Why the Law Can't Save You — Romans 3:19-20 Explained

Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to again have everybody in. We got a good gathering this afternoon, and for those of you on television, we bring these folk in and we do a four -program session and tape four programs, just one right after the other, and we just appreciate so much that these folk come in and become part of our class and our audience. Now again, we always like to remind our television audience that all past programs, beginning in Genesis 1-1, we've been coming up, as the program says, through the Bible, and all these past programs now are available in videotape as well as the printed page. Now these little books are just transcriptions, word for word, and we do not try to make anything on them, we just cover our printing costs, and for those of you who are interested, you call or write, and then we always like to emphasize missionaries are taking them, and under those circumstances we try to send them out free, but for the Lincoln file, if you can afford five bucks for the book, we appreciate it, and we like to get around 20 or 25 for the tapes, depending on whether there's postage involved or not. So anyway, we always like to make folk aware that all of this material is available. It's a study course, I guess, in its own way, starting in Genesis and just coming on up through, and we are now, of course, up to the Book of Romans. And so those of you here in the studio have already turned to Romans chapter 3, and for those of you out in television, you'll remember in our last program we wound up with God's great controversy with the human race, how He had built His case as a prosecuting attorney, not against any one segment, not against any one race, not against any one class, but He builds His case against the whole human race. And if you'll remember in chapter 1, we looked at the immoral, the amoral man, and God builds His case as to why they are guilty. And then we looked at the moral man. On the outside, he's good. There's just nothing that anybody can find wrong with him, but God has just as much to say about him as He does the immoral. And then the third category, of course, was the religious individual, who thought because of his religion that he had everything that he needed to meet his Maker. And then we came to that great conclusion as we left our last program, that all, all have failed, all are guilty, there is none righteous, no not one. And so now we're going to pick up at verse 19 of chapter 3. Now whenever I teach Romans chapter 3, I always like to make a statement that there are two chapter 3's in the Bible that I think are mandatory for every believer to understand. The first one is Genesis chapter 3, where we have the account of sin and all of its horrendousness making its appearance when Adam rebelled and ate. And if you can understand chapter 3, why mankind is a fallen race, totally disobedient to everything that God says, and as a result of their fall then we've seen the 6 ,000 years of human suffering, of degradation, corruption, evil, wickedness, and it all began back there in the garden. And so now God comes then to that conclusion here in Romans chapter 3, that this is the problem, and the only remedy is the remedy that God Himself has provided. And this of course flies in the face of human reasoning, and we're going to see why here in just the next moment. So now as we come into verse 19, you'll just glance at the verses ahead of it, and you'll notice it's not a very pretty picture. But that's what God sees whenever He looks at a human being still in old Adam. That's where He saw me, that's where He saw you, and that's where He still sees every lost person. We are an opulent sepulcher, our mouth is full of cursing, and we have no fear of God. Well that's the picture of the unbelieving individual that God sees. So you come down now to verse 19 where it says, Now we know. Now when Paul says we know, he's talking about something that's solid ground. This isn't wishful thinking. This isn't something that only a theologian could dream of. This is basic scriptural fact. Now we know, Now I don't think any of you here have any trouble answering the question, who was under the law? The Jew. The nation of Israel was under the law. And that's why of course they were put in that place of special responsibility. God gave them the law, printed on the tables of stone, and plain as day. And then of course they had the whole system of what we call law, the religious, the ritual, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the civil law. It all then comprised what we call the law. But at the heart of the law, of course, are the Ten Commandments. And so as we study these terms, in Romans especially, we're always going to be careful. Are we talking about the Ten Commandments? Or are we talking about the whole system of law? In other words, that if a Jew misused his neighbor, the law, the civil law, stipulated how he had to make things right. The ceremonial law designated that under a certain circumstance of sin or wrongdoing, he had to do such and such, bring