This morning I'd like for you
to turn, first of all, to Romans chapter 9. The title of this message is
Grace Versus Works. Grace Versus Works. Let me give you a little background
about what gave rise to this message. This is nothing new
to you, and the scriptures that I'm going to go through are all
familiar to you, so I'm not going to be bringing anything new,
and I'm sure that makes you more comfortable because we don't
have anything new to say. We preach the old story, the
same gospel, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
But there's an issue that's been around for a long time and that
seems to be taking on steam in our day, especially, that I believe
that believers need to know how to answer scripturally. And it's
this movement that is prevalent in modern-day fundamentalism,
you know, that comes in the name of Christianity. You know what
I'm talking about there. the fundamentalists, the Armenian
fundamentalists, and even amongst some Calvinistic fundamentalists,
or those who claim to preach sovereign grace, of a union between
what they call Christians and Jews. And there's a huge movement
today about, you know, why we should support Israel, things
like that. And I want to just take it down
to its very basic. Now, let me say this about that
to start off with. You know, I believe we should
support Israel politically and economically. For no other reason,
they're the only democracy in the Mideast. And I believe we
should support them in a just cause. But there is no union
uh... between what we would call christianity
and judaism religiously and that's what i want wanna address today
because what the issue there is is not just uh... uh... political uh... or an economic
issue it's a religious issue and it boils down to the age-old
problem grace, god's grace, how god saves sinners versus works,
man's way of salvation. And so I want to just show us
some things here. And one of the things that's
being brought up in this movement is this, and that is does, they'll
say this, Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Now you may
have heard that. Christianity has its roots in
Judaism. And a lot of that depends on
how people define Judaism. how you think about it today.
But let's look at that when we come to it on the basic level
of salvation, the basic level of the gospel. And I'll answer
that question. Does Christianity have its roots in Judaism? And
the answer is no. A lot of that's based upon the
fallacy that people say today that Christianity did not begin
until about A.D. 35 to 39. Well, Christianity
is older than that. And we'll see what I'm talking
about. But look at Romans chapter 9,
look at verse 30. The Apostle Paul had been clearly
laying forth, setting forth how God saves sinners by grace through
the Lord Jesus Christ based upon His blood and His righteousness
imputed alone. And you know that in the book
of Romans all the way up through here. That's the basic message. How can a sinner be made righteous
before God? Is it by his pedigree? For example,
being a child, a physical descendant of Abraham? And the answer is
no. He'd addressed that back in Romans chapter 9. He said
that over here in verse 7 of Romans 9. Neither because they
are the seed of Abraham. That's physical seed. Are they
all children? That is children of God. But
in Isaac shall thy seed be called." What's he talking about there?
He's talking about the promise of the coming of Christ through
Isaac. You see, Isaac was not an end
in and of himself. It was through Isaac that the
promised seed, the Messiah, was to come through the Jewish people. And he was born of the seed of
David according to the flesh. He was a seed of Abraham according
to the flesh. So he says in verse 8, that is,
they which are the children of the flesh, that is physical descendants
of Abraham, these are not the children of God. Now can it be
any plainer than that? What he's saying here, he's not
saying that there's no Jews or no physical children of Abraham
who are saved. Paul himself, the one whom the
Holy Spirit is using to write these words here, was a physical
child of Abraham. And he was a spiritual son of
God. But how? Not by his connection
physically with Abraham, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll see that. So he says,
they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise. What's the promise?
