In this sermon, the preacher discusses the daily victory of living in faith and the challenges that can arise. He emphasizes the importance of going through difficult times to learn about the faithfulness of God. The preacher encourages listeners to persevere and seek God through prayer and walking in the Lord. The ultimate goal is to become a new creation in the image of Jesus Christ, but this transformation takes time and obedience to God's word. The sermon also touches on the significance of the Ten Commandments and how they serve as a sample of broader principles in the Bible.

Lord, as we come unto you, it is with praise and thanksgiving, Lord. How many wonderful things you do, and how your love is abroad on those who love you, and fear you, and do your will. Jesus, it's so wonderful, your faithfulness, Lord, your faithfulness to us. And we appreciate it, Lord. We appreciate all the good things you do. We pray for each family represented here, Lord, that you'll keep them from evil. Lord, no matter what goes on in the world, that you will keep us, keep us, keep our family, our loved ones in your presence, Lord, that we may be under the shadow of God at all times, at all times. Now, Lord, we pray this morning for the little ones that are being taught, Lord, your presence will be with them. And with us, Lord, as we continue in your word, to know what it is God is saying this day, and to say it faithfully, Lord. We want to serve you. We want to do your will without any foolishness. We ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Now, if we could turn to 1 John. We're going to read chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. Let's read together, B. Where's Brian? 3, 1 through 6. All right. 1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. Now, I think you can see right off the bat that the current concept of salvation and grace does not correspond with what we're reading here, and what sin is. And I say, well, that's obvious. Well, this is not obvious. And I have said, and it seems true, that the only people in the world who do not know what sin is are the Christians. Because our doctrine has been so confusing. That, well, try it on your friends. And say, your Christian friends, say, what is sin? And see what they say. And they'll say, well, there's only one commandment. That's what we love one another. That's cool. That's not powerful enough, because we can't do it. So there's no help in that. And I don't know what else. Oh, we're saved by grace and not by works, you'll probably hear. But I doubt if you'll hear a clear, analytical, cogent description of what sin is. Do you suppose? I think so. But it tells us here what it is. What did it say it is? We just read it. Breaking the law. What law? The law, the law, the law. What law? See, I told you. Sublime ignorance reigns. Alright. We don't know what sin is. Well, if God helps us, maybe we can poke around at this a little bit. Alright, so we find that several astonishing things. First John 3 is a remarkable chapter. But it tells us here, everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. Now, breaks what law? Well, John was a Jew. So he was talking about the Ten Commandments. So, sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments. Now, that bears a lot of thought, because, well, what is that? You know, we go back under the law, what, what, what, what, what. But nonetheless, sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments. Now, the Ten Commandments in its original form, as it was inscribed in granite and brought down from the hill by Moses, is what you might call a first cut. But it has, it contains in itself all the realms of sin. And, Brian, these realms, these ten realms appear at the end of that diskette, if you can happen to nail that. I throw some hard stuff at him. All right, at the end of that diskette that I gave you there. Those are the ten realms that are covered by the Ten Commandments. Now, the Ten Commandments has these in a kind of an abbreviated form, in a bridge form. They're largely negative, but they're all that people could handle at that time. But they, but they're a sample out of a universe of a very, very broad things. And so, I boil them down to that. The First Commandment has, and you can see how that's amplified in the New Testament, you see. But that's all they could handle at that time. In fact, the law, well, let's look at these others. Idolatry. Well, that's talked about in the New Testament. Get an overview. Service to God. That's really at the heart of the Fourth Commandment. What? What's the fourth of the Ten Commandments? Very few know. Shabbat. The Sabbath day. But the root of that, the root of that has to do with service to God. Now, it was not just working, but that's all that could be expressed at that time. All of these are repeated in the New Testament. Respect and obedience to authority. You know the Fifth Commandment. What? Honor