Hi, Cliff Goldstein your host for Contending For the Faith. 00:00:21.12\00:00:26.11 Glad you've tuned in. 00:00:26.14\00:00:29.73 Psalm 19:1-4 00:00:29.76\00:00:33.22 "The heavens declare the glory of God, 00:00:33.25\00:00:36.91 and the firmament shows His handiwork. 00:00:36.94\00:00:40.55 Day unto day utters speech, 00:00:40.58\00:00:43.47 and night unto night shows knowledge. 00:00:43.50\00:00:46.94 There is no speech nor language 00:00:46.97\00:00:50.53 in which their voice is not heard. 00:00:50.56\00:00:54.61 Their line is gone out through all the earth, 00:00:54.64\00:00:58.29 and their words to the end of the world." 00:00:58.32\00:01:03.65 Deep thought. 00:01:03.68\00:01:05.62 By daylight or moonlight, in the jungle or in the desert, 00:01:05.65\00:01:10.06 on land or in sea, 00:01:10.09\00:01:12.51 the glory of God is revealed in the creation. 00:01:12.54\00:01:17.60 And whether a speaker of Serbian 00:01:17.63\00:01:20.69 or 5th century Chinese 00:01:20.72\00:01:25.17 or a Dutch or of ancient Egyptians humans have through 00:01:25.20\00:01:29.76 the created works listened to the voice of God. 00:01:29.79\00:01:36.29 Now what is heard, what is revealed, 00:01:36.32\00:01:39.25 what is understood from these works 00:01:39.28\00:01:42.05 those questions have been debated for centuries. 00:01:42.08\00:01:46.14 I mean, in a fallen world 00:01:46.17\00:01:48.09 when everything from the clouds to our DNA 00:01:48.12\00:01:51.54 has impacted by sin the message can be mixed, 00:01:51.57\00:01:56.91 not only from the creation itself 00:01:56.94\00:02:00.52 but from how we with our fallen minds process 00:02:00.55\00:02:05.54 and understand that creation. 00:02:05.57\00:02:08.75 Never the less, enough about God 00:02:08.78\00:02:11.68 can be understood from the creation 00:02:11.71\00:02:14.47 that according to Paul those who reject the Lord 00:02:14.50\00:02:18.84 will on judgment day be held accountable. 00:02:18.87\00:02:23.29 Because he says in Romans 1 that God has revealed to them 00:02:23.32\00:02:28.42 enough about His nature from the created world that, 00:02:28.45\00:02:32.65 when the time comes they will be without excuse. 00:02:32.68\00:02:40.24 Now, with the moral element then 00:02:40.27\00:02:43.67 so closely tied to creation its no wonder, 00:02:43.70\00:02:50.05 its no wonder that just after you go back to Psalm 19, 00:02:50.08\00:02:55.34 you got these few verses on the creation 00:02:55.37\00:02:59.40 and then right after that Psalm 19 shifts to God's law. 00:02:59.43\00:03:05.93 It talks about the goodness and righteousness of God's law. 00:03:05.96\00:03:10.74 In the NIV Romans 119-20, 00:03:10.77\00:03:13.85 I mean Psalm 19:7-9 00:03:13.88\00:03:19.08 "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. 00:03:19.11\00:03:23.78 The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, 00:03:23.81\00:03:26.72 making wise the simple. 00:03:26.75\00:03:28.95 The precepts of the Lord are right, 00:03:28.98\00:03:31.33 giving joy to the heart. 00:03:31.36\00:03:33.81 The commands of the Lord are radiant, 00:03:33.84\00:03:36.21 giving light to the eyes. 00:03:36.24\00:03:38.09 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. 00:03:38.12\00:03:42.37 The ordinances of the Lord are sure 00:03:42.40\00:03:45.21 and righteous altogether." 00:03:45.24\00:03:48.47 Psalm 19, so closely relates 00:03:48.50\00:03:52.64 God's created works with His law 00:03:52.67\00:03:55.99 and the moral standards He has given His people. 00:03:56.02\00:04:00.19 So in the scripture creation and law, 00:04:00.22\00:04:03.90 existence and morality, 00:04:03.93\00:04:05.85 humanity and spirituality all these come from God. 00:04:05.88\00:04:10.35 They are all manifestations of His character. 