Romans chapter 9 and verse 22. And the apostle says, if God,
we'll leave out the italicized words to get a little better
sense. If God willing to show wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction. Now you know how God was willing
to make his power known. He endured that generation before
the flood in much longsuffering. Noah preached for 120 years, told them that wrath was coming.
God made his power known and endured with that generation
with great longsuffering. How long he endured with Sodom
and Gomorrah. Waited year after year after
year and then had Abraham plead for him. He got down to just
five righteous people down there and God said, I'll spare them.
So God endured the old world. He endured Sodom and Gomorrah.
So he makes his power known. There are already vessels fitted.
He made his power known in Pharaoh. Waited long and long and long
for Pharaoh. And all these were vessels fitted
for destruction, but he made his power known by enduring a
long, long time. He told Pharaoh, said, I just
raised you up for this purpose. I'll let you talk to me about
the way you did, just to show you that you're a vessel fitted
for destruction, and I destroyed you. And then here's the other
side of it. And that he might make known the riches of his
glory, on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto
glory." He had vessels of mercy. Noah was one of them vessels
of mercy prepared before unto glory. Made the riches of his
grace and glory known in him. Made his riches in grace and
glory known in Lot. Made his riches in mercy known
when he had Moses spared and raised in Pharaoh's house. Even
us. Even us, vessels prepared unto
glory, before unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not
of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith also
in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people,
and her beloved, which was not my beloved. There was a people
that, you know, God called Israel his people, but he said, you
know what I'm going to do? I'm going to call the people that
were not my people, and they're going to become my people. There
is a people that He said, I'm going to take those people like
that infant thrown out in the field. He said, not loved, not
cared for, not swaddled. He said, I'm going to spread
my skirt over them and call them my beloved. And this shall come
to pass and that in that place where it said unto them, you
are not my people. Guess what you're going to say
about them? They shall be called the children of the living God. Isaiah also cries concerning
Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. And Isaiah said before
this too, he said, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a
seed, we had been like Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah.
He says, that's the Jews. He says, they're going to be
arrended, though I don't care, I'd like to send the seed. We'd
been like Sodom and Gomorrah had God set aside, arrended. So what shall we say then? And
this is where I'm going to preach from. What shall we say? that
the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness, have attained
to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense. And whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. There's three things I want us
to look at. It says in verse 30, I commented
on the verses to get down there. Israel is just going to have
a remnant saved. hadn't been for God's blessed
mercy and grace, they'd been like Sodom and Gomorrah. But
what shall we say then, that the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, they didn't know anything about righteousness,
but they have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which
is of faith. And then look at this, but Israel,
which followed after righteousness, They wanted, they labored to
be righteous, but they've not attained to righteousness because
they sought it after the law of righteousness. Why did they
not get it? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. Now, here's three things. There
are some that attain a righteousness, There are some people in this
world that have a righteousness. They attain a righteousness.
And who are these people that attain this righteousness? They're
called Gentiles. You know what Gentiles were like?
Well, you keep Romans 9 and look over here in 1 Corinthians 6
with me. Right over to your right, 1 Corinthians
6. I'll show you what Gentiles were
like. You know, it's Gentiles. And
if you was to go to New York City or was to go to Israel,
either one, where there's lots and lots of Jews who wear the
big hats and the prayer shawls around their shoulders and their
ringlets down by their beards, you know, they wouldn't give
you the time of day. They can't. When they go home,
they got to do just like they did in the Scriptures. They got
to go home and watch. Oh, they just, them Orthodox,
when they bring their children out, they cover their faces up
with paint so that their children won't see any sinful things.
These Orthodox Jews. You can imagine what they think
about people like us. And that's what Paul said. Look
what he said in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Don't you be deceived about this.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And listen, as such were some
of you." Now, that's Gentiles. That's what you were. That's
what you were. And you know, this is one of
the mysteries of Godliness. Paul says, Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Priests unto the Gentiles. That Jews couldn't get that.
Priests unto the Gentiles. And that's one of the mysteries
of godliness. And the second thing is that there are some
who don't attain this righteousness. The ones who counted us as dogs,
and counted Gentiles as off-scouring of the world, and wouldn't touch
us, wouldn't have anything to do with us. And look what he
says. That's why the woman at the well
says, You're a Jew. Why were you over here talking
to me? Why are you talking to me? Jews don't
have nothing to do with people like me. And look what he says,
But there are some that don't attain this righteousness. This
is verse 31. But Israel, the Jews, they followed
after the law of righteousness. I mean, they made from the day
they were born to the day they died, made it their business
to have a righteousness and live righteously in this world. But
they didn't attain to this righteousness. Why didn't they attain to it?
