Why Have the Streets Become So Unsafe?

by Mark Finley

Discoveries In Prophecy Lecture #10

Tonight, let's bow our heads and pray together.....

"Father, our hearts beat with eager anticipation. We long to see Jesus.
Thank You, Father, that You've drawn us here to this meeting. This is no
common hour, no ordinary hour, of earth's history. We're living right down in
the closing time. We long to understand Your Word better. We long to
understand Your will for our lives. So, tonight, open our hearts and open our
minds. Help us see Jesus in Your Word. In Christ's name, Amen."

Tonight, my topic is "Why Have the Streets Become So Unsafe?" I'd like to
take you with me tonight to the city that I live in.....well, I don't live
right in Los Angeles, but a few miles north of the city. But come with me to
Los Angeles tonight, and let's suppose -- now this is just an imaginary scene
-- but let's suppose a group of radicals have taken over Los Angeles. This
group of radicals who take over take charge of the radio stations and the
television stations, the newspapers and the news media.

They declare Los Angeles to be a 'free city.' You can do whatever you want in
the city --- there are absolutely no restrictions, no laws and no boundaries.
If you want to go into a store and steal something, it's yours. If you want
to go into somebody's home and take away their video cassette player, their
television, or their computer, it's yours. There are absolutely no
restrictions!

You can do whatever you want to do --- it's a 'free' city. If you see
somebody else with another person's wife and you would like her, if you're
strong enough, you can take her away. No laws --- you can have as many women
as you want! If you want one wife, three wives, sixteen wives, you can have
them. And women, if you don't want your husband, you can trade him in for a
new variety, if you desire.

There are absolutely no restraints whatsoever in this new city. In fact,

there are no speed limits! Now, for those people that don't like speed
limits, you can move to this new city of Los Angeles and drive as fast as you
want. You want to go 50, fine.....40, fine.....120, that's fine. Now, in
addition to this, in this city there are no stop lights, because stop lights
restrict you. And we don't want any restrictions, so --- no stop lights or no
stop signs --- no, nothing at all that reminds you of restrictions or
boundaries.

Now, of course, with no restraints in this new city, the radicals declare that
the Ten Commandments are out of date. They're old-fashioned, much too
restrictive! Come to that city of Los Angeles --- it will be one continual
party, drinking all night, living with this one and that one, no stop signs or
stop lights. Do you want to move there, with people breaking into your home,
with people taking what you have? There might be a few people who move in,
but ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest to you tonight, that if there were
absolutely no laws in any given society, that society would be total chaos,
and people would be running from cities like that rather than moving in.
Wouldn't you agree with me on that?

In fact, when you look at our society, you see that western society is headed
toward chaos, because old-fashioned obedience to God's law is considered
outdated, something of the past. Western society today, with crime exploding
in our streets, indeed is moving very rapidly toward chaos in some portions of
the major cities tonight. There are sections where the police won't go.
Chaos.....tonight, around the world, cities seem to have abandoned moral
standards. They seem to have abandoned the restraints of morality.

The Ten Commandments have been thrown out! America is becoming a very, very
violent society. Murders are spreading in more big cities and into their
suburbs. Use of drugs, like cocaine, is up. The current political election
in the United States between President Bill Clinton and challenger Senator Bob
Dole focused around two things in the United States.....rising crime and
rising drugs, and the economy. We are facing a society that is bent on
lawlessness. Riots break out indiscriminately in major cities.

I recall a few years ago when our city of Los Angeles exploded with riot and
revolution, after the judge and jury's decree in a particular trial. Los
Angeles was in flames! Seething underneath every major city, crime is out of
control. Our cities are ready to explode. America is becoming an armed camp.
There are over 23,000 murders in the United States each year! And this is
true, not only of the United States of America, but of the major cities of the
world. It's true in eastern Europe.....drug use is up. Drugs are filling,
not only western society, but eastern Europe as well.

Tonight, our society is becoming a chaotic society. Restraint is being thrown

to the wind.....sexual promiscuity, the 'anything goes' generation, crime,
riots, revolution, drugs. What's behind it all? How can you explain this
overwhelming explosion of violence in our society? If you could sweep the
curtain aside, you could see what has produced this overwhelming amount of
violence in our society.

