The Head Vs. The Heart
Walk Through Romans • Sermon • Submitted
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· 17 viewsWhile the Jews were zealous about God, their zeal was produced from tradition and not from knowledge of the Savior. Knowledge of the Savior, leads us to actually knowing the Savior.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good evening and welcome to our online Sunday Evening Service!
It’s great to have everyone joining us this evening.
And I hope that you have been enjoying our music from the archives.
If you have, or if have any questions or comments don’t forget to leave them in the comments section.
But this evening, we are going to continue to plug along in our Walk Through Romans and we are going to be pushing forward into .
Last week we finished up and this week we are going to be looking at a passage that parts of, are very familiar to us.
And what I want to talk to you about tonight is the idea of the Head vs. The Heart.
It has been said that the distance between a person being saved or lost is about 18 inches.
And the reason that saying came about is because about 18 inches is the distance between the human head and the human heart.
With our head, or our knowledge we learn and understand certain concepts but it is only with our heart that we believe them to be true.
And the same thing holds true with regard to our relationship with Jesus.
We can learn all about the history and life of Jesus and have all the knowledge in the world about Jesus, but that does not equate to a relationship with Jesus.
Knowing about Jesus, does not mean that we really know Him.
We only really know Jesus when we come to the realization and understanding that the plan of salvation is true.
That Jesus did die for us and rose again.
And that we accept in our hearts that He is the only way.
That we are sinners, eternally lost without Him, but through Him we can gain glorious entry into heaven and eternal life.
And that only comes about when our heart speaks to us and tells us that this is true.
And it is this point that eventually Paul will get to tonight, but before he does that though he spends a little more time addressing the knowledge and understanding that the Jews of the time had—or they thought they had.
So, that’s where we are going tonight and we will be covering the first 11 verses of .
Paul writes this . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.”6 But the righteousness that is by 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 deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:1-
Romans 1:
Romans 10:5-
5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.”6 But the righteousness that is by 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 deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
Romans 10:9-
9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:12-13
Misplaced Zeal
Misplaced Zeal
Now we pick up here in chapter 10, pretty much where we left off in chapter 9.
Remember the last thing Paul said in chapter 9 from last week had to do with the “stumbling stone” and how Jesus was the stumbling stone.
He actually writes in 9:30:
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling-stone”.
And what Paul is referring to here is the Jews inability to see and understand Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior.
The Jews were so focused on the very letter of the Law that they could not see the fulfillment of Prophecy right in front of them.
They had gotten to the place where everything was about the rules and their list of do’s and don’ts that they forgot to look for the One that is the fulfillment of the Law.
And just a quick note about the actual Law, remember the Law as God gave it to Moses was not nearly as complicated as what they had made it over the centuries.
They took what God had told them and added so much to it that it was impossible for the people to even know the Law much less follow it.
And I really don’t want to harp on them too much for doing this because we do the same thing in the Church.
We take what the Bible says and “just to be safe” or “just to make sure” we don’t mess up we create layers and layers of rules and traditions of how we think things should be done and over time that becomes our Law.
That becomes our way of Righteousness.
That becomes our way to God—and we completely bypass Jesus Christ.
That is why we see the two extremes in the Church today.
On one extreme you have the wishy-washy who will not take a stand for anything and on the other extreme we have these hard-liners who want to dictate every single aspect of every person’s life.
That is not of God.
That is not salvation.
Their righteousness is being found in their Laws, their Rules, their Traditions instead of Jesus Christ.
Those things have become their God.
And if anything or anyone acts outside of the bounds of what they think is right, then those people are automatically rejected, not because of any violation of God’s law, but rather they didn’t respect that particular church’s tradition or their ways.
And then, this becomes a stumbling-stone.
Then they are confronted with either following Jesus or following their traditions.
If they choose Jesus, all is good—but many do not and thus Jesus becomes the stone in which they stumble over.
Which is exactly what has happened with the Jews.
Jesus did not fit the mold of their tradition, so they rejected Jesus, thus Jesus became their stumbling stone.
Which then sets us up for what Paul addresses next here in chapter 10. He says . . . .
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Romans 10:1
So Paul is not unsympathetic to the Jews here.
