Alright guys, what time is it? It's been a month, but we're back in Romans guys. So remember the whole book of Romans is about the gospel. He says in verse 16 of chapter 1, He says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So then he starts to describe the gospel. It starts to help us to understand what the gospel is. And he starts off with the wrath of God. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. I've said this again and again, guys, that the gospel doesn't start with God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. It starts with the wrath of God. Why? Because God's wrath is coming, and so the big issue is is are you a good person or are you a sinner? Are you guilty or are you innocent? So the gospel starts with a diagnosis. When you go to the doctor, you're sick guys. It's important to know how bad the problem is. You don't treat a cough with chemo. You don't treat cancer with cough medicine. So it starts with a diagnosis. But does Paul then take us to the doctor's office Where does he take us? To the courtroom. Let's see if we got us. Here we go. The courtroom, guys. That's where you find out who's innocent and who's guilty. And so we've got our judge here, and we've got our prosecutor. So the judge is the one who determines, are you guilty or are you not guilty? And Joshie has taken the place of the, let me find, I got him here somewhere. Josh is the one who takes the place of the prosecutor. He's the Apostle Paul. And what does the prosecutor do? He accuses of guilt. He says, that person is guilty. And that's what Josh does. That's what Paul does. And so we jumped to the end of it. And he says, what then, are we Jews any better off? No, we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks. Who's a Jew? A person with a Bible. In that first century, that would have been a person with a Bible. Who's agreed? A person without a Bible. So who does that include then? Everybody. Everybody is under trial, stands before God, and the Gospel starts by prosecuting everyone. You, me, everyone. We're going to see that today as we go on. And so that's where the Gospel Are we innocent or are we guilty? And so, sorry, I got ahead. Joshie, I mean possible. Okay. Pretending to be the prosecutor who was witness number one. God, through nature, through creation, God has made the truth obvious. He has made it obvious that He is creator and we are creatures. He has made it obvious that He is all powerful, He is eternal, He is good, and that we need Him. What do we do with that truth? We distort it. Okay, we ignore it, we suppress it, right? But the point is guys, as witness number one, God through nature, you can sum up witness number one, his testimony with this, you and I are without excuse. We can't say God hid that from me, I didn't know. God made it obvious. So witness number one, are we looking guilty or innocent? Guilty. Very good. We're looking guilty. We got no excuse. Witness number two, Joshi? Your conscience. Who has a conscience? You do. Very good. You all have a conscience. Everybody. And your conscience, witness number two, remember what your conscience is. It doesn't create light. It lets light in. And your conscience is your soul's warning system. It excuses you when you think you did what was right. And if you do something you think is wrong, it accuses you. That's what your conscience does. And so what's your conscience's testimony? Remember what Paul said in Romans 2 verse 1? You condemn yourself. Condemn means to declare yourself guilty. You declare yourself guilty in how you judge other people. You know right from wrong, not because you apply it to yourself. You know right from wrong, and it's obvious, because you apply it to everybody else right. And all God would have to do is play back your conscience and your actions, and you condemn yourself. I condemn myself. And so, two witnesses, and they both declare, are we looking innocent or guilty? Guilty. Guilty. Very guilty. Innocent. Very good. Third witness? The Law. That's the one we looked at last time, but it's been a month, so I want us to refresh, okay? The Law, if you jump toward the end, is where we look. It says, "...for by the works of the Law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." And so I tried to emphasize that the Law, guys, the Law gives us the knowledge of sin. So, be ready. This is your question right here, right? Can any man, when we studied the Ten Commandments, the Law, we went through all ten of them, we learned about them, and then this question was in the Catechism. Can any man keep these Ten Commandments? Bam! Very good. B. Red knows that question so well. That's really good. No mere man, now Jesus is the God-man. He kept them. But no mere man since the fall of Adam ever did or can keep these Ten Commandments. Guys, nobody can keep the Ten Commandments. So a lot of people think, well if I keep the Ten Commandments, I'll go to heaven. That's not why God gave the Ten Commandments. No mere man can keep the Ten Commandments. We just read it in the Bible. It says this. More important than the Catechism is the Bible. It says, By the works of the law, no human being will be justified. Nobody will be saved by what we did. That's why we just sang it. Not by what my hands have done can meet the laws of man. I can't remember the words. I got it out. Sorry. And see, what are we saying? Not the labors of My hands can fulfill Thy laws, the man's. See, we can't justify ourselves. No mere man can keep the Ten Commandments. So, of what use are the Ten Commandments to us? Who wants it? 80. Teach us our duty, make clear our condemnation, and show us our need of a Savior. And what I've emphasized last time, guys, is this. It makes clear our condemnation. And again, just like the Catechism teaches us, more importantly, that's what the Bible says. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. It makes clear that we're guilty. And so remember, guys, I showed you, I gave you the example, that the law is a... You should know this by now. It's a mirror! The law shows us who we are. It's not something we have to keep to save. It shows us who we are. And so the point is this, guys. If, say, I wake up one morning, and let's say I got dirt on my face. But I don't realize it. Obviously, I know I'm getting dirt on my face right now. But I got dirt on my face like this. I wake up, and it's all, you see it? You look dirty? Here's the point, guys, is we're all dirty. We all need to be clean, but we don't realize it. So the law shows me. See that? Oh my goodness. Look at that. I got mud on my face. Okay. Like a mud person. And so here's the thing. The law shows me I'm dirty. Now, do I take the law? Do I take the mirror and clean myself? No, that's silly. That's exactly my point. Not at all. The purpose of the law is not to cleanse me from my sin, guys. That would be like taking a mirror and trying to clean myself. The mirror drives me to the water, right? Where I cleanse. The way we would say this is this. Luke, you know the