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Romans 3.19-20
January 10th 2021
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So, we left off last week with yet another profoundly moving indictment on all human flesh from Paul and we ended at verse 18 where after reassuring us that there “is none good, no not one,” Paul said:
“There is no fear of God before their eyes,”
This line supports the disconnect many people have relative to the reality of the Holiness of the Living God and the fact that by comparison they are found wanting in purity and/or good works.
Through it all Paul makes it clear that God remains good, and right, and even glorified, but all flesh has proven itself fallen and failing before Him.
Finally, and after this long preamble of convincing all people that they are fallen and subpar when standing before the True and Living God (and not some anthropomorphic grandpa) he now begins to bring us toward the solution between the disconnect, the light and truth, saying at verse 19 of Romans chapter 3:
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 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.
I have to repeat this line for emphasis because it is so important to believers today – especially believers who are under the impression that the Law (of Moses or other man-made laws that they impose upon themselves religiously to please God) are beneficial. And so again, Paul says:
“For BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN” – a line we will get to in a moment. But first, to verse 19 where he writes:
19 Now we know that what things “soever” the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Here he is primarily speaking to the Jews.
I say primarily because earlier he has indicted the gentiles for being disobedient to the law written on their heart. Never the less, his arguments here are directed at the Jews especially the Jewish converts to Christianity.
And he continues to bring it all home on their heads, building a case that as a nation under the Law of Moses every mouth that blammers-on about how they are “elect and righteous” before God ought to be shut because by that very law all the world has (or may become) guilty before God.
Why? Because no one obeyed it – ever – therefore, as we read last week, “there is none righteous, no not one, and therefore, all are guilty before God.”
So shut your mouths about your being elect, Paul says. Shut your mouths about having the Law (because you don’t obey it). Shut your mouths in condemnation toward the great unwashed Gentiles – you are even more guilty than they are!
It’s as if Paul started out in the book of Romans like a kid with a giant magnifying glass walking along the sidewalk on a sunny day.
At the first of Romans, he has the glass pulled way back so as to not chase the Jewish reader away, and he focuses some heated attention on all the world.
But at this point, he slowly he begins to push in and narrowing his focus, and in this verse he has specifically focused all the energy and heat on a single point – those under the Law, those to whom the whole of the Old Testament spoke, saying, in effect:
“So we agree, and we know that the Law was given to those under the Law (the Jews) . . . WHY?”
Listen!
“That every mouth may be stopped.”
You see, those who sought to justify themselves by the Law are those who must use their mouths to do the justifying. If you have been around any committed religionist in your life you have heard the professions haven’t you?
“Why, I’ve obeyed the Sabbath for sixty-three years.”
“I have never broken that commandment in all my life!”
“We attend the temple every month.”
“I’ve been a faithful tither to the church for thirty seven years.”
Verbal justifications of self before God. And they are all examples of unstopped mouths that exist under the law.
Nobody can tell if someone has kept a law by looking at them. How would we know if someone has kept the sabbath or tithed? So the presence of the Law makes mouths run.
Ten years ago, I had a man go through all sorts of attempts to locate me.
He was 82 years old at the time and called into the show where I really let him have it. He finally got a hold of me and we agreed to meet at McDonalds on a Friday afternoon.
Typically, when I meet with people they have heard me talk enough and consider it their time to talk. And so I really try and listen until the well runs dry. This man, whose name was Richard, overflowed for a full hour – maybe longer. No exaggeration.
Richard talked about the women he had been married to – all worthily in the Mormon temple. He talked about never, ever breaking the word of Wisdom. About being a great dad, an adept basketball player, and a man gifted with a heart for others. He said he never refused a calling that the LDS church offered him and he gave his all to every position.
His mouth ran. My God, how it ran with most of it revolving around Richard’s righteousness under LDS law.
(beat)
When he ran out of works-righteousness gas, I watched silently as he sort of fumbled around for a minute and then he suddenly pointed at me, and by way of comparison started telling me how far off I am in the way I had spent my time and life.
