Let us turn back to Romans chapter
10. Those familiar with Romans chapters
9, 10 and 11, recognize that Paul, when he
wrote this letter, he was describing the condition of the Jews as
it then existed. He's speaking about those in
chapter nine in verse three, he called his kinsmen according
to the flesh. He's describing their condition
at that particular time. And that condition, I would say,
has continued until today. What is that condition? Well,
it is that very few of the natural descendants of Abraham are saved. Very few of Abraham's physical
children believe the gospel and are saved. And in these three
chapters, Paul quotes from a number of Old Testament texts where
God had foretold this hundreds, yay, thousands of years before. If you look down in verse 19,
for instance, he mentions that Moses had foretold this. In the book of Deuteronomy, we
read these words, verse 19, but I say, did not Israel know? First, Moses saith, I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish
nation I will anger you." And we saw last time in chapter 9,
Romans chapter 9, that he quoted from both Hosea and Isaiah, where
God had foretold what was taking place. Now, the scripture he
quoted from Isaiah in chapter nine is, though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea. And we know
that was a promise, wasn't it, that God made to Abraham, that
his seed would be like the sand of the sea. And yet, Isaiah prophesying
said, though the number of the children of Israel be as the
sand of the sea, a remnant A remnant shall be saved, a remnant according
to the election of grace. When you run into that term,
I believe it always refers to the Israelites, the nation of
Israel. I know that we could say just
a remnant of the total population. or elect a remnant according
to the election of grace. But I believe if you'll look
in those verses where that is spoken, it is referring especially
to the descendants of Abraham, the physical descendants of Abraham. And then notice down in verse
20 of this chapter, chapter 10, he quotes again from Isaiah. But Esaias is very bold. And saith, I was found of them
that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, all day
long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsame people. Now, chapter 10 that we're looking
at tonight begins very much like chapter 9 began. with Paul declaring
his love, his love and his compassion and his concern for the Israelites,
his kinsmen according to the flesh. You notice in verse one,
he says, brethren, my heart's desire And prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. This is what he desired,
that Israel might be saved. This is what he prayed for, that
Israel might be saved. Now the Jews of that day, they
may have thought that Paul hated or disliked their nation, but
nothing could have been farther from the truth. He loved them,
but he loved God more. Yes, he loved his kinsmen according
to the flesh, but he loved his God more. And I think of what
he wrote to the churches of Galatia. when they were being enticed
to leave the gospel and go to a works message. He said, must I become your enemy
because I tell you the truth? Must you look upon me as your
enemy because I'm telling you the truth? And I know many times
we must tell the truth to people and they don't like it. Sometimes
it's very difficult to tell the truth. And we think, well, I
just love them so much. I just care for them so much.
I don't want to offend them. Well, Paul, he loved God more. He really did. My heart's desire
and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. In chapter 11, if you notice
in chapter 11, he refers to this whole situation. as a mystery,
a mystery in verse 25. For I would not brethren that
you should be ignorant of the mystery, lest you should be wise
in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. Remember in scripture,
Mystery, the word mystery, a mystery means it is a truth that man
could never have found, could never have learned if God had
not revealed it to us in his word. Now, looking at these first
few verses of chapter 10 tonight, I want to do so by asking four
questions. First, what is meant here by
the word saved in verse one? Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. You know, we might use that word
in a temporal sense. A person is in a burning building
and the firemen save that person. And the first time the word is
used in the English translation of the scripture, the word saved
is used of a temporal salvation. The Egyptians, this is what they
said to Joseph. They said unto him, thou hast
saved our lives. Now, they weren't saying that
Joseph had saved them spiritually or eternally. in an eternal salvation,
but physically Joseph was responsible by gathering the grain and then
selling the grain to the Egyptians. He was a savior of the Egyptians. If he had not been there and
there'd been seven years of plenty, they would have just used it
all up and sold what they didn't eat. And then when the seven
years of drought came and there was no food, they would have
perished. But no, God had raised up a Savior. That was Joseph, but it was a
temporal salvation. You see the same thing in Acts,
if you look back a few pages to Acts chapter 27, when Paul
is on the ship. being taken to Rome as a prisoner,
and the ship is going down. The ship is going to go down
in the sea. And in verse 31, he speaks to the captain. Paul said to the
centurion and to the soldiers, remember they had sounded. The shipmen, they had sounded
and they realized they were approaching land. And so they let down one
of the lifeboats, maybe the only one they had, and they were going
to escape. They were going to leave the
ship and the soldiers and those on board just to make the best
they could. And Paul told the centurion,
except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. You cannot
be saved. If you let these men get in that
lifeboat and go away from this ship, we're all going to drown. They've got to abide in the ship.
