CCC Livestream - It's All About The Gospel - Romans 9:30-10:4

Live Worship Gathering: 9/7/2025

Preaching: Jason Purdy

Righteousness To Everyone Who Believes

Jason Purdy

It’s All About The Gospel / Romans 9:30–10:4 want to invite you to turn with me to Romans 9:30-10:4.

I hope you kiddos are getting used to picking up the sermon activity sheet as you come in.

Today is an important day, because today we are jumping back into our sermon series in the book of Romans.

Just over a year ago, we started this series through Romans, and I have preached 25 sermons in Romans so far.

We took a break for the summer along with our Community Group break so that we can continue our study as Community Groups kick back off today.

If you don’t know where you are going for Community Group tonight, please let us know so we can help connect you to a group.

While I’m not going to attempt to review the 25 previous sermons for us, let me help us understand where we are as we dive back in.

The church in Rome was made up of both Jewish and Gentile believers, which was an amazing phenomena of the gospel in the early church.

The book of Acts tells us that early on, the Roman emperor banned all the Jews from Rome for a time.

After that time, the Jews began to trickle back in.

Well, you can imagine the kinds of tensions this would have caused for the church in Rome.

All the Jewish Christians who grew up as the chosen people of God and the law of Moses were now coming back into a church that was being led by Gentile Christians, who knew and loved Jesus, but did not have the Jewish background.

So, in the book of Romans, Paul lays out the gospel and how the gospel unifies both Jew and Gentile into one body of faith under the Lordship of Christ.

That’s why the theme verse of the whole book is:

Romans 1:16 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Then, the first 8 chapters lays out the most thorough explanation of the gospel found anywhere in Scripture beginning with God’s wrath against our sinfulness, God’s righteousness offered to us through faith in Jesus, living out God’s righteousness in us as we grow in sanctification to become more and more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, all the way to when we are eternally glorified to live completely apart from sin and with Christ for eternity.

Then, beginning in chapter 9, Paul begins to reckon with the problem of the Jewish rejection of Jesus.

He wrote this about the Jews, also known as Israelites:

Romans 9:4–5 ESV

4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

So, the question becomes: how is it that the vast majority of the Jewish people who were given every blessing and every privilege, how is it that the vast majority of the Jewish people rejected and opposed Christ during his life and continue to do so?

What about all of God’s promises to the Jewish people? Has God’s word failed?

And we saw in Romans 9 that God’s word certainly has not failed, for God never promised that all Jewish people would be saved, but that He has a remnant that He saves from the Jewish people as well as a remnant He will save from every other people in the world.

Which brings us to our passage today.

Please follow along as I read it aloud:

Romans 9:30–10:4 ESV

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul has answered earlier in the chapter that not all Jews would be saved, but that he saves a remnant.

He also saves a remnant of all the different Gentile peoples as well, all who will believe.

Consider John 1:11-12

John 1:11–12 ESV

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

So, the question now becomes, how in the world could people who who did not grow up with the law of God and the teachings of God be called children of God, while many people who did grow up learning the law of God and the teachings of God end up not being God’s children?

We still wrestle with that question today.

How is it that two children could grow up in the same Christian home, learning of God, going to church, reading the Bible, hearing the gospel, and one grows to love and follow Jesus and the other grows to reject God and all that he was taught?

How is it that still others grew up in homes that were not Christian at all, but now, as an adult, they love and follow Jesus as a child of God?

Those are essentially the questions tied up in Paul’s question in verse 30: What shall we say then? given all that has been written before.

And here starts the answer:

1. Those Who Have Not Pursued God Are Now Made Righteous By Faith

Verse 30: Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

Paul doesn’t mean here that no one outside of the Jewish people ever tried to pursue doing anything right or good.

He means that they did not grow up with the teachings about the one true God, so they never considered whether they were right with the one true God or not.

They never knew if there is a God, if He would give them commendation or condemnation.

But, even though they did not grow up with the law of God and the teachings of God, they have now attained righteousness by faith.

