Over the past several months, we've been opening our Bibles to the book of Exodus to discover God's love letter chiseled in stone. Today, we're opening to Galatians chapter three, the book of Galatians in the New Testament, the third chapter, Galatians chapter three. And as we turn to Galatians chapter three, it's probably well for us to be reminded that when Moses descended from Mount Sinai, he did not call the 10 commandments, the 10 suggestions for successful saints. He called them the 10 commandments. We're reading this morning from Galatians chapter three, beginning in the 19th verse, Galatians chapter three, beginning in verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was ordained by the angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid. If there had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness, it should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. For you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bonded nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. If you be Christ, Then he Abraham's seed airs according to the promise. I want to focus our attention on Galatians 3 this morning as we discover what it means to go from guilt to grace by the wonderful work that the law has done in pointing Jesus Christ to us. Let's bow our heads together before the Lord before we look in this passage. Father, help us today as we look into your word by your spirit to be taught that we go out from this service today, Lord, better able to defend what we believe better able to understand why the law was given, better taught by the law. But Lord, I pray today, if there's someone who's come into this service who's never trusted Jesus Christ, that today would be the day of salvation. And that for all of us who worship you today, reflecting on the glories of heaven, looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ will be revealed, help us to understand, Lord, the purposes that you've put on display in your word for your work in humanity over the generations. And Lord, we understand today as we look in your word, the purpose of the law. So help us to cling to it, to be able to worship you better because of it. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to go out from this service, loving you more and being thankful that we've been in the house of the Lord. For it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the unalterable commandments of our unchanging God. He came from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Very important that we consider the Ten Commandments. As others have noted, God didn't call them the Ten Suggestions. And while that sounds trite, in our generation we need to be reminded that it's entirely true. The Ten Commandments cross every generation with an important message to all of us. What is that message? Why is it important in our generation? We live in a generation that's been called the generation of postmodernism. Postmodernism is a philosophy of frustration. Postmodernism teaches that there is no absolute truth. We're living in a generation that's been marked by moral relativism. Moral relativism declares there is no absolute authority. We're living in a generation that's been marked by a heightened desire for personal freedom. While mankind has always been autonomous to some degree, there's been a cry for personal freedom that's perhaps louder and longer than has been known in times past. Those who hold to this direct approach to personal freedom are truly saying there's no absolute ruler. And of course, we live in a generation in America that's been marked by humanistic atheism. And humanistic atheism says there's absolutely no judge. Well, the Bible confronts every one of those opinions. The Word of God says to those who are imbibed with postmodernism that there is indeed absolute truth. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, John 14 and verse 6. To those who hold to moral relativism, saying that there is no absolute authority, the Bible claims that it itself, the Bible itself, is absolute authority. Jesus said in John 17, 17, sanctify them by their truth. Thy word is truth. The libertine advocates for personal freedom. There's no absolute ruler, they would say. But the Bible says no. The Bible says God is sovereign. In fact, the psalmist says in Psalm 75 in verse seven, God puts down one and brings up another. He's sovereign. And where the humanistic atheist believes that there's no judge, the Word of God says that's not right. Again, Psalm 75 and verse 7, God is judge. And God wants us to communicate in our generation, and really to every culture in our generation, that there is absolute truth. that God is true. He wants us to communicate in our generation that He is absolutely sovereign over His creation. He wants them in our generation to know that as sovereign ruler, He has the right one day to judge. In fact, Acts 17 says in verse 31, He's appointed a day in which He will judge the world. And why say all that, Pastor Phelps? I think that builds a foundation for us to understand why the Ten Commandments are essential for our study. The Ten Commandments confront our culture with God's absolute truth, declaring that God is absolutely sovereign, that mankind will one day stand before Him to be judged by the truth that He's declared. The Ten Commandments are the absolute authoritative truth given to us by a sovereign God before whom we will one day stand to be judged. Now there's an increasing interest