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A number of you came in after the announcements were given, so let me just ask again that

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those of you who had a part in calling in homes for stewardship enrichment, would you

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plan to stay after the evening service tonight for just a very few minutes?

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We'll meet in Fellowship Hall downstairs.

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Thanks for doing that.

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Would you take your Bible now and turn with me please to Romans chapter 7.

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This chapter deals with the law of God, its work in the life of the sinner as well as

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in the life of the believer, what our relationship to it is or isn't.

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By the law of God, we're referring primarily to the moral code contained in the law, which

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is summarized in the Ten Commandments.

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There was an occasion when Jesus was confronted by some Pharisees, and one of them who was

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skilled in the law seeking to trick him into saying something wrong said, Master, which

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of the commandments is the greatest?

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And Jesus' response to him was, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and

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soul and strength, and the second one is, love your neighbors yourself.

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He did something interesting there.

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The Ten Commandments are basically negative, aren't they?

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Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not.

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But when Jesus responded to the Pharisee, he said, You shall, you shall.

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Jesus said the Ten Commandments can be condensed and boiled down to just two.

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Love God with your total being and love your neighbor as yourself.

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If we have learned anything about the law as we have gone through the book of Romans,

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I hope we have learned two truths.

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Number one, the law cannot save or justify the sinner.

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And number two, the law cannot sanctify or make holy the life of the saint.

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The law cannot do those two things.

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I wish a lot of people could grasp those truths and understand them and apply them to their

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lives.

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There are many people in the world today who think that they are going to be made right

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with God by keeping the law, obeying the Ten Commandments.

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And then there are genuine Christians who think that they are going to get their lives

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cleaned up in their act together by obeying the Ten Commandments or keeping rules, legalism.

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And both are false.

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The law cannot justify the sinner.

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Turn back with me, before we read the text, to Romans 3 verse 20.

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The apostle says, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight.

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That's kind of all-inclusive, isn't it?

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He says, by the works, by keeping the law, no flesh, no man, no woman, no one will be

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justified in his sight.

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Drop down a few verses to verse 28.

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We maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.

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Apart from what?

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The works of the law.

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So a man is justified apart from the law.

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It has nothing to do with his being made right with God.

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The apostle Paul uses two words over and over and over again beginning in chapter 3.

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And those two words are grace and faith.

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Grace is God's kindness toward those who do not deserve it.

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His unmerited favor, some people say.

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Faith is man's response to God's grace in trusting him.

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And the apostle tells us that man is saved by grace through faith.

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Those two words stand out over and over and over again.

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That stands in contrast to what the rabbis were teaching in Jesus' day and in Paul's

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day.

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Their emphasis was upon law and works.

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Now God had given the law to Israel in the beginning, not so that Israel would be saved

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by the law, but so that that moral law would make them realize the necessity of faith,

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which would be evidenced by their keeping the ceremonial law, bringing the sacrifices,

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and so on.

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You see, the law in the Old Testament was never given to Israel to save the people.

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It was given to show them their sinfulness, to bring them to faith, and that faith would

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be evidenced by their bringing the proper sacrifices at the appropriate times.

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But it degenerated to the point that they emphasized the law and the standard and the

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works and forgot about the faith.

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And so this was quite a message for the Jews to accept, which Paul preached, of salvation

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by grace through faith.

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Very difficult for them.

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Even when they became believers, it was difficult for them to understand it.

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And that's why so many of them, though they were able to understand salvation by faith,

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they were unable to understand how sanctification worked apart from the law.

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They said, okay, we're saved by grace through faith, but we surely have to keep the law

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in order to be holy.

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And the apostle attacks that here in the book of Romans.

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He says it's not true.

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We're not under the law anymore, he says in chapter 6.

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In chapter 7, we have seen him say we have died to the law.

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We've been released from that by which we've bound.

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We have no relationship to the external law anymore.

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Now there were some Jews that said, now Paul, you preach that kind of a message and people

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are going to be lawless.

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There will be no end to their sin.

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You're really putting down the law, aren't you?

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Well, Paul will answer that when we get to chapter 8.

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But that's essentially the argument that comes up as we begin our text now in Romans 7 verse

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7.

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He says, what shall we say then?

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Is the law sin?

