Well, this morning we're going
to close out our study in Romans 9. We're going to go ahead and
turn to Romans 9. We're going to begin at verse
30. As we look back on this particular chapter that we've gone over
the last few times, Paul started it all with a sorrow in his heart. a sorrow in his heart for his
kinsmen, according to the flesh, which was the nation Israel,
those Jews. He had a sincere sorrow for them,
and that he desired their salvation. They were lost. They did not
look to the Messiah, the Christ of Scripture, for all of salvation.
Instead, they went about to establish a righteousness of their own.
But God promised to save all Israel. And in saying that, the
Israelites thought that God was going to save every single Israelite
or every Jew. And that Paul went through explaining
all of these things that he explained here in chapter nine, that that
was not the case. That this Israel that God would
save would be spiritual Israel, not every Israelite, every Jew. And he went through giving some
examples of Abraham's two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. And of course,
we know that Isaac was a child of promise, and Ishmael was not
saved. And then he gives the example
of Isaac and Rebekah and those two boys, Jacob and Esau. And he said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. He did all of that explaining
that not every Israelite, when God says he's going to promise
to save all Israel, it's not talking about every single Israelite.
And I'm not going to go through all these other things that led
up to where we are today in our study, but God brought in that
the Gentiles were going to be saved also. They were part of
spiritual Israel. And we closed out our last study
that we had the last time we were in chapter 9 with verse
29. Now verse 29 says, and as Isaiah
said before, except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed,
we had been as Sodom and been like, been made like unto Gomorrah. We see here in this verse of
scripture that God had never promised to save all Jews without
exception. But he also did not determine
to destroy all the Jews without exception. There was always,
and now he is a remnant out of that nation according to grace.
They are the remnant, like the elect Gentiles, are the seed,
the spiritual offspring of Jesus Christ, redeemed by his blood
and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Look at Psalms 22 and begin at
verse 30. A seed shall serve him. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come
and shall declare his righteousness. Well, that's exactly what we're
doing this morning. We're declaring to this world
Christ's righteousness before men. It says that they shall
declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born,
that he hath done this. And like I said, that's what
we're doing this morning, declaring Christ's righteousness as the
only ground and hope of a sinner's salvation. This remnant shall
come to faith in Christ and repentance from dead works and form idolatry.
From this revealed truth, God commands all without exception
to believe his promise, his promise of salvation conditioned on Christ
alone, and to seek justification in life based entirely on what
Christ accomplished in his work on the cross. This morning, we'll
begin looking at a few verses where the Apostle Paul begins
to tell us why the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness,
attain righteousness, and Israel, which followed after the law
of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Let's read Romans 9, beginning at verse 30 here, the verses
that we're going to go over this morning. Verse 30 begins, what
shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, hath 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, or why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of law.
For they stumble at the stumbling stone, as it is written, behold,
I lay inside a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now let's look at Romans
9.30 here, where it says, starts out, what shall we say then that
the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness, have attained
to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith? What conclusion
should we draw from the great truths of God's grace in Christ,
those truths that God has revealed up to this point, as they relate
to God also saving the Gentiles? The first statement here is that
the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness, is speaking
of during the time of the old covenant. The Gentile nations,
which is all the nations other than the Jews, the Israelites,
were according to Ephesians 2, beginning of verse 12, that at
that time ye were without Christ, these Gentiles, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, not a part of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world. Generally, the Gentile nations
as a whole, as a whole, It says here in Romans 930, follow it
not after righteousness. They did not make an earnest
and a sincere attempt to pursue a right relationship with the
true and with the living God. They didn't know the true and
living God. On the whole, they were lost in idolatry and total
darkness and did not have the light of God that he give to
the nation Israel under that old covenant. It is not that
Gentiles had no law, or that Gentiles were not religious,
or even somewhat moral. Look at Romans 2, beginning at
verse 14. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, 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 hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another. The matter and substance of the
moral law of Moses agrees with the law of light, the light of
nature that God gives every man. And the Gentiles, in some measure
and in some way similar, they do by nature the things contained
in the law. But the Gentiles did not have
the light of the law of Moses, which was a schoolmaster given
to the Jews to lead them to Christ. Moreover, the law being called
a schoolmaster here shows that the use of it was just temporary,
and its duration was just for a time. It was not to continue
forever. Children are not always to be
under a schoolmaster or a tutor. Therefore, the law was to continue
and did continue to be used, be of use and service to the
Jewish church until Christ came, who is the substance of it all.
