I'll be turning your scriptures
to Acts chapter 10. I'm taking the title of my message
from Peter's words that began at the beginning of this message. In verse 34, Peter opened his
mouth, but what I'd like us to think about is the phrase at
the end of verse 35, accepted with him, accepted with him. I'd like us to read this message
down to verse 48 just to get some context here. Over this
last couple of weeks we have looked at the story of the bringing
of these people together, the glorious work of the blessed
Holy Spirit to create the circumstances where these two men, a hearer
and a preacher, are brought together. And they are made to be one in
the Lord Jesus Christ, accepted, accepted in the beloved. Let's
read. In verse 33, Cornelius finishes
his chapter to Peter and says, immediately, therefore I sent
thee, sent to thee, and thou hast done well that thou art
come. This is a great description of the children of God in church,
isn't it? Now therefore we are all here
present before God. God is in the presence of all
of his people all the time. To hear, we are here to hear
all things that are commanded thee of God. Then Peter opened
his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh
righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent
unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. That word,
I say, you know, which was published throughout all Judea and began
from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power,
who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of
all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised
up the third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people,
but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat
and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded
us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is He
which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and
the dead. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on them all which heard the word. It's a great sermon, isn't it?
It covers all of the wonderful elements of the gospel in such
simplicity. It covers, in verse 34 and verse
35, God's electing grace, that God is no respecter of persons,
that he has his people. It's a declaration of peace,
reconciliation between God and man. preaching peace by Jesus
Christ. It's a declaration of the absolute
sovereignty of our God, the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
absolute sovereign rule of our triune God, that he came to save
his people from their sins and save them he will and bring them
into heaven's glory. They are one with him and they
must be where he is. He is Lord of all. He is Lord
of all. And He speaks of Christ's death,
whom they slew, verse 39, and hanged on a tree. He speaks of
His resurrection, whom God raised up the third day. He spoke of
the fact that He is the judge. There is a judgment to come.
There's a judgment that's sure and certain, and a judgment for
all. And there is remission of sins,
remission of sins for all believers. Believers are made acceptable
because their sins are taken away. A holy God can look on
them with smiles of delight and looks of love and words of comfort
because their sins are gone. That word remission means letting
them go as if they had not been committed, which is what justification
means. And of course, the Holy Spirit
came upon those simple and glorious words. And such is the power
of preaching, that simple words from a Galilean fisherman began
the conversion of the Gentile world, and this gospel is spread
around the world, carried by God's servants, carried by that
wind of the Holy Spirit's unction around this world, and it's reached
to the ends of the world. It's reached to the islands,
hasn't it? Even this bedraggled island of
ours. But I want to draw our attention
this morning to those opening verses of Peter, because for
those who like to think that salvation is by works, and salvation
is the reward of your efforts, then these people have throughout
church history use these verses to prove that somehow God is
going to reward the activities of people. And there is absolutely
no doubt that Cornelius was to be a saved man and there's no
doubt that Cornelius was saved from the foundation of the world
and he was an object of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and
he was enacted upon by God in sovereign grace and mercy and
the grace of God, which is unchangeable and eternal, had drawn him from
Italy to Palestine and drawn him into the knowledge of God. And he took advantage, by the
grace of God, of the means that he had at his disposal for the
worship of God. Our forebears in the faith used
to talk often in all of their messages, they talk about people
taking advantage of the means of grace. God speaks to his people
in the gathering of his people together. God speaks to his people
through his word. Isn't it remarkable? Abraham
believed God. Abraham didn't have many promises
from God. And Abraham didn't have them
written down. And we have this extraordinary compendium of the
promises of God to carry us through all the trials of this world. And God has written them down
and sealed them with the blood of his son. This is a book of
promise. It's a book of delightful promise
to the children of God. We love it. We turn to it again
and again. It is our joy and delight to
have it laid out before us. We have these promises from God. But Cornelius, according to 1114,
needed to hear words. He needed to hear words by which what whereby thou and all thy
house shall be saved." Cornelius was a man whose works of perennial
grace had come to the throne of God, because he was there
always. He was always there, excepted
in the Beloved. He was always there. that Peter
needed to learn something, and this foundation stone of the
gospel going out to the Gentile world, this foundation stone
needs to be laid. It's the foundation stone upon
which Peter would return again and again. It's this foundation
stone upon which the letters of the rest of the New Testament
to remind people to go, to avoid those worksmongers, to avoid
those who would bring you back under the bondage of the law
and the bondage of works. to avoid them because they dishonour
the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of His finished work. They
dishonour Him and they do no harm. They do harm to the children
of God. So let's look at these verses.
