The title of the lesson is taken
from the last verse that we're going to deal with in Romans
10 and verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. And this is the main subject
of the scripture. This is the heart of the gospel,
which begins with the fact that God is just and righteous and
we're not. And yet God, who is God, must
be just in whatever he does, whether it's condemnation, whether
it's salvation, in everything that he does. He must, as I say,
punish sinners with condemnation to whom he imputes or charges
iniquity. And the fact is that we, in our
fallen, spiritually dead state, and even in a safe state, we
cannot work our way unto the righteousness that God requires.
We can't do it. We're sinners. And we'll be nothing
but sinners while here on this earth. So how do we attain righteousness? Well, here's the answer. Christ
is the end, the fulfillment, the perfection of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believe it. Now we're going to
go back to verse 30 of chapter 9, where Paul poses this question,
what shall we say then? What shall we say to these things? How are we going to respond to
these things? Now, what are these things that
Paul's talking about? He said it back in verse 14,
what shall we say then? Well, what are these things?
Well, Paul had said some pretty, pretty, great things that man, things
that has never entered into the minds of us, of any man or woman,
concerning God's purpose, God's sovereign purpose, and God's
sovereign plan, and God's sovereign work, his love, his hate. He said this, here's what he
said. He said that just because a person is a natural descendant
of Abraham, an Israelite, does not make that person a child
of God, a spiritual child of God in an eternal sense. He said that's so. And this was a warning to the
unbelieving Jews. Don't think that just because
you have that pedigree that that means you're saved. And Paul
makes a really bold declaration in Romans 10.1 He says, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Now what are you saying, Paul? I'm saying they're lost.
They're lost. Now we know he's not talking
about every individual Israelite. Paul himself was an Israelite.
Peter was an Israelite. John was an Israelite. They were
saved. He's talking about the majority
of that nation. That nation as a people. on the
whole rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, now don't
think that just because you're a natural descendant of Abraham
that that cuts any ice with God. Because it doesn't. And you know
Christ himself, he said it even in a stronger way back in Matthew
23. Remember he told him, he says, talking again to the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, who were adamant to bring Gentiles into their
fold by proselytizing them. In other words, trying to get
these Gentile men circumcised and bring them in and make them
at least second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. That's
where they fell. And they showed that in the temple that they
made, that middle wall partition. Converted Gentiles could only
go so far in the temple. And then there was a wall of
partition, and only the Jews could go into the inner sanctum. I'm not talking about the holiest
of all now, but they built that wall there that separated Jew
and Gentile, and so the Gentiles could benefit from being a convert,
but they were still second-class citizens. That's why Paul, in
Ephesians chapter two, he talks about how How we're all made
nigh to God by the blood of Christ. And that middle wall of partition
is broken down. In other words, anyone who believes
in Christ, evidence is that they are righteous in him and have
an equal standing before God. No matter whether you're Jew
or Gentile. So Paul had said now, now just because you're
an ethnic Jew doesn't mean you're a true child of God eternal.
Now what are you gonna say to that? How are you going to respond
to that? And then he'd gone on, he talked
about Jacob and Esau. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And how are you going to respond
to that? What are you going to say? Well, what do people say?
Well, some say, well, let's tweak the scriptures. Let's say, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I loved less. Now that's not what it
means. And if that's how you respond
to that, you're twisting the scripture. God's love is his just purpose
to save his people from their sins in Christ. God's hatred
is his just purpose to condemn those who stand before him without
Christ. And that's hatred. It's not loving
them less. He said, God saves whom he will,
when he will, how he will. God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, I'll be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. It's not of him that willeth,
it's not of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth
mercy. Now how are you gonna respond to that? Now here's the thing that we
gotta understand about the scripture. We don't have to go off and get
in a circle and get everybody's opinion on how to respond to
that. The Bible, God's word, God's
inspired word, tells us exactly how we are to respond to that. And that's what he did in Romans
9, 14, all the way down to this point. He said, who are you to
reply against God? Who are you to argue with God?
Who are you to debate with God? Who are you to accuse God? So
he says in Romans 9.30, what shall we say then? Well, some
people say this. They say, well, I don't believe
in a God like that. Okay, so that's how you respond.
