Revering the Word
Romans 10 Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Good morning everyone. This morning, I am not at home and I'm up in Northwest Wisconsin. My son-in-law is going to be playing in a golf tournament in Minneapolis and my wife and I are staying with his parents up there. I happen to be outside this morning overlooking some northwestern Wisconsin landscape. Quite a pretty view. The training a little bit but I'm underneath and oning and it's just a pretty morning. I have not learned yet to record these in advance and then post them. I do them live every morning. It's the first thing I do when I wake up is come out and work it up and do this podcast. So anyway, I just thought I'd share with you the setting this morning. I love this chapter. It's one of my favorite. I mean there's just so many. There's a golden nugget in every chapter of the Bible. You know, I realized some chapters are more engaging than others but I'll tell you what, in every chapter there is something beautiful and this chapter so much of it is. Hallelujah. Remark your call in Romans 9, Paul was talking a lot about Israel and his desire that they would come to faith in Jesus and he continues in the beginning of this chapter focusing on that where he says, "Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. He wants to see Jews come to faith in Jesus." That's just interesting, isn't it? That means that they're not in salvation right now if he's prayer is for them to have salvation. They're not in salvation. They're not promised heaven just because they're a Jew. They need to come to Jesus now just like anybody else. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Isn't that interesting? They have knowledge of the Old Testament but not knowledge of the Messiah Jesus who was talked about in the Old Testament to come to forgive all any and all of their sin, not just you but Gentile as well. And man, that's one of the, I don't know if the right word is frustrating but maybe frustrating things is that I just feel like sometimes there's so many around us who, you know, don't get it yet, haven't come to faith in Jesus and what really inhibits them is a lack of knowledge. And many times the inhibiting factor is that they don't assume that there is knowledge they don't have that would lead them to faith. They feel like they already know enough or that there's not really anything to know or that all religions are equally right and equally wrong and therefore there's no sense even pursuing to learn because there's nothing to learn. There's a lot of things that are behind the lack of knowledge that people have. The Bible says that you'll seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. And if everyone would seek to understand the knowledge of the gospel and how so many things were written about Jesus that then ended up coming true and only God could know that all those things would come true and did come true in Jesus. And if people would just but learn the evidence and gain knowledge so many more would believe but you've got to you've got to be hungry enough to seek it. You know, that's why I wrote the book that I wrote altered is, you know, the Bible's a big book and I think it's the best book to read in all the world. However, when you're brand new and you open a Bible, it's intimidating or there's a lot to learn and my book altered essentially tells the story of the Bible in a condensed fashion and delivers the evidence to help people believe. And then after they read my book, they're going to have more honor and reverence for the Bible and greater understanding. And then I strongly encourage everyone to go through the whole Bible and to do a three-year Bible challenge I think is awesome. And then to listen to a podcast that is going to help you understand it is all the greater. So those would be my suggestions to those in our lives that we hope to come to faith is to read altered and get in a three-year Bible reading challenge then and take in the whole council and I'll tell you what your faith will be blessed because of it. So back to the Jews in verse three for not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. See, they were trying to Jews trying to create their own righteousness through adherence to the law and they didn't understand that just as Abraham was made right by faith. Now those are of us are made right by faith through Jesus faith in Jesus. And if you're trying to get to God and get to heaven on your own through your own righteousness, you're not going to get there. You've got to get there through believing and being made right by Jesus. And it says here in verse four for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. See, he's the end of that. You don't have to try to pursue through the law being made right through through God that way because Jesus is the end of that and now everyone who believes Hallelujah is righteous. And let me read it again for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. One of the things I want to mention and it's going to come up a lot in this chapter is you know the Bible talks about being elected and chosen and predestined and I tend to believe what that means is that God predestined, elected and shows the fact that now Gentiles are part of the family of God through faith in Jesus. So he chose that ahead of time that now it's not just Jews but it's Gentiles. And in some ways you can also look at the passages and say you know God knew before the foundation of the world that Gentiles were going to be able to come to faith and come to him through Jesus. A lot of times a Calvinist would look at that individually