Well, as I just explained to the brother, I've decided to change the format, if you like, today, just a little. It's the same, but the more I think about it as I get close to it, I can't prepare days and months in advance, so I say yes to Brother Brown. I say what I'm going to do, but the nearer I get to it, it sort of crystallizes. So let me explain what I'm going to do, or try to do. In this first address, what I'm going to address is this. I think the first one was supposed to be, what is law, or what is the law? But I'm not going to spend long on that. It's a very important point, and I'm just going to deal briefly with it. What is the law? I know it's an obvious question, everybody knows the answer, but we'll just have a look at that. I was very interested to see how Psalm 19 was just chosen. Very relevant passage, you might say. So what is the law? I don't think I want to spend the whole... How long have I got in this session, by the way? What time? No, no, no, no, you've got Sunday school. Was it half an hour, somebody said? An hour? I thought you said half an hour. Okay, well, I'll stop by 11. We're not bound by a clock, brother. Thank you very much, brother. Yes, I'll remember that. Actually, I was much shorter yesterday than I intended to be. I don't know why that was. So what was I saying? Oh yes, I don't want to spend the whole time on that technical point, but it's important. Then I want to move on to show that in Scripture, All men, from Adam onwards, every one of us is under law. In one form or way or another, God deals with humankind as a law somewhere. I mean, some of these are very important points. I haven't come here to advocate New Covenant theology. I think I said that yesterday. I am that, I didn't know I was a new covenant theologian, whether that's the right word, but I am. But one of the accusations made against people like me and others who hold this position is that we are anti, or you I think you say anti, anti or anti-noma, anti-law, anti-nomians. Now I've just said that as I read the Bible, all men, are under law. So how I can be accused of being anti or antinomian is a strange thing, but there it is. I didn't just throw that as a make-weight, I do believe all men, the Bible says so, I'll try and argue it. That should take us up to the end of this session. And what I want to do in the final session is apply that. to preach it, if you like. If all men are under law, then everyone in this room, and everyone who hears me, who is a believer, is under a law of some sort. And that must have consequences. And I want just to spell out those consequences, or briefly indicate what they are, preach them. And of course then, anybody else in the room or who hears this, who is not a believer, That unbeliever is also under law in some way to God, and that has implications for them. And I want to preach that. That's called preaching the gospel. And after all, I think this conference was called New Covenant Evangelism. We don't want to go away thinking about mere technicalities about nomos and Torah and, you know, antinomianism. That's all very well. But the truth is the ultimate test, the ultimate thing is, am I in Christ or am I not? Am I saved or am I not? Have I been converted to God or am I not? Really, if you go away not a New Covenant theologian, that won't be the end of the world. But if you die without Christ, that will be the end of more than the world. It'll be the end of eternity. So, let's get our priorities right here. So, first of all then, what is law? Now, everybody takes it for granted. We all know what law is, don't we? How many different meanings do you think in the Bible can be justly given to the word law? Have you got any idea? When you see law in the Bible, what do you think of? I mean, that's what I'm asking you. I don't mind you responding, you know, if you want to. What do you think of? I'll tell you what most people think of. I think most people think about the Ten Commandments. That's what I think. If you went out to the man in the street, or the man in the average church, in the pew, and you said law, they would think of something called the Ten Commandments. They might, if they knew a little bit more, talk about something called the moral law. They might. Perhaps some of you think when you read law, it means Ten Commandments. How many times in the Bible does the word, the phrase, the Ten Commandments, the literal phrase, how many times does the Ten Commandments, how many times does that actually appear in the Bible? Go on, call out. No, I think it occurs three times, I think. I think it is three times, but let's just say it's rare. Now, I'm not saying it's not there in other forms. I mean, 2 Corinthians 3 doesn't mention the Ten Commandments, but it's Commandments carved in stone. Well, we know what we're talking about. Okay, that's Sinai, all right, isn't it? That's the Ten Commandments. So it's there. I'm not denying that, but the fact of the matter is, though everybody, almost, almost everybody, would think immediately when you see law, ah, Ten Commandments, that the actual phrase is a very rare phrase in Scripture. That's just worth thinking about. Moral law. How many times does that appear