in the Ten Commandments in America today. If you're not familiar to that, with that rather, let me just highlight a couple things that caused me to say there's an increased interest in the Ten Commandments in America today. Back in 2023, the state legislature of Texas turned down a proposed law that would have posted the Ten Commandments in public schools. The state of Louisiana picked up that same cause, and the state of Louisiana just last month put forward a law, and I'm sure it will be debated even to the point of the Supreme Court once again, but the state of Louisiana passed a law saying that the Ten Commandments are gonna be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms. That just happened last month. There's an increasing attention on the Ten Commandments in our culture. Many people believe that posting the Ten Commandments will make a difference. in the corrupt culture in which we live. I wanna ask you this morning, so what do you think? Do you think posting the 10 Commandments will make a difference in the culture in which we live? If you were given the responsibility of voting yes or no within the legislative body, say of Texas or Louisiana, would you have voted yes or would you have voted no? What is the purpose of God in giving us the 10 Commandments? We're gonna explore that question this morning. What's the purpose of God in giving us and all generations before us back to Mount Sinai, the 10 commandments? All of us need to understand the purpose of the 10 commandments. We need to understand the purpose so that we can apply these commandments with wisdom in our lives. And as we open our Bibles this morning to Galatians chapter three, you need to be aware that the Galatian church to whom the apostle Paul is writing, the Galatian church was infected with legalism. Now there's a word that can get your attention. The Galatian church was infected with legalism. I'm not talking about the kind of legalism that's concerned with dress codes and standards. The Galatian church was infected with spiritual legalism, the kind of legalism that teaches that you can actually earn your way to heaven by keeping the law. That spiritual theological liberalism or theological legalism, believing that somehow by doing I can get to heaven. And a lot of people are infected by spiritual or theological legalism. They think that somehow they can get to heaven by doing good things. Galatians chapter 3, look at what verse 11 says. Galatians 3 and verse 11, the Spirit of God declares, no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. For it's evident that the just shall live by faith. Back up in Galatians chapter three and verse six. The Bible says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him. That's an accounting term. Abraham believed God and it was placed on his account. This work of righteousness was credited to him. Righteousness was accredited to Abraham when Abraham believed. Abraham's faith caused righteousness to be placed on his eternal account. He was credited with righteousness, not by what he did, but by what he believed, by his faith. His faith, not his works, brought him righteousness. You see, the Bible teaches that salvation is by faith alone, through God's grace alone. Now, if we were to ask the average person on the street this morning the question, how can I be sure that I can go to heaven when I die? That's a really good question. Churches are built all over our country with steeples pointed to heaven, declaring that we're here, the doors are open in order to point people in the right direction so they can have eternal life and live with God forever in heaven. How can I go to heaven when I die? A lot of people would say, Well, one day there's this heavenly scale and if my good works outweigh my bad works, I can go to heaven. Some people might actually say, I think it's in keeping the golden rule and doing what Jesus said in the golden rule. Even others will say, well, I think if I keep the 10 commandments, after all, that would be ultimately doing good works, then I can go to heaven. Look back over at Galatians chapter two. Look what Galatians chapter two says in the 16th verse. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16 says, a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ. In other words, you can't do the works of the law in order to have justification, a rightness with God, righteousness placed on your account in heaven. Look at Galatians 2 and verse 16. It says clearly, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Listen, believing that you can earn your way to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, is a misconception that's dreadfully dangerous. I want to say that again. Believing that you can earn your way to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments is a misconception that is dreadfully dangerous. You cannot earn your way to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments. We open our Bibles this morning to Galatians chapter three, and the Spirit of God is addressing a question that's top of mind to the people who are living in Galatia, the Galatian believers. They're asking a question. You find it here in Galatians three and verse 19. Well, if I can't earn my way to heaven by keeping the law, Galatians 319 asks, wherefore then serveth the law? Or what's the purpose of the law? Why did God even give us these commandments if I can't earn my way to heaven by keeping these commandments? After taking 11 weeks to