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Could you take your Bible and turn with me please to Romans chapter 9.

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We're going to begin reading in verse 30.

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Our text will run through verse 13 of chapter 10.

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Romans chapter 9, beginning with verse 30.

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What shall we say then?

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The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness

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which is by faith.

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But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

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Why?

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Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.

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They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a

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stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.

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Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

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For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

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For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did

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not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

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For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall

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live by that righteousness.

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But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend

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into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down?

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Or Who will descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead?

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But what does it say?

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The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart.

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That is, the word of faith which we are preaching.

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That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God

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raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

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For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,

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resulting in salvation.

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For the scripture says, Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.

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For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

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For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him.

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For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

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The theme that I want to trace in this text of scripture is Two Ways to Heaven.

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Now before you brand me as a heretic, get out the stake and light the fire, let me hasten

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to encourage you to hear me out as we talk about this theme.

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To come to God and have a right standing with him, one must have perfect righteousness.

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Our text seems to point toward two kinds of righteousness.

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There is a righteousness by works, and there is a righteousness by faith.

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Verse 32 says that.

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He speaks about the righteousness which is based on law, and in verse 6, the righteousness

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based on faith.

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The two kinds of righteousness spoken about in our text are works righteousness and faith

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righteousness.

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To have a standing with God and to go to heaven, you must have one or the other.

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Now in order for you to see the contrast that we are going to draw between works righteousness

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and faith righteousness, may I invite you back next week to hear the second half of

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this message.

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Because today we are going to get through the first point on the outline that you have

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in your hands.

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We are going to talk about works righteousness.

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But I set the stage for that.

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Let's review just a little bit.

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The Apostle Paul has shared with us in this part of Romans that the nation of Israel was

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chosen of God for his own redemptive purposes.

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He has told us that that election was not based upon Israel's ancestry or upon Israel's

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merit as a nation, but rather God chose Israel according to his own grace and according to

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his own purpose.

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Now there is a benefit in that, and that is Paul's point really.

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It is that since Israel's election was not based upon the nation's obedience, her present

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disobedience cannot annul God's ultimate purpose.

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You see his point is that what God has called Israel to be, she will be.

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And even though now she is set aside, as we will see in chapter 11, God will yet again

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someday take up the nation of Israel and consummate his promises to that people.

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His choice of Israel as a nation was based upon grace, and he will fulfill by grace his

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promises to the Jewish people.

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And yet in this part of this section of Romans that we are looking at today, his emphasis

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is on the present state of the nation of Israel.

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That is, a state of disobedience and of rejection of her Christ.

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And because she turned from her Christ and from the righteousness that God offered to

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her as a nation, God has now turned to the Gentiles.

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So you see even the hardness of the heart of Israel, just like the hardness of the heart

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of Pharaoh that we looked at last week, is glorifying God because now he is calling out

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the Church of Jesus Christ from both Gentiles and Jews.

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Israel's hardness and her rejection has broadened the scope of the offer of salvation

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to all men, to the whosoever.

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This was predicted in the Old Testament as we saw last week at the end of chapter 9.

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In verses 25 and 26 he quotes from Hosea, God said, I will call those who are not my

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people my people.

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In the context here of Romans 9, the Holy Spirit is talking about Gentiles.

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They were not his people in the Old Testament, but now God says my people.

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For her who was not beloved, God says I will call beloved Gentiles, he applies this to.

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And then in verses 27 through 29 he speaks about the Jewish remnant.

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And he says even though the nation be as the sand of the sea in number, it is the remnant

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of the Jewish nation physically that will be saved.

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Only a remnant saved in this age, just a few.

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If it weren't for that few, the Jews would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah as he says

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in verse 29, wiped out.

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Now our text that we look at this morning deals with Israel's rejection of the righteousness

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which God offered to her.

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In fact, if you look at these verses we've read and underline the word righteousness,

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if you have a text like mine at least, you'll find the word righteousness used ten times.

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That is the theme here, just as it is throughout the book of Romans.

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There are two kinds of righteousness, I repeat them, works righteousness, which we'll talk

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about in this message, and faith righteousness, which we will concentrate on next week.

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There are four facts about faith righteousness and about works righteousness which are in

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contrast.

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I encourage you to write down on your outline in the worship folder these four facts that

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I'm going to mention this morning about works righteousness.

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That way you can bring your outline back next week and pick right up where we're going to

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leave off today.

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Works righteousness is illustrated by national Israel, that is by the nation of the Jews.

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Works righteousness number one is based on the principle of law.

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The Jews wanted righteousness, that was not the problem with them.

