WEBVTT 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:12.240 But uh so this morning, Romans 9, we're finishing that out and jumping in also to Romans 10. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:21.760 And this is what we have to understand that uh there's one theme uh throughout Romans that's been stated over and over again. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:32.399 And it's this that God is sovereign over his people, and that by grace and mercy he's redeemed them through the finished work of his son Jesus. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:34.960 So God is sovereign over his people. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:46.880 Uh that's something that that's been reiterated throughout this letter, and that by grace and mercy he has redeemed them through the finished work of his son Jesus. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:52.079 It's unfolded in throughout this letter in diverse ways, this kind of theme of the letter, right? 00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:05.519 He's hit it from every avenue that he possibly could to help us understand this truth, but it's diversely communicating one singular story about the sovereignty of God over his people. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:10.719 Uh, the story is that God ultimately works out his purposes. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:13.120 And that's really good news for us, right? 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:22.879 Some of us get hung up on God and his sovereignty over us, or or how much control does he have, or how much of us has free choice, or all those things. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:36.239 Look, it doesn't matter what amount you want to put in any bucket, it should be comforting, assuring, and give us full confidence that God is a God that accomplishes his purposes. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:43.439 Because if he isn't a God that accomplishes his purposes, then there's a lot of it that relies on me and you. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.159 And I don't know about you, but I'm gonna screw this up, right? 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:56.799 I'm gonna mess up somehow, I'm gonna fall short, I'm not gonna do everything right, and so I'm going to thwart his purposes if any of it relies on me. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:57.920 Thanks be to God. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:58.799 It doesn't. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.959 He's a God who accomplishes and works out his purposes. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:10.560 Now, in this next scene of the story, uh, we'll be shown indefinitely the exclusivity of Jesus for salvation. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:23.199 So what Paul's getting ready to map out for us, if he hasn't made it clear already, is he is going to put a nail in the statement that it is through Jesus alone that we can be saved. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:29.199 So this exclusivity of Christ, this is something that we tr uh that we celebrate, right? 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:38.080 This is something that we trumpet from the pulpit that it is through Christ in Christ alone that we can know salvation and be reconciled to God. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:40.479 There is no right standing. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:41.680 Listen to this. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:50.960 There is no right standing with God apart from attaining by faith the righteousness of Jesus. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:55.199 You and I cannot stand rightly before God Almighty, our Creator. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:06.000 We have no ability to stand rightly before Him apart from Jesus' righteousness being given to us through faith. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:09.360 There is no other means that we can be reconciled. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:15.120 And this is a radical statement of exclusivity that the Christian faith holds, right? 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:28.319 We're saying that no one can come to God, no one can be saved, no one can experience redemption unless it is through this singular one person, Jesus. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:37.520 It's exclusive in that it excludes all who do not put faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins from salvation. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:50.240 So the first way that this is exclusive is that it excludes all people who have not put their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of the sins, for the forgiveness of their sins, to receive salvation. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:04:02.159 But it's also exclusive in that it clearly determines all who belong to Jesus, who are his bride, the church, whom he ransomed by his blood. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:10.560 God's love, as we're going to see, is both inclusive and exclusive. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:18.079 It's inclusive in this, in that it's been placed upon people who don't deserve it. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:18.560 Right? 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:25.759 God's love is so inclusive that those who were his enemies, he purposed to set his affections upon. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:32.560 And those who did not earn his love and affection, he determined before the foundations of the earth to set it upon them. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:35.839 That's a radically inclusive love. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.879 No one earned it, no one deserved it. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.480 It wasn't because of any meritorious work on our part. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.800 God inclusively determined to love those who did not deserve it. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:56.879 However, it is also exclusive inasmuch as his love is only for the bride of his son, the church. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:05.839 It's a saving love, it's an effectual love that accomplishes the purposes of redemption that he has set forth. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:22.480 And so Paul's gonna show us here in Romans 9 at the end in the start of chapter 10, that Christ Himself is exclusive, and that our ability to stand rightly before God is fully known in him alone. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:33.199 If we look at verses 30 through 33, uh what we see is this that Jesus trips up our pursuit of self-righteousness. 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.399 Jesus trips up our pursuit of self-righteousness. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:42.639 Paul has just made an attention commanding statement in Romans 9. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:47.439 Previously, as we're entering into this passage, he makes an intention-commanding statement. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:49.519 This is what he says in 918. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:58.800 So then, speaking of God, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.199 That's an attention-grabbing statement. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:10.959 God is so sovereign that whomever he chooses to have mercy upon, he will, and whoever he chooses to harden, he will also. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:18.959 And then Paul uses multiple case studies throughout redemptive history to help us see and understand how this has always been the case. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:19.439 Right? 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:29.839 We were talking in our mission group this week about uh God's love for his people and how God is sovereignly pursued, elected, and called them to be his own. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:32.959 And we see from the very beginning with Abraham. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:40.959 Abraham was not a Jew, Abraham was not an Israelite, Abraham was a Canaanite, pagan, idol worshiper. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:48.000 And what God did is said, Abraham, you're gonna be mine, and I'm going to establish my people through you. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:54.879 That's God determining that he will have mercy on whomever he will have mercy on. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:05.759 He effectually called Abraham to be his own, and then he effectually created a people of his own through Abraham himself. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:18.240 And so now, in true Pauline fashion, after he makes this attention-grabbing statement, he walks us through his God's sovereignty and salvation, he asks us a rhetorical question. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:20.399 What shall we say then? 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:29.360 If this is true, if all of this is about God's working out his purposes effectually, then what shall we say? 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.040 And here's what happens. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:40.639 If you aren't overly careful, as you're reading this, you're gonna read right through the question, and you're gonna think that the answer is actually an extension of the question itself, right? 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:44.800 So if we look at Romans uh 9, 30, it says, What shall we say then? 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:49.680 That Gentiles who do not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is a righteous that is by faith. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:55.360 But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching the law. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:08:01.680 That 31 on what you're gonna be tempted to do is think that that's an extension of the question. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:03.519 That's not an extension of the question. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.759 The way we read it and understand it is that's Paul's answer to the rhetorical question he sets up for us. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.319 What shall we say then? 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:22.399 You see, this answer that Paul's gonna lead us into, he's hoping that we'd be able to come to this self-conclusion by now. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:36.960 By now, as we go through this letter, as we've seen and understood what Paul's talking about and how he's trying to put on display the multifaceted beauty of the gospel, he's hoping that by now we'd be able to come to an answer self, you know, self-evident to us. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:41.840 But just in case you still don't get it, he's gonna hammer it home one more time. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:53.279 It's this the Gentiles, Romans 9, 30 through 31, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:55.360 This is the answer to the question. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:58.320 That is a righteousness that is by faith. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:07.279 But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:13.440 Let's sit for a moment and unpack this statement that Paul gives us to his question. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:26.720 In sum, what he's saying is this the Gentiles, those who were not a part of Israel, have obtained the righteousness of God through faith alone. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:32.799 But Israel could not obtain through obedience to the law. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:34.879 How does he describe the Gentiles? 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:38.000 He describes them as a people not even seeking after righteousness. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:38.480 Right? 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:46.000 They weren't even looking for this righteousness, they weren't actively pursuing to be found right standing before God. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:53.679 They were a people who were passively living life, but there are people who have attained that very righteousness. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:55.200 And how did they attain it? 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.120 By faith alone. 00:09:58.080 --> 00:09:59.519 How does he describe Israel? 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:07.919 Well, there are people who were after seeking after that righteousness, they were actively pursuing that very righteousness through obedience to the law. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:12.240 However, unlike the Gentiles, they failed to obtain it. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:18.720 They failed to obtain it through obedience, through work, through striving. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:24.720 Paul's not making an argument here that the Gentiles were just completely immoral people, right? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:29.279 He's laid up a little bit of that when he talks about idol worship in chapter one. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:35.440 He talks about how that's really came out fruitful in sinful ways and in different postures and actions. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:40.320 Uh, but the he's not saying that the Gentiles were completely immoral people. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:42.720 That's not the argument he's trying to go for. 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:54.320 Uh, what he's trying to say is that the point is the Israelites' zealous pursuit to be right standing before God failed. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:11:00.799 Why did Israel not accomplish attaining for themselves the righteousness that they were pursuing? 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.240 Because they did not pursue it by faith. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:06.879 This is why they ultimately failed. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:11.840 And they pursue, we're gonna look at the zealous pursuit of the Israelites, right? 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.600 To be able to actually fulfill and be obedient to this law. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:31.279 And Paul's saying, no, no, it doesn't matter how hard you work to accomplish the fullness of God's law, you failed to obtain the righteousness you were seeking after, the right standing before God you were seeking after because you did not pursue it by faith. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:34.879 This pursue means to seek eagerly after, right? 