Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. The message
today will be taken from the book of Romans, chapter 9. And
I'm going to begin around verse 30 of Romans, chapter 9, which
I dealt with this chapter a little bit last week. I want to continue
in it. Today's message is entitled, The Righteousness of Faith. The Righteousness of Faith. Romans, chapter 9. Last week
I brought some issues out that I know are very difficult to
deal with concerning the absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility
of man. How the secret things belong
to God. The revealed things belong to
us. And I know that we cannot logically
make these things reconcile in our mind. One old preacher said
you don't have to reconcile them because only enemies have to
be reconciled and they're not enemies. In other words, the
truth of God's sovereignty and the truth of man's responsibility
are not enemies. They're parallel truths, you
know. But we have to know our limitations. We have to know that we're only
human. We're not God. All we can know about God is
what God reveals. But we know that whatever God
does is right, is wise and good. He does that which only He can
do because He is God. But the Apostle Paul was answering
objections that people have when they talk about how salvation
is totally by the sovereign will and electing grace of God. which
goes as far as to say, as he puts here, that God, as he told
Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have
compassion on whom I will. God saves whom he will. And somebody
says, well, that's unfair. Is there unjustice with God?
That's what the question, that's how he answered that question.
Romans 9, 14, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? God forbid. He says, he has mercy on whom
he will. He says in verse 16, and all
this has come about in the wisdom and goodness of God to show that
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. In other words, salvation is
not by the will of man. It's not by the works of man.
It's totally by the grace of God. And somebody might object
there. Well, if that's the case, then
who's resisted? How can God find fault with me?
Who's resisted his will? Here's the answer, Romans 9 in
verse 20. Nay, but O man, who art thou
that repliest against God? That word repliest means to answer. It means to answer back. It means
to talk back. Have you ever had your children talk back to you?
Doesn't make you feel good, does it? Well, who are you to talk
back to God? You know, it's kind of like a
lot of times your children in their youth, you get, you lay
down some rules and they don't like the rules and they argue
with you and they keep asking why. And then you all, you have
to come to this point and you say, because I said so, and you
got to leave it at that. Now, why do you do that? Because
you're the authority, you're the parent, they're the children.
And that's the way it is with God. This is the way God does
it because he says so. Who are you to argue with him?
He says in verse 20, shall the thing form, say to him that formed
it, why hath you made me thus? Why hast thou made me thus? He
says, hath not the potter power over the clay to make the same
lump, to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor?
This is God's business. And we don't live in that realm.
Only God lives in that realm. Job said, his thoughts and his
ways, such things are too high for me. Or the Psalmist said
that. They're too high for me. I cannot attain to it. But here's
the point. Back over in Romans 9.30, when
you see all these things, he says, what shall we say then?
Now, I brought out last week how a lot of these questions
came about because of the national rejection of the Jews, the national
rejection that they had of Jesus Christ as Savior, as the Lord
of Glory, as Messiah. As you know, Judaism, the religion,
as a religion, does not believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Messiah. So they've rejected Him. And
they're looking for another Messiah. Well, that nation back then here
perished. And what he's saying is, well,
if that was so when they were God's chosen people under the
old covenant, hath God cast away his people? We read that over
in Romans 11. And the answer is no, no. There are still some
in Israel who believe they're a remnant. He says in Romans
9 and verse 27, a remnant shall be saved. God has a people. God
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And I want you to understand something. God doesn't save physical
nations. God saves sinners. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He saves
individuals. So when we look at all this argument
and debate and confusion and denial of God's sovereignty and
man's responsibility, and we should never deny these things
because we can't grasp them or make them reconcile in our minds,
what are we gonna say? How should we think about these
things? And that's what I'm dealing with
today. Here's what he says in verse 30 of Romans 9. What shall
we say then? And here he goes. He says that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith. Righteousness of faith. Now,
when he says the Gentiles, he's not talking about all Gentiles
without exception. Here he's talking about believing
Gentiles. those who have come to believe
the gospel. And that's really who he's dealing
with here in these verses in Romans 9 and 10 and 11. Because
as you know, as you read the New Testament, especially the
book of Acts, but all the way through, you notice that the
Jews had a great prejudice against the Gentiles. And many of them
had a hard time accepting Gentiles into the church, even believing. Peter had a hard time with it.
He was wrong and he had to learn, had to learn hard lessons, didn't
he? Well, when Gentiles began to come into the church and they
began to be a majority in many of these places, such as Rome,
they began to have a reverse prejudice against the Jews. and
Paul is warning them. Don't do that. Don't get puffed
up. Don't act as if you're saved
because you deserve it or you earned it because you didn't.
