Of course, you know, Paul is
speaking too often about Jews, as he says these things in Romans
10, 1 through 3. Brethren, my heart's desire,
prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Verse 2, they have a zeal of God. And in Galatians 1, 13 and
14, Paul speaking of his past said, for you've heard of my
conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and
profited in the Jewish religion above many my equal in my own
nation being much more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my
father." Now, contextually here, the apostle is speaking of the
sad state of Israel during his time and his ministry. That in their blindness and in
their ignorance of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, they
were going about to try to establish their own righteousness before
God. And they were using the law and
the works of the law in trying to do that. And they were very
zealous for the works of the law and the law of Moses. And Paul found this very sad
in his own people. Why is it so sad under the apostle? Well, in Romans 9 and 2, He says
to them, I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. He enumerates their privileges
as a people, a nation. To them belong the adoption,
the glory, the law, the covenant, and even Christ came out of the
flesh through Israel. And they were descendants of
the patriarch Abraham, a thing of which they were most prideful
and often boasted. Paul finds himself torn, as it
were, and very emotional over the state and the case of the
Jew in that on one hand with regard unto them, he expresses
the depth of his love toward them, for after all they were
his people and kinsmen after the flesh. You find that in Romans
chapter 9 and verses 1 through 3. Here in 9 and 3, He expresses
his willingness to die if it would be able to spare them from
ruin. And I thought of the words of
Moses in Exodus chapter 32 and verse 32 when God said that he
would bring judgment on the people. So Paul was grieved and sad about
the situation of Israel, but on the other hand, He was very
quick and easy to acknowledge that the sovereignty of God was
behind all of this in the situation of the Jew. And he does not,
therefore, draw back from telling them such things were done by
the sovereignty of God and that they were the eternal purpose
of God and that they were written up clearly in the Old Testament
scripture. Still Paul lays before the nation
their guilt with regard to Christ and the gospel in chapter 10
and chapter 11 of Romans. Then coming here to chapter 10,
the apostle speaks words not expressing ill will toward the
people of Israel, not at all, but words of goodwill. For he
addresses them as brethren, not as rebels or apostate as he might. Brothers, a term of affection
that he uses toward them. Then he tells them, that is good
pleasure, even his prayer regarding them is toward their being saved
and knowing salvation. By these words, therefore, as
an old Puritan Thomas Crisp wrote long, long ago, quote, he acquits
himself of any sinister plot against them, unquote. They must
not think that Paul has become their enemy. And then in verse
2 he gives them, I don't know if you'd call it a compliment,
but though true as far as it goes, he will cause it to come
unto nothing. His complaint is this, I bear
them record. I bear them witness. give them
this this I admit and concede they have a zeal for God Israel
Jews after the flesh and their law they have a zeal of God no
he does not and he cannot say they have a love of God he does
not say they have faith in God are in Christ. He does not say
that they contend for the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, but
he grants them, they, that is Israel, Jews after the flesh,
descendants of Abraham, even in their blindness and in their
ignorance, they have a zeal of God. And this is not a zeal with
which God had emboldened them, but rather it was a zeal that
they possess and exhibited toward God, not by grace, but out of
their fondness and affection for the law. It was not a zeal,
however, on the other hand, in favor of some false god or false
idol or religion or imaginary deity, it was a zeal of God in
that it was toward the law of God. The zeal appears again and
again. They were Acts chapter 21 and
verse 20. There are Jews here, they said,
which are zealous for the law, they tell Paul. They're opposed
to idolatry. They're opposed to polytheism. They contend that for the one
true and living God. They prayed at appointed time. They tied all of their possession,
even the minutest of them. They rigorously observed the
Sabbath day. They kept the ceremony of the
law, the days, the months, the seasons, the time, and the year. They compassed sea and land in
order that they might make a proselyte. Paul therefore bears them witness
that they do have a zeal for God. They are zealous of the
things of God. But then it becomes Paul's duty
as a faithful minister of Christ that he point out to them and
hold up before them that their zeal that they had for God and
for the law was ruined by a very fatal flaw. And that is, it was
not according to knowledge. The zeal that they exhibited
was not in accordance with knowledge. Their zeal therefore missed the
mark. It was misguided. It was misspent
zeal, if there's such a thing. It was zeal expended to little
or no profit. Their zeal missed its mark because
it was not exercised according to knowledge. Their zeal was
done. in blind ignorance, counted nothing
for their blessing and their good, which was to establish
a righteousness in the sight of God. This was the object of
their zeal, a thing to be greatly desired, to be counted righteous
and to be in the favor of God. It is a pearl of great price
