When a person is saved, his/her normal reaction is one of joy, thankfulness, a hunger for the Word of God, a desire to fellowship with other believers, and a desire to share the joy and peace that follows. As we interact with people, we may find those who say they are Christians and use all the right Christianese words, but who give us doubt that their claim of salvation is real. What are we to do? Sometimes well-meaning Christians may instruct us to not question anyone’s claim of faith; only God knows their heart. Also, as we study God’s Word, we may see fruit in a person’s life that is incompatible with Scripture. What do we do? Should we adopt an attitude of the things they do is none of my business?

The culture that the church has adopted is that we leave it up to the person to deal with God regarding their salvation. Yet the Bible doesn’t teach this. Israel is a perfect example of knowing that the Law requires perfection but choosing to ignore the requirement. Rather, they chose to believe that God would be lenient with His chosen people. When we evangelize, we are prone to give the impression that God will accept their best effort. Such a message affirms a person in his rebellion against God. God does not turn a blind eye to sin. The person must understand that God requires perfection.

Paul had an overwhelming desire to see his Jewish brothers be saved, for he was willing, if possible, to forfeit his own salvation for them (Romans 9:1-3 & Romans 10:1). He testified to the fact that the Jews were zealous for God, but being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they sought to establish their own righteousness (Romans 10:2-3). This was a great burden for Paul, for he understood the fate that they faced. Because he loved his Jewish brothers, Paul used very strong language as he confronted them. We often think of love as being tolerant. We think God will be satisfied if we are close to meeting His standards; we think He will cut us slack because He sees that we are trying. Yet, God confronts us with the word of faith, the gospel. In Romans 10:4-8 we will see five ways in which the word of faith confronts Israel’s and our rebellion. Today we consider three negative aspects of being confronted by the word of faith and next week we will cover the two positive aspects. 

I. The Word of Faith Ends the Law (v. 4)

• The Law

The Law was never intended for our justification and the Law does not have an end; it is the eternal Word of God. Misconceptions regarding the purpose of the Law abound, including…

• Jesus fulfilled the law so we don’t have to keep it

• The law was only for ancient Israel

• The law is only for Jews today

• The law was only for those under the Old Covenant

• The law is not for the present dispensation

• The law is a burden Christ came to free us from

• Christ was the “end” of the law (v. 4)

• The law is totally unrelated to salvation

• We are saved by grace alone and don’t need the law

• Love, not law is all we need

Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18) Jesus did not bring an end to the law nor bring a new law; He explained the significance of the moral law in our life. The law expresses God’s character. There are three aspects of the law: 1) the Moral Law defines how to live, 2) the Civil Law defines how Israel was to operate and 3) the Ceremonial Law defines how Israel was to approach God. At some point in time, everyone must come face-to-face with the law of God. The law defines what God expects from all humanity.

Some see law and grace as opposed; however, they work in concert to accomplish God’s divine will. Some believe we are judged by the law; others believe we are judged by our faith in Jesus. Neither is strictly true; we are judged by the eternal standard of God’s character. God is holy, perfect, righteous, etc., and we are judged by this standard. With the Spirit’s power, sanctification allows believers to begin to live a life in obedience to God’s standards.

In Romans 7 Paul shared the struggles he had with the Law. Before he believed, he didn’t recognize coveting in his life. However, after he believed he recognized not only that he coveted but that he loved coveting. The Spirit not only helps us see our sins but also helps us overcome the sin in our life. The law has a sanctifying effect on our life.

• The Law’s End (v. 4b)

Christ is the end of the law means that the law is fulfilled, or the goal of the law is realized. When Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He was saying that the righteous demands of the law had been met. We need to understand how we are judged; to what standard are we held? We are judged according to God’s character. We have to be justified in the law and by the law. We get a word picture of justification in a set of scales where God’s righteousness is on one side and our righteousness on the other. No amount of good works on our part can bring the scales into balance, only God can balance the scales.

The law demands perfect righteousness. Romans 1 tells us that everyone knows that God exists, and that the law is written on our hearts, thus we have no excuse. 1 Peter 1:15-17a commands us to be holy and warns that we will be judged by our deeds. Peter was not giving a new command that we needed to be perfect; the requirement for holiness or perfection is found throughout Scripture. (Ex. Exodus 19:6; Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7,26; Matthew 5:48; I Thessalonians 4:8.) God’s standard is an impossibly high standard. Israel recognized the impossibility of meeting these standards, so they made up more than 600 laws that they thought they could obey and, thus, please God. They tried to bring God’s standard down to their level rather than allowing God’s standard to have its intended effect – to reveal their sin and force them to trust His mercy.

Israel’s zeal for God was without knowledge, grounded in self-righteousness. We, also, are judged by the righteous demands of the law. We are to keep the law perfectly, and James 2:10 tells us that if we fail at any point, we are guilty of violating all the law. We pull God off His throne when we think we are judged by our individual sins rather than God’s standard. We think our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds and tilt the scales in our favor. We compare ourselves with others and think we are not so bad.

We go astray, first, when we don’t understand that God’s standard is perfection. We also go astray when we misunderstand repentance. The gospel message includes a requirement for repentance, but it is not a repentance from sins; it is a repentance from not meeting God’s standard of perfection. We need to repent of self-atonement, of self-righteousness, and of thinking that salvation can be obtained by any means other than that which Jesus provided. 

