In his sermon, Pastor Steve Hopkins explores Romans 10:1-4, emphasizing that Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. He discusses the Apostle Paul's heartfelt desire for Israel's salvation and highlights the importance of prayer in God's plan, noting how believers often come to faith through the prayers of others. Hopkins contrasts zeal for God with true knowledge, warning against self-righteousness based on personal codes of conduct. He stresses that only through Christ's perfect righteousness can anyone be justified before God, as human efforts are insufficient. The sermon underscores the futility of self-reliance in achieving righteousness and points believers to rely solely on Christ's work for salvation. Hopkins also reflects on the law's purpose to lead people to Christ, illustrating the danger of relying on one's own perceived righteousness instead of the righteousness provided by faith in Jesus.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Let's read together the Word of the Lord, Romans chapter 10, Verses 1 through 4. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

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. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Let's pray. Father be glorified this day Lord in the preaching of your word and glorify the person and the work of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ. For we ask it in His holy name.

Amen. Let's be seated. Many of us have relatives who are unsaved. And we cry out to God for their souls. And I don't think there's a person in this church, or at least not a family in this church, that isn't praying for at least one lost relative.

It's your heart's desire and prayer to God for that brother, for that sister, for that mother, for that father, for that grandparent, for that child, that that relative might be saved. It's also the heart of the Apostle Paul. We read, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul, you know, understands election. He's just been teaching on it for an entire chapter.

He understands that all those God calls unto him come unto him and that apart from the effectual calling of God none come to him. But he also understands this. He also understands that God has ordained the prayers of His people in the outworking of His eternal decree. God has ordained that our prayers, the prayers of His people, be a part of His outworking of what He has determined from before the foundations of the world. And we see it everywhere.

We see it where, we see it everywhere and throughout our lives, that when God's people pray, we see things happen. And from our perspective, it's change, and it is change on earth, but God never changes. But God has ordained that that prayer be a part of the outworking of His eternal decree. So pray, pray. The vast majority of Christians, and you may look at yourself and ask yourself this question, but the vast majority of Christians can point back to the faithful prayers of another person.

Can you? Someone who prayed for your soul, someone that you knew was praying for you personally that you would come to Christ. The vast majority of Christians can point back to the faithful prayers of a mother, or the faithful prayers of a father, or the faithful prayers of a sister, or the faithful prayers of a brother, or some other relative or friend who poured out their heart before God in earnest prayer that they might be saved. And their prayer was answered. Paul's heart's desire and prayer to God for his kinsmen according to the flesh, his relatives according to the flesh, his Jewish brethren, brothers and sisters, was that they might be saved.

And think about this for a moment. It was his desire that they might be saved, and yet look at how they treated him. Look how his Jewish brethren treated him. Because you know you might say, you might have this relative and you say, well, they treat me this way, they treat me that way. Look at how this unsaved relative, well Look how His unsaved relatives treated Him, and yet He prayed for them.

Remember Jesus told us we're not to return evil for evil, but good for evil, and to pray for those who persecute us, and to pray for those who despitefully use us. And you might have a relative maybe, and they kind of fit maybe in some way into that category. Maybe they have persecuted you, if not outwardly, maybe by some words. Pray for them. The Jews persecuted Paul almost every day of his life, but he kept praying for them.

The Jews even persuaded the crowds at Lystra, in the city of Lystra, to stone Paul. Remember they came in, they roused up the crowd, got a riot going against him, and got the people to start throwing rocks at him, and stone him, Yet Paul kept praying for them. In chapter 9, Paul began the same way he does here in the text before us this afternoon. He says, I say the truth in Christ. I'm not lying.

My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. So great was Paul's love for his kinsmen, his relatives according to the flesh, that he said he could be willing to trade his salvation for theirs. Their eternal good was the burning desire of Paul's heart and it was his ongoing prayer to God for Israel that they might be saved. And then look at verse 2 of chapter 10 what he says here.

It's his ongoing prayer to God for Israel that they might be saved. And then he says, for I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They have a zeal for God, but it isn't according to true knowledge, the knowledge of the Scriptures. Brothers and sisters, religious fervor apart from the true knowledge of the Scriptures and specifically the gospel, apart from the illumination of the Spirit, leads to error. And when that error concerns the means by which one is justified before God, that error is fatal.

It is a fatal error. Paul says here their ignorance, that is the Jews' ignorance, had to do with their understanding, their understanding of God's righteousness. That is, that righteousness by which one alone may be justified in God's sight. Look at verse 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, and it was fatal for the Jews, eternally fatal.

