Untitled Sermon

Introduction:Today we will be looking at Romans 10:5-15. I want to say thank you for allowing me to be here today. My name is Gabe Thomas. My wife’s name is Morgan. We got married in June of 2018 and this past June had our first child, Amelia Renee Thomas. We just recently moved back to middle Georgia from North Carolina where we had moved so I could attend seminary at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. The focus today is missions. This is the focus of the Refocus event. While I was a student at Georgia Southern I was very involved in the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. After my sophomore year, I signed up for the collegiate summer missions program Send Me Now. Through Send Me Now, I was assigned to be a New York City where I worked at Graffiti 3, an inner-city ministry in Brooklyn and as a youth minister for an Indonesian Church in Queens. That summer completely changed my life. New York left such an impression on me, I moved back for 14 months after I graduated college to work with Graffiti 3 and to run an intern program where students came and served with different ministries in the city. After that, I returned to Georgia and served for two years with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Georgia State university. It was these experiences that made real to me, what Paul was talking about in the passage we are looking at today. The Central Idea of the Text is that We are saved when we confess Jesus as lord and believe he rose again. Then we are to preach the message. There are three topics we are looking to address today. How do we achieve salvation, who is salvation for and what is it, and what salvation should motivate us to do.

Transition: Starting with verse 5…

Romans 10:5-10: The first thing Paul addresses is how we achieve salvation. He starts with verse five saying, “For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” Paul is continuing a theme that we see in Romans and in several of his other letters. He is helping make clear that if we are going to make ourselves righteous by the law, then we must be perfect. Because unless we are perfect, we are law breakers. While we are less likely to point to the OT law and see how righteous we are, it is still common that we try to make ourselves righteous by our actions. We try not to focus on the areas where we are disobedient or don’t always do what is right, but instead point to the good things we have done as evidence we aren’t so bad. Paul says that if we are going to be righteous this way, we must be perfect.

Illustration: This is how every legal system in the world works. Say a teenager goes to court because he or she got caught driving 110 mph in a 25. As the jury or judge is deciding the verdict, they aren’t going to say, “The evidence clearly shows he was going 110 mph. But he did not rob a bank, so we will say he is not guilty on the charge of going 110 mph.” That’s not going to happen because the person is still guilty of going 110 mph even if they did not rob a bank.

Explanation: This exactly what Paul is pointing out. In order for us to be righteous according top the law, we have to be perfect because one sin makes us guilty and deserving of condemnation.

Explanation: But Paul goes on to show that we do not have to strive for salvation and be perfect. Starting with verse 6 and going through verse 8 Paul says, “But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven?” (That is to being 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 her you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is the word of faith that we proclaim.” Jesus is not far from us. The righteousness based on faith comes from Jesus. We don’t have to go to heaven looking for Jesus because he came to earth and lived a perfect life before dying on the cross for our sins taking on the punishment we deserved. But we also don’t have to go the grave looking for Christ, because he rose from the grave. Christ came and lived the perfect life we couldn’t live, he died the death we should have died and then he rose from the grave so we could have the hope of eternal life. We don’t have to strive for salvation, because Christ already has. And when we are saved from our sins, it now the righteousness of God that stands there on our account.

Explanation: So if we cannot achieve this righteousness on our own, how can we be right with God, how can we have hope. Paul tells us in verses 9 and 10 saying, “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.” So we must confess Jesus as Lord and we must believe he rose from the grave. These are the two things needed for salvation. But what do they truly mean and why does Paul place these two terms together.

Let’s look at the requirement to believe Jesus rose from the grave first. Why is this so crucial?The resurrection is the core tenant of our faith. If we don’t actually believe that, then we can’t claim to believe anything else about the faith. We also can’t claim to have accepted the gift of salvation, if we don’t even believe it’s real. That’s why Paul says with the heart we believe and are justified. When we know it with all are being that Jesus is real and has made a way for us, we are justified.

Explanation: But what does it mean to confess Jesus as Lord. During the time of the early church, the phrase, “Jesus is Lord,” was the key expression of one’s belief in Jesus. The word Lord is Greek is the term used for master. It is also the word that in the Greek version of the Old Testament is used to represent Yahweh, the name for God. To acknowledge Jesus as Lord is to give him his rightful place as God and master of our lives. It is to say that we know he knows better than we do and we are going to give him control of our lives.