Maybe we can get some help by going back to a lecture, a lecture that was
given a number of years ago in the 60s by a man by the name of Joseph
Fletcher. He enunciated something back then, almost 30 years ago, that has
become 'law' in our society. It's become a way of life. Fletcher said this:
"There is really no moral right or no moral wrong." He said, "Right or wrong
is a matter of your own conscience." He said, "If you don't believe something
is wrong, it's not." He said, "If you don't believe something is morally
corrupt, it's not." He said that every human being should be guided by his
own conscience. He said that adultery isn't always wrong, sometimes it might
be right. He said that stealing isn't always wrong, sometimes it might be
right. He said that taking the Lord's name in vain is not always wrong,
sometimes it might be right. He said that there is no guide except your own
mind, and there is no direction in life except the direction you choose.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to suggest to you, that this is precisely the
problem in our society today. We have lost our sense of right and wrong. We
have lost our moral compass. We're confused, and we don't know which
direction to go.

Did you see that little quip in the paper the other day? It so aptly
describes our society: A man wrote to the hotel where he was going to spend
an evening vacationing. He said, "Dear Hotel Owner, I have a very
well-mannered dog. My dog is well-groomed and very obedient, and I would like
to bring my dog to your hotel and have my dog sleep overnight there in my
room. May I do it?" Well, promptly, a reply came back from the hotel: "Dear
Sir, I have never had a dog in this hotel that has stolen towels. I have
never had a dog in this hotel that has taken pictures off the wall. I have
never had a dog in this hotel that I have had to throw out in the middle of
the night because it was drunk. I never had a dog in this hotel that I had to
evict because it was fighting with somebody else in its room. And I have
never had a dog that has run off without paying its bill. Yes, sir, bring
your dog, and if the dog vouches for you, you can come,
too!"

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we live in a society that has lost its moral
compass. Ask any hotel owner about the sheets and towels that have been
stolen and the times that people have sneaked out of that hotel without paying
their bills, and you'll know that we have lost our moral compass. The problem
in our society today is that many individuals say there is no right and there
is no wrong.

But the Bible address this very plainly. It says in Proverbs 28:26, "He who
trusts in his own heart is a fool." It says "he who trusts in his own heart
is a....." (what?).....a "fool." When Adam and Eve sinned, the image of God
that was made in them was marrred. When Adam and Eve sinned, their nature was
changed from righteous to unrighteous, from holy to unholy.

That's why the Bible says, that "the heart is desperate above all things and
deceitfully wicked." If you trust your own heart, you trust a morally
polluted conscience. The mind deceives us, and it often tells us what we want
to hear, so our own fallen natures are not a sufficient guide for morality.
Our own fallen natures deceive us --- that's what the Bible says in Proverbs
28:26: "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool."

The Bible describes very precisely why we have the problems we do in our
society. It says in Hosea 8:7: "For they sowed the wind and they shall reap
the whirlwind." We have sown the wind. We've said adultery isn't wrong, and
therefore we are reaping the whirlwind of divorce in our society. We are
reaping the whirlwind of teenage pregnancies in our society. We are reaping
the whirlwind of single parent homes. We've sown the wind, so the average
young person, by the time they're 15 years old, has seen 20,000 acts of
violence on television. We have sown the wind and filled our kids' minds with
sex and violence and crime. So is it any surprise that little Joey at 12
years old takes a handgun to school, and gets into a fight.....(fights used to
be settled with fists, which was bad enough --- then with switch blades, and
that was bad enough!) .....but little Joey, 12 years old, (true story) pulls
out the gun and blows out his classmate's brains because of an argument!

Did you read, not long ago, this national Reuters news report? A businessman
was going to work, and a 13 year old child rode down the street, saw the
businessman with his briefcase and thought there might be some money in it, so
that boy took out a gun and shot the man in the head. The man fell over dead.
The young boy then held up the gun like this.....and like he saw in the
movies, blew the smoke away. He took the guy's briefcase and got on his bike
and rode, singing, away from the scene. We have sown the wind, and we are
reaping the whirlwind.

Yes, the pendulum in our society has swung to lawlessness. But, could it be
that Revelation actually predicts that it will swing back the other way soon?
This lawlessness in our society is leading some religious leaders to look for
answers in the wrong places. It's leading some religious leaders to propose
that we legislate morality, that we create religious laws. In fact, if the
history of the past teaches us anything, if you look back into the history of
Europe particularly to the Middle Ages when church and state were united,
history reveals that when the church and state unite to enforce religious laws
that the rights of the minority are trampled.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, in this series, we are going to continually unfold
the book of Revelation. We're going to talk in the future about an economic
boycott, the 'mark of the beast.' We're going to talk about America and the
rest of the world in prophecy. We're going to talk about when the rights of
the minority are trampled upon, but tonight, suffice it to say that the answer
to the lawlessness in our society, the answer to the permissiveness in our
society, is not religious laws legislated from any nation's capitol. Would
you agree with that? What then is the answer?

