Romans 10
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Opening Poll 1: Paul begins praying for Jews who have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Out of the list, what type of person do you think is hardest to reach with the Gospel? A. A person with great zeal in another religion, B. a self-righteous person who does not see their need for God, C. a person who knows they are sinful but wants nothing to do with God
Subquestion 1: Out of the listed (all are important) in your opinion, if you had to choose 1, what do you think is the most important in witnessing to someone over an extended period of time (like an unsaved friend/family member and you are several years in)? A. Being patient and persistent in sharing the Gospel with them, B. Being persistently praying for them, C. Continuing to demonstrate your love and care for that person
Sources/References: Pastor Steven Lawson Bible study of Romans, David Guzik Romans 10 outline, biblehub.com, John MacArthur Study Bible, Tony Evans Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, Charles Spurgeon Study Bible, The Evidence Study Bible- Commentary by Ray Comfort, Archaeological Study Bible, Apologetics Study Bible,
NIV Study Bible, NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, Warren Wiersbe ‘The Bible Exposition Commentary’
Did you know-by William Lane Craig… I’ve heard and read much about this but have not heard this approach, think it is interesting…
This is regarding the question “what about the people who have never heard about Christ?
Craig writes… “It is possible that God has created a world that has an optimal balance between saved and lost, and those who never hear the gospel and are lost would not have believed in it even if they had heard it.
So long as [this] is even possibly true, it shows that there is no incompatibility between an all-powerful, all-loving God and some people’s never hearing the gospel and being lost”
Read Romans 10:1-4
Play David Guzik 0:00-3:42
Introduction:
Romans 9-11 is all about salvation…
There is no chapter in the entire Bible that is more direct about sovereign election than in Romans 9…
so we have just climbed the Mount Everest of election in studying the doctrine of sovereign election…
that God is the Potter and we are the clay… and He has made from the
same lump of humanity some vessels for destruction… and other vessels to showcase His grace…
Romans 10 starts with Paul being burdened in prayer for the salvation of
People… and we could easily conclude “well if God is sovereign… then why pray”
if God has already chosen those whom He is going to save… then why would we even pray…
and that's a natural question to ask…
and yet here we see the very first verse in Romans chapter 10… Paul says his heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved
Paul's just told us in Romans 9 that their salvation has already been fore-ordained and predetermined from before the foundation of the world…
What is important to see here is the fact that Romans chapter 9 in no way negates praying for the salvation of those who are lost…
And it actually motivates us to pray for the lost… because if God is not sovereign… then you're just wasting your time in prayer
If God is not sovereign then you need to go talk to lost people… don't
talk to God if God's not involved in this…
and the mere fact that God is sovereign in salvation means we should talk to God about this…
because God is the only one Who can intervene and overcome the resistance of the unbelief in the hearts of unbelievers…
so this is not inconsistent… this is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of
sovereign election…
Romans 10 is a very important parallel chapter with Romans 9…
and we don’t want to fall into thinking “well God is sovereign… therefore I'll just sit back and be a spectator of what God's doing in the world”
no we must be a participant in what God is doing in the world
we need to be praying for lost people
we need to be praying for the salvation of people around us who are without Christ…
and we all need to have a top 10 list… a top 20 list… we all need to have a list of people that we are praying for, that they would come to saving knowledge of Christ
and they don't need to know that they're on this list… and they may even be people who profess to know Christ…
but as we are with them with any measure of spiritual discernment there is reasonable doubt that they actually do know the Lord
we need to come alongside of them with our prayers…
and pray that if they are not converted… that God will bring them to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…
and it may even be people in our own family…
it may be people that we work with…
it may be people that we go to church with…
we need to lovingly be in prayer for their salvation…
1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Paul is addressing fellow believers in the church at Rome…
Just a reminder that Paul's has not yet been to Rome…
he's never met these people yet he feels such a brotherly connection with them in Christ
Paul knows he is United with them in the same spiritual family because they've been born-again like he's been born-again…
And so Paul addresses them as brothers and he writes my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved
Paul has a heart desire Paul… Paul is not a cold… lukewarm… stoic… intellect who has no emotions…
Paul is a brilliant intellect… but it is in no way divorced from having a heart of passionate zeal for those who are without Christ
Paul has a felt religion… and you and I need to have a felt religion…
an affectionate religion… you and I need to know what it is to have our heart filled with great affection for God… and great affection for believers… and great affection for unbelievers…
and that's what Paul is expressing here… and Paul’s desire is expressed in
prayer… he says my heart's desire and my prayer to God…
for them it wasn't enough that Paul just felt something for those without Christ… he must do something for those who are without Christ
and the greatest thing that you can do for an unbeliever is to pray for
their salvation and to witness to them
Paul is unable to witness to the entire nation of Israel but he can pray for them… and that's what Paul is expressing…
this word for prayer, it’s “dee-sis” in the Greek and it is an aggressive word and it means to be pleading and petitioning… it means to be seeking and to be asking… and to be persistently knocking
this is not Paul just going through a little checklist of names to pray for… but Paul's heart is in it
and Paul has identified with them in prayer for their salvation…
and that's the way we must be as well…
and Paul writes in verse 1 prayer to God and God here refers to God the Father
We pray to the Father… through the Son… in the Spirit
we go before the throne of God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ… and we come in the Spirit meaning we are empowered… and led… and energized by the Spirit to come before the Father's throne of grace…
and this how Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew chapter 6… Pray then like this:
and Jesus says “like this”… Jesus did not say in these words as if it's just to be regurgitated back…
and Matthew 6:7 Jesus specifically says before this do not heap up empty phrases
But Jesus tells us Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
And there's nothing intrinsically wrong with praying to Jesus Christ… I don't want to leave that impression…
but even Jesus Himself is pointing to the Father… and telling us to pray to the Father…
and that's what Paul is doing… he says for them my heart's desire and my prayer to God
the question:
? who's them ?
