Romans 9 verse 30 and we'll read
a little further than we did this morning. What shall we say then that the
Gentiles which follow not after righteousness have attained to
righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith but Israel
which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained
to the law of righteousness wherefore Why? Why not? Because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of a fence. And whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now, as I said this
morning, There are only two ways by which a sinner can consider
himself righteous before God. One, of course, is false and
the other the gospel. The first was what Paul calls
in our text verse 32 there. By the works of the law, righteousness
by the works of the law. Paul himself sought righteousness
that way, as we saw in Philippians three. verses four through nine. He trusted in his religious heritage. He trusted in his religious law
keeping until Christ was revealed to him. And then he sought and
pursued and laid hold of Christ alone for righteousness and salvation. Something happened to Paul that
made him say that that person that he described in the first
part of that passage, the one who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
a Pharisee, and proud of it. He said in Romans 7, 9, that
that person died. That's the way he describes what
happened to him. He said, I was alive without
the law. He was a keeper of the law, but
he didn't understand the law. He didn't know the truth of the
law, the spiritual nature of the law. But when the commandment
came, when he did, when God did reveal to him the truth and spiritual
nature of the law, he said, I died. That self-righteous heritage
and religion trusting Saul of Tarsus died. When God's law came
in revelation light and he saw himself in that light, everything
changed. before he considered himself
blameless, and after he said, Oh, wretched man that I am. Paul himself describes what happened
to him also in Galatians 1, 15 through 16. He describes it this
way. He said, When it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb before I even knew, Way
before I became a Pharisee, way before I began to trust my own
righteousness before God, God had already separated me from
my mother's womb. And one day he called me by his
grace. And when he did, Paul said, he
said this, he revealed his son in me. That's what happened.
And Saul of Tarsus died. All of his self-righteous hopes
vanished. God revealed to him the futility
of that one way, to be righteous before God by the works of the
law, insomuch that he said that all that was most precious to
him, and upon which he had before pinned all of his hopes, became
dull to him. But God didn't leave him there.
He revealed to him the futility of establishing his own righteousness,
but also showed him the other way. the only true way that a
man can be righteous before God. And when God did that, Paul said
this, I must be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness,
but his. The righteousness, which is not
by my faithfulness to the law, but by his faithfulness to the
law. And that righteousness is received by faith in Christ. That was Philippians 3.9. Paul
said that I might be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, by
believing on him. That's why the Lord said, he
that believeth on me shall not perish, but have everlasting
life. These two ways of righteousness
are mutually exclusive of one another. That's why Paul said,
I had to die. I died. The self-righteous me
has got to die. when the new creature is born. These two ways of righteousness
are mutually exclusive. To embrace one is to let go of
the other. They cannot both be embraced
at once. Romans 11 5 says, Even so, at
this present time, also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
If there's any work involved, if there's anything contingent
upon the obedience of man. Paul said, if you even be circumcised
in order to please God, then Christ shall profit you nothing.
Grace is no more grace. If there's anything, the walking
of an owl, the exercising of a will, the repeating of a prayer,
anything that is thought to have recommended you to God and caused
him to save you. is work, and then grace is no
more grace. You can call it grace, you can
name your church grace, but it's not grace if there's any work
involved. And Paul said if it be of works,
then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. You can't
introduce grace into the into the system of works either. They're
both, the one destroys the other. But both have this same common
thought, and that's why we, for the sake of understanding this
and the sake of considering it, we talk about two ways, even
though there's only one. But both are seeking righteousness,
the one who seeks it by the law and the one who finds it by grace. Both are seeking righteousness,
the one by works and the other by faith in Christ. Paul said
in Romans 10, if you'd like to turn there, please, it'll be,
I think, easier to understand if you're looking at it. Paul
said in Romans 10, and here's what we're talking about, both
are seeking righteousness. The one who doesn't find it and
the one who does. The religious person who's looking
for righteousness by the deeds of the law, he's looking for
the same thing. He's looking to be accepted of
God, to be to satisfy God, to please God. So look at Romans
10, 1. He said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul loved his countrymen,
his fellow Jews, and he wanted to see them saved. And he said,
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. It wasn't just that they had
some little differences of opinion, but we're all going there, we're
just going a different way. No, Paul said they need to be
saved. They need to be saved. 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.
They're seeking righteousness. They're going about to establish
a righteousness. But it's a personal righteousness,
which is impossible to establish before God. and not submitting
themselves to the righteousness of God. He said, for Christ is
the end of the law. For righteousness to everyone
that believeth. There is the righteousness of
God and then there's man's own righteousness. There's your two
ways. Man's righteousness is imagined.
