All right, let's turn back in
our Bibles to Romans 9 and 10. We're really beginning in the
book of Romans chapter 10 here. We have sort of a transitional group of verses here. You know,
the Bible wasn't written originally in chapters and verses. These
things go together, so don't ever forget that as you're reading
the scripture and studying it. And these passages here that
I want to deal with this morning, I refer to them quite often.
Romans 9, verses 30, and especially Romans 10, 1 through 4. I've
often said, if the Lord called me to preach and gave me the
gift to preach, and he said, but you only have one message
that you can preach one time, well, where would I go? I believe
I'd go right here. And I want you to pay particular
attention to this because this is so pivotal, so fundamental,
so foundational to the issues of salvation and what we need. Many people avoid it because
they say it's too doctrinal. But I want you to understand
now that doctrine is what we need, right doctrine. Right doctrine. The doctrine of God. You know,
the word doctrine just simply means teaching. The Bible says
when the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to faith in Christ, he'll be
taught of God. Christ is a teacher. That's what He was. He was a
Savior. He is a Savior. He's our Lord,
but He's also a teacher. And we're disciples as a learner. That's what that is. It's not
just a follower, but it's a learner. We don't follow him blindly because
he gives us light and knowledge of himself. It's not just for
intellectuals. It's not cold, hard, dead doctrine,
as some preachers like to say. I heard of one preacher who talked
about the Pharisees, how they were right in their doctrine,
he said. He said they were straight as a gun barrel, but just as
empty. Well, let me tell you something. The Pharisees were
not right in their doctrine. In fact, the Lord said, beware
of the doctrine of the scribes and the Pharisees. He said it's
poison, it's leaven. That's what he called it. So
they weren't straight. He called them a crooked generation.
He didn't say you were straight. A wicked and a crooked generation.
This is the doctrine of Christ. This is the truth of Christ.
This is the truth of salvation. I've entitled this message, The
Righteousness of God. That phrase is found in verse
3 of chapter 10. He's talking about people who
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
That phrase, the righteousness of God, is so important to our
understanding of all of Scripture. to our understanding of the gospel.
Well, somebody said, well, are you going to preach Christ or
are you going to preach the righteousness of God? You can't preach one
without the other. If you preach Christ, you're preaching the
righteousness of God. If you preach the righteousness
of God, you're preaching Christ. Let me prove it to you. Look
at verse 4. For Christ is the end. Now, that word end means
fulfillment. It means finishing. I'll show
you that in just a moment. It's the end of the law, the
fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That's
speaking of everything that Christ is in His person as God-man,
as Savior, as Mediator, Advocate, and it's speaking of everything
that Christ accomplished on Calvary. And when you think of that phrase,
the righteousness of God, think of it in two ways now. Here's
the two ways, and don't stop at one. The first one is this,
what God requires. What does God require? The second
aspect of it is what God provides. What God provides. And He provides
it in Christ. In and by Christ. So let's look
at this. Now, first of all, To show you
something of the importance of this, think about the issues
of sin and righteousness. Sin and righteousness. In the
book of Job, the question is asked in Job chapter 9 and verse
2, where he says, I know it is so of a truth But how should
man be just with God? Now that word just, justice,
justify, you see that all the way through the scripture. From
Genesis to Revelation, just, justice, justify. It's the same
word in the Old Testament as the word righteous. Same thing
in the New Testament. When we talk about the righteousness
of God, we can talk just as well about the justice of God, or
the justness of God. God is just. And the question
that was asked here in the book of Job is how should a man, how
should man be just, be justified? Be declared not guilty. To be
righteous is to be declared not guilty. Listen, we are criminals
in Adam. And we are criminals in ourself
in the court of God's justice. Now you say, well now, I'm not
a criminal. If they came to arrest me, they
wouldn't have any, I'm not talking about man's laws. I'm talking
about God's law. To say we're criminals, if that
offends you, it's the same thing as saying we're sinners. And
the wages of sin is death. So when that question is asked
in the book of Job, which most scholars say is the oldest book
of the Bible, I remember my father-in-law, Charlie Payne, when he preached
on this, he said, well, maybe this is the oldest question that
man has asked since the fall. I believe he's not far from wrong
there at all. I think he's nailed it on the
head. Because, you know, the first issue that divided man
was this issue, Cain and Abel. I'll show you that in just a
moment. But how should a sinner, a criminal who deserves damnation,
who deserves to be eternally damned, who has earned nothing