His real desire is for them to see the true and come to an understanding of the truth, accept Jesus Christ and be saved.
That is all he has ever wanted.
Remember Paul is a Jew and Paul loves the Jewish people.
I think we sometimes get the wrong impression of Paul because he is so blunt and “in your face” at times.
But Paul actually has a great love for the people.
He just understands the urgency of their situation and doesn’t have time for their nonsense.
But he wants for everyone to be saved—for everyone to have a relationship with Jesus.
However, he acknowledges that . . .
2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
And there it is.
This is exactly what I am talking about here.
They are very zealous for God—but it is not based on knowledge.
And the knowledge that Paul is referring to here is the TRUTH about Jesus Christ.
They are so wrapped up in their ways and in their traditions, they don’t see the truth that is right in front of them.
And many times neither do we.
We get so wrapped up in the world and the ways of the world, that we cannot see the truth that is right in front of us.
And that truth is that Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the ONLY WAY.
And whatever ideas, whatever beliefs, whatever traditions that we have are not valid if they fall outside of that truth.
And I know that this may sound harsh, but sometimes the truth is harsh.
We all know people who are very zealous about what they believe and what they think—whether it is right or wrong.
But when it is not based on actual knowledge of Jesus Christ, then they are mis-informed.
And as a result, they end up like our Jewish friends . . .
3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Romans 10:
Since they didn’t know the true way, they made up their own, based on rules and traditions.
And we are no different.
When we do not know Jesus, we still have an innate desire for heaven and try to get there.
But we make up our own, mis-informed, and mis-guided way.
And when we are confronted with the truth of God, we refuse to submit to God and continue our own way, because that is what we know.
That is what is comfortable to us.
However, as Paul points out . . .
4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4
And Paul goes on to expand on this point a bit . . .
5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.”6 But the righteousness that is by 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 deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
Romans 10:5-
And what he is actually getting at here is Paul is drawing a contrast between righteousness defined by rules and righteousness defined by faith.
If we seek to find our righteousness as defined by rules, then we will do our best to follow every single rule to the letter.
We put our faith in the rules and in the institutions that make up the rules.
And look down on anyone who operates outside our idea of what the rules should be.
Our main focus is on EARNING our way into heaven by following all of the rules perfectly.
However, when our righteousness is based in faith in Jesus Christ, we are not so concerned about the rules and traditions of the institution, but rather following Jesus in our heart.
By fulfilling the Great Commandment. Remember Jesus tells us to . . .
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
And when we do that, the rest of it will work itself out.
And our faith allows us to trust in Jesus to work it all out.
Faith in Action
Faith in Action
And then Jesus pulls it all together for us . . .
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:
Can it really be that simple?
Can it be as simple as confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead?
Point 3
Point 3
How can it be that easy?
Because that is God’s way.
That is God’s will.
God does not want to make it hard.
God wants it to be easy.
Jesus has already done all of the hard work.
We just have to trust Him—that is it.
Just trust him.
And finally,
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Challenge
Challenge
And the challenge for us tonight is to examine where we are putting our faith.
Are we placing our faith in Jesus Christ?
Or are we placing it in the institution, in our traditions, in our rules, in what we think we should be doing?
And those are hard questions if we really stop and think about them.
Are we squarely rooted in Jesus, or is our faith so shallow that if our tradition or our institution is removed, our faith crumbles?
And that is honestly a challenge that the Church faces today.
The buildings are closed and what we would consider a traditional service is cancelled.
My question is, now that those things have been removed from us, can our faith survive?
Can our faith grow?
Can our faith mature?
And I know that you may not want to leave a comment but if you want to talk to me about it, give me a call or send me a message.
Or if you just need me to pray for you, reach out to me and let me know.
And also, some may be listening in live or throughout the week that have no relationship with Jesus at all.
You haven’t made that decision yet.
What’s preventing you from doing that today?
It would be great if you felt comfortable leaving a comment that you accepted Jesus today.
That is part of “Confessing Him with our mouths.”
But again, if you don’t feel comfortable leaving a comment, send me a message and let me know.
Even though we are not face to face we can still connect with one another.
And as always be safe and be blessed and have a great week!