and in the context it's obvious that the “them” refers to Israel…
Romans 9 through 11 is a unit in the book of Romans that addresses the salvation of Israel
and it's a very natural extension from Romans chapter 8…
in Romans chapter 8 Paul first addressed the sovereignty of God
in salvation… Romans 8:29 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined
Romans 1:16 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 put those two verses together Romans 1:16 in Romans 8:29… and
you would ask the question… ? then what happened to Israel if the gospel is to go to Israel first ?…
and if God has chosen those who are going to be saved… ? then why isn't Israel in large numbers being saved ?…
and so in Romans 9 Paul's point is God never chose all of Israel to be saved…
I loved Jacob… Esau I hated… even within one family… and within the nation Israel… they weren't all sovereignly chosen by God to be saved
so that's why now in Romans 10 Paul says this prayer to God for their salvation
that “them” refers to who he was addressing in Romans 9… the nation Israel…
and it's only natural that Paul would be focused on the salvation of Israel because the gospel was to go to them first Romans 1:16
but Paul's also burdened because he himself is a Jew… and it's only natural that you would want those who are the closest to you to be saved…
Paul used to be exactly where they are now… and unconverted
it's natural… now that Paul's saved… that he would pray for those who are where he used to be
so his heart's desire and his prayer to God for them is to be saved…
and it's important that he says saved… because there are some of our Christians who when they address Romans 9 say it has nothing to do with salvation…
that God is only choosing people for service… but not salvation…
Romans 9… vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction… and vessels of grace
he's talking about the eternal destiny of people…
and now in verse one of Romans 10 it's all the more clear that Romans 9
was all about salvation… the eternal destiny of people being in the hand of
God…
God had predetermined where they would spend eternity…
It’s important we take note of the word “saved” here… Paul actually prays for their salvation…
some reasons why we should pray for the salvation of lost people:
1. God commands that we pray
John chapter 14 and verses 12 Jesus is in the Upper Room with
his disciples the night before His crucifixion… He is preparing them for life and ministry after His departure
so Jesus is giving them a instruction for after His departure… and so
In John 14 12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, and truly truly I say to you… it’s like saying amen… amen… I say to you…
whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
? what are these works?
these works are the very works for which Jesus came into the world to do…
Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost… and when Jesus called these disciples He called them follow Him and Jesus said “I will make you fishers of men”
at the very heart of these works is reaching a lost world with the gospel of Jesus Christ… and the fulfillment of this is recorded in Acts 2 when Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and preaches and
Peter performed greater works than Jesus ever performed… Jesus never preached and three thousand people were saved in one sermon…
now Peter could not do better works in quality… but he could do better
works in quantity
so when Jesus is talking about greater works here… He's not talking about better works in quality… but greater in quantity and outreach…
so in John 14:13-14 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
in context…. Jesus is telling them what that they should be asking Him for…
and it is that they could they would perform greater works…
in the in the immediate context that's clear…
and so Jesus is instructing the disciples the night before He was crucified that they need to be praying that they would perform greater works
and I think the tip of the spear is in evangelism and in reaching the Lost for
Christ…
These works will include discipleship and follow-up discipleship and walking alongside those who come to faith in Christ
that's in Matthew 28 verse 20… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
but first these greater works would have to be reaching people for Christ… being fishers of men… seeking and saving that which is lost…
Jesus is teaching them that you would pray in this regard… that God would set open doors before you… that God would open eyes and open hearts of those who are without Christ…
? so why should we pray for unconverted?
