tonight we turn in the scriptures to the book of Romans the book of Romans as we conclude chapter nine and enter into chapter 10 tonight so I'd ask you to turn to the end of Romans chapter nine and if you're looking for that that is found on page 1203 in your pew bible we're going to be reading tonight verses 9 30 through 10 4 9 30 through 10 4 let's give our attention tonight to the word of the lord what shall we say then that gentiles who did not pursue righteousness but 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 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 may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word well there is no doubt as we have been working through romans 9 that we have been addressing the issue of the promises made to israel and those promises in the old testament that are dispersed throughout we've looked at how to understand those promises and how to think about those promises but i remember hearing years ago a pastor saying to me well the challenge for us now is the fact that israel in 1948 became a nation and what now does that mean about the with the regard to those promises it really was a significant event wasn't it 1948 when israel again became a nation when this happened Christians around the world wondered if the Lord was now restoring the kingdom to Israel, didn't they? If this was the moment that we would see that play out. Many have waited to see what's going to happen to national Israel and what's going to go on over there since now they are gathered together again as a nation. I've often thought that Jesus's parable in Luke chapter 13 is interesting in that connection a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came seeking fruit on it and found none you know the fig tree had a lot of meaning for israel throughout the old testament represented them then he said to the keeper of his vineyard look for three years i have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none cut it down why does it use up the ground but he answered and said to him sir let it alone this year also until i dig around it and fertilize it and if it bears fruit well but if not after that you can cut it down many ways i think jesus had national israel in mind when he told that parable there's a question mark there isn't there will god again graft in israel and the simple answer to that up front is if he did it would be in no other way or no different plan than how he has grafted in the gentiles today that's the simple answer if he decided to do that which we'll look at in romans 11 seems to leave a little bit of a question mark there if he decides to bring a great gathering of israel toward the end it will be in no other way than what you are experiencing and receiving right now that's clear but the fact remains that since they became a nation in 1948 there's been no fruit on a national level the land has slowly been stripped away from them they are being hit by missiles they are hated by all the nations of the earth iran and others have been saying that for some time, their goal is to wipe them off the face of the map. That's abnormal, isn't it? That is absolutely abnormal. And you think, well, why is it like that? What is God showing us with that? And the only conclusion we can draw at this time is that that nation sits in unbelief. Unbelief. And I say, until they believe that God has left us a visible example of where unbelief and you cursed cut off and hated the nation is a warning to us of the consequences of unbelief tonight we get to the heart of the matter paul is driving home for us the ultimate reason why national israel failed why they were cut off and rejected by the lord and it comes down to this It comes down to this single truth that is really said here in three different ways in the section that I read. The fundamental truth that they would not accept is that a sinner is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, period. The gospel you've heard all of your lives announce to you, that is what they would not receive. And so I see this tonight in this text in three ways. Notice how it's outlined for you. Israel failed because she pursued righteousness by the works of the law. Israel failed, they'll go on to say, because she stumbled at her Messiah. Israel failed because she refused her Messiah's righteousness. That has summed up everything Paul has been working toward here. And so in verse 30, you'll notice that he breaks into that question. He raises that question in verse 30. What shall we say then? Paul had just said something shocking last time and it was a little difficult to work through, but we saw how beautiful it was and what he was doing there at the end of Romans 9 in verse 24. Everyone look at verse 24 where he said, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. Putting it in Genesis 9 terms, what just happened? j-peth has come in he's come and so notice that's what he's dealing with here that at the end of romans 9 he then cited a string of old testament passages and did something that we completely unexpected with that we didn't expect it with that that god was done dealing with israel on a national level those are those passages proved to us that he cut them off he said lo ami they're not my people anymore hosea no compassion no mercy but then he went on and he said in the place where they went where they were scattered into the nations wherever they called on the lord jew and gentile together he made them his people they became his people and that's psalm 87 which includes all the gentile nations in the earth and so from the two he's made one remember what he said there's no more blood distinction it's over it's not a blood it's not of the circumcision there's now neither jew nor greek we're one and that's why paul called the galatian church the israel of god well paul now concludes by summarizing what went wrong so that we understand okay i'm processing this what went wrong with national israel if gentiles are receiving the kingdom and israel is not boil it down for us are you saying there's two separate standards what did the gentiles do differently that israel didn't do and that's where paul breaks in to explain this for us tonight paul says notice what he says there in verse 30 what shall we say then that gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it that is a righteousness that is by faith and