00:04:10.38\00:04:14.56 That's why the Psalm is placing them in such close proximity 00:04:14.59\00:04:20.82 and why to allthrough the Bible 00:04:20.85\00:04:23.74 God uses example from nature, from creation 00:04:23.77\00:04:28.15 to point us to moral and spiritual truths. 00:04:28.18\00:04:31.61 Just a few, Isaiah 1:3 "The ox knows his master, 00:04:31.64\00:04:36.68 the donkey his owner's manger, 00:04:36.71\00:04:39.27 but Israel my people does not know, 00:04:39.30\00:04:41.65 they do not understand." 00:04:41.68\00:04:44.03 Job 39, "Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom 00:04:44.06\00:04:49.01 and spread his wings toward the south? 00:04:49.04\00:04:51.36 Does the eagle soar at your command 00:04:51.39\00:04:53.44 and build its nest on high?" 00:04:53.47\00:04:57.67 And then what Jesus said in Luke, 00:04:57.70\00:05:01.31 "Consider the lilies, how they grow, 00:05:01.34\00:05:04.53 they do not labor or spin. 00:05:04.56\00:05:07.29 Yet, I tell you, not even Solomon 00:05:07.32\00:05:09.44 all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 00:05:09.47\00:05:13.52 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, 00:05:13.55\00:05:17.48 which is here today, 00:05:17.51\00:05:18.73 and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, 00:05:18.76\00:05:21.64 how much more will he clothe you, 00:05:21.67\00:05:24.88 O you of little faith!" 00:05:24.91\00:05:28.44 Now if creation could speak so powerfully 00:05:28.47\00:05:33.69 of truth back then, in a pre-scientific age 00:05:33.72\00:05:39.20 how much more should it speak to us today, 00:05:39.23\00:05:42.42 when that creation has been plumed 00:05:42.45\00:05:45.48 and parsed and measured at depths 00:05:45.51\00:05:49.00 and with the precision 00:05:49.03\00:05:50.53 that the ancients couldn't begin to imagine. 00:05:50.56\00:05:55.53 Now I admit and if you have been 00:05:55.56\00:05:57.22 watching this series you know 00:05:57.25\00:05:59.52 that a great deal of science has been twisted to promote 00:05:59.55\00:06:03.34 and atheistic materialistic world view, 00:06:03.37\00:06:06.66 okay, and for those who believe in the, 00:06:06.69\00:06:09.58 in the biblical accounts of origins 00:06:09.61\00:06:11.66 and so and we just have to reject this, 00:06:11.69\00:06:14.01 okay we just, you know, reject that 00:06:14.04\00:06:18.49 instead we who believe 00:06:18.52\00:06:20.91 in the biblical account of origins. 00:06:20.94\00:06:23.51 With the Lord is Creator we have insights, 00:06:23.54\00:06:27.42 we've had insights over the past few centuries 00:06:27.45\00:06:30.04 to teach us moral and spiritual truths about God 00:06:30.07\00:06:34.04 and the plans of-- the plan of salvation. 00:06:34.07\00:06:36.62 In ways that I believe would have been 00:06:36.65\00:06:39.61 incomprehensible to the ancients. 00:06:39.64\00:06:45.24 What do I need? Well, this is what I need. 00:06:45.27\00:06:49.94 Romans 3:19-21, 00:06:49.97\00:06:53.40 "Now we know that whatever the law says, 00:06:53.43\00:06:56.15 it says to those who are under the law, 00:06:56.18\00:06:59.00 that every mouth may be stopped, 00:06:59.03\00:07:01.57 and all the world may become guilty before God. 00:07:01.60\00:07:05.59 Therefore by the deeds of the law 00:07:05.62\00:07:07.54 no flesh shall be justified in His sight, 00:07:07.57\00:07:10.87 for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 00:07:10.90\00:07:15.03 Because we can't be of saved by obedience through the law, 00:07:15.06\00:07:19.83 because we can't be saved by obedience to the law 00:07:19.86\00:07:22.70 no matter how diligently and faithfully we keep that law 00:07:22.73\00:07:27.39 salvation comes solely through faith 00:07:27.42\00:07:30.20 in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. 