Romans 10:1-13

So, the book of Romans, Paul's great case is the case for justification, right standing before God, the pardon of sin by faith alone.

And as a result, he kind of meanders back and forth, talking strictly to the Jews and then talking to the Gentiles.

And at times it can be a tad confusing.

But speaking in general to the Christians in Rome, he addresses us and says,

chapter 8 and talks about how this life will be difficult.

Both from internal struggle with sin and from external means it will be difficult.

And he goes on to praise God, that God is working all things for our good because he is sovereign and in control.

He is working those things for our good that we might praise him and exalt his name.

So even when we struggle, we know that God is in control.

And he turns in chapter 9 and it seems a little bit random, but we get the following arguments going through 10 and 11 to grieve over the fact that most of Israel,

not all his evidence that he himself had believed in Christ, but that most of Israel had rejected Christ.

That they were given all of these privileges, these windows into God's heart, and yet they missed the ultimate point.

And that was that they desperately needed a Savior.

And that Savior is Jesus Christ.

They missed that.

But that in no way discredited the gospel.

And that's what he goes on to tell us in the rest of chapter 9, that in fact, was consistent with God's plan.

God's sovereign purpose of salvation to include the Gentiles as well into the fold.

That's us, I think, probably all of us, benefit greatly from God's sovereign plan to include us in his people.

So then we get to chapter 10.

And he turns once again to speak of the Israelites.

Let's read together the first 13 verses.

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

For I bear the witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

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

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down.

Or who will ascend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

But what does it say?

The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith that we proclaim.

Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so he takes us in chapter 9 to this great depth, this unfathomable truth about God's sovereign election, his sovereign purposes for his people.

Right?

It's this kind of stuff in chapter 9, the weight of it, that causes our minds to kind of rent in two.

We can't quite make sense of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

It's this kind of teaching that leads him to chapter 11, verse 33, where he says,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.

It's that movement.

But he seems to pause for us here, doesn't he?

As he's talked about how God is completely sovereign over the election of his people,

that he's calling his own to himself.

We see him cycle back once again to his people, Paul's people, the Israelites.

Right?

Beginning of chapter 9, he lamented them.

He wished that he himself could be cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers.

He desperately wanted them to receive this gospel truth.

Then he goes on to tell us that it's God's sovereign control.

It's God's power.

God works faith in people so that he can show mercy on whom he will show mercy.

So that no one can boast in their salvation.

And he comes back here in chapter 10, verse 1.

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God is for them that they may be saved.

And here's the great evidence, the great culmination, the understanding of Paul's love for people.

We know that Paul loved the Gentiles.

Paul was sent to them and he was actively pursuing them.

Actively preaching the gospel to them.

But even those whom he had turned from, the Israelites, he still had a desperate desire for them to come to Christ.

Because he loved them the way Christ loved them.

He grieved the fact that they were rejecting the gospel.

So here's Paul as he's presented to us, fully understanding that God is sovereign over these things, yet brokenhearted that these people might come to Christ.

And so therefore he prays for them.

He's moved to pray for his people.

Ought we not to do the same?

So then he says, I bear them witness they have a zeal for God.

But not according to knowledge.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

So here's a people who, with all their effort, was pursuing God.

For all that they knew, they were pressing after him.

But it was the wrong zeal.

It was focused in the wrong place.

It was not according to knowledge.

Being ignorant of the righteousness of God.

These people didn't understand what the righteousness of God looked like.

They had missed the fact that God was holy and that they were not.

Certainly men can try to do good things.

And we may try to define that as righteousness.

But it is not the righteousness of God.

All of our good works are as what?

Filthy rags.

Right?

It's not the righteousness of God.

There are many, many people in this world that with great zeal are pressing toward what they think is going to put them in right standing before God.

And yet, it's not according to knowledge.

It's according to their own working.

And he juxtaposes that way.

Their efforts to establish their own righteousness.

Their own version of the righteousness.

