Would you turn in your Bibles
with me to the book of Romans chapter 9? Romans chapter 9. Now, last Sunday
morning I began through this passage around verse 10 and 11
and 12 and 13 of Romans chapter 9. And I entitled that message,
God's Answer. And this message this morning
is the same title. This is the second part of this
as we continue through Romans 9, God's Answer. And the reason
I entitled it God's Answer is because that's exactly what this
is. These issues of Romans 9 that
are brought forth here concerning the absolute sovereignty of God,
God's predestinating purpose, God's electing purpose, and the
responsibility of man. That's a hard issue because of
our limited understanding. We can't reconcile those two
things. God's sovereignty. God is sovereign. He's in control. He's working
all things after the counsel of his own will. And man is held
accountable and fully responsible. The scripture that speaks of
God's predestinating electing purpose on over, it says in Romans
chapter 10, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Both are true. And I've told you before, I said
a lot of people say, well, we just can't wrap our minds around
that. Well, that's because these are issues of eternity. These
are issues of God's wisdom. God's goodness, God's justice,
God's sovereignty. And so, a lot of people avoid
Romans chapter 9, but I started through this with Romans 8 and
want to work my way up through Romans 11. But let me just, I
was studying on these passages and I was reminded of a story
that I heard years ago about an old preacher. an old gospel
preacher who was conducting a Bible class for younger preachers.
And he was taking them through the book of Romans. And when
he finished Romans chapter 9, one of the younger preachers
come up to him and he said, Pastor, could I be totally honest with
you? And the old man said, Well, I hope you will be. He said,
I'd rather have a root canal than preach through Romans 9. And the old man said, well, why
would you say that? He said, well, because people
just can't understand it. He said, I know a lot of preachers
try to make it say what it doesn't say and try to deny what it openly
says. But he said, people just can't
understand it. And the old preacher said to him, he said, I'm afraid
that the problem is, is not just that people don't understand
it, but they just don't like what it says. And that's why
people are afraid of it. But we needn't be afraid of it.
We have God's answer. I mean, I know it brings forth
some issues here that are just deep for us. You know, Paul dealt
with that over in Romans 11. I read this last week. You know,
when he said in verse 33 of Romans 11, Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments. and his ways past finding out.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his
counselor?" You see, God is God. And he's in control. And he knows
what's best. And so whenever these things
are revealed, Romans chapter 9, you know, the Bible tells
us that all Scripture is God-breathed, inspired of God. And it says
all Scripture is profitable for us. So we can't pick and choose
and just say, well, because I can't really, as I said, wrap my mind
around this, just throw that out and ignore it as if it weren't
there. God put it there for a reason. But he's given us the answer.
Now, he keeps things from us, too. You know, we read Deuteronomy
29 last week. The secret things belong to God.
They're things he hadn't let us in on. But the revealed things
belong to us. And that's what we have here
in his word. He makes this statement in verse
13. Look at it again. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. In other words, he gave Jacob
grace, and he held it back from Esau. Esau got what he deserved,
what all of us deserve. And I told you last week, here's
what I know. Neither Jacob nor Esau deserved or earned God's
love. If God had given both these boys
what they deserved and earned, they'd both be hated. They'd
both perish in sin. But God chose Jacob. Why didn't
He choose Esau? I don't know. The Lord said,
it seemed good in thy sight. But I know this, here's what
I know, if any sinner, now listen to me, here's what God's revealed,
here's what he's opened up, he's removed the cover from this mystery.
And I want us all, myself included, to hear this well. If any of
us are going to find the powerful, merciful, saving love of God,
we're gonna find it only in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
not to sit around here and figure out who God loves, who God hates.
We all deserve God's hate. We've all earned it. The wages
of sin is death. But I know God loves the people
and He's going to save them. I want to be one of them. How
about you? I'm going to seek the Lord. And I'll guarantee
you, God has never turned away any sinner who sought Him His
way through Christ. That verse that says in Romans
chapter 10 and verse 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord, that has some meaning. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be what? Saved. But what is it to call
upon the name of the Lord? You have to go back to the beginning
to find that out. And God set the precedent there.
He gave us the answer there. How to call upon the name of
the Lord. How do you do it? You do it through sacrifice.
