Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Aug 05, 2015: Romans 9:1-9 Receiving Righteousness
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. And we're here in Romans chapter 9. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 9. And then for the final point, we'll jump to the end of chapter 9 and look at a few verses there. But let's get started this evening by reading through verses 1 through 9 of Romans chapter 9. Here's what it says, starting in verse 1. He says, Verse 1. Verse 6. Verse 7. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Verse 9, for this is the word of promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a son. Here, as we look at the first part of Romans chapter 9 this evening, the title of the message is Receiving Righteousness. And there's four points we'll get into as we talk about receiving righteousness that Paul has to share with us. But before we get into chapter 9, I wanted to do a little bit of a recap from what we've been looking at in the book of Romans. Many times as we go through the book of Romans, it's divided up into three sections. You have Romans 1 through 8, and we would describe that as, you know, all about the gospel, and so that's what we've been teaching about. Now in chapters 9, 10, and 11, you have a new section where Paul is dealing with and talking about the nation of Israel and their part in God's plan that is yet to come. And then you have chapters 12 through 16, where Paul Paul is giving the instruction for how we are to live in light of the gospel message and who we are in Christ. Now, as we divide the book of Romans that way, it's good, it's helpful. But at the same time, I would like to encourage you this evening that Paul really is still teaching us about the gospel here in chapter 9. It's not, you know, like a clean chapter break, new subject, you know. He's connecting still thoughts that he's been developing from the very beginning. And so that's why I want to go back for just a moment and refresh our memories about the things that we looked at. So a summary of Romans chapters 1 through 8. We started out, of course, in chapters 1, 2, and 3. And there, the primary theme, the idea that we saw was God's wrath against unrighteousness. You might remember in verse 16 of Romans chapter 1, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. And then in the next verse, he says, for in it, that's in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. And so he's been developing that idea of the righteousness of God ever since Romans chapter 1, verse 17. The revelation of the righteousness of God that is in the gospel message. We've been digging deep into that in Romans 1 through 8. Well, in the next verse, in Romans 1, verse 18, he says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And so you see this battle going on from the very beginning in Romans 1. It's the revelation of righteousness that is found in the gospel, and it's the revelation of the wrath of God against unrighteousness. Now, God's revelation of righteousness is the answer for the wrath of God against unrighteousness. And so what Paul develops there in chapters 1, 2, and 3 is that every person, every human being, Jew, Gentile, educated, poor, rich, whatever the case may be, we are all deserving of God's wrath. God's wrath against unrighteousness, which we participate in, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so he set the stage there in chapters one, two, and three, letting us know, making sure it's clear, we all recognize we stand in a position deserving of God's wrath because of our unrighteousness. We are not righteous, but God has revealed righteousness. And And so he went on in chapters 4 and 5 to talk about righteousness that is given by faith or that we are declared righteous by faith. This is, of course, centered around the word justified. And the word justified, it means to be declared righteous, to be declared not guilty. So the revelation of God in the gospel regarding righteousness is that you can be declared righteous by faith. And he makes sure to point out in chapters four and five that it is by faith and not by works, that it's not something we earn. And he gave us the example of Abraham as well as the example of David. He says there in chapter four of Romans, verse three, it says, for what does the scripture say? It Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So he goes back to the Old Testament, to the scriptures and points out, even from the very beginning in the Old Testament, it was Abraham's faith that caused him to be declared righteous by God. And so this is chapters four and five, that there's a declaration of righteousness to those who believe as Abraham believed. Well, then he went on in chapter 6 and 7 to talk about how we are free from the penalty of unrighteousness. In chapter 6, he talks specifically about being set free from sin and death. And the penalty that came from our unrighteousness, that we were caught up in it, we were bound in it, we were slaves to unrighteousness, but how we've been set free from sin in order to serve righteousness. Righteousness. In Romans chapter 6, verse 20, he says, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. And he says, what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. And so again, you see the contrast here between unrighteousness and righteousness. Unrighteousness is where we all start. We are unrighteous and we are Now, as believers, ashamed of what we did in unrighteousness, and we have no fruit for it. But when we were in that unrighteous condition, we were free in regard to righteousness. We didn't have anything to do with God. We