Bible Study Romans Part 63-No Deeds of the Law

Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel.

God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries.

We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God.

We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day.

The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture.

Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible.

It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision.

Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us.

It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word.

We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death.

In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death.

Never treat what God has said lightly.

There is truly nothing more important to you.

Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

I don't think anyone would disagree that the world has a fairly large percentage of bad people who like to do bad things.

Even the most optimistic Darwinist would have to concede that human society still has a ways to go to reach its zenith.

We're still beset with societies that experience high crime, senseless violence, and rampant injustice.

It's actually so common, we just consider it part of life here on planet Earth.

The biggest question this environment, this situation generates is why?

Why can't we live in peace?

Well, Paul has an answer for that.

Romans 3 18.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Most weeks I spend a couple of days in New York City.

And while there on occasion, I find myself needing to go to a local store to pick up everyday items.

Have you had to do that lately?

Have you been to New York in the last five or six years?

It doesn't have to be New York.

The same phenomenon is found in other big cities around the country, but let's stick with New York for this example.

I suggest that next time you find yourself needing to pick up something in a little store, a shop at a pharmacy while in the Big Apple, that you bring a little patience because there's no popping in and out of the store really quickly anymore.

There's no just stopping in and grabbing something, then running back out.

Almost everything, if not everything, is now locked away.

From the simplest, most inexpensive toiletries to AAA batteries to over-the-counter cold medicine.

Almost anything you need to buy now is behind locked cabinets.

No matter what it is, you have to find a store clerk to retrieve the most inane, unimportant item that you can think of.

It's time consuming and frustrating for everyone.

And do you know why that change has occurred in New York?

Well, the district attorney for the Manhattan borough of the city of New York has decided that he will not prosecute certain crimes, including shoplifting.

It's still against the law, but he said he's not going to prosecute it.

And in the wake of that decision, retail business in New York City has never been the same.

Now, this isn't a political statement.

It's a statement of fact.

But I can talk about politics all I want to.

Your church or ministry may not be able to, but I can.

I don't take a single dime from the federal government.

This is not a nonprofit ministry, and I don't have to play by the same rules as most of your churches do, which means I can make political statements and they can't threaten my operations.

In fact, this is one of the reasons we aren't a nonprofit.

You see, the biggest advantage of being a nonprofit is what it does for your tax status.

Nonprofit entities are exempt from paying taxes.

And all donations to your organization, let me say, most donations to nonprofits are tax deductible for the donors, which of course helps encourage those donors to donate.

Most donations to nonprofit organizations are tax deductible.

And that is a very enticing incentive to function as a nonprofit.

Tax exempt status is a very attractive, very often irresistible temptation for many churches and other religious operations.

That's why nonprofit organizations will do just about anything they can to protect their nonprofit standing.

And listen, I know you didn't ask, but occasionally I like to explain why we aren't a nonprofit.

Most people don't know that we aren't.

And when they find out, it causes some disbelief and a little distrust, actually.

We aren't a nonprofit because it ain't worth it.

The IRS, the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, becomes your business partner.

And in many parts of your business, they call the shots.

They can tell you who can be on your board.

They can tell you what you can sell.

They can tell you what you can give away for free.

And in many ways, they'll tell you what you can and can't say.

And one of the things you cannot talk about as a nonprofit company is politics.

You cannot appear by rule to favor nor oppose any candidate or ballot measure.

It's a basic rule.

And if you choose to ignore that rule, they can take away your nonprofit status, which means you'll have to start paying taxes on everything you bring in, including donations.

And what's worse, listen, I know there are a lot of churches and nonprofits that don't like me telling you this, but this is how it works.

Your donors, if your nonprofit status is taken away by the IRS for something you did to include talking about politics, your donors can no longer deduct the money that they give you from their personal taxes.

And you know what that means, don't you?

Far fewer donations.

And that's why your pastors, preachers, and ministers are quick to say, hey, I'm not talking about politics when they appear to be talking about politics.

Chapel Ministries is a tax-paying for-profit organization, and we don't have to play by any of those rules.

Now, I didn't say we made profits, but we are a profit-making organization according to the IRS, and we can do what we want.

So back to my thinly laced with politics statement regarding the district attorney in New York.

When he made the decision to forego prosecuting crimes he considered of a low-level variety, it created a lawlessness spree, the likes of which the city hadn't seen in decades.

Every day looked like a blackout prompted looting extravaganza.

Shoplifting, a DA-designated low-level crime, wasn't prosecuted anymore.

So as you can imagine, it skyrocketed.

You've seen the viral videos, haven't you?

People walking in the store, grabbing whatever they want from the shelves and then waltzing right back out.

Now I have to admit, this brought out some creative criminal thinking.

The shoplifters, sensing the bananas of the top crime fighting figure in the city, handed them, started working in teams.

It's rather genius, if you ask me.

They had smash and grab teams, they had effective lookouts, they employed getaway drivers.

They were highly organized and well prepared.

And it wasn't very long before all of this started to take a huge toll on the store owners.

