Righteousness through Faith

Last time we met we talked about God’s faithfulness

We discovered that God is always faithful, no matter how unfaithful we are

We talked about the fact that God has not failed in any way – Some might look at the Jews and conclude that God has failed them – God has not failed them, rather, they have failed God

We talked about the fact that it is impossible for God to fail anyone, because in His very nature He is faithful – In fact “faithfulness” is His name

He cannot help but being faithful – It’s who He is – He is “YHWH, YHWH” the One “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” Exodus 34:6

This is His “name” Exodus 34:5

We also discovered that there are no innocent people before God

The Apostle Paul tells us that all are guilty – He tells us that everyone has broken God’s law – Even the Jews – Even himself

He tells his readers that “none are righteous” – Not even the chosen people of God – Not even him

In effect, what Paul does from chapter 1:1 to chapter 3:20 is communicate that all are guilty before God and have no excuse

They have no excuse because they either have the General Revelation and the conscience, or they have the Law – Or they have both

Remember what Paul says about the Gentiles in chapter 1?

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” Romans 1:19-20

Then in chapter 2 He says this regarding the Jews, “You have no excuse” because you judge those that don’t have the Law, but break it yourselves

And then in chapter 3 He says, “Whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” Romans 3:19

In other words, “You Jews are guilty, the law says you are guilty, in fact, it says that all are guilty”

Well, all this leads to what we will look at today, and that is the good news

We have spent the better part of three chapters talking about the bad news, and now we get to hear the good news – Aren’t you glad?

Romans 3:20-31

²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

²⁷ Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. 

What I want us to consider tonight is this

Is it better to keep the Law, or is it better to have faith?

Well, let’s find out

Paul says in Romans 3:20, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight” Romans 3:20

Okay, I guess that settles it! We can go home now!

I mean, this is pretty straightforward, right?

Paul says that “No human will be justified by God by keeping the law”

But this is still bad news, and we want to get to the good news, so lets get into the Word, and let the Word get into us

Again, Paul says, in Romans 3:20, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” Romans 3:20

So, that is why no human will be justified by keeping the law, because with the law comes knowledge of sin

What do you mean?

The Scriptures teach that the law is good, its perfect, its right, but we cannot keep it – And because we cannot keep it, we are guilty

You see, God’s standard is perfection, if you want to get to heaven by keeping the law, then you have to keep every single part of it – You have to be perfect

How many of you are perfect?

The psalmist tells us in Psalm 19 that, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether” Psalm 19:7-9

Question is, “If God’s law is perfect, if it is right, if it is pure, if it is true, and righteous then why are we talking as if it’s bad?

It’s not bad – We are the ones that are bad!

You see, the law is God’s standard, and He expects us to meet His standard – But we don’t, do we?

We fall short of it

You see, the law is like a mirror, when we look into it, it reveals who we are – We are seen as dirty, messed up, and broken, but it’s not the mirror that is dirty, messed up and broken, it’s us! – The mirror is just a reflection of who we are

Often times we will look into the law, see our  messed up reflection, but then conclude that that is not really us – We don’t believe the mirror! – We conclude that the mirror is bad, that the mirror is broken!

No, the mirror is not bad! – The mirror is perfect, its right, its true – We are the ones that are not right, not perfect, not true

So, “through the law comes knowledge of sin” Romans 3:20

So, there is no way we can become right with God by keeping the law, because none of us can keep it fully – We are broken, we are messed up

But here comes the good news

21 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested [made known] apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Romans 3:21-22

In other words, God, seeing that we fall short of His perfect law made a way for us to keep it – He made a way for us to be right with Him – And this way is “apart” from the law

So what is it?

It’s “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” Romans 3:22

You notice what Paul says?

He says it’s not through keeping the law, but it’s “through faith”

Faith is the vehicle to righteousness, not the law

The law is only designed to show us our need for faith – Our need for Jesus

So, is it better to keep the Law, or is it better to have faith?