You see, all the way back in Romans 1, we saw that even non-Jewish people who did not grow up with the law of God are still without excuse when it comes to their sinful standing before God.

Romans 1:20 ESV

20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

In other words, there is enough power and order displayed in the creation around us to tell us that there is a powerful and eternal God.

But because we are all sinners, no one honors that knowledge of the creation by rightly worshipping God.

Yet, even though the Gentiles who are now in the church never grew up with the knowledge of God’s law and revelation, they have now attained righteousness.

Having righteousness and being righteous before God is another way of saying that one is saved.

Being saved means that God has declared you righteous before Him.

And how did they attain this righteousness? By faith.

The greatest news in the universe is that though we all have fallen painfully short of God’s standard in His law,

And though we are justly condemned to punishment and hell for opposing God and His law,

In great love, God has provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sin and declared right before God, saved from all wrath due our sin, and commended and even rewarded by God for eternity.

And that way is by faith.

The glorious gospel of salvation is that salvation comes by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

So, even if you are here today, and you have never heard a Bible story, you have never considered that you were created by God and accountable to him, you know nothing about church, or God, or how to follow Jesus, no matter what your past, no matter who your family is,

Whatever your situation, you could walk out of this room today completely forgiven of your sin, saved from the wrath of God, and declared righteous before the holy God,

Because God loved you so much that he sent his son to come to earth and live a life of perfect righteousness, then die the death of punishment we deserve in our place, and rise from death three days later to conquer our sin and death,

God did all this by grace alone, and if you would place your faith in the fact that Jesus died and rose again to save you from the wrath of God, in this moment, you will attain the righteousness of God by faith.

That is the gospel, the power of God for all who will believe.

Those who have not pursued God are now made righteous by faith.

2. Those Who Pursued God By Works Are Not Righteous Before Him

Paul now turns to the other side of the coin.

Verse 31: but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

Make no mistake: Jewish Israel pursued God’s law that would lead to righteousness.

The law said in

Leviticus 18:5 ESV

5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Yet, though they had the law of God and pursued the law of God, they did not succeed in reaching that law.

No one has ever succeeded in doing all the works of the Law except for Jesus, who was both God and man!

That’s why:

Galatians 3:10 ESV

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

So, though the Jews grew up learning God’s law and trying to obey God’s law, they did not succeed in reaching that law or being righteous by the law.

Verse 32: Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.

You see, any honest reading of God’s revelation to the Jewish people, known as the Old Testament, makes crystal clear that trying to pursue God’s law by works was never going to work, and that God credits righteousness not based off works but based on faith.

If there is one thing that the very first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis makes clear, is that mankind cannot be righteous before God by works, most all the characters in Genesis are extremely wicked.

Yet, in the center of the book, we read these words about the central figure Abraham:

Genesis 15:6 ESV

6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

God counted Abraham righteous for placing his faith in God way before God’s law was ever given.

Deuteronomy made clear that the law was way more than just rules someone can follow.

Consider

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

How are you to measure and attain the complete love of God by works? You can’t!

It would never be enough.

And even though God placed in his law a system of sacrifices the people could do, He made clear in many places

Hosea 6:6 ESV

6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

God had always made clear that the only way to be made right with God is pursuing Him by faith, not by works.

And all those who pursued God’s righteousness by works, verse 32 says, have stumbled over the stumbling stone.

As it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;”

Jesus is the stone that lay in Zion, the stumbling stone, and the rock of offense.

Because think about it, if you believe that you are able to do something yourself in order to be right with God, then you are going to trip over and be offended by the one who says, “It doesn’t matter what you do, you will never earn righteousness with God.”

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So, here are all these people who think they are walking the path, because they have grown up as a Jew learning God’s law, but they trip over Jesus and are offended by the one who tells them they cannot ever do anything to earn favor with God, they must come through faith in him.