What is the answer to lawlessness in our society? The Bible clearly reveals
that answer.....
Rather than a revolution in society, there must be a revolution in the human
heart. The answer lies not in what government does but in what happens in
your heart and what happens in my heart. The Bible describes a perfect
standard of righteousness in Psalm 111:7, 8: "The works of His hands are
verity and justice; All His commands are sure....." (read the rest of the
passage with me, please) ".....They stand fast forever and ever, and are done
in truth and uprightness."

God's commands stand fast forever and ever. The commandments of God were not
given for some bygone ancient generation. The Bible says that God's commands
were for all men and women down through the ages. In fact, Psalm 19:7 says
(reading it together): "The law of the Lord is perfect." To a society that
has cast off God's law, to a society that says, "My conscience is my guide,"
to a society that says there are no moral restraints, echoing and re-echoing
down the corridors of time and ringing in our ears tonight, the Bible says,
"The law of the Lord is perfect."

God's law, His Ten Commandment law, provides for this society a moral
standard of righteousness. There is still something that is right and there
is still something that is wrong, even in the last part of the 20th century.
It is estimated that there have been 35 million laws to control human
behavior, but the Almighty has given us just ten commands. The principles of
God's law are eternal. God's law defines what's right and wrong. Right and
wrong is not a matter of your thinking, it's not a matter of my
thinking.....right and wrong is defined in the Ten Commandments.

God wrote those commandments on tables of stone with His own finger. In the
entire Bible, there is only one code of ethics, only one law written with the
finger of God, and that's the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were
etched in stone --- they weren't written on the sand to be washed away nor
written on parchment to be burned or destroyed. They were written on stone
--- permanent, everlasting and eternal, written with God's own finger.

Ladies and gentlemen, God thought the Ten Commandment law was so
important, he did not allow human beings to write it. You know, the Bible,
all scripture, is inspired by God. God inspired the prophets, and they wrote
down His will, but God did not entrust even the prophets to write the Ten
Commandments. The Ten Commandments were so important, so significant, that
God wrote them with His own finger as an eternal code of ethics for all time
and for all societies. In fact, God's law is the basis of the heavenly
government.

Can you see why Satan hated God's law so much? Satan knew that if he attacked
God's law, he was attacking God Himself. So, Satan said, "I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God." This magnificent angel of dazzling
brightness declared that it wasn't necessary to obey God. He declared that
obedience wasn't necessary. Satan lost heaven, and one-third of the angels
lost heaven, because they disobeyed.

Satan then came knocking on the door of a planet called Earth. He used his
same lies on Adam and Eve. He said, 'It's not necessary to obey,' and Adam
and Eve lost a perfect garden home, because they stole.....they took something
that wasn't theirs. They had other gods before them. They listened to the
voice of Lucifer and broke their faith relationship with their Creator. Adam
and Eve lost the Garden of Eden through disobedience. Disobedience caused
Satan and the angels to lose heaven, caused Adam and Eve to lose the garden,
and disobedience will cause tens of thousands to lose heaven today.

There are those Christians who have the idea that the law of God was not given
until God wrote it on tables of stone and placed it in Moses' hands on Mount
Sinai. The reason that God wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone is
because human beings had broken God's law that He had written in their hearts.
You see, before Sinai, it was wrong to steal. It was wrong to kill. It was
wrong to commit adultery. When human beings broke God's laws written in their
hearts, God Himself then wrote them and re-stated them on tables of stone.

Let's go back, for example, to the Garden of Eden. Cain killed Abel. Was it
wrong for Cain to kill Abel in the Garden of Eden? Was it wrong, even before
the Ten Commandments were written on tables of stone? Was it? The Bible says
this so plainly in Romans 4:15: "Where there is no law, there is no
transgression." So, if do you away with the law of God, you do away with
transgression.

What is transgression? Well, one English dictionary, Websters, says this:

"Transgression is the breaking or the violation of any law, civil or moral."
So, transgression has to do with the breaking of the law, the breaking of
God's law. In fact, the Bible says in 1John 3:4 (let's read it together):
"Sin is the transgression of the law." What is another word for
transgression? .....So, sin is 'breaking' God's law. Sin is separating
myself from God. And the Bible says, "Where there is no law, there is no
transgression." There is no breaking the law --- if there is no speed limit,
then I can go as far as I want. On the Autobahn in Germany, a policeman can't
pick you up for going 60 miles an hour or 100 kilometers an hour, because
there's no speed limit.

