to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. For those of you who are visiting with us this morning, we want to welcome you. We have been working through this book of Romans and this morning we come to the conclusion of chapter 9. We'll be focusing our attention on verses 30 through 33. But to set the context, I'd like to begin reading at verse 19. So, beginning then at Romans 9, 19, the apostle says, One of you will say to me, then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will? But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory? Even us, whom he also called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. As he says in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people, and I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one. And It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people. They will be called sons of the living God. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on Earth with speed and finality. It is just as Isaiah said previously, unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah. What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it. A righteousness that is by faith But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Let's bow together. O Lord, we have come together this morning to give you praise, honor, glory, majesty to thank you for your kindness and your mercies that have been poured out upon us in Jesus. We come together to bring to you our offerings and our praise. We come together to hear your word read and to hear your word proclaimed. We pray, Lord, that as I seek to open this passage to your people, that your spirit will give me accuracy, brevity and clarity. And we pray that you will make all of us hearers of the word so that we can be doers of the word. To the glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you close your Bibles, would you open them again to Romans chapter 9. Romans 9. focusing on verses thirty to thirty three. As we approach the end of Romans chapter nine, I want you to keep in mind the context of what Paul is saying. The apostle to the Gentiles confesses to having great sorrow and unceasing anguish in heart because the majority of his countrymen despite their great and many spiritual privileges, have rejected the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, who Paul says in verse five, is God over all, forever praised. John summarizes what Paul observes in just a few words in his introduction to his gospel. John says concerning our Lord Jesus, That he came unto his own. But what? His own, depending on your translation, received him not or did not receive him. That's what Paul is saying. Jesus came unto his own. Jesus came to the people who ought to have been prepared to receive him. Jesus came unto the people that Paul says in this passage. Have the adoption as sons, the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, the promises, the patriarchs. And from them is traced the human ancestry of Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, who is Emmanuel. And Jesus came unto those who ought to have received him. And they did not. And yet those who had no interest in him, Those who had none of those spiritual privileges and benefits and blessings that pertain to Israel. Those who were Gentiles. They did receive him, at least many of them did. But his own received him not. And as disappointing as that is. It does not mean that God's promises have failed. Pastor Harris on Wednesday evening in our prayer meeting reminded us of what Paul writes to the Corinthians in first, second Corinthians chapter one. And Paul says in verse 20, no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes. In Christ, and this is Paul saying here, too. It's not as though the word of God is failed because so many Jews have not come to Jesus the Messiah, because the promises of God are, yes, in Jesus Christ, the promises of God are being fulfilled in ways that may be surprising. To us. Paul tells us, first of all, in this chapter, that not all Israel is Israel. He says in verse six, it's not as though God's word had failed for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. And he goes on to tell us that the election of God into salvation is not a birthright. You're not saved because you're born in a particular country or in a particular family, it's not an earned right, it's not something that you can do, not something that you can merit by your obedience to the law. Salvation is all of grace. Furthermore, he tells us that God is sovereign, both in saving sinners to the glory of his grace and God is sovereign in condemning sinners to the glory of his justice. Many tells us in verse 10 that someone will complain. It is not fair. for God to still hold us responsible for our sins and hold us responsible for our unbelief. One of you will say to me, he says in verse 19, then why does God still blame us for who resists his will? Paul responds that mere creatures have no right to talk back to the Creator. We who are mere men have no right to talk back to God. Goes on to say that doesn't the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay whatever he wants. Some vessels for special use, for noble purposes, as the NIV puts it, and some for common use. Same clay. Does not the potter have the right to make whatever kind of vessel he chooses. And, of course, Paul is not concerned with the potter. The analogy is that does not God have the right to do what he will with