1. because God commands it
Jesus commands it so… if we don't pray for lost people we're living in
disobedience to God…
2. God has appointed not only the end of all things, but the means
to accomplish those ends
not only has God appointed the salvation of the elect…
but God has also appointed all the means to reach the salvation of the elect…
that begins with sending His own son into the world to live a sinless life and die a substitutionary death…
that's a part of the means of the salvation of the elect…
and that also includes sending the Holy Spirit into the world to convict
people of sin… and righteousness.. and judgment…
that's also a part of the means of the salvation of the elect even
within the Trinity
but it also involves you and me as well as necessary means…
and just to give you some of those necessary means…
there are five necessary means…
one is prayer… that we pray for the salvation of those who are without Christ… and God is pleased to work through our prayers
second is preaching… the preaching of the word of God… God has ordained
the public preaching of the word of God for the reaching of the lost
third is personal witnessing… that we would fill the streets of our city with
our own testimony of telling others about Jesus Christ… if God wanted God could have sent a band of angels like he did in in Luke 2 to proclaim the gospel in the sky... and we would have no part
God has chosen to use weak people like us to spread the gospel
fourth is godly living… we must back up our witnessing by modeling the message and by living in a manner that is consistent with the gospel…
we can't preach one thing and live another way… that cancels out our
witness… and
fifth is to love the lost… and to reach out to the lost
and show kindness to lost people… to share the love of Christ with them
it's been said “people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care”
Poll 2: Out of the list, what do you think most often keeps Christians from praying? A. finding time, B. being distracted by other things, C. circumstances either being so good the person doesn’t feel their need for God or so bad that the person doesn’t want to reach out to God, D. not valuing prayer appropriately
Sub Question- What do you think is a good way pray more? A. Establish a focus for each day’s prayer, B. Use a book or internet resource to guide you, C. set a schedule, D. pray each time you are a particular place, like pray every time you drive somewhere, E. Incorporate into existing habit such as if you walk each day then Prayerwalk your neighborhood
Did You Know: The Bible is the best selling book in history and over 100 million copies of the Bible are sold each year… according to statista.com the best selling book other than the Bible in 2021 was “Atomic hearts” which sold 480,000 copies… which means the Bible sold over 99 million more copies in 2021 than #2 on the list
Did you know #2- in Romans 10:12 Paul uses the word Greek because in this section of the letter he is primarily addressing the Jews, who referred to Gentiles as “Greeks.” Christ has broken the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile
3. Jesus prayed you
Jesus wept over Jerusalem… which is surely an expression of His heart
Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
In Jesus’s high priestly prayer he prayed for those who will believe in Him through the message… John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
4. God answers prayer
You're probably converted because someone prayed for you…
You remember the clip of Lon Solomon where he talked about a family worker who prayed for him continuously… and when he went to tell her that he has come to Christ she told Lon I never thought I’d see the day… and told Lon that she had been praying for him for years
Question ? does prayer change the sovereign will of God?
The answer is no…
And you don't want to change the sovereign will of God because that would suggest that you're smarter than God… and you've got a better plan than God has
so don't think your prayers are going to change the eternal plan of God
and you don't want to change the sovereign will of God
and one note to add… we don't know who the elect are… so therefore we pray for everybody… and therefore we witness to everybody
sovereign election is God's business…
the eternal decree is a divine secret that will never be made known to us until we are in heaven
One person in a church Bible study said “when we get to heaven we will be surprised by some of the people that are there… and we will be surprised by some of the people who are not there..”
I think he was on point…
So we pray for all… and we have no insight into the future other than some prophetic passages in Scripture of what God is going to do in the future
our concern is not trying to open the closed book in heaven of God's eternal decree
that's God's book…
that's God's business…
we leave that with God
our business is to go out an proclaim the gospel… and to share with our neighbors… our coworkers… people we see at the stores..
