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to continue in this uh very important um section of Paul's very important letter to the Romans be getting in
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deeper to Paul's analysis of what God is doing through his people Israel today we're going to be looking at the first four verses of chapter 10 I'm going to I'm going to
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start back in um chapter 9: 31 read through chapter through chapter 10:4 like to ask Ariel if you pray for the ministry of the
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word 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
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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 not be disappointed Brethren my heart desire
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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
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knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God
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for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes let us
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let us pray Heavenly Father this is a powerful message you message you see those who have been set aside as your people and their removal from that
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vine we praise you for the grace that you have shown to us that we have been made to see that that vine is Jesus Christ the son of God that
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we've been grafted in and so Lord I ask that that spirit that has been sent would work today in this body in the hearing of the word in the preaching of
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the word you would reward your servant in diligence and that you would bless your people that we would understand how great a work you have done to bring your
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righteousness to us in Christ's name we pray amen
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the Jews that's something that every generation has had to deal with every generation of the church I just finished a book about Pope Pas I
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12 who was the Roman Catholic pope during the second world war prior to that he was the papal Nuno to Berlin spent many years in Germany though he
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was Italian he was very enamored with the Germans very unusual for Italians the book of course deals with p's relationship with the Nazi government as well as the fascist government of Benito
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musolini deals with the documents that are now released by The Vatican and showing that Pas I 12th definitely showed distinct favoritism toward the
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totalitarian governments but what really bothers historians about Pas I 12th was how he how he handled the racial issue in particular
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the Jews there are those who defend him even those who have tried to to get the church to uh canonize him he has in fact been beatified I don't think he'll make
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it the final step frankly not with the documents that have been released for his favoritism to the Jewish people who were being oppressed by the Nazis and
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being shipped off to concentration camps and then eventually to places like aitz by the Italian government his emphasis was only on those Jews who had been baptized as
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Catholics as to those who were Jewish by Heritage even if no longer by religion he seemed to have no care at all but he represented an attitude that
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had been prevalent in Europe for well over a thousand years 1500 years since the Middle Ages and also an attitude that was mirrored by the Protestant
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nations of Great Britain and the United States where anti-Semitism was was rampant though not limited to the Roman Catholic Church By Any
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Means though nobody in those countries advocated the extinction of the Jewish people they did support the oppression
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and the isolation of the Jewish people Christianity has had a problem with the with the Jews during the metal ages Pi the 12's
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predecessors advocated laws that placed the Jews into isolated and walled off neighborhoods within the cities these were called were called ghettos they also supported later on in
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the modern era pgms violent Outburst against Jewish people that led to their relo forcible relocation and often to their injury and
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to their deaths though they were never as systematic as the final solution of not Germany nonetheless Christianity has had a problem with the Jews and we've
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had that problem for 2,000 years anti-Semitism is still with us in the 21st century 70 years after the discovery of
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DNA we still have racism Prejudice and anti-Semitism and generation after generation wonders why the Jews why is
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there such animosity toward the Jewish people why did the Holocaust why was the Holocaust presented as a Christian
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solution to the social ills of Europe and it was by the Nazis in a perverted Twist of Twist of religion Christianity has certainly had
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a problem with the Jews Paul had a problem with the Jews but nothing like the problems that have come up since within the church
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Paul's problem with the Jews was theological and eschatological they weren't believing in their Messiah they were not giving themselves over to that
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rock of offense they were stumbling over it and he needed to deal with this problem but his perspective on the one hand we can read
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in Romans 11: 28 he says from the standpoint of the Gospel they are your enemies but from the standpoint of God's choice
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they are beloved for the sake of the fathers they are enemies for your sake but they are beloved for the sake of the fathers now many have latched on to that
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word enemies they are enemies yes in respect to the gospel they are enemies but unlike even the Pagan
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unbelievers they are beloved enemies enemies and you don't send beloved enemies to a concentration camp or a gas chamber they are unbelieving yes but