thy father and thy mother. Peaceful conduct. Thou shalt not murder. Honesty. Thou shalt not steal. Relationships. Thou shalt not commit adultery. See, all these are carried forward. It is the eternal moral law of God and it never changes because it is God's character. It is His unchanging character. Now, a change has occurred. We realize that. But the change is not in what the law is. The change is in how we respond to it and the provision God has made. That's the difference. But the law of God never changes. It's never right to commit adultery. It's never right. But of course, there's a much broader scope to this idea of adultery. It includes bringing yourself into union that's not ordained of God. And I think it could include a lot of things. Bring yourself into any union with anything, person or circumstance, that is not ordained of God. That's what God means here. That has to do with holiness and purity. Very broad in its implications. Honesty. Thou shalt not steal. Truthfulness concerning others. It's interesting that there's none of the Ten Commandments that says thou shalt not lie. There's none of the Ten Commandments. What it says is thou shalt not bear false witness, which is lying about a person, which of course includes gossip and slander. Whenever we speak evil or give off that someone is not what they should be, even criticism is included under that. Gossip and slander. Slander, that term is used a great deal in the New International Version. And it says those who do such things are worthy of death. We didn't think about that because there's a lot of gossip and slander in the Christian churches and that's against the Ninth Commandment. And finally, contentment. And what is the Tenth Commandment? Do you know? Thou shalt not covet. And you have to think of these things. Think of the generating idea under it. What is it getting about? Thou shalt not covet. What does it mean? It means to be content. Anything that God gives you, you have to deal the hand that God gives you. And it's perfectly alright to aspire to things in Christ. That's not covetousness. But to desire something that is not yours, and has not been given to you to deal, that is not something that is in the purview of what God has for your life, is sin. It's sin. What is sin? Sin is, any time in personality or behavior, you run afoul of any of these ten. The love and worship of God, that he's not supreme. That you have created something with your hands to worship, which includes all forms of achievement. Or anything that you idolize. Of course, the big God in America is money. People amass money. They don't realize it, but they are sinning in terms of the second commandment. You shall not create unto yourself any graven image. Well, in those days it was idols. But Paul says covetousness. And you remember the rich young ruler. The reason that, see what Christ nailed him with was the second commandment. He was worshiping his money. And when Jesus hit that thing, out he went. So when someone asks you what sin is, tell them that it is a transgression of the ten commandments. And then, of course, we run into a can of worms and we'll get into that in a minute. But I think you see that. If anyone asks you what sin is, say it's a violation of the ten commandments. And if they say, yeah, but we're not under the law anymore. Just say, according to Hebrews chapter 8, it says the new covenant, the writing of the law, the Torah in our heart. How is it done? So we have here a dilemma. And I want to talk about that today. And you might say, well, why don't you talk about something simple? And keep it simple. It's simple. You follow Jesus is simple. Have you ever tried it? And let me tell you, the movement from the ten commandments to the grace and truth which are in Jesus Christ is so, shall I say, complex. And that it hasn't been understood for 2,000 years. But it's not simple. And even Peter alluded to that, didn't he? So the things that Paul writes, you can't understand. So I would love to keep it simple and say, B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me. And send everyone home happy. But it so happens that there are aspects. And that's what we're about this morning. So cheer up. Gird up the loin of your mind. It's unavoidable. All right. So we're looking at this, aren't we? So now, go back to the beginning of that diskette, if you would, Brian. And let's take a look at the dilemma. Back at the very beginning. All right. First of all, we see everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, this is what sin is. It is lawlessness. And of course, the only law that John would be talking about. He talked a great deal about it in the second and third chapter. Is the Ten Commandments. You want to remember that the first was composed of 5,000 Orthodox Jews. Who were all keeping the law. And that's why when Paul went down there, he took a bow, had his head shaved. And went through the, there's