Go ahead and open them up and turn with me to John chapter five. John chapter five. And this will be our last Lord's day in this chapter. Today we'll be looking specifically at verses 39 through 47. So John five verses 39 on down to the end of the chapter. This is the word of the Lord. You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Let's bow our heads in prayer. God, we thank you for this wonderful word that you have given us today, that you reveal to us that Moses all along was speaking of you, Jesus, and that we can open up our Old Testaments and see you so clearly there. God, we thank you for that. Lord, we thank you for just explaining so well in this chapter the way of eternal life. Lord, the truth of the new birth and the promise that we will be resurrected with you one day, body and soul. God, I just pray for our time now as we hear from you, Lord, that you would just guide my mouth, guide my mind, that I would only speak that which is true, that which is in accord with your word and your gospel. Lord, if I begin to say something or even think about saying something that's false, that's contrary to your word, I pray, Lord, that you would just truly just divert my mind and divert my mouth. Lord, I pray for all those who are hearing me now that I would not get in the way, that they would hear directly from You, that Your Word would pierce to their conscience, and that You would draw all of us here to renewed repentance and faith in You, Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated. In the verses we just read, we see the final segment of Jesus's defense of his Messiahship that he makes to the unbelieving Jews. Christ had, if you remember, healed a lame man on the Sabbath. And then he commanded this man to take up his bed and walk. The Jews were diligent students of the law. They studied the entire Old Testament, of course, but they gave particular attention to the first five books of the Bible. These were the books of Moses and in Hebrew called the Torah or the law. And that's because they contain all the commandments and ordinances which God had revealed to his people and instructed them to obey. And the Jews in one sense, they're very bright legal scholars. They're smart people and they know the Word of God. They understand the minutia even, the little tiny details of the law and they apply God's commands in a rigorous yet external manner. And here they see a man and they think he's breaking the law and causing other people to break the law. The Jews think that he has broken, of course, the fourth commandment. They think he's broken the command to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then after they confront him and hearing what Jesus says in his defense, namely that he is equal with God himself, They get even more angry. They say, he hasn't only broken the fourth commandment. He's broken the first commandment. He's broken the third commandment. We could even probably add the fifth commandment and the ninth commandment as well. He is a blasphemer because he has called himself equal with God. So Jesus says, hold on. Even if you don't believe what I have to say about myself, believe these four witnesses that testify about me. God the Father, John the Baptist, the miracles that I do, and the very word of God itself that you claim to love and know. And then coming down into our section today, he's concluding this defense, this argument. We see him explain a bit further about this final witness, the scriptures, specifically the law, and we see him tell the Jews specifically why they will not believe in his name. So we must ask ourselves, I think it's a fair question to ask, if these Jews have been entrusted with the very word of God, if they have been their whole lives studying the word of God, if they as an old covenant people have been entrusted with the ministry of God, with the glory of God, with the very presence of God in the temple, We have to ask, why did they not believe when the Son of God came and spoke to them? Why do most of the Jews reject their Messiah? And they don't simply just reject him, they actually seek to kill him. Why is that? Well, Jesus in our text today points out at least four reasons here that he gives for the Jews' rejection. And we'll look at those in detail. First, Jesus says the Jews are not willing to come to Jesus. They're not willing to come to Jesus. Secondly, Jesus says the Jews do not have the love of God dwelling within them. They don't have the love of God dwelling within them. Third, The Jews would rather receive honor from men than from God. They prefer the honor of men over the honor of the living God. And then fourth and finally, the Jews do not have a true understanding of the scriptures, which they claim to love. They don't have a true understanding of the scriptures. So the first reason the Jews reject Christ, he says here in John 5, is that they are unwilling to come to him. Now, what do I mean by that? What does it mean that they are unwilling or not willing to come to Him? The concept of what exactly our will is, is difficult to express with precise or technical terms. What is the will? It's kind of like asking what is the mind or what is the heart as scripture communicates that truth to us. It's difficult to put some precise terms on it. And sometimes in scripture we actually see a few different words that can refer to the will. Different words in Hebrew and Greek are used that all end up getting rendered as will in our English Bibles. But what is clear is that when the Bible refers to our will, it's speaking about our decision-making faculty, that