Justification is by Faith Alone

Transcript

GR 1419
02/14/10
Justification Is by Faith Alone
Romans 3:27-31
Gil Rugh


Romans 3 in your Bibles. If you've been with us in our study of Romans you know that this last part of Romans 3 is really the focal point of the whole point of Romans. Verses 21-26 give you the substance of what the book of Romans is about. Romans 3:21-26 give you the substance of what biblical Christianity is really all about, God providing His righteousness for sinful man by the act of His Son dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. It was the means of redemption, redemption means setting someone free by paying the price. The penalty for our sin is death, the price is paid for us by Jesus Christ. He was the propitiation as verse 21 told us, in His blood. Propitiation in His blood, propitiation is the satisfaction, to turn away the anger. He satisfied the demands of God's righteousness, God's holiness. He turned away God's anger from us because of our sin and thus enabled God to declare us righteous.

This is all by faith. Now Paul makes clear what God is doing in Christ is providing salvation for us and in so doing He is demonstrating His own righteous character. Note verse 25, Christ Jesus is the one whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. We'll say more about that faith in a moment. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, God's righteousness because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sin previously committed. What that's talking about that we've already considered is that down through history, down through Israel's history God had been forgiving people for their sins. But how could He do that as a just and holy God? Animal sacrifices, that's the answer. But that's not the answer because an animal cannot take the place of a human being. But God was declaring men and women righteous down through the history of the Old Testament and yet the best they had was an animal that they brought as a sacrifice. Put their hand on the head of that animal and recognizing this animal is taking my place, paying the penalty for my sin. But the problem is the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin.

And so what we are told in verse 25 is God was demonstrating His righteousness because in the past He had passed over sin. He hadn't required an immediate payment, an immediate penalty for their sin. But that simply delayed the inevitable. The penalty had to be paid. So He had His Son come to earth, that was part of His plan. That's why He could declare men like Abraham righteous when they believed in Him, all the way back in Genesis 15. Because in His sovereign plan, He had determined that His Son at the appointed time, in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. He came to be the Savior, to die to pay the penalty for sin.

So what God is doing with the sacrifice of Christ, verse 26, this was for the “demonstration of His righteousness at the present time that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Those are the two aspects: that God would be just, His righteous character would be vindicated, demonstrated. And He would also be able to be the justifier, the one who declares sinful people righteous.

The character of God is crucial in this. People don't give this enough consideration. They think God will just forgive them, God will overlook things, God will know they did their best. He is not able to do that because that would be contrary to His very character as God, who always demands righteousness, holiness.

Turn back to Deuteronomy 32. This is what is called the Song of Moses as he nears the end of his earthly ministry. Verses 3-4, “For I proclaim the name of the Lord. Ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are just, a God of faithfulness and without injustice. Righteous and upright is He.” This is God in His very nature, in His very being—just, faithful, righteous, upright without injustice. But the question that has not been clearly answered, how can He declare sinful people righteous?

Well now with the coming of Christ, as you come back to Romans 3, that righteous character of God has been demonstrated. There would be a sacrifice, a sacrifice sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins committed, past, present and future. And so God could forgive Abraham, he's going to be the example in chapter 4. But he believed in God because God was going to provide the sacrifice that would enable him consistent with His own righteous character to declare Abraham righteous. The Son of God was the propitiation to turn away the wrath of God. He paid the price to set us free so that we could be declared righteous.

How this comes to be applied to our account is by faith. This is the foundational crucial matter. We'll limit our discussion to Christendom today. Not talking about the religions outside that boundary such as the variations of Protestants and Roman Catholics. The big divisions are on this very subject. How does the righteousness of God get credited to our account? And from our perspective, in line with the Reformers like Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and Simons and others, it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

And what Paul is going to begin stressing picking up with verse 27, is what he has already emphasized. Now he is going to elaborate on that justification comes to the individual by faith alone, apart from works. He stated the fact, verse 22, “it's the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.” So God's righteousness comes to us through faith in the provision He has made. Jesus Christ is His sacrifice.

And that provision is available to all who believe, because all need it. For all have sinned, verse 23, and fall short of the glory of God. That's what he demonstrated through chapter 3 verse 20. We are all sinners; we fall short of God's standard of perfection, what is required for acceptance in His presence. But His righteousness is available through faith in Christ, and it's available for all who believe. Down in verse 26, this is to demonstrate His righteousness, so that He can be seen to be just and the justifier. Remember that's the same basic word as righteous and the one who declares righteous. So He could be righteous and the one who declares righteous. The one who has faith in Jesus is the key—faith in Jesus.

Verse 27 picks up, “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of Law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.” We're going to pick up with verse 27 and this theme will continue all the way through chapter 4 verse 25. He's going to stress the absolute necessity of faith alone for salvation. And anything added to faith corrupts the faith and renders it worthless, ineffective to bring salvation to a heart and life. So verses 27-31 really become part of what he's going to talk about in chapter 4. Then chapter 4 will with illustrations from the Old Testament show that salvation has always been by faith apart from works. And no one was ever saved by their works. And the particular focal point he will have, as he has had in the bulk of these three chapters, is on the works of the Law, the Mosaic Law. Because that is the tension and pressure point that he is dealing with in the church at Rome. Jews who have professed faith in Christ but are saying it is also necessary to keep the Law. This goes back to the Jerusalem Conference in Acts 16 where there were Jews who claimed to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, accepted His death and resurrection, but said that was not enough. A person also had to be circumcised and keep the Law for salvation. That has come to Rome also, that kind of influence. And Paul has shown that you can't be saved by keeping the Mosaic Law and the works of the Law, any other works that people come up with are irrelevant. Because we will see, at least the Jews had laws that God had directly given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. If you can't be saved by keeping these 613 commandments or at least a portion of them, how could you be saved by any other works you would do? So in demonstrating this he demonstrates it's by faith alone.

Let's look at verse 27. “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, a law of faith.” Would you exclude boasting by a law of works? Well if I did works I have something to boast about, right? Even if it's only 10% my works and 90% God's work, I can boast about the 10%. If it's 99% God's doing and 1% my works, I'll boast about the 1%. So boasting is not excluded by a law of works, the Mosaic Law, as a means of righteousness. It's excluded by a law of faith. So he plays on that word Law. Here is what is required—faith. Here is the rule—faith, not works. What does faith do? It's not what it does; it trusts or believes in what God has done. That rules out boasting. That's the sinful point. He picks this up down in chapter 4 verse 2, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—his works. No matter how few or how many, when you bring works in you can boast about that. If Abraham was declared righteous by God by his works, or his works were part of that, he has something to boast about.

Turn over to I Corinthians 1. Paul is showing the Corinthians they have nothing to boast about in themselves. Pick up with verse 26 as he talks about the salvation God has provided. “For consider your calling, brethren, there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.” Look around, there aren't many very important people God has called, are there? Verses 27-8, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And the base things in the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not so they might nullify the things that are.” Note verse 29, “so that no man may boast before God.”

Why does God do it the way He does? Have you ever thought if God would save so-and-so, what an impact that would make? That would get the attention of people. Think what the power of their testimony would have. And then God goes and saves people like you and me. I mean, Lord, you could do better than this. But you look around, what is He doing? He's doing things that will result in Him getting all the glory, all the credit. That's the point. He doesn't go and save people in great positions, with the most money so that they can have the most influence, so people will be influenced by their position, by their power, by their wealth. He saves ordinary people and He uses their testimony with the gospel to save other people. And we look around and say, God must be doing it. We've been saved; think who was used in your life to bring you to Christ. Probably just an average person, often somebody we work with, a family member. We like to think it would be done on this scale, this level. You understand, God is doing it that man may not boast but in Him. Everything about the work of salvation is done so God gets all the glory and credit.

So I Corinthians 1:30 says, “but by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” It's all there in Him. Not in Him plus our works. So that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. That's God's plan, that He gets all the credit, He gets all the glory. I'm saved, but I'm saved by His grace.

Turn over to Ephesians 2:1, he tells us how we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” and so on, lived under the power and control of our sin and of Satan. Verses 4-7, “but God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” His grace, we say we will be trophies of grace for God for all eternity. Look, Gil is here; look, so-and-so is here; so-and-so is here. Sinners who are saved by grace and all of the glory goes to God. Verses 8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” You see God allows no sharing of the glory, no sharing of the credit. All the boasting is to Him for what He has done.

You know a number of years ago we went through the cycle of self-esteem. It's still out there but I don't read as much about it in Christian circles. Hopefully they were shamed to abandoning such an unbiblical position. But there were people talking about, being saved, that's a cause of self-esteem, that boosts your self-esteem to become a believer. What kind of twisted thinking is that? That is to boost your God-esteem, to give Him all the esteem, all the glory, all the credit.

Turn over to I Timothy 1. This kind of goofy theological and human reasoning wouldn't infiltrate the church if we would keep our minds anchored in the truth of God's word, in its simple clarity. The Apostle Paul talks about his own salvation experience. Verse 14, “and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant” toward him, the blasphemer, the violent aggressor, the persecutor of the church, as he said in verse 13. He says it was grace that was shown to him. Verses 15-16, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

You see Paul gives all the glory to God. Look at me; I'm just a wretched, hell-deserving sinner, a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent aggressor. But I've been saved by grace. That should give you hope. Whatever you've done, if God can save me it shows you His mercy and grace is great enough to save you. That's when you see all the boasting goes to God. I've been saved, but that's just a testimony to the wonder of God's grace and the extent and depth of His mercy. And so you could become a partaker of that mercy. It's not about me, not how much better I now feel about myself now that I'm a Christian, how much more confidence I have in life now that I'm a Christian. We try to sanctify the world's attitudes and you can't do it because God doesn't share the credit, He doesn't share the glory. But we are able to bask in the benefits of His grace.

Come back to Romans 3:27. “Where is boasting? It's excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.” A law which says you can't be saved by anything you do. You can only be saved by believing what the eternal God has done for you in His grace.

Verse 28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” A person is justified by faith, declared righteous by faith, apart from works of the Law, which is talking about here the Mosaic Law. We're justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. The works of the Law contribute in no way to your justification. And if the works of the Mosaic Law can't contribute, forget about all the other works that men have come up with as ways to gain acceptance or approval before God. “We maintain that a man is justified by faith.” (verse 28) That's why the word “alone” was added here by Luther and others before him because that's what the context indicates. He said apart from the works of the Law. That means works won't be acceptable. If the God who thundered on Sinai and gave His commands does not accept obedience to those commands as credible for receiving righteousness in His courtroom, what other works could you do? Something the churches come up with who say do this and it will enable you to be more acceptable to God? What a ridiculous idea. No, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law, which means by faith alone.

This is the great divide between Protestants and Catholics which goes back to the Reformation. It hasn't changed one bit. One commentator talked about the work to reconcile evangelicals and Catholics today. And he said, “that is good.” Then he goes on in the same sentence to note, but nothing has changed in our differences over justification. Well then how can it be good? We are talking about getting reconciled, when the very thing that caused the division, justification by faith alone, hasn't changed a bit. That's what divides evangelical Bible believing Christians from various groups of Protestants. We are justified by faith alone in Christ alone.

Down in Romans 4:5, “But to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” You see works don't have a place. It is the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly. That's what it takes, faith in the finished work of the eternal God on our behalf. When we move through all of chapter 4 and a clear demonstration that salvation has always been by faith alone, you come to Romans 5:1, “Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God.” Now you'll note the faith we're talking about is faith in the provision God has made for us, faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the One who is the propitiation for our sin; the One who has provided redemption by His death that paid the price to set us free. It is faith in Him, in the gospel.

Back in Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” You know this is said so many times we begin to think, why are we just repeating ourselves? God is repeating this because this is the foundational issue. This is the difference between eternity in heaven and eternity in hell. We must understand it; we must maintain the clarity of our focus.

Turn over to Galatians 2. Galatians is very similar in content to the book of Romans; some have said it is a rough outline of Romans. That may be a little bit more than we would want to say, but it gives you the idea. Verse 15, Paul says, “We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles.” We Jews are not dirty old sinners like the Gentiles. “Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus.” (verse 16) The Jews had to believe in Him. Verse 16 continues, “that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law, since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” Over in Galatians 3:11, “now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident. The just shall live by faith.”

Isn't it sad today you talk to people and ask them about if they're going to heaven and they say, oh yes, I try to keep the Ten Commandments? Why would you try to keep the Ten Commandments? Didn't God give the Ten Commandments? But is that the only thing you've read in the Bible? Understand, God didn't give the Ten Commandments so you could get saved. You can't be saved by your works; you can't be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. It's not possible. It never was the plan of God, that's man's plan as he takes and corrupts what God has given to man. Just like the Jew who had been given the Mosaic Law and they corrupted it into meaning that possessing this Law and trying to keep it the best they can will make them acceptable to God. God never said that, that wasn't His plan for their salvation; that was their plan for their salvation. Sometimes we try to take some scripture verses and use them to make us feel better about the plan that we have come up for our salvation. But it's God's plan that brings salvation and no other. And His plan is salvation by faith in what He has done.

Look at Galatians 3:24, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith.” It was a schoolmaster to oversee the nation Israel and keep them on the track and on the path until the coming of Christ to prepare them for His coming. “That they might be justified by faith.” (verse 24) So then we find out when we get into Romans 4 that Old Testament saints like Abraham were justified by faith, not by works. And David understood that with what he wrote as we'll see when we look further into that.

Look in Philippians 3. Paul is giving more of his testimony and how he strenuously tried to keep the Law to the best of his ability. Verse 4, he said he did a good job comparing himself to other people, even other Jews. So he says at the end of verse 4, “if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more.” But I wasn't righteous. Verse 7, “but whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” And I count all things as loss. That's the hard thing about becoming a believer, you have to let go of everything else to take hold of Christ. I'd like to hold onto everything and reach out and add them to the bundle that I'm carrying. Everything else becomes rubbish, worthless. So I let go of everything and take hold of Christ. So verse 9, “and may be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own derived from law, but that which is through faith in Christ.” Note the repeated emphasis, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. That's why I count everything else as rubbish, a life spent in trying to acquire righteousness by keeping the Law. And you know what? I found out it all belongs on the dung heap. But I let go of it all and took hold of Christ to acquire the righteousness that you can't get from the Law, can't get from your works. It's the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. There is no place for works. That includes circumcision, that includes baptism, that includes you name it. What about the sacraments? Wipe them out. What about the last rites? Wipe it out. What about all these people doing all these good religious things? Wipe them out, all to the dung heap, all for the dung heap. Pretty clear, isn't it?

Well aren't we as believers supposed to do good works? Yes, but they are a result of God's work of salvation in our hearts. Our lives will be changed and now the life lived for Him. We've been bought with a price, we are no longer our own, therefore we are to glorify God in our bodies. But that's not to bring about our salvation or make our salvation more complete. Salvation is done in Jesus Christ. I don't add to my righteousness by my works, works are a result of God's work of salvation in our lives but they add nothing to our salvation. We have righteousness in Christ by faith and by faith alone.

Come back to Romans 3. Verse 28, we just looked at, “we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Or, verse 29, “is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes as Gentiles also.” He turned around Jewish thinking in boxing them in because the Jews were monotheistic. They believed there is only one God. So of course there is only one God, He has to be the God of the Gentiles. The same God created Gentiles that created Jews, He created everything. That God is sovereign over all. I mean, their Old Testament is saturated with it.

Back up to Deuteronomy 6. Every Jew would say this every day. Verse 4, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” So what did the prophets preach? The gods of the pagans are nothing, they are pieces of wood, they are pieces of stone; they are pieces of metal. They don't have power to do anything, they are not gods. I mean, Israel knew that.

Come to Isaiah 44:6, “thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts. I am the first, I am the last and there is no God besides Me.” Now it's true He called Israel into special relationship with Himself, but you understand there is no God besides Me. He's the God of the Gentiles, over the world. Down at the end of verse 8, “Is there any God besides Me? Is there any other Rock? I know of none.” Look at verse 24, “thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the one who formed you from the womb. I the Lord am the Maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, spreading out the earth all alone.”

Isaiah 45:5:“I am the Lord, there is no other. Besides Me there is no God.” Verses 6-7: “I am the Lord, there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these.” Verse 9:“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!” Verse 12: “It is I who made the earth, created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hand, I ordained all their hosts.” Verse 18: “For thus says the Lord who created the heavens, He is the God who formed the earth and made it…. I am the Lord, there is none else.” Down in verse 21, “And there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none except Me.” Verse 22: “turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.” There is a cry that goes out to all the ends of the earth.

There are assurances in the Old Testament prophets that Gentiles will be saved. We don't have time to look at more verses, but come back to Romans 3. So is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles? Of course, He's the God of the Gentiles also. Every Jew would acknowledge that. That would be one of their condemnations of the Gentiles. The God of Israel is the only God, and that's true, but they failed to appreciate that the God of Israel is a righteous God, a holy God, but He's not giving Israel a pass. He has given Israel a blessing, but Israel will have to have salvation just like every other person enters into salvation.

He's the God of the Gentiles also. Now verse 30 is an important verse. He's laying the foundation for what is going to be unfolded in chapter 4. “Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” Now you may have this verse some different ways in your Bibles, even those of you using the New American Standard. If you have the old edition before they revised it you'll have the wording a little different in verse 30. It is an important thing to note. In the Greek text of this it's rather simple. If they had just put is one with the beginning of verse 30, since indeed God is one because that all goes up front. The word “one” is right up here at the beginning. In the edition I'm using it's since God, indeed God, is one is at the end of the verse. If that's the case you ought to circle “since indeed God” and “is one” and connect them, because that's the main point. Since there is one God, that's what it says. Verse 30: “Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” In other words there is only one God, there can only be one way of salvation for the circumcised Jews and the uncircumcised Gentiles. This will be proved in chapter 4. If you believe there is only one God, and the Jews did, then one must agree that there is only one way of salvation. And where he's going to go in chapter 4, if that's true; then if we can find out how God clearly saved one person we will know how He is going to save every person who is ever saved. And so he'll go back to Abraham in Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, God credited it to him as righteousness.” What a great stroke the Spirit of God moved Paul to write. Because here we have the father of the nation, Abraham, living 500 years before the Mosaic Law, being declared righteous 20 years before he gets circumcised. Do you know what that does? That wipes out all those things as part of salvation.

I use this often. I've shared with you many times; people come to me and say, I believe baptism is necessary for salvation. And I say when was Abraham baptized? What do you mean, when was Abraham baptized, they didn't have baptism in the Old Testament. So why would you say baptism is necessary for salvation? There is only one God, or do you believe in two Gods—the God who saves people by faith alone and then there is a God who saves people by faith plus baptism. You see there is only one God and He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by faith. That's a statement, but it will be proved in chapter 4. So these other things we've added—church membership, doing the sacraments. They didn't even know anything about those things. Well that's additional revelation. You can't change the manner of salvation, that's the whole point here. The coming of Jesus Christ to earth does not change the means of salvation. It has always been by faith alone in what God has revealed. That's always been the way that salvation has come to a human heart.

Verse 30: “So since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” I mean, He's the God of all. Since there is only one God He has to be the God of all, since He's the God of all He will save all in the same way—by faith. I mean, the argument of the Jews that you had to be circumcised is contrary to scripture, it's a denial of their foundational tenet—hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one. I mean, that's it. There is only one God, one Lord. How could you say that circumcision is necessary for salvation? How could you say baptism is necessary for salvation? How could you say the sacraments are necessary? How could you say church membership is necessary? How could you say all the things that you've added? The simplicity of this passage is foundational. If we abandon that simplicity we abandon God's provision of salvation.

In verse 31 Paul is carrying on as we noted back in chapter 2 like a debate going on. He'll raise the questions and answer them. “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be.” That's that strong magnoito, King James translates it “God forbid.” “May it never be” gives a good translation. Such a thought is inconceivable. On the contrary we establish the Law. Wait a minute, he's spent all this time showing the Law is done in Christ, now you're talking about we establish the Law? Let's back up. What was the Law given for? Was it ever intended as a way of salvation? Was it ever intended as a way to acquire righteousness? No.

Back up to Romans 3:19-20, “now we know that whatever the Law says it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God, the Jews as well as the Gentiles because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” The Law was never a means of justification. For through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. God never intended that Israel strive to be righteous in His sight by keeping the Law. The Law revealed how sinful they were, the Law made provision for sacrifices to be offered which reminded them that they were sinners, reminded them that they needed a sacrifice to take their place. But God never intended the Law as a way of salvation. The Jews took it and turned it and twisted it so that they could assume by trying to keep the Law they would become acceptable. Then when they compared themselves to the Gentiles, who never even tried to keep the Law, they looked so good because we believe our Law says don't be immoral and we're not immoral. You say, they broke it all the time. Yes, but they kept a lot more of it than the Gentiles did. And isn't that the way people compare themselves today? They may think an Adolph Hitler deserved to go to hell, but they don't think the church-going Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist or Roman Catholic or fill-in-the-blank deserves to go to hell. They are good people. So we're down to comparing ourselves like the Jews did. We're not perfect people, but we're “gooder than them.” We keep some of the Law, maybe only 5% but that's 5% more than they do. And God will add the other 95%. And maybe like Paul, he kept 10% and God will add the other 90%. And you know, it's God and I together and we'll get this done. God says, forget it; put it on the dung heap. Isn't going to happen, won't work.

We establish the Law, why? The Law reveals us to be sinners. Turn over to I Timothy 1, we won't have time to look at all the other verses but you'll remember them. The problem with the church at Ephesus, you have these Jewish teachers coming in. We're told that they were “men who want to be teachers of the Law” (verse 7). So these Judaizers come in, they say you need to believe in Christ, you need to believe in Him as the Messiah of Israel. You need to believe in His death and resurrection, but you understand that's not enough, you have to be circumcised and keep the Law. And so what God has done in His Son and what you do in keeping the Law together will enable you to be acceptable to God. What Paul says is they want to be teachers of the Law, verses 7-9: “even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertion. We know the Law is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless, rebellious, ungodly, sinners, unholy, profane…” You see that's what the Law does, it reveals sin, it reveals the need for a sacrifice. So when we talk about faith in Christ we establish the law because this is what the law was intended to do—reveal us as sinners, Paul writes to the Jew. Reveal the need for a sacrifice. So to say now we must believe in Christ and Christ alone, well that just establishes the law, because it never was given by God to be a method of righteousness.

You see man constantly wants to bring it back to his works, his doing something. Nothing changes. We're the same. People go to church today, why do they go to church? I think it's what God would want me to do. I've been baptized and I'm having my kids baptized and confirmed or whatever and I don't want to miss mass and I go to confession and do all these things. And we've created all this system because we want to do something. Like Luther climbing the stairs on his knees, and all of a sudden, the just shall live by faith. All of a sudden, what am I doing? My family, we were good Protestants, I got baptized as a baby and one of my relatives was the Methodist pastor. We were all lost as could be. My Dad had all the ribbons for being a good church-attending Presbyterian, couldn't have found his way to heaven. He was lost. It's by faith alone.

So we're ready now for the demonstration of that. The sacrifices, the commands, they revealed sin. We establish the Law because the Law could never save you. The Law just revealed how you needed the salvation that God would provide when you believed in Him, you are saved. The proof of that comes in chapter 4 with Abraham, David and the clarity of the unfolding message.

Just one question—what are you trusting in? Were you raised in this church, baptized in this church, worked in this church? You can die and go to hell because nowhere does it say working in this church will get you to heaven. Now works have a place, as the people of God we desire to serve Him and honor Him with our actions and our works. You can let go of it all, the pressure is off, but you need to take hold of Christ, believing in Him. And that brings righteousness.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for your Savior. How awesome it is to know that the Son of God came to this earth, suffered and died to be the propitiation for our sins, to turn away the wrath of the triune God against sinful human beings, to pay the price to set us free from the power and penalty of our sin so we could experience the wonder of being declared righteous by you. What an awesome gift you have given in your Son, and we are privileged to receive that gift by faith. We give you praise. In Christ's name, amen.