Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: As Christians, we're going, there's one way. There's one belief in one man who came to die for your sins. No other. Buddha didn't die for me. Confucius didn't die for me. Muhammad didn't die for me. Come on. Hare Krishna and Krishna didn't die for me. But there is one who died for me. His name is Jesus Christ. He died for me to free me. If I would believe in him and receive him, my whole life would be changed.

Guest (Male): Oh, you Christians are so narrow-minded. Ever heard that one before? When we proclaim there is one way to heaven, it's upsetting to some, but it is the truth. And Romans makes that abundantly clear. With that said, we should be very grateful God has given us even one way to heaven. We really don't deserve it.

Today on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff Johnson lays out God's one way to heaven through faith in Christ. And then we're to unashamedly tell others about it too. We'll be finishing up Romans chapter 9 today, so open your Bible and join us. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: For I would not, brothers, that you should be ignorant. See, he doesn't want us to be ignorant about a lot of things. And he tells us right up front, don't be ignorant about this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits. No, that the blindness in part has happened to Israel. Israel has been blinded from their Messiah. We all understand that.

They're huddling in a little piece of the country over there in Europe. Just a little slice no bigger than one of our smallest states. And they're all huddling there. But there's blindness in part in Israel, notice, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. What is the fullness of the Gentiles? It's God has a number in heaven. He only has that number. When that fullness comes in, when that last Gentile receives Christ into their heart, that means immediately the rapture is going to take place. We're out of here and then God is going to work on the Jews during the seven-year tribulation period. That's what he's saying. It's Jacob's troubles. That's the way he's going to wake up his nation through a horrific time.

But we're out of here. Now, if you're that last Gentile and you're here this morning, I would suggest getting that hand up, getting that heart turned towards the Lord, and let's go home. If you're that last Gentile to come into the fullness of it. And that's the exciting part. We don't know when that day is going to be. So we have to be ready. We have to be right with God.

Verse 29, he says, and as Isaiah again, going back to the Old Testament, said before in Isaiah 1:9, except the Lord of the Sabbath had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom and had been like Gomorrah. Now we know about Sodom and Gomorrah. They were baked on the spot. There is brimstone poured out of heaven and came up from the earth. You go to that place today and all you see is black heavy rock. It looks like a volcano was there but there was no volcano in that place at that time. It was God pouring out that from heaven upon this place and literally flattening it and burning it up completely.

So Israel becomes a type of all mankind. God's election, his saving mercy is revealed through not only Israel but through what God is doing with the Gentiles. And if it wasn't for God's mercy, we would have all been immediately crispy critters. God would have just smote us on the spot. When you think about it, we can't argue about it.

This is why Billy Graham said this over and over again. If God doesn't judge America, he's going to have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah. He has been given this nation mercy upon mercy. Hundreds of years of mercy he has had on this nation that we would get it right, that we would make him king and Lord of this country, this beautiful country. But we have turned our backs every single time. So God will judge this country, as Billy Graham said, or he's going to have to apologize for Sodom and Gomorrah. And he's not going to do that, though.

In conclusion, verse 30, what shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith? If God hasn't failed his promises, his calling, his mercy, then who has? Who has blown it? Paul seeks to reveal it's man's responsibility to go God's way. God's always made a way in the very beginning. And it was with Abraham as he believed God that it was given to him as righteousness.

There's something about that word believe. There's something about faith that this is God's way. That's why as Christians we're going, there's one way. There's one belief in one man who came to die for your sins. No other. Buddha didn't die for me. Confucius didn't die for me. Muhammad didn't die for me. Come on. Hare Krishna and Krishna didn't die for me. But there is one who died for me. His name is Jesus Christ. He died for me to free me. If I would believe in him and receive him, my whole life would be changed.

