The Gospel Makes No Sense Without the Law

Let's pray.

Speak, Lord, Your servants are hearing.

Show us now Your ways so that we may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness

of our own.

That comes from the law,.

But that which comes through faith in Christ.

As Your Word says, Your Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

So give us life, O Lord,.

According to Your Word, and we will declare Your greatness to the nations.

Amen.

We are rapidly getting close to wrapping up our

study of the Ten Commandments.

We're now to the part where we're kind of reflecting on the reason why God has given us His law

and what these commandments teach us and say.

Next week in the sermon, and yes, I've already begun working on next week's sermon.

Next week in the sermon, you're going to hear these words from John talking about the importance of

keeping and guarding God's commandments.

Oftentimes when we hear the word keep the commandments, we think only in

terms of mere obedience.

Mere obedience.

That, however, is really not the gist of it.

And there was a verse that I mentioned today in the sermon that I would like you to consider in this regard.

And that is Ecclesiastes 7, specifically verse 20.

And verse 20 says this.

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and

never sins.

There is not a righteous person on earth who does good and never sins.

So remember when we confess our sins at the beginning of each of our church services, we

confess that we are what?

First, by nature, it's a corrupted nature, sinful, unclean, that we have sinned

against God.

By our thoughts,.

By our words,.

By our deeds,.

The things we do, the things we don't do.

I always like to think of the things we don't do as that final episode of Seinfeld.

Does anyone remember this?

Janet, you're looking at me like I'm crazy.

I didn't like that show.

You didn't like that show?

It didn't make any sense to me.

Okay, so if the punchline is this, the Seinfeld series, it was the show

that was about nothing.

But yet it was still about something.

But see, the whole point of the show was it was a show about nothing.

It was a show about nothing.

And I remember, I mean, back when it was in production, you know, at the place where I was working, people

literally on Friday mornings, because it was a Thursday night program, on Friday mornings, they were talking about the things

that happened on Seinfeld.

And a lot of people didn't get the final episode.

The final episode, they were arrested.

And why were they arrested?

They were arrested for doing nothing.

I was right.

Yeah, they were arrested for doing nothing.

They were witnessing a crime taking place and they did nothing.

So the idea then is that they end up, so the series, it literally ends with all of them in prison because

they did nothing.

And so when you know the good that you are to do and you do not do it,

you are sinning.

When you do nothing, when God has called you to do something, you are sinning.

But now coming back to the initial thought then, to keep the commandments

is first and foremost beginning with the idea of guarding them.

And that's what the Hebrew word Nazar means when we hear in the Old Testament that we are to keep God's commandments.

And in the New Testament, the Greek word Tereo is used for keeping the commandments.

And Tereo and Nazar both have kind of a military concept to it.

If you were to post soldiers to keep guard, you would Tereo them or you would Nazar

them.

That's a bad way of talking about these words,.

But you get the idea.

So a guy standing guard, he's Tereoing.

So we are to keep and to guard God's commandments and in holding them sacred and in

guarding them, we then as Christians strive to obey them.

If you do not keep them, you do not guard them, you do not hold them sacred, do you care whether you break them or not?

No, not at all.

Not at all.

If you think God's law is no big deal, you have no desire to obey it at all.

Well, I don't like what ifs, but it's kind of

some theory of mine that I'm admitting to.

Okay, when I was a young child, and if I would rat out the

bully, the bully usually beat me up.

Yeah, the bullies do that.

Okay, and in order to save myself, I a lot of times would look the other way

and keep it to myself.

Okay, but then that got to be a problem later when the deed, the bad deed was

done and nobody knew what was going on.

I eventually would, but then his friends would come and beat me.

Yeah.

Okay, so and that's, and then we learned those lessons young and

that's why sometimes we feel in our own personal selfish life

that it's better to say nothing.

Okay, okay.

So again, you know, today

in today's life, if we see somebody sinning and it's,

you know, who cares?

You know, who cares?

Why should you care?

Well, you do and you say it and then you get shunned for saying it.

And if you stick up for your own belief, you're just an old, you're not with it, you're not

progressive and I say, yeah, that's right, I'm not.

But now I've matured enough to say that but a lot of people never reach that maturity.

They are sheep, they'll go with the crowd.

How do we turn that around?

You ask a great question and I'm going to answer it by asking you a question.