He went from boasting in his righteous life and when that ended, he went to the next thing the Law creates and that is the right to condemn others.
He told me that he could read countenances. And that he could not comprehend by the Spirit the words that I speak. He told me ways I could improve upon as the show host.
Honest to God I did not say more than ten phrases for over an hour and what I said were only affirmations that I was listening.
And once Richard ran out of things to boast about, and things to condemn me for, I said:
“Richard. When I meet with people – whether they are Baptists, or Methodists, or Jews, or Mormons – but when I meet with people who KNOW the Lord, I mean who really know him from the heart, when they speak, their every word ultimately is focused on one thing – Him and His Goodness. (beat)
No matter the denom or sect they ALL speak the same language, and again, almost everything they say is somehow couched in the person of Jesus Christ and the Goodness of God who gave Him.
Since we have sat down, now for over an hour, you’ve boasted to me about your family, your parenting, your callings in your church, your faithfulness to your wives, your clean living . . . not once mentioning ANYTHING about the Goodness of God, or the Power of His Son in your life. Not once!
(beat)
Richard was quick to urgently interrupt me and said that everything he was talking about was the result of belonging to a church that is headed by the Lord so to speak of these other things WAS speaking of the LORD.
I corrected him and said that I showed up that day giving him every chance to let his mouth reveal the contents of his heart. Every chance, and all I heard was I, I, I and never Him; that his mouth ran boasting in what he was able to accomplish in HIS life through HIS obedience . . .which in the end, spoke to His righteousness.
And I then pointed out that when that well ran dry he turned, and using the Laws of Man as a basis, he began to condemn me, for my failure to do as He had done.
This is what Paul is saying to anyone who believes that they have any righteousness relative to their obedience’s to the Law; that the actual purpose of the Law, once Christ had come and revealed himself, was to stop every mouth from boasting or condemning.
This is evidenced in Jesus tale of the two men who went up to the temple to pray – a publican and a pharisee. The latter rambling on about all that he had done, and the former not able to even raise his face.
A final thing that that the law creates in people is a very selective memory – because for people who demand it, its all about perfection.
In my time with Richard, note all the things he didn’t admit or acknowledge as someone trying to justify themselves under the man-made laws of Mormonism.
The times he didn’t do 100% home-teaching. The times he was mean or impatient with others; the times he went to the store on what they call their Sabbath, or the times he in his heart, lusted for another man’s wife.
His pride. Moments of self-centeredness.
So among other things Law-keeping has the ability to cause people to boast in what they have obeyed while blinding them or causing them to downplay the times they have not.
Now, just so us non-Jews don’t start feeling good about ourselves, Paul adds to the line,
“that every mouth may be stopped,” and all the world may become guilty before God.
And here Paul returns to describing the state of all men and women when they each stand before God and attempt, in any way, shape, or form, to justify their lives by virtue of having done good or lived good lives.
Paul has made it abundantly clear here that there is absolutely no human justification available to Man when he stands before Holy God (that consuming fire) (BEAT) . . . except one, which he has yet to introduce.
And that the Law (whether written on stone or papyrus for the Nation of Israel) or the laws written in the kosmos or conscience or nature for the Gentiles, ought to really serve, if seen in the right light, to convict us rather than to ratify us.
What Paul is saying here is that these laws make all “guilty before God.”
In the Greek, that line means that these laws make everyone of us “subject to the judgment of the Living God,” a phrase that is borrowed from courts of justice.
The idea is not that a man is vying for freedom or pardon due to innocence but instead all people standing before the court and they know they are guilty before the demands of justice, and that we know we deserve whatever condemnation is coming our way.
So powerful is this statement that the word Paul uses here for guilty (HOOPODIKOS) is used only once in all of the New and (Greek translated) Old Testament.
So remember the comparison from last week. Go back to the biblical descriptions that describe God the Father. Holy. Absolutely pure. Without spot. Light. A consuming fire. Who cannot in any way, accept or embrace sin, shade, evil, darkness.
