This chapter declares that salvation
is by God's grace, His electing grace, His redeeming grace, His
regenerating grace, His keeping grace. It's by God showing mercy
to whom He will show mercy. That's the theme of this whole
chapter. The Holy Spirit, through Paul,
was declaring how all these advantages that God had given the children
of Israel. He gave them his oracles and
all of the ceremony and the temple and all of the things, the tabernacle,
all that they had. And yet the majority in Israel
did not believe on Christ. Christ didn't look like a messiah. He didn't look like they thought
the messiah should look like. He didn't come on a mighty stallion,
he didn't come with pomp, and he came lowly riding on an ass's
coat of a poor family, no comeliness about him that would make people
desire him naturally, and the majority rejected him, and they
didn't want that kind of a Messiah. But as Paul's declaring here
his heart that they would believe, he wanted so badly for his countrymen
to know the gospel. But as he's declaring that in
the first of the chapter, he makes sure we understand all
that they manifest by not believing was that they were not chosen
of God. He shows it was not God's word that was without effect.
Look there in verse six, Romans nine, verse six. He said, not
as though the word of God had taken an effect. It's not as
though God's frustrated or his word wasn't able to save. That's
not what was manifest there by this majority in Israel not believing.
Here's what it manifest, for they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. Not everybody in Israel was God's
elect. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, natural
sons of Abraham, are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, here's what he means,
they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. Isaac, take the example he gives,
Isaac was a son of promise. What does that mean? God chose
him in eternity, Christ was his surety, his righteousness with
God, the Holy Spirit regenerated him, gave him faith to believe
on Christ, all of God. He was a child of promise. Ishmael,
his brother, was a child of the flesh. He was not chosen of God,
and God cast him out. He was a product of man's works. Well, then he goes on and he
talks about Jacob and Esau. Jacob was a son of promise. God
chose him. Christ was his surety. Christ
redeemed him. Christ was his righteousness.
The Spirit of God regenerated him. But Esau got hated. God left Esau to himself, and
Esau did what a man will do if left to himself. He sold his
birthright for the world. He went after the world. And
here's the point that the Spirit of God is making. This is the
Spirit of God making this point to us. Look here in verse 11.
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, talking about Jacob and Esau, they're both in their
mother's womb, same father, same mother, twins in the womb. They
hadn't done any good or evil, now here it is, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, not
of anything you and me do, but of God that calleth, salvations
of God that calleth. So it was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger, As it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God not being fair? God forbid. He said to Moses, this was when
Moses asked to see God's glory, this was what the first thing
God declared when he began to show Moses his glory. The first
thing he told him was, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. That's God's glory. That's His
prerogative as God. Can I not do with mine own what
I will, Christ said. And then the Holy Spirit shows
this, that sinners are saved by mercy, and He shows it in
such a wonderful way because He shows it by how the Lord saved
His elect Gentiles. Now here's our text, verse 30. What shall we say then? that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
had 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. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is
written, behold, I lay inside a stumbling stone and rock of
a fence, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Our subject is the righteousness of faith. Righteousness is perfection. Perfection as God says perfection. Perfection according to God.
That means for you and me, for any sinner to be accepted of
God, we have to be as righteous as God is. God won't settle for less. We
have to be as righteous and holy as God is righteous and holy.
The Lord Jesus is the righteousness God has provided for his people.
He's the righteousness God has provided for his people. His
righteousness is attained only by God regenerating us and giving
us faith to believe him. And to those he gives life, he
imputes the righteousness of Christ. This is all of God's
grace, all of God's grace. We're gonna look at the elect
Gentiles first, and then we'll look at natural Israel, and then
we'll see the point of the message. First of all, concerning God's
elect Gentiles. Now this would include me and
you. This is everybody outside of Israel. We're Gentiles. But
this is concerning God's chosen Gentiles. those he chose, not
all Gentiles, those he chose. He says, what shall we say then
that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith. Now, see how this magnifies that God's people are children
of promise, because those outside of Israel didn't have any of,
they didn't have the word of God, They didn't have the law
of God, they didn't have the tabernacle, they didn't have
the ceremonies, nothing. God had not spoken to any nations
outside of Israel. And yet, God saved some of the
Gentiles. They weren't seeking righteousness.
They weren't even trying to, they didn't want to know who
the true God is. They weren't trying to make themselves righteous.