we make decisions or choices. It's that within us that has the power of choosing between one thing and another thing, choosing what to do and choosing what not to do, going this way or going that way. And Jesus says the Jews are not willing to come to him. They don't have a will to come to Him. Or as some translations put it, they refuse to come to Him. Both that phrase refuse, that phrase not willing, and the word refuse communicate the exact same truth here. The Jews are actively choosing to not to come to Christ. They've not simply neglected to come to Jesus. They haven't just delayed in their decision and thinking about it and just putting it off and delaying. No, they have actively made the decision not to come in faith to their Messiah. They've been confronted by God himself with the truth of who Jesus is, the very Son of God. And they said, no, we're gonna reject that. We don't accept that truth. The general call has gone out through the preaching of our Lord as well as through those four witnesses we just mentioned. God the Father witnessed to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. John the Baptist witnessed to that truth. The miracles of Christ testify to this and the Word of God. ultimately tells us that Jesus is the Messiah. All of these things are preaching the same exact message to God's old covenant people. All of these witnesses are saying, come to Jesus, trust in Jesus, look unto Christ and be saved. And the Jews, instead of just taking that step forward and trusting in Jesus, they've decided instead to turn their backs on him. They were not willing, he says, to come to him in faith. Now, sometimes in our Reformed and Presbyterian circles, we've been hesitant to use the language of sinners choosing to come to Jesus or choosing to follow Jesus. I've seen this before. I'm guessing some of you may have as well, but we should never be afraid to use the language of Scripture. We should never be afraid to use the methods of our master. Jesus is the great evangelist, and he's the one that said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Or think of the parable of the great supper. When the master hears that there's still more room at the table, he says to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. We should definitely be telling people, come to Jesus. We should, scripture tells us, be compelling people to come to Jesus. We should, along with the apostle Paul, plead with sinners to come to Jesus and even seek to persuade them to come to Jesus. Jesus, even in his defense of himself that he's given to these unbelieving Jews, he is implicitly calling them to faith in Jesus, to faith in himself. There are other times where Jesus is talking to a group of Jews or whomever, unbelievers, and he speaks in parables to hide things from them. He says that. He says, sometimes I speak in parables so that people won't understand. There are some times where he chooses not to answer questions in a clear way that will be easily grasped by those who are asking him things. There are times where Jesus chooses to conceal his identity as the Son of God and even commands others not to tell anyone. Don't tell anyone about this work that I have done or who I am. It's a mystery to us why Jesus acts like this sometimes. But here, Jesus lays it out in abundant clarity. Abundant clarity. He tells these Jews who are accusing him that he is equal with the Father. He tells them in no uncertain terms the way to everlasting life. He teaches them about that great doctrine of the new birth and the great hope, the resurrection of the body. He shows them how all flesh will be judged on the last day. He talks with these Jews about the true meaning of Scripture and the value and the purpose of His miracles. So yes, He is accusing them. He is laying a rebuke on them for not believing Moses. But just like Jonah preaching to those unrighteous Ninevites, this may well be seen as a call to repentance as well. When God gives a judgment over people and he doesn't execute that judgment immediately, you can always choose to receive that as a call to repentance, to amend your ways. Come to me, Jesus is saying. Choose this day, God's word says, whom you will serve, either the false gods that your fathers so often lusted after or the true and living God who I am revealing to you right now. Be willing to come to me. Do not refuse. Do not harden your hearts. Trust in me today. But the Jews, by and large, as we know, they refused this call from Christ. They would not come to Him and trust in Him. Moving on to the second reason that Christ gives for why the Jews reject Him, He points out that they do not have the love of God dwelling in them. What an immense rebuke to these people who thought that because they were descended from Abraham, they were automatically God's special people forever and ever. Now we might ask who in their right mind? would reject our Lord's offer of everlasting life. Why would they reject this? Jesus is so clear that he's the one who can save sinners, that no one else can do that. And he shows so plainly through those four witnesses that he really is who he says he is. But those Jews remain unwilling to come to him. Why? Why, we still might ask. He says it's because they don't have the love of God dwelling in them. That's why they're unwilling to come, because they don't have the love of God within their hearts. Many people, especially many people today, even theologians and pastors, are convinced that man has a free will. And by free will what they mean is that man can choose to be good or he can choose to be evil. That