When trying to witness to someone
concerning the gospel of God's free grace, when you speak to
them about divine election, God's sovereignty, effectual calling,
irresistible grace, the particular love of God for his elect, and
the particular redemption of God's elect by the Lord Jesus,
They will spit at you these words, God is no respecter of persons. God loves everybody. And by those
words would attempt to pervert the doctrine of Holy Scripture.
Well, the fact is that thought, God is no respecter of persons,
is a thought stated throughout the Scriptures numerous times. Our text this morning, Romans
chapter 2, verses 11 through 16, opens with this statement.
There is no respect to persons with God. There is no respect
to persons with God. What does that mean? Does that
mean that there's no such thing as divine election? No such thing
as special love? No such thing as distinguishing
grace? No such thing as special atonement? Of course not. Of
course not. But when the Holy Ghost declares
there is no respect of persons with God, what does he mean for
us to understand? He means for us to understand
this and this distinctly. There is nothing any human being
can do. Nothing any human being possesses. by which he can induce the holy
Lord God to look upon him with favor. The scriptures put you and me
and the most vile, profligate person in the prison or on death
row on the same level. There is nothing you can do. Nothing I can do by which we
can induce God to show us favor and be gracious to us. Nothing
we can offer God, nothing we can bring to God by which we
can persuade God to have mercy upon us and save us by his grace. That means that your parentage
before God is nothing. It doesn't matter who the beings
who your mama and daddy is are. I'll get it right. It doesn't
matter who obeys. It doesn't matter whether you're
the son of the richest, most influential, most righteous person
in the world, or the daughter of the most profligate prostitute
in the world. Your parentage will benefit you
nothing before God. Doesn't matter whether you Jew
or Gentile, rich or poor, bond or free. Your social rank will
profit you nothing before God. We like those things, and we're
impressed with those things. Oh, man, you can impress me if
you just tell me where, man, look at the place where they
live. They live in that fancy place over yonder. Oh, maybe
my daughter would date one of their sons. That impresses you. That impresses me. It doesn't
impress God. It doesn't impress God. Your religious works cannot
induce God to be gracious to you. You can pray three times
a day or 30 times a day, three minutes at a time or an hour
at a time. You can read your Bible through
every month. You can memorize it from cover
to cover. You can go to church three times
a week or every morning. You can go to church and give
yourself to religious activity your whole life long. It will
not induce God to be gracious to you. Your moral goodness. Again, that impresses us and
I encourage it. I encourage it. You young ladies
behave like ladies. I was sitting in a restaurant
in Ireland last week with my wife and Russell and Sharon Smith,
and a fellow came up and, after a little bit, started using some
real foul language. And I was prepared, if I had
to, to get thrown in jail, but he was going to shut up. He was
going to shut up. You're not going to talk like
that in front of my wife. It ain't going to happen. And he
shut up. It's not going to happen. I encourage moral decency. By all means, if you have any
respect for yourself, behave with moral decency. But do you
know the word moral is not even used in the Word of God? Morality is not even found there.
That'll tell you how much your morality counts to God. You are
impressed with those things. I'm impressed with those things,
not God. Oh, but race. Race, now. That distinguishes
us. That distinguishes us. White
folks so proud they're white. Black folks so proud they're
black. Indians so proud they're Indians. It don't matter a hill
of beans. It don't matter a hill of beans.