I think the Scriptures are telling us that it is better to have faith – But I think they are telling us even more than this – They are telling us that faith is the only way to be righteous before God

Verse 22 says, “For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift” Romans 3:22-24

How much is “all?”

“All” means all – It means everybody! – That means Jew and Gentile, past, present, and future – Just what Paul has been communicating through these three chapters

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

Paul is saying that there is no way around this – God has a standard and we all fall short of it – We all fail – We all don’t measure up

We all took the test, and we all got an “F”

But God made a way for us to retake the test, and this time we will get an “A”  – But we have to be willing to take the test

What is the test?

It is to believe in what God did for us, and accept it

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” Romans 3:23-24

So, we are justified [declared not guilty] by God’s grace as a gift

What do you do to receive a gift?

Physically, all you do is stretch out your hand and take it

But like all gifts, you will not appreciate it unless you want it, unless you desire it, unless it is valuable to you

You have to want the gift – This means that in your heart you are longing for what the giver is offering you – It has to be your most precious treasure – And then it will be given to you, and you will receive it with joy

You ask, “How does this all work?”

How can God give me eternal life when I broke His laws – When I am guilty?

How can He let me into heaven, when I am a sinner?

Well, the Bible teaches that God paid the penalty for your sin, and for mine, and for all humanity

Again, let’s read verse 23

23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Romans 3:23-25

What in the world is “propitiation?”

Well, it simply means “to win or regain the favor of” or to “atone”

In fact the NIV uses this word “atonement” here

And what it means is that it’s a “covering”, or a “covering of mercy”

So, you could say that God put forward Jesus as a “mercy covering” over our sins

How did He do this?

He did it through the “blood” of Jesus

You see, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, the Bible teaches that God put all the sins of the world, past, present, and future onto Christ – And then punished Christ

2Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake He [God] made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God” 2Corinthians 5:21

Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” Galatians 3:13

Do you realize what this is saying?

It’s saying that the price that was paid by Jesus on our behalf was Him being forsaken by His Father, and punished for things He didn’t commit – Jesus was innocent, yet He chose to carry our sins and die for them

Why did He do it?

He did it because He loves us – God loves us with an everlasting love – Jesus loves us with an everlasting love

This is the gospel – This is the good news!

And this is the “gift” that is to be received by “faith” – The “gift” is the gospel

And it is a gift of “grace”

What is grace?

“Grace” simply means getting something we don’t deserve – It’s God’s unearned favor

So, salvation and eternal life, is not found by doing good things, it is found in the gift of God that we don’t deserve, but God offers it to us anyway

How do we receive it?

We receive it by “faith”

“Faith” simply means trust

It comes down to trust – Do we trust this? Do we trust God? Do we trust the Scriptures?

If you do, then what’s holding you back?

Well, Paul concludes this chapter by saying, 27 “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” Romans 3:27-28

In other words, “If we are saved by what we believe, and not on what we do, then how can we brag, how could we boast? We can’t, there’s nothing to boast about! We don’t deserve this, but it’s given to us anyway!”

“What becomes of our boasting… by what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith” Romans 3:27

You see, faith is the means by which we are made right with God, not good works

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” Romans 3:28

In other words, there is nothing you can do to please God apart from faith – Not even keeping the law

We are declared “not guilty” before God on the basis of our faith, and not on the basis of our good works

What does that mean?

It means that if I devote my whole life to doing good things, yet reject Christ, I have nothing before God

Our good works only mean something to God if they are done through faith

Because if they are not done through faith, they are being done through effort

And if they are being done through effort it means that we are trying to work our way to heaven – We are trying to earn our way to heaven – And we just discovered that this is impossible – Because God’s standard is perfection, and we all fall short of perfection

That is why our salvation has to rely on faith – There is no other way

Well, Paul finishes this chapter with asking the question, “What about the law? Does this mean that the law is ‘overthrown,’ that we don’t need it?”

He answers with “By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” Romans 3:31

But this will be for another day

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The Faithful One

The last time we met we asked the question, “Is it better to hear and not do, or is it better to do and not hear?”