• The Law’s End (v. 4b)

Jesus is the end of the law’s righteous demands on our life. We no longer have to maintain perfection, no longer have to strive to see if God will accept us. Jesus brought an end to humanity needing to live perfectly to reach God. This is the beauty of the gospel! Marvin Vincent said, “To believers in Christ the Law no longer has legislative authority to say, ‘do this and live do this and die’. The system of faith represented by Christ, brings to an end and excluded the system of law. The one is based on doing and the one is based on believing!” When we believe we are declared legally right with God, and we enter into a right standing with Him through that faith. Our righteousness comes from our faith.

• The Law’s End for Believers (v. 4c)

Repentance from sin and belief in Christ is the end of the law for believers. This does not mean that the Moral Law is nullified; it does not mean that we can be lawless; it does not mean that we can live any way we want because we are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:15). We understand from this verse that Jesus kept the Moral Law perfectly. 1 John 3:5 tells us that Jesus was perfectly sinless. Three things we learn from this verse: 1) the perfect obedience of Christ secured our righteousness, 2) when we repent of a sin, we are forgiven for that sin, but we must repent of thinking that we can satisfy God’s standard, and 3) we need more that just forgiveness of sins; we must be declared righteous in God’s sight. 

Belief is not mere mental assent to the facts of Christianity; demons believe and shudder (James 2:19). Belief is complete surrender of self-effort, a coming under the lordship of Christ. So, when we share the gospel with someone, we are bringing them face-to-face with an internal crisis. This is awkward but we must make them see the holiness of God and their standing before Him. What they do with this knowledge is up to them and God.

Romans 6:3-5 tells us that believers walk in the newness of life and Romans 8:1 adds that we are free from condemnation. Though God could have created a righteousness for us from nothing, He loved us so much that He lived a life of perfection that the law requires but is impossible for us, then credited this perfection to us. This transaction is summarized in the life-verse of Southside: “For our sake he (the Father) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) God made a way for us to be righteous. He supplies what He demands! 

Through this great exchange, Jesus put an end to the Ceremonial Law. Jesus’ sacrifice ended the need for animal sacrifices and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). On Yom Kippur, two male goats were brought to the high priest. One he slaughtered to make us favorable in God’s sight (propitiation), and the other he laid his hands on its head, confessing the sins of Israel, and sent it away into the wilderness, signifying Israel’s sins were removed (expatiation). 1 Peter 2:24 states, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” This was a once-for-all sacrifice for believers, never to be repeated. Catholics make a grave error in their Mass when they portray repeated sacrifices of Christ, in essence denying the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice. They take literally Jesus’ statement in John 6:53 where Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, whereas in John 6:63 Jesus explained that these words were spiritual in nature. The proper celebration of the Lord’s Supper is one whereby we express thankfulness for the forgiveness of sins, for the end of the need for us to obtain perfection, and for the fellowship we have with God. Christ did everything necessary to fully satisfy the demands of the law.

II. The Word of Faith Ends Human Effort (v. 5)

• Practice must be perfect

Paul referred to Leviticus 18:5 when he said that “the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” In other words, it is possible to be saved apart from grace IF you obey perfectly all the commandments of the law your entire life.

• Pursuit must always be perfect

The word of faith is the end of the perfection required of believers in Christ. We might ask: Why would God put a demand on people that He knew they could not keep? This doesn’t seem fair! The answer is accountability. Just because sinners are unable, doesn’t mean that they are not morally accountable. It is good, righteous and just for God to hold people accountable even though He knows they cannot meet the standard. If God changed the standard, it would make Him unjust. We cannot minimize God’s standard when sharing the gospel. All are accountable, and this does not change. Galatians 3:10 tells us that if we rely on obeying the law we are under a curse, while Galatians 3:13 explains that Christ became a curse for us. Romans 6:14 explains that our curse is removed, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

III. The Word of Faith Ends Vain Journeys (vv. 6-7)

• Our vain effort

The grace given to us ends vain journeys of trying to learn who God is and what He requires of us. Here Paul is personifying righteousness which calls out to all who think they can be right with God through their own effort; all such efforts are vain. Paul is critical of those who think they can ascend to heaven and bring down a savior of their liking to atone for their sins. Alternatively, some think they can descend into the abyss and resurrect a savior. The person who rejects God is claiming to be able to bring a resurrection in their own power.

• Pride’s impossible journey

The person who does not submit to God has an inflated perception of their righteousness. They think that they are good enough, smart enough, and powerful enough to stand before God on their own merit. As such they are embarking on an impossible journey. Typically, unbelievers give little thought to the afterlife, and when they do, they are convinced that God will let them into heaven because they are not as bad as many others. Geoffrey Wilson said, “The sheer perversity of unbelief is shown by the many who prefer to undertake an impossible odyssey rather than put their trust in an accessible Christ.”

The gospel message is simple, but the reason people struggle with receiving the gospel is that they must submit to the lordship of Christ and recognize that they are accountable for their own sins. Throughout their whole life, many are on vain journeys searching for truth but never finding it. The word of faith ends the law and ends pointless pursuits, but the gift of faith can be ours today. All we need do is turn to God in repentance and faith.

How should believers apply this Scripture? 1) give thanks, 2) submit to God, and 3) don’t change the standard in your life nor when witnessing. God is honored in righteousness. We praise God that we can and have overcome sin in our life.

Selah:

1. What is your initial reaction to the statement that God requires absolute perfection from us?

2. Why should God NOT overlook or be lenient with sin in the life of those who claim to be a Christian? 

3. Why are we reluctant to discuss sin when sharing the gospel?

4. What is the danger in claiming we don’t have to be perfect?