The Word Is Near You
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Children’s Bible Page 1232
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn with me to Romans 10. If you don’t have a Bible, the passage will be on the screen as I read it in a moment for you to follow along.
When I was in late elementary and early middle school, I had a pretty far fetched dream.
Now, I didn’t think it was far fetched at the time, but I am sure to anyone else, it would have seemed extremely unlikely.
See, at the time, I loved basketball and I dreamed of being a professional basketball player in the NBA.
And, when I didn’t make my middle school team my sixth grade year, maybe that should have tipped me off that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was,
But, then I remembered that Michael Jordan got cut from his school team the first year he tried out.
So, it took me a little while longer to realize just how far away that dream was.
I wonder if you had a dream at one time or another that seemed really far fetched and out of reach.
Maybe you have one right now that when you tell other people, they consider it extremely unlikely.
I wonder that because as we come together on this Easter Sunday morning as a church family along with you who are visiting with us today
And we sing songs about God, and we pray prayers to God, and we read God’s word, I wonder if there was a time in your life where you thought having a loving, intimate, unhindered, unconditional relationship with the God of the universe seemed like the craziest and most far fetched dream there could ever be.
Or maybe in your case, you didn’t believe in God at all and the thought of a God who created all things and was sovereign over the universe was more like a nightmare to you than a dream.
Or maybe it seemed completely far fetched and out of reach to you because of things that you’ve done or things that have been done to you.
Or maybe it seemed completely out of reach because of your perceptions of church and people who go to church and call themselves Christians and you would never want to be identified with them.
Or maybe that’s where you are at right now.
Maybe right now you believe that having an intimate and loving relationship with the God of the universe and being identified with God’s people is completely out of reach for you, either because you would never desire it in the first place, or because you are just not that kind of person.
I want you to know that you are welcome here, and we were all there at one time or another.
Over these past months, we as a church have been walking through the book of Romans which is a book in the Bible that explains God and the message of God in a very systematic and detailed way.
The theme verse of the whole book of Romans says
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
You see, the word gospel simply means “good news.”
So, this message of God in the Bible is good news.
In ancient times, when a king would send his troops out to battle and they would win, a messenger would then be sent back to the king to proclaim a gospel, which was simply the good news of victory.
And here, we read, the gospel of God is the good news of victory because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
God’s word tells us that there is one God, and he is the maker of heaven and earth.
And God created mankind in God’s image, meaning we were made to relate with God and with others in ways none of the other parts of creation can.
And we were created to find all of our needs met and our desires satisfied in God alone.
But, mankind sinned and chose their own way, as we all naturally desire to meet our own needs and satisfy our own desires and choose right and wrong for ourselves.
Because we have sinned against God, we are separated from the very God who gave us life and purpose and meaning.
Not only are we separated from God, but we deserve the punishment of God for seeking to steal glory for ourselves that only belongs to him.
That is why the good news of the gospel is the power of God for salvation, because we as sinners are in desperate need of salvation from punishment, in order to be reconciled to God.
Now, it is most natural for us to think that if we need to be made right with God, we must have to prove ourselves and follow a bunch of rules, but let’s read our passage today:
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 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); 9 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. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 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. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
1. The Word Is Near You
1. The Word Is Near You
Moses was the leader of the ancient people of God centuries before Jesus walked the earth.
And God had given his people His law in order to help them know what God was like in all his holiness and perfection.
So, verse 5 lays out a super basic principle that we can all understand:
In order to have a righteousness based on the law, the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
In other words, in order to have an intimate, loving, unhindered, right relationship with God based on the law, you must follow the law to the T.
Now, scholars tell us that there are 613 individuals laws in the law of God, so what we are going to do is… I know I just made some of you really nervous and check your watches.
Thankfully, since God is gracious, Jesus summarized the whole law for us in this way.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Pretty simple really.
The problem is: none of us has perfectly done this, right?
I mean, can you really even command someone to love?
I could command you to love brusel sprouts all day long, but if you don’t, you don’t, and you can’t just stir up love because I commanded you.
Even if so, have you always placed God and others above yourself in every thought, word, deed, and motivation?
So, when we come face to face with the truth: we must conclude that being made right with God by following the rules is the most far fetched dream someone could ever have!
It’s never going to happen, because once you have failed or slipped up even in the smallest of ways, your perfection is lost forever, and there is nothing you can do to bring it back.
That’s the bad news.
But the greatest news in the world, the gospel of victory is found in verse 6 when it says, “There is a righteousness based on faith.”
Though you have sinned and fallen far short of God’s law, God, in his great love has still made a way for you to have a loving, intimate, unhindered, unconditional, right relationship with Him.
A love relationship that your sins and failures could never separate you from.
And it is based on faith.
Faith is simply believing and trusting in the word of another.
Now, of course, at this point you are thinking, what’s the catch?
How many Sundays do I have to attend?
How much money do I have to give?
How many prayers do I have to pray?
How many R rated movies do I have to throw out (or I guess nowadays its not clicking on them on Netflix)?
No, it’s nothing like that, but God knew that is what we would think, that’s why the verse says next:
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).
The name Christ is a title for Jesus, meaning He is the who would come to save us from our sins.
But, God knew that our tendency would be, “What do I have to do?”
Do I have to somehow ascend the heights of spirituality in order to bring Christ near to me?
Do I have to somehow lower myself, give up everything, and go serve in third world countries in order to bring Christ near me?
No.
Verse 8 - 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).
You see, when God saw us in our hopeless situation, sinning and separated from our very life giver, deserving punishment, death, and hell.
God took action.
God moved.
God worked.
