Could you take your Bible and turn with me please to Romans chapter 9. We're going to begin reading in verse 30. Our text will run through verse 13 of chapter 10. Romans chapter 9, beginning with verse 30. What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith. But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.
They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down? Or Who will descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead? But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart.
That is, the word of faith which we are preaching. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. The theme that I want to trace in this text of scripture is Two Ways to Heaven. Now before you brand me as a heretic, get out the stake and light the fire, let me hasten to encourage you to hear me out as we talk about this theme. To come to God and have a right standing with him, one must have perfect righteousness.
Our text seems to point toward two kinds of righteousness. There is a righteousness by works, and there is a righteousness by faith. Verse 32 says that. He speaks about the righteousness which is based on law, and in verse 6, the righteousness based on faith. The two kinds of righteousness spoken about in our text are works righteousness and faith righteousness. To have a standing with God and to go to heaven, you must have one or the other.
Now in order for you to see the contrast that we are going to draw between works righteousness and faith righteousness, may I invite you back next week to hear the second half of this message. Because today we are going to get through the first point on the outline that you have in your hands. We are going to talk about works righteousness. But I set the stage for that. Let's review just a little bit.
The Apostle Paul has shared with us in this part of Romans that the nation of Israel was chosen of God for his own redemptive purposes. He has told us that that election was not based upon Israel's ancestry or upon Israel's merit as a nation, but rather God chose Israel according to his own grace and according to his own purpose. Now there is a benefit in that, and that is Paul's point really.
It is that since Israel's election was not based upon the nation's obedience, her present disobedience cannot annul God's ultimate purpose. You see his point is that what God has called Israel to be, she will be. And even though now she is set aside, as we will see in chapter 11, God will yet again someday take up the nation of Israel and consummate his promises to that people. His choice of Israel as a nation was based upon grace, and he will fulfill by grace his promises to the Jewish people.
And yet in this part of this section of Romans that we are looking at today, his emphasis is on the present state of the nation of Israel. That is, a state of disobedience and of rejection of her Christ. And because she turned from her Christ and from the righteousness that God offered to her as a nation, God has now turned to the Gentiles.
So you see even the hardness of the heart of Israel, just like the hardness of the heart of Pharaoh that we looked at last week, is glorifying God because now he is calling out the Church of Jesus Christ from both Gentiles and Jews. Israel's hardness and her rejection has broadened the scope of the offer of salvation to all men, to the whosoever. This was predicted in the Old Testament as we saw last week at the end of chapter 9.
In verses 25 and 26 he quotes from Hosea, God said, I will call those who are not my people my people. In the context here of Romans 9, the Holy Spirit is talking about Gentiles. They were not his people in the Old Testament, but now God says my people. For her who was not beloved, God says I will call beloved Gentiles, he applies this to. And then in verses 27 through 29 he speaks about the Jewish remnant.
And he says even though the nation be as the sand of the sea in number, it is the remnant of the Jewish nation physically that will be saved. Only a remnant saved in this age, just a few. If it weren't for that few, the Jews would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah as he says in verse 29, wiped out. Now our text that we look at this morning deals with Israel's rejection of the righteousness which God offered to her.
In fact, if you look at these verses we've read and underline the word righteousness, if you have a text like mine at least, you'll find the word righteousness used ten times. That is the theme here, just as it is throughout the book of Romans. There are two kinds of righteousness, I repeat them, works righteousness, which we'll talk about in this message, and faith righteousness, which we will concentrate on next week.
There are four facts about faith righteousness and about works righteousness which are in contrast. I encourage you to write down on your outline in the worship folder these four facts that I'm going to mention this morning about works righteousness. That way you can bring your outline back next week and pick right up where we're going to leave off today. Works righteousness is illustrated by national Israel, that is by the nation of the Jews.