They weren't trying to do anything to come to God whatsoever. He
hadn't given them any word. Listen, go with me to Ephesians
2, and I want you to mark Ephesians. We're going to spend a little
time here, I think, probably. Ephesians 2. Look at this in verse 12. Now,
these are Gentiles, Ephesians here, and listen to what the
Spirit of God says. At that time, verse 12, Ephesians
2. At that time, you were without
Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world. Now that was the condition
of the Gentiles. They weren't seeking to be righteous. So they weren't following after
righteousness at all. And yet, there were some among
the Gentiles that got elected to save in Christ, and they attained
to righteousness. Back in our text now, hold your
place there in Ephesians 2, but back in our text, he says, the
Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to
righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. God chose
some of these Gentiles before the world was made. He chose
them. But they came into the world
dead, they came into the world lost, they came into the world
spiritually dead and trespassed in sin. Now they had idols that
in their heart they thought was God, and that they were worshiping
as God, but they didn't know God. But God had chosen them
before He created anything in eternity. Christ had made them
righteous by His blood. And so the Spirit of God, He
Christ, will send the gospel to them. And the Spirit of God
regenerated them. And he gave them faith and showed
them what he'd done for them. Back up there in verse 25, that's
what he's talking about. He said, in Hosea, I will call
them my people which were not my people. That is, Israel didn't
think they were God's people. They called the Gentiles dogs.
You think we got racism in our day? You should have seen the
racism between the children of Israel and everybody outside
of Israel. There was no greater hatred.
And it was all for natural causes. It was all because of natural
things. They didn't know God. The children
of Israel didn't know God. The majority didn't. They just
hated the Gentiles because they were out there and they are not
like us. And they called them dogs. They
called them dogs. They didn't know there were some
there that were God's people. He says, I will call them my
people which were not my people, and her beloved which was not
beloved, and it shall come to pass that in the place where
it was said unto them, you're not my people, there shall they
be called the children of the living God. Let me read it to
you from Hosea. It's worded a little different
in Hosea chapter two, verse 23. The Lord said, I will sow her
unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had
not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my
people, thou art my people, and they shall say, thou art my God.
This is how he put it in Isaiah 65, verse one, I'm sought of
them that ask not for me. I'm found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me,
unto a nation that was not called by my name. Now listen, that's
so of everybody God saves. If you're saved, you were found
by God found you when you weren't seeking Him. Can I prove that? I can prove it to you because
Romans 3 says, there's none that seeketh after God, not the true
God. We seek the God of our imagination,
but not the true God. God finds His people. They weren't
seeking him. This is all of grace. Salvation's
all of grace. But we can't even boast of our
faith. You know, most people take Israel,
for example, the ones that didn't believe, and then you see these
Gentiles that did believe, and they'll say, so see, it's up
to our faith. Our faith makes the difference whether we believe
or we don't believe. Well, that's what Paul is saying in Romans
9. He said, don't think the word of God's without effect. No,
no. Left to ourselves, we would do
exactly what the natural children of Israel did. Take the things
of God and try to come to God by the works of the law. And
think we're doing a good job at it. Or be like the Gentiles
and just live in the world and worship idols. And the fact is,
those in Israel were no different than the Gentiles outside of
Israel. They were all lost and dead in sin. One had the oracles
of God, one didn't. The Jews had advantage much every
way, Paul said, but they were no less lost than the Gentiles
were. But look here, now go with me to Ephesians 2. It takes God
to give us faith. We can't boast of our faith.
Look here, Ephesians 2, verse 5, he says, even when we were
dead in sins, God hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
are you saved. We were just dead, he quickened
us. Then verse 8, he says, for by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And then verse 12, that's what
I read a while ago, at that time you were without Christ, you
were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For He is our peace. You remember how Paul started
this Ephesian letter? He said, God chose you before
the world was made. And He sent forth His Son to
redeem you. And now he's saying, and this
is how you were brought near to God, by the blood of Christ.