What is the more loving thing to do?

To say nothing or to speak up?

What does love command you to do in a circumstance like that?

It doesn't matter if you love your face or not.

You actually put your finger on it.

Do you love your neighbor more than your own life?

Do you love them more than your own face?

Well, today, yes.

But to get to this old, I had to do the other.

Yeah, I agree.

And I'll give you an example.

You've heard of the magicians Penn and Teller?

They're pretty famous.

They're very famous magicians and Penn Jillette is an extremely well -known, outspoken

atheist.

And a few years back, he told of a story of the fact that

there was a Christian fellow who had attended one of his shows and actually had access to him.

And this fellow had the audacity to actually preach the

gospel to Penn Jillette and to tell him that he's a sinner and that Christ has bled and

died for him and that he needs to repent, be forgiven, and trust in Jesus.

A little bit of a summary of what he said.

What do you think Penn Jillette's response would have been to that?

Knowing that he's an outspoken atheist.

How dare you come to me and say that?

You would think.

You would think that.

How dare you judge me and all that kind of stuff.

No, that's not literally.

Literally, it's the exact opposite of that.

You know what he said?

He said that guy had the courage of his convictions and loved me enough to

tell me what he believed was the truth.

I disagree with his truth, but I respect him because he stood on his principles and

unlike many Christians that I have come in contact with, Penn Jillette even made that point.

This guy actually showed that he believed what he believed

so much so that he cared about him to tell him about Jesus.

If you love your neighbor, the most loving thing

you could tell them is, neighbor, you're doing wrong.

And not only are you doing wrong and hurting yourself and hurting others, you're offending a holy God by your

actions.

Repent.

And here's the good news.

Christ has bled and died for those sins.

Now, your neighbor may not invite you to their Christmas party after you tell them that.

But notice the irony there.

They're going to have a Christmas party and you're not invited because you told them about the real Jesus.

Isn't that strange?

But not saying anything.

I have to ask you,.

Do you really care about that neighbor of yours if you're not going to tell them about Jesus?

Well, you'll carry that guilt if you don't.

Yeah, yeah.

So it comes down to this.

Whom do you fear more?

Christ or your neighbor?

Which do you value more?

Your faith or your neighbor?

This is what the commandments teach us.

And then you sit there and go,.

Ouch, I don't like what you're saying.

I know.

So, knowing then that each and every one of us,.

Not just you, all of us,.

We have fallen short in this regard.

We then pray to Christ,.

Forgive us, Lord.

We have not loved our neighbors as we should.

And we are sorry.

Please forgive us.

And then you hear again the words of the absolution.

You are forgiven in Christ.

And so the life of a Christian,.

Of a baptized believer,.

Knowing that there isn't going to be a single day that goes by where you're going to keep God's law perfectly.

Because it demands of us perfect thoughts, perfect deeds,

perfect actions in the things that we do and don't do.

Ecclesiastes 7 again says, there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and

never sins.

Not in this church, not in anybody's church.

Not on anywhere on planet earth, physically at the moment, is there anybody who's pulling off God's law perfectly.

Every one of us needs to be forgiven of our sins.

So then, how then do we reconcile this and say, okay, how am I supposed to keep the commandments knowing I'm not going to keep them?

Well, you keep, to keep them is to guard them, to hold them sacred, to meditate

on them, and to realize that this is a word from God that not merely shows me what my

sin is, it shows me what a good work is.

And so, when you wake up in the morning and you say your morning prayers, read your

catechism.

We get up, we make the sign of the cross, and we thank the Lord that He has brought me safely to the beginning of this

day.

And we ask that we do not sin, and that all of our doings may be pleasing

in the sight of God, we wake up and we strive to obey

God's law.

But, it's hard for a simple reason.

It's like this.

You go and you call somebody out on their comment, and they look you

blank, straight in the eye, and said, you hypocrite.

And I'll say, yeah, okay.

But you know what, then who are you to judge me?

You can hear the liberal talking about what's going on here.

And you know what, that catches me off guard, not so much anymore, but it did

earlier on.

And I didn't have nothing more to say.

You know, now I'm armed.

You know, I've done enough studying.

I'm also cool enough.

I don't care what they think.

I do care about them, but I've matured enough to do that for the

most part.