The promise of eternal salvation and final glory through the Lord
Jesus Christ. The forgiveness of sins, the
promise of the forgiveness of sins through His blood. Not our
works, not our repentance, not our obedience, not our resolutions
or promises to do better, but through His blood alone. the
complete right standing before God based upon His death, His
righteousness alone, which God accounts to all of His people. And so that's the children of
the promise. They're counted for the seed, that is the spiritual
seed of God. So look at verse 30 of Romans
9. He says, What shall we say then? that the Gentiles, which
followed not after righteousness, have attained a righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. How is a sinner
made righteous before God? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? That's the issue there. And the language of the King
James Version is a little bit tricky here, because what does
he mean, the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness? Now
most people don't even know what righteousness really is. I mean,
they have an idea. They think maybe it's being moral
or being religious or being dedicated or being charitable. But that's
not what righteousness is according to God's standard. If you want
to see righteousness according to God's standard, you have to
look at Christ in His obedience unto death. That's righteousness
in God's standard. That's perfect satisfaction to
God's law and justice. And that's why the Apostle Paul,
when he preached on Mars Hill, when he came to the conclusion
of that sermon, he said, God hath commanded all men everywhere
to repent, because he hath appointed a day into which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
one appointed of God, in that he hath given assurance unto
all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. So Christ
Himself, in His obedience unto death, is the standard of righteousness,
and that's perfection now. That's perfection. It's not just
a sinner attempting to work his way into God's favor, because
that always falls short. That's always substandard, you
see. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And there's no way that even
the best of sinners can make themselves righteous before God
by their best efforts to keep the law. So when it says the
Gentiles which follow not after righteousness, does that mean
there were no Gentiles who were trying to be moral or trying
to be religious? Well, no, it doesn't mean that
at all. What he's doing, he's making a comparison here, really
a contrast we would say. It's a contrast between the believing
Gentiles, not all Gentiles without exception now. When he says the
Gentiles, he's not saying all without exception, but he's talking
about God's elect among the Gentiles who came to faith in Christ.
And in this sense, they didn't follow after righteousness. They
did not have the law of Moses that the Jewish people had, that
Israel had. In other words, they weren't
following, they weren't trying to be saved by keeping the Ten
Commandments. They weren't trying to be saved
by circumcision. They weren't trying to be saved
by Sabbath-keeping. They weren't trying to claim
salvation because of a physical connection with Abraham. They
followed not after the Law of Righteousness. The Law of Righteousness
there is referring to the Law of Moses. And not just the Ten
Commandments now. Understand that. People today,
they think of the law, they think of the Ten Commandments. Well,
that was the heart of it. But there was also the ceremonial
law, there was the tabernacle, the priesthood, the law of the
sacrifices, all of that, the feast days, and you could go
on and on. That whole law contained as a
unit. And that's what the Gentiles
didn't follow after, because they didn't have it. Paul in
Ephesians chapter 2 talks about how they were strangers to the
promise and they didn't have what the Jews were blessed with
in that sense. But it says they found it, they
attained to righteousness. Now how did they attain to righteousness?
He says, even the righteousness which is of faith. Now what is
the righteousness which is of faith? Okay, now hold on. He
says in verse 31, but Israel, which followed after the Law
of Righteousness. Now, they had the Law of Moses.
They had the Ten Commandments. They had all those laws, you
see. And they were trying to make
themselves righteous by their works under that law. He says,
they hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness. They were
striving for a goal, but they didn't make it. Now, in verse
32, he says, wherefore. Now, that's just a fancy King
James way of saying why. Why didn't they make it? Why
did they not attain to the goal that they were striving for?
Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the
works of the law. They were seeking it by their
works. Now the Romans has already clearly set out Paul in Romans
that by deeds of law shall what? No flesh be justified, be made
righteous, be declared not guilty in God's sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. And when it says by deeds of
law no flesh, that means no Jewish flesh, no Gentile flesh. Nobody
can do it. But they sought it by works,
and they stumbled at the stumbling stone. Now, here's where we come
to see what the righteousness of faith is. Now, most people,
when they hear that term, the righteousness of faith, they
would automatically say, well, that means I'm made righteous
by my believing. That's not what he's talking
about. Now let me show you what the righteousness of faith is.
Look, it says now the Jews, that Israel, they sought after it,
they strove for it, but they didn't make it. Why? Because
they sought it by works, not by faith. What is it to seek
righteousness by faith? It's not to seek righteousness
in anything I do or anything I'm enabled to do. And I think
about that because, you know, when we're saved by the grace
of God and the power of God, we're enabled to do a lot of
things that we could not do before. We're enabled to believe. It's
the gift of God. We're enabled to follow Christ
obediently, not to attain salvation, but because we already have it
by grace in Him. We couldn't do that before. We
couldn't serve in newness of life. We served in oldness of
the letter. But none of that is my righteousness
before God. And here's what he says. Now,
here's the righteousness of faith. They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. Now that's a prophecy from the
book of Isaiah. You find it in the book of Isaiah
chapter 28. And you'll find it in, I think
it's chapter 8, but I'm not going to go into all that because I
don't have time. But the stumbling stone, now what is the stumbling
stone? Well, verse 33, as it is written, this is quoted from
Isaiah 28, and it's a prophecy of Christ. Behold, I lay in Zion. Zion there, you know, geographically
that was a mountain close to Jerusalem. But spiritually and
symbolically, it's the church. Zion. You know, we used to sing
that song, we're marching to Zion. That's the church. That's
the redeemed of God. The chosen of God. And the called
out ones. That's what church literally
means. And he says, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock
of offense and whosoever believeth on him. Now there's a personal
pronoun him. In other words, the stumbling
stone is not a thing. It's a person. And that stumbling
stone is Christ. He says, shall not be ashamed.
