God’s Word is living and active! It affects us when we read or recall its declarations. It pulsates with life and energy. Even when we are alone with no one to explain it, the Word of God pierces us, discerns our hearts, and instructs us in the way of God. We were encouraged a couple weeks back by the note from Central Asia about a new brother in Christ. He was given a New Testament by someone five years ago. As a Muslim, he knew that it was a one of his religion’s four holy books but he had also been told that its message was corrupted. Yet he read it. For three years he read the New Testament until it burned in his heart and mind, and by the work of the Spirit apart from anyone teaching him, he came to faith in Jesus Christ! That’s why the writer of Hebrews tells us that Scripture is “living and active” (Heb. 4:12).
I bring this to your attention lest we become merely bible researchers or bible trivia buffs who want lots of knowledge, but all the while, miss the power and life in the very Book into which we look. Why bring this up?
Someone may wonder what God will do with Israel. So he goes to the Bible to find the answer. It just happens that this section of Romans offers clear answers. But you can read about Him saving Israel without seeing the greatness of God’s sovereignty in that saving work. Unfortunately, many simply lift a verse out of chapter 11 to fill in their blank without understanding the power and mystery of God at work. Or someone may be curious about divine election. Romans 9 offers ample declarations about election. But one can read the facts stating it while failing the see the greatness of God’s mercy shown in election. In other words, we can ramble through the Bible to find interesting information that satisfies our curiosity while missing its message. And what is its message. It’s the message of a merciful God who demands righteousness, and secures righteousness through His Son for all those who believe. That theme runs throughout the Word. But many only find an answer to a curiosity question without seeing the message of grace.
Some of Paul’s readers were seemingly just looking for the facts to fill in the blanks of their questions without seeing the heart of God in the text. Here’s the question that Paul seemed to encounter at the end of Romans 8. “Okay, Paul. You tell us that if God is for us no one can be against us, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. But what about the Jews? They had all of these great promises and were called the people of God. But look at them now. Very few have any interest in the gospel; they have rejected God’s Messiah. So if they are far from God, yet had these promises from God, then how do you expect us to believe that we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ? How can we believe that nothing can separate us from Him?”
So Paul embarks on an explanation of God’s sovereignty in salvation, starting with the Jews but also including Gentiles. He reminds us, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” In other words, ethnicity does not equate to election. Did Paul seem cold toward his kinsmen in his response? To blunt the edge of his comments he introduced the subject of election and Israel’s part in it by insisting that he was willing to be cut off from Christ for the sake of his Jewish kinsmen. Yet by the time one gets to the end of Romans 9, and he states that only a remnant of Israel would be saved, and though Israel pursued a law of righteousness, they did not arrive at it because righteousness must be attained by faith, the hearers are back at the same spot—wondering if Paul has it in for his fellow Jews, and missing the message for the fill-in-the-blank answer.
The Apostle opens a window to his soul. He wants his readers to grasp something of God’s passion and provision for all people to come to know Him, while at the same time, Paul demonstrates his passion for his lost kinsmen. Chapter 10 emphasizes human responsibility in salvation: from the call to confess and believe, to the insistence on gospel messengers to proclaim the good news, and to the necessity of passionate prayer for the lost. But the chapter sits between two chapters that peel back the shroud of mystery so that we might gaze at the hem of divine sovereignty in election even though we do not see the whole garment. That leaves us some questions. That’s what we want to consider in our text. The gospel preeminently concerns the righteousness of God for sinners who believe in Christ. Questions surround this truth. Let’s probe a few questions raised by our text.
That is not an odd question at all. It is somewhat logical, at least on the surface. If “it does not depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs, but on God who has mercy,” then what’s there left for any of us to do? Do we not just need to mind our own business and let God save whom He will without bothering us? That kind of thinking stymied the early mission movement among Baptists in England until William Carey and Andrew Fuller took a stand on gospel ministry. But the question still haunts us. Does belief in election mean that we need not pray anymore for the lost?
Paul’s answer is memorable. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.” The plural pronoun refers to Israel, since Paul had just addressed their failure to arrive at the law of righteousness that they pursued. His “heart’s desire,” implies the thing that he wished for or found deepest pleasure in. It was a focused desire of the heart with the aim toward profound satisfaction in its fulfillment. Paul longed for his kinsmen to be saved even as he continued longing for the salvation of Gentiles. So was he just to leave it at a desire and nothing more? No, instead he prayed.