It's not real. But it's real to them. It's real
to us by nature. Paul said in our text that the
reason Israel, generally speaking, hath not obtained that which
they sought for, which is righteousness, was that they sought it not by
faith, but they sought it by the deeds of the law. Well, what
happened, Paul? What was the problem? He said
they stumbled. There was something that they
stumbled at, a stumbling stone. They tripped over something,
that's the, or they were ensnared in something. What is this stumbling
stone? We'll look back at the text there
in Romans 9, verse 33. When he quotes the Old Testament
scripture there, it's clearly revealed who the stumbling stone
is. Romans 9, 33. As it is written, behold, I lay
inside a stumbling stone and rock of a fence, and whosoever
believeth on him. It's not an object, it's a person.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That rock is Christ. The one
in the wilderness from which the children of Israel drank
was Christ, and this one is too. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1 right
here, just a few pages over. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. For after that in the wisdom
of God the world by wisdom knew not God. This wasn't a failure
on God's part. It was in God's wisdom that they
not know Him. You see that? It was in the wisdom
of God, in the purpose, in his wise providence, that they knew
not God. And when that was true, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The preaching of the gospel.
For the Jews require sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. We don't give either one of them
what they want, Paul said there in verse 23. We're not going
to give them a sign and we're not going to preach with enticing
words of man's wisdom. We're not going to be philosophers.
We're going to do what God sent us to do. We're going to preach
Christ crucified. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block.
The gospel of Christ is not what they're looking for. And unto the Greeks, foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. So in what sense is Christ a
stumbling block to the Jews? The word, as I said, means a
snare or an impediment. It's something put in the way
that becomes a hindrance. And it says that God laid this
rock of a fence, this stumbling stone. He said, I lay in Zion
this rock. Let me read to you Isaiah 8.13.
I was going to have you turn there, and you're certainly welcome
to, but Isaiah 8.13 is the prophecy that Paul refers to here in Romans
9. It says, Sanctify the Lord of
hosts himself, and let him be your fear. You remember the Lord
said, I'll forewarn you whom you shall fear. Don't fear him
that can kill the body, and then after that have nothing that
they can do. But fear him who can cast both body and soul into
hell. He's talking about himself. He
has the keys. Christ has the keys of hell and
of death. And here Isaiah says, let him be your fear, one fear,
and your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary. No question about that. We don't
refer to this building as a sanctuary because we have a sanctuary. We don't take sanctuary in here.
We take sanctuary in Christ. He shall be for a sanctuary.
This is an auditorium. It's a place that the word auditory
means sound, hearing. And that's what happens here.
We speak and we hear. And it's a a venue for that purpose,
an auditorium. And so our sanctuary is Christ,
but also now he'll be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling
too, and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel,
for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble. You see, he talks about the whole
nation of Israel stumbling, and Romans there, but as I said this
morning, it's not without exception. The Lord, except the Lord hath left us
a remnant, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been
as Gomorrah. Israel would have been, but they're
not as Sodom and Gomorrah. God wiped out every one of them,
saved Lot alone. But Israel not like Sodom anymore
because God has a remnant according to the election of grace. He
has a people among the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Many among
them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared and be
taken. That's what Paul's reading. He's
quoting this verse with regard to the Jews seeking salvation
by their own works and not by faith in Christ. He's applying
this scripture And expounding upon this scripture when he says,
they attained not unto righteousness because they sought it by works
and not by faith. They did not believe on Christ. The Lord Jesus was a stumbling
stone to them for many reasons. But as Paul makes clear application
of here in his epistle to the Romans, all of the reasons for
their offense, for their being offended at Christ, had one root
cause. a lack of faith. They sought
it not by faith. They sought that which Christ
alone can give, but they didn't seek it from him, by faith in
him. His birth was a stumbling block
to the Jews. We'll just give a few examples
tonight. They said at one time, they took up stones to stone
him, and he said, for what good work do you stone me? All I've
done is good works. for which of them do you stone
me? And they said, we're not stoning you because of your doing
of good works, but because you're a man and you make yourself God. They said, you were born of a
woman and you're calling yourself God. You're born of a woman. You can't
be our savior. The truth is if he's not born
of a woman, he can't be a savior. So they were blind. They had
no faith. And it's because they didn't
believe God. God had clearly revealed that. And again, you
can turn to Isaiah 9 if you'd like to, but I'll read it to
you. God had revealed that he must be born. He must take on
our nature. He could not save us if it were
not so. Isaiah 9, 6, unto us a child
is born. Just like every other child is
born the same way. He came into this world through
the same means. Born of a woman, Paul said, made
under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law.
If he's not born of a woman made under the law, he can't redeem
them that are under the law. Us, sinners. So unto us a child
is born. And unto us a son is given. He's
not saying the same thing there. A child is going to be born in
this world, but that's God giving his eternal son to us when that
happens. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder. What government? The government.