But yet, it's not the righteousness of God.

D.G. Barnhouse, John Overton, let me borrow a commentary.

He's an influential 20th century preacher, commentator.

Tells a neat analogy about this.

About little dolls.

Have you ever seen little dolls that are weighted at one end so they always stand upright?

Our modern day version of that is the weeble.

Are you familiar with the weeble?

Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down?

I have a weeble with me today.

This is...

Cade doesn't play with this, but it's in his room, just the same.

So it's weighted at the bottom.

So no matter what you do to it, it stays...

This is really bad, because I don't have any place to set it.

But no matter what, it's weighted really heavy at the bottom.

You put it upside down, it turns back over.

Back this way.

Right?

Weebles makes a clown that stands on its head.

Okay?

So it would be opposite.

It would be upside down.

And that is us, prior to Christ.

That is the Israelites, working, trying to work out their own righteousness.

And yet, no matter what, no matter what they do, no matter how hard they try, no matter how zealous they are,

they'll always land on their heads.

But we, as Christians, are turned around.

1 Corinthians 2.14 says,

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him,

and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man, those without Christ, those without the Spirit of God abiding within them,

no matter what they do, doesn't matter how hard they try to do it,

they cannot gain their own justification before God.

And that's what the Israelites were trying to do.

They missed the point.

Ezekiel 36.26 and 27.

Ezekiel writes,

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,

and be careful to obey my rules.

2 Corinthians 5.17,

Paul writes,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

The lead that was once in our heads, that always kept us upside down,

has been placed in our feet.

So that no matter what we do,

we always land on our feet.

Because we're found in Christ.

We could paraphrase this to say,

They, being ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ,

and going about to establish some other method of acceptance and approach to God,

have not submitted themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.

They're standing on their heads.

Because man's natural inclination is not to submission.

Meaning, literally, the word submit means to hand over oneself,

to enslave oneself.

That's not kind of our normal mode,

our modus operandi,

our MO.

We don't tend to do that naturally.

Look at Adam and Eve in the garden.

What was the original sin?

They wanted to be like God.

The action that was the evidence of their heart was that they took of the fruit.

But it was because they wanted to be like God.

They wanted to be their own masters.

And that is how we naturally are.

We have been tainted from there on to serve our own ends.

We don't readily submit in this way.

And what is it that we're meant to submit to?

God's righteousness.

God's righteousness.

So what is he saying?

Are we meant to submit to the law?

Is that what he means when he says God's righteousness?

Certainly, we can think of righteousness in that way.

A right standing.

A proper way of living.

I don't think so.

This obviously is an argument.

We're going to argue this.

But if you want to later,

we can debate this if you'd like.

But I don't think so.

Because in the very next sentence he says,

For Christ is the end of the law.

So it's Jesus Christ who is God's righteousness.

The perfect holy example.

The one without sin.

That we're meant to submit ourselves to.

Because the text says,

He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Christ came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

Matthew 5.17.

It's from the Sermon on the Mount.

Came not to abolish it, but to fulfill it.

The law has great importance in our life.

Prominence as Christians.

God's moral law still is meant to be obeyed.

We are meant to keep that law.

So it's very prominent in our life.

However, it's not preeminent.

Christ is preeminent.

And Christ is the means by which we fulfill the law.

He comes to fulfill it.

In Him are the promises of God.

Yes and amen.

It's because we're clothed in His righteousness

that God sees that we have upheld the requirements of the law.

So our lives, as we're being perfected, as we're being moved,

are being perfected and worked out.

We're looking more and more like God

because we're doing a better job at keeping the law.

That is the result of our life in Christ.

And ultimately, we have already been perfected

because we're found in Christ.

Is your head spinning?

Mine too.

Right?

The kingdom has come and is still coming.

We have been sanctified and are being sanctified.

We've been made perfect and we're being made perfect.

It's the language of the Bible.

Blow your mind.

Right?

James 2.10 says,

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point

has become accountable for all of it.

