The great Martin Luther and his ministry through the
years has proved to be of God. Once said, he who rightly understands and
can rightly distinguish between the law and the gospel is a good
theologian." You say, that's easy. Is it now? Is it now? He who rightly understands and
can rightly distinguish between the law and the gospel is a good
theologian. And he who cannot rightly distinguish
law and gospel is not yet a student of the Word of God. You're not
a student of the Word of God because you know the dates of
the reign of King Ahab. You're not a student of the Word
of God because you can name some names in the Bible and quote
some scripture. You're a theologian and a student
of God's word when you can handle the law of God and the gospel
of God in their right relationship to
God and to the individual. Now men do not, first of all,
men do not understand the strictness and the perfection required under
the law. We're going to get into that
in the first part of this chapter. Men do not understand the strictness
and the perfection required under the law. And amazingly, and this
is what's the amazing thing, being sinners as we are, and
needy creatures that we are, we do not comprehend the freeness
and the sufficiency of the gospel. Consequently, we are on wrong
ground. We are building wrong foundations.
Consequently, we have no assurance. Consequently, we have a mixture,
nearly every one of us, of works and grace, and God will not tolerate
that. We are going to have to become
students of the law, the law that shuts the mouth, the law
that strips, the law that slays, the law that wounds. We are going
to have to become students of the law. and fall helpless before
that law. And we're going to have to become
students of the gospel and learn something of the freeness and
sufficiency of the gospel that even led some, wrongly, to fall
into the sensuousness. The law is so strict that it
shuts a man up to no hope, and the gospel is so free that men
take the liberty of the gospel and abuse it. And becoming balanced
and falling in the right area where these two are concerned
is a rare, rare jewel. Secondly, men hope. Most men
hope. And this is the generation with
which we're dealing, always been. Truth never knows anything about
a dispensation or a time. Men react the same way whether
they live in days of the Puritans or days of the Apostles or days
of the Old Testament prophets. Truth is applicable, real truth
is applicable to any situation and to any congregation and to
any generation. The same message, the same truth
is applicable to any generation, to any period in time. For men
hope, all men hope, some way to get around the law. They either
hope to get around the law by a half-hearted agreement with
the law or claiming ignorance of the law. Look at verse 12
in chapter 2, which I read a moment ago. As many as have sinned without
the law are going to perish without the law. You can claim ignorance
of the law. You can claim that the law doesn't
apply to you, but as many as have sinned, whether they have
the tables of stone or have never heard of them, they're going
to perish without the law. If you sin without the law, you're
going to perish without the law. And as many as have sinned in
the law are going to be judged by the law. You're going to perish
either place, whether you're ignorant of it or in half-hearted
agreement with it. Either way is a toboggan slide
to hell. And then thirdly, and here's
something that men do not understand, and I'm going to play you something
on the recorder at the end of this message. There's few preachers,
I never had heard this particular man speak on this subject, but
few preachers and few individuals understand that the judgment
in that last day, now listen to this, The last judgment, the
judgment in which all shall take part and every son of Adam shall
appear before God, that judgment is going to be based strictly
on the holy law of God. Not on what you did with Jesus,
but on the holy law of God. Now you think about that a little
bit. The last judgment is going to be based strictly and emphatically
and primarily on the holy law of God. Every sinner is going,
every son of Adam is going to meet God's law at the judgment. That's what this chapter is saying
right here. We're going to meet God's law at the judgment. Now that's so, that's a fact,
that's a truth that this Bible teaches. Now then, in the fourth
place before we get to the chapter, these are things that men don't
understand that I'm going to try to teach in this chapter
tonight. and give us, I hope by God's Spirit, somewhat of
an understanding of these things. Neither do men understand the
righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. I'm
not talking about understand how holy God is. God is holy. I'm not talking about understanding
the immaculate purity of God himself individually. I'm talking
about men do not understand the righteousness with which God
is pleased, that righteousness which God will accept, that righteousness
which God will accept and justify the sinner who has it. Now turn,
if you will, to chapter 3, chapter 3, verse 21. Listen to this.
