Romans part X
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This week Paul is continuing this walk through Israel’s history. We talked about Paul’s love for his people and how he would even give up his own salvation if it meant his people would trust in Jesus and follow Him. We talked a little about God’s sovereignty how He is in control and king over all things but He gives us the freedom to follow Him or reject Him. And also about how in His sovereignty God chose Israel and chose to preserve Israel so that He could send Jesus through the line of Abraham and fulfill the covenant He had made that through Jesus all nations would be blessed not just Israel. Tonight the theme of the message is the same. Paul is continuing to talk about His people’s rejection of Jesus and this will be the case next week also as we look at chapter 11.
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation. I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.
Today I want to ask the question
What does it mean to be righteous?
Righteousness is doing what is right and pleasing to God. It can be used as an adjective used to describe a person or something. We say Abraham was a righteous man. It is an adverb describing an action. We say Abraham behaved righteously. Those understandings of righteousness are observed. They are perspective.
Subjective or Perceived righteousness
Righteousness is also a state of being righteous. It is a noun and thing that is given and is possessed. It is a verb that is lived.
Objective or God’s righteousness
There is a subtle distinction between these two understandings. For Israel it played out like this. To everyone’s perception Israel was righteous. They carried all the signs of righteousness. They had zeal for God. They were passionate. But the righteousness they pursued and possessed was not a righteousness from God but one of human effort. It was a righteousness based on the law which was good. The law was given by God and was a good thing but the purpose of the Old Testament law was not to prove mankind’s righteousness but to point to mankind’s need for something greater. So Israel had a righteousness that looked good from the outside but was lacking in being, lacking in substance.
Play Spongebob video
Plankton eats holographic meatloaf. He loves it, it is his favorite, but it is just a hologram. It isn’t real. A righteousness based on the law is a shadow of true righteousness. Objective righteousness, God’s righteousness, is not earned by human effort but is recieved by faith. It is not a fabricated righteousness but an authentic one.
One of my prayers for you and for us as a student ministry is that we wouldn’t be Christian in appearance only but that we would grow to be authentic followers of Jesus. If we aren’t careful we can let ourselves get to a point where we are Christian by culture and not Christian in being. A cultural Christian knows the answers to Sunday school questions, they go to church, they claim to be Christian because their family is Christian, they have parents and grandparents who are active in church, etc, but their has been no real heart transformation. No real relationship with Jesus. And the shift comes when we get to a point where we realize we cannot do this on our own. We need Jesus to save us. We need Jesus to come and make His home in our hearts and transform us from the inside out.
Salvation isn’t a get out of hell free card. Who we are, our very being, changes. We go from being dead in sin to alive in Jesus. There are a couple verses that really help us understand this truth.
He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus was sinless, perfect, He was righteous inside and out. He died on the cross taking our sin upon Himself so that the righteousness He had could be given to us by faith. When we put our faith in Jesus we go from being dead in sin to being covered in Christ’s righteousness so that in our very being, when God the Father sees us, He no longer sees our sin but the forgiveness, grace, and righteousness of Jesus.
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
The old self that was dead in sin has died along with Jesus and just as Jesus rose from the dead on the third day we are raised into a new life in Christ. This new life is not our own but Christ’s to have. It belongs to Him because He has done the work to purchase us back. If we could have done it on our own Jesus would not have had to die. But we couldn’t do it and so Jesus takes our place. Because of this we hold on to grace because it is by grace we are made righteous and by grace we can have a relationship with God.
If objective righteousness, God’s righteousness is a free gift of grace does that mean we are free to sin since we are covered by grace? No. Jesus makes us righteous in our being so that we might begin to produce righteousness in our actions. Subjective or perceived righteousness is a good thing, but when it exists by itself without life transformation it is a worthless thing. We need heart change. We need God to give us His righteousness so that we can begin to live righteously and represent Christ to the world around us authentically. Subjective righteousness is a natural expression of objective righteousness. How do you have been saved and that you are a follower of Jesus? Because it shows up in your character and in how you live your life. How do you know your faith isn’t dead? Because the works you do and the fruit you produce are evidence of Christ’s work inside you.