notice how it continues but israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law now what he just said was really important and not so complex for us it's actually a very simple message tonight he's kind of restating everything that he developed in Romans 3, 4, 5, where he was speaking of justification by faith alone. And so he's putting it in terms like this for us. Think of Noah. Think of Abraham. Think of Jacob. Think of Joseph. Think of David. What did they all learn? One message. One truth. why paul put david and abraham in in romans 4 they learned what they believed god and it was accounted to them for righteousness they were paul made this case in romans 4 they were justified by faith alone and so the bible through and through has showed us this that that that this is not just for father abraham remember we used to sing that as kids father abraham had many sons and many sons said father abraham and i am one of them and so are you why because when you receive it by faith that's galatians 3 you are a son of abraham and so that's exactly what the scriptures have shown us this central way a sinner is received before god that's how noah was received he was an heir according to the righteousness that comes by faith believing trusting and the scripture galatians 3 foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. The scriptures always talked about this. The scriptures talked about you years ago. It preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand saying, in you shall all the Gentiles, all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Well, here's where it all comes together tonight. God came down on Sinai and God gave his law. those beautiful commandments those good commandments but it wasn't an easy thing to receive was it and god came thundering down and the whole thing went black and there was lightning and there was thunderings and the ground shook and everyone's trembling don't moses even let god speak with us and god gave his law to them he handed his law to them on stones and he said do this and paul explained that for us in romans chapter 2 remember what he said that the principle of the law the standard of the law was the man you will receive eternal life i'm quoting romans 2 if you do good and seek for glory and honor and immortality now paul had been laboring in romans to say well no one no one does good this is the major problem but if you did do good if you did attain to it if you did do these things and this is would be the result and so the law promised life by the way of perfect obedience and paul said that in romans 2 it's not just the hearers dear pharisees you got to be doers to be justified in other words you got to keep the whole thing if you want to follow that that path and that's why he says here there um in verse 31 they pursued a law that would lead to righteousness they didn't succeed if they had kept it and they had been perfectly obedient it would have led them there but it didn't and that's what paul states if you look down at verse 5 of chapter 10 for moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law that the person who does the commandments shall live by them and that was leviticus you do these things and live what went wrong with the jews well paul said in chapter 3 if you look at the jews what you should look at the nation of israel it should cause us to put our hands over our mouth and gasp because they were given the law and what was the determination they didn't do a lick of it they didn't do a lick of it so so they didn't attain to the righteous standard that god requires for us to be in his presence they didn't attain to it they didn't achieve it because they didn't seek it by faith in christ but they sought it by doing the works of the law i mean this is so clear isn't it they looked at the law and they thought this is this is god's standard we'll we'll do it and they wouldn't submit they wouldn't submit to what the law was really exposing what did paul say was the purpose of the law it was added for transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. The law was added to reveal the problem of the human heart. Now Paul's explaining this to us tonight and Israel pursued that standard. Oh, they tried. They tried hard to meet that standard. And God was constantly raising up prophets and God was sending the prophets and the preachers. And then he put in place a whole sacrificial system to announce to Israel that they should confess their sins and that they need a savior and that God would provide this righteousness himself from his own resources, that God would do that for him. He would provide it for them. But they wouldn't listen to that. And God kept announcing, I need to come and circumcise your hearts. And what did Israel do with that message? They hated it. They killed the prophets. They stoned God's servants. they rejected the message they they didn't want to hear that what kind of messages was israel pursuing well they were pursuing messages of peace peace they were pursuing messages that that built them up that made them feel like they could accomplish it and god had told them all along the purpose of this is to drop you drop you i mean think of this morning's you know you can take this morning's message and i think that if we're really over pious we could we could be irritated by that message because it really does show how perverse the human heart is doesn't it i mean we saw gross things this morning and the bible doesn't the bible doesn't shy away from this stuff the bible knows that you and your children need to hear this god's telling you this why is god doing that because he's showing you the depths of the problem in the chambers of the human heart and people could get offended by that israel got offended by those messages and god wanted to say to them but i have something so much better than i'm announcing to you it was rare to find in israel have mercy upon me oh god according to your loving kindness according to the multitude of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. So Romans have shown us these two kinds of religion. The religion of the Pharisee who's proud and doesn't want to be confronted with the problem and is happy in his accomplishments, happy in what he's achieved, happy in what he's done. And then it's shown us the tax collectors and the sinners and those who are the scum and