False Justification and True
(No. 2932)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 15, 1876.
"If I justify myself, my on mouth shall condemn me." Job 9:20.
"It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?" Romans 8:33,34.
THE great question for the human race to answer has always been this,
"How can man be just with God?" It is clear to every conscience that is
at all awake that the thrice-holy God demands obedience to His Law and
that disobedience to the Divine Law will certainly entail punishment.
Hence the grand essential for each one of us is to be right towards
God–to be accounted just even at His judgment bar. This is a most
important matter at all times, but it appears to increase in importance
as we advance in years and get nearer to that great testing time when
the Lord shall put everyone into His unerring balances, to weigh him
and so to prove what he really is. Woe unto the man who shall stand
before the Bar of God unjustified! But happy shall he be who, in that
last dread day, shall be approved and accepted by the Judge of all the
earth!
I am going to speak about the way in which we are justified in the
sight of God and I have taken two texts because so many people seem to
have thought that there are two ways by which sinners can be justified
before God. The first way that I shall describe is the false one. The
second is the true way. The first is that which is mentioned by Job,
the way of self-justification, of which it may be truly said that it is
self-condemninginstead of self-justifying. The second mode of
justification is the one that is ordained by God and of that it may
rightly be said that it never can be condemned. It challenges Heaven
and earth and Hell in those grand words which I have just read to you,
"It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?"
I. First, for a few minutes, let us consider THE SELF-JUSTIFICATION OF
WHICH JOB SPEAKS–"If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me."
I call to your remembrance the fact the it is Job who speaks thus,
because, if there ever was a man in this world who might have been
justified before God by his own works, it was Job. Did not the Lord
Himself say of him to Satan, "There is none like him in the earth, a
perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil"? Yet,
so far was Job from imagining that he had attained a sinless condition
that he here declares concerning himself, "If I say I am perfect, it
shall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet I would not
know my soul–I would despise my life." In addition to Job's excellence
of character, he paid devout attention to religious observances. When
his children met together for feasting, he ordered special scarifies on
their behalf, saying, "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed
God in their hearts." Job was evidently as devout towards God as he was
upright towards man, yet, you see, he tells us that if he were to
justify himself, his own mouth would condemn him! Further, as if to
show us how notable Job was in all respects, he had, in addition to his
excellent character and his devotional spirit, most remarkable
afflictions. But, putting together all his good works, all his
religious observances and all his afflictions, he says, "If I justify
myself, my own mouth shall condemn me." Job, at any rate, was not one
of those who have imagined that they could work out a righteousness of
their own which could be acceptable in the sight of God!
Let us try to find out what he meant when he said, "If I justify
myself, my own mouth shall condemn me." I think he meant, first, that
it would not be true. He could not and dare not say that he was just
before God–it would be a lie for
him to stand up before the Lord and say, "Great God, I deserve
commendation at Your hands, for in me is found true righteousness."
Instead of talking like that, Job says, "If I were to say that, my own
mouth would contradict me while I was trying to say it. I could not say
it–I dare not say it." I hope there are many here who feel that to
talk about any righteousness of their own would be utterly absurd. If I
were to attempt to justify myself before God, I should have to lie to
my conscience, my self-knowledge and my whole being! Whatever anyone
else may think or say, I know that I must be saved by the Grace of God
or else I shall never be saved at all! I have not done a single good
work in which I cannot see any fault–not one solitary thing which I
cannot perceive to be marred and stained and, like a vessel spoiled
even while it is on the potter's wheel, not fit to be presented before
God at all! That is what Job meant when he said, "If I justify myself,
my own mouth shall condemn me."
But he meant, next, that his words, themselves, would be sufficient to
condemn him. I know that I am addressing a large number of persons
whose lives are apparently blameless. The most observant critic here
would be unable to bring any very grave or serious charge against you
and yet, my dear Friends, if you were to try to justify yourself before
God, your words, themselves, would be enough to condemn you, for what
sort of words do you use? I do not suppose that you use profane
words–I will not imagine that you take the name of God in vain!