and to go into all the nations and to preach the gospel to everyone and to pray for those who are without Christ…
and we leave the results to God
Play Tony Evans Power of unbelief 0:08-1:55
1. Paul’s Reasons
So we see the word “For” at the beginning of each of the next three verses…
Paul is explaining in these next verses why he is so burdened
Verse 2 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
“I bear witness” is one word in the Greek… martyrō…
You can hear “martyr” in it… and it means to solemnly bear witness in a court of law
and in the first century many who are witnesses for Christ ended
up being martyrs
and so it just became synonymous that if you're a witness… you're a martyr
because you're gonna pay a price for being a witness for Christ
So verse 2 tells us Paul’s first reason, that they have zeal for God but it’s not according to knowledge
Paul acknowledges that they have a zeal for God… but he says… but not in accordance with knowledge
everything begins with knowledge
everything begins with the truth and
until you know the truth… you are in darkness and are separated from Christ
Verse 3 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
In the first half of the verse… they were ignorant of God's high standard of righteousness… that it requires perfect obedience to the law of God in order to have a right standing before God…
they were totally ignorant of that… they thought God graded on the
curve…
they thought as long as they were better than the Egyptians or the
Assyrians or other pagan tribes then they were ok with God…
In the middle of verse 3… seeking to establish their own
they wanted to implement their own self-righteousness… their own “works
righteousness”… their own “law righteousness”
they were doing everything within themselves… to climb the ladder to reach God… and they were totally ignorant of the standard that God requires
the end of verse 3 they did not submit to God's righteousness
the reason why they were seeking to establish their own righteousness is they did not want to submit to God’s righteousness
God is offering to them a perfect righteousness in the Gospel… and in the
act of justification by faith…
and they will not lower themselves… they will not subject or submit themselves to this free offer in the gospel…
Israel refused… they heard the Gospel from Christ… they heard the gospel from the Apostles… they heard the gospel from the planting of these churches in the first century…
they just refused to subject themselves to the righteousness of God…
and that's really at the heart of unbelief… it's pride…. its arrogance… it's insisting to go your own way… to do your own thing…
to try to follow God on your own terms…
they were too prideful to extend an empty hand to God… to receive the free gift of His righteousness…
and the reason is they refuse to assume the role of a beggar…
because that's where it begins… the first beatitude and the second beatitude blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted…
poor in spirit means to be a beggar… lower than a poverty level… you have absolutely nothing…
you're like a beggar on the side of the road… and Jesus is passing by in Jericho and the beggar can't even look up into the eyes of Christ and extends an empty hand…
you bring nothing to the table… that's what Jesus says we must be.. and do.. in order to enter the kingdom of heaven
you have nothing to offer God… and you have nothing to contribute to your righteousness before God…
Israel would not humble themselves…
they would not get off their high horse come down on their knees and extend an empty hand to a sovereign Holy God in heaven
instead they were hell-bent determined that they are going to earn their salvation
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Charles Spurgeon wrote “Like the fascination that attracts the gnat to the candle that burns its wings… people by nature fly to the law for salvation and cannot be driven from it… The law can do nothing else but reveal sin and pronounce condemnation on the sinner… and yet we cannot get men away from it, even though we show them how sweetly Jesus stands between them and it…. They are so enamored of legal hope that they cling to it when there is nothing to cling to… they prefer Sinai to Calvary, though Sinai has nothing for them but thunder and trumpet warnings of coming judgement… Christ is the “end” of the law in that He is the purpose and object of the law, the fulfillment of it, and the termination of it””
Read 5-21
Play John MacArthur 30:30-33:00
The Message of Salvation to All
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
Tony Evans writes “if you want the law to judge you… fine… have it your way… God will judge you by the law… but it wont be pretty… God demands absolute perfection… so if you’re hoping to be justified by the law you, you had better live a life without sin… and history tells us there’s only been one such life”
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).