If the law didn't exist before Mount Sinai, Cain could have killed Abel very
easily, but God's law has always existed. In fact, Genesis 26:5 says,
".....all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My
voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." Was
Abraham a commandment-keeper? Yes. Did he live before Moses? Yes. Did
Abraham live before the Ten Commandments were written on tables of stone?
Yes. You see, there are some people who have this very strange idea: that the
Ten Commandments were only given to the Jews. But it was wrong for Cain to
kill Abel, it was wrong to commit adultery.....and Abraham kept those
commandments.
The Ten Commandments are Heaven's code of conduct, because the Bible says,
"The law of the Lord is....." (what everybody?) ".....perfect." The Bible
says God's law shall last forever and ever. In the Old Testament, God's law
was the standard of right and wrong. The standard of right and wrong is not
what you or I think. You may not think it's wrong to steal if somebody else
is wealthy, but God's commandment says, "Thou shall not steal." Whether you
think it's wrong or not, according to God's word, it is sin.

You may not think it's sin to take the name of the Lord in vain. Your
attitude may be, 'Well, everybody is taking the name of the Lord in vain.'
The Bible says, "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
You may not think it's wrong to commit adultery. You may say, 'That's
commonplace in society. Don't you understand that everybody's doing it
today?'.....not quite everybody, friend! There is a group of committed
faithful Christians who recognize that to be happy in life, to be filled with
joy in life, is to follow the principles of God's Word outlined in God's law.

'Yes,' you say, 'the law of God is very clear in the Old Testament, but what
about the New Testament? Did Jesus come to do away with God's law?' In the
New Testament, Jesus upheld the claims of the law in His life. He's our
pattern. Jesus came to take the Ten Commandments off tables of stone and put
them in human flesh. When I look at Jesus, I see One.....not One who broke
the law.....I see One who kept the law. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 5:17,
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come
to destroy....." What did Jesus say? He said, "Do not think that I came
to....." (what?) "..... destroy the Law." He said, "I did not come to
destroy." Why, if Jesus says it, that settles it for me! What about you,
friend? Jesus said, "I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill."

Jesus fulfilled the law in His own life. He said in Matthew 5:18, "For
assuredly," that is certainty, definitely, "I say to you, till heaven and
earth pass away," -- have heaven and earth passed away yet? No, "one jot or
one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."

And then look at this in Luke 16:17: "It is easier for heaven and earth to
disappear than for the least stroke of the pen to drop out of the law." Jesus
said that it's easier for heaven and earth to disappear. Why? Because the
law is eternal. The law reveals heaven's basis for government. The law of
God tells us what's morally right and what's morally wrong. These standards
were not dreamed up by man, not thought up in some hall of justice, not
fabricated in some committee meeting. They weren't merely legislation formed
by some human government. The Bible says, "It is easier for heaven and earth
to disappear than for the least stroke of the pen to drop out of the law."

But what happened when Jesus died on the cross? You know, I've had
Christians come to me and say, "Well, Pastor Finley, when Jesus died on
the cross, the Bible says (this is what they say that it says), "the Bible
says that the commandments of God were nailed to the cross." Now, just think
about how preposterous that is! If you say the commandments of God are nailed
to the cross, what do you mean by that? It's now okay to commit adultery as
Christians? You mean now it's okay to steal as Christians? Now it's okay to
take His name in vain as a Christian?

You know, I had a Christian come up to me once, a very faithful church member,
and he said, "Brother Finley, you talked about the law of God, but," he said,
"that law is done away with. It was nailed to the cross." I said, "Fine. Is
that your teenage son?" "Yes." "Are you a Christian?" "Yes." "Is he a
Christian?" "Well, I'm trying to help him." "Son, you don't have to obey
your father any more, do whatever you want, buddy, because you don't have to
honor your father and mother." "No, no, no, I didn't mean that!"

It is totally illogical to say that God's law was 'nailed to the cross.' Now
here is the text that some people misunderstand, Ephesians 2:15. Read it for
yourself --- "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of
command-ments....." Somebody says, now wait a minute! There it is! The law
of commandments are abolished." I'm glad we can read on, friends. ".....the
law of commandments contained in ordinances." What was nailed to the cross?
Does it say the Ten Commandments? No, it says "the law of commandments
contained in ordinances."

You see, at the cross the ceremonial system of sacrifices came to an end. At
the cross the ordinances --- those ordinances which stipulated that if you
sinned you must bring an animal sacrifice --- all came to an end, because
Jesus Christ the Messiah died on the cross. That which was nailed to the
cross was not the Ten Commandment law, but the law of commandments contained
in the ordinances or the sacrificial system that pointed forward to the coming
of Jesus.

When Jesus forgave sin, He didn't say, "The law is nailed to the cross, ma'am.
Go out and commit adultery again, you're forgiven now." What did Jesus say?
"Go and sin no more." Jesus does not lead us to disobedience. He leads us to
obedience. The same grace of God that forgives you enters into your life as a
dynamic power and changes your life. The same God who asks you to obey will
put power in your life to enable you to obey.