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He says, Paul, you're putting the law down.

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Does that mean the law is actually sin?

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He says, never.

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May it never be.

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On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law.

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I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet.

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But sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every kind.

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For apart from the law, sin is dead.

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And I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive

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and I died.

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And this commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me.

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For sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me.

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So then the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

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Therefore did that which is good become a cause for death for me?

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May it never be.

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Rather, it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through

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that which is good.

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That through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful.

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We are not going to get through the entire paragraph in this hour.

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As you look at your outline, we'll probably get through the first half of it and then

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pick it up next week and finish it.

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We want to talk this morning about what good is the law anyway?

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If the law doesn't save and the law doesn't sanctify, what's its usefulness?

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What's it supposed to do?

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The Jews believed that by the works of the law one was justified and that one procured

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holiness by keeping the law.

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Paul's teaching seems to turn people to lawlessness.

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What's the purpose of the law, Paul?

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Well, in this paragraph he shows us that the law has four works to accomplish, all of them

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in the life of the sinner.

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You will notice at this point in verse 7 that the apostle begins using a personal pronoun,

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I.

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He is relating to us, beginning here, his personal experience with the law.

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This is his testimony.

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Now frankly, I'm glad that we have these words from Paul.

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If we had only the record of his conversion as it is related to us in the book of Acts,

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we would think that his conversion was totally apart from anything going on in his own life.

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For here's this fellow with his party tooling down the road to Damascus in order to put

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Christians into jail, and all of a sudden Jesus Christ appears to him and he's converted.

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It seems to be all external.

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It emphasizes the sovereign act of God.

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So was anything going on in Paul's life to bring him to that point of conversion?

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The answer is yes.

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He tells us what it is here in this paragraph.

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He gives us an insight into his heart in that period of time leading up to his conversion.

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I don't know how long it was, but it was at least days or weeks so that he inwardly was

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prepared for what happened on that road to Damascus.

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The first work of the law in the sinner is that it reveals sin in him.

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It reveals sin in the sinner.

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Notice Paul says in verse 7, I would not have come to know sin except through the law.

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Paul was a trained theologian.

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He knew what sin was theologically.

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He could define sin.

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So that's not what he means here.

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What he means is he would not have come to know the experience of conviction for sinfulness

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if it had not been for the law.

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He would not have had a sense of his personal sinfulness before God.

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It wasn't that he suddenly began to do things he had never done before.

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It was that at this point in his life, whenever it was, he began to be under conviction inside.

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Outwardly everything was fine.

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Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 that as far as the righteousness which is by the law

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is concerned, he was blameless up to this point before he was saved.

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In other words, the external righteousness, he calls it their self-righteousness.

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He did all the things he was supposed to do.

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He was doing his thing as he understood it, but it was all external.

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That was the emphasis of it.

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Nobody could point a finger at Paul externally, but there came a day when that law that he

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knew in his head and had studied began to reveal to him personal inward sinfulness.

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It put up a standard before him which exposed something on the inside of Paul he had not

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seen to that point.

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Maybe I can illustrate that by something that happened to me back in high school.

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I was on the basketball team, not one of the stars by any means, but I was on the team,

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and I had a certain shot that I thought was pretty good.

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I mean it went into the hoop more often than it didn't.

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It was a jump shot and I used one hand to get it up there and lob it in.

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I well remember the day the coach came to me and said, call, that'll never work.

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He said, make that shot, and I tried, and he slapped the ball right out of my hand.

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He said, you've got to have both hands on that ball when you jump so that you can release

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the ball then and it's under control and it'll go in the hoop.

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Don't think I ever made as many baskets again in my life with his method, but he had a point.

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I couldn't make it with a good defense using one hand.

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Up to that point it didn't bother me, but after that point I could never do that shot

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again the same way because the weakness of it had been exposed to me.

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The standard of the way it should be done was revealed.

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You see that's what Paul is saying.

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Up to a certain point in his life he felt he was okay, but then he says, the law revealed

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my sin.

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That's the purpose of the law, isn't it?

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Look back again at chapter 3 verse 20 and let's read the last part of the verse this

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time.

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By the works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for through the law comes the

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knowledge of sin.

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The law isn't meant to justify.

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The law is meant to reveal sinfulness.