Because they didn't seek it by faith. Why didn't they seek it
by faith? Because they wanted to be justified
and righteous by their own works. And why did they do that? Because
Christ was here. As that stone laid in Zion, and
they stumbled over it, and he was an offense to them. That's
why. That's why. And here's what I
want you to see. That the Gentiles attained to
righteousness. How did they do it? There in
verse 30. By faith. By faith. They put their hand
upon the hand of righteousness. Upon the head of righteousness. They grasped righteousness. They
grasped it by faith, even the righteousness of God. Paul said
in Romans chapter 5 in verse 1, he says, he says in verse
1, therefore being justified by faith, righteous by faith,
justified before God by faith, we have peace with God. You see,
beloved, they laid hold of the Lord Jesus Christ, being made
their wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification and redemption. Now, they were as others by nature,
these Gentiles, these people that got this righteousness.
They got it by faith. They were like others by nature.
But the judge of all the earth has accepted them as righteous.
Oh, my soul, do you understand what it means to be accepted
as righteous before God? I mean, God to Himself look at
you and declare you righteous? and say that I justify you from
everything that Moses could not justify you from? You can stand
before me without sin? Stand before me with my righteousness? And that's what these people
did. How did it happen? They believed the gospel. Romans
5, 21. Look at this with me just a moment.
You know, God made Christ to be sin. that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Christ was made a curse for us
to redeem us, save us from the curse of the law. He said in Romans 5.20, look
what it says, moreover the law entered. Men had always been
sinners, but they didn't know how awful sin was, so God wrote
the law down so that they could look at it and see how awful
sin was. And when the law entered, the sin got greater, got more
pronounced, got weirder, see it clearer. But where sin abounded,
where this law made you understand that you were an awful sinner,
An abounding sinner. And you have sin that abounded
by mountain. It abounded in your mind. It
abounded in your heart. It abounded in your imagination.
It abounded in your deeds. It abounded with your hands.
It abounded with your voice. It abounded with your speech.
Sin abounded in you and in me. Grace did much more abound. All that
abounding sin, grace came and abounded more. Just that sin
reigned unto death through our father Adam, and we died and
were separated for God. Even so, grace now reigns. And
how does it reign? Through righteousness unto eternal
life by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something. The
whole condition of these people who attained this righteousness,
think about all that was against them. The Jews called them dogs. Dogs. Remember that woman that
came to the Lord Jesus? brought her daughter to him and
said, Master, my daughter has previously thanked to the devil.
She just kept ignoring her, ignoring her, ignoring her. And finally, he said, I'm not
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he said,
Oh, Lord, please have mercy. It's not fit to take the children's
bread and cast them to dogs. Even the Lord said, Dog, She
said, yes, Lord, but I'll be your dog. The Jews may call us
dogs, but we'll be Christ's dogs. And that's just what they thought
about them. And I tell you, the scripture
says that you were at that time without God, without Christ,
circumcision in the flesh. You were Gentiles according to
the flesh. They were even against themselves.
I want you to see this overnight. Look back over in Acts chapter
17. I know I'm taking, I want you to see these things. The
Gentiles were even against themselves, and they were far off. They never,
you know, Gentiles had lots and lots of gods. Jews had one. Gentiles had no law. The Jews
had all the law. Gentiles weren't interested in
righteousness, only the Jews were. And then all of a sudden,
a man comes along and starts preaching to them, that you know
you can be righteous before God. There's one God and one Father,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he began to preach Christ
unto them, preach the gospel of God's free grace unto them,
that you know you are way, way off from God. Yes, we know that.
We know you're idolaters. We know you have a lot of different
gods. We know you have sticks and stones
and bones and statues and crosses and idols and snakes and you
have all kinds of things. But he said, I'll tell you what
you do. Now, there's a man that came into this world. And he
came here not to die for himself, but to die for a people. And
those people were given to him in an eternal covenant of grace.