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they remain as Paul is reiterating throughout they remain God's chosen people through Abraham Isaac and Jacob and we're going to see that he is not
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finished with them that the physical descendants of Abraham are still within God's eschatological purpose the church has not replaced Israel rather Believers
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have been grafted in to that one olive tree that is Israel because the true Israel Jesus Christ the Messiah has come and died and
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risen we still have a problem with the Jews so on the one hand they are beloved enemies astonishing astonishingly many have accused Paul of being an
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anti-semite that was very popular during the enlightened period where liberal Scholars would say Paul was clearly against the Jews even Martin Luther from the Reformation thought that Paul was
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anti-semitic now he his heart goes out to his countrymen according to the flesh he would he would have himself cut off from Christ if it meant their salvation
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he earnestly prays for that salv that's not anti-semitic not anti-semitic talk he does not try to to obliterate their identity he does not try to merge
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their identity with into the church they stand forever as beloved for the sake of the fathers chosen of God we
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need to understand Paul's mind because we should think the same way because he was inspired by the holy
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spirit so what is it about the Jews that causes generation after generation of the church such struggle we we tend to look at the Jews now
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academically or historically or if we're dispensationalist prophetically we either consider Israel in the past or we consider it
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theologically that that the old Covenant has gone away that they failed and now God is doing something new in the church or there's a large segment of Christianity that looks ahead and says
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after he's taken all us Christians out of the way he will again deal with Israel in the same manner that he did before with the temple and sacrifices and all of
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that Paul presents Israel to us not merely historically or theologically or prophetically but rather in terms of an
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example that we should not follow he writes in Romans 15 for example for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our
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that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope and again in 1 Corinthians 10 he writes having having reiterated what happened to Israel in the wilderness he
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said now these things happened to them as an example and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have
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ages have come what happened to Israel was part of God's purpose God's purpose Israel Falling Away we will learn was for the inclusion of the Gentiles the
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cutting off of the natural branches was to in a in a manner of speaking make room for the unnatural Gentile branches to be grafted in and yet the recounting by scripture
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of Israel and her history is never academic it's never theological and it's never just prophetic it is always as an
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example and a warning that we should not follow their path of rebellion and unbelief and so we need to consider that
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as we listen to what Paul says realizing that this is not merely historical or theological Paul will write later in
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Romans or excuse me in Romans 11 he'll say do not be arrogant about the natural branches do
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not be con deeded but fear this is where we're heading he he's dealing with Israel's unbelief but he's not doing it in such a way that the Gentile Believers
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in the Roman Church can kind of buck up and and congratulate themselves for being in when all of those Jews are now out no he's not going to allow that one
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of the reasons I pointed out that God's selection of vessels some for honor and for Mercy others for wrath and condemnation selecting out of Fallen
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humanity and not out of pre Fallen Humanity was to to move towards and to help us think that what we have we have by grace that as we were all of one lump of
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clay God's election of some of us is purely by grace that there was never anything in us that merited his salvation his mercy and so when we look
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at Israel considering that they remained beloved enemies of the Gospel we should never and can never allow ourselves to boast to take an arrogant position over
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God's historically chosen people but we do need to learn from the example that they present us with Israel's Zeal without
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knowledge can and has been and is being duplicated within the church their stumbling is something that
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the church has imitated and has reproduced generation after generation throughout its history and you you need only do a cursory history for example of
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denominations to see that they started out well and stumbled within a couple of generations you can see the same thing sadly within
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sadly within families perhaps within your own family I know that in my family I cannot go back and claim generations of faithful I
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cannot I cannot even go back one generation I can however see that from this current Generation by God's grace
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two more are walking with Christ but how many after that how many we we become so complacent
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we think we have it because we're raised in Christian homes and we go to a Bible believing church but it is so easy to fall into the Trap and temptation of zeal without
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knowledge of trusting in things other than that which saves and saves and eventually even the sons and grandsons
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and great-grandsons of strong Believers are are found stumbling Over The Stumbling Stone if you want an example read the life of Jonathan