but the wages of sin which is death, how can a person like
that be just with God? How can God be right and holy
and declare me not guilty? Job also, in the book of Job
chapter 14, let me read this to you. This is the first four
verses of Job chapter 14. Listen to this. It says, man
that is born of a woman is of few days. Isn't that the truth? And full of trouble. Trouble,
trouble, trouble. He cometh forth like a flower,
and then he's cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and
continueth not. Here today, gone tomorrow. And
when you get old and you look back on it, you wonder where
in the world is it all gone, don't you? And then it says,
and dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringeth
me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? He's talking about the generation
of man in our fallen, ruined state in Adam as we're born in
sin. We don't become sinners by making
some choice later in life. We're born sinners. It's what
the Scripture teaches. Somebody says, well, I don't
believe that. Well, you don't believe the Bible then. Just admit it. He says, well, who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. It's impossible. Man
cannot do that. We're sinners and we cannot wash
away one sin. We could cry a river and it wouldn't
wash away one sin. We could get baptized in every
baptismal pool in every creek and river in this country and
we still could not wash away one sin. Isn't that right? It's impossible. We cannot rise
above sin, even our best. The Bible says man at his best
state is altogether vanity. We cannot rise above sin. No, sir. Not on our own. Not
even with help. We cannot do it. If anybody rises
above sin, it's going to have to be God lifting a beggar off
a dung heap and setting him on high. Man cannot make himself
righteous. Look back at Romans 9, in verse
30. Now, I love these passages in
Scripture where it draws a grand conclusion. Like at the end of
Ecclesiastes, you know, when Solomon, by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, he goes through all the vanities of man without
God, man without Christ, man without grace, man without truth. It's all vanity. Without God,
it's nothing. Oh, you have a little while of
enjoyment, little space of enjoyment, but without God, Without the
grace of God in Christ, without truth, without the love of God
in Christ, it's nothing, it's vanity, it's worthless, it's
empty, that's what it's all gonna come down to. And then he says,
let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep
his commandments, this is the whole duty of man. And you know
what people do when they hear that in Ecclesiastes 12, what,
verse 13? Fear God and keep His commandments.
This is the whole duty of man. What's man naturally think when
he hears that? Fear God, keep His commandments.
Well, I better start doing right. I better join a church. I better
get right with it. And that's not what he's saying
at all. God never commanded any sinner
to try to keep the law in order to be saved. In fact, he forbids
it. That's right. You know, that
was his first dealings with man in the fall after he pronounced
the curse. Adam and Eve tried to cover their
own nakedness with their own works, their own efforts, the
fig leaf. God removed the fig leaf and he slew an animal, shed
blood, and made coats of skin. There's a picture there. He was
showing man the only way that a sinner can be justified with
God. Well, here's a grand conclusion
here, verse 30 of Romans 9, after he talked about the sovereignty
of God and the responsibility of man, which boggles our minds.
He says, all right, here's the conclusion. What shall we say
then? Now, in verse 30, he describes a remnant of believing Gentiles. Gentiles who have been, he's
not describing all Gentiles without exception in verse 30. He's talking
about, look at it, that the Gentiles which follow not after righteousness
have attained to righteousness. Here's a group of Gentiles who
have attained to righteousness, something man cannot do. Back over in Job chapter 15.
Listen to this, verse 14, what is man that he should be clean?
And he which is born of woman, that he should be righteous."
That's a rhetorical question. He's saying it's obvious that
man born in sin cannot be clean, he cannot be righteous. Behold,
God putteth no trust in his saints. Remember I told you I saw that
sign outside of a religious organization that said, Jesus trusts in you,
Jesus believes in you. It says there in Job chapter
15 and verse 14, Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints. He doesn't
trust me. He doesn't trust you. And if
God doesn't trust me and God doesn't trust you, it'd be foolish
for you and I to trust each other for salvation. That's what he's
talking about. He says, yea, the heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh
iniquity like water? And that's even in his religion. Job 25 and verse 4, how then
can man be justified, be made righteous, not guilty, clean
with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? But now here in Romans 9 30,
there's a group of Gentiles who have attained to righteousness. They've made it. Again, he's not talking about
all Gentiles without exception here. He's talking about what
he calls in Romans 11 and verse 5, a remnant according to the
election of grace. That's how God defines them.
