Passion To Be Right

Passion to be Right

Romans 10:1-4

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“The Story is told of farmer Dale and farmer Pete. These were two neighbors. They really did love one another as neighbors and as fellow farmers, and these two would always compete with one another, every year they would enter some kind of competition where one would seek to outdo the other one. The problem was farmer Pete always won. Farmer Dale rarely ever won. Farmer Dale got tired of losing to farmer Pete, and so what farmer Dale decided to do was come up with something he could win at. They both had horses on the farm and so farmer Dale challenged farmer Pete to a horse race to see which horse would win for that year’s competition. What farmer Pete didn’t know was that farmer Dale hired a professional jockey to ride his horse, figuring that would give him the edge, that would give him the little extra that he would need. The race started and the two horses shot out and farmer Dale’s horse took the lead. Farmer Dale thought finally, finally, finally I’m going to beat Pete at something. As they hit the stretch ready to bring it home, the horses legs got tangled up with one another and both horses fell over. Both jockeys fell over. Both farmers were hollering, “get up, get up!” Farmer Dale’s jockey, the professional, was the first to get up. He got on the horse and started running again, right behind him was farmer Pete’s jockey, he got on his horse and started riding again. They crossed the finish line and farmer Dale’s jockey crossed first. He was ecstatic. He was ecstatic, he was laughing and dancing and then he looked and started crying. Farmer Pete said, “Dale, how you going to be sad, you won. You’ve been trying to beat me all these years, you’ve never won, you’ve started off happy, now your sad, I don’t understand, why are you so sad?” Farmer Dale looked at farmer Pete and said, “Because my jockey got on the wrong horse.” He crossed the finish line, riding the wrong horse.”

Apostle Paul’s Prayer for Salvation

How tragic and truly awful it will be for those who had great passion to serve the Lord while on this earth only later to hear Jesus tell them upon their death “I never knew you, away from Me you evildoers,” because they were on the wrong horse! Despite being an Israelite and earlier in his life a Pharisee prodigy (Galatians 1:14), his own people persecuted Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 11:23-26) because his zeal for the traditions of his fathers and the Mosaic law was replaced with a new track towards salvation, faith in the atoning sacrifice of God’s very own Son, Jesus (John 3:16)! Instead of Paul becoming bitter because his own saw him as a “turncoat” or frustrated because they were fulfilling Moses’ assessment of them being stiff necked (Deuteronomy 9:6, 13) and unwilling to submit to a sovereign God’s right to rule as He sees fit; Paul did not write them off as being unworthy or unredeemable but instead prayed that Israel would one day receive God’s gracious gift of salvation. Even though Paul knew that telling Israel they were on the wrong horse would possibly offend them he was still willing to take the chance for in his heart he desperately wanted Israel to have zeal for the way, truth and life that is found only in Jesus (John 14:6)! As I go through Paul’s argument to Israel to accept Christ as their Savior, please be making intercessory prayers for anyone whom God lays upon your heart who is on the wrong horse of works-based, unattainable righteousness and desperately needs to accept the truth that salvation is a gift to all those who believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus!

Passionate but Wrong

Paul told the Israelite people that while they were commendable for their zeal for God it would not lead to righteousness because it was not based on knowledge (verse 2). Since they did know what God’s righteousness was, Paul says Israel sought to establish their own righteousness through goods works and by following the Mosaic Law (verse 3). Since before encountering the risen Savior on the road to Damascus Paul also had been a Pharisee and thought as they did (Galatians 1:14; Philippians 3:4-9) he was in a good position to “accuse the Jewish people” of the same ignorance he once had. Paul explained that righteousness to God means holiness and perfection. Since God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1John 1:5), those who want to please and be accepted by Him must be sinless! Giving money, going to church, feeding the poor, taking care of the widows is not good enough for the moment one breaks a single command of the law one has broken them all (James 2:10) and rightly deserves the wages of sin which is death (Romans 6:23). Paul who had a zeal for following the law that was unmatched by any Pharisee of his time told the church of Rome that “no one is righteous, not even one, there is no one who seeks God, all have turned away, they have together become worthless” (3:10-11). To be like God who hates sin, injustice and untruth is an unattainable goal for who could ever by their own efforts please He who is infinitely holy and without blemish? Since God alone defines what is right in His sight with great humility and hope Paul explained to Israel that their attempts to be saved by their own righteousness was futile for the best they could attain by following the law was a knowledge of sin by which they would be condemned, not saved (Romans 8)!