it to the priest, and so on and so forth. And so you have the civil law, and you have the ceremonial law, but at the heart of all of the law is the moral law, or what we call the Ten Commandments. All right, so now then, I think here in the first part of chapter, verse 19, Paul, when he says the law says, it says to them who are under the law, he's talking about the Ten Commandments, the moral law. But it says to them who are under the law, that's the whole system of law. Do you get the difference? Now let's pick it apart one more time. We know that what things whoever the law saith, thou shalt, thou shalt not, it says to them who are under the law, the whole system of law, the whole system, the nation of Israel, and they alone were under that. But it doesn't stop there. Now it goes on and says that not just Jewish mouths, but how many? Every mouth. Now who does that include? Everybody. Everybody. Jew and Gentile, black and white, rich and poor, regardless of a person's status, he's under that demand of the law. And all the world, see that? Not just Israel now, but all the world may become, oh, what's the next word? Righteous? That's what most people think. Oh, if they can just keep the law, they'll make it. But that's not the word. It says guilty. That all the world may become guilty before God. Now I can't stop there without taking the next verse. Therefore, since the law, the Mosaic Ten Commandments, since the law makes everyone guilty, therefore by the deeds or the keeping of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Oh, now look at this last statement. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now underline that word sin because I think it's the first time that we've really seen it here in the Book of Romans where it will take the application or the definition that I like to make of the word sin, S-I-N. Those of you who have ever been with me on a study of the Romans, you know what I'm going to say. You can put in its place, I think without exception, throughout the Book of Romans. And of course if it just doesn't fit, well then back away from it. But you can without exception substitute the word sin with old Adam. Old Adam. The old sin nature that we're born with. Now let me read it that way. Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of old Adam. Now I'm going to give you a couple statements. Maybe I better take time and put them on the board and I trust you'll write them in the fly leaf of your Bible. The first one I'm going to put up is we are not sinners because we break the law. Hard to swallow, isn't it? Everybody thinks the reason we're sinners is because we've committed adultery, we've stolen, we've cheated, we've done something. Uh-uh. But contrary to that, we break the law, that is the moral ten now, we break the law because we are what? Sinners. Now that's contrary to what most religions teach. That's contrary to what nine out of ten church members think even today. They think the reason we're sinners is because we're always breaking the law. That's not the problem. The problem is we have something within us that wants to constantly break the law and then of course when we break the law we're what? We're guilty. But now we've got to go all the way back to Adam again, don't we? Because that's where it all began. See when Adam was created he was perfect. Not an ounce of sin in him, not a sinful thought. He was as pure, I think, as Christ Himself was in His earthly advent. But how long did it last? Not very long. I think the Jewish people, the rabbis probably feel long enough for Eve's first ovulation which would be about 28 days. But whatever. As soon as Adam took that step of disobedience back there in the garden, a simple step, just simply took and bit that fruit that was forbidden and immediately he became a sin-natured individual. And all he could constantly think in spite of himself was that which was contrary to the very laws of His Creator God. And every human being has inherited that ever since. So you see this is where we are then in the first statement. We are not sinners because we break the law but we break the law because we're sinners and we're sinners because we are sons of Adam. Oh, if only people could get that straight. You're not a sinner today because of anything you have done so far as actively performing a sinful act. You're a sinner because you're a child of Adam. And being a child of Adam, everything that God says this do, old Adam says, do the opposite. Everything that God says this thou shalt not do, old Adam says, do it. Now, I've been trying to think of a good, simple, yet profound illustration of this old sin nature. Because see, we've got millions of people all around us that are good people. You can't find a flaw in their lifestyle. They've got a beautiful home. They've got a beautiful family. Their kids are well behaved. They've never cheated anybody out of a dime. He's never been unfaithful to her. She's never been unfaithful to him. And from all outward appearances they are good people. So, I guess just on the way up, I also tell you I was awfully quiet. But I don't know if