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They did want righteousness, but you see they sought it in the wrong manner.

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Look at verses 31 and 32, but Israel pursuing, and that word means eagerly pursuing a law

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of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

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Why?

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Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.

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The Jews felt that by the works of the law, that by keeping the law, going through the

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ceremonial law, they could earn their righteousness with God.

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It was a merit system, and therefore they expended time, energy, and money trying somehow

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to earn on the basis of the law their righteousness before God.

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We see this illustrated in an incident that happened as Luke records it in chapter 10

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of his gospel.

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I invite you to turn back there and look at it with me.

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Looking at verse 25 of Luke chapter 10, behold a certain lawyer stood up and put him to the

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test.

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Boy, lawyers do put you to the test, don't they?

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This is not a normal attorney as we think of them today though.

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This is an expert in the law of Moses.

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That's the kind of lawyer that Jesus is faced with here.

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He asked Jesus this question, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

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He said to him, what is written in the law?

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That's a normal question.

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You would expect Jesus to ask a man who is an expert in the law.

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How does it read to you?

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Jesus does not directly answer his question, but as he did so many times, he asks the man

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a question in return.

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What does the law say to you, sir?

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He answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your

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soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

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Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly.

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You passed the test.

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The bar exam is passed.

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What you have said is right.

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In fact, Jesus himself said the very same thing in another place in the gospels.

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But then Jesus went on to say to him, do this and you will live.

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In other words, Jesus is saying to this lawyer, if you will practice perfectly the very summary

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of the law which you've given, then you will live.

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You will have eternal life.

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You will go to heaven.

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I believe that there were a few seconds of silence at that point between verses 28 and

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29.

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And as Jesus' eyes probed the heart of that lawyer, that man began to feel conviction

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because he knew that he had not perfectly kept the very commandments he had just quoted.

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He had not lived up to the knowledge that he had.

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But the law says, do this perfectly and you will live, and he hadn't done it.

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And so, wishing to justify himself, in other words, to get off the hook, to get away from

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the point of guilt, he asked this question, who is my neighbor?

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And Jesus then began to answer that question by the parable of the good Samaritan.

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You'll hear a lot of people get up and think that they are answering the first question,

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what shall I do to inherit eternal life by giving the parable of the good Samaritan?

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And they say, you be a good guy, wear a white hat, be kind to people like that Samaritan

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was and you will inherit eternal life.

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That is absolutely not what Jesus said to this lawyer.

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In giving the parable of the good Samaritan, he is answering the question, who is my neighbor?

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And by the time Jesus got through with him, he was asking the lawyer the question, whose

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neighbor are you anyway?

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Who have you loved?

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Who have you been kind to?

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So the man didn't get off the hook.

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But the answer to the question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life, according to

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the law, it would be answered this, love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your

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soul, all your strength, all your mind, and then love your neighbor as yourself.

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If you perfectly do that, you will live.

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The mistake the Jews made was that they thought they could do it.

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They sought righteousness, a works righteousness.

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It was based upon the law, but the problem was that they couldn't keep the law.

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And nobody can, because we are sinners.

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The Jews, however, refused to recognize that possibility.

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They were convinced that they could earn their brownie points with God.

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That they could earn enough righteousness to have a standing before God.

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And so they rejected the righteousness that God offered them by faith, and they turned

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to this self-righteousness, and in so doing, they were rejected by God.

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Warren Wiersbe said, here is the paradox of history.

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The Jews tried to be righteous and were rejected.

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The Gentiles who did not have the privileges the Jews had were received.

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Why?

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Because the Jews turned away from the way of salvation that God offered, the Gentiles

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received it.

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And you know that's the way it is with religious people today.

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They are just like the Jews.

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They think that somehow they can earn their way to heaven.

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They are sincere about that.

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And they even sacrifice to try to make it possible.

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Thinking somehow they can earn their righteousness with God.

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But the people who think that way and who preach that way from pulpits across America

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and around the world are preaching a way of salvation that is impossible for sinners.

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And all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

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When we lived in another city and I pastored a church nearby, I remember I think on Good

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Friday of every year some very sincere religious people of our community who would go to a

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big hill outside of downtown Cincinnati.

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And there they would get down on their knees and with beads in their hands and praying

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very sincerely and devoutly.

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They would begin to climb those hundreds of steps on their knees.

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And there would be a whole procession of them going up the side of the hill.

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And finally they would get into the church where they would observe a mass.

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Do not fault them for their sincerity or for the sacrifice that they seek to make.

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But the mistake there is the same mistake that the Jews made.

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They feel that they can earn their righteousness with God.