in the Bible? Zero. Now, not only does the phrase moral law not appear in the Bible, that whole concept of approaching the word law is nowhere near in the Bible. You see, there was a man called Thomas Aquinas, who was one of the arch-theologians of the Roman church. I think his works are still on the altar for them. Thomas Aquinas is a very important man in the Roman Church. And the reformers, when they left the Roman Church in the 1500s, Luther and Calvin and so on, you've got to remember they were born medieval men. They were born in the Roman Church. I'm not criticizing them for the fact. I was born in England, that's just a fact. You were born, most of you, in the USA. I mean, that's just a fact, isn't it? Some of your parents were born in Russia, I think, in all those sorts of places. Well, fair enough. And we inherited that Russian, or English, or whatever it is. I understand all that, I'm not complaining, but it's a fact. And Calvin would be brought up in the school, you see, of the Roman teaching, Aquinas. Unfortunately, he did not go as far as the Anabaptists. in throwing off the medieval church. This is now recognized, but I mean, it's a fact anyway. And one of the things that Calvin kept was this tripart division of the law, this threefold division of the law from Aquinas. The law divided into moral, the Ten Commandments, ceremonial, and then social or civil. Now, I don't really mind about that division, although it's not scriptural. But the truth is, that wasn't done just for fun. That wasn't done just as a clever device. That was done so that when we came across certain texts of scripture, which we found difficult, we could shunt those scriptures into one of these three waste paper baskets, if you like. Well, two of them are waste paper baskets. And we could say, well, those two bits have gone, but this bit remains. So this begins, this is a new hermeneutic, we call it. It's a new approach to the Bible. We now have a system, you see, of handling difficult texts of scripture. My friend, you aren't meant to handle Scripture, Scripture is meant to handle you. But that's what most people think, moral or Ten Commandments. Actually, I think there are about six or seven different meanings to the word law in Scripture. I'm just going to briefly give them. Now, I'm not giving you detailed facts to make notes here. I haven't got any notes in front of me. You can see that. Now, I've got one or two texts written down in there, but if you want my arguments behind it, I'm sorry to be saying this, but I've written it out in a book, and you can get it for a dollar. I give it to you, but I can't give you Kindles. But you can get it for a dollar on Kindle. Believers Under the Law of Christ. It's a series of articles, really, where you can deal with any article, they're not really connected. And it deals with all these issues. And there's a chapter there, What is Law? And in there I give all the Scriptures. One meaning of the word Law is all the Bible itself. And I believe Psalm 19 is that. In fact, our brother actually said that. He's got the Word of God, he said. But actually, he's quite wrong, because it's Law. But he's quite right, because that's exactly what it means there. Did you hear that? He said the Word of God. We sang a hymn in praise of God for his word, and yet it talks about the law, because the word law there means, or statutes or judgments, that's speaking about the entire scriptures. Now sometimes the word law is used to speak about the Pentateuch, the first five books. Sometimes it's to talk about all the works of Moses, or the covenant. Sometimes it's the Ten Commandments, but I think very rare myself. Romans 7 has got one or two references there. But whether it's just the Ten Commandments, but I'll agree, the law sometimes can mean the Ten Commandments. But almost universally, almost every time when you see law, it means that revelation which God gave to Israel on Mount Sinai. Not just the ten, but the whole 613. I mean, you can check it out. If you take Exodus 24, you can see it. You get it over and over again, the statutes, the judgments, the testimonies, the law, and it goes on, piling all these words on, and it's referring to all parts of this great system that God gave to Israel on Mount Sinai. So, if you're completely new to New Covenant theology, and you want to think about it, First of all, remember, when you open your Bible and you see the word, Lord, don't just think of the Ten Commandments. It might mean that, but very rarely. It's usually talking about that revelation through Moses to Israel. By the way, there's a lot of talk about Ten Commandments. I think that's one of the biggest misrepresentations you could ever meet, and I'll tell you why. How many commandments did Calvin think were in the moral law? Boy, don't you know? No, no, he thought nine. Sorry, did somebody say nine? Nine. Why? Because the Sabbath, he says, the fourth, is part of the ceremonial law. It's a tremendous embarrassment to those who are covenant theologians. Because Calvin said the fourth commandment is not part of the moral law. It's part of the ceremonial. Now, you can work out and tell me afterwards how he did that, because I don't