And friends, it is eternally fatal for anyone and everyone who being ignorant of the righteousness of God provided in Christ goes about to establish their own righteousness. It is eternally fatal. Those who being ignorant of the righteousness of God, who go about to establish their own righteousness, that is a code of conduct that they trust in for their eternal state and their eternal security before God have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, just like the Jews, just like the Jews. But what does that mean? No telling how many people sit in the chairs and in the pews of churches in America who have not submitted to the righteousness of God but go about seeking to establish their own righteousness and don't even know it don't even know that they're doing it.

Zeal for God without knowledge is not something specific to Judaism. There may even be some here today who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. There may be some here today who being ignorant of God's righteousness are like Paul's Jewish kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are going about to establish their own righteousness, relying on a code of conduct that they've established for themselves even a Christian code of conduct that they think are somehow convinced is sufficient to obtain God's favor and a right standing before him when they stand before him on the day of judgment, but who have never truly submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God that is provided in Christ. If you ask many churchgoers today, and I would say the vast number, the vast majority of churchgoers today, at least in our country, about these things, they wouldn't even know what you're talking about. Well, I've been baptized.

I go to church. I receive the communion. What are you talking about? I have a code of moral conduct that's higher than my neighbor down the street, they exhibit a zeal for God, and so they are self-secure. Friends, zeal for God and outward acts of religiosity never saved anyone.

I've met so many people in my life who, like the Jews that Paul is describing here in his day appeared to be on fire for God. Many, many, many, many people they sang with zeal, they spoke with zeal, They even appeared to worship with zeal. But when you needle down on them, when you really question them, it was ever so clear that they were absolutely ignorant of God's righteousness and were going about to establish a righteousness of their own. Fully convinced of the favor of God on their lives and of their eternal security when their feet stood on sinking sand. On the ground of some level of works, they believed and merited God's favor.

They were self-secure because they looked at their life and compared themselves to others, who compare themselves to others, and they saw that my works and my life and my religiosity is greater than this person over here, or I have a level of works that merits God's favor, but they never understood the gospel. And Paul says this of the Jews of his day, which is also true of so many professing Christians in America today and around the world. They have a zeal for God, but not according to the true knowledge of the Scriptures. And being ignorant of God's righteousness, They go about to establish their own righteousness, which is by the law or by some code of personal conduct that they are ultimately relying on for acceptance with God. And they don't even realize that they're doing it.

They don't even realize they're doing it. They've grown so used to it. They're so convinced they don't even realize what they're doing. They never understood what it truly means to submit themselves unto the righteousness of God provided in Christ. Paul says in verse 4 of our text this afternoon, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness To everyone who believes Well, what does he mean?

But what does he mean? For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. It's really the sum total of the gospel. It is the message of the gospel in one single sentence. And I think it really helps to look at this statement of the apostle in the original language.

You may have a phone or some device where you can look up the original Greek for Romans, chapter 10 and verse 4, and how the sentence is structured. And I think it really helps to look at this statement of the apostle in the original language, in the order in which the sentence was written, if you do, this is what you'll find. The order of the sentence in the original Greek goes like this. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes.

The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. If I could put a banner up here behind me that covered the entire wall here behind me, I would have on it, Christ for righteousness, Christ for righteousness, Christ for righteousness. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. The end of the law, the purpose of the law, the aim of the law, the goal of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone Who puts their trust in him and what he has done? Alone and who does not rely upon any personal code of ethics or righteousness or works of their own but abominates them as filthy rags before God.

The only righteousness that God will accept is the perfect righteousness achieved by His Son and received by faith. The only righteousness that God will ever accept is the perfect righteousness achieved by His Son and received by faith. Thy righteousness, O Christ, we sang it last week, Thy righteousness, O Christ, alone can cover me. No righteousness avails save that which is of Thee. So to whom save thee who can't alone for sin atone Lord shall I flee?

For righteousness that's acceptable to God and from the wrath to come Upon All those who trust in their own selves, their own works, their own works, their own ethics, their own righteousness to stand before God. Any level of self-performance to stand before God on the day of judgment. You can't trust in your own goodness and the things that you've done in order to be acceptable with God. You've done enough good to be accepted of God? Has anyone done enough good?