He's our peace. And he says, look, he hath made
both one and broken down the middle wall of partition between
us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity. There was enmity
between those that were God's elect in Israel and those that
were God's elect among the Gentiles. Naturally, they just hated each
other. And what Israel used as their reason for hating the Gentiles
was, we have the law. We don't eat pork. You eat pork. We're circumcised. You're the
uncircumcision. We're God's people. You're not
God's people. But because they were putting
confidence in the fact they were born in Israel, in the fact they
were circumcised, in the fact they ate certain things and didn't
eat other things, that was the enmity between them and the Gentiles. And so Christ came and fulfilled
the law. completely for His people and
took it out of the way and made us one in Him. So we don't use those carnal,
superficial, outward things anymore to say I'm better than you or
you're less than me. That's the flesh, that's sin
that does that. Depravity does that. But he's
made us one, look, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of two one new man, so making peace. And that he might
reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby. There was not only enmity between
his elect Jews and his elect Gentiles, there was enmity between
his elect and God, and he brought his people together as one in
him, and he brought God and his people together as one in him.
And then how did we hear it? How did we have faith to believe
it? And he came, verse seven, and he came and preached peace
to you, which were far off, and to them that were nigh. He sent
Paul to the Gentiles, and he sent Peter to the Jews, and he
preached Christ to both of them. Christ did that. And for through
him, We both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one spirit unto
the Father. Now, therefore, you're no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God." That's how the Gentiles, who
weren't seeking after God, that's how they attain the righteousness
God requires. Christ is that righteousness.
They were chosen of God by grace. They were redeemed by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by His blood, and by His grace He
sent the gospel to them, and sent the Holy Spirit, and quickened
them, and gave them faith. There's no way they can boast
that they did anything. It's all of God. And that's how
God saves all His people. Alright, go back now to Romans
9, and let's look at natural Israel. Israel after the flesh. These
are those God left to their own will. We learn a very important
lesson looking at natural Israel. This is what every man will do
if left to themselves. God does harden people. He hardened Pharaoh's heart.
But Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened his
heart. And really and truly all God's gotta do to harden a man's
heart is just leave him alone. Just leave him to himself. And
this is what, verse 31, but Israel, Romans 9.31, but Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of
righteousness. God gave Israel the law at Mount Sinai, as well
as all these other advantages. Paul lists some of them right
here in verse four. The adoption, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the
promises, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob were their fathers. Christ came
through the lineage of Abraham, through their lineage. But having
all those advantages. Here's a people that had every
advantage that could be given, and they stumbled when they were
told Christ is the righteousness of His people. They rejected
it. We gotta do something. We gotta have a party. We gotta
put our hands to it. And they rejected Christ. And
that's what everybody will do if left to themselves. And then
you got a people who didn't even know Him and wasn't seeking Him
and wasn't even have a thought of who the true God is, and God
saved them by grace and made them rest in Christ. Do you see
how we need God's grace? Do you see how we need His power
to save us? This is what every sinner will
do if left to our will. They tried to attain a righteousness
by keeping the law. They became very religious and
they were zealous for the law. But Paul says in Romans 10, they
were ignorant of the righteousness of God. They were going about
to establish their own righteousness and they had not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God, and that righteousness is Christ. They were spiritually dead in
sin and ignorant of what the law says about every sinner.
Why did God give the law? What does the law say to us? Go back to Romans 3. Here's what
the law says to us, Romans 3.19. Now we know that what things
soever thou sayeth, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. See, the law can't save anybody.
The law's like a thermometer. When your child's sick, you can
put a thermometer in their mouth or touch it to the forehead,
however you do it now, It'll tell you they got a fever, but
it can't make them well. It don't minister any medicine
to them. Well, that's what the law is. The law tells you you're
guilty, but the law don't tell you how you can be made righteous.
It don't give you any mercy, just justice. It was given for
that reason. We became guilty by Adam's one
transgression. If we're made righteous, it's
going to be by one man's obedience, the last Adam. We were born of
Adam's corrupt seed, so we're corrupt and sinful by nature.
If we're going to be made holy in nature, it's going to be by
the incorruptible seed, by the Word of God, by Christ Himself
being formed in us. You see, Adam and the way we
fell, if you miss the fall, you miss it all. Because by one man,
we became sinners and guilty, and became corrupt in our own
hearts. And so it's going to be by one. Christ Jesus, that
His people are going to be made righteous before the law and
holy in their heart by Him, all by Him. So since they sought
righteousness by their works under the law, they didn't attain
to it. Because they were seeking righteousness
by the works of the law, they didn't attain to it. Now think
about how corrupt man is by nature. God came in human flesh and stood
right before them and declared it to them plainly as anybody
could say. I've had a lot of people come
and go and blame me not being able to preach the gospel clear
enough for anybody to understand it. I'll take that place. I get that. But they came to
Christ in Solomon's porch and said, Speak plainly to us and
we'll believe you. You're not preaching plain enough.