all that he has made? Does not God have the right to call whoever he will both from among the Jews and also from among the Gentiles. The hymn writer John Newton praises God for his amazing grace toward undeserving sinners. But I think in this passage before us this morning, Paul is calling attention to God's grace, that it's also surprising grace. It's grace that is unanticipated. It's grace that surprises us in its application. Gentiles believe and are being saved while Jews are not believing and are not being saved. Isn't this surprising? Is this what you would expect to be the case. Paul writes in verse thirty what then shall we say. It's a way of saying what are we what we think of this. What are we to make of this. That God's grace seems to be applied in ways that defy reason. want to call your attention to several things from our text this morning. They're very straightforward. The text itself follows this outline in the first point is this. The Gentiles who have not been seeking righteousness have obtained Paul says in verse thirty, what then shall we say that the Gentiles remember the Gentiles are non-Jews. The Gentiles are the Greeks, the Romans, the various Germanic tribes, the peoples of the earth who are not Jewish. The word Gentile can also be translated the nations. What shall we say that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith. The words of Paul uses here in verse thirty are interesting. The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness. The word translated pursue literally means to run to run after to run after something or someone in such a way as to catch up to overtake it. and thus to grasp it or possess it and IV translates obtained. Paul's point is that the Gentiles were not trying to find acceptance with God. The Gentiles were not consciously seeking him. The Gentiles were not bothered about righteousness and justice. And yet, God was actively calling them to himself. Do you remember what Paul said earlier in this very same letter about the Gentiles? Back in chapter 1, Paul said in verse 21 that although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Rather than seeing through the creation the glory of the Creator, They became satisfied to rest their praise and honor and glory upon created things and called creatures gods. They had many gods, many birds, animals, reptiles, many human like figures that they considered to be their gods. Paul said in chapter one, verse 24, therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity. for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served, created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. He says in verse 28. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over or he gave them up to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. Paul says the Gentiles self-consciously walked away from God. They turned their back on God. They exchanged the glory of the invisible God for visible things that they could make in fashion with their own hands. They exchanged the truth for the lie. And three times in this chapter, he says that God gave them up. Gave them up to the darkness of their minds, gave them up to the futility of their hearts, gave them up to the fulfilling of their sensual passions in sin. The Lutheran commentator Lenski notes that it is a correct characterization of paganism or Gentile ism to say that its religion did not consist in an effort to attain righteousness. The worship of pagan gods does not rise to the pure, high, truly divine idea of God who declares a man righteous for the sake of his own works or for the sake of the works of a divine substitute. In some of its worship, Greek and Roman paganism was filled with grossest immorality. We read in the scriptures and we read in ancient literature of temple prostitutes. The committing of immorality in the name of their gods. Yet, When the Gentiles were presented with the gospel. What happened? When Paul went from place to place, preaching the good news that Jesus had come into the world to save sinners. What happened? Many of the Gentiles readily embraced the truth. and cast themselves upon the mercy of God manifested in Jesus Christ. Think of a few examples. Think of Cornelius in Acts chapter 11. Remember how Peter in Acts chapter 10 was given a vision And God sent men to Peter to take him back to the house of Cornelius, who was a Gentile. Cornelius, who was a Roman centurion. And Cornelius gathered family and friends in his house. And Peter spoke to them. Of the gospel of grace. And the work of Jesus Christ. We read in verse twenty three. That Peter invited the men into the house to be his guest, the men who came to him, and the next day Peter started out with them and some of the brothers from Joppa went along the following day that he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. And Peter preached to them. Salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 34, Peter says, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how we went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. And Peter or rather Cornelius tells excuse me, Peter tells Cornelius, and his relatives and friends. What happened among the people of Israel? What happened among the Jews? The gospel that was preached to the Jews. He concludes by saying all the prophets testify about him, verse 43, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. And while Peter was still speaking these