We considered the situation that the Jews faced at the time of Paul’s writing

We talked about the fact that Gentiles who did not have the Law, were doing what the Law required – But the Jews (who had the Law) were not doing what the Law required

We considered the role of the “heart” in all this

We said that the “heart” is made up of three things, 1. The Mind, The Will, and The Emotions

We concluded that the heart is the “control center” of the person’s whole being

Every thought we think, every decision we make, and every emotion we feel comes from the “heart”

The Bible tells us that the “heart” is the “inner self” of a person – It is the actual (real) person – The body is just the vehicle that carries the real person

We also talked about the role of the conscience

The fact that the conscience was given to us as a compass – It is the part of us that tells us what is right and what is wrong – What is okay to do, and what is not okay to do

It is the built in moral compass that helps us live a right life

Together, the heart and the conscience give us a powerful tool to live in this world and make right decisions, the most important of which is Jesus Christ – How will we use the “heart” and the “conscience” when it comes to the Son of God?

Will we believe and choose to live for Him, or will we not believe and choose to live for ourselves?

This is the big question, and the question that will determine our eternal destiny

So, today we will begin to study chapter 3, and see what the Lord has for us in this section

Now remember, Paul has been making the case that the Jews are not better off than the Gentiles – Just because they are of the lineage of Abraham and God’s chosen people does not make them exempt from making right decisions

Romans 3:1-20

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11  no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13  “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16  in their paths are ruin and misery,
17  and the way of peace they have not known.”
18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

What I want us to consider tonight is this:

Is God Unfaithful?

Is God unfair, is He unjust, does He choose people and then forget them? Has He chosen the Jews and now forsaken them?

To this I will say absolutely not!

But let’s see what the Word says

Paul begins and says, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ² Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³ What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?” Romans 3:1-3

Paul is asking a hypothetical question here

And in light of what he has already presented in the preceding chapter (i.e. the guilt of the Jews) he is now asking what advantage is there in being a Jew (if all Jews are guilty)

In other words, if Jews are guilty the same way that Gentiles are guilty, then is there any advantage in being a Jew? – What’s the point, why do all the things that Jews are supposed to do (circumcision, sacrifices, feast days, kosher meals etc.)

Well, Paul answers this question and says, “much in every way”

In other words, “Yes, of course there is an advantage!”

“To begin with” he says, we have been “entrusted with the oracles of God” – We have been given the privilege of being the people to whom God has spoken – He has given us His Word (We need to remember that when Paul was writing this letter there was no such thing as the “New Testament”

It was being written, but it was not yet complete – The Jews on the other hand had the Old Testament in their possession for thousands of years

They had the Law of God, the Word of God, the Oracles of God

But Paul asks the question, “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?” Romans 3:3

In other words, If God chose these people, if He chose to reveal Himself to them in His Word, and they are still “unfaithful” (unbelieving) then does that mean that God has failed?

Remember, the Jews had rejected Christ

Paul answers and says, “By no means!” “Absolutely not!” “No way!” – God has not failed!

“By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, ‘That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged’” Romans 3:4

This is a quote from Psalm 51, if you remember Psalm 51 is a psalm of repentance from the heart of David, after he murdered Uriah and took his wife as his own

What Paul is saying is, God is never wrong, He is always true, He is always faithful – No matter what we do, God never breaks His promises

We’ve all heard the saying, “If God feels distant, it’s not Him that moved, but us”

God is faithful all the time

Did you know that God Himself says He is faithful – We read it all over the Bible, and all of the Bible is God’s Word – But did you know that there is a specific passage of Scripture that God Himself (audibly) speaks and tells us who He is? – In fact He tells us that this is His name!

Exodus 34:5-7 says, ^5 “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there (i.e. Moses), and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7

This is a huge verse, because it is God’s self-disclosure of Himself

So, God is saying, “Pay attention, this is very important!”

You see, back in those days, they did not have highlighters, they did not italicize, or underline, (they did not even use exclamation marks!), but the way they communicated that something is really important is by repeating it

So, in this passage, God is telling Moses who He is, and He says, “YHWH, YHWH!” (The Lord, the Lord!)