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Edwards and then his son and Grandson one of his grandsons you may not know this but it's very famous Aaron Burr was
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a grandson of Jonathan Edwards okay in fact he desired to be buried when he died at the feet of his father Aaron bur senior who was the first president president of Princeton College and his
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grandfather Jonathan Edwards he said because I am worthy of no no other position than being at their feet it it is a frightening and sobering
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phenomenon to see how easily what happened to Israel can happen within the church and so we need to hear these words not as a phenomenon to be
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critically analyzed historically and theologically why did the Jews engender so much hatred why did they not believe how does the church relate theologically to it that is not the point the point is
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that which is written is written for our instruction and that instruction is for our war our warning this is a danger to be diligently
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avoided Paul says in Corinthians he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall one author says zeal for God that is not enlightened can carry a man very
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far from God that that's a good saying Zeal for God that is without knowledge can carry a man very far from God and
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may I add for the sake of the of modern culture the same is true for women and children and so let us not relegate Romans 9 to 11 to history or eschatology
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it's so often the modern treatment of these three chapters is done in a dispensational framework to show that God will come back and deal with Israel as he did in
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the past that is not a parenthesis that we can simply take out of Romans and still have the same message no in some respects it is the most powerful portion
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of the whole book of the whole letter because it's dealing most intimately with God's faithfulness to his Covenant but it's also dealing with the danger
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and the temptation to complacency and arrogance that is illustrated by the unbelieving Jews and it can happen in our families it can happen in our church
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if we are not aware and prayerful Paul will write if God did not spare the natural branches neither will he spare
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he spare you again many look at that verse like they do Hebrews 6 and they shudder and they can they conclude that I I'm I can lose my salvation if I'm not careful
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God will cut me off Jesus himself said that any branch that does not bear fruit will be cut off and gathered and thrown in the in the fire and so there those who believe you can lose your salvation point to these
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verses and say see see you you can get cut off but that is only because we continue and along with our generation to look at
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everything individually it's all about me but remember Paul is talking about Israel and he points out that not all Israel has been cut off he himself is a
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Jew and so we need to realize that what he's talking about here is the church and the danger of the church like Israel becoming complacent in its
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relationship with God only to find out that me many members of the church will be cut off and will be rejected and we'll deal with that of course when we
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get to that passage the topic here is the righteousness of God and this connects and and i' I've been trying to show how
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Paul's arguments as he moves through this letter the sections get to be longer explanations of earlier short
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introductory passages back in Romans 3 after he has indicted Jew and Gentile alike under sin he says but now apart from the law the
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righteousness of God has been manifested the question before us is how did the Jews miss it how might we also miss it
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today so let's focus on our passage and the logic that Paul is using I began reading back in chapter 9 because is a direct parallel between verses 31 and 32 of chapter 9 and chapter
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10 verses 2 and 3 for example uh in verse 31 of chapter 9 but Israel pursuing a law of
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righteousness did not arrive at that law that is a direct parallel to chap 10:3 for not knowing about God's
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righteousness and seeking to establish their own they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God so when he says in chapter nine that
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they were pursuing a law of righteousness in chapter 10 he says this was a righteousness of their own now I believe that phrase is the key
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to understanding this section establishing a righteousness of your own that's one Little Greek word hion of your
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own and that is contrasted with God's righteousness and those who do not submit themselves to God's
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righteousness will be condemned even if they are zealously pursuing a righteousness of their own they will not attain the righteousness of God they will not attain the
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righteousness that will SA they will only attain what salvation they can accomplish on their
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own are we not capable of pursuing a righteousness of our own surely this is not something that is limited only to the
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Jews they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God that phrase corresponds then to back in chapter nine they stumbled Over The Stumbling
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Stone not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God was their stumbling over that stumbling stone that rock of rock of offense Jesus
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offense Jesus Christ so we can give away the answer give away the punchline but what did Israel do