That's what he said, that's what he told Adam and Eve in Genesis
chapter 3. After that great prophecy of
the Messiah, the woman seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, what did
God do? He says He took those fig leaf
aprons off of Adam and Eve which represent their efforts, their
works. You don't call upon the name
of the Lord by coming to God begging Him to save you based
upon your works or your will. You come to God begging for salvation
as a sinner seeking mercy through the sacrifice. God slew an animal
and made them coats of skin. That was a picture of how God
saves sinners, how God is just to justify the ungodly in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the shedding of
His blood. That's what that mercy seed in
the Old Testament was all about. That's what I know. That's what
God has revealed. If you're going to call upon
the name of the Lord and be saved, you come through Christ, who
is our mercy seat. You come pleading his blood and
his righteousness alone. And that's what God tells us.
And look at what he says here in verse 14. Now somebody says,
well, God says, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Verse 14,
now listen to this, this is God's answer, what shall we say then?
Now how am I to respond to that? Jacob have I loved, is there
unrighteousness with God? That's the question that comes,
that doesn't seem fair to me. Well if God gave him what was
fair, he'd have killed both of them. So it doesn't seem just
to me. Well here's God's answer now.
God forbid? The answer is no. There is no
unjustness, there is no injustice, no unfairness with God. Period. And he goes back to the Old Testament.
He quotes Exodus 33. This is when Moses on the mount,
he said, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. Well, here's
the glory of God, for he saith to Moses, verse 15, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. That's God's glory. If you deny
that, you're denying God's glory. You say, no, it's not God who
chooses, it's man who chooses. Well, if that's so, we're all
in trouble because man by nature will not seek God. That's what
I know. There's none that doeth good,
there's none that seeketh after God. And don't you put an accept
me on there. Because that won't work. Here's God's glory. He said I'll
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. But now here's what I
know. God will have mercy. That right? Compassion. In Exodus 33 it's grace. God
is a gracious God. He is a just God. But He's also
a gracious God. Now, my question is this, and
this is what we all need to look, where can a sinner like me find
the mercy of God? Where can a sinner like me find
the love of God and the grace of God? Not but one place. Christ
said it, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. You seek the Lord. I'm gonna
seek the Lord. Verse 16, so then, here's the
conclusion of God's answer now. Listen to it. It's not of him
that willeth. It's not of the will of man.
Listen, friend, if you're saved, you're not saved because you
made a decision for Christ. That's so. Now, we do decide. But that's not the cause of our
salvation. That's not the source of our
salvation. God didn't respond to us. We responded to Him. It's not of him that willeth.
Free willism is not the scripture, it's not the gospel. Nor of him
that runneth. That word runneth there, we get
two English words from it, trek and track, like in a track meet.
In other words, salvation is not the result of the will of
man, because by nature we're all unwilling. That's right. That's why born dead and trespasses. And salvation is not the result
of the activity, the running of it, trying to run to God in
religion or any other way. It's not works, that's what he's
saying. That's what I know, it's not
of works. Says, by grace are you saved,
through faith. And that's not of yourself, that's
not of the free will of man, that's of God. It's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should. But it's of God that
showeth mercy. And he said, I'll be merciful
to whom I will. Now, in verse 17, he goes through
and he uses Pharaoh as an example, back in the the days when the
Hebrew children were in bondage in Egypt. And you know the story
about how God chose Moses and how he sent Moses down into Egypt
to confront Pharaoh. Pharaoh, who at that time was
the most powerful king on the face of the earth, as far as
we know. And listen to what he says. Now,
he goes to the scripture, verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up." That's
God speaking now. God raised him up. Then I might
show my power in thee. You know, Pharaoh was a man of
great privilege. He was a man of great privilege.
He had power. He had authority. He had riches. All of those things that the
world can offer. But what we see here is a great
example of how privilege doesn't equal blessing. And I told my
Sunday school class that this morning. I said, you know, we
here in America, we are a people of great privilege, aren't we?
I mean, you look at all the other countries that we could compare
ourselves with and many people who are under oppression, poverty,
despotism, all that tyranny, all of that. They don't have
the freedoms and the liberties that we have. And we think about
that, you know, on Independence Day. We think about it on Veterans
Day and Memorial Day, all of that, you know, how we thank
God for those who died in the service of this country so that
we could have our freedom. We're very privileged people,
aren't we? But don't mistake privilege for blessing. Just
because you may have a coin in your pocket that says, in God
we trust, doesn't mean you serve God. You understand that? Pharaoh was very privileged.