he can choose whether he wants to follow Jesus or whether he wants to follow the world or some other made-up false god. But this is not true. We are commanded to choose Christ in scripture, that is absolutely clear, but we lack the power to do so in and of ourselves. Free will in the sense that I just described is a lie. Paul says in Romans 3, and he's quoting David here, so this is two witnesses of scripture. He says that no one seeks after God, no one does good, no, not even one. Now, if our wills were really and truly free to choose between life and death, heaven and hell, happiness or misery, you'd think that at least one person would have chosen life and heaven and happiness. But Paul and David both say, no, no, no one chooses that. No one chooses goodness. Everyone just keeps choosing evil continually. No one picks the good option. And Jesus himself even says, no one comes to me unless the father which sent me draws him. So it's clear that humans do not have the ability on their own and in their flesh to choose Christ. Our will, our ability to make decisions is bound to our nature. If we have been born again and are in possession of that everlasting life that Jesus spoke of earlier here in John 5, then our nature has been freed from the bondage of sin and has been made a willing and joyful slave of Christ. That's our spiritual nature, been truly freed from the shackles of slavery that sin has set upon us. And if the father has given us his very spirit, that same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and his love is therefore dwelling within us, and that's the case for all born again believers, if he's done that, then we will with absolute certainly choose to come to Christ in faith. Our will makes real decisions, but they are always in accord with our spiritual nature. Just as Jesus tells us the good tree can only bear good fruit. You can only bring the treasure out of the chest that's already in the chest. A good nature made good by the love of God will come to Jesus. Jesus says in the following chapter that all whom the Father has given Him will come to Him by faith. There will be no one who God has graciously regenerated who then chooses to refuse Christ. Because a regenerated will will always make that good decision that we think everyone should make. It will always decide for heaven, for Christ, for happiness, for righteousness. And the love of God working upon our innermost being is what changes our nature from one that only desires evil to one that freely chooses to follow Christ. It's the love of God. One of the clearest explanations of the gospel in all of scripture, Ephesians 2, says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. That's how, because of Adam's sin, we all come into the world spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. But God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, lest anyone should boast. It is the gift of God. So how are we saved according to Paul? He says, by the grace of God through faith in Christ. That's how we're saved. That's the means of our salvation. But why are we saved? Why are we saved by grace through faith? Paul says, and Jesus says as well, that it's because of the great love with which God loved us. That's the only reason that we're saved. It's because of God's love. That's the only reason that anyone ever comes to Christ is because God loves him. The love of God upon and within a person is transformative. It changes us. It really, truly changes us on the inside. And it causes us to trust in Christ as our only hope for salvation. And God's love causes us then to love him back. And the same apostle who wrote this gospel would later say in his first epistle that we love because he first loved us. But God the Father we know did not set his special saving love on everyone. And without that special saving love, a sinner's spiritual nature remains evil and corrupt. They remain a bad tree. And a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. A bad tree cannot therefore accept Christ Jesus and his offer of salvation. Jesus next says this in verse 43 of our text today. He says, I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. Christ is saying, without the love of God within you, you won't only refuse to accept me as the Messiah, but you'll actually choose to accept an antichrist instead. That's the choice that you would make in your flesh. Jesus came showing many undeniable proofs that he really was the son of God, that he was God himself, that he really was the one who could forgive sins. And the Jews hardened their hearts over and over and over against him. But he says that if someone else were to come, making a name for themselves and pretending to be someone special, he says, you would latch on to that person. You would believe that person. One scholar I read as I was preparing said that this is a clear prophecy from Jesus that we can see fulfilled in large measure just from the records of Jewish history. He notes that within just 100 years of Jesus's death, there arose at least documented 64 false messiahs, 64 men claiming to be Christ come back, people pretending to be Jesus. And all of these were more or less believed by a great number of the Jews. This is Jesus's prophecy coming true within just a couple generations. Of course, not a single one of these men came in the power of God Almighty. Not a single one of them came bestowing the love of God on others. Not a single one came doing the many mighty miracles that Jesus did, but the Jews and their heart and hearts, they latched onto them and they believed them. They were