a way in which you can make a vow unto God. Because, and James said to him, you see, brother, they're all keeping the law. Don't get down there. They'll stone you if you come out with anything separate from the law. He's talking about the Christians. The first Christian church. So, to move from the law of Moses, to the grace and truth that are in Jesus Christ, is very complicated. And there are tremendous pitfalls, such as we have today, where there's no law but the law of love. Great. Which nobody can do. Are you having any problem with the law of love this morning? Yeah, kind of difficult, isn't it? No, that's too broad a brush. When the Bible says confess your sins to God, if we confess our sins, you can't confess that you don't love everybody. It's too broad a brush. You have to say, I stole something, or I lied or something. And you say, well, why is it lying in the Ten Commandments? Why is it only bearing false witness? Do you know? It's because all of these are a form of lying. Every one of these commandments has to do with lying. The devil is the father of lies. And the Ten Commandments are a judgment of God against Satan, and Satan knows it. It's the first time that God showed his hand. Other than saying to Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect, and I saw Noah writes. But other than this kind of thing, this is the first time God showed his hand, and he was showing it to the angels that had rebelled against him. And he's saying, look, boys, this is where it is at. Then everything that Satan does is against the Ten Commandments. It's a lie. And so you don't say, thou shalt not lie. You say, thou shalt not bear false witness. That's the only form of lying that God felt important enough to single out for attention. Are you okay with that? Any problem with that? Okay. Now, John actually, when he used the term law, he was reacting against early antinomianism and Gnosticism. And he talks a lot about it in the second chapter. If you don't keep his commandments, you're a liar, and the truth is not in you, and so on. He was reacting against the fact that in the first century, the Christians had picked up Paul's teaching to mean we don't have to live righteously. They picked that right up in the first century. And it has endured to this day. And so, scholars say John is reacting against antinomianism, and so it seems. Antinomianism means we're saved by grace apart from worse. All right. Now, look at the second one. This is where we get into the dilemma. First of all, we've said we have to keep the law. Then it says we don't, and this is why. For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. So, when we take our place with Jesus Christ on the cross and reckon ourselves dead, the law has no jurisdiction over us. Ha! We've got a dilemma. First of all, we can't break it. Secondly, it has no jurisdiction over us, providing, now, we are living a crucified life. Dead reckoning. Reckon ourselves dead. Okay, but other than that, it still has jurisdiction over us. Only as we die, then, and the similarity is to human marriage. Okay, so far. Well, everyone's either numb or understanding. What, then, was the purpose of the law? Now, this is very important. This is very important. Are you there? What the? What? It was added because of transgressions until something happened. Until the seed to whom the promise, the promise made to Abraham, referred, had come. So, all that occurred under the old covenant was a holy action. And it could not receive the promise made to Abraham because the seed, Jesus Christ, had not come. I started this when I was here before. And England's green and pleasant land did not help because it's wet all the time. So, I left stuffed up and I returned stuffed up. How wonderful it would be to hear again. It was added because of transgressions. The law was added because of transgressions. In other words, to put sin on ice. Until the seed to whom the promise referred had come. Now, this tells us something very important. Two things that are very important. It tells us, first of all, that God knew that Israel, under the old covenant, could not keep it. God knew that. They didn't contemplate that they could. It's like Paul said, you can't do it. All it does is make us aware of sin. You can't cut it. The natural man cannot cut it. Can't do it. But God gave it to kind of put sin under control. So, the Jews would have a goal and a means by which they would know when they sinned. And could bring their animal for sacrifice. If it weren't for the law, how could they bring their animal for sacrifice? They wouldn't know when they sinned. So, that's why it was added. Excuse me. Boy, I'm coughing right into this thing. Boy, I'm going to sound great on the tape. Oh, Lord. He knew they couldn't keep it. But he wanted them conscious of sin because they were a holy people. And he gave them animal sacrifices to keep their fellowship with God. But you