Your race doesn't impress God. He's the one who made you what
you are. He's the one who created you. And your outward privileges. Oh, what privileges you have. what privileges I have. This is my granddaughter. You
could have been born to a tribesman in New Guinea. Grandson just turned 13, in case
y'all didn't know it. Just turned 13. You could have
been born in Africa. Privileges. Oh, how blessed to
be raised by a loving parents in a household where God's honored,
raised under the sound of the gospel. But your privileges don't
impress God. He's the one who gave them to
you. Be sure you understand there is no respect to persons with
God. You and I cannot attract God's
favor. We cannot earn God's mercy. We
cannot make ourselves deserving before God. But blessed be God,
there is one person, one person worthy of the respect
of the triune God. One person of such infinite worth. of such infinite worthiness,
of such infinite righteousness, of such infinite fullness, that
he is worthy of the respect of God and worthy to be rewarded
by God. And that person is God's darling
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So worthy is he. So worthy is
he of God's respect. that God Almighty, I started to say will, no, God
Almighty must receive any sinner who comes to Him by His Son. God Almighty must receive any
sinner who comes to Him by His Son. He says, God says, come
to Me, I won't cast you out. He says, God says, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Lord God
looked on his son in covenant mercy as the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, having fulfilled all righteousness,
having redeemed his people. And he said to his son, the God
named Christ Jesus, ask of me and I'll give you the heathen
for your inheritance and the son of God. at the right hand
of the Father this day intercedes for heathen sinners like you
and me. Intercedes for his elect and
God Almighty rewards him for his perfect obedience, his perfect
righteousness, his perfect fullness and accepts sinners in Christ. So that there are some people
in this world who are distinctly respected of God and have been
from eternity. They were chosen of God in everlasting
love made honorable by God in his son accepted in the beloved
Turn to isaiah 43 hold your hands in romans chapter 2 and turn
to isaiah 43 look at this God does make a difference between
men Whatever difference there is between you and the rest of
the world Whatever difference there's between me and the rest
of the world Whatever difference there is between God's elect
and the reprobate, God made the difference. Now look what it
says, Isaiah 43. Verse 3. I am the Lord. Now watch what it says, Bob Pottser.
Thy God. I'm your property. I'm your God. The Holy One of Israel. Thy Savior. Yours distinctly and particularly. Well, how do you know that's
what he's saying? He's my God, not somebody else's. He's my
savior, not somebody else's. Read the next line. Not the God
of the Egyptians. Not the God of Seba. I gave Egypt
for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Seba, I sacrificed
them for thee. What's this? Since thou was precious
in my sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Now what
was it you said I was supposed to be afraid of? What was it
we're supposed to fear? God says, I'm your God. I'm your
Savior. I gave Egypt and Ethiopia and
Cebu for you. You're precious in my sight and
honorable. I made you so. I respected you, accepted you
in my son before the world was. And now you're mine. Therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Looking
on Christ, Looking on us in Christ as one with Christ on Christ
account each of God's elect is from everlasting accepted in
the beloved highly distinguished from all Adams race as one with
Christ Christ himself is eternal life and all who have Christ
are eternal life in him and all the blessings of life, grace,
and salvation connected with life. That means child of God,
all is well for you forever. What a mercy it will be in the
last day of accounting to stand before God Almighty at the great
white throne judgment bar with perfect complete, all-sufficient
righteousness with which God is well pleased. Oh, what a joy! What a delight! What a blessing of grace! What
a terror it will be for you to die without Christ and stand
before the great white throne judgment bar of God in the day
of the revelation of His wrath and His righteousness. Naked
before God with no righteousness, nothing good, nothing holy, but
only your sin. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit now
convince you that there is more in Christ, infinitely more in
Christ to save than there is in sin to condemn. May he convince
you that Jesus Christ is an able, all-sufficient Savior. Because there is no respect to
persons with God, Because there's no respect of
persons with God, there's hope for you. Because there's no respect of
persons with God, there's hope for you, even for me. You say, but pastor, is Christ
willing to save me? Listen to how Joseph Hart gives
the answer. Come, you sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you. Full of pity, joined with power,
he is able, he is willing, doubt no more. But I have nothing to
offer him. Come, you needy, come and welcome. God's free bounty glorify. True
belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh. With
that money, come to Jesus Christ and buy. But I'm so vile. Come you weary, heavy laden,
bruised and broken by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous sinners Jesus
came to call. But my conscience, oh, my conscience
is utterly condemning. Let not conscience make you linger.
nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of him. This he gives you. This he gives
you, tis the Spirit's rising babe. But is the Son of God really
able to save a wretch like me? Lo, the incarnate God ascended
Cleans the merits of his blood. Venture on him. Venture holy. Let no other trust intrude. None but Jesus, none but Jesus
can do helpless sinners good. All right, now turn with me,
if you will, to Romans chapter 2. I want us to look at verses
11 through 16. The title of my message this
morning is The Work of the Law. Romans 2 verses 11 through 16,
the work of the law. Here we see how God the Holy
Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to teach us this doctrine. There's no respect to persons
with God. Here Paul shows us that there's
no respect to persons with God by telling us plainly, God demands
perfection. By showing us that the whole
work of the law given by God shuts sinners like you and me
up to Jesus Christ alone for righteousness, redemption, and
salvation. Romans chapter 2 verse 11. For
there is no respect to persons with God. Now this is what that
means. For as many as have sinned without
the law, shall perish without the law. And as many as have
sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Those who have only
the light of creation and conscience will be judged by the light of
creation and conscience. Those who have the law, he's
talking specifically, of course, to the Jews and talking about
the Mosaic law. But let's be sure we read the
scriptures as speaking to us. He's talking about folks who
have the revelation of God, folks to whom God has given us, given
the revelation of his word by scripture, by his prophets, by
preachers. They shall perish by the light
of the law, by the light, Paul says later, of my gospel. Divine
justice always punishes sin, rightly so. Divine justice punishes sin wherever
it finds it. If God finds sin on you in that
last day, He will send you to hell. If God finds sin on me,
in me, in that last day, to any degree, He'll send me to hell. Justice punishes sin. It always
punishes sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Look yonder to Calvary and understand. When God found sin on His Son,
God showed Him no mercy. He showed Him no mercy. When
God found sin on His Son, He spared Him no wrath, no fury. but rather he punished his own
darling son to the full satisfaction of his holy justice because the
soul that sinneth it shall die. Divine justice punishes the heathen
who sin against the light of creation. And divine justice
punishes the religious who sinned against the light of divine revelation,
and both are without excuse. Then in the next three verses,
Paul gives us a parenthetical explanation. Notice that these
next three verses are in parentheses, 13, 14, and 15. He's saying,
I'm going to explain to you now what I'm talking about. It shows
us the equity of God in justice punishing sin. People seem to
have convinced themselves that there's some question as to whether
or not it's right for God to punish sin. People seem to have
convinced themselves there's some question, is it really right
for God to punish sin? How often do you hear, folks,
when There's been a flood, hurricane, tornado, mass killing, some horrible
crime committed. Well, if there's a God in heaven,
how could that happen? If there's a God in heaven, how
could he let that happen? God didn't let it happen. God
sent judgment. And those are just small warnings
that judgment soon shall fall upon all. God is just in sending
you to hell if you refuse to trust his son. Look at verse
13. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but
the doers of the law shall be justified. Not the hearers of
the law, but the doers of the law. Now folks who hear it, Folks
who do it. Brother Lindsey was speaking
in John chapter 14 this morning about believers keep my words. Believers obey my commands. And
he is certainly right in saying all believers desire to do what's
right before God. All believers desire to please
God. But that's not what our master
said there. He said more than that, Lindsey. He said they do.
He said they do. They do. Not the healers, but
the doers shall be justified. But Brother Don, we can't do
that. You're right. You're right. We can't do that.
We can't do that. Bless God we did that if we're
in Christ. If we're in Christ. God demands
righteousness. Christ is righteousness. God
demands satisfaction. Christ is satisfaction. God demands
sin be punished. Christ was punished. God demands
the sin be put away. Christ put it away. Reading the
law, preaching the law, hearing the law may justify a man in
his own eyes and may justify a man in the eyes of other men.
Religious talk and religious practice may make you think you're
saved and might make others think you're saved But your works and
your religion won't justify you before God Come back to the book
of Luke. I want you to see what the master
says Chapter 16 Verse 15 The Lord Jesus says to them,
to who? The most religious folks you
ever saw. The most religious folks you
ever, now you think we live amongst some strict religious people?
