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If you're here with us for the first time, we are going through the book of Matthew, we have come to Matthew chapter 5 and this whole series in Matthew 5 to 7 is what we will call the King's Speech and this morning, we come to a specific subsection called the Law Fulfilled, it's a seven part series.

Now someone said, if you have a father, he will become father-in-law.  If you have a mother, she becomes mother-in-law.  If you have a son, he becomes son-in-law.  If you have a daughter, she becomes daughter-in-law.  What about the wife - she is the law!

Well, today we are going talk about the “law”.  I'm not going to talk about the wife but we are going to talk about the law of God. The law of God as you would commonly know - is summarized into the 10 Commandments and we're going to hear what Jesus is going to teach about the law.  We launch right in, in verse 17 when He says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

It might be that there are people in those days who are asking, who is this Jesus?  Is He a law keeper or is He a law breaker? Probably Jesus was doing things that were contrary to the thinking of the religious leaders of those days.  He might be healing people on the Sabbath, we know He certainly did in the subsequent chapters but maybe as He was going around healing, teaching, He was already healing people on the Sabbath.  It might be that He was not so meticulous in all the ceremonial washings that the scribes and pharisees have prescribed.  It might be that He was not very conforming to all the traditions that the religious leaders have set.  It might be that He was hanging out with the sinners and publicans and did not formally belong to any of the religious groups like the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes or the Zealots so He was not like one of them and yet He was doing great things so people were asking, are you someone who will keep the law or someone who will break the law, to which He replies, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets, I have come to fulfill them.

In this statement, He affirms the importance of the law.  He's saying that the law is good, it's holy, it's righteous, I'm committed to fulfilling the law.  Now He somewhat hinted of this earlier in chapter 3 verse 15, where He says, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. The commitment of the Lord Jesus Christ is to fulfill the law in all its details and for all times.  He's going to fulfill it in teaching the law to its full extent.  He is going to fulfill the law by personally living out in obedience to all that there is in the law and I think He is going fulfill it, in that all the prophecies regarding himself will be fulfilled so Jesus affirms the law and then in verse 18, He says for truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota or iota in the Greek, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. He speaks about the lasting nature of the law.  He speaks about how all the law must be fulfilled and then He say something that we as Singaporeans today may not be very familiar with, what is this iota or iota, what is this dot?

Well let me try to explain it simply and I think it's quite easy to grasp.  The word iota, iota in the Greek, refers to a Hebrew letter of the alphabet “yod” so this is a picture of the Hebrew alphabet - it's like our English alphabet ABCDEFG and so on alright so you have all these letters of the alphabet and Jesus refers to the yod - say what's the yod - what's so special about the yod?  Yod is the smallest letter of the alphabet, it's like for English, what's the smallest letter of the alphabet, huh,huh,huh,huh..you got to think for I, I was thinking maybe it's the letter L or letter I, just one stroke, maybe that's the smallest and so for the Hebrew alphabet, the smallest is the letter yod - that's what Jesus is referring to. Then there is the word “dot” which is ah what you read. The word “dot” in the Greek is keraia, which refers to a Hebrew term and let me try to explain er what is this dot or keraia?

Look at these two letters of the alphabet - Bet and Kaf alright.  You say what's so special?  Let me bring them into focus for you, they look like this and if it's still not clear, they look like this.  Now Bet and Kaf, what do you notice about them? Wah so smart aah, you all, I only expect the answer - they're different or they look so similar but they are different, different in where? Just this little part, this little stroke, this little extension, you know what they call this? The dot or the Hebrew word - the tittle so this is the dot or the tittle - it's a little stroke that makes two letters differ so when Jesus says jot - it refers to the smallest letter of the alphabet when He talks about tittle, He's, He speaks about the smallest extension that makes a difference between two letters so when you bring it back, Jesus is saying the law of God is so perfect, it's so precise, every single detail must be fulfilled. The Word of God is inspired, it's direct from God. It is inerrant, there is no error, right down to the jot and tittle and it is infallible so Jesus is speaking, I think hinting to us, of the authority of the Bible, it is the authority from God so the world today may say that humanity is evolved from apes, the whole world may say so but the Word of God is infallible and inerrant down to its very detail.