Though, alas, that is a sin that is not at all uncommon. But do you not
often utter proud, boastful words? Do you not often speak in a very
lofty way concerning yourselves and your own doing? Do we not all use
far too many light and trifling words–not merely such as cheerfulness
may warrant, but such as are a mere waste of time, diverting the mind
from serious purposes? And did not our Lord Jesus Christ say that,
"Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the Day of Judgment"?
And, Friends, let me whisper other questions in your ear. Do you never
use words of a very doubtful kind? Is it not far too common in society
for people to go to the very verge of propriety in what they say? Have
you never done so? And have you never used false words? Have you always
spoken the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Has your
heart always gone with your tongue? Have there been no false
compliments–no lying expressions of an affection that you never felt?
I wish that certain people would more often go to the mirror and
examine their tongues. Doctors judge their patients' health by looking
at their tongues–and we might judge of our moral and spiritual health
in a similar way. Oh, what tongues some people would have if their
words could blister their tongues as they ought to do! How common it is
to hear scandalous words and slanderous words–and how many hearts are
made to bleed, full often, by the cruel things that are said! "If I
justify myself," says Job, "my own mouth shall condemn me," and I think
he means, "because my very words have been sufficient to cause me to
plead guilty before God." I trust we also feel like that and if we do,
we shall never dare to be self-righteous.
I think, further, that Job meant that if he were to plead that he was
righteous before God, he would be sure to make such a muddled statement
that, somehow or other, the statement, itself, would contain its own
condemnation. If a man says, "I have kept God's Law perfectly, so I can
enter Heaven by the merit of my own good works," every intelligent
person thinks, "What a proud man that is!" And can a proud man be
accepted before God? Is it not written, "Though the Lord is high, yet
has He respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knows afar off'? So you
see that a statement of justification by betraying the pride of our
heart, straightway condemns us! Men who believe themselves to be saved
by their own good works generally have something harsh and evil to say
against God's Divine Grace, or against His Son, or against the Divine
plan of salvation through the substitutionary Sacrifice of Christ. And
the very fact that they say anything against those things shows that
their heart is in rebellion against God and, therefore, their own mouth
condemns them!
Years ago there was as old man in Wiltshire who, according to his own
statement, was 103 years of age. He had never neglected his parish
church, he had brought up 11 children and had no help from the parish.
And he expected that, by-and-by, he would go Home to God, for, "he had
never done anything wrong in his life that he knew of." "But," said
someone to him, "you are a sinner, you know." "I know I ain't," he
said. "Well, but God says that you are." And what, do you think, that
old man replied? He said, "God may say what He likes, but I know I
ain't." So, you see, he even contradicted God, Himself, and is not that
a great sin for anybody to commit? What worse sin can there be and what
clearer proof of the alienation of the human heart than that a man
should flatly contradict God? Well, none of you ever did that, did you?
No, you have not honesty enough to do that, but you mean it all the
same! Many of you mean it in your very souls. When a man does not
accept salvation by Jesus Christ, if you probe his heart to its very
depths, you will
find that his rejection means that he does not really feel that he is
guilty in the sight of God. He will not admit that he needs Divine
Mercy, nor will he accept salvation by the blood and righteousness of
Christ. Self-righteousness often lies concealed far down in the heart
of man–but whenever he ventures to speak it out, the very way in which
he talks of it condemns him!
I have heard men talk in this fashion–"Well, I am quite as good as
others are. And if I am not all right at last, it will be a very bad
look-out for a great many." Oh, yes, I see what you mean! Because
others are not what they should be, you are content with your own
condition because you are like they! There is no fear of God before
your eyes and your only hope is that as you are like others, for it
will be as well with you as it will be with them! But is not that a
poor hope to lean upon? Do you not know that the broad road is thronged
with travelers and yet that it leads to destruction? Even if you fare
as others do, it will be no comfort to you to perish as they do! There
is a very ancient declaration which ought to be a warning to
you–"Though hand joins in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished."
"Well," says another, "I have done my best and I cannot do more than
that." When you speak like that, you mean to imply that God asks of you
more than He ought to ask, that He is really unjust in His dealings
with you and that the great evil is not that you are a bad servant, but
that He is a tyrant Master! What is that but flinging down the gauntlet
to the Almighty and charging Him with injustice? Such language as that
betrays the enmity of your heart against the Most High.
