Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE PRESENT STATE OF ISRAEL”
Romans 10.1-4
How many of you remember the controversy, several decades ago, when the man who was at that time president of the Southern Baptist Convention was accused of being anti-Semitic for saying that Jewish people needed to be saved? Bailey Smith, I think the pastor’s name was. He pastored the First Baptist Church of Del City, Oklahoma, at the time. My wife and I stayed in Del City for two nights on our recent vacation. Anyway, not being used to the additional attention that a president of the Southern Baptist Convention gets, being new to the position, he made the flat statement that Jews are lost and on their way to Hell if they don’t receive Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Of course, the reactions were many and predictable. Among those of the Jewish community, especially the B’nai Brith, the Jewish anti-defamation organization, there was a loud outcry. “How dare you tell us that we Jews have to become Christians to go to heaven.”
As an aside, I remember speaking at a synagogue over on Wilshire Boulevard twenty or so years ago, answering many questions about the Christian faith, about Baptists in particular, about baptism, and whatever my hosts asked me about. When one of the synagogue members asked me if I thought Jewish people needed Yeshua as their savior, I responded, “If my mother needs Jesus Christ as her Savior, everyone needs Jesus Christ as their Savior.” They graciously accepted my answer and the evening wrapped up very cordially.
Back to reactions to Bailey Smith’s comment. On the part of liberal Christians, the reaction was just as energetic as the Anti-Defamation League’s response was. “How dare you claim that another man’s religion isn’t just as pleasing in the sight of God as your own. Of course, Jews are going to heaven.” The Bible-believing Christian community didn’t react to Bailey Smith’s initial statement at all. What Bible believers became upset about was his back peddling in the face of all that negative press. To mollify the press and the religious liberals, and to convince the Jewish people that he wasn’t an anti-Semite, he in effect said that he didn’t mean it and that he had been misunderstood.
Let’s ask ourselves, “What about the Jewish people today? Are Jewish people going to heaven or not?” Our answer comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. In our study of Romans, Paul has beautifully explained what the Bible said would happen to the Jewish people, in their Old Testament. He showed us in Romans chapter 9 that the salvation of the Gentiles was predicted, as was the saving of only a small remnant of the Jews. But Romans chapter 9 dealt with Israel’s past. What about the Jewish people of today? What about Jewish people during this era that stretches from Paul’s lifetime and ministry to our own time?
Is there no consequence for the Israelite nation for rejecting their Messiah? And what about the individual Jewish person’s eternal destiny? Was Bailey Smith right the first time, when he said that Jewish people would go to Hell if they die without having received Christ as their personal Savior, or was he right the second time when he recanted under pressure from the media and the religious left? These questions are answered in the text we will look to today, please turn to Romans 10.1-4. When you find that passage, stand, if you will, and read, along with me:
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Israel is still, and always will be God’s chosen nation. However, they are presently set aside and are not at this time enjoying any of the blessings or the preeminence that resulted from this special relationship in the past.
Two things we see in our text show this to be the case with the Israelites during the era in which you and I live:
First, WE SEE THE DESIRE OF PAUL (10.1)
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”
Notice his addressees. He calls the people he writes to “brethren.” Six times before in Romans Paul has used this word, usually to address his readers and remind them of his spiritual kinship with them. He’s about to say something very important to his mostly Gentile Christian readers, and he wants them to be conscious of the fact that as he writes he is aware of a spiritual relationship with other Christians that is more important than his physical relationship with Jewish people who do not know Christ in a personal way.
Notice his agony.
“My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel.”
Paul’s concern for his kinsmen according to the flesh was a real one. It was a spiritual burden that he carried. It weighed on his heart and found expression in his prayers. He has no hatred or animus of any kind toward the Jewish people. I want you to think about our topics of study for the last several weeks. Has Paul not touched on the sovereignty of God? Has he not touched on the doctrine of predestination? And has he not dealt rather extensively with the subject of election? Sure, he has. With that in mind, take note of what his understanding of the truth has done to his heart. When you rightly appreciate Bible doctrine, and when you are a diligent and student of God’s Word, and when you properly understand God’s Word, it does not result in you being cold and analytical toward people. Neither does it result in you being illogically mushy and inconsistent. It results in a brokenhearted desire for God’s blessings in the lives of others. And so, moved are you by your appreciation of the truth that you do something about it. Paul prayed. And Paul prayed. And Paul prayed. Is that all Paul did? Oh, no. But we will see what else he did in a week or two, God willing.
Notice his aspiration.
“for Israel is, that they might be saved.”
Why did Paul not cry out for social justice? Why did Paul not cry out to God for an end to the prejudice that he certainly suffered as both a Jew and then as a Christian? Why did Paul not decry the materialism and the polluting that was going on in Jerusalem, what with filling the valley of Hinnom up with trash and waste and rubble? Paul was concerned about far more important matters. Paul’s aspiration for Israel was that they might be saved. For you see, all other objectives, all other benefits, and blessings pale into insignificance when compared to someone’s need of salvation. Do you realize that people who have jobs can still go to Hell? Do you realize that people who have achieved some sort of racial or social or economic parity still go to Hell? Nothing is as important as, and nothing can long stand to be properly compared alongside, the individual’s need for personal salvation. Knowing that, and appreciating that Paul’s desire was for his kinsmen according to the flesh. Those people who thought him to be an apostate Jew were people he still loved and earnestly prayed for.
Then, WE SEE THE DECLARATION OF PAUL (10.2-4)
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Though still God’s chosen people, we have seen by Paul’s desire for their salvation that they are not presently enjoying God’s blessings and favor. But in these three verses, he makes declarations that give further evidence of this being the case.