can see it was not contemplated that it could be kept. And so, God made a provision for forgiveness. Because the seed hadn't come. Christ hadn't come. The promise of Abraham could not come and devolve upon them. It could not devolve upon them because the seed had not come. So, the law served as a holding action. Realizing it could not be kept. You can't keep these things. Even in their primitive form of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. You can't do it. It's our whole nature. Paul says, the law says, I shall not covet. So, what did that happen when the law said that? You remember Romans 7? It brought covetousness to life. They didn't deliver him. They didn't show him what he could do to quit sinning. It brought it to life. It brought the covetousness to life. That's a big help. He needed that like a home head. He didn't need to be reminded that he was covetous. So, you see, it was impotent. The first covenant was impotent. But it was God's covenant. And there were many, many Jews that God regarded as righteous. And, in fact, the book of Psalms talks continually of him. When we say there was no one righteous under the old covenant, we are not talking Bible. So, if you read the Psalm, even this first Psalm talks about the difference between the wicked and the righteous. There were many, many righteous people. But not that righteousness that can come through Jesus Christ. A righteousness that came by doing their best to keep the law. Trying to do it. In the New Testament, James says, why do you tempt God to put a yoke on the Gentiles that we ourselves were not able to bear? So, they perceived it as a yoke. And they perceived it as a burden. But, as it says about the mother, walked in all the ordinance of the law blameless. And Paul speaks of himself as having been blameless. On the one hand, it talks continually about the righteous. So, what do you do with that? Well, you have to recognize that they're bringing their sacrifice and God called them righteous. In fact, God called Noah righteous in the Ten Commandments. But God found Dan spoke of their righteousness. And so, we know that there are levels of righteousness. But, the Adamic nature can only go so far. And then, man, whoa, you know. I mean, pretty soon you got rid of all your herd because you offered them up for sin offering. I mean, look. All right. So, the purpose of the law was added because of transgressions. Now, the difference. And this is something. Well, then the next one. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. Rather, through the law, we become what? What? Conscious of sin. And the King James says, through the law, the knowledge of sin. I think it uses knowledge, which I think is a little better translation. There's a little more punch to it. So, the purpose of the law. It doesn't transform us, but it makes us conscious of sin. It tells us what sin is. And that's what 1 John said, didn't it? Sin is the breaking of the law. So, Paul says, the purpose of the law is to make us conscious of sin. And teaching constantly that we're not under law. Hallelujah. Isn't that wonderful? How many think that's wonderful? Nobody. So, we better continue, hadn't we? Yes. All right. Now, no one will be declared righteous in sight. But, when you get into the book of Hebrews. It says something very striking. It says, the first covenant. That it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. So, what does that tell us about the new covenant? The difference between the covenants. It's not that we no longer are bound by the law of God. It is that there's power in the new covenant to take away sin. The law remains, in a much more comprehensive form, as we'll try to point out here. The law remains. The difference is that we come to Christ and He forgives us. And then He immediately goes to work to make us a new creation. And that new creation does not sin by nature. It does not sin by nature. That's our goal. That's the day star, which is a converted nature. That keeps all these ten realms of God's character perfectly. The Adamic nature has been given commandments in the New Testament which must be kept by the Adamic nature. We'll get into some of those. But that's not the new covenant. The new covenant occurs as we, in our faithfulness, are keeping God's word by prayer, by the Holy Spirit. Christ is being formed in us. And that that is being formed in us has no sin. That's what 1 John says in the third chapter. That which is born of God cannot sin, because it's been born of God. That's our goal. Our goal is to have Christ formed in us so that we do God's will joyously. I delight to do thy will, O God. But we don't jump from accepting Christ into having a full-blown converted nature. It does not happen, as we very well know, do we not? Somebody smile! We don't jump from accepting Christ to having a full-blown converted nature, right or wrong. We have learned through Diane and other sources