know, but that's how he did it, all right? I'm not part of that system, but that's what he said. Now, if you come to today, the majority of people who are advocating the ten commandments, really, strictly speaking, are nine and a half commandments. Nine and a half, because they say they keep the Sabbath, but I defy any man to come into this room and say clearly that he has kept the Sabbath. according to the dictates of God in his word. Now, I'm not, I'm teasing, aren't I? That's English, but I'm laughing at them. I don't mean to mock them, but the truth is, we've got to be honest here. Is it nine, or is it nine and a half, or is it 10? You see, in the moral law. I'm digressing, because it's not my system. Is it yours, my friend? Well, are you a nine and a half-er, or a nine, or a 10-er? You've got to think about it. So that's the first point, really. Don't just jump to the conclusion law means moral law. By the way, quite often in the original, the apostle, particularly Paul, doesn't use the word the law. He leaves it a law. Now, some people might be frightened by this, but better men than me, FF Bruce for one, have pointed out, they know their Greek far better than I do, and that wouldn't take much doing, but they know their Greek, and what they've said is that this actually strengthens the whole idea of law. It doesn't weaken, it's not a weakening to leave out the the. But, I mean, you won't notice it because it's not, if you don't read your Greek, you won't know the problem. So it doesn't matter. Law does not always mean, rarely does it mean ten commandments. Okay. My second point today, before we get to the break then, is who is under law? Now, I'm not talking about law of Moses now, I'm not talking about the Ten Commandments already, I'm not talking about any particular law, but who is in the Bible under law? Well, let me start. I want to say this, that all men are under law. Because if there's no law, The Bible tells me, if there is no sense of law, if there is no law, then there can be no definition or sense of sin. There must be some law. That's the notes I had, you know. I've actually got some notes here. Romans, if you've got your Bible there, Romans 3.20. Some of you will say, ah, well, these texts refer to certain laws. We could debate about that. But the point is, they can be generalized. There is a general point coming over in three or four texts in Romans. Romans 3.20. I'm just picking out. I'm not doing this carefully enough. I'm just trying to give you a sensation, a sense, a feeling of where this is going. Romans 3.20, at the end, the apostle says, Don't get tied up with which law he's talking about here. It's true of a particular law. I know the law you've got in mind, but it's true in general. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Law brings a sense of sin. When I see 65 on the freeway, Well, you see it. In my country it's 70. We're always bigger than you. Our roads are smaller, but we go faster, yes. Of course, that means we all drive at 77, because they give us 10%. But you understand that the idea now is brought in some sense of right and wrong, isn't it? If that thing wasn't there, well, that number... Again then, Romans 4.15. Where no law is, there is no transgression. I could develop all these words, but I'm deliberately not doing it. Romans 5.13 Sin is not imputed when there is no law. By the way, that's a very important passage for the moment, I'm going to make a point from that. And then you get it in Romans 7, 7, 2, except the law had said. Now, of course, he's talking about the Ten Commandments there. Except the law had said, then I would not have known. The point I'm making there, the only point I'm making there is law and sin. Now, let's start. Was Adam under a law? Well, of course he was. Thou shalt not do this, whatever it was. In the day you do, and so on. And that passage comes there, that's referred to in Romans 5. You can look at it at your own leisure. And he talks about Adam's transgression. Adam broke a law. So Adam was under the law, under some law of some kind. Let us jump now from Adam to Moses. Well, whatever you say about Israel, Israel was under a law. The law given through God, by God, through Moses, on Mount Sinai. Now that law expressly, we're told repeatedly, was given to Israel and Israel only. Psalm 147, for example. Psalm 147, verses 19 and 20, I think. Psalm 147, verses 19 and 20. This Bible won't open in the right place. He showeth His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation, but any other nation. And as for His judgments, they have not known them. God's special treatment of Israel was to give them His law through Moses. There's a couple of passages in Romans. Do you remember them? Which make the same point? I think it's Romans 2 or 3, and I think it's in Romans 9. What advantage then hath the Jew? What's the point? What's the game? Verily, much in every way. Give me one advantage. To them were committed the oracles of God. The Red Indians wouldn't give them the law. The ancient Brits wouldn't give them the law. The Assyrians wouldn't give them the law. The Babylonians wouldn't give them the law. God signaled out Israel by giving them his laws. I have