00:07:30.23\00:07:35.79 Salvation is solely by grace not by the law 00:07:35.82\00:07:40.00 because as I tried to show in a previous show 00:07:40.03\00:07:43.18 our obedience is never enough. 00:07:43.21\00:07:47.40 Now, this is revealed truth, 00:07:47.43\00:07:51.04 this a truth we know only because God has told it to us. 00:07:51.07\00:07:56.33 This is not something we could read out the flowers, 00:07:56.36\00:07:59.26 oh, this is a fake, 00:07:59.29\00:08:00.43 so we specially can't read it out of that. 00:08:00.46\00:08:03.99 This is something we can't read out of the flowers 00:08:04.02\00:08:06.49 or the motion of the stars 00:08:06.52\00:08:09.47 but here's something that I think very exciting. 00:08:09.50\00:08:12.89 Science in the past few decades has uncovered 00:08:12.92\00:08:15.97 some facts about creation that can function I believe 00:08:16.00\00:08:20.75 as a powerful object lesson precisely to this point, 00:08:20.78\00:08:26.24 to the credible demands of God's law 00:08:26.27\00:08:29.79 and how we as sinner would fair before that law. 00:08:29.82\00:08:36.13 I touched on this in another show, 00:08:36.16\00:08:39.38 scientist in the past few years 00:08:39.41\00:08:42.16 have coined a phrase anthropic coincidences. 00:08:42.19\00:08:47.19 Anthropic from the Greek word anthropos 00:08:47.22\00:08:51.41 which means man. 00:08:51.44\00:08:53.99 And these coincides, "coincides" 00:08:54.02\00:08:58.25 are physical balances in the cosmos 00:08:58.28\00:09:00.82 so finely tuned for human life 00:09:00.85\00:09:04.03 that one could be excused for thinking 00:09:04.06\00:09:06.96 that the entire universe had been excused, 00:09:06.99\00:09:10.47 had been made exclusively just for us. 00:09:10.50\00:09:16.62 Hence the name anthropic, okay. 00:09:16.65\00:09:20.62 Its creation is maintained by numerous dials, 00:09:20.65\00:09:25.37 in fact, each so precariously adjusted 00:09:25.40\00:09:28.89 that the slightest fidgeting of even one of them 00:09:28.92\00:09:32.45 and human life as we know it could never have a risen. 00:09:32.48\00:09:37.58 For instance, if the force of gravity was slightly larger 00:09:37.61\00:09:42.66 or slightly larger to stars such as our sun 00:09:42.69\00:09:46.52 would have burned way too hot for human life. 00:09:46.55\00:09:49.78 Or the force slightly smaller then 00:09:49.81\00:09:53.36 the stars never could have started to begin with. 00:09:53.39\00:09:56.40 And let's face it, where we're gonna be without the starts? 00:09:56.43\00:09:58.77 All right, specifically where we're gonna be without the sun? 00:09:58.80\00:10:03.21 If the forces inside the atoms 00:10:03.24\00:10:05.55 were slightly different in one direction 00:10:05.58\00:10:08.49 there would be no hydrogen atoms. 00:10:08.52\00:10:10.61 No hydrogen's, no human's period. 00:10:10.64\00:10:13.94 If they were slightly different in another direction 00:10:13.97\00:10:17.06 the universe would be nothing but hydrogen atoms. 00:10:17.09\00:10:20.01 And fine, hydrogen we need it but if all there was hydrogen 00:10:20.04\00:10:23.97 then we as human won't exist. 00:10:24.00\00:10:27.78 Here's how one scientist explains this coincidence, 00:10:27.81\00:10:33.04 okay, okay. 00:10:33.07\00:10:35.37 He says it like this. 00:10:35.40\00:10:36.44 This is the balance of electrons and protons. 00:10:36.47\00:10:39.76 Listen to this, unless the number of electrons 00:10:39.79\00:10:43.04 is equivalent to the number of protons 00:10:43.07\00:10:45.72 to an accuracy of 1:1037, 1:1037. 