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Chapter 4 verse 15 says a similar thing.

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The law brings about wrath, but where there is no law neither is there violation.

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He doesn't say there's no sin where there's no law, but he's saying that there's no way

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of measuring it because there's no violation.

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For example, there was a day when you could drive through Nevada any speed you wanted

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to and because of the nature of the state of Nevada people usually drove as fast as

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they could just to get through the place.

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80, 90, 100 miles an hour, whatever you wanted to do, but then there was a law passed that

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limited the speed in Nevada.

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After that it was a violation to go that fast.

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You see the apostle is telling us here that the law brings about wrath and judgment because

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it sets up the standard and exposes what is right and wrong.

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Now friend, God has a right to tell us what is right and wrong.

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If we're only evolved out of some kind of an ape-like creature and there is no God then

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who are we to say that a so-called God sets a standard?

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Let's just set standards the way society says they ought to be set.

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Now that's what's trying to be passed in our state legislature this week.

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But if there is a God who created us, he has a right to say what is right and what is wrong

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and we as his creatures, whether redeemed or not, had better abide by his law.

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He tells us what is right and wrong.

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Now I got that off my shoulder.

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Turn over to James chapter 1 a minute.

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James of course was very Jewish.

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He was a half-brother of our Lord Jesus.

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He was devoted for his early years to the law.

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And you see an emphasis here in James that concerns some people, but it shouldn't.

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Nonetheless he says in verse 22, chapter 1 verse 22, prove yourselves doers of the word

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and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

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For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at

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his natural face in a mirror once he has looked at himself and gone away.

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He has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

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The one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it,

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not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed

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in what he does.

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What is he saying?

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He's saying that the word of God, or we could say the law, is like a mirror.

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As we look into it, it exposes us.

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And if we see where we are failing, where we are sinning, just close the book and walk

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away, it does us no good.

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There's no blessing in that.

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We are hearers only and only bring upon ourselves greater judgment.

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Rather he says we ought to see what the law of liberty reveals to us and be doers of the

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word.

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In fact, in other words, you see the word of God is given to us to expose us.

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It's like a mirror that shows the dirt in our face.

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It's like a spotlight that reveals the perverseness of the heart.

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The apostle says, I would not have come to understand my sinfulness if the law had not

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done its work.

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Do you know what the problem is with the unregenerate?

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He does not understand the truth about sin.

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Oh, the unregenerate man may have a moral code of his own and a certain grasp of sin

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as he defines it, but he does not understand the sinfulness of sin.

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He does not comprehend how sin offends a holy God.

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And because he lives up to his own personal standard, his own code, he feels he's all

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right.

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I mean, God wouldn't send a good guy like him to hell, would he?

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That's the problem with the unregenerate.

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Paul was unregenerate and there was a day he felt just like that.

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As far as the righteousness of the law was concerned, who could point a finger at him?

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But then the law did its work of revealing his sinfulness, and when he began to see his

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sin, he was troubled in his soul.

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And so it is with the unregenerate.

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A man can feel pretty good about himself until he understands what God says in the Bible,

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and when he begins to understand how sinful he is, he's troubled within.

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Paul's personal experience was with the sin of coveting, he says.

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He says, I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet.

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Now, why did Paul pick on coveting?

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Well, undoubtedly, he's telling us the truth.

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That was the particular commandment that exposed him.

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But I think there's genius in this for another reason, because coveting is invisible.

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You can sit around and be very self-righteous and covet every hour of your life, right?

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Because it's inward.

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It's an attitude.

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Not only that, this sin of coveting is kind of basic to all of the other sins.

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What about stealing?

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Does it not begin with covetousness?

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What about murder?

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The word covetous here means lust or desire.

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What about adultery?

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And on and on you go.

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This sin is inward, and it is the basis out of which come so many of the actions that

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we may see and measure and call sin.

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The apostle says, the law said to me, you shall not covet.

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And his heart was just exposed.

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It was filled with covetousness.

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Turn back to Mark chapter 10 for a minute.

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We see here a pathetic young man.

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It says in Mark 10 beginning in verse 17, as Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man

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ran up to him.

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Now here's a fellow who is running.

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He wants to find out the answer to a question.

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And he knelt before him and began asking, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal

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life?