words, The Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out, even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They received the Holy Spirit, just as we have. So we ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. This Roman soldier and his friends and his relatives embraced the truth that was proclaimed to them. They believed and trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were baptized to identify themselves as his disciples and to identify themselves with his church. From our perspective, we think, well, that's nice, but, Pastor, there are a lot of Gentiles who believe in Jesus. That's true. Now, it wasn't true then. And Peter, though he was an apostle, got into trouble with the saints in Jerusalem because of what he did in going to the Gentiles house and preaching to that Gentile, the same gospel that have been preached among the Jews and seeing that they believed in that gospel baptizing them. Just as Jews who believe have been baptized into the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, when Peter got back to Jerusalem, He had to answer for his actions. He had to give a report. Of what had taken place when he went to the home of Cornelius. We read in 11 verse one, the apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers, that is, the Jewish believers, criticized him. and said, You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them. Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened. He concluded in verse seventeen, if God gave them the same gift as he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I? to think that I could oppose God. If God is determined to save people from among the Gentiles, who am I to tell them, Lord, you're making a great mistake. It's the Jews you ought to save. It's not those people, it's these people. When they heard this, verse 18, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, so then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance. Also, in Acts chapter 11, a persecution arose in connection with the death of Stephen and some of those who have been scattered, verse 19, by the persecution traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. The implication is a great number of Greeks believed and turned to the Lord. When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, They weren't too sure about this, so they sent Barnabas up to Antioch to check it out. And Barnabas found God doing a great work among the people in Antioch. He summoned Saul, who we know better as Paul, to help him in the ministry there. And we're told in verse 26 that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. A ministry that was predominantly a Gentile ministry. In the city in Antioch, in Acts, Chapter 13, verse 13, we read that from pathos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem from Perga. They went on to the city in Antioch on the Sabbath. They entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak. Paul did. Paul proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we read that Verse forty eight, excuse me, back up to verse. Forty four on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, we had to speak the word of God to you first, since you rejected and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now turn to the Gentiles for this is what the Lord has commanded us. I've made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed the word of the Lord spread through the whole region. In Iconium, in chapter 14, verse 1, we read that Paul and Barnabas went, as usual, into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. In Philippi, in Acts, chapter 16, Paul and Silas are thrown into prison for preaching the gospel while they're in jail. About midnight, verse twenty-five says, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, don't harm yourself. We are all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? This is a remarkable incident. Prisoners were not likely to remain in their cells. when the doors were providentially popped open. The jailer was about to take his life because under their system, the jailer was held responsible for the crimes of the people that escaped. If anyone escaped on his watch, he was held accountable for their crimes. But Paul assured him, nobody's left. That's the miracle in this situation. Nobody's left. We're all here. The jailer called for lights, confirmed it was true, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He had heard them singing. Perhaps he'd heard them talking. And he asked them, sirs, what must I do? to be saved. They replied, verse thirty one, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night. So early in the morning. The jailer took them. and wash their wounds. Then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole family. All who were there that night heard the gospel, trusted in Christ, and were baptized to identify as the disciples of Jesus to identify with the church of the living God. Spurgeon comments, the Gentiles accepted with joy the blessings brought to them in the gospel. They at once believed in the Lord Jesus. The thing was done suddenly, but it was well done. Their first hearing of the gospel saved them. We read of one of them that he had shut up the preacher in the prison and had gone to bed. But in the middle of the night, an earthquake shook the prison and that night he not only became a believer, but he was baptized and all his household. These Gentiles did not need hammering at so long as some of you