Hell’s Best Kept Secret

0:00 I'm the CEO of Living Waters, the chief evangelism officer. Romans 3 verse 19, if you would open your Bibles I would be grateful. Our television program has been broadcast worldwide, 190 countries for about 20 years, it's in its 11th season. So when I go to Huntington Beach each Saturday to film in the mornings, it's common for people to come up and say, could I do a selfie? Some time ago I was standing by a wall, it's got names on it, the base of the pier, and And an Asian gentleman, very politely, said, Can I take a photo? I was looking at my phone, I said, Sure, go ahead. He said, Well, get out of the way. And that's my earnest prayer with this message today that I would get out of the way.

0:59 In the late 1970s, God very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me, and as I began to travel, I found that I had access to church growth records and found in my horrors something like 80 to 90 percent of those making decisions for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is, modern evangelism with its methods was creating something like 80 to 90 backsliders with every 100 decisions for Christ. Let me make it more real for you. A number of years ago, a major denomination in the U.S. obtained 294,000 decisions for Christ in just one year. that's from 11,500 churches unfortunately they could only find 14,000 in fellowship which means they could not account for 280,000 of their decisions and this is normal modern evangelistic results from local churches right up to large crusades and this greatly concerned me and I began to study the book of Romans plus the gospel proclamation of men like Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield and Luther and I found they used a principle which was almost entirely neglected by modern evangelism.

2:12 I began teaching that principle and was eventually invited to base our ministry in Southern California, particularly to bring the teaching to the Church of the U.S. Things were very quiet for the first three years until I received a call from a well-known minister who had seen the teaching. He flew me to San Jose where I shared it with a thousand pastors. he put it on video and screened that video to 30,000 pastors. Some time ago, I heard of one pastor listening to the teaching 250 times. I'd be happy if you'd listened just once to this teaching called Hell's Best Kept Secret. The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. What is it the Bible says is perfect and converts the soul? Well, Scripture makes it very clear. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. To illustrate the function of God's law, let's look at civil law.

3:09 Imagine if I said to you, I've got some great news for you. This is good news. Someone just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf. You probably respond by saying, what are you talking about? That's not good news. Doesn't make any sense. I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine. My good news wouldn't be good news to you. it would be foolishness. Even more than that, it would be offensive to you because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have. But if I was to put it this way, it may make more sense. On your way to this meeting today, the law clocked you going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children's convention. There were 10 clear warning signs stating that 15 miles an hour was the maximum speed. There's a $25,000 fine. What you did was very dangerous. The law was about to take its course when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid that fine for you. You're very fortunate. Can you see that telling you precisely what you've done wrong first makes the good news make sense? The good news becomes good news indeed. But if I don't tell you what you've done wrong, the good news will seem foolishness and it will seem offensive. But once you understand you've broken the law, that good news makes sense.

4:30 In the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, it'll be foolishness to him and offensive to him. The Bible says the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. And offensive because I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. As far as he's concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than he is. But if I follow in the footsteps of Jesus and take the time to open up the divine law, the ten commandments and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, that he's violated the law of a holy God then as James says he becomes convinced of the law as a transgressor. Now at that point the good news that his fine has been paid will not be foolishness, it will not be offensive it will be the power of God under salvation. So with those few thoughts in mind, by way of introduction, let's now look at some of the functions of God's law. Romans 3 verse 19.

5:28 Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world, not just the Jews, but all the world be guilty before God. So one function of God's law is to stop a sinner's mouth, to stop him justifying himself and saying there's plenty of people worse than me. I'm not a bad person. No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world guilty before God. Romans 3 verse 20, next verse. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law gives us the knowledge of sin. It tells us what sin is. 1 John 3 verse 4 says, sin is transgression of the law. Romans 7, verse 7, over the page somewhat. Listen to what the apostle Paul said.

6:22 I had not known sin, but by the law. Paul said, I didn't know what sin was until the law told me. In Galatians 3, 24, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Another function of God's law is to act as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in his blood. The law doesn't help us, it just leaves us helpless. It doesn't justify us, it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God. Here now is the tragedy of modern evangelism. About 80 years ago, when for some reason it abandoned the law to stop the mouth and convert the soul and drive sinners to Christ, It had to find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose was one of life enhancement.

7:19 The gospel degenerated into Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. Now listen very carefully to this following anecdote, this illustration, because everything I'm saying pivots on this illustration. Two men are seated in the plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on so it would improve his flight. He's a little skeptical at first because he can't see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time, he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on, he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact he was told the parachute would improve the flight, so he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits, he notices some of the old passengers are laughing at him because he's wearing a parachute and a plane.