You think those Amish folks and Mennonite folks are strict? You
think those Landmarkers are strict? You think those Pentecostal nuts
are strict? These folks were strict religious people. You
think you've known some legalists? These folks were strict legalists. And this is what the master says
about them. Ye are they which justify yourselves before men. We want folks to look at us and
see we're good Christians. Isn't that wonderful? We want
folks to look at us and they can see we're good Christians.
You justify yourself before men and that's all you're interested
in. But you don't. But God knows your hearts. For
that which is highly esteemed among men. Mark, he's talking
about the religion. He's talking about the religious
activity. He's talking about their law works. He's talking
about their righteousness. He's talking about their Bible
reading, their praying, their tithing, their fasting, everything! That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. It's an abomination your
good works are just a sewer in God's nostrils Nothing else come
back to Matthew chapter 5 our chapter 23 rather. Our Lord is
right here in the midst of these condemning woes given to the
Pharisees Matthew 23 verse 27 Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees
hypocrites You see it What one of you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites? Who's he talking about? You who
justify yourselves before men. You who wear religious clothes
that look religious, and you have your shirt pocket stuffed
full of tracks, and you have honk if you love Jesus on the
back of your car, and you say prayer changes things on the
other side of your car, and you have religious slogans everywhere. You! You. Scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. You're like unto whited sepulchers. Whitewashed sepulchers. You go
out on Memorial Day and you get you some whitewash and you clean
up that grave so it looks pretty. Put some flowers back. Boy, doesn't
that look pretty? Yeah, but it's just covering
death. It's just covering a corpse. It's just covering bones. White
and sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward. but are within full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within ye full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Rex, you were raised in religion,
and religion of every brand. Outside Christ, outside the knowledge
of God, outside the spirit of God. Religion of every brand
spends all effort on working on the outside. Get folks clean
up the outside. Get them to quit smoking, drinking,
and chewing. Get them to quit going to the picture show. Get
them to quit going to this thing or that. Get them to quit dancing.
Get them to quit drinking. Get them to do something. So people will be impressed.
Oh, look at them. They're fine Christian folks.
Whited sepulchers. That's all. The gospel of God's
grace starts on the inside and works out. The gospel of God's
grace starts with that which is within. If you want to be
saved by your works, you've got to produce perfection. Inward
and outward. perfect obedience, perfect satisfaction,
perfect righteousness, perfect holiness. Without perfect holiness, without
perfect righteousness, you can't see God. Our Lord said, except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
God. That perfection, that holiness that God requires and God accepts
is found only in Christ. Only in Christ. Abandon all your
righteousness as the filthy rags your righteousnesses are. and
cast yourself wholly upon the Son of God, who alone is the
Lord our righteousness. Then in verses 14 and 15, Paul
tells us that God is just in punishing the heathen, those
who rebel against the light God's given in creation and in conscience. Some folks have the foolish notion
that if you just leave the heathen alone, they'll be saved anyhow.
They can be saved by the light of God in the heavens showing
His power and His wisdom, and the light of God in their conscience
showing His righteousness, holiness, justice, and truth. But that's
not the case. Everywhere in the world in all
ages of time, human beings have demonstrated the fact that God
has written His law in their hearts by creation, so that by
creation, by the light of creation, they do those things contained
in the law, sort of. Look at verse 14. For when the
Gentiles, the heathen, the hot and tight in Africa, the hot
and tight in New Guinea, when the Gentiles, the heathen, folks
who have never heard of Jesus Christ, who have no light of
the God of glory at all, except by creation, the Gentiles, which
have not the law, They've never seen one of these. They've never
seen one of these. They have not, the word of God,
do by nature things contained in the law. What? Where do they
do that? They do that in a way. That is to say, they make laws
themselves. In every society, no matter how
barbaric, no matter how ancient, in every society, you find men
make laws for the punishment of theft, for the punishment
of murder, for the punishment of rape, for the punishment of
various other crimes. That is, they set laws that testify
that God's written his law on their hearts. They are a law to themselves.
