Last week I had the opportunity to speak on Sunday morning at USC for our ministry series on "Saved in His Life." The topic was the Law vs. Grace as seen from Romans chapters 3 and 4 and the messaged can be summarized in the question: If God's salvation is clearly through grace and not through the works of the law, then why did God give the law? Above is the recording of the speaking and below is a loose transcript if you'd prefer to read it. Enjoy!
One of the most common themes in the Bible is the topic of law vs. grace.
“The law” has 2 meanings in the Bible: firstly it refers to the outward law of God. Of course this includes the 10 commandments, but it goes beyond that and encompasses everything that God approves of and disapproves of. You could even say God’s first law to man was in Genesis 2 “and Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The second thing the law refers to is the principle of man doing something for God to meet God’s requirements. God said, “don’t eat of that tree. Ok, you got it, Jehovah. I’ll do that for You.”
Grace, on the other hand, refers to God freely giving something to man. Grace always has the connotation that it’s undeserved. You could say that it’s the principle of God doing something for man.
These two principles, law and grace, are on opposite ends of the spectrum. One is man doing something out of himself to obey God. The other is man not being able to do anything and God graciously coming in to do or fulfill what man cannot. One is man working to fulfill God’s requirements. The other is God fulfilling His own requirements in man because man is unable to do so in himself. I hope you see how different the two are!
In Romans 3, Paul writes in a very clear way the relationship between the two, stating clearly, “Because out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him (Rom. 3:20).” In other words, out of the law, or man doing something for God, no one will be approved by God. He also speaks about this in Galatians 3, “… Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” Which is it? The works of the law or the hearing of faith? In Romans 3:24 he says, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” So clear! We are not justified or approved by God through the works of the law, through doing something for God to meet His requirement, but rather we are approved by God through faith or believing in Christ Jesus! Isn’t this wonderful??
Now let me ask you a question: If we’re justified by God so clearly through faith and NOT through the works of the law, what then is the purpose of the law?
The purpose of the law is not for us to keep it!
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying we should be lawless people who disregard the law of God and live without boundaries according to our own desires. What I’m saying is that the main purpose of the law is to expose our sinfulness. Did you catch that? The main purpose of the law is to expose our sinfulness. Let’s read Romans 3:20 together: "...through the law is the clear knowledge of sin." And then Galatians 3:19 together: "Why then the law? It was added because of the transgressions..." And lastly, Romans 4:15 together: "...where there is no law, neither is there transgression." The point is, the law reveals to us in a clear way how wrong and how sinful we are.
For instance, imagine you’re at a museum and Martin Luther's bible is on display. What a priceless artifact! If you’re like me, when you go into a museum, you've got to touch everything! But often times as I lift my hand to satisfy this urge within, my eye catches the writing on a placard that says, “Do not touch!” Well, say the placard wasn’t there. I’d go on flipping through his bible, touching all the pages to my heart's content. I’m sure the museum curator would be very unhappy with me, but I haven't done anything wrong. But if they put out the “Do not touch” placard, once I touch it, I’ve transgressed. And I’m aware of my having transgressed because the requirement is stated plainly in front of me. Because of that placard, I have the clear knowledge of sin and if I go on as if the instruction wasn’t there, I’m fully aware of just how inconsiderate and rude I am. Just like that sign, the law was given to expose how sinful we are.
Let me give you two examples from the Bible of the law functioning in this way. In Exodus we have the giving of the most obvious law of God: the ten commandments. In chapter 19 God commanded the children of Israel to obey His voice and keep His covenant. Their response was, “All that Jehovah has spoken we will do.” In chapter 20 Jehovah speaks the ten commandments, the first three of which are, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them….” He even reiterates in v. 23, “You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.” And after Moses told all these words to the people, what was their response? Again, “All the words which Jehovah has spoken we will do.” What a willing and obedient response! Well, what happened next? Moses went up alone to Mount Sinai and we see in Exodus 32:1, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, Come, make a god for us who will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Tear off the told rings… And he took the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!" What did Jehovah just tell them?! Because the law is there it's easy to see how the children of Israel broke the law.
The second example is the experience of the apostle Paul in Romans 7. Through his writings we can see that he was one who was very close to God and had made much progress in learning to live in constant fellowship with God. Yet even with his closeness to God and his walking by the spirit, he said plainly in v. 7, “I did not know sin except through the law; for neither did I know coveting, except the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’” It was through the law that Paul became crystal clear of how he had offended God and the rest of the chapter goes on to describe his experience of trying to fulfill or obey the law and failing miserably.
