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Man, the title of my sermon tonight is the relevance of the law today, the relevance of the law today. And this is a subject that I end up preaching a lot about, and the New Testament talks a lot about this because it's a subject that a lot of people struggle with, okay? The law is the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, obviously we're living under the New Covenant, the New Testament, and the Bible says that we're not under the law, but under grace. But what does that mean? Does that mean that the law is abolished? Does that mean that the law has no significance or relevance to us today? Quite the contrary, the law is still important to us as New Testament Christians. What role does the law play? Why is the law important? Well, if you would flip over to Romans chapter 6, we'll come back to Psalm 19. Go to Romans chapter number 6. So we understand that when the Bible talks about us not being under the law, but under grace, what that's referring to is a few different things. Number one is that we're not saved by the law. The Bible says if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. So if we could just be righteous or saved or justified in the eyes of God by keeping the law, then Jesus wouldn't have to die on the cross, right? And the Bible says that no flesh will be justified by the law, okay? We have to be justified by grace through faith. We have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. So what the law could not do, Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection accomplished by saving us, so salvation is not by the law. But not only that, as we talked about several weeks back when I preached through the book of Galatians, I talked about how not only does salvation not come by the law, but sanctification does not come by the law. We don't become a great Christian by just following the laws of the Bible and figuring out what the laws are and doing all the dos and not doing all the don'ts, and somehow that that would make us a great Christian, but rather we become a great Christian by love, by walking in the Spirit of God and by loving God and our neighbor. That's what causes us to fulfill the law. That's what causes us to be righteous. So if salvation doesn't come by the law, and if perfection or sanctification does not come by the law either, then to what purpose is the law? What is the law for? What is the relevance of the law? Well there's still a lot of relevance left for the law, okay? Now let's start by looking at some scripture and then we'll get into this. Look at Romans chapter 6 verse 15. The Bible says, what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. So is the law a good thing or a bad thing? The Bible says that the law is holy. The commandment is holy, just and good. And then it says, was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin. I'm sorry, did I jump to a different passage? I'm so sorry. All right. You're like, what Bible is he reading? Okay. I accidentally, I forgot to put a gap in my notes. Jump to Romans 7 verse 12. Everything I said was really in the Bible folks, I promise. I was just saying a different chapter. I jumped from chapter 6 over to chapter 7. Go to chapter 7 verse 12. Sorry about that. I'll read it again so you don't have to just take my word for it. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Look at 4th scene. For we know that the law is spiritual. But I'm carnal, soul under sin. So is there anything wrong with the law? Is the law bad? No. The Bible says the law is good. It's holy. It's just. It's right. We're carnal. We're sinners. The law exposes our sin. But the law is not bad. Look at verse 25 of chapter 7. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of sin. Look at chapter 8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Look at this key verse, verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Now what's the Bible saying there in this very profound verse, verse number 4? The Bible is saying that because we're saved and because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, when we walk in the spirit, we end up fulfilling the law. We end up doing the righteousness of the law, right? So we end up doing all the things that the law told us to do and not doing the things that the law didn't tell us to do. Because if we're filled with the spirit and we love God and we love our neighbor, we're not going to be killing, stealing, committing adultery, coveting, and doing all of the bad things that the Bible and the law tells us not to do, right? So Jesus Christ brings us salvation and then that delivers us from the curse of the law. So we're not saved by the law and then sanctification comes through the Holy Spirit. And so when we walk in the spirit, we end up fulfilling the law. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Now if you would, go over to 1 Timothy chapter number 1, 1 Timothy chapter number 1. What is the relevance of the law today? You know, if we're not saved by the law, we're not sanctified by the law, what do we need the law for? What does the law do for us, okay? Well, look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3, As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith, so do. Now the end of the commandment, now what does the end mean? The end means the goal, right? The end of the commandment, what's the commandment trying to accomplish? The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart. What's another word for charity? Love and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned, right? So the goal, the final destination is not just adherence to the law, but it's having faith unfeigned, it's having a good conscience and charity out of a pure heart, that is the ultimate fulfillment of the law, that's the final destination, okay? That's what the command, the end of the commandment is those things. But then it says in verse 6, from which some having swerved have turned aside into vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. Now watch this, it says in verse 8, but we know that the law is good, that's what Romans 8 said as well, if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them to defile, and on and on, we'll go back to that list in a moment. What the Bible is saying here is that, look, the righteous man doesn't need all the rules, he doesn't need the law, the one who's already walking in love, walking in the spirit, loving God, loving his neighbor, he's going to fulfill the law. Because if we walk in the spirit, we're not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. So the law, what is the relevance of the law today? I'll tell you one of the major relevances of the law today, it's for unrighteous people. It's for unsaved people. It's for ungodly people. It's for people who are walking in the flesh and not walking in the spirit. Okay, they need to be told, hey, stop doing that, or hey, start doing that. Do what the Bible says here. Don't do that. The Bible says no to that. Why? Because they are acting in a disobedient, lawless, ungodly, wicked way. They need to be corrected. Now the Bible says that all scripture, and this is in the New Testament under grace, it says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So the law tells us what is right and what is wrong, right? I mean the law is telling you don't steal, don't kill, if your neighbor's ox falls in the ditch, pull it out. All the right and wrong things that we should do with our lives are in the law. If we walk in the spirit, we'll do those things, we'll fulfill that even better than the guy who's just trying to fulfill the law, okay? The lawless and disobedient, however, they're not walking in the spirit and they need to be told don't do this, do this, et cetera. Now if you would flip over to Psalm 19 where we started, Psalm 19. The Bible says the law is not made for a righteous man, it's made for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man slayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. So it's not that the law has no relevance today, it's that righteous people don't need the law because they're walking in the spirit. Just like I talked about a few weeks ago, the person who is fluent in English doesn't have to walk around with a grammar book, constantly checking their grammar. They just speak English and they naturally speak correctly. But somebody who's butchering the language, don't they need to be handed the grammar book? Don't they need to be pointed and shown where they're wrong? And how do we know who's right and who's wrong? How do we know what is right and what is wrong? The law is the ultimate measuring stick that determines what's right and what's wrong. Look, this is the book here that in black and white explains to us what's right and what's wrong, and it gives all kinds of punishments for crimes that were under the children of Israel. Now, we're not living in the land of Israel, we're not living under that form of government, but we can still look back at that and see, okay, that's right, that's wrong, this is fair, this is not fair, this is a good punishment, this is an inappropriate punishment, right? Because the law of the Lord is perfect. Look down at your Bible in Psalm 19 verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them, there is great reward. Okay? So the Bible in the law tells us what is right and what is wrong. Now when we look at the law of God, there are certain laws that are just timeless truths of just stealing is wrong, killing is wrong, adultery is wrong, kidnapping is wrong, right? There are timeless truths and those type of laws about what is right and what is wrong, those have been written on our hearts by God. We know, we read the law of God and we say, you know what, this is right. Our conscience bears witness to that, okay? But then there are other laws under the old covenant that are what I would call arbitrary laws. Arbitrary laws, like they don't have anything to do with absolute right and wrong, it's just where he's telling the children of Israel just to do certain things and it's arbitrary, like just don't work on the Sabbath day. Or when he just tells them something like, you know, you're going to offer this sacrifice on this day and, you know, you're not going to eat any unleavened bread on these certain days. Is there anything intrinsically wrong with eating leavened bread? No, but he tells them, look, on these certain days you're going to eat unleavened bread, right? Or you're going to dwell in booths on this day. And he's