Now, David, I'm your pastor.

And if anybody were to say, that David Fagerlund is a hypocrite, I would be up in their business.

I'd be right in their face and I'd say, you just slandered my brother.

And I know this for a fact.

No, it's not.

Here's the reason why.

What is a hypocrite?

Words mean things.

People throw around the Pharisee card.

Oh, you're just a Pharisee.

Or you're a hypocrite.

Now, words mean things.

What is a hypocrite?

Someone who doesn't practice what he preaches.

Somebody who doesn't practice what they preach.

Right?

So a hypocrite, you know, is a person who wears a mask.

Now, if you were to say to your neighbor, neighbor, I've got my act together.

Why don't you get yours so that you can be like me?

Then you'd be a hypocrite.

And the reason I know that is because I hear you every Sunday say,

I am a sinner.

That I've sinned against God.

I know that you look at God's law and you say, I fall short.

And it condemns me.

And you telling God's law to your neighbor to show him his sin and need for his sin is

not you saying, I've got my stuff together.

Why don't you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get yourself in line like I have.

That's not what you're saying to them.

What you're saying is, yeah, you're a sinner just like me.

You are in need of a savior just like me.

Now, are you practicing what you're preaching?

Yes.

You see, when you properly sort out God's law and gospel and you understand its

functions properly,.

But so many people get stopped at that crossroads where I spoke of just a minute ago

before you came back.

And not a lot of people they get stopped there.

Without the confidence.

Now, thank you for saying what you did.

I do believe with all my heart what you say is true.

But when you're first confronted with that you have a little bit of a doubt and some self

-examination going on.

They've won the war.

They've won the battle.

Have you ever seen those diagrams.

It's called a decision tree or something like that?

We used to have a book.

It's probably still somewhere in our house that when our kids were small you know when your kids are small

they suffer from all kinds of different things and you're worried to death that they've got the sniffles and really that means they have

terminal cancer.

And they're going to die next week.

And so the decision tree would start off with the symptoms.

Symptom number one.

Are you seeing this?

Yes, I'm seeing this.

If yes, then this.

If no, then the other thing?

So here's the idea.

You know what they're going to say and so here's the thing.

When I tell my neighbor they have sinned against God if they say

this now you have to have a response.

Think it out ahead of time.

And so if they say you're a hypocrite, you say brother I know that that's what you think but I'm not saying

I need you to be like me.

I'm saying that God's law condemns us both.

We both need to recognize that we're sinners together.

So you can kind of sort that out because people are going to put up.

Resistance.

And so what does Peter write in his epistle?

Always be ready to give an answer and a reason for the hope that lies.

Within you.

In that text always be ready to give an answer or an apologetic, an

apologia.

So the idea that as Christians we recognize that the one offensive weapon we

have is what?

The sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

So.

Be ready to give an answer.

So when somebody comes at you with a really terrible argument I don't need to repent because you're a hypocrite.

That's silly.

So what you do is you take that argument, you neutralize it and you keep moving ahead.

And so the idea then learning how to use the sword means you learn how to parry and to thrust and to deal

with the different types of things that they do.

And often times bad arguments show up with consistency and being ready to

neutralize that so that you can tell somebody the truth is part of what we're called to do as Christians.

This is a good discipline.

I affirm you in this endeavor.

Go for it.

Yes.

Start thinking before you.

Speak.

In fact I might even know some biblical passages that may encourage you along those lines.

All depends on how you accuse your neighbor.

If you accuse him and send you away and you don't sin if you include yourself in there that's how you

do it.

This kind of gets then to the basics of law and gospel.

Last time when we were doing Sunday School we were talking about God's alien work

and his proper work.

God's alien work God is by nature loving and it's his alien work

to punish sin and he's extremely long suffering in dealing

with us and we thank God for his patience and steadfast love and forgiveness and

mercy and not first coming at us and just wiping us off the face of the earth.

As the line from the movie Aliens goes, we're going to nuke the site from orbit.

God doesn't do that to us and we are thankful for it.

He thinks before he speaks.

God thinks.

In fact he.

Is very patient in sending prophets and people pastors and Christians to call people to repentance.

His proper work is to love us and to forgive us.

His alien work is to act in wrath.

But when you exhaust all of his mercy and his attempts to bring you to repentance

then he goes full Burger King on you and gives it to you your way.