8:12 He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh on him, he can stand it no longer. He slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart because as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie. The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he's told. He's told to put it on because at any moment he'd be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on. He doesn't notice the weight of it upon his shoulders and then he can't sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute. Now let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's experience. The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was he was humiliated by the passengers. He was disillusioned and somewhat embittered.

9:07 And quite rightly so. As far as he's concerned, it'll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on to escape the jump to come. And because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he's saved from sure death. This knowledge gives them the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude toward those who gave them the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude. Now listen to what the modern gospel says. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. In other words, Jesus will improve your flight. So the sinner responds and in an experimental fashion puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promise, temptation, tribulation, and persecution.

10:01 The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ. He's offended for the word's sake. He's disillusioned and somewhat embittered. And quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. And all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed at those who gave him the so-called good news. His latter end becomes worse than the first. another inoculated and bit a backslider. Saints, instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers that they're going to have to jump out of the plane, that it's appointed a man once to die, and after this, the judgment. And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God's law, then he will flee to the Savior to escape the wrath that's to come. And if we are true and faithful witnesses, that's what we'll be preaching, that there is wrath to come, that God commands all men everywhere to repent.

10:59 Why? Because he has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness. You see, the issue isn't one of happiness, but one of righteousness. It doesn't matter how happy a sinner is, how much he's enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, without the righteousness of Christ, he'll perish on the day of wrath. Scripture says, riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it's not legitimate to use these fruits as a drawcard for salvation. If we continue to do so, if we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive, lacking repentance. Now, can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew the parachute was going to save him from sure death. And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, joy and peace in believing because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver me from the wrath that's to come.

12:02 Now, with that thought in mind, let's take a close look at an incident on board the plane. We have a brand new flight attendant. She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It's her first day. She wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and she certainly does because as she's walking down the aisle, she trips over someone's foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. What's his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his flesh? Does he go, man, that hurt? He does. He feels the pain. But then as he ripped the parachute from his shoulder, throw it to the floor and save a stupid parachute? No. Why should he? He didn't put the parachute on for a better flight. he put it on to save him from the jump to come. And if anything, the hot coughing incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump.

12:56 and if you and I put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive to flee from the wrath that's to come when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy we won't get angry at God we won't lose our joy and peace why should we? we didn't come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle we came to flee from the wrath that's to come if anything, tribulation drives a true believer closer to the saviour and sadly, we have literally molded you of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They're the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance without which you cannot be saved. I was in Australia some time ago. Australia was a small island off the coast of New Zealand. Take that, Ken Ham. And I preached sin, law, righteousness, holiness, judgment, repentance, and hell, and I wasn't exactly crushed by the amount of people who want to give their hearts to Jesus.

13:58 In fact, the air went very tense. After some time, someone came up and said, there's a young guy down the back who wants to give his life to Christ. I went down the back and found a young man who was weeping so profusely he couldn't even pray. Now, for me, it was so refreshing because for many years, I suffered from the disease of evangelical frustration. I so wanted sinners to come to Christ, I unwittingly preached a man-centered message, the essence of which was this. You'll never find true peace without Jesus Christ. There's a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God can fill. I preached Christ crucified. I preached repentance. Sinners respond at the altar. I'd open my eye and say, Oh, no, this guy wants to give his life to Christ. and there's an 80% chance he's going to backslide. And I'm tired of creating backsliders. So I better make sure this guy really means it. He better be sincere.

14:52 So I'd approach the poor guy in a Gestapo spirit. I'd say, what do you want? He says, I'm here to give my life to Christ. Do you mean it? He says, yeah. Do you really mean it? He says, yeah, I mean it. I said, okay, I'll pray with you, but you better mean it from your heart. He says, okay, I mean it from my heart. Okay, pray this after me and mean it from your heart. And he'd say, I'd say, oh God, I'm a sinner. He'd say, oh God, I'm a sinner. And I'd say, man, why isn't there a visible sign of contrition? Why isn't he broken over his sins? And if I could have seen his motive, I would have seen that he was 100% sincere. He really wanted to give this, he sincerely wanted to give this Jesus thing a go to say, but it's as good as all these Christians say it. It's peace, joy, love, fulfillment, lasting happiness.