that we confess the thing, we renounce it, we go after it until we overcome what it is we're doing wrong. That's a kind of a holding pattern until you can't jump from accepting Christ to having Christ brought to the full in you. That's why Paul told the Galatians, who were having trouble with the law, that he was prevailing in birth again until Christ was formed in them. So do you see the pattern? We accept Christ and we're forgiven. Okay, immediately we're given the Holy Spirit so that we can have the power to walk in the Spirit to gain the daily victory. Is that right? Is it a daily victory? How many are under such pressure that you can only live it five minutes at a time? You ever been there? You ever been there? You know, usually we can manage it a day at a time. Boy, things can heat up until you're holding on five minutes at a time. If you haven't been there, cheer up. You will sooner or later. But these times are necessary because they teach us of the faithfulness of God. We can't understand what's going on. I mean, it's the cloud of unknowing and we beat on it. Where is God? It happens. It happens. But we don't quit. And God shows us our nature at such times. And then we don't quit. But we go to God and we pray. And as we pray and as we walk in the Lord, Christ is formed in us. And the end result will be a new creation, a new moral creation in the image of Jesus Christ that does righteously by nature. That's our goal. But we have that's our land of promise. But we have to go through this wilderness of testing to humble us and to teach us that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We have to come to know God. And but we're pressing towards something greater than constantly confessing our sins and constantly praying to God. We're it's like Peter said in the second chapter in 2 Peter, the first chapter, we take heed to the word until the day dawn and the day star arises in our heart. And that doesn't happen when you're first saved. You have to keep serving God and obeying him. And Christ is born in you an inch at a time. Make sense? All right. So where what is the resolution to the dilemma? On the one hand, we're told that if we sin, we're breaking the law. And then other passages we're told, particularly by Paul, because Jude and John and Peter never discuss grace. They don't discuss grace at all. They discuss righteousness. Paul is the one that came up with the grace thing and it caused confusion. Like we have this dilemma. Paul says, but you're dead to the law. John says, but you have to keep the law. Which one which one is speaking from God? Will you tell me that? Who's speaking from God, Paul or John? But we don't understand it. So the problem is that we don't understand it. OK, so it's a very great temptation in Christian theology to take the verses that you want and to ignore the other. But you see, that's not saying amen to God. You have to say amen to everything that God says and then he'll show you where it resolves. You don't say that James is not in the orthodox canon of scripture. You don't throw out James. You don't throw out Hebrews. You don't throw out these things. You take them all because the Holy Spirit has governed them. And so now let's think a minute about where the resolution comes. Are we under the Ten Commandments? Are we under the law of God, the Mosaic law? The answer is no. No, we are not. The answer is no, we are not. That because it has jurisdiction over us only as long as we are alive in the flesh. But when we have died with Christ on the cross, then we can be married to Jesus without being guilty of adultery because we have died. And that's the basis and the only basis on which we escape the jurisdiction of the law of Moses. Is that clear to everyone? All right. Now you say, but John. And let's look at this because this thing in John is potent. Going back to 1 John 3 verse 4. Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away. Take away, not forgive. Take away, not take away the guilt. Take away the sin. Remove it. Which the law could never do. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. And what is sin? Breaking the law. But it has no jurisdiction over us. Have fun. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. So much for the current idea that is so widely spread in Christian thinking that as long as we are in the world, we have to sin. Guess who came up with that one? Well, I'll give you a hint. His name begins with an S. That is not what the New Testament teaches. It has injured our faith. Oh, no one's perfect. Oh, cool. That is not what the Bible teaches. But when we go to heaven, we'll be perfect. That is not what the Bible teaches. And it's not what the Bible teaches. What does it teach? It teaches that Jesus Christ has the power. He can take away sin. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Say amen. Oh, hallelujah. That's what the Bible says. It doesn't say as long as we're in the world, we have to sin. It says if we sin, we haven't seen it. We don't know him. Oh, joy. Dear children, do not anyone lead you astray. Well, the whole church is led astray in the 20th century. The whole cotton-picking thing is off the track. For the most part. He who does what is right is righteous. So we're not talking about imputed righteousness. We're not talking about that. We're talking about actual righteousness. He who does what is right does what is right. But by what standard? That's the important thing. By what standard is rightness judged? Class, the Ten Commandments. In their full sense. Just as he is righteous. Well, how righteous can you get? Just as he is righteous. But now you want to remember, I'm not talking about your Adamic nature. Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Developing perfection by an extraordinary effort. Not talking about that. I'm talking about doing all that the New Testament commands us to do, which we can do one step at a time. God doesn't come to you and say, you sin because you don't love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. He doesn't do that. I mean, whoa. Might as well quit. He comes and says, you were sassy to authority. And you shouldn't have done it. That's all. One little dribbling thing that you can manage. And so what do you do? Give up? No, you go to God and say, Lord, by your grace, I'll never do that again. And guess what God does? What do you think God does when you say that? Did you ever sass your mother? Boy, everybody looks solemn. Probably so, if you're human. You go to the Lord. And you say, and maybe to your mother too. But whenever you're trying to work out stuff like that, try to handle things. Sometimes the Lord will say, go to your mother. Other times you say, just work it out with me. You have to get God's wisdom on that. You can't go around, sometimes you make the matter worse. But you got to straighten with God first. And then if you're supposed to go and make it right for somebody else, you'll have grace to do it. And you won't blow the whole thing and ruin their day and everything else. Okay, 1 John 1, 9. He's faithful and righteous too. You say, yes, but I'm so full of sin. It's useless to talk about. You're not an endless cavern of sin. Sin is a finite collection of behaviors. That's all it is. It ain't no more. Say, but I could never be perfect. No, you could never be perfect by your own standard. That's for sure. But by God's standards, you can be perfect. I didn't say perfected. I said perfect. Because you're perfect a day at a time. And God wants you perfect today. That doesn't mean you'll be perfected today. But it means you'll have done all that God requires of you today. That's all. It's as simple as that. It's no big deal. You mean I can be perfect today? On March 16th, May 16th of 1999? Little old me? Yes. Unless you'd want to sin. Do you want to sin? Probably not. Well then, voila. As far as God's concerned, you're perfect. But I still yell at the kids. Well, work it out with the Lord. He'll help you. Sometimes kids need to be yelled at. But I still bite my fingernails. Oh, God isn't into that that much. Well, maybe that's the way Elijah was, and God never reprimanded him about that. Because that's not a violation. See, that's your idea of what it means to be perfect. God isn't asking you to be perfect by your own standard. All he says is do the simple thing I require of you each day. That's all. And if you keep on doing it, eventually you'll run out of ammunition. There's nothing more to work on. What? Yeah, there's nothing more to work on. You made it. I didn't believe it was possible. Well, it says Jesus is the author and the finisher of our salvation. So what does that mean? Yeah, it means as a beginning and an end. So you see, isn't that hard? And he's doing that to us right in the middle of the devils of hell. But where else does he set a table? No, you're not going to be made perfect in heaven. If you're going to come to know the Lord, it has to be here. I got a lot of scripture for that, but I don't have anything for the other. Oh, well. Hang loose. The worst is yet to come. Don't let anyone lead you astray. Well, we do. We allow people to lead us astray. Us, it's a fact. If someone gets up and yells Jesus and gets everybody all excited, and then they preach God knows what, and we're led astray, and it's our own fault. It says don't let anyone lead you astray. Don't allow them to do that. Bring them back to the Word. Just as he is righteous. That's it. God said that. I didn't. He who does what is sinful is of the devil. Now, that's something to think about. That's enough to make you bat your eyes like a toad in a hailstorm. He who does what is sinful is of the devil. You know, that resonated. I could feel it up here. Huh? Let's play with that a little bit. I'll think about that for a while. What is sinful is of the devil. Oh, you're saying I'm