John MacArthur writes “His point is that the righteousness of faith does not require some impossible odyssey through the universe to find Christ”
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);
John MacArthur writes “The word is near you… quoted from Dt 30:14… The journey of verses 6 and 7 is unnecessary because God has clearly revealed the way of salvation: it is by faith… the message of faith is the way to God”
Romans 10:9-13: 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lordand 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 Lordof all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
In 9-13 Lord is mentioned four times… highlighted yellow… so that's the thread that runs through these verses… and it is this statement… Jesus is Lord
This is the cornerstone truth of all of Christianity… Jesus is Lord
and it was the earliest creedal confession of the Christian faith… to say Jesus is Lord
when Christians would meet on the street they would say Jesus is Lord… it is the briefest confession of faith… and it was the most common confession of faith…
sometimes they would say He has risen… but mostly they would say Jesus is Lord…
and it really became the signature statement of the first century church
now this was in total contradiction from the entire Roman Empire… the entire Roman Empire was built upon the foundation of countless gods and goddesses…
it began with the Greek gods and then it bled over with new names into Roman mythology…
an abbreviated or quick flyover.. there was Apollo who was the god of the Sun… there was Bacchus who was the god of wine… there was Sur who was the
god of agriculture… Cupid the God of love… Diana the goddess of hunting… flora the goddess of flowers… fauna the goddess of animals… on and on
and Jupiter was the king of the gods and was the god of weather the god of
thunder and lightning and was over all of the other gods… so there's layers and and a superstructure within the gods… there's mercury… Neptune… Pluto… Saturn… Venus… the list is almost endless, it just goes on and on
but bringing this up helps us understand that when the early church said Jesus is Lord… it flew in the face the polytheism of the day… where there were countless gods… and when they said Jesus is Lord they were always also saying He is the only Lord and Jesus is Lord over all of everything
they had a god for this and for that… and they had to get a little god for
everything… all imaginary gods… and first century Christians said Jesus is Lord… it just cleared the table of every other god and goddesses…
and said there's only one Lord over all… and it is Jesus Christ Who has
been sent by God the Father…
… and on top of all the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses… that Caesar was Lord… and that began even before the birth of Christ with Caesar Augustus
and that was 27 BC before Christ was even born… and with each decade the reverence of Caesar just kept increasing until it got to the point at the end of the first century every Roman citizen… once a year… had to appear before a Roman official and bring incense… and worship Caesar and say Caesar is Lord
and the believers were put in the vise grip… we cannot say Caesar is Lord… we can only say Christ is Lord
and so this statement that we see here in verse 9… it just rises to the
highest level of first century Christianity… and it’s important to understand
what a dramatic profession of faith this was…
We have had religious freedom and saying “Jesus is Lord” is easy for us… but for these early believers… they had to back it up with their own life
So looking at 9-13… first half of verse 9 is the Verbal Confession… highlighted in red
Points:
1. Verbal Confession- 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
This because in blue… is tying back to verse 8 and explaining “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” and here in 9 I think we see the overflow of the heart…
In Matthew 11 Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”
So a lot of commentaries say “in order to be saved… you must confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord”
but I’m just thinking through the whole Bible and then applying the context of the whole Bible to this verse… that does happen, saved people confess Jesus as Lord- 100 percent true… but I’m trying to examine the cause and effect… and rather than pulling the verse out on an island by itself, take the whole Bible and apply it to this verse…
So I think it’s a situation where being saved and confessing Jesus as Lord… they go hand in hand…
if you are saved then from your mouth you will confess Jesus is Lord… and if you hear people confessing with their mouth Jesus is Lord then that’s a sign they may be saved…
But ultimately- salvation comes from above- it is God Who saves us and God Who initiated it- our faith comes from God not from us…
And we know from Matthew 7 Jesus says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Like we talked about last week… faith does not originate within any one of us… faith comes down from above…
God is both the source and the object of saving faith… Hebrews 12 verse 2 says that Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith…
we're not the author of our own faith… we simply exercise the faith that God gives to us…
And so we do make a choice to follow Christ… we do speak with our mouths Jesus is Lord and that is evidence of saving faith… and we do make a decision to follow Christ…
but this only because God was previous… God was already at work in your heart… convicting you of your sin…. and it was God who drew you out of your sin to Christ… and it was God who gave you the gift of repentance and faith…
So here in verse 9, I think Paul is telling us what evidence of saving faith is… and that is confession with your mouth that Jesus is Lord…
the word confess here in verse 9 is a compound word in the Greek… homologēsēs (homo – log – E – sis)
homo means “the same”… logeses means “to say the same”
we say the same about Jesus… as God the Father says about Jesus…
we say the same about Jesus… as Jesus claimed for Himself…
we say the same about Jesus… as the entirety of Scripture says about Jesus…
so to confess means more than just the verbal words in the air… it means to embrace what God the Father says about His Son… and what the Bible says about His son
with your mouth with your mouth Paul means openly… publicly… unashamedly….
there are no secret agents in God's army…
there are none of us who camouflage to blend in with the world…
we are all outspoken with our mouths disciples of Jesus Christ… and we profess with our mouth to a listening and watching world that Jesus is Lord
whatever that may cost us… Jesus is Lord
A cross reference… Matthew 10:32-33 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
you do not want Him saying I don't know you on the last day… and that is if we were to say I don't know Christ before a watching world Matthew 10 tells us this would be the result…
Mark 8:38 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
what this is saying is if you have true saving faith there will come out of your mouth the profession that Jesus is Lord…
and just the mere saying of those words does not open the door to heaven and you're in because Matthew 7 Jesus says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven…
so there there's nothing magical about just saying Jesus is Lord as if that combination of words is a key that opens the door to heaven….
the end of verse 9 there must be a heart reality and belief in your heart that
God raised him from the dead… and for us who have this heart reality we see the
the non-negotiable supreme importance of us making this public profession of faith that Jesus is Lord
and that was the significance of baptism… and in the first century it was a public profession of faith often in front of large groups of unbelievers… some of
these unbelievers would be your boss… some of them would be your family who were still unbelieving…
and it would cost you
you would be put out of the synagogue
you would lose business relationships
your parents might have a funeral for you though you're still alive because in your family's mind you do not exists anymore
you are cut off from your family because of this profession and confession you are making… Jesus is Lord
this is not incidental… it's fundamental because the end of the verse says you will be saved…
? So what does this mean Jesus is Lord ?
