Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas
Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, September 20, 2026 God’s Law, Lesson 3 of 4 · A3 D11 · John 1:4-5 · John 14:26 · Romans 10:1-3 · Romans 1:17
► Watch this lesson on video (48:26)
You might want to put your fingers in a few places this morning - John 1, John 14, Romans 10, Romans 1 . . . so John, Romans, and then John again.
Now a couple of Sundays ago we settled the question of WHO it is that makes the law - who came up with the Ten Commandments, if you will. We learned that God owns everything . . . in fact God created everything by His spoken word - and because God is our Creator, God has earned the right, if you want to look at it that way, to set the terms on how everything operates, and to determine how we should behave, how we should worship, the whole of our lives.
And last Sunday we settled the question of WHY God draws a line. Why does God say you need to stay over here and not go over there . . . why does God build a fence around certain things? You remember we said the Ten Commandments were something like ten FENCES . . . well, what does a farmer build a fence for? He builds a fence to protect the things that he values. God built a fence around our lives and our behavior because He values us - and He wants to keep us on the right side of the fence so we will not come to harm.
Now this morning we have one more of these lessons about God’s law left to cover, and this morning we come to what may be the most practical question of the four that we will consider. By that I mean - well, we have all these laws, we have all these commandments in the Bible . . . so HOW does a commandment that God put in the Bible get off the page and into our hearts?
Think about the people who make the maps of this state. I am assuming it is somewhere in Little Rock - they have a drawing board, and some engineers drawing lines here and lines there, and they can come up with all the maps they want to which show where every road goes - but drawing a map in some office in Little Rock is no guarantee that when you and I get out and start driving those roads, we are going to go the direction that map says we should go. The line has to get off the paper . . . and into the DRIVER.
So how does God get the words off the page and into our hearts? The answer this morning is that God uses two things. God’s Word, the Bible, tells us where the line is - where the fence has been built . . . and God’s Spirit . . . and I will tell you, we often do not give the Holy Spirit the credit He deserves . . . God’s Spirit is what tells us how CLOSE we are getting to that line. He tells us how close we are getting to the fence that was put up - not as a cage, but as protection.
God’s Word tells us where the line is - God’s Spirit tells us how close we are to it.
The Word Is What Draws the Line
The Bible is what draws the line, or builds the fence, that we are talking about.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” - John 1:4-5 (KJV)
In Him - that is, in Jesus - was life, and that life was the light of men . . . and the light shines in darkness, it shines among our lives . . . and the darkness comprehended (took hold of) it not . . . now the darkness “comprehended it not” - well, that is us reading the Bible and saying, I do not have a clue what He is trying to tell me here. The Bible is what establishes the boundary - but the Holy Spirit, that we so often ignore and underrate, is what opens our eyes of understanding and teaches us what in the world God is trying to say to us . . . that is what the Holy Spirit does . . . and He only does it if we open our hearts and let Him. What purpose does a light serve if we have our eyes CLOSED?
Now notice that the gospel of John does not start out like the others do. Matthew mentions a baby and a manger the way we might expect - but John does not start with a baby at all. John starts his gospel with “the WORD” . . . and he says that in “the Word” was life - and you cannot separate God’s Word from Jesus Christ. We are very close to beginning a series where we are going to learn firsthand that every book in the Bible points to Jesus Christ.
So John begins with the Word, and he says the Word was life, and this life that is in Jesus Christ is the light of men . . . now think about the picture there. Light does one thing before it does anything else - light shows what is AROUND us . . . and when we see what is around us, we can tell where we are standing.
If we were to turn every light off in this building this morning, we would eventually discover that the walls do not go anywhere. The walls stay exactly where they are when the lights are on - but without a light to show us, we would not KNOW where those walls were - and we would start walking, and bump our shins, and run headlong into a wall and get a few bruises . . . but turn the lights back on, and we would know exactly where we were standing just by LOOKING. We would know which way to go and which way not to go.
That is exactly what the Word of God does with God’s law. The Word of God is the light - it is the light that shows you and me where the line is, where the fence has been built - but without the Word, there is no line for us to SEE.
Now I am not going to chase this rabbit, I am just going to mention it . . . that is part of what God is talking about when He said there was a time when God winked at ignorance - “but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). If we are in a room without a light, there is no way to know where the wall is . . . well, in a world before God’s Word was revealed to mankind, they did not know where the walls were - they did not know where the fences were - so they had somewhat of an EXCUSE.
