You Cannot Outrun the Law

James 2:8-13

You Cannot Outrun the Law

“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself,’ you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.  For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’  If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.  So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.  For judgement is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.”[1]

Jesus taught His disciples to love one another.  He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” [John 13:34, 35].  Thus, the distinguishing mark of those who follow the Master is genuine, godly love for His holy people.  In a previous message, we saw that this mark, together with love for God’s glory and love for God’s commandments, revealed love for the Lord God Himself.

This commandment is founded on what Jesus called “the great and first commandment.”  Challenged to name one commandment that summed up all other commandments, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” [Matthew 22:37].  He did not, however, stop with citing that one commandment, but united it to another, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself” [Matthew 22:39].  In each of the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus brings these two commands into close proximity [see also Mark 12:30, 31; Luke 10:27].  John, apparently building on these concepts of Christian love, restates these commandments by showing the close relationship between the two, “This commandment we have from [the Master]: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 John 4:21].  Love for God compels love for the brothers; love for the brothers reflects love for God.  The two ideals can be neither segregated nor compartmentalised.

In the text before us, James, guided by the Holy Spirit, demonstrates that he is fully cognizant of the need to reflect the love of God through loving others; and in our text he designates this tenet as “The Royal Law.”  Quoting his half-brother, James reminds us that we must love our neighbour as ourselves.  Therefore, we who are Christians do live under a law, but it is not a law that demands memorisation of judicial minutia, nor one that places adherents in a mental straitjacket.  Rather, the law by which we are to live is a law of freedom reflected in lives that are increasingly godly, increasingly righteous, increasingly holy.

Theological lightweights seem often to be distinguished by an attitude that leads them to a determined effort to find exceptions to what is written in the Word of God.  Listening to many supposed religious leaders in this day, one could draw the conclusion that preaching consists of making excuses for evil and finding loopholes that permit us to live as we wish without being bothered by feelings of guilt.  God is frequently portrayed as a kindly grandfather type who winks at sin and acquits failure.  However, that view is dead wrong.  You cannot love God if you do not love your neighbour as yourself.  James stance demands further exploration so that we can discover the will of the Father and do what honours Him.

Two Laws — James names one law and refers to yet another law; he identifies “the Royal Law” and refers to the Law of Moses in this passage.  This Royal Law commands us, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’  So, the Royal Law is a law demanding love for others.

This Royal Law appears frequently in Paul’s letters.  For instance, Paul writes to the Romans, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’  Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” [Romans 13:8-10].  This commandment is iterated in Galatians 6:2.  “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”  In another place, Paul says that “love … binds everything together in perfect harmony” [Colossians 3:14].

James also appears to refer to the Royal Law as “the Law of Liberty” in verse twelve.  In other words, the Royal Law is the same law that gives liberty to those who belong to Christ Jesus the Lord.  It is vital that I emphasise the stunning truth that freedom is found in Christ, and holding to the teaching about Him continues to give liberty.

You may recall that James has once before referred to “the Law of Liberty,” which he called “the Perfect Law” [James 1:25].  It will perhaps be beneficial to refresh our memory by reading that verse together.  “The one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” [James 1:25].  When we studied this verse in a previous message, we saw that James was likely referring to the Word of God itself as the perfect law, as the Law of Liberty.  At that time, I did not emphasise the freedom that is the heritage of all who are followers of the Son of God.  However, this relationship between following Christ, obeying the Word of God and liberty is of utmost importance for those who will now enjoy their divine heritage.

In His preaching, Jesus promised all who would believe in Him, becoming disciples, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [John 8:32].  The remainder of that periscope makes it clear that He spoke of adherence to the Word of God as the instrument of freedom for all mankind—if it were embraced.  The language conveys the idea that people are in a state of slavery and in need of freedom.  According to the Master, it is the truth about Jesus that frees people from bondage.  This truth saves all who receive it from the darkness of sin, delivering them into the light.  If you will know freedom, you must receive Jesus as Master; then walking with Him you will rejoice in the freedom that is the heritage of all who believe Him.

