Well, as you can see, my text
is going to be Romans chapter 10, so if you want to be turning
there, you can also see the title. This message is Ignorant of God's
Righteousness. And let me just start out like
Winston did last week when he preached on grace for grace.
You know the subject, God's righteousness. is a very comprehensive subject,
so I'm not even thinking I will only touch the tip of the iceberg
here in talking about God's righteousness. So I hope we can see a few vital
truths here in understanding what it means to be ignorant
of God's righteousness. Now, we'll be looking at the
context of these verses in a little bit later part of the message. Let's just begin in Romans 10
and verse 3. That's where I want to go to.
That's where this title is taken from. Romans chapter 10 and verse
3. It says, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Of course, the they here that
Paul is writing about is national Israel. That's Paul's kinsmen
in the flesh. It's those born in the same house
that he was born in. So he's not describing lawless
and immoral people here. He's rather describing some of
the most moral, religious, dedicated, sincere people on the face of
the earth that keep in God's law and following their religion. I mean, we could hardly hold
the light to these in that. So he's not talking about immoral
people. So this is a spiritual issue
we're looking at here, ignorance of God's righteousness. This
is an ignorance that has eternal implications. Sinners can't afford
to go on in this ignorance. This is something we need to
learn about. It's something we need to know about. And although
Paul is writing to national Israel here, the ignorance he's describing
of them applies to all of us by nature. As we're born into
this world and as we begin our religious lives, we're all ignorant
of God's righteousness. We're not born knowing of God's
righteousness. We all have to be taught on this
issue. God has to teach us. They shall all be taught of God,
and this is one of the things that he has to teach us. As we'll
see in this lesson, we will learn of this vital knowledge. Sinners
learn of this vital knowledge only when God brings us and sits
us down under his gospel And then the Spirit of God does a
work in our heart and opens our ears, our eyes, our understanding
to the truth of how God is just to justify ungodly sinners. Let's talk about ignorance here
just a little bit. Ignorance of God's righteousness.
Ignorance is, in one way, it's never having heard something.
That's one kind of ignorance. If you've never heard of a thing,
you're obviously ignorant of that thing. You're ignorant of
what you never heard of. There was a time in my religious
life when I'd never heard of an imputed righteousness. I mean,
it was in the scriptures. but I never had read it, nobody
had ever talked to me about it. I was just totally ignorant of
it when I came to the gospel. So that's one kind of ignorance.
But then there's another kind of ignorance. There's the ignorance
of having heard, having heard with the physical ear, having
heard and understood something, but not agreeing with it, not
embracing it, not, as the text says here, not submitting to
what you've heard. They weren't submitted to God's
righteousness. The ear might have listened,
but if the heart was not embracing and the will was not responding
to what was heard, there's no submission, and that's also a
kind of ignorance. Ignorance is anything short of
embracing and submitting to what you've heard. Christ ended many
of his parables with this statement. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. In other words, he that's been
given understanding, let him embrace, let him submit to the
truth that he's heard. Don't listen and go on as you
were before you heard. Let the truth change your thinking. Not to do this is to remain ignorant. It's to be willfully ignorant.
It's willful rejection, even rebellion against what you've
heard and what your mind has understood. Now, to react to
God's righteousness in this way is to be ignorant of the value
that God himself puts on this righteousness. You see, the righteousness
we're talking about today, it's the very basis of God being glorified
in any way you want to look at him. This is the basis, God's
righteousness, not only his redemptive glory, the glory of his love,
the glory of his grace, the glory of his justice, all his glory. So, ignorance is not having heard,
that's one kind of ignorance, but it's also not being submitted,
not embracing what you have heard. Next, let's talk about exactly
what God's righteousness is. Now, for a scriptural definition,
we're going to look in Romans chapter 3 and verse 21 and 22,
but to get to the context of this passage, I want to start
in Romans 3, 19. These are some pretty familiar verses to us.