God sent His son Jesus to be born as a baby and to grow and to walk in this world as a human like you and me yet without sin.
You see, Jesus was fully God and fully man.
He experienced every limit, every hardship, every trial, and every temptation that we all do, yet he never sinned.
Instead, Jesus fully obeyed God’s law by loving the Lord with all that he was and loving others as himself.
Jesus’ message was that the kingdom of God had been brought near.
And that God so loved the world that he sent His only son so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
But, having God come down to live as a man yet without sin was not enough to save us from our sin.
Because what our sin rightly deserves is punishment and death.
A perfect life would not be enough, we also needed a sacrificial death.
So, when the time had come, Jesus Christ submitted himself to the pain, torture, and agony of a false trial, a cruel beating, and an execution on a Roman cross.
And on that cross, God poured the righteous wrath due our sin onto His son.
What kind of love is this that The Father would sacrifice His son in order to draw us near?
In order to forgive our sins, to adopt us into His family, to awaken our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God to new spiritual life?
Do you see how far away the dream of being made right with God is on our own?
Sorrow over our sin, a commitment to prayer, or giving, or service would never be nearly enough to bring the dream near.
We desperately needed God to act on our behalf.
So, Jesus came, and He lived, and He died in our place, for our sin.
The perfect sacrifice out of the greatness of the love of God for us.
But, what good is a dead Savior?
For our greatest and final enemy is death, and not one of us can conquer it.
So, would it not be that even if our sins could be buried with Jesus that our physical death would simply bury us in shame and defeat with Him?
This is why God did not stop His loving pursuit of us even at Jesus’ death.
But, after Jesus died on that cross, we was buried in a tomb.
But on that Sunday morning, God raised Jesus from the dead.
God raised Jesus from the dead in order to prove once and far all that He has brought salvation near to us, and that He has defeated sin, Satan, hell, and the grave for us in order to make us his own.
This is the good news. This is the gospel. I have emerged from the battle of life in this fallen world to proclaim to you that Jesus has won the victory!
This word is near you.
The gospel is not about what you must go and do for God.
It is all about what God has done for you.
Coming to God is not about turning over a new leaf.
It is about receiving a brand new life.
God is so near to you that no matter how far you have run the journey back to God is always just one step away because Jesus has done everything necessary for your salvation.
You may say, well, even if I could believe and accept that God is good and that He loves me, what about being a part of God’s people?
At times, God’s people seem so messy and fake and self righteous and judgmental.
And while we are all still sinners in need of God’s grace everyday, and while we are certainly seeking to grow in the character of Christ, does it not make sense that a people in that much desperate need of rescue would act that way at times?
Does it not make sense that God would display his glory by saving the worst of sinners?
There is nothing you have to do, it is all about what He has done.
No matter who you are, or what you have done, God has brought this word near you, and you don’t have to go prove yourself, God has already done everything necessary!
2. Everyone Who Calls On The Name Of The Lord Will Be Saved
2. Everyone Who Calls On The Name Of The Lord Will Be Saved
In verse 8, it says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”
Verse 9 and 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. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
You see, because the gospel is not a message about what you have to go and do for God, but instead a message about what God has done for you, the only proper and saving response to the message is to believe it!
Have you ever heard or read a story that really grabbed your heart.
It made you want to be different.
Well, in an even more profound way, when you hear this gospel preached - which is the greatest love story the world has ever known - if the Spirit of God chooses, He will grab your heart.
He will convict you of your great sinfulness and your need for this great Savior!
You won’t only understand the message that Jesus died for all, but you will be cut to the heart that Jesus died for me.
In the way the verses are written, God is not saying that what happens with the mouth has to happen before the heart, or what happens in the heart happens with the mouth.
Instead, He is saying they are two sides of the same coin.
Jesus taught that it is out of the mouth the heart speaks.
So, confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead is two sides of the same coin.
For with the heart one believes and is justified.
Justified simply means being declared right with God by God.
And with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.
The great confession of God’s people who have been saved by this gospel throughout the generations and for eternity is this:
Jesus is Lord!
Jesus, who has saved us by His death, has shown us He is Lord by His resurrection.
Christ rose from the grave, and he sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven to never die again, but to live and reign for eternity.
You know, I used to think that simply believing and trusting in Jesus felt like too simple of a thing or not weighty enough of a thing in order to have ones life and eternity transformed.
But then I thought about my own kids, and I thought about what I want for them most.
And what I want for them most is not to go out and be successful, make a certain amount of money, end up in a particular career field, get married, have kids…
What I want for them most is to know they are loved, that God is for them, that He will never leave or forsake them, that we love them,
Because I know if they truly believe those things about God, it will change everything in their life.
And what is the main question the God of the universe desires you to be able to answer, “Did you believe that I loved you?”
Did you believe that I stopped at nothing to save you, not even the giving of my only son?
Did you believe that I rose Jesus from the grave in the resurrection defeating sin, Satan, hell, and death for you?
Because He knows if you believe, it will change everything about your heart and your life.
Verses 11-13: 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 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. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you came from, what you have done, or what has been done to you.
Jesus is Lord of all, and all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
There is not one person in this room including me that deserves anything from God besides punishment and hell.
But there is also not one person in this room for whom God cannot convince of His great love and make them His own.
Do you need to call on the name of the Lord from your heart today?
You need to realize it’s not about what you think about Christian people or what you think about the church.
It’s all about do you believe that God loves you and has done everything necessary to save you?
And to the church present today, May we celebrate our risen Savior today who has transformed our hearts and lives for eternity!
Jesus is Lord!
While it may seem too good to be true, God has brought His word near to us.
Let’s pray.