Christ, the substance of that old covenant law that was given
to the nation Israel, which contained all of these things that God
give them having to do with the sacrifices the high priest, and
all of these things, pictures and types of Christ that should
have shown them their only hope of salvation. Look at Galatians
3.24. It says, wherefore the law was
our schoolmaster, speaking of this Jewish nation, to bring
us into Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Speaking
of the Gentiles, let's look back at 9.30, the last part, where
it says here that the Gentiles have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. He is obviously
speaking of God's elect among the Gentiles because not all
Gentiles, without exception, attained to this righteousness.
Because or before these Gentiles heard the gospel, they were totally
ignorant of Christ and his righteousness, didn't know anything about it.
They enjoyed None of the special privileges that the nation Israel
had and that they enjoyed. Some of these privileges are
listed here in Romans 9 verses 4 and 5 that I'm not going to
read, but you can look at them up on the screen here. And all
these privileges that they had that God give them as he sent
the Messiah in time, all of these things in pictures and types
reveal Christ and his work of redemption. On the whole, the
Gentiles' sinfulness was open and it was evident to all. They
were active idolaters and abandoned to every kind of wickedness.
There could be no doubt in anyone's mind that these Gentiles had
nothing in them to recommend them to God. They had met no
conditions and had no qualifications for salvation. They did, however,
attain righteousness. How? They attained it by faith
and not by the works of law. Faith looks to and freely receives
the righteousness Christ worked out by his death on the cross. Faith believes and rests in Christ
and his obedience unto death as our complete and only righteousness
before God. That's what faith looks to. It
is not that our faith It is not that our believing is our righteousness,
but that Christ, the object of our faith, Christ is the person
in whom we believe. He is our righteousness. We look
to him and we don't look to our faith. We just got through seeing
how the Gentiles in Romans 9 30 have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness, which is a faith. They look to Christ
by faith. Now we'll begin to look at Israel,
not all of Israel, but the vast majority of that nation. We'll
see how they followed after the law of righteousness, as it were,
by works of law. Let's look here in our next verse,
verse 31. It says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Israel, however, who had the
law of Moses, They had the Law of Moses and followed after the
Law of Righteousness. They sought after, pursued it
with passion and with zeal. We're going to see that as we
start out the 10th chapter here in the Book of Romans. But they, speaking of Israel,
had not attained to the Law of Righteousness. They pursued it,
they sought after it, but they didn't attain it. What is it
to come short of the glory of God? is to come short of the
righteousness. And this coming short of the
glory of God here is in Romans 3 23 here for all of sin and
come short of the glory of God. So what is it to come short of
it is to come short of the righteousness that God requires. That's what
it is to commit sin. It is to come short of the glory
of God and God's glory is perfectly displayed and the person and
work of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of God
displayed in Christ and his perfect satisfaction to God's holy law
and inflexible justice. Israel as a whole fell short
of Christ's righteousness. And instead, looking by faith
to Christ alone for righteousness, they chose to pursue righteousness
by their law keeping, by their deeds of law. And scripture says
in Romans 3 20, Therefore, by the deeds of law, there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. Let's continue to look
at God's standard of judgment, whereby he will judge the whole
world. Act 1731 says, because he hath appointed, God appointed
a day in which he will judge the whole world in righteousness
by that man, speaking of Christ, whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised
him from the dead. That's that standard of judgment,
the Lord Christ. Do you have this righteousness
by which God will judge all men, whether Jew or whether Gentile? Do you have this righteousness
that is spoken of here in the scripture? If you do have it,
how did you get it? Is it a righteousness that you
worked out by your law keeping? Or did God enable you to work
it out through the help of the Holy Spirit? Was it done by you
or in you in any way? If you answer yes to any of these
questions, then my friend, you're, and the scripture says this,
ignorant of God's righteousness, and you're going about to establish
a righteousness of your own. You've not submitted yourself
to the only righteousness by which God will save a sinner.