Paul would later speak of the purpose of Christ’s salvation.  The truth is often neglected, and so we need to refresh our memories from time-to-time.  Reviewing the Letter to the churches of Galatia, we see that the Apostle wrote, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” [Galatians 5:1].  Shortly, this truth will be emphasised when he writes, “You were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” [Galatians 5:13].  Think of that!  Salvation results in freedom, liberty.

There is a misperception in the world that the Faith of Christ the Lord restricts freedom.  Nothing could be further from truth.  In the world, people are at the mercy of their emotions, surrendering to their feelings and focused solely on what makes them feel good.  Consequently, it is impossible for the lost to please God or to do the things that honour His Name.  However, having been saved, people are not only free to honour God, but they are empowered to do what His will.  Thus, the redeemed are filled with joy as they freely serve the Lord.

The lost imagine that they can do whatever they want, but the problem is that they do not know what they want.  Therefore, they cannot be happy.  If they think of God’s salvation at all, they think in terms of rules and regulations.  You have undoubtedly heard at some point the caricature that Christianity consists of a lot of “thou shalt nots.”  This is frequently tossed around as an excuse for rejecting the life that is found in Christ.

The redeemed know that we can never keep all the commands that are found in the Bible; most of us cannot even name all those commandments.  However, having been redeemed by grace, we dare not think that we will continue in this life through our efforts.  Paul asks, “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh” [Galatians 3:2, 3]?

This theme of freedom occupies a place of prominence in the Word of God, as Peter also made evident when he encouraged Christians of the Diaspora, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” [1 Peter 2:16].  The Apostle also warned against false teachers who “promise [believers] freedom, [while] they themselves are slaves of corruption.”  Then, he cautioned that, “Whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” [2 Peter 2:19].  It is the same cautionary note that Paul sounded when he wrote the Galatians about “false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery” [Galatians 2:4].

Indeed, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” [Galatians 5:18].  God’s redeemed people have been redeemed and are no longer under the law [Galatians 4:5].  Some imagine that man, free of the law, becomes disorderly.  My father was of the persuasion that one could lose salvation if he didn’t hang on.  One sin at death jeopardised the soul in his theology.  He imagined that an individual living under grace would quite naturally “take his fill of sin.”  Nothing could be further from truth.  Redeemed people are free of the law and free to live as they ought to live; therefore, they want to honour Him who freed them from sin.

This was the essence of Paul’s argument as he wrote the Roman Christians to look back, recalling the profession each one made at the time of baptism.  “What then?  Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?  By no means!  Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death.  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” [Romans 6:15-22].

Do not imagine that how you think of others is not important to whether you enjoy liberty or whether you are in thraldom.  James compels thoughtful people to stop and reflect upon this matter.  If I am given to showing favouritism, I am permitting my biases to rule over me.  If I am prone to being partial in the way I treat others, I am controlled by my prejudice.  James would say that I am not free, and that at that point I am not living under the “Law of Liberty.”  Those who surrender to their own prejudice are serving those prejudices.

A number of years ago Bob Dylan put out an album entitled Slow Train.  One of the songs on that album says this:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,

You may like to gamble; you might like to dance,

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,

You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,

You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,

You may be a businessman or some high degree thief,

They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You may be a state trooper; you might be a young Turk,

You may be the head of some big TV network,

You may be rich or poor; you may be blind or lame,

You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You may be a construction worker working on a home,

You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,

You might own guns and you might even own tanks,

You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,

You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,

You may be workin' in a barbershop; you may know how to cut hair,

You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody, yes indeed

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,

Might like to drink whiskey; might like to drink milk,

You might like to eat caviar; you might like to eat bread,

You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You're gonna’ have to serve somebody,

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna’ have to serve somebody.[2]

The powerful, penetrating refrain that is sung after each verse reminds each listener that you’re gonna’ serve somebody.

This is also James’ message—you’re gonna’ serve somebody.  His message anticipates the Paul’s sobering analysis of the way in which we live life that we considered earlier today.  “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness [Romans 6:16]?  Paul, in turn was likely aware that Jesus warned His followers, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” [John 8:34].