Yet, whoever believes the offense of the gospel, that they can do nothing, but Christ has done everything, they will never be put to shame, but will receive the righteousness of God and be honored with God for eternity.

3. Desire The Lost To Place Faith In Christ To Attain True Righteousness

Now that Paul has explained why many Jews are offended by Jesus and opposed to His gospel,

And why even those who did not grow up with God’s law can be made righteous with God by faith,

We now see Paul’s great desire for the lost Jewish people to be saved.

This is a powerful statement because most of the persecutions the early church was facing was from the Jews opposed to Jesus and his message.

And even the Jews and Gentiles in the Roman church were experiencing tensions, so Paul focuses them on God’s heart, that the lost might be saved.

Verse 1 of chapter 10: Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

If you remember at the beginning of chapter 9, Paul even said

Romans 9:3 ESV

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Paul understood what we must understand: experiencing the love and grace of God in the gospel compels us to pray and preach so that others who are lost might experience that love and grace as well.

Paul desired for so many more Jews to be saved.

For he says in verse 2: For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Paul understood that!

Before Jesus saved Paul, he was so zealous for God’s law that he persecuted Christians because he was offended by the message of salvation in Jesus by faith alone.

Sadly, many of the Jews were much more zealous about God and following His law than I have have probably ever been about following Jesus, but it was getting them nowhere, because it was not based on the true knowledge of God, the true righteousness of God, that is only credited to one by true faith in the gospel of God.

There are many people in our world today who are extremely zealous for God, but not according to knowledge.

There are many people in other religions and following other philosophies who are zealous for God, but not according to knowledge.

I have been surprised many times by people who go to good gospel preaching churches and look like they are living their lives as Christians and attend Bible study and do all those things,

But when you ask them if they are confident that they are going to heaven, they say something to the effect of, “Well, I hope so, I guess I’m going to have to see how my life goes from here on out.”

Or they say, “I hope so, I certainly try to be a good Christian.”

Listen, if that is your answer, you may have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge.

The gospel is not, say you are a Christian, do your best to live like a Christian, and we’ll see if your life earns heaven or not.

That’s a system of works.

The gospel is: Jesus has done everything necessary in his life, death, and resurrection to be made right with him, so repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus and you will be saved and given the righteousness of God, and no matter what happens for the rest of you life, you can be completely confident that He who began this good work in you will bring it to perfect completion.

And for those who are in Christ, absolutely nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is good and right to be zealous for God, but you must be certain that your zeal for God comes from the knowledge that you are a sinner who could try to please God and follow his commands for a million years, but it still wouldn’t be enough to save you, but you are saved because Jesus took your punishment in your place on the cross and rose to defeat your sin in the resurrection and you have placed your faith in that knowledge, and now you are zealous for God based on the truth of the gospel.

You see, verse 3 says that those who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, are ignorant of the righteousness of God.

He doesn’t mean that they do not understand that God is righteous. They know that.

He means that they are ignorant in thinking that they can earn the righteousness of God by trying to follow works of the law.

The truth is that the righteousness of God is credited as a gift to the one who places faith in Jesus,

But, because they are ignorant of that and unwilling to receive it, they are seeking to establish their own righteousness by their works.

And they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Submitting to God’s righteousness first means that He is so righteous that it is ridiculous of us to think we can earn righteousness with him.

Righteousness is not something we can earn, it is only something we can submit to by faith in Christ.

Verse 4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Don’t misunderstand: God’s law is good and it was given for good purposes.

Back in

Romans 7:7 ESV

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Paul is saying that one of God’s good purposes for the law is to make crystal clear to us what sin is, and when we know what sin is, then we can see that we are sinners, and only when we truly understand and believe that we are sinners against a holy God will we ever come to believe that we need Jesus to die and rise in our place to defeat our sin.

The law revealed to us God’s perfect standard of righteousness, and so convinces us that we can never be righteous on our own.

This is why I believe when Paul wrote Romans 7:7, he used the law “do not covet” as the example.