Contrast that with the state that scripture describes all human beings, that “there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
And then imagine, if you accept these two states as absolute and true, that you stand before this God WITHOUT any other means of justification or explanation or ratification for your actions.
None. There is no middle ground justification before Him. We are all HOOPODIKOS. Which is why the lawless publican couldn’t lift his eye to heaven but could only smite his chest and beg forgiveness.
(beat)
This is why truly converted believers go to such lengths to insist that people understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I personally cringe inside at the idea that there are people, like Richard, who think they can actually stand before Holy God and justify themselves and their lives by things they think they have done.
I would not wish that mindset on my worst enemy. But Paul is showing much more here in this writing. The arguments he is making also include the idea that
in order for Man to be guilty, there must be a law, either that of nature, Revelation or written in stone.
And that if there is no notion of evil made evident by some Law or another, there is no condemnation of anyone either.
Therefore, in order for there to be guilt, there must be a violation of the Law of which people have been made aware.
And in order for there to be innocence there either must be complete allegiance to the Law or the Law must be destroyed.
Do not forget these three things for they continue to play a part in the wonderful system of salvation that Paul is laying out for us.
So important that I am going to repeat them.
in order for someone to be guilty, there must be a law, either that of nature, Revelation or written in stone.
And that if there is no notion of evil made evident by some Law or another, there is no condemnation of anyone either.
Therefore, in order for there to be guilt, there must be a violation of the Law of which people have been made aware.
And in order for there to be innocence there either must be complete allegiance to the Law or the Law must be destroyed.
And with all of this preamble given in the first two chapters (plus half of chapter three), Paul frees every single human being – every Jew, every unconverted Gentile, AND every CHRISTIAN (did you hear that, EVERY CHRISTIAN) with the light of truth in the following line:
20 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.
(beat)
Therefore . . .
What a glorious word.
I mean, it’s almost like Jesus is standing by His cross, and when he looks at the Jew under the law in the face, and their head bows in shame, He waves His hand toward that bloody thing of torture and says . . .
Therefore . . .
It’s as if He looks to every heathen who spent his time running around doing God knows what, going against her conscience, and acting contrary to her conscience and he says . . . “therefore.”
It’s like He is looking into the face of every Christian who somehow comes to believe they need to perfect themselves and everyone else around them by the administration and enforcements of Laws in their lives, and He says,
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.
Now the word “Law” has, in the Scriptures, a great variety of definitions and when we read it in scripture we typically think of the Law of Moses.
But looking at everything Paul has written thus far, it appears that what he means by “the Law,” speaks both to the Law of Moses and/or to any laws anyone lives their life by which they have personally received as a means to justify themselves before God.
Bottom line, Paul is convicting the world for its failure to both conform to Moral law written outwardly and all laws in the heart. This is important.
If we take the Ten Commandments, a person might be able to say – might – that they had obeyed it all outwardly.
Outwardly . . .
“One God and no others?” Maybe.
“No grave images.” Maybe
“Name in vain.” Sure.
“Sabbath-day Holy.” Not easy, but possible.
“Honor parents?” Possible
“Not kill?” Sure
“Not steal” Fine.
“Not bear false witness?” Sure
“Not covet?” Outwardly? Maybe.
But remember what Jesus did? He took it and expanded it by applying the law to the Heart of Man.
“Not kill?” Sure. But what about our rage within? Remember what Jesus said?
Matthew 5:21 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
Not adultery? Sure. But what did Jesus say about adultery? Look upon a woman with lust in your heart you have committed it already, right?
And then there’s that killer of coveting.
The conclusion is therefore a general one, that by no law, made known either by reason, conscience, tradition, or revelation, could any person ever be justified ever before God . . .
there was no form of obedience which could be rendered, that would justify men in the sight of a holy God because the obedience demanded by a just holy pure God of consuming fire must be total, lifelong, without fail, without spot, from the heart (which is what He looks upon) and therefore says, and I repeat,
. . . by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight”
And then he drops on us a fact about they law. LISTEN CAREFULLY.