Jesus is his name…. Lord is his title
It’s like saying President Abraham Lincoln… Abraham Lincoln is his name and President is his title…
the name is Jesus means Jehovah saves… that Jesus is God Who comes in human flesh to save His people from their sins…
Matthew 1:21 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Luke 19:10 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus came here on a mission of salvation… and that's inherent and revealed in His name Jesus
when you add Lord to this you have increased the importance because Lord
was a title for deity…
many places in the Bible… and even in the book of Romans where sometimes Lord refers to God the Father… and Lord refers to God the Son… and it
almost becomes an interchangeable title… and it speaks to the Co-equality of the
Father and the Son… and of course the Holy Spirit as well
The word Lord is the Greek word “Kurios”
it means the sovereign one, master, ruler, governor, owner
it means the supreme one… it means the one who has supreme
authority… Matthew 28:18 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Lord means the One Who possesses sovereign power… that He is at the top of the organizational chart of the entire universe… coequal with the Father…
and everyone and everything is under His feet… that's what the title Lord means
Lord is the predominant way that Jesus is identified in the New Testament… in the entire New Testament Jesus is identified as Savior only ten times… He is identified as Lord around 700 times according to some commentaries… Pastor Steve Lawson says between 500 and 700 times with a 653 count of Lord but Pastor Lawson did not carefully look at all 653 to determine which were of the Father and which were of the Son…
So 10 times Savior… and 500 to 700 times Lord
There is a weight being put on the Lordship of Jesus Christ… and it does not diminish His Savior-hood…
It actually elevates His Savior-hood… that the one who is Savior is Lord over all… and that matters… and what he did and what he says matters… and it doesn't matter what anybody else says about salvation… What Jesus says about Salvation matters… He is Lord
? What does it mean that Jesus is my Lord?
It means you are a bondservant of your master Jesus Christ… and you would say and think and know that I have become the slave of Christ… he is my master…
every slave has a master… and before we were converted sin was our master… and now we're converted and Jesus is our master
to confess Jesus as Lord means he's everything and I'm nothing
to confess Jesus as Lord means Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
when we profess Jesus is Lord… it means that I transfer my entire life to Him
it means that we say as Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane Luke 22:42 42 not my will, but yours, be done.”
that we live for him and not for ourselves…
and when I profess Jesus as Lord… everything that I am… and everything that I own… and everything that I have… belongs to Him…
and we are simply a steward… managing His possessions that He has
temporarily put into our accounts…
He is the sovereign Lord over every inch and every ounce of our
entire being…
We exist to serve our Lord and our master Jesus Christ…
My time is His time
My treasure is His treasure
my talent is His talent
everything belongs to Him…
and so it means He's Lord over everything in your life…
And when you come to Christ you are now on a new path… heading in a new direction
You can't ride the fence… you can't have one foot in and one foot out
I can't just talk the Christian race… I've got to run the Christian race
it means that we are devoted to living a radically different lifestyle… that we have broken from the pack… we have broken from the world
Jesus Christ is Lord and I am his slave and that's exactly what this verbal profession means…
and it's not just words… it is the realization of the reality that comes with our life under the lordship of Christ…
David Livingstone wrote “God, send me anywhere, only go with me… Lay any burden on me, only sustain me… and sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours”
Poll 3: What do you think is the biggest struggle as non-believers and even believer think about handing complete control of everything to Jesus? A. It seems scary to transfer everything, B. It seems like you won’t have fun, C. Praying the “I will do anything and go anywhere you want me to go” is an intimidating prayer, D. a feeling of hesitancy because the person has a lot of great things and relationships and if Jesus is Lord all of that may change
Sub Question: If you had to pick one, what do you think would help when talking to people about giving Jesus complete Lordship of their life? A. Remembering His promises, B. remembering God’s attributes knowing that He has perfect love for you, C. remembering that we are living not for things of this world but for eternal things
scroll back up
Play Tony Evans Christian don’t collapse 0:00-3:19
2. Internal Commitment
This is not a sequence… they both go together…
it's the heads and tails of the same coin… there is the outward profession and there is the inward profession…
down in the heart it's more than just words that you're saying outloud… Jesus is Lord in your heart
Paul write believe in your heart… the word believe here does not just mean you sign off on a confession of a doctrinal statement… or a confession of faith
the word believe here is “pist-euo” in the Greek and it means to entrust your life… it means to commit your life
and the word faith and believe come from the same word… faith is the noun… believe is the verb
God raised him from the dead… God refers to God the Father…
God the Father raised Him from the dead…