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You see, works righteousness is based upon the principle of law keeping, of doing good,

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of earning merit before God.

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And because the Jews sought that righteousness and turned from the true righteousness which

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God offered, God set the nation aside in judgment.

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A second fact about works righteousness, it feeds on personal pride.

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Romans 2 and 3 of Romans 10, for I bear them witness, says Paul, that they have a zeal

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for God.

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And the Jews did.

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And Paul knew about that zeal because he was as zealous as anybody else in the Jews' religion.

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He says, I bear them witness of that.

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But their zeal was not according to knowledge.

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For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did

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not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

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Became a matter of pride to the Jews.

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After all, they were the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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And they had the law and the patriarchs were theirs and the promises were theirs.

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Look at who they are.

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Why surely God will receive them and surely God will honor their works and the merit that

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they earned by keeping their law.

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But in all of that zeal, there was pride.

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So zealous were they that they persecuted the church.

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Jesus said in John chapter 16 verse 2, there will come a day, my disciples, when those

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who kill you, who persecute you, will think that they are doing a worshipful service for

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God.

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That's exactly how the Jews felt about it when they killed Stephen.

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In their zeal for God, they said, God, we are doing this for you.

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We are putting to death this man who is preaching Jesus.

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They put their coats down at the feet of a man named Saul, the apostle Paul.

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And in those pre-converted days, he stood there and watched that great saint of God

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being stoned to death and agreed and consented with it all.

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He says, as far as zeal is concerned, Philippians 3.9, I persecuted the church.

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He said, as far as the righteousness of the law is concerned, I was blameless.

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That is the outward righteousness, self-righteousness.

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Paul said, nobody could point a finger at me, but what about his heart?

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Works righteousness, my friend, feeds human pride.

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In fact, nothing feeds human pride more than good works religion.

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And that's because the flesh of the sinner wants to make itself feel worthy, that it's

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doing something impressive for God.

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And so the whole works righteousness religion, and it involves liberal Protestantism as well

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as other denominations, it involves the cults and the other religions of the world, they

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are all mixed up in this same kind of doctrine of works righteousness.

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Somehow by what I do, I'm going to impress God enough that he will let me into heaven.

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That builds pride.

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It builds the wrong kind of self-esteem.

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Then there's a third fact that we want to see about the works righteousness that the

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apostle points to here, and that is that it causes one to stumble over Christ.

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In verse 32 he says regarding the Jews, they stumbled over the stumbling stone just as

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it is written, behold I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence.

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The Holy Spirit takes two verses from Isaiah, chapter 28 verse 16 and chapter 8 verse 14,

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and he weaves them together here in Romans 9.33 to say that God has laid in Zion, in Israel.

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Not here a precious stone, an elect stone, but he says a stumbling stone.

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First Peter chapter 2 makes it clear that the Lord Jesus Christ is this one who was

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laid in Zion.

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There he is called the chosen stone, even the chief cornerstone of the church he is

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called in the New Testament.

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Peter says that we as believers are living stones built upon him.

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But it goes on to say those who are disobedient to the gospel stumble over the very stone

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upon which we as believers are built.

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So instead of being a stone of salvation he is a stone of stumbling to those who reject

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him.

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That is what happened to Israel my friend.

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And it happens every time a person chooses, works righteousness, self-righteousness as

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opposed to trusting Jesus Christ as Savior.

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He turns from the Savior only to stumble over the Savior to his own damnation.

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This stumbling of Israel was prophesied even in the words of Simeon.

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In Luke chapter 2, as the Lord Jesus was presented in the temple, Simeon blesses the Christ

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child and speaks to Mary these words, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise

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of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed to the end that thoughts from many hearts

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may be revealed.

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Simeon says this child, Mary, that you have in your hands is going to cause many in Israel

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to fall as well as some to rise.

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And he is going to cause the thoughts of many, the hearts of many to be revealed.

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And my friend that is exactly what Jesus Christ does with every sinner.

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He reveals the heart, either the willingness of that heart to trust him or the hardness

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of that heart in rejecting him.

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Paul adds this insight in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

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He says, The Jews ask for a sign, and the Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ

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crucified.

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To Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called,

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both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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The Jews look for a sign, some evidence of power in their Messiah.

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After all, they wanted one who would come and deliver them from Roman oppression.

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A crucified Christ, while the ideal was preposterous, a Christ crucified as a Christ who is weak,

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we reject him.

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And Gentiles said, it's got to make sense to us.

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It's got to be logical.

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It's got to be wisdom, according to our philosophers.

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And most of us follow in the train of those Greek philosophers in our society, because

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our society today says the Gospel doesn't make sense.