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wrong there are many different opinions I'm not going to go over all of them but I do want to comment on something that I discussed with James yesterday evening about Academia in general uh and that is that that academics tend to approach
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life and study as an either or Prospect you see this among the theologians that either Paul had this relationship and
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this opinion about the Jews or he had this opinion about the Jews and everything has to be cut and dried and and nice and neat but you know life
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isn't like that at any age in any generation and so we look at the common view that is the modern church it's the view of Martin Luther and that is that the Jews
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considered that salvation was through the law but now that God brought a new way of Salvation the Jews preferred the old and so Luther believed that Judaism
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itself was a bankrupt religion and that's what Paul came to realize and so he condemned the Mosaic law condemned Judaism now that was very convenient for
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Luther in his context but it was wrong according to scripture Paul calls the law holy and righteous and good he does not fault the law he merely shows
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accurately what the law can do and what it cannot do the law is God's and yet we think that and and we're so given to this dispensationalism has has uh subtly
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worked this into our mindset that we think that the Jews were under a different Paradigm of Salvation than we are I've said this before you know the Jews were given the rigor of the law but
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the stupid ignorant pagans were just given Grace you know that's kind of how we think you know you either do it this way or you know why would you do it that way if you could just believe and and
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that's how much of modern Christianity treats the distinction between the old Covenant in the new and between Judaism and Christianity Paul doesn't deal with it that way one modern scholar who is
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himself a Lutheran uh whose General commentary is very good but his Lutheranism is showing here he says in their Zeal they were so preoccupied with thoughts of
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righteousness which they themselves would offer that they could not see that God now offered them a holy new
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righteousness that's not how Paul sees it Paul does not see this as a holy new righteousness but rather the Fulfillment of God's righteousness throughout the
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ages in God's son Jesus Christ the righteous one he didn't come up with a new religion and he didn't obliterate the old
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the old one but those who were Guided by the old one got one got lost at some point they took a wrong turn and kept taking wrong turns until
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when in the fullness of time time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the under the law the Jews didn't see it they didn't
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hear it and they stumbled Over The Stumbling Stone so there is the common view that the Jews thought that their salvation was through works of the law and then there's a modern view that kind
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of has come about in the latter part of the 20th century in looking at the writings of this era Paul's era known as second temple Juda is M and that is
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their salvation was Heritage that they believed themselves to be saved simply because they were Jews that there was not so much that
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they thought there was salvation that comes through the law but that the law was simply a symbol of their having already been already been saved because they were
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Israel again the tendency is either or but don't we have both don't we have the Pharisee who who proudly proclaims
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to God that he ties his mint his dill and his kumin or the young man who said of the of The Commandments that Jesus enumerates he says all these I have kept
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from my from my youth so certainly they were men who were trusting in their own works of the law but do we also not have those who said we have Abraham as our
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father they were trusting in their Heritage so hubis on the one hand Heritage on the other it's not either or it's both it's both and they were trusting in their we might
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say they were trusting in their Doctrine or they were trusting in their denomination if we wanted to apply it to our own time and the danger that we face
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as Believers in other words they were and and really this is Paul's words not other words they were seeking a righteousness of Their Own how it manifested itself was as
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different as the Sadducees and the Pharisees but they were still all Jews they were still all part of God's chosen people they were all the
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possessors of the oracles the prophets and the Messiah according to the flesh both Sadducees and Pharisee scribe and Asen and levite they were all together
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stumbling over the stumbl stone stumbling Stone because they were seeking to establish a righteousness of their own Paul himself was in this
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position listen to his CV in Philippians chapter 3 if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh I far more
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circumcised on the eighth day of the nation of Israel of The Tribe of Benjamin I have Abraham is my father
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there's his there's his pedigree a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee as to Zeal a persecutor
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of the church as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless Paul speaks of what he knows because he speaks of what he
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experienced but by the grace of God he was stumbling All Over The Stumbling Stone more so than many of his countrymen in
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fact he he says I excelled my countrymen in these things and I think in his mind he included his Zeal he had the Zeal of Finos the one who pierced through the
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the the Hebrew and the midianite couple so Paul speaks also that he acted in ignorance which is interesting he had