But now, chapter 3, 21, But now the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, it's made clear, it's revealed, being witnessed
by the Word and by the prophets. In Hebrews 10, turn over there
just a moment, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 3, Paul is talking
about his religious brethren, and he says in verse 3 of chapter
10, they are ignorant of God's righteousness. They're ignorant
of the righteousness of God, God's righteousness. They don't
know what it is. Do you? Do you know what God's
righteousness is? The righteousness of God, which God provided through Christ
and in Christ. And the next thing that men do
not understand, because their preachers do not deal with this,
they do not understand They not only don't understand it, but
they don't even raise the question. Now, Job raised this question. Preachers talk about people going
to heaven. Job asked this question, how
can he that's born of woman go to heaven? How can he be clean
that's born of a woman? How can he be justified when
the heavens are not pure in God's sight? and where he charges his
angels with folly, how much less man that drinketh
iniquity like the water. We are discussing how can a holy
God send men to hell, and Job is discussing how can a holy
God take men to heaven. I hear people arguing about Jacob
having a love, but Esau having a hatred, and you know what they
argue about? How can God hate Esau? The question is, how can
God love Jacob? I can understand how God could
hate Esau. I can understand how God could
be angry with me and despise me and cast me into hell. What
I can't understand is how can God be just and justify me? And preachers aren't raising
that question. They're not even dealing with that question. Consequently,
people can't answer it. And that's what we're dealing
with in these chapters. How can God take a lawbreaker
to heaven? How can God set a criminal free,
a convicted criminal, and yet be just? Now then, let's look
at the chapter briefly. First of all, in verse 1 of chapter
2, it says, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, Jew and Gentile,
whosoever thou art that judges. And we're all guilty of this.
We're all guilty of this. There was a man who came to hear
me preach down in Louisville, Friday night, lived across the
street from the church. I found out from the pastor that
he's a problem drinker. He has been, he's a retired army
sergeant, twenty some odd years in the service, and he's had
some brushes with the law, and even some problems in the family
with incest and several other despicable things. He came to
hear me preach Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And Friday night
I was sitting down the front row, and he came down, a nice-looking,
gray-headed man in his fifties, leaned over. I smelled whiskey
on his breath. He leaned over and he said, Brother
May, I don't want to tell you how much your sermons are meaning
to me. He said, I'm not a church man. He said, in fact, I haven't been
inside this church. till Wednesday night. The pastor
had been asking me to come. I finally decided to come, and
I heard you Wednesday, and I came back last night, and I'm back
here tonight. He said, I've got a problem with the old bottle.
I said, well, it hasn't solved anything, has it? He said, no,
it hasn't, but I just wanted you to know that I appreciate
your sermon. And all of us are pretty hard
on that type of individual, but God says here, O man, thou that
judgest another, And when you do, you condemn yourself. Because
you that judge another do the same thing, maybe not in outward
deed, but in the heart, in the imagination. For that's where
the law reaches. Now we go back, what things is
he talking about? Well, he's talking about verse
29 of chapter 1. Unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit,
malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without
understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
that is, unforgiving and unmerciful. We are all guilty of these things,
if not in actual deed, at least in thought, at least in imagination,
at least in periods of temper compassion, and so forth and
so forth. Verse 2 and 3, and we are sure
that the judgment of God, and this is talking about judgment
now, this is talking about when God shall call men to give an
account of their lives, when we shall stand at the last day
in the judgment and face the law of God, the holy, perfect,
immutable law of the living God. which reaches the deeds, which
reaches the thoughts, which reaches the imagination, which reaches
the mind, which reaches the mentality, which reaches the attitude, the
motive, which reaches the very least faculty of our being. Not
only what we've done, but what we are, which reaches our association
with Adam. And it doesn't matter whether
it's a little snake or a big snake. I was out at Eddie's golf course
this afternoon. And I don't know, they may be
setting up a trap for me. This is the second time this
happened to me in the last two years. I was walking down No. 7 Fairway down by the little
bridge, Eddie. I didn't tell you about this,
but I was walking along and I stepped, I thought I stepped in near a
stick, not so long, but it weren't no stick. It moved. And it wasn't
but about 12 inches long, but you know, That little fella wasn't
big, but you ever have a cold shiver go up your back, you know,
and your palms get wet? The little fella rared back and
stuck his tongue out at me, you know. He was going to pop me
one. I stepped just six inches from him. I put my foot down,