And when he says they didn't follow after righteousness, he
didn't say that means that there were none of them who were religious.
There are many religious Gentiles, just like there were many religious
Jews. There are many immoral Gentiles, just like there are
many immoral Jews. But here, they didn't have the
Law of Moses. That's what he's talking about.
What's he doing here? Well, now here's what he's doing.
He's showing the difference. What divides the unbelieving
Jews from Christians? Remember when I started some
of this, I talked to you about this movement today about Christians
and Jews united. Well, let me show you why Christians
and Jews cannot be united religiously. And this is it. Here's your answer.
Here's a segment of Gentiles who have attained a righteousness,
and listen to verse 30, it says, even the righteousness which
is of faith. Now the question comes, what
is that righteousness which is of faith? All right, let's go
on. Verse 31, he says, but Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, now they had
the law of Moses, We read about that over in Romans 9, in verse
4. Talked about all the advantages
that the Jews under the Old Covenant had. And they followed after
the law of righteousness, but they did not attain to the law
of righteousness, verse 31. Do you see that? They didn't
make it. Wherefore or why? Well, because they sought it
not by faith. Now the question we need to ask again, what is
it to seek righteousness by faith? The Old Testament's full of this
now. Seek righteousness. That's what I preached last week
up in Almont, Michigan, from Zephaniah chapter 2, where the
commandment there is the prophet of God telling the people of
Judah and Jerusalem, seek righteousness. I'm telling you, I'm telling
myself as a preacher, seek righteousness. Now does that mean we're all
going to just go off on our own and figure out what that is?
What that means and where to find it? No. He gives us instructions
from the Word of God on how to seek righteousness and where
to find righteousness and where it is not. And here's what he
says, verse 32, wherefore, because they sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law. Now, the Jews sought
righteousness. How? By the works of the law. Now, can a sinner get there by
the works of the law? The answer is no. No. Look back at Romans chapter 1.
Many of you may be familiar with the term the Roman road. The Roman road to salvation.
And what happens there is people will give you a list of verses
to repeat. Usually starts with Romans 3.23,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Then
it goes to Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well,
see, all that's true. But now let me tell you something.
True faith in God is not just repeating some verses and then
saying the sinner's prayer, whatever that is. Whatever that is. But here's
the Roman road. He starts off here in Romans
1 with the gospel of God in Romans 1. Verse 2, he says it's the same
gospel that the prophets preached. It's not a different one. He
says in Romans 3 and 4, it concerns a person. Who is that person? of which the gospel is concerned.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate. The God-man. Nothing more, nothing less. That
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who
was set up from everlasting, the Word of God, which has no
beginning and no end. He is God in human flesh. He's the Word made flesh dwelling
among us. This is the only type of person,
the only quality of person, the only person who can make a sinner
righteous. That's it. There's nobody else.
Buddha can't do it. Muhammad couldn't do it. Confucius
couldn't do it. The Hindus have no way to do
it. And anybody who denies this person And what this Bible says
concerning this person, who he is and what he did and why he
did it and where he is now, they reject this person, they reject
the only way that a sinner can be made righteous before God.
You say, well, that's awful narrow. Yes, it is. But that's why it's
called the narrow way. Few there be that find it. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, the life, no man cometh unto
the Father but by me. There's none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. For other foundation can
nobody lay, but that which is laid. Now if you think there's another
way, you're rejecting this person. Am I right? If you deny his deity,
you're denying this person. If you deny his humanity, you're
denying this person. I'm just telling you the truth
now. I know some people say, well, that's awful hard. That's
what, I believe the Bible, and that's what this Bible teaches,
isn't it right? Christ is the way. Not just any
Christ, there are fakes, there are counterfeits, he said that.