But today we have the Bible . . . now not everyone OPENS the Bible - so when I say “if we do not have the Word,” I do not mean that it is not available to us . . . I mean we are not using it . . . and if we do not use God’s Word - if we do not turn the light on - the result will be that we will be among those who start drawing their OWN lines. We will be a person who builds his own fences, and draws these lines and builds these walls wherever we have decided is best . . . and then righteousness all of a sudden turns into whatever seems right to ME . . . and human nature being what it is - my definition of righteousness is right, and yours is wrong.
Now football season has started, and almost everybody has been to a football game or at least seen one on television. You look at that field and it is covered with white lines - white lines everywhere. There is the sideline, there is the end zone, there is the fifty yard line . . . now those lines are not actually the GAME . . . but the team out on that field cannot play the game without them. They depend on those lines, because the lines tell everybody where the game is being played. On the other side of that line - out of bounds, that does not count . . . that is the scrimmage line - move too soon and there is a penalty.
And notice - nobody called those players out of the huddle and said, “Now where do you think the line ought to be drawn?” Not a single player on that field had any part in drawing the lines anywhere. The lines were laid down - chalk or paint, however they do it - out of a rule book that was written when every player out there today was probably still in diapers.
Well, God’s Word is the rule book of LIFE. You have heard the question, what is the meaning of life . . . it is in the Book. Every boundary of a righteous life - what is holy, what is actual sin, what pleases God and what grieves God - all of these lines, all of these fences, were laid down in the Bible long before you and I were ever born . . . and the lines I am talking about, the rules of life - they are STILL in the Book, whether we open the Book to read it or not, and whether we agree with the rule or not. The rules of life are still there.
God’s Word is what draws the line.
The Spirit Is What Makes the Line Real
Now the Spirit of God - that we so often underestimate - is what makes the line REAL in our lives. The Holy Spirit is what takes the rule, the commandment, off of the paper and puts it into our HEART.
Bro. Ken mentioned this in his Sunday School lesson this morning . . . and you would think the same Holy Spirit is leading in a service, would you not? There is something that those of us who have been in church practically forever need to be reminded of - and Bro. Ken said almost exactly this. A person can read the Bible his entire life. He can memorize whole chapters. He can attend church for fifty years. He can quote scripture after scripture to his friends and his relatives . . . and still not understand a SINGLE word that he is quoting.
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” - John 14:26 (KJV)
That word Comforter literally means one who is called alongside to help. “HE shall teach you.” Our education is not what teaches us what is in this Book. Our years on the pew are not what teach us the meaning of the scriptures . . . and we do not learn what the Bible means because we are SMART . . . it is ONLY because the Holy Spirit teaches us - that we know anything at all about the Bible.
Now the Word of God is like the definition - while the Spirit is like the explanation, how that definition applies to our lives. The Word is like the fence. Think about the Garden of Eden, the most classic example we have - all these trees in the garden, but God built a fence around the one in the middle. Do not cross the fence, do not touch that tree, or you are going to die. God’s Word tells us where the fence is . . . and the Spirit is like the warning light that comes on when we get too close. You know why they call it barbed wire? Because there are little pokey things on the wire. The Holy Spirit is like the barbs on the wire that prick us when we get closer than we need to be.
That is why two people - and I have seen this a million times - two people can sit under the same sermon, and one of them nods off to sleep, and the other one says, “Preacher, I think that is the best sermon I ever heard.” Two people sit in the same pew, hear the same sermon, read the same text - one of them leaves the building cut to the heart . . . and the other one walks out the door wondering what we are having for dinner, and whether the Mexican place has a special today. The Word is not what failed that person thinking about dinner. That second person just was not in any shape to hear what the Spirit was trying to say. What do you think the Bible means when it says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith” (Revelation 2:7)?
Now Summer and I have a 2013 Expedition, and we both love that car, but it has a few issues - and I do not have a clue why that engine light keeps coming on . . . well, I do know it is missing on cylinder number five . . . everybody tells us that, but nobody can fix it.
Every vehicle that rolls off the assembly line comes with an owner’s manual in the glove box. That manual says what kind of oil to use, it recommends the tire pressure, and it explains what all those lights on the dash are for . . . and every single word in that owner’s manual is TRUE. I have looked at the manual for that Expedition - every word in there is true - but there is a whole lot of that truth that I do not understand. Most of us have read at least part of an owner’s manual, and we still have no idea what is wrong when that engine light comes on, or when that funny noise under the hood starts up.