didn't have anything to do with being right with God or walking with God. But now we've been set free from sin and death, set free from the penalty of unrighteousness. And so now we are free from to serve righteousness, to do good, to do what's right, and to participate in the work of God. He went on into chapter 7 to tell us that we are free from the law. And the law was, prior to Christ, the means by which we could present ourselves righteous to God. And it was the means which God was using to show that we are all unrighteous. But we were bound to the law, even though we couldn't keep the law, even though, you know, we were not able to be perfect in the law. The law was the law, and it applied to every person. And if we did not measure up, then we were unrighteous, and we could not approach God on the basis of the law. It was impossible to be righteous by the law. But In chapter 7, he develops the point, we're free from the law. So you no longer have to approach God on the basis of keeping the law, but now you're set free from that. You're not held to the penalty of the law, and you don't use the law to try to present yourself as righteous to God. Well, then finally, in Romans chapter 8, he gives us the benefits of righteousness. The benefits of being in this condition, of being declared righteous. What does it mean? How good is it for you to be declared righteous by God? And Paul says there in Romans chapter 8 that God did what his law could not do by sending his son and by giving the Holy Spirit. And so because of the work upon the cross, the law was unable to make you righteous. But by Christ and what he did there upon the cross, God was able to do what the law could never do. And then on top of that, he gave us his Holy Spirit. And so some of the benefits of righteousness, just kind of recapping and highlighting some of the things that we saw in Romans chapter 8. Number one, you're not condemned. You have no need to be concerned about, to be worried about, to be stressed out about the wrath of God. You're righteous as a believer in Jesus Christ. You are declared righteous. Don't get that confused and think, you know, as long as you do good and keep the law and, you know, attend church faithfully and do all the things that you're supposed to do, then you're not condemned. No, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you're in this position of Of never needing to fear, never needing to be concerned about the wrath of God upon you because you are in Christ. You are not condemned. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Well, then he also goes on. Another incredible benefit to our righteous condition is that we have the Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. The Holy Spirit leads us. He says if we're not led by the Spirit, then we're not sons of God at all. We're not daughters of God at all if we're not led by the Spirit. But if you are a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit for sure. Not sometimes, not once in a while. The Holy Spirit dwells within you. Well, he also went on in verse 15 to develop the point that not only do you have the Holy Spirit, but you are a child of God. Your position has been changed so that you have this relationship to God that you can talk with him, you can relate to him, you can walk with him as a child does with their parent. That you are a child of God. That he loves you the way that the best ultimate parent could love a child. And he opens himself up to you in a way that only the ultimate father could. Well, we also see in verse 18 that you will be in glory. A benefit of righteousness is you have the guarantee of eternity. You will be in glory in eternity. Even if you suffer down here, it develops for you a far greater weight of glory in eternity. And so you have this guarantee, this promise, this assurity that you will be in glory. Well, then we also saw in verse 26, another benefit of righteousness is that your prayers are heard. that the Holy Spirit prays along with you and intercedes on your behalf. And so your prayers are heard. Your prayers are brought before God and they are heard by God. And he's answering them to work out his will, to work all things together for good to you because you love God and are the called according to his purpose. That is a benefit of being declared righteous. God works for your good. And so these are just a sample of things that we looked at in Romans chapter 8. But this is the benefit of righteousness. This is the benefit of now believing in Jesus Christ. And so now as we move on into chapter 9, Paul is now talking about receiving that righteousness. receiving this position that has been provided for us by Christ. And in chapters 9, 10, and 11, he's dealing with that along with, there's a lot of side notes, and so we're going to spend the next couple of weeks in these chapters and getting to understand how to receive the gospel as well as the sovereignty of God that's intertwined into Paul's points that he's making here. So chapter 9 of Romans, verses 1 through 9, receiving righteousness is the title of the message. Four points for us to consider. Starting in verses 1 through 3, we have point number 1, and that is that righteousness must be personally received. Check out verse 1 again. Paul says, I tell you the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. Now, if someone came up to you and started having a discussion with you and telling you about something, and they started out this way, I'm telling you the truth. I'm not lying. My conscience also bears me witness. You might think a couple of things, right? You might think, number one, well, maybe this person