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:41.200 To think to chase down, to try and acquire for yourself through any means possible. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.200 Jesus talks about the kingdom of God like this. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:47.679 He talks about himself like this, right? 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:55.919 He likens himself to a woman who lost a coin in her house, a precious coin and tears the home apart to try and find it. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:05.519 Praise God that even in our pursuits that we have failed, Jesus radically pursues us and accomplishes it wholly. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:06.320 Amen. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:12.000 In the works, the Israelites chased after what could not be obtained. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:16.720 And in the process, Paul says that they stumbled over the stumbling stone. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:29.919 So imagine them chasing down this righteousness, and on the road of pursuit, all of a sudden they stumble over this rock of offense that was laid there. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.840 God prophesied that this would happen through Isaiah. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:41.200 And Paul makes reference to it, but we're gonna read the actual passages of Isaiah where he's saying that look, I promised that this was gonna happen. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:50.480 I prophesied through my servant Isaiah that this is exactly what I was gonna do, that I was gonna lay in Zion a stumbling stone of offense. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.840 Let's look at Isaiah chapter 8, verse 14. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:08.879 He says this, and he, speaking of Jesus, will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:24.000 And then in chapter 28, verse 16, Isaiah says this, therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.720 Whoever believes will not be in haste. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.240 You see that precondition of faith? 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:41.759 Whoever believes, not accomplishes, not chases down, not acquires through their own strength, but who believes, it is faith that is the prerequisite of right standing before God. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.840 And he's showing us this even through the prophet Isaiah himself. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:51.039 So what's really Isaiah prophesying here about what God is going to do? 00:13:51.440 --> 00:14:00.080 He's saying this: God is going to sovereignly lay a stone, Jesus, in Zion, among the Jews. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:05.279 And this rock, Jesus, will be a rock of offense. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:11.600 Why is this rock, why is Jesus going to be a rock of offense? 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:16.639 Because he's going to bring salvation to a people who never earned it. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:22.480 He's going to bring salvation to a people who weren't even chasing after it. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:29.200 He's going to bring redemption to a people who never deserved it. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:32.159 But he gives us this promise. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:39.440 Whoever believes in him, this faith that will rise up will not be put to shame. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:44.639 Put to shame speaks about the assurance or the confidence that we have in that salvation. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:53.279 Can you imagine a religion where you work your whole life to be in right standing with the one of whom you worship? 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:00.320 And when you get into eternity, the actions of your life are weighed and measured, and you're found wanting. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:05.519 With every other religious pursuit, that is the story. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.159 We don't know how much is enough. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.159 We don't know when we've met the bar. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:23.840 We have no objective means to measure that to because in reality, our only objective means to measure our works toward is something so holy and transcendent beyond us that we can't even measure ourselves against it. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:32.159 God Almighty is so holy or other than that we cannot even measure the works of our hands against Him. 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:39.519 And so every religious pursuit at the end of the time is going to say, Did you do enough? 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:46.000 And you have no confidence, no assurance, no ability to know for certain if you did. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:49.200 Can you imagine? 00:15:51.200 --> 00:16:01.600 But Jesus says, if you put your faith in me, you can have confidence and assurance that I've met the standard for you. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:14.480 We will not be put to shame if we put our faith in the rock that is Christ, because He has accomplished for us everything required by the Father to be in right standing with Him. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:18.960 Our right standing is guaranteed in Jesus alone. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:28.639 You see, if we try to pursue right standing with God through obedience or through good works, we're going to be tripped up in our pursuit by Jesus. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:42.320 That's what he's saying here in this text through Isaiah is that when we try to chase down being in right standing with God, we're going to get tripped up in our pursuit by Jesus, who's the stumbling stone. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:54.799 He is the rock of offense that we stumble over in our self-righteous pursuits, in our own means of standing rightly before God. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:03.279 In the next section, in verses 1 through 4, we see that Jesus, not the law, is the righteousness of God. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.799 Jesus, not the law, is the righteousness of God. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:13.759 Paul understands that for his fellow Jewish people, there is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:23.440 He even addresses Jewish people who have believed as brothers here, clearly separating those who are of God through faith and those are not. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:32.400 So he's writing this letter to the Romans, to the Christian church in Rome, and he's addressing certain people in that church who are of Jewish origin. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:41.359 He refers to the ones of faith as brothers because he understands what is accomplishing that child brotherhood, that kinship. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:42.880 It is Jesus alone. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.680 It's not bloodline, it's not DNA, it's not genetics. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:51.839 It is Christ's blood alone that establishes such kinship that he can call them brothers. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:18:02.160 And he's making a clear line between those who have been brought into the family of God by faith in Christ and those who are separated from God because they are absent of it. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:07.680 This causes him to declare the truth and to pray for them. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:08.960 Think about this. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.759 Paul loves these people. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:16.720 He loves them so much because he was one of them. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:22.240 And we're gonna see, even to the extent of which he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, right? 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:23.759 A Pharisee of Pharisees. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:32.720 He was the embodiment of Jewish life, of tradition, of heritage. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:35.920 But he doesn't hold back. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:38.319 He proclaims the truth. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.440 He tells them there is no salvation apart from Jesus. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:44.000 And what is driving him to proclaim this truth? 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:45.680 It's his love for them. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:48.240 And so he does two things. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:58.079 He understands that man has the responsibility to proclaim truth, but God has responsibility and ultimate sovereignty to accomplish his purposes. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:18:59.920 So how does Paul respond in that? 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:02.160 I'm gonna preach and I'm gonna pray. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:11.200 I'm gonna preach because I have responsibility to proclaim the good news of the gospel to those who have not heard it, but I'm gonna pray because it doesn't fall on me for them to come to faith. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:15.200 It comes on falls on God and his purposes. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.920 This dichotomy put forth. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:27.839 Paul declares the truth, not withholding anything from them, but fully realizing it's in the hands of the Lord for them to know and to understand. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:35.359 And he says this He says, Zeal without understanding is a really dangerous thing. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:37.599 This is kind of a summation that he brings in. 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:47.839 The Jewish people pursued righteousness through obedience with great zeal, but they didn't have knowledge, they didn't have understanding in their pursuit. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:50.960 And this has become a dangerous thing. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.000 Zeal without understanding is dangerous. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:58.240 And here, for these people, it's an eternally dangerous thing. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:03.359 And Paul says he understands their zeal because he previously shared in it. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:17.279 If we look at Philippians 3, Paul starts to unpack in his letter here of how much he understood the zeal that Jewish people had in their pursuit for the righteousness of God through obedience, through works, through accomplishments. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:21.359 He says this in verse uh four through seven of chapter three. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:29.200 Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, let me tell you something. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:32.400 I have more that let me tell you something was added in there. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:49.279 Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:54.079 But whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:00.559 Because he understood to accomplish all of that still left him lost. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:04.160 It still left him in not right standing with God. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:08.319 It still left him separated from him. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:15.440 Imagine Paul saying this, that his zeal wasn't rooted in knowledge or understanding. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:20.160 Because if it were, it would have pointed him to Jesus. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:27.920 You see, the pursuit of right standing with God is not built upon our own righteousness, but on Jesus's. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:31.759 It's the righteousness of God that we need to obtain. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.119 And how do we obtain this right standing? 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:38.000 Through Jesus. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:48.880 It's the only way that we can, as image bearers, as human beings, the only way that we can have right standing before God is through faith in Jesus. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:54.400 It's not in the law, it's not how good of a person you are, it's not how many right decisions you make. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:56.880 It's not how not bad you are. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:02.319 It is only in the perfect Accomplishment of Jesus. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.559 Jesus is the end of the law, Paul says. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:08.640 It all terminates on him. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:17.920 If the Jewish people actually had knowledge and understanding, Paul's saying, then you would understand that the end of the law actually terminates on Christ Himself. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:26.480 If we understood it through the lens of faith, we would see Jesus and not our striving for obedience. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:34.480 Our main idea this morning is this: that there is no right standing with God apart from Jesus. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.359 This is the exclusivity of Christ. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:46.240 We cannot in any form or fashion find ourselves right standing before God apart from Jesus. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.240 This is the summation of the passage. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:52.240 Apart from Jesus, we are hopeless. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.640 We are only found wanting. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:23:02.000 There is nothing in our efforts, in our work, and our striving that can ever be found satisfactory or acceptable before a holy God. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:17.440 We can try all that we want, even with a burning zeal like the Jewish people, even with an overachieving zeal like that of Paul, but it will end in self-righteousness, which is no righteousness at all. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:24.720 There is no human effort which can create a position of right standing before God. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:27.759 This is the exclusivity of Christ. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:33.839 By him and through him alone are we able to be reconciled with the Father. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:35.759 All other attempts will fail. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:39.440 And this is what Jesus says in John chapter 4, verse 16. 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:46.559 He says, Jesus said to him, talking about some of his disciples, I am the way and the truth and the life. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:50.880 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:24:02.799 No one, no man, no woman in any of their attempts can come to God unless they come through me. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:08.720 But you see, we fail to recognize this so often in our culture and even in the church. 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:14.720 We fail to recognize this because we pursue right standing with zeal, but without knowledge. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:17.200 That's kind of our human experience. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.880 We all want right standing with God. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:31.839 And chapter 10, verse 3 perfectly captures the essence of the human heart when it comes to being right standing before God. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:42.480 He says this for being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:44.640 This is the condition of the human heart. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:54.720 Ignorant of the righteousness of God, you and I seek to establish our own righteousness, of which we will be made right with Him. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:03.200 And we do not, in rebellion, we do not submit to the righteousness of God. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:08.960 We reject God's way of being in right standing with Him and we seek to establish our own. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:13.759 Because you see, we we we have this ingrained in us. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:22.640 And many of us, if we understand how we operate this way, we'll discover this: that we pursue right standing through our own means. 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:26.400 We pursue right standing through our own means. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:27.200 This is what I mean. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:30.880 We strive to set the terms by which we'll attain righteousness. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:33.359 And you and I, we both do this. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:34.400 We all do this. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:42.079 We have to be honest about the reality of how this plays itself out in our hearts in idolatrous pursuits of self-righteousness. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:46.799 We reject God's terms and in place establish our own. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:54.160 You see, inherently within us, you and I have a strong desire to be accepted. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:26:03.759 Every single person in this room, no matter how tough you think you are or how cool you think you are, we all want to be accepted. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:07.039 And there's a lifelong pursuit of this, right? 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:13.200 Social media thrives because you get to lie to everyone so that they'll accept you. 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.920 And then you actually don't even have friends, right? 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:17.599 No one actually really likes you. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:18.880 Just news flash. 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:20.160 Get this in your head. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:21.200 No one likes you. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:22.079 No, I'm joking. 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:25.519 Uh I hope you leave built up and encouraged today. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:29.200 Uh but but isn't that what we do, right? 00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:31.359 We want to be accepted. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:40.319 And so what we do is we try to earn that acceptance, whether it's through the way that we dress, the music we listen to, the restaurants we visit, the work that we do. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:42.960 We want, because it's ingrained in us. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:47.039 We all realize that we are born with a daddy issue. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:50.400 And we want accepted by that. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:55.680 And every religion that's ever been created has tried to answer that need. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:57.200 And they have failed. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:07.920 Christianity is the only one that makes the radical statement that you can do nothing to be able to earn acceptance by the Father, so Jesus does it for you. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:10.880 And so we struggle. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:16.799 We have this strong sense of a desire to earn our acceptance. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:27.920 And for some crazy reason, because we are so stiff-necked and hard-headed, we refuse and reject that we're accepted through grace. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:31.440 Imagine the world around us right now. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.960 They want to throw away the notion that you're accepted through grace. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:43.359 And man's rebellious pursuit often is no thanks, I'll earn it on my own. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:50.240 So we pursue self-righteousness by seeking to earn the right standing and acceptance that we're looking for. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:58.240 But the problem with the pursuit of self-righteousness, church, is this it's an insatiable hunger. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.279 The pursuit of self-righteousness can never be satisfied. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:09.920 It can never end with a statement, enough. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.200 It will always, always demand more. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:18.160 Let's look at our modern context for a moment. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:27.839 If we can just be honest this morning, there's two major pursuits of self-righteousness that's happening in our culture right now. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:34.319 One of them is the pursuit of anti-racism, and the other is the pursuit of inclusivity. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:40.000 These are fundamentally pursuits of self-righteousness. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:55.119 That I can redeem myself, that I can actually be right standing before a maker or society or culture or whatever it might be through my pursuit, but they fail. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:02.400 You see, in today's society, this is how we've worked to establish our own way of self-righteousness. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:09.519 And if you're not zealously chasing after these standards and means, then you must be a wicked person. 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.359 But the problem is the pursuit itself is wickedness. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:25.920 Not in for what they're trying to accomplish, but in the fact that they can never accomplish it, but they heap on demands on top of people like yokes of bondage and slavery. 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:35.119 What we're seeing is that the standard for righteousness according to these movements of society and culture are moving at breakneck speeds. 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:40.000 The goalposts keep getting pushed back and pushed back and pushed back. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:52.640 What's fulfilling these demands and what's missing the mark are completely changed almost daily. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:30:00.160 The hunger for this self-righteousness is utterly insatiable because you're not inclusive enough ever. 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:03.759 You're not anti-racist enough ever. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:28.160 And so we have to search through our homes of things that we have to now pitch in the garbage or burn in our backyard, or we have to now add more colors to this flag because it didn't incorporate this people group, or today you can't use this word because it offended someone yesterday, or whatever it might be, the goalposts keep getting pushed back and pushed back because the pursuit of self-righteousness is insatiable. 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:35.759 Let's look at someone from their own rank in their statement, Ibram X. 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:40.319 Kendi, he was an author who wrote the book How to Be an Anti-Racist. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:45.279 He says this, but there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:49.759 One either allows racial iniquit inequ uh what? 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:58.319 Inequities to persevere as a racist or confronts racial inequities as an anti-racist. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:03.759 There is not in-between safe space of not racist. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:10.079 The claim of not racist neutrality is a mask for racism. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:12.480 Do you see what he says in that very last line? 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:15.680 You're never allowed to say enough. 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:22.960 In his own definition of what anti-racism is, he is stating that it's insatiable. 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:26.480 You can't accomplish it. 00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:30.640 What kind of yoke is that putting upon people? 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:42.960 These movements will struggle and ultimately frustrate themselves because there is no objective or identifiable standard to accomplish. 00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:53.839 You will never be inclusive enough, you will never be anti-racist enough, because self-righteous pursuits never end in enough. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:57.759 Please work to hear my point. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:01.920 I'm not trying to slam these movements, though I have much disagreement with them. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:06.000 That's another conversation and for another time. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:13.759 I'm trying to show us that the pursuit of self-righteousness is fundamentally insatiable, impossible to obtain. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:16.880 It is zeal with eternal burnout. 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.759 This isn't just true of liberal ideology, though. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:26.559 This also reigns true for the conservative mindset as well. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:27.680 Right? 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:33.839 As we look at today being the 4th of July, we kind of have the five solas of conservatism. 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:45.839 We have sola republican, sola constitution, sola economy, solar guns, and solely gloria America. 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:51.599 But these pursuits, they devour others in its wake. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:58.319 They trample over the marginalized and the oppressed at times. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:05.440 They consume anything that gets in its way because its hunger also is insatiable. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:18.559 The hunger for this conservative heart set can be so insatiable that everything in its path gets consumed in its wake. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.079 We don't care about laws for people who are hurting. 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:27.039 We don't care about the don't infringe on my freedoms, don't infringe on the Constitution, don't right? 00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:28.319 We hold these things up. 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:33.279 And there's gonna be churches today that are proclaiming God and country, right? 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:36.559 I got I pulled a joke on uh our music team this morning. 00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:41.599 I said I was gonna change the call to worship this morning uh to the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:53.279 Because we think Republican equals right standing, we hold the Constitution up or above the holy scriptures. 00:33:55.680 --> 00:34:01.119 We think that the success of the economy equals the success of us. 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:06.640 The kingdom of God doesn't preach these things. 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:12.559 We are citizens of a different nation, we are aliens in a foreign country. 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:23.039 I'm not saying that we shouldn't be proud of where we live or that we should honor those who have accomplished for us what we get to enjoy in our freedoms, but for you and I, we are sojourners through a weary land. 00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:24.320 This is not our home. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:33.199 And if we find contentment and satisfaction with this land, then what we're saying to God is that we would rather have this than you. 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.239 Because He's built something better for us. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:44.800 But some of us, we don't just pursue self-righteousness through our own means necessarily. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:46.320 It has a different spin on it. 00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:49.920 We pursue right standing through religious means. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.719 We pursue right standing through religious means. 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:55.119 Uh, the Israelites did this, right? 