Peter opened his mouth, verse 34. Peter began, it's a declaration
of him beginning something important and significant. And then he
says, of a truth. There is a truth that's been
revealed by God, the Holy Spirit, and the essence of that truth
is that for the Jews of Peter's day, the Christians of Peter's
day, who at this stage, other than the Ethiopian eunuch and
a few others, were almost all Jews, they thought that the way
in to Christianity was via the law of Moses. So the Gentiles
could come in and they could come in as Jewish proselytes
as they did on the day of Pentecost. They could come in via the Jewish
religion. They could come in via the law
of Moses. And this is what the Judaizers
in Galatia were wanting people to do, weren't they? You come
and be circumcised. You come and do some works, you
enter in to the Christian faith through that, and you honour
God. You actually not only enter in,
but if you want to really honour God, the Galatian false teachers
were saying, if you really want to honour God, if you really
want to walk close to God, if you really want to exercise that
zeal in a way that can be seen and demonstrated to people, then
you come back under the law of Moses with us. You come back
under the law of Moses with us. Paul said that those who proclaim
such a message are cut off from God. They are cursed of God. That is their state as they proclaim
that message of law works religion. Galatians 3, I'll just read it
to you so that you're not thinking that I'm saying something off
the top of my head. Galatians 3 says, for as many
are of the works of the law. That word of is origin, isn't
it? They trace something of the origin of their justification
and or their sanctification to the law works, are under the
curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. for as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. Peter, sore of a truth, God the
Holy Spirit let down that great sheet, and Peter makes it abundantly
clear that he was led by God to perceive, as he says in verse
28, God has, at the end of verse 28 in chapter 10, God has showed
me that I should not call any man common or unclean. by a truth that's been revealed
by God to me. And that great statement, I love
that statement in verse 15, it says, what God has cleansed,
what God has declared to be clean, that call not thou uncommon. Don't you dare call something
that God has cleaned common. I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons." God is no respecter of persons. You might well remember
in 1 Samuel chapter 16, Jesse was asked to bring his sons before before Samuel, and they all come,
don't they, these fine strapping young men, and God says to Samuel
about Abinadab, neither has the Lord
chosen this man. And Shammah passed by and he
said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Eliab, neither has
the Lord chosen this one. Samuel looked at Eliab in chapter
16 and said, this is surely the one. What a fine, upstanding
person this guy is. Isn't he just the man? Surely
the Lord's anointed is before him. The Lord said unto Samuel,
look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but God looketh on the heart. God looketh on the
heart. The Lord Jesus Christ makes a
remarkable statement. For those who are children of
God, this statement is a statement of great comfort. They wanted
to make him king in John chapter 2. They saw all the miracles
that he had done. Many believed on his name when
they saw the miracles that he's done, John 2, 23. But Jesus did
not commit himself unto them because he knew all men. and needed not that any should
testify of man, for he knew what was in man. All men, he knows what's in you. That's why Paul said, in my flesh,
in my flesh dwells no good thing. Don't pretend with God that somehow
you have some goodness. It's a comfort to the children
of God that he knows me as exactly as I am, and I don't have to
hide anything about me from him. It would be foolishness to even
try, wouldn't it? We lay our lives out before Him
and say, this is what I am. This is what I am in Adam. It's
so much easier to see what we are in Adam, but those that have
been brought to see what they really are in Adam will also
be brought to see what they really are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He knows what's in man. He knows what's in man. We weren't. Obviously the lesson is that
you are not to look on outward appearances, and yet our flesh
does it all the time. We are attracted to people who
are attracted to us. We are attracted to people who
are like us in so many ways. We are attracted to people who
will massage our egos, massage our flesh. We are attracted to
people who are like us. The wonder of the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is that great sheet that was let down had these
things that were abominable to Peter, things that he thought
were wonderful. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is this gathering together. They're accepted with him, as
Peter goes on to say, but they're accepted in him and they're accepted
because of him. And God's children are not to
judge things as best as the Lord would allow us. We're not to
judge things by outward appearance. It's all through the Old Testament.