Application: While I was doing college ministry at Georgia State university I began to ask a question when talking to people about Jesus. I started to ask, “If it could be proven to you that Jesus was real, would you want him to be.” Only one time has anybody ever told me yes. The reason they usually say no is because it means they will have to give up control. It means that they will have to admit the ways of God are better and they have live their lives differently. It’s not the actions that us, but the acknowledgement of God’s authority. How can we claim to truly believe that Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave, if we don’t even won’t to allow him to be master of our lives. What good is believing He is God if we don’t treat Him as such. But if we believe we will seek forgiveness for our sins and if we confess with our mouths we will put our trust him him and we will be saved. This is why belief and confession are so closely linked together. If you don’t believe you aren’t going to make Jesus Lord of your life. But if you don’t confess Him as Lord, what good is your belief.

Transition: Paul answers the question of how one receives salvation. He then answers who is salvation for.

Explanation: Verses 11 and 12 say, “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 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is a big deal. Remember, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish prophecies. He is the promised redeemer for Israel. In the time Paul was writing, it was a big question of whether salvation in Christ was for all people or just the Jewish people. Paul makes clear it is for all people who believe.

Application: This is good news for us. I doubt very many of us come from Jewish ancestry. If the promise of salvation was only for the Jewish people, we would be excluded. But praise God that he has made a way for all people to know Him. But we must also remember, that the word everyone includes us, but it also includes others. It includes people different. People we may not necessarily like. We do not get to choose who is and isn’t worthy of grace. As Paul writes in Romans, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But this message of the forgiveness of sins is available for all people. All people can be saved.

Explanation: But I think we need to deal with this word saved for a second. We use this term a lot, but what does it mean. We know it means when we accept Christ. The Greek word used for saved can also mean delivered. I think this helps us understand what Paul means. We have been delivered from the eternal separation from God and torment that one receives in hell. Hell is a reality. We cannot truly appreciate salvation unless we understand what it is we have been saved from. The New Testament speaks of Hell on a pretty regular basis. It is the destination of those who don’t put their hope in Christ. Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. We were deserving of hell because of sin, but God has made a way through Christ Jesus for us to avoid it. Jesus came and died on a cross and rose again so we could be saved from hell.

Transition: The word we translate in Greek means good news. It’s the word evangelion. It is good news that Jesus came into the world and died on a cross for our sins. Everybody who believes that Jesus rose from the grave and confesses him as Lord will be saved. But Paul acknowledges that there is a huge problem.

Text: 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 sent.? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.”

Explanation: Paul here is raising a concern that is of the utmost importance. If one is saved by believing, what do we do about the people that have never believed because they have never heard? The natural response is to say that people who have never heard the gospel could not possibly go to hell for not believing. But scripture tells us other wise. At the beginning of Romans Paul tells that all are without excuse. This also logically doesn’t make sense. David Platt points out in his book Follow Me, if this were the case, the most evil thing we could to somebody’s who has never heard about Jesus is tell them who about Jesus. Because once we do that, they are then responsible. Also, this wouldn’t make sense why in every post resurrection account Jesus told his disciples to go and tell people about Him so they could repent from their sins and receive eternal life. It is clear that God has chosen His people as the method through which people will find out about Him and turn to belief in Him. But unless we are faithful to that, people will never hear.

Explanation: The next question, is how many people in the 21stcentury haven’t heard of Jesus. The answer is a lot. Joshua Project is a great organization that tracks this. They do a lot of research on people groups throughout the world that have no real chance to hear about Jesus. They define an unreached people group as a group that, “lacks enough followers of Christ and resources to evangelize their own people.” 42.6% of the world’s population live in unreached people groups. That is 3.29 Billion with a b people who have no real chance of hearing the gospel. Unless something drastic changes, 3.29 billion people will live their entire lives not knowing who Jesus is. Only about about 1.78 billion people, about18.8% of the world’s population even live somewhere where more than 10% of people claim to have a saving relationship with Jesus. This isn’t just a thing across the world. There are people right here in the United States who have no idea who Jesus is.

The first summer that I was in New York I took the youth from the church in Queens to Coney Island. We were throwing a frisbee on the beach when a mom came up and asked if her son could throw the frisbee with us. He was probably around seven years old. While we were playing I asked him if he knew who Jesus was. He responded, “That’s God’s son right. Or is God Jesus’ son. I get it mixed up.” At first I wanted to chuckle because it was kind of cute. But then I realized how sad it was. This little boy had no idea who Jesus was. A boy who was apart of the kids program the second time I was up there was a boy named Rannie. At Christmas time the children’s director Hannah asked the kids if they knew what Christmas was. One of the children said Jesus’ birthday. Rannie was shocked. He had never heard that. This isn’t across the world. This is right here in our own country, It’s not just New York. If you step outside the Southeastern United States, you will find that there are very few people that have a saving relationship with Jesus.

I don’t want to just depress you. God is doing incredible things right now. There are countries all across the world closed to the gospel that the number of Christians is growing exponentially. I can even tell you that Rannie would a few months later profess Jesus as his Savior and Lord.