they're the ones receiving it and so we've studied this in the scriptures of god's purpose with the law to to create the awakening that we need to see what the righteousness is that he's provided by which we can escape you know it's interesting when jesus was preaching in the gospels and there's been a lot of discussion about the sermon on the mount and And the Sermon on the Mount can be a wonderful set of ethics for the Christian who's redeemed in light of Heidelberg 86 tonight and 87. But I'm not convinced that that's first and foremost what Jesus was doing. When he looked at the people of his day and said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never make it. He was saying, I know you think of these men as pillars of religion and as those who are near to God. I want you to look at who you think are the absolute best morally. Who would we think is the best morally of our society today? And Jesus says, unless your righteousness far exceeds that, you'll never make it and everyone should have said whoa who's going to get in and then he just kept giving blow after blow after blow after blow you ever looked at a woman to lust you're an adulterer you ever hated him here it's not just taking a knife it's not just pulling a trigger you're a murderer and he was completely bringing an end to human righteousness he he was completely assaulting human righteousness and it drove people out this is why people left him this is why he was often alone you know i was watching the other night aj jacobs who um he's not a good man he's mocking god and this whole thing but for a whole year he tried to keep every commandment in the bible you guys see that so he says i wrote down 700 and he says and i went after it i went after the whole thing 700 commands and his summary was this he says since i was pretending to be a better person through all this i actually became one if you change your behavior you can change your mind he says i thought that i never used to think that way i thought change your mind change this was his solution change your behavior then you'll get to the mind that's how backwards this all is so notice how here by the end of it he says i learned this thou shall pick and choose i tried to follow it all and i failed miserably and anyone who follows the bible has to be picking and choosing so that we have to pick the right parts the things that ultimately will change us so here's a man who you know went out for a year and grew the beard and wore the garb and came back and told us that what he learned was he failed miserably and that you've got to pick what will make you a better person out of the Bible. And you stop and you say to A.J. Jacobs, have you listened to what God requires of you, A.J.? God's not telling you, just try your best. When God gave his law, God was saying, you keep every single one, and you'll live. And that's why Israel failed. Israel had a kind of mindset of A.J. Jacobs, that you know, if we do the best we can in being good, moral people, God will accept us. And isn't that the standard religion in our day? Isn't that the standard mindset of people today? That if you're just a good moral person, God will accept you. If you toe the line, and we can do this, we can have it all mapped out of the life we're supposed to lead and the path it's supposed to go and how it's supposed to look and what we're supposed to do. And we can impose that and say, and we can think this as a church. If everyone follows right into the path, then that's the way that God is pleased. And God is announcing here, look carefully at what happened with Israel. They sought to establish their own righteousness by works. Now, the encouraging thing is, is what's He saying about you? Gentiles, you've attained it. You say, whoa, whoa, I've attained to a righteousness that's far greater than the scribes and the Pharisees? You've attained it. You didn't just get something far better. You got a perfect and complete righteousness. so how did i get it because you received it by faith that's it you bowed the knee you confessed your sins you saw that you're a mess you've seen that you failed miserably and you received it and so now you understand how important it is and everything that we do that we are fixed on christ because it's his righteousness that we've received and that's why paul goes on to say now that that's in saying it in the same sort of way that's why israel failed is because she didn't receive her messiah i mean this is verse 32 for they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written behold i lay in zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense and whoever believes on him will not be put to shame that's a fascinating quote it comes from isaiah 28 listen to that therefore thus says the lord god behold i lay in zion a stone for a foundation a tried stone a precious cornerstone a sure foundation whoever believes will not act hastily now listen to what he says here and quoting him further in Isaiah 8 13 the lord of hosts him you shall hallow let him be your fear let him be your dread he will be as a sanctuary but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble they shall fall and be broken who's the stone do you hear what was just announced the lord himself is the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense and what god was announcing and here the apostle paul was saying is they rejected the lord himself jesus is god jesus is the answer and they turned from the only one who could provide the righteousness that they needed and that's why he says in verse 32 what a wonderful verse whoever believes on him shall never be put to shame think about the shame this morning whoever believes in him will never be put to shame he'll be covered what we believe about jesus matters jesus told a parable one day about wicked vine dressers and think about the big picture think of how jesus applied all this in the course of his ministry talked about a landowner who went out and planted a vineyard he leased it to vine dressers and went off to a far country when vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the vine dressers to receive the fruit the vine dressers beat one killed one stoned another he sent more servants they did the same last of all the owner sent his son to them saying they will respect my son but when the vine dressers saw the son they sat among themselves that's