But he was also cursed of God. All of his earthly privileges
did him no good. Look at it. God said, I raised
you up that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. In the story of the Exodus,
God's name was declared throughout all the earth. He says in verse
18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will, and whom he will
he hardeneth. He hardens. Now I want you to
think about something. Both Moses and Pharaoh were sinners
who deserved and earned God's wrath. Isn't that right? Moses
was a saved man, but he was a sinner saved by grace. Let me tell you
something. If I'm saved, if you're saved,
we're sinners saved by grace. But God chose to show mercy on
Moses and leave Pharaoh to his own destruction. He gave Pharaoh
what Pharaoh wanted. And Pharaoh didn't want God.
And that was God's sovereign will. And ten times in the book
of Exodus it speaks of God hardening Pharaoh's heart. Other times
it speaks of Pharaoh hardening his own heart. What is it to
harden your heart? It's to turn a deaf ear to what
God's saying. You remember Christ dealt with
that in Matthew 13 when he began to speak in parables. You remember
what the first parable that he spoke was? It was the parable
of the sower and the seed. The seed being the word of God,
the gospel. And he described four kinds of
hearers. And only one hearer, one kind
of hearer that he described there was saved, the good ground hearer.
That's the heart prepared by the Spirit of God in conviction
to believe Christ and to rest in Him for all salvation, all
eternal life, all righteousness and glory. And the disciples
asked him this question, he said, why are you speaking in parables?
And he said, because they see and they see not. They have physical
eyes, but they don't have spiritual eyes. They hear and they hear
not. They have physical ears, they
can hear me audibly, but they don't believe and love and know
and trust in what I'm saying. They don't have spiritual ears.
But he said, blessed are your ears for they hear. Blessed are
your eyes for they see. He said, when I preach the gospel
to those who don't want to hear, they turn a deaf ear to it. They
don't want that. They don't want to, oh, I don't
want to believe that. That's what happens. And so we
have to ask ourselves as we read passages, any passage from Genesis
to Revelation, how are we responding to the word of God? There's only
one right way to respond to the word of God, and that's to fall
down on our knees and beg for mercy and say, God, thy will
be done. That's it. God is sovereign. And man is responsible. God didn't
harden Pharaoh's heart by putting evil or unbelief into Pharaoh.
That's already in him. That's in us all by nature. He
simply left Pharaoh to himself. Somebody said one time, all a
sinner has to do to perish is nothing. Nothing. All God has to do is leave him
alone. That's why I pray constantly,
Lord, do not leave me to myself. Look at verse 19. Now here's
the response to that. Now, listen. Thou wilt say then
unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted
his will? Well, how can he hold Pharaoh
responsible? Pharaoh couldn't resist the sovereign will of
God. Nobody can. So how does God hold us responsible? Now, I could stand up here and
I could philosophize and theologize and debate and discuss and give
you my ideas and my opinions, and they would do you absolutely
no good. But I've got God's answer right here. Look at verse 20.
Here's God's answer. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies or disputest or debate against God? Who do you
think you are? It reminds me of what the Lord
told Job. When Job was trying to find out
the secret ways of God's wisdom and providence, and he just couldn't
figure it out. Well, would you expect anything
more? If there's anybody in the audience today who can figure
all that out, then don't come around me, because I'll corrupt
you. But Job just couldn't figure
it out. He had three friends that thought they had it figured
out. He called them miserable comforters. That's what they
were. The Reverend Dr. Misery. Here's what God told Job. He
said, Job, I'll come and I'll discuss these things with you
if you can answer these questions. Where were you when I hung the
stars in space? Where were you when I created
this world and put Leviathan in the sea? Where were you, Job?
Job was not even there. He was only in the mind of God.
What God was telling me said, you're not God, Job. You can't
understand these things. You can't figure them out. I'm
in control. So when we say, why doth he yet
find fault for who hath resisted his will? Verse 20, here's God's
answer, just like he answered Job. Nay, but, O man, who art
thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Why did you
make me like this? God's the potter, we're the clay. That's a humbling thought, isn't
it? You know what we are? We're the thing formed. That's what we are. We're the
thing formed. A clay pot doesn't look up at the potter and say,
why did you turn me this way or that way? God's in control. He says in verse 21, hath not
the potter power over the clay of the same lump? And that's
the key. Jacob and Esau, all of us, we're from the same lump
of fallen humanity. All who deserve wrath and damnation. None righteous, no not one. None
that doeth good, no not one. None that seeketh after God,
no not one. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. That's the same lump right there.