"Well," says another, "I pay everybody all that is due." I am glad that
you do so and wish everybody else did the same, but have you paid to
God all that is due to Him? There is the great flaw in your life–you
pay every creditor except your God to whom you owe all that you have!
Many a man who would not treat his dog badly, does not mind ill
treating his God! The last one of whom many of you think is your
Creator, Provider and Perseverer–the God who keeps the breath of life
in your nostrils! You give some sort of consideration to the meanest
servant in your kitchen, but to Him who made the Heavens and the earth,
to Him who sustains all things by the word of His Power, you pay no
regard whatever! As this is the real meaning of your attempt at
self-justification, it carries its condemnation upon its very surface!
"Still," says one, "whatever I may seem to be, I am reasonably good at
heart." Ah, that is another of the sayings that I have often heard, but
I have never yet been able to believe that a man could be bad in life
yet good at heart. It is sometimes said of a man who dies drunk and
cursing his Maker, "Ah, he was a good fellow at bottom." That is not
the way that men talk in the market. If you go to buy a barrel of
apples and see a lot of rotten and spoiled ones at the top of the
barrel, do you believe the salesman when he says, "Ah, but the apples
underneath are very good ones"? Of course you do not believe anything
of the kind! You always reckon that the fruit below is worse than that
at the top, for the universal practice is to put the best at the top
and the poorer quality underneath. In like manner, we do not believe
the man who says that he is good at bottom and good at heart, although
his life is evil! No, Sir, you are even worse in heart than you ever
were in life because there are many things that restrain you from
revealing your naked self to these who only see your outward life! But
your sin is there, down at the bottom of your heart–and if you attempt
to justify yourself in the sight of God–the very statement that you
make will condemn you!
Besides, so conscious are men that their own good works will not
justify them before God, that I do not remember ever meeting with a
person who absolutely professed to be at peace with God as the result
of his own endeavors. If I were to ask any man who says that he is
righteous simply because of what he has done or been, himself, "Are you
prepared to die?" he would shake his head, and say, "Oh, no! I am not
prepared to die." You say that you have done nothing wrong and that you
are right. But suppose that tomorrow you were to be called to stand at
God's Judgment Bar–would you feel comfortable at the prospect? "Oh,
no!" you say. I felt sure that must be your answer. Indeed, all the
religions in the world that teach the doctrine of salvation by works
are at least honest enough not to pretend to ensure for any man present
salvation!
Take, for instance, that gigantic form of error, the Roman Catholic
system of religion. It never tells anybody that he is saved. There is
not a cardinal, though he is called a prince of the church, and there
is not a pope, though he is called Christ's vicar on earth, who dares
to say that he is saved! They have some kind of faint hope that they
may be saved at some future period, but there are none of them who dare
to say that they are already saved. As to using the language of the
Apostle Paul, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ"– language which even boys and girls
in our Sunday school can use as soon as they have believed in Jesus
Christ–well, even the greatest and the wisest of them cannot say that,
either while they are in full health and strength, or when they are
about to die. What becomes even of their great cardinals when they die?
I have seen a notice of this sort put up in their churches and probably
many of you have also seen it–"Of your charity, pray for the repose of
the soul of Cardinal So-and-So." So that it is evident that he has gone
somewhere or other where he is not at rest! It is quite clear that he
has not gone to Heaven, so all that he has done, all the "masses" that
he has said, all the confessions he has made and all the penances he
has undergone have done nothing for him but land him somewhere where he
has not repose for his soul! But it is the glory of the Gospel of
Christ that it says to the sinner, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be justified immediately. Trust in what He has done and
you shall be saved, and you shall know that you are saved, and that you
shall be saved forever!" This is a Gospel that is worth preaching! And
I pray you, therefore, to regard it as worth hearing while I try to
expound it during the few remaining minutes available for my discourse.
And in order that you may do so, I urge you to put away all
self-righteousness in which you have up to now trusted! Bury it! Bury
it forever! It will only ruin you if you rely upon it!