Works righteousness number one is based on the principle of law. The Jews wanted righteousness, that was not the problem with them. They did want righteousness, but you see they sought it in the wrong manner. Look at verses 31 and 32, but Israel pursuing, and that word means eagerly pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.
The Jews felt that by the works of the law, that by keeping the law, going through the ceremonial law, they could earn their righteousness with God. It was a merit system, and therefore they expended time, energy, and money trying somehow to earn on the basis of the law their righteousness before God. We see this illustrated in an incident that happened as Luke records it in chapter 10 of his gospel. I invite you to turn back there and look at it with me.
Looking at verse 25 of Luke chapter 10, behold a certain lawyer stood up and put him to the test. Boy, lawyers do put you to the test, don't they? This is not a normal attorney as we think of them today though. This is an expert in the law of Moses. That's the kind of lawyer that Jesus is faced with here. He asked Jesus this question, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, what is written in the law? That's a normal question.
You would expect Jesus to ask a man who is an expert in the law. How does it read to you? Jesus does not directly answer his question, but as he did so many times, he asks the man a question in return. What does the law say to you, sir? He answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly. You passed the test.
The bar exam is passed. What you have said is right. In fact, Jesus himself said the very same thing in another place in the gospels. But then Jesus went on to say to him, do this and you will live. In other words, Jesus is saying to this lawyer, if you will practice perfectly the very summary of the law which you've given, then you will live. You will have eternal life. You will go to heaven. I believe that there were a few seconds of silence at that point between verses 28 and 29.
And as Jesus' eyes probed the heart of that lawyer, that man began to feel conviction because he knew that he had not perfectly kept the very commandments he had just quoted. He had not lived up to the knowledge that he had. But the law says, do this perfectly and you will live, and he hadn't done it. And so, wishing to justify himself, in other words, to get off the hook, to get away from the point of guilt, he asked this question, who is my neighbor?
And Jesus then began to answer that question by the parable of the good Samaritan. You'll hear a lot of people get up and think that they are answering the first question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life by giving the parable of the good Samaritan? And they say, you be a good guy, wear a white hat, be kind to people like that Samaritan was and you will inherit eternal life. That is absolutely not what Jesus said to this lawyer.
In giving the parable of the good Samaritan, he is answering the question, who is my neighbor? And by the time Jesus got through with him, he was asking the lawyer the question, whose neighbor are you anyway? Who have you loved? Who have you been kind to? So the man didn't get off the hook.
But the answer to the question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life, according to the law, it would be answered this, love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, and then love your neighbor as yourself. If you perfectly do that, you will live. The mistake the Jews made was that they thought they could do it. They sought righteousness, a works righteousness. It was based upon the law, but the problem was that they couldn't keep the law.
And nobody can, because we are sinners. The Jews, however, refused to recognize that possibility. They were convinced that they could earn their brownie points with God. That they could earn enough righteousness to have a standing before God. And so they rejected the righteousness that God offered them by faith, and they turned to this self-righteousness, and in so doing, they were rejected by God. Warren Wiersbe said, here is the paradox of history.
The Jews tried to be righteous and were rejected. The Gentiles who did not have the privileges the Jews had were received. Why? Because the Jews turned away from the way of salvation that God offered, the Gentiles received it. And you know that's the way it is with religious people today. They are just like the Jews. They think that somehow they can earn their way to heaven. They are sincere about that. And they even sacrifice to try to make it possible.
Thinking somehow they can earn their righteousness with God. But the people who think that way and who preach that way from pulpits across America and around the world are preaching a way of salvation that is impossible for sinners. And all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
When we lived in another city and I pastored a church nearby, I remember I think on Good Friday of every year some very sincere religious people of our community who would go to a big hill outside of downtown Cincinnati. And there they would get down on their knees and with beads in their hands and praying very sincerely and devoutly. They would begin to climb those hundreds of steps on their knees. And there would be a whole procession of them going up the side of the hill.