carefully consider the Ten Commandments one by one, we're asking this morning, why did God give us the Ten Commandments? What's the big deal about the Ten Commandments? And we find our answer in the text to which we've turned this morning. I want you to notice with me. By the Ten Commandments, sin is revealed. By the Ten Commandments, sin is revealed. Look at verse 19, Galatians 3 and verse 19. It says, the law was added because of transgression. Added to what? The law or the commandments were added because of the transgression added to what? Well, we look back at verse 16. And in Galatians 3.16, the word of God says to Abraham and his seed were promises made. Abraham lived before Moses. Before Moses went up Mount Sinai and received the 10 commandments and the law, God had already spoken to Abraham. Before the Ten Commandments came, God gave promises to Abraham and God gave promises to Abraham's seed. We read about that in Genesis 15. In Genesis 15, the Bible tells us about Abraham, how one night he went to sleep. In a trance-like sleep, God spoke to Abraham. God actually cut a covenant, made a promise with Abraham. He promised Abraham, Abraham, you're gonna have a son. That was an amazing promise. Abraham was a very old man. You're gonna have a son of promise. You're gonna obtain land. This land of promise will one day be yours. You're gonna have a nation that will come out of your seed. He's speaking to a man who's barren, a man who has no children, who's old, and he's making wonderful promises that Abraham is going to have a son, and through that son, all the world will be blessed. He's speaking specifically about the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. God made that promise to Abraham. But after he made that promise to Abraham, The Bible says in Galatians 3 and verse 6, that Abraham believed God. Galatians 3 and verse 6, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him. It was put on his account. He had a credit made in heaven. It was counted to him for righteousness. You take the time to study the promises that God made to Abraham, you'll find something missing. God made promises to Abraham in his old age that he'd have a son and that son would be born to Sarah. God made promises to Abraham that that son would be a blessing to the whole world. God made promises to Abraham that he'd be the father of many nations. God promised that Abraham would be the father of a special nation that we know as Israel. There's something missing. In all of the promises that God made to Abraham, what is it that's missing? There's nothing in the promises to Abraham about sin. Promises to Abraham are filled with blessing. Nothing in the promises to Abraham about sin. And that's why we read in Galatians 3, verse 19, that the law was added. Wherefore then serveth the law? Why did the 10 commandments, why did the law come? It was added because of transgression. You see, Galatians 3, verse 17, if you look there, makes it clear that when the covenant that was confirmed before God in Christ, The law which was 430 years after cannot disavow and all that it should make the promise of none effect. What's he saying? He's saying that God made a promise to Abraham. He's gonna fulfill his promise. Everything that God says is yes and no. Everything that God promises he's gonna do. Now comes the law 430 years later and the law does not disavow. It does not set aside the promise. The promise is still going to be fulfilled But the law specifically comes because the promise doesn't deal with sin. So Moses ascends Mount Sinai. At the top of Mount Sinai, the fires of heaven are falling. The angels are there to give witness. And as Abraham, or as Moses is rather there on Mount Sinai, on Mount Sinai, God speaks to Moses and Moses receives the law. Blessings come to Abraham. Some measure of cursings are gonna come through the law that was given to Moses. Why did the law come? The law came so sin can be revealed. And so we discover in Romans chapter three and verse 20, by the law is the knowledge of sin. We discover in Romans four and verse 15, where there is no law, there's no transgression. We discover in Romans chapter seven and verse seven, I had not known sin except by the law. The law came to reveal sin. I was preaching years ago to a assembly of elderly people. And as I spoke, I shared a verse that's rather common. The word of God says in Romans chapter three and verse 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And just as I shared that verse, a lady seated right on the front row said, I'm not a sinner. I was kind of shocking. I was shocked, but I was also thinking, she's older than I, I need to be respectful. And so I said, well, some people will say they're not sinners, but the Bible says in Romans 3 in verse 10, there's none righteous, no, not one. And the Bible says in Isaiah 53 in verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've all turned everyone to our own way. And the Bible tells us with regard to the matter of sin, in Psalm 51 and verse five, in sin did my mother conceive me. We're all sinners. And the woman looked at me and she said, I'm not a sinner. Folks, every one of the verses that I quoted is true. All of those verses say that we're sinners. But I didn't get through to that dear lady that day. You know why? I think to a large extent I failed. I was sharing truth. But James chapter one and verse 23 helped me to understand why I didn't get through. In James chapter one and verse 23, the