All of the governments of this world are under one government,
the government of God. The authority and rule and reign
and power of God. His authority, His rule, His
government. And that government is on the
shoulders of his son, Jesus Christ. And his name shall be called
Wonderful. Who? That little baby that's
going to be born. His name shall be called Counselor,
the Mighty God. Simeon held the Mighty God in
his arms and said, God, let me die. I've seen your salvation. The Everlasting Father prince
of peace. He's coming to make peace by
the precious blood of his cross that's represented by that grape
juice right there. That's why this is such a precious
ordinance to us. Because that baby was born and
he was a stumbling block to many because of that. But that's precious
to us, the truth that he came into this world. He said, I came
down here For this cause came I into the world, to redeem my
people, to shed my precious blood. In the increase of his government
and peace, there shall be no end. There's no limit to his
reigning power, his authority, his government, and his peace. Throughout this whole world,
he's the Prince of Peace. Out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, and tongue, He redeemed a people and made peace with
God for them by the blood of his cross. Upon the throne of
David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it
with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Now the Jews
stumbled. at the fact that Christ was born
the way that he was. They said in John 6, 42, it says
there, they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How is it then that he said,
I came down from heaven? He said, I came down from heaven.
We know better than that. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. We know his mother, Mary and
his father, Joseph. But if he is not born, what they
did not know, they stumbled, you see. Christ was a stumbling
stone to them. What they didn't know is that
if he is not born as we are, except without sin, he can't
save us. Hebrews 2, 16, for verily he
took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the
seed of Abraham. As God promised Abraham, he would.
In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, thy
seed. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, born into
this world as a baby, so that those who lived at that time
would know his father and mother, earthly speaking. Now he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God. The priest had to be chosen from among the people. The high
priest had to be one of the Jews, one of their own blood, or he
could not represent them before God. And so God's eternal high
priest had to be one of us to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. He can't reconcile sinners to
God. unless he's made like unto us.
So they stumbled at that, but they shouldn't have. There's
no excuse for it, is there? Because God clearly revealed
this. It must be so. If they had just believed God
concerning the woman's seed, the very first prophecy that
we have of him in the scripture, the woman's seed shall crush
the serpent's head. That tells them right there it's
going to be, he's going to be born of a woman. If they had
believed God, they wouldn't have stumbled at Christ, his son,
and they sought it not by faith. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And this word declares his humanity,
declares that he is the God man. He's bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh, but also when he said, I came down from heaven,
he's telling the truth. A child is born, but a son has
been given to God's son God's eternal son Co-equal with the
father The chief priests and scribes
there in Matthew 2 you remember When the wise men came and said
we seek the child the Christ child We've seen a star in the
east we've come to worship it And King Herod saw that as a
threat to his throne, all these prophecies of this king that
was supposed to be coming. And so he called together the
chief priests and the scribes. And then he said, where's this
one going to be born? It's one called the Christ. And
they knew. They knew from the word of God.
They told him, he's going to be born in Bethlehem, because
the scripture says that he'll be born in Bethlehem. And he was born exactly as God
said he would be, and yet they stumbled. When he came among
them and began to teach them, they stumbled at him. And they
also stumbled at this, they stumbled at his association with sinners.
Over and over they said, if you were who you say you were, are,
you wouldn't associate with the ones that you do. Because like Paul said in our
text, they were self-righteous. They believed not and they stumbled
because they were self-righteous. If they had believed God concerning
their own sin, they would have rejoiced in the truth that he
eateth with sinners. But since they weren't sinners
in their own eyes, they were offended by that. They stumbled most of all and finally at the cross Christ
crucified he was a stumbling block to them in his redemptive
character in his cross work and that's what Paul specifically
points out there in first Corinthians 123 where we read it is the offense
of the cross that makes the Lord Jesus Christ a rock of offense
to so many he said we preach Christ crucified to the Jews
a stumbling block. They stumbled at Christ crucified
because they did not believe God's clear word as in all these
other cases. They sought what they were seeking
not by faith. God's telling sinners all through
his book how sinners can be just with God and yet they sought
it not by faith and we wouldn't have either if God had not left
a remnant according to the election of grace. as we see in the very
context of our passage. God's word is clear, though.
The Passover lamb must be slain if there's to be deliverance.
God must see his blood if he is to pass over you, if he's
going to be satisfied. In Leviticus, we read that it
is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Him dying on the
cross, to them that was failure. That was, he's a loser, he's
nobody. See there, if you were the Christ,
you'd come down here. No, no, if he's the Christ, he
won't. He can't. Not and save his people. And so they stumbled at that.
Isaiah's man of sorrows must be wounded for our transgression.
