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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

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And perhaps you've heard the news from East Texas. The latest was just last week.

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The story comes out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and its Supermax prison in Livingston.

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A man there is leading a ministry to inmates on death row.

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These men have been convicted of murder, have been sentenced to death as punishment, as justice for their crimes.

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The men on death row live in almost complete isolation, held in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day.

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The prison ministry allows them to hear the word of God over the prison radio, sometimes even a sermon.

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The minister leads the prisoners in prayer and in singing.

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Fellowship is not easy. The men can't shake hands. They cannot give each other a slap on the back or an encouraging hug.

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The sharing of the peace will have to wait. They are divided by concrete walls and steel doors and thick plexiglass windows.

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But they can sing. They can sing to each other through the walls.

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And the man leading them in singing and in praying, even giving a message, the minister is one of them.

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He is a prisoner on death row and he was scheduled to be executed at the end of October.

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Will Speer is 49 years old. He's been in prison for 33 years. When he was 16, he killed a man in Texas and was sentenced to life in prison.

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The law got a grip on him. When he was 22 years old, he murdered another man in prison and this time was sentenced to death and he's been on death row for 22 years.

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During most of that time, he had no hope. By his own admission, he was lost until a few years ago when the prison started a faith-based program for death row inmates.

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And Will heard the gospel message preached to him. He heard about Jesus Christ.

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A local pastor in Chaplain came to visit the prisoners. He told them the story. He told them of another man, an innocent man who had been condemned to death and he was executed.

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But he rose from the dead to life again. His name is Jesus and he lives still and he is the savior of all people, even criminals on death row.

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And even though these prisoners have done all kinds of wrong in their lives, they have sinned against God and they've sinned against other people, nevertheless, God loves them.

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And trusting in Jesus, they will be saved and they will rise again.

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Will Spear heard this message and it took a hold of him. He didn't know where else to turn and he called out to God for help.

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He admitted his guilt before God. He repented of his sins and he cried out to the Lord to save him.

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He enrolled in the Christian ministry program in the prison. He learned more. Two years ago, Will was baptized in a blue plastic kiddie pool in the prison yard surrounded by razor wire.

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He continued to be active in the prison ministry and over time became the leader of the Christian program in the prison.

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Just last year, he completed a 30 week study of the gospel of Matthew. He plans to enroll in an online seminary training program so that he can better prepare himself to serve.

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Will is dedicated to helping his fellow prisoners on death row. He wants them to have the hope and salvation that comes through faith in Christ.

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One of Will's fellow prisoners said that through his work, Will has brought peace to death row. For his part, Will no longer refers to it as death row.

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He calls it life row now because the inmates have a hope for a new life in Christ even while they face death under the law.

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Will was scheduled to be executed at the end of October. A stay was issued just five hours before the sentence was to be carried out.

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He was granted 60 days while the state of Texas reviews his case. Will Speer and others on death row know all about the law.

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It confronts them constantly. They live under the law every minute of every day of their death sentences.

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The consequences for their own transgression of the law. If not the law of God, then surely the law is prescribed by the state of Texas.

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The consequences stare them in the face in ways that are difficult for us to fathom. They can never fulfill what the righteousness of the law requires.

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It confines them. It grips them. And there is only one way out. Their deaths may represent some kind of justice.

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But it is not the fulfillment of the law. When it comes to the righteousness of the law, is it really any different for us?

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When the law is working, don't we face the same problem? Romans 10 states the problem clearly.

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We cannot live by the righteousness of the law. For we have not obeyed God's righteousness.

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The law of God reveals sin. The law of God reveals God's wrath against sin. Condemnation and death belong to sin.

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And through his law, God leads sinful people, people like us, to a true knowledge of our sin. And it's a knowledge that gets a hold of us.

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It convicts us. The law makes our hearts grieve because of our sin. It gives us fear of God and troubled and anxious minds in the face of condemnation and death, which is justice for sin.

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But Paul makes it clear that there is a righteousness of God apart from the law. It is the righteousness based on faith.

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In Romans 10, Paul declares, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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The Gospel reveals in Jesus Christ the righteousness through which we are freed from the confinement of our sin.

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Faith gifted by God grasps this righteousness. And we are declared not guilty before God. We are set free, given life, a sentence of eternal life.

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This by God's grace through faith. And the message of what Christ has done for us comforts troubled consciences. It gives joy to broken hearts.

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It puts words of thanksgiving and praise to God in our mouths, confessing Christ and faith in him. Salvation is in Christ.

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For everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame, Paul says. For the same Lord Jesus is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

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When we call upon Jesus to save us, we bring our unrighteousness with us, we carry along our sins, we take our disobedience with us, and Christ sets us free from them.

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He came down to give us what the law could not give, the righteousness of God. So faith calls upon him. And in faith we have peace with God, we have peace with one another, and we rejoice in the Lord Jesus.

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With the righteousness of faith in Christ, we are called to carry the word of Christ to others. That faith is working in our hearts in acts of love and kindness and generosity to others.

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That faith is working in our mouths to confess Christ, to tell others of his love, to console, to comfort, to bring peace.

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That faith is speaking and praying and singing with others in praise to our Lord for what he has done.

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Faith grips Christ and holds on tight. For Christ went down into death and rose again so that death might be overcome and that we might have victory over sin and death in him.

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Faith cries out to the Lord Jesus, who is our righteousness. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Amen.

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We stand to sing.