Tonight, we turn in the Bible to Romans, the book of Romans, and we're continuing to work through our study in Romans. Tonight, we come to chapter 10, and if you are visiting with us, that will be found on page 1203 in your pew Bibles. Romans chapter 10 tonight, we will read together the first 15 verses. Our text will be verses 9 through 13. A very exciting chapter, Romans 10. Let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 1. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them 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 commandment 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 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 overall 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've never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. May the Lord bless tonight hearing of his word. I believe at times in the ministry, it's helpful and important to pause and to remember how simple and beautiful the gospel message of grace really is. Sometimes that simplicity we as adults forget and that we need to be encouraged with ourselves because as time goes on, we tend to make things more complex than we should. And yet, the message that is before us tonight in Romans chapter 10 is so basic. It is so beautifully stated that all of us should walk away tonight, all of us and our children, and say, wow, God has made all of this incredibly clear for us, us and our children, about how we are to be saved. And he didn't just do that. He added beauty to this in telling us that this was for all who call on the name of the Lord. Gentiles with Jews together. And that's what I want you to notice in verse 11. Whoever believes, there's no distinction. The same Lord is over all, is rich to all, and whoever calls will be saved. Isn't that remarkable simplicity and beauty? No distinction. No distinction whatsoever, whoever calls. Tonight, I want us to reflect upon this and see what the Apostle Paul is driving to tonight because while it's a simple, beautiful gospel message, we've not always listened to how we are to receive this. And I say that because Romans 10 itself is a complex chapter. Romans 10 itself is one of the more complex chapters, I believe, in the Bible when Paul is looking back at the Old Testament and explaining how Israel did under the law. Remember, in Romans chapter 9, Paul started by explaining the phenomenon that is really difficult for our puny minds to comprehend. It's difficult for our little minds to comprehend. There is nothing more difficult for our little minds to comprehend than the doctrine of election that God chooses. And yet there's room and responsibility to respond. And there are people, particularly in the Reformed world, that I've seen, I've seen them fall headlong into what is known as hyper-Calvinism, and they end up doing very dangerous, very great damage to the Gospel message. It becomes a very closed communion and a closed box only for them. And it almost chalks up to being that if you just somehow believe in the doctrine of election, that means that you're elect. That's what they think. Mere agreement to truth tonight doesn't save you. The problem that Paul has been developing in Romans is something that he raised right at the beginning of chapter 9. And that is what continues to propel and drive 9 through 11. Where he said Israel had the glory, the adoption, the giving of the law, the promises of God. Israel had all of this stuff, but they didn't have the circumcision of the heart. That's what he's developing. And that's a big problem. I'm looking at national Israel. Paul's been dealing with the question of why national Israel did not attain. Now, that's not saying that every Israelite didn't attain. Obviously, many from Israel have come. Many from Israel have believed. The true Israel. That's how Paul answered it. Not all Israel are of Israel. And so he's dealing with the issue of why then these promises to national Israel, why has Israel failed? And Paul simply put is saying they need to be born again. nicodemus you need a new heart are you a teacher in israel you don't know this paul said in chapter 2 that there were many externally in covenant relation with god but inwardly they were not true jews because a true jew is one who has the circumcision of the heart by the spirit and not by the law so so paul went on to explain this that the only way this inward circumcision is brought is by the Lord and he used the doctrine of election to encourage us in this. That the true Israel are the children of promise and that God according to his election and purposes it is not of works but of him who calls. It's not of him who wills nor of him who runs but it's of God who shows mercy and he takes that dead heart and the Lord says I have to give life to it but that doesn't lead us tonight to some kind of empty fatalism in our mission and task as a church god what he did for us tonight what he did for his people at the beginning of romans 9 is answer the complex question of why national israel failed and he opened up a window for us for a moment into the decree to encourage us telling us one central thing he's not going to lose one of his sheep. That's how he wants you to look at election. I'm not losing one. And we should say, wonderful. He's not going to lose one of his sheep. That's the message of Romans 9. That's how he's answering the dilemma. But tonight we're transitioning and we're looking at now on earth the reality of Israel. We're looking at the reality for everyone. and I want you to look at how he develops this, but I want you to go to the end of chapter 10 and look at verse 21 for a minute. So you've had the beginning of nine election and now look at verse 21 of Romans 10. But of Israel, he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and a contrary people. I put out my hands. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I long to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks, but you were not willing. And so he makes it really clear, this thing for our minds that we can't comprehend, but God presents himself to rebellious Israel throughout their history as pleading with them. Come to me. Turn. remember Ezekiel turn turn I don't delight in the death of the wicked but that they turn and that they live turn and you have the calls all over the bible come now Paul has just explained for us why Israel failed because they would not do what when they heard that call Paul says at the end of Romans 9 the beginning of chapter 10 what did Israel do where did Israel fail he says it very plainly. They failed because they would not, Romans 10, 3, submit to the righteousness of God. In other words, they tried to establish their own righteousness. They tried to do it themselves. They would not listen to what God was announcing. You could take Abram this morning and say, I don't like that. Abraham's my hero. He was a good man. And Paul would say, you're not listening, God justifies the who? The wicked. Israel failed because they were trying to establish it before God. In general, they thought that if we just do a good amount of good deeds and do our best with the law, God will accept it. And Galatians says, are you not hearing the law? Are you listening to the law? The law says, the man who does these things shall live by them. god doesn't give you an out you got to hit the mark and you're all missing the mark and so in romans 10 verse 4 the apostle paul gets to i believe the summary of what he's been saying about israel so that all of the world would hear this because the whole world's mouth has been stopped looking at israel under the law and he says in romans 10 4 christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes Christ has fulfilled it Christ for righteousness this is what God was announcing to Israel this is what God throughout the history of Israel was telling them this is what the sacrificial system was always talking about Christ well what's then the next question it's the question you need to ask it's the question I need to ask it's the question that Paul is now dealing with in Romans chapter 10. If Israel didn't attain to him, and it was Christ who is the answer, Jesus, how do I get him? How do I get that righteousness? How do I receive his righteousness? And that's the single question tonight, the most important question that all of you should be very concerned with? That is a huge question for you. It's the most important question for this sad world. It's how you should be able to, when you're going out this week, tell someone how they get Jesus. I want you to see what the apostle does here tonight. He never operated from the question of, am I elect or not? I guess I have to say that. He never operated from asking the question, am I elect? Are you elect? Bad, bad question. Paul is asking the question tonight, how do you receive the righteousness that God has made available to you that's not your own, the righteousness that Israel pushed away, that they tried to obtain themselves? How do you get his righteousness, which is over there? In other words, I don't see Jesus. Do you see Jesus tonight? I don't see Jesus I don't see Jesus and you have all these calls in the Bible that say come to him you ever been a little bit confused about that you have call after call come and the preacher stands up and he says come and you say where am I going Paul's dealing with that issue Paul's answering that for you tonight I know you're asking where can I get Christ and the tendency is to try to try to find him my way and paul is having us consider this tonight remember he introduced last time two ways of speaking in verse six he describes that the speaking of the one who is trying to attain the righteousness themselves and we looked at that we contrasted that we show that leviticus 18 was teaching a certain kind of principle about the law but then he contrasts that with deuteronomy 30 to tell us about the prophetic work of christ when moses was talking about deuteronomy 30 his eyes were on jesus and that's what paul is saying he's saying my eyes when we look at the old testament and we look at what god was saying christ was in the law and the prophets this is what jesus did after in luke after the resurrection and so paul then says okay how do we speak as those who are attaining to the righteousness that comes by faith so notice what he says in verse six don't 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 does it say the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith which we proclaim to say this really simply tonight paul is saying those who are not trying to do it themselves but have submitted to god's righteousness they're not running around saying how do i get jesus and bring him to me this is really important tonight because that must have had a lot of meaning for old testament israel remember what happened old testament israel they get out in the wilderness and the Lord is up on the mountain with Moses and they're getting very impatient and they don't know what's going on. And so what do they do? They construct this beautiful golden calf. And when you have the golden calf, if you look at the text carefully, they are saying, here's God. We got him. This is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And they had constructed God. They had tried to bring God to them. And then they had a wild worship service at the bottom of the mountain, remember? Moses comes down and says, what kind of roar is this? We've never heard anything like this. The whole thing plunged into idolatry. Well, the righteousness that comes by faith, those who submitted to listening to God's message about the gospel, says, no, we're not doing that. We're not trying to bring Christ to us our way. I can't do that. I can't go get Jesus my way. I don't find him out on the basketball court. How do I get him? Paul's saying in Romans 10 is, he's saying this, God has brought him to you. God has brought him to you. It's summed up like this. The one who has Jesus Christ, who has his righteousness, does not by his own efforts try to pull Christ down and bring Christ to him. He doesn't try to go over here to get Jesus. He's not trying to figure out how to get the Lord. But notice what it says in verse 8. Christ is near you in the word that is preached. Do you realize what God just said to you? God is saying, I have put everything in place for you. I've done it. You don't have to run over here. You don't have to run over there. He even said worship will be in spirit and in truth. In fact, you can't manipulate trying to bring this righteousness to you. But here's what I've done for you. Here's what happens. Here is how you receive Christ. Here's how you receive his righteousness that is announced to you. Notice what he says. I want you to look down at verse 13 and then we'll work back up. Look at verse 13 of Romans 10. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. and then in verse 14 he works backwards notice this but he says how shall they call in him in whom they've not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach unless they are sent there's an order there and so think about the order that was just presented to you so notice sending and the preaching and the hearing and the believing and the calling. So Paul says this, it's all in place. Listen to what God has put in place. Jesus is brought to you. How so? Well, if I have to call on the Lord to be saved, everyone would agree. You've got to call out on the name of the Lord to be saved. You have to believe, right? So I call upon the name of the Lord. How do I get to call in the name of the Lord. Well, I've got to believe. Well, how do I believe something unless I've never heard it? And then how do I hear something unless I have a preacher? And how do you get a preacher unless God himself sends him? So let me put this in very plain terms tonight. Paul just said, under the inspiration of the Spirit. When you come to church and Jesus is preached, you've got Him when you believe. You don't need to worry about trying to find this righteousness or that you're missing something or that something else is out there for you. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now, do you see how important tonight it is why we have said, you need to be in church and you need to listen to the preacher i mean we live in a culture today that says don't preach to me you know and you see the attack on this it's sad today that everyone's looking for spirituality and where is the last place anyone expects to find it anymore right here it's the last place it's like pulling teeth to get people today to be convinced to go to church i just saw a group of pastors who did a rap video trying to please people to get back to church is that what it's come to it's a fight just to get people to come and it leads to the question can we get jesus anywhere i had a man say to me well doesn't that put god in a box you're putting god in a box he said you're putting god in a box i said well i said no i think you're putting god in the box. Because you're responding to this message by saying, God can't work unless you dress it up. Unless you pull Jesus down your way. God can do whatever He wants. But God has told us tonight, this is how He has made Christ available to you. And that's why when you open up the beginning of Corinth, which was a church struggling with the wisdom of the world and trying to make ministry relevant to the young people and he says what are you doing this message is foolishness to the world and it pleased god through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe power and glory goes to him that way and so notice what the apostle is is encouraging us with tonight and it leads leads us to tonight as we look at this you know everything that paul is encouraging us with is to see what god has done for you here you come you come out of restless weeks all of you have been turned this way and that way and you've had a pile of problems a pile of struggles a pile of encouragements and i get your attention for a little bit now you know think about what God has done. You're all sitting here. When are you ever this focused in the course of a week? You're running around this way. You're running around that way. You're doing this. You're doing that. And notice what God has put in place. I wouldn't have chose this. You wouldn't have chose this. And now you understand when the Ethiopian eunuch was doing his personal Bible reading and he's off in the chariot and he's reading Isaiah. And what did the spirit tell Philip? go. And what did he tell Philip to do? Preach to him. So he walks up to him and he says, do you understand what you're reading? And what did the Ethiopian eunuch, what did he say? How can I, unless someone guides me? He understood that. And then Philip, opening his mouth, it says, preach Jesus to him. And right then and there, the spirit opened wide that man's heart. This is Lydia. The Lord opened the heart of her. And he says, what do I do? I want to be identified with him. I need to be identified with him. And so the question that we get from these people when they heard the gospel and they sat under the message preached was, what do I do? And what was the answer? Well, Paul gives you the answer tonight, and this is the verse I've been wanting to get to all night here, in verse 9 of Romans 10. It's the plain declaration of how someone is saved 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 so notice the context it's all in the context of the preaching of the gospel and what happens we don't speak that way do we if you believe in the heart how does the heart believe i mean we think it's got to go into the mind what is he talking about when he says the heart you believe because of what your mind's been informed of notice what it says when you believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead the lord jesus you'll be saved calvin used to warn about knowledge hopping about in the top part of the brain never taking root in the seat of the heart with the heart one believes unto righteousness the mouth confession is made unto salvation what is believing with the heart paul has deuteronomy 30 on his mind doesn't he and what does deuteronomy 30 say there's a reason he uses the heart being the center all of who we are every bit of our volition will emotion it includes intellect will emotions let me describe this what was the new covenant promise of deuteronomy 30 israel you need to circumcise your hearts they wouldn't do it in the middle of deuteronomy 30 what does the lord say the lord your god will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live moses spoke of a day when god would deal with the problem of a dead heart when there would be an outpouring of the spirit and that the true circumcision would not be outward but inward by the spirit because it's something that god does and so when god circumcises the heart what are we looking at it was a circumcision to love the lord our god with all of our heart soul mind and strength and paul is saying in christ covered in him that becomes a reality my life is hidden in him and when i hear the gospel call and