is lying because they're like going to this great effort to say, I'm not lying. You know, that's how you know I'm telling the truth because I'm telling you I'm telling the truth. And so we might go, hmm, I don't know. Or we might think, Why do they have to go to these great lengths, you know, to emphasize, do they normally lie? And so now this is the one time they're telling the truth. And so, or we might think, man, this person is really dramatic, right? But Paul here is not doing any of those things. He is not normally lying. He's telling the truth and he's not being overly dramatic, right? I think he's using this, the wording the way that he is because clearly he wants us to pay attention to this. He wants us to get the point. He's not just using words for dramatic effect. He wants you to understand because the thing he's about to say is, it's maybe one of the toughest things that we could consider. regarding the scriptures and the things that God has for us. I mean, this is pretty tough stuff what Paul's about to talk about. So he wants you to know, I'm telling you the truth. This is how I genuinely am. This is my real condition. I'm not lying. And so he says, my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. And so I've got this this testimony within me in my conscience, the Holy Spirit confirming that as well, Paul wants you to know, I really do feel this way. And what is it that he feels? Well, verse two, he says that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. I tell you the truth. I'm not lying. I genuinely feel this way. I have great sorrow and continual grief. I'm always burdened by this truth. I'm always burdened by what I'm about to share. I'm always burdened, he says, for the salvation of the Jewish people. In verse 3, He says, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. So Paul says something really radical here. I could wish, he says, that I was accursed from Christ. That is, I was cut off from Christ for my brethren. Here's essentially what Paul is saying. I could wish that I would go to hell instead so that the rest of the Jewish people would be saved. He is saying this on top of, remember what he just said, I'm telling you the truth. I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness. The Holy Spirit confirms it as well. This is how I genuinely feel. I would sacrifice myself for them. This is pretty radical. Now, think about where Paul has been. Right? Again, chapter 9 isn't, OK, new book, new thought, disconnected from everything else. Where did we end in chapter 8? We ended in chapter 8 saying, there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Not height, nor depth, nor any other created thing. No matter where you go, you cannot be separated. And so here's what Paul's saying. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing can separate us from God. But Paul says, honestly, I would be separated from If it were possible, I would be separated if it meant that all of Israel would be saved. Paul says, I would sacrifice myself. And he's not just using words. And he's not just saying, you know, I would take a bullet for you. He's talking about a much bigger picture. He's talking about an eternal condition. And he's saying, that's the truth. I would ask you to consider, do you feel that way about anyone? Would you go to hell so they could be saved? Would you spend eternity apart from God? so that they might have a walk with Christ. I think I'm pretty sure I could say, I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying. I don't feel that way. But that's how Paul felt. That was his heart, genuinely. He was burdened for the lost. And he models for us something really good. Now, of course, this is also modeled for us by Christ, right? Christ is actually did humble himself to the point of death, to the point of death upon the cross. He did suffer the wrath of God on our behalf. Christ actually did this. Paul says, I wish I could. I can't, but I want you to know that is my heart. I genuinely, seriously want to do that. He had a burden for the lost like Jesus had a burden for the lost. It's something that I think we could all use some development in. I think God would want to grow us in this burden, this love for people, the way that he loves people to this degree. Charles Spurgeon says it this way. He says, get love for the souls of men. Then you will not be whining about a dead dog or a sick cat Think about that. So many times we can be, well, again, verse 2. We can walk around like that for sure. You know, that's one verse where we can relate to Paul. I've got great grief and sorrow all the time in my heart. And we can walk around with sorrow, with great grief and have this sadness, this woe upon us. But the things that we're grieving over are lesser things than the soul of people in eternity, generally speaking. And so Spurgeon says, hey, if you'll get yourself a love for the souls of people, all those little griefs, you know, the way your boss treats you or what happened at work or this accident that happened or this money that's owed to you or whatever, all those other griefs that are much less in the perspective of eternity, he says, those will be driven out. You won't be worried about and consumed by those things if you're caught up with a care for and a love for the souls of men. I think it's a good encouragement for us to invite God to develop in us this burden for the lost, this love for people around us. But as we consider what Paul is saying here in verse 3, I want to point out here, he says, I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ. In other words, it's not actually possible. It's not possible that