You are not to respect persons in judgment. You are not to have
someone who comes before you and treat them differently because
they're a prince. He accepts us not the persons
of princes. The Lord your God is God of gods
and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, and
regardeth not persons nor taketh reward. He won't be bribed. You can't buy his affection. You can't buy him with a gift. You're not as a judge to take
gifts. You're not as a judge to take
reward. You're not as a judge to look
upon those who are high and mighty in the esteem of the world. God accepts no man's person. I love the description of the
believers in 1 Corinthians. So many of us bemoan the fact
that we're not as wise and intelligent and esteemed in the eyes of the
world as other people are. But just read, just read this
description of these people in Corinth. these people in Corinth. So it's
the Church of God in Corinth. The Church of God, verse 2, that
then that are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints,
and the Corinthian letter is written not just to the Corinthians,
it's written to everyone, it describes everyone. Call to be
saints with all that in every place. Call upon the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 18, this is how this family
is gathered. This is how they are made accepted,
accepted with Him, accepted in Him. For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which
are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? It's not as if God can't find
them and God can't see them. He's saying to the Church of
God, they are nothing in his sight. Where are they? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, that we preach
Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And the base things of the world,
and the things which are despised, has God chosen yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught. things that are, and the result
of all this choosing, this choosing of those who were esteemed nothing,
not many mighty, not many wise men after the flesh, not many
noble. The reason God saves and gathers
these people and makes them accepted with Him is that no flesh, verse
29, no flesh should glory in His presence, but of Him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who is of God, made unto us, wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. There is in Christ Jesus no Greek,
No Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and in all. It's a great comfort, isn't
it, that God is no respecter of persons, that sovereign grace
doesn't look for something goody new to start. Sovereign grace
begins with God. It always begins with God. I
think the greatest words of grace in all of the scriptures are
those words at the beginning of the scriptures. In the beginning,
God. In the beginning, God. Therefore,
everything else that ever happens has its beginning in God. Not in man and not in his works. It is a declaration when God
says he's no respecter of persons. It's a declaration. that our
God is absolutely, totally sovereign. In saving grace, He's sovereign. He gives it to whom He will.
He gives it because it's His good pleasure. He doesn't give
it because of something. He doesn't give it to the Jews
because of their lineage from Abraham. He doesn't give it to
the Jews because of their religious zeal. He doesn't give it to people
because of their their conditions in this world. Nothing, nothing about us secures
God's grace. which is why we have hope, brothers
and sisters. We can look upon everyone we
ever contemplate in this world and we ought to think that they
are in their present state as fit a recipient of the grace
of God as I am. We should think that way, shouldn't
we? We should think with hope. We despair over those who hear
the gospel and reject the gospel. We despair over those, according
to the scriptures, who persist in preaching a false gospel.
And we despair, according to the scriptures, of those who
join with them because the blind lead the blind and they both
fall into the ditch. But we must remember where Peter
had come from and we must remember where Saul had come from. We
must remember that those who are made of God to be the ornaments
of his grace are often those who despised him openly and publicly
and refused all the entreaties of God to their souls. You think
of that three and a half years of the Lord Jesus going around
that nation, no one ever spoke like him. No one ever performed
the miracles that he performed. No one ever treated the poor
and the outcast and the downcast with as much grace. No one ever
treated the religious people with as much truth. And yet,
and yet, so many of those who cried crucify
him, crucify him. ended up being saved. The very
act of their rebellion in nailing him to Calvary's tree was the
very means by which God was going to put away the sins of their
unbelief and their rebellion against Him. If God has them
in His grasp, if they are with Him in that eternal covenant
of grace, no matter what their earthly circumstances are like.