The Bible says in 2Corinthians 12:9 (read it with me): "My grace is sufficient
for you. For My strength is made perfect in weakness." Are you struggling
with some sin tonight? As you come to Jesus, your sins will be forgiven. As
you come to Jesus, your guilt will be gone. But more than grace that
forgives, God's grace empowers. God's grace changes. God's grace is an
active force inside.

"My grace is sufficient for you." What is your struggle tonight? Immorality?
What is your struggle tonight? Stealing? What is your struggle tonight?
Some habit --- alcohol, tobacco, drugs? What is your struggle tonight? What
are you failing on tonight? What are you falling short on tonight? The good
news is that the grace of God reaches out to forgive, and the grace of God as
a power in your life enters your heart and your life to change you.

Some people ask, "What about Jesus?" Jesus always leads to obedience. Jesus
never once leads to disobedience. In fact, Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you
love Me, you don't have to keep My commandments any more....." Is that what
He said??? Can you see it for yourself? In John 14:1, what does He say?
Let's read it together: "If you love Me, keep My command-ments." But if I
love Him enough, I don't have to keep His commandments, do I? If I just love
Him enough, I can disobey, right? The Bible says, that love always leads to
obedience. In fact, John 15:10 says, "If you keep My commandments, you will
abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in
His love."

In other words, when I come to Jesus, and I kneel at the foot of the cross,
and Christ's grace cleanses and forgives me, that grace enters into my heart
to give me power to obey. As I love Christ and I obey Him, I abide in His
love. But if I turn my back on Him, if I willingly, knowingly, rebel against
Him, if I slap Him in the face because of my disobedient, lawless, rebellious
lifestyle, I leave His love. I spurn His love, and I reject His grace.

Billy Graham was certainly right when he answered this question: "Which
of the Ten Commandments still applies to us today? I have heard that the
Commandments were given thousands of years ago, and times have
changed. Are some of these Commandments still useful?" Billy Graham
answered this way, "The Ten Commandments are never out of date." I agree with
Dr. Graham on that, don't you, friends? The Ten Command-ments are never out
of date, yet there are many who look at Scripture and have the idea that the
Commandments are some legalistic requirements. But the Bible says in 1John
5:3: "This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not
burdensome....." The commandments are not burdensome.

God's Ten Commandments are not some legalistic requirement, not something to
restrict your freedom or mine. The Ten Commandments are given to us by God to
enable us to know the way of happiness, the way of joy. The way of true
freedom is not doing what we please. The way of true freedom is not doing
what our carnal, fallen natures desire. Satan's way entangles us in the
bondage of sin. True freedom is to follow the way of obedience that Christ
has outlined, because His commandments are not burdensome.

Somebody says, "Didn't Jesus teach that all we need is love?" Somebody says,
"I remember that a lawyer came to Jesus and said, 'Which are the greatest
commandments?' " That lawyer wanted to trap Jesus, and Jesus said this, in
Matthew 22:37,38: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest
command-ment."

There are some people that think that Jesus was introducing a new
command-ment. Jesus was quoting the Old Testament in Deuteronomy, because it
says there, "Love God with all your heart and all your soul." That's number
one. Then Jesus went on....."And the second is like unto it: Love your
neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments." If you could summarize the law in one word, it's 'Love.' If
you could summarize it in two phrases, it's 'Love God' and 'Love your
fellowman.'

The first four commandments tell me how to love God. The second six
commandments tell us how to love our fellow man. On these two command-ments,
love for God and love for our fellowman, hang all the law. In other words,
the entire law of God, the Ten Commandments, tells you how to love. The law
is codified love. The law tells us what a loving person will do. A loving
person doesn't steal. A loving person respects his neighbor's wife and his
neighbor's property. A loving person does not covet. A loving child obeys.

So the law is not some legalistic requirement. The law is not some burden.
The law is the way loving people act in a happy society. Love always leads to
obedience. Love never leads to disobedience, not once. What if my son said,
"Oh, Daddy, I love you!" And I said, "Oh, Son, you love me? That's
wonderful! Mow the grass, take out the trash, and clean your room." "Dad,
let's get practical here, I don't love you that much!" Love always leads to
obedience.