What I'm trying to show to you is I didn't come up with these
things. This is not just Parkerology. And I'll tell you this too, I
didn't like this stuff when I first started hearing it. I did not
like it, didn't want it, hated it. I'm telling you the truth. That's
why it takes the work of the Holy Spirit to bring a sinner
to see it and believe it and embrace it and submit to it. I mean, I grew up calling myself
a Christian, but I really did believe there were different
ways to God, I did. When I got to college, that's
the way I thought, you know. Well, this is an all right way,
but there are other ways, you know. What I was doing was denying
this person. Now, how did this person accomplish
the salvation of his people? When I go over to verse 16 of
Romans 1, he says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
that person. That's his messiahship. For it
is the power of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth."
Now, faith is the gift of God, given by the power of the Holy
Spirit in the new birth. So if you believe it, you know
what you are. If you truly believe this person and what he accomplished,
you're a born-again person, born from above. And that's the fruit
and the result of his work. And then he says it's to the
Jew first. In time, in the New Testament now, the first believers
were Jews. That's what that means. To the
Jew first. Doesn't mean God saved them because
they were Jews. That is, people descended from
Judah. Has nothing to do with that.
It's just simply God was pleased in His providence to work His
will through that people, mainly His will to bring the Messiah
through that nation. And so the first believers were
Jews. And so He says, to the Jew first.
and also to the greek now the greek it was a greek world back
then even the roman empire was a greek world in that sense in
the culture in the language and they refer sometimes to the gentile
world as the greek world that's what that means so it's talking
about gentiles to the jew first and then to the greek now look
at verse seventeen four you see it doesn't stop at verse sixteen
Now, how and why is this gospel of Christ, the power of God and
the salvation? It declares this person who did
something, verse 17, for therein is the righteousness of God.
Now, there's that phrase, the righteousness of God. It's revealed. From faith to faith. What is the from faith? Well,
I'm preaching to you the faith. I'm preaching to you the doctrines,
the teachings of the Bible. That's the faith. What is your
faith? Are we in the faith? That is the truth. Are we in
Christ? So it's from that gospel that's
preached unto faith given by the Holy Spirit for a person
to receive it and believe it. And that's when it's the power
of God and the salvation. When a person receives it, they'll
know that the gospel has been made the power of God and the
salvation. And he says that it is written, the just or the justified
shall live by faith. Well, what is this righteousness
of God? Well, from verse 18, now look at verse 18. He says,
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
this gospel. In other words, to hold the truth
in unrighteousness is to not believe it. To not believe it. And what he
does is from verse 18 all the way over to Romans 3 and verse
20. Go to Romans 3 and verse 19 and
20. You see what he's doing here.
He says the gospel concerns this person who did this work It's
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed. What does that
tell you? It tells you if the righteousness of God is not revealed,
the gospel's not preached. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. From verse 18 all the
way over here to Romans 3 and verse 20, he shows us why we
need the righteousness of God. You see, I don't need the righteousness
of man. Won't do me any good. won't do
you any good. What that means is this, the
best that you can be in this life, the best that you can accomplish,
now think about this a little bit. This is something that I
really wrestled with as a lost person. If you could be the best that
you could be, live up to your potential, there's several preachers
around the country that have millions following, that all
they do is they just talk about living up to your potential.
And I'll be honest with you, I mean, I believe that we should
try to live up to our potential in the gifts, you know, our intellect,
our skills, all of those things. But what I'm saying, if you could
always be 100% of the time the best that you could ever be at
everything you ever tried to do. Now I've just eliminated
all of us, haven't I? The whole human race, really.
But let's say we could do that, and did do that, that still would
not save us from sin. That still would not make us
righteous. Still would not make us not guilty. Man at his best. Altogether, vanity. That's right. So, here's what
he concludes. Now, we need not the righteousness
of man, but we need the righteousness of God. Look at verse 19 of Romans
3. Now, we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law. Now, who's he talking about there?
People who are trying to be saved, trying to be righteous by their
works 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. Now notice whose sight here we're
going to be concerned with when it comes out. You see, I do care
about your sight and how you see me and how you view me, but
when it comes to my salvation, when it comes to my acceptance
before God, when it comes to my justification, there's only
one sight that I'm concerned with and that's God's sight.
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." But
now look at verse 21. Now he starts in verse 21 defining
the righteousness of God. That which God requires, that
which God provides. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God. You see it? Without the law. What does he mean without the
law? Christ kept the law. The Bible says Christ was made
under the law. In fact, they accused him of
being a lawbreaker, and he said, I didn't come to break the law,
I come to keep it. When he was baptized, he told John the Baptist,
suffer it, allow it to be sold for us to fulfill all righteousness.
