Romans 3:19-22 (NLT) 19 obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Here is a liberating statement when it comes to walking with God and pursuing Jesus. “To be sure, the Law is not the source of our righteousness, but it is forever the course of our righteousness.” Paul teaches us in the verses above the importance of understanding the source and the course of our righteousness. Throughout church history one of the stumbling blocks to the Christian faith is the ‘muddling up’ of these two.
The biggest issue facing Jesus and guys like Paul was this issue of “righteousness.” The Greek word for righteousness is dikaiosune: “The Way in which a man may attain a state of approval with God”. If we don’t know the source of our righteousness we can easily fall into the trap that the Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ day fell into…self-righteousness (self-justification). Paul tells us that God “has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law…” (v.21). He goes on to declare that we “are made right with God by placing our faith is Jesus Christ…” (v. 22)
The person who has never experienced this righteousness will be tempted to use their obedience to the law and the law itself as a means to sense or feel ‘right’ with God. In reality the law of God was designed to show us where we have missed the mark of God’s word. It is a means by which we can truly stay the course in our righteousness. Paul in his letter to the Galatians tells us that the law is a guardian to us (Gal. 3:24).
Just as our sin does not make us sinful, neither do our righteous deeds make us righteous. We sin because we are sinful, and we do right deeds because we are made righteous by Jesus.
I leave you with this illustration. If we muddle these two…the source and course of our righteousness... we may be tempted to do what the Pharisee and Scribe were doing in Jesus time. They were like the farmer who had a diseased apple tree. No one could see the disease, for it was contained in the core of the tree. Because of the disease, the apple tree could not produce healthy apples. Year after year the crops got worse and worse. To cover up the disease, the farmer decides to go and purchase hundreds of apples at the store and some fishing line. He takes the fishing line (invisible to the naked eye from a distance) and sows the healthy apples onto the diseased tree. From a distance it looked like the apple tree was healthy and very productive, yet inside the tree was still diseased. All of us are tempted to sow apples on our diseased trees.
Remember our hearts, apart from Jesus righteousness and faith in Him alone, are wicked and utterly diseased. We need a heart transformation. Here is the promise of Christ’s salvation work in our lives. Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NLT) 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. Let us be those who have a new heart and thus are led by God’s Spirit into the course of our righteousness…obedience to God’s laws. Blessings! Pastor B