willing to accept those pathetic excuses of Christ instead of submitting to the one living God himself. Pathetic excuses of people pretending to be Christ, I mean. Not that Christ made excuses. We see the same type of thing happening today, that prophecy was not confined to ethnic Jews within that first few generations after Jesus's life. There are people who refuse to humble themselves and believe in the Lord Jesus, even today, who believe in all kinds of crazy and ridiculous things. I think probably the most widespread example of this prophecy continuing to be fulfilled today is that of the Mormons. They resemble the Jews in a lot of ways, if you really think about it. They diligently study the Scriptures. If you encounter Mormons, they know the Bible oftentimes better than Christians. They claim to love God. And a lot of times on the outside, it looks like they do. Mormons are typically very nice people, they're very religious people, and they claim to love God. But they reject the crystal clear teaching that Jesus and the Father and the Spirit are one, united, indivisible God. That's the same exact teaching that the Jews here are rejecting in John chapter 5. And instead of truly loving God and trusting in Christ as He has revealed Himself in His Word, these Mormons, they've trusted in a false prophet, a false Messiah. Of course, I'm talking about Joseph Smith, who has spouted so many absurd and ridiculous and unbelievable heresies that it's a wonder how anyone could believe this man. But if you have the bad root, you're going to bear the bad fruit. And this is a bad fruit, believing in a heresy, believing in a false Messiah. When your heart is not filled with the love of God, you will naturally choose over and over that which hates God, that which is contrary to reason, and that which is against the words of scripture. The third reason Jesus gives for the Jews unbelief is that they would rather receive honor from God, I'm sorry, honor from men than from the Lord. The praise of the world is a very dangerous siren song. And I think we're even more susceptible to this today than people were in the first century with social media and internet and TV and influencers and all these things that we're dealing with. It's like the world is just calling, calling, beckoning. I will praise you. I will praise you conform to my ways. But it's a dangerous thing. The praise of men can very quickly draw people away from the truth of God's word. Think of that hymn that we often sing here at church, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken. The last verse goes like this, Savior if of Zion's city, I through grace a member am. Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in thy name. Fading is the worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show, solid joys and lasting treasure, none but Zion's children know. This is the song of a true Christian. It says, I don't care if the world derides me. And deride just means I don't care if the world makes fun of me. I don't care if worldlings call me bad things, if they speak evil about me, if they laugh at me. In fact, Jesus says, when that happens, rejoice and be exceedingly glad because that means your reward is great in heaven. None of this matters. The world's opinion does not matter for us who are Christ's. Because God won't make fun of us. God actually, in his infinite love, the creator and redeemer of the whole cosmos, he even chooses to honor us. Isn't that amazing? Jesus chooses to honor us and gives us positions of dignity and restores us. All the praise that the world gives is fading away, as the hymn reminds us. The praise which will last into eternity is the praise and honor of God. This is something that all of the children and the young people, the young adults here especially need to take to heart. I want you to listen closely here. By God's grace, our young children here, y'all are being raised in families that protect you from a lot of the evil that is out there in the world. And if you haven't felt the sting of the world making fun of you yet, you will. You will feel that when you grow. The children of the world do not like the children of God. And so sometimes they say mean things. to us, untrue things about us. They might laugh at us for choosing not to watch a certain show or not knowing all of the hip, fun-to-them cultural references. The world might think that you're weird for wanting to obey your parents. Children of the world hate obeying their parents. They think they should only obey them if it's convenient for them or maybe if their parents are watching. The children of God, of course, know that they should obey their parents at all times. Young women, especially, the world will laugh at you because of the way you dress when you dress in modesty and reverent godly fear to your Lord. They will tell you that your modesty is not a sign of your freedom in Christ, it's a sign of your oppression, that you're a slave to some hateful tradition. Young men, the world will call you women haters and sexists if you prioritize working hard outside of the home so that your wife can work hard inside of the home and focus her efforts on the household and the children. And sometimes when you are facing being laughed at or being talked down to or feeling left out, you can feel tempted to downplay who you really are, to kind of just not speak up, to downplay your commitment to your savior. You can feel tempted to hide or cover up your real identity. But I want to tell you, especially you younger brothers and sisters in Christ, you have to run away from this temptation. This