Then you're no better off than what Paul was talking about in
Romans 9.3, accursed from Christ. Some people say, well, I'm just
gonna ignore that part of the scripture. Is that how the Bible
tells us to respond? Is that how God says to respond
to this? I'll preach through Romans, but when I get to Romans
9, I'm going to jump over to Romans 12, because we can't understand
what he's saying here. The problem is not that you can't
understand. His problem is you don't like it. And I know because
I was there. I understood what it said. I
was like, you know, I've told you about Mark Twain, what he
said to the reporter when the reporter asked him about what
he thought about the Bible, you know, about the parts that he
couldn't understand. And Twain said this, he said,
it's not the parts I don't understand that bother me, it's the parts
that I do understand that bother me. And that's the way I was. I told people, I said, I don't
want to worship a god like that. And that's the equivalent of
wishing yourself accursed. That's really what it is. Even
though you may not, you don't know it, And then others say,
well, we're just going to change it around to make it fit what
we believe. Is that how we're to respond?
Some say, well, now, if God saves whom he will, if he's sovereign,
he chose a people and passed by others, then it doesn't matter
what we do. I don't have to seek the Lord,
don't have to read the Bible. Just if I'm elect, I'm going
to be saved. If I'm not, I won't be. So I'll
just go on and eat, drink, and be merry. Tomorrow I die. Now,
is that the proper way to respond? All right, no, it's not. So how
do we respond? We'll look at it. Romans 9.30,
what shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. Now he says in verse 31, but
Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness. They didn't make it. Why? Verse
32, wherefore? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Now we'll hold
the thought right there. Here's how we're to respond.
And here's what he's saying basically in these verses. We ought to
give our lives, our minds, our thoughts, are searching to finding
out how a sinner can be made righteous in God's sight. It's
true that being a Jew won't do it, being an American won't do
it. It's true there are people whom God loves and there are
people whom God hates. It's true that it's not by the
will of man nor the works of man, it's of God who shows mercy. God's gonna save whom he will.
Now how am I to respond to that? Well God's righteous, I'm not.
How in the world can a sinner like me be made righteous? Justified
in God's sight, saved. That's how we're to respond. And he says now the Gentiles,
now you know he's not talking about every Gentile without exception
here. There are plenty of lost Gentiles
who have not attained righteousness. He's talking about the believing
Gentiles. He's talking about his elect among the Gentiles.
who believe the gospel. And when he says they followed
not after righteousness, what he means there, the context proves
this out. He's talking about the law of
Moses. They didn't have the law of Moses. Now that doesn't mean
the Gentiles didn't have a law. Remember back over in Romans
chapter two, when he said in verse 14, for when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, the law of Moses, do by nature the things
contained in the law, These having not the law are a law unto themselves
which show the work of the law written in their heart. Now how's
it, what's he talking about? Here it is. Their conscience
also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing
or else excusing one another. So the Gentiles had laws. Gentile societies back then had
laws. They had jails. They had police
forces. They had families and societies. They had thou shalt nots and
thou shalt, they had that, but they didn't have the law of Moses
as it was given to the Jews. And this doesn't mean that when
it says the Gentiles have followed, when they followed not after
righteousness, it doesn't mean that there were no Gentiles who
were trying to be moral people or trying to work their way into
favor with their God or their gods. Doesn't mean that all the
Gentiles were raving lunatics out here, just killing each other.
I mean, there was a lot of that going on, don't get me wrong,
back then and now. But he's saying they didn't have
the law of Moses to which they tried to adhere to in order to
make themselves righteous. So when he talks about the Gentiles
here, He's talking about those who had been brought to faith
in Christ in true repentance. There were those in Rome who
believed the gospel. They were sinners saved by grace.
In this church at Rome, there were both Jews and Gentiles.
In the church at Ephesus, there were Jews and Gentiles, believers
whom God had brought by the Spirit to faith in Christ under the
preaching of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
And so he says the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,
that is in the way that the Jews did by the law of Moses, they
attained righteousness. How can a sinner attain righteousness? Well, even the righteousness
which is of faith. Now, what is the righteousness
which is of faith? I've got a whole lesson later
on on that subject. What is the righteousness of
faith? Does that mean that God, because I cannot measure up or
work my way into righteousness of the law, that God accepts
my faith, my believing, as a substitute? You know, that's what a lot of
people believe, or at least, and they may not state it that
way, but that's what they imply. God felt so sorry for us that
we couldn't attain righteousness, so he said, well, I'll lower
my standard, and if you'll just believe. No, read your Bible. That's not what the righteousness
of faith is. Does this mean that where I fall
short, Christ makes up the difference? No. What is the righteousness
of faith? All right, now hold on to that
thought. Look at verse 32, or verse 31. But Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, now how did they do it? By works
of the law. He said they hath not attained
the law of righteousness. They didn't reach their goal.
Their goal was to keep the law of Moses in order to be righteous.
And I've told you this, if you look at the Bible, the unbelieving
Jews basically had three things that they would plead as making
them right with God. Number one was their physical
connection with Abraham. Well, Paul had already dealt
with that. What are you gonna say to that now? The second thing
was their circumcision. The circumcision of the males
who represented the whole family. Somebody asked me one time, well,
what about the females? Well, the male represented the whole
family. But their circumcision. We be circumcised, they said.
