This time of the year we have the privilege of focusing specifically on the blessing of the incarnation. The reality that God the Son took on flesh, entering into our world as a man is everywhere. It’s still astounding to me that I can be in several places in this city and hear songs that declare that Jesus was the “newborn king” or proclaim joy to the world for the Lord has come. For us the incarnation is such a blessing because we know that Jesus did not remain a newborn baby but grew into a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended back to the Father’s right hand so that we might have forgiveness of sins and live eternally.

However, historically, Jesus’ coming into the world also raised a number of questions. One of those questions is, “Why didn’t more Jews believe in him?” After all, the Old Testament Scriptures were given to the Jews. They had in their possession the writings that declared that God would come to his people, that the Messiah would come and deliver them from their sins. So, the question is, “If Jesus really is the promised Messiah and if men are made right with God by placing their faith in him as the one who died and was raised on their behalf, then why did the very people who had received the promises of his coming reject him.”

Perhaps the weight of this question would be clearer if we thought through the reality of this situation. Israel was the one nation on the earth that God revealed himself to. They were the one people to whom he announced clearly, “There will be a deliverer come.” All other nations were in the dark, ignorant of this news. Then, finally, a man came and many other nations accepted him, believing that he was a great deliverer. But most of the people who had read the promises for years, the group to whom God had continually given these promises, rejected him. It would be very easy to think, “Wow, this man really must not be the Messiah. Salvation really must not be through him. He must not be the fulfillment of God’s promises.” After all, the very people who had the inside track, if you will, on the news of the Messiah’s coming were saying, “This isn’t him,” rejecting him. Doesn’t it at least make you a little suspicious? Surely, if Jesus were the promised one then a greater number of Israelites would believe. Surely if the way to have forgiveness and live eternally is to believe in him who died and was raised then God’s own people would believe. Yet, instead, the majority of those who have believed in Christ are Gentiles, every other nation who had no connection with God.

So, if this morning we claim that Jesus really is the promised Messiah and that the good news is that he died for our sins, was buried, and was raised so that everyone who believes in him has eternal life, then how do we explain that the majority of Jews are not saved while a number of Gentiles are? And also, what was it about Jesus and his work that was so hard for them to accept? These are the questions we want to answer this morning. And I hope that as we answer them we’ll be encouraged and strengthened as we consider what God has done for us in Christ so that we might be righteous before him.

Paul begins our text this morning exposing the situation. He writes, “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law” (9:30-31). Throughout Romans Paul will ask, “What shall we say, then?” in order to transition to a new section, deal with what may be a false implication his reader might draw, or simply to point to his conclusion (see 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14). Here he seems to be making a bit of a transition in the text and also drawing his conclusion from 9:1-29.

In the text Chad led us through last week Paul pointed out that it was God’s sovereign election that led to a few Israelites believing and a number of Gentiles. So, then, Paul opens our text this morning with this conclusion. He says in essence, “So all of salvation history has led us to the point where in our present day a number of Gentiles who were in no way looking to be pleasing to God (because they were ignorant of him) are righteous before God while a number of Israelites who were pursuing obedience to God’s law so that they might be righteous before him are not righteous before God.” All of God’s interaction with Israel and keeping the Gentiles in the dark has led to this situation.

Our question then has to be, “Why?” And it’s Paul’s as well. He begins verse 32, asking, “Why?” And then he answers in 9:32-10:4 that it was because most of Israel refused to submit to God’s righteousness. So, to answer our first question, “Why didn’t Israel believe in Jesus as the Christ and find righteousness before God?” Paul declares that the problem isn’t with God’s promises, his plans, or Jesus as the Christ. It’s with those in Israel who refused to believe.

The majority of Israel simply refused to submit to God’s righteousness (9:30-10:4)

Paul says, “You want to know why a majority of Israel isn’t in right standing before God?” It’s because “they did not pursue [righteousness] by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame’” (9:32-33).

You see, God provided Jesus as the one to be righteous for us, and as we believe in him we are declared right before God. Therefore, Paul proclaims, “Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” However, he’s also a stumbling stone to one who wants to be righteous based on his own works instead of the righteous works of Christ. And this is what he became for a majority of Israel.

They wanted to be righteous on the basis of their own works, so when Jesus came as one who is righteous for us, a majority of the Israelites rejected him because they would rather pursue righteousness as if it were based on works than admit their inability and bow the knee to Jesus.

Paul confirms this as he continues in 10:1-4. He wants his readers to know that he’s not pointing this out because he’s somehow turned against his own countrymen or is ignorant of the fact that many of them seem to have a desire for God. He declares, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (10:1-2). He says, “I want them to be saved and acknowledge their zeal.” However, their zeal is like that of a man who is desperately pushing on a door that you can only open by pulling. If you watch that man push and strain and sweat and scream, never letting his weight give from pressing against that door, you could conclude, “That man is quite zealous in his desire to open the door.” However, you can also conclude, “Unless he changes his approach his frustration will only continue to mount and that door will never open.”