Paul could go to hell in order for other people to be saved. Understand that if it had been possible, Jesus would have done that. Jesus, if it had been possible for someone to suffer some kind of punishment, to go through some type of thing, Jesus would have done that. So understand that there's no way, and again, this is why I made the point, righteousness must be personally received. Paul is saying, I wish I could receive righteousness on their behalf, even if it costs me eternity. But if that was possible, then Jesus would have done that. Because although Paul loves people a lot, Jesus loves people more than Paul did. The great grief that he describes, the burden that he has for the lost, Jesus has it even to a greater degree than the Apostle Paul. What Jesus accomplished there at the cross is, in the gospel message is the ultimate, absolute, best opportunity for salvation for the world. There's no other way to receive the righteousness of God. If there had been another way, if there had been a better way, if there had been some other way, Jesus would have done that. But there is no other way. Each person, each individual must personally believe in Jesus Christ and receive the righteousness of God. They must be justified and declared righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. As much as we want people to be saved, even if we don't feel like we could go all the way to the extent that Paul is saying, like I would be cut off and accursed for someone else. But we do have people around us that we want to be saved. And as much as we want them to be saved, we're not able to make it happen for them. That's not possible. It's not possible to receive salvation for somebody else. Each person has to make their choice. Each person has to make that decision. And you know, this is true, not just of you who look around at people that you love or people that you know and you want them to be saved. You want them to experience the righteousness of God. This is true of God. And we'll deal with this as we go into chapters 9, 10, and 11 over the next couple of weeks. Even though God is sovereign, and even though he is on the throne, and he's able to work out all things together for good, I mean, he's all-powerful. He is God. He gives people choice and the responsibility that goes along with that choice. And so he is not able, or he will not rather, force righteousness upon anybody. He's not willing that any should perish, Peter tells us. And so he's patient. He delays judgment. He delays wrath because he wants all to come to repentance. But it's up to each person individually. And so this is important to know that you would be ministering to people with this in mind, that they need that personal decision to follow Jesus Christ. But also it's important to know that That you, you need to have your own personal decision to believe in Jesus Christ. You can't base your righteousness or your salvation upon somebody else's decision. You have to decide. You have to make the choice. Will you believe in Jesus Christ? Will you turn from sin to follow him and continue to walk with God for the rest of your life? So righteousness must be personally received. As we go on in verse 4 and 5, we have point number 2, and that is that righteousness is not based on position. Righteousness is not based on position. Now, the Jews in Jesus' day and still in Paul's day, they expected to be automatically saved because of their position. After all, they were God's chosen people. And so their expectation was God. I'm saved automatically because I'm a descendant of Abraham. But here Paul declares that that is not the case. Again, he's talking about his love for his brethren. He says in verse 4, Verse 5. As he's reflecting on his desire, his wish that he could be accursed for their sake, he thinks about all that they have as, well, the chosen people of God, as descendants of Abraham. They have the adoption. That is, God chose them. God picked them. He selected them to be his children. They have the glory. A reference to the Shekinah glory. Remember when the glory of the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai. Later on when the tabernacle was set up and dedicated, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Remember Moses would go into the presence of the Lord and he would come out shining from the glory of God. When Solomon built the temple, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. They had God's Shekinah glory. It had been given to them as a nation, as a people. They also had the covenants, the covenants that God made with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, the covenants that God made with David, the covenants, the promises that God had made to his people. They had all of these incredible covenants that God had established and the commitments that he would make for them. They also had the law. They had the revelation of God that was given to them there at Mount Sinai. They're on the tablets and then even further described and elaborated through Moses. They had the law of God, the words of God, the revelation of God. Their position was incredible. Their privilege was incredible. They also had the service of God. They got to serve the temple. They got to serve God with the sacrifices. They got to serve God with as God established them as the keepers of the things of God, so that anybody in the world who wanted to worship God came to Israel, and Israel got to be part of the service of God. They also have the promises of God. In addition to the covenants that were made, there's multitudes upon multitudes of promises that God had given to his people. Great promises, enduring