Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Now there's
a big difference. in preaching at someone and preaching
to someone. It's a big difference in preaching
to condemn someone for being wrong and preaching in hopes
of convicting someone that God is right. It's a big difference. It's a big difference in preaching
to condemn people for their error and preaching out of true concern
for the souls of people, for their good, to warn people of
error and the impending doom and condemnation because of it.
It's the reason I preach. I try to bring the whole counsel
of God in preaching Christ as our only hope and the believer's
walk. This is the whole counsel of
God. It's necessary that we preach
Christ as our only hope of salvation, our only righteousness, so as
not to be led away with the error of the Galatians. And to preach
the walk, the believer's walk, so as not to be led away with
the error of the wicked. and to no man type ever. Romans chapter 10. The Apostle
Paul here, as Brother Scott Richardson once said, he characterized true
preaching. He said true preaching is from
God's heart, the heart of God. That is, that which is dearest
to God's heart. And what is that? That's the
gospel of Christ. It's from God's heart to the
preacher's heart to the people's heart. Heart-to-heart talk through
preaching. And the Apostle Paul here is
doing just that. There's no doubt about it that
the Holy Spirit anointed this man in a powerful way. He anointed
his word, his preaching, from God's heart, and it was in his
heart. And this is what he said in Romans 10, verse 1. He says, My heart's desire and prayer
to God for these people is that they might be saved. He says
this is my heart's desire. So it's from his heart. It's
from his heart to the heart of the people. Out of a true heartfelt sorrow
and concern for the welfare of his people. And he says, my heart's
desire, this is what I long for, and prayer to God. He said many other times that
he didn't cease to pray for the people. He always remembered
the people in prayer. And a true heartfelt desire for
somebody's salvation is always evidenced by prayer. The child
of God knows, first of all, that God only can save, that God only
can bring about a change. And so they pray to this God.
If they're truly concerned with the salvation of their child,
their husband, their wife, whoever, a friend, they'll be praying
for that child or that person. Praying. Lord save them. A true
heartfelt sorrow and concern for the welfare of a person will
bring about this prayer unto him who alone is able to do it.
And he desired, the apostle here was desiring more than anything
that those he knew, and those he preached to might be saved. Look over at chapter 9, verse
1. Look at it. He says it again in the same
spirit. Chapter 9, verse 1, he says,
I say the truth in Christ. I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart. I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren." Some of you may be able to say
that. I know a mother or a father could quite possibly say that
about an unsaved child. But the Apostle Paul is saying
that here to the people that he is preaching to, the Romans.
He's saying that to them. He says, My heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I have great
heaviness and tenured sorrow in my heart, and I can wish myself
cut off for their sake, that they might know, that they might
know Christ. You know, Moses said the same
thing in one place. A true preacher, I'm talking
about a true preacher now, the way he preached it, his heartfelt
desire. Moses said the same thing. He
said one time, he said, Lord, if you're not going to save these
people, and blot me out to you. Blot me out. God honored that.
I hope you'll give me that spirit and attitude for you. I feel
something of it. And I hope you have it for those
around you. Well, look at verse 2. He says,
My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. I bear them record. I acknowledge
this. I admit this, there's no denying
it, they have a zeal of God. They have a zeal of God. Now,
folks, there are some fine people in this world. There are some
fine, upstanding, moral people. Some outstanding people, some
meek and mild. I met some last night. Really?
Or not last night, the night before. meek and mild, gentle,
kind people, people you like very much. Humanly speaking, they're good
people, fine people, people you work with and so forth. And perhaps
this could pertain to one of your loved ones, a brother, a
sister, a child, a husband, a wife, fine people. fine people, meek, mild, gentle. And there's some sincerely religious
people out there in this world. Maybe somebody here. People that
truly believe that they're worshiping God and doing the right thing.
And no doubt about it, they're people that have a zeal for God.