And that time, the centurion believed Paul. He didn't believe
him when Paul told him when they were departing from that island.
Paul said, I fear that this trip is going to cost us dearly. And
the centurion believed the captain of the ship more than he believed
the apostle Paul, and so they sailed off. But the centurion
believed him this time. And you know the story. He cut
the ropes. and the lifeboat was gone. And the sailors who wanted to
escape, they remained on the ship. But that was a temporal
salvation. Paul is not speaking here when
he says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. He's not talking about
a temporal salvation, but he is speaking about being saved
or delivered from the wrath of God. from the wrath of God. I heard a preacher, a well-known
preacher, I won't give his name, but he said one time, men need
to be saved from God. And there's truth in that. Men
need to be saved from God because God is a just God. Men need to
be saved from him and from the wrath of God. In Romans chapter
5 and verse 9, Paul said, much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. That's the salvation Paul's speaking
of. He's speaking of being saved
from the wrath of God, which is going to come upon all unbelievers,
upon all wicked men and women who die in their unbelief. Look with me in 1 Thessalonians,
1 Thessalonians Beginning with verse 2 of chapter
1, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of
you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ
in the sight of God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that
you were examples and samples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so
that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turn
to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait
for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." Paul, when
he says, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved, that they might be saved. from God's wrath
that will come upon the world of unbelievers. Now, the Jews, he's speaking
of his kinsmen here, the Jews, but we know that they were not
alone in their need to be saved from the wrath of God. Because
this is true of all men, all men without exception, because
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I think of this when I was in,
we were in language school. The teacher would teach us about
the rules of the language and conjugating Spanish verbs, verbs
that ended in AR, verbs that ended in ER and IR. And they
would tell us, now, this is the rule. You always follow this
rule, but here's the exception. And then some of the verbs, you
just had to memorize. You just had to memorize, because
they didn't follow. When the past and present and
future past perfect and all those various stances, you know, just
some of them, they just don't follow the rule. Here's the rule,
but here's the exception. Well, that's not true when it
comes to this matter of needing to be saved, is it? There are
no exceptions. When I came this afternoon, there
was a truck, a record driver, setting out in his truck on the
parking lot. Bill and Shelly, they were out
here before I got here. But anyway, I went up and started
talking to the man who was driving the wrecker. And he was eating
his lunch, sitting on the parking lot, eating his lunch. But he said, why do y'all believe
here? And so I started telling him some of what we believe.
And Bill came up, and I said, Bill, why don't you just follow
up and tell him what we believe here. And you know the first
thing Bill said? We believe that all men are sinners
and need a savior. Amen? That's what we believe. And we believe that. Why? Because
that's what the scripture says. There are no exceptions. Not
to this rule. And this is what the Jews, Paul's
kinsmen, according to the flesh, this is what they could not abide,
that they were on the same level as the Gentiles, those that they
referred to as dogs. Now, they might have been convinced
that, yes, Gentiles, they do need to be saved, but us Jews? No, where does, Abraham is our
father. You remember when they told the
Lord Jesus that? We have Abraham, he's our father. And what they believed is because
they were the physical descendants of Abraham, they were all saved
just by being children of Abraham, the natural children of Abraham. And listen, even after the resurrection,
even after the day of Pentecost, remember Peter, and this is recorded
In Acts 10, when Cornelius, a Gentile, God told Cornelius to send to
Joppa, that's where Peter was, and Peter, he had no desire to
go into the house of a Gentile. He had no desire, and God told
him, said, you go. There's two men at the gate.