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Now, you know what a lot of Christians would have done at this point?

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They would have said, well, sit down.

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Let me share the Roman's road with you.

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Man, if there's ever a sinner who's prepared to get saved, this guy is it.

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He's hot.

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I mean, he is ready to pray.

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Right?

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What shall I do to get saved?

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What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

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So how did Jesus respond to him?

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Did he get out the Roman's road?

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Romans wasn't even written yet.

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He says, why do you call me good?

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No one is good except God alone.

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Now Jesus wasn't denying he was God here.

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He was testing this man to see if he really understood he was talking to.

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He says, you know the commandments.

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Do not murder.

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Do not commit adultery.

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Do not steal.

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Do not bear false witness.

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Do not defraud.

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Honor your father and mother.

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Did you notice the one Jesus left out?

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All of these are outward actions.

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And so the man responds as the apostle Paul would have.

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Teacher, Rabbi, I have kept all these things from my youth up.

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And that young man was not saying that insincerely because as far as he was taught and was concerned

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outwardly, he had kept these commandments.

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Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, one thing you lack, go and

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sell all you possess and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and

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come follow me.

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00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:05,840
Now was Jesus giving a works answer to this question, what shall I do to inherit eternal

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life?

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Is Jesus saying, well if you sell everything you have and give it to the poor, you will

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inherit eternal life?

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No.

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The Lord Jesus very wisely brought to this young man's attention the sin which possessed

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him and it was covetousness.

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It goes on to say, at these words his face fell and he went away grieved for he was one

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who owned much property.

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Now most evangelists today would have had that man's soul notched on his belt before

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00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:53,440
he could have counted to ten because he had been down on his knees, he was already on

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his knees, he had prayed a prayer and he had been saved, right?

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00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,520
But not Jesus.

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Because Jesus knew that this young man had never yet come to understand his personal

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00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:16,600
sinfulness and my friend, a man, a woman, a child cannot be saved until he or she comes

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to that place.

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I said cannot be saved.

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This young man went away as unregenerate as when he came.

325
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:38,720
He was not willing to repent of the sin of covetousness.

326
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The apostle Paul had the opposite reaction.

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For when he began to understand the covetousness in his heart, he did repent and believed in

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the Lord Jesus Christ.

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You see he came to an inward understanding of his own vileness.

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He saw the corruption of his heart, the wretchedness of his soul, before a person can be saved

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00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:17,960
he must experience the agony, the shame of exposure of his inner wickedness before a

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holy God.

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Now there are many people who are convicted these days about outward things.

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There are people who are convicted about their drinking or about their smoking or whatever.

335
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:40,920
And it's possible to get cleaned up outwardly without the means of grace.

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Man can go to AA and get victory over alcohol.

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I have an uncle who are seven days unconscious in their house because of alcoholism.

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Terrible sin.

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00:26:53,460 --> 00:26:56,760
It's not a disease my friend.

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I know it affects the body but it is essentially a sin.

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00:27:01,820 --> 00:27:03,240
They got their lives cleaned up.

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00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:04,680
They no longer drink.

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00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:10,540
They were spared from death but they have never yet given their hearts to Jesus Christ.

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You can clean up your act outwardly without the Lord's help.

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But there's one thing you can't clean up without the Lord's help and that's your heart.

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00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:35,720
The Apostle Paul became aware of the inner sin and he could not escape it.

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Your problem is the heart too.

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00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:42,720
Some of you here today.

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00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,800
You say well I think we just ought to live according to the Sermon on the Mount.

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You know the golden rule.

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Well the golden rule in other terms is found in the Sermon on the Mount.

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But you know what else is found in the Sermon on the Mount?

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I mean there are people who base their whole religion on the Sermon on the Mount.

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They say I don't like all this stuff about the cross and all that.

355
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,520
Let's just talk about the Sermon on the Mount.

356
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,100
You know what the Sermon on the Mount says?

357
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You look at chapters five and six.

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Jesus says you have heard it said to you, you shall not commit adultery.

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But I say to you if a man commits adultery in his heart, in his mind, he's guilty of

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00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:33,080
the act.

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00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:38,160
You go right down through the chapter and again and again Jesus Christ in the Sermon

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00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:43,240
on the Mount points to the inner sin of man.

