Can human works, church membership, baptism, or sacraments accomplish justification by faith?
No. No amount of human works, church memberships, baptisms, sacraments, elements, or any other human endeavor can accomplish justification by faith or put old Adam to death. Works cannot do that; it must be the work of the Creator God Himself.
Les teaches that no kind of human endeavor can do what is being accomplished in these two or three chapters. He emphasizes that no amount of works, no amount of church memberships, no amount of baptisms, and no amount of sacraments or elements can do what Paul is teaching in justification by faith and in putting old Adam to death. Works cannot do that; it has to be the work of the Creator God Himself. He also notes that most people still think they have to do something, but that thinking is foreign to this truth. The contrast is serving old Adam, which brings spiritual death, or being obedient to God's invitation of grace and enjoying righteousness and right standing with God now and for all eternity.