the heir come let us kill him and season his inheritance so they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him jesus asks what do you think the owner of the vineyard will do when he returns they responded well he's going to destroy those men and give it to other vine dressers imagine when the jews understood the parable god is the landowner the jews are the vine dressers the servants were the prophets they killed them they beat them they stoned them lastly the owner said i'm sending my beloved son and they cast him out murdered him and how does jesus apply it jesus said to them have you never read the scriptures ready this is right out of romans and tonight the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this was the lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes therefore i say to you the kingdom of god he's looking at israel will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it and whoever falls on this stone will be broken but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder now when the chief priests and pharisees heard his parables leaders of israel they perceived that he was speaking of them when they sought to lay hands on him they feared the multitudes because they took him for a profit the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense and this is what jesus was doing and you know as his preaching happened as he went out remember who was coming in it was people like the syrophoenician woman it was the woman with the flow of blood it was the tax collectors and the sinners it was these kinds of people who were receiving him. And I've always said the true preaching does these two sort of things. It makes either one broken or it hardens. So Paul closes this out tonight. And what does he say in this section on giving the answer? And this is so powerful in verse 4, but I'll read verse 1 of Romans 10. What does he say? Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved i want them to be saved i pray for them for i bear them witness that they have a zeal for god but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of god's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of god and then here it is for christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes why is israel guilty they would not submit to the message of the gospel of free grace they would not submit to it they would not submit that they needed the righteousness of another and that's so it's such a simple message isn't it that's it What a heartbreaking thing that somebody could hear Jesus preach to them and hear everything's provided in Him and then walk away and say, no thanks. I don't want it. And it still happens to this day. And what's really tragic is that notice they have a passion for God. We hear a lot about passion today, don't we? We just need a passion for God. Israel has a passion for God. People today have a passion for God. They're on fire for God. But the question is, is it according to and with a knowledge of the Christian gospel? If it's not, they've not submitted to the righteousness of God. it's a false passion and so he says being ignorant and establishing their own they've not submitted for christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes the law was a tutor to lead us where show us our sin that we might come to christ and what that is announcing to us is in jesus you have everything i need to be reminded of that all the time. Because if you're like Noah and can confess that, if you sin and struggle, if you continue to feel the burden of that, notice how the Lord wants this continually set before you. Jesus is your righteousness. And this is our Christian gospel. I love what Peter says in closing tonight. When he talks about the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense, you ever thought what Peter says therefore it is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious who he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame what word stands out to you there precious precious is jesus precious to you if he's not then these kind of things about christ and his righteousness they don't mean much you're trying to establish your own but when the sinner has understood himself and he sees that God has announced to the ends of the earth that there is a way of escape and there's this righteousness that Jesus offers and freely imputes to you and covers you and throws a robe on you. Well, Jesus becomes everything to you. Your Savior is precious to you. And I want to leave you with his words where he says, whoever falls on this stone, when you fall on him, you're going to be broken. the knee's going to come down and you're going to receive everything that you need. But on whomever it falls, it grinds him to powder. You don't want that to happen. Jesus announces tonight that whoever believes in Him, think of how both the messages come together tonight, whoever believes in Him will never be put to shame, Covered in rich robes of righteousness. And God will never even look upon your sin again. He sees the perfect righteousness of His Son. Stay there. Stay with that. And the Lord will give you all that you need as you continue to go forward to see that Jesus is the answer and that it has supplied your every single need. Let's go into another week thinking about that and then, as the Heidelberg said, living thankfully in response to that, glorifying our Father who is in heaven. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, our God, we praise You tonight and are thankful that You don't weary in telling us about this. We have studied this over and over in Romans and here we are again and You applied it tonight for us looking at the nation of Israel. And since it was the burden of the apostle for them that they might come in and be saved, we pray for them. We pray that, Lord, those who are in Israel would turn and believe. We are thankful that your gospel's gone to the ends of the earth. May we continue, O Lord, to embrace and never turn away from Christ and His righteousness. And may we always be confident that everything that is needed is supplied in Him. And may we then live knowing that we have boldness to come before You each and every week in prayer and in worship, knowing that You receive us, giving us access by grace by which we stand. Be with us this week and surround us with Your gospel peace. In Jesus' name, amen.