And he came here to die for them, and I tell you, he says, oh listen,
everyone that believes on this man, he pours sin in his own
body on the tree. And if you want his righteousness,
if you want his righteousness and his obedience, you know how
you get it? By faith. You mean there ain't
nothing I need to do? No, believe. Well, everybody
else is going to altars. Believe. Even the Jews are going
to altars. Believe. And that's what they've done.
And, oh beloved, they follow not after righteousness. I'll
tell you what it says. And then we heard verse 18 of
Acts chapter 7. Look what it says. Acts 17, 18. Acts 17 and verse 18. In certain philosophers of the
Epicureans, and other Stoics encountered him, Paul, preaching
in Athens. And some said, what will this
babbler say? Others, he seemed to be a center
for the strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and
the Resurrection. They said, call him a babbler.
They were against themselves. He said, you sent forth strange
gods. They knew all the results, but Paul was sent forth a strange
one. Oh, and I tell you what, you go most places today and
you sent forth Christ, you're sending forth a strange God.
And look what he said down here in verse 32. And when they heard of the resurrection
of the dead, some mocked, and others said, we will hear thee
again of this matter. So you see, they were even against
themselves. They no doubt, some of them were
thoughtful. They were honest. They no doubt, probably a lot
of them were honest. They were just towards others, treated
other people right. But they never thought about having a
righteousness before God. You know what the Gentiles, our
master said, the Gentiles saw that. He said, don't you be as
the Gentiles. All they're interested in is
what we're going to eat, what we're going to wear, and what we're going
to drink. That's all they think about. That's what our Lord said
in Matthew 6.31. And then they were ignorant. Back over in our
text, they were ignorant of salvation. Are you getting an idea here,
you know, that we're Gentiles and we were just like them? They
were ignorant of salvation. Ignorant of holiness. Ignorant
of righteousness. Ignorant of being reconciled
to God. Do you know what they're sought after? Gold and glory
was what they sought after. Power and pleasure is what they
sought after. And they were content to live like animals, live like
beasts. And they followed not after righteousness.
It says here, you know, they followed not after it, but they
found it. When did they find it? When they
heard the gospel and when they believed it. Here's what happened. The shepherds sought them and
found them. They wasn't looking, you know,
people say, you know, you need to seek the Lord. The Lord has
to seek you. And if you ever, he ever seeks
you, you'll seek him. Huh? The shepherd found the sheep. He sought the sheep and he found
them. He says, they were not my people. I'm down there, my
people. They were not my beloved. Now they're my beloved. And oh,
beloved, I'll tell you something. They found out that they were
lost. And how they were found. A man will never know anything
about the gospel. And what the gospel does, it
tells a man how he became lost. You know when you became lost?
You know when men became lost? They came into this world lost. They came into this world guilty.
They came into this world as sinners. You don't become a sinner
when you grow up and start sinning. You don't become a sinner when
you grow up and start doing things that's wrong. You start sinning
because you were born a sinner. And people say, he told me, lost.
You were born lost. Born without God. Born without
Christ. And you'll live lost, and you'll
live without Christ and die without Christ unless God Himself comes
to you and finds you and seeks you and makes you understand
that you're lost. How did I become lost? Because
one man's sin in the Garden of Eden, and that sin passed upon
every one of us, and we was all shaped in iniquity and conceived
in sin. And, O Beloved, our Lord Jesus,
And I tell you, if you ever find out how you get lost, most folks
don't have a clue how they get lost. They start telling them
all the things they need to start doing. Quit doing this and quit
doing that and quit doing this other thing. You can quit everything
that you know to do, change all your habits, but until God makes
you lost, you'll never know anything about sin at all. But the Lord,
they found out that when our Lord Jesus came, they found out
they was lost, and how they're found. If you ever get lost,
you'll understand how you get found. And they discovered in
the Lord Jesus Christ, these Gentiles did, that all they needed
was in Him. The righteousness they needed
was found in Him. Now listen to this now, beloved.
Grace finds men who would never have found grace. Grace finds men who would never
have found grace. You see, these persons are so
unlikely. Unlikely persons. Do you know
what these unlikely persons are? These unlikely persons did really
believe and attained to righteousness. Paul says, the gospel is the
power of God unto them that believe. For therein, in the gospel, God
reveals a righteousness. the righteousness that Christ
provides, and the gospel was the power of God unto them, and
they listened intently, these Gentiles did, as if their lives
depended on it. Paul says that the Bereans were
more noble than those at Thessalonica. They searched the Scriptures
to see if these things were so. And he told him, Thessalonians,
said, listen, the gospel came unto you. I know your election.
