Introduction
I have in my hand here a list of the Ten Commandments. Many people today would assume that as long as they are keeping the Ten Commandments vigilantly, they have a right relationship with God. I’m going to explain this morning that this belief falls far short of the biblical truth, but this belief is nothing new. People in Paul’s day must have also thought that they could be saved through a meticulous adherence to the law. Paul is quick to confront their assumptions. He wrote in Romans 7:10 that, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”
Paul was a former Pharisee and had been very careful to keep the letter of the law. He explained that the further he dove into the law, the less righteous he seemed. The more he studied the law, the more it exposed his weaknesses. In fact, the Law gave opportunity for hidden sins to show themselves and condemn him even further. Romans 7:11 says, “ 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the Commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” The law not only expose deep-seated sins, but tragically it exposed that without a Savior, Paul was spiritually dead. He was one of the a top leader in Judaism and yet the law revealed to him that he was spiritually dead.
So does that mean that God’s law is bad? Is Paul saying to throw out the Ten Commandments? No. In Romans 7, Paul explained that the law is good and holy and righteous. But… when the law is applied to our sinful flesh, it does not save us. No amount of law keeping can ever save us. The law condemns. It does not save. “Law-following” or “Legalism” as a means of salvation is completely ineffective.
The fact that law could not make a person holy is not because the law is powerless, but because our flesh is weak. I would liken the law to the steam inside an old-fashioned steam locomotive. I have here a picture of the Delaware & Hudson No. 1401 locomotive. The boiler inside this high pressure steam locomotive was built to withstand a pressure of 350psi. That number didn’t really mean anything to me so I did some research on water pressure. 350 PSI is enough water pressure to blow up the water heater in your home. It would not only blow it up, but it would also send it through the top of your roof like a missile and several hundred feet into the air. It would do catastrophic damage to you home.
That old locomotive was built to withstand those kinds of pressures. Now imagine if somebody decided to save some money in the manufacturing of that locomotive and tried to build the tank out of paper instead of out of steel. What would happen? You and I know that immediately the inadequacy of the material would result in a catastrophic failure of the machine. The steam would immediately expose the weakness of the vessel. The steam would be powerless to move the train, not because the inadequacy of the steam, but because of the inadequacy of the building materials.
Is the steam bad? No the steam is good. The steam is powerful. However, the vessel is weak. When the steam is applied to a weak vessel, the compromised parts of that vessel are immediately exposed and the vessel is proven to be inadequate in itself.
If we compare God’s Law to the steam in that locomotive, we can see the connection. God’s Law is good, but our flesh is weak. When God’s Law is applied to our lives, our total depravity before God is immediately exposed. The weaknesses of our flesh are instantly apparent. The law is powerless to save, not because the law is bad, but because our flesh is inadequate and fallen.
The law is powerful, but our flesh is weak. In our flesh, we could never perfectly follow the law. The law simply condemns us. We need an altogether different solution than mere law-keeping (or legalism). Law-keeping is not going to move us forward in our spiritual walk. Law keeping is powerless to do what we need it to do the most – save our souls from the penalty of sin.
The law is effective in exposing our weaknesses.
Paul explained to the Galatians in Galatians 3:10, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” The role of the law is not to save us, but to expose our utter weakness and unworthiness before a righteous and holy God.
The law exposes our sin and our sin is so carnal that it will even try to exploit the law for it’s own purposes. (Somehow through legalism it could make itself look less sinful). Turn back a page to Romans 7. Romans 7:13b says, “It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.”
If legalism and law-following had been able to bring us salvation, then our righteousness would be completely based upon the law. There would be no need for Jesus and the Cross. God would have said, “Try your best to live a good life and be a good person and you will be saved from my judgement.”
There are many people (including Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, most Catholics and even a few evangelical Christian groups) who are teaching (or acting like) that the law saves when the Bible is plain that the law does not save. It only condemns.
The law is powerless to destroy sin
Romans 8:3a states, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.”
Here’s what the law can do: When the law came into contact with our flesh, it exposed catastrophic weaknesses.
Here’s what the law cannot do: The law was never intended to make people perfect. Its role was to expose their unrighteousness and condemn them for it.