You don't think Christ Jesus did preach plain enough? He's
the prince of preachers. And he preached to them and told
them clearly, you have to have a righteousness that exceeds
the scribes and the Pharisees. And he told them plainly, I'm
that righteousness. I didn't come to destroy the
law. I came to fulfill it. And they rejected him. Why? They thought they could do a
better job and keep the law and come to God by their works. They
stumbled at that stumbling stone. Look here, verse 32. Why didn't
they attain? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. They stumbled at Christ Himself.
That's what the problem is. Men and women that that are lost and perishing or
self-righteous or whatever. Their problem is they're stumbling
at Christ. He's a rock of offense to them. They're stumbling at
Christ. It was the same with me and you, brethren. It takes
the grace of God to make a sinner say, I am a sinner and I cannot
contribute to my salvation. It has to be all of the Lord
Jesus. I can't do it. And that's where
he's going to have to bring us, to see it's all Christ, it's
not us. They refused not to die themselves
and give Christ all the glory and trust Him alone and cast
it all into His hand. And that's what every sinner
will do until God effectually speaks into the heart and quickens
us and gives us faith to trust Him. They boasted they were Abraham's
children. Go with me to Galatians 3. Christ
told them if they were Abraham's children, they'd do what Abraham
did. Abraham was given, The gospel was sent to him and he was given
a heart to believe and he trusted Christ. Look here. Verse five, he therefore that
minister to you the spirit and work, Galatians 3, 5. He therefore
that minister to you the spirit and work of miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. You see that? Abraham didn't
have the law. Abraham didn't have the Ten Commandments.
It wasn't given for 430 years. God sent the gospel to him and
he was quickened. Verse seven, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, that's the Gentiles we're talking about, he preached
before the gospel unto Abraham saying, and thee shall all nations
be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. Look, I want you to see this.
Look at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Here's why he did
it. that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ. He took the law out of the way
for his elect Gentiles that we might receive the promise, that's
the covenant promise, the promises revealed to us of the Spirit
of God and the promises through faith. Brethren, I speak after
the manner of men Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if
it be confirmed, no man does know if they're at it there too.
If you sign a covenant and it's, you got a, what is that, a stamp
you have to get? What's that person you take it
to, you know, and they stamp it, say they witnessed you entered
into this contract? I can't remember what it's called.
Anyway, you got to have that. If that's done, no man can disavow
that contract. Well, look. He said, now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He said not to seeds as
of many, but as of one, to thy seed, which is Christ. You see,
the first elect was Christ. God chose His Son, and He made
all these covenant promises to His Son that when Christ had
come and redeemed all His people, laid down His life, and made
us righteous, that He would have that glory of being the prophet,
priest, and king, the God-man mediator, call out His people,
And that promise was made to all his seed, all those he would
save, like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the rest of
the elect of God. But that was made 430 years before the law
was given. Well, before that even, in eternity,
that promise was made to Christ by God. Now, the law was given,
but it didn't change that covenant promise. We're talking about
being children of promise, elect of God. He says, and this I say,
that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was 430 years after, can't disannul it, that it should
make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it's no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. See, here's the point. This is
my last thing I want to say. God alone makes the difference
between those who are saved and those who perish. God alone. God alone. We don't make it. We don't make the difference.
God alone makes the difference. Now, back in our text, it said,
he's quoting from Isaiah, he said, Behold, I lay inside a
stumbling stone and a rock of a fence. Think about that. God said this all the way back
in the days of the prophets. I'm laying inside a stumbling
stone, a rock of a fence. Was God surprised that men were
offended by His Son? He said it way back in Isaiah's
day. He's going to be a stumbling
stone. He's going to be a rock of offense. And whosoever believeth
on Him shall not be ashamed. Christ Jesus is the foundation
that God has laid. He chose His Son. He sent His
Son. And Christ is the righteousness of His people. Salvation is of
the Lord. The Gospel is not what man must
do to be saved. That's not the Gospel. You hear
messages all over, it's all about morality, and it's about these
lessons of how to be a better neighbor and all that stuff.