How do you know it? Because the gospel came unto
you. It came unto you in power and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. And, oh, beloved, I tell you,
there's lots of people that heard the, that believed the gospel
the first time they heard it, as far as we know. Lydia was
down by the riverside. She was a Jew. She gathered with
a bunch of other Jews and went down there to worship. Paul said, he went down there,
knowing where all those Jews met there, didn't have a synagogue
there, but down by the riverside, getting down there, a bunch of
Jews to worship, and Lydia's among them, a cellar of purple. And
there's a fellow stepped up among them, sitting there by the river
named Paul. And he began to preach, and the
scripture says, the Lord opened her heart. Heard the gospel one
time, saved like that. That Philippian jailer, first
time he heard the gospel, he believed. That Ethiopian eunuch,
going back down to Ethiopia, sending his chariot, filled the
priest the gospel to him, and he believed. And he said, here's
what I want to do. You know, there's people that
believe it the first time they hear it. You don't have to be
drug overhauled to believe the gospel. That's why, Lord, you
know, the Scriptures tell us that the Word of God is quick
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and it cleaves
the sunderer, soul and spirit, joins in marriage, and is a discerner
of the false and intents of the heart. It makes you understand
who you are, where you are, what you think, everything about you.
It exposes you. The Gospel does that. And beloved
in the gospel, when they heard the gospel, they saw themselves,
they saw themselves, and they saw their remedy in the blessed
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw a blessed beauty in
the gospel. And they saw a beauty in this
thing of grace. They saw a beauty in this person,
Jesus Christ. They saw a beauty in this gospel
of free grace. They saw a beauty in a salvation
that was provided, full and free, with nothing to do but believe.
Now, how do you got to do to believe? Believe. And oh, beloved, that Philippian
jailer, He saw a light and he walked in it. And that's what
he says here. What shall we say then there
in verse 30? What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which
fall not after righteousness have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousnesses of faith. What shall we say then? I'll
tell you what we say then. Here we see the sovereign, sovereign
appointment of God Himself. Ain't that what he says there
in verse 15? Back here in Romans 9? What shall we say to these
people having this righteousness? And they're getting it by faith.
And they're Gentiles. They're dogs. Far off from God. Without God, without Christ,
without hope in this world. Sinners from the top of their
head to the sole of their feet. Many, many gods. Many, many righteousness. Many, many ways to be saved.
But look what he says. No, see the sovereign appointment
of God. For he said to Moses, I'm going to have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. Wait a minute. Ain't salvation just for Jews?
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed. You see, God purposed from eternity
to call these Gentiles, to call people like you. That's why He
said, Ask of me the heathen, and I'll give them for thine
inheritance. The gospel goes forth full of power. by the eternal
purpose of God and accomplishes what He meant for it to do, and
I'm grateful for that. I am grateful that God, that
the gospel and salvation is dependent upon Him. If it was dependent
on us, how many of us would be saved? If it was dependent upon
the preacher and his power, how many would be saved? If it was dependent upon the
preacher and his understanding and your understanding, how many
would us be saved? Oh, my. And then not only we see God's
sovereign affordment, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy,
but we see prophecy fulfilled in those who attain to this righteousness.
Ain't that what he said up here in verse twenty-five? Prophecy
was fulfilled in God saving these people. And he says also in Hosea,
that's what he means, Hosea said, Isaiah, I call them my people
which were not my people. You fellows, you know, you Jews
don't want me. You want your righteousness,
you want your law, you want your kings, you want your rituals.
He said, I'm going to call a people which were not my people, her
beloved that was not my beloved. And it shall come to pass in
that place where he said that, that you're not my people, they're
going to be called the children of the living God. I could walk
up to a Jew in New York City, or over in Israel, or anywhere
else I found one, and I could look at him and tell him, with
all his hats and clothes and rituals that he has on, and goes
on through them, and going to the synagogue, and praying, and
walking, and going, and learning, and all that, with his Bible
reading from left to right, I could go up to him and say, you know,
I've got a righteousness and you don't. And you know who my righteousness
is? Jesus Christ. Do you know God set you aside
and called me? God rejected you and called me?