Subjective righteousness without heart change is worthless self-righteousness
And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
Objective righteousness without good works is evidence of a dead faith
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Objective righteousness that naturally produces a subjective righteousness is a healthy and authentic faith.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
Paul tells us that those under the law are bound to the law, but Christ has put an end to the law by being the fulfillment of the law. Having a mindset of law based righteousness is equivalent to saying you could do the work of Jesus yourself. Law based righteousness can create a prideful heart in us. It is like we say our character is so good we could have died for our own sins or that we are so well behaved we could have risen from the dead. Why would a person claim to be that righteous? Because they are blind to the sin in their life and blind to their need for a savior. Looking to the law should show us just how short we fall of God’s standard. The law wasn’t given to show us how good we are and puff us up in pride, it was given to be a reflection of how Israel fails. We don’t love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we don’t love our neighbor as ourselves. Not perfectly, but Jesus did. Likewise when we look at the Gospel it shouldn’t cause us to be puffed up in pride. We aren’t superior to others because God has chosen to show His love to us. The Gospel is a portrayal of God’s humility and is a call for us to take up our cross and follow after Jesus. The call of the cross is that we might come and die to our passions, die to our comforts, die to our preferences, so that we might live to Christ.
But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
The Gospel, this message of faith that we proclaim, is that salvation is near. If we confess with our mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. Salvation is not this far off lofty concept. It isn’t something achieved through manifestation, or hard work, or enlightenment. Salvation is near and available to any who would confess with their mouth and believe in their heart the testimony of Jesus.
Israel was God’s chosen people, but now by faith we can be called God’s chosen people because He shows no distinction between Jew and Greek. He has made the blessing of Heaven available to all by faith. And He has sealed the promise of this great salvation with the Holy Spirit whom He sends to be a helper and guide to us.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
The Gospel is near. It is available to all. So why do people reject it?
They have never heard
How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
People have to hear the Gospel to believe in the Gospel. God has called us to share the Gospel with people. We are all here because somebody invited us to hear or because somebody told us who Jesus is. We are called to share the good news. We aren’t responsible for how people respond. Salvation isn’t up to us, but we are called to share the Gospel regardless of the outcome.
There is a story in history about a battle between the Greeks and Persians. It is the battle of Marathon. The Persians had this huge invading force but the Greeks were able to stop their invasion. When the battle was won they sent a messenger to run the 26.2 miles from Marathon back to Athens to declare the Greeks victory over the Persians. When he got to Athens he yelled the name Nike the Greek goddess of victory before dropping dead of exhaustion. This is where the Oregon based running shoe company got their name and its where we get the Olympic event. I love this story because it’s funny but also the guy in the story is delivering a message. The battle was won he was just responsible for telling people. I think this story is similar to ours. Christ has won the battle. When we share the Gospel we are just telling people of the victory found in Jesus.
They do not understand
Paul says part of the problem is that Israel had heard and still didn’t believe. Part of this was they didn’t understand what it meant.
But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.
Israel’s hearts were jealous of nations who had no understanding God. They didn’t understand what God was doing through them, they wanted to be like everyone else. They didn’t understand why they had to be the example and why they had to be holy. There was a time in my life when I felt that way too. Why do I have to go to church? Why do I have to be the bigger person? Why do I have to be holy? I wanted to be like people who didn’t grow up in church because I didn’t understand what God was protecting me from. I didn’t understand the blessing of living a life of godliness. I didn’t understand the freedom I had available to me in grace. I didn’t understand why the Gospel was good news.
They aren’t looking for a savior
Some people don’t understand and some people willfully refuse to understand.
And Isaiah says boldly, I was found by those who were not looking for me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me. But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.
Many people aren’t looking or asking for a savior. They want nothing to do with Jesus and nothing to do with the Gospel. They have heard the Gospel but they don’t believe it is true. The world is filled with disobedient and defiant people and we too were like that. The good news of the Gospel is that it is still offered freely to the disobedient and defiant. All day long God has held out His hand to the disobedient and defiant. Salvation is near to all and available to all who call on the name of Jesus.