This is kind of a contrast, or Paul's giving an illustration. Gentile heathen dogs, and this is what he's saying here in verse 30, who couldn't care less, who were in sin, yet these are the ones to receive God's righteousness. They weren't even looking for it and yet they got it. Does that relate to your experience with God? When you were a sinner, Christ died for you and you were cursing God and you were just doing your own thing, then finally you ended up in a place like this hearing a message like this and all of a sudden you just came to your senses. You say, I need to do something.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit comes upon you. I've never done this. I remember when I was sitting there and I thought I did a lot of things but I've never done this, to receive Jesus. I've heard that he's a good teacher and a good guru and I had him up with all my other gurus but Savior. And yet the Lord says, yeah, I brought them in. Notice what the scripture says, the just shall live by faith alone. You want to be justified? You want to experience God's righteousness? Then believe in Jesus. Trust in, cling to, adhere to, give yourself to him, rely upon him.

That word believe means grab hold of him. Don't let go. Believe that God sent his son to die for your sins, that the third day he rose again from the dead, that he is Lord and you will be saved. By faith they received. God's part is to draw us to a place like this and then to save us when we get to that point of experiencing a trust in. I'm going to give my life to Jesus this morning. I am going to respond to this message. I am going to receive him as my Lord and Savior. That's where it happens. See, that's our part. God's part is to bring you here and then God's part is once you get to that point of responding to what he's done, then he saves you. That's his part because I can't save myself and I can't keep myself saved. I thank God I'm in his hands.

The only reason I'm standing here today is because of his hands. He's the potter, I'm the clay and I'm not going to jump out. And I know I have legs, I could jump out and run but I'm not going to do that. I want him to continue his work in my life. Verse 31, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. In other words, Israel, the Jew would say at this time, it's not fair. The Gentiles just come on in just by believing in Jesus and then they just get to have it all. And they're going, we've been working at this for thousands of years trying to be good, do good, be righteous, obey the law. And then all of a sudden these guys just come on in.

Here's where verse 16, bounce over back Romans 9 verse 16, comes into play. Romans 9:16, so then it is not of him that willeth, like I'm just going to do my best, nor of him that runneth, I'm going to persevere, I'm going to strive at this thing and I'm going to win. No, it's neither way but of God that shows mercy. God is the one that saves. The Gentiles didn't seek it and then they got it. The Jews sought it, worked for it, failed. They went after the righteousness by the law and they just couldn't get it.

What does going after the righteousness of the law mean? It means obeying principles to get righteousness. And that's what they were trying to do. If I could just do the law, if I could just be good, if I could just do this, then I'm righteous. But that's not the way you get righteousness. And God is using the law to show us all that that's not the way to get saved.

The law, remember, the law was a schoolmaster to show us that we've all fallen short. We can't do it. We can't strive hard enough. It's just when we let go and let God give us mercy and save us and just say, Jesus paid it all. He did it all and to him I owe everything. Here Paul establishes the doctrine of faith over works. Remember Abraham believed God. Unless your righteousness exceeds the Pharisee's righteousness, and then they said, well, who can be saved? With man it's impossible but not with God. God's able to save someone just by simple belief.

That's always how it's been. And then it's not to me be the glory and look what I've done and I started to pray, then I started to fast, and I fasted and I prayed and I looked up to God and I spent three months in a cave. You go through all this stuff that you did and everybody's going, that is a holy man of God. Thank you for seeing that, acknowledge me, put me on a pedestal. As soon as you do that, the guy's going to fail you and blow your mind.

It's not about that. It's by grace we are saved through faith. That's it. It's nothing that I ever did or I ever will do. Undeserved, unearned, unmerited favor. God just gave it to me. That's the beauty of it all. That's the love of God. That's the goodness of God that brings me on a daily basis to repentance because God loves me so much, because he wants me to do well. He wants me to be open to his spirit, to be open and to be hungering for the word of God. He wants me to do well. He wants you to do well. He wants to make our lives a poem, a beautiful story, a before and after. And it's to him be the glory because God did this after. And then others go, God must be pretty powerful. He is.