Well, I hope you are a better neighbor, and if you ever are
saved by God's grace, you will be a better neighbor. But that's
not how we're saved. We're saved by what Christ has
done. God the Father provided a righteousness
for a chosen people, and the Spirit of God comes and makes
us know Him. He makes Christ's wisdom to us,
and Christ's righteousness to us, and Christ's sanctification
to us, and Christ's redemption to us, so that everybody he saves
gives him all the glory, and we don't want any glory. We know
we can't take the glory. It's all of him. The gospel is
Jesus Christ, the rock. He's the foundation. Way back
there in Isaiah's day, God told him, He said, don't make a confederacy
with all the multitude of this people. He said, you look to
me and you sanctify me. You recognize me as being high
and holy and all powerful and being your salvation. And I'll
be your sanctuary. I'm a savior. And he said, but
I will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both
the houses of Israel. For a gin and for a snare to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken. The gospel
is entirely by Christ's faithfulness. His faithfulness. He's the author
and finisher of our faith. It's all, you know, if you're
the author and finisher, you wrote the book. And he's the
one who is the righteousness of his people. And when the Lord,
when he sends the spirit and he regenerates us through this
gospel, he makes us let go of everything that we were holding
on to, that we thought was our righteousness, and he makes us
Cast it all into Christ's hand and you won't have no peace like
that. That's the greatest peace of all because you know now He's
my salvation. He's my acceptance with God.
He's my righteousness. I'm not trying to keep the law.
I have kept it You're not trying to keep it believer. You've kept
it And all your sins he put them away blotted them out. They are
no more. I And this is the offense, brethren. Until God gives you a new heart,
this is nothing but an offense. Paul said, if I preach circumcision,
if I just gave you one thing to do, I wouldn't suffer persecution. That's what he told the Galatians
in Galatians 5.11. He said, but if I did that, the
offense of the cross is ceased. The offense of the cross is nothing
you can do will save you. That's what faith is. Faith is
confessing, I'm the sinner, I can't save myself. None of my works
are going to benefit. I have to be saved by Christ
only. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. You can
put anything you want to there. If a man is constraining you
to do something, trying to make you do something, he's trying
to make a fair show in the flesh. And he's doing it, in Galatians
6, 12, he said, only lest they should suffer persecution for
the cross of Christ. You preach the cross of Christ,
your big crowd's leaving. They're gonna go to the big church,
where the shade's good. You preach Christ, men are gonna
say wicked things about you. You preach Christ, men are gonna
try to, every way they can, discredit the message you preach. But neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. They don't keep
the law. Men who claim to be holy by the
law, they don't keep the law, Paul said. They desire to have
you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh in what they
made you do. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified to me and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither Circumcision availeth anything to one circumcision.
It's not keeping the law or whether you're a Gentile who never had
the law. That's not what avails. A new creation, being made a
new creature. Christ coming and creating a
new man in you, making you see you're perfect in him, complete
in him, so you trust him. And as many as walk according
to this rule, that's our rule of life, faith. Faith is our
rule of life. We walk, the just shall walk
by faith. and the law's not of faith. Law's
not my rule of life, Christ is. He's leading me by the spirit.
As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and
mercy upon the Israel of God. So here's my point. The gospel
is the declaration of God's free and sovereign electing grace,
of Christ's redeeming grace by which he made all his people
righteous, and of the Holy Spirit's regenerating and preserving grace. And whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. And when he's worked this in
your heart, you won't be ashamed. You won't be ashamed. Now get
this point. Everybody that's saved, everybody
that's saved, have only God to praise for it, because he gets
all the glory for it. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What do you have that wasn't freely given to you by
God? So we can't boast, and we give him the glory. But if a
man perishes in unbelief, rejecting Christ, he has no one to blame
but himself. I know people say, well, I can't
reconcile those two things. You don't have to reconcile them.
It's just so. It's what God said. He said the wages of sin is death. In other words, a man, you earn
a wage. So you sin and you reject Christ
and you earn eternal death. But the gift of God, that's a
free gift. the gift of God's eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you perish, God's not to blame,
but if you're saved, God only gets the glory. I hope that's
helpful, brethren. All right, Brother Adam.