possessed of the devil. I'm not saying you're possessed of the devil. All I'm saying is he who does what is sinful is of the devil. Hmm. Well, anyway, I better leave that one. Because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. That's all he knows how to do. Why do sinners sin? Because they're sinners. Why is it? Of course, they're going to do awful things. How can they do anything else? We spent the last three weeks in the green and pleasant land of England. Well, you know, we went through cathedrals. They cannot speak the English language. I've learned that. Now, we went to Westminster Abbey. You think they can say Westminster Abbey? They cannot say anything that ends with er. It ends up uh. So it's Westminster. Westminster Abbey. Neither can they say short a, a, a. They can't say decaf. It has to be decaf. Now, there's a church. So Westminster, it just means West Church. And an abbey is an abbey. Well, we went to the York Minster. It was another minster. And these things. Now, Larry says take pictures. Well, I, I. These things are. They don't fit in a frame. And begin to get that thing. I said, oh. These things are so of England. And I said to him, you know, our church would fit into one of these alcoves. I mean, these things are enormous. St. Paul's. We went into St. Paul's. Built by Christopher Wren. And because of the upper. But you stand there. Looking up at this thing. St. Paul's. Gong, gong, gong. This is a church. This is a minster. Well, everywhere you go. And we went through several things that gave us the whole history of England. From the first century. It used to. We were in Oxford. Ox. Do you know where that term comes from? A oxen ford is leading your oxen across a place to get them out of the water. That's what the word Oxford means. Well, we spent a time in York, which is the most colorful of all the place. They don't go to York. You can spend weeks in York. You'll never exhaust the thing. Well, York comes from a Viking word. Yorvick. And before that, it was called by the Romans Iberaca. So we were in Iberaca. Now called York. And again, we went through the whole history of England. Well, after you've seen this whole history several times. And the statues of great men from about 1100. You begin to get a message of something. England. The whole, the whole history of England is Christian. I mean, that's all it stands out. It's rooted and grounded. And Christianity. I dare say it's probably the seat of Christianity in the world. I can't think of any other nation that has the Christian history that England has. You know what's happening today? It's becoming Muslim. In fact, the Prince of Wales. I'm told now instead of calling himself the defender of the faith. It's the defender of the faith, plural. That's a turn that's happening in England. They're getting away from their Christian heritage. They say, ain't it awful? Ain't it awful? It's terrible what's going on. They're losing their Christian heritage. But why do they do that? And what could be done about it? You know what they need? A revival. Some of the greatest Christians in the world have come out of England. The writers. Think of it. The list just goes on and on and on in England. And now they're turning away from it. Well, it's awful. But they've had great revivals in the past. The Welsh revival is there adjacent to England. Wales, we went there. That was the turn of the century. Shut down the mines. Shut down the dance halls. The impact. God just arbitrarily reached down into Wales and changed everything. God can do that to England today. God can do that to America today. And furthermore, if I'm hearing right in the Lord, He's going to do just that in America. He's going to be in the midst of trouble. But He's going to send revival. So, sinners sin because they sin. And God is not looking at all the sin that's going on in our nation so much as He's looking at the Christians. When I went on the internet, He spoke to me. He said, you warn the Christians in America. They're not keeping my commandments. That's exactly what He told me. He's got to get the church right first. And then He can send revival. And all that we want shall come to pass. So, yes, he that commits sin is of the devil. But God wants us to get victory over sin. And we can do it once we know what it is. Well, how is it resolved? You still haven't resolved it, Brother Thompson. You said, the Bible says we're not under the jurisdiction of the law. And then you say, but sin is the transgression of the law. How do you put it together? It's put together, I think, in Romans in Hebrews chapter 8. It's a complex question, but not unanswerable. In Hebrews 8, God says, The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And in verse 9, It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because they did not remain faithful to my covenant. I turned away from them, declares the Lord. So God is making a new covenant. Is that right? Is