To make one vessel unto honor, that is to glorify God and another
unto dishonor, to perish in his sins. Verse 22, look at verse
22. What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted or made up to destruction? God suffered
long with Pharaoh. You know, he sent ten plagues.
And there was a time when Pharaoh changed his mind, didn't he?
He said, I'll let them go. Moses is God, is God. But then,
God left him to himself, and he got to thinking about it,
and what happened? I need to get those fellas back. I've lost
my workforce. I've lost the slaves. And he
went after them. and he left Pharaoh to himself,
but verse 23 he says, and that he might make known the riches
of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared,
literally foreordained, unto glory. Now that's what I want
to be. I want to be a vessel of God's
mercy. How about you? I know that if it weren't for
the sovereign power and goodness and grace of God in Christ, I
wouldn't even care whether I was a vessel of mercy or a vessel
of destruction. I wouldn't even think about it. I wouldn't believe
that God would give me what I deserve because I deserve nothing but
goodness in my eyes until he shows me who I really am. Think
about it. Well now, why did all this come
about? What is he really teaching us here? Well, look at verse
24. He's saying here, even us, whom
he hath called. God's called some people. That's
the invincible, irresistible calling of the Holy Spirit, wherein
the gospel of God's grace has made the power of God unto salvation.
And he says, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.
People say, well, God chose the Jews. They're his elect. But
what about the Gentiles? Well, he's teaching here that
God sovereignly has chosen a people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. Look over at Acts chapter 2 with
me. And he's going to call them. Now, how's he going to do that?
You know, some people say, well, if all that's true, God's sovereign,
then why go preach? Well, God calls them. How does
he call them? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Look at Acts chapter 2, Peter stood at Pentecost and
preached this great message. And he preached of Christ. He pointed sinners to Christ
and His blood and righteousness for the only way of salvation. And it says in verse 37, now
look at verse 37 in Acts 2, here's how some responded. It says,
now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts,
they were cut to their heart. Now, who did that? Who does that
cutting? God does. "...and said unto Peter
and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall
we do? And then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins." Now, let me just say this because we're at that verse.
He's not teaching here that baptism is necessary for salvation. Notice
what he says. He didn't say repent and be baptized
for the remission of sins. That's not what it says, does
it? It says repent and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. The remission of sins,
the forgiveness of sin, the pardon of sin doesn't come by being
baptized. It comes through the blood of Christ. all who believe
in him and who've repented of their dead works and their idolatry
are baptized as a confession that Christ has already put away
my sins and he says and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost that's the gift of the ministry of that day but now
look at verse 39 he says for the promise is unto you and and
to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call." Now, first of all, what is the
promise? It's the promise of salvation by the grace of God
in Christ. There's the promise. God promises
to save sinners through Christ. Now, here comes a person and
he says, well, I've got to be baptized in order to be saved.
If I'll get baptized, then God will save me. Well, God never
promised to save anyone by getting baptized. That's not his promise. Now, maybe some preacher promises
that, but God never did. Somebody says, well, if I'll
just walk an aisle, make a decision, and confess Christ before men
and say the sinner's prayer, God never promised to save anybody
that way. Christ said it in Matthew chapter
11, verse 28, when he was teaching about God's sovereignty there.
He said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. Rest in Christ. You come to Christ. rest in him, submit to him and
his righteousness alone." Now who's going to do it? He said,
it's to your children, that is to the Jews. And he said, and
to them that are far off, that's referring to the Gentiles. Which
Jews? Which Gentiles? As many as the
Lord our God shall call. That's what he's talking about.
Go back to Romans 9. Now he goes back to the Old Testament
to prove this. And think about this. You know,
we cannot fully understand or intrude into the mysterious ways
and dealings of God, but I'll tell you what we can always do.