Paul’s utter inadequacy towards meeting the requirements of God’s law, as well as the continual failures of the children of Israel brings to light something that is very important, which is that man has a sickness called sin. And all man have it. The Bible says it in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned” and if we’re honest we’d also confirm it. Do you know anyone who is perfect, who fully matches God’s law as revealed in His word? All man is sick with sin. But hallelujah, we have a physician! Luke 5:31-32 says that "... Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are ill; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners..." In fact, we can even say that the law is like a thermometer. It reveals to us how sick we are. If we receive the law as a thermometer, we’ll see how much we need Jesus as our physician—what a mercy that He came for us! If we don’t receive the law as a thermometer then we may end up like the self-righteous Pharisees who thought they were healthy and thus missed the Lord. We don’t want to miss the Lord!
So how then do we apply this word not only for an eternal salvation, but even for a salvation today in our daily living, a “much more salvation?” The first thing we need is a constant, inward realization of how sick we are with sin. Without this realization, whenever God’s demand comes to us our response will be, “All that Jehovah has spoken I will do!” Good luck with that! Without this realization, we think we’re healthy and have no need of the Lord Jesus.
This honest realization of our sinfulness can be sustained and strengthened by the three staples of our Christian life: prayer, the Bible, and fellowship.
We see prayer from Job 42:5-6, which says, "I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye has seen You; Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes." Job was a man of peerless integrity, but what was his reaction when he finally contacted God? He abhorred himself because in the presence of the God of righteousness, his righteousness was as filthy rags. When we contact God in prayer we're also exposed of how sinful we really are.
The bible also has the function of revealing to us how sinful we really are. We see in Hebrews 4:12 that " the word of God is living and operative… and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart." What does the bible reveal about our hearts? It reveals that "The heart is deceitful above all things… (Jer. 17:9)." When we read the bible with an open heart, it will expose the sinfulness in our heart.
Lastly, fellowship with other believers can also help us to see how short we are from matching God's glory. In Matthew 18 we're told that if a brother sins against you (offends or wrongs you), we should go to him privately and show him his fault. If he doesn't listen, go back with one or two others so that he may see his fault and return. If he still doesn't listen, then tell the matter to the church. The purpose of this story is another topic, but my point is that even in our fellowship with one another, we can often be made aware of our sins.
When we have a realization of how sinful we are, we have two choices for how to respond:
1) “God, I promise I won’t do it again. Give me strength so that I won’t do it again!” This is to vow to be better and to be better by trying harder. I won’t do it again. Give me strength so that I won’t do it again. This is the works of the law (which, by the way, through which no flesh will be justified!).
2) “God, I can’t do it. But Your life can! I need You! Live Yourself through me!” This is to realize that we can’t do it; we can’t be better. Only He can and only He did. To respond this way is to take Paul’s way in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith..." I live in faith! The proper response is to depend on the Lord to realize how sinful we are and to live a life that is free from sin.
May we be those who are always keenly aware of our sinfulness and respond by allowing the Lord Jesus to live His perfect life through us!
“The law” has 2 meanings in the Bible: firstly it refers to the outward law of God. Of course this includes the 10 commandments, but it goes beyond that and encompasses everything that God approves of and disapproves of. You could even say God’s first law to man was in Genesis 2 “and Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The second thing the law refers to is the principle of man doing something for God to meet God’s requirements. God said, “don’t eat of that tree. Ok, you got it, Jehovah. I’ll do that for You.”
Grace, on the other hand, refers to God freely giving something to man. Grace always has the connotation that it’s undeserved. You could say that it’s the principle of God doing something for man.
These two principles, law and grace, are on opposite ends of the spectrum. One is man doing something out of himself to obey God. The other is man not being able to do anything and God graciously coming in to do or fulfill what man cannot. One is man working to fulfill God’s requirements. The other is God fulfilling His own requirements in man because man is unable to do so in himself. I hope you see how different the two are!
In Romans 3, Paul writes in a very clear way the relationship between the two, stating clearly, “Because out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him (Rom. 3:20).” In other words, out of the law, or man doing something for God, no one will be approved by God. He also speaks about this in Galatians 3, “… Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” Which is it? The works of the law or the hearing of faith? In Romans 3:24 he says, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” So clear! We are not justified or approved by God through the works of the law, through doing something for God to meet His requirement, but rather we are approved by God through faith or believing in Christ Jesus! Isn’t this wonderful??
Now let me ask you a question: If we’re justified by God so clearly through faith and NOT through the works of the law, what then is the purpose of the law?
The purpose of the law is not for us to keep it!
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying we should be lawless people who disregard the law of God and live without boundaries according to our own desires. What I’m saying is that the main purpose of the law is to expose our sinfulness. Did you catch that? The main purpose of the law is to expose our sinfulness. Let’s read Romans 3:20 together: "...through the law is the clear knowledge of sin." And then Galatians 3:19 together: "Why then the law? It was added because of the transgressions..." And lastly, Romans 4:15 together: "...where there is no law, neither is there transgression." The point is, the law reveals to us in a clear way how wrong and how sinful we are.