So what is James saying to us?

In all of human effort,

if somebody could possibly,

and this would never happen,

but if somebody could possibly keep the entire moral law

but only fail at one point,

they would be held just as accountable

for the person who keeps none of those laws.

Right?

Whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point

has become accountable for all of it.

There is nothing you can do apart from Christ

to be found justified before God,

to stand before him and not be condemned.

Church, this is the metanarrative of humanity.

All of us are under the curse of sin.

All of us.

No one gets to avoid this.

Paul's made that point repeatedly to us.

Both the Jew and the Gentile,

all are under this curse.

Galatians 3.10 says,

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 we all need a Savior.

Every single one of us.

And my prayer has been,

throughout this week and this morning,

that everyone sitting in this room

has a Savior.

Jesus Christ.

The way.

The truth.

The life.

We don't get options.

Oprah's horribly wrong at that point.

There's not lots of ways to go.

And boy, is somebody zealous for good works.

We could say Oprah is.

Oprah's going to hell.

She has not placed her faith in the one

who fulfills the law.

Verse 6.

But the righteousness based on faith,

not on works.

On faith.

Says,

Do not say in your heart,

Who will ascend into heaven?

That is to bring Christ down.

Or who will descend into the abyss?

That is to bring Christ up from the dead.

What is Paul saying to us?

As he quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 30.

Deuteronomy 30 · chapter mention

He's saying there's no great journey you have to go on.

There's no massive effort that has to be put into play

for your salvation to be worked out.

Jeffrey Wilson wrote,

The sheer perversity of unbelief is shown

by the many who choose to undertake an impossible odyssey

rather than put their trust in an acceptable Christ.

Deuteronomy is saying to us,

We don't have to build a tower to the heavens

or find a way to dive to the bottom of the sea

in order that we might be righteous.

So what does it say?

What does the righteousness based on faith say?

Verse 8.

But what does it say?

The word is near you,

in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith we proclaim.

That is the one,

Jesus Christ.

Because,

because,

if you confess with your mouth

that Jesus is Lord

and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

On the tail end of all of this talk

of God's sovereign election of his people,

Paul comes back to the simple profundity

of the gospel.

Simple because it's just that.

If you confess with your mouth

and believe in your heart

that Jesus is Lord,

you will be saved.

It's factual.

It's stated very emphatically here.

What does that mean

in light of God's sovereign election?

You believe in your heart,

you confess with your mouth,

guess what?

Sovereignly elected.

Great.

Let's live the Christian life together.

I think that's what it means.

Profound.

Because why would God show mercy

to anyone

who has set themselves up

as an enemy,

as a hater of him?

Why would he do that?

Because he's good

and he's God.

It's profound

that God would love us

that much

that he would call us

out of darkness,

who willingly put ourselves

in darkness,

who have said to him,

I don't like your light.

In fact,

I hate it.

I'm going to a different place,

a dark place.

Well,

I don't have to be in your light.

God grabs us by our ankles

and he drags us,

kicking and screaming

by grace,

through faith,

into his light.

He begins to work in us

the things that are dark in us.

He begins to work that out

that we might be light

to this world.

It's an absolutely profound,

profound word.

Verse 10 says,

for with the heart

one believes

and is justified.

And heart doesn't mean

the beating muscle,

pushing blood

to your extremities

right now, right?

When the Bible talks about

the heart,

it's talking about

the center of who we are,

our very being itself.

It's with that heart

that one believes

and is justified.

And with the mouth

one confesses

and is saved.

And he's not saying

that it's a two-step action,

but that if you believe,

you will confess.

I would imagine

that as the author

of Hebrews,

who we don't know

who that was,

but was writing this,

they had this kind

of thought in mind

in chapter 7,

verse 19.

He writes,

for the law made

nothing perfect,

but on the other hand,

a better hope

is introduced,

through which

we draw near

to God.

And that is

the one,

Jesus Christ.