not dealt with any other nation, says God, in this way. So Israel was under the law. Israel was under law, full stop. Was Jesus under law? Do you remember the text? Galatians 4. In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, made under the law. This does not just mean that he was a Jew. It does mean that. But the Lord Jesus came under law. Any other passage? Hebrews 10. I have come to do by will of God. You read John's Gospel again and again. It says, he had to fulfill that which his father had sent him to do. The Lord Jesus was under law. That's Jews. That's Adam. That's Jesus. Well, what about the pagans then? Where did they come into all this? I've just said the Assyrians didn't have the law. They didn't. They didn't have the law of Moses. Does this mean that they were lawless? No. They too had a law. Let me make this point. It's just occurred to me. Just because some of these laws are not written down, It doesn't mean to say they're not real laws. I don't know that Adam had a law written down, do you? God said to him. Certainly Moses had the law in the stone and then in the book of the covenant and so on. But the essential part is not to have it written down, but God to have given it. Adam knew what the law was. Jesus knew what the law was, and of course Israel knew. What about the pagans then? Well, I just quoted, read to you Romans chapter 5, and Paul makes the point there. The pagans from Adam to Moses, they still died. Well, yeah, they died, that's right. Ah, well that means they were sinners. Ah, but you can't sin if there ain't no law. Paul says, now they didn't sin in the same way as Adam did. They didn't commit a transgression. So how did they die then? Well, of course, they inherited from Adam, but also in this fact, they were in themselves still under a law. Pagans are under a law. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. Now, this is not criticizing the authorized version, but really, there should be some brackets introduced into the text. You understand that brackets and commas and punctuation and all that kind of thing were not in the Bible. They weren't invented then. So everybody's got to supply them, and you put your commas in. The translators put commas and brackets in where they think it gives the sense. Everybody does it, even the King James. I mean, that's what they have to do. But Romans chapter 2, I wish we had time to develop all this. I've written it out in my book, as I said. But Romans 2.12... I notice now, looking down, verse 13 is in brackets. That's excellent. And that's good. I've forgotten that the authorized version... I don't use the authorized version normally, you see. I used to, of course, I was brought up on it. But Romans 2.13... We can jump in now to verse 14. When the Gentiles, which have not the law, Now, which law is he referring to there? Mosaic law. Oh, by the way, I should have said, well, how can you tell in all these different meanings then? Law means this. How do I tell? Well, it's called the old friend context. It's called the old friend context, okay? And I was thinking of this in the night sometime, or this morning, and I believe you know the circumstance. I thought of an illustration. If Natalia said, looking out, said one day, what a hot dog, what a hot dog, would she be referring to a sausage or a little dog sitting on the lawn in the sun? The word dog is in there. I'm not going to be facetious, but the word dog is there, but we don't get lost. She's not talking about a sausage in a roll or a burger, whatever it is. She's talking about her little pet outside, or the other way around, what the context tells us. And that's what I said just now, when it says here in Romans 2 and verse 14, when Gentiles, which have not the law, quite clearly in the context here, go back in Romans and see, he's talking about the Mosaic law. So that's what we've already said, that's nothing. The Gentiles don't have the Mosaic law, but we know that. They never were given it. That's what marked them out from the Jews. That's what marked the Jews out from the Gentiles. That's one of the reasons. One of the great marking points. We've got the law. We're Jews. You Gentiles don't have the law. Do by nature the things contained in the law Instinctively, they're living in a way that shows that there's some kind of moral obedience, whatever word you want there, some kind of decency among them. Okay, right. These, having not the law, I say the same point again, they don't have the law, they don't have the mosaic law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law, written in their hearts. Now, that's not the law of Moses written in their hearts. There's no Gentile instinctively knows that he has to keep the Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is there? And that's only one example. No Gentiles, by light of nature, knows that he's got to offer this particular sacrifice on this particular day and all the rest of it, doesn't he? They don't have God's law in the Mosaic law sense written on their hearts, but they have a kind of law. And if you read the rest of the passage, you'll see it's called conscience. It's the light that God gives them. They argue with one another. They