Because, you see, when it comes to the Ten Commandments in the law, laws five through ten all deal with laws having to do with our interactions with other people, whereas laws one through four have to do with our interactions with God.

And when you go through commands five through ten, you may be able to deceive yourself until number 10.

Here’s what I mean:

Five: Honor your Father and Mother.

Okay, well, I’ve never slapped by parents or cursed at them. Check.

Six: You shall not murder.

I’ve never killed anyone. Check.

Seven: You shall not commit adultery.

I’ve never cheated on my spouse. Check.

Eight: You shall not steal.

I haven’t taken anyone’s belongings. Check.

Nine: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

I’ve never lied about Don and Susie next door. Check.

But then ten:

Exodus 20:17 ESV

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Well, that one is a lot harder to quantify right?

It’s not a don’t do command. It is a don’t desire command.

A don’t desire command is much tougher to quantify than a don’t do command.

How can I be sure that I have never desired what someone else has?

And once we get to thinking that way, Jesus tells us that we should read every command as not just an outward action but also a desire of the heart.

And when you start to consider that anger in your heart toward someone is like murder,

And a lustful thought after someone is as adultery,

We quickly realize that it is futile and ignorant to believe that somehow we can keep this law in a way that would give us a right standing with God.

That is why the good news of the gospel is so good, because Jesus perfectly fulfilled God’s law by living a perfect righteous life.

When Jesus was baptized - what did he say when John the baptist said, “I need to be baptized by you, and you are coming to me?”

Matthew 3:15 ESV

15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

You see, the point of Jesus’ life was not just to come and die.

The point of Jesus’ life and ministry for his 33 years on the earth was to fulfill all righteousness.

Jesus fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law of God.

Jesus was the one who did all the works of the law.

He obeyed every command in desire, thought, word, and deed.

He perfectly abstained from every thou shalt not.

Jesus loved the Lord His God with every ounce of his being for every millisecond of his existence.

Jesus was a loving neighbor to everyone he ever came in contact with.

He spoke perfectly, He thought perfectly, He desired perfectly, He did perfectly, He loved perfectly.

And when Jesus laid his life down and died on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the purpose of every sacrifice and feast day and cause for rejoicing from God’s law.

And when Jesus rose from the grave Jesus defeated the death, the ultimate punishment for breaking God’s law.

What verse 4 is saying when it says that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,

It means that the law can lead you to believe that God is righteous.

And the law can lead you to believe that you are a sinner.

But as you take that journey toward understanding God’s perfect righteousness and your great sinfulness, you will come to a great stone on the road in your journey.

And that stone is the rock who is Christ Jesus.

And either you will be offended by knowledge that you need a perfect Savior to take your punishment in your place in order to gain righteousness, so you will live the rest of your life trying to earn it yourself and be ashamed and condemned for eternity.

Or, you will come to the rock who is Christ, and in brokenness and humility you will repent and believe in Jesus, you will submit to God’s righteousness and in so doing, you will come to experience:

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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

Never look to your works or to the commands of the law to answer the question if you are right with God,

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

The law still teaches us about God, His righteousness, and His holiness.

The law still teaches us what walking in a righteous way looks like.

But, only Christ has fulfilled the law, then died and risen to gift all with the righteousness of God who place their faith in him.

So no matter whether you grew up in a Christian home and have been taught the Bible, gone to church, and heard the gospel all of your life,

Or whether you walked in here today with no prior knowledge of God,

You can walk out of here just as forgiven and in righteous standing as a child of God as I and every other Christian in this room,

If you would place your faith in Jesus work for your righteousness.

I believe the teaching on salvation being by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is taught so often in the Bible because not only is understanding it the key to salvation, it also gives us the power to say no to sin and yes to righteousness as we follow Jesus each day.

We never have to walk around in doubt or shame.

We never have to wonder if God loves us, if He is with us, or if He is willing to help us.

In Christ, you have the very righteousness of God.

This is what unites us to God and one another.

To God be the glory.

Let’s pray.