word of God compares the law, the commandments to a mirror. The Bible says the 10 commandments are like a mirror. The mirror is held up so that we can see various facets of our character. And when we see those facets of our character, we ought to be disgusted by it. For when the law, the mirror is held up, it shows us that we're sinners. Rather than quoting verses that say that we're all sinners, it would have been far better for me that day to have said, well, some people will say that they're not sinners. But you know, the first commandment says we're supposed to love the Lord God more than anything else. Can any of us say that we've loved God more than anything else? The third commandment says we're never to take the name of the Lord in vain. If you've ever taken the name of the Lord in vain, you've broken one of his commandments and that's a sin. The fourth commandment says we're to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. We're to remember the Lord's day. And if we haven't remembered the Lord's day in our life, then we've committed sin. I could have said, you know, the fifth commandment says that we're supposed to honor our parents. And if we haven't honored our parents and been obedient, then we're sinners. I could have, and I should have said, the commandments say we're not to commit adultery. We're not to steal. We're not to lie. We're not to covet. That's what the word of God says. And the word of God says in James chapter two, that if we're guilty of breaking one of those commandments, we're guilty of all of them. You see, the 10 commandments are like a chain. If you're held by a chain over a large ravine and one of the links on the chain is weak, you're gonna fall into the ravine. All of us born into this world, born in sin, all of us with flawed chains. The 10 commandments being that chain, none of us can say, I'm entirely sure that I've never violated one of the 10 commandments. When we look into the mirror of the 10 commandments, we find ourselves wanting and we ought to find ourselves guilty. We're sinners. All of us are sinners. There are some people who feel, well, I'm better than most people. Ah, don't be deceived. The Bible says if we compare ourselves among ourselves, we're not wise. There's some people in this room who think, I'm a pretty good driver. I've watched some of you drive. I'm not gonna name names here today, but you know, when you pick up the book that helps us learn how to drive in the state of Indiana, it says you're supposed to keep a car length back for every 10 miles an hour that you're moving down the road. So if you're going 40 miles an hour, four car lengths back, I know some of you have not read that handbook in a long time. So you're violating what is a law even without knowledge. Some people think I'm a pretty good writer. You ever put what you've written through Grammarly, asked it to check your spelling and your punctuation? I don't do it because it destroys my self image. Every time I think, man, I'm just terrible at this. Even so, when we take an accurate look at the 10 commandments, we don't come out satisfied. We come out shaken. You see, the Bible tells us in Galatians 3 in verse 22, the scripture has concluded all are under sin. All are under sin. Romans 3 in verse 19 says, now we know that the things whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped. that all the world would be guilty before God. The 10 commandments show us our sin. So it's best when we're witnessing to others. While we can quote, the Bible says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, it's best for us to hold up the mirror. So would you hold up the mirror to your heart today? If you're thinking that somehow you'll enter heaven because your good works outweigh your bad, God gives you a mirror. He shows you in the Ten Commandments that you're a sinner. And that's a problem because no sin can enter into heaven. As we discipline our children, moms, dads, listen, it's important for us when we know that there's a violation of one of God's commandments to let our children know that. That's just not a little fill-in along the way. That's an important concept, to let them know that they're sinners. The law was given so that we can understand that we're sinners, to reveal our sin, and the 10 Commandments allow sinners to be restrained. By the 10 Commandments, sinners are restrained. Look at Galatians 3 and verse 23. In Galatians 3 and verse 23, we read, before faith came, we were kept under the law. You see the word kept, it's an important word. The word kept pictures a guard or a sentinel, a person who is charged with keeping a prisoner in bay. And so it is that the law, the Ten Commandments, are compared to a guard written to keep us in a position that we wouldn't spill out and spill over. In fact, the Apostle Paul uses that word in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 32, when he says, in Damascus, the governor kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me. Galatians 3 in verse 23 is telling us that the Ten Commandments are like a garrison, it's like a guard, it's holding us in. The Ten Commandments are designed, literally designed to fence us in, to hold us back. Without the law, we don't know boundaries. Did you know that in the state of Montana and the state of Nevada, there was no speed limit until 1974? Montana and Nevada had no speed limit on federal highways until 1974. In 1974, there was a federal highway law that was given that put 