Romans 10:1-4 "The Danger of Ignorant Zeal"

Introduction

The Apostle Paul has been contrasting the Jews who seek to be righteous through law observance juxtaposed with Gentiles who believe by faith in Jesus Christ and therefore they are counted righteous by God.

Remember that it is imputed righteousness from God that justifies us before Him. This is simply due to the reality that no fallen human being born in Adam’s line can keep the law.

Those who attempt to establish their own righteousness before God will stumble over Christ the Cornerstone.

And some may like to argue that being truly sincere in one’s religious pursuit will validate anyone before God, regardless of the religion that is practiced.

What we learn in this section of Scripture is that being zealous for God in all sincerity is pointless without the true biblical knowledge of the gospel.

We see this in the example of the Jews who pursue righteousness through obedience of the law. Look at verses 1-2 of our text.

I. The Importance of Knowledge (1-2).

Understand that the Apostle Paul is not critiquing his Jewish brethren out of hatred or some type of ant-semitism.

Not at all! He actually loves them deeply and has it as his heart’s desire to see them come to salvation in Christ (1).

Remember back up in Romans 9:3 that he even states that he would be willing to be cut off from Christ if it would benefit them in their salvation.

Paul loved Jewish people and he wanted to see them come to Christ. All of us should desire the same thing.

It is so popular in our day to take the position that all religions are valid means by which people can be reconciled to God as long as they are zealous and sincere in their faith.

Paul recognizes that his ethnic Jewish brethren are zealous. The term here for “zeal” in this context means that they are dedicated to their religious pursuits of trying to earn a righteous standing before God through law obedience (2a).

If there was ever a religion other than Christianity that would be a likely alternative to being a valid means of being accepted by God it would be Judaism.

But the Book of Romans does not even consider it as a remote possibility and nor does the whole of the New Testament. Regardless of how zealous they are in their sincerity.

No, the problem is not in their zeal for God. The problem is that their zeal is not informed with knowledge. Their zeal is ignorant to the reality of Christ manifested and declared in the gospel.

They lacked the understanding of what God had revealed in the Old Testament regarding the coming Messiah and they stumble over Him when He came into the world.

They failed to recognize Him because He failed to meet the expectations of their felt need. The saw it from a practical political perspective but God was seeing it from the standpoint of His righteousness.

So they failed to understand the importance of submission to the righteousness of God in Christ. Look back at your text at verses 3-4:

II. The Importance of Submission (3-4).

They acted out of ignorance when it came to the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own. They thought that God’s standard was no higher than what they could obtain through law obedience.

The problem is that finite creatures with a sin nature are incapable of compensating for infinite holiness.

But to believe it is possible then convincing yourself you are nearly there is something that only exist in your mind because it doesn’t come from the God of the Bible.

The culture is not threatened by such a morality that is no higher than human perception and ability. Because the world will consider one righteous and good for humanitarian reasons even if he is biblically immoral.

President Trump gets raided by the FBI and everyone wonders just what kind of dirt they found in Trump’s closet or in his safe. You know why? Because we are comfortable and expect people to project in public while we hide things in private.

We hide things in the shadows and in secret places and perform just enough to compensate for our sense of guilt and shame.

All the religions of the world outside of Christianity are nothing more than systematic attempts to perform in order to appease their god or gods so that they can imagine that they earn the approval of the deity that they serve.

The real God of the Bible does not derive His idea of righteousness from the cess pool of human imaginations. He defines it according to His divine nature because there is none higher or more Holy than He is.

Remember when they brought the Ark of the Covenant to the threshing floor of Chidon in I Chronicles 13:9-12

1 Chronicles 13:9–12 (ESV)

9 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. 11 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. 12 And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?”

Uzzah just touched the Ark, the place where God set and the symbolic representation of His presence. And God struck him dead.

R.C. Sproul used to say Uzzah assumed that his hand was cleaner than the dirt.

Fallen man in all of his religious pursuits for righteousness based on obedience is a refusal to submit to the righteousness of God.

This is because Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead, the eternal Son of God. Therefore He is the is the embodiment of the righteousness of God and the only suitable sacrifice to die in the place of sinners.

That is the whole reason Paul declares in verse 4: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

The gospel is not and it will never be about righteousness through conformation to a moral law but it will forever be about righteousness through transformation by Christ.

Conclusion:

Remember King David’s dilemma: “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?”

How can he dwell in the presence of such great and awesome holiness and be safe?

We don’t bring God into our house, God has brought us into His house through the finished work of Christ. He has redeemed us and paid for our sin in full. Christ has kept the law for us and imputed the righteousness of God to us in Christ. All initiated by God.

Christian if we are not continually reminded of this our pride will wrap around our good works like a boa constrictor and we will be tempted to embrace a false gospel of our own making.

The true gospel is reset button for life in Christ. And it chops the head of off the snake of our sinful pride. Confess and receive.

Unbeliever you need a Savior!