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00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:48,640
It's fine to me if they want to live by the Sermon on the Mount because it will bring

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00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:53,680
them to Christ if they mean it.

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00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:58,440
And today we hear it said do this, do that, everything will be fine.

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You'll make it with God.

367
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:07,800
And Jesus Christ would say to us you've heard it said but I say to you there's the problem.

368
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It's your heart.

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00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:16,200
That speaks to some of you here today who have not yet trusted the Savior or who have

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00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:26,480
trusted Him superficially, culturally, socially, have never been born again.

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The law reveals sin in the sinner.

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A man may know how to define sin but when the law does its work it reveals that corruption,

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00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,040
that vileness inside.

374
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,800
And a man is brought to the end of himself.

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And he's a candidate for salvation.

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00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:52,280
Let's go back to Romans 7 again and look at verses 8 and 9 and we'll just talk about

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00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:57,720
the second work of the law in the sinner.

378
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,400
Not only does the law reveal sin but it does something more than that.

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It revives sin in the sinner.

380
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:12,920
The apostle says but sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting

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of every kind.

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Apart from the law sin is dead and I was alive apart from the law but when the commandment

383
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,400
came sin became alive and I died.

384
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:33,680
Have you ever noticed that prohibitions tend to create a desire to do the things that are

385
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,520
forbidden?

386
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:41,320
Wet paint, do not touch.

387
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:46,760
The worst way you just want to reach out and see if it's dry yet, right?

388
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:50,840
Do not walk on the grass.

389
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,640
Is that real grass or is that just carpeting?

390
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:55,720
I wonder.

391
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,520
Reach out and touch it.

392
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:06,120
I was on an airplane this week and was reminded again how scared some people are of flying

393
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:16,360
because we had some people who were just creating clouds of smoke in the airport lounge.

394
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:21,280
And then the young lady said we're ready to board.

395
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,840
Please put out your cigarettes.

396
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:30,560
You may not smoke until you are allowed to by the captain after you're airborne.

397
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:36,560
And so those people waited the last minute and put out the cigarettes and walked onto

398
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:37,840
the plane.

399
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:42,120
Have you ever seen anybody practically die of a nicotine fit between that point and the

400
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,200
time that they're in the air?

401
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,360
And you know it's not just the 20 minutes or 15 minutes whatever it is between put out

402
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,120
the cigarettes until the no smoking sign goes off.

403
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:59,200
But it's the fact it says up there no smoking.

404
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:05,000
That just creates a great desire to pull out one of those things and begin choking your

405
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:06,000
lungs.

406
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:10,320
Isn't that right?

407
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,960
Prohibitions make us want to experience it.

408
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:17,720
We say well if that's so bad I wonder what it's really like.

409
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:22,640
We hear about this or that and people sometimes I think make a mistake in saying well this

410
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:23,640
or that.

411
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:24,640
No, stay away from that.

412
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:29,040
And people say hmm if it's that bad he's talking about it maybe I should go.

413
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:30,840
Right?

414
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:43,840
You see the law fans the spark of rebellion into a blaze.

415
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:52,600
It causes the desire to explode into a forest fire within the person.

416
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,520
The apostle says apart from the law sin is dead.

417
00:32:55,520 --> 00:33:00,920
Now that's a general principle what he's saying here is that sin is present but it's

418
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:02,480
virulence.

419
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,920
Its power is not apparent before the law.

420
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,800
But he says the law's presence gives sin an opportunity.

421
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,120
You see that?

422
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,160
Sin taking opportunity through the commandment.

423
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:20,200
In other words when the law is present it gives sin a beachhead.

424
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,100
It gives it a base of operations.

425
00:33:24,100 --> 00:33:26,600
This is a military term.

426
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,080
Right now there's something going on in Nicaragua.

427
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:34,360
There is a band of people who are trying to overthrow the Sandinistas.

428
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,600
I wish them well.

429
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:42,520
Their base of operations apparently is back in Honduras.

430
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,560
They're using that as the launching point for the attack.

431
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:54,040
And what the apostle is saying here is that sin used the law, the prohibitions, as a launching

432
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:57,480
point to attack.

433
00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:03,200
And so that sin then becomes not only present but it becomes a consuming monster in the

434
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:04,340
life.

