Thank you Andrew, appreciate you leading us this morning. It's last Sunday of the month. I realized that I had a sermon all planned for Joshua 8, and so I went to text Mark, and I'm like, wait a minute, what's the date? So now we're preaching on Romans 10, so that's good. 

We're looking at Romans 10, the righteousness of faith, verses 1 to 13. I want to start this morning in Romans 9, verse 30. Just read a few verses there at the end of chapter 9. Paul says, "What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone, as it is written: behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on him will not be put to shame."

Paul draws a line in the sand here this morning between righteousness by works, by law, and righteousness by faith, and that's what we're going to look at this morning. When I was a young man, as most of you know, before I knew Christ, I was a religious person. I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, went to the parochial school, served as an altar boy, attended mass six times a week until I was 13 years old. I moved to a public school for middle school and high school, but I still faithfully attended mass and thought of myself as a good person. 

Like most men in Adam, I was convinced of my own personal goodness, that even though I had many sins, I also had many good works, and that through my religion, I could do works and acts of contrition and participate in the sacraments in order to be saved. I had entered the church, the covenant, through baptism when I was a baby, and I was now maintaining my salvation through the various rites and rituals, good works, and all the means the church provided in order for me to earn my way to heaven. I thought most people were basically good, that even though we are all imperfect, that God would recognize the goodness in man and give him a pass into his heaven. 

In short, I thought righteousness was by the law, by works, by being a good person, by doing good. I remember when I first heard the gospel, I remember thinking what a strange thing this was. This idea that sin is sin and all men are guilty and deserve to go to the eternal lake of fire and suffer the wrath of God. A sin is a sin? That's not what I was taught; that was not what I understood; it just didn't make any sense to me. 

I mean, we had venial sins and mortal sins. Some were really, really bad and would kill your salvation, but most were not that serious and just required forgiveness from my local priest, maybe an act of contrition, a Hail Mary or two. The idea that Jeffrey Dahmer and Mother Teresa were both sinners the same in kind absolutely blew my mind. But it's true; they are not the same in degree—there's such a thing as relative human goodness—but in kind, before a holy God, they were both sinners in need of a Savior, and all the works of Mother Teresa got her no closer to heaven than did the heinous sins of Dahmer get him any closer to hell. 

They both fell short of the perfect standard of God for righteousness, and they both deserve the wrath of God for their sins. In short, they were both born in Adam. They were condemned sinners by nature, with no hope of heaven apart from the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and only by faith in him alone receiving his righteousness—the righteousness of faith. 

The scriptures are not unclear about this; they are clear, consistent, and emphatic. God has found all men to be sinners; all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; there is none righteous, no, not one. No man can be justified by the works of the law, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The righteousness of the law requires perfect obedience. You must, as verse 5 of our text makes clear, keep the whole law in order to be justified by it—every jot and every tittle. James says in chapter 2, verse 10, if you keep the whole law but stumble at one point, you are guilty of all. 

And because we have all stumbled at many points, sinned in so many ways, because we are sinners by nature, we all deserve the wrath of God for our sins. What a revelation this is, really. What a freeing truth it is that we are all the same in kind, that God has confined all under sin that he might have mercy on all. Salvation is available to every man if he will turn from his own righteousness by the law and turn to Jesus in faith alone and receive his righteousness—his payment for our sins in our place, bearing the full wrath of God for my sins and yours. 

What glorious good news the gospel is! Salvation by grace through faith, but what implications it also has. The scriptures are mighty clear: for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Not by righteous works we have done, but by his mercy he saved us. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus alone, and it is by faith that God imputes his righteousness to us—his perfect righteousness, making us fit for heaven. 

So what does this abundantly clear and glorious truth mean? What are the implications? Well, Paul said in Galatians 1 that anyone who preaches any other gospel, any other way, is accursed. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him, by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone. So the implications of this are great. All religions that espouse another way than Jesus are false. 

All the religions of the world—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, atheistic humanism—all the ways of men are false. But there's more. All the religions that claim the name of Christ but deny his person or his work, deny the Son, are false as well. John says that they are in 1st John—they are antichrist. Jehovah's Witnesses deny that Jesus is God; it's a false religion. Mormons deny that Jesus is who he is; they say he's the brother of Satan; it's a false religion. Mainline denominations deny the completed, finished work of Christ on the cross and teach a sacramental salvation—a Jesus plus works system of gaining righteousness. These are false religions, anathema be upon them, Paul says. 