i come and i know what my heart is and i've heard the descriptions about the human heart that it's deceitful above all things desperately wicked who can know it and i've struggled and i've seen the sin that comes from there and all of a sudden i hear this gospel announcement that god has made available to me a righteousness by which I can live? What does God do in His Spirit? He circumcises that heart to embrace Him, to trust Him. And this is why Jesus was saying in passages like John 6, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst he was talking about the taste buds of the soul and that inwardly as the preacher preaches jesus christ notice that if you believe in your heart god raised him from the dead that he triumphed over death and the grave to pay for my sin that in him there is full satisfaction when the mind is filled with that and the heart believes that christ is everything and that he is fulfilled all righteousness for me i fall on that rock and i believe and paul uses this tonight to explain the sincerity that the lord will bring in believing in the lord jesus christ notice he says confession with the mouth i love that what does the christian life become It becomes confessing. A confessing life, doesn't it? A confessing life that the Lord Jesus lived and died for me. And that I'm not just confessing Him as one among many, but did you notice what we're confessing? That Jesus is Lord. What a taking from the Old Testament. Every time I see that name, I'm confessing this God gave himself for me and when that is genuinely in the heart and believed in the heart the outward expression then of what's on the inside comes out of the tongue and it bursts out of my life and that's why it's unthinkable that people wouldn't want to confess christ in front of his people and in life this is what we do as christians we we confess him and all we do and all we say he's our lord he's our king and how we live a good man said jesus out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things they say of um william carrey when he uh before he died he gave instructions about his funeral the missionary and i've always loved this because i've always thought this is the great evidence of a genuinely transformed heart is when it tells the pastor William Carey said when I'm gone don't speak about me speak about my savior and that was the drive and desire of his heart here it is tonight you know what happens when we believe and confess did you notice verse 10, Paul says, with the heart one believes unto righteousness. With the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The moment somebody believes in turn, you know what God does? He covers them. Right then and there, God imputes the righteousness of his son and he's covered with the robes and the garments of Christ's righteousness. And it's just the thing that the Lord said to the paralytic who was on his bed when he could look right into his heart and the man didn't say a word and he said, son, your sins are forgiven right then and there. It's done. Forgiven. Washed. And I say this tonight because the contrast has been drawn. All this is in contrast to Israel who did what with their religion well if you were to open up isaiah 1 this is what you get you mail what they produced bring no more futile sacrifices incense is an abomination the new moons and the sabbaths the calling of assemblies i can't endure iniquity and sacred meaning your new moons your appointed feasts my soul hates they're a trouble to me i'm weary of bearing them wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. What was he saying? That's what we do when we follow with a dead heart. Totally void of being overwhelmed and trusting and looking to the Savior. One pastor said, to profess Christ is one thing, to confess Christ is another. Confession is a living testimony for Christ in a time when religion suffers. Profession may be only a lifeless formality in a time when religion prospers. To confess Christ is to choose His ways and own them. To profess Christ is to plead for His ways and yet live beside them. To profess Christ is to own Him when none deny Him. To confess Christ is to plead for Him and suffer for Him when others oppose Him. Profession is swimming down the stream. Confession is swimming up the stream. The Christian confesses Him in everything that he does. And Paul summarizes this tonight in verse 11. For Scripture says, everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame, for there's no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is over all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. I love this passage tonight because it outlines the way it outlines what god has done in putting all this into place for us and he's saying to us you don't have to look here and there to find jesus you don't have to go over there what is he telling you when your pastor preaches him and preaches christ from the scriptures he's near to you he's come to you his arms are outstretched to you and the question then becomes have you confessed and believed him have you confessed and believed him as he said if you believe in your heart the lord jesus christ life death and resurrection if you confess him as your lord you will be saved let's pray together and thank him lord our god we thank you for instructing us in your word and we thank you for making known your wonderful gospel to us and we need the faith to believe to trust you that all of this has been put into place and that we would value what you have done it's sad today lord that it's like pulling teeth to get people to come and hear. And yet you've told us, you've told us this is your way of saving. And oh Lord, how little time do we really have to sit and listen to the preaching of your word. And so I pray in this place that all of your people here would be enthralled and overwhelmed and overjoyed to come and to hear your word. And that it would have a great effect in this community and that you would bring in those who hunger and thirst after righteousness and that the call would sound out from this place and that you would be merciful to save to the ends of the earth may it be so in this place and all over the face of the earth of everyone who preaches your gospel those whom you sin and may there be many in these last days who call upon the name of the lord in jesus name we pray these things amen Thank you.