It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm reading this morning from
Romans chapter 10. I'd like to read the first four
verses. I've entitled this message, Saving
Knowledge. And I believe you'll understand
why I entitled it that after we read this passage of scripture. Paul says in Romans chapter 10,
verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire And prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. Now, two things are true
in this verse of scripture. Israel was not saved and Paul
desired that they would be saved. He loved these people and he
wanted them to be saved and prayed to God that they would be saved,
but it's clear they were not saved. God had never done anything
for them. They had never had a work of
grace done in their heart. They were not saved. It's important
for us to note that. And let's go on reading in verse
two. Paul says, for I bear them record that they have a zeal
of God. They're very zealous, they're
very religious, they're very sincere. And it's the God of
the Bible they're zealous of But then he says, but not according
to knowledge. In their zeal, they have no true
saving knowledge. Verse three, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness. This is what they didn't know
anything about, God's righteousness. and going about to establish
their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Saving knowledge. Now, Paul tells us these people
were not saved, they were very religious. but they were not
saved and that was known by something they were ignorant of. Paul says
they were ignorant of God's righteousness. And what proved that is they
went about to establish their own righteousness and never submitted
to the righteousness of God. Now, all my life I've heard people
debate about how much or how little one needs to know to be
saved. Everybody would be in agreement
that if you're saved, there's something you know, there's someone
you know. But I've always heard this debate over how much or
how little. Now, all such debates really
are foolishness. To try to put an emphasis on
how much you know is putting the emphasis on what you know
rather than who you know. It's putting the emphasis on
your knowledge rather than the grace of God. And when people
try to talk about how little you need to know, they're trying
to make the gate wider than it really is. And they're taking
what God used the whole Bible to define the gospel, and they
try to put it into a little simple formula, which really is trite. It's not even real. So I'm avoiding
this thing of trying to say how much you need to know or how
little you need to know. But in this verse of Scripture,
Paul tells us something that is necessary. We read something
about saving knowledge in this passage of Scripture. They, being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God. Now, listen very carefully. I'm
not saved by my knowledge. I'm saved by Christ. I'm not
saved by what I know. I'm saved by grace, and I know
that. I'm not saved by what I know,
and I know that. And if I don't know that, in
reality, I know nothing. I'm not saved by my knowledge.
Somebody can know all the facts of the Bible inside and out,
and it won't do a thing for you. I'm not saved by knowledge. And
I know that. But when God saves someone, there
is something they come to know. The Lord said in John 8, verse
32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. When God saves somebody, they
come to a saving knowledge of the truth. Salvation is described
in 1 Timothy 2.5 as coming to the knowledge of the truth. Faith
is defined in Titus 1.1 as the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. When repentance is
mentioned in 2 Timothy 2.25, he speaks of God granting some
people repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. When our Lord describes
worship, He says, God is spirit, and they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. I think of what Paul said
in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, when he was thanking God for the Thessalonians,
he said, but we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. If God saves me, I'm going to
know the truth. I'm going to know the truth concerning
God, and I'm going to know the truth concerning myself, and
I'm going to know the truth concerning salvation. Now, when Paul describes
these people who were very religious, very zealous, yet they were not
saved, he tells us what they were ignorant of. He said, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. If I am not saved, I am ignorant,
of God's righteousness. I may be very religious, I may
be very zealous, I may be very sincere, I may even be very moral,
but I'm ignorant of God's righteousness. Now what is meant by the righteousness
of God? Now this righteousness of God
is seen in four respects. First, his essential righteousness. and the righteousness of God
that's revealed in His holy law, His requirement for holiness
and perfect righteousness. his righteousness seen in condemnation
and damnation, and his righteousness seen in salvation. Now, if God
saves me, I'm going to have some understanding of the righteousness
of God in all four of those views. Now, first, when we talk about
the righteousness of God or when the Bible speaks of the righteousness
of God, what is meant by that? Well, first, God is essentially
righteous. That's his rightness. That's
his holiness. That's his hatred of sin. God is righteous. He cannot accept anything but
that which is perfectly righteous. Now let me read a verse of scripture
from the 11th Psalm, beginning in verse 4. It says, The Lord
is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven,
and His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children
of men. He's looking at you right now.
He's looking at me right now. He sees what's in our heart.
The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth
violence his soul hateth. Now God is righteous and his
soul, his very soul hates the wicked man. Somebody says, I
thought God loved everybody. You're not gonna get that from
the scripture. Here it says his soul hateth the wicked. His soul
hateth the one who loves violence. Verse six, upon the wicked he
shall reign snares fire and brimstone, this is talking about his judgment,
and an horrible tempest, this shall be the portion of their
cup, for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. That's why he
does those things, because the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold the
upright. Now, we read in Genesis chapter
6 verse 5, and God saw And I want to remind you that the way God
sees something is the way it is. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's what God sees when
he looks in my heart and your heart. Only evil nonstop. Because God is righteous. He
sees things as they really are. God is essentially righteous. And His righteousness is reflected
in His holy law. Most of us have heard of the
Ten Commandments. That's part of the law. There's the ceremonial
law, there's the sacrificial law, there are the dietary laws
and so on, the civil laws. The law of God really can't be
separated. I've heard people say, well, we're not under the
ceremonial law anymore, but we're still under the moral law. But
you can't separate the law. You can't pick out one part and
say I'm under it and pick out another part and say I'm not
under it. But let's just take the Ten Commandments. The thou shalt and the thou shalt
not. If you or I believe that we've
kept one commandment one time, we are ignorant of God's holy
law. We don't really understand it.
