Having a common message for this
generation is an unusual thing. Pastor Parker comes to proclaim
it to us. Now if you would this morning,
let's open our Bibles to Romans chapter 9. The righteousness
of faith. At the end here of Romans chapter
9, it speaks of Israel, verse 31, which followed after the
law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
wherefore, or why, or it was for this reason that they did
not attain, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were
by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. Now before I get into that verse
in detail, let's go back and look at some of the context of
Romans chapter 9. As you know, most of you know,
Romans 9 has been characterized as a difficult chapter of the
Bible, one that most religionists today who claim to be Christian
readily and willingly skip over. I've often heard stories about
pastors in freewill Armenian churches and conditional salvation. When they go through the book
of Romans, they just skip over Romans 8, 9, and 10. I've heard
those stories. When I was in that kind of false
religion, I never even saw a pastor even try to go through Romans,
but I'm sure they do because it becomes difficult. But you
know, religionists, theologians, philosophers have for thousands
of years debated and argued and discussed the issues of the two
great truths of the absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility
or the accountability of man, however you want to put that
and however you define it. People have different ways of
using words, defining words. It's important that we define
our terms when we get into these things. Hopefully we can define
our terms from biblical principles. We want to know what God means. We want to extract from His Word
what He means in this book, and that's why we do word studies.
That's why we want to go back to the original languages. I've
often said, you don't have to be a Hebrew or a Greek scholar
to understand the Word of God, but you have to be aware that
it was written in the original Hebrew and written in the original
Greek, and there's some merit. to studying the meaning of words
in that context so that we can understand what God has for us.
But here in Romans chapter 9, Paul the Apostle, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, expresses his love and desire for his kinsmen
according to the flesh. Israel. He's speaking of national
Israel. Paul himself was a Jew. He was
an Israelite by birth and by physical nature. And he expresses
it in terms that may be difficult for us to understand and try
to explain because it's something that is so overwhelmingly gracious. And we know Paul was speaking
by inspiration of the Spirit. This is God's Word, not Paul's
Word. I hear people talk about Pauline
theology and Johannine, John and Paul. Well, it's God's word. If we believe any of this book,
it's got to be God's word. If it's just the different opinions
of men, then really it's not an authoritative book. And Paul
begins here, he even goes to this point, he says, I could
wish myself a curse for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. And that's an amazing statement for a man to say. But
again, somebody said, well, that's just Paul talking. No, this is
the Holy Spirit inspiring Paul. This is God-breathed. So Paul
is expressing what was laid upon his heart by the Spirit. And
then he began to speak of the Israelites in verse 4. Who are
Israelites? Brother David mentioned that
in Psalm 95, you know, about Israel going through the wilderness,
40 years in the wilderness, and they provoked God. Do you know
what it is to provoke God? It's to not believe God. Unbelief
provokes God. Hebrews chapter 3 speaks of that.
Harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation. And the
reason that Israel was looked upon as being fully accountable
is because of all the advantages that they had as a nation. He
mentions them in verse 4. Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth
the adoption? That's a national adoption that
God gave them freely. He says, and the glory. They
saw such glorious things. Think about their deliverance
from Egypt. Think about the Red Sea parting,
the Pillar of the Cloud and the Pillar of Fire. Think about Moses
on Mount Sinai, coming down from Mount Sinai. Think about the
manna in the desert, the rock that issued forth water, all
of those glorious things that they saw. And he says, and the
covenants, that's the promises of God or the testaments of God,
the revelation of God in that covenant that God made with them,
the giving of the law. the service of God in the promises.