They will, they will in the time of love come. Make us praying
people, Heavenly Father. Make us people who expect you
to do mighty and glorious things. You've done it with us, you can
do it with others. Nothing in a person's condition
makes them more likely to be saved. And one of the glorious
things about it, nothing that we see with our eyes prohibits
the saving grace of God or makes someone less likely to be saved. And God is no respect of persons. He has no regard for the things
that we use all the time to distinguish one man from another. We're always
wanting to put people in little groups. There's a whole movement
in the world today to tribalise this world again, to take them
back and say that the most important thing about you is your descendants,
the most important thing about you is that you were born from
Aboriginal descendants. most important thing about you
is this and that. God is no respecter of persons. Those divisions and those distinctions
are man-made distinctions. Let's put them aside from ourselves. God's grace is not attracted
by anything that man does. God's grace is not repelled by
anything evil in man. They're all one. And they sing
that song, don't they? You've gathered us from all these
nations. They're singing that song in heaven right now. Peter had to learn it. He had
to learn that there was nothing special about the Jews when it
came to the saving operations of God. There was to be an accepted
people from afar. If they'd known their scriptures,
and they'd known the power of God, and known the promises of
God, they wouldn't have needed this special revelation. They're
accepted from afar. Let me read Isaiah 56, the first
seven verses to you. Thus sayeth the Lord, keep ye
judgment and do justice, for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth
this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth
the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing
evil. Neither let the son of a stranger that has joined himself
to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me
from his people. Neither let the eunuch say, Behold,
I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto
the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath, choose the things that please
me and take hold of my covenant. Even unto them will I give in
mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than
of sons and daughter. I will give them an everlasting
name that shall not be cut off. also the sons of a stranger,
that join themselves to the Lord and serve him, to love and to
love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, every one
that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold
of my covenant. The Sabbath is about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The righteousness that he's speaking of is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation he's speaking of
is the Lord Jesus Christ. My salvation is near to come.
And this is what he's promised, isn't it? In verse 7, even them
will I bring to my holy mountain. and make them joyful in my house
of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar, for mine house
shall be called an house of prayer for all people. Lord Jesus Christ
is building that house, that house which was typified in that
tabernacle, in that temple, was the dwelling place of God with
man. And the court of the Gentiles was a court to show that God's
salvation was going out to all of this world, that court that
those Jews had turned into a marketplace. They were despising the promises
of God. God accepts His people. God is no respecter of persons. They've been accepted in the
Beloved. They are accepted in Him. It is as if Peter was saying,
now I have been taught of God's acceptance of the Gentiles. Now let me tell you of the one
that has made us accepted. He accepts a people. There is
no respect to a person, but He accepts a people. In verse 35,
He describes that people. This people that in every nation,
they are a people from every nation. These ones that are recipients
of God's grace, the ones that are recipients of His love and
His providential care. every nation that feareth him
and worketh righteousness is accepted in him." In every nation
there was to be an acceptance of people from all over the world. He that feareth him, to fear
him is to revere him, to reverence him, to worship him, as he is
revealed in the scriptures. Cornelius walked in the light
that God had given him. Cornelius was already declared
to fear God. It's the beginning of wisdom.
But to fear him is to hear from him. As he said to Peter, we're
all here to hear. And Peter began his sermons in
Acts, didn't he? In Acts chapter two, he says,
hearken unto me. Will you listen to me? Will you
stop the noise of your own thoughts and listen to God? To fear Him is to revere Him,
to reverence Him, to worship Him as He's revealed in the scriptures.