Look at Romans 10, beginning at verse three. For they being,
speaking of that nation Israel, ignorant of God's righteousness,
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. See, if you don't know anything
about the only way that God will justify a sinner, and that is
Christ's righteousness alone, his perfect satisfaction to God's
law and justice, If you're ignorant of that, as far as this righteousness
that he worked out, perfect satisfaction, and imputes it to all those that
come to him by faith, okay? If you don't know anything about
that, you're ignorant of it or not submitted to it, then you're
gonna go about to establish a righteousness of your own. You know that you're
a sinner. We see we're sinners. By nature,
we see that. We know that we fall short. We
know that there's a problem here, that we're going to have to face
God at judgment. And what we do by nature, because
we're ignorant of the only thing He'll accept, God will accept,
we'll go about to work it out. And that's what they were doing
by deeds of law. They were going about. They were
not submitted to the only ground by which a sinner would be saved.
They went about establishing a reform. Now, we're talking
about the nation Israel, but we're talking about every man
when we say these things. All of us, by nature, as we come
to this world, that's what we do. We go about to establish
the rights of the wrong. We hear it from the pulpits all
over the world, not only from the pulpits, but we hear it from
our parents as we're raised up, most of us. Not all of us, some
of us fortunate in that we have believing parents, but for the
most part, Most of us are raised like that. On the other hand,
if you say, Jim, I have no righteousness of my own, and that all my righteousness
are filthy rags, and that the righteousness that I have is
Christ's righteousness alone, the righteousness that Christ
worked out and freely imputed it to my account, charged it
in my account. If you say your righteousness
is in heaven, and is even at the right hand of the Father
right now. If you say that the righteousness
that I have is one that God the Father has already accepted,
He accepted it and that the Father raised Christ from the dead,
as it says in Acts 17 31, then my friend, if you're among this
last group of individuals, you, according to Romans 9 30, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith. We look to Christ. Believers look to Christ alone
for righteousness in life. We don't look to our works in
any way, whether it's what we think we're doing or God is enabling
us to do. We look to Christ for all of
salvation. Once again, the nation Israel as a whole, and like all
men by nature, we fall short of God's standard of righteousness.
That standard of righteousness that we just got through talking
about here, this description of those that do not attain to
righteousness does not describe every individual Jew, but it
does describe the vast majority of the nation Israel as a whole. Paul himself was an Israelite,
but he himself had, according to Romans 9.30, have attained
to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. We could say
the same thing about Peter, John, James, and other Jews in the
New Testament, and also many of the Jews in the Old Testament,
as Moses, David, Isaiah, and many, many others. They attained
to righteousness, but it was not by their deeds of law. It
was as they looked to Christ, the object of that faith, for
all of salvation. In any given time in history,
the believing Jews They were a small part, a remnant of that
nation, but they were believing Jews. However, the nation as
a whole fell short. Romans 9, 32 and 33 starts out,
wherefore? Why? Oh, why did the nation as
a whole fall short? And why did they not attain to
the law of righteousness? Well, it said, because they sought
it not by faith. but as it were by the works of
law. For they stumble at the stumbling stone, as it is written,
behold, I lay inside a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Speaking of Christ,
they stumble at that stumbling stone. Why did the nation as
a whole not attain to the law of righteousness? Romans 9.32,
because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works
of the law. Here God, the Holy Spirit, by
the Apostle Paul, gives us a reason why sinners, not only the Israelites,
but why sinners do not attain unto righteousness. And in doing
so, he places the entire responsibility on sinful, self-righteous, unbelieving
sinners. In the case of Romans 9, 32 and
33, he's speaking specifically of the unbelieving Jews here.
but it can be applied to unbelieving Gentiles as well, all other people. Paul did not say that the Jews
did not attain the righteousness because they were not elect.