He says in verse 5, whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning
the flesh Christ came. The Messiah came through that
nation according to the flesh. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. What advantages, what privileges
temporally speaking, in the circumstances that God put them in. And then
he answers a question, an objection. Now, Israel as a nation, and
when we say as a nation, what we're talking about is the majority,
not all without exception, but Israel as a nation rejected and
abused all of the advantages, all of the truth that God gave
them in the law, which was meant to be a schoolmaster to lead
them unto Christ. In other words, in the giving
of the law, God had never commanded Israel or any other nation, but
in the giving of the law, God had never commanded Israel to
seek salvation or blessedness from God based upon deeds of
the law, based upon their works. That law was given first and
foremost to bring them in guilty, to expose their sinfulness and
the impossibility of salvation by their works of the law. The
law was given to show them the standard of righteousness that
God requires. and to show them that man by
nature, born in Adam, born in sin, cannot meet that standard. He cannot attain unto that standard
by his worth, even the best of men. We can easily by nature
see that the worst of men cannot attain it and do not attain it,
don't even try to attain it. But man at his religious best,
man at his most sincere, he cannot attain it. And here's what the
law says, man at his religious best, Man at his sincerest by
deeds of the law is no closer to the righteousness that God
requires for salvation and eternal blessedness than the worst of
men, the dregs of society. And you think about that. Now,
that was so offensive to Israel. It's so offensive to us by nature,
isn't it? I know when I first heard the
gospel preached with this physical ear, Oh, I was so upset. I was so angry. I walked out
of the church. I said, man, that guy don't think
anybody's saved. I bet he don't even think half
of them in the congregation are saved. And that's the case with
this gospel, this truth that is so offensive. That's the offense
of the cross, that man cannot attain righteousness by his best. And Israel couldn't do it. But
then, in the Old Testament, don't we read in passages such as Isaiah
chapter 45 that God promised to save all Israel? Doesn't it
say that? It sure does. God promised to
save all Israel. So then, Paul, Does that mean
since Israel as a nation rejected Christ and the gospel, thus rejecting
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, rejecting the way of salvation,
does that mean that God failed to keep His promise? Was God
not able to keep it? Or was God unfaithful? Well,
Paul answers that question beginning in verse 6. Now look at this.
He says, no, God is always faithful and God is always powerful and
able. Listen to me. God has never made
a promise that he didn't keep. He's faithful. Great is thy faithfulness
in the book of Lamentations. Now man's unfaithful, but God's
faithful. Let God be true, and every man
a liar. So he says, no, it's not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect. It's not as though God's
promise was ineffectual to Israel. But here's the case. For they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Now that may sound
strange and confusing, but it's not. What he's simply saying
here is this, you've got to understand. And let me tell you something,
this is not just New Testament doctrine here. This was preached
back in the Old Testament too. In fact, it got Isaiah into trouble.
It got all the prophets into trouble. And what he said that
the Israel that God promised to save was not the physical
nation. The all-Israel that God promised
to save is a spiritual nation. Spiritual Israel, well, what's
that? Well, that's the elect, chosen of God, out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue and nation, Jew and Gentile. Now that's the all
Israel that God promised to save. That's the all Israel that God
will save without fail. That's the all Israel who will
come to faith in Christ by the power of God. That's the all
Israel whom Christ redeemed and justified on the cross of Calvary.
So God has not been unfaithful. God has not been unable. He's
very faithful and He's very able, so He says in verse 7, neither
because they are the seed of Abraham, speaking of their physical
connection with Abraham, are they all children, that is, children
of God. Just because a person is born a physical Jew does not
make that person a child of God. Do you understand what he is
saying here? It does not make them saved. It does not make
them righteous. You cannot attain righteousness
by your physical pedigree and heritage and birth. You may be
born into a family of believers. But that doesn't make you a believer.
You may be born into a family, a man and woman that God chose
and Christ redeemed and justified on Calvary. But that doesn't
mean that that was for you. You must come to hear the gospel.
You must come to faith in Christ. That's the evidence that God
chose you. That's the evidence that Christ
redeemed you and justified you at Calvary. The Bible says that
He shall save His people from their sins. And He did it. And then he says, just because
you're the seed of Abraham physically does not make you a child of
God. He says, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now, what
is the significance of that Isaac? Well, you know the story of Isaac.
Isaac was the child of what? Promise. Abraham and Sarah had
a child when they were way past the age of childbearing. It was
a child of promise. You know, Abraham and Sarah tried
to take care of the matter themselves. They knew God promised him an
heir, and so Sarah sent Abraham into Hagar, the bondmaid, and
out of that came Ishmael, that wild child that nobody will ever
be able to tame. That's what the Scripture says.
And out of that came a great nation. But the child of promise
was Isaac, the miracle child, the miracle birth. And it's through
Isaac that Christ would come. And that's the significance here.