If you believe

in your heart,

the Greek term

for believe

doesn't quite

shape out

the same way

our term does.

When we think

of belief

as Americans

with the English language,

it's just simply

believing something's true,

right?

Believe that's true.

This is black.

Yep,

I believe that.

My life experience

has told me

that I'm not colorblind,

so when somebody

tells me

when I order the podium,

the podium is black,

I expect it to arrive black.

I believed him.

It's black.

There it is.

A mental ascent.

Yeah,

that's right.

The Greek term

looks differently.

It's not only

a mental ascent,

but it's a belief

that connects

to your heart.

It's a guttural belief,

the center of who you are,

and it necessarily

flows into action.

Here,

believing in your heart

flows into

confessing

with your mouth.

If you believe

that Jesus Christ

is Lord,

that he is

the Son of God,

that he was sent

on the behalf

of sinners,

lived a sinless life,

died a death,

bore the wrath of God

on our behalf,

buried,

resurrected,

ascended,

seated at the right hand

of the Father,

now interceding for us,

that we might be

the righteousness of God

in him.

If you believe that,

you're going

to talk about it.

If you don't talk about it,

you may not believe it.

And that doesn't necessarily

mean you're not a Christian,

it just may mean

that you don't believe it

in that day.

You've turned your back

on the gospel.

You've ceased

to confess.

There are certainly

in all of our lives

a time of regeneration.

That heart of stone

is taken out

and the heart of flesh.

The Spirit of God

comes and abides in us.

Repentance and belief,

but yet,

the life of a Christian

is a life

of repentance

and belief.

Turning from sin,

turning to God.

Turning from sin,

turning to God.

That's the evidence

of what's happening

inside of us.

I've used this example

before,

so I apologize

if you're getting

tired of it,

but it's such a perfect one.

My son,

Cademan,

who is two,

a little over two,

really likes trains

right now.

I kind of hope

he loves trains

the rest of his life

for how much

he likes trains

right now.

It's probably a phase,

but the kid

loves trains,

and he talks

about them

all the time.

I understand

almost nothing

he says right now

except train.

I get them.

Train and caboose,

I get those words.

We were at,

our community group

met at a park

a couple of weeks ago.

Those of you who are there

will remember this,

and we were interrupted

by a train

not far from

downtown Gainesville

blowing its horn

and going by,

and then Cade

standing up on the hill

behind us

yelling about the train,

telling us

everything he could

think to tell us

about the train,

which we understood

only the word train,

and he's so excited.

And I don't believe

that his joy

is actually complete

until he begins

to tell people

about it.

He doesn't just like

stand quietly

on the hill

thinking,

I love trains.

Trains are the greatest.

But he involves us

in that joy.

We're taking Cade

today,

this afternoon,

actually,

we're going to hop

in the car

right after the service

and take him

all the way

to Chattanooga

because they have

an amazing train ride

just tailored for a boy

like him

that goes over bridges

and through tunnels

and turns around

on a turntable.

It's going to be awesome.

And I'm so looking forward

to it.

Hopefully he'll survive

the afternoon.

The kid loves trains.

And I'm afraid

that sometimes

Cade loves trains

more than I love Jesus

because I don't talk

about him the way

he talks about trains.

How often

do I miss

the opportunity

to praise my Lord

with my mouth?

And I miss it.

With you guys even,

how quickly does our

conversation after the service,

the service is all about

Jesus Christ,

Jesus Christ,

yeah,

and right after the service,

what do you talk about?

Just a little place

for that in your life,

a little place for Jesus.

We relegate him off

to the 10.30

to 12 o'clock hour

and then we're done

beyond that.

Is this not

the greatest thing

that has ever

happened to you?

You may not have

ever really felt

the weight of your sin

and the,

gosh,

I hope you do.

I hope it doesn't mean

that you sin great

in the coming weeks.

But I hope you

recognize how holy

God is,

how perfect he is,

and how really

wretched you are.