You don't want to be forgiven?

Fine.

You can be a.

Grilled whopper forever.

It's a euphemism for hell.

But you get the idea.

We have to then recognize one of the basics of the Christian faith is a proper distinction between God's law

and the gospel.

Because every time we hear the law I don't know if you've noticed this about yourself but I see it in me.

When I hear God's law it always has this really bad habit of making my

self esteem be obliterated and destroyed and me thinking that I'm a

sinner.

That's it's proper work by the way.

Let's take a look at a text on this by the way.

Romans chapter 3.

We've been through this before.

Good to review it.

The Apostle Paul.

At the tail end of an argument that begins in chapter 1 where he talks about the

wrath of God being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their unrighteousness

suppress the truth.

He concludes his concluding thought here with the fact that we all

are sinners.

Jews and Gentiles alike.

Don't think that somehow your genetics gives you an inside track with God.

And I understand that when it comes to genetic ancestry Norwegians are right up there

as the apple of God's eye.

I get that.

And I recognize this is truly good right and salutary but being a Norwegian will not get you into heaven.

So we must keep this in mind.

And here's what Paul writes then in Romans 3 .9.

So he asks this question.

What then?

Are we Jews any better off?

Talking to Jewish Christians.

Now if there was ever a group of people on planet earth who were thinking you know my genetic

heritage is going to give me an inside track with God.

It would be those who are the descendants of Abraham.

Those who are genetically related to Abraham and.

Their heritage.

They received the covenant of God on Mount Sinai.

They were participants in the nation state of Israel.

They saw the Red Sea part and their relatives walked on the dry ground.

There's anybody that's going to have a genetic inside track.

It would be that group.

Norwegians second but those guys first.

But that being.

Said watch what he says.

He says this.

Not at all.

We Jews are not better off.

For we have already charged.

That all.

Both Jews.

And Greeks.

And in the ancient Jewish way of thinking there's really only two groups on planet earth.

There are Jews and there are Gentiles.

That's it.

So this is talking about everybody on planet earth.

That all.

All Jews.

And Greeks.

Everybody.

They are under sin.

As it is written.

And now he quotes the psalmist.

He quotes the Psalm 14 and 53.

None is righteous.

No.

Not one.

No one understands.

No one.

Seeks for God.

All.

Have turned aside.

Together they have all.

Become worthless.

No one does good.

Not even one.

Their throat is an open grave.

They use their tongue to deceive.

The venom of asps is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

And in their paths are ruin and misery.

The way of peace they have not known.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

That's a flattering description.

And notice it's describing.

All of us.

Now we know that whatever.

The law says.

Watch what the purpose of the law is.

Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law.

So that every mouth may be stopped.

So here's the idea.

The purpose of God's law.

Let me put it in unflattering terms.

Is to shut you up.

I've said it before.

I'll make the point again.

You tell somebody God's law says you should be doing this and you're not.

Or you should not be doing that and you are.

God has said and they have the law written on their hearts so they already know what you're saying is true.

Which is very helpful.

And they say yeah but you're a hypocrite.

The purpose of the law is to shut them up.

No brother.

You're guilty and I'm guilty.

Both.

We need to be silent before God.

And recognize that we both.

Are guilty.

You're guilty. I'm guilty.

We're all guilty.

We fall short.

In so many ways.

And God's law reveals it.

And that's the whole purpose.

It's to show you your sin and to get you.

To be quiet.

Yeah but I had a good reason for breaking that law.

Please be quiet.

But, but, but, but, but, but.

Zip it.

But, but, but, but, but, but, zip it.

Good.

Never mind.

I write my own material so I'll be here all the time.

No.

No.

Children of a contentious man.

Okay.

So.

Every mouth may be stopped.

And listen.

The whole world held accountable to God.

And I want you to consider.

To silence them and to hold them accountable to God.

Is that a feel good proposition?

You're telling me that God's law is going to shut me up and hold me accountable to God.

It's humbling and it's terrifying.

And all at the same time.

The reason why is because what is God's law saying to me?

Shut up.

Shut up and you're.

Guilty.

You are not innocent.

You are guilty.

And the thing we all fear when you get down to it is

standing before God in our guilt.

We all know.

You stand before God on the day of judgment having been pronounced guilty.

