Perhaps, you remember an old Lowe's Hardware commercial, which shows a do-it-yourselfer installing a new ceiling fan in his family's living room. He proudly gives the fan one last little turn, climbs off the aluminum ladder, and steps aside to turn on the switch. After he turns it on, he stands with his hands on his hips, satisfied with his brilliant, money-saving work. Within a second of the first rotation of the blades, the fan’s motor sparks and the entire fan crashes to the floor, crushing a small table on its way down.
The scene cuts away to the outside of the house, looking at the clear bay window of the room where the man stands. It's quiet and bright outside. Suddenly, the ceiling fan comes flying through the picture window and lands in the yard, disrupting the peaceful moment. Two words flash on the screen: “Need help?” Then it closes with Lowe’s logo and slogan—"Never Stop Improving” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHt675kWhzI).
There are a lot of do-it-yourselfers when it comes to making improvements in life, and they end up failing in frustration just like this man.
So, who do you turn to for help when that happens to you? You can go to Lowe’s for home renovation projects, but to whom do you go to renovate your life? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Romans 3, Romans 3, where the Bible gives us some options, only one of which gives you any real help.
Romans 3:1-2 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God (ESV).
Like the ancient Jewish people, some turn to their religion for help with self-improvement. They have their rituals, like circumcision, and their rules, which they call “the oracles of God.” But they don’t seem to help much.
Romans 3:3-4 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged” (ESV).
Even the great King David broke the Law. This is a quote from Psalm 51 where David confesses his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. He’s telling God, “You are right to judge me for my sin, for which no one can credibly accuse You of wrongdoing.”
David’s unfaithfulness did not nullify the faithfulness of God. On the contrary, it affirmed God’s faithfulness. For when you see God’s holiness against the backdrop of sin in all of its ugliness, you can’t help but notice how good and righteous and holy God is. It’s like a diamond displayed on black velvet.
Romans 3:5-8 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just (ESV).
If my sin more clearly displays God’s righteousness, then perhaps I should keep on sinning, and God should refrain from judging me. “By no means!” the Bible says here, and people who think and live that way deserve condemnation.
So, what advantage has the Jew if their religion cannot help them live better lives? The advantage is this—God gave them His law, which tells the truth about Him. So, whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile…
LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD from the law.
Discover who God is from His oracles. Uncover the reality of God’s holy nature from His precepts.
In Isaiah 55, God tells us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
If that’s the case, then it would be impossible to know God unless He chooses to reveal His thoughts to us.
Now, to give this some perspective, consider that the distance from one side of the universe to the other is an incredible 93 billion light-years. Using this as our measure, God likens the distance between our thoughts and his thoughts to the distance from one side of the universe to the other.
To put that immense number another way, 93 billion light-years is 544 septillion miles (544 followed by 20 zeros). Even if we tried to travel from one side of the universe to the other at the speed of light (5.88 trillion miles a year), it would take an infinite amount of time. That's because the universe will continue to expand while you are travelling, even at the speed of light. So, the edge of the universe will remain forever sealed off from you.
That means that your best thought on your best day is ninety-three billion light-years short of how great God really is (Mark Batterson, A Million Little Miracles, Multnomah, 2024; www.PreachingToday.com).
So, how can you possibly know anything about God, unless He chooses to reveal some things about Himself?
Now, that’s exactly what He did through His oracles. After all, we only know that God is holy, i.e., wholly other, because He condemns idolatry. We only know that God deserves our respect, because He condemns taking His name in vain and commands people to honor their parents. We only know that God is gracious, because He gave us the sabbath, a gift of rest. We only know that God is love, because He condemns murder, stealing, and covetousness. We only know that God is faithful, because He condemns unfaithfulness in marriage. We only know that God is honest, because He condemns bearing false witness.
God’s commands reveal His character, so learn the truth about God from the Law. Then…
LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF from the law, as well.
Discover who you are from His oracles. Uncover the reality of your sinful nature from His precepts.
Romans 3:9-18 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (ESV).
This is what the law says about every descendant of Adam in six different quotes from the Old Testament. None is righteous, no not one. All of us are thoroughly sinful from head to toe.
Did you notice the various parts of the body in these quotes? Verse 13 talks about the throat, the tongue, and the lips. Verse 14 talks about the mouth. Verse 15 talks about the feet. And verse 18 talks about the eyes. Sin has infected every part of our being.
In his book Vanishing Grace, Philip Yancey shares a story about a World War II veteran, who later became a pastor. He had participated in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. At the end of the war, as the U.S. soldiers marched through the gates of Dachau, nothing could prepare them for what they found in the boxcars within the camp. The man said:
“A buddy and I were assigned to one boxcar. Inside were human bodies, stacked in neat rows, exactly like firewood. Most were corpses, but a few still had a faint pulse. The Germans, ever meticulous, had planned out the rows—alternating the heads and feet, and accommodating different sizes and shapes of bodies. Our job was like moving furniture. We would pick up each body—so light!—and carry it to a designated area. I spent two hours in the boxcar, two hours that for me included every known emotion: rage, pity, shame, revulsion—every negative emotion, I should say. They came in waves, all but the rage. It stayed, fueling our work.