55 miles an hour into play across all of the national highways. Some of us remember those days. They were dreadful. Then in 1974, as an answer to the prayers of many people, in 1995 rather, as an answer to the prayers of many people, all those federal highway laws were lifted and 55 miles an hour was taken away. And so Montana and Nevada took away speed limits again. Until 1999, when the federal government said, no, you have to post some speed limit. So you know what happens in Montana and Nevada today? They have posted 70 and sometimes even 80 miles an hour. And you know what people do? Well, most of them go 70 to 80 miles an hour. But there are those who blaze by and still go 100 miles an hour. I hope they get caught when they do because they're endangering everyone. Even so the law has been given the 10 commandments. Does everyone keep them? Absolutely not. Is everyone informed by them? Absolutely. So much so that the Supreme Court of the United States of America in Stone versus Graham Way back in 1980, when they made it illegal to post the Ten Commandments in the public schools, this is what they said. If the commandments are posted, if copies are posted of the Ten Commandments and they have any effect at all, it will be to induce children to read and meditate upon and perhaps even venerate and obey the commandments. However desirable this may be as a matter of private devotion, it's not permissible. It's not a state objective. What did they say? They will read, they will meditate upon, they will venerate, and perhaps even obey. You see, even the Supreme Court recognized the ability of the Ten Commandments to restrain sinners. Can you quote the Ten Commandments? We've worked on a poem together. We can work on the scriptures together. I think it's important for every Christian to understand and be able to reflect on the Ten Commandments in daily life. Why? So that the Holy Spirit can convict us and compel us. into conformity to what God would desire. Will the 10 commandments save me? No, but they certainly have restrained me along the way many times. There's benefit here. In fact, Romans chapter seven, verse one says, no you're not brethren, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. The commandment are designed and given by God to restrain sinners. So back to the question we asked, what do you think? Should the Ten Commandments be in the public school classrooms? Now wait a minute, Pastor Phelps, I can hear somebody that's thinking, isn't that a violation of the First Amendment that says the government can't establish religion? No, it's not a violation of the First Amendment. Posting the Ten Commandments is not establishing a religion. But it might be putting up a moral code that's been revered for millennia in order to help people be restrained in their activity. The Ten Commandments are restraint to our bad activity, to our sin. But there's another purpose of the Ten Commandments reflected on in Galatians 3. In Galatians 3, we discover that by the Ten Commandments, the Savior is recognized. Look with me at Galatians 3, verse 24. The Bible says, wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster, for you're all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. I want you to pay particular attention to the word schoolmaster in verse 24. The Roman Empire, after all, was filled with slaves. One in five people living in the Roman Empire in the times of the New Testament was a slave. Slaves worked in many occupations. Some were agricultural, some were domestic, some worked in the mines, some worked in the military, some worked in construction. Galatians 3 and verse 24 is introducing us to a position that was typically occupied by a slave. The word that's used here is paedagogos. A paedagogos, what's a paedagogos? It's a composite word. A paedos is a child. An agos is a leader. So you put the words together, this word means one who leads a child. Probably the best way we could describe a paedagogos in our language would be a babysitter. So the passage is saying, don't you understand the law was our babysitter to bring us to Christ. Now a paedagogos in the Roman Empire was given the responsibility often of accompanying children to school. Especially if the child had to walk through the agora, the marketplace of the Roman Empire. If that child was walking through the agora, that child may be tempted. by bad influences, swept aside by someone who meant them harm, and so that pedagogos would often accompany that child to school, and that's the picture, the most beautiful picture of what the law does that's painted anywhere in the scriptures is the one that we're looking at here. The Spirit of God is simply saying the 10 commandments were given as a pedagogos, as a babysitter, to lead us somewhere. God promised salvation to Abraham, Sharing nothing about the matter of sin, God then, through Moses, gave the Law. And He gave the Law with the purpose of helping us reflect upon sin, so we could see ourselves in the mirror of the Law. The Ten Commandments, then, were given to guard us. The 10 commandments are given as God's perfect moral code throughout the ages to guard us in our conduct so that we can have a better relationship with God and a right relationship with others. Romans chapter seven says in verse 12, the law is holy, the commandments are holy, they are just and they are good. And when we follow the 10 commandments, we live within the God given guardrails, if you will. keeping us from