We've looked at them pretty often, but look at Romans 3 and verse
19. Paul writes to the Romans, now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. What things soever the law
saith. The law speaks. It speaks to
them who are under the law. Now who is that? Who is under
the law? Any sinner seeking to gain or
maintain their acceptance with God through their obedience is
under the law. Any sinner following after the
law for righteousness, looking for righteousness in the law
like national Israel did, Israel followed after the law for righteousness,
but they didn't arrive at righteousness through that law. You only arrive
at righteousness through the faith, through the gospel, through
the work of Christ alone. Any sinner who imagines that
anything found in them forms any part of the cause or ground
of God saving them or keeping them saved is under the law. Now this includes those who see
faith, those who see their believing making the difference between
saved and lost. Because people who see faith
making the difference, in other words, Christ died for you, but
you won't be saved unless and until you believe. Faith is making
the difference there. And what they've done, what I
did before God taught me, was make faith, make my believing,
a deed of law. If you've got to do something
before God can bless you, before He can save you, before He can
bring you to heaven, whatever you're talking about is a deed
of law. And that means you're under the law. Any sinner not
finding all their acceptance with God in His righteousness,
the one we're talking about here today, is under the law. In other
words, any sinner who's ignorant of God's righteousness is under
the law. Which means that all without
exception are under the law to start out with, all of us by
nature. All start out under the law and remain there until God
graciously delivers from under the law. Until a sinner sees
Christ putting away the sin of every sinner he died for and
bringing in righteousness by his obedience unto death. And
every sinner in him declared righteous based on his righteousness
imputed. Until then, until God brings
you to the gospel, causes you to see what Christ has done for
those that he represented, causes you to be submitted to that righteousness
as all your salvation, until then, you're under the law. Now the law speaks to those who
are under the law. What does the law say to those
under it? What does it say to those trying
to work out their acceptance to God through their obedience?
What does the law say to those who think that their faith, their
repentance, or their good works is the cause of God saving them
or keeping them? The law says this, this is God's
standard. Love God supremely and your neighbor
as yourself. That's God's standard. as Christ
taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father in heaven is perfect. And man's response to that strict
standard is, nobody can do that. And that's right, nobody can
do that. To which the law replies, nevertheless,
nevertheless, that's God's standard. It can't be lowered. Men protest,
but the law never changes its tune. The law is unrelenting. If you want to be accepted by
God, the law said, based on me, based on the law, you've got
to do what I say. Now why does the law continue
to lift up God's standard of perfection? Well, if we look
on in that verse, we see it does so that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world may become guilty before God. The law never
stops lifting up God's standard in order that the mouths of men
be stopped Stop from doing what? Stop from justifying themselves
based on their obedience to the law. The law never stops lifting
up God's standard in order that sinners might see themselves
guilty before God. Guilty based even on our best
obedience. Even what I'm preaching to you.
I mean, there's sin in me and everything I do is tainted with
sin. Now, sinners who don't see this
strict standard of the law and its demand for perfection, sinners
who don't see this never see a need for righteousness outside
themselves. They don't see a need for a righteousness
they have no part in producing. And they never see a need for
God's righteousness. And why don't they see this need?
Because they think We think by nature, I thought by nature,
you thought by nature, and if God hadn't delivered you, you're
still thinking that your righteousness has got something to do with
something found in you, some measure of your obedience. Now
look on to Romans 3 in verse 20. Therefore, here's the conclusion
of what I've been talking about. By the deeds of law there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. The law reveals to us God's strict
and inflexible standard. Now, when we judge by that standard,
we see how short we come. We see how far short we are of
that standard of law. We see our exceeding sinfulness. Moreover, the law entered that
sin might abound. You see, when God opens our eyes
to what that law demands, we see there's no way I can measure
up under that law. To those who see the law right
in the exceeding sinfulness that that law reveals in us all, then
the question must come, And where's the hope? Where's the hope? If
the law is that strict and I'm that sinful, where's the hope?
I mean, I don't see any hope here. How can any be saved? All right, let's go on to that
answer, because that's what we're going to be dealing with. Now
look at Romans 3, 21 and 22 for the definition of God's righteousness.
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 of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference. The righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. That word manifested means set
in a clear light. And that now can refer to this
present age. Now means that quite often, and
I'm not sure that's not what the apostle meant. I'm sure that's
part of what he meant. In other words, now that the
Mosaic Law has been fulfilled and abolished by way of fulfillment
by Christ, He fulfilled all the types and pictures of Him under
that Mosaic Law. He fulfilled all righteousness.
He fulfilled the law and satisfied God's justice completely. So it could be now in this gospel
age, now the righteousness of God is manifested, now it's being
set in a clear light. Back then it was veiled, it was
in pictures and types, but now it's preached openly, it's preached
clearly. Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested. But now I might also be referring
to the condition of the heart, the heart of a sinner prepared
by God. In other words, now that the
law has done its work in a sinner's heart, now that its strict standard
is being seen aright by that sinner, now that our exceeding
sinfulness has been exposed by the law, now that our need for
a righteousness outside ourselves, not one we produced, but one
we had no part in producing, now that that need is being clearly
made known, now this righteousness is manifested. that which we
did not see or need at all before. Now it's being said in a clear
light before us in the gospel. What exactly is the righteousness
of God? Well, first, you can see that
it's without the law. It's without a sinner's obedience
to the law. God has graciously provided a
righteousness for fallen humanity that is totally outside the work,
the efforts, the will of sinners. It's a righteousness that is
totally exclusive of a sinner's obedience, of his reformation,
of his effort in any way, to any degree. Second, we see that
God's righteousness is witnessed by the law and the prophets.