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How is it possible that one who lived 2,000 years ago could be relevant today?

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How could it be that one person dying could be said to be the Savior of all who believe

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around the world?

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Why that's silly.

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That's stupid.

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Only a moron would believe something like that.

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That's our world's appraisal of Jesus Christ today.

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But those of us who are saved know the truth.

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That Jesus Christ is both the power of God, and he is the wisdom of God.

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And in him is salvation, and apart from him there is none.

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There's a fourth truth we want to see about works of righteousness.

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It's based on the law.

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It feeds personal pride.

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I wanted to point out and fail to that when he says in verse 3, the Jews sought to establish

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their own righteousness, that word established means to build a monument.

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And how many people there are seeking to build monuments to themselves and thinking somehow

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God is going to look down and be mighty impressed.

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And then works righteousness causes one to stumble over Christ.

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Finally, it brings one to condemnation under the law.

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That's implied in verse 5.

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For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall

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live by that righteousness.

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That verse is a free rendering of Leviticus 18.5, the very verse that Jesus quoted to

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that scribe, to that lawyer.

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Do this and live.

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And what Paul is saying here is this.

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If one could live perfectly in obedience to the law, then he would have eternal life.

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But if one cannot live in perfect obedience to the law, then he must die for the soul

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that sins, says the law, shall die.

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It shall die.

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And so one who chooses to go the route of law keeping, of earning merit before God,

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of seeking righteousness through works, is one who actually only brings himself under

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the law's condemnation of death.

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And that's why Paul prayed for Israel.

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Brethren, my heart's desire, my prayer to God for them, is for their salvation.

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He knew that Israel, spiritually speaking as a nation, was lost.

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And he prays that the Jews might be saved.

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James gives us an interesting insight into the law.

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He says if a man keeps the whole law but offends in what?

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One point, he's guilty of it all.

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He says the law says you shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery.

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And if one says I've not committed adultery, but he's a murderer, he nonetheless, says

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James, is a transgressor.

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You may feel that you're a very moral and upright person, but after all, you are better

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than most of the people around you and that may be true.

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But you're making the wrong comparison, my friend.

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The comparison you need to make is not between you and somebody else, but between yourself

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and the perfect standard of righteousness lived out in the life of Jesus Christ, for

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that's God's standard for entering heaven.

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You say, well I have kept almost all the commandments.

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The point is you've got to keep them all.

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All of them.

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Have you done that?

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Have you ever told one little lie?

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Have you ever had one impure thought?

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Has there ever been one streak of jealousy in your heart?

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If so, then you are a transgressor of the law and there is no way for you to get to

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heaven by works righteousness.

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You are disqualified from that route.

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So do not make the mistake that Israel made and seek to earn your way to heaven.

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You can't do it.

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They as a nation went into judgment and you will go into judgment individually if you

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seek to get to heaven by this way of works righteousness.

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Back in February a team of Christians went into the Arizona State Prison.

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Some of you heard part of the team testify to this a few weeks ago on Wednesday night.

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While they were in there they asked for volunteers who would be willing to go to death row.

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No one was really anxious to go, but a few of them said, we will go.

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So they took them to that place of isolation, of complete total confinement, and they divided

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up the prisoners according to the number of volunteers they had, one for one.

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The guard said, look you've got three minutes with each one you want to talk to, no more.

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You may not go near the cells.

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We will have guards stationed between you and the prisoners so there can be absolutely

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no contact between you and the prisoners.

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How would you like to try to witness to somebody in three minutes with that kind of constriction

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00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,400
on you?

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They went in.

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The son-in-law of a family who attends here, the Hugo Hegstroms, Wes, went to the cell

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of a man named Willie.

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Willie was born a Jew and is imprisoned in Arizona because he has killed 16 or 17 people.

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A gross offender, a criminal, despicable, a law breaker, a criminal that is worthy of

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punishment as we think of it, confined there.

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Wes talked to Willie, separated.

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What's he going to say in three minutes?

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What would you say in three minutes?

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He shared with him very briefly that God loved him, that Jesus Christ had died for his sins.

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Willie just turned it off.

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All together too soon, the guard said, times up, let's go.

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Right then, the Spirit of God impressed upon Wes's heart, give him your New Testament.

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The New Testament he had in his hands was a gift from his wife.

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It was leather bound.

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It was not a cheap one.

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He said, Lord, this is not a cheap New Testament.

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The Spirit of God said, Wes, give him that New Testament.

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He reached through the bars, much to the dismay of the guard, and handed Willie that New Testament

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and said, please read this.

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Turned around and walked out.