II. Our second text reveals THE DIVINE JUSTIFICATION OF WHICH THE
APOSTLE PAUL SPEAKS–"It is God that justifies. Who is he that
condemns?"
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you know that God can justify the
ungodly. We may put this Truth of God very broadly and say that God can
take an unjust, unrighteous sinner and, by a wondrous process which
made even the angels in Heaven to be astonished when it was revealed to
them, He can take the guilt from the guilty one and cast it into the
depths of the sea! And He can cover the unrighteous man with a spotless
robe of righteousness so that he shall be accounted fair and lovely and
whiter than the newly-fallen snow. God can do this, at once, for every
soul that is willing to accept the Divine plan of salvation! Well might
the Apostle say, "It is God that justifies." Oh, what a blessing it is
that God is able to pardon the guilty and both to impute and impart
righteousness to those who have none of their own!
Notice how this great work is done. The whole wondrous plan of
salvation can be summed up in a single word– Substitution. As the
first Adam stood before God as the representative and federal head of
the whole human race, and as it was by his sin that our whole race
fell, it became possible for God to regard our race as a whole and to
find for us another Adam who would come and stand in our place and
represent us as the first Adam did. So that, as in the first Adam we
fell, we might be raised up by a second Adam! That second Adam is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, the Lord from
Heaven! He has been here upon this earth and He has kept the Law of God
in every jot and tittle and has woven a righteousness which covers the
sinner from head to foot when he is enabled to put it on. And then,
when the Law of God examines him, it cannot find a flaw, or a tear–or
even a faulty thread in that matchless robe which is woven from the top
throughout!
In addition to this, inasmuch as we had actually sinned against the
Lord, this glorious God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered the
terrible consequences of our sin. Oh, wondrous Truth of God! He went up
to the accursed tree and freely gave Himself up to die a felon's death
so that, in that death the Justice of God might be vindicated and that
God might be just, and yet the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus!
It is thus that God can reckon the sinner to be just because Jesus has
taken his place and borne the penalty that was due for his sin!
"But," asks someone, "how is that great work accomplished? I see that
Christ suffered instead of sinners and worked out a righteousness which
sinners could never have worked for themselves, but how can that
righteousness become theirs?" God's plan, my Friend, is that you should
hide yourself in Christ. You must come to Christ and take what He has
done to be yours by an act of simple faith. I cannot use a better
illustration than that of the sin-offering brought to the priest under
the Mosaic dispensation. When the sacrificial animal was about to be
slain, the sinner came and laid his hands upon the head of the beast
and confessed his sin over the appointed sin-offering. Thus his sin was
put on the animal–which was then killed and consumed–and so, in type,
the man's sin was put away. In a similar fashion, come, Beloved, to my
Lord Jesus Christ at this very moment and, by an act of faith, put your
sin where God long ago laid it and, in token of that act, say to your
Lord and Savior, Himself–
"My faith does lay her hand On that dear head of Yours, While like a
penitent I stand, And thus confess my sin."
If you do thus trust Christ, even though you have never done so in all
your life before, it does not matter, for, if you have done so now,
then your sin is laid upon Christ and He has so completely borne the
penalty for it that it has ceased to be–and His righteousness is
accounted yours seeing that you are a Believer in Him. When God looks
at you, He see no sin in you, nor does He mark any lack of
righteousness in you–for the sake of Jesus Christ, His Son, He does
accept and look upon you as though you had always kept His righteous
Law!
"But for whom is this great work accomplished?" someone asks–"you
surely do not mean that it is for me?" I do mean that it is for you if
you are a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you will not trust
Him, on your own head be the guilt of your soul's eternal ruin! If you
will have Christ's righteousness, it is for you. "What," you say, "for
such a guilty sinner as I am?" Listen, man–if you had not been guilty,
God need not have provided a righteousness for you! Of course Christ's
righteousness is for the guilty–for whom should it be if not for them?