do. They did not require the preacher to rack his brains to find fresh illustrations and arguments and then labor in vain year after year. At the first summons, they surrendered. They knew sooner saw the light than they rejoiced in it. They rose at a bound from depths of sin to heights of righteousness. Those who had been ringleaders in the service of the devil became zealots in the service of Jesus Christ. The change was as complete as it was startling. They attained unto righteousness. They were accepted before God. As righteous man, is that not surprising to you? Is that what you would expect to find? To whom was this letter written? We call it the epistle of Paul to the Romans written to the church in Rome. The church was made up predominantly of what kind of people. Predominantly of Gentile peoples and think of Paul's letters. Corinthians. Galatians. Ephesians. Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians. What kind of people were these? For the most part, they were Gentiles. Yes, there were Jewish believers in those churches, but for the most part, they were Gentile people. Paul says in Romans nine, what then shall we say? that grace finds men who else would never find grace. Salvation is all of grace, all of sovereign grace. There was nothing in the Gentiles to commend them to God. There's nothing about the Gentiles that makes them more likely than Jews to believe and be saved. Well, Paul had only had the wisdom of evangelist today. He would have sent out an army of pollsters. And Christian sociologists. Who would buy their studies, do the demographics and determine where the most winnable people in the world are to be found. My guess is That if pollsters had gone out. They would have said, you know, the Jews. Appear to be 90 percent their focus and concentrate your money, your effort, your energy, your strategy must be. In Israel. Isn't this surprising? That God. Harvested. a large number of Gentiles. If anything, it would seem less likely that the Gentiles would believe. This is not surprising grace that seeks and saves those who have no apparent interest at all in salvation. No apparent desire to know God. How was it in your life? I suspect that many of you were living your life oblivious. To the demands of God. Without knowing the holiness and the majesty and the grace and the justice of him who created us all. An anonymous in writer. Wrote to him, I sought the Lord and afterward I knew he says I sought the Lord and afterward I knew he moved my soul to seek him seeking me. It was not I that found, O Saviour, true. No, I was found of Thee. Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold. I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea. T'was not so much that I on Thee took hold as Thou, dear Lord, on me. I find, I walk, I love, But all the whole of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee. For thou were long beforehand with my soul. Always thou lovest me. Michael Card adapted a lengthy poem by Francis Thompson called Hound of Heaven. And in Michael Card's adaptation, he says, I fled him down the nights and days. I fled him down the path of years. I heard all about the love of the one who was following me. I clung to every shallow friend, the whistling main of every wind. I feared that once I tasted that love, I could never let go because those strong feet kept following the way I sped. But the love that followed overcame the fear that fled. So I ran inside the world again to the ones who called the hound their friend. I thought in vain that would be the best place to hide to mother's nature. Mother Nature's breast, I flew and shouted to the sky. So blue, please hide me from this one. So set on loving me. Came back, a voice sounded like the bursting sea. None will shelter you who will not shelter me. Shelter me, shelter me. Finally, I can flee no more. I yielded for your open door. The prize you sought for so long is finally yours. Your dark and gloom have hounded me for so long now that I can't see. I surrender all those things you've taken from me. Came back a voice that did not take him for your heart. I only wanted you to seek them in my all. The dark and gloom you said you could no longer stand. was after all the shadow of my loving hand. How little worthy of my love could anyone be? Who else could ever love you save only me? That's called the hound of heaven. God is likened to a hound on track for his prey. A hound that is set for the salvation of men who have no interest in. All says in chapter nine verse fifteen, the first part of the verse. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. Salvation is all of grace. Furthermore, this deliverance of the Gentiles is the subject of divine prophecy. Paul says in chapter 9, verse 24, speaks of even us, whom he also called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles, as he says in Hosea. We looked at this last week and saw that while Hosea applies this to sending Israel. Paul takes these words and applies them to the Gentiles, as he says in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people, and I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people. They will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah chapter fifty five. Verses four and five. Isaiah fifty five verses four and five, the prophet says. See, I've made him speaking of Messiah. I've made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations, you know, not a nation that do not know you