giving them kind of these arbitrary commands where he's telling them to do things that don't really have an intrinsic moral value. Don't eat this food, eat this food, you know, do this on this day of the week and things like that, okay? Now that's what we call the ceremonial law or things that were a shadow or a figure of things to come that pointed us to Christ. So because we're in the New Testament and we're not under the law, we don't follow those things. We don't offer animal sacrifices. We don't follow the carnal ordinances, the meats, the drinks, the washings and things like that because we're not under the law, we're under grace. But we do follow the morality of the Old Testament, right? The Old Covenant is the ultimate measuring stick of morality, okay? Now when we walk in the Spirit, we fulfill that. So what is the purpose of the law for the Christian? It's to understand what is right and what is wrong, to get to know the God of the Bible, right? Because if we read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, aren't we getting to know God? Because we're seeing, okay, here's what God does in this situation. Here's what God says in this situation. Here's what God thinks about this. Here's what God thinks about that. So the mistake that a lot of Christians have made today in saying, oh, we're not under the law, we're under grace, is to basically ignore the law of God, to ignore Leviticus, ignore Numbers, ignore Deuteronomy, never preach on it. And then when someone tries to show them, hey, here's the judgment that God made in Leviticus. Oh, that's Old Testament. We're not under that. That's Old Covenant. Okay, you know what? You're right. We're not under the Old Covenant. But does that mean that that's not who God is? Does that mean that that's not what God says is right and fair? Look what the Bible says in Psalm 19 here. It says in verse 8, the statutes of the Lord are right. So if man has a statute, if the United States government has a statute, and then God has a different statute on his law book, who's right? God's right. Now stop and think about how foolish this is when Christians today want to just ignore God's law and say, well, because we're not saved by God's law and because we're not sanctified by God's law and because we're not under the law, let's just ignore the law. No, because the law is still profitable for what? For reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. So it does instruct us in righteousness. It tells us how to be righteous. It gives us instructions, and it is definitely applicable for the lawless, for the ones who are not filled with the Spirit, for the ones who are not even a Christian. Boy, we definitely need the law for those kind of people. What if we just said, hey, man, we're free in Christ, so we're just going to get rid of all the laws in America. We're a Christian nation, so we're going to have no laws. What do you think would happen? There would be blood running in the streets, wouldn't there? If you just allowed the wicked to rape and pillage and murder and steal and rob and kill and kidnap, it would be anarchy. It would be crazy. Does any Christian actually suggest that? No. No Christian today that you'll talk to would say, hey, let's have complete anarchy. We're free in Christ. No laws against murder, no laws against robbery, no police, no judges, no punishment, nothing. Just let everything just happen. Let's just all walk in the Spirit. No, because we know that most people aren't walking in the Spirit. There are all those murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers and men stealers and perjured persons, all those wicked people out there, and they need the law. Folks, why do the laws in Tempe exist? For people like me, for people like you, no. For robbers and kidnappers and killers and right, isn't that true? Let's say all the laws were just gone tomorrow. Every law in America and every Tempe law were just gone tomorrow. You and I would just get up and just live our lives the exact same way tomorrow as we did today, wouldn't we? But a bunch of other people would go out and do a bunch of horrible things. Does everybody understand? So this is the difference between the people who need the law and people who don't need the law. So this is what a lot of Christians are missing today. They think, oh, well, since we're not under the law, since we're righteous, we're walking in the Spirit, we're not under the law. We're not saved by the law. We're saved by faith. We're saved by grace. We're not sanctified by the law. We're being made sanctified as we grow in love and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's how we grow as a Christian. They think that the law has no relevance, but see, the law is how we get to know who God is, and the law is how we know and can codify in black and white what is right and what is wrong. Let me just give you some examples of this. To me, I think this is just common sense. Sometimes I don't understand why it's so hard for people to grasp that God's law is right about stuff. So think about this for a minute. Let's take, for example, and I want everybody to just pay attention and just think for a minute. Because when you try to preach the laws of God, you know what people try to say? Oh, you're trying