Misused and Misapplied Lesson Two: Romans 10:8-13
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Greeting:
Greeting:
Good morning everyone
Happy Fathers Day
I hope you all take time to celebrate dad today, father figures are so important
I’ll keep taking any advice
Come back tonight to be with us at 5:00
Don’t forget our Wednesday night Bible class….
I’m so glad you all are here this morning but id be even more glad to see everyone back out on Wednesday’s with us…
Lesson Text:
Lesson Text:
Romans 10:8-13
Opening:
Opening:
This morning we are continuing on in a series that we started last week.
Last week we began a series titled Misused and Misapplied...
It is our goal to each week for the next little bit take a look at some commonly quoted scriptures.
Scriptures that I am sure we are all familiar with and have heard others reference…
Our goal through this series is to look at Gods word in context, not just going through and cherry picking verses here and there.
Last week we spoke last week of the danger that can come from taking on single verse and twisting to to fit a teaching...
We looked at Jeremiah 29:11 and Gods plan it mentions there.
And how so many people take and twist the scripture there…
We studied how a promise given to us taken out of context is just as deceiving as a lie…
That statement is going too remain true for us as we continue on in our study…
So many times in the religious world today we see man take God’s word out of context and misapply and misuse it to fit “their” doctrine, not God’s doctrine.
This morning we are going to look at a verse that one could argue is maybe the most used verse concerning salvation today…
More people in the religious world today probably go to and use this verse than any other in the Bible…
Do they use it correctly in context though?
Is it misapplied and misused?
This morning we are going to see again through our study of Romans 10:8-13 how important it is that we take Gods word in entirety…
I hope that this morning we can learn a few things that we can share with others, or maybe even learn for ourselves concerning Gods word…
Lesson:
Lesson:
I think so many times when we look at Gods word and we maybe study with others it always tends to come back to the question of…. “Who’s right?”
I think sometimes we look at Gods word as just a collection of verses to just prove others wrong and say “Ha see I told you, I am right.”
Now dont get me wrong, defending Gods word is one of the most important things we can do as a Christian and now more than ever in todays time..
But something I hope we can do not only with this study but in our studies in general with others is change our focus…
Change our focus from “Who’s right” to “What is right?”
Because at the end of the day its not my word its not your word its Gods word…
His word, his inspired word in context is always right…
So when we study Gods word we need to approach it that way.
Our verse this morning…
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
How many times today have we been having a discussion with someone concerning salvation or baptism or whatever it may be, and this verse comes up…
The person we may be talking with uses it and says, “See the Bible says right here that all I have to do is confess.
As long as I believe and I confess and I call him Lord then I am saved, nothing else required… end of story
As we asked all last week and are going to all day today, what’s the context?
Is this verse there so that every single person that reads it can take it and say, “Confession is the end all be alas for salvation?
Let’s back up to verse one there in Romans 10…
We know throughout Romans Paul is addressing the idea that salvation or the gospel, the good news of Jesus is offered to all.
Specifically to Jews and Gentiles..
God wants all of mankind to come to know him and the gospel message is available to all…
Paul begins an addressing his Jewish brethren, his kinsmen,
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
This is the context of what we are reading this morning.
Paul is telling us that he wants his Jewish kinsmen to be saved, he says they are zealous, they have a zeal..
They have this desire but they lack knowledge…
They are ignorant…
They are instead trying to establish their own righteousness…
They are fully dependent upon themselves and their obedience to put them in a right relationship with God.
They believe their own works, their obedience to the Law is what’s the basis of their relationship or righteousness with God.
So they ignorantly believe that if they were obedient enough, if they kept the Law good enough, then they could be in a relationship with God…
So Paul throughout Romans is telling them that doesn’t work…
Why? Because we are fleshly, both Jew and Gentile we are weak and there is sin.
No one has kept the Law, no one is perfect no one can depend upon their own righteousness to get them in a relationship with God…
So, then what? What should we do?
We submit to the righteousness of God…
We trust in the fact that God can save us…
We place our obedient faith in him…
Paul is doing his best in Romans to get this point across to the Jewish people.
This is his message for them.
If they truly want to be in a relationship with God they need to submit to God, and trust in God and his righteousness…
The Law of Moses isnt going to do this for them…
For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
Paul has been saying throughout the whole ebook that this type of righteousness based on the law is impossible because no one is perfect enough to keep the commandments perfectly.
No one can do that, so if these people are placing their trust in their ability to keep the commandments, then they are in trouble.
Paul tells them if that’s the way they want to live and think then they are going to die spiritually…
The same for us today….
We cant keep the law perfectly today either, we cant depend on our own righteousness or our own ability to save ourselves…
But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
Paul takes Deut 30 to show them that it’s always been this way…
He uses this reference to help them see what the Law itself said.
Duet 30 tells Israel that Gods expectations for His people aren’t impossible..
Why were his expectations not impossible?
Because his expectations was to trust him.
He didn’t demand perfection, they were going to mess up when it came to the Law but he just wanted them to trust him love him and follow him…
We looked at this in our study of the Wilderness wondering and how many times Israel messed up simply because they turned their lives away from God…
Again, doesn’t this sound similar to us today?
We know we wont be perfect, we know we will sin.
But we hold know Gods expectations for us remains..
He wants us to love him, trust him, look to him in our lives.
These expectations have always been here and that’s what Paul wants them to understand this and connects this to the gospel…
Even from the Law until today this is what God wants…
God wants faithfulness from us.
Paul tells them as we just read not to ask who will ascend for us… He tells us Jesus has already done this.
Jesus descended and ascended for us, he has done everything for us already.