So all scriptures, history, the Jewish nation, they all point to this. The Old Testament Jews could never approach God. They were afraid. They had a reason to be afraid, too. And the reason that they were afraid is they were under the law of exclusion. They were cut off from God. Remember there was a veil between them and a holy God. And only one priest could go in once a year. And when he went in, he had to have bells on, keeping the bells going, and a rope around his ankle so if he went in and God killed him because Jews were bad or something, they'd drag him out because nobody else could go in there.

How'd you like to be that priest? You didn't have to make sure that those bells would be ringing because those bells would be really chiming. And then you're just like before the Wizard of Oz, "I am the Wizard of Oz," freaking out. And let alone the people, they were afraid and they thought they were going to have to pull him out because they didn't know. Look at that relationship with God. That's crazy. And then finally when Jesus died, the veil was torn from the top to the bottom and God just removed the veil and said, guys, it's open house. Come on in.

I want to fellowship with you. I want to walk with you. I want to have a relationship with you. I want to be intimate with you. I want to walk with you and talk with you. I want to show you great and mighty things. I want to use you to touch somebody else. There's nothing more greater than that than you being a witness to someone else and even bringing them to church like some of you maybe brought somebody this morning. You're sitting there just going, "Oh God, be with Pastor Jeff and be with Jason. May they pick the right songs and just be with Jeff so he doesn't freak out and blow everything away."

You're praying like crazy. Lord, do a work. And there's nothing more exciting and then to see someone who you brought or they make their decision and they come to the Lord, then you watch them grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and you're part of that. There's nothing like that. And we become disciplers and we disciple those that we bring. That's what God says, behold, it's open house. Invite them to come in. Compel them to come from the highways and the byways. Bring them in and I'll do the work that needs to be done.

Verse 32, he says, well why? Wherefore? How come this has happened? Because they sought it not by faith. How come the Jews were so afraid? How come they struggled so much? Because they didn't seek the Lord by faith but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at the stumbling stone. In other words, they tried by man's way, works, to be good, not by God's way which is by faith. They tried to go through these rituals and ceremonies. They tried to go through the temple worship, sacrifices, the giving. Oh, I gave.

The baptisms. They would baptize. Jews had baptisms everywhere. They would always be cleansing themselves. They believed in cleansing themselves and being clean as they went into the temple. It was so important that they have clean clothes and clean body as they went into God's presence. But that's not where it's at. Or some today would say, well, I go to church. Does that get me in? No. So you could say, I went to Calvary first Sunday of the year, I was there, God. God's going to go, "Okay, and?" Well, I just thought I'd let you know.

We get into the works thing, right? Because we're trying to work our way to heaven? You can't work your way to heaven. You're not good enough. No one is. That's why he came. These are outward strivings of the Jews. Why should we give these guys, Peter said in Acts 15, something that we couldn't do neither our fathers could do? Why are you guys saying, okay, the Gentiles can be Christians if they circumcise themselves first? Well, what are you doing? You're adding a little something to it? Well, yeah, because we had to.

Everybody, James, Peter, they all said, no, no, we didn't do it. Our fathers struggled with it. They never achieved anything. Let's don't put that on them. Let's rejoice in that they've received Jesus and are walking in righteousness now. Period. And that they've come in. And that was a real crossroads of the early church at that time.

Paul said if anybody should be a righteous man, it's me. Hey, I was circumcised on the eighth day. You talk about a Pharisee, I was a Pharisee of Pharisees. You talk about a Hebrew, oh, I knew the scriptures, I knew it all. You talk about being zealous, oh, I persecuted the church. Like that was a great thing. Well, no, that wasn't a good thing. That's what got him laying on his back. But he was bragging about all the stuff that he did. But see even Paul had to be knocked down and had to come to his senses and say there's only one way. That's it. There's no other way. And what did he do? He said, this is the way. Don't stumble anymore.