You see, it's through Isaac that the Messiah would come to save
his people from their sins. Verse 8 says, that is, they which
are the children of the flesh, those who are born into that
family, these are not the children of God. Now, can anything be
plainer than that? These are not the children of
God. But who is? But the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. What is the children of the promise?
That's the children whom Christ redeemed and justified on the
cross of Calvary by His blood and His righteousness. For all
the promises of God are in Him, yea, and in Him. Amen. Who are
the children of promise? Those who come to hear and believe
the promise. What is the promise? God promises
to save sinners based on the righteousness of Christ. Based
on the blood of Christ. Now somebody says, well, I believe
God's promise. Well, what is His promise? It's
the promise of grace. God never promised to save any
sinner conditioned on his faith. God never made that. Not the
true God now. There's an idol who made that
promise, but he can't fulfill it. And you can't do it. God
never promised to save any sinner based on his works. But God promises
to save his people through the blood and the righteousness of
Christ. Now, that's the promise. Now, do you believe the promise?
Are you hearing the promise? And as Brother David read, harden
not your hearts, as in the day of provocation. Don't walk out
in unbelief. Now, we know that if anybody
believes the promise, that it's owing to the sovereign mercy,
grace, and power of God. It's not owing to their free
will choice, because man by nature will not choose God. It's not
owing to their own volition or their own decision. And Paul
writes here in verse 9, for this is the word of promise, at this
time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. Now he begins speaking
of the absolute sovereignty of God and salvation here. He mentions
Jacob and Esau. He says down here in verse 13,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Now you know what most theologians do with that. They can't stand
the fact that God hated Esau. They think of hate as being wrong.
But you see, you cannot think of God's hatred as you do our
own hatred. Our own hatred of anything other
than that which is evil is sinful because that hatred arises from
sinful selfishness. But God only hates that which
deserves to be hated. And God's hatred is not emotion.
It's not God throwing a temper tantrum or anything like that.
But God's hatred is His justice against sin. That's what God's
hatred is. And people look at that verse
and they say, well, I just can't understand how God could hate
Esau. But what we should look at that verse and say is what
we can't understand is how God could love Jacob. What we should
say when we read that verse is this, how could God love any
of us? Because we're all sinners and
God must punish sin. But Paul says God is absolutely
sovereign. Now people come back with the
questions. Well, that's not right. That's
unfair. That's unjust. Now listen to
me. As I said, people have argued over God's sovereignty and man's
responsibility for thousands of years and they can't come
up with any right answers. Somebody says, well, I just can't
reconcile that in my mind. Somebody told me one time, they
said, well, there's a lot of things that I just don't understand.
And I said, well, join the club. Let's make out cards and hand
them out to everybody. But you see, we have a tendency
to deny that which we don't understand. or to try to come up with an
explanation that exalts man and brings God down off the throne.
And that's the problem. That's the problem. I know this.
If I don't understand it, I know whatever the right way to explain
it is, it's not going to bring God down and lift man up. I know
that. So basically, when you talk about
God's sovereignty, man's responsibility, if you cut through all the literature
and all the philosophies and all the theologies, it comes
down to man deals with it in one of three ways. The most popular
way, which is the way of just about every church, every so-called
church, as you know, is to really deny or diminish the sovereignty
of God and uplift man. That's freewillism. And that's
a false gospel. That puts salvation conditioned
on the sinner and not on the sinner's substitute. And that's
not the scriptural way. The second way, which is less
popular, but it's there, is to become a fatalist, which is to
deny man's responsibility at all and to make God so absolutely
sovereign that man has no accountability. And that's not scriptural either.
That's not the way to go. Well, what is the right way?