meaning God knows every individual who's going to accept them and who's not God elected or predestined each individual. The problem that you get to when you get too far down that line and that way is you get to the point where it says well God elected then people to go to hell because if he elected specific individuals and not just Gentiles as a nation like he elected the Jews to be his family he now elected all Gentiles who come to faith in Jesus to be part of his family. But anyways if you go to individuals and you say well God predestined elected and chosen certain people and then the other people they have no option even to come to Christ because God didn't choose or elect them so they're on their way to hell and there's nothing you can do about it so then you'd have to come to the conclusion that God elected some to hell and some to heaven and then it would really get away from our faith and our choice in choosing Christ because it would really be only up to God choosing us. So that's where you can get a little extreme on the election and predestination and this chapter and Paul has preached about that by the way about predestination and election in this very book the book of Romans but this chapter leans very heavily the other way and we see it right here in verse four for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. So it appears in this book and there's going to be a lot more passages like this in this chapter that everyone who believes can come to the Lord. Anyone who will believe in it anyone who will call on the name of the Lord can be saved we'll see that in this chapter. So then you're left with trying to reconcile that and what I call it is a divine mystery. So somehow God has elected predestined and chosen Gentiles to be able to come to faith in him to believe in him and come part of his family and maybe that even even gets down to the individual and that's fine but then open it up in my view open it up to the mystery that everyone has an opportunity to come to Christ because it says that in the Bible too. So when you when you have when you have things written both ways God elected predestined, chosen, certain ones and didn't choose certain ones if you want to go to that extreme and then you go to the other side where it says everyone who calls in the Lord those don't go together real well you know I would say. So what some people do is they go to one camp or the other and and say well it must not mean this because this passage says it this way and what I just say is you know what somehow God predestined and elected and somehow everyone who calls in the name of the Lord believes in Jesus can be saved and we'll let God tell us you know he can tell me how that all works up in heaven one day but until then I'm going to be thankful that God shows me and until then I'm going to be thankful that everyone who calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved and by the way God didn't say he didn't put a verse in there that says you tell me how that mystery works out you create a formula or a system that that explains that in a way that you can understand it there's no Bible verse that says that Jacobian and he's you that nor is there any Bible verse that says that you need to do that in fact what it says is it says it both ways and it says embrace both because that's what's in the word of God and we don't have to be God and explain the mystery we just can embrace all of it and go forward proclaiming the gospel to all around and believing that they can accept Jesus and if you want to say well when they do then they were elected that's fine but uh anyways that's how I explain it God did not say it's my job to explain his mystery I just embrace it and enjoy the beauty of it verse five for Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law the man who does these things shall live by them you know if you're going to try to follow the law to get to heaven you better follow it perfectly and you can't so that won't work you got to come to faith in Jesus to be made right by God but the righteousness of faith speaks in this way do not say in your heart who will go up to heaven that is to bring Christ down or who will go down to the abyss that is to bring Christ up from the dead and that's kind of a complicated set of passages but I think what it's saying is you know what you don't have to go down to the abyss and you don't have to go up to heaven in order to understand the gospel to be saved by Jesus you can get saved anywhere where you are right now where you are whether it is in Germany Russia Australia or in northwestern Wisconsin anyone who calls in the name of the Lord wherever you are can be saved again you don't have to go to heaven or the abyss to figure it out but what does it say see the word is near you wherever you are in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith that we are preaching and all you got to do if you want to be a follower of Jesus listen this is it that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved hallelujah I want to spend a little bit of time on that verse let me read it to you in a different way that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Savior and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you'll be saved you notice it doesn't say that and I'm not saying that that's a totally unhealthy way to look at it Jesus is Savior but you know what it does say it says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and that says something and that he was raised from the dead you'll be saved you know the Lord a way to translate Lord is master is is Jesus the master of your