I'm going to ask you tonight to turn to two places in their Bibles. The first is Deuteronomy chapter 30. And we're continuing tonight, if you're visiting with us, our study in the book of Romans. And it's a wonderful text to come to the table of our Lord tonight. But I want you, as we look at this section in Deuteronomy chapter 30, I want you to keep your Bibles open tonight because this is a complex section in Romans 10. And if you keep your Bibles open, I believe it'll really help you to see what Paul's doing here. And so particularly, I want you to mark Deuteronomy chapter 30, put your bulletin in there, and we'll be going back to that tonight. But I want to begin there in verse 10 and read through verse 18, and then we'll turn over to Romans chapter 10 tonight. Let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord beginning at verse 10 in Deuteronomy chapter 30. When you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, for this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It's not in heaven that you should say, who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it. See, I've set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. Let's turn over now to Romans chapter 10. We're going to read at verse 1, and we'll read through verse 12. The text tonight is in just simply verses 5 through 8 and some of 9. So Romans 10, beginning at verse 1. brothers my heart's desire and prayer to god for them is that they may be saved for i bear them witness that 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 for moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law that the person who does the commandment shall live by them but the righteousness based on faith says 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 that we proclaim because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there's no distinction between Jew and Greek, but the same Lord is Lord over all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. May the Lord bless tonight the hearing of his word. Paul has been building throughout the course of the book of Romans to deal with what is a big, a large, and complicated problem, but one nevertheless that burdens him greatly. It really concerned him. It's a single great issue of how Israel could have failed to miss her Messiah. How could that have occurred? How in the world have they had all of these external privileges that he outlines for us in Romans chapter 9 that they have failed and you Gentiles have attained? That is a huge question, especially if you're writing in a first century context. That we have obtained what they did not. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? But it just requires some understanding to think about. We have to have some understanding about that. don't we? The Lord knows that. And so, if you were putting it in the language of verse 32, why did Israel stumble at the stumbling stone? What's remarkable about this issue tonight in the book of Romans is how Paul saw this as the most relevant issue for the entire world. For every single human being that has ever existed, this issue for him, he saw as absolutely important for us to understand. Why? Well, I've repeatedly tried to quote something in Romans chapter 3 throughout the course of this whole study to keep it in front of us that I think is so crucial to this discussion tonight. Paul said way back in chapter 3 something about Israel. And remember what he said about Israel? Now, whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth might be stopped and all the world may become guilty before god it's a verse that is so important to what paul's doing here tonight in romans 10 that we would learn that and he goes on to say that by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified for by the law is the knowledge of sin so put it together god put israel under the law they were married to the law and we studied that and if you ask the question study it study what paul's saying study what that was like i want you i want you to look at israel and spent God didn't put all these stories here to bore us I want you to study Israel and learn something very important remember last time Hosea not my people and that we should learn from them the simple truth that by your works you can't attain it before God that's the single great simple truth we learn from the nation of Israel what God was saying was God raised up Israel God set them apart in the earth. God gave them His law so that in national, I'm talking in national terms, so that nationally, their failure would become the conscience of the world. They would be a mirror for the whole world to look at and say, my, my, they were handed the very law of God. It was put in their hands, written on stones. And what happened? Well, it didn't go real well. Now God always had his remnant. We've looked at that. The true Israel are those who are born again, those who have the circumcision of the heart, those who are regenerated. That's the true Israel. But Paul's dealing with national Israel. And so right after that, Paul declared, remember, in Romans 3, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Being witnessed by the law and the prophets, the law and the prophets all knew about this, but the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference there's no difference for the true Shemites and the true Japhethites they're brought into one tent this way and there's only one righteousness that the law and the prophets testified to that God would accept that's what paul's saying well after all these chapters of explaining the difference of what the life looks like now of in chapter 6 and 7 and 8 of not being under the law for condemnation but under grace we've looked at that we've now returned to israel with the question of well then how did they fail why did they fail and we looked at this last time here's what he said last time just to summarize very briefly what did he say the gentiles reached and attained to what israel did not they saw the righteousness that was revealed apart from the law in other words they received jesus by faith but israel didn't they pursued the law of righteousness by living not by faith and so very simply they tried to please god by their works by what they do? Well, in chapter 10, that's what exactly we read in verse 3. We read that Israel tried to establish their own righteousness, and then he makes a fascinating statement in verse 3. They would not submit to the righteousness of God. They fought it. They fought it. They wouldn't become subject to it. They wouldn't listen to it. It was a stubborn refusal of what God kept telling them throughout history. And we stand back and say, well, did God really make it that clear for them? And Paul's saying, oh, he made it abundantly clear. He made it really clear how to be saved. And so Romans 10.4 is really the climax here in this issue with Israel. And we started it last time, but notice Romans 10.4. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. It's an overwhelming statement. It's a beautiful statement. It's a much greater statement than we've ever given attention to. But he has been building to that. He has been building and he's going to work from that to prove that. Christ gives us everything the law requires. That's what he's saying. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ has everything the law demands. he is our righteousness by imputation his righteousness is credited to you the moment as one pastor said a man believes in christ the end of the law is attained in that man that is it's fulfilled in him and he is in possession of that righteousness which the law requires it's been imputed it's reckoned and consequently he has everlasting life christ for righteousness christ is our righteousness he was always announced from the beginning as god's righteousness and that's why when you come to galatians chapter 3 you have statements made the law was our tutor to bring us to christ that we might be justified by faith this is the righteousness of faith christ for righteousness he is our righteousness it is jesus christ who became righteousness for us and that was the intention of god to announce that he would do what we could never do and he would supply what we could never achieve when the law was handed to us now paul knew we've been working through that we've been building to that that's hopefully really clear for us by now paul knew that he would be charged with teaching some new doctrine with this he was charged with that he was charged with teaching new doctrine everywhere he went that this was some novel new idea that paul was denying the law of god and i believe what paul does at this point to follow and this is our text tonight is say do you really think i'm teaching something new do you really think that i'm advancing something new after jesus has come what paul does now is explain and illustrate all of that from the old testament and not just from the old testament but from the heart of the old testament teachings on the law on what the law of god required and so in verse 5 paul begins by rehearsing the great truth that there are only two kinds of righteousness in this world there only have ever been two kinds of righteousness taught in the Bible to principles of righteousness taught in the Bible. And Paul does something to help us here a little bit. He personifies them. In other words, he has the righteousness begin to speak on its own terms. It speaks to us. It's as if each righteousness were personally speaking. We could frame it this way. Here's the first way of righteousness. Here's one way and paul begins to prove this from the an old testament series of verses but i want you to look at verse 5 of romans 10 for moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law and then he cites leviticus 18 5 the man who does these things shall live by them that verse was huge for the apostle paul he understood something about that verse in fact he cites this a few times in the scripture especially in galatians if you'll remember for as many three galatians 3 10 for as many as are of the works of the law are under its curse and what is the curse it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. You've got to do it all. And so it's all-inclusive here, language, everything. And he says, but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet, here it is again, the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Again, Galatians, I testify to every man who accepts circumcision. that you're obligated to keep the whole law the entirety of it if you want to go that route this is god's standard paul was contrasting two ways of living and the question is why is paul citing leviticus 18 5 well he's showing us that pure standard he's saying here's here's the first kind of righteousness here's the first kind of righteousness and the way it speaks the man who does these things shall live by them i will try to do it myself thank you and so if you love the lord your god with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind and you keep everything that he's commanded not 99 percent 100 the law said you'll make it and that's not suggestive. Just because we're falling doesn't mean God changed his standard. And so the passage is not, as I've heard so many people try to explain Leviticus 18.5 shockingly, the passage is not telling us how to maintain our covenant faithfulness and be happy in the covenant. That's not the intention of Leviticus 18.5. Paul doesn't ever explain it that way. The man who does these things shall live by them perfect and complete righteousness was the standard that's the righteousness of the law that's the first kind of righteousness the righteousness of the law speaks that way i can do this i'm nimrod i'll build my tower to god i'll get there now paul has been saying in Romans the whole time what? There's a big problem for humans. The problem is all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. There's not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. So just because we're fallen, God doesn't change the standard. That's the law of righteousness. And now we kind of understand when Paul is saying here about Israel that they did not attain God came down and said here are here are the terms of the law of righteousness and what is the thing that came out of their mouth this is why Paul is saying let it stop up your mouth when you read that they said all the words of the book of the law we will do and be obedient and