12/28/25 Romans 9/10
Evangelism: How the Church Speaks of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 59:35
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… if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
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? 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!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
I know what about to say is really insightful…
Romans chapter 10 comes after Romans chapter 9.
And what is Paul’s main message in Romans 9?
It’s a High Sovereignty chapter that is all about God's Sovereign Choice to save who He is going to save.
though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
As Americans,
We really struggle with this idea.
We struggle with a God Who operates this way.
And Paul knows that,
which is why he goes on to say:
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Paul’s point is pretty clear,
I will show mercy upon who I will show mercy.
I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
And this does not depend upon human will or effort,
it depends on God, who has mercy.
And in response to this,
We wonder:
“OK… so why if salvation depends upon God… then why does He still find fault in us?”
Well, Paul addresses that too.
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Here’s a question for you:
After Israel rejected Christ,
did God go with plan B and give the gospel to the Gentiles?
Or was that always plan A?
As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
What is Paul saying here?
Old Testament Scripture already said that God would call people who were “not my people” his people.
Hosea shows God freely creating a people for himself, not responding to their effort.
Paul applies that to Gentiles.
Their inclusion is not a surprise or a backup plan.
It was always part of God’s purpose.
Also, Scripture said that not all ethnic Israel would be saved.
Isaiah predicted that only a remnant would remain, and that apart from God’s mercy Israel would have been utterly destroyed.
Salvation within Israel has always depended on God’s preserving grace,
not sheer numbers or mere covenant status.
So the conclusion Paul is making is that the Gentiles received righteousness without chasing the law
because they received it by faith.
Israel, as a whole,
failed to reach righteousness because they pursued it by works.
They tripped over Christ himself,
the very stone God placed in Zion,
because they would not come to him by faith.
The point is: God choses to save by mercy through faith,
not by lineage or law,
and Scripture said this would happen long before it did.
Alright, turn to Romans chapter 10.
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
What’s Paul saying here?
Paul directs attention away from the hidden things of God and toward what has been made plain.
Christ has come.
Christ has risen.
The word is near you.
The call is to believe and confess,
not to decode election.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
So election explains God’s sovereignty over salvation,
and faith shows our responsibility to respond to God’s revealed gospel.
Paul is saying:
“Stop trying to figure out things you can’t figure out and cling to the gospel by grace through faith in Christ.”
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
These verses don’t really need need any explanation.
Paul has told us to stop trying to figure out the mysteries of God’s sovereign choice in electing people to salvation,
and to preach and receive the gospel.
And remember, there is no distinction here between Jew and Gentile now.
All must respond to the gospel of Christ by faith.
Question:
Why do you think Paul writes chapter 9 before chapter 10?
What is he trying to kill?
Human boasting.
Only God get’s to boast.
Jewish boasting in law and lineage, and Gentile boasting that might arise from their inclusion.
Romans 9 humbles everyone.
Romans 10 levels everyone.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
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? 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!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
What is Paul saying here?
Sovereignty does not cancel evangelism, it grounds it.
Paul does not say, “They will believe if they are elect, so preaching is optional.”
He says the opposite.
God saves through preaching.
Election explains why preaching works,
not why it is unnecessary.
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.” 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.” 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.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Paul’s point is this.
Israel’s unbelief cannot be blamed on lack of revelation or lack of opportunity.
They heard the message.
They understood what God was doing.
Scripture itself said that Gentiles would respond and that Israel would resist.
Gentile faith fulfills God’s word and exposes Israel’s disobedience.
God has been openly and patiently inviting Israel all along, but they have refused.
Their rejection is real, responsible, and foreseen,
but it’s not a failure of God’s plan.
In fact, this next week,
read Romans 11 and you’ll see that God still has a plan to save Israel.
As you read Romans 11 and look for three things.
First, notice what Paul denies.
God has not rejected Israel.
The present hardening is partial and temporary, not total or final.
Second, notice what Paul explains.
Israel’s stumbling has opened the door for Gentile inclusion,
and Gentile inclusion is meant to provoke Israel to jealousy, not replace her.
Third, notice what Paul concludes.
Salvation history ends in mercy, not arrogance.
The chapter climaxes not in a timeline but in worship.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.”
Paul is not writing to satisfy curiosity about the future
but to kill pride in the present.
Romans 11 is aimed especially at Gentile believers who might be tempted to boast.