Another way of saying, “This is who I am!!!”

This is also the most quoted passage of the Bible by the Bible – The prophets, the kings, and the apostles continually quote this passage to declare to the people who God is

So, God is always faithful, He tells us He is – In fact it is His name – His name is faithful

So, Paul is saying here in Romans that God is always faithful, no matter how unfaithful we are

And this raises another question, (now hang in with me),  “If God is always faithful, and we are unfaithful, does that mean that we should be unfaithful so that God will be more faithful?”

This is how Paul says it, ^5 “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ⁶ By no means! For then how could God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸ And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.” Romans 3:5-8

In other words, “If my sin causes God’s grace to be more graceful why not sin all the more?”

Is this a good question?

I think this is a good example of man’s perverted logic

Just because God is always faithful, does not mean that humans should incite His faithfulness with unfaithfulness (or incite His goodness by doing evil)

Paul answers this irrational statement to say, “Their condemnation is just” – If you sin for sin’s sake, you will die – In fact it shows that you are not a believer

So, God is always faithful, no matter how unfaithful we are

Well, Paul goes on, and he re-states the same question as before, “What then? Are we Jews any better off?”Romans 3:9

Then he answers with, “No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks (i.e. Gentiles), are under sin” Romans 3:9

 

Then he quotes a bunch of verses to prove his point

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” Romans 3:10-12 (quoted from Ps. 14:1-3 and 53:1-3)

“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive” Romans 3:13a (quoted from Ps. 5:9)

“The venom of asps is under their lips” Romans 3:13b (quoted from Ps. 140:3)

“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness” Romans 3:14 (quoted from Ps. 10:7)

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known” Romans 3:15-16 (quoted from Is. 59:7-8)

Then he ends with, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” Romans 3:18 (quoted from Ps. 36:1)

Question is, why does Paul quote all these Old Testament verses?

He quotes them to communicate to the Jews that they are not as righteous as they think they are

This is their Book, these are their Scriptures, and these Scriptures are telling them that they are guilty before God

Again, the Jews thought they were okay with God, simply because they were Jews

And Paul is telling them that they are not – In fact they are just like the rest of mankind

They are broken, they don’t seek for God, they’re deceptive, they speak curses, they murder, they don’t know the way of peace, and they don’t fear God

Paul is making the claim that they are not what they think they are – He knows this, he was one of them

You know the story, Paul’s name was not always “Paul,” but was “Saul” – And he was a persecutor of God’s people

Listen to his testimony:

³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. ⁴ I persecuted this Way (i.e. Christians) to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, ⁵ as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’” Acts 22:3-8

I believe, that in this moment, Paul finally realized how broken and messed up he was – He thought he was doing the will of God by killing people in the name of God!

You see, Paul (Saul) was being unfaithful, but God was being faithful

No matter how unfaithful humanity becomes, God will always be faithful

If God makes a promise, He fulfills it – If He says He is going to do something, He does it – If He says something will happen, it happens – Why? Because it’s who He is

He is “YHWH, YHWH” the One “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” Exodus 34:6

At the end of Paul’s life, when he is locked up in prison and waiting to be executed, he writes these words to his disciple and friend Timothy

“If we have died with Him (i.e. Jesus), we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself” 2Timothy 2:11-13

You see, what Paul is saying is, “We get want we want, we reap what we sow, but even if we are faithless toward Christ (God) Christ will never be faithless toward us”

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t get what’s coming to us

If we are unfaithful toward God, we will get what we deserve, but God remains faithful

Again, if God feels distant, it’s not Him that moved, but us

Well, Paul concludes this section with these words, ¹⁹ “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19-20

In other words, there is no excuse for anyone – Not the Jew and not the Gentile, all are guilty before God

But there is good news, God made a way for us to be acquitted, He has paid our fine, He has taken our punishment – He has made a way for us to be faithful – This includes the Jewish people

But that is for another day, see you next time

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