3. Eternal Consequence
The end of verse 9 you will be saved. and this not a group… this is you personally will be saved
this is a future tense verb… and it's looking forward to the end of time…
it speaks to the certainty that you will be saved… but it's also futuristically looking to the end of the age…
that you will be saved from the second death and from the divine wrath in eternal hell we deserve
4. Explanation/Clarification
This is the rest of the section…
You’ll see the next four verses all begin with the word “For” highlighted in blue
The word “for” introduces an explanation…
In verse 10 Paul clarifies what he says in verse 9… and Paul reverses the order…
verse 10 starts with the heart and then proceeds to the mouth and in verse 9 Paul started with the mouth proceeded to the heart
this is showing us how inseparable the two are… in true saving faith that whatever you believe in your heart concerning Christ you will profess with your mouth…
10 For with the heart… that's the internal commitment with the heart… with all that you are on the inside
Heart here is “kardia” in the Greek… it’s where we get the term cardiac arrest for heart failure
it just means all that a person is on the inside… 10 For with the heart one believes and so Paul's restating what he just said in verse 9…
he adds and is justified… and this is justification by faith…
this is the imputed righteousness of Christ by the Father to the one who believes that Jesus is Lord and has been raised from the dead…
and this righteousness is credited to the account of the one who believes…
we have never lived righteous a day in our lives… we’ve never been perfectly righteous… never met the standard…
but the very moment that you believe Jesus is Lord… and believe
that God raised him from the dead… and you commit your life to Him…
in that split second the result is righteousness…
God transfers the righteousness of Christ into your account
and it is what verse 12 calls “riches”
it is grace upon grace… forgiveness upon forgiveness…
end of verse 10 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.”
That’s Isaiah 28:16… and Paul writes the Scripture says… Isaiah was written hundreds of year before…
it was speaking in Paul's day… present tense… and it still speaks today in 2022…
whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed… your only disappointment will be that you didn't commit your life to Christ earlier…
that for so many years you lived for the world… and lived for fool's gold when you could have had the riches of heaven transferred to your account…
and the guilt of sin removed and you could have been washed clean earlier…
your only disappointment is that you didn't run to the cross earlier… but once you've committed your life to Him you will never be disappointed
and that's what the Scripture tells us
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.
Verse 12 is giving us clarification on the “who” in verse 11…
Jesus is Lord overall… there's not one Lord for the Jew and another Lord for the Gentile
there is no distinction… the Jew and Greek had the same problem… sin
Jew and Gentile have the same and only solution… Jesus…
and Jew and Gentile must have the same response… which is a heart commitment and a verbal confession of Jesus Christ
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul now quotes Joel 2 verse 32… and it's what Peter read on the day of
Pentecost in Acts 2 verse 21…
For “everyone… it's really a follow-up to verse 11 and 12…
The idea of whoever you are… wherever you are… whatever you are… whether you're a Jew or a Gentile… young or old… male or female…
everyone who calls… that repeats the end of verse 12 all who call on him…
? so what are the marks of such true saving faith… that you would really call upon the name of the Lord ? … because not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven
Scroll Down
Four words
1. Submission
when you say Jesus is Lord you are saying I have submitted my life to Christ
Matthew 11:29 Jesus said take my yoke upon you…
and so you're like an oxen now who has a yoke around your neck… and the master is in the wagon and when He pulls to the left you go left… when He pulls back on the reins you stop…
you are an ox pulling a wagon and Jesus is the owner the ruler and the master of your life…
2. Priority
to say Jesus is Lord means that He is the most important person and the first pursuit in your life… and everything else and everyone else is a far-distant second…
Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
3. Obedience
when Jesus speaks we listen and we obey Jesus said in Luke 6:46-47 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
not do what Jesus says would be a total inconsistency…
if Jesus is Lord… in the core of your being you desire to do what He says…
? do we always do it perfectly? … no
but when we don't… we feel convicted… and we feel bad about it… and we confess it to the Lord…
4. Commitment
Jesus is Lord means that you are saying I'm willing to go anywhere… to
do anything… with anyone… and to pay any price at any time…
that you are all in… that you are committed to the Lord…
that you say as did and I Isaiah did in Isaiah 6:8 “Here I am! Send me.”
so that that's what it it means to say Jesus is Lord…
I'm submitted… he's my priority… I obey… and I'm committed
“do we ever waver from that?
not fundamentally… only at times, but the general course of the Christian life is submitting to Jesus… Prioritizing Him way above everything else… Obeying Him, and Committing yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ…
Launch Poll 4
Play Paul Washer 0:00-4:36
Romans 10:14-15 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?