and I thought it was a stick. I saw him all the time, and I
put my foot down, and when he rared back, I rared back. But
you know, I took my number, my sand wedge, and I made a good
shot on his head. But it doesn't matter how little
he is, he's deadly. And it doesn't matter about the
sin, whether it's a big monster of a violation of God's holy
law, or whether it's a little thought in the mind, it's a deadly,
deadly poisonous viper. And God says that poison is under
your lips, and that poison's in your heart. And he says in
verse 2, we are sure that the judgment of God is according
to truth. against them that commit such
things. The judgment of God is all-knowing. God's knowledge
of us reaches down into our thoughts. It reaches down into our attitude. God's judgment is based upon
knowledge and upon absolute truth. The law reaches down into their
heart. And the judgment of God, that
great day of judgment, is going to be according to truth, absolute
truth, absolute truth, against them that have committed these
things. And now this, and do you think, old man, you that
are so quick to judge others that do these things, do you
think that You're doing the same thing, whether in thought or
in imagination, that you're going to escape God's judgment. Do
you think for a moment that you're going to escape the judgment
of God? There are three things, Dr. John Gill says there are
three things here concerning the judgment. Number one, the
rule of judgment. That great white throne judgment,
when we shall run headlong into the holy law of God, is going
to be according to truth. God's going to tell it like it
is. God's going to open the heart of every sinner and reveal what's
really there. Not what people thought was there,
but what's really there. I don't think that we even know
just how sinful we are. I don't think that we have even
commenced to begin to get started to comprehend in the least bit
just how ugly we are. But that judgment's going to
reveal it because it's according to truth. Somebody said one time
that the world couldn't stand the absolute truth. The absolute
truth. They said that you'd be the most
unpopular fellow in the world if you stood far and told always
the absolute truth. But we're going to run into it
there. The absolute ugly truth is going to be told about every
situation. Gil says that the judgment, the
rule of judgment, is according to truth. Secondly, the objects
of judgment, the guilty. That's every human being. And
thirdly, the certainty of judgment, we shall not escape. There's no way around it. There's
no way to escape it. It is appointed unto me and wants
to die, and after that, the judgment. God says we shall all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. every one of us. And verse 4,
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance,
and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance? Now here's what he's saying here.
Because sin is not immediately punished. We're getting along
pretty good, aren't we? We are loaded with the blessings
of providence. We are loaded with the benefits
of divine grace, and it leads to a presumption. He's speaking
primarily here to the Jew. They had the covenant, they had
the tabernacle, they had the prophets, they had the law, they
had the manor, they had the rock, they had the ceremonies, they
had all these things. It looked like God was with them.
because they had so many benefits and so many providential blessings.
And these benefits and blessings can be ascribed not to our goodness,
not to our worthiness, but ascribed to the long-suffering of God
and the forbearance of God. The riches he's talking about
here are the blessings of divine grace and the blessings of divine
providence which we take for granted. Despises thou the riches
of the patience and forbearance and longsuffering of God? Now
look, let me go on with this. And this longsuffering and this
goodness of God leads men, and we're not talking about evangelical
repentance here at all. We're not talking about the repentance
here that leads to life, because these people weren't in salvation. They weren't in Christ. He's
talking about the goodness and longsuffering of God leads men
to an earthly sorrow for sin and a reformation of life and
manners. The goodness of God, it's the
goodness of God that holds back the complete depravity of the
flesh. Don't think because you are a
little moral outwardly that you're in God. It's the goodness of
God that holds back the floodgates of human depravity. That's God's
common grace. It's the goodness of God that
leads men to a reformation of life. It's the goodness of God
that leads men to a reformation of manners. It's the long-suffering
and forbearance of God. And this also—tragic, it's tragic,
but it's true—divine favor leads men to presumption and hardens
them in religious professions. and increases their responsibility
and accountability to judgment. Read that next verse. And after
thy hardness and impenitent or unrepentant heart, you've just
treasured up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God. You've just made judgment
a whole lot worse. Your goody-goody religious profession
and your religious morality which you take to be the blessings
of God and the benefits of divine grace have hardened you in a
false profession and presumption and just made judgment a whole
lot tougher. A whole lot tougher. Because
verse 6 says, God will render to every man according to his
deeds. Now watch this. You know, somebody
asked me a few weeks ago, how do you interpret a verse of Scripture?