00:10:45.75\00:10:51.60 That's a 10 with 37 zeros after, okay. 00:10:51.63\00:10:56.90 The accuracy of one part in 10 to the 37 or better 00:10:56.93\00:11:00.67 electromagnetic forces in the universe 00:11:00.70\00:11:03.60 would have so overcome gravitational forces 00:11:03.63\00:11:06.92 that stars, galaxies, and plants 00:11:06.95\00:11:09.58 would have never been formed, okay. 00:11:09.61\00:11:12.29 One part in 1037 00:11:12.32\00:11:16.96 is such an incredibly sensitive balance 00:11:16.99\00:11:19.33 that it is hard to visualize. 00:11:19.36\00:11:21.38 Then he gives the following analogy. 00:11:21.41\00:11:23.43 I'm not gonna read, I'm just gonna tell you. 00:11:23.46\00:11:25.44 He says, cover the entire continental United States 00:11:25.47\00:11:29.83 all the way up to the moon in dimes, 00:11:29.86\00:11:32.92 okay, at a height of 239, 000 miles. 00:11:32.95\00:11:37.83 Next pile the dimes from here to the moon 00:11:37.86\00:11:40.75 on a billion other continents the size of North America. 00:11:40.78\00:11:44.92 Then he says, paint one dime red-- 00:11:44.95\00:11:48.08 pink, red what does it matter, and stick it into the mix. 00:11:48.11\00:11:51.74 And then says, the odd, blindfold a friend 00:11:51.77\00:11:55.23 and ask him to pick out one dime. 00:11:55.26\00:11:58.48 The odds that he will pick the red dime are one in 1037. 00:11:58.51\00:12:05.22 And this is only one of the parameters 00:12:05.25\00:12:08.09 that are so delicately balanced to allow life to form. 00:12:08.12\00:12:13.95 Other mind-boggling ratios exist. 00:12:13.98\00:12:18.25 Ratio like 1:1040, 1:1060, 00:12:18.28\00:12:22.66 balances that demand of precision far beyond anything 00:12:22.69\00:12:26.89 that we as humans would ever dare achieving. 00:12:26.92\00:12:31.73 So what's the point here? What this says to me? 00:12:31.76\00:12:38.27 Is that God's physical laws, God's physical laws 00:12:38.30\00:12:43.64 it seems allow for very little violation, okay. 00:12:43.67\00:12:51.31 That's God's physical law but what about God's moral law? 00:12:51.34\00:12:59.31 Would God's moral law be any more lax, 00:12:59.34\00:13:03.90 any more tolerant of deviation then His physical ones? 00:13:03.93\00:13:09.67 Does the moral require the same kind of precision 00:13:09.70\00:13:14.47 as seen in the physical law? 00:13:14.50\00:13:17.27 Now there is a theologian Paul Tillich, 00:13:17.30\00:13:19.14 I definitely won't recommend reading him. 00:13:19.17\00:13:21.78 I think the guy is totally wack 00:13:21.81\00:13:23.56 on just about everything he has written 00:13:23.59\00:13:26.20 but I like this one quote. 00:13:26.23\00:13:28.72 Listen to this, "The orders of nature 00:13:28.75\00:13:33.07 are analogous to the order of moral law." 00:13:33.10\00:13:39.95 That profound. 00:13:39.98\00:13:42.07 "The orders of nature are analogous 00:13:42.10\00:13:45.10 to the order of moral law." 00:13:45.13\00:13:50.06 Analogous, in what way? 00:13:50.09\00:13:57.10 1 John 3:4 00:13:57.13\00:14:00.21 "Whosoever commits sin transgress also the law," 00:14:00.24\00:14:04.34 for sin also "for sin is transgression of the law." 00:14:04.37\00:14:10.74 Sin is transgression, a violation, 00:14:10.77\00:14:14.43 a deviation from God's moral law. 00:14:14.46\00:14:18.73 So how much deviation, 00:14:18.76\00:14:20.77 how much violation of that law is allowed? 00:14:20.80\00:14:24.59 How far does one have to move before violating it? 00:14:24.62\00:14:29.62 When Psalm 119:4 says, 00:14:29.65\00:14:32.27 "You have commanded us to keep Your" diligent 00:14:32.30\00:14:35.33 "your precepts diligently." 00:14:35.36\00:14:38.97 I ask the question, 00:14:39.00\00:14:40.60 how diligently has He commanded us to keep them? 00:14:40.63\00:14:46.53 When James says, 00:14:46.56\00:14:48.43 "For who shall ever shall keep the whole law 00:14:48.46\00:14:51.44 and yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all." 00:14:51.47\00:14:56.11 How far does one have to deviate from the law 00:14:56.14\00:14:59.84 before one is considered stumbling before it? 00:14:59.87\00:15:05.52 What's the answer? 