The Attainment of Righteousness

“Israel’s Salvation”

Romans 10:1-11:36

The Apostle Paul is preaching to the saved children of God concerning his desire that the nation of Israel be saved. When we look back having understood the “Gospel” that is taught by Jesus Christ, we sometimes think that Israel as a nation would have been eagerly expecting the arrival of the Messiah.

We think they should of been prepared to receive Him. The Old Testament prophecies were known for centuries. The fact is, that when Jesus the Messiah came He was rejected.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

There were a few students of the Bible such as Simeon and Anna that knew the Messiah had come.

Luk 2:25  And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26  And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

Without a doubt there are some in the church that should have the same knowledge of His coming to get His Church, which we call the Rapture. Many also reject this but the truth is always the truth no matter what we believe.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Those words “Caught Up” are what the word Rapture means.

Rapture means “A seizing by violence”, caught up, yanked out. God is going to reach down and just grab His children out of this world one day and that day may not be very far away.

Jesus tells us in three of the Gospels that this is the truth:

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Mar 13:29  So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

Luk 21:31  So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

We witness these signs  every day we live, so like Simeon we should be waiting on the consolation of Israel for we know that the “Rapture of the church” will happen before the time of tribulation when God will deal again with Israel. This time of tribulation will not happen until the end of the “Age of Grace”.

This is the “truth” of the Gospel of Grace.

The Church will not see the “wrath of God”!

We are saved from the wrath of God, that’s what “salvation” is all about.

In our lesson today see why Israel rejected the Messiah the first time.

The lesson for the church is that the lost of this world, after the “Rapture” of the church, will still fall into this same snares of the devil and even more so.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

We know that the world is ready for this man now who says he will make all the turmoil in this world go away.

*****Our Text:

Rom 10:1  Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Rom 10:2  For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom 10:3  For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Rom 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

We immediately see that with the word “brethren”, Paul is addressing the church. Paul is explaining his desire that his fellow countrymen be saved.

You know, it seems what we have lost this desire in America. We don’t seem to care whether everyone in our nation is saved. It just seems that we say as Christians, we are saved but why worry about the others that are lost.

We can see that this was foremost in the prayers of the apostle Paul and this should be foremost in our prayers for our nation America and all the lost of this world.

No one deserves to be put in Hell. We are all guilty of sin, but this is still an individual choice, AND IT IS A CHOICE WE CAN MAKE AND MUST MAKE!

At the time of Jesus, Israel had a great desire to be free from Rome. They did not feel they needed spiritual salvation, they were seeking physical salvation.

Today, in America, we feel a great desire to be free from our immoral government. They also do not seem to feel the need for salvation and keep pushing God out.

Ever since Israel had returned from Babylon they had been cured of their idolatry. They had served the only true God, Jehovah.

Only the Word of God, was taught in their synagogues.

They were so zealous that they had added to the Word of God with their own traditions. They had become a nation of works not understanding God’s “grace” at all.

There are still many devout and sincere people in Israel but not a one can be saved by works.

They were proud and self-righteous, not because they did not understand the Word of God but they simply rejected the simplicity of salvation. They were too stubborn to admit their sin and trust our Savior. The apostle Paul clearly understood this because he had made the same mistake.

Php 3:4  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Just as Paul was wrong. Israel was wrong.

In fact anyone who places there confidence of salvation in there own flesh will never see Heaven.

*****Our Text:

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Rom 10:12  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

As we studied in the book of Exodus we know, that everything about Jewish religion pointed forward to the coming of the Messiah.

Their sacrifices, their priesthood, their Temple services, their religious festivals, and all their covenants pointed to a Messiah.

The book of Daniel gave the Bible scholar the exact time the Messiah would come, “But” in actuality they worshipped the law instead of worshipping God.

We cannot worship the Word of God, we must worship the God that gives us His Written Word!

We have been learning that the law cannot grant righteousness, the law can only point out our need for a Savior.

Jesus Christ has ended the ministry of the law to all believe!

The law moved out when the Holy Spirit moved in!

Paul pointed out that Israel had not clearly understood the truth of their own law. They had not turned to the Lord God with all their heart.

Deu 30:10  If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
Deu 30:11  For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

The truth of the Gospel was not hid from them, because the truth of the Bible has always been about “Faith”.

Verse nine shows us how simple salvation is. I like to read it like this:

That if, Bobby Mayfield, shall confess with Bobby Mayfield’s mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall believe in Bobby Mayfield’s heart that God hath raised him from the dead, Bobby Mayfield shall be saved.

This is the way Oliver Greene, the Evangelist read it also.

When we make Jesus our Lord and believe, then we can be saved!

To confess this openly, without believing in our heart, will not bring salvation. The key is still “faith”.

Verse 10 gives us the order of events regarding salvation.

To believe unto righteousness is to accept Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, and as our Savior.

1Jn 5:1  Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

This must be based on the written word of God. We must believe what God tells us to be the truth.

After we have believed what the Bible clearly states we need to make an open confession of our faith.