God said He's going to have mercy
on me and compassion on me, and He's going to harden you? How
do you know what you're talking about? I've got a righteousness. I go over here to synagogue.
You wouldn't believe my rabbi. And I can tell you the rabbis
were 400 years back in what they taught and believed. And he says, oh listen, God said,
I'm a child of the living God. How do you do that? God said
back in Hosea, and I know where Hosea's at, don't you? Oh yeah,
I know where it's at. Did you know that God said back
then that he's going to call the people that were not a people,
and they're going to be his people? And he's going to say, I love
them people. And, O Beloved, those who sought
it not found it. And who is grace going to today
or tomorrow? Who is grace going to today or
tomorrow? Is God's grace going to come
to you? I don't know. And this is the gospel of God's
grace. What it does is it saves, calls and saves the unworthy.
That He has mercy upon the guilty and the undeserved. And this
tells us that the worst man, the very worst man, may have
righteousness through faith in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, here's what our Savior done. He didn't say, I come not
to mend up your rags, but that the naked may be clothed
in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not come to
look for any goodness or virtue or beauty about you, but to show
you your deformities, your wounds, your putrefying scars. That's
what He comes to do. I was talking about it yesterday.
Before we were saved, before God saved us by His grace, we
didn't know anything about sin. But God knew all of our sin.
After God saves us, we know something about sin. But God forgets all
of it. That's why we call this the
gospel. Huh? Oh, my. We don't preach merit. Who in
the world's got any merit? Who's got any Oh, we don't preach
about human goodness. Man's not good. He's not good. He's not good before God. He
may be good before his mother, before his wife, before his brothers,
before his sisters, before the people he works with. They may
think he's good. But he's not good before God.
And that's where it counts. You gonna be good before God?
Your neighbors may think you're a good, honest man, but God doesn't
think you're good, and He don't think you're honest. You see,
we're dealing with God. We're not dealing with man. We're
dealing with the righteousness not of man's doing, but of Christ's
doing. We're not talking about people
who have got something going for them. We're talking about
people who have absolutely nothing going for them. We're not talking
about people that are full. The gospel's not for people that
are full, but for people that are empty. The gospel's not for
people that are doing the best they can. It's for those who
understand that they don't have no best at all anywhere, any
way or any shape. They understand that man at his
best state is all again abandoned. Oh, if we could get folks to
understand. Oh, Lord. that people can understand and
ever understand that they have nothing, absolutely nothing to
offer God. And that's why men can be saved
and come to Christ without moving a muscle. Right now, in your heart, you
can say, Lord, I believe. I need a rush, and my rags are
filthy. My heart is wicked. My mind has
got the awfulest of the thoughts I've had of you. I'm ashamed
of them. What I've said and what I've
done and how I've lived, I'm embarrassed by it. I've always thought I was a good
person, or I've heard this gospel and found out that I have no
goodness whatsoever. And if you in your heart don't
know, God, I see that, I see that, I see that. Oh, Lord, I
come to you. Christ, I need your righteousness. Would you give me your righteousness? And that's how you get it, from
here to there. And you know what I do? I do
that every single day. In fact, I'm worse today than
I've ever been as far as my sin's concerned. As far as my ability's concerned.
As far as my... I have absolutely nothing. So everything I've got, Christ
has to give it to me. If I have any ability, Christ's
got it. See, God's not looking at you and saying, well, he's
got some good gifts. I believe I'll use his gifts. You ain't
got no gifts. You ain't got nothing. We don't
have no gifts. And I tell you, preachers and
people have thought so highly of themselves for so long. So
long. that when they hear the gospel
and that God does not listen, salvation is of the Lord. He
can give it or He can keep it. He can show mercy or He can harden. You can be a vessel of mercy
or you can be a vessel of wrath. I don't know which one you are,
but I do know this. that that man who comes to God
through Jesus Christ, and by Jesus Christ, and believes on
Jesus Christ, that man will be saved. I know that. Because God
tells me that. The Scriptures tell me that.