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Weeks went by, and during that time, Wes wrote back to Willie just following up, trying to

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share more of the gospel with him.

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On March 13th of this year, here's a letter, dear Wesley.

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00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:13,200
First, I would like to apologize for taking so long to write back, but I had to do a lot

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of heavy soul-searching for the past few weeks.

392
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You see, right after I talked to you, the rabbi stopped by and I told him of our conversation

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and how good it made me feel.

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He became very upset with me and told me how I was deserting my family, my heritage, and

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my God, and that if I ever knelt down and prayed to a dead man, that I would no longer

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be a Jew and that they would hold me to be dead.

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Needless to say, he's put me through a lot of guilts, and if he would have left it at

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that, he might have kept me from writing to you altogether.

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But he had to push it even further and put a price tag on it.

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00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:58,200
You see, for the last three years, the Jewish Community Center has been sending me $25 a

401
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:04,200
month so that I could have my soap and toothpaste, stamps and stationery, and that this would

402
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:05,580
be withdrawn.

403
00:35:05,580 --> 00:35:10,440
He also told me how they had bought me a real nice radio for my birthday, which is this

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00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,320
month, and that I could just forget ever seeing it.

405
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:18,520
I have been reading the New Testament that you gave me on a daily basis, and when he

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00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:23,520
threatened me with the loss of what little physical comfort I have, it seemed to strike

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00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:28,240
home all of the things that Christ speaks of dealing with a person being willing to

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make those sacrifices willingly.

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00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:36,040
So I have spent the last two weeks reading your Bible and asking Jesus to make himself

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00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:38,160
real in my life.

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00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:43,320
And I find now that the only thing that really matters in my life is what is contained in

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00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:48,320
the book of John, chapter 3, verse 16.

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00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:53,760
Every time I read it, I can see the completion of the covenant that my people have always

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had with God.

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In no way does Christ take away from my being Jewish.

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On the contrary, he completes it.

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I know that it may be hard for you to understand, but my heritage means a great deal to me,

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and even though some of my own people are angered at me, I still love them very much.

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00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:18,160
I am writing a letter today to explain to them my love for Christ and why I cannot turn

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my back on him.

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I do not expect for them to know the relief and joy I feel because my conversion was a

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00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:30,480
very personal thing, but I do want them to know that I would never do anything to harm

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them and that I will always pray that they will see the light as I have.

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It sounds like the Apostle Paul, doesn't it?

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My heart's desire, my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.

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00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:58,520
Just a few weeks ago now, Willie was taken at his request in shackles to a little Baptist

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00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:01,120
church near the prison and was baptized.

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00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:07,840
He became a member of that church and they are ministering to him.

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00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:15,520
Interestingly, right after Willie made his conversion known, the Protestant chaplain

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00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:26,560
of that prison went to Willie and denounced him.

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00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:34,360
He drew up a document that Willie had to sign and in which he swore that the chaplain had

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nothing to do with his conversion.

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My friend, that is the contrast between the works righteousness of that liberal chaplain

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00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:57,480
and the faith righteousness that Jesus Christ offers whoever will call upon him.

435
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:03,040
Which righteousness do you have today?

436
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:09,080
Let's pray.

437
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:14,200
No hope can on the law be built of justifying grace.

438
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:19,920
The law that shows the sinner's guilt condemns him to his face.

439
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,640
Jesus, how glorious is thy grace!

440
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:32,880
When in thy name we trust, our faith receives a righteousness that makes a sinner just.

441
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:34,480
Would you sing with me?

442
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:42,600
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.

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00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:51,080
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.

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00:38:51,080 --> 00:39:08,960
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free.

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00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:25,800
For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son to die on Calvary's tree from sin to set

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00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:27,800
me free.

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00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:39,040
Someday he's coming back, what glory that will be!

448
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:46,200
Wonderful is his love to me!

449
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:52,960
Father, how grateful we are for the truth of John 3.16.

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00:39:52,960 --> 00:40:01,200
For the joy that knowing when Jesus comes back that we, Willie, and all of the redeemed

451
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:07,480
through the blood of Jesus Christ, those who have trusted the Savior, who have accepted

452
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:14,560
faith righteousness, can rejoice together in that day in your presence.

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00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:20,280
Father, I just sense that there are some here today who are not trusting in that righteousness

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00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:28,880
but rather are still seeking works righteousness, and are under condemnation, hopeless, and

455
00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:31,480
headed for hell.

456
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:39,800
May one or several who are like that here this morning open their heart and trust in

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00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:45,680
the Lord Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life by faith.

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I pray in Jesus' name, amen.