So what do we do? We call the mechanic . . . and the mechanic takes the very same information we read in the manual ourselves, and he applies the truth in that manual to OUR vehicle - “I know exactly why it is making that noise.”
Well, the Word of God is the manual . . . and the Holy Spirit is the Master Mechanic. The Holy Spirit takes what is already written down in the Book - every word of it true - and He applies that truth to OUR life, to OUR particular struggle, and to OUR particular week. Without the manual, the mechanic has nothing to apply . . . and without the mechanic, the manual - the rule book of life - so often just stays in the glove box, closed and unused.
“Oh, I will open it up . . . I just do not understand it. Preacher, I just do not understand the Bible.” Well, no - and we are never going to understand it with that attitude. Who did John tell us teaches us? HE shall teach you . . . and to be taught, we have to humble ourselves before someone else . . . that is one of the big problems in public education right now - the students will not humble themselves before anybody . . . but that is another lesson. We are committing a grave mistake when we refuse to let the Holy Spirit teach us.
Now understand this - the Spirit of God never says one single thing that the Bible does not already say. The Holy Spirit does not add a new PAGE to God’s Word. There is not a human on this planet who can rightfully claim that God has given him a new revelation that he is now supposed to spread around . . . it does not work that way. There is not a single thing the Holy Spirit teaches us or lays on our heart that has not already been written down in the Book.
When was the last time a verse we had read a hundred times before suddenly had OUR name on it? That was not the page changing. That was not the Word changing. That was the Mechanic teaching us what the manual means.
The Homemade Ruler
Now the next obvious question is - what happens to the person who reads the manual but never calls the mechanic?
Well, it would be like me and that Expedition. I know if I call the mechanic, he is going to want a bunch of money . . . it is going to COST me to listen to the mechanic. “Well, preacher, I do not want to give up my lifestyle. I know I need to join the church, I know I need to do whatever . . . but I am just not willing to give up the things I enjoy in this life.” Well, then we are going to be just like ME - driving an old vehicle with that light coming on every once in a while, thinking, I hope it gets me where I am going, but I have my cell phone, I can call Kenneth if it leaves me afoot . . . that is not the proper way to run our lives. For spiritual problems - we may have the preacher’s number in our phone - “if I get in trouble I will just call the preacher, he will tell me what to do and he will not charge me a dime” - but that is not the right attitude to have toward spiritual things in our lives.
So what happens to a man who reads the manual but never calls the mechanic? Paul tells us . . . and the undercurrent of this whole passage is that what SEEMS right just does not count.
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” - Romans 10:1-3 (KJV)
To establish - that is to set up, to build . . . now these people were RELIGIOUS. They were sincere, hardworking, and on fire for the Lord - Paul says plainly they had a zeal of God. They were not hypocrites . . . every one of them believed with all his heart that he was right with God - but they were building on the wrong foundation, because they were measuring righteousness by their OWN standard instead of by God’s standard. Once again - what seems right is not the same as what really IS right.
And that brought a picture to my mind of a carpenter . . . now a good carpenter can build really detailed cabinets, all this complicated work, and make it look really good - you cannot even see the crack between the joints . . . so you would think a carpenter who can do all that ornate work could make a RULER, wouldn’t you? They want thirty dollars for a tape measure down at Lowe’s . . . you just make me one, I know you can make it cheaper.
Well, picture this carpenter making his own ruler. He decides an inch is whatever seems right to him. He marks off little notches on a stick, puts marks on a piece of tape, however he does it - and he uses it to measure everything in the shop . . . and he is proud of himself, so he gives you one of the tape measures he made his own self. Every board he cuts measures exactly right by HIS ruler . . . and then you go out and put the house together, and nothing lines up. “Preacher, I did what you told me to do - how come my life is falling apart?”
Now the Bible talks about false teachers and false prophets. These are preachers and teachers who make their own rulers - and the Bible says they make MERCHANDISE of people. The reason they hand a man the ruler they made themselves is that he is going to give them the money instead of spending it at Lowe’s. They are greedy. They want what you have to give them - more than they want to give you the TRUTH.
So you put a house together with boards cut by a homemade ruler and nothing works - but according to the ruler we used, every single thing was perfect. The fact is, the RULER was the problem . . . and man’s homemade righteousness is that ruler . . . “what seems right to me.” It feels right, and it looks right to everybody around us who is using the same kind of ruler. “I am not going to church today, I am going to the ball game - and that must be okay, because half the church I normally go with is at the ball game with me.” We are all using the same measuring stick . . . that does not make it RIGHT.