"Do you mean," asks one, "that in a moment I may be cleansed from all
sin simply by believing in Jesus?" Yes, I do mean that! You, even
youmay be cleansed this very instant! "But I have not lived a good
life." If you had lived a good life, you would not have needed a
Savior. Christ Jesus came into the world to save, not the good, but the
bad! "In due time Christ died for the ungodly." Publish that blessed
Truth of God around the whole earth and let the ungodly especially hear
it! Jesus Himself said, "They that are whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick." Therefore, you sin-sick souls, trust yourselves to
the Christ who came on purpose to heal just such souls as you are! Only
trust Him and there is immediate pardon and immediate salvation for
you! "This is too good to be true," says one. Not so, for high as the
Heavens are above the earth, so are God's thoughts above your thoughts
and His ways above your ways. You feel that you could not forgive like
this, any who had wronged you, but God's ways are not to be measured by
yours! You have often heard us praise and extol Him by singing–
"Who is a pardoning Godlike Thee? Or who has Grace so rich and free?"
My first text said, "If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn
me." But my second text as good as says, "If God justifies me, nobody
can condemn me. "Paul, who wrote these words and who had been a
blasphemer, a persecutor and a murderer, boldly declares, "It is God
that justifies," and then utters the confident challenge, "Who is he
that condemns?" Are you not astonished to hear that little man from
Tarsus talk in such a fashion as that? Why, there is the blood of the
martyr Stephen crying out of the ground and saying, "Why, Paul, I
condemn you!" Then there is the blood of all the poor men and women
whom he dragged off to prison, or compelled to blaspheme the name of
Christ. And those whom he put to death in every city–does not the
blood of the martyrs cry out against Paul the Apostle, who was once
Saul the persecutor? How does he dare to cry, "Who is he that
condemns?" Yet there is no voice of blood raised against him! All is
still and silent, for God has blotted out forever even that great sin
which he had committed! But do not the fiends of Hell bring accusations
against him? Does not the arch-fiend lift up his head and say, "Saul of
Tarsus, you are a liar, for I can condemn you. You know what a
self-righteous man you used to be and how you sinned against God in
that way"? No, even Satan, himself, dares not accuse the Apostle, for,
"it is God that justifies!" He has so effectually silenced the powers
of darkness with the blood and righteousness of Christ that, like dogs
which dread their master's whip, they lie down in their kennel not
daring even to howl against a blood-washed child of God!
But do you not expect the angels in Heaven, who saw Stephen die and
watched Saul of Tarsus in all his cruel persecutions, to bend down from
their shining thrones and say, "O Paul, it ill becomes you to ask, 'Who
is he that condemns?' when all of us can condemn you"? Oh, no! They all
see the splendor of the righteousness of Christ and they are all glad
to take their harps and sing a new song to the praise and glory of
Jesus! Paul's triumphant declaration, "It is God that justifies," seems
to start them singing again, as John heard them in his island prison,
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing!" You may thus
challenge Hell, earth and Heaven if you believe in Jesus–for if God
has justified you, who is he that can condemn you?
"But," says someone, "we must feel something." Just so, but if you ever
do feel aright, Christ must make you feel aright! You must not bring
your feelings to Christ any more than your works–salvation by feelings
is no more possible than salvation by good works! Salvation is all of
Grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
"Well," says one "I am spiritually brought to a bankrupt condition, for
if I turned my pockets inside out, metaphorically, I could not find a
solitary farthing in them." Well, then, you are the very man to receive
the Free Grace
of Christ! When you have no merits, no good feelings, nothing whatever
to recommend you–when at Hell's dark door you lie, then it is that
salvation's joyful sound is pleasant to your ears and blessed are the
ears that hear it and blessed is the heart that accepts it! Ask Christ
for it and you shall have it! The Holy Spirit, Himself, will help you
to ask for it aright. Ask Him to teach you how to ask for it. Ask
Christ for everything–for all your salvation, from foundation to
topstone–is in Him and He will freely bestow it upon you for His own
Glory!
Now I must close my discourse by reminding you that this way of finding
justification by faith in Jesus Christ has commended itself to the best
of men–and I hope it will commend itself to you. Cowper, in one of his
later letters, says– (I will give you his words as nearly as I can
remember them)–"I cannot survey the future with any joy when I look
upon it from the top of my own good works. Though I have labored ever
since my conversion to have a conscience void of offense toward God and
men, yet my only hope in death is in the blood and righteousness of my
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in whom death once sheathed his sting."