life do you look at him as the king of kings and the lord of lords you see the one that you're looking to to govern and lead your life and sometimes people will want a Savior they want to be saved to their sin but they don't want a lord and I think there's a problem in that and sometimes it's you could call it lordship salvation um John MacArthur has a book that is a gospel according to Jesus that talks a lot about lordship salvation and and you know I think sometimes when you first get saved you might be getting saved through faith in Jesus as a Savior and you still sometimes don't fully comprehend what it means to have a lord but I think it's important that in your attorney of faith you do receive Jesus as Lord that you say you know what I want to honor him I want to please him there's no one more important in my life than Jesus and he gave us his word and he said you know man does not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and as a result of Jesus being Lord I want to know his word and obey him I'm saved because of faith in him and he has made me right but now I seek to obey him you might recall that that was faith leading to obedience was the whole purpose of this book but I you know place your faith in Jesus and although in this particular passage it doesn't talk about baptism it's talked about so much in the Bible and when you receive Jesus as your lord I think one of the best ways to express that is through a water baptism where you you know you you die to yourself you go underwater and you rise to new life in him and it's a symbol of Jesus rose from the dead and that one day we will rise to you know I'm glad that sometimes we make it easy for people to believe we might say raise your hand we might say get come forward for an altar call and and hey many times those professions of faith are real and people are saved and God knows when their faith is real and they get the Holy Spirit by believing but there's something to be said to say you know what get up out of your seat and get into the water and commit your life to Jesus and that physical act of faith of getting baptized is a great way to profess your faith and it is uh it is what's prescribed in the Bible so I would encourage all to do that if you haven't do that talk to your pastor about getting baptized and it's kind of cool I'm in a as I mentioned in northwest Wisconsin and there's a cornfield behind me and there's a two-year walking by one one's pretty nice buck actually um they're kind of looking over by me because they hear my voice God's creation what a what a beautiful thing all right let's keep going verse 11 no verse verse 10 for with the heart a person believes leading to righteousness and with the mouth he confesses leading to salvation and there's something to be said for not doing this secretly coming to Christ to say it to him Jesus I receive you as my Lord and Savior I believe upon you you speak it out loud them and you know baptism is an out loud thing it's a physical thing and all the all this leads to salvation for the scripture says the Old Testament pointed to this whoever believes upon him will not be put the shame who so ever hallelujah for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek see he talked about saying he wanted the Jews to come to faith and and this book has largely been about two Gentiles being welcomed to the family of God but there's no distinction for the same lord is lord of all bounding and riches for all who call in him see the emphasis of all we've seen it several times now and in fact verse 13 says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved and that's actually a quote from Joel from the Old Testament who so ever calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved hallelujah how then will they call on him and whom they have not believed and I want you to think about that if if someone doesn't believe they can't call on Jesus they got to believe in him to call on him and how will they believe in him who they have not heard if someone's never heard of Jesus then how can they believe and if they can't if they don't hear and they don't believe then they won't call on his name to say oh Lord save me and how will they hear without a preacher so in order for someone to hear they got to get the message and now you know back in this day that this was being written you know there wasn't even a new testament scripture they really needed a preacher and they still need someone to we we knew we need to be getting the word out about Jesus to people but we need to be getting them books too we need to be getting them audio podcasts send it to them we need to be getting them the bible so that they can read about salvation but let's not also forget that you know we can share with people the gospel so that they can hear so that they can believe and so that they can call in the name of the Lord and then finally it says this and how will they preach unless they are sent just as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things and may we have beautiful feet maybe be the ones that are sent ones you know that word there how will they preach unless they are sent it's the word apistelo which sounds like apostle it's the verb form of the word apostle and it means sent ones or one sent with authority and what it's indicating there is you know what you're a sent one if you're a believer in Jesus Christ you're a sent one you now are supposed to be a proclaimer of the gospel you're you're supposed to be helping people to get the word out so that they can hear so that they can believe so that they can call on Jesus and so they can be saved and it says