The Accessibility of Christ

Introduction

As we jump into the central part of chapter 10, we need to remember what Paul’s focus in this chapter is. Paul is turning to the topic of human responsibility. It isn’t God’s fault that Israel failed to be included in the people of God as we saw in chapter 9. Chapter 10 dealt with God’s corporate election of a people, but now the focus turns to the individual. But another main theme throughout this chapter is that salvation and thus inclusion in the people of God is available to everyone. Paul introduced that theme in vs 4, but you can trace that theme through the entire chapter.

every one vs 4

Salvation is easily accessible vs 8

Whosoever- vs 11

No difference vs 12, all

Whosoever vs 13

all have heard- some element of knowledge of God which they either rejected or received vs 18

This passage deals with a frustration that we have all faced at some time. Have you ever been trying to get into your house but unfortunately you left your keys in the house. I remember this one time when we locked ourselves out of our house in Yukon. Fortunately, the window to our bedroom never really completely latched all the way so we were able to stick on of the kids through the window to unlock the door. But that feeling when you can’t seem to get something you need can be really frustrating. What we want just seems out of reach.

That feeling can be exaggerated when its a certain group you need to be part of to be successful. Maybe its a club or a union or a guild; but the entrance requirements are beyond what you can do. Its frustrating to be shut out of the group. Its just to hard to get in. Maybe you have to know someone, play the politics, be rich enough, popular enough, good looking enough and it seems like there is nothing you can do to change the fact that you just can’t get in. Maybe its a peer group for the high-schooler. You want a certain group of kids to accept you and bring you into the group, but they turn away.

Paul is dealing with this frustration. When it comes to the righteousness of faith, inclusion in the people of God and salvation; the door is open to everyone. The requirements are not so high that you could never meet them. Access is not limited to a certain group of people: both Jews and Gentiles can get in. Paul’s main thrust in this passage is that anyone can get in. So let’s look at how he develops this point:

Law Righteousness is impossible to achieve

Romans 10:5–7 “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)”

Paul begins by discussing how impossible it is to actually keep the law for righteousness. In doing so he quotes two passages from Moses. One is in Leviticus 18:5 “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.” and the other in Deuteronomy 30:12–13 “It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?” The passages seem to be contradicting each other. In a way he pits Moses in Lev. against Moses in Deut. unless you understand how he harmonizes these two passages.

Perfect obedience is required to live- vs 5 The Jews were very focused on keeping the law to the nteenth degree. The Pharisees had even added extra laws to keep them from accidently breaking the law of Moses. Paul is affirming here that if you keep the whole law, you would have eternal life. In theory, a person who never sinned would never need to be saved in the first place. This is what Paul is saying here. But what would be required is perfect obedience. With Christ’s coming, there are no more sacrifices for sin. Hebrews 10:18 “Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” Christ ended the law for righteousness vs 4. So if someone is to receive eternal life, make it to heaven they have only one option perfect obedience. James reiterates this thought in James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

The righteousness by faith cannot be achieved by hard work- vs 6-7 Paul here quotes from Deuteronomy.

But faith doesn’t say, “hey I am going to climb to heaven to bring Jesus down here. I believe this hints at the incarnation. We couldn’t do anything to make Christ come down to die for our sins. Have you ever tried to climb to heaven? Very few have summitted the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest. Out of all the people in the world, only 7, 269 people have reached the top of the highest mountain and even that falls short of reaching heaven.

Faith also doesn’t say, “hey I am going to descend into the depths of the earth to bring Christ back up from the dead.” The disciples didn’t start digging at the tomb to get Jesus body back out and couldn’t descend into the afterlife to put his spirit back in his body. Rather, they wept at the tomb because they didn’t have the power of life and death. It was an impossible task.

All these churches that tell you, you have to do this or that to earn your way to heaven have missed the point. We can never earn eternal life because the task is too hard: it is impossible. Just like climbing to heaven or putting the spirit of Christ back into his body, we cannot do it. Going back to our illustration: if you had to meet certain rules to get into the group, you would be forever shut out of the group because the rules are impossible to perfectly keep.

Christ is easily accessible

Romans 10:8–10 “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

In this section, we find some verses that are often quoted in presentations of the gospel though I believe the waters get muddied in our explanation of them sometimes. But the main point in vs 8-10 is that the message about how to have your sins forgiven, how to be part of the group, to receive eternal life is easily accessible. He says it is nigh thee or near you. Its right there. You don’t have to go climbing a mountain or digging into the middle of the earth to find it. Paul again quotes Deuteronomy 30:14 “But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Paul is claiming that they know the word of faith- this phrase refers to the message of faith. Well how do they know salvation is by faith alone? which we preach- Paul had preached the message to them. If you are here today and you are thinking, I wonder how I can be right with God, how to have all these bad things I have done forgiven, or how I can have a home in heaven when I die; the answer is not far off. I am preaching it to you today.

Not only is it easily accessible because they have heard the message, but it is also accessible because it doesn’t take any great hard work to receive the salvation that the gospel promises. Verse 9-10 seem to give two requirements and vs 13 seems to add a third requirement for salvation. If you have followed along with me through the book of Romans this might be confusing because Paul consistently says that salvation is by faith alone. So now is he adding confession and prayer as a requirement? Lets look at these terms:

believe- the word believe does carry with it the meaning we all use it today to mean. Believe means to accept somethings to be true, but the Greek word here means more than that. It means to trust in what I believe. Exe. Believe this chair will hold me up. The word for believe and faith are the same root words. Notice what we are to believe: that God has raised him from the dead. Paul is saying that you must know and believe that Jesus died for your sins, was buried and rose again to save you. But knowing is not enough. James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” There must be a dependence, a placing of your trust. Going back to the chair illustration, you have to sit in the chair.