to bring in a theocracy, or you're a theonomist, or you believe that somehow we're under the law. You're trying to bring us into bondage. You're bringing us under the law. You don't realize we're in the New Testament, or we're ... Folks, no. Think for a minute with me, okay? Everybody, think about this. Let's take something very simple that everybody's going to understand, okay? Stealing, right? That's a good law, right? Don't steal. Okay, but the Bible doesn't just say not to steal. The Bible also gives the proper punishment for stealing. So when God had the children of Israel and he was running their government, he told them, okay, I'm in charge. This is going to be the punishment for stealing. And he gave basically three different types of scenarios, and depending on which of those three scenarios we're talking about, there are three punishments for stealing. One of them was to pay back double, one of them was to pay back fourfold, and one of them was to pay back fivefold, and it had to do with the circumstances of the stealing. I'm not going to go into, for sake of time, the difference between the twofold and the fourfold and the fivefold, but if you study the Bible, you'll see that part of the difference is whether they still have the thing that they stole or not. If they don't have it, they pay more, and that's complicated. I'm not going to go into that. But the point is, in general, what's the punishment for stealing? You pay it back, but you pay back extra, either double or fourfold or fivefold, but you're paying it back with extra. Now, throughout history, have there been other punishments for stealing throughout history? Okay, there have been punishments like getting your hand chopped off in the Muslim world if you steal, right? Getting your hand chopped off. Or even death, rustling cattle is a hanging offense in these parts, right? Just death for stealing. Or maybe it could be jail time, right? If you steal today in the United States, you'll be put in jail. Now here's the thing. Let me just ask a question right now, okay? Who here thinks that chopping off someone's hand is the wrong punishment for stealing? Okay, everybody's hand is up, but here's what I say to that then. Well, how do you know? How do you know that? On what authority do you say that chopping someone's hand off is the wrong punishment for stealing? How dare you tell me that that's the wrong punishment? Excuse me? The Bible. Oh, so you're trying to bring in a theocracy. Oh, so you're trying to bring us under the law. You're putting us in bondage, huh? Hey, newsflash, buddy, we're in the New Testament, buddy. Now see how ridiculous that would be for me to answer him that way, wouldn't it? See when we think about something that's not like a heated topic, that's not an emotionally charged topic, when we just talk about something as simple as stealing, isn't it easy how we can all easily see what's right and wrong? We can all see that stealing should be against the law. Wait, are you trying to legislate morality? Are you forcing your religion on me? That's one of the Ten Commandments. I thought we had to take the Ten Commandments down. That's religion. I'm in a relationship, buddy, okay? Isn't that ridiculous? Just everybody think. We all know stealing's wrong because two reasons. Number one, the Bible said stealing's wrong. Number one, we all know in our heart that stealing is wrong because the law of God's written in our heart. But what's the punishment for stealing? Everybody agrees that cutting off someone's hand is overkill. But if we're challenged, well, how can you prove that it's overkill? We would all point to the Bible and say, well, that's not the punishment God did. God did a punishment of just paying back fourfold or paying back double. So therefore, cutting off someone's hand is overkill. And what's the authority for that? The law of God that you want to ignore? See how that doesn't make any sense, right? We don't ignore it. We use it to understand, okay, what is a proper punishment? Now, that all makes sense to us, right? So that's the proper punishment. Now, here's the thing. Today, though, in the United States, if you steal, you go to jail. And a lot of people would say, well, yeah, that's fair. That sounds fair. Okay, well, prove that to me because I say it's not fair. I don't think people should go to jail for stealing. Prove me wrong. All right, this is like that meme where the guy's sitting there at the little table, right? Hey, people shouldn't go to jail for stealing. Prove me wrong. What's that? What have you got? Romans 13. Okay, well, then that means, okay, so he said, well, Romans 13. Since that's the status quo, since the status quo is that you go to jail for stealing, we should just assume that every law is right. Okay, but so are the laws right that say it's okay to murder a baby? Is that law right? Romans 13. Or what if we were living in a Muslim country? If we were living in a Muslim country right now, then the status quo would be chop off your hand if you steal. Romans 13. It's correct. See how that doesn't make any sense. So here's the thing. When I look at the United States' laws or Tempe's laws or Arizona's laws, you know, I'm going to look at those laws and I'm going to say whenever they do it the way God does