will hasten to you because of the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor. John, Chapter 10 verses. fourteen and following in that passage where Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, the chief shepherd of the flock. Jesus says in verse sixteen, I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock. and one shepherd in Jesus is speaking here of calling the Gentiles who are not of this flock of Israel to himself will be one shepherd and there will be one walk a little bit later in John's gospel. There's an unusual event that some people find perplexing. In John chapter twelve verse twenty, there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. They came to fill up was from Bethsaida in Galilee with a request. Sir, they said we would like to see Jesus. Philip didn't know what to do with that request. Greeks. Gentiles who want to see Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Savior of Israel. Greeks. Philip went to tell Andrew. What should I do? Andrew shrugged his shoulders and said, I don't know. So together they went to tell Jesus. Jesus replied, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. You catch the connection. These Greeks asking to see Jesus. To Jesus are the the trigger. They are the the alarm clock going off that says the time has come. for the Son of Man to be glorified. He's talking about his death. He's talking about his crucifixion. He's talking about his burial. He's talking about his resurrection. He says in verse thirty-one, now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself, not just Jews. But Greeks, Gentiles are going to come to the Savior. Spurgeon says, Thus spake the prophets and so it must be. The Lord has many more such chosen ones to call forth from their death and sin. I expect, as I stand here, that God's infinite power is about to save certain of you. I do not know to whom this grace will be vouchsafed, but I know that the word of the Lord will not return unto him void. He may bless the least likely of you. He may call the man who now says, I do not believe a word of it. Friend, you do not know what you will believe before this day is over. I trust that God's power is going forth to bring you within the bounds of salvation. So does God work in the majesty of his power that persons who have not sought after righteousness, nevertheless, are led to faith in Jesus Christ. Some of you share that disinterest in spiritual things. Some of you Share that disinterest in God, in righteousness, in salvation. Some of you have no desire to see your life, your heart, your behavior changed. Some of you have no desire to follow after Jesus. Oh, you you come. You put in your time. You're present to hear the preaching of the word, but it rolls off you as if it is nothing. like him that Robert Murray Shane wrote, Jehovah said, can you. When he said how he used to read the scriptures sometimes to soothe to engage when he wanted comforting when he wanted calming. He found the Psalms profitable. He found John's Gospel exciting, interesting, but in his mind, All that he read in this book had nothing to do with him until God's free grace awoke him and he knew it was all about him. My friend, this book is all about you. It reveals the glory and the power and the grace and the goodness and the justice of God so that you may come to him and find life. Secondly, we see here in Romans nine that the Jews who have been seeking righteousness have not attained it. Is this not surprising? There were no people on the face of the earth who were so concerned with righteousness. So concerned with law. As were the Jews. Look at these two groups. Paul says in Romans, chapter nine, verses four and five concerning the Jews, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption of sons. There's the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs. And from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God overall. were ever praised and then quickly look at Ephesians chapter two verse eleven and see what Paul says about that other group of people, the Gentiles. Remember, therefore, that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision that done in the body by the hands of men. Remember that you at that time were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the world. Now, look at those two groups of people. Look at pluses and minuses. Who's got all the pluses? The Jews. They've got all those spiritual benefits, all those blessings that Paul listed. Then look at the Gentiles, what do they have? Minuses. They don't have anything. They don't have anything. They don't have the covenants, they don't have the promises, they don't have hope, they don't have God in the world. Which would appear to be the more winnable people? Would it not seem to be the people who had all this spiritual background and heritage? Would it not seem to be the people who already had the prophets and the writings of what we call the Old Testament? Would it not seem to be the people who had Jesus in the flesh in their midst going about doing good, doing miracles, preaching the Sermon on the Mount and other wonderful. Sermons. But remember. What Paul said earlier about the Jews, he said in chapter two, verse one, you therefore have no excuse you who pass judgment on someone else. For whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself because you who pass judgment do the same things. When Paul was nailing the Romans in chapter one, because of