how how will someone preach unless they're sent you know one of the problems in the Christian churches today is people don't know they're sent ones you know once you become a believer in Jesus you're now a sent one you're you're one who is to share the good news with others so that others can hear and believe and receive the gospel and be saved but how will they preach unless they are sent meaning if you don't know that you're a sent one then you won't do it you know what i'm saying but we have to realize that now God has given us the mission that's one of the powers of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that everyone who comes to believe in him is now his kingdom of priests and we're to be used to get this gospel out to the world and and praise God it's not just Jesus it's not just the apostles but we all have become sent ones who believe in him and may we get the word out so people can hear believe and be saved hallelujah and you know what you got to get yourself some beautiful feet how beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things and you know that's actually a symbol when when there would be a war or battle and someone would come back and run over the mountains and back to the city to tell people what happened in the battle and you know when they came back running to declare the good news you know they couldn't text they couldn't see it on the news when someone came back and proclaimed the battle's been won it was beautiful words and they had beautiful feet because they came to bring the good news and may we be of beautiful feet how excuse me however they did not all heed the good news riot za says lord who has believed our report so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of christ hallelujah see the word is so important the word of the bible is so important faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of christ we need to get these words out there's nothing greater than the word of god the word of christ it has the power of salvation in it may people hear it learn it and respond to it in faith but i say have they never heard on the contrary they have and paul's quoting some old testament passages now saying hey this word's been going out all along their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world and you know gosh paul was saying that this was true in that day how much more in this day i mean there's a i might not be over saying it there's a million you know podcast messages available to people on on their phones right now you know the bible can be pulled up in any version you want instantaneously there's youtube videos sharing the gospel there's churches all over the place uh there is an opportunity for you to hear the gospel and to respond to it if someone wants to but not everyone wants to hear it or take the time to hear it and uh may hearts be that are hardened be softened so that they will come to say come to hear but i say did israel not know first moses says i will make you jealous by a nation which is not a nation by a nation without understanding will i anger you and that's partly what's happening right now is that because the the gospels come to gentiles and all who believe in him can come to faith it's in a in a sense to help the jews realize that you know gosh look at all these people that get to come to you know get to the front of the line in jesus and in salvation and hopefully the jews recognize and many have that they need to come to jesus too and isiah is very bold and says i was found by those who did not seek me i became manifest to those who did not ask for me and he's quoting isiah old testament stuff but it's it's it's almost as though he's saying you know what the gentiles didn't understand too that this day would come where they could come to the front of the line through faith in jesus uh they may not even been asking but now it's available to us hallelujah it's a gift of god the fact that we can come to faith in jesus and become part of his god's family hallelujah but as for israel he says all day long i've stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people and and that's what god is doing now and i would say he's doing that for israel but he's also doing that for gentiles all over the world you know jesus is coming back and one day it's going to be too late people are going to lose the opportunity to come to jesus and he's patient in his return because he's waiting for israel and for more people to come to faith in him he's holding out his hand he's stretching out his hand to a disobedient and obstinate people and he's giving people more time to come to faith in him before it's too late and i pray that you our friends and family would confess with our mouth that jesus is lord and believe in our heart that god raised him from the dead and be saved hallelujah and may we you know what send invite people to a podcast give people a book you know get my book from from uh reviewing the word.com give it to someone you love and be sent ones that are trying to get this message out so that more people can get saved and they will i'll tell you what there's power in the witness of a christian getting the word out and sometimes it can be hard sometimes it feels like this person is not listening but i'll tell you what the next one that you seek to reach could be the one that seeks god and finds him and gets saved hallelujah so let's keep getting the word out and praise god that jesus got his word out to us and we become followers of him praise god for the beautiful feet of others in our lives that help lead us to jesus hallelujah may we be his sent ones god bless you all