In Paul’s day, the Jews were often confused by the role of the law and were often under the impression that a few more good works would be enough to earn their salvation. On one occasion in Paul’s ministry, he was teaching at the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia. He explained to his hearers that through Jesus Christ “forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him
Consider Jesus’ life during his incarnation. Jesus perfectly kept the law of Moses during His lifetime. He was the only man in all of history who was ever able to live perfectly according to the law of God. In Matt 5:17 he said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Jesus was always upholding the law, and obeying it perfectly. But nobody else could ever live up to those standards.
During one of his teachings, a group of Scribes and Pharisees approached Him. These men were law-followers. They were legalists. They tried to follow the law with a meticulous religious fervor. They went to great lengths to keep up an appearance of utter moral perfection. If anybody other than Jesus perfectly kept the law, it would have been these guys.
These men brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery. They said to Jesus in John 8:5, “Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” Jesus looked at them in all of their legalism, self-righteousness and religious fervor and made the one comment that would cut them to the core. Verse 7 he says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
One by one, they all dropped their stones and walked away. Jesus then said to the woman, “…where are they? Has no one condemned you?” Jesus knew that the law condemns, but He came to give us a new spiritual life. Jesus is the answer to the condemnation. Verse 11, “11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
No one (beside Jesus) has ever perfectly followed the law. Not even the world’s most religious people. The law could never be an effective means of salvation. It condemns. It doesn’t save. We need a Savior outside of law and Jesus proved Himself to be that Savior.
“Good-works-based-salvation” is not the message of the Bible. The Bible repeatedly states that we are utterly incapable of fulfilling God’s standards of righteousness on our own. The law just proves it. Go ahead and compare your life to the law (for most people, their life falls short of God’s standard of perfection on a fairly regular basis). James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” In other words, even a single stumble in any one of these sins at any point in our lifetime is sufficient to disqualify you and me for heaven.
The Ten Commandments (along with the rest of the law) condemns me to an eternity of paying for my own sins in a dark place of eternal punishment called Hell. The law is very good at condemning us. But POWERLESS to save us!
In His mercy and love for us, God chose to do what the law was utterly unable to do. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.” So what did God do? God made a way to destroy sin. Only God can destroy sin. The law is powerless to destroy sin. God alone is able to remove sin from us as far as the east is from the west. David writes in Psalm 103 verse 10,
“He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
How God destroys sin.
The first thing that God did is He sent His Son. God sent His Son in our likeness.
Romans 8:3ab, “3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son…” Some people think that there is a dynamic in heaven where God the Father is angry with our sin and Jesus alone is our advocate before the Father, trying to cool him down.
The text says that God sent His son. The sin destroying cure of salvation was God the Father’s idea. God in His infinite love and mercy offered to us a sacrificial gift unmatched by any other gift in the history of the universe. The most famous verse in the Bible celebrates God’s unbelievable gift to us:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Then John goes on to say,
“ 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, [the law had already done that] but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Jesus was the answer to the law’s condemnation. Law-following never promises to save us from the condemnation of the law, but Jesus does! Jesus says in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus came in the likeness of our flesh, but His flesh was a little different than ours. Jesus was fully man. Physically he was the same. Theologians say that he was “fully-incarnated.” His flesh appeared like ours with one key difference: He was sinless. He was fully human and fully sinless. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
If Jesus had not been both fully human and fully sinless, then He could not have offered Himself as an acceptable sacrifice to God for the sins of the world. My flesh is weak and unable to pay sufficiently for my own sins. Jesus’ flesh was perfect and flawless and absolutely righteous. Only in His flesh was God able to fully condemn my sin.
God condemned our sin in Jesus’ flesh
When Jesus went to the cross in my place, my sin was condemned in His flesh. Romans 8:3, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…” The affliction that Jesus dreaded when he considered Golgotha was not simply the physical pain of the cross. The cross was excruciating. It was painful beyond description. It was the worst physical torture that mankind had developed up to that point. But…. when Jesus faced the cross, the physical torture was not the first thing on His mind.
Far worse than physical pain was the sin burden he would have to bear for me. Jesus was fully God and as God, Jesus hated sin with His entire being. The thought of evil contradicted everything in his perfect character. Yet…at the cross, my sin would become fully His. God would condemn my sin in his flesh. Jesus would own my sins and pay for every one of them. His perfectly righteous flesh would be totally polluted with my unrighteousness.
