Romans 10_1-4： How Christ is Our Righteousness with Dale Partridge
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Summary
In preparation for this morning's sermon, we'll be reading Romans 10:1-4 in preparation for the sermon this morning. This sermon will focus on how God's sovereignty over salvation is the ultimate factor that determines whether someone is saved or lost, and the role of divine election and predestination in the process of redemption.
Transcript
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We'll be reading Romans 10 verses 1 through 4 in preparation for the sermon this morning.
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Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
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I bear them witness and they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
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For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God and seeking to establish their own,
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For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
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Well, praise be to God. Good morning to you all.
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we uh later in my notes i'm going to reference that this is
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we've been in romans for two and a half years september would be actually about two and a half
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years we started this church plant down in cottonwood we obviously relocated up here to
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Prescott. But I looked back and I started Romans 1 in March, early March of 2022. And so I just
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calculated that it would probably take me about four years to get through this wonderful book.
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Now, for those who are just joining us, we just finished Romans chapter 9, which is kind of this
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Mount Everest peak of the book of Romans. Now, the message of Romans is broken down into a
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handful of sections. One of those sections is chapter 9 through 11. That's one of those blocks.
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In these three chapters, the apostle addresses the sovereignty of God in election. That's the
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central point. Israel's place in the redemptive plan of God. And then the relationship between
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the Jews and the Gentiles in salvation history. That's basically what we're going to cover from
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chapter 9 to 10, or sorry, 9 to 11. Chapter 9 was primarily focusing on the vindication
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of the claims of chapter 8. And if you look back in your Bible, you can if you want to,
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it's Romans chapter 8, verses 28 through 30. You know, God causes all things to work together for
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those who are called according to His purpose. You know, He foreknows, He predestines, He calls,
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he justifies, he glorifies. It's this claim that essentially God is in total control of the
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salvation of his people. Now chapter nine is essentially vindicating the question, well,
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if God is in total control of the salvation of his people, then why did the vast majority of the Jews
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reject the Messiah? That's the whole focus of nine explaining that. And we saw Paul provided
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a thorough explanation, demonstrating that not all Jews are saved because not all Jews are elect.
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That was a shocker to a Jewish culture. This taught us that in salvation, God's choice
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is the ultimate factor that determines if someone is saved or if someone is lost.
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and this is the doctrines of grace or calvinism or whatever you want to call it it's god's
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sovereignty in salvation now we learn that salvation is two-dimensional we have god's
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sovereignty and we have man's responsibility we have two views of one action and this is so
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important for christians to grasp because there is our perspective in salvation which can appear
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as if we have free will. I made that decision. I'm the ultimate catalyst of my redemption.
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I heard that and I chose. And then you read the scriptures and you start to learn pretty quickly
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that divine election and predestination and calling exist in the process of redemption.
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And so these two truths, they don't contradict each other. They don't contradict one another.
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God's sovereignty over salvation does not negate our responsibility to believe or to obey.
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And how those two work together, it's one of the great mysteries of Scripture.
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I see in one place God presides over all things, and yet I see in another place that man is responsible for all of his actions.
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That God predestines and that man is responsible are two things Christians struggle to see.
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They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory, but they are not.
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Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other.
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Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other.
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The apostles' focus at the end of chapter 9 was really twofold.
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First, he demonstrates that the majority of the Jews were not saved because they were not elect.
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Secondly, he explained that they were not saved because they sought salvation through works rather than by faith.
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so what that really sums up to mean is that they sought to meet the law's demands
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for justification to be found innocent in a way that the law can never be met
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they they sought out this desire to be found righteous in a way that they could never be
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found righteous. Last week, I made a statement, a low view of the law always leads to legalism.
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A low view of the law always leads to legalism. You must grasp this reality.
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What I mean is that if you have a low view of God's moral standards for your life,
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if you think that you can meet the demands of the Ten Commandments perfectly you'll try you'll try
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to meet those demands but the Bible says it's impossible to be justified by obedience or by
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works it's impossible two scriptures come into mind Galatians 2 16 says so we too
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have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith and not by works of the law.
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Tells you why. Because the works of the law, no one will be justified.
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Obedience will not be at any dimension part of the reason why you are saved.
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for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point
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whoever keeps the whole law you're a pharisee you've been obedient you're trying to make sure
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that the actions of your life are consistent with scripture but you fail in one point which we all
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know we do you're guilty of breaking every part of the law if you've ever stolen if you've ever
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taken the lord's name in vain if you've lied if you've envied a person's possession uh you've ever
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you know, had idolatry in your heart. You're guilty of breaking all 10 commandments. This
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makes you eternally unrighteous. You are eternally unrighteous. No human being can
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keep the moral law because we are born sinners. This is why we don't have to teach children how
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to sin, right? It is a natural inclination of a child. R.C. Sproul said a great quote.