You see these young men that are dressed, and they're blue
and white, and they come up to your door, they're all spick
and span, you know. And they want a witness to you.
They say, we'd like to tell you something about our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what they say. You know who I'm talking about.
They go door to door. They're fine looking. They talk
nicely, good smile on their face. They looked the part and so forth.
No doubt about it, they have a zeal for God or they wouldn't
be going door to door being ridiculed and made fun of and so forth.
They wouldn't be doing this if they weren't really zealous for
what they were doing or who they thought they were doing it for.
They go to great extremes. But you know, there's no one
as zealous as Some of these Far Eastern religionists like the
Muslims and so forth, the Hindus, nobody's as zealous as they are.
They'll die for what they believe. So does that mean that God will
accept them on the basis of their sincerity and their zeal? Will God accept them? Paul says, I bear them record.
I admit this. There's some nice people out
there. And we know, you know, you have friends, you maybe have
loved ones, nice people. Perish the thought that they're
going to hell. Perish the thought. Not my dear,
lovely mother. Somebody says, surely all mothers
are in heaven. That's what everybody says. Meeting
mom in heaven. Perish the thought that that
person who is so kind and so moral and so upstanding and so
meek and so mild may not know God. Perish the thought. Well,
Paul says, I bear them record. I acknowledge this. They have
a zeal for God, of God, of God. Look at it, verse 2. But it's
not according to knowledge. It's not according to knowledge. Christ said to the woman at the
well, she came to the well. And he said to her, point blank,
he said, you worship you know not what. And I guarantee you
he said this with compassion. He didn't say, you don't know
what you're worshiping. He didn't like an old hard Calvinist,
hyper-Calvinist, you know, you don't know, you're lost. He didn't
say that. He said, you know not, you don't
know, you worship you know not what. We know what we worship,
he said. We know, rather, who we worship. And you see, like that woman
at the well, there are plenty of people who are sincerely trying
to be religious, trying to get to heaven, when they don't have
any knowledge of who or what or how. But they're just, you
know, doing whatever they think best. And certainly, it's obvious
that there are people that are dead in trespasses and sin. Those
people are clear to spot that they're dead in trespasses and
sin. The drunkard on the street, the prostitute, and so forth.
It's obvious that those people are dead. They don't know God.
But there are also just as many, just as many, maybe more, who are in dead works. Dead works. Thinking they'll do what's right,
but their works are dead. Thinking this, like that woman
at the well, thinking that I know the place to worship. In other
words, I'm a Baptist, I'm a member of the Baptist bride, Baptist
church, I was baptized by a Baptist preacher, I got the doctrine
down. The place to where the Catholics,
you know, they feel like the Catholic Church, being a member
of the Catholic Church, you're in the body of Christ. You're
just a member and you're in. So if you're good in attendance
and so forth, the place. Methodists think this and so
forth. People think they're sincere.
They think that they're in the right place. Some people think
that about being in a local assembly. I'm in the right church. I'm
in a sovereign grace church, so therefore I must be all right.
People think this is the way. They think they know the way
to worship God. They think that salvation is
to look in a certain way, to dig and search through the scripture,
that salvation is to look in a certain way, act in a certain
way, do in certain things, not do in certain things, feel in
a certain way. They say, keep the law and believe
in Jesus. When they have no true knowledge
of how to come to God in worship. No true knowledge. Because, why?
Verse 3, look at it. They have no true knowledge of
how to come to God and how to truly worship God because they're
ignorant, verse 3, of God's righteousness. God's righteousness. First of
all, God's personal righteousness. That he is indeed holy. the throne in holiness, purity,
will have nothing to do with any imperfection whatsoever,
not in the least bit. That he's holy, he's just, he
will by no means clear the guilty, he must punish every, every transgression
of the law, even if it's an idle thought. He's too holy. They're
ignorant of that. That's the only reason, Henry,
that a man could go about to establish his own rights to them.