15:46 Be a fool not to give it a try. He wasn't fleeing from the wrath to come because I hadn't told him there was wrath to come. He wasn't broken and contritioned over sin because the poor guy didn't know what sin was. Romans 7 verse 7, Paul said, I had not known sin but by the law. And how can a man repent if he doesn't know what sin is? Any so-called repentance would be merely what I call horizontal repentance. he's coming because he's lied to men he's stolen from men but when David sinned against God when he committed adultery and broke those commandments when he coveted his neighbor's wife lived a lie stole his neighbor's wife committed adultery, committed murder dishonored his parents and thus dishonored God he didn't say I've sinned against man he said against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight When Joseph was tempted sexually, he said, how can I do this thing and sin against God?

16:50 The prodigal son said, I have sinned against heaven. The apostle Paul preached repentance towards God. And the Bible says, godly sorrow works repentance. And when a man doesn't understand that his sin is primarily vertical, he'll merely come and exercise superficial, experimental, and horizontal repentance and fall away in tribulation, temptation, and persecution comes. A.B. Earle was a famous evangelist who had 150,000 converts to substantiate this claim. He said, I found by long experience the severest threatening of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy, but not escape danger until they see it. So I'm going to do something very, very unusual. I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to be really honest to prove an important point.

17:42 How many of you were thinking of something else when I read that quote from Abiel and you haven't got a clue what Abiel said and I've got to admit, I wasn't listening either. I was thinking to myself, nobody's listening to me, they're all thinking of something else. So if you were thinking of something else, as I shared that quote from Abiel, would you lift your hand up nice and high, it's usually two thirds of the congregation. Come on. Yeah, so we get on the organ, we can get more hands raised. Satan hates this teaching, so gird up the loins of your mind, squeeze that four inches of sponge between your ears, and listen very closely. A.B. Earl, famous evangelist of the last century, 150,000 converts to substantiate this claim. Listen carefully. He said, I have found by long experience, that's the true test, that the fairest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They will not escape danger until they see it.

18:44 I've got a relative here. So you try and save a man from drowning, but doesn't think he's drowning, you get a bit of a problem on your hands. You look out, you see a man swimming. You say, oh, I think there's a rip over there. I'll go and save him. So you dive in, you grab him around the throat, you pull him to the shore. He's not going to be too happy with you. He's got to realize he's drowning before he's going to appreciate being saved. So let him go down 15 times. Swallow a couple of gallons of water when he reaches up his hand and you take it. He'll know what you're trying to do for him. He'll appreciate it and he will cooperate because he's seen his danger first.

19:25 Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous person. No, no. With the law, he breaks the hard heart and with the gospel, he heals the broken heart. Why? Because he always did those things that were pleasing in the Father's sight. And God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Scripture says, everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord. Luke 10, verse 25.

20:03 Luke 10, verse 25. When I give you a biblical reference, I'm going to say it twice. Because I know that men are present and men need to be told things twice. Men need to be told things twice. This can be backed up biblically because when God speaks to men in the Bible, he uses the name twice. Abraham, Abraham. Saul, Saul. Samuel, Samuel. Moses, Moses. Because men need to be told things twice. women once. I don't know how many times I sat in the pew, the preacher said, Luke 10, 25. I turned to my wife and said, what did you say? She says, Luke 10, 25. I said, thank you, dear. Help, mate. That's why God created women.

20:54 Because men can't handle it on their own. The whole thing is men lose things, women find things. Where's the keys? love hanging on your nose dear. I don't know how many times they open the cupboard and say there's no honey here honey. She says here it is here dear. Where would men be without woman? Still in the garden of Eden. Eve found the tree. Adam didn't know what was going on. In fact, if you look at the creation of woman, to create woman, the Bible says God put man into a deep sleep and scripture doesn't say he ever came out of it. Okay, Luke 10, 25. Certain lawyers stood up and tempted Jesus.

21:54 This was not an attorney, but a professing expert in God's law. He stood up and said to Jesus, how can I find everlasting life? What did Jesus do? He gave him the law. Why? Because this man was proud, arrogant, and self-righteous. We have a professing expert in God's law, tempting the Son of God, and the spirit of his question was, and what do you think we have to do to get everlasting life? So Jesus gave him the law. He said, what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? And he said, you shall love the Lord your God with your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And listen to what Jesus said. This do, and you shall laugh. And then scripture says, but he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, who's my neighbor? The Living Bible brings out more clearly the effect of the law on that man. It said, the man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people.