00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:58.960 The law of God was insufficient in their eyes. 00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:01.920 And so they saw fit to add to it. 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:10.239 So throughout the law, you have these 600 and some commandments that establish the Torah or the laws of which the Israelites were supposed to accomplish. 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:23.679 However, what we see through tradition is that the laws were insufficient, and so they heaped tradition upon them to say of how all these laws had to be executed in these particular and precise ways. 00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:32.400 And so even in their religious pursuit, what we see is that the pursuit of self-righteousness is insatiable. 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:35.440 It's never going to end with enough. 00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:40.000 And Jesus calls this out in his earthly ministry as he's preaching. 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:47.119 We find in the book of Mark, chapter 7, this uh uh conversation that he's having with Jewish Pharisees. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:36:00.400 And he talks about the wickedness of adding to the law tradition, because they understood and realized that the pursuit of self-righteousness was never going to be enough. 00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:01.360 Let's look at this. 00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:03.679 Mark chapter 7, verses 1 through 9. 00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:04.480 He says this. 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:15.760 Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him, speaking of Jesus, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:24.639 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders. 00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:29.360 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:36.559 And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:45.679 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands? 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:55.920 And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 00:36:56.079 --> 00:37:01.280 In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:05.840 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:13.679 And he said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your own tradition. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.199 Here's what Jesus is saying is we gave you the law. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:23.920 Through Moses, the prophets, we gave you the law, God's perfect way of righteousness. 00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:26.079 And here's what ended up happening. 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:34.800 In your own pursuit of self-righteousness through obedience of it, you discovered inwardly insufficiency. 00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:37.519 And so the law wasn't enough. 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:47.920 So now you've had to heap on tradition on top of it of how you're gonna wash the pots, how you're gonna wash your hands, how you're gonna actually accomplish these things. 00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:56.239 Even from a religious perspective, the avenue and road of self-righteousness never leads to enough. 00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:05.840 In their pursuit of self-righteousness, they determined that the law of God was insufficient, and so they heaped tradition on top of it. 00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:11.679 Even in a religious context, this pursuit is insatiable. 00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:15.360 And we dare even do this in the modern church. 00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:24.639 We arrogantly assume that the work of Jesus is insufficient and needs our own meritorious efforts to add to it. 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:31.920 So we heap on legalism to grace and we rebind the one that Jesus set free. 00:38:32.960 --> 00:38:42.880 Remember, we talked about legalism a while back, and we said that legalism is anytime we separate the Christians due from Christ's done. 00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:49.280 Anytime that we separate the Christian's due from Christ's done, we create legalism. 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:56.719 But legalism runs rampant in the modern church of how you're supposed to do songs. 00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:58.480 Is it just from the Psalter? 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:00.320 Is it with or without instruments? 00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:02.559 Do you use this hymnal or that hymnal? 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:06.159 Are you allowed to use rock beats of two, four timing? 00:39:07.440 --> 00:39:09.760 That's really arguments I've had with people. 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.320 I had one brother tell me we don't worship biblically. 00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:13.840 And I'm like, what does that mean? 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:15.760 And he said, Well, you use instruments. 00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:18.639 I said, Dude, you don't read the Bible. 00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:23.280 I mean, we do this, right? 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:26.480 We say, no, you have to be baptized to be saved. 00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:37.119 Let me tell you what, that is a doctrine that is wicked and that will send many people to hell because they are believing that they have to add to the work of Christ and that his work is insufficient. 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:43.360 We say that this is the way you have to dress, or this is the way that you have to uh conduct yourself, or that we have to do these things. 00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:49.679 And most of the time they're not things that we find prescribed in the scriptures, it's things that we've created, right? 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:51.519 To heap onto other people. 00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:53.119 Like let's just look at clothing. 00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:56.960 Do we understand that men used to wear dresses? 00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:07.599 Like in the Bible, Jesus probably wore a dress, just one tube of material that went down, and when he had to gird up his loins, he pulled it up and made some really short shorts. 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:09.519 Like that, that's what Jesus wore. 00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:16.239 But sometime throughout this time period, we determined, well, men can wear pants, but women can't. 00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:18.239 What in the world? 00:40:18.480 --> 00:40:20.320 That doesn't even make sense, right? 00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:28.159 But we hold this as legalism because we even take something about that and we separate the Christians due from Christ's done. 00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:33.760 You're not really a Christian unless, and we don't even use things prescribed by the Bible. 00:40:36.639 --> 00:40:38.719 We even use folk religion. 00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:40.559