The world today may say man or humanity may choose our sexuality but the Bible tells us male and female created, He them.  The world today may have different standards for morality but the Word of God stands forever so Jesus is speaking about the authority of the law, of the Word of God in verse 18 so verse 17 Jesus affirms that the law is good, it's righteous, it's holy, He will fulfill it. In verse 18, He speaks about the lasting nature of the law, its infallible nature, it's precise, it's perfect and all must be accomplished and then in verse 19 He says, therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven so Jesus is saying greatness in the kingdom of heaven is absolutely dependent on one's attitude towards the law of God.

Greatness in the kingdom is not because of the giftedness you have oh, he's so gifted in preaching, oh, he's so gifted in this and that, nothing to do with that.  Greatness in the kingdom of God has nothing to do with your reputation here.  It has nothing to do with your possessions here, nothing to do with the status of life here, it has all to do with your attitude towards the law. Would you obey the law and would you teach the law? The law is so important and so it is very sad, today I think in church today, in Christianity today, there is a growing dis-concern with regards to the law, people are saying, oh you don't really need to know the laws so much, it's right here in Singapore, it's all over the world. There is this thinking that has been, that has been seeping into the minds of Christians that we are a people under grace so you don't really need to bother about the law because you're no more under the law but you are under grace, you hear things like that. They, they tell you that the law is Old Testament, New Testament, no need. Well, that betrays a very superficial understanding of what grace is and what law is.

According to Jesus greatness in the kingdom is when you have a right attitude, when you obey and when you teach God's law so Jesus tells us that the law is good, it's righteous, it's holy, He is here to fulfill it. He tells us that till heaven and earth pass away, not a little dot will pass, till all be fulfilled.  He tells us that Christians, your life, what's most important about your life is not what you can achieve but your attitude towards the Word as expressed in your obedience and whether you are teaching it as God would have it to be so He teaches all that and I think you can still accept this but now He drops the bombshell.  He gives an absolute shocker of a statement that I think blew the listeners there away. They will probably fall of the chairs, because He says, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Your righteousness refers to your ability to fulfill the law, rightness with God, rightness to His standards, rightness to His desires and will as expressed in the law, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Now that's a shocker, that's an amazing statement from Jesus because nobody expects this.  Everybody thinks that the scribes and pharisees are the ones who are going to Heaven. I mean they are the religious leaders of their times.  They were the respected, revered, holy people of Israel. The effect will be something like this.  Unless anyone of you are more righteous than John Piper, John MacArthur, Tim Keller, you cannot get to heaven, then you say “siao liao” [local dialect: madness], “see liao” [local dialect: dead], I, I, I thought these are the religious leaders of our days, they are the premier teachers of the Bible of our days, how, how can I ever compare myself with these guys - that's exactly the effect that must have come to the hearers that day.

Now I'm not saying please huh … don't write to John MacArthur or John Piper and say pastor say that you like the scribes and pharisees…. I'm just saying the effect is as such but the scribes and pharisees, are the religious leaders. In fact, the Jews have a saying like this - if there are two people who will go to heaven, one will be a scribe and the other a pharisee - can't think of anyone who is going to be more holy than them. Look at the way they dress - they have very strict dress codes, all some religious scriptural basis - they wear boxes phylacteries in front of their heads and so on - the way they eat, the way they observe the diet, is very strict, the way they wash their hands, the way they tithe, they tithe little things like mint and cumin and dill, I mean these little things they also tithe, so they look at the scribes and pharisees as role models of meticulous keeping of the law so when Jesus says aha but they can't make it, that kind of righteousness can't make it, unless yours is better than theirs, you will not get into heaven.  I mean everyone must be wondering what is He saying, so then who can get into heaven ah but Jesus was absolutely right. This statement, you will see is absolutely spot on, why…..because Jesus in the next, next, this seven part series by the way, Jesus is going to explain with example after example, what true righteousness really is like and in so doing He's going to expose the false righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. As a preview to the next six sermons, let me give you some general principles why the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees are not acceptable before God.  Number one the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, are, is very superficial. It's very surface, it's very external.

