I Believe

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon. Please open your Bibles to Romans 10.

New sermon series begins today.

Read Romans 10:9–13- “…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.’”

Pray.

We begin with the message of the gospel.

Before we can get to the foundations of the Christian faith, I’d like to spend a bit of time on the matter of right belief.

Our text lays out the importance of and also the result of belief.

Let’s take a bit of time to understand our text before ending with a bit of commentary on what we believe.

Four points to the outline this morning. The first three are major concepts in our text followed by a final point that is a word of challenge.

1. Confessing and Believing.

Romans 10:9–10- “…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.”

Salvation comes to those who believe and confess.

Specifically, believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and confess that Jesus is Lord. Why these specific subjects?

Consider what is communicated in both:

God raised Jesus from the dead- God is all-powerful, God is at work in His creation, God has defeated sin and death, Jesus has died, Jesus has risen, Jesus is who He claimed to be, Jesus is the fulfilment of all of the Messianic promises of the OT.

Confess that Jesus is Lord- What are you confessing? Jesus is your everything, He has a claim on you, He has authority over you.

Just think of all that you have communicated about who God is in relation to you and what God has done.

Why the language of both belief and confession?

One is attached to the other.

Belief is made complete through its confession.

Confession is given its substance by way of right belief.

Something else needs to be recognized here. Belief is not mentioned and then left alone- instead it leads to something else.

Belief leads to action.

Biblically, belief doesn’t remain on the interior. It is lived out, spoken, it impacts our words, our thoughts, our actions.

Belief leads to change.

Belief doesn’t merely lead to any action, but instead action intended in the right direction.

Right belief is a course correction of sorts.

The ambitions of life change, and as a result, the way that we live our lives is massively redirected.

Z and baseball

This is incredible news, but we can imagine a lot of obstacles. To whom is this promise made?

2. Everyone who believes.

No qualifiers.

This is fascinating. There are qualifiers for everything in life.

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You are too young, too old, make too much money, don’t make enough money, don’t have the right interests, don’t have the right educational background.

Unfortunately, this is the way that many envision the Christian faith.

Language is incredibly inclusive.

No distinction between Jew and Greek.

The same Lord is Lord of all.

Everyone who calls, everyone who believes.

How is this possible?

We all come empty handed.

No standard must be met prior to belief and confession.

What is the outcome of this belief with the heart and confession with the mouth? The riches of God.

3. Bestowing His riches.

Romans 10:12- “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.”

Bestowing- Giving from a place of abounding riches.

NASB- Abounding in riches for all who call on Him; NKJV- the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

What exactly are these riches, as explained in the text?

Saved. What is received, and seen here as the vast riches of God, is actually an explanation of what is NOT received.

No condemnation, no wrath of God, no shame, no guilt.

Only when we understand the negatives that the positives get so much better.

Passion trip- Left with it being -17 degrees. Atlanta was around 50 degrees.

Appreciated 50 not only because it was 50, but because it wasn’t -17.

This is the language Paul is using, highlighted by his mention of no one ever being put to shame.

We are to understand the context of God’s riches not only in what is given TO us, but what has been removed FROM us.

We would do well to consider the following- shame removed, assurance given; guilt removed, righteousness given; hell removed, heaven given; condemnation removed, an Advocate given.

But perhaps the greatest explanation of salvation is one we have recently seen in Ephesians 2. Separation from God has been removed, eternal welcome into the presence of God has been given.

God Himself is the greatest treasure. The vast riches of God are meant to remind us of the endless value and treasure of the Giver Himself.

The greatest measure of the riches God has bestowed is the giving of Himself.

4. The nature of belief.

What is the problem here? The very idea of belief can cause controversy.

What must be believed about God?

James 2:19- “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

Walking through it with the Force- Does Satan believe what we have written?

The idea of belief has perhaps been simplified beyond what is intended.

All have sinned; Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; Confess Jesus Christ as the risen Lord.

Our text has shown us the importance of believing these truths to be saved. But is this truly the extent of what we are to believe?

There is a danger in the church in which we can possess a very small amount of knowledge

J.I. Packer- “In such a milieu (milyou), a truncated version of the gospel message, presenting Christ the Redeemer apart from God the Creator, and remission of sins apart from personal regeneration, and individual salvation apart from life and worship in the church, and the hope of heaven apart from the pilgrim path of holiness, becomes a misrepresentation, one that sows the seed of many pastoral problems down the road.”

Sermon this morning- well, it’s a sermon…

I would encourage us to see belief a bit differently.

Rory Shiner- “The Christian faith is less like an object in the world, whose existence is accepted by some and denied by others, and more like a pair of glasses through which you look at the rest of life, the universe, and everything.”

This sermon series. Let’s begin to see how these lenses of faith and right belief change the way we view the Father, Son and Spirit, the Church, the death and resurrection of Jesus, salvation, eternity, along with everything else in existence.

Vacation Bible School.

For many, they will be introduced for the very first time to Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:14- “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?”

This is our part, the preaching of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

We make known what is true and we pray that these seeds that are sown would take root.

We all should be excited this week to see how God will work.