Submit to God's Righteousness
A Sermon on Romans 10:1-3
Originally preached May 24, 1963
Scripture
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own …
Sermon Description
Since the inception of the church, Christianity has battled the false belief of justification by works. In its modern Western form, many wrongly understand the gospel to mean going to church, doing good, or being a “nice” person. In this sermon on Romans 10:1–3 titled “Submit to God’s Righteousness,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims that the current Christian culture continues to preach self-righteousness, self-reliance, and self-dependence. In its primitive form, the apostle Paul holds up the Pharisees as the prime example of those who are zealous for doing good works and yet are ignorant of what God’s righteousness requires in the gospel. Their lack of knowledge has set them against the God they claim to serve. They would rather construct their own righteousness than submit to the righteousness of God found in the gospel of Christ. The Pharisees, and many today as well, are trapped in believing they can save themselves. The problem, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones, is that the last people to believe the gospel and be saved are always those who think that they can save themselves. What is needed is the gospel of grace. What needs to be known and heard is the truth of what the Scriptures say God’s righteousness requires. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones speaks of the tendency towards justification by works and the remedy, submitting to the gospel of grace.
Sermon Breakdown
- The Jews had a zeal for God but lacked knowledge. Their ignorance and lack of understanding led to their tragedy.
- The Jews were ignorant of God's demands and righteousness. They did not fully understand what God required of them.
- The Jews were ignorant that the righteousness they boasted in was their own righteousness, not God's. They wrongly thought they could establish their own righteousness through works.
- The Jews' own righteousness was useless as it was not what God demanded, was based on a false view of man's sinfulness, led to self-righteousness, and ignored what God said about righteousness.
- The Jews were ignorant of God's way of righteousness and salvation through faith in Christ. They refused to submit to God's righteousness.
- The Jews were without excuse for their ignorance as the Old Testament pointed to salvation by grace through faith. The coming of Christ and the preaching of the apostles also pointed to this truth.
- To be saved, one must submit to God's righteousness through faith in Christ. One must stop trying to establish their own righteousness.
- John Wesley is a perfect example of one who was ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish his own righteousness through works. He finally understood and submitted to God's righteousness through faith in Christ.
- True Christianity is trusting utterly and only in Christ for salvation. It is the gift of God, not of works.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.