So, Paul expounds, “For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes” (10:3-4). Israel’s problem is that they refused to submit to God’s means to be made righteous, refusing to believe in Christ (the one to whom the law pointed), and so they remain ignorant of true righteousness because they refuse to submit to God’s means to be righteous before him. They refused to acknowledge and believe in Jesus Christ as what he has done.

So, Paul makes clear that the unbelieving Israelites are not victims. They are a group who refuse to submit to God’s righteousness and would rather continue to try to be made righteous on the basis of their own works than bow the knee to Jesus and be made righteous in him.

This is a hard reality, isn’t it? It’s a difficult truth on a couple fronts. One I will mention now and one as we look at the next section. First, this means that an individual who gives his life in a sacrificial way in hopes that God will be pleased with him but never places his faith in Christ is not righteous in God’s sight and will be cast into hell on the final day. For a specific example, I am ignorant of Mother Teresa except that I know that she spent much of her life caring for unprivileged and sick children among numerous other sacrificial acts, and yet none of that is enough to be declared righteous before God. Pursuing righteousness as if it were based on your righteous actions is going down a dead-end road. Someone could do twice as much as Mother Teresa, but the only righteousness that is good enough is the righteousness that was achieved by Christ.

So, if you’re not a Christian this morning, this is a huge truth you need to hear. And I know there are unbelievers here this morning because if nothing else there are a number of children in the room who I know have never professed faith in Christ. So, hear this. It doesn’t matter how good you act or how obedient you are to every authority in this world, you can’t be good enough to be righteous before God. And if you continue simply pursuing righteousness as if it is based on your good works you will one day be cast into hell. However, if you will realize that Christ has lived a righteous life on your behalf, died to pay for your sins, and rose so that you might be justified in God’s sight, and if you will repent from trusting in your own good works and place your faith and hope in Christ and what he did, then at that very moment God will declare you righteous before him. So, please, repent of your sins and believe in him. Do not follow the road that Paul tells us many of the Israelites have followed.

Therefore, Paul begins our text telling us that the reason many Israelites were not saved with the coming of Jesus had nothing to do with Jesus not being the promised one; he was. It had nothing to do with him not fulfilling God’s promises; he did. Rather, the problem was that a majority of Israel refused to submit to God’s means to be made righteous before him and instead relied on their own works in hopes of being righteous.

But Paul does not stop with pointing out the foolishness of many of the Jews. Rather, he continues on, pointing out the connection between Jesus and our righteous, showing how it is that one can be declared righteous before God. Specifically, he shows us in 10:5-13 that Jesus has accomplished righteousness for those who will believe.

Jesus has accomplished righteousness for those who will believe (10:5-13)

Paul begins by noting that Moses wrote in Leviticus 18:5 that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. In verse 5, Paul seems to be suggesting that if someone were to obey all the commandments of the law then that person would indeed live. The problem is what Paul has pointed out in the early chapters of this book, namely, that no one has obeyed all of God’s commandments and no one can. So, verse 5 is a transition verse, showing that someone who wants to be righteous based on the law says, “If I can just obey all of God’s commandments, I can live.”

However, he notes, “But the righteousness based on faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)’” (10:6-7). So, let’s stop here and see what Paul’s saying. What in the world does this mean? First, Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 30:12-14, where God tells the people that they do not have to go on a search to try to find his commandments, but rather he has given them to him. God says, in essence, don’t exert effort to try to go get something that I’ve already given to you. Therefore, it seems that Paul is taking that idea and applying it to the pursuit of righteousness. He’s saying, “The person who understands that righteousness is based on faith doesn’t say in his heart, ‘What can I do to achieve righteousness? Does Christ need to come to earth and be raised? Then, who will go get him and who’ll raise him?’” Such response shows that an individual thinks he is righteous based on what he himself can accomplish.

Rather, like God’s commandments in Deuteronomy 30:12-14, the person who knows that righteousness is based on faith realizes that God has already done for us what is necessary. Thus, Paul writes in verses 8-10, “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (10:8-10).

The person who will be made righteous is the person who realizes that Christ has already accomplished righteousness for us (the word is near you), and we are simply left to confess that Jesus is indeed the Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead. And everyone who truly believes and confesses will be saved. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. If you confess and believe, you’ll be saved. Thus, Paul writes, “For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (10:11-13).

We are declared righteous before God by believing and trusting in what God has already done for us in Christ. So, stop searching for how you can be righteous enough in yourself. Stop trying to do what only God can do and has done. Rather, believe, and you will be saved. And let me add here to one who isn’t a believer and is hearing this—you don’t need me to mediate between you and God. You don’t have to go through any kind of ceremony or come to me and ask me to go to God on your behalf. You can right now turn from reliance on your own works and believe in who Christ is and what he has done as sufficient for you. You can believe that his death paid for your sins, that he rose from the dead, and that his righteousness is enough for you, and you’ll be saved. So, trust him.

But this message is equally crucial for those of us who are believers this morning, isn’t it? It’s crucial because it is always tempting for us to forget that our good works contribute nothing to our being seen as righteous before God. It’s easy for us to forget that what we need today is to trust in what Christ did for us for our forgiveness and for our righteousness. At the moment we first believed we surrendered all hope of thinking we were acceptable before God based on our good works and trusted in Christ and his work alone, but since then we’ve slowly slid back to judging our righteous standing before God based on our works. That we’re righteous based on Christ’s work through faith is hard for us to accept, isn’t it?