What was he talking about there? It's not that baptism was required
under the law, it's what baptism pictured that was required under
the law. His death, burial, resurrection. How was he going to fulfill all
righteousness? by his death, burial, and resurrection. You
see what that is? So he says, but now the righteousness
of God without the law, what's that talking about? That's without
your works of the law, without my works of the law, is manifested,
made known, clear, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
this is what Moses taught, this is what Isaiah taught, even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ." Now,
do you notice how that's put there? The faith of Jesus Christ,
not faith in Jesus Christ. But it's the righteousness of
God which comes by the faith of Jesus Christ. What's that
talking about? That's talking about the faithfulness of Christ
Himself to do what God requires. What did he do? He obeyed the
law perfectly. What did he do? He went to the
cross to die for the sins of his people charged to him. What
came out of that? His death. What came out of that? The righteousness of God. Look
at it. The faith of Jesus Christ unto all, that is preached unto
all, and up on all them that believe." It's imputed to all
who believe. How do I know that I have the righteousness of God
charged to me, accounted to me? How do I know that I have that
righteousness? It's by believing in Christ.
That's how I know it. It's not in my faith, it's in
Christ in whom I believe. You see what I'm saying? My righteousness
is not my faith. My righteousness is Christ, and
my faith is in Him. There's a difference. He says,
there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, verse 23, for
all sinning comes short of the glory of God. I can tell you
right now, you need this righteousness of God. You need Christ. And
you're not going to make it in God's court of justice without
Christ. without this righteousness of
God. You're not going to make it. I tell you, you can make
50 trips around the world preaching, teaching, giving, helping, healing,
whatever you want. You're not going to make it without
Christ and His righteousness. Verse 24, being justified, being
made righteous. That's another way of saying
it. Being made not guilty. Freely! That means unconditionally,
without a cause. In other words, there's no cause
in me that this happened. There was nothing in me. God
didn't respond to me in this. It was freely, unconditionally,
by His grace. There's the issue. It's by grace
through the redemption that is in Christ. Christ paid the debt
in full. This righteousness of God that
I have And the faith that I have to believe in is all the product
of what he accomplished on Calvary. Verse 25, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation, a sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction,
that's what propitiation is, mercy seed. Through faith in
his blood, his death. What does that mean? I believe
that his death accomplished all that God requires. Everything
that God requires of me to be saved, to be justified, to be
accepted, to be preserved, to be glorified was accomplished
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't accomplished
when I believed it now. That was the fruit of His death.
You know the reason I believe in Him? You know the reason the
Holy Spirit came and gave me life? Because of His death. He said that in John chapter
12 when he said, except a seed of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it won't bring forth fruit. He said, but if it die,
it'll bear much fruit. And he said, and I, if I be lifted
up, will draw all unto me. If he's lifted up, if he dies
on the cross, And his death brings forth life. That's why he said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Faith in his blood is faith in
his accomplishment. He says to declare his righteousness,
his justness. God is just to justify a sinner
through the blood, the death, the righteousness of God in Christ. That's how a sinner can be made
righteous. For the remission of sins that
are past, that's referring to the Old Testament. In other words,
Abel, remember Abel? He was justified the same way
that I'm justified and you're justified if you are. Moses,
Christ said, Moses wrote of me. If you'd believe Moses, you'd
believe me. Abraham, he said, Abraham rejoice to see my day.
Remember when he brought Isaac upon the mount there in Genesis
chapter 22? And Isaac made the statement,
he said, Father, he said, you built the fire and the altar
and the fire, he said, but where's the lamb for the sacrifice? You've
got to have a lamb. Blood's got to be shed. Now the
blood of bulls and goats wouldn't justify us before God, but the
one whom that blood of bulls and goats typified and pointed
to, the blood of the Lamb of God. That's justifying blood. That's our righteousness before
God. This is what he's saying. Through the forbearance of God,
verse 26, to declare I say at this time his righteousness that
he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
You see, God doesn't save me by looking over my sin or forgetting
my sin or ignoring my sin. He saves me by putting my sin
away in the blood of Christ. Now go back over to Romans 9. How are you going to seek righteousness?
