The Story of God: Israel Distorts the Law
Romans 9:30-32
Followers of Jesus do not need to fear Satan in any way, because Jesus is infinitely more powerful than Satan. But followers of Jesus do need to understand how deceptive Satan is. For example, we all know that Satan can tempt us to not pray – and that would be sin. But do we also understand that Satan can tempt us to pray in the wrong way – as a work, not from faith – as a way to earn righteousness before God or impress others – and that to pray as a work is at least as sinful as not praying at all? There’s a world of difference between obeying as a work, and obeying from faith.
That’s what I want us to talk about this morning. That’s one of the lessons God wants to teach us through the nation of Israel. We’ve been studying the story of God. We’ve seen that God chose Israel and placed her in the center of the nations so that through Israel we could learn crucial spiritual truths. And one of those truths is the danger of obeying God as works, and not from faith.
So what does it mean to obey as a work, and how is it different from obeying from faith? Are you here this morning as a work, or are you here this morning from faith? Did you read God’s Word this past week as a work, or did you read it by faith? When you shared the good news of Jesus this week was it a work, or was it from faith? How do works differ from faith?
To answer this, let’s start by asking what did the Old Testament Law teach? To see this, turn to Rom 9:30-32. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand, and we’ll bring one to you. Rom 9:30-32 is on page 946 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Too many people think that the Old Testament Law taught works, and the New Testament Gospel teaches faith. But that’s not the case. Look at what Paul says in these three crucial verses –
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.
Notice in v.31 that Israel did not succeed in reaching the law. Why not? V.32 – because they did not pursue the Law by faith, but as if it were based on works. So was the Law based on works? No. It was based on faith.
So what the Law taught was faith – faith in God. That’s why Paul can say in v.31 that God’s law “would lead to righteousness.” Following God’s law would result in someone being perfectly righteous before God. This is great news. It’s possible for we who have rebelled against God to be perfectly righteous before God – not only facing no punishment, but knowing that God is for us and will pour out His favor on us now and forever. So how does the Law do that?
By calling Israel to faith. Just like we saw in Gen 15:6 – “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” That is, because of what Jesus would do on the Cross 2,000 years in the future, when Abraham trusted God, all of Abraham’s sins were put upon Jesus and punished in Jesus. And all of Jesus’ perfect moral righteousness was given to Abraham as a gift. It’s not that Abraham started living perfect moral righteousness; he didn’t. But from that point on, as Abraham trusted God, God responded to Abraham as if Abraham had perfect moral righteousness – and so God poured out His love, His favor, His goodness upon Abraham.
So the Law called Israel to faith – to be righteous by faith alone, and to live by faith alone. In the Law God said -- if you will turn from all other gods and trust me alone, then I will love you, forgive all your sins, give you the gift of perfect righteousness, strengthen you, change your heart, guide you, provide for you, and satisfy your heart with my own presence. So trust me, cling to me, depend on me. Faith -- that’s the message of the Law.
So every command in the Law is a call to have faith in God – to trust God -- and it explains how people will live who do trust God.
Picture it like this. I once heard John Piper say that the Law is like a train track – so let’s imagine that this ladder is a train track. The Law was like a train track calling you to faith – to connect with the engine car of God. Every command calls you to have a heart-connection of faith, trust, in God. And as you connect with the engine car of God by faith – consciously trusting God – the engine car powers up and enables to obey.
So, for example, God commanded Israel to pray and seek His face (Psa 27:8). So this command is a railroad track leading you to trust God – and as you trust God – the engine car will power up and enable you to pray.
So let’s try it. Imagine that you are an Old Testament Israelite reading God’s Law and you find God calling you to pray and seek His face. And you know that this is primarily a call to trust God – and that as you trust God you will be stirred to pray – so you draw near to God in faith.
Maybe you start by trusting God’s love for you – which means you’d know that this command is an overflow of love from a loving God – which means that praying would be a really good thing for you to do – that praying will bring you much more good than not-praying. Then maybe you’d trust that God has given you the gift of perfect righteousness by faith alone – which means you are already counted as perfectly righteous before God so you can come to God as you are. Then maybe you’d trust God to give you wisdom in how to pray. And you’d trust God to help you pray. And you’d trust God to satisfy your heart as you pray – and that His heart-satisfaction will be better than anything else you could do besides pray.
So what would happen as a result of trusting God? You’d want to pray. You would pray. You’ve connected by faith to the engine car of God, and it’s powered up and is moving you to pray. So you’d talk to God. Worship God. Confess your sins to God. Thank God. Ask God. Fellowship with God. Enjoy God.
See how that works? The Law is a law of faith. It teaches us to connect with God from faith – every command is like a railroad track directing us to a heart-connection with the engine car of God. And as we do that – God’s power goes to work, and we are enabled to obey.
Let’s take another example: God commanded Israel to give to the poor (Pro 14:31). The Law teaches faith, so this command, like every command, is a command to trust God, and it explains how people will live who trust God. It’s a command to connect to the engine car of God – to trust in God, rely on God, depend on God – and the result is that the engine car will power up and you’ll be moving towards giving to the poor.
So imagine that you are an Israelite believers who’s reading the Old Testament and find the command to give to the poor. You know this is primarily a call to trust God – and that as you trust Him you will be stirred to give to the poor – so you turn your heart to trust God.