So, if you’re struggling in that place this morning, then let me ask you a question that Paul asked the Galatians in Galatians 3. Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing when you heard the gospel? By believing, right? Then why do think that now you remain righteous before him based on your works instead of based on believing in the gospel? Why do you think this morning that God sees you as more or less righteous based on your obedience at each point this week? Realize, if you obeyed at every single point imaginable, it still isn’t enough. You need to believe in Christ to be saved. You need to trust in his work and his righteousness.

Perhaps the greatest need this morning we have as a church is for us to repent of trusting in our good works to be righteous before God. Maybe we need to respond to this text by pausing before God and repenting for slipping back into a thought that our righteousness is passed on our obedience instead of on Christ’s. And realize that that truth will not send us as a church into a lifestyle of sin. Rather, one who truly believes and will accept that his righteousness is based on Christ’s work on his behalf will be motivated to give your live in service to your Lord. Repenting of trusting in works and delighting in your righteousness in Christ this morning is the greatest thing you can do to motivate your heart to obedience this morning. So, let us as Christians delight in this reminder of the gospel as we hear the text this morning and celebrate the incarnation of our Lord over these next few days.

But there is still more in our text. Because our hope is wrapped up in the gospel, Paul ends our section this morning reminding us that people must hear the gospel to be saved and that the gospel accomplishes exactly what God intends.

The gospel is necessary for salvation and accomplishes what God intends (10:14-21)

After noting that anyone who hears the gospel, believes, and calls upon the Lord will be saved, he stresses the need for us to share the gospel. He writes in verses 14-15, “But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”

Paul reminds us that if people are to call upon the Lord because they believe in the gospel, then they must hear the gospel. Therefore, we must preach. And we preach because we have been sent. Evangelism is then motivated by our realization of the power of the gospel. As you’re with family this week, realize that their conversion is not dependent upon your ability to answer all their questions, be quick on your feet, or to be very convincing in your argument. The power for salvation is the proclamation of the good news that Christ died for our sins and was raised so that if you repent and believe in him you’ll be saved. So, seek opportunity to proclaim that message to people so that they might hear, believe, call upon the Lord, and be saved. You’ve already been sent by Christ.

But, yes, Paul acknowledges, in verse 16 that many will not believe. Many will not obey. This is the issue with those Jews who were not saved with the coming of Christ and with the many who are not saved to this day. They have not believed the good news. “Faith comes from hearing the hearing through the word of Christ” (10:17), but Paul says that Israel’s problem is not that they have not heard. Rather, he says, “But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed, they have, for, ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world’” (10:18).

Paul quotes from Psalm 19:4, talking about how God’s creation declares the truth of God so that the reality that God exists should be seen in all the earth. But now Paul is applying it to the gospel itself. Thus, Paul is saying, “Just as the reality that God exists has gone into all the world, so now the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection has gone throughout the world. Therefore, if it has gone to the who world, Israel most definitely has heard.” Again, their problem, Paul says, is not from lack of hearing but from lack of belief. Why didn’t the Jews believe when Christ came? It’s not because they didn’t hear of him; it’s because they didn’t believe in him.

So, does their lack of faith and the Gentiles’ believing mean the gospel is really not that powerful, since God’s own people didn’t believe? No. Paul ends our section answering this question he had posed at the beginning. The Gentiles’ belief and Jews’ lack thereof does not discredit the truth of the gospel he proclaims. Rather, Israel themselves should have understood that this would happen. God had prophesied that it would. Paul ends our text, writing, “But I ask, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel, he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people’” (10:19-21).

The events surrounding the coming of Christ, specifically his own people rejecting him, points to nothing lacking in Christ. He was and is the promised one, and his work is sufficient to save. Nor was Israel’s unbelief a surprise to God. As Paul quoted here, even as in the Old Testament the Jews worshipped idols, those who were not gods, so that God was made jealous, so God foretold that he would have a people who were not at that time a people, so that Israel would be made jealous. He would be found by many Gentiles, and he would hold out his hand to Israel. But they would not obey; they would not believe.

The fact that many Jews rejected Christ does not mean the gospel is less than powerful. Rather, the gospel is necessary for anyone who will be saved, and at the time of Christ’s coming, now, and forever, it will accomplish exactly what God intends. Therefore, let us go forth and speak that message in confidence that God will use the gospel to change hearts, hearts of Jews and Gentiles, both of whom we should long to be saved.

The reason people aren’t saved is because they won’t believe but would rather trust in their own righteousness. Christ, however, has already paid for our sins and accomplished righteousness for us if we will believe. So the gospel is man’s only hope and will accomplish exactly what God intends for it to accomplish. Therefore, let us come to the table this morning in celebration that our righteousness is wrapped up in Christ’s work for us and not dependent on our own works. That indeed is good news. Amen.

A PLAN FORETOLD AND PURPOSES FULFILLED