This

just epiphany

hit me

when I was in college

and I was driving

to pray

with a group

of students

from the BSU

and I honestly

don't remember

what I was praying about.

I don't remember

what was going on

in my head

and I was struck

with how incredibly

holy God was

in comparison

to myself

because I realized

that I was

worshiping

my own idea

of who I was

in Christ.

Is that,

can your head

wrap around that?

I had set up

in my mind

Nathan

who serves

Jesus Christ

and that's

who I was

worshiping,

not Jesus.

I think the layers

of our sin

and how absolutely

sinful I am.

And in that moment,

I had to pull over.

I was crying.

I had to pull over

because I just

couldn't believe

how deluded

I had been

for so many years

and had missed

the fact

that God

is perfect

and even when

I think I'm

really on a good

path,

when I'm the most

zealous I can be

in my Christianity,

that yet still

I fall so

desperately short

of his

righteousness.

And then I

praised him

because in Christ

I'm perfect.

Right?

Praise God

it doesn't depend

on us.

Praise God

it depends all

on him.

So if you

believe in your heart,

you will

necessarily

confess

with your mouth.

And that's

what Paul

is saying

to us.

For the

scripture says,

and he's

quoting Isaiah

49,

23,

everyone who

believes in

him

will not

be put to

shame.

He's drawing

us back to

the Old Testament

constantly in the

book of Romans.

Everyone who

believes in him

will not be put

to shame,

for there is no

distinction between

Jew and Greek,

for the same

Lord is Lord of

all,

bestowing his

riches on

all who call

on him.

for everyone

who calls

on the name

of the Lord

will be

saved.

There we have

it again.

That's Joel

2,

32 that he's

quoting from.

As a church,

and I hope

as a Christian

who believes

in the scriptures,

you hold up

high the

sovereign election

of God.

You see that

he is ultimately

in control.

He is all

powerful over

all things,

including the

salvation of his

people.

I hope that

you believe in

that.

And we've

talked about

all the great

reasons that

you should.

It's an

encouragement to

your soul.

It's a movement

to evangelism.

You ought to

believe in

that.

But what does

Paul talk about

next, right after

he got done

talking about

that?

He doesn't

say,

therefore,

brothers,

build large

buildings,

wear nice

suits,

drive fancy

cars,

come together

and say to

each other,

good morning,

brother,

I've been

praying for

you.

He doesn't

say,

form holy

clubs so

that you can

come together

and pat

yourselves on

the back

because you're

God's people.

He doesn't

say that at

all,

does he?

He says

instead,

I have a

desperate

heart to

see the

Israelites

come to

Christ.

I pray

for them

because anyone

who calls

on the name

of the

Lord will

be saved.

Charles Spurgeon,

a great champion

of the

doctrine of

election,

was asked

one time,

why do you

even preach

the gospel?

And he

said,

because the

elect don't

have a

yellow stripe

painted up

and down

their back.

If they

did,

I would

go around

lifting up

shirt tails.

God has

called us

to be the

means to

his ends

and we

ought to

be about

that work.

Next week

we'll talk

at length

about the

following

verses.

The gospel

comes to

us through

words.

How are

people going

to believe

if they

don't hear

the good

news of

Jesus Christ?

This is on

the tail of

one of the

great chapters

on God's

sovereign

election.

Why?

Because it

has to be put

in proper

balance.

So many

of the

doctrines of

scripture

are like

walking a

tightrope

to get it

right.

I used this

analogy before.

We need to

be on the

tightrope

between God's

sovereign

election,

man's

responsibility.

What part

do we play

in carrying

the gospel

to the

world?

Both things

are fully

true.

They're

apparent

paradoxes.

In our

little minds

the two

don't quite

match up.

However,

in God's

magnificent

mind it

makes perfect

sense and

we just

can't

completely

understand

it.

So we're

meant to

walk the

tightrope

in between

and that's

why Paul

does this

for us

here.

