Man's Righteousness Verses God's
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Introduction
Introduction
At the end of our time together last week, Paul quoted from Isaiah 1:9, where he said that unless God had pulled away from Israel, they would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
When we come to our passage today, Paul returns to his use of rhetorical questions.
If you have your Bibles I want to encourage you to turn with me to Romans chapter 9, and we’ll begin looking at verse 30.
Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical Questions
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness—but receive it.
Yet, Israel a people who actually pursued righteousness through the law—they missed the mark.
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
Another rhetorical question—Why not? To put it another way, “Why shouldn’t this happen?”
While it is true that the Jews pursued righteousness—they didn’t pursue it by faith.
They pursued it by works—keeping the law.
So the Jews ended up stumbling over “the stumbling stone”—Jesus
Paul quotes loosely from two passages in Isaiah--Isaiah 8:14, 28:16.
As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Paul echo’s Peter’s declaration in 1 Peter 2:8.
and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
The truth is many people (even today) struggle with the simplicity of the Gospel. I hear people say things like, “It’s too easy,” or “Surely you have to do more!”
The idea of earning one’s salvation through works is alive and well in the world today! Because of the church (corporate) has shied away from anything that might seem like works.
So we have made it all about come to Jesus—but have not emphasized any change of life. To put it in “theological terms” we have emphasized justification without sanctification.
Here’s the key: Both justification, and sanctification depend totally upon God!
Back to Paul’s Desire
Back to Paul’s Desire
When we come to chapter 10, Paul returns to his previous desire (stated in Romans 9:1-5).
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
As we begin chapter 10, Paul returns to his desire that the Jews (Israelites) might be saved. He began this idea in Romans 9:1-5.
Their Zeal Was Real
Their Zeal Was Real
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Paul says he can testify about how zealous the Jews were for God (v. 2a).
BUT their zeal was not based on knowledge about what God really desires (v. 2b).
Self-made Righteousness
Self-made Righteousness
Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
NIV--they did not know righteousness of God, NET--ignoring the righteousness that comes from God. (v. 3a).
They tried to establish their own righteousness (v. 3b).
Refusing to gain righteousness from God (v. 3c).
The Completion of the Law
The Completion of the Law
Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
The key: Jesus is the culmination of (or end of ) the law (v. 4a).
The result—that anyone who believes might be righteous (v. 4b).
Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”
Paul just told us that Jesus is the “culmination of the law” (or fulfillment of the law). Now he is going to quote Moses--quoting from Leviticus 18:5.
If righteousness comes from obeying the law, then the person MUST do all that was written in the law. That would mean “salvation” is something we do--by works.
Paul is going to prove that righteousness come through Christ, not through works.
A Hard Passage
A Hard Passage
Verses 6-8 are hard for the casual reader to untangle. Paul is loosely quoting from Deuteronomy 30:12-14.
This was part of Moses’ speech regarding the Jews keeping the commands of God—If they kept them by faith, God would keep them living in the land. But if they refused to keep them (breaking the covenant agreement with God) then they would be exiled from the promised land.
So for Moses, faith was a crucial part of the Law of God. While another crucial part was the Jews’ obedience to the Law.
Paul gives a series of warnings:
But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down)
Warning 1--Do not say who will go up (ascend) into heaven, that would be bring Christ down to our level (v. 6).
“or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
Warning 2--Do not say who will go down (descend) into the deep (the sea), that would suggest we have something to do with His resurrection (v 7).
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:
Admonition--The word of God (logos) is near you. In fact it is it in our mouth and in our heart (v. 8a).
In fact, it is actually the message that Paul is proclaiming!
Paul will reveal the message he is proclaiming in the next several verses.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Here’s Paul’s message of faith:
If (conditional) you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord (v. 9a).
And if (conditional) you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead (v. 9b).
If these two things are true of you--you will be saved (that is put into a right relationship with God) (v. 9c).
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
KEY 1: It is with your heart that you believe, and that believing puts God’s justification to work (v. 10a)
KEY 2: Likewise it is with your mouth that we profess our faith in Christ, and that leads to salvation (v. 10b).
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:15 to reminds us that anyone who believes in Him (Jesus) will never be put to shame (v. 11).
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
Paul then revisits the point that he made earlier (Rom. 3:22, 29). Specifically that there is no difference between Jew or Gentile--everyone is the same in the sight of the Lord (v. 12a).
And the Lord can richly bless all who call on him (v. 12b).
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Finally, in verse 13 we are told that everyone--that means just that--everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be “saved” or put into a right relationship with God. This is actually a quote from Joel 2:32.
So What?
So What?
There are three major points that I believe we need to learn from this passage:
1. Salvation comes by faith!
1. Salvation comes by faith!
Paul makes this same point in Ephesians 2:8-9.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
2. An encounter with God ALWAYS changes a person:
2. An encounter with God ALWAYS changes a person:
One of my favorite parts of the Gospels is watching people’s response to Jesus.
—Sometimes they embraced Jesus and became His disciples (Nathanael John 1:43-51—Philip encountered Jesus and went and found Nathanael and told him that they had found the Messiah, it was Jesus of Nazareth, but Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But when he met Jesus, Jesus called him a great Israelite. Nathanael wants to know how Jesus knows him, and Jesus answers, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” And Nathanael declares, “. . .you are the Son of God. . .the king of Israel.” And he became one of Jesus’ disciples).
—Other times they left Jesus and went away sad (The Rich Young Ruler, Mark 10:17-22. He came to Jesus to ask what he had to do to be saved. Jesus says that he needed to keep the commandments. The young ruler says he has done that since he was a kid. Jesus looked at him, and loved him so Jesus tells him to go and sell everything he has and give the money to the poor. “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
Having an encounter with Jesus demands a response—follow and be a disciple, or hang onto to all that is important to you and go away sad.
3. God loves all mankind! And God loves YOU!
3. God loves all mankind! And God loves YOU!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Communion
Communion
Today we are celebrating what we refer to as the Lord’s Supper. For us, this is a sacred time. If you know Jesus as your Savior and you are seeking to make Him your Lord, we ask you to participate with us.
But if you have never accepted Jesus’ free gift of salvation, and you do not know Him as your Savior and Lord, then we ask you to refrain from taking the elements. We ask this out of respect for you, because Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
The last thing we want for anyone is for them to incur more judgment from God.
In that same passage, Paul wrote:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
I’m going to ask _________________ to give thanks for the bread.
[Passing the Elements]
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Then:
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
I’m going to ask ________________ to give thanks for the cup.
[Passing out the elements]
Matthew tells us:
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
We’re going to sing a hymn and leave Mt Olive to go and serve our Lord.