Application: But there is no doubt that the task is big. What are we to do. The first thing you can do is go. I firmly believe that God could be calling somebody in here today to leave home behind to take the gospel to the nations. Maybe God is calling you to go across the world or across the country to share the gospel and help start a church. Or maybe He is just calling you to go and work a secular job and just be a tithing member of a church who has the chance to build relationships with people in the workplace. Maybe you’re not sure God is calling you to go long-term but you feel Him calling you to go or to explore the option of going long-term. Short term trips are great for this. Go on a week or two week trip and just experience what it is like. God can use that. I have a seminary class this semester with a student from Kenya who was led to Christ by a man on a short-term trip. Maybe you are a college student or will be one soon. There are opportunities to go for a semester or a summer. If you have questions about how you or someone you know could do that, please come find me after the service.

We also have the built in advantage of living in the United States. The nations have come to us. More people from around the world move to the United States than anywhere else in the world. It’s really easy to sometimes not like this. But what an opportunity. There are people who don’t know Jesus moving into our communities. We need to be intentional and build relationships with these people. One of the ministries my organization, MNYBA, was partnered with in New York was the South Asian Center in Jackson Heights Queens. At the South Asian Center they had classes to help people acclimate to life in America. The did GED classes, ESL (English as a second language) computer classes and citizenship classes. Find ways to serve people and let them know you care. How many of them would like to experience an American thanksgiving?

There are international students from all over the world that come to study in the United States. Students from places like China, Saudi Arabia, India and other countries come and study here and most of them never even see the inside of an American home. They spend holidays alone on campus while students are with families. They are lonely and scared in a new place. Unless they live somewhere with good public transportation, they have a hard time going and doing things like getting groceries. When I was running the intern program in New York, we had a girl names Sayaka that was an intern. Sayaka was from Japan and grew up not knowing about Jesus. But when she came to the United States she lived the first few months with a family in Pennsylvania. Sayaka knew very little English and struggled to acclimate. But the family she stayed with were Christians. She didn’t really know anything about Jesus, but she knew how kind these people were. Eventually, she left and went to a community college in Texas. There she was invited to the Baptist Student Ministry. She was drawn to it because she found out it was Christian and she remembered the people in Pennsylvania were Christians. She started going regularly and eventually Sayaka came to know Christ. How many other Sayaka’s could there be. Reach out to college ministries at the colleges near you. See if you can help do walmart runs or host students for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Develop those relationships so you can share with them the hope you have in Jesus.

Explanation: The question then always comes up, what about here? There is so much to be done here why go somewhere else. I do not want you to think I am minimizing the need to share the gospel with those around us we know to be far from God. We should do this for the same reason we take the gospel to the nations, because we want to share the hope of Jesus with people who don’t have it. But we already have the numbers here to proclaim the gospel here. But the numbers aren’t there in other places. There are more believers in this room than there are in many many people groups that have hundreds of thousands of people. Paul makes it clear that the only way people who have never heard can hear is if someone is sent to preach the message. If we neglect to take the gospel to the nations, we are being disobedient to what scripture has made it clear we are to do.

Illustration: In these verses Paul is asking rhetorical questions. They are meant to have the same meaning as if he was just using the word not. They will not call on him in whom they have not believed. And they cannot believe in him to whom they have never heard. And they will not hear unless someone preaches. And no one will preach unless they are sent. Billions of people are waiting to hear the gospel. We must answer the call to send and to go.

Closing: I want to close by making sure I don’t leave us on a negative note. I first want to make sure you don’t leave here with a legalistic mindset of evangelism. God could have chosen any way to take people His message. But he gave us the privilege to go and tell people the difference that knowing Christ makes in our lives. We get to tell them about how we are looking forward to spending eternity with him. And we can tell them how much God loves them, no matter what they have done. I know the numbers seems overwhelming, and too much. I remember being in Brownsville, Brooklyn one day and thinking the same thing. I was sitting outside the church building and thinking, “what are we even doing here. There’s too many people here for us to make a difference.” But within a few months, we would see two little boys commit their lives to Christ. God was faithful and used Graffiti 3 to proclaim the message of Christ to Rannie and Daniel. He can use you to do the same thing. As we have this time of response, take some time and pray. Maybe you have never truly confessed Jesus as Lord, and believed he rose again. If you feel ready to do that, do that today. Receive the gift of salvation. Maybe God is stirring in your heart. Maybe you feel this burden for the nations. Take it to God in prayer. Ask him to help you be obedient to whatever god is calling you to do. Bud don’t let this time pass without responding to the call God is placing in your life.