God sent his son so that we can trust Him, unmitigated to him, and obey Him…
Continuing on there in Romans 10…
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
Paul goes on to continue to remind the that this message he’s trying to get across is already close to them, its not impossible.
He says its near to you, its in your mouth, its in your heart…
Our faith, their faith is right there for them…
Keep this idea in mind as we go because Paul connects to this in the coming verse…
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
See how Paul connects this back to Deut 30:14 with the whole mouth and heart idea?
He tells them this message of faith is there for them if they confess with their mouth and believe in their heart…
You can get nerdy with me for a moment, and I am no where near an expert on this but when you study these words confess and believe are in the aorist tense…
It’s not past, present, future, or perfect tense, but the aorist tense…
What that means is its not about a specific time, it rather captures totality of time…
Example would be, “If you love you spouse you will have a happy marriage…”
Does that mean you love them on Monday or Tuesday or for one year or two years?
No of course not, we know that means loving them for the totality of the marriage…
Thats what Paul is saying here when he uses those words confess and believe…
It’s not about a specific time but a totality…
Even though that’s what I think most people try making it to be…
So yes, I wholeheartedly agree that if I confess and believe I will be saved because this is speaking of the totality of my life…
This isn't speaking about one specific instance or time of believing or confessing, but rather the totality…
This is an ongoing process of our lives…
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Now here to elaborate more and make it even more clear he isn’t talking about one single moment of belief or confession, Paul uses the present tense…
Whoever is believing whoever is confessing, its n ongoing continual act…
Whoever is doing those things those are the saved people…
We could believe and confess at one singular point in time but if we ever stop then what ones that tell us?
Paul isn't speaking about this in terms of a final step, he is talking about being a believing people, being a confessing people.
He is speaking about saved people living a life of belief and confession…
He is speaking throughout the book that it isn't the Jewish people, it isn't the people trusting in the Law or themselves, but rather its the believing people and the confessing people that will be saved…
And this should go without saying, but this verse is used so many times to discount baptism?
Do we really think that was Paul’s message here?
Do we really think the inspired writer wrote this to discount the necessity of baptism to be saved?
When we look at scripture in context, we can sadly see how many times it’s misused and misapplied…
Paul has already spoken at rest lengths in Romans 6 about the importance and necessity of baptism…
Baptism is essential…
After our baptism what does our lives look like though?
It should be a life of believing and confessing…
It shouldn’t be a life of trying to depend on our own righteousness but Gods righteousness…
This entire text is all about submitting to Gods righteousness and that’s what confession is all about…
It’s not just a single prayer, its not just a single confession before we are baptized but an ongoing confession, a life that we live…
Now yes when we were baptized into Jesus and buried with him in baptism we made a confession with our mouth, a confession we must make…
But I surely hope that wasn’t our last confession….
Does our lives confess Chris each day?
Wa s the last confession in our life back when we were baptized?
Or do we continually confess him each day in the way we live, the choices we make, etc….
Do we continue to remain faithful to God trusting in his righteousness…
Of course and certainly that begins at baptism but it must continue on!!
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Are any of these things still one time events?
So many times today we here this used in that context though…
I am sure you have heard radio adds, tv adds, maybe even other preachers, teachers, friend, family, whoever use this verse…
“All you have to do is call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved…”
It say it right here, that’s all that’s required…
For times sake this morning we unfortunately cant go down the road of Pauls reference here to calling on the name of the Lord and how that actually was done…
I have some notes on that if anyone would like that or we could maybe do a study on that later…
But here we dont see a teaching coming from scripture of the sinners prayer, of laying your hands on the dash of your call and calling on Jesus…
Unfortunately, and I say this with all the love in the world, those things are coming from a verse that’s been so misused and misapplied…
Is Paul telling them here that the saved people are those who one singular time believed or called upon the name of the Lord?
That would be like us going back to the marriage example and saying you just have to love your spouse once, you just have to love them on a singular occurrence…
Paul is saying in totality of your life this is what you need to do…
Again, it certainly begins at baptism but it doesn’t even end there.
We still have to be a believing people, a confessing people, we still have to fully trust in and submit to him every day of our lives…
Do we believe in Gods righteousness? Do we submit to him?
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
I hope that this morning this lesson has shed some light on a verse used by so many…
Unfortunately so many misuse and misapply this passage..
I hope that this morning we can take Gods word for exactly what it is, nothing more nothing less.
I hope that we can see from this lesson how important Gods plan is for us.
I hope that we can see the need to believe, to confess, to submit, to be baptized, to do all of these things scripture has laid out for us…
We read these verses and I want them to sink in this morning…
If you find yourself this morning someone who has never been baptized make that decision.
Gods plan has been laid out and we see the need to follow it.
Hearing believing repenting and confessing, being baptized into Christ for remission of our sins…
We have studied at great lengths this morning about that amazing confession Paul mentions, make that great confession this morning and be baptized for remission of your sins…
If you are a Christian this morning, if you have been baptized into Christ how does your life look?
Was the last time we confessed Christ at baptism…
While the belief and confession before baptism is biblical and necessary I want us this morning to think about the continual belief and confession we should show in our lives each day…
Are we continuing to live our lives in a way each day that submits to Christ?
A life that shows our dependence upon Him?
Or have we went away believing that we can establish our own way, our own righteousness?
Have we depended on ourselves too much lately?
Have we decided we are going to pave our own way?
If we remember back that’s the whole reason we were baptized in the first place because recognized we couldn’t do it on our own…
Have we forgotten that this morning?
I dont know about you but I can speak for myself, I need a reminder of this quiet often…
I hope this has served as a reminder for you, as it has me, this morning….
If we need to become a Christian, or we are one and need to come back home make that decision today…
If we need prayers encouragement whatever it may be, come this morning ….
