Well, I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 10 tonight, 1124 in your Bibles, Romans chapter 10. We continue in this great chapter. It was a little bit thick last time, looking at what the Apostle Paul's doing here, which is surprising in many ways, and we're continuing some reflections on that. But I encourage you, that last sermon was important to see the connection to Deuteronomy 30. And if you want to further study that, I encourage you to go back and listen to the previous sermon on verses 5 through 8. I will be touching on some of that tonight, but it's important to encourage you that way.
So, Romans chapter 10, we will begin at verse 1, and we will read through verse 17, our text tonight, verses 9 through 13. "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved," speaking of Israel. "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Four, 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 commandment shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, 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. 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. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sinned? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
May the Lord bless the hearing of his word tonight.
Well, this chapter, as we have been working through the book of Romans, and we come to chapter 10, is a very important chapter, and in some ways a very challenging chapter. In other ways, a very clear chapter when you finally can see exactly the flow and direction of what the Apostle Paul is saying to us. The basic message is extremely clear and very encouraging for you tonight as a congregation of the Lord and his dear people whom he loves. For he has one point that he is really driving home tonight, and I guess I could put it in the sense of a form of a question, since he does have a series of questions here. It really is the heart of Romans chapter 10, and the question could go something like this: If it is by faith in Christ that we are saved and delivered, how do we get Christ? How is Christ brought to us? Is that some sort of ethereal question that basically assumes that we can't really get Christ in this life, that he's just far from us? Does faith, is that what we're saying when we say we're saved by faith?
And you see, it's an important question. The scriptures present the nearness of Christ to his people. The scriptures want us to understand the nearness of Christ to his people. But we're not always sure what that means. You could make the error like Rome did in the sacrament of a localized presence and transubstantiation of Christ coming in and transforming the bread and the wine to force him down to us, to bring him down to us. But what are we thinking about and what are we saying and how is Jesus Christ near to his people is the great question. How does he come to us if he is in heaven and we are on earth?
And now Paul is really pushing this home. He's driving this to a conclusion tonight, and it comes after he has made a great case of the problem of Israel: distinguishing between two kinds of righteousness. Two kinds of righteousness. Two ways in which people try to approach God. One way is through the works of the law. The other is by faith. And he wants us to understand what it means that Christ is near to us by faith. But these two kinds of righteousness, he's been really developing and helping us to understand. Remember what he said last time? He explained how Israel failed in this regard. That's verse 3 of chapter 10, where we read: "For they, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." They would not submit to it. They would not become subject to it.
Well, you saw that this morning in many ways, where they had no understanding of the meaning of the law. They would not come to Christ. So, stubborn refusal and refusal because they wanted to attain that righteousness and that nearness to God through the works of the law, by their own accomplishments. But Romans 10:4 becomes a climax here, of which Paul then develops. And he says, with Israel, and he wants us to understand, but Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Christ is. So the first kind of righteousness is one that tries to accomplish their righteousness by getting right with God by keeping the law. That's, we've talked about sort of the de facto answer of anyone you talk to: "Why do you think you're going to go to heaven?" And they're going to say, "Well, you know, I may be bad, but the good kind of outweighs the bad." And on that good basis, that human, we were just in my study the other day with Ligonier and Dr. Godfrey. And in their recent survey, it's remarkable still how many evangelical Christians still believe that man is basically good. Okay? This is modern survey stuff. This is the problem of Israel. They would not listen. They would not submit to this.
But he says, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness." He's the goal of the law. In other words, there's another kind of righteousness that is commended and that is received by God. So the righteousness of the law says, "Do this, and you'll live." But the righteousness that comes by faith, Paul says, speaks in an entirely different way. It has a different mindset. It has a different understanding. And what have we learned in Romans?
Well, this is what Romans has been developing for us right at the beginning of the book when we had the thesis statement about the gospel. And then he develops that and unpacks that in Romans 3. But now there is a righteousness that is revealed apart from the law, even the righteousness that comes by faith. Well, you could almost link together right there and jump to Romans 10 to understand what that means. What is this righteousness that comes apart from the law that is received by faith? And Paul is now helping us to explain this and pick up on that thought: the righteousness of faith in this life speaks in an entirely different way.
So whatever he's about to say, it's totally contrary to the righteousness that comes by works. And Paul says that, makes this case in verse 4, that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." So notice here, whatever he's about to say is important to that great point. And then what Paul did, we looked at last time, was loosely quote Deuteronomy 30. Now let me just read it again just for a minute so you can hear it. And maybe again, look carefully at verse 6: "But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? that is to bring, notice, Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up."
Now listen to Deuteronomy 30, 12 through 14. "When you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in the book of the law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, for this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, this is the commandment, not Christ. It is not in heaven that you should say, who will ascend to heaven for us to bring it to us that we may hear it and do it Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, who will go over the sea for us to bring it, the commandment to us that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart. Change so that you can do it."