is a worldly evil that wants to make you ashamed of being a Christian. Being a Christian can sometimes feel scary, no doubt. It sometimes feels uncomfortable. I'm certain that all the apostles, all of whom were tortured and killed except for John, I'm sure that was scary and painful and uncomfortable to say the least. Sometimes it can feel very lonely when you're out in the world to be a servant of Jesus. But as that great pastor said, John Knox, as John Knox said, one man with God is always in the majority. Even if you are just standing all on your own and you can't even speak without your voice shaking, remember that if you are in the right, if you are walking faithful to God, then you are in the majority. You are in the one who matters. You are, as the world tells us today, on the right side of history. And children and young people hear this especially. Jesus tells us so clearly that if we want to be friends with the world, which is a temptation, then that makes us enemies of God. We cannot seek the praise of men and the praise of God at the same time. We have to make a choice. That's how we started our discussion today. We have to make a choice, a decision of the will, whose love and praise we want. Do we want the love of God and his honor or do we want the praise? pretend fading and fickle love of man that fades away so quickly. The apostle Paul says in Romans 2 that he is not a Jew that is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. Another way of saying that today and in new covenant terms is The true Christian is not the one who is merely baptized with water, but who is baptized with the spirit in the heart. And that true Christian is not one who looks for and receives praise from men, but it's the one who looks for and receives praise from God. God delights to honor those who honor him. and the honor that he gives will last forever and ever. Would you rather have 15 minutes of fame or an unfading crown of glory? Would you rather be liked by the world for a season or loved by the God who made the world for eternity? Would you rather receive so-called praise and honor and have people applaud when you enter a room or would you rather hear well done, good and faithful servant enter now into the everlasting joy of your master. Now, I want to be clear, we should not try to make the world hate us. I mean, they can do that on their own. We don't need to add to any of their desire to hate us here. When the world does show us some respect also, which sometimes it will, when the world respects us, we shouldn't think, oh, I must not be saved. Someone who's not a believer likes me or they're being kind to me. We should, in fact, seek to live at peace with all men and maintain a good reputation among all, even unbelievers. But we should never seek the praise of the world. Seeking the peace is not the same as seeking the praise. And we must be prepared to be hated by worldlings because it will come at one time or another in all of our lives. And let's move on to the final reason now why the Jews reject Christ. The final reason that Jesus gives is because the Jews do not have a true understanding of the scriptures. Verses 45 through 47 say this. Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" I'll make a quick aside here that is just now occurring to me. Remember, a few years back, there was a very famous, well-known preacher within the evangelical culture named Andy Stanley. And he got into some hot water because he said we need to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament, which is exactly contrary to what Jesus is teaching us here. If you unhitch yourself from the Old Testament, if you think that that's a Jewish scripture and not a Christian scripture, then you are unhitching yourself from God himself. There is one Bible. We don't have 75% of our Bible as introduction and then the real word of God. It's not just the red letter words that count. All of scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So here Christ, what he does is he turns this accusation that the Jews have leveled against him, that he's a lawbreaker, he turns it back in their faces. They tried to bring him up on charges of being a Sabbath breaker and a blasphemer. But of course, we know that that's not true at all. Jesus was in fact upholding the law. And here Jesus says, look, although I am the judge, I'm not here to accuse anyone right now. John 3, 17 makes it so abundantly clear that Jesus's mission when he came to earth was not to condemn, but to save. He came to save the world. But even on judgment day, when all the dead are raised from their graves, Jesus says, even then, I won't need to bring a single accusation against you because Moses will do so well at that, that he won't even need my assistance. You think that you believe Moses, he says to the unbelieving Jews. You think that you are his defenders. You think that you keep the law that he brought down from the mountain of God. But it is that law that you are breaking. How are they breaking the law of God? They prided themselves on following it to the T. How are they breaking it then? Well, we could list a whole host of particular ways that these Jews were, in fact, breaking God's law. Every single person. has broken God's law. Every single one of us in this room here, in our flesh, is a lawbreaker. In fact, one of the chief reasons that God gave his people the law was to show them their sinfulness and their need for grace. See, the law has three main uses. First, the law functions like a mirror. It reveals to us how sinful we really are. It holds our lives up to God's