justify each other. They blush. They're embarrassed. They have a sense of right and wrong. It's blurred. It's seared. But it's nevertheless there. There's something there. And if you put your Scriptures together and reason it out, you'll see that that is what all men are under. There is a sense. of right and wrong. I mean, you try it on anybody, and you accuse him of being a sinner, and he'll soon tell you that he's right. Or you ask anybody, it's not fair, they'll say. Well, where did you get the idea of fairness from? It's all in us, you see. Paul made the point yesterday, very powerfully, I think, I'm not embarrassed, I've read it scores, hundreds of times, but towards the end of Romans 1, and Romans 1, by the way, plays into this, Romans 1.18 and on, you'll see it there, that they have this in them, and Paul made the point, he read it, and I don't think it's struck me quite so forcibly before, they have the knowledge that there is a day of accounting coming. You're an atheist, friend, However much he suppresses it, Romans 1, deep down, whether he'll admit it or not, whether he even knows it or not, deep down in his soul, afraid is the right word, he knows the counting day is coming. He's got to answer. He's seared it and he'll cover it over. He'll turn the telly up a bit louder. But he gets his fears. He gets his doubts. Anyway, in short, all men are under this law of nature, shall we say. The philosophers are arguing what's right and wrong. And we're all philosophers. I'm not a philosopher, but we are some. We all know how to justify ourselves. I've seen many of you. Many of you have got young children. You don't have to teach your children, do you, how to argue that they're right and you're wrong. I mean, they know that, don't they? They know how to argue black is white. Or brown, yes. But they know how to do it. So that only leaves one real class of people now. And that's the believer. If all men, Adam, pagans, Jews, Christ. There's only one class left now, and that's those who were pagans or Jews, but have been converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I read in my Bible that such men and women have died to the law. I read that. It's a very wonderful thing. They have died to the law and so on. But does this mean that they are now lawless? You see? I made the initial point, didn't I, some time ago now when I started. No. There is no man who is lawless. Believer, you are under a law. You have still that light of conscience within you, yes, but you are under a bigger, better, stronger, more powerful law than that, I'll tell you. And it's not the law of Moses which was given to Israel on Mount Sinai. By the way, I could show you as you probably don't, well, most of you know, but in Galatians 3, that law has been fulfilled. Hebrews 8, and so on. That law has been completed in Christ. Matthew 5, that was read yesterday. Many texts which show us that Christ came into the world in order to fulfill that law. But the point is that we are not under the law of Moses as believers, but we are most definitely under a law. Now, I'll be very brief now. Let me just give you, say, just three Scriptures. The law of Christ, that's what we're talking about, is only mentioned literally once in the Bible. I said about the Ten Commandments only two or three times. Three times I think it is. But the law of Christ as a phrase appears only once literally in the Greek. And that's in Galatians 6.2. But the point is this. It's not just the literal words law of Christ. It's the idea. Now, there are some major texts which we need to look at, and we've got five minutes or so, but we'll just take a few minutes. 1 Corinthians, chapter 9. Now, I want to play fair with you. I want to play fair with you. 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, and verse 20. Well, you go back to verse 19. The context here, by the way, is slavery. The context here is slavery. And verse 19, Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them all. Now it's this point here. Paul is developing an argument here. He's making the argument that though he is free, he will put himself into bondage, slavery, to reach as many as he can. Now listen. This is what he says. approach men, it could be that I'm approaching them as pagans. By the way, is this heat on? Are you warm? Because I'm very warm. Can it be stopped? Is it possible? I don't want to make you cold. In verse 20, unto the Jews I became as a Jew. that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. What is he saying there? When I approach Jews, I become as a Jew. Now, I think it was Brother Jaco who said yesterday, I think it was you, who made the point, why would Paul say that he became a Jew when he was already a Jew? Was it you, brother? I think it was, yes. Why would Paul say that I became a Jew when he already was a Jew? Because he had left his Judaism. And he said, for their sake, I will actually submit myself back under their law, as it were. I will do things to reach them. I will go to their synagogue. I will share with them as far as I can to reach them. There's obviously a limit here, but you understand what he's saying? I am not under that law anymore, but I'm willing to go back under