First, they, the Jewish people, are to be credited.
“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God.”
Let it not be denied that for thousands of years the zeal of the Jewish people for God has been noted, has been admired, has been talked about, has been written about, has been emulated, and has been attractive to Gentiles. The average Orthodox Jewish boy completely puts to shame, not just the great majority of Church-attending and Bible-reading Christians, but the great majority of pastors, insofar as their devotion to Bible study and personal prayer life is concerned. Therefore, it is reasonable for Paul to give credit where credit is due. When it comes to the energy and a personal commitment to knowing God’s Word and ordering your life after the commandments of the Lord, there simply are no Gentiles who measure up to the Jewish standard. Our lives have so been influenced by hundreds of generations of sinfulness and slothfulness that we think there is nothing wrong with spending an entire evening watching the boob tube, while the children of Orthodox Jewish people will spend at least twelve hours a day in a yeshiva studying the Hebrew Scriptures.
Second, the Jewish people are to be credited, but they are to be criticized, as well. Paul’s crediting of the Jews, and he knows because he was at the head of the class as a Jewish boy, comes as a prelude to his criticism of the Jews. They are to be criticized, and they are criticized:
2 ... they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Three things Paul criticizes the Jewish nation about:
First, their ignorance.
“But not according to knowledge.”
Though multiplied thousands of hours are spent accumulating a myriad of facts and information, there are important spiritual truths they do not understand. Recognize, one must accumulate facts. Without facts, you have absolutely nothing to work with. But Paul’s criticism is that their facts did not result in really knowing, in really understanding, God.
Second, their self-righteousness.
“For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness.”
What profound delusion. What absolute folly, to think so little of God’s righteousness, and to think so little of God’s righteous demands, that anyone could even think that he could establish his own righteousness. Anyone who thinks he or she can be good enough to merit heaven is suffering from the gravest spiritual myopia. I think of Dennis Prager and Ben Shapiro, who I admire, but who wrongly think it is possible to be good enough to merit a place with God in heaven. That, friends, is blindness resulting from self-righteousness.
Finally, their pride.
“have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
Refusal to submit to the righteousness of God is evidence of pride. Pride born of ignorance. Pride born of self-righteousness. And what does James 4.6 tell us?
“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Third, they are to be corrected. (10.4)
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
“How in the world can Paul criticize the ignorance of the Jewish people? Who does he think he is, accusing the Jewish people of not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God? Does he have any idea what he is saying? He is judgmental!” Remember who the man is who is writing Romans. It’s Paul. It’s Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, the Hebrew of the Hebrews, who sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Paul was the prime example of Jewish scholarship and self-righteousness before his salvation. Reflecting on his own life, he would know better than any Gentile could ever hope to understand the profound ignorance of God as He is, the haughty arrogance of the soul that would give rise to the attempt to establish your righteousness, the pride. So, who better to correct those being constructively criticized? “If a man is going to criticize he ought to do it to a man’s face.” He did. That’s why Paul spent so much time in jail. That’s why he had all those scars all over his body. Ultimately, that is why he was beheaded. He didn’t just criticize a problem. Anyone can do that. By the grace of God, he sought to correct the problem by preaching and applying the Gospel of God’s grace. And how did he do that? By showing people that an honest and humble-spirited search of the Scriptures points the Bible student to Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to him that believeth.
We’ve seen Biblical evidence of the present spiritual state of the Jewish people. Paul honestly revealed his desire for their salvation. Then he honestly declared some things about them.
First, he credits their zeal. What an example they set for all men to follow when it comes to the energy and the commitment to study the Bible. We should study our Bibles as much.
But then he criticizes them. Not that Paul has a critical spirit. Oh, no. He wants God’s best for his kinsmen according to the flesh. But he recognizes that the way they are going, the spiritual path they are walking down, is the wrong one. And if “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,” then they aren’t paying attention to what they are so diligently studying. They are reading the Bible, but they are not receptive to God’s Word speaking to their hearts.
Finally, he corrects them. “Do you want to get back on track? Do you want to take the short cut to where the Law is properly leading anyway?” It’s Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God the Jewish people have not submitted to.
“So, pastor, what should my response be to this ignorance and self-righteousness and pride by the Jewish people? Is there Biblical ground for anti-Semitism?” Not at all. Despite their unbelief, the Jewish people are still God’s chosen nation. And God will still bless those who are a blessing to His covenant people and will curse those who are a curse to them. Anti-Semites are so at their peril, for God will judge them.
But if you are a Christian, this passage should mightily convince you, once and for all, that a Jewish person who does not know Jesus Christ as his Savior is lost and needs to be saved. Paul knew that, and he wanted his readers to know that.
Now you know what the religious Jew does instead of coming to Christ. He seeks to establish his righteousness. Christian, this means that you need to witness to and you need to win to Christ your Jewish friends. But what about you who are here today without Christ? You are not a Christian. What should you think about what we have studied? You should think that you are just like the average Jewish person. You are ignorant of God, you are trying to establish your righteousness, and you are proud.
However, because of your lack of Bible study, your ignorance is not just an ignorance of God. It’s also ignorance of vital Bible facts. And when you seek to establish your righteousness, you do so in ways other than Bible study. The result, however, is the same. If you are not saved, you have refused to submit to the righteousness of God, Who is Jesus Christ.
What needs to happen, then, for a Jewish person to be saved? Verse 4 shows us that believing in Jesus Christ is Paul’s goal for his Jewish friends. Believe and be saved. And my Gentile friend? The same is true for you. Believe and be saved.
Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.
Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church