Well, look at verse 1 of chapter 10. He says, 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.
They sought after the law of righteousness. They were trying
to make themselves right. They were religious. They were
trying to do their best. What's the Bible say? Man at
his best state is what? Altogether vanity, but they're
trying to do their best. He says they had a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. They were missing the knowledge.
What knowledge? For they being ignorant of God's righteousness,
you could say God's justice now, God's standard, and going about
to establish their own righteousness. You see, anybody who's trying
to make themselves righteous before God, any sinner trying
to do that and thinking that he or she can make it, what are
they ignorant of? They're ignorant of how holy
and just and righteous God is. They're ignorant of what God
requires. And so it says, they were going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Now that's the righteousness
of faith, is the righteousness of God, same thing. And here
it is, verse 4, for Christ is the end, the fulfillment. Same
word that is used when Christ was on the cross in John 19 30
and he said, it's finished. He's the finishing of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe. What is the righteousness
of faith? It's the righteousness of Christ.
It's his obedience unto death. In other words, it's a person
who believes that I'm not, I'm not justified before God based
upon my works or based upon my faith or anything. I'm righteous
in Christ. For he was made sin, our sins
charged to him, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him, his righteousness to us. Now there's the basic
division between what you might call true Christianity now, I'm
not talking about false Christianity, but true Christianity and Judaism. And then look over at Romans
chapter 11. Now Paul in Romans 11 makes it clear to Gentile
believers that we ought to thank God for Israel. National Israel. We ought to
thank God for them. We ought to thank God for how
He used that nation. Mainly, let me tell you the number
one thing we ought to thank God for the Jewish people for. Because
our Savior in His humanity came through that nation. That's number
one. Our Savior came through that
nation. In His humanity, His sinless perfect humanity, He's
God and man in one person, isn't He? He's the Alpha and the Omega.
But He had a humanity created for Him in the womb of the Virgin
And he was born of that nation, you see. So we thank God for
them. We thank God for the Old Testament
prophets, the word that was preserved down through. And listen to me
now, it was preserved in spite of that nation now. Because if
God had left them to themselves providentially, it would have
been totally lost. They were totally forsaken. How
many times was God's complaint through the prophets against
Israel that my people don't know me or my people have rebelled?
And it was through God's providential goodness that he preserved the
scriptures. We have these scriptures. And
then we thank God that the first believers in the New Testament
were Jews. Paul the apostle was a Jew. God
used him to write over half the New Testament. And you think
about the others, Peter, James, and John, they were all Jews.
And it was from that unworthy people, as we all are,
that the gospel was catapulted out into the world. And God established
churches all over the Gentile world. And somehow in his miraculous,
marvelous providence, that gospel shot out over geographical boundaries
and time boundaries and reached Albany, Georgia. And that's God. But he did it through that people.
And we thank God for him. Here's the issue between what
we would call Christianity and Judaism. Look at verse 5 of Romans
11. He says, even so then at this
present time there is also a remnant according to the election of
grace. What he's teaching here is that even though the nation
Israel as a whole And as they do today, have rejected Christ,
the Messiah. And see, this is another thing.
We cannot embrace people into our fellowship, our spiritual
fellowship, who do not embrace our Savior. You see what I'm
saying? Our whole fellowship is in Christ.