It's mercy. If God saves any of us, Jew or
Gentile, it's a matter of His mercy and grace through Jesus
Christ and based on His righteousness alone. God has never and will
never save anyone because they're a Jew, and he has never and will
never save anyone because they're Gentiles. Listen, our ethnic
heritage, our nationality, our socioeconomic status has absolutely
nothing to do with salvation. And certainly our works have
nothing to do with it as far as attaining or maintaining it. Yes, believers have works, but
that's the fruit of salvation, not the cause. So when he's talking
to these Gentiles, he's saying, look, And he's making the point
that you Gentiles had nothing to recommend you unto God. You
didn't have the law of Moses. You didn't have the ceremonial
law. He doesn't mean, he says, when the Gentiles follow not
after righteousness, that's what he means. He's not saying that
the Gentiles were necessarily irreligious and immoral. Now,
a lot of them were. There was a lot of Gentile immorality,
but there was a lot of Jewish immorality too. But they follow
not after the righteousness of the law. That's what he's saying.
But he says they've attained righteousness. Now how did they
attain it? Even the righteousness which
is of faith. Righteousness by faith. Now what
is righteousness by faith? Now before I answer that question,
look on at the rest of this chapter. In verse 31, he says, but Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. Now, Israel had the law. They
had the law of Moses. They had all the ceremonies.
They had all the ceremonial washings. They had all the altar and all
the worship of the tabernacle and the temple. They had the
10 commandments. And they sought after righteousness,
but they didn't make it. And then verse 32 answers why.
That word wherefore means why. And here it is. Because they
sought it not by faith. They did not seek righteousness
by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. You see, they
sought righteousness by works of the law and not by faith. Now, listen to me. In order to
be saved, before a holy God, in order to enter heaven's glory,
one must be righteous. You must be righteous. I must
be righteous. Now, the first thing we have
to realize when we see that is that we, by nature, as we are
naturally born and we, by our best works, Attempts to obey
the law are not righteous and cannot be made righteous. That's what the Jews were doing.
They were trying to be righteous based on working under the law. They didn't make it. I preached
this a few weeks back. They fell short. They missed
the mark. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now, if that includes you and
me, that tells us we cannot be made righteous by our works. We may try to be the best people
that we could be. We may try to be religious. We
may claim, well, we've accepted Jesus as our personal Savior
and we got baptized and joined the church. Let me tell you something,
none of that can make us righteous before God. I'm serious now. You say, well, aren't we supposed
to accept Jesus? Well, yes, but the main issue
is will he accept us? And then we'll talk about that.
He talked about the Gentiles attained it because they sought
it by faith. What is it to seek righteousness
by faith? What is righteousness by faith?
Well, first of all, look at the rest of this chapter. Romans
9.32, all right. He says, the Jews didn't make
it because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the
works of the law. Listen to this. Now he goes back
to the book of Isaiah again, the prophet Isaiah, quoting Isaiah. And he says, they stumbled at
that stumbling stone. It's kind of like they tripped
over something. What is that stumbling stone? Verse 33, as it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed or shall not be confused
or confounded. Now what is that stumbling stone?
Or better yet, who is that stumbling stone? That stumbling stone is
Christ. So that when he says that the Gentiles attained righteousness
because they sought it by faith, what does he mean? It means they
sought and they found righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
only one in whom righteousness can be found. Do you realize
that out of the whole history of mankind, there's only been
one man who can truly, under God's measure and standard, be
called righteous by his works? And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only one. You can pick the best person
you can think of, the best person who ever lived among fallen sinful
men. and you will find none who reached
the requirement, the mark, the measure of righteousness that
God requires. Now you can find a lot of people
that we in our human standard, in human realm, say are good,
or you may claim they're righteous, you may claim they're charitable,
whatever. But here's the point, they all
miss the mark. So the righteousness which is
by faith, is the righteousness that can only be found in the
glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does he mean they stumbled
at that stumbling stone? Well, here were the unbelieving
Jews trying to work their way into God's blessings and favor,
into glory, thinking they're saved by their works. And here
comes one and tells them, look, every bit of that is absolutely
no good. In fact, it's iniquity. Listen,
it denies the glory of God. It exalts the sinner. It doesn't
measure up. Paul talked about this in Philippians
chapter 3, when he was talking about his past life as an unbelieving
Jew. He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews.
I was circumcised the eighth day. I was of the tribe of Benjamin,
as touching the law of Pharisee, blameless." In other words, he
was a sincerely religious, moral, dedicated man. And he thought
at one time those things recommended him unto God. You can read about
this in Philippians 3. He thought these things made
up his righteousness before God, or at least part of it. But then
on the Damascus road, the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself
to Saul of Tarsus in the glory of his person, the glory of Christ's
person. And Saul fell down and was blinded,
and he went and was taught the gospel. And here's what he said
after he came to hear the righteousness that God requires that can only
be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He said, I count all things but
loss. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord." In other words, all those things
that I used to be so proud of, that I used to think recommended
me to God, that I used to think made up part of my righteousness
or all my righteousness, now I say they're lost. He said,
I even count them to be but dung that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through faith, the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. The righteousness which is of
faith. You see, to seek righteousness anywhere but in Christ is deadly. It'll make you ashamed eventually. But look at Romans chapter 10.