It was because they did not seek it by faith, or they did not
seek it in the person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because of self-righteousness
and because of national and religious pride, they insisted on attaining
righteousness before God by their efforts to seek the law, to keep
the law, which is seeking salvation by your works. Then in the last
part of verse 32, Paul speaks of that stumbling stone and rock
of offense that became a snare to those Jews. This was Christ,
who is the only righteousness believing sinners can and must
have to stand before God without blame. Romans 9, the last part
of verse 32, says, for they stumble at that stumbling stone. This
is a direct quotation from Isaiah 8, verse 14, which says, and
he shall be a sanctuary for some, but for a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for again
and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This, of course,
is the prophecy of Christ and the great work he would accomplish
on behalf of God's elect, both Jew and Gentile. He would accomplish
on behalf of God's elect, and the prophet Isaiah says here
that Christ would be a sanctuary. He's going to be a sanctuary
for some, a place of refuge for his people in all the time of
distress, And who is their dwelling place? He's our dwelling place.
He dwells in us, and we dwell in him. And he is a sanctuary
wherein we dwell safely and securely. No other safe place but in Christ.
No other secure place but in Christ. Christ is a sanctuary
to worship in, Christ in whom we draw nigh to God the Father. As concerning Christ being a
stumbling stone and a rock of offense to the house of Israel,
it is referring to the elders of the people of Israel, those
priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, all who sought to entangle Christ
in his talk and to ensnare him by questions they put forth to
him, but were themselves snared and silenced. The following quotation
from 9, from Romans 9.33, 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. This scripture is taken
from Isaiah 28.16, which is another prophecy of Christ. And that
particular scripture reads, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make
haste or not be disturbed or worried or concerned about his
salvation. Paul proves that the Jews did
not attain righteousness because of their rejection of Christ,
who is the only righteousness, the only righteousness that God
requires and the only righteousness that God will accept. Christ's
righteousness alone is the only righteousness that believing
sinners can and must have as they stand before the true and
living God who is a just God and a Savior. Let's look at Romans
1 beginning at verse 16. We're all familiar with these
verses here wherein Paul speaks of the gospel that he's not ashamed
of. are reluctant to preach. Paul
says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the
power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. To
the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for therein, for therein
this gospel, which is the power of God and the salvation, is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written those that are just before God shall live by faith. Also, Romans 3, beginning at
verse 21 here, it says, but now the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith, which
is by faith of Jesus Christ, by his faithfulness. unto all,
preached out to all, and it's upon all them that believe. For
there is no difference for all of sin to come short of the glory
of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Also look at Romans 10 verse
four. And you know, and as we begin in chapter 10, he starts
out about his desire and prayer for Israel, that they might be
saved. He said, I bear them witness,
they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
But then in verse four here, it says, for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's
the fulfillment of it. If we would find and have righteousness,
a right standing before God. We must find and have Christ
alone. Christ is a stumbling stone for
all who insist on righteousness by their works, by works of law. Look at 1 Peter 2 beginning verse
6. Wherefore also it is contained
in scripture. Behold, I lay inside a corner,
a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. And to you, therefore, which
believe, he's precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builder disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner. And the stone of stumbling, and
a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which
stumble at the word, being disobedient, unbelief, whereunto also they
were appointed. Christ is a rock of offense to
all who seek salvation by the works. But then in the last part
of verse 33, we're told that all those that do look to Christ
for all of their salvation will not be ashamed. They won't be
ashamed now, nor will they be ashamed throughout eternity.
In the last part of verse 33 it says, and whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed or confounded. Let's look at another
scripture that gives us this same message. Look at 1 John
2 verse 28. And now, little children, abide
in him, speaking of Christ, that when he shall appear we may have
confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If
you know that he's righteous, if you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. What in the world is it to do
righteousness? It's to look to Christ for all of your salvation. See, that's what Abel was doing
when he brought that sacrifice. That's what he was doing. That
sacrifice which pointed to Christ as his only hope for salvation.
That perfect sacrifice without spot or blemish. He looked to
Christ for all salvation. That's what it is to do righteousness.
Christ is the one and only solid rock of salvation to all, whether
they be a Jew or Gentile. All who believe on him have their
trust in him, their hope in him. All who appear before him, before
God in him shall be declared righteous. And they won't be
declared righteous by their works. not by their work, but by the
merits of Christ's obedience unto death. Righteousness before
God is a matter of grace and mercy, not merit in the sinner. All who appear before God without
him, without Christ, shall be exposed and confounded. To the question which is the
title of my message this morning, what shall we say? Let us all
say with the Apostle Paul as in Philippians 3 beginning at
verse 8. but that which is through the
faith, the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. Amen.