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Zeal but without knowledge Zeal but ignorance knowledge he didn't know it at the time but when it became manifest to him on that road to
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Damascus he acknowledged his ignorance the scales fell from his eyes his ears were open he heard the word of Grace in The Gospel and he was regenerated but so
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many of his countrymen are still blinded when he says that in Romans 11 he is speaking of his own condition prior to the grace of God coming to him
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through the power of the Holy Spirit now there is a subtle difference in wording in phrasing in chapter 10 when he says not according to
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knowledge in doing this he is differentiating Israel from the rest of the Pagan the Pagan world we know that in Acts 14 Paul
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speaks of all those nations of the Gentiles as having been looked over by God that God kind of left them to their own devices in act 17 when he's on the
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areopagus he says of their their religiousness their all of their altars including one to an unknown God he says that which you Worship in ignorance I
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declare to you you see the Gentiles were in the Blackness of ignorance but not the Jews you can't say that the Gentiles
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worshiped it zealously but without knowledge they were zealous in complete ignorance and they were zealous for their gods and for their philosophy they
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were seeking a righteousness of their own but they didn't have even the least bit of bit of knowledge that's what makes it so confoundingly confusing even when you
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look at it now you think how do the Jews miss that Jesus is the messiah I mean we think of of the fact of 8070 not only destroying Jerusalem and the
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temple but all the genealogical records of Israel they can't possibly hope for a son of David now because they have no way of knowing who's from Judah and
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who's from who's from Simeon how could it not be Jesus but they can't see it they still have many of them a Zeal
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for God but again without knowledge what Paul is saying very subtly here is what he says back in Chapter 2 in great detail you you Jew who consider himself
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a keeper of the law and a teacher of Nations do you not break the law you a guard of the temple do you not Rob temples he says theirs are the prophets
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and the oracles theirs are the fathers all of the blessings and you can kind of lump that all together and say this is the knowledge that they s
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against this is the knowledge that they ignored as they zealously worshiped the god of Israel as Paul Saul of Tarsus zealously worshiped the god of Israel he
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did so did so without knowledge Israel had been given knowledge but did not continue in
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it Andrew nigrin said that which was their advantage became their downfall and I say that again
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warningly when you consider the generational incapacity of Believers to pass the faith on generation after
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generation after generation we realize that things that were given to us as our advantage may become our become our downfall apparently in the early church there was a saying God has many children
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but no grandchildren think about that God has many children but no grandchildren no one is saved through
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the salvation of their parent no one is saved through the salvation of their sibling no one is saved through the denominational doctrinal purity of their
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church so let's look at that phrase seeking to establish their own righteousness this is the key in in my opinion this is the key to the meaning
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of what Paul is getting at and the danger that even Believers face today this is the essence of human religion even within revealed religion
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Christianity Judaism Christians are not immune from this fatal error we are also capable of zeal without zeal without knowledge this quote from Adolf
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Schlatter really made me stop and think and realize how Timeless this message in Romans 910 and 11 really is and the life and unbelief of the Jewish Nation how it
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continues to stand in our our faces as a warning as we consider our children our grandchildren as we consider our church as it ages as it progresses as it moves
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on to the next Generation when Zeal replaces knowledge the individual believes in his own
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thoughts and knows only his own will have you not met zealous Christians who fit that
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description they believe only their own thoughts and know only their own will sadly the the church is full of
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such Christians because they are seeking to establish a righteousness of their own and where does the call for Zeal come from in the church it comes from
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the pulpit haranguing the congregation about this program and that program and this Outreach and that missionary that we should be zealous for God's work that
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we're doing Christ's work without ever considering that Christ did his work on his own and we didn't help him those who were around him tried to
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hinder him not help him we are so wrapped up especially in American Christianity on what we could do what we can do for God our Zeal is
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our proud Badge of Christianity it's also our downfall because it's our source of Pride our
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source of arrogance and our source of selfworth none of which we can bring before God before God and it is the direct opposite of
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gratitude for Grace GC burkhow said the essence of Doctrine is Grace and the essence of
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Christian ethics is gratitude I've pointed out many times that the the great sin of humanity that Paul enumerates in in Romans 1 when he talks about how they they worship the