And when Dr. Watts, that sweet singer of Israel, was dying, he said to
one who stood by his bedside, "I heard an old Divine once say that when
the most learned Christian minister comes to die, he draws his greatest
comfort from the most plain promises of God's Word. And so," said Dr.
Watts, "do I and I bless God that they are so simple that they do not
need any great understanding in order to grasp them! My hope is simply
in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior." And
so the good man fell asleep. If we had time and opportunity, we might
multiply such testimonies almost indefinitely, for all the children of
God who have lived the best conceivable lives uniformly declare that
they do not trust for salvation in anything they have done, or felt, or
been, or suffered–but that they live by faith upon the Son of God who
loved them and gave Himself for them!
I should like to finish by telling you the way in which one of the old
Puritans, Mr. Thomas Doolittle, once finished a sermon. And I pray that
God will set His blessing on it. The preacher turned to one of the
members of the church, sitting in the left-hand gallery and, addressing
him by name, he said, "Brother So-and-So, do you repent having trusted
your soul to Christ?" And the Brother answered, "No, Sir, I do not
repent it, for I never knew what true joy and peace meant until I
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ." Mr. Doolittle then turned to the
other side of the gallery and said to Brother So-and-So, "Do you repent
having trusted your soul with Christ?" And he answered, "No, Sir, I do
not. I have known the Lord since I was a child and my soul's rest and
confidence have been found in Him. And the more I know Him, the more I
rejoice in Him." Then, looking straight before him, to a young man who
had been somewhat uneasy during the sermon, the preacher said, "Young
man, I do not know your name, but will you have the blood and
righteousness of Christ to save you?" The young man was so abashed by
this public appeal that he hid his face and said nothing. The person
sitting next to him nudged him and the minister, looking straight at
him, said to him, "Young man, will you answer this question? There is
salvation for you in Jesus Christ if you believe in Him. Are you ready
to believe in Him?"
The young man looked up and said, "Yes, Sir." "When?" asked the
preacher. The young man replied, "Now, Sir." "Then," he said, "listen
to the voice of God! 'Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is
the day of salvation.'" That young man and his father became two
earnest Christian men renowned in the church in years afterwards. It
might not be wise for me to exactly imitate that good man's actions.
And if I especially addressed a young man, the old men might think that
I did not mean them to trust in Christ–and the young women might
imagine that I had passed them over. So, instead of speaking only to
one person, I will put the question to everybody here. I have told you
about God's way of making you just in His sight–now, are you willing
to be made just in God's way? If you die unjust, you will be lost
forever. If you live unjust, you will miss all true peace and rest of
heart. Are you willing to have God's righteousness? You say, "Yes."
Well, faith is the accepting of what God gives. Faith is the believing
what God says. Faith is the trusting to what Jesus has done. Only do
this and you are saved, as surely as you are alive!
You may have come into this place unsaved and have been sitting here a
lost soul–yet you may go home saved in the Lord with an everlasting
salvation and you may know it, too! So I say to each individual
here–If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved, saved now
and saved forever! Therefore be of good courage, you who have trusted
in the Lord, and go your way rejoicing in Him and may God bless you
both now and forever! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 10.
In commenting once more upon this familiar Chapter, I cannot help
repeating a remark which I have made to you before–that it is very
significant that this 10th Chapter should immediately follow the
subject dealt with in the 9th Chapter. In the 9th Chapter we have the
Doctrine of Absolute Predestination proclaimed in the sternest and
boldest manner–the Doctrine that God will have mercy on whom He will
have mercy, and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion.
Now, it is commonly thought by those who do not rightly understand
Calvinism that that Doctrine has a tendency to burden the heart and dry
up the springs of compassion. That it was not so in Paul's case is very
clear, for this Chapter is a most affectionate one and in it the
Apostle manifests a most loving spirit towards his fellow countrymen,
the Jews, and the chapter also contains the widest conceivable
declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ–the fact being that the
grand Doctrine of Divine Predestination is by no means inconsistent
with the fullest and freest preaching of the Gospel of Christ!
Verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is
that they might be saved. Paul is writing concerning the Jews–the very
people who had driven him from city to city and who had again and again
sought to take his life! Yet he could not forget that these men were
his own countrymen and, consequently, with a consecrated patriotism, he
desired beyond everything else that they might be saved.
2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge. The Jews of Paul's day were zealous, but they
were zealous in ignorance. And that is just what we may say at the
present time concerning a large number of our fellow countrymen–those
who are ordinarily called Ritualists. "They have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge." None can be more zealous than they are, but a
grave error is at the root of their whole system–a fatal ignorance
concerning the truth of the Gospel.
3. For they, being ignorant ofGod's righteousness, andgoing about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Man must have a righteousness of one kind or
another–and if he has not a God-given righteousness, he seeks to have
one of his own making. As the spider spins her web out of her own
bowels, so do sinful men try to manufacture a righteousness out of that
which is within them–but this they can never do. The only
righteousness which will stand the test of the Day of Judgment is that
which God bestows upon Believers in His Son, Jesus Christ. Oh, that all
men were willing to submit themselves to the righteousness of God!
4. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that
believes. "The end of the Law" is to make a man righteous and Christ
makes righteous everyone who believes in Him. The act of faith in
Christ accomplishes what all the good works in the world can never
accomplish!
5. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the Law, That the
man which does these things shall live by them. That is the message of
the Law of God–"Do, and live." But the message of the Gospel is,
"Live, and do"–a very different thing! The Law says, "Work to obtain
life." The Gospel says, "You have life freely given to you in Christ
Jesus–now work for Him because you live by Him."
6-9. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say
not in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is, to bring
Christ down from above),or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is,
to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what says it? The word is
near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of
faith, which we preach; that if you shall confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you shall be saved. How simple is the Divine Plan of
salvation–confess Jesus Christ believing in Him–or, in the other
order, believe in Jesus Christ and then acknowledge your faith for so
it is written, "He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved"–Baptism being the way of confessing the faith which you already
possess!
10-13. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says,
Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed. 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. For whoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved. What precious promises these are, and how
wide they are! "Whoever–whoever." That must include you, dear Friend,
if you believe in Jesus, and call upon the name of the Lord.
14, 15. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Here you have the whole plan of salvation! Christ is preached, sinners
hear the message of the Gospel, they believe it and so they are saved.
What a mass of rubbish men have interjected into this blessed simple
Plan! What counterfeits of so-called sacraments and what a mass of
human doings and external paraphernalia of all sorts have they
interjected! God requires none of their fripperies, fineries and ornate
performances, but simply says, "Believe, and live." How different is
this from the cumbrous, complicated plan by which men would destroy our
souls! Cling to the old-fashioned Gospel, Beloved, and never turn away
from it! There is nothing that can take the place of the simplicity of
Divine Truth. God grant that throughout England and from one end of the
world to the other, salvation by believing–the result of hearing the
Gospel–may be proclaimed!
16. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel That is the pity of
it–that so many have heard the Gospel but have not obeyed it. This
shows that the Gospel comes to us as a commandbecause we cannot disobey
where there is no order or rule. O Sinner, listen to this! When you
hear the Gospel, it is not left to your own choice to have it or leave
it, so that you are as free to do the one as the other! If you reject
it, you are disobedient to it.
16-18. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, Have
they not heard? Ah, that is the important question! If they had not
heard it, they could not be condemned for disobeying it, for the sin
lies in hearing and yet not believing. "Have they not heard?"
18, 19. Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and the words
unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did not Israel knnow?Did not the
Jews hear the Gospel? Certainly they did, and they rejected it. Moses
foretold it would be so–
19, First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are
not a nation and by a foolish nation I will anger you. So the poor
outcast Gentiles have received Christ although Israel rejected Him!
20, 21. But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that
sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me.
But to Israel He says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands
unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. God grant that we may not be
disobedient and gainsaying as Israel was but that we may all accept
Christ at once as our only and all-sufficient Savior!