the Gentiles in chapter one, because of their wickedness and they're exchanging the truth for the lie and all of that. The Jewish listeners were standing by seemingly applauding. That's right. Go for it, Paul. Tell them. And then Paul turns the tables. You're guilty of doing the very same things. You've got these benefits, you've got these blessings, but you do the very same things and you are equally condemned. Indeed. Greater privilege means greater responsibility, so you are even more condemned. Then they. He says in verse twelve, all who sin apart from the law of chapter two of Romans, all who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight. But it's those who obey the law who will be declared. He says in verse twenty-one, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. But Paul says in Romans nine. The Jews pursued righteousness. The Jews have righteousness in their sights, they were running after it, they were putting forth the energy, the effort they were moving as rapidly as they could to overcome and overtake and grasp and seize and obtain righteousness by the law. Why did they not attain it? Paul says in verse 32, why not? Because they pursued it, not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. They fell short of the goal because, as J.B. Phillips paraphrases it, their minds were fixed on what they achieved instead of on what they believed. They failed to attain the goal of righteousness because they thought they could meet the requirements of the law in their own strength. And therefore, they vainly imagined that they did not need grace They didn't need God's grace, so they rejected the righteousness that is by faith, not by works. Indeed, they did more than reject it. They belittled it. They held Christ, the righteous one, in contempt. But their understanding of the rich heritage that they've received was seriously flawed. It never was the function of God's law to justify sinners. But the right use of the law is to make sinners conscious of their sin. So that they will flee to Jesus Christ. Paul tells the Galatians that the Jewish law, which ought to be a schoolmaster. To lead men to Christ, actually hindered them instead of helping them because of their distortion. Their perversion, their corruption in their understanding of the purpose of the law. Charles Hodge comments error is often a greater obstacle to the salvation of men than carelessness or vice. Christ said that publicans and harlots would enter the kingdom of God before the Pharisees. What a contrast. Pharisees. Zealous for the law. Zealous for righteousness. Fastidiously paying attention to every detail of the law and trying to keep it outwardly. Pharisees. who fashioned themselves to be the proper interpreters and defenders of the Word of God. Pharisees who worship God dutifully in every detail. Versus hated publicans who ripped off people and got rich by cheating others. Harlots, prostitutes. Contrast here, the outwardly moral people of the world versus the outwardly immoral people of the world. And Jesus says, the outwardly immoral people of the world are more likely to enter the kingdom of God than those religious people who think that they can obtain righteousness on their own. Hodge says, let no man think error in doctrine a slight practical evil. No road to perdition has ever been more thronged than that of false doctrine. Error is a shield over the conscience and a bandage over the eyes. Isn't that what Jesus said? He called the Pharisees blind leaders of the blind. They thought they knew the answers. They didn't. Lenski says, the more Jesus tried to teach them that faith was the only source, the more they clung to works and fought faith. The fearful difference between faith and works is the fact that faith being trust relies in complete dependence on another, on God, on Christ, on the promise and the mercy. While works repudiate such dependence and rely on man's own ability and attainment. Faith permits God to put it wholly and completely under obligation to himself. Works not only repudiate this obligation to God, but insist on putting God under obligation to the man who does the works. And the Jews tried to obligate God by means of even false works. What then shall we say? What are we to make of this? Their own familiarity with religious issues gave them a sense of security to which they were not entitled. I fear that there are some here who share that same sense of false security. That because you have associated with the church, because you have been in the meetings of the church, because you've heard the gospel preached, because you've sung the hymns and can recite them from memory. You think that you're saved. Those aren't the issues. That because you've grown up in a Christian home, because your parents believe you think you're saved. Because your brother believes your sister believes your children believe you think You are secure. Is that not surprising? Spurgeon said that God smiles upon worthy people and rewards their goodness is not the gospel. The gospel is that God has mercy upon the guilty and undeserving. The gospel gives us this faithful saying and worthy of all expectation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It goes on to say, if you were turned upside down and shaken for a week. Not even a dust of goodness would fall from some of you. And yet even you can be made the children of God. If you believe in Jesus Christ, repent and be converted, believe in Jesus