Saphir, your catechism question this week is, can any man keep these Ten Commandments perfectly? And your answer is, no mere man since the fall of Adam ever did or can keep the Ten Commandments perfectly. Although you are correct, yesterday in the children's catechism time, there was the question that was answered from a verse in Ecclesiastes about whether there is any a just man who does only good on earth. And you whispered to me, there aren't any on earth, but there is one in heaven. And you meant Jesus, but also the souls of the just who are passed into glory. are, as the scripture says, the souls of the just made perfect. The problem for us, however, is when we come into this world, we are dead in trespasses and transgressions, Ephesians 2 says. So, not physically dead, although some do die very quickly, even before they are born. But it's talking about being spiritually dead. And those who are spiritually dead can, of course, just like a dead person can do no physical things, a physically dead person, a spiritually dead person can do no spiritually good things. This is why when Hebrews in chapter 6 and chapter 9 talks about repentance unto life, it talks about repentance from dead works. So, for instance, Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." That's reminding us not only that we were dead apart from Christ, and so we did only that which was evil, But it's also teaching us that so long as the old man remains with us, our former self from whom there is death remains with us, that there are works that we do, all of our works are either live works that are done in Christ or dead works that are done from Christ. our flesh, and that there is a mixture of that and everything that we do, so that even a believer in this life does nothing without sin. He does things that are genuinely good, but his sinfulness, that part of himself which remains from the dead man, is always there. And so, no. No one can keep these commandments perfectly, even those who are in Christ. because the flesh remains. They do not keep the commandments perfectly. And of course, those who are outside of Christ cannot keep his commandments perfectly, even for a moment, even once. So the idea that someone could save himself by works or prepare himself to be saved by works is a very wicked lie and trick of the devil. Many people, when they hear about the punishment of God that they deserve, and how bad their sin is, that they must come to Christ to receive him. so that he will be their righteousness and he will be their sacrifice. They think something along the lines, they fall into the deception of thinking that they have to prepare themselves to come to Christ. They need to get themselves in a good place to do that, or there are things they need to put away first, or whatever it is. But no, that is impossible. Therefore, when we think about the Ten Commandments, We must not think of the Ten Commandments as a way of preparing ourselves to be saved, if we're not saved, or as a way of earning from God that which our works deserve, because they all deserve punishment. They're not done perfectly. They're not done righteously because of the mixture of sin that is in them. We must instead think of the Ten Commandments describing to us the sort of life that is lived in union with Christ. So the obedience that you seek from God to produce in you from Jesus. So you should delight in the Ten Commandments. You should be devoted to doing what the Ten Commandments require. But, very importantly, you must be dependent upon Jesus for doing these things. And that makes it even more important to do them, so that Christ will be glorified by our doing them. because he is the only way that we could to them. So, can any man keep these Ten Commandments perfectly? And your answer is, no mere man since the fall of Adam ever did or can keep the Ten Commandments perfectly.