The Purpose of the Law
Romans 3:19-20
October 14, 2007
TONIGHT, WE COME TO THE LOWEST POINT
OF PAUL’S LETTER TO THE ROMANS.
We already learned that God was extremely angry.
He is filled with wrath.
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
And so the trial began.
Men immediately stood before God in order to present their case
As to why they shouldn’t be judged.
At first they pleaded ignorance.
Romans 1:18-20 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Of course that didn’t work, for all men really do know.
That didn’t work, so others pleaded knowledge.
“That’s right, God they were wrong”
Romans 2:1 “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Next men tried to justify themselves by their works.
But that didn’t appease God either.
Romans 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”
At this point, man realized he was in a desperate situation.
Ignorance was no excuse…
Knowledge was no excuse…
Ministry didn’t appease Him…
Works was a false hope…
SO THEN MEN BEGAN TO ACCUSE GOD
(Instead of proving their innocence,
They did what is commonly done today,
And started seeking a MIS-TRIAL)
Maybe God didn’t read them their rights…
Maybe there was an illegal search and seizure…
They were going to get God on a technicality.
They accused God of being UNFAITHFUL.
Romans 3:3 “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?”
That didn’t work, God was acquitted of their charge.
Next they accused God of being UNRIGHTEOUS.
Romans 3:5 “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)”
That didn’t work either, God was acquitted of that charge.
Next they accused God of being UNGRATEFUL
Romans 3:7 “But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?”
God wouldn’t even listen to the ignorance of this argument.
And so, after all the excuses, and after all the attempts at a mistrial,
God then spoke up to recount the guilt of man.
Romans 3:10-12 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
Despite all their arguing,
Despite all their wiggling, and tactical approach,
Mankind was still as guilty before God as ever.
Their attempts had fallen short.
And in our text this evening, we now see the final point,
And that is the VERDICT.
God is going to let it be known how mankind has fared before Him.
AND THE WAY GOD DELIVERS THE VERDICT
IS BY SIMPLY REVEALING THE DECISION OF THE LAW.
When a judge presides over a case,
The only thing He is supposed to do is determine
If a person has indeed broken the Law.
If they have, then they are subject to the penalty determined by the Judge.
That is what is being done here.
God is applying the ruling to sinful man.
We will see this played out by looking at 3 things.
#1 THE PEOPLE OF THE LAW
Romans 3:19
Paul starts out by reminding,
That the Law is for the people who are under the Law.
And this makes sense to us.
The Chinese police cannot come to America and arrest me for preaching, because in America, I am not under Chinese Law.
Now, if I go to China, that is a different story.
In China, you are under Chinese Law.
“Under my roof, you’ll obey my rules.”
And so, before we condemn anyone,
We have to ask, who is under God’s Law?
Well certainly Israel is.
I mean we all remember the infamous statement.
Exodus 19:7-8 “So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.”
And we know this carried down through the generations.
Romans 2:17 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God,”
BUT IS THAT ALL?
Certainly not.
For we all live in God’s world don’t we?
We all accept His provision don’t we?
And indeed we have also learned
That even Gentiles are under the Law of God.
Romans 2:14-16 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”
Now they don’t have God’s Law written on paper,
But it is written on the conscience of their heart.
Even they are under the Law of God.
This is why in the Old Testament, God not only punished Israel,
But He also had the authority to punish other nations as well.
Deuteronomy 9:4-5 “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Listen to what God said to Babylon
Isaiah 13:6-16 “Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger. And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to gather them, They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his own land. Anyone who is found will be thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.”
God doesn’t just have jurisdiction over Israel,
God also reigns over all who live in this world.
God was punishing the world long before He had “a people”
And long before there was ever “the Law”.
Remember the flood?
Remember the tower of Babyl
Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?
The people of the Law
Are those who live on the earth that God created,
Who received life from Him,
And who receive their provision from Him.
EVERY MAN IS UNDER THE REQUIREMENT OF GOD.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT.
In our day, people tend to want to remain neutral with God.
Or people seem to think they can worship other gods.
They act as though God doesn’t expect anything from them,
Simply because they have never promised Him anything.
THIS IS NOT TRUE
Remember when Paul went to Athens?
That city was full of idols.
They were worshiping all sorts of gods.
Now they had never made any promises to our God,
So surely, since they didn’t even know who He was,
They didn’t owe Him anything did they?