it, they're right. And any way that they deviate from the way God did it, I would say God was right and they're wrong. And the farther they are from God's law, the more wrong they are. You know, the death penalty for stealing is more wrong than cutting off the hand for stealing because you're even further from what God actually commanded. Does everybody understand? The closer we are to God's law, the more right we are. So it's not that we're under the Mosaic law. It's not that we're instituting a theocracy and God's system. But what it is is that we are taking our laws and our opinions and patterning them, modeling them after God's perfect law. That doesn't mean we're doing ceremony and rituals. But when you try to bring this up and say, hey, we should have laws like the Bible's laws, you say, oh, so you don't want to eat shellfish. Oh, so, you know, you want to go to the tabernacle and slaughter bullocks and calves. But folks, you see how silly this is when you actually just stop and think about it and understand what the Bible is saying in Psalm 19 here, that the statutes of the Lord are right. Okay. And the Bible says in verse nine that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. God makes a judgment. It's fair. So when I'm reading God's law, if I'm reading the Bible and I'm reading Exodus and I'm reading all those laws, never would I ever dare read a law and say, well, that's not fair. That isn't right. It sounds like Sharia law. Is it? You know, this isn't right. Boy, God is just really not fair. Boy, the United States has it so much better. We really got it right. We've really improved on God's law. That's ridiculous. Doesn't it? Okay. Now let's talk about the homos. What did the Bible say about them in Leviticus 20, 13. Now all of a sudden it's like, that's the wrong punishment. So how does that work? Was that some ceremony of the old Testament? I don't think that was ever a ceremony. I mean, it all, if that were a ceremony, it almost makes you want to Judaize, you know, but it's, but it was never, that was never a ceremony. That was never part of the, you know, the, the arbitrary ceremonial ritual things that were pointing us to Christ. And obviously they weren't really arbitrary, but they seem arbitrary from a moral standpoint, the arbitrary things, but they're ceremonial ritual, symbolic pointing us to Christ, their shadow of things to come, et cetera. Okay. But here's the thing. What about kidnapping? What about, what does the Bible say about kidnapping? You know, the punishment for kidnapping is death according to the Bible. Should that be the punishment or was God wrong about that or should we put them in prison instead? I'd go with what God's, I mean, if God said the death for kidnapping, if God said death to rapists, if God said death to murderers, then I'm just going to say God's right. So this is not a complicated subject. There's no reason, you know, I'm demystifying this tonight. There's no reason to be confused by this or, or, or, or unsure about this or, but what it really comes down to is people just don't like God's law. They don't agree with God's law. They don't love the law of the Lord and they haven't come to the place that the psalmist is in Psalm 19 when he says, you know what? The law of the Lord's perfect. Oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation night and day. Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver, but still not as good as the laws of America. The righteous, thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and thy law is the truth. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. Go to Isaiah chapter two, Isaiah chapter number two. I mean, folks, the law of the Lord is the ultimate law. There's nothing wrong with the law of God. It was only just the weakness of the flesh. It was the weakness of man that caused a need for the new covenant that caused a need for the new Testament. But it's not that God was running the nation of Israel wrong. You know, he didn't understand about having a prison system, you know, he didn't understand the need to rehabilitate these criminals, you know. And he didn't understand, you know, felonies and misdemeanors and criminal records and all these different things. Folks, his system is a better system. It's a superior system. You're never going to convince me that the U.S. has a better system than what God had. So anytime we deviate from what God said, I'm going to say, well, you know, God's law was better on that point. And everything we got right, I would point to the Bible and say, well, yeah, we got this right because the Bible said the same thing. So this is not saying that we are under the law, we're in bondage to the law. Folks, we're not saved by the law, we're not sanctified by the law, and as righteous, God-fearing people, we don't need the law, okay? Now we still read the law just to give instruction in righteousness, just to get to know God, just to commune with God, to fellowship with God. And it's a nice measuring stick to do a self-check and make sure that we really are walking in love, make sure that we really are walking in the Spirit, because if we're violating all these things in the law morally, then that will tell us right away, hey, maybe we thought we were walking in love, maybe