Oh my! This is the gospel that men are
saved by. And oh, listen, let me show you
something else over here. Oh my! God saves sinners. God saves sinners. God save sinners. God save my
children. God save your children. God save
your husbands. God save your wives. Because
if they save, God's got to do the saving. God reach out right now in power,
in grace, in mercy. Oh, God calls the gospel to go
forth today. Men, I mean, listen. When your
life is hanging by a thread, and that's what it's hanging
by. And you know who holds that thread? God holds that thread. When your life is hanging, and
you understand that your days are numbered, that your breaths
are numbered, that you understand the frailty of life, and you understand that this
flesh has no strength, no power, no ability, Turn to God in Christ right now. And look at these people who
didn't attain righteousness. In verse 31. Oh, sorry, Gentile
dogs like me, they have a righteousness. And oh, I have a dog like me,
I have a righteousness. But here's a bunch of folks who
sought after righteousness. Israel which followed after righteousness.
Verse 31. They've not attained it. Why didn't they do it? Because
they didn't do it by faith. There are some here who don't
attain to this righteousness. You know, multitude have never
yet frowned to righteousness. I read that to you this morning.
They said that we've gathered to worship God, perhaps best
revealed in Jesus Christ. The only place God's revealed
in any time is in Jesus Christ. And multitudes have never yet
found true righteousness. You see, there's people, these
Jews had advantages that no other people had. Our Lord said, I'm
not sick but to the lost sheep of Israel. He told His disciples
when they went out, do not but to the house of Israel. They
were a chosen race. They were entered into a covenant
with God by circumcision. They were given the law and Moses. The prophets, they had the prophets.
They had the priesthood. They had the tabernacle. And
even the Lord Jesus Christ was a Messiah. He was born of the
Jewish nation, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And they
should have known that salvation would be by faith because Habakkuk
said, the just shall live by faith. And the scripture says
that Abraham believed God. So they should have known that
God's going to save Abraham by faith. I must be saved by believing. But they didn't. They didn't
panic. All the way they wanted to be
associated with Abraham. was be one of his sons. And our
Lord said, if you were the son of Abraham, you'd do what Abraham
did. What did he do? He believed! Our Lord Jesus said, he rejoiced
to see my day, and he thought he was glad. And when he took
his son up on that mountainside, he said, yes, I'll see the Son
of God. When God made a promise to him,
and his son was born, and there was a promise, and God told him
what to name him, he said, yes, I'll see the Son of God. Oh, beloved, born and raised in religion and
in piety, went to religious feasts, but they didn't attain to righteousness.
They didn't attain to righteousness. I heard a man say this week,
listen to me, It's just, this is the way the natural man thinks. This fellow is an incredibly
brilliant man. But he said he read the Bible.
And he said when he read the Bible, he found out that God,
when God told Abraham to offer up his son, he said, I don't
want God to tell me to offer up his own son. And then he said,
he read over in the Gospels where Jesus says, you know, except
the man forsake his father and his mothers and his brothers
and his sisters, he's not worthy of me. And he says, I was raised
to believe in family. And anybody tell me to leave
my whole family for him said, I don't want no daughter like
that either. I don't want a religion like that. So he said, that's
why I'm a skeptic. That's why I'm an agnostic. And
he don't find that. And listen, When you forsake
everything for Christ, you get everything, 10,000. He said,
I come that you might have life in heaven. Not only do you have
a family, but you have a family that reaches all over the world. That's the reasoning. And that's
why these folks don't ever attain a righteousness. And oh, they
earnestly and seriously were following after the law of righteousness. Oh my, they couldn't be faulted
in their lives. If you fault them around, you
say, boy, I'll tell you what, that boy right there, he lives
it. He practices what he preaches. They couldn't be faulted in their
lives. Oh, they were religious. You fault them in the church.
Oh my, I wish I had a church house full like that. Fault them
in their lives, fault them on their jobs. Oh boy, man, oh man. Did you see them fellas hold
hands and pray there? over the dinner table in that
restaurant. Man, them folks are really religious, ain't they?
Did you see, did you see how they had the hair pinned up,
and them long vests, and them long sleeved shirts? Oh my, them
folks were living holy lives. Huh? See them on the job? When they have a break, they're
drinking coffee like us, they open their Bibles, read their
Bible. Oh my, them colors, oh they live so good. But all, beloved, they didn't
have a clue what true righteousness was. Our Lord Jesus said, except,
except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees, you can't even enter into the kingdom of
God. And I tell you, they sought righteousness.