Remember how they let down that, God let down that sheet, and
God said, eat. No, Lord, I've never eaten anything
unclean. There probably was some pork
and some other type of meat in that sheet. He said, no, I've
never eaten anything unclean. God said, what I call clean,
don't you call unclean. And Peter went to that man's
house and the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his household. Peter said, just like he did
upon us on the day of Pentecost. And this is what Peter said after
that experience. He said, of a truth, I perceive
that God is no respecter of persons. I perceive no matter what race
a person is, Jew or Gentile, I perceive God does not respect
anyone because of his race. All men need to be saved because
we're all sinners, and God's justice demands satisfaction. One of the three things I believe
it is the scripture says God cannot do. He cannot deny himself. And he would deny himself if
a person were somehow saved apart from God's justice being satisfied. His justice is either going to
be satisfied in the person and work of Jesus Christ or satisfied
in the sinner throughout eternity. Never, never being satisfied. My second question is, what was
and are the mistakes so many make in this matter of being
saved? We'll look in verses two and
three. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. 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. Now, we see that it was true
in the case of Israel here in our text, as is true in most
people today. The mistake, there's two mistakes
we see here. Number one, it is a mistake to
think that sincerity is all that matters. And that's what most
people believe. Doesn't matter what you believe
as long as you're sincere. Paul talks about his kinsmen,
they were sincere. They had a zeal of God. They
had a zeal for God. They were sincere. They were
zealous. And I believe Paul was speaking
from his own experience. I doubt that there were few people,
if any. who could have matched Paul in
sincerity as far as his zeal in attempting to serve God. But Paul said, I bear them record. They still need to be saved.
I bear them record. Yes, they're sincere. They have
the zeal of God. One of the things that most people
believe, that's one of their mistakes. The second mistake
is many think that a person is able to establish his own righteousness,
is able to establish a righteousness that God will accept. And Paul
tells us they've been ignorant of God's righteousness. Now what righteousness of God
is he talking about? Well, God is essentially righteous. Were they ignorant of that? I
believe they were. I believe most people are. They
don't believe. They may go to a church and sing,
holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, but never realize just what and
how holy God is. that the least imperfection God
would deny himself if he overlooked that sin, that imperfection. No, few people realize that God,
as the scripture says in Habakkuk, is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. Well, were they ignorant of God's
righteousness required in the law? I believe they were, and
I believe most people today are likewise. Why? Because most people
do not see that the law is spiritual. Remember that man we refer to
as the rich young ruler? He came to Christ, came running,
bowed down to him. Good master, what must I do to
be saved? And when the Lord told him, keep
the law, he said, all that I've kept. From my youth up, I've
kept all that. Well, most people who think like
that do not realize that it's not just the action, it's the
very thought. I mean, you may not take a gun,
a person may not take a gun and rob someone, but in his heart,
he might have lust for the goods of somebody else. might be envious
of someone else, the very rising, the very first rising of, that's
the word, concupiscence. That's what it means, isn't it?
The very beginning of the desire and the heart towards evil is
sin. Yes. Were they ignorant of God's righteousness
revealed in the gospel? Absolutely. Most people are,
for this righteousness we know is only revealed through the
gospel. Look back to Romans 1. Romans
1, verses 16 and 17. Paul said, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. Now notice, for therein, in the
gospel, in the message of Christ, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Here are three truths about this
righteousness, the righteousness of God. It is the perfect obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, his perfect obedience. When he was transfigured upon
the mountain, remember the voice from heaven said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He was always well pleased
with his son. Why? Because he perfectly obeyed
God. Yes, that's the righteousness
of God. Number two, it is that which
God has accepted, the righteousness of God. It's called the righteousness
of God because it is the obedience of Christ, who is God, and it
is the righteousness which God has accepted. You say, how do
you know God accepted this righteousness? Because he raised Christ from
the dead. That's how. He went into the
grave loaded down with the sins of his elect people, but he came
out, God justified him. God declared that he was satisfied
with the sacrifice, the payment that he had made for the sins
of his people. And third, this righteousness
is imputed unto all who believe. Notice that in 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 21. The same way that the sins of
God's people were imputed to Christ, they were charged to
his account. And he had to answer for them.
