Faith Baby, It’s Faith!– Romans 3:19-31
October 15, 2006
by Pastor Lee Hemen

It is interesting to note that if we decided to make up a religion that people would adhere to, we could sit down and devise such a scheme quite easily. In fact, it has been done before. Several colleges have experimented with the concept. The Satirist Online has a whimsical web page that looks at the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Cult Leaders” and gives suggestions on such things as personal grooming, time management, and conceptualizing your cult. Then there are other sad attempts from those who have a rather odd sense of humor. However, the basis for any such attempt usually follows the pattern whereby devotees are told that unless they follow a certain set of guidelines, then they are doomed. Cults play on people’s personal insecurities. When God gave the Hebrew people His commandments, He intended that they would guide people into faith, trust, and devotion to Him and show them a better way of living. They were not intended to keep people in line nor for a spiritual kind of mind-control or heavenly law enforcement. In fact, God would tell us that true worship begins in faith and awe, not from fear and strict adherence.

Paul, in fact, relates for us exactly what the law was intended to do, where true holiness comes from, and that anyone can uphold the law of God by faith. He would tell us that it is faith baby, it’s faith! Let’s discover what Paul teaches us this morning about God’s law and our faith.

READ: Romans 3:19-31

Paul relates that…

I. The law can never make anyone right with God – it only condemns us (vv. 19-20)!

1. Following a regulation only makes one “law abiding,” not holy! We could follow a set of rules until kingdom come, and never be made righteous. The purpose and ministry of the law of God could never make anyone holy. The law was made to silence people regarding their own ability to come to God. Instead, they became accountable for what they knew. The Law’s ministry was so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world made accountable to God. No one can argue in his own defense that he is not under sin. The Law points out God’s standards and illustrates people’s inability to live up to them. No following a set of rules could ever make a person holy. Instead, the Law was given so that through it we become conscious of our sin. Ignorance of the law is no excuse because people were aware of it through God’s creative work around them! Instead they began to worship and serve creation instead of God! They began to make their own rules for living a holy life. God’s law showed them something else. The Mosaic law condemns us.

EXAMPLE: The other day our new little puppy Molly had to learn a tough lesson: Not everything in the house is hers to chew on. I picked her up in my arms and spoke very gently to her telling her that those things were not hers they were ours and that she should be a “good girl” and not chew on anything that does not have her name on it. Do you think my “talk” worked? NO! Of course it didn’t. The law was in place and I even made Molly aware of it, but just hearing it does not make her aware of it. She had to understand the consequences of her actions. So what I really did was use a rolled up newspaper, smacked my hands real loud with it, and scolded her in a stern loud voice. I told her in no uncertain terms she was a “bad girl.” Smacked the paper real loud near her again and she got the idea real quick. She ran to her bed and tried to hide. I pulled her out and did it again. Do you think she will get the idea now? You see if I had just told her about the problem, she would never change. She has to be “condemned” so-to-speak. She has to face the consequences for her actions. The law of Moses did just that. It can never make anyone right with God, it only condemns them.

The law condemning us is of no value as far as making God’s people holy. It might make us better for a time, but it can never make us truly righteous. It can never change us eternally. Paul teaches us that…

II. Our faith does something the law could never do (vv. 21-26)!

1. Righteousness is achieved for us already! Paul had just made it plain that “no one will be declared righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law, But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been” shown to the whole world and the “Law and the Prophets (Old Testament) testify” to the fact! It is a “righteousness from God” that “comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” By faith we are saved, not through the law. God did this for several reasons: 1) all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 2) God “did this to demonstrate His justice” in the past “because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished, and 3) God “did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just” to us right now as well. Jesus’ death demonstrated God’s impartiality to all people, not just the Jews. God’s divine plan satisfied His own righteous requirement and His wrath against sinful man. At the same time it also demonstrated His love, mercy, and restorative grace to all rebellious and alienated people. The solution therefore was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His incarnate Son, and the acceptance by faith by individual sinners. Our faith does something the law could never do! It makes us completely righteous and it saves us completely!

EXAMPLE: The other day Denise made the best dinner ever. It was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh corn on the cob, and homemade apple pie for dessert. I know it was good, even though I have not tasted it yet. I decided to just put mine in the refrigerator for safe keeping. I have plenty of time to eat it. I will just save it for later, when I really want to eat it. I think it will still be okay, after all it has only been in the fridge for a couple of weeks now. Perhaps I will go home and warm it up in the microwave this afternoon. Now most of you who know me know that this scenario would never happen in a million years, especially if there was homemade apple pie involved! Why? Because when you get a great meal like that, you don’t wait several weeks to eat it. You partake of it right away! The same should be true when we hear that we no longer have to follow a lot of laws and guidelines. We are saved by faith in Jesus because of Jesus! Our faith does something the law could never do!

Therefore, Paul’s conclusion is that…

III. Faith upholds the entire law of God (vv. 27-31)!

1. The question is not in following rules, it is: “Do you have enough faith to trust God?” After explaining God’s provided righteousness for sinners, Paul considered five questions in the Greek which he anticipated his readers might ask. Two are in verse 27, two in verse 29, and the other in verse 31. Could the Jews boast about the law? “It is excluded,” Paul says! Shut out! He literally asks then “By what principle of works? Paul answers “No, but on that of faith.” Doing good works is no reason for boasting about the law of God. It was not given for that purpose! Paul’s argument is that “we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” He then asks, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too?” And answers, “Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.” Faith upholds the entire law of God! And finally Paul asks, “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith?” His answer? “Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law!” The Jews isolated themselves from the world both in faith and in relationship and wanted God to be the God for only one people: Them. Paul used their basic teaching—only one God exists—to convince them God was just in saving all people everywhere by faith. For Paul, faith upholds the entire law of God!

EXAMPLE: People have a tough time accepting the fact that God did not send us a set of rules to follow in order for us to get it right, so that in some convoluted way we could possibly earn His love and thereby be safe for eternity. “If I am good enough, I might be okay.” If this were true, Jesus was stupid for dying on the cross for us! This is why Paul would later proclaim, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering (Romans 8:3).” He would also say that “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).” And finally conclude that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).” For Paul, all people “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).”

Conclusion:

Are you trying to be good enough? Are you trying to follow some kind of guidelines? Paul would tell us that: The law can never make anyone right with God, it only condemns them. Our faith does something the law could never do! And for Paul, faith upholds the entire law of God!

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