Father, thank you so much for this opportunity you've given us as your church to gather together today to worship you. Now, Father God, we turn to worship you through the preaching of your word. Father God, open our ears and our minds and our hearts to receive from you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Well as David said earlier we are continuing through this preaching series through the book of Romans. It's been entitled The Unbreakable Chain of Salvation which is really what Romans is all about. This morning I want to say this that if you were to ask in a poll how does a person get into heaven? You would most often hear something like this, by being a good person. There may be variations such as by doing your best to please God, or by being moral and religious, or by doing good works and helping others. You would find the same answers in almost any country or culture. And this is because virtually every man-made religion teaches this to the people. It teaches them that they must work their way to heaven by doing good and following certain traditions or rules. But if we're going to be honest, such an approach to God is not limited to non-Christian religions or cults. Many who claim to be Christians also think that they must earn right standing before God by going to Mass and confession, by doing good works, by doing penance for their sins. As you know, Martin Luther was a classic example of this. He gave up a career in law to join a monastery. where he devoted himself to prayers and fasting, confession and penance, and living in self-imposed harsh conditions. What was he doing? Well, he was trying to earn salvation and eternal life through his works. But he could not find peace with God. because he was a sinner and he knew that even his good works were tainted by sin. Think about it. What a tragedy it would be to devote your entire life to diligent spiritual efforts to attain right standing before God only to die and face God's eternal judgment. By God's grace, in the case of Martin Luther, God opened his eyes to see that what he needed was not his own righteousness, but the righteousness that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. Now sadly, had this same survey been taken of the Jewish people of Paul's day, the results would have been remarkably the same. The Jewish people had been taught to believe that by being Jewish and practicing the religion of the Jews and following the law, they would be in good standing with God and would enjoy eternal life due to their obedience and their good works. Paul knew this to be true. He knew it to be true for his kinsmen because that describes his own life until God revealed the truth to him through his encounter with Jesus. So Paul is moved. He's moved to great sorrow for his own people, for the Jews, who he knew were pursuing righteousness before God by their religious works, not by faith in Christ. Paul tells us that he longs for their salvation and he is explaining in our text for today that they and many in our own time are seeking to establish their own righteousness instead of submitting to God's perfect righteousness that comes only through faith in Christ, the Son of God. Paul will clearly state that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for all who believe in him. That is very important because the only way that you and I can stand before God is in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. So we're going to be in Romans chapter nine, looking at verses 30 through Romans 10, four. If you're able, please stand for the reading of our text. This is the very Word of God. Romans 9 30. What shall we say then that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it? That is a righteousness that is by faith. but that Israel, who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness, did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear witness they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. May God bless the reading of his word to us. You may be seated. Paul's statement here in verse 30, or question, what shall we say then, serves both to draw a conclusion from the preceding arguments and serves to introduce this new section. The question that Paul has been dealing with in this chapter, in Romans chapter 9, is why are most of the Jews rejecting Jesus their Messiah and Lord. Now Paul has already shown us in this chapter that it was never God's plan to save all the Jews but to save a remnant and since all human beings are sinners all deserve God's wrath and judgment, it is in no way unfair or unjust for him to choose some as objects of his mercy and grace while leaving the rest in their sin to display his glory in judgment. As we've seen, Paul has established that our God is absolutely sovereign in regards to salvation. Thus all who are saved are saved as a result of God's grace. Now Paul explains to us why so many of the Gentiles are trusting in Christ and why so many of the Jews are not. It's all about two entirely different kinds of righteousness. First, we see righteousness by faith. Look at verse 30 with me again. What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. That is a righteousness that is by faith. Now obviously the key word in our text is righteousness. It's found seven times in our text and it's found 32 times in this letter. So what does righteousness mean? Well in these verses it is equivalent to salvation or to be more precise justification which is actually the same word in the Greek. Righteousness refers to a right standing before God. God is perfectly righteous. Therefore no one can stand before Him unless they are perfectly righteous. Paul tells us here that Gentiles who in their lives did not pursue righteousness have attained it. Now when he writes that they did not pursue righteousness, this is an understatement. This is a very brief synopsis of what he wrote earlier in this letter about the state of mankind. In fact, why don't you turn back with me to Romans chapter 1, just a few pages. Here in Romans 1, 18-25, we read God's description of mankind. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world. in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their heart to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. This is God's description of these Gentiles who were not seeking righteousness. Now it also is a description of the Jews as well who were not seeking righteousness in Christ. He goes on in chapter 3 verses 9 through 18 to talk about the fact that this includes both Jews and Gentiles. Listen to this description. Romans 3.9, what then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks, that includes Americans and Californians, are under sin. As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they've become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery. The way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Wow! So this describes God's view of both Jews and Gentiles or non-Jews who are living their lives for themselves with no regard for God. So how did these sinful human beings attain to the righteousness that comes by faith? And the answer? through the hearing of the gospel and the gift of saving faith that comes from God. Amen? God through His Holy Spirit prepared them beforehand, changing their heart, giving them eyes to see and ears to hear and faith to believe the gospel that was declared to them in the power of the Spirit. Remember Paul began this letter in Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 by declaring to us that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew and also to the Greek. For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. There's the key as we have seen throughout this letter. The gospel message reveals to us and to all who receive it that the righteousness of God requires of us, the righteousness that is required for us to enter into heaven to have eternal life is found only in Jesus the Son of God and what He accomplished for all who believe in Him. Paul actually went on to explain this in chapter 3 after that statement of the sinfulness of humanity in Romans 3 verse 21. Paul writes this, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. and are justified not by their works, not by their religion, not by their birthright, not by the family in whom they were born, but they are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Amen, hallelujah. So the Gentiles and the Jews who became believers in Christ did so by the grace of God, through the power of God working within them and through the hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These and these alone attained a righteousness that is attained by faith. Faith in Jesus Christ in His sinless life, His substitutionary death on the cross, His burial, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension back into heaven from where He reigns as our Lord. This is a righteousness that is attained by faith. And this is the righteousness that God requires in order to stand before Him, in order to be righteous in God's eyes. They had attained this. But sadly, Paul goes on to tell us that most of the Jewish people had not. Why is that? It is because they were pursuing a different kind of righteousness. One that they believed came by obedience to the law. Look at verses 31 and 32 back in our text. But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone. Paul states that the Jews did not pursue the righteousness that is by faith but instead they pursued a self-righteousness that they believed would come through obedience to the law of God. So they relied on their birthright as Jews, on their supposed good works and obedience to the law to save them, to put them in right standing before God. The problem is that is impossible. Because no human being, with the exception of Jesus, has kept the law perfectly. Just as we read earlier in chapter 3, God says, none are righteous. How many? None. No, not one. No one does good all the time. Not even one. Then in chapter 320, Paul stated, for by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, that is in God's sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. What the law does is it reveals to us that we're sinners in need of a savior. That's what it does, reveals our sin. So clearly law keeping has never been the means of justification because all have sinned and fall short of the perfection of God. Even our good works are often tainted with sin. In chapter 4 Paul reminds us that even Abraham, the father of the Jews, was not justified by his works, but by his faith. Faith in God. Faith in God's promises. Romans 4, 2, and 3. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it, that faith, was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham could not boast before God, neither can we. There is no boasting among those who've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. So the Jews were pursuing a righteousness by the law. The literal translation here from the Greek would be they're pursuing law righteousness or a works-based righteousness. So they were doing exactly what all other false religions do, trying to earn their way into God's favor, trying to impress God with their form of righteousness. Well, he was not impressed. John MacArthur in his commentary on Romans writes this, quote, the greatest obstacle to salvation is self-righteousness. The person who thinks that he is already righteous and pleases God will see no need for salvation. Close quote. And he's right. Instead of trusting in Jesus as their Savior and Lord They stumbled over him and rejected the salvation that he offered just as had been prophesied by Isaiah hundreds of years before. Look at verse 33. Isaiah wrote, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Obviously, this was no ordinary stone. because God calls him Him and we know it is the very Son of God. So here we see that God the Father established Jesus as both, note this, a stumbling stone and as the object of faith. This stone brings judgment upon those who do not believe but grants honor to all who do believe. Jesus is God's cornerstone and no one who trusts in Him will be put to shame. Praise the Lord. Now I want you to note here that Paul is not gloating on the fact that he had been saved while most of the Jews had not. And neither should we. He is actually moved with great sorrow and anguish in his heart for the lost as he stated back in verse 2. So this then motivates Paul to pray for their salvation. Look at verse one, chapter 10, verse one. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear witness, they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. I want you to see that Paul here sets an example for us today. Paul's longing for the salvation of his friends, relatives, and countrymen is a longing that we should share. And that should motivate us to pray for them and to find ways to share Christ with them as well. Paul attests here that the Jews do have a religious zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge. Again, this would have described Saul of Tarsus. He once had such religious zeal that it led him to persecute Christians, thinking he was doing it in service to God. But Paul goes on to state that they are ignorant of the true righteousness of God who is Jesus Christ. So they go on through their religious practices seeking to establish their own righteousness before God. As foolish as this sounds, this describes many in the world in which we live. It describes all who ever thought they could please God and go to heaven based on their own good works. or their own inherent goodness. This describes so many in our world today. They do not know what they do not know. And listen to me, they never will unless we or someone else tells them. They do not know what they do not know. How will they know? Later in this very chapter, in Romans chapter 10, that's exactly what Paul is going to say to us. Look at verses 13 and 14. 13 is a wonderful verse. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Praise the Lord! Amen? But verse 14 then says, how? Will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone proclaiming? They don't know what they don't know. Just like you and I did not know what we did not know. Until someone shared the gospel with us. Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. He goes on in Romans 10 17 to make this statement. So faith comes from what? Hearing. And hearing through the Word of Christ. What do they need to hear? They need to hear the Word of Christ. They need to hear the Word of God. They need to hear the gospel. They need to hear about Jesus Christ because He is the only answer to their spiritual need. He's the only answer to our spiritual need. Christ is the source of righteousness and the only source of righteousness. Look at verse four. for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. This is a wonderful verse, but there are differences in opinions as to what Paul is saying here. The problem is that word end. It's derived from the Greek word telos, which actually has several different nuances of meaning. It can mean end as in termination, it can mean end as in completion, or result, or goal, just to name a few. Now it could mean termination here in the sense that Jesus ended the Mosaic Covenant when he inaugurated the New Covenant. It could mean goal in the sense that the law existed to actually point people to Christ as the goal. Or it could mean fulfillment or culmination in the sense that all the Old Testament types, rituals, and sacrifices pointed to and were fulfilled in Christ. But Thomas Schreiner is probably correct when he argues that based on the context, remember context, context, context, right? It is speaking of a termination of individuals attempting to try and establish their own righteousness through the law. Thus Paul is saying that those who trust in Christ cease using the law to establish their own righteousness. In line with that, the John MacArthur Study Bible in the notes states this, quote, Paul means that belief in Christ as Lord and Savior ends the sinner's futile quest for righteousness through his imperfect attempts to save himself by his efforts to obey the law. And I absolutely agree with that statement. Jesus supplies the perfect righteousness that we need to stand righteous before a holy God. We must be clothed in His righteousness, covered in His righteousness, credited with His righteousness. And that's exactly what Paul writes over and over again in his letters. Let me give you a couple of examples. In his first letter to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 1.30, Paul writes this, Because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. These things are found only in Christ Jesus. And then in his second letter, in 2 Corinthians 5 21, Paul writes this. For our sake, he, that is God, made him, Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This describes the great exchange or double exchange that took place on the cross. That Jesus, the perfect sinless Son of God, took my sin upon Himself. And God the Father poured out His wrath that was due for my sin upon His Son. And as a result, I am credited with His perfect righteousness. The only righteousness that allows us to stand before God. Because we need perfect righteousness. And that is exactly what we receive when we trust in Christ for our salvation. Hallelujah. What a Savior. We need no other righteousness but that which comes through faith in Christ. Now Paul, in this text, has made it very clear to us that the way of salvation is not through our obedience, our good works, good deeds, or through the practice of religion, no matter how zealous. The only way of salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who fulfilled all the requirements of the law for us, who died to pay the penalty for the sins of all who trust in Him, and who rose again from the grave to show to all of creation that He had conquered Satan, sin, and death. He is the only source of justification, redemption, and perfect righteousness. And all of us who have trusted in Him for salvation should now live for Him out of love and gratitude for all that He has done. We should live now to glorify Him, not for ourselves. And listen to me. We should join with Paul in praying for the lost. in praying for opportunities to share Jesus Christ with the lost. Our hearts should be moved to compassion for the lost. And we should also join with Paul in looking for those opportunities to share the glorious gospel of God's grace with others. The wonderful news that God has provided a Savior for us. And His name is Jesus. Amen? Heavenly Father, thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Every one of us in this room were like Saul of Tarsus. Like the Apostle Paul before he met You. Thinking, Father God, that we were better than we were. in our foolishness, thinking that if we were to die, oh, of course we would go to heaven and have eternal life and be with you. But Father God, nothing could be further from the truth. Thank you for opening our eyes to our need for a Savior, that we are sinners and we can only be saved by grace through faith in your Son. So Father God, now that we have received the greatest gift ever given, may we, Father God, be your instruments, your lights shining in the darkness that we might pray for and look for opportunities to share this great news with others. Because they don't know what they don't know. They don't know who they don't know. But we do. So help us in this, Father. Help us, Lord. We give you thanks for it in Jesus' name. Amen.