Well, the first thing that I try to do is find out the things that I
know, that I know absolutely true. So, as we go into verse
7 through 10, let's establish one thing. There's none good,
no, not one. There's no man who can keep the
law. There's no man who is good. Now remember that as we read
it. All men are evil. Our goodness is Christ. Our righteousness
is Christ. Now watch this. God will render,
verse 6, to every man according to his deeds, to them who by
patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and immortality,
eternal life. You who would live by the law,
do you not hear the law? If we keep the law for salvation,
if we hope to have a righteousness that will meet with approval
at the hands of God's holy law, it's going to have to be a continuous
and well-doing, and that will certainly marry eternal life.
But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but
obey unrighteousness, they're going to get indignation and
wrath. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doeth evil,
whether he's a Jew or a Gentile. Glory and honor and peace to
every man that worketh good, whether he be Jew or Gentile.
For there's no respect of persons with God. If you're a Jew and
you keep the law, God will give you eternal life. If you're a
Gentile and you keep the law, God will give you eternal life.
If you're a Jew and you fall short of the law of God, God
will judge you by his law and send you to hell. If you're a
Gentile and you keep not the law of God, God will judge you
by his law and send you to hell. Now one old writer says, verse
7, which says, To them who by patient continuance and well-doing
seek for glory, that is, the true glory of God in Christ,
and they seek for honor, not the honor which the world giveth,
but that honor which we have in Christ. if they seek for immortality,
not in themselves, but in the righteousness of Christ, God
will give them eternal life. But that's not what he's dealing
with here. He's dealing with the law. He's dealing with the
law of God and judgment based on the holy law of God. And it's
not the man, read on in verse 12, for as many as have sinned
without the law, that is the Gentile, he'll perish without
the law, whether he has the tables of stone or not. He's going to
perish because he's broken God's law. And if the judgment, it's
the law that counts. It's the law that judges us and
tries us. It's the law of God that shines
upon the heart of man to determine the defects and the shortcomings. For man sinned without the law,
he'll perish without the law. If he sinned in the law, then
he shall be judged by the law. For it's not the hearers of the
law that adjust before God, but the doers of the law. that shall
be justified." Now what he's saying all the way through here
is that when we stand in the judgment before the holy law
of God, if we've obeyed it, if we've kept it, then we shall
be justified. If we have broken it, we're going
to be condemned. We're going to meet with indignation
and wrath. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by
nature the things contained in the law, having not the law,
they are law unto themselves, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts. A man does not need the law of
God on a table of stone, because God has written it on the heart
of every son of Adam, their consciences also bearing witness, and their
thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing them. Now verse
16. There's a time for judgment in
that day. There's a time for judgment.
That day has been set in the mind and purpose of God. There's
a day of judgment coming. There's an author of judgment.