Cornelius was already declared to fear God, but Cornelius was
also told that Peter will come and he'll tell you what you ought
to do. He shall tell thee, verse 6 of
chapter 10, what thou oughtest to do. So with Cornelius, with
all those things that he's done, there was an ought that he ought
to do. Cornelius was one who prayed
and he gave arms. Cornelius is one who had established
himself with a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews. I wonder how that reputation
continued when Cornelius was seen to be a follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ amongst that nation of the Jews. There was an ought to do for
Cornelius. He'd done all those things. He
had a reverence for God. He had prayed and he had given
alms, but there was an ought to do. What is it? to work righteousness. What is it to work righteousness? To be accepted, you see, to be
accepted with Him is to fear Him and to work righteousness. And you can well imagine how
the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has been plagued with
people who want to promote a works gospel by verses such as this. But the whole context of the
passage that we're looking at makes us to see that all of the
effort that God the Holy Spirit had taken to bring Cornelius
to this place and to bring him to fear God and to bring him
to revere Him and to bring him to give arms and to pray, and
all of the efforts of God the Holy Spirit to bring Peter to
this place where he would come and preach to this Gentile audience,
shows us clearly that there is something more than the activities
of Cornelius' life thus far that revolve in working righteousness. See the religious person, the
religious person doesn't want anything to hear. What he wants,
the religious person always wants a commendation for what he's
already doing. that Cornelius is told that there's
something else on top of these things. Cornelius must receive
the Holy Spirit with all of his household. Cornelius must hear
the gospel preached by God's servant. Cornelius must hear
the message of God to be saved. What is righteousness? What is
it to work righteousness? What is righteousness? To be
accepted with Him is to be someone who works righteousness. The
first thing that needs to be said about righteousness, it
is to be in a right legal standing with God. In the courts of God's
law, you are right. You are right, that's what the
word means. But there is only one righteousness. The scriptures
make it abundantly clear. There is the righteousness of
God. There is only one person who
has ever lived in righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's called
the Lord our righteousness. You might remember Romans chapter
three, but Paul quotes Psalm 14, verses two and three. God
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek after God. And what
was the result? Psalm 14 says, God says, that
they were all gone aside and altogether become filthy, that
there was none that did good, no, not one." In Romans chapter
3, Paul labours this point. He takes that, he says, there
is none righteous. There's no not one. It's not
a creature righteousness that Peter can be talking about according
to the scriptures. We think the Jews used to think
they were better than others. Are we better than they? No,
in no wise, for we have proved, both Jew and Gentiles, that they
are all under sin. That means sin's above them.
Sin covers them. To talk of human righteousness
in the context of the scriptures is to talk of nonsense. There
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Does that describe you? Does
that describe you? I remember sitting next to a
famous politician at a prayer breakfast in Canberra, and the
fellow giving the address was the current Governor-General,
and he was trying desperately hard to get somehow to get a
link between the behavior of people in the army and Christianity,
and he was failing miserably. It was embarrassing. You could
tell that he knew nothing of the scriptures, and he knew nothing
of the Lord, and he knew nothing of biblical Christianity at all.
What on earth he was doing there? He was just there as a figurehead.
And I was sitting next to this lady, Prue Goward is her name. Anyway, I was sitting next to
this lady, and she was saying how wonderful what he was saying
was. And I opened my, I think it was on my phone or one of
those things, and I opened it and I just pointed her to these
verses as we were going along. And she was absolutely disgusted. She was disgusted that the Word
of God would say that she is not righteous, that she was not
seeking after God. She went to church. She went
to an Anglican church in Yass. She was a regular attender. She
was there at the prayer breakfast with all of the other Christian
politicians, Catholics and all sorts were there. She was horrified. She was horrified. You can tell
how much people cling to their righteousness when it's taken
away from them. When you tell them, as Osiah
said, that your righteousnesses are filthy rags, they are unproductive,
unproductive before God. The religious world that we were
in for some time used to spend so much of its time checking
on the righteousness of behaviour, didn't they? And they were talking
about how worthy these people were because they lived so well
and how they'll get crowns and rewards in heaven. And people
were held up before other people all the time as if somehow they'd
attained some sort of righteousness and we should look upon them
with envy and endeavour to copy them as best we possibly could
because there's the bar. It's achievable by man. And the
applause of men went with it. There is. There is nothing in
the child of God that would ever cause him to think that the working
of righteousness is something that he does. When Cornelius
was saved, there's no way in the world Cornelius was going
around bragging about the things that he'd done. No way in the
world. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. We do quote this verse often.