we thought we were walking in the Spirit, turns out we're not, okay? It's also to correct others who take liberties, no pun intended, doing all these sinful things and then claim, oh, free in Christ. Well, that's not the Spirit talking, because the Spirit would lead you into fulfillment of the law, not breaking the law. Look at Isaiah chapter 2, this is a great passage about the millennium, it says in verse 1, the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Now, has this happened yet? No. And many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the nations, and he shall rebuke many people. So in the millennium, Jesus Christ is going to be sending forth the law everywhere. Why would that surprise us? Jesus said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill. Even Paul in Romans, where he's going on and on how the law doesn't save us, we're not saved by the law, he says, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. We establish the law, he said. We establish the law. So it shouldn't surprise us that in the millennium, God's going to show us his way, his law is going to go forth, and he will judge among the nations, and you know what he's going to do? He's going to rebuke many people. So the law is a tool of rebuke. It is a tool to rebuke sin. Now here's why the righteous man doesn't need the law. He doesn't need to be rebuked. He's doing the right things. But when someone's out of line, when someone is going off into sin, when someone is doing something wicked, they need to be rebuked. And the law is the tool to do that. I mean, what are we going to do? You know, just Jesus died on the cross, buddy, and he rose again. Okay? No, that's not what we're going to rebuke. We're going to say, don't steal. Wouldn't that make more sense? Stop stealing. Stop murdering. Not just, Jesus died for you. Now, there's a place to preach Jesus died for you, but then there's a place where you need to preach, don't murder, don't steal. I don't need to hear that because I already know that. I'm already doing that. Now, I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. Obviously, we still have the flesh. We still battle with sin. I'm not implying that whatsoever. But I'm saying that it's when we're out of line that we need to be rebuked, and we all get out of line from time to time and need to rebuke, and that rebuke comes from the law of God. And it says, he'll judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Oh, house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. You know, the Bible says the law is a light. So if you would go back to 1 Timothy chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter number 1. So you'll find people kind of, I think, playing games with you when they sit there and say, like, oh, you're trying to bring us back under the law. You know, that's just a cop-out of not wanting to face up to what God has determined is right and wrong. God has declared certain things to be right. God has declared other things to be wrong. And God has declared appropriate punishments for crimes. Punishments that match the crime. That's what justice is. So justice is usually represented by scales. And that scale represents that the punishment matches the crime. Think about what if that got out of balance? I mean, what if somebody committed murder and they just went to prison for a week? Or they paid a $100 fine? That would be ridiculous, right? Because it would be out of balance. Or let's say someone stole something and they were put to death. That's out of balance, right? Because the punishment is so much heavier than the crime. So justice is when the punishment matches the crime, okay? And God's law is totally just. So God explains, look, if they commit this crime, this is an appropriate punishment, et cetera. So look what the Bible says here in 1 Timothy 1. It says in verse 8, but we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. Now let me ask you this. Is the law of God being directed at sinful, wicked people and what we see from this list, violent people, people committing major sin, wicked people? I mean, these are very major sins. Is that contrary to the message of the gospel, rebuking those sins, or is that in tune with the gospel? Because the Bible says that basically using the law for these wicked, lawless people, the Bible says, is according to the gospel. Does everybody see that in verse number 11? According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. So there's no contradiction between the glorious gospel of the blessed God and putting the law to proper use against violent, evil, wicked, sinful people, right? There's no contradiction there. The gospel is, the good news is that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. Well, that's good news. We're all sinners. We've all come short of the glory of God. We all deserve to go to hell because we've all broken God's laws. There's none righteous, no, not one, right? That's bad news for us that we deserve hell. The good news is that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, you know, that he lived the perfect life that none of us could live, that Jesus fulfilled all the demands of the law perfectly that none of us could fulfill. And then he sacrificed his own life. He died on the cross