So, the Faith in which we stand reflects the “Royal Law,” the “Law of Liberty.”  Contrasted to this freedom that is the heritage of all who receive the Lord Jesus as Master is the bondage associated with the Law of Moses, which many in that day attempted to cling to.  Though few besides a small number of adherents of the Jewish Faith attempt to live by the Mosaic Law today, many professing Christians and multiplied non-Christians attempt to adapt those portions of the law that appeal to them.  Most people in the world have a moral code that is more generous toward their own behaviour than what they would apply to others.  So, while I will not invest a great deal of time in looking at the Law of Moses directly, I will ask you to think of the laws that we do seek to apply to ourselves and to others.  None, save for the Master, has ever kept the Mosaic Law.  Peter asked, without dispute from any of the Jerusalem church leaders who heard him speak, “Why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” [Acts 15:10]? 

You would have to have been living in a cave without benefit of newspaper or radio or television or internet access for the past week—an appealing prospect on some days— not to have heard the name of Eliot Spitzer, previously known as “the sheriff of Wall Street” and favourably compared to the legendary Eliot Ness.  Eliot Spitzer served as the Attorney General of New York State before being elected as Governor of the state in 2006.

During Spitzer’s tenure, he boasted that he was a steamroller as he destroyed numerous powerful titans of the financial trade.  Among his other accomplishments was the implementation of tough new rules to fight prostitution in New York.  Then came the revelation that he was using prostitutes himself, having invested over $80,000 during the previous ten months to gratify his own pleasure, according to some news reports.  It now appears that he may have violated numerous federal and state laws to procure the services of these ladies of the night.  Eliot Spitzer serves as an illustration of James’ warning; keeping the laws deemed important while ignoring all other laws does not excuse the lawbreaker.  Laws are not given for the convenience of those subject to the laws, but are given to ensure good order.

James cautioned, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.  For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’  If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”  He referred to the Law of Moses which had 613 positive commands.  This is in contrast to the Royal Law which presents but one command.  Therefore, if violating one command under the Mosaic Law convicted one as a transgressor, then violating the singular law of the Law of Liberty must assuredly convict the transgressor as a lawbreaker.

There are, then, two laws—the Royal Law, also known as the Law of Liberty, which is contrasted to whatever efforts you make to live as you think best.  Either we live according to God’s standard, or we live according to an artificial standard that we have crafted out of our own imagination.  One of those standards is pleasing to God; the other is detrimental to our eternal welfare.  Christians must distinguish between these two laws in order to ensure that we do not slip again into thinking that we can somehow manipulate the One whom we call Master.

Keeping the Law — I have invested considerable time addressing the two laws, focusing primarily on the Royal Law rather than the Mosaic Law.  We will undoubtedly benefit from exploring the Royal Law in order to understand it and to ensure that we are equipped to make appropriate application of that law.  James is compelling us to wrap our Gospel in shoe leather.  He is growing more practical by the moment as he translates the Word of God into practical expression through how we relate to one another, and especially in the way we treat those whom God brings into our midst.

It should not be a hardship to demonstrate love for one another.  After all, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” [Romans 5:5].  Thus, we Christians should fully understand what the Apostle means when he writes, “Concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for your yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” [1 Thessalonians 4:9].

We fulfil the Royal Law when we learn to love.  Each of us operates in various social groups—a school, a neighbourhood, a workplace, a church.  It is a tragic truth that most social groups have their social misfits—the ones who are looked down upon, ostracised or neglected.  The royal law absolutely prohibits the Christian from joining in the favouritism.  The follower of the royal law will reach out to any neighbour.

Loving your neighbour as yourself means treating the concerns of others’ as important as your own concerns.  Therefore, those who follow the Royal Law seek the good of all rather than personal good.  It is not difficult to imagine a congregational meeting in which one person presents an idea of what should be done about a particular issue.  Now, imagine that a second person disagrees with the first thought.  The first person, because she is a follower of the Royal Law, responds not by arguing the merits of her own idea but by helping the group fully hear and understand the other person’s proposal.  Love brings a desire to protect each other’s interests.

Tragically, this is not the way we conduct ourselves in too many instances.  Modern society has taught us to operate by the dictum that the loudest and the angriest voices prevail.  The Word teaches us to avoid doing anything from rivalry or conceit; rather, “in humility [we are to] count others more significant than yourselves” [Philippians 2:3].  This is countercultural, however, and so we defend our rights, even when it destroys the work of God and injures the innocent people we claim to love.  All the while we are destroying the work of God, we will loudly proclaim our love for God and say that we are only trying to do the work of God.  Brothers and sisters, we have become hypocrites within the modern church!