this makes sense to you or not, but I'm going to try it. You take an individual, he's got a beautiful horse, just a beautiful steed, well trained, well groomed. And this gentleman is so proud of that animal that he takes him to the show places, puts him through his traces, and of course well dressed himself. And it's just a beautiful pair to behold, this man and this beautiful horse. And after this particular show, and he's won his purple ribbons, and he's sitting there on that steed accepting all the applause of what they've accomplished. And that animal is just standing there perfectly contented, beautiful, being honored. And then all of a sudden, as if somebody hit that horse with about 10 electric cattle prods, he just explodes. Now that's about the end of the analogy, because you can never carry spiritual things very far. All right. That beautiful steed I'm telling you about is the picture I'm trying to draw of old Adam. Oh, see, we can groom him. We can control him a lot of times, and we can make him just fool the world that, hey, he's okay. But then all of a sudden, something makes old Adam just erupt, like this animal hit with a bunch of prods. All right, now here's what I want you to answer me. What am I lightening the cattle prod to? What causes old Adam to suddenly lose his poise, suddenly realize that all that pent-up power for wickedness and obstinacy comes to the fore? The Law. See? The Law. And so people can have themselves all veneered, and they can be so beautiful, and they've got everything under control. And then one day, the Law comes. And, oh, they've read it, they've memorized it, but they never heard it. But then one day, the Law comes, and it just smashes old Adam, and he erupts. See? Now, let me take you to Romans chapter 7. It'll be several programs before we get there, and then we'll look at it more in detail. But you see, in Romans chapter 7 is that chapter that the theologians like to batty back and forth, whether it's this or whether it's that, and I'm not going to pay attention to their arguments. I'm just going to look at it the way this old layman sees it. But you come down to Romans chapter 7, verse 9, a verse, I imagine, that has raised a lot of eyebrows or has caused people to just skim right over it. I don't understand it anyway. All right, now don't forget the story of my beautiful horse. Here is the Apostle Paul under that same set of circumstances. He's got his life religiously, he thinks, under complete control. A religious zealot, admired and looked up to by the whole Jewish religious community. But then all of a sudden, that horse beneath him just erupted, and it changed his life. All right, now look at verse 9 of chapter 7. For I was alive without the law. What does he mean? Hey, he knew the law from the time he was at his mama's knee, let alone Gamaliel. The law had already been enforced for 1 ,500 years before Saul came along. And so he says, I was alive without the law. How could he have been? Because he was part and parcel of that Judaistic society. Well, should I tell you where Saul was? Where most people are today when they read their Bible. They read, but do they understand? Goes right over their head. And the same way with Saul. Oh, he thought he knew the law from cover to cover. He thought he knew those 10 commandments, forwards and backwards, but you know what? He had never understood what they said. It was just so many words. But there on the road to Damascus, all of a sudden as he was confronted with the ascended Lord, all of a sudden now, the law meant what it said to Saul of Tarsus. And what happened? He realized that he was the biggest lawbreaker of all. And that's why he claims that he was such a sinner. He had persecuted the believers. But it was when the law finally got a hold of old Saul that he had to recognize, I'm nothing, see? And so what happened? He says, I died. Well, now we know he didn't die physically. So where did he die? Oh, that old Adam, see? Old Adam has to die. And that's the whole theme of this book of Romans, is to deal with that old sin nature that is constantly making man rebel against the very tenets of God. Now, by now you should be able to see what I'm driving at. Is that something that we can do in the energy of the flesh? No. There's no way you can deal with old Adam in the flesh. Because just like the gentleman with his beautiful horse, oh, he's trained him, he's shown him, he's had it applauded, he's gained his rewards over him. But then one day when that horse was finally exploded with an outside source of energy, it showed itself for what it really was. It could be just as cantankerous, it could buck him just as far as the worst bronc could ever do. And that's where our old Adam is. And we have to come to grips with that old Adam. And you can't do it by joining a church. Now, I'm not against the church. Don't ever let anyone get the idea. I'm just using it as an example that that is not what we have to do in order to get right with God. We have to first and foremost deal with this old Adam. And remember, he's in the area of the invisible. You can't lay Adam out on the