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creature rather than the creat Creator they knew God but what they do they refused to give thanks that was it you've all encountered this before I
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think when you've done something nice for somebody and they refuse to give thanks you're like give it back you know I mean just say thank
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you and that's have you ever thought that's what God wants now of course we cannot give cannot give thanks but from a sincere heart of adoration and of humility
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you don't give thanks unless you recogniz you don't really truly give thanks unless you recognize that that which you were given you did not deserve and not only did you not deserve it it was far beyond what you
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deserved and and when that is the case you you are sincerely grateful for what you have been given now that is within Human Relationships magnify
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that infinitely when we consider the grace of God in Jesus Christ and give thanks never never relying on our
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Doctrine never relying on our heritage and never relying on our Zeal it it makes me cringe when I hear
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people talk about what they do for God what what what what I'm doing for what are you doing for Christ nothing he's God
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Almighty he secured all the blessings that I could ever want and far more infinitely more than I ever deserved you know what I'm doing I'm thanking
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him my Zeal I'm grateful now it doesn't mean that we don't do things it's just to show the
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danger of zeal without knowledge the danger that Zeal has to lead directly to Pride and to arrogance rather than gratitude and humility and this is is
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how the Jews stumbled Over The Stumbling Stone because that was the stone upon which if they fell they would be broken but if it fell upon them they
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would be crushed to powder and it's the one stone that the builders rejected who has become the chief corner of the building that building which we as Believers are being
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fitted into as living stones but do we not desire that our our children and our grandchildren are also fitted in well then don't pressure them to grow up
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to be to be ministers please let the holy spirit guide them in terms of what their vocation will be don't don't pressure them to be
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religious don't pressure them to be outwardly clean when inwardly they may be F filled still with Dead Man's Bones and all and all uncleanness show them by your own
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gratitude toward God that salvation is purely by the gra and mercy of almighty God through Jesus Christ show them by your Devotion to God's word to guide
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your steps that Enlightenment is purely from the holy spirit of God through regeneration and
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illumination it's it's a hard thing to do because we're constantly told in the books and from the sermons and the and the podcasts now what we can do for Christ and what we need to do to show that we're believers do this do that
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don't do this this don't do that wear this don't wear that hair this length legs pants legs pants no that's that's all
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outward whitewash and it looks so zealous but an entire nation of God's people given all the blessings possible their Zeal LED them into
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judgment and destruction so Paul says this an atic phrase in verse four as we close out this is one of the most difficult
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phrases in a very difficult letter the letter of the Romans for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes many clasp onto
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that and the other back in Romans 6 where Paul says you are not under law but under grace and they read the word end of the law that means oh the Law's gone the Law's
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done that's not what the word is actually uh the the word means goal or fulfilled completion that's how it's used throughout the Bible the word is
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Telos from which we get the long wordology simply meaning that what God was doing in Christ was to fulfill a purpose that he had established from
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eternity past he announces it in Genesis chapter 3 when he says the seed of woman will crush the Serpent's head and he fulfills it in the in the
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fullness of time by by sending forth his son and on golgatha and at the empty tomb the law has reached its
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fulfillment but the phrase is difficult because it has three components that we really don't know what to do with the end of the law that's the first
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component for righteousness that's the second to everyone who believes that's the third so the first one very very briefly
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the end of the law again not the end as in the cessation of the law in Romans 13 as he speaks of the ethics that he teaches and that he expects of Believers
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what does what does Paul do he reiterates provisions of the Ten Commandments very odd to do several chapters after saying the law has ended in Christ you know but that's not what
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he meant what he means is this is the completion of the goal that for which the law was given now he says that in Galatians more clearly when
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he says 400 years after the promise to Abraham the law comes and with the law as he says in Romans 7 comes the awareness of sin and
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transgression the law the law was never given that can save Paul writes in Galatians and and if the law was given that could save then Christ died in vain
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so it's never a part of Paul's teaching that the law was an Old Testament means of getting saved and Grace is a new testament means of getting saved no the
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righteous under the old Covenant walked by faith no less than the righteous under the New Covenant but the law had a purpose and that purpose and this is