“My prayer to God for them is for their salvation.” So intense and earnest is the apostle’s desire that the original language does not even have a verb: ‘My heart desire and my prayer to God on their behalf—their salvation!’ We know that Paul believed strongly in the doctrine of election; that’s quite clear from chapters 8-9, as well as many other passages in the Epistles. So why did he see the need to pray?
Prayer for the lost springs from God’s mercy and promises. The one theme that echoed throughout 9:6-26 was the mercy of God. Paul did not pray for his kinsmen’s salvation because they deserved it or because they were once called the people of God or because they benefited from the covenants. He prayed because God is full of mercy toward sinners! Though none among the throngs of Israelites scattered across Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa during his day deserved salvation, God is full of mercy to save sinners. Paul knew that very well. It was personal to him as he considered himself the chief of sinners, and yet God met him in mercy on the Damascus Road.
But some of the Jews may have been too hardened against the gospel, some would think. Again, Paul knew that sentiment very well, since he had spent his days trying to do everything within his power to rid the world of Christianity and the gospel. Yet just such a hardened sinner and antagonist against the gospel met the mercy of God.
He clung to the promises of God, as well. “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob,” wrote Isaiah (Isa. 59:20; Rom. 11:26). So the Apostle made the assessment: “and so all Israel will be saved” (11:26). That motivated him to pray for his kinsmen. Because he understood the promise of God to eventually save a large host among the Israelites, he could pray passionately for their salvation.
Can we not do the same? We still have the same God of mercy that Paul knew so well. We still have the promises of God. “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev. 5:9-10). “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out…For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:37, 40). “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16).
Let us cling to the mercy of God and His bountiful promises as we pray for our unbelieving friends, and for the lost across the globe. We pray regularly for unreached people groups in Central Asia and for the lost among the Maasai and the mass of unbelievers in France. Our God is glorified by such praying for it seeks to call upon Him to do what no man can do—save sinners; it seeks to magnify His name among the nations; it seeks to honor Him by sinners repenting and believing in Christ for righteousness; it seeks to depend upon His mighty gospel; it seeks to trust Him to restore the image of God in fallen men, and thus magnify His name; it seeks to glory in His mercy and grace through Christ.
How do we develop more intensity in praying for the unbelieving? I’m borrowing seven ways to do this from a sermon preached by John Piper on this text.
In answer to the first question, yes doctrines do divide; that’s the very nature of truth. Jesus came not bringing peace but a sword. His gospel sets fathers against sons, mothers against daughters-in-law, and members of a household against each other. It is not that there’s a problem with the gospel but rather there is a problem with human nature. Men rebel naturally against God; they resist His Lordship over their lives. So, doctrine is really not the problem, the human heart is the seat of the problem.
Paul ran into the same problem with his kinsmen. “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God.” If we pause at this point, we realize that Paul commended the Jews for their zeal. No one could compare with them for unwavering pursuit for God. The English word “zeal” is a transliteration of the Greek term that Paul uses. They were not zealous for idols or for other gods but for the living God, the Creator and Redeemer, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Exodus and Promised Land.
But is zeal enough? We realize that many religious people are zealous in our day. None can doubt the zeal of many Muslims for their religion. Yet in that zeal, some strap on bombs and walk into public places and detonate their load. Zealous Hindus attacked a car with a missionary and his two sons inside, eventually burning them to death out of their desire to maintain their Hindu purity. We tend to call this kind of zeal fanaticism. But it is also the same zeal that would not miss attending church or praying the rosary or giving a tithe or volunteering for acts of service as the means toward achieving righteousness before God. That’s why Hindus and Muslims act fanatical in their zeal and it is why Americans professing to be Christians give due diligence to particular aspects of their religion. They do it for an aim: to achieve righteousness with God.
Paul explained more: “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.” None of us would deny that the zeal of a Muslim blowing up people, while fanatical zeal, is certainly no way to achieve righteousness. Yet do we seek to do the very same thing in more respectable and gentler ways? If our zeal is not grounded in proper doctrine (“knowledge”) then it will lead us astray. It is okay to be zealous. I commend zealousness just as Paul did! But it must flow out of a right understanding of God and His righteousness.
The reason for zeal apart from right knowledge is to earn something from God, namely right standing with Him. But doctrine corrects this kind of zeal. In Paul’s zeal, he persecuted the church. But what happened when he was confronted by the living Christ on the Damascus Road and consequently, the persecutor believed the gospel? Did he quit being zealous? Certainly, not! He immediately began preaching the gospel in the synagogues of Damascus, and he did it with such zeal that his kinsmen plotted to kill him. Zeal is no problem; it is a wonderful asset to cherish among Christians as long as it is “in accordance with knowledge.”
What kind of knowledge does Paul have in mind? What were they missing? It’s the failure to understand that the law cannot make anyone righteous; it’s the unfortunate ambition that thinks works can achieve righteousness. It’s the failure to understand the nature of one’s own sinful heart as well as the nature of God’s righteousness in its perfections. When one understands the condition of his heart and the righteousness of God he realizes that he can never remove the sin or scale the heights of righteousness. Unless God intervenes in grace through Christ, he can never stand in righteousness. The knowledge called for is the gospel of Jesus Christ—that He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone believing.
The Apostle makes a contrast in verse 3, and the contrast reveals the problem among the Jews as well as among many in our own day. “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” Here’s the problem: “they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” And what is this righteousness of God to which we are to yield to or put ourselves under? It is Christ as righteousness. In other words, it is not righteousness that I work up or that comes out of my diligent effort that God accepts.
This is liberating! So many people spend their lives trying to achieve something they can never get close to achieving. They seek to establish their own righteousness thinking it adequate before God. They have such a low view of God and exalted view of themselves that they dare to think God will accept such a paltry offering as adequate righteousness to stand in His holy presence. All the while, God has provided the righteousness that He accepts through Jesus Christ the Lord.
So what does it mean to “subject themselves to the righteousness of God”? It means that one relies upon, yields to, and depends upon God’s provision of righteousness in Christ. In other words, while the Jews (and plenty of Gentiles past and present) sought to establish their own righteousness as good enough, when it could never pass for true righteousness, they rejected the very righteousness acceptable to God. “The righteousness of God” is Christ for righteousness through faith in Him. But this is clearer in the next question.
The answer to this question is stated clearly in verse 4. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Or we could translate it, “For Christ as righteousness is the end of the law for all those believing.” The Jews zealously sought to adhere to the standards of the law, at least outwardly, to achieve righteousness. And all the while, though admirable in the effort, the law condemned them. They could not achieve the righteousness of God by their efforts. Granted, they achieved a level of self-righteousness admired by many but not the righteousness of God. And it is only His righteousness that He accepts.
So here is the quandary. God’s law makes clear demands upon us. We zealously seek to adhere to the law. We make external strides toward conformity to the law but inwardly, our hearts are corrupt, with envy, lust, deceit, hatred, bitterness, resentment, etc. We may not kill anyone or steal from a store, but we fail to love as the command intends and fail to give and serve as the command insists. So what will we do? We stand condemned!
But Jesus Christ never failed at the demands of the law—outwardly and inwardly. Not only did He never break the law—the negative aspects of the commands—but He also showed the love, fidelity, integrity, faithfulness, gratitude, and contentment demanded by the law positively. He fulfilled the law. Finally, one of Adam’s race fulfilled the law! It was satisfied from the standpoint of active obedience. Jesus gave attention to fulfilling all righteousness, even to the point of His baptism by John the Baptist.
Yet there was still the issue of the law’s condemnation. The law does not sit silently when we go to the grave. It demands justice! But Jesus answered at the cross! The only one the law could not condemn, Jesus Christ, answered its demands for justice through His bloody death at the cross. And so the Apostle could announce, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” “All it [the law] calls for in terms of righteousness before God, Christ has accomplished.”[2]
You will notice one catch. It is only for those who believe. Stick with your works righteousness and you will never know the righteousness of God. Stay with your zeal for doing good deeds and religious acts, yet you will never know God’s righteousness. But lay aside your self-effort and your claim to righteousness, and cling to Jesus Christ alone. Rely upon Him and His righteousness as your very own before God. That is not just an answer to a question—that is the message of God’s Word. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; submit to God’s righteousness in Christ. That’s true righteousness before God.
[1] John Piper, “My Heart’s Desire: That They Might be Saved,” www.desiringGod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/10473_My_Hearts_Desire_That_They_Might_Be_Saved/, 7-9.
[2] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Saving Faith: Exposition of Romans 10, (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1997), 57.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.
Copyright 2011, South Woods Baptist Church, All Rights Reserved