So his righteousness is charged to the account of everyone that
trusts in him. For he hath made him to be sin
for us. How did he make him to be sin
for us? By imputation. The sins of God's
elect were imputed, charged to his account. that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. How are we made the righteousness
of God? The same way that he was made
sin, by imputation. Our sin was laid upon him, charged
to his account. His righteousness is imputed
unto us, becomes our righteousness. My third question, what is meant
by Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth? Well, we know that the law contains
many types and many pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
fulfilled those types and those pictures. We also know that the
law, according to the Apostle Paul, serves us as a schoolmaster. to bring us to Christ. The law
shows us our need, doesn't it, and leads us, brings us to Christ. And when we read that Christ
here is the end of the law, you remember that lawyer who asked
the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, what is the first and great commandment? And the Lord said, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy mind. This is the first great commandment,
and the second is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. And he said, on these two commands
hang all the law, all the law. And Christ is the embodiment
of love. Loving God with all his heart
and loving his neighbor as himself. He's the end of the law. Law
can ask for no more. No. What's the last question? What is essential then to be
saved? Well, it is essential to have
a perfect righteousness that God will accept. And Leviticus
In Leviticus chapter 22 and verse 21, in the law, God said, it
shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall be perfect to be accepted. And verse five here in Romans
10, Paul speaks of a righteousness which is of the law. And he quotes
Moses. As saying, and this is found
in Leviticus chapter 18 verse 5, you shall therefore keep my
statutes and my judgments, which if a man do, if he keeps the
law perfectly, absolutely, never fails in any matter, in thought,
word, or deed, he shall live in them, I am the Lord. In other
words, he shall have life if he keeps that law perfectly. The person who does perfectly
and constantly observe to do whatever the law requires shall
be rewarded, shall be rewarded with eternal life. And the contrary
is true. One failure, one failure results
in eternal death. One failure results in eternal
damnation. The old English commentator Matthew
Poole said, the law, it shuts us all out of heaven. It does. The law. Why? Because it requires
perfect obedience. It shuts us all out of heaven. It turns us into hell. And it
lays upon us impossible conditions. Yeah, the law said, do this and
live. Problem's not with the law, the
law is wholly just and good. The problem is man is a fallen
creature. Adam, perfect Adam, could love
God with all his heart. But fallen Adam, no, no. In verses six through 10, Paul
speaks of a righteousness which is of faith. And he quotes Moses
and basically shows that in both the Old Testament and the New
Testament, the word of faith, the word of faith is Christ. This is the word of faith which
we preach. When a person preaches the gospel,
I don't care if it was Moses or Isaiah or any other Old Testament
preacher or prophet, if he preached the gospel, he preached the word
of faith. Because there's only one gospel,
and only one way that gospel is received, and that is by faith. This is the word of faith, Paul
says, which we preach. And this word tells us who he
is and what he has done for sinners, and that he's the only way, the
alone way of justification and acceptance with God. When a person
trusts in Christ with his heart, then he trusts unto righteousness,
and he confesses him with his mouth. And what's the result? He's saved. He's saved. That's the end result. When a
person believes the gospel, he's saved. Believes with the heart
unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Doesn't matter if he's Jew or
Gentile. For whosoever shall believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. For God so loved the world,
not just the Jews, God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever, don't you love that word? Whosoever. Some people are afraid of it.
I'm not. It's a Bible word. I love it.
I believe like Charles Spurgeon one time said, he said, happy
that that word, whosoever is there, because if it said, God
so loved the world that if Charles Spurgeon believed, he would be
saved. He said, I know my heart. I'd
convinced myself there's somebody else named Charles Spurgeon in
this world. It's speaking to him. No, it's
speaking to whosoever will. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Amen. Jew or Gentile? Amen. May the Lord bless His
word to us.