On the day we stand before God, whose Word actually is the standard, nothing about our life is going to line up with the scriptures . . . so if we are going to live a Christian life instead of a hypocritical one, then God’s Word has to be the RULER we use - and the Spirit of God has to be the One who checks on how we are READING that ruler.
Have you ever worked with somebody with the saws going, and you ask, “How long do I need to cut this board?” - and they say, “Fourteen inches and three little marks.” Are you serious? You are in a carpenter shop running saws and you say three little marks? You can expect to make several miscuts . . . well, that is what the Holy Spirit does when I say He checks how we are reading the Book . . . He does not accept fourteen and three little marks. A man who reads the Bible through his own filter - filtering out whatever he wants to filter out - is going to build a righteousness that fits his life perfectly, and then turn around and call it God’s righteousness.
It reminded me of the little fairy tale about Goldilocks. She went in and tried the chairs - this one is too big, this one is too little, and this one here is just right . . . well, what God says over here, that is just too harsh, too narrow . . . what God says over there, I just do not agree with that . . . so I will come up with something that is just right. It fits me to a tee. I was uncomfortable in daddy’s chair, and I was uncomfortable in the baby chair, but this one is JUST RIGHT.
God’s Word tells us where the line is - God’s Spirit tells us how close we are to it.
By Faith - Not by Feelings
Now hold that yellow flashing light at the intersection in the back of your mind - we will get there in a minute - but first, faith. We live by FAITH, not by feelings. Who cares if it feels just right? If this bowl of soup is too hot and that bowl of soup is too cold, who cares if you pick the one that is just right? That is what hypocrites do . . . that is exactly what Paul was talking about when he said they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” - Romans 1:17 (KJV)
From faith TO faith. There are actually two different kinds of faith in the life of someone living a Christian life - and to be a Christian we really need both of them. The first faith, obviously, is what brought us to Christ. We believed the WORD. We believed Jesus when He said we are all sinners in need of salvation - so we trusted in Jesus, and we put our faith in Him to save our souls . . . that is saving faith.
The second faith is the faith we use every day AFTER we exercised that saving faith. We believe what the Book says about how to live. We believe what God tells us to chase after and what to avoid. We believe what the Bible says about how to treat that neighbor across the road who annoys us . . . and we arrange our lives by what God says . . . that is living by faith - or that is the kind of faith we live BY.
The just shall live by faith - not by feelings, not by what seems right . . . and I suppose this is more of a burden for school-age folks than it is for grownups . . . not by what the popular crowd is doing. By FAITH - trusting that what God wrote in His Bible is the truth, even on the day when His Word goes against everything our flesh wants . . . it is like Goldilocks again. “Preacher, that commandment is just too hard - that one is too cold. I am looking for something just right. What do y’all have at your church for the youth? What do y’all have for this group or that group?” If that is our attitude, we are just looking for something that is just right . . . we are not looking for the TRUTH.
Because a Christian who quits living by faith does not quit living. He just starts living by his FEELINGS . . . and every single time, feelings will drift toward whatever is easiest, whatever is the most comfortable, or whatever costs the least.
The Flashing Yellow Light
Now I am watching the clock, and we are about out of time - so I will find a way to fit the rest of this into a later service - but I did mention the yellow light, so let me say this much.
What does a flashing yellow light above an intersection mean? Does it mean stop? No . . . it just means we need to be particularly aware, because there may be something here that could turn into something we did not expect.
Well, when we go through life - especially when we pick up our phones and start scrolling through Facebook or whatever - I have never once seen a blaring red light flash up and say, you just do not need to do this - but Facebook and Instagram are FULL of flashing yellow lights. Am I the only one? “Oh, this looks kind of interesting . . . oh. Oh, I do not need to go there. Okay - do not need to go there.” Those are yellow flashing lights, folks . . . and when we just drive right on through and ignore them, we are making a big mistake . . . and they do not just exist on the phone. They exist all through life.
The whole point of the yellow flashing light is that it is like the barbs on the barbed wire . . . that is God’s Holy Spirit saying, “Now I know there is not a thus saith the Lord, and there is not a thou shalt not - but you are getting close to a line here, and if you are not careful, somebody is going to come barreling through the other side of that intersection. Slow down and be cautious.” To ignore that is to ignore the PROTECTION God is trying to give us through His Spirit.
Please consider what you heard this morning.
Scripture Used
John 1:4-5 · John 14:26 · Romans 10:1-3 · Romans 1:17 · Acts 17:30 · Revelation 2:7 (all KJV)
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