But are you seeking righteousness? And if you do, in what way? Are
you seeking it by faith or by works? Huh? Look over in Galatians. Look
over with me in Galatians 75. Galatians is two books over,
1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians to your right, and then Galatians. Galatians, Chapter 5. Are you
seeking righteousness? And if you are, in what way are
you seeking it? I remember when seeking righteousness,
After the law, I remember seeking righteousness by what I lived
and how I lived, and some of you do. Some of you remember
very well trying to seek a righteousness by how you lived in this world,
by how you prayed, how you went to church, and how much money
you gave to the church, and how you done at home with your children,
and how you dressed. And I mean, you know, we all
know what it is to try to attain a righteousness of our own. But look what he said here in
Galatians 5.2. Now, listen to this. This is
a frightening thing, if God blessed this to your understanding. Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, if you go
back under the law and try to be saved by your flesh, and circumcision
means a cleansing of the flesh, Christ shall profit you nothing. Christ's righteousness, Christ's
life, Christ's death will profit you nothing. And listen to this,
and he says, For I testify again to every man that is circumcised.
If you go back under the law, if you want to be saved by the
law, by doing, then he's a debtor to do the whole law. You've got
to do it all. Now listen, verse 4. Christ is
become of no effect unto you. His blood has no effect to cleanse
you from your sin. His righteousness has no effect.
to cause you to stand before God? His grace has no effect
to call you to Himself? Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever you are justified by law." Now look what he says,
you're falling from grace. People think falling from grace
is going to church and making a profession and then going back
into the world. You know what you need to do to fall from grace?
is just try to go back to being justified by one work you've
done. That's all it takes. That's all it takes. That's all
it takes. Well, let me hurry up. Oh, my. Well, let me tell you
what this essence of righteousness is. To love God, that's the essence
of righteousness. You know, men want to appear
righteous. But they don't really want to
be righteous, they just want to appear righteous. They want
to be seen of men. Don't care anything about loving
God. But our Lord Jesus Christ said this. A lawyer asked him,
says, Master, what's the greatest commandment in the law? And our
Lord Jesus Christ, now this shows you that it's not anything to
do with outward. He says, love God, first of all, with your
heart. Secondly, with your mind. Thirdly,
with your soul. Fourthly, with your whole being.
And what does that have to do with the flesh or love? And secondly, to love your neighbor
just like you love yourself. Oh man, a man may pay his tithes,
he may keep his ceremonies, but to cleanse the heart, to purify
the motive, only God can do that. And, oh beloved, why didn't they
obtain this righteousness? Because they worked for it. They
worked for it. And salvation that a man works
for, it exalts him and brings God down. Salvation by the law
ignores the fact that you've sinned already. It makes much of man, but makes
little of God. And I tell you, listen now, let
me close up with this. You know, salvation by works
is impossible for man. It's absolutely impossible. Nobody's
ever kept the law. You make your resolutions. You
clean up the outside, but you can't clean the heart. You can't
make your motive pure. And you have to have a heart
that loves God. And you can't do that. You can't
do that. But Christ can give you a heart
to love Him. I mean love him. When he crosses your wheel, crosses
your path, and upsets your apple cart, you know what you do? You say, Lord, I bless you. I'll
just pick up the apples and thank you for them. Oh, you'll find no fault with
him. And I'll tell you this, and here's another thing that's
just absolutely astounding. Now back over in our text, look
what it says. That men would stumble over Christ. Some people, they get a salvation.
They weren't looking for it, but they have it. God gives it
to them. Seeks them out and gives it to
them by His grace. Some people seek after it by
their works and by law, and they never get it. Spend their whole
life trying to be saved by what they do, and yet are never saved. because they seek it by works.
But here's the thing that really is astounding, is that they stumbled,
in verse 32, they stumbled at that stumbling stone, and it
is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock
of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Here's the astounding thing that men would stumble over Christ.
How in the world would a man stumble over Christ? Salvation
by your own works or your own righteousness is stumbling over
Christ. He's a rock of offense to the
moralist. He's a rock of offense to the traditionalist. He's a
rock of offense to the fellow who wants to be saved by his
own words. But I tell you what, beloved, our Lord Jesus says,
you had no sin until I came, and now you have no cover for
your sin. He came. Now you ain't got no
place to hide. Only one place you can get a
righteousness, and that's right in your heart. Oh, God help me. Help me to look to Christ. Look
to Him. Look to Him. Trust Him. Look
to Him. Believe Him.