Romans 10.5, we spent some time
in these verses and in the book
of Romans. In general, it's necessary, especially
in some passages of Scripture more than others, to see each
verse and to try, by God's grace and wisdom that comes from Him
and by His direction, glean all the teaching from each
verse, and sometimes each word is so full of teaching. But also, it's important always
to settle back into the context of these words when we begin
these studies. And here in chapter 10, verse
5, this verse begins with the word for, and there's a reason
for that. He says, for Moses describeth
the righteousness which is of the law. that the man which do
with those things shall live by them he's of course referring
back to what he said already in previous verses this is why
there must be an end to the law for righteousness because hear
what the law says listen to what moses said concerning the law
and you'll see why the Israelites were in the case that they were
in, going about to establish their own righteousness and not
submitting to the righteousness of God. That's necessary because
of what Moses said about the law, the truth concerning the
law, that the man which doeth those things that are written
in the law shall live by them. You're not going to live unless
you do them. So This is why Paul mourned the Israelites for not
submitting to Christ, who is himself both the goal and the
termination of the law for righteousness. Not the termination of the law,
the termination of the law for righteousness to that man that
believes. And this is why, because as Moses
described, the only way to be righteous on the terms of God's
law is to do those things that are commanded in the law. And this isn't talking about
taking your best shot at it. It's not talking about your good
outweighing your bad, as if some, you know, some idiotic idea like
that could even be true. It's talking about perfect obedience
to the law, thought, word, and deed. And on these terms, all
are unrighteous, not righteous. He's talking about righteousness
in this whole context. It has to do with righteousness.
We must be righteous before God. And his heart went out to God
for his countrymen because they were going about to establish
their own righteousness. They heard this Law, as Moses
described it, and they said, OK, we'll do that, just like
they did back in the Old Testament. But they didn't do that. They
haven't done that. And he shows all through the
book of Romans that they haven't done that. He said, you who teach
the law to others, do you do those things that are written
in the law? No, no one has. So all are unrighteous on these
terms. By the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified. Romans 3 20. On these terms all
are guilty, which is why Paul said, what things soever the
law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. Everybody is guilty before God,
but the law says what it does to you, so that you might stand
there and say, I'm guilty before God. And shut up about your righteousness.
Me too. On these terms, everyone would
perish, which is why Christ's promise is so wonderful. This
is why God shows us this in his law, so that when the gospel
comes, John 3, 14, listen to this now,
and listen to it as a sinner standing before God, guilty,
deserving hell. And like David said, if you judge
me and put me in hell, you'll be right. You'll be justified
in doing it. Stand there that way and hear
this promise. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. He must be lifted up. Why? That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The thought to a sinner now of not perishing,
but having eternal life. That's why they call it good
news. We cannot live by the law because we have not obeyed the
law, but we live by grace through faith in Christ. The just, Paul
said, shall live by faith. We live by Christ's righteousness. We live by his precious blood,
which washed our sins away. We live because he died. We live
because he lives. We live because at the time of
love, He came where we were and said to us, live, and said it
with power, and said it on the authority of His own righteousness
and shed blood. He has authority to give life
to whomsoever He will. And if He's come your way and
said, live, it was at His own discretion that He did it. It
was because of His own free sovereign grace, not because you deserved
it, not because you earned it, not even because you wanted it.
but because he loved you and wanted you to have it. The very
words in our text, he said, notice these words in verse five, the
righteousness, which is of the law. There's only one righteousness,
but there are two in this sense. There is a, an imagined righteousness,
a perceived righteousness. which is a righteousness in the
truest sense, because Christ had that righteousness, which
is of the law. He lived perfectly. But as far
as you're concerned, there are only one. There's the righteousness
which is of the law, but that's imaginary for you. Some people,
the Jews included, like Paul said, they went about thinking
that they could establish that righteousness. But then those
words, the righteousness, which is of the law, are set over in
opposition to the words of Romans 3, Romans 3 20, where we read
a while ago, listen to this. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now listen to this. The reason I
wanted to show you these words in our text, the righteousness,
which is of the law is because the next thing that comes out
of Paul's mouth, once he says, you can't be justified by the
righteousness, which is of the law is this, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested in the gospel. There's the righteousness,
which is of the law. And then there's the righteousness
of God without the law. There's our hope. He manifested
that righteousness. Where'd that righteousness come
from? We're not born with it. We can't earn it. The righteousness
of God, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. It says in the King James Version
that that righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ. And if you look up the original
language, That word faith means the character of one who can
be relied upon. You can't be relied upon to obey
God and to please God and to keep his law, but he can. And
there's my righteousness. Christ as my substitute, as my
representative, came down here and represented me just like
Adam did, except just the opposite of how Adam did. For as by one
man, Sin entered, and death by sin, so by one man. Righteousness
by the obedience of one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Many shall
be made righteous because of his righteousness, because of
his faithfulness to the law, not ours. The righteousness of
God, which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe. There's your faith. Not faithfulness,
but faith. Not obedience to the law, but
faith. God-given faith, the gift of
God. Which is not of words, lest any
man should boast. For there is no difference now.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It doesn't
matter if you're Jew, Gentile, bond or free, barbarian, Scythian. It doesn't matter. Who you are,
where you came from, what you've done, All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Righteousness doesn't come that
way. But by our Lord Jesus Christ
and His faithfulness to God's law. And now he said, I said that those words, the
righteousness which is of the law, is over here. And then over here in Romans
3, there's the righteousness of God without the law. Well,
over on this side, too, there is what we just got through reading. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And then over in our text, what
did he say about the law? You'll live by the law if you
do them, if you do them, if you do them. But over here, all have
sinned. Nobody's done them. So we can't
have the righteousness that comes that way ever. We haven't done them. We can't
do them. And so this righteousness of God without the law should
interest us greatly. Now, the next several verses
have to be looked at together, and we'll only glance at them
this morning and look at them again, Lord willing, next time.