The word confession means, “to agree”. This means that we agree with God that we need a Savior. We also agree that we accept the Lord Jesus as that Savior.

This is where the nation of Israel stumbled. This is where the entire world stumbles. This is where all those that are lost stumble.

This is the very place that Satan pours most all his energy on this world!

We can see this happening with our own eyes around Christmas as the world removes the name Christ from even his own birthday.

When Paul says “shall not be ashamed” he is teaching that we have absolutely nothing to fear. When we trust in the Lord Jesus we can be assured that we are saved and are kept saved by the “blood” of Jesus.

We did not save ourselves and we cannot keep ourselves saved!

For anyone to call on the Lord for salvation, they must know about Him. This is why God leaves us here after He saves us. Our job is to proclaim the Word of God to all that are lost. And along with that job we are to be disciples to those that believe so that they can also teach others.

We may not realize it, because we live in the Bible Belt, but there are so many people in America and throughout this world that don’t know a thing about and have never heard the name Jesus. God said if we would just broadcast His word, He would make it prosper.

There has never been but one plan of salvation and as far as the plan of salvation is concerned there is no difference between Jew or Greek or black and white or red and yellow or any other thing or between any other race of people.

When God says “rich unto all” in verse 12, He is saying that the supply of mercy and grace will never run out, regardless of how many call on Him.

Verse 13 tells us the truth. “Whosoever”. This word is not bound by any limitations!

God says what He means, and God still means what He says!

Joe 2:32  And it shall come to pass, [that whosoever] shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:

We can see that God’s prophets had told the nation of Israel this same thing. They had no excuse for thinking that God, was only the God of Israel.

God truly wants the world to know that there is no other way to get to Heaven.

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
 
*****Our Text:

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We simply cannot leave this verse out of our lesson today.

1.) Faith does come by hearing.

The child of God simply cannot be silent about his salvation. The light of salvation simply cannot be hidden.

2.) Hearing.

Hearing does not automatically lead us to faith. There are many things in this world that we hear and they will lead us in the wrong direction. The Jews had heard about Jehovah God for many hundreds of years. Yet not many were saved.

3.) It is the facts of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Birth, His Ministry, His Death, His Burial, His Resurrection and His Blood.

It is when we hear these things about Christ we must accept the message or reject it. We must accept the Word of God just as it is written, rightly divided.

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

God says in verse 21 that every day and all day long He stretches out his hands to a disobedient and a denying people.

*****Our Text:

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

God would never cast away any people, we do that all by ourselves when we reject the Word of God.

*****Paul called himself, “one born out of due time”.

1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Paul said he was the example, the pattern, a picture, of how the nation of Israel would be saved in the future.

1Ti 1:16  Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

*****We get the details of Israel’s restoration from Zachariah:

Zec 12:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Zec 13:1  In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

*****The nation of Israel will see Christ at his Second Coming and there will be no denying then

Zec 14:3  Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Zec 14:4  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

*****The Bible tells us of the experience of Paul’s salvation on the Damascus Road. This is the experience that the apostle Paul says that he was the pattern for, this is the experience the nation of Israel will have. What is important here is not the fact that Paul was saved but in the manner that he was saved.

Israel will not be saved just because they are the covenant people, like Abraham, they will have to believe on God in order to receive His righteousness. Like Paul they will see Jesus and they will then say “Lord what will thy have me do”.

This will not only be a remnant but this remnant will be saved by grace and not by works. This is the same way any Jew and “whosoever will”, is saved in the “Age of Grace”.

What we learned from Paul is that the Jews rejected the gospel, God then sent the same Gospel to the Gentiles. The Gentiles believed and are saved.

There are three things that occurred when the Gospel was turned to the Gentiles.

One: The nation of Israel fell.

Two: The nation of Israel was lost.

Three: The nation of Israel was cast away.

BUT, The nation of Israel was not judged!

God had promised that the Gentiles would be saved and he kept His promise. We must realize that these promises to the Gentiles are linked to Israel during the millennial kingdom. The Millennial Kingdom has not taken place yet. This gap is what we call the Church Age.

This is what Paul called “the ministry”!

God is not abandoned Israel they are merely set aside unto the end of the Church Age.

The ministry of the church to the nation of Israel is to provoke them to jealousy.

There is a future for Israel, Paul describes this as their fullness in verse 12.

Rom 11:12  Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

God will never break His covenant with this His covenant people. God has promised to restore them!

Jer 31:35  Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
Jer 31:36  If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Jer 31:37  Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
God is not finished with the Jew. God made his covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and God cannot deny them or change them.

The Church has been “warned” that we are also obligated to Israel!

Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, [if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off].

We all have family members that are lost, surely we do not want God to take us out of here early just because we have failed to heed His “warning”.

According to Bible prophecy the church during the Laodicean Church Age will be cut off because of apostasy. Apostasy is the falling away, the departure from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

These are the signs that we see every day. Who is to say that the man of sin, the Antichrist, will not show himself at any moment. We can be sure that the Rapture is at the very door.

What is happening to Israel is part of God’s plan and we know God knows exactly what He is doing!

Let’s Pray!