Romans 3:19-20 - The Works of the Law

Romans 3:19-20 - 19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Message: Misunderstanding the purpose of the Law

Time: Paul probably wrote Romans between A.D. 57-58 while he was at Corinth in the home of his friend and convert Gaius. He planned to go first to Jerusalem to deliver a gift of money from the Gentile churches to the poor in Jerusalem. Then he hoped to visit Rome on his way to Spain. His hopes were later realized, but not as he had expected. When he finally arrived in Rome in early A.D. 60, he was a prisoner under house arrest (Acts 28:11-31).

What the Lord is Saying:

The Set Up
This is what is so great about Romans. Right here is what I love about Romans and Paul's message. He puts his message in perspective. He reminds us clearly of the truth of His message. Paul further clarifies his message. He has said so much so far, but even in what he has said there can be people that misunderstand what he says and so he further clarifies it here by clearly stating that we are accountable to the Law of God but no one can be justified before God by doing the Law. The Law show us we are sinners.

The message thus far has been about sin.

Romans 1:1 - Paul is set apart for the gospel of God
Romans 1:17 - What is the Gospel? Revealing the righteousness of God
Romans 1:18 - Man's Problem: Sin or suppressing the truth. living in an unrighteous way
Romans 2:6 - The Wrath of God will come upon every person, and every person is accountable for his deeds: good and bad
Romans 2:11 - No one gets a free pass
Romans 2:25 - The Jew is a transgressor of the Law and no different from any other person as far as being accountable to God
Romans 2:29 - The Gospel is a change that occurs within
Romans 3:12 - No one is good

Here is the message over and over. Righteousness is what God wants. Man is unrighteous. God judges man based upon what he has done. And no one is good.

Verse 19
"Now we know that whatever the Law says" - 'Now we knows' is not progressive knowledge, but is full knowledge right now. The Law is the teaching or direction (Torah) and given. And it says what it says continuously. We know right now that the direction or tutor is being put forth continually in our lives.

The Law is like a plumb line. A plumb line is not meant to straighten the building, but to show how crooked it is and where adjustments or change is needed.

"It speaks to those who are under the Law" - so this Law that is constantly directing us is for those that are accountable to it. The Jew could previously had said, at various times, that the announcements of sin previously stated were for the Gentile. And while their is a law man is accountable to (conscience), the Jew was given the Law of God. And this Law is continuously speaking to them and they are under it. Like a dot in a circle. Man is the dot and is surrounded by the Law.

"That every mouth may be closed" - This is the purpose of it all: to close the mouth of every person. God has seen every crime committed. God's wrath is clearly upon every work of man. We have the Law and we are under it and the result, no one has anything to say. I am guilty.

"And all the the world may become accountable to God" - All means no one is excused. No exceptions. All humanity. Accountable is under judgment. Every person is under judgment.

There is no defense for the guilty before God.

Here is what verse 19 says, "No one can say to God, hey look at what I have done." No one can even voice this because the Law has been given, we are under it and we have broken it, our mouth is closed in accountability before God.


Verse 20
"because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight" - Why does a person have no defense?

The word accountable is a legal term and means a person who has lost all ability to defend himself. I don't mean to express this over and over, but this is so key. Because man's propensity is to defend himself, find excuses, shift blame, look for an out, justify with his own good behavior, try to make it look like good can outweigh bad, give the idea that through their own deeds they can nullify the breaking of the Law, shows that they are good, that they can be good, does whatever is possible to not simply say, "You got me. I have no defense."

Here in verse 20 is the deal: the Law cannot make a person right before God. 

Justified is another word that we need to be careful with because in the world we think about justification in a different manner than what Paul is saying here. At my job, when I want something, I look for ways to justify that decision. When the library wants to be open more hours, I look for ways to justify this need. In another way, we may do something wrong, like told a white lie, gone over the speed limit, and then we spend time justifying ourselves before others why it was necessary to sin. But, here justify means something different. It means that man can never do anything to pay or atone for his sinfulness. Man can justify himself before God. Man cannot be set free from sin through his own deeds. This is not the purpose of the Law. It is not given to show us what to do.

 "for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." -- this is the purpose of the Law. Law brings about the knowledge of sin. If I'm driving down the interstate going 85, the speed limit sign reminds me that the law is a speed of 65. I have knowledge now of what breaking the Law is.

Speed Limit Gospel
Do you know how speed limit signs tell us what speed we should be driving? That is a law. And even if you were to go 1 mile over the speed limit you would be breaking the Law. And once you break the law, there isn't anything you can do to change the fact that you have broken the law. Even if you never break it again.

This is one thing God wants you to recognize. That there is nothing you can do to not have ever broken the speed limit. By breaking the law you are not perfect and God tells us we are to be perfect because that is His standard. One thing God does is judge us when we die. If we aren't perfect, we deserve separation from God.  God knew this and so he sent His Son Jesus to earth, to live a perfect life, thus he never broke the Law. However, some people didn't like Him. So, they killed him. But, he didn't deserve death. But you do. You deserve death because you broke the Law.

So when Jesus died, He died for you. He took on your penalty for breaking the Law. And now you have a choice: either believe God for what He did for you or don't. If you believe Him, tell Him. You simply say, "Lord, I believe." If you don't, then when God judges you when you die, he will ask you to how you are going to pay Him for breaking the Law. And the problem is, there is nothing you can do to earn favor with God after breaking the Law. So, the only thing you can say then is, "God, I don't believe in you."

If you say, Lord, I believe, then the way you thank God is by living your life in a way that honors God. By doing what He says to do. You will make mistakes, but the good news is Jesus will have already paid your fine. 

Promise: The Law cannot save us.