It is just a glorious verse. Talking about being accepted
with God, to be accepted with God. It says in verse 20, now
then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us, as if God is speaking to you, God is imploring you,
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, put
down your weapons of warfare against the Almighty. Four, He
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. It is the wonder of the gospel,
it is the glory of God, to make people righteous. We are made,
just read what it says, we are made the righteousness of God. The very righteousness that is
God's very being. That very righteousness which
is His alone. We are made that. We are not
made it by our works, we are made it by God. and we receive
it and delight in it by faith. His righteousness, he says in
chapter 9 verse 9, his righteousness is remaineth forever. God's righteousness is an eternal
righteousness. God's righteousness is an unchanging
righteousness. It is the very righteousness
of God. We've read those verses. in 1
Corinthians earlier, you might bring them to mind again and
again and again, that God has made us, God has made us accepted
in Him. To make us accepted in Him, we
have to be like Him. To be in the presence of God
and to be accepted with Him, you have to be exactly as He
is. And what happens to the religious world? Turn with me to Romans
chapter 10. We'll start in verse 9. He speaks in Romans 9 of God's
sovereign electing grace. Sovereign electing grace. that he chose a people according
to the election of grace from before the foundation of the
world. What about Israel? Verse 30, what shall we say then
that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, these
Gentiles, Cornelius is in the company of there, they followed
not after righteousness, have attained to the righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which
followed after the Law of Righteousness, has not attained to the Law of
Righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the Law, they felt as if their works put God under some obligation
to respond positively to them. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay
in Zion, a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence." It's still
a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence right now, isn't it?
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree, that particular
redeeming blood of our Saviour, it's still a rock of offence,
and it's still something which people stumble over again and
again. And whosoever, verse 33 at the end of it, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. What a promise from
God. Whosoever believeth on him who's
a rock of offence and a stone of stumbling to the religious
world, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. So says our God. Paul reveals
his heart in the next verse in chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. What was the knowledge that they
were lacking? Four, because they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness. That's
exactly a description of modern day religion and you wouldn't
have to change a word of it. God's word is eternally true,
isn't it? They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. and have not submitted themselves. There is to be accepted, there
is a fear, isn't there? That fear of God that is declared
as a gift of God and a gift of His grace, that fear of God caused
Cornelius, who was a man with outward attainments which would
have caused him and the religious world to esteem him, but he revered
God and he submitted. He says, you've come, you've
come and it's a good thing and we're here to hear. I want to
hear a word from God. I have absolutely no doubt that
if Cornelius Light Nicodemus had come back and was in this
world today, he would be esteemed as a religious leader. He would
be esteemed for all of his zeal and all of his activity. But
Cornelius was a saved man. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness. That's the problem with creature
righteousness. It bears absolutely no recognition whatsoever of
the holiness of God. It has absolutely no idea about
two things. It has no idea about the holiness
of God and it has absolutely no idea about the sinfulness
of man. No idea. And wherever, it's like
a great seesaw, isn't it, that's made out of the most unbendable
material you can possibly imagine, to the very extent that you raise
up the righteousness of man by a millimetre, you actually decrease
God's holiness equivalently. have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. And this righteousness from God
is not a legal righteousness. Just read on with me in Romans
10. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. There is no legal righteousness
before God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. There is no righteousness. God
is no respecter of persons. And therefore, therefore it is
wrong to declare any human righteousness. And it's also incredibly wrong
and dishonouring and unhelpful to think that there are some
sort of comparative degrees of human righteousness, that somehow
someone is more righteous than someone else because of something
that you see. I promise you, you don't see
clearly ever. God sees all the time, perfectly
clearly. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The whole world has become guilty
before God. There is no law righteousness. We read that verse in Galatians