In fact, I’ll sing it:
“For by the Laaaaaaaaw is the knowledge . . . of sin.”
Law is “a rule of action.”
God’s Law is good, righteous, and utterly perfect.
We cannot get angry at God’s Law for it comes from Him and His rules are holy and good because He is holy and good and fair and just.
As a means to show you how vile the human heart can be, let’s do a brief exercise.
I want you to examine your heart of hearts when I say the following things to you? I want you to forget what you know about me personally and assume I am a standard preacher/pastor/bishop speaking to you from the pulpit. Ready?
“You must be obedient and come to church. You cannot please God unless you come here every Sunday without fail! Im preaching to the choir, but those people not here to fellowship with the Saints – they are in sin – plain and simple.”
OR
You must give a minimum of ten percent of your income EVERY week to the church – no if’s ands or buts. Ten percent is God’s minimum. He will not bless you unless you submit to this eternal law.
OR
Every time you break God’s commands He is angry with you because you have broken His rules. And you are outside his will and maybe even his love.”
(beat)
Now some of you, within your heart, rebelled at the sound of these statements.
You pushed against them from the heart and with your minds and therefore the LAW, in your case, reveals you to be a REBEL.
Rebellious against God (if those statements could be supported as from Him). This is why Paul wrote:
“For by the Law is the knowledge of sin.”
Some of you responded to these phrases with remorse. You felt guilt. Instead of rebellion, you cowered inside and felt shame.
You know you don’t come to church every Sunday and you know you have been disobedient and that you haven’t given, so again . . .
“By the Law is the knowledge of sin” – (experienced through guilt and shame).
Then there are those of you who said in your heart, “That’s right, Shawnie-boy! Get on em. I come here rain or shine, in sickness and in health. And I give 15% of my income, not just ten, and I obey every moral law from the mouth of God. No slippery sin with my neighbor, or drink or whorin around like the rest of these folks.”
Right?
But again, by the Law is the knowledge of sin (this time of pride and piety, along with the judgments and condemnation of others.
LISTEN
The net effect of applying rules to our persons will ALWAYS reveal or bring about a knowledge of sin – whether that sin is rebellion, guilt and shame, or pride and her ugly sister, condemnation.
And the reality is – all of these things are anathematic to Holy God.
We cannot stand before Him rebellious.
We cannot stand before him guilty and full of shame.
We cannot stand before Him proud and condemnatory.
See, these are actually the weightier matters, and which are paradoxically the by-product of the Law.
Now, we must admit that Christians do have two commands or laws that we LIVE BY according to the Spirit – the Laws of Faith and LOVE.
By the Laws of Faith and Love is there a knowledge of sin? Absolutely. And if the face of the command for Faith and Agape Love Christians are forever being sanctified by the Spirit to die to their flesh and to live according to the Spirit.
But we are talking here about Justification before God we are not talking about living the sanctified life of a Christian – not yet.
And the point is very very very clear here in the face of all of these arguments that Paul makes:
THEREFORE, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight”
So Paul is speaking of what will reconciled Holy God to unholy human beings? And the answer is not Law of any type or kind.
But somehow the point is lost – often entirely – even on believers once they become Christian.
To re-embrace any aspect of Law or to try and re-incorporate it into our person or our Christian walk will ONLY serve to move a person away from the freedom and liberty and peace Jesus came to give, and to bring us back into a state of . . .?
Rebellion, guilt and shame or pride and condemnation of others.
Why is it so easy to do as believers? Either to continue to live by the law AND/OR to picking it back up and assigning it to ourselves (and others) especially when the more closely a believer embraces LAW, the more they will find themselves under condemnation? Let’s wrap our time up talking about this question.
First and foremost, it just seems natural for human beings to either love rules, hate rules, or appreciate a good healthy balance of them.
Those who love them, love to impose them. And as a means of management, it is a very simple (but faithless) way to get others to conform.