Then. as he faced death, He would do so utterly alone. It was worse than a martyr’s death. When a martyr dies, they have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to guide them and comfort them through every part of their ordeal. They are never alone. Jesus would face death for my sins utterly alone.
First of all, his disciples all took off. He had done nothing but love them, but they were nowhere to be found. Peter even cursed and denied that he ever knew Jesus. But worse than the abandonment of his friends was the break in His fellowship with God the Father. For the first time in all of eternity, the perfect fellowship between Jesus and His Father would be broken. God would not be acting as a Father who is wholly pleased with His son, but as a righteous judge who is pouring out His wrath on the One He loves the most dearly.
As He hung on the cross in tremendous physical pain, He also bore the sins of millions and millions of people. To bear that weight even for a moment would cause the greatest anguish a soul has ever felt. To face the deep and furious wrath of God for even an instant would cause fear and trembling and terror in the heart of the strongest man. But Jesus’ suffering was not for an instant or a moment. It was hour after hour after hour. The dark pain of sin and the deep wrath of God poured over Him in wave after wave until Jesus at last called out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
In other words, why must this suffering go on so long? O God, will you ever bring it to an end. When the last drop of God’s wrath had been poured out on Jesus, He cried out, “It is finished.” The most unfair transaction in the universe was completed. My sins were completely paid for and condemned in Jesus’ flesh. In exchange, His righteousness was completely given over to me. Nothing else remains to be done. The wrath of God is completely satisfied at the cross for all of those who walk according to the Spirit.
Our response
What is our response? How do we live in light of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?
Turn to Matthew 19. First of all, we must stop trying to earn our salvation apart from Jesus. Many people –even some professing Christians – believe that they can live up to God’s standards by being a better person. They believe that law-following and moral-living is enough to satisfy God’s wrath.
The law can’t save, it can only condemn
There was a young man in the Bible who was under the impression that he could earn his own righteousness apart from Jesus. Look at Matt 19:16-22 and read along with me:
16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
This young man was extremely religious. In spite of his religious fervor, he failed to demonstrate the heart behind the Law. He completely missed the two greatest commands: to Love God with all you your heart, soul and mind and to love you neighbor as yourself. Instead, he loved money and he loved religion.
His response to Jesus proved that he was not others-focused, but self-focused. He did not love God as much as he loved his wealth. His meticulous moral living did not compensate for his selfish materialism. He would never be saved by his morality – no matter how many additional good deeds he completed. Salvation only exists for those who follow Jesus and live according to the Spirit.
Live according to the Spirit.
Let’s read Romans 8:3-4 together: “3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Living according to the Spirit may result in following more of God’s commands but following more of God’s commands outside of the power of the Spirit does not result in greater spiritual living. This last point opens up a whole new topic that I can’t unpack this week, we we’ll save it for next. I’ll simply mention that God is calling us to live according to the spirit and not seek salvation in the law.
Let me end with an example of how to pray in light of the fact that we are not under the law, but in Christ. There is no salvation in the law, but salvation come exclusively through Christ. There is no freedom living under the law, but those who live by the spirit will never face condemnation
Let’s pray:
Dear Lord Jesus
In my flesh I am weak and a rebel against you commands. Sometime I find more pleasure in the created world than I find in the Creator of the world. Lord Change my heart. I know that my flesh is weak and sick and corrupt. I need something better than myself. I need Jesus
I need Jesus because I’m powerless to obey on my own. So Lord, I turn away from a meticulous religious following of the law to be led by Your spirit. Keep me far away from the temptation of trying to earn my own salvation and Lord keep my heart close to Your so that in every situation I might honor You by walking in the Spirit.
I turn away from a dependence on my own resources for salvation and I look to you as the author of my faith and perfector of my soul. You are my only hope. Forgive me for the times I’ve found greater satisfaction in anything but you. I know this is Satan’s scheme. I hate the Devil and all his works and I’m sorrowful for every time I’m fallen victim to his plans.
O Lord I pray for you to have mercy on me. Open my eyes and help me see you for who you really are. Help me to see you more fully in all your glory and majesty. And help me to put all other things in their proper position in relation to you
I ask for you to dwell mightily in my heart and to make yourself the victor in every one of my struggles for that when I love my brother and when I (by your power) love my enemies, I do so in a way that magnifies you infinite worth…. So that You alone receive the glory.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
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