We're not uncircumcised heathen. And the third one was that they
kept the law of Moses, which they did not do, but you know
how people do. They lower the standard. And
they thought they attained it, but they didn't. The most devout
Jew trying to keep the law for righteousness could not make
it. That's why I tell people all
the time, when you think about sin and how God looks upon sin
and judges sin and sinners, don't start with the dregs of society
and try to work your way up. You know, the drunks and the
whoremongers and the druggies and all, don't start, the porno
guys, don't start there. That's sin now, don't get me
wrong. That's damnable sin. Awful sin against God and against
man, against society. But don't start there. Start
with the best of the best, the most devout, and work your way
down. Then you'll understand something of what the Bible means
about sin. That's what I'm gonna preach on here in the next message. Here's a sinner who does not
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's kind, generous, devout,
sincere, a pillar of society. But he's not washed in the blood
and he gives no evidence. Let's say it that way. He gives
no evidence of having been washed in the blood and clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. What is he? He's a wicked sinner,
lost. He may be a sheep, but he hasn't
been found yet, has he? That's where we gotta start.
That's why I was preaching that on TV, you know, I talked about
people talk about, you know, you talk about Mother Teresa,
you know, or Saint so-and-so. Listen, folks. Without Christ,
I don't care what you call it, how high you get it or esteem
it, it's evil in the sight of God. Evil. And Paul recognized that in himself.
He said, nobody could have outdone me. Remember Philippians 3? He said, nobody could have outdone
me in my attempts to attain righteousness by my works. And he used everything
that the Jews use. He talked about, I'm a Hebrew
of Hebrews. I was circumcised the eighth day. It's touching
the law, righteous before men. But what did he say? He said,
I counted all but loss, even dung. that I may win Christ and
be found in him. What is the righteousness of
faith? Well, he says the Jews, verse 31, which followed after
the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness,
verse 32. Why? That's what the word wherefore
means. Why? Because they sought it not
by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Now what is,
what does it mean to seek righteousness by faith? Well the next few lines
here to the end of this lesson tells you exactly what he means.
Look at it again, verse 33, or verse 32. Because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. And
then he tells us what it is to seek righteousness by faith.
They stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now what's he talking
about there? They stumbled at the stumbling
stone. Well, that's a reference back to the book of Isaiah. You
can find it in Isaiah chapter eight and Isaiah chapter 28,
which is a prophecy of the Messiah that when he would come and preach
in Judea, he would be a stumbling stone, he would be an offense
to them. He said, how do you know it's
talking about Christ? Look at verse 33. As it is written, behold,
I land Zion a stumbling stone, that's from Isaiah 28, and rock
of a fence. In other words, the Messiah who
was the only one who could work righteousness for God's people,
the only one who could put away the sins of God's people, The
only one who could measure up to the requirements of God's
perfection, God's law, he would be an offense to those who sought
righteousness by their works. Now, why is that? Well, what
does the scripture tell us? Remember over in John 3 in verse
19? But this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and men loved darkness
and hated the light because their deeds were evil. Think about that. Many of you
were in false churches, believing a false gospel before you heard
the gospel. And you had to come to the point
by the power of God. You didn't do this on your own.
This wasn't a power of your goodness or your free will. You had to
come to the point that everything I thought and believed before
I saw the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
was evil and dumb. And it takes the spirit of God
to bring a sinner to that point, doesn't it? That's repentance
of dead works. And you had many friends, some
of you, who said, nope, I'm not going that far. That's an offense
to me. You had some loved ones, didn't
you, that, nope, nope, that's an offense to me. You're not
gonna tell me that all my religion, before I came to this doctrine,
the doctrine of grace, the doctrine of Christ, Where he says in Romans 9.33,
he says, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. In other passages, it says shall
not be offended. Think about it. Think about what this shame he
is talking about. You know, you can see a prime
example of it in Matthew 7, 21 through 23. false preachers, standing before
Christ at the judgment, wearing the garment of their own works,
which they gave God credit for. I always remember that. I was talking
to a gentleman, he was spraying the church for bugs, and we got
to talking, and I told him, I said, you know the, I asked him, we
got to talking about religion, he's asked me about what I preach,
and I was telling him, And we got on this subject for some
reason, but I said, are you familiar with the parable of the Pharisee
and the publican? And Luke 18, he said, I think
so. And I said, do you remember what
the first three words that came out of the Pharisee's mouth was? I thank God. Before he said one word about
what he'd been unable to do or been able to avoid, He said,
I thank God. You see, in his mind, he wasn't
taking credit for himself. He was giving God the credit.