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where we get confused we think okay there's a law we need to obey it we obey it everything's fine law as a means of salvation that was never its purpose Paul didn't realize that that
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wasn't its purpose but with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and recognizing the finished work of Jesus Christ he couldn't help but realize that Christ came to fulfill the purpose of
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the law and that the Law's goal was Jesus Christ because as he's going to say in a little bit he who would ful he who would walk by the law must fulfill every part
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of it James says the same thing in his letter and that if you are a transgression of transgressor of one part of the law you're guilty of the whole thing the law could only lead to one of
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two things Pride or despair false pride in thinking that you've got this like the Rich Young Ruler I have kept all those things from my youth my youth Lord doing so well or
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despair I I can't do this that's one's better than the pride I'll tell you that much that one has hope of leading you to repentance so the law has reached its goal for
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righteousness or literally unto righteousness the purpose which the law established but could not accomplish was
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righteousness and the reason it could not accomplish it was not because of the law remember what Paul said in chapter 8 the law failed because of the weakness of our of our flesh the law failed because we could
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not abide by it but also because it was never intended to bring us that righteousness simply to show us that righteousness and to point us back to
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God saying you command now give give what you command Augustine said you command Holiness because you are holy make me holy you you command sinlessness
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forgive my sins cleanse me that's what the law does that's what the law demands but cannot deliver righteousness and then he says to anyone
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everyone who everyone who believes that is as it has always been no one was ever saved believing in
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the law though the law pointed many to the Salvation that comes through faith in God that faith in the old Covenant did
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not have a clear vision of the Messiah Jesus Christ but it did have a vision of one who would come the servant of yahwe the seed of woman the son of David there
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was a vision that God would himself send someone who would be bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes we would be healed we may not have understood that
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he was going to be the Son of God Eternal God himself but we knew he was God's man he was the king that God set upon Zion I mean it's all through the Old
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Testament that you could read the law and see the righteousness of God and realize that's not in me and then see the promise that God would send a seed a son a
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son a servant who would do it for us and in his death and Resurrection many children would be raised with him Isaiah 53 so it all kind of ties together and
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so Paul can write back in Romans chapter 3 but now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifest even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus
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Christ for all who believe that's believe that's it that's what we just cannot grasp a hold of we think Grace is is too easy John
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Wesley said that Grace is dangerous that if you teach a Grace that is too power powerful and too pure you will no longer have the ability to motivate people to
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Holiness he didn't actually say this but churches have proven generation after generation that guilt and fear are very powerful motivators and so that's why they abide
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in the church but they don't abide in Christ and they're not abiding in the church by the Holy Spirit now remains faith hope and love these three
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abide not zeal not fear not guilt all of these human things by which the Lords of the church lorded over the congregation
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are totally an athema to Paul and what they will end up doing is causing the person to stumble and eventually the next generation will reject
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that but Grace is pure and powerful and grace alone is what saves and we can't just say that we need to look at those
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like Israel who have stumbled Over The Stumbling Stone who have fallen in the wilderness because having heard the gospel the writer of Hebrew says they
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did not mingle it with faith and therefore God was not pleased with them and what we pass on to our children and our grandchildren is not our own Zeal and not our own
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righteousness but the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ let us pray father we do pray that you would
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put your word deeply in our hearts and cause it to grow and produce a harvest For Your Glory and for our good and we earnestly pray that each of us would
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seek your wisdom and the power of your Holy Spirit to pass on the great salvation that you have given by grace through faith in Jesus Christ to our
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children and grandchildren that they might then pass it on that you might indeed show compassion to the thousandth Generation by granting
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regeneration through faith it is all you through Jesus Christ and we give you not only Glory but gratitude in Jesus name
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amen please rise for the benediction from Romans 15
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right after Paul saids that forever was written in earlier times was written for our instructions he says now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement Grant you to be of the same mind with
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one another according to Christ Jesus that with one Accord you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ
