Now I want you to open your Bibles
there to the portion of scripture that brother Mark just read in
Romans chapter 9 but I also want you to go back to the book of
Isaiah chapter 6 we've been studying through the book of Isaiah preaching
through it and I want to show you how the Lord brought me to
lay this message on my heart by studying through Isaiah. And
the title of the message, and keep your Bibles open there to
both passages, because I'm going to start, I want to reread some
portions in Isaiah and then jump over to Romans 9 and show you
what I'm talking about. The title of this message, and
I may not finish it today, so we'll go as far as we can go,
today and then may continue next week. But the title of this message
is Our Scandalous Gospel. Our Scandalous Gospel. Now that
may seem strange to title a gospel message scandalous. Because normally
when we think of scandal we think of scandal sheets. Something
in society that's a scandal. Usually having to do with sexual
immorality or political deception, things like that. That's a scandal,
bringing it on. But the reason I entitled the
message that, if you look at Romans chapter 9 verse 33, here
he's talking about how the Jews as a whole, and I want you to
understand, he talks about Gentiles and Jews here. He talks about
Gentiles who were brought by the grace of God to believe the
gospel. And let me tell you something
now, if you understand the Bible, if you read the Bible and know
it, any sinner who believes the gospel is the product, the result,
the fruit of the power of God. He is not the fruit or the product
or the power of his own decision or his own will, as people say
today. Because if left to our own power,
if left to our own wills, we will not believe the gospel.
That's what the Bible teaches now. If you're saved, if you believe,
it's not because you on your own free will, as they say, or
on your own decision or your own goodness or your own power
rose above the mass of humanity who refuses to believe. A sinner
saved by grace, a believer, is a walking, talking miracle of
God's power and God's grace. You must be born again, Christ
said, or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. Those
who receive Christ in John chapter one, they didn't receive him
because of their physical heritage. It's not of blood. They didn't
receive him by their works, it's not the will of the flesh. And
they didn't receive him by their own decision, even though we
do make a decision, but the decision is not the power of our will,
not the power of our goodness, not the power of the preacher's
persuasion. It's the power of God. They're born of God, he
says. And that's it. You say, well,
if that's the case, then why do I do anything? Why I come
to church? Why do I read the Bible? Why do I listen to messages?
I'll tell you why, because God commands you to do so. And you're
accountable to do so, even though it's his power. You say, well,
I can't understand that. Well, that's not for you. You're
not God. I'm not God. I can tell you that
right now. I told you last week, somebody says, well, I can't
wrap my mind around that. Well, join the club. God is God
and we are who we are. The secret things belong to God,
the revealed things belong to us. Read the Bible. But he says in verse 33, he says,
as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and
rock of offense. Now that is a prophecy found
in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 28, Zion Zion, remember that mountain
outside of Jerusalem? And that Zion is an emblem, a
picture of the church. Read the book of Hebrews chapter
12, it'll tell you that. Zion, Zion S or Zion N, same
thing. And that's a picture of the church,
the true church of the living God. all those for whom Christ
shed his precious redeeming blood, all those whom God chose before
the foundation of the world, the Bible teaches, whose names
were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
of the world, All those whom Christ redeemed on the cross,
having our sins imputed, charged, accounted to Him, having His
righteousness imputed to us, and all who evidence that by
having been born again of the Spirit, regenerated by the Spirit
under the preaching of the gospel. Wherein God, by the power of
the Spirit, impart spiritual life, literally raises them from
the dead. gives them spiritual life and
brings them to a saving knowledge of Christ. Well he says the reason
that he talks about Gentiles who received it and Jews who
refused to receive the gospel. Now obviously he's not talking
about all Gentiles without exception because all Gentiles without
exception have not believed the gospel. and obviously he's not
talking about all Jews without exception every individual Jew
without exception the human instrument that God used to write this was
the Apostle Paul and he was a Jew he believed so what's the context
tell us when he speaks of Gentiles he's talking about God's elect
among the Gentiles those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and when he talks about the Jews here he's talking about Jews
who rejected Christ And he says the Gentiles received him, the
Jews rejected him. And he says they stumbled at
the stumbling stone. And he says, as it is written,
behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense. Now
that word offense is where I got the title from. That word offense
is the word that we, it's a Greek word that we get our English
word scandalous from. A scandal. Christ, he says. to the unbelieving
Jews. And you could say just as well
to the unbelieving Gentiles, and I'll show you that in just
a moment. He was a stumbling stone. Now what's a stumbling
stone? Something that gets in their way and they fall over
it. And he was a rock of scandal. that means to them to these unbelieving
Jews and again I'll say to the unbelieving Gentiles he's a scandal
now that word scandal means a lot of different things to a lot
of different people but basically comes from a root word that has
to do with a trap it's kinda like a stick that they put a
trap on and if you pull if you move that stick the trap would
come down on you so what he's talking about is that Christ
by his doctrine And the reality of salvation by the grace of
God in him entrapped them to the point that they hated it.
And they rejected it. Our scandalous gospel. Now go
back to Isaiah chapter six. And let me show you where this
comes from. Now, you remember the Lord revealed himself to
the prophet Isaiah. Revealed himself to Isaiah. He
revealed himself as the holy, the thrice holy God. Holy, holy,
holy. God is set apart. He's holy. And that includes everything
about God, his justice, his, his, his mercy, everything about
him, his righteousness. God is a holy God. And I've told
you how many times, you know, the gospel now listen to me and
I want you to understand what I'm saying here. I want to make
this clear. The gospel, the good news, the
evangelism does not begin with the love of God. Now is God love? Yes. Does God love his people
with an everlasting love? Yes. Aren't we glad of that? Don't we rejoice? Yes. Herein
is love, not that we love God. His love is not a response to
our love. His love is the source. But where
is His love? Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation. What is a propitiation? That
is a justice satisfying sacrifice. That's what that is. Satisfaction. Justice is satisfaction. And
he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. God's love is expressed
not in just some blanket statement to everybody without exception.
And let me tell you, you will never find in the Bible an evangelist
standing before a group of people and just blanketly telling everybody
that God loves you and Christ died for you. You won't find
that in the Bible, folks. That's not the method of evangelism.
It's not the message of evangelism. Now let me ask you a question
before I go any further. Does that offend you? That's what
scandal means. Our scandalous gospel. The gospel
we preach is a scandal to the world. It causes them to trip
over. It entraps them. Wait a minute.
What about our modern methods of evangelism? Well, Isaiah was
not told by God to use those methods. Paul, the apostle, never used
modern methods of evangelism to try to get people in. You
see, the gospel that he preached, the gospel that Isaiah preached,
was a scandal to their hearers. Now that doesn't mean that we're
meant to, we're trying to intend to be offensive or we're trying
to run people away. We're trying to tell the truth.
Christ said the truth will set you free. Not a lie. Yes, I want to preach the love
of God, but I want to preach the love of God where the love
of God is. It's in Christ. There is no love
of God or from God for me or for you outside of Christ. Now
that's what the Bible teaches. And that's a scandal to most
religious people today. Oh, smile, God loves you. My
former pastor, he used to talk about that. He said, could you
imagine somebody putting that sticker on the back of the ark?
As the wrath of God was coming down in the rain, smile, God
loves you. He's not just trying to be funny. It's true. My friend, outside of Christ,
and people don't like to hear this, but outside of Christ there's
only hatred from God. Now God's hatred is not like
yours and it's not like mine. Ours is sinful. But you know
what God's hatred is? It's His justice against sin. God must punish all sin. He cannot save you. He cannot
have mercy on you. He cannot show love or grace
toward you apart from His justice satisfied. And that's what Isaiah was told
here in Isaiah 6. God revealed himself, holy, holy,
holy. And Isaiah said in the light
of God's justice and God's righteousness and God's holiness, woe is me.
Look at verse 5, woe is me for I'm undone, I'm cut off. I don't
have anything to recommend me unto God. I don't deserve anything
and I haven't earned anything from God except his justice,
his wrath against my sin. I'm cut off. I'm a man of unclean
lips. I'm a sinner. My lips reveal
what's in my heart. And the natural heart of man
is dead, spiritually dead, in opposition to Christ, in opposition
to God. That's what the Bible says. And
he said, I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. And then what
happened? That messenger of God, that seraphim,
that angelic being, He goes and he gets a live coal from off
the altar. And what is that altar? That
altar is Christ, my friend. That altar is the altar of satisfying
justice by the death of the substitute. And out of that, that's a live
coal. What's that live coal represent?