Your eternity is sealed and it's not eternal life.

It's eternal damnation.

But that's what God's law does.

It says you're guilty.

You're a sinner.

And you're.

Going to be held accountable to God.

And you sit there.

And go.

Yeah.

This is a very uncomfortable thing, but it's.

Necessary.

And here's the reason why.

For by works of the law.

Obedience.

All of that stuff.

Not one human being.

Not one.

No one will be justified.

And that again is a legal term.

You can say the closest thing to it is in court when the judge slaps his gavel down and he announces

not guilty.

That's what justification is.

It's the gavel coming down and the judge saying not guilty.

That's what justified means.

No one will be justified.

Declared not guilty in God's sight by works of the law.

Since through the law comes the knowledge.

Of sin.

A most necessary thing.

Do you think you need a savior?

If you don't recognize you're a sinner?

No.

The gospel makes no sense at all without first the recognition.

I.

Need me one of them.

I need me a savior in the worst possible way.

So then he goes on, but now the righteousness of God.

Let me ask you a question.

Whose righteousness is this?

Is it yours?

It's God's.

The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the

law.

Although the law and the prophets, they bear witness to it.

This is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for

all who believe.

For there is no distinction.

All have sinned.

Jews and Norwegians.

Swedes and Poles.

Everybody has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And they are justified by his grace.

Listen to the word.

As a gift.

And so now you see this distinction.

The law.

Says you're a sinner.

It shows you you are a sinner.

Through the law comes the recognition of your sin and the law cannot save you.

So many of us, we hear God's law.

Do this.

Don't do that.

And we say, I'm going to get busy doing those things and not doing those other things because

I don't want to stand before God on the day of judgment and have him say, depart from me, I never knew you.

So their solution is keeping the law.

Obeying it perfectly.

You can't do it.

The text just said, by works of the law, no one will be declared

righteous in God's sight.

So then we have to recognize basics of the Christian faith.

The law has a function.

It is a word given by God.

Its primary purpose is to show you you are not measuring

up.

As uncomfortable as that is, it is most necessary.

In fact, the greater recognition that you.

Have of just how far short.

You fall, the greater Christ is.

As a Savior to you.

The greater.

So,.

We have to preach the law as uncomfortable as it is.

And we have to tell people, yeah, I understand this is making you uncomfortable, but you can't make it a New

Year's resolution to keep this thing and somehow be saved.

It ain't going to work.

Try as you might.

You are not going to keep this perfectly.

Ecclesiastes 7 .20.

There is no one.

Who lives.

Perfectly righteous and does not sin.

Not one of us.

The best among us still falls terribly short.

Now,.

I would remind you, just a few weeks ago, Billy Graham died.

And I'm pretty sure everybody who is a Christian in this country would recognize that Billy Graham,

in our lifetime, was a man who was exemplary in his

evangelism, exemplary in setting a model of what it means to be a Christian.

You know, if evangelicals had saints, Saint Billy Graham would be like

our saint.

Right?

And yet, the last video that he had produced, that he lent his voice

to, talked about what a great sinner he was, and that his only comfort was in the

shed blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins.

Going into eternity, he didn't want you to know about him.

He wanted you to know about Jesus.

Because you can't save yourself.

Only Christ can save you.

You are not saved by your good works.

You are not saved by how well you fit on the bell curve of, you know,

this person's holy and I'm a little holier than they are and that person's really wretched.

Yeah, no.

The standard is perfection.

God's law demands that you keep and obey God's commandments perfectly

in thought, in word, in deed, by what you do and you don't do.

We're doomed.

If we were to be saved by the law, none of us would be saved.

But it is necessary that God's law be preached so we recognize how far short we

fall.

Now, that is not the only function.

Of the law.

That's its.

Primary use.

The other use for Christians, and it's only for Christians, it.

Shows you what a good work is.

So that you don't have to like invent your own.

Because I've.

Noticed this about Christians.

Because we still have a sinful nature, we have this really bad habit of like making up our own good works.

It's ridiculous.

So, you know, during the medieval period, like, you know, what's a good work?

Going on a pilgrimage to Rome and climbing what are called the scalia, you get

on your knees, these are supposedly the steps that Christ was put on trial on that used to be in Jerusalem and

they brought them to Rome.