Acts 17:22-31 “So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Even Athens was headed towards judgment.
AND THIS IS THE POINT HERE.
Every man alive had better stand up and pay attention,
Because when it comes to judgment,
Every man will stand before the true God,
And every man will give an account.
Every man, whether they know it or not, is under the Law of God.
God expects something from them.
The people of the Law
#2 THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW
Romans 3:19b
Now this point should make perfect sense to us,
But for some reason, especially to the Jews, it didn’t.
They always seemed to think that having the Law
Automatically made them pleasing to God.
They seemed to think that knowing right from wrong was enough.
OF COURSE THIS IS FALSE
And Paul has already said it once.
Romans 2:13 “for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”
The Law did not come to make man look good.
But “so that every mouth may be closed and all the world become accountable to God.”
The point is that the Law is to expose guilt, not innocence.
1 Timothy 1:8-11 “But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”
“Innocent until prove guilty”
That is because the purpose of law is not to prove innocence,
But to prove guilt.
You take a command in the law, hold it beside a person’s life,
Or beside a person’s conduct, and then you determine guilt.
THE LAW PROVES GUILT
Not only to the Judge, but also to the transgressor.
AND THAT IS WHAT PAUL SAYS HERE
“so that every mouth may be closed”
Some day God will reveal every sin,
And then He will hold that sin up beside His Law,
And at that point there will be nothing to say.
There will be no more excuses.
And at that point
“all the world may become accountable to God;”
In other words, everyone will then be at the mercy of God.
Romans 5:12-13 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
Paul didn’t mean that people didn’t sin,
But rather that they were sinning, and didn’t know it.
THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW
God did not send it to justify men, but to prove men guilty.
WE MUST UNDERSTAND THIS.
The Law is not the aim, but the means.
Even as Evangelists
We aren’t leading men to knowledge,
We are leading men to Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon said:
“Now observe brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wider her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved? Of what avail to have moralized a man if still he on the left hand of the judge, and if still, ‘Depart, ye cursed’, shall be his portion?”
The purpose of the Law is to condemn men, not to save them.
And that goes along with the third point.
The people of the Law, the purpose of the Law
#3 THE POWER OF THE LAW
Romans 3:20
And here the verdict is delivered.
NO ONE IS JUSTIFIED
Not one single person on the earth
Was found whom God acquitted as righteous.
Jew or Gentile
Everyone deserves judgment.
EVERYONE WAS A LAWBREAKER.
James 2:10-11 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”
AND THIS SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING
OUR WORLD HAS DIFFICULTY FIGURING OUT.
Our world seems to think if you are innocent at one point,
Then you are innocent of all.
But that is not how it works.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1) No other God’s before Me
Ever put anything before God?
2) No graven images
Ever scale God down to something less than He is?
3) Don’t take God’s name in vain
Ever not live like the follower you said you would be?
4) Remember the Sabbath
Ever push aside God for the sake of worldliness?
5) Honor your father and mother
Ever disobey your parents?
6) You shall not commit murder
Ever hate, slander, or condemn?
7) You shall not commit adultery
Ever look at woman lustfully, entice a man, marry a divorced woman?
8) You shall not steal
Every cheat on your taxes, cheat on a test, not tithe?
9) You shall not bear false witness
Every gossip, stretch the truth, exaggerate?
10) You shall not covet
Every get greedy? (Even Debt)
DO YOU GET THE POINT?
We have all broken all 10,
But even if we only broke one, we are guilty.
THE LAW HAS NO POWER TO SAVE, ONLY CONDEMN
“for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin”
Romans 8:3 “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
The Law was to weak to save, we made it too weak to save.
The Law can only condemn.
Romans 7:7-12 “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
AND I HOPE FROM THAT YOU GET THE POINT.
EVERY MAN IS GUILTY
THE LAW DIDN’T SAVE ANYONE
IT CONDEMNED EVERYONE
It didn’t come to show you how good you are.
It came to show you how bad you are.
THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY YOU CAN SAVE YOURSELF.
Ignorance won’t work…
Knowledge won’t work…
Works don’t work…
Arguments don’t work…
THE ONLY HOPE WE HAVE IS THE MERCY OF GOD
Romans 11:32 “For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”
James 2:13b “mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Romans 5:20-21 “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Do not deny your guilt before God.
Rather confess your guilt, and place your faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
He is the way to be saved from judgment.
Romans 5:8-9 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