Now, is the law the basis of our salvation? Somebody is saying, "Mark, I'm
getting nervous.....are you saying tonight that, as you keep the law, that
earns your salvation?" I want to make it plain. You would be surprised at
what I get quoted as saying. It's absolutely amazing! Some people hear what
you didn't say. So let's make it plain --- is the law the basis of our
salvation? When Christ died on Calvary's cross, He offered to you and to me
salvation, fully and completely. Nothing you and I can do can earn that
salvation. The Bible says, "For by grace are you saved through faith and not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God." So, salvation comes as a gift of God.
Salvation is by grace.

You say, "Wait a minute! I thought that people in the Old Testament were
saved by the law, and in the New Testament we're saved by grace." The Bible
says that 'Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord', and 'Moses found grace
in the eyes of the Lord.' The apostle Paul says in Titus 2:11,12: "For the
grace of God that brings salvation to all mankind." Look, we're not going to
be up in heaven someday, and I ask Moses, "How did you get here?" and Moses
goes, "I got here by keeping the law. I'm pretty proud of it." Job goes, "I
got here by keeping the law." Daniel goes, "I got here by the law." Then I
ask the apostle Paul, and he says, "I got here by grace." There are not two
methods of salvation, friends. Anybody who gets there gets there by grace!

In the Old Testament, Moses, Daniel and Job were saved by the Christ who was
to come. They looked forward to His grace. We look backwards to His grace.
They were saved by the Christ who was to come. We are saved by the Christ who
has come. But it's all Christ, it's all grace, it's all salvation through
Him. So, keeping the law doesn't save you. I do not keep the law in order to
be saved, but I keep the law because I am saved. I do not keep the law to
earn God's love. I keep the law because He has given me His love, and in
return, all I can do is love Him and serve Him. Grace always leads to
obedience. Do you think grace leads you to disobey? Do you think grace leads
you to break God's law? Not at all, friend. The more you love Him, the more
you serve Him.

Now, some people are confused, because they say, "Doesn't the Bible teach that
we are not under the law?" Well, let's look at the Bible passage very
carefully. I want to see how good students you are tonight! Don't give me
the answer you think I want to receive, but as I read the Bible, give me the
answer that the Bible says. What does it mean to be 'under the law,' and does
the Bible teach that we are not under the law? Let's look at the passage,
Romans 6:14,15: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not
under law but under grace." Does the Bible say, we are not under the law?
Does it say that? Some of you are hesitant.....you think I don't want you to
say that it says we're under the law.....some of you are kind of meekly
saying, "I'm not sure."

Just look at the Bible. Don't worry about what I say! It's important to know
what the Bible says. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are
not under law." Does the Bible say we are not under the law? Yes, that's
right, it says we're not under the law, but does it say that, because we are
not under the law, we can break the law, and we don't have to keep it? Look
at what the Bible says: "What then, shall we sin....." What is sin,
everybody? --- the transgression or the breaking of God's law. Shall we break
God's law ".....because we're not under law but under grace? Certainly not!"
So, Paul says that if you have the idea that you can break God's law because
you're not under the law, you are totally wrong, because Paul says, "Certainly
not!"

Well, what does it mean to be 'under the law'? To be under the law means to be
under the law as a system of salvation. In other words, to be under the law
means that I am saying, "God, I don't need your grace. God, I don't need the
cross. What I do can save me. My works are good enough. My works are
sufficient enough, and I will save myself." If that is my attitude, because
my life is not perfect and because I failed, because I have sinned and have
broken God's law, the law that I have broken condemns me. So, to be under the
law is to be under the laws of a system of salvation to try to save myself by
works. When I fail to do that, I am lost.

To be under grace means something opposite. Since I have broken God's law, to
be under the law means death. Because the Bible says, the wages of sin or the
wages of lawbreaking is --- what?--- death. To be under grace means that I
come to Jesus. Notice what the Bible says in Romans 3:19,20: "Now we know
that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin."

So, the Bible says that the law cannot justify us. The law cannot save us.
The law says, this is right and this is wrong. The law says, this is sin.
The law is like a mirror. Suppose I'm out working on my car, and I've got a
little bit of grease here at the end of my nose and some grease on my chin and
some grease here, and I come into the house and throw my arms around my lovely
wife to give her a kiss, and she says, "Honey, you've got grease on your nose,
and when we rubbed noses, I got some on mine. You've got grease here and
here. Go wash up!" I say, "Honey, I have no grease on my face, I don't feel
it at all." She says, "Darling, I'm right again. Look in the mirror."

I go to the mirror, and I see that she is right! There is grease on my nose
and grease on my chin. The mirror doesn't clean me. It simply tells me,
"Mark, you better get some soap and water." By the law is the knowledge of
--- what? --- sin. The law reveals what sin is. It drives me to Jesus, and
His grace pardons me. His grace forgives me and cleanses me. To be under
grace means that I accept God's grace as the means of my salvation. I accept
His pardon. I accept His mercy. By faith, I accept Christ's death in the
place of my sins.