which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their
conscience also bearing witness, their thoughts the meantime always
do one of these two things, accusing or excusing one another. Accusing
or excusing. You would think that we're talking
about folks in Denver, wouldn't you? You'd think that's talking
about folks in your family and mine, wouldn't you? You'd think
they were talking about you and me, wouldn't you? Folks either excusing or accusing
by the light of what they pretend to do. That's all. Now, back
up to verse 15. Paul speaks about the work of
the law. Let me talk to you about that very plainly for just a
few minutes, just a few minutes. I'll make five statements with
regard to the work of the law. Be sure you get them. When we
speak of the law, we're talking about the law given by God to
Moses at Mount Sinai, particularly. People like to divide the law
up and say, well, you have the moral law, and then you have
the ceremonial law. Now, we're no longer under the
ceremonial law, but we're under the moral law. I've been reading this book a
little while, and I've been studying it a little while, but I could
be mistaken. I could be mistaken. If you will find me any place
in this book where God so divides the law, I'll eat it. Frankly, there's no such division.
There's no such division. You either have the whole law
or no law. The whole law or no law? The law of God given at Sinai
was one. That's the first thing. There's
no division in the law, no categories to the law. It is never in Scripture
divided into moral and ceremonial and dietary and civil. The law
is one. So when Scripture speaks about
the law, it's talking about the whole thing. Everything given
in the first five books of Moses, particularly relating to Sinai's
law given from Exodus 20 right through the rest of the first
five books of the Bible. Number two, the law was only
given to the nation of Israel. Nowhere else. No else. God never
commanded any Gentile nation to observe a Sabbath day. God
never commanded any Gentile nation to keep the Passover. God never
commanded any Gentile people to be circumcised. Never commanded
it. Never commanded it. The law was
never given to anyone but the nation of Israel. That fact itself
is telling. The whole nation of Israel existed
to be but a type and picture of God's true Israel, his church,
his elect. It was, as it were, the incubator
in which God held his seed until Christ came and the gospel went
into all the world. The law was given. The law was
given only to the nation of Israel. That means it was typical. It
was typical. It was a foreshadowing. That's the very word Paul uses
in Hebrews 10. It was a shadow. A shadow. If you stand up and the sun's
behind you, it casts a shadow. And if it's behind me, it sort
of looks like me. Kind of got the shape of me.
And sometimes if the sun's just a little lower than other times,
it'll cast a big shadow. But it's still got my shape.
It just sort of looks like me. Now you couldn't really identify
me just by the shadow. But the shadow has the shape
of my body. Has the shape of what I am. That's
what the law was. The law was a shadow of Christ
who was to come. Who hugs the shadow when they
got the real thing? Who grabs hold of the shadow
when they got the real thing? The only fellow who chases shadows
is a little child or an imbecile. Those are the only two people
who chase shadows. Nobody else does. The only person who's afraid
of a shadow is a little child or an imbecile. Nobody else.
Nobody else. The law was just given to Israel
as a shadow of Christ and things to come by Him. Number three. The law was given to identify,
expose, and condemn sin. Now I could spend a few days
preaching on that. The law was given to identify,
expose, and condemn sin. Without the law, we can't know
what sin is. Brother Don, do you believe wearing
white suits is sinful? That don't matter what I believe.
That don't matter what I believe. Do you believe it's wrong for
a man to wear a red shirt to church on Sunday? It don't matter
what I believe. It don't matter what I believe.
Do you believe it's wrong for a person to shop at a grocery
store where they sell beer and wine? It don't matter what I
believe. You've got no right to decide
what's sinful. You can't decide what's sinful,
and I ain't about to let you get by with it. No, sir. No, sir. What's sinful? What
God says is sinful. What's not? Anything else. What's
sinful? What God says is sinful. What's
not? Anything else? Anything else?
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, yes. The believer walks
before God by faith in Christ, and missing the mark of that
faith is sin. But we have no right to decide
that it's wrong for folks to do this, or to have that, or
to eat that, or go that, or all the religious nonsense people
make up for their laws. We have no right to do it. All
right. Number four. The purpose of the law was and
is to show us our need of Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter 3. I'll wrap this up quickly. Verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law?
