Romans 10:1–13 God Saves
The Text
Romans 10:1–13 (CSB)
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation.2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,
5 since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.
6 But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down
7 or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
8 On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame,
12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him.
13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
The Introduction
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation.
God Saves: Our Flesh Does Not
We are not auto-saved. Listen, I love the Presbyterian's teaching of the covenant of grace. Essentially is this, those who are born of a believing father and mother within a believing home, will never not know the love of God that is for them. And you don't have to be Presbyterian to affirm that. There are many in here, by the grace of God, especially our little ones in the nursery, from the moment they could think and act and hear, have always know the love of God and the gospel of Christ. And I think it is the sweetest testimony to have: "I have always know the love of God."
But knowing the love of God, having believing parents, your pastor knowing you really well, attending church for a long time does not save you. It does not.
And if you have an eschatology--an end-times theology--that flirts with the Jewish people that is automatically saved because they are Jewish, please read the Gospels and tell me how is that possible?
The Jewish people, like the Gentiles with them, must have the heart by God placed with in them and they must have the same Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in them and in us in order to be saved by God.
There is only one name by which we are saved.
2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
God Saves: Our Zeal and Knowledge Does Not
There are two ways to look at this: zeal and ignorance. It does not matter how long you went to Sunday School, which Christian private school you attended, what Bible College you attended, years at Seminary, served as a pastor, wrote books, taught, preached--if you do not believe that Jesus is the only Savior and Lord, you will not be saved.
We are not saved by whether or not we can ace a theological pop quiz.
But that does not mean the opposite is true:
Hosea 4:6 (CSB) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your sons.
All that means is that you are suppressing the knowledge that God has made evident: that God is real.
3 Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.
God Saves: Our Righteousness Does Not
Isaiah 64:6 (CSB) All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
I have always known this verse and by it, knew that any work--my self-righteousness--I have done prior to my salvation was discarded like polluted garments. Just straight hot trash.
I remembered hearing a story of wife exhorting her husband in the midst of church scandal: "All of works we do now are as filthy rags." Wait a minute! Are my works that I do now still filthy?
Christian, your works and my works we do now did not save us, do not save us now, and will never save us in the future.
"Well, if God just discards my righteous works as trash, why even bother doing them?" you might wonder.
For as our works--tainted, skewed, infected, unpure as they might be--God certain does not need them. He knew that. That is why he sent his Son: to do the works that are pleasing unto God and to do them for you. All you needed to do is open your hands and receive him. Those righteous, pure works that Christ has done now belong to you. For "if we are children, then heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:16-17)
But you know who does need your good works now that you have been redeemed by God? Your neighbor. Which if we understand the Christ's parable of the Good Samaritan, that means everybody else. For:
Matthew 22:37–40 (CSB) He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
How we are born into, our zeal, our passion, our knowledge, and our righteousness does not save us.
What does save us?
How about if we obey God? That's it. That is trick right?
Our God
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, 5 since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.
God Saves: Our Obedience Does Not
James 2:10 (CSB) For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
Give me a show of hands of those who have perfectly and always obeyed the law of God.
I think we sometimes confuse the law of the land versus the law of God. Like, me going five miles over the posted speed limit does not warrant me an overnight stay in the local jail cell.
But we think a lie, a theft, a look at porn, a moment of anger, cruelness, gossip, something small should warrant the wrath of Jesus Christ.
But God doesn't just see the action--God only sees what man and the police and the judge cannot--your heart.
In our acts of disobedience springs out of a heart of defiance. We yearn to do the bare minimum so that the God of the Universe can give me a good and easy life and then leave me alone.
Yet, God has made us in our own image. Some of you will go to your grave denying this but we need each other. We need to connect. We need relationships. And God is so personal, and he created us in his image, that we need him. Desperately. And we sometimes hate that. Because we think he is going to demand too much of us like to perfectly obey him.
And it is that attitude has us fleeing away from God. And God knew that. Even if we could obey the law, our hearts would be so far from him. We just want the checklist of to-dos for our best life now. But in our born flesh, we don't want God.
6 But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down 7 or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
God Saves: Our Good Intentions Do Not
But then we think we know what is going on with our hearts. We think we can feel our way to God. Or somehow, if we feel the right things, that God will look on it has what is truth and accept us on our good intentions.
Matthew 7:13–14 (CSB) “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
That road of feeling good and good intentions are just suppressing the truth and you just don't want to admit it.
But what if you could open your heart, feel the feels within and be honest with your feelings? Learn to be sadden by loneliness. Or grieve at death. Or anger at abuse.
There is no salvation in doing the right thing nor appearing to do the right thing.
The Gospel
8 On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:
God Saves: Our Words Do Not
Even saying the right thing will not save you.
"I thought we had to profess and say it with our mouth?" But look how Paul prefaces it:
This is the message of faith that we proclaim
It is a message of faith. Faith that does not come from you but is given to you for the source of faith:
Ephesians 2:8–9 (CSB) For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.
The word says, "it is God's gift." What is the 'it'? What is God's gift?
- Saved
- Grace
- Faith
The answer is 'yes'. D--all of the above. Salvation is a gift of God. Grace is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of god. For:
Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB) Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The ESV states it: "the author" of our faith.
To proclaim belief and trust in God is a message of faith. That faith didn't originate you just like the message didn't originate with you.
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
God Saves: the Spirit of God Must Bear Witness
There is no exception:
1 Corinthians 12:3 (CSB) Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
And:
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (CSB) Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
We can talk about our sincerity but that can be fake. We can talk about "do we mean it" but that can manufactured as well. And why would we want to do that when all that means we are going to hell while playing with church here on earth.
Why waste your time doing so?
But here is the real truth, as Christ explained how to pray in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, and it can be summed it this:
If you turn to God, run to God, ask for God, you are going to God.
In this life, I have no other guarantees other that life and the world and some people will to try to take a poop on you and expect you to love it.
The one guarantee in this life, and it ain't by me but by the Almighty Creator God who has created the heavens, earth, and hell: go to God, ask for God, he will give you God.
How do I know this? A little over 2,000 years ago, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of the Virgin Mary, to grow in stature and wisdom, to perfectly obey the law of God, to preach the gospel of God, to suffer under Pontius Pilate, to die illegally only to be resurrected unto life and then ascended to the right hand of the Father where he now rules and reigns forever and ever.
Disbelieve God at his word. Sure. Disobey him. Continuous. Rebel against his sovereignty? All day every day. But do not be so foolish and say there is not God. Because all that Jesus Christ did to save his people from their sins is a historical fact. If you hold an ounce of eduacation, you cannot deny this.
Our Response
10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame,
12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him.
13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
For those who do not believe and cannot believe, I am telling you, praying for you and pleading with you: go to God and ask for God. I double dog dare you.
But the fact that you are asking for him already means that God dwells in you. The fact that you repent of sin means the Triune God has made his home in your. The fact that you are praying to God means that God has taken out your heart of stone and given you his own soft, fleshy heart and His Spirit so that now, you can obey him by loving Him with all of your heart and loving your neighbor has yourself.
And when God sees you doing good things for others in worship to him, he has already forgotten your sins and instead, sees the covering by his perfect Son, Jesus Christ.
Call on the name of the Lord. Ask for God. You will get God. Amen.