We are growing loveless and godless, even as we become more religious.  Ernest Gordon relates an account of the transforming power of the Royal Law.  He tells how in 1942 a Japanese prison camp housing allied POWs was a sea of mud and filth, the scene of gruelling labour and brutal treatment by Japanese guards.  There was hardly any food, and the law that pervaded the whole camp was the law of the jungle: every man for himself.  Twelve months later the ground of the camp was cleared and clean.  The bamboo bed slats had been debugged.  Green boughs had been used to rebuild the huts, and on Christmas morning 2,000 men were at worship.

What had happened?  During the year a prisoner, before dying, had shared his last crumb of food with another man who was also in desperate need.  Among his belongings they found a Bible.  Some who witnessed his selfless act of love wondered “could that Bible be the secret of willingness to give sacrificially to others?”  One by one the prisoners began to read it.  Soon the Spirit of God began to grip their hearts and change their lives, and in a period of less than twelve months there was a spiritual and moral revolution within that camp.[3]

Perhaps we have difficulty in applying the Royal Law because we do not really know what love should look like.  Love does not merely tolerate those whom we deem difficult; love transforms those who love even as it transforms those who are loved.  Love does not leave the person where it finds him.  Love will help the poor man do better; and love will help the rich man make better use of his God-given resources.  Love always builds up; hatred always tears down.  Love focuses outward.  Where there is no love, self-centredness prevails.

We only believe as much of the Bible as we practise.  If we fail to obey the most important word—“you shall love your neighbour as yourself”—then we will not do any good with the lesser matters of the Word.  It was a glaring fault in the Pharisees that they were careful about the minor matters and careless about the fundamentals [see Matthew 23:23].  They broke the very Law they thought they were defending!

Breaking the Law — Showing partiality is identified as breaking the Royal Law.  There are consequences associated with breaking this Law, as surely as there are consequences for breaking the Mosaic Law.  Many of us, perhaps most of us, view the Mosaic Law as a series of individual commandments.  However, James compels us to see the written Law as an integrated whole.  God gave the Law, and as such it reveals the will of God.  For this reason, if one commandment is broken, the will of God has been violated.

If the entire law can be summed up in the singular concept that you shall love your neighbour as yourself, then failure to love is violation of the will of God.  The same holds true in contemporary jurisprudence.  A violation of the penal code of Canada is a violation that exposes the one breaking the code as a lawbreaker.  Similarly, favouritism is an egregious violation of the will of God; thus, it is a dreadful sin.

Favouritism indicates the tilt of one’s soul.  Christians who practise favouritism are lawbreakers.  James sees favouritism as a notorious sin, listing it with murder and adultery, perhaps because he sees favouritism as adultery with wealth, or maybe because Scripture associates murder with discrimination against the poor and failure to love one’s neighbour.

Do you recall the fifth beatitude spoken as Jesus initiated His Sermon on the Mount?  “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” [Matthew 5:7].  Jesus’ words reveal the spiritual psychology of the soul: a merciful spirit reveals a heart that has received mercy.  Commenting on a parable He told on another occasion, Jesus provided the other side of this vital insight.  Having said that an unmerciful servant was delivered over to the jailers until his debt was paid, the Master cautioned those who listened, “So also My Heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” [Matthew 18:35].  Underscore in your mind that an unmerciful spirit reveals a heart that has not received mercy, but the heart which has been the object of divine mercy will be merciful.  Favouritism and the reign of prejudice is evidence of an unmerciful spirit, revealing an unchanged heart.

James’ warning must never be applied against others—it is meant to be applied against our own lives individually.  You are responsible to ask whether you are merciful, whether you are guilty of favouritism.  If you are letting your bias rule over your life, you have violated the Royal Law.  In a corporate sense, we need to ask ourselves frequently whether as a church we are expressing the prevailing attitude of favouritism.  If, as I have stated in previous messages from these verses, we are reflecting the attitude of the culture within which we are immersed by showing favouritism, we cannot expect God’s continued blessing, but only a fearful expectation of judgement.  Though the warning may appear terrifying, James concludes with a comforting statement: “Mercy triumphs over judgement.”