for our sins according to the scripture. He was buried and then he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and he's defeated hell and death. And whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That's the gospel, right? Good news. You can be saved. You can go to heaven. You can have all your sins forgiven simply by believing in Jesus. He did all the work. He fulfilled the law. He saves us through faith, by grace. It's easy. It's like drinking a glass of water. It's like eating a piece of bread. It's like walking through a door. This is great news. This is good news. But that good news that gets us to heaven, that good news that provides us with the Holy Spirit as our guide and mentor and teacher and comforter to guide us and lead us, that good news does not say, oh, all you wicked people out there, go ahead. Be a sodomite. Be a rapist. Be a kidnapper. Be a thief. No consequences for you. Isn't it a great news? The gospel. Folks, that's crazy doctrine. It did not come from the Bible. It's total nonsense. If you applied it to any other law like stealing or murder, it would just, it would seem crazy, you know, or just about assaulting someone or, you know, smashing up someone's property, right? Just take a baseball bat and just start smashing out someone's window saying I'm free in Christ. We're not under the law. We're under grace. You know, well, what's the punishment for this man? Nothing, because Jesus paid it all. It's totally silly. But then what people are doing, though, is they're picking and choosing certain major violent wicked crimes or super perverted crimes that God says, look, put these people to death. And then what do they, what do they say to that? They say, well, that's Old Testament. What's funny is that the Old Testament only ended in 2003 in some places in the United States. I mean, wouldn't you have thought the Old Testament ended like 33 A.D. or something, right? In the New Testament, you know, this cup is the New Testament. It took a long time to come into effect, right? Because for example, homosexuality was only made legal in all states in the United States in 2003. It's about time we got under grace, man, about time we got free in Christ in America. Do you think that that's really what happened in 2003? Do you think it was God's will for that to happen? That God's will? I mean, that's, that's what Donald Trump says he's going to do all over the world. He said he wants to decriminalize it and make it legal all over the world. Is that what the Bible wants? Is that what God said? Is that, is that what the law of God said? So who's right? The law of God. Is it right? I mean, this is so simple, folks. Even a theologian should be able to understand this. It's very basic, very simple. So don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Don't get off on the crazy train that gets in what's called the hyper-grace, because you know where this thing leads of throwing out God's law? Pretty soon it gets to a point where people will literally say, there's no such thing as sin anymore. And there are TV preachers out there saying that. There are guys on TV and, and, and people out there that teach that there's no such thing as sin. No matter what you do, it's not a sin. I mean, it's just because there's no law anymore. It's just, just, just, just kind of just walk in love and just do what's right. And they're mixing in a little bit of truth because it is true that if we do walk in the Spirit and walk in love, we're not under the law because we, you know, we don't even need the law because we're already fulfilling the law by walking in love and walking in the Spirit. But what they do is they just say, yeah, man, free in Christ. And then they do a bunch of things that are contrary to law. And then when you try to show them, well, here's the proof that you're not walking in the Spirit because if you were walking in the Spirit, you'd be fulfilling this. If you're walking in love toward your neighbor, you'd be fulfilling this. Oh, you're trying to bring me out of the law. Oh, bringing us into bondage. You're preaching the law. You need to preach grace. So you got to get the balance here, folks. And Paul really spends a lot of time explaining this in chapter six of Romans, chapter seven of Romans, chapter eight of Romans. He spends time on this in Galatians. Jesus spends a little time on it. Paul is, is, is who really explains this the most, but I'll just leave you with this. Just a couple of verses here. As we close, Hebrews seven, 12 says this for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity, a change also of the law, a change of the law. Did he say an abolition of the law? No, the law is still there. Is it for righteous people who are walking in the Spirit? Nope. It's for the lawless, for the disobedient, for the unholy, profane, murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers, men stealers, liars, perjured persons, whoremongers, them that defile themselves of mankind. That's who the law is necessary to keep those bozos in line, to rebuke that wickedness. And not only that, but you know, what if we have to make a civil government? Should we pull Plato's Republic off the shelf and figure out how to have a government? What do we base it on? I mean, if we're smart, wouldn't