Closer Than You Think

A lot of people believe that God is far away.

Not far away in the sense that he doesn't exist. Far away in the sense that he's up there somewhere, and getting to him is going to take a lifetime of effort. You've got to climb. You've got to clean yourself up first, then string together enough good days and good deeds and hope that someday you've done enough to reach him. God is at the top of a mountain, and salvation is the long, uncertain climb.

If that's how you picture it, I have good news this morning. You have the whole thing backward. You are not climbing up to God. God has already come down to you. And what you spent your life reaching for is closer than you ever thought.

Last week we saw Israel trying to build their own righteousness, and Paul told us Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes. He is who the law has been pointing to the whole time.

Now Paul takes that truth and shows us how near it is. He goes back to Moses, of all people, and proves from the law itself that the gospel was never far off. It isn't off in heaven or down in the deep. It's right here, as close as the words in your mouth and the faith in your heart.

For anyone here who has ever felt that God was out of reach, that salvation was for better people than you, that you'd have to become someone else before God would have you, then today is for you. Paul is about to close the distance.

Open your Bible to Romans 10:5-13

Romans 10:5–13 NKJV

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 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) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 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. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Paul does something clever here. He proves the gospel of grace from the writings of Moses, the very man the Jews thought taught salvation by law. He puts two verses side by side, both from Moses, and lets them do the work.

He says…

QUIT CLIMBING FOR WHAT GOD BROUGHT DOWN (vv. 5-8)

First, the righteousness of the law. "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, 'The man who does those things shall live by them.'" That's a quote from Leviticus 18:5.

And on the surface it sounds simple. Do the law, and you'll live. There's only one catch, and it's the catch that brings the whole house of cards down. You have to do all of it, perfectly, every day, your entire life, and never break it once.

James, in the NT book named after him, says whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles, or fails, at one point is guilty of all of it. So law righteousness offers life on a condition no human being has ever met. Do these things and live. Nobody has ever done these things.

Then Paul reaches for a second passage from Moses, and he applies it to some good news.

He goes to Deuteronomy 30, where Moses is telling Israel that God's word is not out of their reach.

But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. “Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'"

Paul reads that with Christ in view. Don't ask who will go up to heaven to bring Christ down, because Christ already came down. He took on flesh and was born in Bethlehem. And don't ask who will go down into the deep to bring Christ up from the dead, because Christ already rose. The tomb is empty.

Look at what Paul is doing. Every bit of the work that salvation required has already been done, and God is the one who did it. You don't have to climb up to heaven to drag God down to earth. He came down himself in the person of Jesus. You don't have to descend into death to conquer the grave. He rose himself. The two impossible errands that stood between you and God are both finished. There's nothing left for you to climb.

That leaves the word of salvation right next to you. Verse 8.

"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." That's Paul's whole point here.

The gospel is not far away on a mountaintop. It is as close as the words you could speak right now and the faith you could hold in your heart this morning.

The commentator, Matthew Henry, said salvation has been brought to our door, as it were, in the word which is near us. You have been looking up at a mountain when the door was right beside you the whole time.

When verse 13 says “Whoever,” Whoever means you.

If the gospel is that near, then how do you take hold of it? Paul tells us in the clearest gospel sentence in the whole Bible.

Verse 9, “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."

Paul says…

BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART AND CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH (vv. 9-10)

Two things happen when a person is trusts Christ for salvation, and they belong together. There's something you believe in your heart, and there's something you confess with your mouth.

Start with the heart, because that's where it begins.

You believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. That's important. The resurrection is the hinge of the entire Christian faith.

Another commentator said: If there is no resurrection, there is no Christianity. When you believe God raised Jesus, you're believing that Jesus was who he said he was, that his death paid for sin, and that God accepted the payment and proved it by raising him. The empty tomb is God's receipt. Believing it in your heart means resting your whole weight on it.

If it weren’t for the resurrection, Christianity would be little more than a well-intentioned ethical system.

Then comes the mouth. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus." Now don't rush past that word "Lord."