to be accepted with God and have righteousness before Him. But
now before we proceed, let's make the point Paul could definitely
understand their way of thinking. If any knew their predicament,
it was certainly the Apostle Paul. Once he had done the exact
same thing, as he says in Galatians chapter 1, he too had been a
zealot in the cause of Judaism and in the keeping of the law. As he tells the Galatian, a time
was when he profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals. He means, of course, in years,
being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of the father. And that zeal that Saul had at
that time drove him to persecute the church beyond measure, and
to hate Christ, and away to waste it, and lay it waste. And he
said that he did. Even when confronted by the Lord,
he was at that very time engaged in a murderous endeavor against
the saints of God, breathing out threatenings and slaughter,
with letters from the priest, taking them and casting them
into prison and forcing them to blaspheme the name of their
Lord. And he consented under the death
of the martyr Stephen, Acts 7, 58 and Acts chapter 22 and verse
20. And his confession before Agrippa
in Acts 26 and verse 9, I've barely thought with myself that
I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And he recites the things that
he did impelled by that misguided zeal. You'll see it in Acts 26,
10, 11, and 12. We won't turn there. But he tells
Timothy again, 1 Timothy 1, And verse 13, that he was before
he was a minister, a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. That is, he was insolent toward
the saints of God. And this was not prior to his
becoming a zealot for Judaism. These are not the action of a
young hoodlum that he is describing or an irreligious man. These
things he did as a zealot in Judaism. It ended only when he
was captured by Christ in Acts chapter 9 in that wonderful conversion. He lived under a horrible delusion,
as did his present-day Jewish brethren. He thought he ought
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus. He considered
Jesus an imposter and a usurper of Moses and the law. But with
that in mind, let's go back to Romans 10 verses 2 and verse
3 and their zeal of God. Now, the word zeal here is from
the word that means to be hot or to have heat. to be really
engaged in a thing, thus to be fervid or to have order, A-R-D-O-R,
to have a warm feeling, as it were, that impelled this zeal. Now zeal in and of itself can
we say is a neutral quality. In that, it only takes its ethical
character by that upon which it is directed or that toward
which it is directed. It can be both a virtue and a
dangerous evil. Paul's pre-regeneration zeal,
pre-conversion zeal, if you will, was a deadly and a dangerous
zeal that resulted in much harm and even death to some of the
saints of God. That of the Jews, however, was
a fatal zeal for it was guided not by knowledge or truth but
by ignorance, and they missed the righteousness which they
imagined that they were seeking, or they sought it by the law. Nothing is worse and nothing
is more deadly under the soul than blind, ignorant religious
zeal. Strong zeal that lacks knowledge
will miss the mark and go off course. Well, we must remember
all of the time that the Jews sought to kill Christ. Several
times they tried that before he was actually put to death. Now in each of these Their attempt
at putting him to death would have been by stoning or throwing
him off of a cliff. And this they did in zeal for
the law and for Moses. Again, Tobias Christ wrote when
they tried to kill Jesus, quote, it was out of the extremity of
their zeal and fervency of spirit toward Moses and the law, unquote. They had pronounced Christ a
blasphemer. And so, in their zeal, they would
put him to death according to the law. They called him a transgressor
of God's will. They rejected his claim that
he was equal with God as horrid, horrid blasphemy. Now, this text,
therefore, teaches us that a person may have a strong zeal for God
and not be a Christian believer. One may have a zeal for religion
and yet not even be a Christian. The case of these Jews proves
that. A zeal of God alone is not a
mark that one is surely a Christian. nor that they have submitted
themselves unto Christ. We see a lot of zeal in the name
of God and in the name of Christ in the world, which is not in
accordance with truth or with the gospel, does not line up
with the word of God, and is therefore a misguided zeal. We have heard preachers speak
with envy of the zeal of the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses,
those that go from house to house, in all kinds of weather, good
and bad, yet there is no credit in that zeal, for it is not according
to knowledge according unto truth. See others called evangelical,
zealously in support of their church teaching, faithful to
attend. Some never miss mass. And yet, apart from truth, such
zeal is worth it. This text teaches us something
else contrary to what is often heard and practiced in our day. And that is, so long as one is
sincere, so long as one genuinely believes what they are teaching
or what they believe, then any religion is okay. Just as long
as you are sincere and you do your best, God will understand
and look lovingly and kindly upon you. One great fault with
so many churches today is that they are absolutely doctrineless. They have no doctrine. They do
not think it important. They do not teach doctrine, and
the people seem to love to have it so. They have no creed. They
give no search to sound theology. They make sport of those who
study the scripture and diligently seek to open the meaning of them.