And finally they would get into the church where they would observe a mass. Do not fault them for their sincerity or for the sacrifice that they seek to make. But the mistake there is the same mistake that the Jews made. They feel that they can earn their righteousness with God. You see, works righteousness is based upon the principle of law keeping, of doing good, of earning merit before God.
And because the Jews sought that righteousness and turned from the true righteousness which God offered, God set the nation aside in judgment. A second fact about works righteousness, it feeds on personal pride. Romans 2 and 3 of Romans 10, for I bear them witness, says Paul, that they have a zeal for God. And the Jews did. And Paul knew about that zeal because he was as zealous as anybody else in the Jews' religion. He says, I bear them witness of that.
But their zeal was not according to knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Became a matter of pride to the Jews. After all, they were the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they had the law and the patriarchs were theirs and the promises were theirs. Look at who they are.
Why surely God will receive them and surely God will honor their works and the merit that they earned by keeping their law. But in all of that zeal, there was pride. So zealous were they that they persecuted the church. Jesus said in John chapter 16 verse 2, there will come a day, my disciples, when those who kill you, who persecute you, will think that they are doing a worshipful service for God. That's exactly how the Jews felt about it when they killed Stephen.
In their zeal for God, they said, God, we are doing this for you. We are putting to death this man who is preaching Jesus. They put their coats down at the feet of a man named Saul, the apostle Paul. And in those pre-converted days, he stood there and watched that great saint of God being stoned to death and agreed and consented with it all. He says, as far as zeal is concerned, Philippians 3.9, I persecuted the church.
He said, as far as the righteousness of the law is concerned, I was blameless. That is the outward righteousness, self-righteousness. Paul said, nobody could point a finger at me, but what about his heart? Works righteousness, my friend, feeds human pride. In fact, nothing feeds human pride more than good works religion. And that's because the flesh of the sinner wants to make itself feel worthy, that it's doing something impressive for God.
And so the whole works righteousness religion, and it involves liberal Protestantism as well as other denominations, it involves the cults and the other religions of the world, they are all mixed up in this same kind of doctrine of works righteousness. Somehow by what I do, I'm going to impress God enough that he will let me into heaven. That builds pride. It builds the wrong kind of self-esteem.
Then there's a third fact that we want to see about the works righteousness that the apostle points to here, and that is that it causes one to stumble over Christ. In verse 32 he says regarding the Jews, they stumbled over the stumbling stone just as it is written, behold I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence.
The Holy Spirit takes two verses from Isaiah, chapter 28 verse 16 and chapter 8 verse 14, and he weaves them together here in Romans 9.33 to say that God has laid in Zion, in Israel. Not here a precious stone, an elect stone, but he says a stumbling stone. First Peter chapter 2 makes it clear that the Lord Jesus Christ is this one who was laid in Zion. There he is called the chosen stone, even the chief cornerstone of the church he is called in the New Testament.
Peter says that we as believers are living stones built upon him. But it goes on to say those who are disobedient to the gospel stumble over the very stone upon which we as believers are built. So instead of being a stone of salvation he is a stone of stumbling to those who reject him. That is what happened to Israel my friend. And it happens every time a person chooses, works righteousness, self-righteousness as opposed to trusting Jesus Christ as Savior.
He turns from the Savior only to stumble over the Savior to his own damnation. This stumbling of Israel was prophesied even in the words of Simeon. In Luke chapter 2, as the Lord Jesus was presented in the temple, Simeon blesses the Christ child and speaks to Mary these words, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
Simeon says this child, Mary, that you have in your hands is going to cause many in Israel to fall as well as some to rise. And he is going to cause the thoughts of many, the hearts of many to be revealed. And my friend that is exactly what Jesus Christ does with every sinner. He reveals the heart, either the willingness of that heart to trust him or the hardness of that heart in rejecting him. Paul adds this insight in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
He says, The Jews ask for a sign, and the Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. The Jews look for a sign, some evidence of power in their Messiah. After all, they wanted one who would come and deliver them from Roman oppression.