Next week we are going to look at how Jesus understands, interprets the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill, the week after, He's going to explain what it means to say, thou shalt not commit adultery.  The Jews and the religious leaders of those days they say yes, we obey the 10 Commandments but they restrict that commandment to only the act itself but not the heart attitude so Jesus says you say thou shall not kill, in other words, you are teaching, we cannot physically kill someone but let me say to you that if you are angry with someone in your heart, you have already committed that sin so the Jews have a very superficial external surface observance of the law. Jesus later on would say, you wash the cup on the outside but inside, it's dirty - you are like a white-washed tomb, you, you scrub the, the plague or you scrub the stone but it still stinking corpse on the inside so the scribes and pharisees look good on the outside but it's all superficial, that's why it doesn't cut it with God.  Before man you look godly but if you were to open up your heart and your mind, it's all filth, no wonder that kind of righteousness cannot make it before God.

Not only is their righteousness superficial it is also very selective. After the seventh commandment, Jesus is going to teach about the eighth commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness and again, the Jews are very clever, they, clever in the wrong way alright, devious, cunning, that will be the word, they come up with this scheme that says, if I swear before God, I need to keep the word. You know what's their logical conclusion - if I swear I need to keep my word, therefore, if I don't swear, I don't have to keep the word – yeah and then they add further complexity to that, they say if I swear by the gifts on the altar, I have to keep my word but if I swear by the altar where the gift is placed, I don't have to keep the word so they have layers.  You know if I swear by God, I have to keep but if I swear by maybe a dog, I don't have to so what they are doing is with this complex system of swearing, they selectively applied to themselves, to give themselves an excuse to sin, to lie, to bear false witness.

I mentioned how the Jews will be very particular - the scribes and pharisees, they would be very particular to pay tithe of mint, cumin and dill - these little herbs, you know what Jesus said about them - you observe tithe of this “kuching kurak”[Malay: small little] thing if He was in Malaysia, He will say, you observe tithe in this “kuching kurak' things, “small little” things but you devour widows' houses - you look so good here but actually you're out for covetousness - you cheat widows of their houses so the world, your fellow people, see that you are so religious by giving little tithes but they do not know that behind the scenes you are cheating them of their estate so their selective obedience is no obedience, it was a cloak, it was a disguise for their sins and their lawlessness.

Your righteousness must never be like this and then finally I say, their righteousness don't make it because they were all very self-centered.  The motivation and the rationale by which they do all these things is not because they love God but because they love themselves so they look religious but it was never for God. It was never godly, it was all selfish, Jesus said, they do all their deeds to be seen by others, in Hokkien here we say “haolian” - show off, pride, arrogance and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues. Nothing wrong folks to do deeds, nothing wrong to sit in the seat of honor but it is everything wrong if you love it and that's what they live for so Jesus systematically is going to unravel their web of deceit and He's going to show that this people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me, so then, after hearing the sermon on the Mount, perhaps the people will go back and say, I was shocked when Jesus said this but now it absolutely makes sense.  The righteousness required to enter the kingdom of heaven must exceed the false righteousness of the scribes and pharisees.

The question then is wow, huh, zzz, wow, who then can do this?  You know, when I was younger, in secondary one, we had NAPFA test. I'm not sure what you call that right now, but we called it NAPFA tests and you have many stations and one of the stations, I, I hated was the pull-ups, that was my picture last time, ah, no, no, no, no, of course not but it was NAPFA tests alright, NAPFA pull-ups err, you're supposed to hang there, pull-up and to pass you have to do, maybe 4,3,4,5 I can't remember and there was no chance I was ever going to pass pull-up.  Er if you don't already know by now, I was a fat boy when I was secondary school.  I was really fat. I was big, round, heavy and I hang on the bar, wah it's like a round ball hanging there you know and it's like impossible for me to do so but you know what I, I, I realized that sometimes you can cheat a little and get your way so I noticed some of my friends do this, they, they would swing in front, swing backwards, swing in front and then they pull so they swing back and forth, to gain a certain momentum and that helps you go up, you don't believe you go and try, at least the ladies, you can try.  I'm sure the guys you've all tried it right so we understand this swing back and forth, you go up easily. I noticed that the standard is not very strictly implemented, especially when it is your fellow classmates who count for you in NAPFA tests so it was my turn, my good friend was there, I went up the bar, I swing a bit, woo, wah one, eh not bad, can ah, swing harder this time since he never say no count what so I swing a bit harder……two, three, five, seven, ten.  After ten, I cannot swing anymore already, my fingers were, were painful, I dropped down and and you know I did 10!  I did 10 pull-ups, it was amazing, he was the only fatty in the school that could do 10 pull-ups literally really I did ten and I walked around yayah (local dialect: proud) telling me people I did ten, wah you really aah, ten aah. I was so proud of my achievement, people were amazed at my achievement but I knew deep in my heart that if my PE teacher was there, it will be zero, absolutely zero, it didn't make the cut, it's not the right pull-up.