it for that sake, just to reach them in their approach to them. He's not actually going back under that law, of course, because he died to it. He's free from it. Verse 21. To them that are without law, who are they? Now he's talking about the law of Moses here. He's really talking about the pagans. as without law. But then he speaks about himself. Being not without law to God, I'm not without law with God. Even though I'm acting like this, I go there where I'm lawless, but I'm not lawless. I go here where I'm under the law of Moses, but I'm not under the law of Moses. Because in truth, I am under another law altogether. Verse 21, under the law to Christ. It's not literally the phrase, the law of Christ. But you wanna split a hair, you can, okay? He's really talking about the law of Christ here. Now, I wanna be very fair to you, but the time has gone. He does not actually say under. Now, I know in your Bible it does, but in his Greek, he does not say. That would have been, the Greek word would have been hapo nomon, and he does not use that. He uses a phrase, a word called, the word he uses is called enomos. You must study this for yourself. You don't just take it from me. And I've had to use scholars as well, beyond my understanding of the Greek. But the truth is, there's a distinction here without a difference. Enamos and Haponomon really amount to the same thing. You're splitting hairs of the very tiniest split, if you want. And there's a reason why he does use enamos here. The apostle loved wordplay. You understand about wordplay? I played with it just now, with the word dog. The word has two meanings, and that makes the joke. Not that I wanted to crack a joke, but it made the point. Let me give you an example of wordplay. It's not only Paul. Paul Christ did it. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy. My burden is light. Remember Peter when he was speaking in Acts 15? God gave us a yoke which we could not bear. So the law was a yoke which was unbearable, says one of the Jews. And Paul writes to the Galatians in chapter 5 and verse 1, he said, don't be yoked again. Don't be in bondage again to the law. And yet Christ says, take my yoke. I'm not saying he was cracking a joke, but he's playing on words there, which will strike people who know the inside story. If you know the background to it, yoke, yoke. So Christ's yoke is different then. It's playing on words, you see. And I think Paul is doing it here. And if you read it out loud, sort of fairly quickly, you can hear the thumping sort of repetitive notion of law. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under the law to Christ. It's coming over and over and over again. Law. Law. There's the law of Moses. There's the pagan law. But I, as a believer, am under the law of Christ. And one last text then, and that's 1 John 3, 4. How can any man who teaches this be called an antinomian? I am under the law to Christ. And let's make this very clear. This law of Christ, and it's one of the chapters in my book I've mentioned, is more penetrating More searching than the law of Moses. Did you hear that? Jesus said, you have heard what Moses said to you, but I say to you, and he drives it deeper. Our brother mentioned yesterday about adultery. That's the classic one. Moses said, no adultery. Jesus says, if you even think about it. It's the hearts I'm after. So how any man who can say, we brothers and sisters are under the law of Christ, can be accused of antinomianism. Anti, against, law. Well I've just advocated the law of Christ, how can it be? Unless I'm prepared to say the law of Christ is just trivial, sentimental, gush and nonsense, which is what Walt Chantry said, dismissing us, said. You know, it's fuzzy and that sort of thing. Well, if we give that impression, we're terribly wrong. I'll say more about that in the second session. The law of Christ, though, is more searching. And I'm under that law as a believer. But one last passage in the time, and that is 1 John 3, verse 4. 1 John 3, verse 4. John says there, Whoever commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Now, the transgression of the law. I've just checked it out with our brother Rusty here. Can you read the ESV there for us, Rusty, please? Sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Now, in the Authorized, the King James, sin is the transgression of the law. In the ESV, and you'll find it in the NSV as well, NIB and so on, these other versions, they have sin is lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. It's in his transgression of the law. Why this difference? Well, the modern versions have translated the Greek accurately. Because John actually does use the word a or a, you would say, anomos. All right? So I'm going to give 9 out of 10 to ESV and NIV. because they have translated it accurately. But I'm gonna give 10 out of 10 to the authorized version for what is, technically speaking, an inaccurate version. You follow me? Because DePaul did not literally say sin is transgression of the law. He said sin is anomos, lawlessness. So where have I gone? for aversion, which is not so accurate to the Greek, because that's exactly what Paul meant. Now, you have to be mature