In that day, God shall judge. And there is a subject of judgment. God shall judge the secrets of
men in that day, in the day of judgment. Almighty God shall
judge on the basis of His holy law the secrets of every man. That which was spoken in the
dark shall be brought to the light. That which was spoken
in the closet shall be declared from the housetop. Every idle
word, every secret deed, every vain imagination, God shall judge
the secrets of men. by Jesus Christ. That is, there's
a person who will be doing the judging. God the Father judges
no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son. And this
is, Paul said, agreeable to my gospel. It's agreeable to the
prophets, it's agreeable to the law, and it's agreeable to my
gospel. Now then, thou art called a Jew. Verse 17, thou art called a religious
man. and you rest in the law, and
you make your boast of God, and you say you know His will, and
you say you approve the things that are excellent, and you say
you're instructed out of the law, and you say that you're
confident that you are God of the blind, you're a light sent
to them who are in darkness, the Gentiles, you're an instructor
of the foolish, you're a teacher of babes, you have the form of
knowledge and the truth of the law. Thou that teachest another
teachest thou not thyself. Thou that preachest that a man
should not steal, are you guilty of that law? Thou that sayest
a man should not commit adultery, are you guilty of that law? Thou
that sayest thou abhorrest idols, are you guilty of covetousness,
which is idolatry? Verse 25, For circumcision profiteth
much if you keep the law. Your religion is profitable,
but if you be a breaker of the law, your religion, your profession,
if you're depending on that law, is empty. Now let's go over to
chapter 3, because I want to get into this briefly. Now here's
the truth of the matter, and this is where all of us have
been brought, as we contemplate. As I read this and thought about
it, as I contemplated standing at the judgment, and the books
opened, and God trying the hearts of men and dealing with the secrets
of men. and being faced with the holy
law of God. I just absolutely wilted because
I know chapter 3 says, verse 10, this is the story of me and
of you. There's none righteous, not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. We're all gone out of the
way. We are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
There's not a leg to stand on, is there? There's not a hope
in the world. We're condemned before we ever get to the judgment,
because our throat is an open sepulchre, and with our tongues
we've used to seed, and the poison of snakes is under our lips,
and our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, our feet are
swift to shed blood, destruction and misery, and our way and the
way of peace we've not known, and there's no fear of God. before our eyes. Now we know
that what thingssoever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, and that's every one of us. And when the law speaks
in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and with the voice of the Holy
Spirit, there's just one conclusion that can be drawn. Paul said,
when the law came, I died. I died. And the law What things soever the law saith,
it saith to them that under the law, that every mouth may be
stopped, are boasting, and all the world become guilty, guilty,
guilty." Now, if you judge yourself here, you won't be judged there.
If you pronounce guilty upon yourself here, you won't hear
guilty pronounced there. If you cry innocent here, you'll
hear guilty there. All right. Therefore, by the
deeds of the law, we're talking about judgment now. There shall
no flesh be justified at the judgment in his sight, no flesh. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now, but now the righteousness of God without
this law, without this awful demanding law is revealed. You mean to tell me that I can
stand before God at that judgment with a righteousness apart from
this law, without this law? That's absolutely right. Without
myself obeying this law. And this is what I say has led
some to a liberty which leads to sin. But this is the proper
understanding of the law and the gospel. The law and the gospel
won't mix. Works and grace won't mix. Salvation
by law and salvation by grace won't mix. God says that the
law condemns. The law reveals sin. The law
shuts them out. The law pronounces guilt. The
law strips us. The law puts us in the dust.
The law makes us cry before God, guilty, guilty, guilty. No hope,
no hope. But there is a perfect righteousness
without this law. There is a perfect standing before
God without this law. And if I'm going to have a righteousness,
it's going to have to be without this law, because it can't be
whittled down. It can't be cut off. You can't subtract the part
I failed in, and well, you'd subtract all of it then, because
to offend in one point is guilty of all of it. But there is a
righteousness without the law, and it's been witnessed by the
Word of God and by the prophets. Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God, one with which God will be pleased, one which God will
accept, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. unto all, and upon
all them that believe." There is no difference. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. But being freely, but being
justified freely, freely without price, without cost, freely by
His grace, unmerited, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. In other words, Jesus Christ
came down here. Now watch this. You see what
the law demands, don't you? For Jesus Christ came down here
and took our place. And he lived under this law,
this law which required the strictest holiness and perfection of God's
absolute, immutable, immaculate character. And Christ stood here
in the flesh and blood and bones of a human being and lived up
to that law. And he did it as our representative.
He lived up to that law. So now when I stand at the judgment,
when I stand before God at the judgment and the law of God,
I meet the law of God face to face, I can say, law, law, you
can't bring any charge against me because Christ my substitute
obeyed you for me and I have a perfect standing. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Who
can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? I cannot be charged
with theft. I cannot be charged with idolatry. I cannot be charged with adultery. I cannot be charged with hatred.
I cannot be charged with an unforgiving spirit. I cannot be charged with
taking God's name in vain. I cannot be charged with one
thing at the judgment. I'm going to be there and so
are you. And every son of Adam is going to be there, and every
man is going to be judged according to his deeds. And they're going
to turn to this unbeliever, and they're going to judge him by
every secret sin that he ever committed. And then they're going
to turn to me, and they're going to find no fault in me. No fault. Henry Mahan is perfect. Absolutely
perfect. The law can find no fault. The
law is going to look on my record, and my record is going to be
as white as the as the heart of Jesus Christ. The law of God,
I'm going to meet the law, I'm going to run head on into the
law of God at the judgment. But you know what that law is
going to say to me? Well done, well done. I didn't do it, but
Christ did it. Now look at verse 25. Whom God
has sent forth, talking about Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that have passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say at this time,
God's righteousness, that God might be just. Now God's going
to judge on a just, righteous throne. How's He going to let
me go? Because I have a perfect righteousness.