And see, if you, I don't care who you are, Jew or Gentile,
if you reject Christ, then you're not in fellowship with me. Because
He's my hope. He's my all in all. He is the
Lord, my righteousness. Now, if your righteousness is
somewhere else, then we're not in fellowship together. We're
not in union. I may like your politics and
your economics, but I don't like your religion. It's works, you
see. Because there's no other true religion in God's sight
but the religion of grace that reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So if your hope is
in the law, we're not in fellowship. I don't care if you're a Jew
or a Gentile. So he says there's a remnant here of the Jewish
people. In other words, what he's saying,
even though that the whole nation, as a whole, had rejected Christ,
God still has a small piece of that nation, a remnant. You know what a remnant is. You
go into the carpet place, you get a remnant. You don't buy
the whole row, you get a part. And that's what he's saying,
there's a remnant. But now listen, it's not a remnant according
to works. It's a remnant according to the election of what? Grace. And so he says in verse six,
now look at it, and if by grace, then it's no more of works. These
two don't mix. He says otherwise grace is no
more grace. In other words, you try to mix,
I've heard people say, well that preacher mixes grace and works.
No he doesn't, you can't do that. Because if he throws works into
the mix, now here's what I'm saying. We believe in works,
Ephesians 2.10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. What's
the next word? unto good works, not because
of good works, not based on good works, but unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. In other
words, the works are the fruit, the result, the effect of God's
power and grace. It's not the cause. God doesn't
bless me based on my works. He blesses me. Ephesians 1, 3,
we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. And those works are the fruit.
Christ is the vine. We're the branches, you see.
The life flows from the vine. So he says, if you introduce
works as forming any part of the ground or cause of your salvation
at any stage, to any degree, in any way, you've destroyed
grace. You've denied grace. So they
don't mix. Look at verse 6 again. And if
by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. It's either one or the other.
It cannot be both. They cannot be combined. This
thing about Christianity uniting with Judaism is an abomination
in the sight of God. It won't work. Now, I've got
a little more time. I want you to go back to Genesis
3. Go back to Genesis 3. I'm not
going to cover the whole Bible now. But I'll give you a little overview
here. Now, first of all, let's address this question real quickly.
Does Christianity have its roots in Judaism? You might as well
say, does grace have its roots in works? Silly question. And any believer could answer
that, well, no. No. But you see, Judaism is a religion
of works. Now I'm not just picking on the
Jews now. Any religion other than true Christianity is a religion
of works. And I'm not just picking on them,
but there seems to be this movement coming, you see, about Christians
and Jews united. And you'll see them standing
on stages, praying together. And listen, I saw that on TV
one time. They were in Washington, D.C.,
back in July. They were standing on a stage,
and the, quote, Christian, unquote, pastors, when they prayed, they
wouldn't even mention the name of Jesus Christ, because they
didn't want to offend the Jews, you see. And I thought about
Peter. When they brought him up before the council, I think
it was him and John, they had healed a lame man. And they brought
him up before the court, the Jewish court, and they said,
we told you all not to do that and don't preach. Well, they
asked him this question, in whose name do you do these miracles?
Well, now, Peter could have said, he could have said, we do it
in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he would
have told the truth. But he wouldn't have met them
at their point of rebellion. And you know what he said? We
do it in the name of Jesus of Nazareth whom you crucified with
wicked hands. Got him right at the heart. So
any fellowship or union that causes me to ignore the name
of my Savior and my Lord is an unholy union. Does Christianity have its roots
in Judaism? Absolutely not. First of all,
the gospel is the preaching of the terms of an eternal covenant,
the everlasting covenant of grace before the world began. And the
terms of that covenant has to do with God sending his Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to fulfill all the conditions
of the covenant, to fulfill all righteousness for his people.
But in Genesis 3.15, you have the first proclamation of the
gospel. This is prior to Judaism, obviously,
isn't it? He says in verse 15 of Genesis
chapter 3, he says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
talking about the serpent, and between thy seed and her seed,
it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. That's
Christ. He's going to defeat Satan by his work on the cross. That's Christianity in Genesis
chapter 3. And then as you know, later on
here, God established the sacrificial system of worship, picturing
God's grace that comes to us through the blood of Christ.
Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission, forgiveness,
pardon of sin. Why? Because the soul that sinneth
must surely die. The only satisfaction to God's
justice for sin is death. Somebody's got to die. That's
the death penalty under God's system of justice because he's
holy and he can do no less. So therefore, blood has to be
shed. Now, we can't satisfy that. That's why hell's eternal. But
one who is infinite, one who is God, and one who is man in
one person, he can do it. And he did do it. So all that
sacrificial system that was established as a way of worship and approach
unto God that pictured the coming of Christ to do His work, that
was established way before Judaism. All right, turn to Genesis 49.