00:15:05.55\00:15:07.22 How do we know where you crossed the line? 00:15:07.25\00:15:11.46 Well, maybe these are found in these words from Jesus. 00:15:11.49\00:15:19.45 Matthew 5:23, keep-- look at this in the context 00:15:19.48\00:15:25.22 of what we've just been talking about. 00:15:25.25\00:15:27.59 "You have heard that it was said of old. 00:15:27.62\00:15:29.83 You shall not commit adultery. 00:15:29.86\00:15:33.22 But I say to you that whoever looks 00:15:33.25\00:15:35.01 at a woman to lust for her 00:15:35.04\00:15:36.55 has already committed adultery with her in his heart." 00:15:36.58\00:15:40.50 Or perhaps the answer is found here. 00:15:40.53\00:15:43.00 "You have heard that it was said of old, 00:15:43.03\00:15:44.51 you shall not murder, and whoever murders 00:15:44.54\00:15:47.48 will be in danger of the judgment. 00:15:47.51\00:15:49.81 But I say to you that whoever is angry 00:15:49.84\00:15:52.36 with his brother without a cause 00:15:52.39\00:15:54.62 shall be in danger of the judgment." 00:15:54.65\00:16:00.47 So according to Jesus lust equals adultery 00:16:00.50\00:16:06.79 or anger without a cause equals murder. 00:16:06.82\00:16:10.43 If that's true and I have to believe it 00:16:10.46\00:16:12.62 because Jesus said it, then it doesn't-- 00:16:12.65\00:16:16.54 I don't feel that God's law allows 00:16:16.57\00:16:19.01 so much deviation does it? 00:16:19.04\00:16:22.44 And that we can't compare, 00:16:22.47\00:16:24.60 though we can't compare adultery 00:16:24.63\00:16:28.06 and lust in the heart ration 00:16:28.09\00:16:29.85 to a ration of 1:1037, or 1:1060, I don't, 00:16:29.88\00:16:35.03 those numbers humans just can't wrap our minds around it. 00:16:35.06\00:16:39.07 The principle is there. 00:16:39.10\00:16:41.44 I think the principle is there 00:16:41.47\00:16:43.40 and I think the principle is clear 00:16:43.43\00:16:46.23 God's moral law doesn't allow for violation anymore 00:16:46.26\00:16:51.56 than His physical laws do. 00:16:51.59\00:16:55.50 Can you see that? I think that's no doubt then. 00:16:55.53\00:17:00.96 Why? 00:17:00.99\00:17:02.02 We've been told "By the deeds of the law 00:17:02.05\00:17:04.88 no flesh shall be justified in his sight." 00:17:04.91\00:17:08.12 Because you got to keep the law 00:17:08.15\00:17:09.41 with that kind of precision in order to be justified by it. 00:17:09.44\00:17:14.91 That's why we conclude that a man is justified by faith 00:17:14.94\00:17:18.69 apart from the deeds of the law. 00:17:18.72\00:17:21.17 Romans 3:28 "Knowing the man is not" 00:17:21.20\00:17:25.50 a man "is not justified by the works of the law, 00:17:25.53\00:17:28.39 but by the faith of Jesus Christ." 00:17:28.42\00:17:30.61 Even we have believed in Jesus 00:17:30.64\00:17:32.79 that we might be justified by the faith of Christ 00:17:32.82\00:17:36.05 and not by the works of the law. 00:17:36.08\00:17:38.30 "For by the works of law no flesh shall be justified." 00:17:38.33\00:17:44.02 And I've got more text. 00:17:44.05\00:17:45.27 Now is the law bad? No. 00:17:45.30\00:17:48.21 Paul wrote therefore the law is holy 00:17:48.24\00:17:50.32 and the commandment holy and just is good. 00:17:50.35\00:17:53.52 And that I agree with the law that it is good. 00:17:53.55\00:17:57.10 It is because the law has been done away with. 00:17:57.13\00:17:59.81 Of course, not, we know that. 00:17:59.84\00:18:01.91 Do we then make void the law through faith? 