Well, the scriptural way is to bow to God's Word. We see both
truths. Both are true. God is absolutely
sovereign. Listen, God never made a mistake. God never used a contingency
plan because He never needed one. Whatever God does is right
and just and fair, and it's the only way to do it. I've heard
preachers say, well, God didn't have to send His Son to die for
your sins. Listen, if God didn't have to, He wouldn't have. Why
did God have to send His Son? I'll tell you why. Because without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. He had to
do it because He's God. He's just. He's righteous. And
in order to save a sinner, which is by His very nature in His
mercy and His grace and in His love, He had to be just in doing
so. He could not save me or you or
Israel or anybody at the expense of or in opposition to His justice
and His holiness. He can't do that. No more than
He could cease to be God. He can't even cease to be God
because He is God. And I hear people talking about
evil. Who created evil? Nobody created evil. Evil is
not a created thing. It's there because it's the opposite
of God who is all good and all wise. The Bible speaks of God's,
not just God's will, but it speaks of God's determinate will. It
speaks of His foreknowledge. It speaks of the God who declares
the end from the beginning. Now, I can declare the beginning
from the end. I know what happened this morning,
but I don't know what's going to happen later on. But God,
He declares the end from the beginning. That's God. If you've
got a God who has to look down through a telescope of time to
find out what's going to be, He's not God, whoever made the
telescope is. That's right. God doesn't look
down through a telescope of time. God created time. God determined
time, and that's the way it is. You say, well, then how can we
be held accountable? That seems unfair. Well, Paul
writes here in verse 14, he says, what shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unjust or unfair? And
he says, God forbid. God is never unjust. God is never unrighteous. God
is never unfair. He says to Moses, verse 15, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. That's the way it is. He's God. You say, well, that doesn't seem
right to me. Well, you're not God. You see, if he does it,
it's right. Isn't that right? You see, God
doesn't do that which is right. God is right, and because he
does it, it is right. I hope I'm making sense to you
here. But you see, that's the issue. He goes on, verse 16.
Somebody says, so then it is not of him that willeth. It's
not a free will. You don't have a free will. Man,
by nature's will is in bondage to sin, to say he wants what
he wants, and what he wants is against God by nature. Isn't
that right? You say, well, you can choose anything you want.
Well, by nature all you want is that which is opposed to the
glory of God in Christ, even religion. So it's not of him
that willeth, and it's not of him that runneth. It's not by
man's works. It's not by his will. It's not
by his... But it's of God that showeth
mercy. And I tell you what, if it wasn't of God that showeth
mercy, there'd be no mercy. There'd be no salvation. He goes
on. He talks about this. He says
in verse 19, he says, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he
yet find fault? For who has resisted his will?
How can God find fault with any of us? who's resisted God's sovereign
will. Well, look at the answer the
Scripture gives. Now, this is the answer God's Word gives,
verse 20. People may not like it and may
not be sad at it, but this is the only answer it gives now.
And I'll tell you something, this is the only thing you're
going to find in God's Word that is the closest thing to an explanation
of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, right here in
Romans 9. Look at verse 20. He says, "...Nay, but, O man,
who art thou that replyest against God?" Who do you think you are?
That's what he's saying. to answer against God. Huh? Shake your fist in the face of
God. Shall the thing formed? That's
us. Say to the thing, him that formed
it, that's God. Why hast thou made me thus? Hath
not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering. God suffers long. Now I'm going
to tell you what that means. The only reason That this world
was not snuffed out when Adam fell was for two reasons. Number
one, because of God's purpose to redeem His people and glorify
Himself in their suffering. And secondly, His long suffering.
God puts up with a lot. That's what that means. You say,
well, I wouldn't put up with it for a moment. Well, He wouldn't
have put up with me either. he puts up with a lot. And he
says, Endured with much long-suffering, vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even
us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the
Gentiles, God's Israel, his people." Now, you can sit around and argue
with God, and that's who you're arguing with now when you Ponder
these things and go against these things of God's sovereignty or
you can focus in on God's mercy And that's what we're responsible
to do when God reveals it in his word. Everybody's got a Bible
today, but what do they do with it? No more than what Israel
did with all the promises and all the benefits that they had
as a nation. Don't provoke God. Where is man's
responsibility? Look down at verse 30. Now, he
starts out here, he says, What shall we say then? Now, what
are the conclusions to all that's been said here now? Well, here
it is. That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. Now, when he speaks of
the Gentiles here, he's not speaking, obviously, of all Gentiles without
exception. He's speaking of Gentiles whom
God has brought to faith in Christ, those who have attained to righteousness. What is it to attain to righteousness?