promises, Promises of blessing and abundance. They had these incredible promises that God had given to them. They also had an incredible lineage or genealogy. He says, of whom are the fathers. They could look back at the greats. They had Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in their genealogy. They had David. They had Solomon. They had these great men of God as part of their family. They had these forefathers. Incredible position that they had in the plan of God, in the work of God, in the kingdom of God. They're God's chosen people. And then he tops it all off in verse 5 saying, and from whom according to the flesh Christ came. So not only did they have all these other things, but they were the ones that God used to bring forth the Savior of all humanity. And then he goes on to say, this savior is not just a savior, but he says, according to the flesh, he came from them. But at the same time, he says, he is over all, he is the eternally blessed God, amen. So he talks about here that Jesus being God, but became man according to the flesh, came through the people of Israel. Israel had the greatest position possible in regards to God. What more could you add to all of this that they had? Their position, their standing before God was the best that could possibly be. But they're not saved. righteousness is not based on position. If righteousness was based on position, then their expectation that, well, I'm a Jew, so I'm automatically saved would be accurate because they had the greatest privilege of all. They had the greatest position of all in part of the kingdom of God and part of the plan and the work of God. But Paul is here wishing he could be accursed for these people who had all of these incredible, abundant blessings, privileges, and position. Righteousness is not based on position. And that continues today. And still, even as Israel was confused and many of the Jews would expect that they would be saved because of their position, because of their heritage, because of what they had as far as the work of God and the kingdom of God, there are those today, and it's important for us to consider and reflect, there are those today who have a similar expectation. Based on their position, salvation must be guaranteed after all. I'm a deacon in the church. After all, I was an elder. I served as an usher. I led the ushers. I was a bishop, or I did miracles, or I was religious, or I did these things. I had this position. I had this role. I had all these blessings. I had all this work. I was participating in the work of God. And so I must have righteousness. But Paul is making it clear here. Righteousness is not based on position. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, verse 22 and 23? He said, 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. Notice what he says. You who practice lawlessness. They expected that they had righteousness. Righteousness. Because they prophesied, they cast out demons, and they did many wonders in the name of Jesus. But that is not, that kind of position, that kind of work in the kingdom of God does not gain you righteousness. They continued to practice lawlessness, even though they were part of the work of God. And they did things in the name of Jesus. Receiving righteousness is not based on position. It's not based on what you do in the name of Jesus. It doesn't work that way. And you can have glorious privilege and glorious position, and Paul would still be grieving and sorrowing over you, saying, I wish I could be cut off for your sake that you would be saved. Incredible. Well, going on in verses six through nine, we have point number three. Righteousness cannot be inherited. So not only is it based on, is it not based on your position, it's not based on your heritage. It cannot be inherited. In verse 6, he says, Now, Paul here is kind of imagining someone who's looking at what he's developing here about Israel and thinking, well, if God wasn't able to save them, how do I know that God's able to save me? And so Paul's making the point here, it's not that the word of God wasn't effective. It's not this was a failure on God's part. It's not that God's word wasn't effective. But he goes on in verse 6 to say, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel. So the issue is that not everybody who is of Israel is really Israel. Pastor Chuck says this about this verse. He says, Paul tells us that no one is truly Israel unless he is governed by God. Because the name Israel means governed by God. And so he gives an illustration. He says we have a parallel situation with the word Christian. He says, not everyone who is called a Christian is truly a follower of Christ. And I think we can all understand that, right? We recognize that. The name Christian means I'm a follower of Christ, but not everybody who calls themselves a Christian actually follows Jesus. In the same way, they are not all Israel who are of Israel. They might have that bloodline. They might have that genealogy, but they're not governed by God. In verse 7, he says, for they are all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But, he says, in Isaac, your seed shall be called. They're all children in the sense that they descended from Abraham. They are the seed of Abraham. But, in contrast, he says, in Isaac, your seed shall be called. Now, this is a quotation from Genesis chapter 21, verse 12. And God is making a distinction. Remember, the life of Abraham. God promised Abraham a son. Abraham and Sarah were very old and had no children, but God said, you're going to have a son. But time passed, and they didn't have a son. And so they come up with their own plan. And