This is

why we

believe in

verse-by-verse

exposition

of the

text.

We could

skip over

chapter 10,

couldn't we?

We could

skip over

chapter 9

and just

focus on

10.

There's a

perfect balance

for us

in the

scriptures.

And so

what is the

charge today

as Paul

kind of

steps back

from this

kind of

deep look

at the

doctrine of

election and

salvation?

He kind of

takes a step

back from

that.

What is the

charge to

us today?

I think you're

going to be in

one of two

positions.

You either

have,

with all your

effort,

with all

your zeal,

you've been

pressing to

be righteous

before God.

Christianity

for you has

been a list

of rules,

new laws.

You've just

jotting them

down and

you have

the do's

and you

have the

don'ts,

the sins

of commission

and the sins

of omission.

You're really,

really working

at it.

You're really

trying the

best you

can to

be a good

person because

you think

that's going

to accomplish

something

ultimately

for you.

You're

lost.

You haven't

placed your

faith in

Christ.

If you

haven't come

to the

end of

yourself

and realized

that there's

nothing good

in you

and that

all your

goodness is

found in

him,

you're lost.

Destruction

is your

end.

Today,

believe in

your heart

and confess

with your

mouth.

Turn from

your sin

and turn

to Christ.

You may

have deluded

yourself all

this time.

You may have

bought lies

set your

life right

this morning.

Nothing

special has

to happen

for that.

You know

that,

right?

I don't

have to,

I'm not

a special

purveyor of

God's grace

to you.

This is not

an altar.

You don't

need to come

up here and

sacrifice.

Christ has

already fulfilled

that.

It is

finished

in him.

Yes and

amen.

I hope that

phrase is

getting stuck

in your head

from the last

couple of

weeks.

all you

have to

do is

repent,

believe,

confess with

your mouth,

come talk to

somebody,

it's going to

flow out of

you.

Grab somebody,

look at the

person next

to you,

grab them

and tell

them,

I believe

that Jesus

Christ is

the Son

of God

and I

believe that

he died

for my

sins.

There's

nothing I

could have

done to

be in

right standing

with him.

I've placed

my faith

in him.

That's it.

Simple.

Profundity.

That's it.

Believe this

morning.

I plead with

you.

Believe.

If you're

a Christian

and you're

not confessing

with your

mouth,

believe today.

It's the same

call.

Repent.

Believe.

Have the

simple

profundity of

the gospel

work into

you so

that it'll

work out

of you.

Have a

heart for

your people.

Who are

your people?

Gentiles?

Gentiles.

They're all

around you.

It's the

people that

you go to

school with,

who live on

your hall.

It's the

people that

you work

with.

It's the

people that

you live

in a

neighborhood

with and

probably

don't know

their names.

I can be

guilty of

that.

Those are

your people.

Do you

break for

them?

Do you

desire to

be the

means to

the end?

Knowing that

anyone who

confesses,

anyone who

believes in

their heart

and confesses

with their

mouth,

will be

saved?

saved.

Great

motivation to

share.

I hope that

some of you

who are found

in Christ

this morning

can just

say amen

to everything

that I've

said.

Say,

man,

Nathan's

bringing it

today.

I am so

glad that

I'm not

under fire

this morning

for this.

But I

don't think

that's really

the case.

I know

many of you

well,

and I love

you,

and I love

your devotion

to Christ.

I'm

encouraged,

I'm spurred

on by

you to

serve him

more,

but none

of us

have arrived.

It can't

not be said

of any

of us,

that's the

example.

Run,

run after

that one.

He's got

it down,

or she

has it

perfect.

Right?

So examine

your hearts

this morning.

do you

believe

the gospel?

If you

do,

it's going

to change

the way

you live

your life.

Let's pray

together.

Let's pray

together.

Let's pray

Let's pray

Let's pray

Let's pray

together.

Let's pray

Let's pray

Let's pray

Let's pray

Let's pray

together.