You know, the scribes and pharisees were doing pull-ups - look at me, ha ha, I could do it, and before man, they look like they did hundred, thousand, a million and so people say wow that's impossible to do. Well, one day they will stand before their PE teacher, before God the Judge and God will say all the pull-ups you did – zero, who then can do that pull up?  Spiritual pull-up, who then can perfectly fulfill the law?  I mean your righteousness must exceed that, it must not be superficial, but must be internal to external, it must not be a self-centered, it must be God-centered, it must not be selective, but it must be total, who then can do this all the time?

I think by now you know the answer.  Bible is very clear, absolutely no one.  The Bible is very clear.  God's standard is this but let me tell you, no one, no sinner, no man can absolutely fulfilled the law, there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Verse after verse, none is righteous, not even one, no one understands, no one seeks for God, all have turned aside, together they have become worthless, no one does a good pull-up, not even one.  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  All our works are like filthy rags, we are like sheep, we have all gone astray so say then why did God give the law, if no one can do it, I mean, why did He bother to give us these standards if this pull-up test, if no one can do this pull-up. Why?  Ah that's where the Bible says for by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, that's what we've been establishing all of us are zeros spiritually but this is the purpose.

The law is given so that through the law there comes the knowledge of sin. Oh the pull-up bar was given so that I know that I am impotent so that I know I have no strength, I see that now. The law was not meant to save me, the law was meant to show me, to show me my sins, to show me my inability, my helplessness in sin so Romans goes on to tell us we are clear, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God so the law brings me to this desperation so that now I will come to Jesus, that I know that this justification is not by works but by His grace, His goodness -  it is given not because I earned it, I can't but it's given as a gift and through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

What the Bible is saying is that I can't obey the law perfectly but Jesus, He lived the perfect life, He fulfilled the law perfectly and He is willing to give His perfection to me as a gift so God gives me the law so that I will stop right here and say I can't do this, I need to receive the gift from Jesus, you see that – that's the Gospel. That's the good news, bad news, you are helpless, good news, Jesus helps you, He gives you righteousness and eternal life so in case you're still not clear, Galatians 3 tells us for all, everyone alright, everyone who rely on works of the law you're under curse, I thought, I thought, the law is a good thing, it's a righteous thing. Yes, it is a good thing but if you want to achieve righteousness by the law you are doomed, you're under a curse, why, because if you really want to do it, it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.

Now it is clear, evident that no one is justified before God by the law so the law is good thing but that's not what you can do to get right with God so why the law?  The law is given so that you will come to an end of yourself that you may find salvation in Jesus, who said, who the Bible says has become a curse for us.  Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law, how, by becoming a curse for us, He went to the cross, perfect man, perfect God-man, sacrificed His life, crucified on the cross, was accursed so that you may not face the curse of your disobedience so this is the Gospel.

I know this is so hard for people to understand especially if you're here with us for the first time so let me just ask this in another way - do I obey the law to get saved, I'm glad I came to church this morning, you're talking about the law, great, it's about the 10 Commandments, now Pastor, do I obey the law to get saved, is this what this church is about, is this what the Bible is about, the answer, no!  If there's an imaginary dialogue I can have between Moses and Jesus, it might look something like this, do I obey the law to get saved, now Moses might have said, the law of God is too high for you, it's too high, it's too high for anybody, for all sinners, no man can obey the law of God fully, none, absolutely and therefore, no man can obey the law of God in order to be saved, you can never arrive at that state so why did God give us the law you ask?  Ah the law is given to help you see your sins and your helplessness.  It's like an x-ray machine that shows the filth of your life, the sins in your heart but you know the x-ray machine can never cure you of the cancer, you need to go to the doctor but the x-rays is useful, to show you your cancer, spiritual cancer, then now you can, you can go to the spiritual doctor,  you can find your salvation in Jesus alone and Jesus would say, probably, I fulfilled all the law completely, absolutely down to its every detail and I was crucified on the cross, I mean that doesn't make sense, He was a perfect man, a holy man why was He on the cross, why was He crucified, why, why was He made a curse on the cross, why, oh, it was not for His sins, He has none but He was crucified on the cross, cursed for my sins and your sins so the reason Jesus went to the cross is so that He is made sin for us, for you in order for you to be made righteous, perfect before God in Him so this is the relationship between law and grace.