That's right, but when we stand at the judgment, we're going
to meet the law. And those who have not a perfect righteousness
are going to be sent to hell. It doesn't matter how much religion. Lord, we cast out devils in your
name and preached and did many wonderful works, but you broke
the law. But you broke the law, and you have to go to hell. The
law is what you're going to judge, not what you did good, but what
you did bad. And when I stand at the judgment,
I have a perfect righteousness because I believe in Christ,
and I'm resting in Christ, and I'm trusting in Christ, and He
fulfilled the law for me and for you who believe. But we're
going to face the law, but the law is going to pronounce us
holy. Where is your boasting, verse 27? It's excluded. By what law of works? No, but
by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith Justified. What does the word justified
mean? Without sin. Justified by faith without the
law. Without the law. Without the
law. So our Mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ, stood in our place down here and he's going to stand
in our place at the judgment. And we're going to be judged
on the basis of what he did. And his obedience was perfect.
And his death fulfilled every requirement of God's justice.
You see that? And that's the truth. That's
it. We're going to face the law. And you say, well, I just believe
it's going to turn out all right for me in the judgment, not unless
you're in Christ. I don't care what you have. If
you're depending in the judgment on justice, you're going to get
it. Because God's going to try you by his law. I'm going to
be tried by the law at the judgment, but the law's not going to be
able to find any fault in me. And you believers are going to be
tried by the law, but the law's going to say, well done. What
do you mean, well done? Well, Christ did a good job.
He obeyed it. Now what I'm going to play for
you tonight, Brother Ralph Barnard preached a sermon down in Louisiana
on Sunday, and he died Monday night. This was his last Sunday
on this earth. This was his last Sunday message
right here. He had a heart attack Monday
before he ever got to the pulpit and died. And I want you to listen
to what he said. This is the last words of his
last sermon, his last Sunday before he met God Monday. I want
you to listen to it. I've got it fixed up so you can
hear it. About five minutes long. If I had just one sermon to preach, I could get out some public priest the people of the world pass
by, and I was the only preacher on God's earth, and the only
sermon the people would ever hear would be as they passed
me by. I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd
get out there and I'd hold up my hands and I'd lift up my voice,
and I'd say, for a meeting with the holy law of God. There is one thing that no human
being will escape. Every human being has got to
deal with God's holy law. Why is God going to be awful
to come and have to face God whose will and his way, his demands,
his commands, his requirements are expressed in his law? No
man is going to be judged by what he did about Jesus. He isn't
going to be judged by what he's done about God's holy law. And yet I come to the judgment.
And according to this book, everybody's going to come. Some men sends
a judge before, and others wait till the time of judgment. But
there's one thing dead certain, Ralph Barnett, either in this
life or at the judgment, is going to have to do the rest of God's
holy law. God's holy law will take the
best human being that ever lived and tear it to pieces like Samson
took the lion and tore him apart. Oh, I'd say men and women, don't
go, don't keep on taking another
step. you hit it right smack into the
Holy Lord. Anybody that tries to deal with
it in your own strength, it will tear you to pieces. It will tear you to pieces. Spend your life never looking
at yourself in God's mirror. God's been good. He's fixed it so any human being can get a look at himself, and
see yourself as God sees you, and see what God requires of
you, see what God will not He just won't ignore it. The law
is going to be satisfied, it's going to be vindicated in you,
no matter what you do. You take a look in that mirror, you'll do one or two things,
you'll curse God and go on to hell. Or you'll fall and say, Is there any hope for me?" And somebody comes along and
tells you about the one mediator, that will be good news. Yes? There is a way the law of
God can be dealt with in Jesus Christ. All of this wrath falls on Jesus. I need him as my mediator. I need him as my substitute.
If I don't have him to deal with the