00:18:01.94\00:18:04.19 No, God forbid we establish the law. 00:18:04.22\00:18:07.93 Its not that the law is bad, nor that it has been abolished, 00:18:07.96\00:18:11.52 instead the law doesn't bring salvation 00:18:11.55\00:18:14.22 because it can't bring salvation. 00:18:14.25\00:18:17.94 The law is there to point out the problem of sin 00:18:17.97\00:18:21.52 not to solve it. 00:18:21.55\00:18:23.73 "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." 00:18:23.76\00:18:27.31 The knowledge of sin, not the solution. 00:18:27.34\00:18:31.02 You have heard it said the law is like a mirror. 00:18:31.05\00:18:34.00 I can stand and look at a mirror all day 00:18:34.03\00:18:36.51 and look at this face of mine and stand at the mirror. 00:18:36.54\00:18:40.11 It ain't gonna help it, okay. I need something else. 00:18:40.14\00:18:43.57 Maybe a little Botox or something. 00:18:43.60\00:18:45.94 But the point is the law isn't going, 00:18:45.97\00:18:49.58 doesn't solve the problem. 00:18:49.61\00:18:51.07 It points out the problem but it doesn't solve it. 00:18:51.10\00:18:56.21 You know, a while back in another program 00:18:56.24\00:18:58.06 I quoted Sister White, she said 00:18:58.09\00:19:00.33 "The condition of eternal life is now what it has always been. 00:19:00.36\00:19:04.77 Perfect obedience to the law of God, 00:19:04.80\00:19:07.94 perfect righteousness." 00:19:07.97\00:19:11.18 How perfect is the obedience? 00:19:11.21\00:19:13.75 How perfect is the righteousness? 00:19:13.78\00:19:16.50 Is it something that we could reproduce 00:19:16.53\00:19:19.38 even with God working in us, 00:19:19.41\00:19:21.57 especially if that righteousness allows 00:19:21.60\00:19:24.51 as little deviation as does God's physical laws? 00:19:24.54\00:19:31.30 Listen to this, first selected the messages 00:19:31.33\00:19:34.98 "Righteousness is obedience to the law. 00:19:35.01\00:19:37.85 The law demands righteousness, 00:19:37.88\00:19:40.22 and this the sinner owes to the law; 00:19:40.25\00:19:43.05 but he is incapable of rendering it. 00:19:43.08\00:19:45.69 The only way in which he can attain 00:19:45.72\00:19:47.52 to righteousness is through faith. 00:19:47.55\00:19:50.13 By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, 00:19:50.16\00:19:54.14 and the Lord places the obedience 00:19:54.17\00:19:56.21 of His Son to the sinner's account. 00:19:56.24\00:19:59.38 Christ's righteousness is accepted 00:19:59.41\00:20:01.37 in place of man's failure, and God receives, 00:20:01.40\00:20:04.89 pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, 00:20:04.92\00:20:09.03 treats him as though he were righteous, 00:20:09.06\00:20:11.46 and loves him as He loves His Son. 00:20:11.49\00:20:14.85 This is how faith is accounted righteousness; 00:20:14.88\00:20:18.23 and the pardoned soul goes on from grace to grace, 00:20:18.26\00:20:23.09 from light to a greater light." 00:20:23.12\00:20:26.44 In other words, what she is saying here 00:20:26.47\00:20:29.69 by the deeds of the law 00:20:29.72\00:20:31.47 no flesh will be justified in His sight. 00:20:31.50\00:20:35.43 Notice the emphasis, 00:20:35.46\00:20:37.55 by faith the obedience of Christ is credited 00:20:37.58\00:20:41.33 to the sinners account. 00:20:41.36\00:20:43.13 By faith the merits of Christ becomes ours. 00:20:43.16\00:20:46.61 Not some kind of infused way in which 00:20:46.64\00:20:49.49 we become holy as Jesus there by attaining salvation 00:20:49.52\00:20:55.35 but only in the sense that it's imputed to us. 00:20:55.38\00:21:00.02 The righteousness that saves us 00:21:00.05\00:21:02.64 is a righteousness that exists in heaven, 00:21:02.67\00:21:05.87 not in ourselves. 