Robert Haldane, one of my favorite commentaries on the book of Romans,
wrote these words at chapter 10 and verse 2, quote, men may
attend to religion, be much occupied on the subject without being
acceptable to God, and that sincerity and even zeal in error is neither
a means of salvation nor an excuse for anyone, unquote. Paul allows them no credit for
their zeal, no merit before God, for theirs was a misguided zeal,
no credit whatsoever. Murray did write this on verse
two, that what Paul declares is, quote, contrary to the modern
popular notion that ignorance is an excuse and a good intention
is the norm of approval, unquote. Calvin wrote, away with those
empty words about good intentions, unquote, or not according to
knowledge, not according to truth. It was old Augustine, a long
time ago, that he said it is better to limp and to halt in
the right way than to run with all of your own might in the
wrong way. First Paul wrote to young Timothy,
2 Timothy 2 verse 5, If a man strive or wrestle or compete,
yet he is not crowned except or unless he strive, wrestle,
or compete, Lawful it, he must do so according to the rule. As an example of misguided zeal,
the words of the Lord, John 16 and verse 2, to his followers
and what they might expect. He said to them, they shall put
you out of the synagogue, yea, the time will come when he that
kills you thinks that he doeth God a service. The Lord warned
that. What zeal to excommunicate such
as they deem unfit. The Greek words have been some
by rendered. They will make you out of a synagogue
man. They will put you on the outside. They will make you, they will
brand you as an excommunicant and as an apostate. censured
as an immoral person and a heretic, putting them out of the synagogue. And their false zeal would even
rise to the level of killing and counting it a service unto
God. They would not stop at excommunication. In some cases, they would actually
put to death. Now, for example of that in the
world, see the killing of the infidels today in the name of
Allah, the waging of a holy war in his name, the killing of many
who disagree with him, crying out, Allah is great, Allah is
great. And they blow up themselves and
50 more. Now, to repeat, zeal for a cause
that makes one dangerous when it is without knowledge and apart
from truth, even when the person considers it a service unto God. In recent years, we have seen
zealots blow up abortion clinics and murder the doctors who perform
them. and perhaps thinking they do
God and Christianity a service and stand up for God and for
right. Those nuts have done much harm
to the name of Christ and the churches of the Lord in our day
and time. The people of Israel have killed
each other, people of Ireland, I meant to say, have killed each
other for years in the name of their religion. Some groups in
zeal for their cause have resorted to violence, lies, and deception. And some in zeal for a particular
party have lied and sabotaged and assassinated character. For you see, zeal that is not
directed by knowledge is a dangerous thing. Environmental zealots,
for example, have damaged cars and gas-guzzling vehicles, chained
themselves to trees to keep a tree from being cut down, and such
like. The nuts over at PETA, People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have thrown paint on
fur coats of women wearing them, want us to quit eating chicken
because the chickens feel pain when they are processed for our
table. Thus zeal is something that can
be good or it can be bad depending on what is motivating it and
the cause at hand. In Paul's epistle, The criteria
by which zeal is to be exercised and judged is knowledge and truth. Zeal must be according to knowledge
and truth. So that their zeal was faulty,
it was a failure because it was not according to knowledge and
truth. Now, we notice their attempt,
the aim and intent of their zeal, for that which they expended
their zeal was to establish a righteousness of their own." Going about to
establish righteousness, diligently employing themselves to establish,
to set up, to erect to stand up before God a righteousness
that he would accept. Now, note what Paul said in verse
1, the last part. Their zeal was not according
to knowledge. And in verse two, the first part,
being ignorant of the righteousness of God, the righteousness of
God, of course, is not his attribute of the unrighteousness, but the
saving or justifying righteousness declared and revealed, proclaimed
in the gospel. they knew not the true way of
becoming righteous before a just and a holy God. And this ignorance
caused them to expend their zeal toward a righteousness of their
own establishing by keeping the law, founded upon works of law,
which was a futile search. For as Paul declares in verse
4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, and not to
them keeping the law, but to them believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. One has said legal endeavor is
hostility to evangelical faith. Bear that in mind. Paul had said
way back in Romans 3, in verse 21, as we saw this morning, that
the righteousness apart from the law is manifested being established
by the law and the prophet. no amount of zeal for the law
can produce a justifying righteousness in any individual. No amount
of religious works done in the name of God or in the name of
Christ can produce a sufficient righteousness to justify. And such righteousness can never
come For Christ, by the law, for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. And their number is legion who
go to try to establish their righteousness in some other way. Make it, keep the law, do good
work, house to house, witness, whatever it might be. All of
these are sure to miscarry rather than produce a saving righteousness. No amount of zeal, apart from
truth and knowledge, can win the favor of God. For it cannot
establish one in a righteousness. A zeal not guided by knowledge
is a dead end street indeed. And with Paul, we are moved to
see the whole multitude exerting religious zeal apart from knowledge
of the only way of righteousness. And they are trusting in their
zeal, trusting in their work, and trusting in their sincerity
for God and for Christ. Sincere zealots, ignorant of
the righteousness of God through Christ, will be lost and damned
along with the worst sinner that ever lived. And again, if I may
quote Tobias Crisp, you can tell I read him. Tobias Crisp had
this to say, that if a man would leave the righteousness of Christ
and learn to the perfecting of its own for peace and salvation,
that man would miscarry and be damned, unquote. For the scriptures
make it abundantly clear, no amount of zeal performed in ignorance
has any saving, justifying merit before God. that every redeemed
and regenerate elect has no aim to promote themselves, but to
exalt Christ and to exalt the Lord, or to boast in what they
have done for Christ, but boast in what Christ has done for us. Never should we boast except
in the cross to bless him that died that we might live and to
be zealous for the truth of God and of the gospel. Are we out
to kill zeal for God and religion? In talking about this, shall
we discourage zeal for God? Oh, no. Only that done apart
from knowledge and without truth, or that seeks to glorify the
flesh, or to build up the flesh, or to build up numbers in the
world. Let our zeal be, therefore, according
unto knowledge and according unto truth." And I'm afraid this
puts a lot of people in a bad light today, what Paul has said
about this zeal.