We have a low view of the law if we think we've kept one commandment
one time. We've put other things before
God. We've taken His name in vain.
We've failed to have the proper reverence for His name. We've
committed idolatry. We've had false ideas of God.
We've failed to rest. We've not honored authority the
way we should. We have all committed sexual
sin in our minds. We've all told lies. We've all
killed. If we didn't kill physically,
we've murdered someone's character. We've all coveted. We've all
stole, stole glory from God, we haven't kept one commandment
one time. You see, the law just teaches
us that we're lawbreakers. If I can look at God's holy law
and think, well, I've kept at least this commandment or that
commandment, I prove that I'm ignorant of God's holy law. Now the third area that men are
ignorant in, in this ignorance of God's righteousness, we're
ignorant of his essential righteousness, we're ignorant of the righteousness
that's manifested in his holy law, and men are ignorant of
God's righteousness in their condemnation. You know, most
people do not really believe that they deserve to go to hell.
They don't believe that. and that is seen in their objections
to the gospel. How could a good loving God send
a man to hell? How could that be? That doesn't
seem right. Or maybe you hear how God elected
some and passed by others and he doesn't save everybody. And
they say, well, how can that be fair? How could God be fair to be that
way? Or Christ died only for the elect. And they say, well,
how could that be fair? That's not right to send somebody to hell
and not save them and not do these things for them. Men object
to God's righteousness in condemnation, but if I have some understanding,
of God's righteousness, I'll understand He's righteous in
my condemnation. If He doesn't give me mercy,
if He sends me to hell, if I'm cast away from His presence forever,
just and holy is His name because He's righteous. Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? You don't sit in judgment on
God and condemn God. You say whatever He does is right. He's righteous in my condemnation
or any man's condemnation. But here's what men are, they're
ignorant of these first three, but here's what I think is the
greatest ignorance men have. Men are ignorant of the righteousness
of God in salvation. Now understand me. If I am accepted
by God, it is because the righteousness of God is mine. I don't have a personal righteousness.
I don't have a righteousness that I've achieved through good
things that I've done. I have the very righteousness
of God. Paul put it this way in Philippians
chapter 3, verses 8 and 9, Oh, that I may win Christ and be
found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law. But that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, For
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, the reason that
I will be saved is because I have, I possess as my personal righteousness,
the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. You see, my sin
literally became His sin. That's why God killed Him. That's
why God forsook Him. But just as truly as my sin became
His sin, His personal righteousness, the very righteousness of God,
becomes my personal righteousness. Now that's the righteousness
of God in salvation. So when I'm saved, I'm saved
because I deserve to be saved. I have the very righteousness
of God. Christ put away my sins. He justified
me and I have the very righteousness of God. Now, for a man to be
saved, he's going to have to have some understanding of God's
righteousness. Now Paul says these people he's
speaking of that were not saved he says they're ignorant of God's
righteousness and here's what they do as a result they go about
to establish their own righteousness. Now what is it to establish your
own righteousness? I think that we have a very good
example of that in the Pharisee in the temple and the public.
Beginning in verse 9 of Luke chapter 18 we read. And he spake
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. Now if you have any personal
righteousness, you are self-righteous. This is who this parable was
spoken to, certain who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others. He said two men went up into
the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God didn't hear
this prayer. He thought he did, but he didn't.
He was just praying to himself. And look at his prayer. God,
I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. You see, this
man had established a personal righteousness. God, look at me.
Look what I've done, and look what I've not done. He said,
I fast twice in the week and I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, if you have any self-righteousness
at all, you have a personal righteousness that you believe makes God your
debtor, that he owes you salvation. God needs to save me because
I did fill in the blank, whatever it is. That is seeking to establish
a righteousness before God. It's seeking to make God your
debtor. Now, All I have to do is believe
in free will. And I'm seeking to establish
a righteousness of my own. If I think that I'm saved because
I decided to accept Jesus as my personal Savior, and that's
why I'm not, that's why I'm saved, that means I've tried to establish
a righteousness. I've done something that I think
obligates God to save me. And that won't be my dear friend,
that won't be, God won't have it. I can't come into God's presence
that way and if I do that, I prove by that I've never really submitted
myself to the righteousness of God. He goes on to say in our
text in Romans chapter 10, they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Now what
does it mean to submit to the righteousness of God? Two things. First, I submit to God's righteousness
when I agree with God's righteousness. I see that's the way he is. And
I agree. I don't condemn him. I don't
judge him. I justify him. I agree with his
righteousness. I agree with His essential righteousness. I agree with His righteousness
in His holy law. It reflects His holy character.