chapter 3. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under a curse. under a curse. There is no law
or righteousness. No flesh, no flesh is going to
be justified before God by any works of the law, any works of
their own. The glory of the gospel is that
all God's children, the faith children of Abraham, are made
the very righteousness of God in him. made, wonderfully made
the righteousness of God. They have a righteousness from
God, that righteousness of God that can't be lost and it can't
be tarnished by human activity. Our righteousness sits in heaven's
glory, the Lord our righteousness. And there's no mingling righteousness,
isn't it? There's no mingling of the righteousness
of man with the righteousness of the Lord. The faith children
of Abraham have the full assurance of faith. That's what is declared
in Acts chapter 10, isn't it? At the end of this message, the
Holy Spirit came upon these people. and the witness of all the prophets,
the witness of all the prophets in verse 43, to him give all
the prophets witness that through his name, that name is a declaration
of the character and therefore a declaration of the works of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of his reputation, it's
all of who he is and what he's done. that through his name whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sin." Remission
of sin. Sins taken away. Sins treated by God as if they
did never exist. That's what it is to be a justified
person, to be accepted with Him. The people of this world and
all of us in our flesh want to be accepted. We join clubs and
we do all sorts of things, we do a whole lot of activity again
and again, we just want to be accepted. We want to be accepted. God's children are accepted,
I love what he says, they're accepted with Him. Just read it there. He that feareth
him, and worketh righteousness." It's the righteousness of faith.
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God. It's faith, it's faith
that lays hold of the very righteousness of God. It is faith that is the
power of God. It is the gospel that's the power
of God under salvation from faith to faith. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. There is no law righteousness
as we read in Galatians 3.11, but the just shall live by faith. God's children are made of God
to persevere. We are, according to Hebrews
10, verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, if any man lets the sails down. My soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But we are not of them who draw
back under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of our souls. What must we do to do the works
of God? They asked the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love the answer. It says,
this is the work of God. You're thinking what you must
do. I'm telling you what God will cause you to do. I'm telling
you what God will cause you to see as your working of righteousness
is to believe on Him, to believe on Him. accepted with Him by
faith, without works, without law or obedience, without works
to earn extra crowns and rewards. As Colossians 2.6 says, as you
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so you walk in Him. You receive Him like Cornelius
did, as a sinner, as a sinner in need of mercy. So you're accepted
with him at the beginning without any works of yours at all. Without
any law works, without any circumcision for these Gentiles. Accepted,
accepted by God, the Holy Spirit came on them. They're accepted
at the beginning of their Christian journey without any works. They're accepted in the beloved. They're accepted At the end of
their journey, without any reference to their works, they're accepted
in the Beloved. They are accepted on their journey
in this life. They're accepted in the Beloved. Accepted without works. I'll finish with those remarkable
words in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 7. It says, to the righteous,
Go thy way. And I want you to think of all
these phrases in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go thy
way. He is the way. He is the truth and he is the
life. Go thy way. Go his way. Eat thy bread with joy. Eat that
manna from heaven with joy. Eat and drink the promises of
God with joy. Drink thy wine. that wine which
represents his shed blood, drink thy wine with a merry heart. Drink thy wine with a merry heart,
for God now accepteth thy works. God now accepts thy works. There
is no condemnation right now for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There is no separation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Then
he goes on to say, our inspired prophet, let thy garments always
be white. Let thy garments always be white,
those fine linen which is the righteousness of the saints.
It's the robe of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that sheet in which
the vile and the so-called clean were all let down from heaven
together. Let thy garments always be white. Let thy head lack no ointment. Let the oil of his gladness and
his joy and let the glory of the blessed Holy Spirit, the
comforter of the brethren, let it always be upon your head.
Think upon him. Rest in his promises. Find yourselves
accepted with him, simply as the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we lay hold of by faith. Faith doesn't create,
faith just receives. Let's pray.