For a first-century Jew, calling Jesus "Lord" was the most costly word he could say. That word is “Kurios.” It is the word the Greek translation of Old Testament used over six thousand times for Yahweh, the sacred name of God.

So to say "Jesus is Lord" was to look at the carpenter from Nazareth they had crucified and declare that he is God in the flesh. That confession could cost a Jewish believer his place in the synagogue and his standing in his own family, and sometimes it cost him his life. It was no light thing to say out loud.

And that's the point. What a person believes in his heart, he will not be able to keep silent in his mouth.

Confession is the heart's belief coming out into the open.

Paul says it again in verse 10, and he balances it beautifully. "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Believing and confessing are two sides of one coin, held together in a single saving faith.

John Calvin said it is nonsense to insist there is fire when there is neither flame nor heat. The flame of confession proves the fire of faith is genuine. If Christ is in your heart, he will be on your lips.

Sticky statement: Whoever means you.

Now Paul does something for us that we shouldn’t hurry past. He takes this salvation, so near and so free, and he throws the doors open to everyone. Three times in three verses he presses the word that includes you.

HEAR YOUR NAME IN GOD'S "WHOEVER" (vv. 11-13)

First, verse 11. "For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'" That's from Isaiah 28:16, the same stone passage we saw two weeks ago. But watch what Paul adds. In Isaiah it reads, "he who believes." Paul, writing by the Spirit, adds one word. “All,” or, Whoever. He widens it on purpose so that not one person listening can think themselves outside of it.

Second, verse 12. "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him."

Back in Romans 3, Paul said there is no difference, because all have sinned. Here he says there is no difference again, but now it's good news.

The same "no difference" that put us all under sin now puts us all within reach of grace. The same Lord is rich to all who call. He is not stingy with one kind of sinner and lavish with another. He pours out the same wealth of grace on everyone who calls, and he has more than enough for every person in this room.

Third, verse 13, and this is the promise the whole passage has been building toward. "For 'whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" That's from the prophet Joel. And notice how simple the requirement has become. The demand is no longer to climb or to earn. It is to call, like a drowning person crying out for a rescuer. Anyone who calls on the Lord to save them will be saved.

I want you to hear that word "whoever" the way God means it.

When God says whoever, he is not speaking in general. He is speaking to you. Whoever is not a crowd. Whoever is a door with your name over it.

It means the person who thinks their sin is too great and the person who has wandered too long. It means the respectable person who never thought they needed saving and the broken person who was sure they were past it. Every one of them, if they call on the name of the Lord, will be saved. Whoever means you.

Sticky statement: Whoever means you.

APPLICATION

So what do we do with a passage like this?

Call on him. Today.

The whole passage narrows down to one word, and it's a word a child can do. Call.

If you have never trusted Christ, if you have been climbing the mountain your whole life and getting nowhere, you can stop climbing this morning and call. Believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. That's the word that is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart right now. You could speak it before you leave this room.

Let’s make this personal. Sometime today, before your head hits the pillow, find a quiet place and say it out loud to God. Tell him you believe Jesus is Lord and that he raised him from the dead. Ask him to save you. There is no magic in the exact words. The power is in the One you're calling on. But say it. Move it from your heart to your mouth, because that's the pattern Paul lays out, and that's how the nearness of the gospel becomes yours.

Or you can do that right now.

And maybe you're already a believer, and you've been sitting here thinking about someone else the whole time. Someone you've decided is too far gone and too resistant to change. Hear the word again. Whoever. That person is not outside the reach of "whoever."

So do two things this week. Keep praying for them by name, the way Paul prayed for Israel. And look for one chance to tell them how near Christ is, that they don't have to climb, that they only have to call.

Because here's what we forget. We are surrounded by people who think God is at the top of a mountain they'll never climb. And we are holding the news that the mountain has already been come down, that the word is near them, that whoever includes them. That news is too good to keep to ourselves.

(CLOSE)

Salvation is closer than you think. It's as near as your own mouth and heart. So don't climb one more day. Call on the name of the Lord, because whoever means you.

Let's pray.