here. You have to take your Greek lexicon and look up the word anomos, all right? Anomos. And you will find a whole stream of text, not only 1 John 3, you'll find a whole stream of texts where this word is used. And you will notice, if you look at the context, and it's the context every time, don't let anybody impose that on you, look at VSR, the context will tell you every time. Shall we say half? I'm not doing the numerics, but if you do half these texts, half these texts mean that the people I'm talking about do not have the law of Moses. They are anomos. They do not have the law. They are lawless. Mosaic lawless. So this word can mean lawless. Rust is version, or ESV, and so on. That's exactly what Paul said. But another half, the other half, means not that they do not have the law of Moses, but they have a law and they don't keep that law. Now, the English are very pedantic, very accurate and precise, over-precise you might say, about the hyphen. And when you get lawless, you have to know where the hyphen is. I'm going to Memphis in a few days' time, and the brother there wrote to me and he said, somebody's read your book and he doesn't understand why you put hyphen in somewhere, you see, in New Covenant. So I explained, that's English. I put the hyphen in New Covenant, between New and Covenant, because I'm not talking about a New Covenant theology, but I'm talking about a New Covenant theology. I got to link the two words I want linked. The point about anomos is this. You can have a hyphen there. Is it somebody who has a law and won't keep it? He is lawless. Or is it somebody who never had a law at all? And he is lawless. And you have to decide with John. 1 John 3, 4. John said, Sin is lawlessness. Now does he mean sin is when you don't have a law? No. He means sin is when you've got a law and you don't do it. You do this every day with your children. I told you not to do that and you did it. It isn't you broke the cup and you didn't know. It isn't you made that mess on the floor and you didn't know it was wrong. I told you not to do it. They are law Less? No, they are lawless. Now is John saying, I'm writing to you and I'm saying this, whoever commits sin transgresses all the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. He is not saying, is he, that you don't have a law. He's saying sin is when you break a law you got. And that is why the authorized version here is so good. Because that's exactly what John is saying to these people. He's reminding the believers that they must not transgress the law. If they break the law, they're sinning. That's what he's saying to them. He isn't saying sin is because you haven't got a law at all. The question is, of course, what law is he talking about? That's the question. That's the real question here. Sorry for all the Greek, but I'm being honest with you. But that's what it is behind it. Now, the question is, what law is he talking about? Well, you don't have to guess. It's called context again. You've had that warning all the time. It's context. Just read 1 John and see. And when you found John speaking of the law of Moses there, then you must tell me about it. Because I've read 1 John, and I haven't seen it yet. I see commandment. I think commandment comes eight times. But in the second chapter, he spells it out very clearly. Although he does not use the phrase, he's talking about Christ's commandments. Now I've got a word for that, and that's called the law of Christ. Now you could say, well, that's not actually in John. I know it's not. I fully agree. But it's Christ's commandments. Christ's law. And what John is saying to these believers, if you don't keep Christ's law, You are sinning. And that must mean, therefore, that believers are under Christ's law. They've got to obey. Of course, in the new covenant, it's not only got to obey, but God writes his law on our hearts so we want to obey. And he gives us his spirit to move us to obey. We still stumble, brother. We still fail, sister. And we grieve over it. But we're in a different law altogether. We have died to the law of Moses. We have died to pagan law. But we are now alive unto Christ and under his law. He is our husband. And you know the principles, the biblical principles of marriage. And here it is. And Christ is our head. If this is antinomianism, well, it's the oddest antinomianism I have ever met. There's an antinomianism, my friend, which says we are under the law of Moses, but you don't keep it. Nine and a half commandments. Who's the real antinomian? Who's the real antinomian? I fail, my brothers and sisters. I confess it. I'm not preaching that we should not worry about that. We are under law to Christ. But blessed be God, that is the greatest liberty that could ever be. His law is perfect freedom. Now, I want to take in the second session, take that up. If all men are under law, then any unbeliever listening to me, you're under law. You better know what that law is, and you better know the consequences of disobeying it. And believer, let me just say a bit more later on this morning about the consequences for us under the law of Christ. So that's what I want to say in the first session. Thank you for listening to me.