The implications are great, my brothers and sisters, but so are the opportunities. You might ask, Pastor John, why do you say these things? I mean, people ask me that sometimes. Why do you say these things? Is it really necessary? Well, the reason it's necessary is because each one of us, as believers, as witnesses for Jesus Christ, must be clear about the gospel, and we must be clear in our own minds about those who teach a false gospel. 

If we're going to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, if we're going to be his ambassadors taking the word of reconciliation to the lost in this world, then it's pretty important that I understand who the lost are and that I don't affirm those who teach a false gospel. I must be clear in my own mind about these exceedingly difficult implications of the truth in our world. 

Jesus said the truth will set you free, but lies will hold you in bondage. Paul said in Romans 16:17 that we should note, we should mark out publicly those who cause divisions, teaching doctrines contrary to Christ. Paul did this. He and Barnabas had no small dissension publicly with the Judaizers who taught a false gospel. What were they teaching? They were teaching faith in Jesus plus circumcision and keeping the law of Moses, and they had a council meeting, Acts 15, and they had no small dissension. 

We had a council meeting several years ago—you remember I called it evangelicals and Catholics together—but we didn't have Paul and Barnabas at that meeting; we had Chuck Colson and J.I. Packer. And you know what they said? We have just declared a billion more people Christians. They’re not Christians, not if they believe what their churches teach. Jesus did this—read Matthew 23 or John 8 sometime. 

Jesus called the religious leaders of Judaism sons of Satan, liars, whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. We must speak the truth in love. The only weapon we have is truth. The gospel preached is the power of God unto salvation, and it's my job to be sure that you are clear about the gospel, first and foremost. It's my job to be sure that you are equipped through the preaching and teaching of the truth to go out into this world and do the work of ministry that God has called each of us to do. This is the purpose of the local body of believers. 

If we are not clear about the truth, if we don't bring a clear truth message about Jesus to the lost in our lives, family, neighbors, co-workers, then who will? Where will they get the truth in this world, if not from believers in Jesus Christ, if not from the Word of God? Paul makes it very clear in our text this morning that those who seek righteousness through the law, who deny Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross, and the imputation of his righteousness by faith alone will not be saved. 

It was the Jews in his day that were predominant in his life and his culture as well as works righteous and false Gentile religions. In our day, it is the plethora of churches and religious people in our communities who name the name of Christ but deny him by their works, by their teaching, by their entire religious systems. There is the righteousness of the law, and there is the righteousness of faith. And I just give you a point of logic: two things that are different are not the same. And the difference here is the difference between eternal damnation in the lake of fire and eternal life in the Father's house. 

The truth matters. And here in this tremendous passage this morning, Paul gives us the truth. Let's look at Romans 10, verse 1. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." What's Paul's motive? What's his heart? We saw this at the beginning of chapter 9. It's the same as my heart for my lost loved ones wrapped up in false religion, and my wife's loved ones, and everyone I know and everyone I meet. I want them to be saved. 

I want them to know the truth, to come to the knowledge of Christ and believe. That's what Paul's saying. "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge." Verse 3 is so important. "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." 

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law: the man who does those things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks this way: do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" That is, to bring Christ down from above, or "Who will descend into the abyss?" That is, to bring Christ up from the dead. What he's saying is don't contemplate some great work that you would do. Don't think you have to accomplish this salvation. 

But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth, in your heart," that is, the word of faith which we preach, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. For there's no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

I've given you four points on your outline. First, the righteousness of the law. Second, the righteousness of faith. Third, believing unto righteousness. And fourth, call on the name of the Lord. 

I'd like to begin by asking you to turn to Matthew chapter 5, please. Matthew 5 to 7 is what we often call the Sermon on the Mount. This is a law sermon preached to religious Jews in Jesus' time. The Jewish religion that had developed over the last 400 years or so since the revelation of God and his prophets ceased was a man-centered, works-righteous, law-rich system. It was a burden placed on the people that they could not bear; it was a futile effort to earn one's own righteousness. 

And Jesus steps into this context, and he begins to teach these men and women, these religious Jews, the true nature of the law and God's intent in giving it, and the true nature of every man and his inability to keep the law to earn his own righteousness. We see this in a consistent pattern in Jesus' words throughout the sermon. He uses the expression, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, but I say to you.” 

This is a reference to the teaching of the rabbis, the leaders of Israel, and what we see is that Jesus continually raises the bar, showing the far-reaching nature of the law of God and its intent to show man his sin and his need for a Savior. This is the intent of the law of God according to the Scriptures. 