Well God will accept me because I'm better than my brother or my sister or my cousin or whoever. I was raised in a homeschool family, God will accept me. No? God only accepts a perfect righteousness which we don't have, okay? A perfect obedience to his law, which we don't have, but which Jesus does have, because Jesus never disobeyed God once, and he died for our sins, And everyone who believes on Him lays hold on His perfect righteousness, and it isn't then imputed to us.

Our sin is transferred to His account. His righteousness is transferred to us. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Simple faith. I didn't have to be this great Christian.

I didn't have to be that. I didn't go to church 52 times out of the year. I didn't do all the things that I was supposed to do. I didn't obey my parents like the fifth commandment says obey your parents and the Lord always obey your parents, right? The Bible says right the fifth commandment says obey your parents.

It says honor your father and your mother We haven't done that. I didn't do it. You haven't done it. Nobody's done it perfectly, right? But Jesus did it perfectly.

And when we trust in Him, His perfect righteousness covers us and our sin, and He died for the things that we did against His law. The imputation of the righteousness of Christ. Thy righteousness, O Christ, alone can cover me. No righteousness avails save that which is of thee. The end of the law is Christ for our righteousness.

The end of the law is Christ for your righteousness. Christ for your righteousness, not your good deeds, not your good works, not your comparative level of obedience compared to whoever you compare yourself to in your mind. Christ, Christ is the end of the law for our righteousness, for your righteousness. John Calvin comments on this passage. The law was, quote, given for this end.

Listen to this. The law was given to us for this end to lead us by the hand to another righteousness." The law was given to lead us by the hand to Christ. The law was given to cause us to despair of any supposed righteousness whereby we might commend ourselves unto God. The law does that. The law thunders against us and our various codes of moral achievement, performance, conduct.

The law thunders against us and our various codes of moral achievement and exposes us to the wrath of God. The wrath of God abides on all those who are not clothed in the perfect righteousness of God's Son. And the wrath of God will abide upon all such for all eternity. If you're living by a code of your righteousness, if you're going about to establish your own righteousness and have not submitted to the righteousness of God, which is provided by Christ and received by faith, that's what you have to look forward to. You went about to establish your own righteousness, your own moral code of conduct that you thought would be sufficient to stand before God and merit His favor on the day of judgment.

And on the day of judgment, you were undeceived. God forbid. You were undeceived. God forbid. The law thunders against us in our various codes of moral achievement and exposes us to the wrath of God who would rely on personal merit for his favor.

The law exposes our sin and utter inability to meet its demands for perfect obedience and pulls the ground of personal moral achievement out from underneath our feet and lets us fall. And you'll notice, what I've noticed in my life, is those who believe, trust in, rely upon some personal code of ethics or morals whereby they believe they're different from others and they're elevated above others and they're acceptable to God, God lets them fall. Some never to recover, others because he wants to show them their need for Christ because they're his children and he won't have them go on living in self-deception, trusting in a righteousness of their own making, sowing fig leaves together to try to cover their nakedness when what they need is the righteous covering of Christ. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness. Zeal for God is a wonderful thing, But zeal without knowledge is a damning thing.

No one will ever enter the gates of the celestial city apart from a perfect righteousness. No matter how zealous or spiritual a person may seem to be, no one goes to heaven apart from perfection in righteousness, and Christ alone achieved it, and those who believe alone lay hold on it. Taking hold of Christ and His righteousness by faith alone justifies sinners in the sight of a holy God. Acts 1338, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from a lot of stuff.

No. All who believe are justified from all things. Praise God from all things. What's going through your mind right now? What's going through your mind?

Well, I did this in my past. Well, I said this. Well, I did it more than once. I did it a hundred times. I said it a hundred times.

I thought it a hundred times. From all things from which you could not be justified by the law. The law is a mirror that shows us our sin and our guilt before God, and it presses upon us our utter inability to meet its rigorous demand for perfect obedience. Galatians 3, 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Those who die under the works of the law, trying to establish their own, going about trying to establish their own righteousness and not submitting to the righteousness of God which is provided in Christ and received by faith, They're under the curse.

For it's written, curse it is everyone that does not continue in all things whatsoever are written in the book of the law to do them. You gotta keep it all, you gotta keep it all perfectly. If you're under the law, that's your system. I've got my system. I got my code of ethics.

I got my moral, you know, code here. You got to keep it all. You got to keep it all perfectly. That's what God's law says. You don't do that.

You're exposed to the wrath of God for all eternity. The curse of God is upon you. So that's heavy. Better for it to be heavy now and the burden be lifted by Christ than to have the wrath of God rain down upon you and the curse of God upon you for all eternity in a place called hell. Are you trusting in your righteousness or in the righteousness of another?