the awful destruction of sin. But we all need to acknowledge that none of us are perfect within the guardrails. We fall far short. Even the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter seven, the good that I would do, I do not. And the evil that I would not, that's what I do. Find then a law within my members, Paul says. What's the law? I'm born a sinner. And until I'm glorified in heaven, I will wrestle with sin, even as the Spirit of God has come to live within me. The 10 Commandments guard us, but blessed truth to be discovered here, the 10 Commandments guide us. Just as the schoolmaster guided that child to school, Galatians says in chapter three, the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we're no longer under the schoolmaster. It was never the job of the paedagogos to teach the child. That was the job of the school teacher. It was never the job of the paedagogos to mentor the child. That would be the job of others. It was simply the job of the paedagogos to bring that child to school. So you know what? The paedagogos was often hated. Who wants to have a babysitter walking you to school? I mean, most of you, by the time your children hit about, I don't know, fourth or fifth grade, aren't really keen on having moms stand out in front with all the other kids while the kid's going to school. The paedagogos walk the child to school until the child was typically at least 13, often 16 years of age. They could be an embarrassment. That's the relationship that we ought to understand about the law. A lot of people who hate the law, but the law was chiseled in stone as God's love letter to us, to guide us along the way. We ought to reflect upon it so that Spirit of God can use it within us so that we can walk sanctified lives before Him. But the law was given specifically to bring us to the master, to the one who could teach us, to bring us to Christ. You see, when I see myself in the law, I cry guilty, guilty, guilty. not having the ability to make the scales balance, and knowing that the scripture says, by the works of the law, no one is gonna be justified. I find myself hopeless, but the law points me, points me, points me to Jesus. It points me to the one who perfectly kept the law, Jesus. It points me to the one who spread his arms out in love on the cross of Calvary to die under the law, taking all of my guilt and all of your guilt so that the wrath of God poured out upon him, allowed him to take all of our sins, yea, the sins of the whole world, the word of God says in 1 John 2 and verse 2, and die in our place. It was the purpose of the law to bring me to see the blessed hope that's found in Jesus. Dear friend, if you're here this morning and you're thinking that somehow you can do enough to get to heaven, that is not the purpose of the 10 commandments. You can't keep the 10 commandments and go to heaven. Does that mean that we should just throw the Ten Commandments out? No, the Ten Commandments are there to help reveal our sin so that we can be seeing Christ and recognizing him as the only propitiation for our sin. In his unforgettable sermon, Fred Brown used three images, Evangelist Fred Brown used three images to talk about the purpose of the law. He noted that the law is like a small mirror that a dentist might use. And that mirror is placed in the mouth so that decay might be seen. But the mirror is not a drill. The mirror is not a filling. The mirror can't correct the flaw that's seen. It can only reflect the flaw that's seen. Brown went on to say, the law is like a flashlight. When the lights go out in your house, you may take a flashlight and go down and open up the breaker box and see the breaker that's broken or a fuse that's out. But you can't put the flashlight in to repair the breaker box. The flashlight just guided you to the place where a repair can be made. You need a new fuse or a new breaker to get the electricity back on. Even so, the law. Brown continued, he said, the law is like a plumb line, a good A good builder will put down a plumb line, a weight on the end of a string to know what the vertical pitch might be, but the vertical line that's on the plumb line can't repair anything. That's gonna take a saw and a hammer. Even so, like a mirror, like a flashlight, like a plumb line, the law is always pointing. It's always pointing. It's pointing to the problem of sin, and it's pointing beyond the problem of sin to the solution. and the solution is Christ. So what then is the purpose of the 10 Commandments? What does it mean to me? Why are the 10 Commandments helpful to me? They're helpful to me so I can have my sin revealed, so I can be restrained by the power of the Spirit of God who convicts my heart. They're helpful to me so I can recognize my need for a Savior. So let's ask again, should we memorize the 10 Commandments? Absolutely. Should we encourage people to display the 10 commandments in public places? Of course, especially because the 10 commandments are designed by God to help restrain sin. Should we seek to have them be displayed? Absolutely. And should we talk to them often? Yes, because this is the only way we can be pointed to the Savior. So consider, Jesus was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's the message of the Ten Commandments. Jesus has made sin for us, this one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Will you stand with me please as we pray? Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and no one looking around.