What's its purpose? What's its purpose? It was added
because of the transgression. Now what's the next word? Till.
Till. That's not till like go out and
till up the ground. That's till like untill. It was
added because of the transgression till the seed should come. To
whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator as Moses. Now a mediator is not
a mediator of one, but God is one. We have a better mediator,
Christ who is himself God. Is the law then against the promise
of God? Did God give his law to nullify
his promise before the world was made of eternal life, salvation
to certain people? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. If it were possible for a man
to make himself better by doing something, that's the way it'd
be done. Read on. Verse 22. But the Scripture hath
concluded, all under sin, that the promise of faith, the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ, the promise by the faithful obedience
of Jesus Christ, our Mediator, might be given to them that believe,
so that the promise of God I'll give them eternal life is a promise
hinged and conditioned upon the faith, the faithfulness of Christ
our mediator. And it's given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up under the faith, which should afterwards,
watch this now, be revealed. It's not talking about your faith,
it's talking about God's Son, His faith. Faith that's revealed,
His faithfulness revealed by the gospel. Wherefore the law
was our schoolmaster, watch this, to bring us to Christ. That we
might be justified now, he's talking about our faith, by faith.
Receiving that which Christ has done, believing Him, we receive
free justification by faith. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. That was his purpose. That we
might be justified by faith. Now watch this. But after that
faith is come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. I wonder what that could mean.
I wonder what that could, can you imagine what that could mean?
Can you imagine what that could mean? That means the fifth thing
I want to tell you. Christ is the end of the law.
We're no longer under the law. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. Now that Christ has come, we
don't need a schoolmaster anymore. You have met my friend Robert
Spitzer. He was my teacher in the sixth
grade. I won't go into details of how we got reacquainted. But
when I was in sixth grade, when I was in sixth grade, I stayed in trouble. And that
fellow just had one arm. But man, he worked me over with
that one arm. I mean, worked me over. One day
he caught me doing stuff I wasn't supposed to be doing, horsing
around in the hallway in school, and he took his hand. And I was
a big boy. And he grabbed my belt and just
shoved, he didn't hit me, shoved me right through the wall. I
wound up sitting in the library. And you know what I did? I said,
yes, Mr. Spencer. No, sir, Mr. Spencer. I won't do that anymore,
Mr. Spencer. He's not likely to do that anymore.
He's not able to anymore, for one thing. That's another thing. The law
is not able to touch me. It's not able to touch me. It's
worn out on my substitute. But when I meet with the law,
I have no terror. When I meet Mr. Spencer, I'm
not afraid of him. I used to tremble. I hear that fellow coming
at me. Because I was always doing something wrong. If I heard him
broken up, I knew I was fixing to get it. Because I was always
doing something wrong. I hear walk up now why I'd run
to meet him. I'd run to meet him because he
got no power over me and nothing by which to condemn me. God's law is holy and just and
good. I used to be terrified of it.
I'd hear God speak by his law. and cringe with terror. Cringe
with terror. Be holy. Love God. Love your neighbor. Be perfect. Now, I meet God's law and I run
to hug it. It's holy and just and good. I'm no longer under the law.
And it has nothing against me, because I'm not in trouble anymore. Christ put my sin away. All right, now look back at our
text. Romans 2 verse 16. All who die without Christ shall
be justly damned. as rebels. Unless God intervenes
for you and saves you by his grace you shall be forever damned. In the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now suddenly Paul shifts gears and the shift ought to jar your
teeth out. It looks to me like he ought
to have said in that day when God shall judge the world by
Jesus Christ according to the law. But that's not what he said. He said in that day when God
shall judge the world by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. You who hear God in his word
shall be judged, not just by the light of creation and the
light of conscience and the light of the Mosaic law, but by the
light of the gospel of God's free grace, which you have despised. So I bid you, I bid you, Flee
to Christ. Flee to the Son of God. Trust
the Lord Jesus. He alone is able to save. And that's the work of the law.
To drive you to the arms of God's Son. To shut you up to Jesus
Christ the Lord. May God the Holy Spirit bring
you now to the Savior. Amen.