The law is a good thing because if you do not know the law you do not know clearly your sins and your helplessness and so when the preacher preaches the law, now he should not stop at the law because that would just bring people into desperation and condemnation but he must start with the law so that people may then be diverted to grace that is in Jesus Christ. They are friends, they're closer than you imagine and the miracle of the Gospel, which is God's grace in Jesus, is that when someone is driven by the law to come to Jesus by faith, believing, repenting, believing in Jesus, something miraculous takes place in his life. How, when someone comes to Christ, he is given a new heart.  The Bible talks about this new heart, this heart of flesh. Before this, you wouldn't be able to fulfill the law, your heart is against God but when you see your sinfulness, you come to Jesus Christ, God saves you, cleanses you, washes, washes away all your sins and gives you a new heart and this new heart will love God with all our heart, soul, mind, this, this, this new heart, really loves God and now you keep God's commandments, you will.

Now you don't keep the commandments to get saved because you are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ but because He gives you a new heart you want to obey, you love him, you keep His commandments, like a child, a child should obey their parents not because if he doesn't obey the parents don't love him but he loves his parents and therefore he obeys and John 13 says love is the fulfilling of the law, when you love God you will fulfill the law and now the love of God will be evidenced by a keeping of his commandments and not in a drudgery kind of a way but it is a delightful obedience, His commandments are not burdensome.

Let me show you something on the board.  My time is up, I know but do be patient with me as I want to make this clear for you. We are talking about the law.  No man can obey the law to be safe. The purpose of the law is to point us to grace, right but the amazing miracle about grace is when you come to Jesus, you are truly graced, your heart is changed, you're given a new heart, you know what you do - you will fulfill the law. This is what Christianity is all about.  You come to Christ, He changes your life, you live in holiness and righteousness.

Now if today, there is no grace, you obey the law so that you save yourself, you get favor with God. What do we call this in Christianity, we call this, it starts with L - legalism. Legalism is obeying the law in order to get right with God. No way, legalism is banned in the Bible, alright huh, it's banned in the Christian life.  God doesn't want legalists - people who think that by their own obedience, they can curry and gain favor with God, as if God is obliged to, towards them – no.  Legalism is banned so there must be grace but something goes wrong too, if you say oh it's all about grace, it's all about grace, it's all about grace, it's all about grace and there is no - law, then what do you call this?  Wa very “chim” [local dialect: difficult, complicated] ah, okay Glenn said, antinomianism - that's correct – nomas is law, anti, nomas means anti-law so antinomianism but I suggest another easier word, hyper grace also can, ah you're good, okay, but okay I limit you, L - lawlessness, hey, you see it should be simple so yes, we will have lawlessness, another L word for this, would be licentiousness, right - licentiousness, you live a licentious life, you say are so graced, it doesn't matter, I don't have to obey the law anymore, I can do whatever I want so you live a licentious life, it's licentiousness but I think lawlessness is easier but if you have both law and grace, what would you call this – love, ok love is a good word but I I think I would use the word liberty.

Now when you know that the law leads you to grace and you don't have to fulfill the law in order to get right with God, that's called liberty, that's called freedom for you were called to freedom, brothers, you're freed, you don't have to be under the bondage of being a good guy in order to be saved.  You who are a sinner today, you are living against God, you were like the prodigal son, you can come to God, you don't have to obey to be saved. Grace in Jesus Christ saves you – that's liberty and even after you're saved, you don't have to obey in order to justify yourself before God because your justification is in Jesus Christ but when you have this liberty, you don't abuse this liberty to live a licentious life!  You now yield yourself, happily, joyfully, as instruments of righteousness before God, you don't use your freedom, your liberty for an occasion for the flesh, in other words to indulge the flesh but you use your liberty in Christ to serve one another in love and you know what - this whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. When law drives you to grace and grace gives you the desire to fulfill the law that is Christian liberty freed from having to justify yourself but freed to serve others to fulfill the law of God that delights the heart of our Father - that is what Christianity is all about - that's the Gospel so Jesus therefore says, now if you have such a righteousness, you will be great – why, because you are someone who will do these things – you would obey not because you're trying to justify yourself like a legalist but you delight to because God has given you a new heart.  No wonder Jesus at the end of His sermon would say, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my Father.  Ah here you go - the man who does the will of my Father is someone who has understood law and grace. Otherwise, he will not do the will of the Father.