In other words, this is not a new idea that Paul is writing about
here in the New Testament. This righteousness was witnessed
to, it was seen, it was spoken of by the law and the prophets.
The Mosaic law set this righteousness forth in picture and type every
time they brought a sacrifice, every time they shed his blood,
every time they put him on the altar, every time the high priest
went into the Holy of Holies. You see, this righteousness was
being set forth in picture and type under that mosaic economy.
And the prophets proclaimed it to their generation. Jeremiah
wrote of the Lord our righteousness. That's Christ's name, the bride,
bridegroom. And the bride has the same name,
the Lord our righteousness. Isaiah said, hearken unto me,
you that are far from righteousness, I bring my righteousness near.
And of course the Psalms are full of the teaching of God's
righteousness. So, the second thing about God's
righteousness is witnessed by the law and the prophets. And
third, God's righteousness is by faith, by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. It's by Christ's faithfulness
to finish that work that His Father gave Him to do. It's by
Christ's faithfulness to give Himself a ransom for the many. It's by Christ's faithfulness
to be made under the law in order that He might redeem them that
were under the law. In other words, if He didn't
redeem us, we would be under that law and headed for eternal
death, just like Bill spoke of in the back. But thank God He
provided this righteousness through the faithfulness of Christ. It's
by Christ the Shepherd's faithfulness to lay down His life for the
sheep. The righteousness of God is by
the faithfulness of Christ. It's not by the faithfulness
of sinful men. It's not by the faith of men.
nor is it by anything found in sinful men. The bottom line on
God's righteousness is this. It's what Christ did in his life
and in his death that makes it right, that makes it just for
God to show mercy to a chosen multitude of sinners who've done
nothing to deserve mercy and nothing to obtain mercy. It's
what Christ did that makes it right. That righteousness provided
by God and worked out in the body and soul of Christ is the
basis, it's the ground for God blessing a sinner. It's the only
basis and the only ground. God shows mercy to a sinner because
he's chosen to. He said, I will show mercy on
whom I will show mercy. Christ has fulfilled all the
requirements and met all the conditions that make it right
for God to show mercy on whom he will. Now, I think you can
see that being ignorant of God's righteousness is a serious matter. It's not a light thing. It's
one that needs to be dealt with. It's one that needs to be considered
by every sinner on the face of the earth. Today, I want us to
consider three serious implications to being ignorant of God's righteousness. The sinner, any sinner who's
ignorant of God's righteousness is, first of all, not hearing
the gospel. Now, they may be listening, Like
Bill said in the back, there are four kinds of hearers in
that parable. They may be listening, but they're not hearing. They're
not discerning. They're not taking in that information.
Second, they're given no evidence of salvation. And third, they're
going about to establish a righteousness of their own. Let's look at these
three implications of those who are ignorant of God's righteousness.
First, those ignorant of God's righteousness are not hearing
the gospel. Look at Romans chapter 1 and
verse 16 and 17. I'm just dealing with some familiar
verses this morning, aren't I? Paul writes, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
What makes the gospel the gospel? Someone said at last count there
were 2,600 different denominations in this world, different sects
of religion, different schisms, different people meeting here,
there, wherever, 2,600 different kinds. And that means there are
2,600 groups with 2,600 different messages. There's only one gospel,
just one. What distinguishes the gospel
from that 2,599 other messages? Something has to do it, else
we'd never know what it is. And there's one thing that does
it. Therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The righteousness
of God is the heart of every gospel message. Now this is so
true. You'll hear of the righteousness
of God. You'll hear how God is just to
justify an ungodly sinner. And this is so true that where
you don't hear it, you haven't heard the gospel. You might have
heard a lot of good facts. They might have opened their
Bible and preached some good things, some true things. But
if you did not hear how God can justify an ungodly sinner based
on the righteousness worked out by Christ and that righteousness
imputed to a sinner's account, you haven't heard the gospel.