22:51 So he asked, which neighbors? See, he didn't mind Jews, but he didn't like Samaritans. So Jesus told him the story of what we call the good Samaritan, who was not good at all. He merely obeyed the basic requirements of the law in loving his neighbor as himself. And the effect of the essence of the law, the spiritual nature of the law, of what the law demands in truth was that man's mouth was stopped. He didn't love his neighbor to that degree and the law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before God. Similarly, Luke 18, verse 18. The rich young ruler came to Jesus. He said, how can I get everlasting life? Now, how would you react and I react if someone came up and said, how can I get everlasting life? Oh, quick, say this prayer before you change your mind. No, Jesus didn't do that. He didn't talk about the love of God, didn't preach the cross. he pointed to the law he gave him five horizontal commandments commandments to do with his fellow men, when he said I've kept those from my youth, Jesus said one thing you lack, and he used the essence the first of the ten commandments I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me, he showed this man that his God was his money and you cannot serve God and mammon, Lord of the proud then we see grace being given to the humble in the case of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel.

24:18 Therefore, he was thoroughly versed in God's law. He was of humble heart because he came to Jesus and acknowledged the deity of the Son of God. He says, we know you've come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with him. So Jesus gave the sincere secret of truth with a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of the fine being paid for him. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And it was not foolishness, Nicodemus, but the power of God to salvation. Similarly with Nathanael. Nathanael was an Israelite brought up under the law. An Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile. There was no deceit in his heart. And the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ. Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. The Bible says these were devout men from every nation unto heaven.

25:12 That word devout means they grasped hold of wealth. Matthew Henry said they were gathered together on the day of Pentecost to celebrate the giving of God's law on Mount Sinai. So when Peter stood up to preach to these godly Jews, he didn't preach wrath. No, the law works wrath. They knew that. He didn't preach righteousness or judgment. He told them the good news of the fine being paid. And the Bible says they were pricked in the heart and cried, men and brethren, what shall we do? The law was a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in his blood. As the hymn writer said, by God's word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 if you would. take your time while I choke.

26:05 Get behind me. You didn't need a turn there. I just wanted you to do something. Oh, look at that. I think worse than seeing Adam's apple going up and down.

26:31 this is 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 from the amplified bible so I'll read it a little louder but we know that the law is good if anyone uses it lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed god's law is good if it's used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed what was it designed for the following verse tells us listen to scripture the law was not made for a righteous man but for sinners it even lists the sinners and in that list is homosexuals and fornications, fornicators. I have witnessed, and you can see this on our YouTube channel, to many homosexuals without offense. Why? Because I use the law to witness to homosexuals. I say, do you think you're a good person? Yeah. So, well, let's go through the Ten Commandments and see how you're going to do on Judgment Day. Have you lied, stolen, used God's name in vain, looked with lust, committed adultery in your heart? I say, I've done all those things. I have a mention of sexual orientation. I don't want to go there. I can't do that.

27:39 I can show him he's under God's wrath despite going there because he's ready with his boxing gloves on. He's waiting for me. And it's not going to happen because the law was made for homosexuals. I can show him he is damned, he needs a savior, and when he's born again, God will give him a new heart. When he's got a humble heart, and you often see this on our YouTube channel, when those boxing gloves go down, when he realizes I really care about him and I'm concerned for his salvation and he is in big trouble and he's going to go to hell justly, if God gives them justice on judgment day, then those defenses come down and I say, listen, listen to what scripture says. It says, do not be deceived. Listen to how it begins. Do not be deceived. Neither idolaters, nor fornicators, nor homosexuals, nor thieves will inherit the kingdom of God. And he receives it because he's now humble of heart. If you want to bring a Jew to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him. I witnessed a lot of Jews.

28:35 Most of them are just secular Jews. They practice the holidays of Jewish people. But they don't understand the essence of God's law and what it does. When God gave his law on Mount Sinai, the Bible says, So terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. And Israel said, Don't let God speak, lest we die. That's when God came in peace with a smile on his face to give his law to humanity. How great will be the terror when he comes in wrath to render his anger with fury upon those who have deliberately transgressed that law. What a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

29:12 If you want to bring a Muslim to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him. I witness to a lot of Muslims, and I do something right at the beginning. See you a Muslim? Yeah. Thanks for listening to me. Let me just share a little illustration with you. Let's say a man's robbed a bank, he shot a guard, and he died in a very serious crime. He's standing in front of a judge, and the judge says, You're guilty, and the man says, Yeah, I'm guilty. But he says, I want you to know this, judge. I'm really sorry, and I won't do it again. So is the judge going to let him go? And the Muslim says, Of course not. I say, No, he's bound to do that which is right and just. He's going to jail. So being sorry and saying you won't do it again, it's not going to help, because of course you should be sorry. Of course you shouldn't do it again. I established that in his mind. Because I know where he's going to go when I go through the commandments with him. He's lied and stolen, blasphemed God's name, committed adultery, looked with lust in his heart.

30:06 Jesus said if you look at a woman and lust for her, you commit adultery with her in your heart. That's the essence. That's the spiritual nature of the law. Seventh commandment. I know where he's going to go. He's going to say, I just repent. I tell God I'm sorry. He hasn't got a savior. I tell God I'm sorry. So remember, that's not going to work in man's court. It's not going to work on judgment day. And it makes sense that he's under God's wrath. Repentance can't help him. He needs a savior. And so the cross begins to make sense, even to a Muslim, if we use the law lawfully. Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery, violation of the seventh commandment. The law called for her blood. She found herself between a rock and a hard place. And the only avenue of escape was to fling himself at the feet of the Son of God. And that's the function of God's law. Actors of schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

31:00 Paul spoke of being shut up under the law. It condemns. You say, oh, you can't go and condemn sinners. Saints, they're already condemned. Scripture says, he that believes not is condemned already. What the law does is show him his danger. It shows him that he needs a savior. Some of the ladies may appreciate this. If you ever dusted a table, you dust it down, it's a wooden table, and it's just dust-free, it's clean. Then you go and draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight, and you see what's on the table? Dust! It's everywhere. Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the dust. And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the Holy of Holies and let the light of God's law shine upon a sinner's heart, all it does is reveal to himself himself in truth.

31:57 It shows that sin is exceedingly sinful. That's why Paul said, by the law is the knowledge of sin. And then he said, by the commandment, sin became exceedingly sinful. And the wonderful thing about God's law is it's written upon the heart. Romans 2 verse 15, which show the work of the law written on the heart, the conscience bearing witness. when you witness to an unsaved person there is a judge on the courtroom of their mind that will agree with the commandments that independent impartial judge that conscience which means with knowledge common with science is knowledge will agree with the commandments you know it's wrong to lie don't you you know it's wrong to steal commit adultery murder it's all written on the heart God has given light to every man the Holy Spirit convicts of sin righteousness and judgment sin which is transgression of the law righteousness which is of the law and judgment which is by the law John Wycliffe, the Bible translator said the highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the law of God how foreign is that to modern evangelism the highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the law of God Martin Luther said the first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and show the nature of sin.

33:21 Let me digress just a little bit. What's happened in our nation is what happened to Israel again and again in the Old Testament. What happened? God gives his law. The fear of God comes upon the heart. They stray into idolatry. Why is idolatry attractive to sinful sinners? Because it doesn't have a moral dictate. You've got a golden calf. It's not going to say you shall not commit adultery, shall not lie, shall not steal, shall not lust. It's dumb. And those that make them are like them. And so what happens, Israel gets the law, they fear God, strand to idolatry, that brings judgment. And that's exactly what's happened in the United States of America. There was a time when the commandments were honored. Go back to the 1950s. Most people knew the Ten Commandments. Then there's been a concerted effort to rid the nation of the Ten Commandments. Moral law. And what's happen? We stray into idolatry. We don't make a golden calf. We just created God in your own image. And so we have politicians talking about God and how wonderful God bless America.

34:18 Next word, they blaspheme his name. There's no fear of God before their eyes. And the Bible says, do not be deceived, neither idolaters, nor fornicators, nor homosexuals will inherit the kingdom of God. Idolatry is first on that list. Idolatry is one of the chief sins of our nation, creating a God in our own image. It's foreign to the God revealed in scripture. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said. I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law. And then he said this, lower the law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt. This is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than the gain because it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary, that's its most powerful weapon, when you have set aside the law, you have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ.

35:15 They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy law. Therefore, the law serves the most necessary purpose and must not be removed from its place. Listen to John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace. If anyone had a grip on grace, it was John Newton. He said, the correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left. And for years, I think it was about 10 years, until I began to understand principles of biblical evangelism, it was as though I fought off the enemy with a feather duster of modern evangelism. And it was as though God reached down from heaven and handed me the 10 canons of God's law. And as those canons were fired, sinners no longer scoffed, mocked. They surrendered all to Jesus.

36:07 And such converts become soul winners, not pew warmers, laborers, not layabouts, assets, not liability for the local church. Let's pray, shall we? And then I want to share something with you, if I may. Father, firstly, we pray for your continued blessing on this church and the leadership. Thank you for such a wonderful, shining light in this dark time. Pray for anyone here today who never really understood their sin, and today that they would tremble before you and flee from wrath, that's to come and embrace Jesus Christ on the cross, and know the joy of having their sins forgiven, and the knowledge they are saved all because of your amazing grace.