When times get tough, when people take advantage of matters, when we need order, we result to a rule rather than relying on the hearts and free-will of humanity. Why? Because humanity sucks. And people do things wrong. And so we create laws and rules to keep them in order.
When a person comes to Christ and is saved by Him and His grace but has the penchant for rule making, they often find existence in a world of grace difficult and unsettling.
Living and walking by faith, trust, love and grace (and even moreso, trusting fully in God to manage the affairs of this life) is often just too much for them . . . and so rules, relative to conduct, to living, to all they do, are re-embraced.
In the end, what they are really looking to and trusting in to bring them peace are Laws and not the Lord.
In this sense, I see lawmaking and law-keeping as a form of faithlessness. We do not trust that God will work things out, make things right, or protect us, and so we turn to laws that will.
Again, this form of law-making is really just an expression of faithlessness and not really believing God will reign.
A classic example of this in organized religion is tithing. Instead of the church leaders trusting that God will provide and care for their every need (as they promise their people), them borrow from an Old Testament law called tithing and put it on their people in an act of sheer faithlessness and hypocrisy.
So the first reason believers turn to Law is faithlessness.
Then there are the rebellious at heart who come to Christ. They have spent their lives in rebellion to rules and then come to faith. Sometimes, because they fear their “former selves” rising up and taking over, and in fear of their own flesh being queen or king again, they aim for perfection in the flesh.
To live perfectly, in their mind is then accomplished through the imposition of rules and regimentations for themselves and then for others around them. This, again, flies in the face of faith!
We see this in parents who were once rebellious who come to know the Lord, and then look with terror at their teens and say, “its rule time.”
Unfortunately, God’s grace so abundantly bestowed on them as parents is lost on their children, and a household that could be full of love and longsuffering and the fruit of the Spirit becomes a house of rules and a house of death.
And the child’s response?
They rebel to the rules (and God)
They embrace the rules (and apply them to everyone else judgmentally)
Or they feel guilty and shame for the rest of their lives.
And in the case of rebels, we see the Law (yet again) becoming a system of failure in the lives of human beings.
Finally, there are those who seem to appreciate a healthy balance of rules and grace.
I think these are people who understand some aspects of God’s grace, but nooooooot all of it. These are those who always feel that they need to “do more.”
That Jesus offering was just not enough. And they are therefore always a little guilty before God.
This tends to create a kind of “worried Christian,” one who praises God but still feels like a failure all the time. So, instead of relying more on Him and His victory and strength they impose upon themselves rituals and rules and laws – just to be sure.
In every case a return to Law is an expression of faithlessness. It is somehow questioning the biblical teaching that
“Christ came and saved the world once and for all from sin, paying the debt in full an leaving no outstanding balance. And trusting that they have, through Him, be fully reconciled to God.
In this comes trusting, expecting, knowing that Holy God is not angry with you. He is not keeping a tally of your failures or a running list of your good deeds to make him love you more or less.
He loves YOU and is pleased by . . . your faith . . . in His Son.
Salvation from sin and to His Kingdom is based on your faith on Him who did what you could not do. And in this guaranteed state, He wants you to be set free. You cannot be free in Christ and also live by Law. For by the Law is the knowledge of SIN.
If you are not liberated by Christ in your life, I have a recommendation for you –
Go to God directly, once – or daily, or however you are lead – and surrender EVERYTHING over to Him. Everything.
Your will, your life, your mind, your fears, your family, your spouse, your grandkids, your pains – everything!
Mentally scoop it up in your arms and hand it all up to HIM once and for all and tell him that you are going to look to Him and Him alone as the author and FINISHER of your faith; that you are going to let go, that you are going to let him in to reign . . . and then let God reign. By His Spirit, through Faith on His Son.
And when you do, and God take over. And your rebelliousness, guilt and shame, pride and judgments will begin to fade. And you will experience true liberty that can only be found in Him.
Next week, Paul is going to say, after having said that by the law is the knowledge of sin:
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Praise the True and Living God!
Questions/Comments/Prayer