Let's go on through this. In verse one, listen to what
Paul says. Now he talked about the believing
Gentiles, they attained righteousness because they looked to Christ,
they believed in him. The Jews didn't because they
sought it by works of the law. In Romans 10 and verse one, he
says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. Verse two, for I bear them record,
they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Now
this knowledge that they must have is what we're talking about.
Verse three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now if there's any doubt
up to this point what that righteousness of God is, listen to verse four.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. You see that? Now that word end,
Christ is the end of the law. The word end is a beautiful word.
It means the finishing of the law. The fulfillment of the law. It means the perfection of the
law. the completion of the law. It's
the same word that the Lord Himself used when He was hanging on the
cross, and it's recorded in John 19 and verse 30, and He said,
it is finished. Well, what was finished? Well,
there were several things that were finished. The very purpose
of God in the redemption of His elect was finished. The price
was paid in full. Jesus paid it all. You see, salvation
is not Christ doing His part and then you doing your part.
He did it all. And He secured salvation, even
the gift of spiritual life in the new birth. The reason I'm
born again by the Spirit is because Jesus Christ died, was buried,
and arose again and established righteousness. You see, sin demands
death. Righteousness demands life. So,
the very purpose of God in redemption was finished. All the Old Testament
prophecies of His death, His burial, His resurrection, His
substitutionary work, all the types and the pictures were all
finished. But here's what was finished
mainly. The righteousness by which God
justifies the ungodly was finished on that day. This is the same
righteousness which was imputed to Abel, to Abraham, to David. David said it in Psalm 32 and
it's recorded in Romans 4. He said, Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. That righteousness
that David had even before Calvary was fulfilled and established
in time at Calvary, but it was so sure and certain that God
would send Christ to do the work and he would fulfill it that
God looked upon David based on the imputed righteousness of
Christ. And that's what he's talking about. For Christ is
the fulfillment, the finishing of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Now, there's something that I
believe needs to be addressed today because there's so much
confusion about it. You see, when I made that statement
earlier, somebody said, well, I've accepted Jesus as my Savior. Well, that's not what makes you
righteous. That's the, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to be honest with you, I don't like the language of accepting
Jesus as your personal Savior. I think that's a modern day concoction
that comes from a heresy. But you see, here's the thing
about it. We must, the Bible says, the Gospel says, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The Bible
says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. God doesn't turn sinners away. He never has. Any sinner who, listen to me,
listen to this very carefully. Any sinner who wants salvation
God's way shall be saved. Now the Bible teaches us that
by nature we don't want salvation God's way. We wanted our own
way on our own terms. But God has one way of salvation
and that's His Son. Christ said in John 14 6, I'm
the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I'm telling you right now, any
of you out there listening, if you want salvation God's way,
you can have it. But make sure it's God's way
and not your own way. Not the traditions of men. Not
false Christianity, you see. Make sure it's not salvation
conditioned on you and your will, but it's totally salvation conditioned
on God's will and God's way. But there are people who believe
that their accepting, their believing is what makes them righteous,
and that's not true. Those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ have already been made righteous in Christ. Believing
it is the gospel revelation by the power of the Holy Spirit
that makes us aware of it. And what He does is He convicts
us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And He applies
that blood to our conscience. We receive Christ by faith. You
see, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes it. If you believe salvation is God's
way, if you receive Christ, my friend, then you're righteous
because of what Christ did, not because of what you did or have
done or are doing. Our faith is not our righteousness.
Christ is our righteousness. That's what I'm saying. We don't
have faith in our faith. We have faith in Christ. There's
a difference. Understand. You say, well, you're
just splitting hairs. I don't believe I am. I know
I was brought up in religion where I was taught to do this,
walk an aisle, give my heart to Jesus. I did that as a kid
and had no idea what I was doing. Got dunked in water. My friend,
listen to me. Salvation is in seeking the Lord. But wherever you find a seeking
sinner, you're going to find in the Bible that there was first
a seeking Savior. Not begging you to accept Him,
but bringing His sheep into the fold to receive Him as the Lord
our righteousness. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Do you believe?
What do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus Christ,
His blood alone, put away all your sins? Do you believe His
righteousness alone justifies you? His righteousness imputed?
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name, on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is
sinking sand. That's the righteousness which
is by faith. Righteousness by faith. It's
not righteousness in faith, it's righteousness in Christ who we
receive by faith. And that faith is the gift of
God. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
If you're willing to submit to Christ for all salvation, I'll
tell you what the source of that, your willingness is. It's God's
will through the power of the Holy Spirit. I hope you'll join
me next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.