table. You can't examine him. You can't open him. Old Adam is in the area of the spiritual. He's in the invisible. And consequently, whenever we start dealing in the area of the invisible, there's only one individual, if I may use the word, that knows how to do it. And who is it? The Creator Himself. The Creator Himself is the only one that can delve down into the depths of the spirit. And so we have to deal with old Adam, then, through the work and the power of our Creator, of our Savior, and of our Lord. All right, come back to the verses again in Romans 3. So he says, knowing that... I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter. Romans 3, verse 19. Now we know... Now just think about that for a minute, and I'm trying to get all my class people over the years prepared, and it happens all the time, for that good neighbor, or that good friend, or that good customer, or that good client who comes in and a conversation comes around these things, and that person will say, well, I'm doing the best I can. I think I'll make it. So don't give me a hassle, because I'm pretty good. I'm keeping the commandments. I've joined the church. I'm a good family man. I give. Don't talk to me about my having any problem facing eternity. But you see, they haven't dealt with the core problem, old Adam. And so the law is the only way that God can come to that kind of a person and say, you're guilty. See? Because I don't care how good they may think they have been, I don't care how good their record is, God still looks back and sees that throat like an open sepulcher. He still sees a mouth that's full of cursing. He still sees thought processes that are as immoral as anybody can get, and that's all coming out of old Adam. Another good illustration is back in the bootlegging days, in the 30s. My, you know, they could outlaw alcohol consumption if they wanted to, but you can't stop people from getting it. So the only way they could really deal with the alcohol problem was to do what? Find where it was being made. And that's what they tried, of course. Get rid of the stills. If you could get rid of every alcohol still in the world, there wouldn't be any alcohol. You know, you could probably get rid of the problem. Now it's the same way with old Adam. He's just like a still. He just keeps putting it out, and putting it out, and putting it out. And I don't care how you try to cover it up, I don't care how you try to wallpaper over it, it won't work until we deal with old Adam. All right? Verse 20 then again. So by the deeds of the law, I'm pressing on this, and I'm going to keep repeating it yet for a few moments, because I don't want anyone to miss the point I'm trying to make. That you cannot approach God on the merit of what you have done. I don't care what denominations teach, I don't care what theologians may teach, we have to come back and realize that God says we can do nothing to merit favor with Him. And we're going to see when we get into chapter 4 that, oh, it's so plain. But Abraham, Paul says, believed God, and it was his believing that caused God to call him a righteous man. And then the next verse says, not of works, lest he should boast. You know, I've made the comment to my classes, and I think maybe I said it even on the program a long, long time ago, have you ever envisioned heaven, and you're there because of what you did to merit it? You know what I've told people? Everybody will be crossing the street ahead of time because, oh no, I don't want to listen to that guy again. I don't want to listen to him tell me again what he did to get here. It'd be awful, see? But it won't be that way, because every one of us are never going to be able to say a thing that we have done got us there. It was only the work of a merciful God, see? All right? So by the law again, verse 20, is the knowledge or the understanding of our old Adam. The knowledge of sin, or the knowledge of our old Adam. And it's the only place you'll find it. Now again, as I was mulling these things over, you see, you don't find language like this back in the Gospels. Jesus didn't get into this part of the whole problem. Jesus more or less was just dealing with those Jews under the law. But you see, now the Apostle Paul is breaking out by Holy Spirit inspiration, of course, and he's delving into the whole human race. Not just the problem in Israel. Not just the problem with Jews. He's delving into the problems of the whole human race. Look at your newspaper today. The whole front page, I don't care whether it's the Tulsa World or the Oklahoma City or whether it's Timbuktu, every newspaper in the world today, their whole front page is covered with the same kind of stuff. Murder, rape, terrorism, crime, immorality. Why? Because the world is under the control of, of course, Satan at the top of it, but it's the old Adamic nature, see? And this is what we have to understand. It's old Adam who is at the heart of the sin program. It's old Adam in the realm of the Spirit that we have to deal with through the power and the mercy and the grace of God. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.