That's life from the dead. Jesus Christ died, was buried,
and arose the third day to justify his people before God. To establish
the only righteousness whereby God could be both a just God
and still a Savior. That God could be a righteous
judge and yes, a loving Father. And he put that on Isaiah's lips.
That's your message Isaiah. The just satisfying sacrifice
of the coming Messiah. In whom all of his people have
their sins paid for in full. and righteousness established.
And then he said in verse 8 of Isaiah 6, also I heard the voice
of the Lord saying, who am I? Whom shall I send? And who will
go for us? Then said I, here am I, send
me. Here's Isaiah's commission. And he says in verse 9, go and
tell this people. Hear ye indeed, but understand
not. See ye indeed, but perceive not.
Hear this gospel, but you won't understand it. Hear this gospel, but you won't
perceive it. Verse 10, make the heart of this
people fat. What is he talking about there?
He's talking about fat with pride, fat with self-righteous. In other
words, this message is going to be a scandal to your hearers,
Isaiah. You're going to preach the good
news of how God saves sinners, but they're not going to hear
you. They're going to turn against you. Now, Isaiah could have looked
up and said, well, Lord, why go then? I'll tell you why, because
God said, go and tell. This message of grace will be
a judgment upon all who refuse to hear. He says, make their
eyes heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes,
hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert
and be healed. Converted. You know, that's the
goal of our preaching the gospel, that people will be converted.
Converted from what? From their own ideas, from their
own ways, from their own religion, from their own righteousness,
and turn to Christ. Turn to Christ for salvation.
Turn away from yourself. Turn away from your religion.
Turn away from your denomination. Turn away from your feelings.
Look unto Christ, the author and finisher of every believer's
faith. Look to Christ for righteousness.
In order to be saved, in order to be accepted, in order to go
to heaven, you must be righteous before God. And you know what? You don't have it. And I don't
have it. And we can't work it. And no
matter how hard we try in religion or any other way, we cannot work
righteousness before Holy God. God requires perfection. We don't
have it. Where are we going to find righteousness?
There's only one person. The Lord Jesus Christ and Him
alone. No other place. Religion will
not help you. Man will not help you. You cannot
help yourself. Baptism will not make you righteous.
Walking in awe will not make you righteous. Crying tears of
sorrow will not make you righteous. Prayer will not make you righteous.
Only Christ makes a sinner righteous before God. Verse 11 of Isaiah 6, he says,
Then said I, Lord, how long? How long will they refuse? How long will you put up with? And he said, and he answered,
until the cities be wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without
man, and the land be utterly destroyed." Now that happened
when the Babylonians came down and leveled Jerusalem and the
temple. It happened, they come back together,
verse 12 said, and the Lord hath removed them far away, and there
be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. Look at verse 13
now. He says, but yet in it shall be a tent, and it shall return,
and shall be eaten. Now that happened in the return,
70 years after they went into captivity in Babylon. in a physical
way. And they remained in that land,
but not in control of it. They were under foreign governments
the rest of their days. And then finally, God brought
the Roman Empire down as a judgment upon them in A.D. 70 and wiped
the whole thing out. He said, just like a teal tree
and an oak whose substance is in them, they die in the winter,
but they come back in the spring when they cast their leaves.
In other words, God is telling Isaiah that he is going to bring
judgment down upon this nation, but it will not be their final
end for one reason. What is that reason? Look at
it, the last line of verse 13. So the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof. The reason God would not bring
final destruction on them at that time is that God had a holy
seed. Now what is that holy seed? Jesus
Christ and His Church. His true people. God's going
to bring salvation through that nation, not because of them,
not because of their goodness, not because of their power, and
listen, not even because they possess the land. but because of Jesus Christ the
Messiah who would come through that nation. He was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh. And out of him would come
what? That holy seed, his church. Now
that's what he's talking about. Now who is this? Now go back
to Romans chapter 9. Now you can go through the Old Testament
and you'll see different statements of this in prophecy. We certainly
don't have time to go through them all now. But he talks about Israel here.
For example, in Isaiah 45, God says, Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Paul quotes that over
in Romans 11. He says it this way. He said, all Israel shall
be saved. All Israel shall be saved. But
who is Israel? That God's talking about. The
name Israel, you know what it means? It means prevailing with
God. Those who have prevailed with
God. That's what it means. Now let me ask you a question.