00:21:05.90\00:21:07.71 No matter how righteous we become, 00:21:07.74\00:21:10.51 no matter how close to the law we keep, 00:21:10.54\00:21:13.74 we can keep the law, 00:21:13.77\00:21:15.07 we can keep the law "perfectly" in a sense. 00:21:15.10\00:21:19.61 Not perfect enough to be saved by it, 00:21:19.64\00:21:22.39 we are not sanctified in order to be justified. 00:21:22.42\00:21:26.02 No we are justified in order to be sanctified. 00:21:26.05\00:21:30.71 Through God's grace Christ righteousness 00:21:30.74\00:21:34.38 that rot out in His life is credited to our own. 00:21:34.41\00:21:39.11 It is credit to us as our own 00:21:39.14\00:21:41.85 and thus we are accounted righteous before God. 00:21:41.88\00:21:46.48 Again, we are deemed righteous before God 00:21:46.51\00:21:49.98 not because of any righteousness we possess 00:21:50.01\00:21:52.72 or because of any good deeds that we might do 00:21:52.75\00:21:56.20 but only because of the righteousness of Jesus 00:21:56.23\00:21:59.25 which He rot out in His life 00:21:59.28\00:22:01.62 and which is credit to us by grace through faith. 00:22:01.65\00:22:06.02 How else could it be, how else could it be 00:22:06.05\00:22:10.49 Jesus alone met the conditions of eternal life, 00:22:10.52\00:22:15.58 perfect obedience to the law of God, 00:22:15.61\00:22:19.02 perfect righteousness. 00:22:19.05\00:22:21.06 Jesus alone kept the law of God with the precision greater than 00:22:21.09\00:22:26.79 even what has been revealed in these physical laws. 00:22:26.82\00:22:29.59 Again, think about the physical laws, 00:22:29.62\00:22:32.22 this tiniest deviation and there is no life, gone. 00:22:32.25\00:22:39.15 Is it gonna be any difference with God's moral law? 00:22:39.18\00:22:43.23 I don't think so but Jesus kept God's moral law 00:22:43.26\00:22:49.11 with the perfect precision, that perfect righteousness 00:22:49.14\00:22:54.63 and through God's grace that is credited to us by faith. 00:22:54.66\00:23:00.75 Suppose to all your past sins are forgiven, 00:23:00.78\00:23:06.09 the slate is white clean, everything passed 00:23:06.12\00:23:10.16 as purge, forgiveness, blotted out 00:23:10.19\00:23:13.55 and so you stand sinless before God. 00:23:13.58\00:23:17.34 Now all you have to do in order to ensure your salvation 00:23:17.37\00:23:21.90 is to keep God's moral law perfectly, 00:23:21.93\00:23:25.39 and keep it with the kind of precision reflected 00:23:25.42\00:23:29.66 that we saw in God's physical laws. 00:23:29.69\00:23:34.31 If that's what salvation was about 00:23:34.34\00:23:37.81 how well would you fair? 00:23:37.84\00:23:41.54 I don't think there is any question 00:23:41.57\00:23:45.30 because we become new creatures in Christ. 00:23:45.33\00:23:48.64 We are given power to live holy lives. 00:23:48.67\00:23:52.68 And I don't think there's any question ideally. 00:23:52.71\00:23:56.23 The power of God is there to enable us 00:23:56.26\00:23:59.14 even as fallen beings to live sinless lives. 00:23:59.17\00:24:03.79 I mean, if the power of God is working in us 00:24:03.82\00:24:06.59 to enable us to faithful and obedient 00:24:06.62\00:24:09.98 isn't God's power faithful enough, 00:24:10.01\00:24:13.38 capable of making us live without sin? 00:24:13.41\00:24:16.62 I think God's power is there. 00:24:16.65\00:24:19.04 I think He is but see the problem 00:24:19.07\00:24:21.25 is not with God or with God's power. 00:24:21.28\00:24:23.55 Where is the problem? It's with us. It's with me. 00:24:23.58\00:24:28.11 Okay, the problem is in our end. 00:24:28.14\00:24:30.99 If after I sin after I have been born again believer 00:24:31.02\00:24:34.93 is it God's fault or mine? 00:24:34.96\00:24:37.23 God powers, God's powers sustains the entire universe. 00:24:37.26\00:24:41.84 Certainly that same God and that same power 00:24:41.87\00:24:44.92 can keep us from sinning. 