And so you climb the scalia, you're on your knees, and every time you climb one of the steps, you say the

Lord's Prayer.

And you climb your way all the way up, saying the Lord's Prayer for each step, and you climb your way all the way down,

saying the Lord's Prayer for each time you descend a step.

Is that a good work?

Yeah, I think it's something like that.

Yeah, well, they're pretty well worn out now because of all the people doing that.

And they've been told that if they do that, they receive a plenary indulgence from the Pope.

Yeah.

Yeah, something like that.

But see, here's the thing.

If you invent good works, if you invent these good works, who are you serving in these good

works?

Always, and again, you're serving yourself.

Good works are done for your neighbor, to your neighbor, for your neighbor's sake, not yours.

And when you recognize that you are already saved, you are already forgiven.

You are in Christ.

You have a right standing with God.

You don't have to do your good works in order to be saved.

You are already saved.

So now, knowing this, you have the freedom to serve your neighbor for your neighbor's sake,

not so that you can get the requisite amount of stars on your star charts, or Christian merit

badges, so that you can earn your Eagle Scout status with God.

But in real life, I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you like that, but when we

think about how we are brought up in this world,

we all strive for that perfect recognition.

Whether it be, I mean, as you were saying that, I'm just thinking at home, I have this

little pin that has all these little bars on it, because I hit perfect attendance for Sunday school.

Okay, so I strived for that, because I was going to be a better person, because

Lou Anne, she missed a lot, and she didn't get them.

Okay?

So all the way through our lives, we are told that we need to strive so that we can be

better than, that we can accomplish more than.

You know, so when you think about it, if we can

not do any of these sins, or if we can follow the law, I mean, all our lives that's what we've been taught

or told or influenced.

To do.

But only for ourselves.

Right.

Only for ourselves.

I got that.

Lou Anne didn't get all those bars.

I had nine of those.

Bars.

That's right.

In fact, Lou Anne needs to probably sit here when she comes to church, because you have perfect.

You can be closer to God.

Than she can.

I would like to remind you.

I would like to remind you of what you heard in the sermon.

I understand that it's a little gratuitous of me to do this, but listen again to the words that John writes.

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

And what you've described is one of the quintessential core elements of how the world thinks.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and what's this last one?

The pride of life.

Pride.

What you said.

It's not!

Yeah.

You said it's all about.

Me and.

Recognition.

Yes.

Recognition.

Because everybody knows it.

So my pride goes a little bit higher.

Because I'm better than life.

Remember that terrible story I told about myself when I was at youth camp?

This comes into play here.

And let me remind you of how the story went.

The youth camp I went to when I was in junior high, it was called Care Youth League.

And they had this extended multi -day thing up in the mountains that are

just north of Southern California.

And they had a whole system set up of different colored neckerchiefs.

And the goal was to get that gold one.

But in order to get that gold one, you had to exemplify to the camp counselors that

you were the best Christian kid.

Ever.

Ever.

And boy, I sat out to show them how pious I was.

Oh, man.

It was terrible.

So I would make sure that I would be up a little bit earlier than the rest of the guys.

And of course, the thing I was doing, being up early, I was reading my Bible and praying.

And making sure that the camp counselors could see me reading my Bible and praying.

They tied you up with those scarves, didn't they?

Yeah.

Uh -huh.

I sat up in the tree that was right in front of me.

Oh, yeah.

Strategically placed myself.

And made sure that when it came time after our chapel service or worship time that they said,

does anyone want to pray or lead us in prayer?

Oh, me.

I'll lead us in prayer.

And I'll do all these things.

I was the biggest jerk.

Ever.

Because it was all.

About me.

Uh -huh.

Uh -huh.

So, and then we had this whole pecking order.

Oh, yeah.

A whole pecking order based upon colored neckerchiefs.

And of course, I earned my way all the way to the blue one.

Which was, the blue one was right below gold.

And of course, we got special privileges.

We, you know, when we would go on hiking trips, we were near the front.

The pagan guys who were backslidden Christians, they were in the back.

And I, again, I told the story about some poor fellow who had worked his way up a little bit.

But while we were on a hike, he was singing the lyrics to a Rolling Stones song.

I can't get no.

And the camp counselor heard him and literally busted him back down to black.

I mean.

Scary life.

Up there.

Here's the thing.