Confession- Confess literally means to say the same thing as someone. It implies agreement with God about your sin and guilt, about your need for salvation, about what Jesus did to save you. But I want to make a couple things clear here. First, this is not merely an attitude of the heart. Paul says with your mouth. It is a public declaration of a truth you believe. Secondly, what is the truth you are declaring: Jesus is Lord. There has been a lot of debate about Lordship salvation and I really believe that for the most part people are falsely accusing those they accuse of holding lordship salvation. But it is important to note that the confession includes the lordship of Jesus. Why? In order to truly believe Jesus can save you from your sins, you must know who this Jesus actually is. He has a right to say that you are a sinner because he is the perfect Holy one. He alone was pure enough to pay the penalty for you sins.

Calling- calling carries the idea of praying, calling out to God. Imagine someone drowning in the sea. They see a boat nearby and they start yelling for someone to rescue them. This is what it means to call. I can’t save myself, I need you God.

So let’s return to the question, what do I have to do to be saved? Paul answered that question simply in Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” So what about confession and calling. I believe the simplest explanation is that confession and calling are expressions of faith? They are the ways we show that faith that exists already in our heart. Think of it this way. Would you stand up in Rome where Christians were persecuted and publically admit Jesus is Lord instead of Ceasar if you didn’t believe? How about this, would you call out for Him to save you if you didn’t believe he could and would do so? So confession and calling are not additions to salvation. A man is saved by faith alone, but that faith expresses itself in a variety of ways. I can look at a person who publicly confesses in spite of potential persecution and say I believe he truly is saved. The person who calls from a true heart, really believes.

So how easy is it to be saved, to receive the righteousness of faith? It is as easy as just placing your trust in Jesus Christ.

Christ is equally accessible

Romans 10:11–13 “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

There is one more point that Paul makes here. Not only is Christ easily accessible, He is equally accessible. Here he quotes Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, A tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: He that believeth shall not make haste.” That word whosoever refers to anyone. Now its not just everyone. God isn’t just going to save everyone on the earth, but it is anyone who believes. But the point of this word whosoever, is that anyone can do this. vs 12 says its available to both Jew and Gentile. Before Christ, this wasn’t true. Now the door is flown wide open for anyone to come.

for the same Lord- The basis of this is that God is God of Jews and Gentiles. Do you really think that God only cares about one group of people? Why would he have created all these nations of the earth? He isn’t just God of the Jews, but of the whole earth and so anyone anywhere on the earth who by faith calls will be saved. Vs 11 says they won’t be ashamed- meaning he won’t let you down. He will save you just like he said he would do.

Conclusion

Let me bring this to a conclusion with two applications.

If you are here and you do not know Jesus as your Savior. Maybe you have been trying to be good enough, or just do the right things hoping that it will get you to heaven someday. Maybe if you are good enough it will erase all those bad thing you have done. Paul here says it doesn’t work that way. Perfection is required and you like the rest of us can’t measure up. It is just as impossible as climbing to heaven or making a loved one come back from the dead. Both are tasks beyond your ability. But salvation isn’t hard. When my family got saved, it was because of a pamphlet called God’s Simple Plan of Salvation. Having your sins forgiven and being saved from the penalty for those sins, is as simple as putting you trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. In your heart believing that He as Lord has a right to punish sins, but as your Lord he has provided a way of forgiveness. In a moment the piano will play, if this is you I would ask that you come forward and we will have a counselor speak with you about how you can settle this today.

For the Christian, I don’t ever like to leave you with just a salvation message; so I want to remind you of a gospel truth found in this passage. This verse teaches something about the character and heart of God. God’s plan of salvation is easily accessible and it is equally accessible. What does that tell me about God? He wants to make it easy to find Him and have a relationship with Him. I think Christians sometimes fall prey to thinking that it is so hard to get God to listen to us. God is never pleased with us because we have never done enough. Would it surprise you to hear that God’s acceptance of you is not based on how hard you work. Ephesians 1:6 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” My acceptance before God is not based on how hard I work, but on what Jesus did for me. I can’t earn his favor; Jesus did it for me already. Now things can get in the way of my relationship, but you now how easy it is to restore that relationship. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You don’t have to climb Everest or win a 1000 people to the Lord to have a good relationship with Jesus. Our access to Him is easy.

But it is also equally available. He also is not discriminating and saying I will only have a relationship with Pastor Shirk. You might think that the Pastors of the church, the sunday school teachers are the one’s who have the closest walk with the Lord because they know so many things about the bible. Ideally, that knowledge is the result of spiritual maturity, but guess what; you can have just as close of a relationship with Jesus as I or Pastor Karsies can.

If you are feeling shut out, like Jesus is always angry at you, or you just can’t be as close to Jesus as some of those great men of the past you read about, such thinking is foolish snobbery. First, do take a look at you heart for sin, but know you can make things right easily. Second, realize that there is no great man of the past who was great in and off himself. Such a relationship with God is available to any and every one of us.