435
00:34:04,340 --> 00:34:06,320
He elaborates on this in verse 9.

436
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:12,120
He says I was alive once apart from the law.

437
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:18,120
In other words there was a time, Paul is saying, when I was unconscious of my rebellion, my

438
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:21,480
alienation from God.

439
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:29,240
In those days before I really saw the law, I deemed myself all right, he is saying.

440
00:34:29,240 --> 00:34:33,520
I was in good standing with God as far as I was concerned.

441
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:39,040
But then he says when the commandment came, probably that specific commandment he's mentioned,

442
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,900
he says when the commandment came sin became alive.

443
00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:45,720
In other words it was revived.

444
00:34:45,720 --> 00:34:48,400
It sprang to life within me, he says.

445
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:50,600
It became powerful.

446
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:56,080
And he says it created in me every kind of coveting.

447
00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:01,720
He said instead of just having a little problem with coveting, sin began to explode within

448
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:05,600
me and there was coveting for everything.

449
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,680
And he says as a result I died.

450
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:14,280
In other words he became conscious of his condemnation of his spiritual deadness.

451
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:21,320
My friend, a person cannot be saved until he comes to death to his self-righteousness

452
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,720
as did Paul.

453
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:32,120
Until he comes to the place where his well-being is destroyed, he's not going to reach out

454
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:36,760
in genuine repentance and faith and trust the Savior.

455
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:43,920
These days we hear an awful lot about self-esteem and self-actualization and self-realization

456
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:48,440
and all that is, is sin.

457
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:53,840
Not that there's not a place for esteem, self-esteem, but there are so many people who think that's

458
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:55,640
the essence of salvation.

459
00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:03,280
Even a popular book these days written by a popular preacher boasting that heresy.

460
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:15,720
The real need is not for self-esteem, but is to see one's unworthiness before God.

461
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:23,960
The apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 lists for us all the things that he could brag

462
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,280
in.

463
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:31,560
He was a Hebrew and he was of Benjamin's tribe and circumcised the eighth day.

464
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:39,760
He had been through all of the things that made him right with God as far as the external

465
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:40,760
law demanded.

466
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:46,480
But he says, when I measured up all of those things, I counted them but lost.

467
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:54,600
He says all of that self-esteem that I had was worthless compared to what I have found

468
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:56,200
in Jesus Christ.

469
00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:03,040
In a verse so further down the chapter he says, those things were bedung.

470
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:08,300
Literally says those things were like manure to me.

471
00:37:08,300 --> 00:37:12,760
He says I have found real self-worth.

472
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:20,040
What life is really all about in coming to Jesus Christ and trusting him because I have

473
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,120
received his righteousness.

474
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:28,320
It may be that you have been seeking to establish your own righteousness before God.

475
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:32,500
Dear friend, will you listen to me a moment?

476
00:37:32,500 --> 00:37:36,560
You will never do that as long as you live.

477
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:42,720
If you had eternity to try to establish your own self-righteousness, you could never do

478
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,280
it.

479
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:54,920
What you need is to realize your self-sinfulness and repent of that and trust the Savior.

480
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,160
That's what the law wants to do.

481
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,720
Will you let it have its work in your life today?

482
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:03,680
You say, well I am a Christian.

483
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:09,900
We know the law of God is his moral standard and that standard doesn't change.

484
00:38:09,900 --> 00:38:14,760
The law does a work on us every now and then too, doesn't it, in that sense?

485
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:19,360
Because it shows us where we are coming short.

486
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:25,520
It may be as a Christian today the law is convicting you because you haven't been living

487
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,880
as you ought to be.

488
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:34,640
Your need today as a Christian is to repent and confess your sins to the Lord and get

489
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,480
back to that place of obedience so that you are abiding in the vine.

490
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:42,680
Will you do it?

491
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:56,720
I pray that the law will do its work today in some life and that some friend here today

492
00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:03,760
would recognize his hopelessness in establishing his own righteousness with you and would receive

493
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:13,160
by faith the Lord Jesus and the righteousness that comes by that faith.

494
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:20,760
Heavenly Father, may those of us who know Christ also be aware of what your moral standard

495
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:31,140
is and be living holy lives through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

496
00:39:31,140 --> 00:39:34,160
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.