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He says, we're not sinners because we sin. We sin because we're sinners. It's part of who we are and
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it just comes out. Here's the crux. Jesus did not preach a low view of the law. Jesus preached
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a high view of the law. He amplified the law. Let me give you an example. He would say things like,
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you've heard that it was said you shall not murder. There's one of the law. It says,
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but I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother in his heart has committed murder
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in his heart. He goes on and says, hey, you heard what it was said that you shall not commit
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adultery. But I say that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed
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adultery with her in his heart. In other words, God's standard for obedience isn't just in
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actions, it's also in affections. It's not just in what you do, it's in what you think.
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When you start to see that, you realize, uh-oh, I can't keep this. I can't keep it at all. In fact,
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I sin all the time. I'm unrighteous. I'm consistently unrighteous. I have a great need
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to be found righteous. This is your greatest need is to be found righteous because you're
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a lawbreaker. You're a lawbreaker and you're a rampant lawbreaker. Once you grasp the enormity
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of this demand. Once you see that the law is not some kind of ladder that you can climb,
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but it's an ocean that will drown you. Once you see that, you will abandon law keeping as a means
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of salvation and you will run to the perfect law keeper. This is what the scriptures do. It's trying
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to get you to run. It's giving you no options for righteousness, no options for salvation,
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except through Jesus. You want to try to do this? No, that won't work. You want to try to do that?
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No, that won't work. It's like cornering. The scriptures are like cornering us and you have
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nowhere to go except look up. That is the narrative of scripture. This is the foundation
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of the gospel. When you see God clearly and you see you clearly, when you see that when
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you're unrighteous, the day you die, Bible says it's appointed for a man to live once
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You're going to die and then you will be judged.
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which you will fail and you will have eternal death,
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that comes from Christ that will give you eternal life.
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this is the fundamental flaw of the jews it's the fatal flaw of the jews and it's what we're
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going to be discussing today in one through four so verse one read with me chapter 10 romans
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Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
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You have to understand how offensive Paul's message was to the Jewish people.
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I want to bring you into the world of the Bible.
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Like, come with me for a second, because not only did Paul claim that the Jews are not all elect,
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which is extremely offensive. You're not all children of Abraham. Shocker to a Jewish
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community. But he also preached the many of the Gentiles were. You're not actually chosen
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and they are. In addition, he preached the prophet's writings that predicted the Jews
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rejection of the Messiah and the coming condemnation for those who don't turn to Christ
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in faith. So like Jesus, Paul was extremely offensive to the Jews. Second Corinthians 11,
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24 through 25, Paul says, five times I received at the hand of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one.
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Three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned.
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The book of Acts records eight events where he is being attacked by the Jews.
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And this is the expected response to the proclamation of the gospel.
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Truth feels like hate to those who hate truth, right?
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The preaching of Paul was so potent that it produced persecutors.
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He gave a genuine bad news, good news gospel, a real gospel.
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But here we also see the great fruit of the Christian faith.
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And by the power of the Holy Spirit, Paul has this supernatural ability
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Now, it's one thing to desire to pray for your wife and kids or your coworkers,
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people in your life that have never done you any real serious injustice,
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it's another thing to desire and pray for those who want to murder and stop you that's a different
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do you desire and pray for the salvation of the liberals and the child transing politicians in
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our country? Do you desire and pray for the salvation of the people who lobby for pride
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month and abortion in Yavapai County? Do you desire and pray for the salvation of those
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people who want to take your kids through CPS because you teach them that there's only
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two genders? Jesus said in Luke 6, 27 through 28, it says, but to you who are listening,
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I say, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for
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those who mistreat you. Do you have that kind of supernatural love, the love that Paul is exhibiting
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here? Genuinely ask yourself that question. Do you love people to that degree? Now, I'm not saying
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that our love for these people cancels out our duty to stand fiercely against their wickedness.
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Fiercely against their wickedness. I'm also not saying that we don't pray imprecations or
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judgments upon them. That if these people don't turn to Christ, that God would put an end
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to their evil deeds and that he would thwart their plans of any further wickedness in our country.
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At the heart, desiring and praying for the salvation of these wicked people.
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And at the same time, praying for justice upon them.
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That their teeth would be smashed on the righteousness of Christ.