And it's just like those false preachers in Matthew 7, 21 through
23. They said, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Haven't we cast out demons in
your name? Haven't we done many wonderful
works in your name? Oh, I just want to give God the
glory. How many times you've had people who don't believe
the true gospel say that? We just want to glorify God. And they were very proud of what
God had enabled them to do. Only to hear Christ say, depart
from me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. Could you imagine
how shamed they were to hear the Lord of Glory say that? Somebody says, well then what
do we plead? We plead Christ, his blood, his
righteousness. Those who believeth on him. That
He is our righteousness. That He is my salvation. He is
my hope. He is my merit. Worthy is the
Lamb. You'll not be ashamed. You don't
have anything to be ashamed of if you plead the glory of God's
Son. He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye Him. You see, if we plead Christ,
if we plead the grace of God, if we plead His righteousness
that God has imputed to us, We don't have a thing to be ashamed
of. You know, even as a sinner saved by grace, we still have
a lot to be ashamed of in ourselves, don't we? Think about it. I love God, but
I don't love him like I ought to. I love you, my brethren,
but I don't love you like I ought to. I don't love you perfectly. I want to be like Christ, but
there are times I have some bad desires. You know, I heard a
man say one time, he said, well, a believer may sin, but it's
always against his will. And I'll just say a big bull
to that. We still have evil desires, don't
we? And that is, that's the flesh,
that's sin within us. But in Christ, we don't have
one thing to be ashamed of. This is God's son incarnate. He is the Lord, my righteousness. Well, look at verse one of chapter
10. He says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. Now, as I said, that's
a blanket statement concerning the name. What he's talking about
is the unbelieving Israelites. They're lost. They don't know
God. They don't know Christ. They're
trying to attain righteousness by their works. They're not gonna
make it. He says, now look, he said, I'm gonna give them this.
He said, verse two, I bear them record, they have a zeal of God.
And what he means by that is that the vast majority of these
Israelites, they were zealous in religion and sincere, seeking
to serve God through the law, as they thought, but not according
to knowledge. Now any preacher tells you you
don't have to know anything, show him this verse. They were missing some knowledge
in all of their religious efforts. Well, what knowledge were they
missing? Well, we don't have to speculate about that. Verse
three tells us, look at it, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, that's God's justice, God's righteousness, that's God's
requirement. They're ignorant of what God
requires. How do you know they're ignorant? Well, of that. Well,
he says they're going about to establish their own righteousness.
A person who's going about to establish their own righteousness
is ignorant of God's righteousness. He doesn't know what God requires.
Because if he knew what God requires, what would he do? He says, well,
they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
If you know what God requires, if you really know that, as taught
by God, the Holy Spirit, what will you do? You'll submit to
God's righteousness. The righteousness of God. And
what is the righteousness of God? Look at verse four. Here
it is. For Christ is the end of the
law, the fulfillment, the finishing. And how many times have I told
you this? The same word that he uses on the cross in John
19.30 when he said it's finished, that's the same word that's translated
end here. For Christ, it's a different
tense, but it's the same word. For Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the perfection, the goal, the completion of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Down in verse 10 he says, and we'll deal with this later, he
says, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.
What is it to believe unto righteousness? It's to believe in Christ as
my only righteousness before God. You see that? It's the fulfillment. And how
do I know? You look at all this great and
beautiful doctrine that Paul has revealed here in Romans up
to this point. Doctrine of election, you know
it's a beautiful doctrine. I tell you, it gives me comfort.
How can it give anybody comfort? Well, I'll show you in just a
minute. The doctrine of justification based on the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's the heart of the gospel. I'm gonna show you that again
in the next message. Some people don't like that.
They want to say, oh no, it's not imputed, it's imparted. Well, then you go pray to Mary
or something, you know. Because that's what they believe. The doctrine of redemption, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. I love that, don't you? Aren't
you glad? The doctrine of adoption, God
has adopted us into his family. People like me and you, we wouldn't
adopt, listen, if we had the mindset of God and knew what
we were, we wouldn't adopt people like that in our family. He adopted us by his grace so
that we have the full-fledged right to be called the children
of God. The doctrine of regeneration and conversion, I love the doctrine
of preservation. Now, how can I make a claim to
be a participant in all of those beautiful graces? Well, here's
what he says, it's to everyone that believeth. And how do I
know that that's part and parcel of God's purpose and plan for
his people? Because faith is the gift of God. If we believe,
truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been blessed, we've
been given a gift that we didn't have by nature and didn't want
by nature. If you're a believer who's been
brought to this repentance that we talked about, you're a miracle
of grace and it's all a gift from God. Okay.