Paul says that's the first kind of righteousness. But they didn't understand that. See, "I've set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, that I command you today by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you."
Well, notice what Paul does in verse 6. He takes that. He says, "But the righteousness that comes by faith, the way we speak is this: Do not say in your heart..." Now we'd expect the law, "Who will ascend into heaven to bring the law down?" No. He substitutes Christ right there because he's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. He substitutes Christ to demonstrate that. "Who do not say in their hearts, who will ascend into heaven to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss to bring Christ up So we don't treat Christ the way that Israel treated the law. We will go, do it.
Now, the simple point he's making, this is the complex part, I understand. The righteousness that comes by faith does not attempt to do this with Jesus because the law there shows us that it was thinking of Christ fulfilling it for us. It doesn't try to bring Jesus to us our way. But it recognizes that this righteousness that is provided for us is brought to us entirely as a gift of God and a work of God. You don't have to go even get it. You don't even have to go even get it.
Now, think about that. Hold that thought. It's very important. Paul's concern, Romans tells us, Paul wants to explain here how you get Jesus. And the first thing he's saying is, "You don't go get him. He's brought to you." Now think of all the ways people have tried to get Jesus, to force him to themselves, which is the first kind of righteousness. I mean, I don't see Jesus. Do you see Jesus? I am in this gospel, give all these calls, and sometimes it feels a little awkward: "Come, come to Jesus." And people who don't believe are thinking we're crazy. "He's not here." That's an important question. If he were here, maybe more people would come, right? If he were here, maybe more people would come. They wouldn't have to see Pastor Gordon. They could see Jesus himself.
Paul's addressing that. I know you're asking, thinking, "Okay, where do we get Christ?" Paul's having us consider this. What Paul just said is Israel didn't accomplish this on their own righteousness. They tried to do it in their own righteousness by keeping the law. And Christ is the end of the law. He was the intention of the law, the fulfillment of the law, and therefore it was about him. And so then we don't treat Christ like Israel treated the law. So what does this mean? How is he brought to you?
It's summed up this way in verse 8: "But what does it say? What is the righteousness that comes by faith? What does it say? What a beautiful statement. We sung it out in Psalm 138: The word is near you. In your mouth. And in your heart. That is the word of faith that we preach. So, did you hear what he just said? Christ is brought to you in the word that is preached to you, and those who live by faith understand that and believe that.
And it's as if he said, "Listen, I've put everything in place for you. Nothing's lacking. You don't have to run over here to find Jesus. You don't have to run to a temple to find Jesus. In fact, you can manipulate bringing this righteousness to you. But I want you to think here what he's saying to us. Here's what he's saying: Now, this is not to pat Pastor Gordon on the back because I didn't put myself into this. Or I see Reverend Godfrey's back there tonight, and he would say the same thing. We know it was a calling, and that's exactly what he says here: I have sent to you preachers who proclaim him. And here's how you take a hold of him, and here's what happens. And here's how it all works.
So notice in verse 13, what does he say? "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." So what's he describing? Look at verse 14. We'll be coming back to this next week. He works backward, but notice what he says: "How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?" You got to call, but you haven't believed. Well, how could they believe in somebody they've never heard? Okay. Well, how are they going to hear then without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they're sent?
There's an order there: sending, preaching, sending the preacher, preacher, hearing, believing, and then what? Calling. Calling. There's the climax. Calling on the name of the Lord. So what's Paul saying? "It's all in place. It's all in place for you. It's all done for you." This is really good news tonight. Jesus is brought to you. How so? Well, if you have to call upon Jesus to be saved, then you have to believe. Well, how does Jesus get there? To believe in him, I've got to hear him. And he just said, "To hear him, I'll send you preachers."
That's why I opened up the service with Isaiah 55: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace." So think of this beautiful truth then. It's so clear to us that we take for granted. When you come to his church and Jesus is preached, you don't need to look for anything else. This is how the righteousness of God is made available to you when you call. I see how important it is what we do here. It's sad today. People look for spirituality in all kinds of things. I always think, you know, if the prayer of Jabez worked, why doesn't it work now? Or if the 40 days of purpose worked, why doesn't it work now? You've had all these gimmicks over all time. You've had all these things that people do to try to bring Jesus. And it's a fight just to get people to come to what we call the means of grace and to value the church and to value, to get people. I mean, we'd all rather be at Pismo. So I was there. I put that on me. It's the hardest thing to convince people because we don't think this way. We fight thinking this way.
Jesus is brought to you in the message preached. And what happens if you think of someone like the Ethiopian eunuch? The spirit says, "Go over, take his chariot." And you read that he's reading Isaiah 53 and he can't understand it: "Who is this? Who is he talking about?" And you read there's something beautiful in Acts 8, and Philip opened his mouth and began to preach Jesus from Isaiah.