so Sarah brings Hagar, her maidservant to Abraham, and Abraham with Hagar have a son. They name him Ishmael. But then after Ishmael is born, in Genesis chapter 17, God says, you know, Abraham, I know you worked real hard to have that son, Ishmael, but he's not the promised son. He's not the one I told you about, and he's not the one that I'm going to use to do what I told you I was going to do. And then in Genesis chapter 18, God visited Abraham and said, okay, next year, Sarah's going to have a son. That's the son I've been telling you about. That's the one that we've been waiting for. And so in verse 9 here of Romans 9, it says, This was the promise of God. All right, I'm going to come back next year. Sarah is going to have a son. His name is going to be Isaac. This is the son I've been telling you about. This is the son of promise. And so notice the distinction that Paul is making here. Abraham had more than one son. But only one of those sons was the one that God had been telling him about and promised to him. The one he generated on his own efforts, God says, that's not the one. The one I'm telling you about, he's still yet to come. And then later on, that son was born. Now look at verse 8. He says, that is those who are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. So in the same way that Abraham had two sons, One of them was the son that God was talking about, the son that God had promised, and one that wasn't. He says in the same way, not everybody who has the name Israel is actually of Israel. Not everybody who has the name Israel is actually the ones who God has been talking about. In the same way, not everybody who calls themselves a Christian are actually followers of Jesus. Those who are the children of the flesh, he says, these are not the children of God. Ishmael was a child of the flesh because it wasn't the child that God promised him. It was the child that they manufactured by their flesh, by their strength, by their resources, by their ideas. And God says that's not the one. Now, if the plan of God was strictly based on the rule of firstborn, then the Messiah would have a whole different family tree because then Ishmael was the firstborn and And he would have been the one who carried the line of the Messiah, the Savior. But God didn't work that way from the very beginning here. He wasn't bound to the firstborn rule. It was based on his promises, not based on some natural or cultural laws or some work that we could come up with. To demonstrate this even further, in Genesis chapter 22, verse 2, God speaks to Abraham. So this is after Ishmael and Isaac are both born. Both are probably in their teens and maybe in their 20s. In Genesis 22, 2, God says, take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. And here he's going to tell Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. But he says, take your son, your only son, Isaac. Now, is Isaac Abraham's only son? Well, genetically, no. But it's the only son that God promised him. It's the only son that God's been talking about from the very beginning. And so he says there in verse 8, the children of the promise are counted as the seed. So in the same way, even though normally it would have been passed to the firstborn, which would have been Ishmael, but God was interested in what he had promised Abraham and the one that he had been talking about to Abraham, the one that fulfilled his word and that was part of his plan. And the children of promise, Isaac, are counted as the seed. He's the one who carried on the line of the Messiah. Here's the point. Receiving righteousness, it can't be by inheritance. Ishmael did not get special treatment even though his father was Abraham. He was not the child of promise. He was not the one that God had been speaking about. Again, each person has to respond to God's promises. It couldn't be passed on by inheritance. It must be received. There are children of the flesh and there are children of God. And it's those who receive the promise, those who are the ones that God's talking about, those are the ones who are the seed of Abraham. Think about it this way. In Ezekiel chapter 14, verse 19 and 20, God speaking through Ezekiel says, if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my fury on it in blood and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. Right? God calls out some of the hallmarks of the faith, Noah, Daniel, and Job. And God says, if it comes to a place where a people need to be judged, he says, even if these three guys are there and they're righteous and they're walking right with God, they would only deliver themselves. They could not deliver their son or their daughter. Righteousness can't be inherited. It can't be passed on. The righteousness that was accredited to Abraham doesn't get passed on automatically to all his descendants. God works according to his word and his promises. Each one must receive their own righteousness. Now, not their own righteousness that they produce, but each one must receive righteousness from God. And that means you have to be counted as a child of the promise. to be counted as the seed of Abraham. You have to believe God like Abraham believed God. It cannot be inherited. Nobody else's righteousness can be applied to you or to your account except for Jesus. His righteousness can be applied to your account, but you don't get the benefit of somebody else receiving the righteousness of Christ. And I would share this especially for those of you who are parents to consider this. Your righteousness doesn't automatically get applied to your son or daughter. It doesn't work that way. Now, I'm not talking about, you know, the