that what it says? Yes or no? Yes, that's what it says. Hebrews 8, verses 8 and 9. Now, the old covenant is primarily, but not exclusively, the Ten Commandments. It includes the laws of leprosy and dietary laws and various laws concerning slavery and so on. The way he alludes to it, you can tell he's talking primarily about the Ten Commandments. So, if the old covenant has been done away, then the Ten Commandments have been done away because they are the main part of the old law. Okay? Now, that being the case, and obviously is, then what do we say about the new covenant? The old is done, but what is the new? That's the issue. What is the new covenant? If the Ten Commandments have been done away, and they obviously have because the old covenant is passing away, it's obsolete, the NIV says it's obsolete. Twice it says that in Hebrews. But what is the new covenant? Exactly what it is, is it? We need to look at this. This is the covenant. This is the covenant. I will make with the house of Israel after that time declares the Lord, and this is a quotation from Jeremiah, and also appears in Ezekiel. I will put my laws in their minds. Now, the word for law here, in Jeremiah, and I'm not sure here, it's probably normal, but in Jeremiah, where this quotation comes from, the word is Torah. Torah, as is the Ten Commandments. It's the law. So, voila, the law is done away, but the law returns. The Torah returns. Not another law, the same law, albeit in a much more comprehensive sense. For example, the first commandment, which is to worship God with all your heart, soul, mind. You will have no other gods before me. That's the first commandment, and the greatest commandment. But what is it in the New Testament? Present your body, a living sacrifice, holy unto God. See, it's much more comprehensive. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. But God tells us that we are to take up our cross and follow Jesus. It's much more comprehensive. It's the same law, but in a much more comprehensive form. And I can't get into much more now, because I'm about out of time here, but when we get to the Sabbath day, should we continue this tonight, you'll see how God talks about the Sabbath day, what He's made out of that, which is infinitely more than stopping work on Saturday. Infinitely more. But the Sabbath is there. The concept of the Sabbath is there. So, the new law then, the Torah. Not done away with the Torah. No, I'm restoring the Torah. And this is the answer, the resolution of the dilemma. I will put my laws in their minds, and that is so we can comprehend them. Now, when I was first saved, I thought this meant memorizing the Bible, and I spent a lot of time memorizing, but this is what it means. God says, I will put it in their mind. I will write it in their mind, just like He wrote it on tables of stone. I will write it in their mind. So, what we want is God to write His law in our mind. So, how do we go about it? Just as I said, we get saved, we get forgiven, and then we start to walk in the Spirit. When the Lord shows us we are sassy to our mother, that's against the Torah. That's against the fifth commandment. You see? And then we go, and we say, I have sinned. We confess it. We declare in our heart that we renounce it. We denounce it. We say it's fit only for the lake of fire. We do not want that. And He forgives us. And He takes of His body and blood, and He puts it into our mind. And we are transformed. In that measure, by the renewing of our mind. You see how? It's still the same law. And we're not under its jurisdiction as it was in those terms. But we are under its jurisdiction in the new terms. That's the resolution of the dilemma, I believe. But it didn't stop there, thank God, because that would just leave us with a mental understanding of what it is we're supposed to do. And we are human beings. How many here is a human being? Are you a human being? Well, it's not for most of us. So it's not enough for us just to know what is right. Something else must happen. And that means He will not only give us the comprehension of what it is that He requires, but He will give us the inner motivation to love to do it. I rejoice in that, Lord. Jesus said, I live within my heart. Now remember, we're being brought up to the standard of Jesus Christ, according to 1 John 3. We must be as He is, which we are, because He does it supernaturally. It's not left up to us to accomplish this. But we have to follow the Spirit and obey the Spirit, read the Word, pray, attend services, give, seek the gifts, and do all the things. And then God's part is to take His holy law and to inscribe it in our mind and to inscribe it in our heart so that we say with the Lord Jesus, I delight. Not only do I know your law, Lord, but I delight to do it. How does that set with you? Well, let me rephrase the question. Does it set with you? Is it beginning to set with you? All right. Shall we stand then?