we base every area of our life in the Bible? I mean, what about when we go to establish a marriage? Where do we go to figure out how to have a right marriage? Go to the Bible. Where do we go to figure out how to raise our kids? Where do we go if we're starting a business and we say, you know, I want to be a godly businessman. I want to be fair and righteous in my business dealings. How do I figure out how to do that? Go to the Bible, right? How do I figure out how to pastor a church? Read the Bible, right? So, if I'm the mayor of Tempe, how do I figure out how to govern Tempe? Where do I go? Isn't that kind of obvious? If I'm the governor of Arizona, where do I turn to figure out how to be a righteous governor? The Bible. If I'm president of the United States, where do I go to figure out how to govern? Folks, this isn't a theocracy. This is just using the Bible to tell us what is right or wrong in any given situation. Why? Because the judgments of the Lord are true. The statutes of the Lord are right. The law of the Lord is perfect. So if I have a perfect standard, it's like a cheat sheet to figure out what's right and wrong. You say, well, we don't need that. We're in the spirit. What percentage of people today in America are walking in the spirit? Yeah, I think we need the law. What do you think? Now, personally, yeah, it sounds great. Okay, personally, when we're alone with the book of Romans, we love God, we're saved, we're praying in the Holy Ghost, and we're reading the book of Romans, yeah, hey, you're not under the law. You're under grace. Great. Folks, you can't just apply that to an unsaved, heathen world because they're not under grace and they're not walking in the spirit. And they need the law because the law is made for lawless and disobedient people like them. That's why when Jesus Christ comes and sets up his kingdom, what's he going to do? He's going to send forth the law and he's going to rebuke many nations. He's going to judge the nations. He's so judgmental. He's going to judge everybody. Why? Because that's what they need. So don't mix up what a godly, righteous, mature Christian needs and what a heathen, sinful, secular world needs because they need two different things. People are always so worried about this kind of preaching that it's going to somehow like, oh no, you guys are going to take over America and institute all these godly laws. Don't worry because that's never going to happen because this country is too wicked. But if that did happen, it would be great. Everyone would be so much happier. We would be so much more blessed. But no such luck for you, America, because you're not even worthy. But God's people are worthy. That's why they get to hear this preaching and get to read these things and get to understand these things and get to understand them because God has revealed them unto us and they're a treasure unto us to have all these judgments and statutes. Why? Because even though I'm not the mayor of Tempe and I'm never going to be, I'm not the governor of Arizona and I'm never going to be, I'm not the president of the United States and I'm never going to be, I can still go to Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy and figure out how to do other things in my life and just become a wise person in general just by learning from God's wisdom and applying it wherever I can apply it. Now at the end of the day, the biggest goal, the end of the commandment, what's the end of the commandment? Charity out of a pure heart. What's the end of the commandment? A good conscience. What's the end of the commandment? Faith unfeigned. The law is not the destination. The destination is love. The destination is walking in the spirit. The destination is faith unfeigned, a good conscience. That's the destination. The law is the schoolmaster that gets us there, but for the world out there, they're going to need the law all the way until their last breath because they're not saved. And when people get saved and walk in the spirit, look, if everybody got saved and everybody walked in the spirit, yeah, we would just shut down the judicial system, shut down the police department, shut down any kind of enforcement, and just say, hey, we're all free in Christ. Let's all love one another and walk in the spirit, all right? No more laws. Everybody just walk in the spirit. That's not going to happen, folks. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your laws, Lord, and thank you that we do have this book that we can look to as a final authority when it comes to rebuking the wicked or rebuking even Christians that are out of line, Lord. Help us to understand this tool has a purpose, not to rebuke the righteous man, not to rebuke people that are doing right, but it is there for the evildoers, Lord. Help us to walk in love. Help us to love you supremely and to love our neighbor as ourself so that we won't have to worry about the law because we'll already be fulfilling it, Lord. But I pray that we would always let your word be the gold standard by which everything else is tried, whether it be politically, economically, whether it be in our family or our job, whatever we do, Lord, help us to always realize that your word has the answer. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.