You start by trusting God’s love for you – which means this command is an overflow of God’s love for you; which means that giving to the poor would bring you much good. Then maybe you’d trust God’s gift of perfect righteousness so you know that God is rejoicing over you to do you good with all his heart and soul – that every moment of every day He loves you, cares for you, does good for you. Then maybe you’d trust God to change your heart so you wanted to give to the poor. You’d trust God to provide for your future so you’d be free to help the poor. You’d trust God to satisfy your heart so you didn’t need to buy some new trinket but could use that money for the poor. And you’d trust that God would pour out even more of His presence upon you and satisfy you as you gave to the poor.
So what would happen as a result of trusting God? You’d be so full of joy in God that you’d want to give to the poor.
So the Old Testament Law taught faith. Every command in the Old Testament called Israel to have a heart-connection to God of faith – trusting Him, relying on Him, depending on Him. And the result of that heart-connection would be obedience – an obedience marked by total reliance on God, dependence on God, trust in God.
But there’s a problem. That message was hard on Israel’s sinful pride. Because if every command calls me to faith, that means my whole life will be depending on God, relying on God, trusting in God. Everyone who sees me will see me as dependent on God; they will see me as unrighteous and in need of God’s gift of perfect righteousness; they will see me as needing God, as dependent on God. But Israel’s sinful pride didn’t like that. She, and all of us, wanted to be seen as independent, self-sufficient and self-reliant.
So what did Israel do? Israel distorted the Law. How did Israel distort the Law? You can see the answer in v.32. Read it again --
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.
The Law taught faith. But they didn’t want faith. They wanted works. What are works? When Paul talks about works, he’s referring to any actions which are taken not as a way to connect with God, but as a way to exalt ourselves. It’s any actions taken not to connect with God by humble faith, but as a way to exalt ourselves before God, before others, before ourselves.
Picture it like this. Israel looked at the Law as given by God – where every command is a train track calling me to connect to God by faith, and Israel said – we don’t like that Law. We want a Law which makes us look good. And they pulled up the train track leading to faith in God – and turned it into a ladder leading to exalting themselves.
So instead of letting every command draw them to humble trust in God – they made every command be a way to exalt themselves – earning righteousness before God, showing themselves as better than other people, feeling better about themselves with their righteousness.
Let me give you some examples. Turn to Luke 18:9-13 -- (p. 877) –
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
This Pharisee thinks he is praying. But he’s praying from works, not from faith. He’s praying without any heart-connection of faith in God. V.9 says he’s trusting in himself that he is righteous. He’s trusting in himself to be righteous before God. So his prayer is a climb up a ladder to impress God, impress others, and feel better about himself. He’s not praying to meet God – He’s praying to exalt himself. He’s praying from works, not from faith.
But the tax collector is praying from faith. He’s got a heart-connection of faith in God. He’s humbly trusting God for everything he needs – forgiveness, the gift of perfect righteousness, the gift of a new heart – everything. His prayer is all about meeting God. So he’s praying from faith, not from works.
But do you see what the Pharisee has done? He’s taken the Law’s command to pray and distorted it, twisting the law of faith into a law of works.
Let me give you another example – in Matthew 6:2 (p.811) –
Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Some of the Israelites, when they gave to the needy, sounded a trumpet before them so they will be noticed and praised. But is this faith, or works? It’s works. There’s no heart-connection of faith in God to satisfy you – your heart-connection is in people’s praise to satisfy you.
But this is not at all what God had in mind when he commanded us to give to the poor. The command to give to the poor is a command of faith – a call to connect with God by faith – to depend on God to provide for me, change me, satisfy me in Himself so I would love to give to the poor. But this hypocrite made it into a command of works – a way to exalt himself before God, before others, to himself.
So here’s a crucial lesson we need to learn from the 1500 years of Israel’s history. God gave Israel a good law – a law of faith – a law whose every command called Israel to a heart-connection to God – to trust Him to love them, give them the gift of perfect righteousness, forgive them, change them, provide for them, satisfy them – and that obedience will flow from that heart-connection.
But Israel took the Law of faith and distorted it into a Law of works – so for the most part they prayed and gave to the poor as a work – as a way to exalt their own righteousness before God, before others, and to themselves.
And this is crucial for us to learn because we do the same thing. What Israel did with the Law, we do with the Gospel. All the commands of the gospel are a call to faith in Jesus. But we can distort the commands of the gospel and turn them into a call for works – obeying them as a way to earn blessings from God, as a way to impress others, as a way to feel good about our own righteousness.
So how we can tell we are obeying from works? We are obeying from works whenever we obey a command with no heart-connection of trust in Jesus; without depending on Jesus’ gift of perfect righteousness, Jesus’ power to enable the obedience, Jesus’ presence to satisfy me. If we’re not consciously trusting Jesus – then it’s works.
And this is very common. Think about it. As you came here today – did you come with a heart-connection to Jesus – trusting Jesus’ gift of perfect righteousness which means God is rejoicing over you to do you good today, trusting Jesus’ power to enable you to worship and learn from God’s Word, trusting Jesus’ presence to satisfy you?
Or did you come just because you’re supposed to and you’d feel badly about yourself if you didn’t go to church? That’s works. Did you come because of what your home group would think if you didn’t show? That’s works. Did you come because you want to earn God’s favor as you head into work this week? That’s works.
And if it’s works – then it’s sin against God. And we need to repent, and change.
Questions?
So how can we grow in obeying from faith?
Ask Jesus to help you.
Work on seeing every command as a command to trust Jesus.
Frequently check your heart and ask – am I consciously trusting Jesus?