"How do I get him?" Well, verse 9, as I see it, is one of the best verses and encouraging verses to you in all the Bible. It's a simple declaration of how somebody's saved. Because, you see, here it is. Here's how the righteousness of faith speaks. Here's how it happens: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead," hear it, "you will be saved."
I have to let that set in. "For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. The scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. That's a striking statement. Believe where? In the heart. How does the heart believe? Something special about belief, about faith. When you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Paul says, "With the heart one believes unto righteousness."
Paul uses heart because it's the center of who we are: our intellects, our wills, our emotions, everything about us. One of the great promises of the old covenant was, because of Israel's failure, that one day the Lord would come. Deuteronomy 30. What would he do for us? He'd circumcise the heart. Paul has already spoken of that in chapter 2, that we would love the Lord our God with all our mind, soul, and strength. And you see, what Paul is encouraging us with tonight to help us is our life is in him.
A hard heart has to be softened and humbled. The hard heart has to be circumcised, as using Old Testament language and new, to find it's delight in Christ. And notice the encouragement that's given here: "If you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that he triumphed over death, that he went to death for you, that he went to atone for sin, that he went as the one sacrifice for all to pay for your sin, you will be saved." Belief in the heart. We're not just talking about confessing something we don't understand. As I looked at with you this morning: "He died for me. He died for you." That's not disconnection.
In the word, the risen Savior is brought to you. And it must be embraced in the heart. It must be believed in the heart. I said this somewhat this morning, but I get concerned that we use phrases over and over and over: "Jesus died for you, Jesus died for you, Jesus died for you." And what's the call in saying those things? To believe that he died for you in the heart. And that translates to the mouth. It comes from the heart to the mouth. It's so beautiful. That's why I love professions of faith because that's an expression of the heart. When something is generally in the heart, confession comes out of the mouth, and that costs something in those days. Roman culture. That costs something.
Jesus says this: "Think about this great truth. Whoever confesses me, I will confess before my Father." This is such a beautiful section tonight. You know what happens when our young people confess Christ? It's an indication that they believe this in the heart, and they stood up and confessed. And here's the assurance that is given in the midst of all this.
Paul says, "With the heart, one believes unto righteousness." That very moment when the sinner believes and trusts in Christ and recognizes the need and feels the emptiness and pain and then looks to him in faith, right then and there, God, this is what the whole book of Romans has been saying to us, imputes the righteousness of his son. There's that righteousness that he's talking about. The righteousness that comes by faith. And he covers that believer. There's nothing more that God delights if the angels in heaven rejoice than to forgive your sins and to cover you through faith.
"With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. When we believe, we are justified once and for all, and full deliverance is now and on that day. We are completely standing right before God, acquitted once and for all." "For Scripture says," now notice this, "everyone who believes," verse 11, "will not be put to shame. And a conclusion, for there is no distinction. This is kind of the heart of the book to Jews and Gentiles in Rome. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord. How wonderful is this? The same Lord is Lord over all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. Or whoever calls on him, on the name of the Lord, will be saved."
Well, see, what an encouragement of the Lord's delivering work! Everything's in place. You don't pay back as we looked at this morning. He brings this word to you. He has preachers sent to preach the word to you, who give you Christ, to make Christ near to you. And then by faith you receive him and you are saved and you call. Your whole life is calling on Jesus. Psalm 18: "I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from all my enemies." Psalm 116: "I will offer to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the Lord."
Well, I don't want you this week as you think about the supper and coming back next week to look at your life and realize how small your devotion is and how bad your failures are and your sins. I want you to look at Christ. I want you to trust his word. I want you to believe what's being said to you tonight. He is near to you in the preaching of the gospel. He is for you. He has provided a righteousness you can never attain, and he has beautifully given this to you in his life, death, and resurrection. You don't have to bring him to you. You just got to come and receive him. You don't have to manipulate him. You don't have to force his hand. He's always been near to you. He's always been near to you.
Some of you how many sermons have some of you heard in the course of your life? That's a thought, isn't it? Now, maybe you don't remember all those sermons, especially mine. Maybe you remember Dr. Godfrey's, right? Christ has always been near you. Have you confessed him? Do you believe him? Do you believe in the heart? You are saved. What an encouragement to us. You are his children. He's loved you. He's given you his son. Our Father has. And you can live confidently in that. So come next week to the table. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for such a passage tonight. And thank you for encouraging us. Israel would not submit to this. Israel would not call on the name of the Lord who stood right in front of them. They would not come to him that they may find rest. And yet Christ calls. And in that word that is preached to us, we receive him. May we have confidence. May we believe in the heart. May we confess with our mouths. And may we know that we are justified freely by grace. The righteousness that comes by faith speaks this way, thinks this way, values what you have done. So we give you praise tonight. Help us, O Lord, to live by faith in this great provision. And may your word continually be preached and Christ be shown to your people all over the world. In Jesus' name. Amen.