And I just...we're going to go to Matthew 5, I'm sorry, but I just want to make a couple of clarifying comments here. First of all, according to Romans 5, as well as the record of the Old Testament, there was a time with no law, a long period of time with no law. Adam was given a law in the garden: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He transgressed that law; he brought the curse and condemnation to all men born in his lineage, the entire human race, except for Jesus, for Adam was not his father. 

But from Adam to Moses, Paul tells us there was no law. God did not give a specific code, a standard to keep. There was no law, and Paul's point in Romans 5 is that men still died in this long period of time with no law to transgress. And the reason is because they were still sinners, still born in Adam, still condemned by their very nature and that which flowed from it. But when Moses came, God gave the law. 

Why did he give us the law? What is the purpose of the law of Moses summarized in the Ten Commandments? Well, this is a vital truth to understand. The Jews did not understand it in Jesus' and Paul's time. The religious people of our communities today do not understand it. In fact, I'm not sure that many Christians understand what the Scriptures teach about the intent and purpose of the law of Moses. I'm just going to give you a couple of texts. Romans 3:19— we’ll look at this later—says, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 

The law was given, Paul says, so that sin might increase. In other words, that men might realize their sin and their need for a Savior for the grace of God. I'm going to ask you to turn to one other passage before we get to Matthew 5. Go to Galatians 3 with me. Galatians 3, verse 19, Paul asks the question directly here: "What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through the angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one." 

"Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." 

Here we see that God gave the law to highlight our transgressions. If there had been a law that could have been given that could bring life, in other words, Paul says, one that we could keep perfectly and thus establish our own righteousness, then truly righteousness would have been by the law. Jesus wouldn't have had to die. What we find is that all men are sinners and thus righteousness cannot be established by keeping the law because we cannot keep it. 

The intent and purpose of the law of Moses was to show us our sin and lead us to faith in Jesus Christ, to cause us to realize our desperate condition and cast ourselves on the mercy of God, receiving His grace gift of salvation by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone in His complete payment, His satisfaction of the wrath of God, His one-time death on the cross. 

As we go back to Matthew 5, we see our Lord and Savior use the law for this very intent. Notice in Galatians 3, though, Paul says, once faith has come, once we've turned to Jesus in faith, we're no longer under the law. He makes that clear in Romans 7. We died with Christ; we died to the law in order that we might be married to another, that we should bear fruit to God. The law has no power to produce fruit in our lives. It gives us no power to keep it, and the purpose of it is to show us our sin. 

Let's look at Matthew 5:20, "For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." You have heard that it was said of those of old, "You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, "You fool," shall be in danger of hellfire. 

These are stunning words spoken by Jesus to the religious leaders and the men of His time. It would be like today if we stood up and said to a group of religious men, your righteousness, your goodness, must exceed the righteousness of the Pope, of Mother Teresa, of Gandhi if you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven. You must be better than they are. 

Jesus says, "You have heard it taught, you must not commit murder. But I say to you, the true nature of the law is this: if you're angry in your heart, you're in danger of hell." He continues this, "You've heard it taught, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if you've lusted after a woman, you have committed adultery in your heart." 

Jesus was trying to show them the true, far-reaching, searching nature of the law and their condition as sinners in need of a Savior. He summarizes it in verse 48, saying, "In order to go to heaven, we must be perfect as God is perfect in righteousness." I would also point you to a familiar passage at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in the words of Jesus. Turn over to Matthew 7 and verse 21. 

Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" 

Jesus said, "Broad is the road that leads to destruction, many go in by it, and narrow is the way to life, and few there are that find it." These words in Matthew 7 are absolutely stunning. Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,"—religious men, so-called Christian men who call Jesus Lord—they've done many works, prophesying, doing wonders. But he says, "You must do the will of my Father; you must know me." 

In John 17, Jesus says, "This is eternal life, to know the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." So how do we know them? What is the will of the Father? In John 6 it says, "The will of the Father is this, that you believe in the name of the one whom he sent." First John 3:23 says this is the commandment of the new covenant: that you believe Jesus and love one another. John 1 says that it's those who receive Jesus—that is, who believe on His name—that are given the right to be called children of God. 

At the end of that great piercing law sermon in Matthew 7, Jesus gave a parable about a man building his house on the rock, or on the sand. He said these amazing words: "He who hears these sayings of mine and does them." What were his sayings? "Do not lust in your heart; do not become angry." 

Then he says, "The one who does not do these is like a man who built his house on the sand." What are the...what's Jesus saying to these religious Jews? He's saying their whole system, their whole religion, all of their works, as he said to Isaiah, is as filthy rags before a holy God. They, by seeking the law of righteousness, had built their house on the sand. 