age of accountability and, you know, younger children, but as they grow up, they reach accountability. They reach where they stand before God as their own person, and they have to make that decision to receive the righteousness of God by faith. And your righteousness can't cover them at that point. And so you have a great responsibility to teach your children to walk with God and to trust in God and to receive the righteousness of God because you can't pass on your righteousness to them. They have to. They have to learn how to receive the righteousness that comes from Christ. And so finally, point number four, and we're going to jump down to the end of chapter nine now to look at this in verse 30 through 33. Point number four is that righteousness must be received by faith. In verse 30, he 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. Verse 32. 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. Paul concludes the chapter saying righteousness is has to be obtained in a specific way. It has to be received by faith. Israel was seeking righteousness, but they were going about it the wrong way. They were trying to be right with God, but they were doing it with their own ideas, their own thoughts. The Gentiles, Paul says, they were not even seeking righteousness. They weren't even thinking about God, but God was seeking us. Again, not willing that any should perish. And so the Gentiles, they kind of didn't know better, you know, in the sense of trying to obtain righteousness by the law. They were outside of the law. They were ignorant of the law. And so they heard the gospel and they obtained righteousness by faith in Jesus. And so they believed in Jesus and they obtained the righteousness that the Jews had been pursuing, but they obtained it in a different manner. They obtained it by faith in Christ. It's the righteousness of faith. At the same time, the Jews were seeking righteousness, but they were trying to get it by what they did, by the works that they did. God sent messengers to his people to correct them in this, to call them back to approaching him by faith, but they refused to be corrected. Now, this same concept is true of all religious people. And so this is important for us today that we need to understand continually righteousness must be received by faith. Righteousness cannot be received by religion, by some type of law, whether we manufacture it or whether it's God's written law. Righteousness cannot be received that way. We will never obtain it that way. The people who had the best shot of attaining righteousness that way were the Jewish people and they didn't attain it. And so in the same way, we can't obtain righteousness by our works, by our efforts. It must be received by faith. And then check out verse 33. He says, Here, Paul quotes from Isaiah chapter 8 as well as Isaiah chapter 28. But to simplify it, he makes the point that He says, you have to come to Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Israel stumbled over Jesus. He was a rock of offense to them. They couldn't try to obtain righteousness and get right with God just by believing in Jesus. They couldn't get themselves to do that. They couldn't bring themselves to that. They continued to persist in trying to present themselves righteous before God by their own efforts. They had it backwards. And Paul says... What you have to do is believe in Jesus. He says, whoever believes on him, whoever believes on this rock, you can stumble over him or you can believe on him. And if you believe on him, you will not be put to shame. Don't trust in anything else for righteousness. Don't trust in your position. Don't trust in the prophecies that you've made or the works that you've done or the things that you have or the position that you have or the inheritance that you have or what family members are great men of God. I mean, think about that. Billy Graham's children, they're not saved by the righteousness of Billy Graham. Chuck Smith's children, not saved by the righteousness of Chuck Smith. We don't get it inherited. We don't get it just passed on to us. We all, each of us, every person has to make that decision to believe in Jesus Christ. And the promise is whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. And so this is how to receive righteousness. All the benefits to righteousness that we looked at in Romans chapter 8, the need for righteousness that we see before that, that we are all unrighteous and deserving of God's judgment, but we can be declared righteous, but not by our efforts, not by our works, not by something that we do for our own selves, but we can be declared righteous by faith, by believing in Jesus Christ and accepting that he received the full penalty, the full payment for sin on our behalf there at the cross. That's how you receive righteousness. That's what the gospel is all about. Amen. Lord, as we consider your words, I pray that you would help us to be steadfast in our faith and trust in you. Lord, that we would not be tempted or swayed to try to approach you by our works or by our efforts. But Lord, that we would maintain this position of trust, of surrender, of rest. in your work on our behalf. Lord, help us to grow in that, to continue to trust you, to continue to walk with you. And Lord, I pray that you would also equip us, Lord, that we would not just know these things for ourselves, but that you would help us as we have opportunity, that you would help us to share these things with the world around us. Give us a burden for the lost, I pray, Lord, that we would share with them the need of salvation, but also the means to attain it. We pray these things in Jesus' name.