If our church is strong in worship, in missions, or in evangelism, it is because we have worked to strengthen those areas.  By God’s grace, our church can also become strong in caring for the broken about us as we intentionally submit to God’s Word.  This is a choice God wants us to make individually and corporately as we follow Christ in his love for all.

My beloved people, we must know that we shall be judged.  I do not mean that as Christians it is yet to be determined whether we will be saved or lost—that was determined at Calvary.  Having believed, we will never come into judgement to see if we are worthy of life.  However, our words and our actions and our attitudes are yet to be judged by the Saviour.

Our words will be judged.  James specifically cited the words that were spoken to the visitors to the services of the church [James 2:3].  What we say to people, and how we say it, will come up before God.  According to the Master, “people will give account for every careless word they speak” [Matthew 12:36].  Of course, the words spoken come from the heart; so when God judges the words, He is examining the heart [see Matthew 12:34–37].  In the Sermon on the Mount, the Master taught the need for caution [see Matthew 5:21–26, 33–37; 7:1–5, 21–23].

Our deeds will be judged.  God’s Word teaches us to “obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ.  For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality” [Colossians 3:22–25].  Our sins affect our character and works; we cannot sin lightly and serve faithfully.  Though God forgives our sins when we confess them to Him [see 1 John 1:9], He will not change the consequences of our sin.

Our attitudes will be judged.  James contrasted two attitudes—showing mercy to others, and refusing to show mercy.  If we have been merciful toward others, God will be merciful toward us.  This must not be twisted to mean that we earn mercy through showing mercy, because it is impossible to earn mercy.  If it is earned, it is not mercy!  Nor does it mean that we should “be soft on sin” and never judge it in the lives of others.  “I don’t condemn anybody,” people sometimes opine, thus believing that God won’t condemn them.  How wrong they are!

Mercy and justice both come from God—they are not in competition.  Repentance and faith invite God’s mercy; rebellion and unbelief demand justice.  It is the heart that determines the treatment we receive.  If we forgive our brothers, then we have the kind of heart that is open toward the forgiveness of God.  Thus, we shall be judged “by the Law of liberty.”

There is one obvious message to this section: our beliefs should control our behaviour.  If we really believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that God is gracious, His Word is true, and one day He will judge us, then our conduct will reveal our convictions.  Before we attack those who do not have orthodox doctrine, we must be sure that we practise the doctrines we defend.

Years ago in London, a preacher by the name of Caesar Milan was invited to a prominent home for a choice musical presentation.  On the program was a young lady who thrilled the audience with her singing.  When she finished, this noted preacher threaded his way through the crowd which had gathered about the young woman.  When Caesar Milan finally drew near and had her attention, he said, “Young lady, when you were singing, I sat there and thought how tremendously the cause of Christ would be benefited if you would dedicate yourself and your talents to the Lord.  But,” he added, “You are just as much a sinner as the worst drunkard in the street, or any harlot on Scarlet Street.  But I am glad to tell you that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, will cleanse you from all sin if you will come to Him.”

Stung at his direct assertion, she haughtily turned her head aside and rebuked him, “You are very insulting, sir.”  And she started to walk away.  He said, “Lady, I meant no offence, but I pray that the Spirit of God will convict you.”

Later, when all had gone home that night, the young woman could not sleep.  At two o’clock in the morning she knelt at the side of her bed and took Christ as her Savoir.  And then she, Charlotte Elliott, sat down and wrote the words of a favourite hymn, “Just as I Am”:

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am—Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come!

And that is our prayer for you.  Knowing that we must give an account of our lives to the Living Saviour, I ask whether you have fulfilled the Royal Law.  Do you know Jesus as Saviour?  Has His presence in your life transformed you?  Do you see the impact of Christ in you?  My plea is that you will receive the life that is found in the Son of God, being born from above and into the Family of God.  Do it today.  Do it now.  Amen.

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[1] Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright Ó 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] Words and Music by Bob Dylan, Special Rider Music 1979

[3] Ernest Gordon, Through the Valley of Kwai (Harper, New York, NY 1975)