Is it a good work to read God's Word?

Yes.

Is it good work to pray?

It's thesis to be a good work when the reason why you're doing it is to basically make yourself better.

Than the rest.

So they know just.

How holy you are and how sinful they are.

That's where hypocrisy comes into play.

And I got real frustrated because night after night at the neckerchief ceremony,

I wasn't progressing.

I didn't go from blue to gold.

And I was really striving to get that gold thing.

One of the ceremonies.

After.

I didn't get the gold one, I took my blue neckerchief off.

I threw it on the ground, stomped on it and said, what does a guy have to do in order to get that gold neckerchief?

Anyway.

And there it was.

I.

Was doing all of this for me.

And see, that's the thing.

Self -righteousness creates a caste system in Christianity.

And here's how the caste system works.

You've got your on -fire Christians, you have your backslidden Christians, you have the people who are in the middle, and of course those

people who are really on -fire, they're the ones who get up and they tell everybody, I have figured out how to

conquer sin.

It's a lot easier than you think.

Just apply yourself to the technique that I did and you can be as holy as I am.

That's privilege.

It is.

But when God's law is preached properly, you know what it does?

It levels every single one of us.

Brings us all, busts us.

Down to the lowest level of all.

Which is its purpose.

To show us.

We're not measuring up.

So that then we can hear this.

Christ has bled and died for your sins and God promises in Christ and for Christ's sake

to clothe you in His own righteousness.

All of this is a.

Gift.

And if it's a gift, is there any place for boasting in Christianity?

No.

I've heard it said and it's a great way of describing it.

Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where the free food

is.

We're all beggars.

We're all beggars.

Isn't the law also guidelines for us to strive for?

Yes.

Now here's the thing.

Now that I've been set free in Christ.

Set free from the condemnation of the law and I've been given salvation as a free gift.

God's law shows me what a good work is and all of God's law, it's summarized in what two words?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

So it's love for the neighbor's sake.

So now, if you understand God's law perfectly, yes it condemns me but it shows me what a good work is and

because I'm forgiven, because I've been made alive in Christ, now I can do my.

Good works for you, for.

Your sake and I don't care about myself in this.

My life becomes a living sacrifice.

You see, Christ.

Has sacrificed himself for our sins and in.

Hebrews we are.

Told, or actually Romans 12, we are told to offer ourselves as living sacrifices.

So my job now, and I'm free to do this, this is real freedom, is to lay down my life

for you, for your sake.

To serve you for.

Your sake and I'm going to strive to do it better and better every day.

I'm going to wake up and I'm going to seek to do this perfectly.

And yet still at the end of the day, Ecclesiastes 7 .20 is true and so I will

pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, but no worries.

There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So tomorrow I'm going to wake up and I'm going to strive to serve and to love you guys and you.

Strive to love each other.

Not in order to earn something from God, but because you've already been given everything as a.

Gift already.

And see, this is really the whole point then of Ephesians 2 .8, 9 and 10.

Ephesians 2 verses 8, 9 and 10 summarize it this way.

For by grace you have been notice the past tense, you have been

saved.

You've been saved through faith and this is not your own

doing.

It's what?

The gift of God.

It's not a result of works and here's this, so because of that, so that no one can boast.

For we are God's workmanship.

We are created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

It's a gift.

Given by grace because of God's great love for us.

He has had mercy and pity upon us and sent a Savior to reconcile us to the Father.

All of this is a gift.

There's no boasting in any of this and we then are created in Christ Jesus

for good works because real freedom is to love.

Your neighbor.

That's freedom.

Slavery is to love yourself and to serve yourself and look after your own self interest and make

sure that everybody knows just how great you are.

I am at my worst when I am thinking that way.

Not my best.

I am most enslaved to sin when I am thinking about.

I want everybody to recognize how great.

I am.

That's my worst.

That's my ugliest.

That's my most sinful.

Most satanic too.

Most like Christ.

Is.

The one who humbles himself, considers others as better than himself

and like Christ obeys in obscurity.

Who cares if.

Anyone on this planet recognizes.

You?

God sees your good works.

God sees you.

You see it?

And this is the basics of the Christian faith.

As Christians then, we do not eschew the Ten Commandments and God's law.

No, we keep it when we guard it.