But look at verse six. The righteousness, but Moses
spoke of the law which says if you're going to be righteous
before God by the law, you got to do the law. But here's that
other righteousness that he talked about in chapter three, the righteousness,
which is of faith. The righteousness which doesn't
have to do with you keeping the law. The righteousness which
you can have before God even though you're sinful and vile
and wretched in yourself because faith puts you in Christ, connects
you with Christ who is our righteousness. The righteousness which is of
faith speaks on this wise. We've heard how the law speaks.
It says, thou shalt and thou shalt not. And there's no compromise
and no mercy. But listen to how the righteousness
which is of faith speaks, which in other words is the gospel,
the good news that there can be righteousness before God.
Not only can there be, there is righteousness before God without
you keeping his law. Because someone else kept the
law. And by faith in him, he is that righteousness for us,
to us and in us. That gospel, the law speaks condemnation,
but the gospel says this, don't say in your heart, who shall
ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Christ already came down. You don't have to do anything
about that. That is to bring Christ down
from above. Or who shall descend into the
deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead. It don't
speak that way. It don't speak, what are you
gonna do about your sin? It says somebody's already done
something about your sin. If you're his, if you believe
on him, what does it say? The word is near you. You don't
have to ascend up into heaven. You don't have to make this happen.
It's even in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word
of faith which we preach. Is it in your heart? How did
it get there? By grace are you saved through
faith and that's not of yourselves. You see what this, it's the law,
you, or the gospel, Christ. That is the word of faith which
we preach. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus. You're gonna confess him sooner
or later. Do it now while the gospel's
preached. That's what, that's the command. Confessing. Confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord. Sooner or later, you're going
to anyway, but look at that. And shalt believe in thine heart.
You're not just popping off because somebody wanted you to say it,
because somebody said, repeat after me, you believe it in your
heart that he's Lord. And that God, the Father, raised
him from the dead and said, sit down on my right hand till I
make your enemies your footstool. And you'll be saved. I can make, without reservation,
that promise to every sinner. Believe and confess and you'll
be saved. Now this is an exposition by
the Apostle Paul of Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 10. We have about six minutes left.
Let me read you that or you can turn there. Of course, if you'd
like to Deuteronomy 30 10, but I'll read it. Listen to what
it was said here. And here in the difference in
the language that Paul is taking this passage here, that sounds
like it's talking about the law and it is. But he's expounding
this scripture to preach the gospel. We have to stand before God righteous
before him in his holy law, in his justice, in his holiness
and perfection. Without compromise, he demands
holiness and perfection. How are you going to do that?
Paul tells you from this scripture here, listen to this, Deuteronomy
30, 10. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy
God to keep his commandments and his statutes, which are written
in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, Paul said you can't
do that by the outward performance or even the inward understanding
and submission to God's law. But here's how you can do that.
Believe on Christ. You want to honor God's law?
You want to fulfill God's law? You want to keep God's law? Believe
on Christ. He kept the law for you, if you
believe. The only way a sinner can honor
God's law, but he said, if you do that, if you'll hearken and
obey. Verse 11, for this commandment,
which I command thee this day, is not hidden from thee, neither
is it far off. It's not in heaven that thou
shouldest say, who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it
unto us, that we may hear it and do it. God's been declaring the gospel
in your very ears since the beginning. You don't have to go fetch it. Neither, verse 13, Is it beyond
the sea that thou shouldest say, who shall go over the sea for
us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it? How
are we going to do something in order to please God? The gospel
doesn't speak that way. But the word is very known to
thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it. And I guarantee you, If God puts
it in your heart, you're gonna do it. It's in your heart. As the gospel goes forth, Paul
said the gospel, the power of God unto salvation. And if you're
his, if he died to redeem you, if God loved you from the foundation
of the world and sent his son down here to die for you, this
gospel is sent to you. And one day, as it comes to you
through the mouth of a preacher, you're gonna find that it's in
your heart to believe on him. And I guarantee you, if it's
in your heart, it's going to come out of your mouth. Verse 15, see, I have set before
thee this day, life and good and death and evil. And Paul
is teaching several things here from this passage as he expounds
it in Romans chapter 10. Number one, and it will be very
brief, as I said, and we'll revisit this, Lord willing, next time.