How does a sinner prevail with God? There's only one way. Through Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory. This is my beloved son in whom
you're well pleased. Hear ye him. You cannot prevail
with God any other way but through Christ by his blood and righteousness. You say, well, I prayed a great
prayer the other day. You may have, but you didn't
prevail with God on the basis or the merits of that prayer.
You say, well, I had a good day. I was real obedient. You may
have been, but you didn't prevail with God on the basis or the
merits of that obedience. The only way a sinner, the best
of us and the worst of us, can prevail with God is to come to
him as sinners in humility, seeking mercy and grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ and on the basis and in the merits of his righteousness
imputed, charged, accounted to us. That's the only way. That's
what Israel means. Well, if God promised to save
all Israel, but the majority of the Israelites rejected it,
then is God unfaithful to his promise? Or did God not have
the power to do it? Or as some preachers preach today,
did God just not want to step on the dignity and the free will
of man? Is that what the Bible teaches?
And the answer is no. It says here that God saves all
that he promises to save. That's what it says. Look at
verse 6 of Romans 9. Now again, he's talking about,
well, the majority of the nation of Israel rejected Christ, the
Messiah. Well, what's wrong? Well, verse
6, it's not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.
Is the word of God ineffectual? You know, the Bible says the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe
it. So if you believe, you know the
gospel has been made by God, the power of God unto salvation
to you. But in those that don't believe,
did the word of God take no effect? He says, no, it's not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect. Look at the next line
in verse six, look at it now. For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. What is he saying here? Now the
context of this has nothing to do with the promise of an earthly
land. It has to do with the gospel
of how God saves sinners. How God justifies the ungodly. And he says when it comes to
that, there's two different Israels. There's a physical Israel and
there is a spiritual Israel. And he says, they are not all
Israel, which are of all Israel. Verse seven, neither, because
they are the seed of Abraham, physical generation of Abraham.
Are they all children in Isaac? Shall thy seed be called now?
What was the significance of Isaac? It wasn't the significance
of the promise of an earthly land that was included for a
time. And as a picture, it was the
promise of the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 8, that is,
they which are the children of the flesh, physical, see, these
are not the children of God. How plain can it get? But the
children of the promise are counted for the seed. What promise? The
promise that God made to Abraham of the coming of Christ. Turn
over to Galatians chapter 3. Who are the children of the promise?
Look at Galatians 3 and verse 26. Now again, the context here
is the promise of the coming of Christ to fulfill all righteousness
for his people. In verse 26 of Galatians 3, For
you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. How
do I know I'm a child of God? How do you know you're a child
of God? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one
and only Savior of sinners, the one and only Lord of glory, the
one mediator between God and man, the one way of righteousness
before God? That's what it is to have faith
in Christ. You're all the children of God, not because you're physically
descended from Abraham, but because you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believing in Christ gives evidence that I'm a child of
God. Listen, and let me say it this way too, because of today's
false gospel that generally goes around. You don't become a child
of God by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. give evidence that
you're already a child of God by believing I'll show you that
in just a moment but look here verse 27 of Galatians 3 for as
many as you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ
now baptized there doesn't mean water baptism that's not Paul's
subject here the word baptized you know what it literally means
it means placed into That's why we say that believer's baptism
is by immersion. And we do. And that's a confession. That's an ordinance of confession.
That's all it is. Baptism doesn't save you. Water
baptism doesn't save you. Water baptism doesn't wash away
your sins. The blood of Christ washes away
your sins. You confess that in believer's
baptism. But the word baptized here means
union with Christ. many of you as have been united
into Christ have put on Christ what do you mean you put him
on you believe in him you rest in him his righteousness is your
righteousness as it has been imputed charged accounted to
you and he says in verse 28 now look at it verse 28 there's neither
june or greek june or gentile that distinction is gone There's
neither bond nor free, that distinction means nothing. There's neither
male nor female, that distinction means nothing. Now that doesn't
mean that we're not to recognize the separation of male and female,
the distinction of male and female. What he's saying is that whether
you're a woman or a man, it doesn't have anything to do with your
salvation. It's Christ. He says, for you are all one
in Christ Jesus. We're equally saved, equally
justified, equally righteous by the grace of God in Christ. And verse 29, and if you be Christ,
that's a possessive. If you belong to Christ, then
are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That's
it. Look at verse four of chapter
four of Galatians. Look here. Now remember I told
you, it said, now believing in Christ doesn't make you a child
of God, it reveals you to be a child of God. Look at verse
four. But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law. That's the deity, the humanity
of Christ, and the fact that all of salvation was conditioned
on him. Verse five, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,
and because you are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of
his son into your hearts. Crying Abba, Father. Go back
to Romans nine now. What is he telling us? He's telling
us that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And he's got a people among the
Jewish nation, he's got a people among the Gentiles, and the fact
that the majority of the nation Israel rejected him has nothing
to do with the fact that God intends to save all his people
from their sins. Look at verse 30 of Romans 9. What shall we say then? What
are we gonna say to all this? And he goes through, I'm gonna
go back through some of this in Romans nine because you know
that's where he talks about Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.