“Then a fellow soldier named Chuck agreed to escort twelve SS officers in charge of Dachau to an interrogation center nearby… A few minutes later the crew working in the boxcar heard bursts of a machine gun. Soon Chuck came strolling out, smoke still curling from the tip of his weapon. ‘They all tried to run away,’ he said with a leer,” but no one reported what Chuck did.
It was on that day God called this soldier to become a pastor. He said, “First, there was the horror of the corpses in the boxcar. I could not absorb such a scene. I did not even know such Absolute Evil existed. But when I saw it, I knew beyond doubt that I must spend my life serving whatever opposed such Evil—serving God. Then came the incident with Chuck. I had a nauseating fear that the captain might call on me to escort the next group of SS guards, and an even more dread fear that if he did, I might do the same as Chuck. The beast that was within those guards was also within me (Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace, Zondervan, 2014, page 63; www.PreachingToday.com).
Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said, “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being” (Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1).
All of us are thoroughly sinful at the core of our very being.
Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (ESV).
The law cannot make you better. It can only bare (or uncover) your sin.
H. G. Wells wrote an interesting novel called The Island of Dr. Moreau. In it, the main character finds himself shipwrecked on a mysterious tropical island under Dr. Moreau’s iron control. The brilliant scientist has created monstrous human-animals, giving wolves, pigs, bulls, and other creatures the rudiments of human appearance, personality, and abilities; yet, at heart they are still animals. Moreau keeps them in line through constant repetition of “the Law,” a long series of commands chanted daily:
Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men?
Does the Law work? Well, it seems to restrain them during the day, but at night their animal nature arose. The narrator observes that “the Law… battled in their minds with the deep seated, ever-rebellious cravings of their animal natures. This Law they were ever repeating… and ever breaking” (H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Dover Thrift Editions, 1996, page 43; www.PreachingToday.com).
The law cannot change your sinful nature. It can only uncover it. So, if you need help in renovating your life, look to something or someone other than the law. To be sure, you can learn some things from the law. You can learn the truth about God and yourself, but the law cannot help you change your life for the better. For that, you need to…
LEAN ON JESUS.
Trust Christ with your life. Put your faith in the Lord, and depend on Him to change you from the inside out.
Romans 3:21-24 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… (ESV)
Since everyone has sinned, everyone who believes receives God’s righteousness.
That is to say, God justifies the believing sinner. He declares sinners righteous who put their faith in Him.
Imagine going to a court of law, knowing that you are as guilty as sin. You know for sure that you’re going to prison. You’re just waiting for the gavel to fall and the judge to announce, “Guilty as charged.” Instead, the gavel falls and the judge declares, “Not guilty.” Then he commends you as a “model citizen.” On top of that, he directs the government to pay all your debts and put a million dollars into your bank account.
That’s unbelievable, but that’s exactly what happened in the court of heaven. When you trust Christ with your life, the judge of all the earth declares you, “Not Guilty!” He commends you as a “model citizen” of heaven, pays your sin debt, and gives you the riches of heaven as a free gift. That’s what it means to be justified. God declares the believing sinner righteous as a free gift of His grace.
Let’s change the metaphor from a court of law to a marathon. Tim Keller asks us to imagine that you are pitted in a one-on-one spiritual marathon race against Jesus—just you and Jesus at the starting line. The gun goes off and Jesus bolts out ahead of you with blazing speed. He makes Usain Bolt, the Jamaican world record-holding sprinter, look like a human tortoise. Jesus runs a perfect race. He never gets lost or loses focus. He never takes one bad stride. With much fanfare and acclaim, He finishes the entire marathon in seven seconds. (He could have finished the race in negative time, since He's outside of time, but seven seemed like a nice number.) It's a new cosmic record!
Finally, in this spiritual marathon, you straggle across the finish line… about five years later… You lost your focus and got tangled in bushes. You frequently tripped over your own shoelaces and fell in the mud, flat on your face. As you gasp and collapse at the finish line, you look up and see Jesus already standing on the winner's platform. He has a gold medal around his neck while you feel defeated and ashamed.
But, as you start to slink away, Jesus calls your name and motions for you to come towards him. You whisper, “Who me?” and he says, “Yes, you, come join me on the winner's platform.” So you sheepishly join Jesus on the gold medal platform. He puts his arm around your shoulder and says, “Look, I know all about your race. It wasn't pretty, but you are forgiven. And just so you know, while I was racing ahead of you, I was also with you every step of your race.” And then he takes his gold medal and slips it over your head while it stays on his head too. The reporters start taking your picture with Jesus. They start asking questions like, “Hey, Jesus and the other guy who looks really shocked to be up there, how do you two feel about being winners? What are you two going to do with your gold medal?”
And then it hits you: you are being treated as if you ran Jesus' race. You are receiving honor based on Jesus' world record time and performance (Tim Keller, www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s what it means to be justified. When you put your trust in Christ, God justifies you.
More than that, Jesus redeems you. Jesus buys your freedom and sets you free. Look at verse 24 again.