But he's saying this evil doesn't have to do with your deeds. He
said, I've set before you life and good. They go together. And death and evil, they go together.
The wages of your evil is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
But he's saying here, evil is not what you do or don't do.
It has to do with your heart and your mouth. Well, what does
it have to do with our mouth? Remember what the Lord said in
Matthew 15 concerning what goes in your mouth and what comes
out of your mouth? We won't take the time to read it this morning,
and we may very well next time we look at Romans. But he said,
it's not what goes in your mouth that defileth. He's talking to
some people that wouldn't, for anything in the world, eat with
unclean hands. Because the law said, wash your
hand before you eat, or at least their interpretation of the law,
they had their traditions and things, and they wouldn't eat
without washing their hands. But he said, it doesn't matter
whether you eat with clean hands or dirty hands, that's not what's
gonna defile you. What defiles you is not what
goes in your mouth, it's what comes out of your mouth. Because
what comes out of your mouth came from somewhere. It came
from your heart. That's what he said now in Matthew
15, 10 through 20. We don't have time to read it
this morning, but you jot it down if you don't believe me
or you want to verify it. And Lord will look at it next
time. He said it coming out of your heart. That's what this
has to do with your mouth. Because if you believe in your
heart, you'll confess him before me. And he said, if you won't
confess me before me and I won't confess you before my father.
And that's why, because if you won't confess Him with your mouth,
you don't believe it in your heart, doesn't matter how much
you say you do. All right, now, what word? He said the word is
in your mouth and in your heart. What word? Confession of Christ
and faith in Christ, according to Paul. He said that's what's
in your mouth, confession of Christ. Will you confess Christ
before men? And do you believe in your heart
that he's who he said he is and that he came down here and died
for his people and redeemed them and rose again from the dead
for their justification? Do you believe that in your heart?
It's right there in your heart. You don't have to go, you don't
have to walk down an aisle to be saved. You don't have to lift
a finger to be saved. You don't have to go up to heaven
or go down to the deep. It's right there in your heart,
or not, or not. I've set before you good and
life and evil and death. And to some, the gospel is the
savor of death unto death, but to some, life unto life as it
goes forth. And then the second thing, and
I'll just Introduce it that he's teaching here is that there's
absolutely no excuse whatsoever For not honoring God. There's
no excuse for your evil Evil and good and their consequences
are set before you when the gospel is preached and if you choose Evil and death you have no excuse Remember what name in the lepers
servant said to him I He said, if God required you to do some
great thing, you'd do it. Or at least you'd try to do it.
You'd convince yourself that you'd done it. And that's what
people do. We're going to live for God, really now. But what he was told to do was
just wash. That's the most reasonable thing
in the world for a leper to do, isn't it? Go wash. You ought
to be doing that anyway, right? If you're a leper. There's no great thing required
of thee. The Lord Jesus did the great
thing. He came down here. He's already
come down from heaven. You don't have to bring him down.
You don't have to bring him up from the dead. He died and rose
from the dead. for the justification of all
of his elect. Now, as Christ said to that ruler
of the synagogue in Mark 5, 36, only believe. Only believe. That's the most reasonable thing
in the world, isn't it, to believe what God said over what you think? You ought to be doing that anyway,
shouldn't you? What is required of thee is only
what is simple and reasonable, and you have no excuse whatsoever
for not doing. Now, can you do it? No. No, but that's your fault and
your problem. Have you ever heard that saying? It's not your fault,
but it is your problem. It's your fault and your problem.
Unbelief. Unbelief. Our sin has made it
so that we are utterly without ability to do even that which
is most reasonable and simple and natural. Originally, God made us holy. perfect and upright and the most
natural thing in the world for a man to do is when God says
something, believe Him. And our sin has rendered us utterly
incapable of doing so. To believe and love the God that
made us and prepared paradise for us before He ever made us
and put us in it and gave us every blessing And we can't love Him, we can't
obey Him. That's what sin is, that's unbelief.
And yet we're commanded to do so. How are you going to do so? As the Gospel goes forth, it's
in your heart. By grace through faith, we believe
on Christ by God-given faith. let not conscience make you linger
nor a fitness fondly dream all the fitness he requires all the
fitness he requires is you feel your need of him and this he
gives you this he gives you tis the spirit's
rising beam it is the spirit of god that sheds light upon
what you are before God and your need of Christ, and then shines
in the very face of God's Son, gives the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. And you see Him and say, Lord,
I believe. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Let's bow in prayer.