we should say they did that they said that really and Moses hits them with blood remember penalties death and god used them to illustrate throughout the old testament how many bodies scattered in the wilderness in one day how many would fall 23 000 corpses some were destroyed by serpents some by the destroyer you have a long history of one nation ending up a nation cut off and left as a byword to this day because they tried to attain to that righteous standard themselves. In fact, if you really want to see how it went, they actually gave up. If you were ever to go through and study Jeremiah carefully, Jeremiah came with a covenant lawsuit and here was their response. That's hopeless. So we'll walk according to our own plans and everyone will obey the dictates of their own hearts. That's our response. This is impossible. Who can keep your law? That's the route we'll go. Now do you see how relevant this is for everyone? This is not just an Israel thing. Paul is saying that should stop the mouth of the whole world in its own righteousness because everyone should say if they had the very terms of it handed to them and they had that kind of relationship look at the failure. And we're Gentiles. And so this is where it is that in 2013, in terms of Chris Gordon's own righteousness, his mouth is closed up in studying Israel. In terms of your own righteousness, your mouth is closed up. You have nothing to say. You don't have an appeal before this God. There's none righteous, said Paul. No, not one. So that's the first kind of the righteousness. That's the righteousness of the law but now paul introduces a whole new way of speaking notice what he says in verse six but the righteousness of faith speaks this way here's a let me introduce to you a contrary completely radically different principle at work so whatever he's about to say it's totally contrary to the principle set forth in leviticus 18 5 by which israel failed and so in romans 10 4 that means that he's proving romans 10 4 now and that's really important he is now taking an old testament passage and he is going to prove romans 10 4 that christ is the end of the law for righteousness he fulfills it you have everything you need in him so the other kind of righteousness that comes by faith the first thing you say is we're not looking at ourselves at all so how does paul prove this well paul sees the other way as being explained in deuteronomy 30 and it's a bit complex um but i believe if you follow the the line of what he's doing here you'll see it notice verse 6 but the righteousness of faith speaks in this way and then he loosely cites deuteronomy 30 now turn back to deuteronomy 30 i really want you to see this tonight in verse 10 as i read remember what the lord said when this is um looking to the future by the way when you obey the voice of the lord your god to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, for this commandment that I command you today, well, hey, it's not too hard for you. It's not too hard for you. Neither is it far off. It's not in heaven that you should say, who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. But the word is very near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it. See, I've set before you today life and good and death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you will live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you're entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. Now you don't have to ascend into heaven to go get this law. You don't have to do that. You don't have to go beyond the sea to know God's will. Moses handed it, right? This commandment is in your mouth and your heart that you may do it. So if you do, then you will not perish. Now, of all the verses, Paul, you know, of all the verses at this point, why are you quoting Deuteronomy 30? It seems like there's nothing different from what you just quoted in Leviticus 18.5. And yet Paul just said, this is the righteousness that speaks of faith, speaks like this. In other words, what's the difference then? How do you understand that? Did you notice something was inserted in Deuteronomy 30 there in Romans 9? I want you to turn back to Romans 10. I'm sorry, 10 now. Romans 10. And look at verse 6 again. But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart. That's not in Deuteronomy 30. That's from Deuteronomy 9. and Deuteronomy 8. Let me quote those verses. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this well. Deuteronomy 9. Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it's because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land. So he just took Deuteronomy 9, don't say it's your righteousness, and he put that right in front of his quoting of Deuteronomy 30. Don't say in your heart you did this. That's what the righteousness of faith says. It's not my righteousness. We're not talking about my righteousness. And then he quotes Deuteronomy 30. And as Paul studied Deuteronomy 30, I think Paul looked at Deuteronomy 30 and said, wait a minute. He just said, if you worship another God, you're done. And they, Israel, just did it. So then it's not ultimately talking about them. he heard moses say you can keep this commandment when you do you can keep this commandment to obey and turn and love the lord your god it's not too difficult for you and what did paul see moses doing he's not talking about us he's talking about jesus it's the only way you can read deuteronomy 30 that's how paul's applying it here i'll show you that in a second paul studied deuteronomy and he saw this and he thinks wait a minute god just said it's not too hard to do the commandment but it's been too hard for everyone since adam no one's ever done it so then if no one seeks after god if all have turned aside and become unprofitable he looks at the text and says we're not fulfilling that paul thinks that has nothing to do with us trying to do it you know how many commentators even in the reform world i've heard try to tell us that this is us trying to do deuteronomy 30 i want you to notice how what paul does in romans 10 at verse 6 now the righteousness of faith speaks in this way the righteousness of faith speaks in this way and paul's goal here is to illustrate from the old testament that christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes so he quotes deuteronomy 30 and after saying listen the righteousness of faith speaks this way doesn't run around trying to say that it can do it themselves now read verse 6 the righteousness of faith does not do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven this is deuteronomy 30 now what does deuteronomy 30 say to bring the commandment down what does what does paul do right here he puts christ where commandment was do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven not to bring the commandment down but to bring christ down or who will descend into the abyss that is to bring christ up not the commandment did you see what he just did he's saying deuteronomy 30 was about christ and that's why i think when people tell us that we should preach the intention of the text we need to ask them if they're properly preaching the intention of the bible because i wouldn't have got that reading deuteronomy 30 myself but paul is an apostle did and he's telling us how to look at things and so roman says the believer says i can't fulfill the commandment but christ can he's not too far from me i don't have to go get him over there i don't have to bring him up i don't have to pull him down paul just said deuteronomy 30 is about jesus the law and the prophets were speaking about him that the commandment would not be too difficult for him it was in jesus's heart when he lived and he did it and it wasn't too difficult for him he loved his father perfectly for you and he obeyed the voice of his father and he kept the commandments all of them hundred percent and he loved the lord is god with all of his heart soul mind and strength and he did the most amazing thing for us even though the law was kept perfectly when the bread was sprinkled on the people it pointed to the requirement of the penalty of the law that was broken and he the perfect law keeper became the curse in our place to satisfy all the demands and release you from the judgment so that whoever believes on him has that righteousness and now that helps us to understand that when Paul says in Deuteronomy 30, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and your descendants to love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul that you may live. That in this life, we never accomplish that. That's held out for us in glory. But ultimately, everything Paul is seeing is through the lens of fulfillment in Jesus. And that's how we speak as Christians. That's what differs us from Israel. The one who has this righteousness speaks this way. He does not run around saying, well, I've done a good job in life. You know, I'm pretty much a good guy. I keep the commandments. I don't murder. I don't steal. Hey, I pay my bills. I tithe. I do all these things. That's not how we speak as Christians. We're not running around saying we're trying to maintain the covenant by our faithfulness. We don't speak that way. Paul says Christians don't speak that way. Christians are talking a lot about Christ. And the believer who has that righteousness doesn't have to go searching for it. Notice how all these Christians are searching today. You don't have to search for it. God's brought it to you. And this is what makes this section of Romans so powerful for the ministry. He's not just accomplished it for you in His Son. He's brought it to you tonight. He has you sitting and it's signed, sealed, and delivered for you. How? Well, look at what He says. The righteousness of faith. What does it say? The word is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart. How did Deuteronomy say it? It's in your mouth and your heart that you may do it. That's not what Paul says. It's in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. In other words, Romans 10.4. When we preach that Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes and that gospel announcement is made known, Christ is near you. Christ is brought to you. You don't have to look anywhere else. You've got him. You've got him. You hear what he's saying? He's answering the problem tonight of why Israel failed. You Gentiles have attained because you've believed in Jesus and you have everything you need in him. Everything. The word of faith we preach is what? Christ for righteousness. Christ is your righteousness. And that's why he says, if you confess with your mouth, think of what Morgan did this morning. If you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you don't lack a thing. What does he say? You will be saved. Isn't that glorious? And now you understand how important preaching is, because Paul's about ready to go into talk about the big importance of preaching. Telling you, I've done it all for you. You receive these things by faith. I'm sending you pastors who are going to preach Christ. And Martha, Martha, you're troubled about many things. But Mary has chosen the good part. She has sat at my feet and she's listened to me. This is my beloved son. Hear him. If you have Jesus Christ tonight, you have everything. And he just announced to you, whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. there's no distinction. Jews can come in, and they are right now, and Gentiles can come in forming one tent. That's the kind of person tonight that he wants at his table. Those who submit to that righteousness, who don't fight against that righteousness. There's a lot of fighting over that righteousness, which is tragic. This is what he says, don't fight over that. This is the righteousness by which you can be saved. Receive it. Receive it. Believe it. In Christ, you have all that you need. And I want to feed you now, says the Lord, so that you would be strengthened along the way in these promises. Let's pray together. Oh Lord our God, as we come now to the table, pray that you would give us grace to believe, faith to trust you, and that we would see as what's said here, Christ is all that we need. We thank you that you have supplied our every need in him and that now as we come to commune please strengthen us in grace and in your promises that we would come with believing hearts and receiving the true body and blood spiritually which is able to nourish our souls for a lasting life in jesus name we pray amen