Now where did the term Judaism come from? Well, it came from one of the
tribes of Israel, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. His name was Judah. And you know,
I'm not going to go into all the history of that. You know
how the tribes were separated after Solomon and the southern
kingdom was called Judah because that was the main tribe there.
That was the kingly tribe because of this passage right here in
Genesis 49 verse 8. This is where Jacob is on his
deathbed and he's blessing his sons. And he mentions them each
one by name. And he comes to Judah in verse
8. And he says, Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Now, he's not talking about Judah
personally here, because if you read the biography of Judah in
the book of Genesis, he's certainly not one to be praised. He was
a sinner. But he's speaking of Judah prophetically. And here's how you know that.
Look at it. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies,
thy father's children shall bow down before thee, Judah is a
lion's well. He's speaking of Judah prophetically
in infancy there. This is just the beginning. Hasn't
been fulfilled yet. Hasn't grown up yet. He says,
he's a lion's whip. And from the prey, my son, thou
art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as
a lion, and as an old lion who shall rouse him up. And here's
what he says, here's how all that's fulfilled. The scepter,
now what's a scepter? That's what the king holds, that's
his rule of authority. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come. What's Shiloh? That means peace.
You've heard the Jewish people say, Shalom, that means peace.
Shiloh, who's the prince of peace? Who is Jehovah Shalom? That's
Christ. And what he's saying is that
God's going to keep that tribe together, that kingly tribe together
until a particular time, until the Messiah comes and does his
work, and then it's gone. And he goes on, he says, and
unto him shall the gathering of the people be. He doesn't
say just the gathering of the Jews, does he? The gathering
of the people. Whose people? God's people. They're going to
come to Christ. Now you know all of this is based on a promise
that God gave to Abraham. Look at John chapter 8. I'll
show you a couple more verses, then I'll quit. John chapter
8. And it wasn't until 430 years
according to the book of Galatians, some 400 years, 430 years after
Abraham, turn to John 8 now, after Abraham, that God established
the nation Israel under the law, the law of Moses. And in John
chapter 8, if I can find it here, here it is, look at verse 56. When Christ came on the scene
in his public ministry and he claimed to be the Messiah, he
claimed to be able to forgive sin, they said, that's blasphemy.
And he says in verse 56, talking to the Pharisees and others here,
the court, he says, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day
and he saw it and was glad. And he says, then said the Jews
unto him, thou art not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen
Abraham? And Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Before Abraham was, I am. And that I am is not anything
that a mere man would take upon himself. That's God. Yes, he's
saying I was before Abraham. Christianity was before Abraham.
Because that's the teachings of Christ. That's the salvation.
And then one more, look back at John 5. Now, God gave them
the law. But why did he give them the
law? Why did he establish the nation Israel under the law?
Well, we could go to several scriptures, but he gave them
the law to show them their sinfulness, and their depravity, and the
impossibility of being saved by their works, and to drive
them to Christ. Galatians 3.24, he was a schoolmaster
to lead them unto Christ. Well, look at John chapter 5
verse 39. Search the scriptures, Christ
speaking to the Pharisees. Search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life and they are they which
testify of me. That's the Old Testament scriptures
from Genesis to Malachi. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. How can we embrace people in
religious fellowship if they won't come to him that they might
have life? And he says, I receive not honor from men, but I know
you that you have not the love of God in you. How do you know
you have the love of God in you? It's when you give your tithe
or when you show some charity? Well, listen, you know you have
the love of God in you when you come to Christ for all of salvation,
flee to Him and unite with His people in fellowship around Christ. And so he says in verse 43, I
am come in my father's name, and you receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you
believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the
honor that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. Now how did they trust in Moses?
They were trusting in their works of the law. For had you believed
Moses, listen to it, you would have believed me. For he wrote
of me." Moses wrote of Christ. But if you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my words? Moses wrote of Christ. Everything
that Moses wrote. Even in the Ten Commandments,
it was shown that it could only be fulfilled by the Messiah,
that righteousness. The tabernacle was a picture
of Christ. The altar, the priesthood, the
Sabbath was a picture of Christ. Our rest in Christ, our eternal
rest in Him. So Moses wrote of me.