Today, we return to our study of Romans 3 where the Apostle Paul concludes his indictment of the human race. In Romans 1-3, the Apostle has ushered all of mankind into the courtroom of God in order to declare us all guilty of sin before God. Sinful and rebellious man is not morally good by nature. No, we are morally bad by nature. We do not just sin, we are sinful. We are not innocent victims of sin, we are co-conspirators with sin against God.
In v.13-15 of today's passage we read, "'13 Their throats are like open graves; they use their tongues for telling lies.' 'Their words are like snake poison.' 14 'Their mouths are full of cursing and hate.' 15 'They are always ready to kill people.'"
Here, the Apostle describes the progressive nature of sin. He describes man's sinfulness by directing our attention to the inside of man. He begins in the throat, then to the tongue, then the words, and then, the whole mouth. Paul helps us to understand that we have a heart problem, this is why he moves us from the inward to the outward. The wicked heart of man is an open grave full of lies, poison, cursing, hatred and murder.
Sin is a condition of open rebellion against God, not mainly a condition of doing bad things to other people. This is why it is so alarming when people argue that they are basically good. When we do this, we confuse decency with perfection. We think that since we do not do certain sins and we do some good things that we are basically acceptable before God. When we do this, we prove we do not understand that God's standard is perfect because He is perfect. This is why the Lord Jesus had to come and live a perfect life and to die a perfect death.
In v.16-18 of today's passage we read, "16 Everywhere they go they cause ruin and misery. 17 They don’t know how to live in peace. 18 They have no fear of God."
Our peace is a casualty of our lack of fear towards God. This is so due to the fact that our understanding of God and His culture has been cheapened by our rebellion. When God removes His restraining influence of righteousness on a people which has rejected Him, the world of that people descends into anarchy. Ruin, misery and peace are lost. And, it all happens because we have come to the place where we no longer respect God and His culture. In fact, His culture has been replaced in this country with a culture that resembles Hell itself.
In v.19-20 of today's passage we read, "19 We know that the law’s commands are for those who have the law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God’s judgment, 20 because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin."
God gave sinful man the Law of Moses in order to shut our mouths, and, to shine His light on our sinfulness. He did this so that we might see true reality, a reality only defined by His Word. It is out of this context that we understand His righteousness and our wickedness best. The Law, to paraphrase Martin Luther, is a divinely sent Hercules sent to attack and kill the monster of self-righteousness, a monster that continues to harass us, even though we may have been born again.
The Law of God gives us a proper understanding of the perfection God requires. Those with a high view of the Law have a high view of God's grace. Those with a low view of the Law have a low view of God's grace. It is only when we have a high view of God's Law that we are motivated to yearn for God's grace. A low view of the Law encourages us to conclude that we can measure up to the Law. A low view of the Law makes us think that its standards are attainable, its goals reachable, and, its demands doable by us.
A high view of the Law, however, demolishes all such confidence. It leaves us no room for supposing that God gave us His Law to enable us to be acceptable before Him. The biggest problem facing us today is a low view of the Law because a low view of the Law lessens our appreciation for God's grace.
It is only when we see that God's Law is absolutely inflexible and unattainable by us that will we see that God's grace is the most wonderful thing ever. A high view of the Law enables us to understand that only God accepts us through His Son's perfection. A high view of the Law produces a high view of God's grace. And, a high view of His Law makes us run as fast as we can to the Savior who deliberately came to earth to render the grace of God because the Law of God had condemned us.