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If you read the Psalms of David, the imprecatory Psalms of David,
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you will quickly learn that it's righteous to hate the enemies of Christ.
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You have to balance that out with loving and desiring for them to be saved.
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I'm asking you that if you have that kind of love that Paul has and Jesus had on the cross,
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I'm asking that if in the midst of this hatred, will you truly, at some degree, prioritize the
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prayer for the people in your life and in this country and in this city that actually hate us?
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Paul goes on in verse 2, follow along. He says,
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For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
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Man, this is such a great passage of scripture.
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This is important because Paul is addressing an issue that's not uncommon.
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It's actually very practical for the real ministry of your life.
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It's not whether we will worship, but how we will worship.
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He has people in his life that he's seen that have zeal, but misdirected zeal.
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God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
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There's an old saying, if a man is sincere in his belief, his creed is of no great importance.
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Sincerity is not a replacement for orthodoxy.
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Jesus speaks of these people once you turn in your Bible to Matthew 7 22 through 23 I'll wait
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for you guys to get there Matthew 7 22 through 23 Jesus says on that day many will say to me
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Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out many demons in your name and do many
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mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart
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from me, you workers of lawlessness. Activity does not mean security. Sincerity is not going
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to save you. Truth is vital. I believe many Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses,
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people in the Church of Christ are sincere. I think they are very sincere.
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I believe they are zealous for God, but they're like the Jews and it's not according to knowledge.
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I believe many Protestants are also sincere, but have allowed their emotions to be the lens by how they view God.
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They don't allow the scriptures to determine their emotions.
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They allow their emotions to determine scripture.
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That's the whole progressive movement in a nutshell.
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And this is why the doctrine of sola scriptura and sound biblical interpretation are so vital.
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They're so vital. Without the doctrine that the Holy Scriptures are our primary and only
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standard for Christian faith and practice, there is no way to ensure that our worship is based
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on correct knowledge, or that the gospel is based on correct knowledge. If we include tradition
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or papal authority, as the Roman Catholic Church does, we are relying on the fickleness of man.
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And we know that those things, men shift and change, and they don't have a consistency
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throughout the ages. And without a historical, cultural, grammatical, theological hermeneutic,
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Hermeneutic is just the art and science of interpretation.
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We will project ourselves upon scripture and arrive at incorrect interpretations of the gospel.
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And so the only way to guard against false practice, false worship, false gospel,
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is to submit ourselves that the scriptures are the primary and only authority for Christian practice in life
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For being ignorant of the righteousness of God
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When I started preaching through this book, Romans 1, chapter 16 through, sorry, Romans
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chapter 1, verses 16 through 17, it's the thesis for this entire book.
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It says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to
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everyone who believes. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God
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is revealed from faith, for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
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The reason the Jews have rejected the gospel is because they rejected the righteousness of God
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And instead, they tried to establish a way to righteousness on their own through works of the law.
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Again, this is the eternally fatal flaw of legalists.
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The Bible explicitly says, none is righteous, no, not one.
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The more you can grasp that reality, the more you will appreciate the gospel.
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Our fundamental need as sinners is to be found righteous.
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the righteousness that's not received by works, but by faith in the only righteous man, Jesus
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Christ. Philippians 3, 8 through 9. I'm going to have you turn there because it's so good.
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Go ahead and get there. Philippians 3, 8 through 9.
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For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,
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in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
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Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
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The righteousness from God that depends on faith.
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It's the imputed righteousness that you've received
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And because of him, you are in Christ, who became to us wisdom from God,
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comma, righteousness, comma, sanctification and redemption.
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And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly,
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For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, we might become the
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We become part of him, in him, united with him by faith.
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now that doesn't mean as christians that we don't obey
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doesn't mean that we don't obey or that we don't live righteous lives we do
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it simply means that our righteous works do not contribute
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to our right standing with god you're not saved because of any obedience
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that's not why god likes you because you're such an obedient person no
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No. No. God loves you because you're in Christ. Now, yes, God, before the foundation of the world,
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has decided to save you. There is some sort of affection and love upon you that is unique.
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It's not based on any conditions that we know of.
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But your works do not contribute in earning or sustaining your salvation. So when you're
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disobedient, it's not like, oh, I lost my salvation. Or God's, you know, put me away.
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You're not resting on your obedience. You're resting on the obedience of Christ.
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Does Christ's obedience change? Then if not, then your justification doesn't change.