Well, to attain to righteousness is to be justified before God
And this is speaking specifically as when a redeemed, justified
sinner comes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now, these Gentiles, it says they followed not after the law
of righteousness, or followed not after righteousness. When
he says that, he's not speaking as if to say, well, the Gentiles,
they didn't try to be religious or didn't try to be moral. Back
over in Romans chapter 2, if you'll turn with me over there.
He speaks of the Gentiles. When he says they did not seek
after righteousness or they did not follow after righteousness,
he is speaking comparatively there. In comparison with the
Jews who had the Law of Moses, the Gentiles did not have that
Law of Moses. But they did have a law, he says
back here in verse 14, he says, for when the Gentiles, Romans
2, 14, when the Gentiles, which have not the law, the law of
Moses, do by nature the things contained in the law, that is,
the moral principles which were in the law, the Gentiles had
in their conscience. For example, the Gentile nations
had laws. You only have to study history,
the Code of Hammurabi and things like that, which laws were based
upon that forbid murder and had penalties for stealing and things
like that. Thou shalt not steal. Now, the
Gentiles didn't have the law of Moses, but they had the law
of conscience. And that's what he says here.
They are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts demean while accusing or else excusing one
another. But what he's saying here is
that the majority, the nation Israel, as a majority, rejected
the righteousness revealed in the law. Many of the Gentiles
had come to see that. They'd come to believe it by
the power of God, and they attained to righteousness, even the righteousness
which is of faith. Now, hold that thought. Look
at verse 31 of Romans 9. Now, he says here, "...but Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness," now, they
had the law of Moses and they were seeking to be righteous
in their mind according to the law, "...but they hath not attained
to the law of righteousness." They didn't make it. They tried.
Some of them did their best, but they tried. But they didn't
make it. Now, verse 32. Why? That's what that word, wherefore,
means. That's the way they spoke in
Shakespeare today, wherefore. Why? Why didn't they attain it?
That's important, isn't it? Now, many people that we know,
many of our family members are trying to attain righteousness.
Many think they have attained it. Well, how do you know? Have
they or have they not? Well, Israel didn't. Why? Because
they sought it not by faith. but as it were by the works of
the law. They were seeking righteousness by their deeds of the law and
not by faith. Now what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? What is the righteousness of
faith? Well, we know right off hand
it's not their own righteousness. It's not that because they sought
it by works of the law and they didn't make it. It's not the
righteousness of their works. It's not righteousness by deeds
of law. And in the context here, we're
told very specifically what it is and what it's not. It's not
the righteousness that is faith. Many people have come today in
our generation to think that faith, their act of believing,
is equal to righteousness. They believe that when they claim
salvation is conditioned on faith. I was speaking with a man one
time in Albany. We were having lunch, and his,
I think it was his mother-in-law had just passed away. She never
made a profession of religion, he told me. But he said he believed
she was saved. And I said, well, Mike, how do
you know she was saved? What gives you that impression?
What gives you that impression? He said, well, right before she
died, a preacher went into the room there, and he came out,
and he said, well, she did what was required. And I said, well,
what is required? And he looked up at me and he
said, well, really, I don't know, to be honest with you. And I
said, well, let me tell you what's required for salvation. What
does God require? God requires righteousness. Perfect righteousness. Perfect
satisfaction to His law and His justice. And where there's sin,
where there's a breach of the law, He requires perfect payment
to that justice. Perfect holiness. And he looked
at me, his eyes got real big, and he looked at me and he said,
well, nobody can do that! And I said, that's right. And
I said, that's why salvation is by grace and not by works. That's why we can't do what's
required. What does God require? Perfect,
perfect righteousness. Well, faith is no replacement.
Our believing, rather, is no replacement for that. God does
not save upon some lesser requirement. He doesn't look down and say,
well, you fellas can't keep the law, you can't do it perfectly,
so I'll set something less and call it faith. No, that's not
the righteousness of faith. What is the righteousness of
faith? What he tells us. Look at verse 32. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. Now, do you see that? Now, what
does that mean, stumbling stone? Well, that is referring back
to the Old Testament, the prophecies of one who would come, as sent
of God, to do for his people what was required. It's speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 33, as it is written,
He's quoting here from Isaiah, chapter 28. Behold, I lay in
Zion, or Zion. Now, what is Zion? Zion is a
type of the church. Who is the church? The chosen
of God, the redeemed of God, those whom Christ justified on
the cross, and those who by the power of the Holy Spirit are
called into the kingdom at the new birth. They hear the gospel
and they hear the promise. I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him..." You see,
the stumbling stone there is a him. It's not an it. Speaking
of a person here. "...whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed." Now, that word ashamed can sometimes be
translated confounded. It means confused and mixed up. Almost like the term flabbergasted
that we would use. And what he's saying here is
this, picture this, picture a sinner doing his dead level best to
please God in this life by keeping the law. He determines in himself
he's going to love everybody, he's going to love his neighbors
himself, he's going to go to church, he's going to do his
best to establish righteousness before God. And then he's standing
before the judgment seat of Christ. Only to hear Christ say, Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. He finds out
then that what he had highly esteemed and thought recommended
him unto God, that which would surely save him, is actually
evil. Now what a shameness that person
would have. What confound him. He'd be flabbergasted. Christ
dealt with that in Matthew chapter 7. They said, we prophesied in
your name. We've done many wonderful works.
We've cast out demons. Now let me tell you something
here. Now listen to me very carefully. When God the Holy Spirit gives
a sinner, a dead sinner, spiritual life, when that sinner is born
again by the Spirit of God, That sinner is enabled by God to do
many wonderful and marvelous things that he did not and could
not do before. I'll tell you what, he can believe
the gospel. He can rest in Christ. He can
repent of dead works. That which he before boasted
of, now he's ashamed of. Paul wrote that in Philippians
3. He can walk in the light. But none of those things that
he's enabled to do, as great and as marvelous and as wonderful
and as miraculous as they are, none of those things make up
in any way to any degree my righteousness before a holy God. My righteousness
before God is Christ and Him crucified. So when the Pharisee
who stands before the temple and he says, I thank God that
I'm not like other men. Well, don't you thank God? Now
listen to me. We who believe sovereign grace,
we know that if it weren't for the grace of God and His restraining
hand, what we're capable of. Isn't that right? Well, don't
you thank God that He restrains us? We read stories, horrendous
stories in the paper all the time, see them on the news about
child molestation and pedophiles, and I wonder sometimes how such
evil can get into men. But yet I know from God's testimony
that were it not for the grace of God, we would be sickened
by the depths that we could go to. Don't we thank God that we're
not doing that? Yes, we do. Well, what's the
difference between me and the Pharisee? The Pharisee thought
that was his righteousness before God. We know better. We who know
Christ. My friend, nothing, nothing makes
up our righteousness before God except what Christ accomplished
2,000 years ago. Let me conclude by reading the
first few verses of chapter 10. Now listen to what he says here.
He makes it so clear. He says, verse 1, Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. Paul desired that they would be saved and come to faith
in Christ. He says in verse 2, I bear them
record, that they have a zeal of God. They're religious. They're doing their best to please
God. But the problem is it's not according to knowledge. They're
missing some knowledge. Now what knowledge are they missing?
Look at verse 3. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, Now then, how are they ignorant of God's righteousness?
Well, they're ignorant of God's requirement of righteousness,
what God requires. Any sinner who thinks God will
accept and save him based on anything less than perfect righteousness
is ignorant of God's righteousness. If you think God will save you
and keep you and bless you based upon your act of believing, you're
ignorant of God's righteousness. But they're also ignorant of
God's provision of righteousness. Now, what is that? We'll look
at it. Well, they're going about to establish their own righteousness,
and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Now, Paul used that term back in Romans 1, verse 17, when he
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and the Greek also. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed, for as it is written, the justified shall
live by faith. Well, here it is. They've not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Verse 4,
For Christ, is the end. That word end means fulfillment,
it means completion, it means finishing. It's the same word
or form of the same word that Christ used in John 19 when he
was up on that cross and he said, it's finished. For Christ is
the end of the law, the fulfillment of the law, the fulfillment of
righteousness for righteousness to everyone that believes. What
is the righteousness of faith? It's the righteousness that Christ
brought in by his obedience unto death. And everyone who believes
Everyone who's a child of promise, everyone whose heart has been
softened and made pliable by the Spirit of God, submits to
Christ and His righteousness alone as their ground of salvation,
their only hope of salvation, their only right standing before
God.