and live. We don't come here to search for your beauties, but to unveil your deformities, your wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, and then to point you to the Lord Jesus, who can heal you and cause the beauty of the Lord to rest upon you. We preach not merit, but mercy, not human goodness, but divine grace, not works of law, but wonders of love. He goes on to say, there are those present who were nursed in the lap of piety from their babyhood. They heard the name of Jesus. They have scarcely been a single Sabbath day absent from the courts of the Lord's house. They went from the Sunday school to the Bible class, and it was hoped that they would go thence to the church. But it has not proved so. Now that they've reached right for years, they are still hovering around the gates of mercy, but they have not entered upon the way of life. My here, I'm frightened for you. And such as you. I tremble for you who are so good, so religious, so zealous and yet are not regenerate. Remember. You may be in the visible church and yet may be strangers to the grace of God. You may be earnestly seeking righteousness in the wrong way. And this is a terrible thing. How is it with you? How is it with your soul? Are you hovering around the gates of mercy, but not going through? Are you hovering around the cross of Jesus Christ, but not fleeing to that cross? For deliverance from sin and the guilt of sin by his blood. Why could the Jews not obtain righteousness? Their sincerity was real sincerity. Yes, I'm sure there were hypocrites among them. Jesus said so. But many of them were sincere in what they were doing. Their zeal was a true zeal. That is, they were truly zealous. Paul says in chapter ten, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved for. I can testify about them that they are zealous for God. But their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. They pursued a wrong vision of what salvation was. They sincerely believed it. They were zealous for it. But they were wrong. Sincerely wrong. Zealously wrong. And in doing so, Paul says they stumbled over the stumbling stone. Who is Jesus Christ? So, we see in the third place this morning that Jesus is a stumbling block to some and a cornerstone to others. Verse 33 combines two passages from Isaiah. Paul says, as it is written, See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. The same rock who was identified in this passage as him. That is a reference to the Messiah. Jesus, the Savior, is a stumbling block to some. And he is a source of strength and stability to others. Peter picks up this theme in First Peter chapter two. He says this beginning in verse four, as you come to him, the living stone rejected by men. But chosen by God and precious to him, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture, it says, See, I lay in a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now, do you believe this stone is precious? But to those who do not believe the stone, the builders rejected has become the capstone and a stone that causes men to stumble. and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful life. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You who stumble, you who resist, why do you not turn your eyes upon Jesus and trust him with your soul? Do you not see that you're still fighting him, still talking back to God, still arguing that you don't need his grace? Other people may. Other people need that crutch of religion, but you don't. You're above it. You think you can obtain righteousness in your own strength. You're good enough. Just the way you are. And the Bible says, no, you're not. All of our righteousness are as filthy rags, the things that we count as righteous and good. God says are not done with a motive to glorify and please him. And they are works of energy. Against him. Do you not see that you need his grace? His blood. His forgiveness. His Holy Spirit. You think you can do it. All yourself, but the testimony of God's Word in the testimony of her own conscience is that you cannot. Isaiah says Paul says Peter says the one who trusts in him will never. Be put. To shame. In Christ, that sin is forgiven. In Christ, that guilt is removed. In Christ, that shame that attaches to us, that fear of rejection. If our hearts are made known. Dissolves. Because we are forgiven. We are cleansed. We are declared righteous. In the Son of God. But if you walk out of here today an unbeliever, you trample underfoot the Son of God. You treat his holy blood as common. You treat his sacrifice as unneeded and wasted. Your shame will be all your own. And there will be no one who will intervene. flee to Jesus Christ. Lord, in these passages in Romans and throughout the Scripture, we read both of the goodness and the severity of God, the goodness toward those who believe the severity of God toward those who reject his son. There's only one Savior. There's only one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's only one name given among men under heaven whereby we can be saved. One way, one truth, one life. That is Jesus Christ. By your spirit work in us, help us to realize that. Help us to banish all pride, every thought of achieving our own righteousness in our own way. Humble us and bring us to the feet of Jesus Christ. That we might find forgiveness. Grace. Life. Transform us, O Lord. Change us inside out that we may glorify You in all that we think, do and say. To the glory of Jesus' name, Amen.