I agree with His righteousness in my condemnation. I don't say
God's unloving or unjust. I agree with God's righteousness
in my own condemnation. And how I agree that the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness there is. And the only hope I
have is having His righteousness as my personal righteousness
before God. Now, I agree, and in this thing
of submission, there's a willing submission. If you submit because
you don't have any choice, that's not true submission. I remember
when I was first married. I would say to my wife, submit,
and she would give me a look of contempt. And well, she should
have. You don't force people to submit. The only way you can
submit is if you want to. When a woman submits herself
to her husband or if the husband submits himself to his wife,
it's because they love one another and that's what they want to
do. I want to submit myself to her wishes. She wants to submit
herself to my wishes. So when you submit to God's righteousness,
you're doing this because you want to. In Romans chapter 10
verse 10, we read, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. With the mouth confession is
made to salvation, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness."
That's talking about the righteousness of God. Now what is this thing
of the heart believing unto righteousness? Now the heart is the whole man.
It's my understanding. I understand that the righteousness
of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness there is. I wouldn't dare come
into God's presence in my own righteousness. Not only do I
understand that, I love it. I love being saved by the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love having His righteousness
as my personal righteousness before God. And this is what
I desire. This is what I choose. This is
what I want. If you give me the choice between
being saved by my own personal righteousness or the righteousness
of Christ, I know what I choose. I want to be saved by the righteousness
of Christ. Oh, there is a willing submission to the righteousness
of God in the gospel. And if I fail to submit to His
righteousness, It's actually because I prefer my own filthy
rags to His glorious righteousness. Because the scripture says our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And if I fail to submit
to His righteousness, I'm saying the filthy rags of my own righteousness
is enough to bring me into God's presence. Now, Paul says in verse
4, he says, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
Everyone that believeth. Now these people I'm praying
for, they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, His essential
righteousness, the righteousness of His law, His righteousness
in condemnation, and His righteousness in the gospel. They're ignorant
of that, and because of that, they go about to establish their
own righteousness, and fail to submit to the righteousness of
God for Christ. is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Now, this word end, talking about
God's holy law, the Ten Commandments, all of the law of God, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. Now that means three things.
The word end, it means the purpose, it means the fulfillment, and
it means the termination. Christ is the purpose of the
law. The law is given as our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. You see, all the law does is
expose to me how sinful I am and how I am without the ability
to keep it. The law exposes sin, but it gives
no power to obey. It simply shows you you're a
lawbreaker. And God's law is given to drive
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of God's law,
to show me my desperate need of a Savior. Christ is the fulfillment
of the law. He didn't come to destroy the
law. He said, think not that I came to destroy, but I came
to fulfill. He kept God's law perfectly. He never sinned. He fulfilled
all the types, all the ceremonies, all the sacrifices. They were
given to point to himself. He fulfilled them all. Everything he did, he did that
the scriptures might be fulfilled, and he fulfilled the law. And
Christ is the termination of the law. I don't need law. Christ kept it for me. I don't
try to keep the Ten Commandments. I've kept them in the person
of my son. Somebody says, are you saying it's okay to break
the law? No, I'm not saying that, but I am saying this. We're free
from the law. We're not under law, but under
grace. That's what the scripture says,
and I love that. If I'm under law, I'm in trouble, and you
are too, but thank God. We're believers. We're promised
in Romans 6, 14, sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under the law, but you're under grace. Now, if you're under
the law, sin's going to have complete dominion and domination
over you. But the only deliverance from
that is being under grace. And Christ is the end of the
law. The only way a man or woman honors
God's holy law is by looking to Christ as its fulfillment.
Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law, Paul said. Now, is Christ the end of the
law for everyone? No, it says, for Christ is the
end of the law to everyone that believeth. What's that mean? Well, let me read a verse of
scripture in Romans chapter 4, verse 5. This is one of my favorite
verses in the Bible. Beginning in verse four, now
to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. That's me establishing a righteousness
before God and thinking God owes me salvation. I've done something,
now God's got to pay me. That's what the person does who
works. Verse five, but to him that worketh not. He knows that
he cannot be saved by the things he does. He does not work. He knows that the best of his
works are filthy rags before God. He doesn't try to come into
God's presence on the footing of his own merit and his own
doings. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, but relieth upon him that justifieth the ungodly. Now here's my hope. I'm an ungodly
sinner in and of myself, but God justified me. That means
He made it to where I have no guilt. It means He made it to
where I have the very righteousness of God, and He did this in the
Gospel. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David
also describe the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, if God saves me, if God
saves you, we're going to have some understanding of the righteousness
of God. You have just heard a message
by Todd Nybert of Lexington, Kentucky. You may download a
copy of the sermon you just heard by visiting the Yuba-Sutter Grace
Church website at ysgracechurch.com. This is Pastor Rick Warta, praying
God would make himself known to you in Christ.