The righteousness of God? Well, I'm going to get busy and
try to be religious, or I'm going to try to be charitable, or I'm
going to try to be moral. Now, nothing wrong with charity,
nothing wrong with morality, but it will not make you righteous
before God. Shouldn't we be charitable? Yes,
we should. Shouldn't we be moral, dedicated, zealous? Yes, all
of that we should be. Man who makes a claim of faith
and puts those things aside and is not diligent in those things
is just a sham religion. But they will not make you righteous. You need the righteousness of
God. Where am I gonna find that preacher? Only in the person. and the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look at it. Look at Romans 9.32.
Why didn't the Jews find it? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. What does that
mean? They didn't seek it in Christ. They sought it in themselves. You know, people spend their
whole lives looking for righteousness in themselves, and sometimes
they think they find it. And that's sadder than when they
don't. You're not going to find it within your heart. You're
going to find it in Christ, and when you do, He'll take up your
heart. He says they stumbled at that
stumbling stone. That's a prophecy of Christ from
Isaiah. As it is written, Behold, I lay
in Zion. That's the church, a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and
whosoever believeth in Him. He is my wisdom, my righteousness,
my holiness, my redemption. Shall not be ashamed. Look at
verse 1. Now brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. There's Paul expressing
his love for his brethren according to the flesh again. He says they're
not saved, they're lost. He says in verse 2, for I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. They're religious. They're trying
to keep the law. They claim Abraham is their father. They talk about circumcision. They talk about keeping the law
of Moses. They're zealous in those things,
but they're ignorant. of something. Now let me tell
you, I know we're ignorant of a lot of things, but when God
the Holy Spirit gives life and brings a sinner under the preaching
of the gospel of God, here's something that sinner's not ignorant
of. Alright? He says in verse three,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, you could say
God's justice there, you could say God's requirement there.
What does God require? You see, if I think that in order
for me to be saved, I have to get baptized for God to accept
me, you know what I'm proving to you? I'm proving to you that
I'm ignorant of God's righteousness. I'm ignorant of what God really
requires. If I say, well I've got to, God
requires me to join a church and to be diligent and to be
zealous and to be faithful in order to be righteous before
Him, in order to be justified, I'm showing you that I'm ignorant
of God's righteousness. Because God requires perfection.
Acts 17 31, I quote it all the time. where God has commanded all men
everywhere to repent because he hath appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained in that he hath given assurance unto
all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." You see,
I've got to be as good as Christ, as righteous as Christ. And that
won't happen in me. So he says they're ignorant.
They're being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now how do you
know that, Paul? It says, and going about to establish their
own righteousness. They're trying to work one of
their own. And they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. They haven't submitted. You know what it is to believe
in Christ, to receive Christ, to accept Christ? People talk
about that. You know, I hate to hear people
talking about, well, he got saved, he's getting saved, how many
got saved? I just don't like that. It's not scriptural language.
But you know what it is to be saved? It's to be submitted to
the righteousness of God. That's what it is. Now, what
is that? Verse 4, for Christ. There it
is. He's the end of the law. He fulfilled
it all. He finished it. That word end
there, it's the same word he used on the cross in Romans 19
and verse 30 when he said, it is finished. He's the end of the law. He finished
it all. He finished it, precept and penalty. He satisfied the justice of God. He drank damnation dry. He paid
the dead in full. He brought forth righteousness.
Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24. He made an end of sin. He finished
the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness. All the righteousness that I
need to be saved, to be justified, to be clean. Washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness. To whom? To everybody without
exception? No, to everyone that believeth. To everyone whom the
Holy Spirit brings to faith in Christ, He is our righteousness. Now anytime the Lord commanded
in the Old Testament for Israel to seek righteousness for salvation,
you know what He was telling them to do? He was telling them
to look to Christ according to the promise to come. Don't find
it in yourself, you won't find it. Over in Psalm 22, let me
close with this. In Psalm 22, That's psalm of the cross. That's
what that is. Christ doing His great work. It says in verse 30, it says,
a seed shall serve Him. That's His children. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. That's God's elect.
They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people
that shall be born that He hath done this. Christ is the Lord
our righteousness. Jeremiah 23. And his bride, his
church, is called by his name, the Lord our righteousness. Jeremiah
33. He is the righteousness of God.
Okay.