It's the only reason a man or a woman would think that they
could do anything to please this God, because they're ignorant
of how God really is. Then He won't let anybody in
His presence with a spot on their garment. Not a spot. It must
be perfect. Perfect. So they're ignorant
of that, and they're ignorant also of God's provided righteousness. We'll see this in a moment. His
provided righteousness. That is the only way that he
has commanded us to come to him. Don't come with your words. Don't
come with your faith. Some of you know what I'm saying.
Come clinging to Christ. The only way God has given for
men to come to him and be accepted, they're ignorant of this. So
these folks, look at it, verse 3, they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. Now, God said, Be ye holy. The commandment comes, Be ye
holy, for I am holy. Who's that talking to? Everybody. Right? Everybody. Every man, woman, boy, and girl
is born under God's love. He says, you better be holy.
I'm holy. This is my kingdom. This is my
world. I own it. Be holy. I'm holy. So men and women, they're ignorant
of just what that means. They're ignorant of just how
holy God is. what true holiness is, so they go about trying to
do the best they can, and then they judge their success by whether
or not they live up to that standard that they've made. They comparing
themselves with themselves, the Scriptures, are not wise. But
a spiritually minded man, he compares himself with God, God's
holiness. So he dare not, in my hand, no
price I bring. Not my righteousness, not by
works of righteousness which we have done, the true child
of God said, but not these people that are ignorant, going about
to establish their own righteousness. Look at verse 3, and they had
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now, true worship, in a word,
is submission. True worship is submission. And this is what's missing, I
think. Somebody was talking last night about Romans 3.18, how
there's no fear of God before their eyes. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, the Holy Spirit
makes Christ to be under us wisdom. So, the fear of the Lord, being
the beginning of wisdom, the beginnings of the workings of
the Spirit of God in us and revealing Christ to us, shows us we're
to fear Him. above all else, in the dust,
get in the dust. This generation doesn't do that,
do they? They walk right up to the presence of God, a thinking
they are, me and Jesus this, me and God this, talking flippant
terms and so forth. have not submitted, bowed down
to, submitted to the righteousness of God. So true worship is submission
to, bowing to the absolute authority, dominion, and power of God. It's
confessing that He is holy and I'm nothing, totally, totally
depraved. Depraved. True worship and submission
is bowing to The Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very basic message.
Very basic exposition of these passages of scripture. But it's
the gospel. This is the gospel. The reason I say that we need
to take these tapes out and so forth, this is the gospel. Man
hear this. He'll hear what is able to make
him wise unto salvation. He'll see his only hope as being
in Christ. So take this tape and give it
to somebody. True worship, true submission,
true saving faith is bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Believing in Him, not confessing,
not just believing in your head that He bears the title, Lord. You know, everybody says that,
Jesus is Lord. Well, to really believe it is to bow down, get
in the dust, and act like He's Lord. Talk like He's Lord. Worship Him as Lord, not just
say it, but to really believe it. He's Lord. To believe in
Him as being Lord over not only your life, not only this world
and everything in it, but Lord over your eternal soul and salvation. He has your eternal destiny in
His hands to either cast it in the lake of fire or lift it up,
exalt it unto salvation. It's to believe in Him as your
only hope, not your works, not to look to yourself, or even
your faith. People make a work out of faith,
don't they? Why are you a child of God? Because I believed. That's
not it at all. A true child of God says, when
asked if he's a child of God, why are you a child of God? Because
Christ sits at the right hand of God. You know, you've heard
that saying, the bumper stickers, God says it, I believe it, and
that settles it. No, it's God says it, and that
settles it, whether I believe it or not. But to be sure, if
He works on you, you'll believe it. You'll believe it, and bow