Maybe I can illustrate it this way: Some time ago, I was giving a series of
presentations like this. And afterwards, I left the meeting place and I was
in a hurry.....sometimes preachers are in a hurry.....and my shoes that I wore
that day were a little too heavy. And as the result of that, these shoes
pressed on the gas tank a little too hard! So I took off, and I was going
down the highway, and that was fine. I was going 60, 65 miles an hour, which
was not much of a problem, but I got off the highway onto a smaller side road,
where the speed limit was probably 35 or 40, and I was probably going.....I
have to tell the truth.....50 or 55, maybe 15 or 20 miles over the speed
limit.

One of those fellows, you know, with a black suit, a shiny badge, and a black
hat (the translators will have to describe it for their countries).....one of
those fellows with a blue suit, a hat with a visor and so forth, he went like
this [wave] to me. And I wondered what that was, because I didn't recognize
him, and I knew he wasn't waving at me. So I pulled over to the side of the
road, and I got out of the car. And he said, "I want your license. Give me
your license." So, immediately I pulled out my ministerial license and handed
it to him. He looked at it. He said, "Preacher, I don't want your minister's
license, I want your driver's license."

I said, "Oh, my driver's license!" So, I took out my driver's license and
gave it to him, and I knew that if he started to write.....once the police
start writing you a ticket, you're in real trouble! So I smiled, and said to
him, "Sir, before you write that, could I say something?" He said, "Preacher,
no sermons." I said, "But -- but -- but, sir. Can I say a few sentences?"

"Okay, preacher, before I write, tell me." I said, "Sir, I've been down at
the auditorium giving lectures, and you and I are on the same side. You catch
them after they break the law. I tell them to keep the law, and I try to help
them so they don't break them. So at least give me grace this first time,
officer, because we're really on the same side."

He said, "Preacher, I'm going to give you grace this time." So, folks, I went
back to my car and got in it. What did I deserve? I deserved a penalty, but
he gave me --- what? --- grace. I was under the law, and when I broke the
law, he gave me grace. So I said to my wife, "Honey, we're not under the law,
we're under grace. I'm late for the appointment. Let's get out of here!" So
I jumped in the car, revved up that engine, tires spinning, and we took off at
100 mph! We could go as fast as we wanted, right, folks?

No, I got in that car, got a different pair of shoes on and drove ever so
slowly, looking in my rearview mirror! The speed limit was 50.....I went
45,46, the whole way, because I was under grace. And I did not want to
presume on the officer's mercy and break his law.

When you're under grace, it leads you to obedience. You love Jesus so much,
you want to obey Him. That's what the apostle Paul says in Romans 3:31 (read
it with me please): "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly
not! On the contrary, we establish the law." How many of you tonight by
lifting your hands say, "I believe that when we're saved by grace, it leads us
to love Jesus and keep His law." Can I see your hands? Sure. That makes
sense.

The Bible says that in the last days of earth's history, there will be many
false teachings going around. Notice how Scripture puts it in 1John 2:4: "He
who says, 'I know Him' (Christ), and does not keep His command-ments, is a
liar....." Is a --- what? --- liar. No, I didn't call him that, friend.
Pretty strong language! If anybody that says to you, "I know Christ, but I
don't have to keep His commandments" is a liar,".....and the truth is....."
Where? ".....not in him."

If you want to know the truth, don't look at some group of people that tells
you that you don't have to keep God's law. If you want to know the truth,
don't to go some preacher who tells you the law is nailed to the cross or done
away with, because the Bible says, "He who says 'I know Him,' and does not
keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

John, while on the island of Patmos, wrote about the people living in the last
days, about God's people living down at the end of time. And John, in the
last book of the Bible, in Revelation 12:17, wrote these words, "And the
dragon was enraged with the woman,....." angry (In Bible prophecy a woman
represents the bride of Christ, the church) ".....and went to make war with
the rest of her offspring," the last part of the church, "who keep the
commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Here is a group of people in the last days. Here is a group of people who
loves Jesus. They don't conform to the pressure of society. They don't cave
in with the social ethics of society around them. They don't do as they
please. They do as God pleases. They don't follow the traditions of men.
They keep the law of God. They're not manipulated by the popular way around
them. In their hearts, they love Him. In their hearts, they obey Him. In
their hearts, they serve Him. And when Jesus comes again, the Bible says, in
Revelation 14:12: "Here is the patience (or the endurance) of the saints; Here
are those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."