perfect standard and shows us our flaws so clearly. Secondly, the law functions like a curb, a curb like on a sidewalk or in a parking lot. The curb deters people and puts a barrier in their way from going somewhere they should not go. Of course, the curb has no power within itself to totally stop a car or a person from plowing right over it, but the curb definitely makes itself known if you choose to disregard its presence. So too, the law functions to deter individuals and societies from sinning. And then finally, the law is like a lamp, and then it shows us the path of righteousness in a dark and confusing world. The law has no power within it to make us walk down the right path, but it certainly reveals God's holy will for our lives. And in all these functions, the mirror, the curb, and the lamp, the law points us straight to Jesus Christ. And the number one way that the Jews were lawbreakers is that they didn't see that. They did not trust in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the law. A lack of belief in Jesus is breaking the law. In comparison to our sinfulness, which the law reveals, a true reading of Moses showed that Christ, of course, was sinless. He was perfect. And when we honestly look at the commands of God and then compare them to our own hearts, our own thoughts, our own words, and our own actions, we realize that Jesus was absolutely right here. There is more than enough to accuse each and every one of us before the throne of God and declare us completely guilty in His sight. Every time we have neglected the worship of God, we will be accused if we are remaining in our flesh. Every time we worship the work of our hands, every time we've not honored His name, every time we have broken His Sabbath, every time we have dishonored our parents, Every time we've had unrighteous anger or lust within our hearts, every time we've taken that which we had no right to take, every time we've not been truthful, and every time we have desired someone else's life or possessions or abilities, every single one of those sins, which we commit more times than we could count, is more than enough to condemn us before the judge. Jesus himself has no need on judgment day to speak a single word against us. He just has to look at the record of our lives compared to the perfect law. The evidence is clear. But God didn't just want the mirror of the law to make us feel depressed or discouraged or hopeless. He didn't give us this law so we would just walk around with our heads down thinking what vile, terrible creatures we are. No, He gave us this ministry of death so that our eyes could be opened to the great gift of life that He provides. The mirror of the law showed us our need for a Savior. It showed us that we cannot earn righteousness on our own. It showed us that if we are to be saved, God would have to step in and do the work on our behalf. And God didn't only give us the Ten Commandments to show us this. He also gave us all the other laws and all the other pictures and types in the Old Testament. He gave us the tabernacle. He gave us the temple. He gave us the ordinances, the priesthood, all these things that we generally think of as a ceremonial law. If your own conscience did not accuse you clearly enough before God, then the old covenant Israelites had these reminders set before their eyes every single day. Every single day, animals were being slaughtered because they were sinners. Every single year, the Passover was being observed. The priests were constantly sprinkling the blood and offering prayers and washing themselves and washing the people and washing the clothes and washing the houses even, showing both that everyone was unclean in God's sight and also that God had graciously chosen to provide a cleansing solution. God will provide forgiveness for our sins. And Christ was pictured and proclaimed so clearly through every aspect of this ceremonial law. He was proclaimed even through things like how the temple was all fitted together as one unified whole, through the beauty of the priest's garments, through the spotless lambs, through the Ark of the Covenant. He was proclaimed in all these ways and the Jews would have had to be blind to miss who he was when he appeared. As the curb, the law pointed to the truth that we needed one who could not only come to deter us from sinning, but to empower us to live holy lives. We needed one who could not only guide us in punishing evil in society, but who would build a godly kingdom full of righteousness and justice, which would reign over the whole world. And as the lamp, the law led us on the path straight to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. But the Jews we see, they ignored the mirror. They didn't want to think of themselves as sinners. They wanted to think of other people as sinners. Well, of course people sin, but I'm one of God's chosen ones. And they ignored the curb. They just ran right over the curbs. And they totally misinterpreted and misapplied the lamp of God's righteousness. They thought they were looking at what God had required and they were just walking down all the wrong paths. Moses requires obedience of us. The Bible is clear. He demands righteousness, but he gives us no power to obey. And in fact, he accuses us when we inevitably do wrong and break the law. But Christ fulfills all righteousness for us, and he forgives us for our law breaking, and he frees us from the eternal penalty of the law. But it's not as though when we get saved, oh, then we get to ignore the law entirely. It's not like Christ saves us and says, just go live