That this cornerstone, this is so pivotal. The cornerstone is where you start your benchmark. The cornerstone is where you start your building. Without the cornerstone, everything else is going to fall apart. You've got to start with this cornerstone and then build up and then it'll be strong. But they dumped it away. They pushed it away. They didn't think they needed it. They said Jesus, Messiah, no, and they pushed it away and tried to build their flimsy house, their flimsy religion or whatever. It didn't make it.

Over in Isaiah 18 there's a beautiful psalm about this is the day the Lord has made. And he talks about the stone which the builders refused to become the head cornerstone. This is the day and everybody's rejoicing. Hosanna, Hosanna. Remember when Jesus came on the donkey, rode in? And everybody was singing "Hosanna, Hosanna, save now, save now." The Pharisees said, "Hey, what are you doing? Jesus, you better tell your disciples to shut up. They're blaspheming God. They're saying you're the Savior."

He said, "That's right. And if they don't sing Hosanna, Hosanna, these very rocks are going to all start crying out and you'll have the first rock concert. And it'll blast you because God would cause the very rocks to sing it out because he has arrived. He's on the earth." We talked about this I think it was last Sunday when we talked about the beginning of time or the beginning of the splitting of history and how powerful Jesus Christ when he came to this earth, things that took place. And now look what he's continuing to do. Save people, bring people to a knowledge of a God who loves this world and loves you personally in your life and cares about you in every area.

It is so powerful. And Jesus said if you would have only known this thy day. He begged the Jews to see it. Don't turn away. And he wept. Forty years later, Titus came through and leveled the temple. And he prophesied your house is going to be left desolate. Wake up. This is your day. Now is the day, today is the day of salvation for many of you today. Because here you are. God brings you to this place and you have yet to receive Christ as your Savior. You don't have a personal relationship. And God brought you here just today to let you know he loves you and he wants this for you.

There's no other way to get to heaven. There's no other way to be blessed by God in this earth than to go his way, to walk in agreement with God, to say yes to the Creator and say, "You know what? You're God, you know what you're doing. And here's your word and you're speaking to me. And now you're convicting me of my sin." And now I'm confused and then the enemy comes in and says "Don't do it, don't do it." And there's that warfare that goes on in your heart. It's beating and the Lord's busting you and the Lord's saying you come, you come.

Guest (Male): We're making our way through Romans one verse at a time. Pastor Jeff Johnson has a bit more to say today on Sound Doctrine and we'll have that for you in just a minute. His message today is titled "One Way to Heaven – His Way!" and can be heard again at sounddoctrineradio.org or oneplace.com or wherever you enjoy your podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. By the way, you can donate to this radio outreach right there at sounddoctrineradio.org. Thank you in advance for whatever God leads you to do.

We have enough time to look at one more verse in Romans chapter 9. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: Finally, verse 33, as it is written, Paul says, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed." This is out of Isaiah 28:16. For 2,000 years, the Jews and others have stumbled at this Messiah, this Jesus, a rock of offense. Over in again Romans 11:11 it says, "I say then have they stumbled that they should fall, that they are completely lost? God forbid, perish the thought. But rather through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy." I love that verse.

Because the Jews blew it, God uses everything for good. You know that? Everything. The Jews blew it, they rejected their Messiah. God knew that they would, and they did. He put them on the back burner and he then saved Gentiles. And then why did he raise us up? So we would cause the Jews to be jealous. That's what the verse says, Romans 11:11. And we do that as we gather together, as we worship the Lord, especially when you go to Israel and you start worshipping the Lord over there and thanking God.

Jews get really angry. In fact, they made a law, you will not evangelize and speak in the name of that Jesus. And they made laws so you couldn't evangelize in Israel. They huddled themselves there and said they were trying to protect themselves from everything and especially from Christians who are going to give them Jesus. But we go over there and we just love the Lord, we worship the Lord, and then they get angry. And you will make people angry because you love God, especially the Jew.

Guest (Male): Next time on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff underscores the need for evangelism as we begin Romans chapter 10. This program is listener supported and brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.