Based upon his testimony, we can always trust God to act in
divine wisdom and justice and goodness towards all. If you
believe the Bible, you cannot avoid The awesomeness and the
beautiful truths of God's sovereignty, of divine election, and man's
responsibility. You can't get away from it if
you believe the Bible. God marked out and used Pharaoh
as a vessel of dishonor. Pharaoh didn't know that. All
he knew is what God commanded him to do by Moses. What did
he say? Let my people go. And he refused to do it. Pharaoh
even saw the awesome power of God in those plagues. But because
of his own unbelief and pride and stubbornness, he would not
obey. Could God have made Pharaoh willing? Yes, but he didn't. God marked
out Moses and used him as a vessel of honor. If he hadn't, Moses
would have perished just like Pharaoh. But here's the point. God calls his people to Christ. Not just the Jews, not just the
Gentiles, any sinner he calls to Christ. And he said that before. This is nothing new. Look at
verse 25. He says, "...as he saith also in OC." Now that's
the New Testament way of referring to the prophet Hosea. That's
who that is. In fact, he's quoting here. He's
going to quote from the prophet Hosea. You'll find it in Hosea
chapter 2 and verse 23. And here's what God says. He
said through Hosea, but even back then, Hosea, he was a prophet
to the northern kingdom. You remember the story of Hosea
and his wife, Gomer, who was a prostitute, who left Hosea
and didn't deserve to have a husband like Hosea. It's a picture of
God's grace. That's his bride, the church. We're sinners, and God saves
us by grace. He saves us in spite of ourselves,
just like Hosea went and got Gomer. And here's what he revealed
back then. He said, I'll call them my people
which were not my people. Who's he talking about? Talking
about the Gentiles. And her beloved which was not beloved. That's
the Gentiles. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. The Gentile nations. And he says
in verse 26, And it shall come to pass that in the place where
it was said unto them, You are not my people, there shall they
be called the children of the living God. You see, it's not
being born a physical son or daughter of Abraham that makes
you a child of God. It's not being circumcised that
makes you a child of God. It's not keeping the law that
makes you a child of God, for by deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified. It's not by baptism or joining
the church. It's not by working your way
into God's favor that you become a child of God. It's being called
of God to Christ. That's a child of God. Brother Aaron read it there in
1 Peter chapter 2. Under you therefore which believe,
baptism is precious. Didn't say that, did it? Under
you therefore which believe, church membership is precious.
Didn't say that, did it? It says, under you therefore
which believe, He, Christ, is precious. That's it. Is Christ precious to you? Is
He precious to me? See, that's all we have to know.
That's who God's elect are. That's who the church is. That's
the redeemed of the Lord. Called of God. Think about it. He says in verse 27, now he quotes
from Isaiah. He goes to another Old Testament
prophet. Isaiah, he was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom. prophesied
about 700 to 750 years before Christ. And he says, Isaiah also
crieth concerning Israel. Listen to what he said. Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea, a remnant... Now, what's a remnant? You know
what a remnant is, don't you? That's a small piece. A small
part shall be saved, for he will finish the work in your concordance
it may say the account, and cut it short in righteousness, that's
injustice, because of short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Now he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 10 there. And he's talking
about how amidst all the rebellion, all the disobedience, all the
unbelief, and all the idolatry that went on in Israel and Judah
in Isaiah's day, and which would continue on through the other
kings, that God still has a remnant. The calling of a remnant, a remnant
of the Jews, and the destruction of the Jewish nation would not
wipe that out. God still has a people, both
Jew and Gentile, and God was going to destroy the nation. He destroyed the northern kingdom
of Israel, And he was going to eventually destroy the southern
kingdom of Judah. But don't let that cause you
to think that God is not saving his people. God is saving his
people. His remnant. And he'll finish
that work. He'll cut it short in righteousness.
It's a sure work. It's not going to take God long.
God has his own timetable. It may not be our timetable,
but God has his. And he's going to do it. A remnant
shall be saved. So, verse 29. Here he quotes
from Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 9. And as Isaiah said before,
accept the Lord of Sabaoth. That's a way of saying the Lord
who cannot be defeated. He's the Lord of a great army.
He cannot be defeated. He cannot be behindered. That's what that means. The Lord
of Sabaoth hath left us a seed, an offspring, We had been as
Sodom and had been like unto Gomorrah. If God hadn't chosen
this remnant and brought them out and called them by His grace
to Christ, the nation Israel would be just like Sodom and
Gomorrah. The whole bunch would be wiped out. And you know that's
still true today? If God hadn't called His people
out of the Gentiles, out of the Jews, and brought us to Christ,
For salvation, the whole mess would be wiped out. Now, look
at verse 30. What shall we say then? Now, what are you going to say? Here's the grand conclusion.