Christ sent his disciples into the world to preach the gospel
because the gospel alone tells sinners about Christ. The gospel
alone tells sinners about his righteousness. The gospel alone
tells sinners about God's glory in saving sinners for Christ's
sake alone. The gospel always reveals the righteousness of
God. So for a sinner to have listened to a gospel message
or even be sitting under the sound of a gospel message week
in and week out, But yet to remain ignorant of God's righteousness
means that that sinner is not hearing what's being said. That
sinner is not hearing what's being emphasized. That sinner
is not embracing, not submitting to what's being declared right
into his ears. Sinners who are ignorant of God's
righteousness are not hearing the gospel. They may be listening,
they're just not hearing. And such sinners are declaring
their lostness. They're giving evidence that
they are in need of salvation, and that brings us to our next
point. Any sinner who is ignorant of God's righteousness is given
no evidence that they're among the saved. They're given evidence
that they need to be saved. Look again at Romans 1, chapter
1 and verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, I
just told you what makes the gospel the gospel. Well, the
same thing makes the gospel the power of God and the salvation,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The sinner who's
not hearing the gospel with an ear of discernment, the sinner
who's not hearing the gospel with an attitude of submission,
is a sinner giving no evidence that they're saved. The gospel
alone reveals the righteousness of God, therefore the gospel
alone is the power of God into salvation. The gospel alone is
God's means of salvation. Ignorance of God's righteousness,
which remember means not being submitted to that righteousness,
not seeing that righteousness revealed in the gospel as a sinner's
only hope, That equates to a need for salvation. That's the context
of the first part of Romans chapter 10. Paul begins this chapter
with an earnest desire for the salvation of his kinsmen in the
flesh. Look at Romans chapter 10 verse 1 and 2. Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. He's writing about zealous people,
zealous toward God. They're sincere, dedicated people. They're religious, yet in all
their zeal and all their sincerity and dedication and all their
religion, they're still in need of salvation. And the main reason
they need salvation is not their immorality, not their lack of
religion, not their lack of zeal toward God. The main reason they
need salvation is because they're ignorant of God's righteousness.
The main reason they need salvation is because they're going about
to establish a righteousness of their own. The main reason
they need salvation is because they're not submitted to the
righteousness of God. And that brings us to the third
and final implication of a sinner who's ignorant of God's righteousness,
they're going about to establish a righteousness of their own.
Look again at Romans 10 and verse 3. For they, national Israel,
being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Sinners, ignorant of God's righteousness,
need to be saved. What do they need to be saved
from? They need to be saved from their own self-righteousness.
They need to be saved from trying to work out their own acceptance
with God through their law-keeping. They need to be saved from not
submitting themselves to God's righteousness. Christ spoke a
parable to some in his day that illustrates well the mind of
those who are ignorant of God's righteousness. In this parable,
we can see those who are looking within themselves for righteousness. Look, it's a parable of the Pharisee
and the public, and look at Luke 18 and verse 9. And Christ spoke
this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and despised others. or that could be that trusted
in that they were righteous in themselves. In other words, they
thought they had a righteousness within. They thought that because
they had done, kept the law, obeyed the law, was zealous toward
God, were zealous in their religion, they thought that that made up
their righteousness before God. It says here, he spoke to certain.
He's not just speaking to the religious of his day. He's speaking
to those in any generation who are finding righteousness within
themselves and not finding their righteousness in Christ alone. Look at verse 10 of this parable.
Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee,
the other a publican. Now the contrast here is between
the most esteemed religious leader of that day and one of the most
hated men of that day. The Pharisee, whom everybody
in that day, I'm sure, thought was saved, and the publican,
whom nobody thought was saved. So that's the contrast we're
looking at here. Look at verses 11 and 12. It says, the Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. Now, although the Pharisee gives
God the credit here, I thank you, God, that I'm not like other
men. I thank you that I fast twice
in the week. I thank you that I give tithes
of all that I possess. He's giving God the credit, but
he's really revealing what he thinks is making up his righteousness
before God. But here's the contrast. Look
at verse 13. And the publican standing afar
off would not lift up so much as his eyes toward heaven, but
smote on his breath, saying, God, be merciful, be propitious
to me. the sinner. Unlike the Pharisee,
the publican has nothing to offer to God. He finds nothing in himself
that would recommend him to God. He acknowledges that his only
hope is to find mercy in God's sight. He becomes a mercy beggar
before God. And that's the only hope of a
sinner, to plead for God's mercy. Because if it's not found in
anything we do, our only hope is that God show us mercy for
Christ's sake. Look at verse 14. I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other,
for everyone that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that
humbled himself shall be exalted. Nobody reading this parable wants
to be related to this Pharisee. Nobody wants to see themselves
as the Pharisee. The Pharisee is self-righteous.
He's proud. He's arrogant. He's exalted himself,
and he went away unjustified. Nobody wants to be that person.
