles lit, and he pulls a pair out of a basket and notices that there's a worm holding it and he throws the pair away, and then he gets another pair out and he notices a worm holding that and he throws it away, and finally he gets up, blows out the candles and eats the prayers. That's what the law does, it turns on the light so we can see where the holes are. The law is the light. I have a friend who doesn't light bright lights over the mirror in the bathroom when he shades. You know why? Because the bright light exposes the blemishes, and so he keeps the lights down low and he looks in the mirror and says, you know, you're some else. You're so good looking. I mean, there aren't very many wrinkles. You're so sharp. You're something else. Well, the truth is he keeps the lights down low, so he doesn't see how ugly he is, and he looks like ugly on an ape. The law is really the light where God turns on the light, and that's not a bad thing, dear friend. That is a very, very good thing. You know why? Because when I go before God, I want to know what the rules are, and if I'm going to ask you to forgive me, I want to know what to ask him to forgive me for. I mean, I want when I go before God to know the places where I've messed it up. I want to know the places where I've made a horrible mess out of it, and if I don't know those, then I'm not going to ask forgiveness, then I'm not going to be forgiven, and then I'm going to continue in my guilt, and I'm going to be lost forever, the law. The law is a wonderful way, not to tell us that we're wonderful, but to tell us that we're not, and to drive us to the throne of grace. Fifthly, the law is not only a gift of God, a revelation of the nature of God, the bestor of superior knowledge, and a revelation of who we are, the law is sometimes misinterpreted. Romans 3.5 through 6 says this, but if our righteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, our unrighteousness, what shall we say is God unjust who inflicts wrath? I speak as a man, certainly not, for then how will God judge the world, Romans 3.8? And why not say, let us do evil, that good may come, as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, their condemnation is just, you see the problem, people say, after looking at the law, they say, I'm bad, I'm really bad, I'm really bad, and God made me that way. So God must want me that way, so I'm going to go out and really sin. Paul said, your fruitcake, that's the original Greek, your twit, that's the original Greek. To your about the little boy was locked in the closet by his father, after an hour's father opened the door and said, what are you doing? He said, I spit on your shoes, and I spit on your clothes, and I spit on the door. And I was just sitting here waiting for some more spit when you opened the door. Little boy decided that his father had locked him in the closet, and it was his father's fault. Truth is, it's not. God has given us the law, as a demonstration of who we are, so that we might live the best way to live, and so when we don't, we might go to Him and ask forgiveness and for the power to do better next time. The truth is that the law isn't given, so you can give up, it's given, so you can give it up. The truth is the law isn't given, so you can give up, it's given, so you can give it up to Him and grow in grace. Sixthly and finally, the law is not only a gift to God, a revelation of the nature of God, the bestor of superior knowledge, and the revelation of who we are, and an object of misinterpretation. The law can never, are you listening? The law can never ever be the object whereby we are saved. Romans 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law, in other words by being good, no flesh will be justified in His sight, or by the law is the knowledge of sin. Do you know that leprosy is a horrible disease, not because it's painful, but because it isn't? You say, I wouldn't listen, what'd you say? Do you know that leprosy is a horrible disease, not because it is painful, but because it isn't painful? Let me tell you about it. Do you know that leprosy takes the pain away? I've preached in leprosy colonies before in the east, and I was moved, I mean tremendously moved, because often you'll find that lepros have missing appendages, fingers that are gone or part of their face is gone. You know what? It isn't because it's jungle rod, it happens because there's no pain, and so when you and I put our hand on a hot stove, we withdraw it immediately because of the pain. When somebody who has leprosy puts their hand on a hot stove, they don't remove it. They never know when they're gripping too hard, because they never feel pain. You know what the law does? The law shows us where the pain is and why it hurts. It reveals my pain, and then I go to the right place. The worst thing you can ever do is to think that if you can just be good enough, you're enough and obedient enough, God will notice you and love you. I've tried that, and different, it just doesn't work, because I'm not good enough. But by the law, I recognize where my need is, and then I go to the proper physician, the God of the universe who was a God of grace. Now, I don't spend a lot of time on this because when it's been all next week, we're getting to the good news. Next week, we're going to talk about the very, very good news, because Paul is finished with making us feel horrible. Then he's going to say, all right, now you feel bad enough? You heard enough of the bad news. I have a deal for you, you wouldn't believe, and we're going to talk about that all next week. But in conclusion, let me talk about what the law really does. I told you about Annie, the orphan, our new little dog. I always said I was never going to have a rug rat, a little yapping dog while I've got one. My wife almost ran over her, and she was the ugliest dog you've ever seen. She's got an under bite. She looks sort of like one of those little demons in those movies. She's a little might of a thing, and she was dirty and filthy and had a horrible self-image. I mean, she would just, she'd just awful, and Anna and her friend Mary had picked up the dog, and they brought her into the car, and then tried to wash and couldn't get her clean so they took her to the vet. The vet said, Anna, she said, I've gone around to the neighbors, nobody knows where this dog came from. That said, let me tell you something, anybody treats a dog like this has no right to have a dog like this. Well, Annie's become a part of our family, and Quincy, the wonder dog, our German shepherd, just loves having a companion. It's kind of like Annie wakes up in the morning and says, what kinds of neat things are we going to do today, Quincy, the wonder dog, and it looks like Mutton Jeff, and sometimes Annie will ride Quincy around Annie the orphan. But I'll tell you, when you come home, when I come home, Annie runs up to me and she wags her whole body, she so pleases somebody to love her and care for her, because she was so dirty and so lost and so orphaned before. Annie, the orphan, teaches me the truth of Bible doctrine, and what is that? Then I was dirty that way, I was an orphaned. I was an nobody, and how did I know that the law revealed back to me? I saw it in all of its reality, and then I went to him, and he adopted me, and he accepted me. I'll tell you something, I'm as pleased about him as Annie is about me. You think about that? I'm in.