That's where he talks about the sovereign purpose of God. It's
not of him that runneth nor of him that willeth, it's of God
that shall with mercy. Salvation's of a sovereign God. It has nothing to do with what
we've earned or what we deserve or what we desire because by
nature we don't desire God. Did you know that? There's none
that are righteous, no not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that doeth good. That's not talking about
some scummy segment of society. It's talking about all of us
by nature. What are we gonna say? Verse
30, that the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness,
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which
is of faith. What is the righteousness which is of faith? That's the
righteousness of Christ. imputed, charged, accounted to
his people. That's what's preached out in
the gospel. Paul said in Romans 116, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. The righteousness which is of
faith, that's a sinner by the power of God and the grace of
God looking to Christ for all righteousness. Verse 31, but
Israel which followed after the law of righteousness have not
attained to the law of righteousness. Israel was trying to make themselves
righteous and they didn't make it. Verse 32, wherefore, why? Because they sought it not by
faith. They didn't seek it in Christ, they sought it in themselves
by their works. but as it were by the works of
the law and they stumbled at the stumbling stone. When Christ
was preached by the prophets, by Isaiah, it was like a stone
in their way. What was their way? The book
of Proverbs says there's a way which seemeth right unto a man,
it's the way of destruction. Christ spoke of it in Matthew
7, the broad road that leads to destruction. The way to God
is a narrow way. Few there be that find it. What
is that way? It's Christ. He said, I'm the way. I'm the
truth. I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. But here they are going merrily on their religious
way, trying to establish a righteousness of their own. And we throw a
scandal, a stumbling block in their way. We say, oh no, that's
wicked. That's evil. There's only one
way to God, and that's the obedience unto death, the blood, the righteousness
of His Son. And to not believe in Him. Look at it. They stumbled at
that stumbling stone. Verse 33, as it is written, Behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, a rock of
scandal. And whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed,
not be confounded, not be disappointed. Now let me close today and I'll
pick up with this next week. Let me close with this. And like
I said, this is a scandal to our generation today and I'll
show you that in some detail next week. I know because it
was a scandal to me for a long time until the Lord intervened. But picture those false preachers
in Matthew 7, verse 21, where the Lord said, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name?
Have we not cast out demons? Have we not done many wonderful
works only to hear him say, depart from me? I never knew you, you
that work iniquity. Can you imagine how ashamed and
how confounded and how disappointed they were? What was their problem? Preachers today tell me, say,
well, they weren't sincere. Do you suppose that you can stand
before God and plead your sincerity as your hope and ground of salvation?
I got news for you. You're going to miss it. Your
salvation is not your sincerity. Should you be sincere in the
truth? Yes. But that's not your salvation.
They said, we preach, we've cast out demons. We've done many wonderful
works. He said, I never knew. What was
their problem? They were pleading something other than Christ and
His righteousness imputed, His blood, the grace of God. You
see, if I stand before a holy God, I'm a sinner now. If I plead anything that I've
done, preaching, preaching the truth, I still have a lot to
be ashamed of before God. He knows my thoughts. You ever
been sitting in a service hearing the truth and some evil thought
shoot in your head? I didn't see that, but I'll tell
you who did. God did. You got a lot to be
ashamed of, don't you? I do too. But if I stand before
God and plead Christ, the blood of the Son of God, His righteousness
accounted to me, I don't have a thing to be ashamed of in Him.
You see that? And that's a scandal to this
world. And I'll show you that next week.
All right.