Romans 3:24 [We] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…
A holy and just God can declare believing sinners righteous, because Jesus paid the price to set them free from their sin. That’s what redemption is all about. In Bible days, slaves could be redeemed. They could be set free if they or someone else paid the owner for their freedom. Here’s the good news! Jesus paid a high price to set you free form sin. He paid the price of His own shed blood on the cross.
The Bible says to every believer, “You were redeemed… not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Paul Harvey tells a story about Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare, the Navy's number one ace in the Second World War and the first naval aviator ever to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is named for him. What “Butch” O'Hare became, however, was made possible because someone else paid a great price.
That someone else was Butch's father, Edward J. O'Hare, a slick lawyer for the gangster Al Capone. “Artful Eddie,” as he was known, had money and power, but one day he squealed on Capone. The reason for this sudden change of heart? He wanted to give his son a break, he said. Before long, the mob silenced Artful Eddie with two shotgun blasts.
But because of Eddie's courageous change of heart, his son Butch was accepted at Annapolis: Eddie's confession and subsequent death satisfied admissions people that the family's mob connections were severed. Artful Eddie paid with his own life for his son's chance to make good, something that Jesus Christ did for each of us on the Cross (Steven D. Mathewson, Helena, Montana. Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).
When Jesus died on the cross, He severed your connection with the worst gangster of all, Satan himself. By His death on the cross, Jesus set you free from sin and death, giving you the opportunity to make something good with your life.
When you put your trust in Christ, God justifies you, Jesus redeems you, and He satisfies God’s righteous wrath against your sin. He assuages God’s holy anger for your rebellion against Him.
Romans 3:25-26 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (ESV).
How can God be just and still justify sinners? How can God be right and still declare bad people righteous? It’s only because God put Jesus forward as a “propitiation.” That is, God put Jesus on public display, whose shed blood satisfied the righteous requirements of His Law.
The law demanded death as the penalty for your sin. So Jesus died in your place. He paid the penalty for your sin so you wouldn’t have to. You see, on the Cross, Jesus was both your substitute and your representative.
Theologian William Lane Craig puts it this way:
A substitute is someone who takes the place of another person but does not represent that person. For example, a pinch hitter in baseball enters the lineup to bat in the place of another player. He is a substitute for that player, but in no sense represents the other player.
On the other hand, a simple representative acts on behalf of another person, and serves as his spokesman but he’s not a substitute for that person. For example, a baseball player has an agent who represents him in contract negotiations with the team. The representative does not replace the player but merely advocates for him.
However, these roles can be combined. For example, if you’re a shareholder for a company, and you can’t attend the shareholders’ meeting, you can sign an agreement authorizing someone else to serve as your proxy at the meeting. That person will vote for you, and because he has been authorized to do so, his votes are your votes. You have voted by proxy at the meeting of shareholders. The proxy is a substitute in that he attends the meeting in your place, but he is also a representative in that he does not vote instead of you. He votes on your behalf, so that you vote.
In bearing your punishment, Jesus was both your substitute and a representative before God. He was punished in your place and bore the suffering you deserved. But he also represented you before God, so that his punishment was your punishment (William Lane Craig, The Atonement, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 61-62; www.PreachingToday.com).
When you put your trust in Christ, God justifies you, Jesus redeems you, and He satisfies God’s righteous wrath against your sin as your substitute and representative.
All you have to do is believe in Him. Trust Christ with your life, and depend on Him to change your life for the better.
Romans 3:27-31 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law (ESV).
In our own efforts, we break God’s law. But as we depend on Christ, we uphold His law, that is, we maintain it in our own lives.
When Heather Kopp arrived at rehab, she was a 40-something mom of two and a veteran of Christian publishing. She had never been in jail or on the streets. She’d simply let a nightly glass of wine turn into two, which turned into a bottle, which eventually led to additional mini bottles hidden and secretly chugged in the bathroom. Soon enough, every moment of her life revolved around her next chance to sneak away for a drink.
As she moved through rehab and recovery, she discovered that substance abuse is a physical manifestation of a spiritual addiction to sin. And everyone, it turns out, is an addict. So Karen’s story is one of confronting the nature of sin and understanding more fully the necessity and beauty of God’s grace.
Karen now reflects on her sobriety, “(People) think I just resist temptation over and over because I’m a good person or because I have all this willpower. Can you imagine? How do you explain to people that it’s not anything like that?” Recovery is a living example of the miracle of grace. When addiction removes the illusion of self-sufficiency, the addict must reach a point of surrender from which to accept grace without conditions, and to have confidence that God really is in control, no matter what (Heather Kopp, Sober Mercies: How Love Caught up With a Christian Drunk, Jericho Books, 2014; www.PreachingToday.com).
No matter what your addiction, God has provided a way to a better life. You just have to surrender your life to Him and accept His grace without conditions. Please, do it today, so you can begin your new life today.
Don’t look to the law for help; look to Christ. To be sure, learn from the law. Learn the truth about God and yourself. But if you want to make true and lasting changes to your life, lean hard on Jesus.
It’s like the song writer said: On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand (Edward Mote).