And the point of the law of preaching was consistent with the intent and purpose of the law of God given to Moses: to show these religious self-righteous men their utter sinfulness, their total inability, and to point them to Jesus as their only hope, their only Savior—the only way they could be righteous—and that is by the righteousness of faith. 

Paul says in our text, in verse 1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved; 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. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” 

How do we submit ourselves to the righteousness of God? By faith. By believing Jesus. By calling on the name of the Lord. Turn over to Philippians 3, and let's look at Paul's testimony from his experience in his life. Philippians 3:1, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation," he's speaking of the religious Jews here. 

"For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ." 

"But indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Has there ever been a clearer passage? Paul was one of those zealous Jews seeking to establish his own righteousness through the law until he met Jesus on the Damascus road. Listen closely to his testimony again, verse 9, "And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." 

Every man has two choices: the righteousness of the law or the righteousness of faith—religion or relationship. You have two choices, my friend. You can seek to establish your own righteousness through the law and fail—no possibility of obtaining the righteousness of the law—or you can submit yourself to the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ and what He finished on the cross. 

And the only way you can receive the very righteousness of God is by faith. God must give to you His righteousness in order to make you fit for heaven. And His requirement is singular: only one way to obtain this righteousness of God, and that's by believing unto righteousness. Paul says, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 

Now I want to go back to Romans 3 and let Paul explain exactly, precisely what it means to believe unto righteousness, to call on the name of the Lord. Romans 3:19 again, please. "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. For by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe." 

"For there's no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." 

"Where is boasting then? Well, it's excluded. By what law? Of works? No. But by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law." 

How can a sinful man in Adam become justified? How can he be perfect even as God is perfect in righteousness, as Jesus said is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Only at the cross. God poured out His wrath fully on Jesus Christ on the cross for every sin of every man, woman, and child that has ever been born. Only by punishing every sin on Jesus could God fully demonstrate His righteousness at the cross. 

And at the same time, because of the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus alone, a man can be made just. He can be justified. God is the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Righteousness cannot be obtained by the law, by works; we must receive the righteousness of God by faith. Notice again verse 21, "But now." But now, the contrast, the righteousness of God, he says, apart from the law. 

My brothers and sisters, it cannot be faith plus works. It's apart from the law, apart from works, only by faith—to all and on all who believe that the righteousness of God is imputed. We see this down in chapter 4. Chapter 4, verse 4, "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt; but to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." 

Such clear words, such good news, we are justified; God imputes his righteousness to the one who trusts in Jesus alone. It is the ungodly—the man who realizes that he's ungodly, that he's a sinner in need of a Savior—who ceases from trying to establish his own righteousness through the works of the law, through his religion, and turns to Jesus in faith to receive his righteousness. 

Think of the story that Jesus told in Luke 18. Luke 18, verse 10, it says, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector," the great righteous religious man, pillar of the community, and the awful sinner, hated by everyone. 

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; he prayed to himself is what it literally says, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." 

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The one who believes Jesus is the one who is justified, who receives the righteousness of God. 

And you may have noticed in all these texts—Romans 10, Romans 3, 4, Galatians 3—we see that this salvation is equally available to all men, to Jew and Gentile. Jesus died for every man, and every man has the opportunity to submit to the righteousness of God, to believe in his heart that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and God raised him from the dead, demonstrating that he was satisfied with the full satisfactory payment of Christ on the cross for the sins of the world. 

This grace, this righteousness is available to every man, to all and on all who believe, Paul says. To all who will call on the name of the Lord, who will come to God through faith in Jesus alone, as Paul said, and be found in him—not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, by faith. 

What good news this is, my friends. What a great salvation that Jesus provides through his death, burial, and resurrection, having died once for sins—the righteous for the unrighteous—in order to bring us to God. And that's why we're here this morning, to remember what he did, to remember what Jesus did, because it's Jesus that accomplished our salvation at the cross. 

I'm not here to remember my baptism; I'm not here to remember all the good works I've done and the religious rituals I've participated in; I'm here to remember the cross and what Jesus did once for my salvation, dying in my place for my sins. That's what this is about when we have the Lord's Supper and proclaim his death until he comes. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for your grace. As Andrew read this morning in Romans 5, that while we were yet sinners, while we were against you, while we were your enemies, Christ died for us. Your love was demonstrated at the cross. We thank you for the simplicity of Jesus Christ, the gospel message. We thank you for our salvation, our security. 

We also thank you for the privilege of taking that message to the world. Help us to be clear in our minds, and help us to believe you and understand the implications of this in our world. Help us to love men enough to tell them the truth and to implore them to be reconciled to God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.