We guard it because it shows us our sin and by showing us our sin, it shows us our need for a Savior and we

keep and we guard it so that we do not offend God so that we can go through a day and thank God that through

His commandments, He has steered us away from great shame and vice.

And we also thank God that He has given us a vocation to serve each other in this so we

keep and we guard them.

Those who hate God's law cannot possibly love the Gospel because they don't understand what

the Gospel is.

You cannot apart from the law.

The two work together.

Alright, any questions there?

Went off on a tangent, but I always seem to do that.

Coming then back.

To our study.

Then as we wrap up these thoughts.

We were talking about God's grace.

So, what then is our proper response then to God's warnings from the law

and to His promises in the Gospel?

First of all, we need to remember that we are to reject.

All.

Other gods.

Now, as simple as that might sound, you sit there and go, well, Roseboro.

You know, it's not.

Like I worship Molech.

You know, when was the last time I bent the knee to Baal?

Idolatry is a lot more prevalent than you might think.

A lot more prevalent.

And here's what I mean.

Over and again, we hear words from people to this.

Effect.

The God.

I believe in would never and then fill in the blank.

The God I believe in would never condemn somebody for

loving another person of the same sex.

The God.

I believe in would never condemn me for being holier than you.

You see how this kind of works, right?

Fill in the blank.

When somebody says the God I believe in would never, now the question is, what exactly is the God you

believe in?

You see, our sinful hearts are constantly breaking that first

commandment.

You will have no other gods besides me.

Which then begs the question, what is it that the one true God has revealed?

What has he.

Said?

Does the one true God who truly exists, does he bless same -sex marriages?

Yes or no?

No.

So you sit there and you go, how dare you condemn me?

The God I believe in would never condemn somebody for loving another person of the same sex.

And I just so happen to attend the same church you do.

So now what are you going to do about.

It?

Tell your dad you're wrong.

Actually, they're right.

The God you believe in is like that.

See, here's the thing.

You've got to recognize this.

That within visible Christianity.

Is.

Everybody who shows up to church a Christian.

Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares.

So now we've got an issue.

There are people who call themselves Lutheran.

Who affirm.

Same -sex marriage.

And they'll say, the God I believe in would never condemn this.

In fact, he blesses it.

What.

Does God's words say they are?

Idolaters.

It doesn't matter that the name of the deity you believe in that you've named him Jesus.

If the.

Jesus you believe in isn't saying the same thing as the biblical Jesus,

your Jesus is an idol.

So we have to recognize idolatry for what it is.

Idolatry is creating your own God.

In your own image.

In fact, as the saying goes, it says in Genesis that God created us in his image and since then

we've been trying to return.

The favor.

So idolatry requires us to recognize that there are things that we

believe about God that are not true.

And where those things that we believe about God that are not true, that is a sin of idolatry.

That is believing in a different God.

So the only place I can tell you anything about the God who exists is found in the

only place I know of to go to where we can definitively say he has spoken.

And it isn't in here, it's in his word.

Which is why we always come back to an objective standard.

It doesn't matter what you feel about God.

Well, I feel he's this.

Way.

Who cares.

What you feel?

Your feelings.

Are wrong here.

Your feelings have to be judged according to an objective standard and that standard is scripture.

So if you feel that God is this way when God's word says he's that way, then your feelings are wrong.

Those are idolatrous feelings.

You have to repent.

And repenting means recognizing that you are committing idolatry,

asking Christ to forgive you, trusting he has forgiven you for it, and then bearing fruit in keeping

with repentance means believing the truth about God as he has revealed

himself to be.

Yeah, that's the thing about the law.

We should also, and we talked about this, turn in repentance, trusting in his mercy for the

sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, idolatry requires confessing it, rejecting other gods, even when the god is one of your own

making, and then seeking Christ in his mercy and trusting that he has forgiven you.

And we should eagerly then seek to know God's will and gladly do what he commands and the

only place to know what his will is and to know what he commands is found in.

Scripture.

Plain and simple.

It's like what John said in our epistle today that I preached on.

You're always as Christians returning to the basics.

Back to your baptism.

Back to the Lord's Supper.

Back to the absolution.

Back to the.

Word of God.

As.

Originally taught, not as it has been recently twisted.

The faith has been once delivered to the saints.

Be on your guard.

Alright.

We'll pick this up later next week.