00:24:44.95\00:24:47.14 Can't He? Can He? 00:24:47.17\00:24:49.40 Certainly then as born again Christians 00:24:49.43\00:24:52.37 keep the law of God perfectly in God's power. 00:24:52.40\00:24:57.14 Of course we can and we should. 00:24:57.17\00:25:00.26 But let me ask you. Do we? 00:25:00.29\00:25:03.67 Who have you listening to me? 00:25:03.70\00:25:05.42 Who have you out there in TV and listening to me 00:25:05.45\00:25:09.11 has kept God's law perfectly. 00:25:09.14\00:25:12.66 In the past week, in the past week-- 00:25:12.69\00:25:14.95 forget about the past year, in the past week 00:25:14.98\00:25:17.20 how many of you have kept God's law perfectly 00:25:17.23\00:25:19.85 with the kind of precision sin in those physical laws? 00:25:19.88\00:25:26.49 And if its not you, if it hasn't whose fault is it? 00:25:26.52\00:25:30.89 Is it God's fault as He somehow not sustaining you? 00:25:30.92\00:25:34.44 Is He not giving you the power or is it your fault? 00:25:34.47\00:25:39.66 Yeah, I think we all know where the link, weak link is. 00:25:39.69\00:25:45.61 Victory is always there, always attainable. 00:25:45.64\00:25:50.76 When we don't have it the fault lies with us 00:25:50.79\00:25:54.80 which precisely why we need 00:25:54.83\00:25:58.30 the righteousness of Jesus covering us. 00:25:58.33\00:26:02.56 The righteousness which is equal 00:26:02.59\00:26:04.64 to the righteousness of God. 00:26:04.67\00:26:07.62 It can't be any other way, 00:26:07.65\00:26:12.04 not with a law refine to an exactitude 00:26:12.07\00:26:16.14 that we can't imagine much less as sinners really mean. 00:26:16.17\00:26:23.14 If the God who plays such precision 00:26:23.17\00:26:25.99 in His physical laws, is the God 00:26:26.02\00:26:29.99 who plays such precision in His physical laws, 00:26:30.02\00:26:34.17 is He gonna do any less with His moral ones? 00:26:34.20\00:26:39.51 You think so? I don't think so. 00:26:39.54\00:26:43.48 I think that physical laws are that precise 00:26:43.51\00:26:47.15 how much more is moral laws. 00:26:47.18\00:26:50.71 That's why for beings like us 00:26:50.74\00:26:54.01 whose moral ratios come much more blunter 00:26:54.04\00:26:57.77 than what the law requires 00:26:57.80\00:26:59.74 that's why salvation must be by grace alone or not at all. 00:26:59.77\00:27:07.66 That's why it's by grace 00:27:07.69\00:27:09.17 because considering the requirements of the law 00:27:09.20\00:27:12.07 especially if you parallel it 00:27:12.10\00:27:14.29 to the physical God's, physical laws 00:27:14.32\00:27:17.59 then if its not gonna be by grace 00:27:17.62\00:27:20.64 how else is it going to be. 00:27:20.67\00:27:25.60 I mean who possesses the requirements, 00:27:25.63\00:27:29.20 perfect obedience, prefect righteousness 00:27:29.23\00:27:32.82 needed for citizenship in heaven? 00:27:32.85\00:27:36.24 Only Jesus which is why only through Him can we enter. 00:27:36.27\00:27:42.03 "For so an entrance shall be ministered 00:27:42.06\00:27:44.37 unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom 00:27:44.40\00:27:47.75 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 00:27:47.78\00:27:50.86 2 Peter 1:11. 00:27:50.89\00:27:53.95 No questions, the heaven, no question. 00:27:53.98\00:27:57.39 The heavens declare the glory of God. 00:27:57.42\00:28:00.85 Thanks to recent advances in science, 00:28:00.88\00:28:03.42 you know, understanding of these heavens 00:28:03.45\00:28:06.07 we can see that glory even more clearly than ever. 00:28:06.10\00:28:10.10 A glory that helps us understand 00:28:10.13\00:28:14.05 the grace revealed to us by God 00:28:14.08\00:28:17.56 through the person of Jesus Christ. 00:28:17.59\00:28:21.40