down and worship Him as Lord, trusting in Him to represent
you to God. Christ, go to the Father for
me. Plead your blood and your righteousness
for me. I don't have anything. I don't
have a thing. God just won't accept anything
I have, because it's filthy rags. Christ, take that, take your
blood to the Father for me. Impute your righteousness to
me. Let your shed blood cover my sinful soul. Let your righteousness,
let me be clothed with that robe of righteousness so that I can
walk into God's presence with boldness, being perfect and whole
and accepted. So bowing to Him, true worship
and submission is bowing to Him as the only way that you dare
approach to God. Not having in your mind one thought,
not one iota, one thought that God is pleased with anything
you're doing. That God is taking notice of
anything you're doing for salvation's sake. Let's look at this here,
verse 4. Here's the title of the message
and the basic verse for a text. 4. See, these people are ignorant
of God's righteousness, that is, who He is and who He has
sent. The only way that we can approach
to Him, Christ, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
going about trying to please God, to work their way to heaven,
and thinking God's taking notice of it and He's going to reward
them someday because of it. And they haven't submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. That is the only way that God
has provided for them to approach Him for Christ, Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness, for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Does that mean
that Christ put away the law? No. Oh, no. Uh-uh. Christ said, I didn't come to
destroy the law, but I came to fulfill it. to fulfill it. You see, he's the end of the
law for righteousness. You see? The law still serves
its purpose. And Rick and I were talking about
this. All of the precepts, all of the moral implications, all
of the All of the practical applications
of the law in the Old Testament for cleansing and so forth, there
are many things that God gave for our good, to live on this
world in a certain amount of health and happiness. You know
what I'm saying? But for righteousness to be accepted
by God, Christ is the end of the law. He's the end of the
law for acceptance with God, for holiness, without which no
man shall see God. No man's going to see God unless
he's got holiness. That is the perfect holiness
of Christ imputed to him, without which Christ is the end of the
law for holiness, to be accepted by God, for salvation. For salvation. He's the end of the law for righteousness,
for acceptance with God, because salvation is of the Lord. Salvation has nothing to do with
what I'm doing. Nothing. It's solely to do with
what he has done and has finished on my account. Look at this,
verse 5. For Moses, he described the righteousness
which is of the law. this salvation that comes by
keeping the law, look at Leviticus chapter 18. Look at it with me. Leviticus chapter 18. Keep your
place there in Romans 10. For Moses, he said, Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law. That is, acceptance
with God that comes by keeping the law. He describes it here
in chapter 18 of Leviticus, verse 1. The Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and you say unto them,
I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land
of Egypt wherein you dwell, don't do them. After the doings of
the land of Canaan, whether I bring you, shall you not do? Neither
shall you walk in their ordinances, the way they believe, the way
they act. You shall do my judgments, and keep my ordinances to walk
therein. I'm the Lord your God. I'm the one you have to answer
to. Verse 5, You shall therefore Keep my statutes and my judgments,
which, if a man do, he shall live in them." I'm the Lord. That settles it. This do and
live. This do and live. Adam, of all
the trees of the garden you may freely protect, may freely eat,
don't touch that tree. Don't touch that tree, you'll
live. Touch that tree, you'll die. This do and don't do, and
you'll live. And the law is the same today.
It says the same thing today. This do and live. This do and
live. And I wonder if people realize
all is contained in the perfect law of God. Listen, I'll be brief. How that every jot and tittle
of every single ordinances, every single ordinance, every sacrifice,
every ceremony, everything must be strictly adhered to unto perfection. If these folks out here, if they
only knew what God requires, the strictness of His law, that
to offend in one point is to be guilty of it all. One point!