A crucified Christ, while the ideal was preposterous, a Christ crucified as a Christ who is weak, we reject him. And Gentiles said, it's got to make sense to us. It's got to be logical. It's got to be wisdom, according to our philosophers. And most of us follow in the train of those Greek philosophers in our society, because our society today says the Gospel doesn't make sense. How is it possible that one who lived 2,000 years ago could be relevant today?
How could it be that one person dying could be said to be the Savior of all who believe around the world? Why that's silly. That's stupid. Only a moron would believe something like that. That's our world's appraisal of Jesus Christ today. But those of us who are saved know the truth. That Jesus Christ is both the power of God, and he is the wisdom of God. And in him is salvation, and apart from him there is none. There's a fourth truth we want to see about works of righteousness.
It's based on the law. It feeds personal pride. I wanted to point out and fail to that when he says in verse 3, the Jews sought to establish their own righteousness, that word established means to build a monument. And how many people there are seeking to build monuments to themselves and thinking somehow God is going to look down and be mighty impressed. And then works righteousness causes one to stumble over Christ. Finally, it brings one to condemnation under the law.
That's implied in verse 5. For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. That verse is a free rendering of Leviticus 18.5, the very verse that Jesus quoted to that scribe, to that lawyer. Do this and live. And what Paul is saying here is this. If one could live perfectly in obedience to the law, then he would have eternal life.
But if one cannot live in perfect obedience to the law, then he must die for the soul that sins, says the law, shall die. It shall die. And so one who chooses to go the route of law keeping, of earning merit before God, of seeking righteousness through works, is one who actually only brings himself under the law's condemnation of death. And that's why Paul prayed for Israel. Brethren, my heart's desire, my prayer to God for them, is for their salvation.
He knew that Israel, spiritually speaking as a nation, was lost. And he prays that the Jews might be saved. James gives us an interesting insight into the law. He says if a man keeps the whole law but offends in what? One point, he's guilty of it all. He says the law says you shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery. And if one says I've not committed adultery, but he's a murderer, he nonetheless, says James, is a transgressor.
You may feel that you're a very moral and upright person, but after all, you are better than most of the people around you and that may be true. But you're making the wrong comparison, my friend. The comparison you need to make is not between you and somebody else, but between yourself and the perfect standard of righteousness lived out in the life of Jesus Christ, for that's God's standard for entering heaven. You say, well I have kept almost all the commandments.
The point is you've got to keep them all. All of them. Have you done that? Have you ever told one little lie? Have you ever had one impure thought? Has there ever been one streak of jealousy in your heart? If so, then you are a transgressor of the law and there is no way for you to get to heaven by works righteousness. You are disqualified from that route. So do not make the mistake that Israel made and seek to earn your way to heaven. You can't do it.
They as a nation went into judgment and you will go into judgment individually if you seek to get to heaven by this way of works righteousness. Back in February a team of Christians went into the Arizona State Prison. Some of you heard part of the team testify to this a few weeks ago on Wednesday night. While they were in there they asked for volunteers who would be willing to go to death row. No one was really anxious to go, but a few of them said, we will go.
So they took them to that place of isolation, of complete total confinement, and they divided up the prisoners according to the number of volunteers they had, one for one. The guard said, look you've got three minutes with each one you want to talk to, no more. You may not go near the cells. We will have guards stationed between you and the prisoners so there can be absolutely no contact between you and the prisoners.
How would you like to try to witness to somebody in three minutes with that kind of constriction on you? They went in. The son-in-law of a family who attends here, the Hugo Hegstroms, Wes, went to the cell of a man named Willie. Willie was born a Jew and is imprisoned in Arizona because he has killed 16 or 17 people. A gross offender, a criminal, despicable, a law breaker, a criminal that is worthy of punishment as we think of it, confined there. Wes talked to Willie, separated.