however you want in the flesh now. Don't worry about it. Your sins are forgiven. No, the law is meant to point us to Christ, to show us Christ. And then after we have come to Christ in faith, Jesus sends us right back to the law. to live righteously before him. But we don't go back to the law as enslaved, unwilling subjects who are unable to bear that awful yoke. We go back to the law as joyful pilgrims who can pick it up like a lamp and see more clearly God's will for us on the straight and narrow path of the Christian life. The law is no longer an oppressive ministry of death to the Christian. It is an enlightening rule of life. God's will for us is holiness. That's what the law shows us. And that holiness can only be received through faith in Jesus Christ. And when Christ saves you, you are in an objective position of holiness that very minute. To use a theological term, when you are saved, you are definitively and positionally sanctified in an instant. You are set apart as holy. You're regarded as holy because you're in Christ who is the Holy One. But then God calls you to grow up into the maturity of your new identity. And so you are also, in addition to being definitively sanctified, set apart as holy for Christ, you're also then progressively sanctified, growing in holiness over time by seeking the Lord and obeying his commands from a pure heart. So we don't overthrow the law as Christians. The Bible's clear. Rather, we uphold it and seek to obey it with godly fear and with joy. And we don't just seek to obey the law in our own lives, but we seek to have the whole world obey God's law. That means we should be seeking righteousness in our land. We should be calling for justice and fairness in the public square. In our current American context, and especially in our current season we're in, we should exercise the privilege of voting for the candidates that will govern in closer accord to God's word, which, make no mistake, in this current election season we are in and in the current cultural and political climate we're in, that means we cannot vote for Democrats. That's just very clear because their party is absolutely committed at its core to the slaughter of unborn children and to the promotion of godlessness in all its forms and fashions. And if you're confused about any of that, please just come talk to me afterward. And ultimately, the ultimate way we seek for our world to obey the law is we should compel people to come to Christ. That's the great goal of all of the law of God, to make people who love God and love their neighbor. And that can only be done through faith in Christ. We might think, well, if it's impossible, as we've talked about today, if it is truly impossible for an unregenerate person to choose to follow Jesus, why should I tell them to? God's gonna save all the people he's gonna save. Why do I need to even be involved? Why can't I just save myself that burden? Well, first of all, it's not a burden, it's a great joy when you get to tell people about your savior. But you might think, well, isn't that just like telling a blind man to see or telling a lame man to walk? Yes, it's exactly like that. But don't you remember what Jesus did to blind people and lame people? He told blind people to see and guess what they saw? He told lame people to walk and they got up and jumped and leaped for joy. So the reason we tell sinners to come to Jesus, even though we know they can't in their own flesh, is twofold. Number one, God commanded it. Simple. Number two, God ordained that through the preaching of his word, through the calling of sinners to come to Jesus, he ordained that he will work within the hearts of his children to transform them and enable them to obey that summons. When God's word is preached, it will not return void. It will accomplish the purpose it goes forth to accomplish. God has chosen to give his people willing hearts, to give them good natures in the preaching of the free offer of the gospel. It's a mystery to us how it works. It's an absolute mystery. But we know that God will save all his people, that he doesn't need us to save anyone, but that he has chosen to save them through our preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When his word is proclaimed, including these impossible commands, like telling a sinner, repent and believe, which is more impossible than telling a dead man to be raised to life. When we obey him in that command to preach his gospel, we will see his word be effective. So trust in Christ yourself and trust in his methods for redeeming the world. Let's pray. God, we thank you. for your grace. Lord, we thank you that when the gospel came to us, Lord, that you chose in your infinite mercy to give us that new birth, to give us that everlasting life. Lord, we know that in and of ourselves, we would always choose death. We would be like the Jews who absolutely refused to come to you. God, we know that in our flesh, our hearts are hard, but God, we thank you that you have given us soft hearts in Christ Jesus. Lord, if someone is here who has not trusted you, who has not come to you truly, Lord, I pray you would work sovereignly on their heart right now through this preaching of your word, which we know is mighty and powerful and pierces to the innermost part of our being. God, I pray that you would right now grant them the new birth, that you would revive them, that you would make them willing to come to you. joyfully and accept you as Lord and Savior. God, we thank you for your goodness to us and we ask your continued blessing now on our service. In Christ's name, amen.