He must be bruised for our iniquities. He must be brought as a lamb
to the slaughter. He must be cut off out of the
land of the living. He must make his very soul an
offering for sin. They were familiar with all of
the scripture. And yet when he did, they stalled. And as Paul
teaches here, They not only did not believe the clear revelation
concerning the Messiah, but as Paul shows in 10.3, which is
just three or four verses after our text here in Romans 9, he
shows that it's not just a question of them being ignorant of the Scriptures, familiar
with the Scriptures, but ignorant of the truth of the Scriptures.
But also it was a question of submission. Look at Romans 10.3,
which, like I say, is in this very context. The chapter division
there doesn't mean anything. God didn't divide that there. So we're reading in 9.33 that
Christ is a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence, and that in
verse 32 that the Jews, generally speaking, many of them, sought
righteousness not by faith in Christ, but by their own works.
And then right down in verse three there of Romans 10, we
see this. It's a matter of submission 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 It's a question of submission They did not need Christ's blood
to wash them clean Because they were clean in their own eyes
by their own cleansing and so they refused they would not submit
To the atoning blood of Christ they went about to establish
their own righteousness and so despised the righteousness of
Christ and and his sin-cleansing blood. Our Lord, as he said,
the whole have no need. Those two words are so key. No need. They're not going to
submit to the righteousness of God because they don't need,
in their own estimation, the righteousness of God, which is
Christ crucified. The very idea that man cannot
reconcile himself to God is so offensive to man. And so the preaching of Christ
crucified is so offensive to man, he will not submit. Whosoever
believeth on him, Paul said there in Romans 9.33, shall not be
ashamed. And to believe on him is to believe
him concerning ourselves. Now think about the entire book
of Romans here. We've been studying for some
time, but even if you hadn't been here all that time, you're
somewhat familiar with the book of Romans. And think with me.
What is it to believe on? He said, whosoever shall believe
on that stumbling stone shall not be ashamed before God. They'll
stand justified. And they will obtain that which
they seek for if they seek it by faith in Him. If you believe
on Him, you won't be ashamed. Well, what is it to believe on
Him? It's to believe Him concerning your own condition before God. his estimation and description
of you. Where do we see that? In the
same context of this book of Romans in the first chapters.
You remember how Paul talks about all through there, how we're
all concluded under sin, Jew and Gentile, the Jew who presumes
to teach, you know what it is to be righteous, commit the same
evil that they tell everybody else not to commit. He said,
we're all, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
In chapter three, he said, there shall no flesh be justified by
God, but your efforts to keep his law. You're not going to
attain righteousness that way. And so to believe on him is to
believe that his estimation of us, his revelation concerning
our true condition before him to believe on this stumbling
stone. Also is to believe Him concerning
who He is and how sinners are saved by His free electing grace. Romans 9, we just saw, God saves
sinners by faith in His Son, having chosen them before the
foundation of the world. And all through, really, the
book of Romans, He talks about how we do receive remission from
sin. It's through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus. But also that we are elect. He
speaks of the sovereignty of God, elect by the free sovereign
grace of God there in Romans 9. And then he talks about this,
and this is part of faith too. It's believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ and trusting Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified. It's
to believe on Christ in His redemptive character is to believe on him
and as Paul said at one time through faith in his blood. What
does that mean? We know we believe God concerning
Christ's precious sin atoning blood and that only by that blood
can a sinner be washed clean and holy and pure before God
Almighty. Where's that at in the book of
Romans 8? Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. And I'm just pointing out places.
All of these truths are taught all in the book of Romans, but
there's a general theme that runs throughout, and in different
places, these truths are emphasized in the book, and we see that
clearly, don't we? It's Christ that died. No charge can be brought
against me by anybody. And also, as we've said tonight
already, it's submitting to God's righteousness in Christ. It's
to abandon your own righteousness. Again, Philippians 3, I count
it all done that I may win Christ. Where do we see that? Romans
10, which we haven't gotten into yet, but we just peeked at it,
didn't we? Submitting to the righteousness of God. Quit going
about to establish your own righteousness. Nobody ever has been, nobody
ever will be justified before God that way. Bow to Christ,
receive Christ, own Christ as your only righteousness before
God. And so all of that together is
believing on Him. He that believeth on Him, shall
not be ashamed. Christ, as he says here in the
next verse in Romans 10 verse 4, is the end of the law for
righteousness. To who? Everybody that believes
on him. Even God's law brings us to Christ. Of course we want to live in
a way that's honoring to God, but we're not seeking righteousness
that way. The law wasn't given to make us holy, to whip us into
being holy. The law was given to bring us
to Christ, who is our holiness. And by faith, by grace through
faith in Him, He is able to present us holy and acceptable unto God. A pure church without spot or
blemish or wrinkle or any such thing. to present us blameless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Thank God
for faith in His Son. Let's bow in prayer.