What about those who are very impressive today?  Pastor, there are people who can prophesy in your name, cast out demons, do many miracles, there are people today all over the world claiming these things and they, some of them really might be able to do this – what did Jesus say and then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, why, how do you know, you workers of lawlessness - yes, we are no more under the law, we are under the grace of God but that does not mean you are to disregard the law.   It means we are no more obliged to fulfill the law in order to gain acceptance before God but a man who is under grace loves the law, delights in the law of God like the psalmist would declare and he seeks to do all that is in the law.  The man who says, I'm in grace I don't have to fulfill the law, I don't have to obey anymore, I can do whatever I want, even indulge in my sins, I say you are a worker of lawlessness - you never knew Christ, you never had grace in your heart.

I think I've just one more slide if I'm not wrong but I just want to end by saying greatness in the kingdom, by the way how do you know you're Christian today, how do you know you're a Christian today - do you delight in the law of God, do you study the Word of God, do you obey the Word of God, not about whether you have been baptized, whether you have prayed the sinners prayer.  On the last day, do you do the will of the Father or are you a worker of lawlessness? That's the effect of grace.

I just want to end by saying it's also important that the people of God would teach the law of God. Some of you work with children - Sunday school ministry. Some of you are parents like myself - you may be a little bit afraid of teaching the law, you said yeah, I thought someone told us we are not under the law but under grace it's Old Testament, New Testament maybe I should not teach so I said please go teach the law, you have to teach the law.  One of the things I do with my kids I teach them the law. One of the things I do when I cane my kids is to tell them the law, why, because it's the law that tells them they're sins but I don't stop at the law - God forbid that I stop at the law.  I move them, I point them from the law to the grace that is Jesus Christ, I tell them you need to repent and believe because Jesus died for all your sins.

By the way, that's what our Sunday school, our children ministry is all about. It's not about teaching them moral values because all they learn about moral values is legalism but we teach them the Gospel, we teach them the law that they may now come to Jesus for salvation, for grace, then they will love God and fulfill the law. I hope that's clear and we teach disciples, in this church, we teach you the Word of God, the law of God, not that you become legalist but you know the Word of God, the law of God that you may love God.  Loving God today is not just singing and crying here and feeling all emo about it. Nothing wrong with that but if that's all there is to your Christianity, you did not love God.

Real love is seen in obedience. If you love me keep my commandments - that's the great commission - teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and know I am with you always.  Fascinating teaching by our Lord Jesus Christ - I know there's a lot coming in. I pray in time to come, this will all be crystal clear and may all of us be a people who can balance law and grace in beauty and perfection.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. Father, I thank you for this time we could study Your Word.  How fascinating is your plan, your will.  How amazing is the interplay between law and grace.  How amazing God that what makes this click is the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of life change.

I pray this morning there may be some right here who may not know Jesus as yet. Father I pray that the law of God would show them and expose them to them their sins that they may now be humbled before your presence and that they may bow before you and admit that they are sinners who can never save themselves but oh Spirit of God would you also show them the marvelous love and grace that you have sent Jesus Christ, Your Son to live that perfect life and to be accursed on the cross.

Point these dear friends to Jesus this morning that they may repent and believe Jesus and then they will have a new heart that they will be cleansed, they'll be forgiven, they will be saved.

Father, spare this church from legalism, spare each and every one of us from the bondage to the law as a means to earning righteousness but set us free by your Gospel that we may live in beautiful liberty and in this liberty may we then not use this as an occasion to the flesh but use this liberty to love one another, to serve, to glorify You so thank you and we pray all this now in Jesus Name, amen.

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