Has God led you by the hand? Has the law led you by the hand to Christ? The purpose of the law is to send guilty sinners rushing, bolting, hastening, fleeing outside of themselves to Christ for righteousness. That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Galatians 3.11.

The just, those who are justified in God's sight, those who are declared just in God's sight will live by faith in Him. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. I asked a man one day, he was at a business in Cedar Park, he since sold the business, it was a tire company, and I asked him one day, I said, how are you going to stand before God on the day of judgment, a God who is holy and just and who punishes all sin. As I observed his manner of life, and the evidence was that this man is on his way to hell. And he said, well, I just try to keep the commandments of God.

Oh, I said, but the Bible says, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For by the Law is the knowledge of sin, Romans 320. And he said, well, I guess I'm, and I won't use the word that he used there, well, I guess I'm then, we all are, except we stop relying on our own performance and Put our trust in the only one Who fulfilled the law perfectly in our place? Jesus Christ the righteous Amen, first John 1a Jesus Christ the righteous the purpose of the law is to reveal to us our Unrighteousness our inability to fulfill us the demands and send us running to Christ for cover. The purpose of the law is to reveal to us our wretchedness, our filthiness, our unrighteousness, and our inability to fill the least of its demands and to send us running to Christ for cover.

Thy righteousness, O Christ, alone can cover me. No righteousness of veil save that which is of thee." When the Spirit of God wields the sword of the Spirit on the heart of a man, convincing him of his sin and of his unrighteousness by the broken law and of the judgment to come that man is driven to despair of any righteousness within himself." And that's a good thing. No righteousness in me. That's a good thing. That's a good place to start and end.

No righteousness in me and then to be driven to seek a righteousness outside of me, outside of himself. A righteousness that is alien to him, and found alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. We can't merit a righteous standing before God by any level of personal achievement. We can't earn it, we can't purchase it, and we'll never deserve it.

But by God's grace, we can take hold, by faith we can, by the grace of God. By faith we can take hold of Christ for righteousness. We can take hold of Christ for righteousness by faith. We must submit ourselves to the righteousness of God by looking to Christ in faith and what He has done and not go about this life hoping to establish a righteousness of our own that God will accept. Many professing Christians again in our world today believe they'll be saved by their works.

They wouldn't say it with their mouths, but they operate that way in the world. They establish a code of conduct that they believe is acceptable in God's sight, but they deceive themselves. Some trust in their baptism, some in their church attendance, some in other religious performances, but the law of God thunders against self-righteousness and religiosity, and the complacent soul who relies on some level of personal obedience to the law of God or works or religiosity is not saved. And they aren't troubled. And That's the biggest part of it.

That's the biggest problem. They aren't troubled. They speak peace to themselves. They say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. But when the law of God is wielded by the Spirit and convicting power upon the conscience of a man, he's undone, and he feels the weight of his sin.

He comes to his senses, like the prodigal son. He sees that his righteousness is no righteousness at all, But a pile of filthy rags before God, he understands that the wrath of God is abiding on him and will continue to abide on him. For the least infraction of the broken law, if he's trusting in his own righteousness, He comes to see the wrath of God like a sword hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment. This is the place that a man must come to before he will flee to Christ for righteousness and refuge. Many believe that their good will outweigh their bad in the day of judgment, as if God weighed their lives on a scale, but they deceive themselves.

The salvation of souls is only on the ground of a perfect righteousness which was alone achieved by Jesus Christ and received by faith and imputed to all who believe on His name. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood to sacrifice and righteousness is perfect obedience to the law Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and Righteousness We dare not trust the sweetest rain but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground is quicksand. All other ground is sinking sand. Where is your trust today?

The end of the laws is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. Amen. Let's pray. Father, how we thank you and praise you for your word. Oh Lord, your word is truth.

How we thank you Lord for the sacrifice of Christ. How we thank you for his perfect obedience to the law. Oh God, the goal and the purpose and the aim of your law is your son. Oh God, your law was given to show us your righteousness and see ourselves in the light of it and lead us by the hand, as Calvin said, to Jesus and his righteousness. Oh God, We thank you.

We thank you for opening the eyes of the blind to see that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who puts their trust in Him and what He's done in His life and in His death. We thank you God that the end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes. Oh God, give hearts to believe, even amongst the children here, oh God, do a work of your saving grace by your Spirit. For the glory of the name of your son Jesus, we ask it, amen. Ask it.

Amen. Amen.