answer to this. Let's see if you can step it up. Luke, what can wash away my sin? nothing but the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from our sins, guys. It's not keeping the law. And that's why it's so important to understand that the law is a mirror. Now, we want to go on and see, okay, how bad is this case against us? Witness number one, guilty. Witness number two, our conscience, we condemn ourselves. Witness number three, makes our condemnation clear. We can't deny it. I want to show you how clear this is. He says, we've already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, so who would that be? Everybody are under sin. I want us to understand how bad this is for us, guys. Let's look at what it says. He goes on. The next verses say this. As it is written, and he quotes from Psalm 14. None is righteous, no not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. The point I want you guys to understand is something called universal quantitators. If you want to know that, talk to Timmy afterwards. That is beyond my pay grade. But what we are talking about is words. Words that mean it is universal. It applies to everyone without exception. All dogs are mammals. Is it possible for there to be a dog that is not a mammal? No, not at all. quantifiers, and we see them all over. Anytime you see none or all, that means it's universal, guys. It's everyone. All human beings. So let's see what it says. It says none is righteous. How many are righteous? Is there any human being who's righteous? None. And then it even goes on to say not even one. Not one. It says no one understands. How many understands? None. Is there a human being who understands? No. No one seeks for God. Who seeks for God? Is there a human being that seeks for God? None. All have turned aside. How many people ignore God's ways and go their own way? How many people turn aside? Everybody. Very good, Lachlan. All. No one does good. How many do good? Is there a human being who does good? No! I mean, this is the case that Paul says, and then he emphasizes it. He says, not even one. Okay? The point is this, guys. Every single human being, everybody, stands at the same place before God. They stand guilty and under His wrath. That is where we stand. The case against us is tight. We have no hope of saying, I am good enough. There is none. There is none good enough. We all stand guilty and under His wrath. Think about what this means, guys. How bad is our guilt? He says none is righteous. What does that mean? That means everybody is universally evil. That means it is not just Hitler or Saddam Hussein who is evil, but everybody is evil. Now there are differences in evil and all that, but the point is we are all universe, we are evil, we are not good. He says, no one understands. We are all spiritually ignorant. We are ignorant. We don't know the things of God. It says, no one seeks for God. We don't want to seek for God because we are subservient to sin. He says, all have turned aside. See, there is a way that seems right to man. Do you know that, guys? It is not God's way. There is a way that seems right to man. But its end is death. That is what Proverbs 14.12 says. All have turned aside. We are wayward. We don't want to go God's way. We want to do what we want to do. We have become worthless. What he means by that is what? We are spiritually useless, guys. Spiritually, we are good for nothing. Nothing. Because we are spiritually ignorant. We are wayward and rebellious. He says, no one does good. We are what is called morally corrupt. That is who we are. And we stand before God in that way. The prosecutor closes his case, quoting from Psalm 36, he says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. That's where we stand. Now, here's my point, guys. How can any person, how can any person, any human being be okay when God declares and makes it clear that we are guilty and under His wrath? How can anyone be okay with that? Because most of the world seems fine. You know why? This quote comes from Psalm 36. And if we go to Psalm 36, we can see what the psalmist says. He says, an oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked. And then he says, there it is, there's no fear of God before his eyes. And then look at this right here. For in his own eyes, he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. See, the point is this, guys, pride. is the natural response of the center. God would never send me to hell. That is what almost every center thinks. Maybe my neighbor, but I'm better than him. And guys, God's law comes in and says, everybody. You are guilty, and you stand under deserving the wrath of God. That is how. That is what you deserve, and that is what the Gospel tells us. Now, does God want us to feel bad about ourselves? Is that why He says that? Why would God do that? Why would God do that? Oops, I went the wrong way. to show us we need a Savior. See guys, I want you to understand the law is a mirror, but the law is also a stick. Now we don't use a stick like this in my illustration, but let's say Elliot, let's say he's wayward. He's going where he shouldn't go, okay? See, I might use a stick, he's coming this way, and he just won't listen and won't listen and won't listen. I might use a stick, okay, to drive him where he needs to go, huh? Now Elliot's cute as can be here, okay? If he was really mean and wayward, it would really take a stick to get you to go where you need to go, wouldn't it, okay? Go ahead and sit down. Thanks, Elliot. All right. And thanks for being so cute doing that, okay? The point is, guys, the law, God wants you to see your sin and that you're guilty and under His right. He wants you to see that because it's a stick to drive you to Jesus. Because, geez, guys, what can wash away your sins? It's not by a way of the law. The blood of Jesus. And so the law drives us where we need to go, where our only hope is, and that's Jesus. The way Paul says it, a little bit different context, but it works for us here. He says, wretched man that I am. Guys, if you understand you're guilty and under the wrath of God, you can't get any more wretched than that. Wretched man that I am. And then he says, who will deliver me from this body of death? Who will deliver me from my guilt? Who will deliver me? Good question. Let me finish that. Here we go. Who will deliver me? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. See guys, the Gospel, the Law, leads us to Jesus, that we would trust in Jesus. So let's pray that we would use the Law as God intends, and that it would drive us to trust in Jesus, the only hope for sinners. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank You for who You are. We thank You that You love us enough to tell us truths that are uncomfortable, that we might not like. but truths that lead us to realize we need a Savior and that you provided all we need in Jesus. Help us to love and to trust and to cling to Jesus all our days in this world. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.