God could have chosen any means for the message of salvation to come… God could have sent angels or worked through dreams- which He sometimes does…
God has an infinite number of ways to bring the gospel to people and what Paul is teaching is that God’s “normal” way of bringing people to Jesus Christ is through the preaching of the gospel.
15 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!”
The feet speak of activity, motion, and progress, and those who are active and moving in the work of preaching the gospel have beautiful feet
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
If salvation is so simple, available to all who trust in the person and work of Jesus, then why does Israel seem to be cast off from God?
Because many among them had not believed his report – because they did not trust in God’s word through Isaiah and other messengers of the gospel.
Therefore they are not saved.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Saving faith comes through hearing by the word of God.
Though Israel heard, they did not exercise saving faith in Christ – making them (and us) all the more responsible.
Charles Spurgeon wrote “Let human thoughts perish forever, the thoughts of God, and not the thoughts of man, will save souls”
Charles Spurgeon went on to say the truth of God should be spoken simply- I strongly… strongly agree with Spurgeon… when I read an article or a commentary and every sentence I have to look up a word because I don’t know what it means- it is very frustrating to me… but it also is a warning to me…
Even if the writer has a great vocabulary and is super smart- why try to write in a way that only the intellectually elite can understand…
I think we should always try to articulate things clearly and simply and when we use theological terms that may be difficult then we should explain those…
But that’s my 2 cents- I know we went into red flags before as a topic- for me when I am reading something and I have to google every other word that is a red flag that the root behind the content…
The fruit would be the article… the root would be the writers heart… I would worry about the root when the writer is using SAT words every sentence and if I have questions about a pastors heart… I’d rather just move on to something else…
If it’s your own pastor- yeah don’t leave the church, talk with them… get to the bottom of it, it may be you or it may be him… but if its just a guy who wrote a book or an article- yeah- why waste time if you’re wondering where this guys heart is at
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
This is from Psalm 19:4 and it proves that the word of the gospel went forth and Israel heard it.
This makes them more accountable for their rejection of the good news.
19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
God told Israel that He would bring others close to Him and make them jealous.
Yet Israel ignored this word also, making them more accountable.
20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
Isaiah’s bold prophecy was a warning that Israel ignored, making them more accountable.
It is strange that the majority of Israel rejected their own Messiah…
Strange as it was, this was foretold… It didn’t surprise God or His prophets
21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
This tells God’s assessment of disobedient, Messiah-rejecting Israel. They are a disobedient and contrary people, and all the more so because of their great responsibility before God.
I’m thinking about starting to end our nights with a clear presentation of the Gospel using John 3:16… and this should be brief but the goal is through repetition it may help each of us, myself included, have a 30 second or “elevator” Gospel presentation…
What is the Gospel?
John 3:16 is often referred to as the Gospel in a nutshell:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God- the Gospel starts with God
So loved- this tells us about God, He loves- who does He love?
So loved the world- God loves the world, this also tell us His global mission, He didn’t come to redeem a certain race, nation, ethnic group- His redemptive plan is for the nations, for all people groups
That he gave- this tells us God is generous- He gave, what did He give
He gave his only Son- this repeats that God loves, He gives up His son- also the only adds emphasis
That whoever- this repeats on the Global purpose- whoever, it is not limited- whoever
That whoever believes in Him- so what has to happen, there is something we need to do, a response- we hear the good news and we need to accept Jesus as Lord of our lives and Savior
That whoever believes in Him should not perish-
what is this perish, this is telling us we are in great danger, we are in need, we have sinned and one day we will stand in judgement before a Holy God, and all the Holy and righteous wrath of God will punish our sin- but there is hope, Jesus stands in our place, He is our advocate, He takes our sin upon Him when we come to Him in faith so that we should not perish
But have eternal life- this end of the verse brings it altogether- the love, the justice, the peace, the grace- we see it all here, that even though we deserve punishment, we deserve Hell, Jesus has stood in our place…
now we decide- will we follow Him, will we accept Him, and when we do the Bible promises us that we will have forgiveness of sins… and though we deserve punishment we receive grace… we are children of God… and we will have eternal life with God-
Any stories about sharing the Gospel this week or recently
Prayer
