Can you be saved or made right with God by keeping the law and doing good works?
No. By the deeds of the law no one can approach God on the merit of personal works or good deeds. God says humans can do nothing to merit favor with Him. Abraham believed God, and his believing caused God to call him a righteous man, showing that being made right with God is not by law-keeping or good works.
Les stresses the point in verse 20 that by the deeds of the law no one can approach God on the merit of what they have done. He repeats that it does not matter what denominations or theologians teach; God says we can do nothing to merit favor with Him. He illustrates the problem with old Adam using the bootlegging days: authorities could outlaw alcohol, but they had to get rid of the stills to deal with the source. In the same way, covering up or wallpapering over old Adam will not work. Then he goes to chapter 4 and Abraham: Paul says Abraham believed God, and his believing caused God to call him a righteous man. That shows law-keeping and good works cannot make a person right with God.
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.
Why can't the law save you?
The law cannot save because it only addresses outward deeds, not the sin nature called old Adam that keeps producing sin. Covering it up won't work; the root remains, and God sees the internal corruption. No one can approach God on the merit of their own works; righteousness comes by believing God, as Abraham did.
Can anyone be saved or justified by doing the deeds of the Law?
No. Scripture declares that by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be saved or justified in His sight, because the Law was given for one purpose only — to show mankind how far they fall short of God's standard and to give the knowledge of sin, not righteousness.
More Questions
Can anyone be saved by doing the deeds of the Law?
Since all the world has become guilty by the giving of the Law, no flesh — not one human being — can be saved or justified in God's sight by the deeds of the Law.
Will keeping the Ten Commandments and doing good works justify me before God?
All a person's law-keeping, good works, and legalism are for nothing, because by the deeds of the law—trying to live the good life according to the format of the Ten Commandments—no flesh shall be justified in God's sight.