What's the bottom line now? You know, some people get up
and they'll walk away and say, well, I don't want anything to do with
that God. My God's not like that. That's up to you. All that simply
means is that God at this time is leaving you to yourself. Am
I right? What are you going to say? Well,
what does God say? You know, that's what salvation
really is. That's what the new birth really
is. He said, I'll put my spear within
you, I'll give you a new heart. It's learning to think like Christ,
learning the mind of God. God tells us what to think. What
are we going to say? Here it is. Here's what we say.
Look at verse 3. That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. Now, who's he talking
about? Is he talking about every Gentile
without exception here? Well, if he is, he's talking
about people who have attained the righteousness which is of
faith. What is that? That's a believer. That's a sinner
saved by the grace of God, and not every Gentile has attained
that. Many Gentiles, the majority of them, perish in unbelief and
ignorance and darkness. No, he's not talking about every
Gentile here. He's talking about God's remnant. He just identified
them. Over in Romans 11, he'll tell
you exactly who they are. The remnant according to the
election of grace. And he says they followed not
after righteousness. Now what does that mean? It doesn't
mean that they weren't necessarily religious. Man, by nature, is
religious. What it means is they didn't
have the law like Israel had. They didn't have the law of Moses.
But, he says, they've attained righteousness. How do you attain
righteousness? He said, even the righteousness
which is of faith. Now what is the righteousness
which is of faith? Now hold on, we'll get to that.
Look at verse 31. He says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, they had the law of Moses. Paul
later on says, they had a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. They hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Now who's he talking about here? Is he talking about every Jew
without exception? No. He's talking about most of them,
But Paul was a Jew and he attained to the law of righteousness,
just like the Gentiles did. Peter was a Jew. All the apostles, the first believers
in the New Covenant Church were Jews, to the Jew first and the
Greek also. But he said Israel, which were
falling after the law of righteousness. What does that mean? They were
trying to be saved. Verse 32, they didn't make it. Why? Wherefore? because they sought it not by
faith but as it were by the works of the law." They were trying
to work their way into righteousness by their obedience. Salvation
by works was their problem. There is a way which seemeth
right unto men. The end thereof is destruction.
Here it is. Righteousness by works. That's
right. It won't work. But they didn't
seek it by faith. Now, what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? Well, somebody says, it's to
believe. Yes, but to believe what? Where do I believe I find righteousness? What is righteousness? It's perfect
satisfaction to God's law and justice. Where am I going to
find that? Somebody says, look within yourself. You won't find
it there, and if you do, that's just self-righteousness. Somebody
said, join the church. Is that what the Bible says?
Is that what the gospel says? If you'll join the church, you'll
be righteous? Or if you get baptized? Or if you tithe? Or if you don't
miss a service, you'll be righteous? Somebody says, well, go on a
missionary journey. Is that how the Bible says that
we become righteous? What is the righteousness which
is of faith? Well, look back at verse 32,
the last line. They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. They stumbled over a stone. What
is that? Verse 33. As it is written, Behold,
I lay in Zion. What's Zion? That's that hill
in Jerusalem that represents the church, the dwelling place
of God. A stumbling stone and rock of offense and whosoever
believeth on him. That stumbling stone is a person
believeth on him shall not be ashamed or confound." What is
the righteousness of faith? It's the righteousness of God
in Christ. Where am I going to find righteousness?
Where am I going to find holiness? Where am I going to find forgiveness?
Where am I going to find life and glory? In Christ. Nowhere else. The righteousness
of faith is not righteousness that I have because I believed.
It's the righteousness that I believe I have and know I have in Christ.
You see? Verse 4 of chapter 10, we'll
start in chapter 10 next time. But look, verse 4, he says, for
Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the completion
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. That's what we're to conclude.
You can drive yourself crazy over these issues of God's sovereignty
and man's responsibility. What's God's answer? Well, He
gave it to us. Submit to Christ. Run to Christ. He's our only hope. Whosoever
calleth on the name of the Lord, come as a sinner seeking mercy
through Christ and His blood and righteousness shall be saved. Period. All right.