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it's not this kind of fickle relationship like we have with humans where my relationship with a
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person is dependent upon my actions now our job as christians is that because we are saved as a gift
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it should animate and motivate us to obey that is essential
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For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
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I had to sit in this for like 45 minutes trying to, what is this saying?
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Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
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Okay, eternal life and eternal death rest in the balance of law-keeping and law-breaking.
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That's really, the whole Bible turns upon that idea.
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In the Garden of Eden, we see that eternal life was lost because of law-breaking.
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eternal life was lost because of law-breaking. In the gospel, we see that eternal life is gained
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through law-keeping, the law-keeping of Christ. Not us, but the righteousness of Christ.
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In Romans 10.5, which is next week's passage, we see Paul reference to Leviticus regarding
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keeping the law. It states, the person who does these things, talking about keeping the law,
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will live. And then it says, by them. Will live by them. The reality is, is that nobody can keep
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the law. Nobody born of Adam can keep God's law perfectly. Again, James 2.10, for whoever keeps
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the law but stumbles in one point is guilty of all of it. Romans 3.20, no one will be declared
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righteous in God's sight by works of the law. Again, so to gain eternal life by the law requires
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perfect obedience. And so yeah, was salvation earned by obedience? Yeah, it was, not by you,
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but by Christ. And that obedience is accounted to your life through faith.
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Turn with me to Matthew 4 or Matthew 5, 48. Matthew 5, 48. To gain eternal life by the law
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requires perfect obedience. It's why Jesus says in Matthew 5, 48, I'll wait for you guys one second
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to get there. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.
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the truth is we don't keep the law because we can't keep the law we're not perfect because we
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can't be perfect we're born as lawbreakers and our natural inclination towards god is is not
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god glorifying obedience but self-glorifying disobedience that's the natural inclination
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of a fallen man. This is why Paul does not say the righteous shall live by works. No,
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the righteous shall live by faith. I want to look at this verse together. It says,
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for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
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Okay, a literal translation says, Christ is the end of the struggle for righteousness by the law.
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That help? Another translation says, for Christ has accomplished the whole purpose
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of the law. So the purpose of the law was to show the world God's standard for righteousness,
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and essentially that you can't keep it. Why do we teach our kids the Ten Commandments?
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So that they realize they can't keep them, and it drives them to the cross.
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the law was never designed to save but to prepare us for and point us to the only one who can save
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that's what the law was designed to do if you look at galatians 3 24 through 25 it says now before
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faith came we were held captive under the law imprisoned that the coming faith would be revealed
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by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
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in order that the righteous requirement of the law
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I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
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and we got to think about this through covenant stipulations.
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Christ came to fulfill the covenant stipulations to secure eternal life.
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All of his progeny, everybody that comes that's born of Adam is broken of that.
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Christ comes and fulfills the covenant stipulations of obedience perfectly and everybody that
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is born of Christ, the second Adam, receives the benefit as Christ as their representative
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When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.
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this is why this verse says christ is the end of the law for righteousness to who to everyone who
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believes not to everyone but to everyone who believes belief alone is not the means for
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righteousness and ultimately salvation i want to talk about this is very important many sex
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But they believe that faith alone is not sufficient.
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I'm like, no, that sounds like faith plus works to me.
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um you know they adhere to what is called this faith plus works gospel it's not the gospel
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it's a fatal approach to the gospel because why why is it fatal
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and it assumes that our morality earns god's favor in salvation
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If you're coming into heaven thinking that Christ wasn't enough
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and struggle at all to believe that Christ was sufficient,
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Lord, Lord, we did so many things in your name.
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You wicked person who thinks that my son was not enough and you were.
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The Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Mormons,
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they've all incorporated a faith plus works gospel.
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into their doctrines. And again, it leads people to partly rely on their own efforts.
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It's not as legalistic as the Pharisees who maybe had no faith and believed only in works.
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It is still legalism. So the central point, as I close here, the central point that grieves Paul
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so deeply is that his people have rejected the truth that Christ is our righteousness.
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every day in the church is just condemnation because you knew so much and yet did not grasp
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the absolute critical point of the gospel. That your salvation rests upon
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5 through 6. I think it upholds this truth. It's a great passage of scripture. It says,
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Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch
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and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness
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in the land. In his day, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name
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by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. Amen. Amen. Let's pray.
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Father, we thank you, Lord, for the message of the gospel. Lord, that it is so contrary to the pride
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of the flesh, that we might be able to earn some and that the sufficiency of Christ is not enough.
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Lord, we ask that you would cast down that idea in our own midst, in our own hearts,
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that we would rely solely and completely, not upon our works, but upon the work of Jesus Christ.