We're now at a point that if you only have a few minutes to pick up some band-aids for the office, maybe a pair of nail clippers for the drawer at work, heck, even a little pick-me-up energy drink, you had better work in an extra 20 minutes because no matter what you want to purchase, no matter how small and inexpensive, you're going to have to find someone to unlock the cabinet so you can get the item you're there to snag.

Why have things gotten so bad?

Because there is no fear of the law before their eyes.

Listen, take away the threat of reprisals, and human beings are naturally descending into wanton, self-interested chaos.

The intellectually enlightened have been telling us for the past 300 years that there's no God, that there's nothing supernatural going on in the universe.

There's no ultimate authority, that mankind is his own keeper.

In fact, the only thing we have to worry about is each other.

And that only when we get caught.

I mean, during his lifetime, the arrogance of mankind was absolutely minuscule compared to what it is today.

Most people at that time felt they were at the mercy of the world around them, and they, the way they dealt with their perceived vulnerabilities, was subjecting themselves to the divine authority.

If anthropology and archaeology have taught us anything, it's that the ancients went to great trouble to appease their gods.

Disobedience, it was almost universally thought, was a sure path to all manner of unpleasantness.

And yet, Paul almost two thousand years ago had to say there is no fear of God before their eyes.

If he could see what we see today, he'd be shocked at the near total applicability of his statement.

I'll say it again: holding on to or otherwise advocating for some notion that mankind is improving with time is indicative of a total lack of either honesty or perceptive powers.

Verse 19, now we know 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.

Now there's a lot of debate about the specifics of this verse.

There's a fair amount of disagreement as to precisely what Paul is referring to, but the overall message is clear.

Paul is repeating in a very elegant way his contention that all are guilty of sin.

And when he says that every mouth may be stopped, he's saying that there is no amount of debate, no amount of argument, no excuse that can alter the truth of that one fact.

All are guilty before God, and any statement to the contrary fails before it's even spoken.

Any assertion of defense or plea for reconsideration will be silenced before it gets past the lips.

This is true whether or not you feel subjected to the word of God or not.

All your foolish notions that there's no higher authority or whatever cool way you want to put it will not help you.

It's no different than claiming an exemption to the law of gravity.

Go ahead and step off that 23rd floor ledge, and within seconds, your arrogance will be spread in a splatter pattern on the concrete below.

Now we know what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.

Now, many scholars think that this first part of verse 19 is Paul sort of redirecting his comments toward the Jews like he had done previously.

They'll say that when he refers to them who are under the law, that he's speaking directly to and about his own people.

Now, I've struggled with this statement, but I think the experts are wrong.

Yes, I'd agree that parts of the law are strictly for the Jews, but overall, the law, what the law says is God's viewpoint on all human conduct.

Now, the ceremonial law is a little bit different.

By that I mean the rituals, the offerings, the feast days, those sorts of things.

Those are very often referred to as the ceremonial law.

Those were given to the Jews exclusively.

And by the way, when Jesus came, he fulfilled most of those, and he'll eventually fulfill the rest.

No time to explain.

But the moral law, there's this ceremonial law and the moral law.

The moral law is something else entirely.

To please God, to do things the way he'd do things, means following the moral law, no matter who you are.

The thou shalls and thou shalt not, the Ten Commandments, etc.

Listen, I don't think God intended for some people to behave one way and others to behave another.

And besides, listen to me, we can be fairly certain that when Paul refers to the law, he's not limiting his reference to the Pentateuch, the first five books.

More than likely, he's referring to the entire Old Testament, as we'd call it today.

It's not unusual for a Jew to refer to the whole of the Old Testament as the law from time to time.

Even Jesus himself used the generic term law many times when he was actually referring to more than just those first five books.

Now, forgive me, no time for examples.

It's almost certain that Paul was using the term the law in the same way, especially given that none of the quotations he's been using throughout this chapter, chapter three, we've gone over those in previous lessons, those quotations, none of them actually were in the Mosaic Law portion of the Bible.

That's why we believe Paul is not referring to just the pent that took.

Now I'm pressing this point because the Old Testament, though largely written to the Jews, is for all of us, as the entire Bible is.

And since verse 9, all we've all been subject and recipient of Paul's lectures.

Back there, he said, We have before proved both Jew and Gentiles are all under sin.

We've all broken God's standards as proven to us by Paul through those 14 Old Testament quotes that followed verse 9.

Again, we covered all those in previous lessons.

Make sure you go over those.

That same theme continues here in verse 19.

He is referring to all of us.

Now, I know I'm in the minority in thinking so, but I really can't make sense of this in any other way.

It's not easy for me to disagree with my heroes, but I have to sometimes.

I mean, listen to it again.

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.

Again, some say the first part is for the Jews, and the last part pulls the rest of us in.

I'm sorry, I just think that complicates things.

Anyhow, in the end, we all end up in agreement.

By the end of the verse, everyone has been indicted.

All right, verse 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 don't think this goes on much anymore, but I've heard of old school preachers who would, you know, right before ascending the pulpit, ask an assistant or a deacon or a fellow pastor to give him a verse, you know, quote a verse to him.

And then someone would respond with a passage or two, and then the preacher would get up there and preach on whatever verse was quoted to him.

The entire subject of the sermon would be based on that section of scripture someone quoted to him.

And this would go on week after week.

It was sort of the standard way to structure the message.

Now hang on with me because I'm getting somewhere with this.

Sometimes the preacher would pick his own and off he'd go and talk to the congregation about whatever came to his head notionally related to that verse.

He would proceed to deliver an improv sermon, no preparation at all.

Talk off the top of his head for an hour or two on one or two verses.

Those bygone era preachers would even often claim that that was the right thing to do, because spending time preparing for a sermon robs the Holy Spirit of spontaneously leading the preacher, that when we prepare sermons, we're putting things into our own words and not giving the Holy Spirit utterance.

Just hop up there totally impromptu, unaware of where the sermon is going to end up.

I cannot do that.

As you probably know, I read off a teleprompter.

I prepare my lessons far ahead of time.

Now, someone might argue that's because I don't know scripture very well, and I wouldn't argue with you.

I don't know scripture that well, but I'm not sure anyone does, anyways.

The main reason I refuse to hunt for a verse and then preach on it is because of the way scripture was written.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned over the past few decades of looking at the Bible closely is that it's a unified whole with a unified message.

And to lift a verse or a passage out of context and teach on it as if it has a message all of its own is actually robbing it of nearly all of its intended purpose, its intended meaning.

Yes, I suppose you can take a verse out of context and teach a lesson on it, you know, make some other point with it, but you cannot teach the message God was trying to communicate when he wrote it, unless you include the context and the relationship that the verse has to the rest of the Bible.

When you separate something in the Bible from the narrative that surrounds it, you're risking changing or even outright obscuring what it was placed there for.

For example, maybe in an effort to preach a good Mother's Day message, you decide to quote Exodus 2012, honor thy father and thy mother.

But if you do, you won't be teaching your congregation the actual purpose of Exodus 2012.

In fact, in order to match your message with the verse, you'd have to abridge what's written and only quote the first six words.

The entire verse reads, Honor thy mother and thy father that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 2012 isn't a verse meant to get children to revere their parents for their parents' sake.

Mother's Day and Father's Day has been invented so that we can make our parents feel special.

Listen, God's not against that, I don't think, but there's a much bigger reason that commandment is an Exodus.

The intention of this verse is to demonstrate the centrality of the family unit, especially in the context of the Promised Land.

Juvenile delinquency would be the ruin of the nation Israel in Canaan once they arrived, if left unchecked.

It was going to take the entire populace pulling together to survive in their new land, and respect for parents was going to be vital to keeping the social structure intact.

Something God must have seen as non-negotiable.

In fact, in the law, there were severe penalties for any sort of rebellion against one's parents.

Over and over in the Bible, family hierarchy is highlighted as a key to God's plans.

But if you choose to use Exodus 2012 for some other purpose, you're watering down God's message.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Lots and lots of evangelical preachers lift this verse out of context in order to preach against a works-based salvation, but then leave it at that.

Well, you cannot separate Romans 3.20 from the rest of Romans 3 and be effective in communicating the intention that Paul and the Holy Spirit had for putting it there.

Actually, this message goes all the way back to the 18th verse of the first chapter.

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness.

And then Paul spends the whole rest of the time, right up to chapter 3, verse 20, trying to convince all of us of the truth of that statement.

Listen, he's basically trying to scare the bejeebers out of us, get us to see our wretched condition, to show us that we're all lousy with sin.

No exceptions.

There's no way around it.

That is the purpose of Romans 3.20, not to tell you to live by faith.

You should live by faith, but that's not why he put it there.

He wants everyone to know that you're born sinners.

And once Paul's comfortable, once he's done that, once he feels that message has gotten through, he basically says here in Romans 3.20, you're a sinner, there's a sinner, you're born that way, and there's nothing you can do about it.

You by nature are riddled with sin.

It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from, you're a sinner, you're under sin, and God judges all sin severely.

That's the basic message of this part of Romans.

And then Paul says, and you're powerless, you are powerless to reverse that.

Don't think that you can turn to the law to save you, because by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Verse 20, don't lift it out of its context, leave it in its context.

Because verse 20 is telling us that the deeds of the law, complying with the law, isn't going to do something for us.

So that must mean we need that something done for some reason.

Paul is trying to get there.

He's saying we need to be justified.

That's the key to this whole section.

You're a sinner and you can do nothing about it.

The hardest message to preach on earth.

Two messages together are that super hard.

First, convincing people that they're sinners, and secondly, that you can't do anything about it.

So therefore, our sin must be related somehow to our justification.

Well, what does justified or justification mean?

And why can't the law do that for me?

And actually, a more basic question: why do I need to be justified?

Well, that's what we'll work on next time.

See you then.

We hope this study has blessed you.

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It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners.

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