Henry, one little slip. Buddy, I wouldn't set foot out
of the door. Not only would I drive the right
color car, I don't think I'd have a car. I'd be in a cave
somewhere. I'd be diligently studying Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, studying everywhere. I'm not supposed
to eat grapes. And not supposed to pick up twigs on Sunday, and
not supposed to do this, and not supposed to do that, and
not supposed to think this, and not supposed to think that, and
not supposed to say this or say that. Buddy, you better keep
it all. To offend in one point, one slip,
that's all she knows. Go on then. Do people realize
that? They don't realize that, do they,
Joe? They don't realize that. Moses describes it, the righteousness
of the law. Every giant labored to the laws
for how we looked. God gave laws how to look, how
to walk, how to talk, how to think, where to go, what you
do, how you do it, with whom you do it. And it better be kept
to perfection. All the sacrifices that are being
made, when do they get off not making sacrifices? When do they get off not making
any more sacrifices? If Christ is the end of the sacrificial
law, he's the end of the moral law, too, isn't he? For righteousness? All the sacrifices that must
be made of lambs, of bullocks, of goats, of turtledoves for
uncleanness and so forth, we better be still keeping them.
Those Jews over there who think the Messiah's yet to come, why
aren't they sacrificing lambs? The law says, this do and live. If Christ didn't fulfill all
the law for me, I'm hurting. I'm hurting. I'm a goner. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ died in vain, the scriptures say. But Paul said,
I don't frustrate the righteousness. I don't frustrate the grace of
God. Uh-uh. Oh, no. The law says it must
be perfect, not the best you can do, not the way you interpret
it. The keeping of the law is not
how a man interprets it, it's how it is. So to be, to offend
in ignorance, not knowing, you're just as much guilty, aren't you?
Well, you can't go to God and say, well, I didn't know. what David's saying, cleanse
thou me from secret sins and faults. In other words, let the
blood of Christ be propitiation not only for what I do, but what
I don't do, or what I don't know I'm not doing, or what I don't
know I'm doing. And Paul says, oh religious Jew,
and I say this to our generation, oh religious Jew, don't you see
what the law is saying? You who desire to be under the
law, whoever it may be, whether it's the Southern Baptists or
the German Baptists. You that desire to be under the
law, that search the old Levitical law to see how to live and this
and that and the other, thinking that somehow or another that
God is going to hold you accountable or accept you for what you're
doing. You that desire to be under this
law, don't you hear what the law says? Don't you hear it? And again, with earnest plea
from the heart, he says, oh man, or oh woman, that is bound in
religious ignorance and superstition, he says, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. And we've got a lot of this still
in us, though, too, don't we? Oh, oh believer, oh believer,
kill that self-righteous attitude. and look to Christ in all things.
Christ is the end of the law. That word end there, I looked
it up, it means the purpose of the law. Not the putting of the
way, putting away of the law, but the purpose of the law. We
read it over in Galatians 3, didn't we, how Christ is the
schoolmaster The one who brings—or the law is the schoolmaster,
I mean. The law is the schoolmaster. The one who brings us to Christ.
The law—the purpose of the law is to show us Christ. Christ
is the very goal or reason the law is given. The reason for
the law. To show us—all right, do you
want to get to God? By your doings? All right. You've got to do, you've got
to think, you've got to act. You got to walk, you got to talk
to perfection, you got to do this, and it gives all these
precepts. And so if you want to do that
for perfection, you got to do every bit of it. And somebody
with true spiritual discernment said, I can't. So the law says,
well, I'll tell you what, I know somebody that can. So you just
get to him. You get to him. The law is a
schoolmaster, so you can't keep to him. No! He did it for you. All you gotta do is go to him.
All you gotta do is ask him to represent you. Christ! Okay! And you run to him, you
see. But only when a man sees that
law in its perfection, in its holiness, only then will he run
to Christ. Right? Only then, when he sees
Christ as his only hope of being accepted with God, is his only
hope of holiness before God, without which no man should see
the Lord. Only then will he run to Christ, and cling to Christ
alone, and do away with us trying to keep the law. Now, eventually,
if he sees Christ, and clings to Christ, and sees what all
Christ has done for him, then he'll obey the law because he
loves Christ. because he wants to please Him.
He said, not out of duty, but out of love. Out of love. That's all the difference in
the world. You know, Peter's sermon on Pentecost was this.