How does God describe His people in the last days? Oh, they love Jesus. They
love Jesus! They're saved by Jesus' grace. They're pardoned by Jesus' mercy.
They love Jesus. They have the faith of Jesus. Because they love Jesus,
they want to obey Jesus. Because they have been saved by grace, they keep His
commandments. In the last days of earth's history, God indeed will have a
group of people, a group of people who come to the cross, a group of people
who love Jesus so much, that Christ's love compels them to serve Him. Love in
your heart leads you to service. Love in your heart leads you to obey. Love
in your heart leads you to want to follow Christ.

Kim was ecstatic. Well, maybe ecstatic is too mild a word. She was
over-whelmed with ecstasy! Her husband had just won the Ohio State Lottery
for the second time! Now the first time, he only won a diddly $100,000,
because he shared the ticket with somebody else, but the second time, he won
well over a million dollars in the lottery. And Kim was so
ecstatic......instant millionaires!

There was only one problem. Kim had a boyfriend who wasn't her husband. It's
all right to have a boyfriend if you are married if the boyfriend is your
husband, Wife, or if the girlfriend is your wife, Husband. But that wasn't
Kim's case.....she had somebody else whom she was seeing. Now she had a real
problem --- she wanted the money, but she didn't want her husband. So, this is
what she decided to do.....true story, happened this year.....

She decided that she was going to hire a hit man with some of that money and
have her husband killed. When she was arranging for her husband's execution
by a Mafia-style hit man over the telephone, their 21-year-old son, who was in
the kitchen eating, discovered her and overheard what was going on the
telephone. So, immediately he told his father. He said, "I don't know if you
know, Dad, but Mother is seeing somebody else, and Mother is planning to have
you killed."

His father immediately went to the police. Kim's husband immediately

described what was happening. They set up an intermediary who would collect
the money, and they set Kim up. Eventually she was arrested making the payoff
to an FBI agent, and Kim went to prison. After her trial, after she was
arrested and put in prison, Kim was at first angry and bitter that she had
been caught.

But over a period of six months, her husband visited her again and again and
again. He said, "I'm not going to wash 21 years of marriage down the drain.
I'm not going to do that." He kept bringing her flowers and gifts in prison.
Her husband never gave up. In fact, he dropped all charges against her and
bailed her out with the lottery money. Kim broke down, weeping, when she was
bailed out. She threw her arms around her husband. She was so filled with
joy! She said, "You bailed me out. I deserved to be in prison. I deserved
to spend my life there. I deserved to even die, if I would have killed you,
but you bailed me out. I will love you forever. I will love you forever."

I was bailed out. I deserved to die. I deserved to go into the grave and
never come out! The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. With my
selfish heart and selfish mind, as a sinner condemned to die, Jesus bailed me
out. He hung on the cross of Calvary with nails through His hands and blood
running down His wrists, a spear wound in His heart, blood running down His
side, nails through His feet, and a crown of thorns upon His head with blood
running down His face. As Jesus hung on Calvary, He said, "It is finished."
My salvation was paid, fully and completely.

At the cross, there is mercy. At the cross, there is forgiveness. And as I

kneel there and look into His eyes of love, as I kneel there and see His arms
stretched out to me, as I cast myself at His feet, love leads me to obey Him.
Love leads me to serve Him. Love leads me to say, "Lord, write Your law in my
heart so that I love it. Write Your law in my mind so that I know it. Lord,
whatever You want me to do, I want to do it. Lord, I want to serve You.

"Because I know in Whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that He is able to

keep me." I know Who I believed! The Lord Jesus Christ has given me His
grace. The Lord Jesus Christ has saved me. The Lord Jesus Christ has washed
me clean. I know Who I believed! My Lord will come into my life and give me
the power to serve Him.

Maybe you've been slipping, falling. Maybe you say, "God's law is too
perfect. I never can keep it." The God who invites you to obey will give you
the power to obey. The God who invites you to obey will give you the strength
to obey. This God will change your life. This God will make you into a new
person. This God will take the hardness of your heart and make it soft. This
God will take your weakness and make it strong. This God will take your
frailty and unite it with His enduring might. This God will break the bonds
that hold you. He'll deliver you from the struggle. You can walk out tonight
knowing that your hand is in His.

Let's pray.....
"O, my Father, tonight we thank You for the grace of God. We thank You for
the forgiveness and mercy that is in Him. But we thank You tonight that His
grace leads us to obedience. His grace leads us to keep His law. And
tonight, Father, we love You so much that we want to serve You. We love You
so much that we want to obey You. Send us from this place knowing that, as we
trust and believe in You, that our weakness will become strength, that our
struggles will be turned into victory, and that we can serve you forever. In
Christ's name, Amen.