For instance, imagine you’re at a museum and Martin Luther's bible is on display. What a priceless artifact! If you’re like me, when you go into a museum, you've got to touch everything! But often times as I lift my hand to satisfy this urge within, my eye catches the writing on a placard that says, “Do not touch!” Well, say the placard wasn’t there. I’d go on flipping through his bible, touching all the pages to my heart's content. I’m sure the museum curator would be very unhappy with me, but I haven't done anything wrong. But if they put out the “Do not touch” placard, once I touch it, I’ve transgressed. And I’m aware of my having transgressed because the requirement is stated plainly in front of me. Because of that placard, I have the clear knowledge of sin and if I go on as if the instruction wasn’t there, I’m fully aware of just how inconsiderate and rude I am. Just like that sign, the law was given to expose how sinful we are.
Let me give you two examples from the Bible of the law functioning in this way. In Exodus we have the giving of the most obvious law of God: the ten commandments. In chapter 19 God commanded the children of Israel to obey His voice and keep His covenant. Their response was, “All that Jehovah has spoken we will do.” In chapter 20 Jehovah speaks the ten commandments, the first three of which are, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them….” He even reiterates in v. 23, “You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.” And after Moses told all these words to the people, what was their response? Again, “All the words which Jehovah has spoken we will do.” What a willing and obedient response! Well, what happened next? Moses went up alone to Mount Sinai and we see in Exodus 32:1, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, Come, make a god for us who will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Tear off the told rings… And he took the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!" What did Jehovah just tell them?! Because the law is there it's easy to see how the children of Israel broke the law.
The second example is the experience of the apostle Paul in Romans 7. Through his writings we can see that he was one who was very close to God and had made much progress in learning to live in constant fellowship with God. Yet even with his closeness to God and his walking by the spirit, he said plainly in v. 7, “I did not know sin except through the law; for neither did I know coveting, except the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’” It was through the law that Paul became crystal clear of how he had offended God and the rest of the chapter goes on to describe his experience of trying to fulfill or obey the law and failing miserably.
Paul’s utter inadequacy towards meeting the requirements of God’s law, as well as the continual failures of the children of Israel brings to light something that is very important, which is that man has a sickness called sin. And all man have it. The Bible says it in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned” and if we’re honest we’d also confirm it. Do you know anyone who is perfect, who fully matches God’s law as revealed in His word? All man is sick with sin. But hallelujah, we have a physician! Luke 5:31-32 says that "... Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are ill; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners..." In fact, we can even say that the law is like a thermometer. It reveals to us how sick we are. If we receive the law as a thermometer, we’ll see how much we need Jesus as our physician—what a mercy that He came for us! If we don’t receive the law as a thermometer then we may end up like the self-righteous Pharisees who thought they were healthy and thus missed the Lord. We don’t want to miss the Lord!
So how then do we apply this word not only for an eternal salvation, but even for a salvation today in our daily living, a “much more salvation?” The first thing we need is a constant, inward realization of how sick we are with sin. Without this realization, whenever God’s demand comes to us our response will be, “All that Jehovah has spoken I will do!” Good luck with that! Without this realization, we think we’re healthy and have no need of the Lord Jesus.
This honest realization of our sinfulness can be sustained and strengthened by the three staples of our Christian life: prayer, the Bible, and fellowship.
We see prayer from Job 42:5-6, which says, "I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye has seen You; Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes." Job was a man of peerless integrity, but what was his reaction when he finally contacted God? He abhorred himself because in the presence of the God of righteousness, his righteousness was as filthy rags. When we contact God in prayer we're also exposed of how sinful we really are.
The bible also has the function of revealing to us how sinful we really are. We see in Hebrews 4:12 that " the word of God is living and operative… and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart." What does the bible reveal about our hearts? It reveals that "The heart is deceitful above all things… (Jer. 17:9)." When we read the bible with an open heart, it will expose the sinfulness in our heart.
Lastly, fellowship with other believers can also help us to see how short we are from matching God's glory. In Matthew 18 we're told that if a brother sins against you (offends or wrongs you), we should go to him privately and show him his fault. If he doesn't listen, go back with one or two others so that he may see his fault and return. If he still doesn't listen, then tell the matter to the church. The purpose of this story is another topic, but my point is that even in our fellowship with one another, we can often be made aware of our sins.
When we have a realization of how sinful we are, we have two choices for how to respond:
1) “God, I promise I won’t do it again. Give me strength so that I won’t do it again!” This is to vow to be better and to be better by trying harder. I won’t do it again. Give me strength so that I won’t do it again. This is the works of the law (which, by the way, through which no flesh will be justified!).
2) “God, I can’t do it. But Your life can! I need You! Live Yourself through me!” This is to realize that we can’t do it; we can’t be better. Only He can and only He did. To respond this way is to take Paul’s way in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith..." I live in faith! The proper response is to depend on the Lord to realize how sinful we are and to live a life that is free from sin.
May we be those who are always keenly aware of our sinfulness and respond by allowing the Lord Jesus to live His perfect life through us!