What's he going to say in three minutes? What would you say in three minutes? He shared with him very briefly that God loved him, that Jesus Christ had died for his sins. Willie just turned it off. All together too soon, the guard said, times up, let's go. Right then, the Spirit of God impressed upon Wes's heart, give him your New Testament. The New Testament he had in his hands was a gift from his wife. It was leather bound. It was not a cheap one.
He said, Lord, this is not a cheap New Testament. The Spirit of God said, Wes, give him that New Testament. He reached through the bars, much to the dismay of the guard, and handed Willie that New Testament and said, please read this. Turned around and walked out. Weeks went by, and during that time, Wes wrote back to Willie just following up, trying to share more of the gospel with him. On March 13th of this year, here's a letter, dear Wesley.
First, I would like to apologize for taking so long to write back, but I had to do a lot of heavy soul-searching for the past few weeks. You see, right after I talked to you, the rabbi stopped by and I told him of our conversation and how good it made me feel. He became very upset with me and told me how I was deserting my family, my heritage, and my God, and that if I ever knelt down and prayed to a dead man, that I would no longer be a Jew and that they would hold me to be dead.
Needless to say, he's put me through a lot of guilts, and if he would have left it at that, he might have kept me from writing to you altogether. But he had to push it even further and put a price tag on it. You see, for the last three years, the Jewish Community Center has been sending me $25 a month so that I could have my soap and toothpaste, stamps and stationery, and that this would be withdrawn.
He also told me how they had bought me a real nice radio for my birthday, which is this month, and that I could just forget ever seeing it. I have been reading the New Testament that you gave me on a daily basis, and when he threatened me with the loss of what little physical comfort I have, it seemed to strike home all of the things that Christ speaks of dealing with a person being willing to make those sacrifices willingly.
So I have spent the last two weeks reading your Bible and asking Jesus to make himself real in my life. And I find now that the only thing that really matters in my life is what is contained in the book of John, chapter 3, verse 16. Every time I read it, I can see the completion of the covenant that my people have always had with God. In no way does Christ take away from my being Jewish. On the contrary, he completes it.
I know that it may be hard for you to understand, but my heritage means a great deal to me, and even though some of my own people are angered at me, I still love them very much. I am writing a letter today to explain to them my love for Christ and why I cannot turn my back on him.
I do not expect for them to know the relief and joy I feel because my conversion was a very personal thing, but I do want them to know that I would never do anything to harm them and that I will always pray that they will see the light as I have. It sounds like the Apostle Paul, doesn't it? My heart's desire, my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Just a few weeks ago now, Willie was taken at his request in shackles to a little Baptist church near the prison and was baptized.
He became a member of that church and they are ministering to him. Interestingly, right after Willie made his conversion known, the Protestant chaplain of that prison went to Willie and denounced him. He drew up a document that Willie had to sign and in which he swore that the chaplain had nothing to do with his conversion. My friend, that is the contrast between the works righteousness of that liberal chaplain and the faith righteousness that Jesus Christ offers whoever will call upon him.
Which righteousness do you have today? Let's pray. No hope can on the law be built of justifying grace. The law that shows the sinner's guilt condemns him to his face. Jesus, how glorious is thy grace! When in thy name we trust, our faith receives a righteousness that makes a sinner just. Would you sing with me? Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free.
For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son to die on Calvary's tree from sin to set me free. Someday he's coming back, what glory that will be! Wonderful is his love to me! Father, how grateful we are for the truth of John 3.16. For the joy that knowing when Jesus comes back that we, Willie, and all of the redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ, those who have trusted the Savior, who have accepted faith righteousness, can rejoice together in that day in your presence.
Father, I just sense that there are some here today who are not trusting in that righteousness but rather are still seeking works righteousness, and are under condemnation, hopeless, and headed for hell. May one or several who are like that here this morning open their heart and trust in the Lord Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life by faith. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.