He said, you men of Israel, hear these words. Oh, you Jews. You self-righteous, fierce dogs. You Jews. They're trying to keep
the law. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth. A man approved of God. You hear that, Jew? God is approved
of a man. It ain't you. Oh, Mr. Fessler, it ain't you. It's Him,
the only one. There's only one man that's ever
been said about. Only one man God ever said, Aha! I approve of Him. He's walked
right, he's talked right, he's thought right, he's acted right.
Only one man has that ever been said about him. Only one man
that God said, I'm well pleased with him. Everybody else from
the beginning of time, from Adam, who was a perfect man to begin
with, from Adam down to me, his great, great, great, great, great,
great, great grandson, he said, Rejected. I don't approve you.
You don't you don't hit the mark. You don't. You don't. Sorry. But his perfect son he said.
That's the way a man ought to be. I approve of him. I'm well pleased with what he's
done. Well pleased. The only man to ever truly keep
the law of God perfectly in thought and word and deed, the only man
who ever loved God more than anybody else, including himself,
didn't he? The only man who loved his neighbor
as himself, so much so he laid down his life for him. The only
man to walk perfectly before God and never grow angry. without
a cause, never be jealous, never be envious, never lust after
a woman, never be covetous, never bitter, never complain, never
murmur, never be vengeful, who is altogether meek, mild, gentle,
loving, kind, long-suffering, patient, temperate, sober, holy,
unblameable, unreprovable, without spite, without blemish, but God-man,
Jesus Christ. Only one. Only one. Only one
God will accept. by virtue of what he's done.
Only one. So we've got to be in him, you
say. We've got to be in him. Behold the perfect man. Well, Christ Jesus came. He came to live that perfect
life. He came to establish a perfect
righteousness as a man. He was God because only God could
perfectly keep his own holy law. He was God because only God could
take his righteousness and somehow transfer it to other people and
somehow get their sin and put it on him, spiritually speaking.
Only God could do such a thing. He had to be God, a mere mortal
man. I don't care if he was Perfect. Couldn't impute righteousness,
but the God-man can. God can. He was man because God
can't bleed and die. God can't suffer, but a man can.
So he's man. He came and he bled and he died
under judgment, and he was a man because if a man like you and
me, or a woman, is going to get into glory, is going to walk
into heaven, he had to be a man. He had to be a man. And there's
a man right now. A man. A glorified man, yes.
But there's a man in heaven who represents me before the Father. A man. And he said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. I came to do thy will. I came
to do it perfectly. I came to live the law perfectly. To do thy will, O God. And he
took away for thirst. What is the first? That first
covenant, the law that is, that says this do and will. He took
that away that he might establish the second. What's the second?
Faith in Him. Look to me. He took that away. He fulfilled it perfectly in
himself. Then he established this right
here. He said, now, look to me. I've got it right here. I've got the law right here.
I've kept it for you. Now just look to me. Look to
me. Believe in me and live. And I
say this to whoever's listening now or whoever may hear it on
tape. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Because Christ finished the work. He finished it. He said, it's
finished. All that's required of me By
God Almighty, Christ did it for me. He finished it. All that's
required of you before God to be accepted, Christ did it for
you. He did it for you. So by faith,
just look to Him. Look to Him. He's the only righteousness. He's the only man, the only one
God will accept. And your only hope of eternal
salvation is to be in Him by faith. not to do anything, but
to be in Him, to look to Him. You mean that's it? That's it. That's it. He's it. That's it. He's salvation. Look to Him. Oh, religious man,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for you is that you might
be saved. But I bear you record, you're
doing, you're looking pretty good. You're doing some good
things, but you're ignorant of the righteousness of God. You're
going about to establish your own righteousness and have not
submitted to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the
law, the doings for salvation to everyone that just merely
looks to Him. That looks to Him. Look unto
me and be ye saved, O the ends of the earth. For I am God, and
there is none else. Stand with me, and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our holy God.