We all want to be the publican, right? The publican is humble. He abased
himself. He saw his need for mercy, and
he went away justified. That's who I want to be. That's
who everybody who reads this parable sees himself as. But
in reality, all of us by nature are like the Pharisee. See, we
start out in religion like the Pharisee, not like the publican.
God has to make us see our need for mercy. We don't see it by
nature. We start out like the Pharisee. Before God brings any
sinner to the gospel, that sinner is finding his or her righteousness
within themselves, in their religion, in their zeal, in that decision
you made, in walking that aisle, in your giving, in your fervency
to study, whatever. It's in you somehow, even in
your faith. The problem with all of us in
this is that in our lostness, we don't see ourselves finding
a righteousness within. We don't see that as long as
we're lost. The deception of the mind is that we're looking
to Christ. We're looking to the blood. We're trusting Christ
alone. But the reality in the heart
is that something in us is making the real difference between saved
and lost. Christ died for you, but like
those Judaizers in Galatians. But, except you be circumcised,
you cannot be saved. Except you believe, except you
walk an aisle, except you do something, you cannot be saved
even if Christ died for you, even though Christ died for you.
That's man's religion, and that's what we all, most of us have
been delivered out of. Until God brings us to his gospel,
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. Until he shows
us that Christ has put away the sin of every sinner he died for.
Until he makes us to know that by his obedience unto death,
Christ has established the one righteousness by which God declares
ungodly sinners righteous in his sight. Until we're assured
that salvation is in God imputing Christ's righteousness to us,
to our accounts, Until then, we don't know God. We don't know
Christ. We don't know that we need to
be saved. I know you're like me when I
came to this gospel. I thought I was already saved.
I thought I already knew God. I thought I already trusted Christ.
God had to show me otherwise. And we don't know what we need
to be saved from. We don't know that we need to
be saved from our going about to establish our own righteousness.
We didn't know that's what we were doing. We don't know that
we need to be saved from not being submitted to God's righteousness.
We didn't know anything about God's righteousness in reality. Well, we can see that being ignorant
of God's righteousness is a major problem. What's the solution
to this problem? What's the solution to this ignorance? What's the solution to this lostness? What's the solution to sinners
going about to establish our own righteousness? Well, Christ
alone is the solution. Christ crucified and risen again
is the only answer to being ignorant of God's righteousness. Look
at Romans chapter 10 verse 4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ is the
end. He is the fulfilling of the law
for righteousness in two ways. First, he's the fulfillment of
the law. He fulfilled the law. Look at Matthew chapter 5 and
verse 17. Christ taught here in the Sermon
on the Mount, think not that I am come to destroy the law
or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Every picture, every
type, everything that taught of Christ under that mosaic economy,
Christ fulfilled. along with perfect continual
obedience to the law and the suffering and punishment that
every sinner he lived and died for deserved. He fulfilled all
righteousness. He fulfilled and established
God's righteousness. Christ fulfilled all the law's
requirements in precept and in penalty. And by his work under
the law, his obedience under death, he established the righteousness
of God. So that's how he's the end of
the law. First of all, by fulfilling the
law. Second, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. In each
generation, Christ brings his sheep to submit to his righteousness
and repent of their own righteousness, to submit to the righteousness
revealed in the gospel, the one Christ worked out, and repent
of their going about to establish a righteousness of their own.
In them, in those sinners that God calls us to see that, the
righteousness God has provided and the righteousness Christ
has worked out has its intended effect. Those sinners find the
peace that Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 32 and verse 1. It said, Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment. This
chapter in Isaiah is talking about the reign of Christ over
his church. And then Isaiah 32, 17, and the
work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. Christ begins his reign over
his church in the hearts of his sheep in regeneration. That's
where that reign begins. The peace he has established
for his people is made known in the hearts of sinners under
the gospel. and under the power of the Spirit. Christ established
peace, and he brings each of his elect to rest in that peace
which he's established. That's where we find our quietness
in this troubled world. There's a lot of trouble in the
world, always has been, always will be. But we find our quietness
in knowing a just God and a Savior, in knowing a Christ who has borne
all our sins and put them away in a just satisfaction and brought
forth a righteousness that satisfies the demands of God's law and
justice. That's where we find our assurance. We find it in
the righteousness Christ worked out for us and the Father has
imputed to us. Well, Christ crucified and risen
again is God's solution to the problem of being ignorant of
God's righteousness. Christ, the Lord, our righteousness,
is God's solution. My prayer is that God will bring
you, whoever's listening to this message, that he'll bring you
to Christ, that he'll cause you to submit to his righteousness,
that he'll enable you to repent of your own righteousness. May
God keep you, may he keep me from being ignorant of God's
righteousness.