06AM May 21 Romans 10 1_3
May 21, 2006—Morning Worship
Breaking Down Barriers
Hindrances to Saving Faith
Romans 10:1-3
Intro: On July 26, 1891, just a few short months before his death, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, also known as “The Prince of Preachers,” preached a message from Romans 10:1-3. In that message, Spurgeon spoke of 3 barriers to men & women coming to faith in Christ. & I’m so sorry to tell you that very little has changed in that regard in the last 115 years! The people of this world, who walk in unbelief, are still plagued by ignorance of the truth; still plagued by self-willed actions; still plagued by open rebellion against Almighty God.
The major idea for this sermon is based on the frame work Spurgeon used for Romans 10:1-3, in which Paul writes in the 1st verse, 1 Brethren, my heart's desire & prayer to God for Israel is, that they may be saved. Paul’s desire was that his own people would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord. I wonder; do you have that same heart-felt desire for people today? If you really desire that others be saved, then pray for them. It’s an empty wish, a mere formality, if you don’t turn it into prayer. We cannot expect God to save men unless His people pray for it. Just like there is pain & weeping before the birth of a child, there must be pain & weeping in prayer w/God before we can expect that many will be born again into the Kingdom of God. Much more prayer is necessary; in secret, in the family & in all our assemblies, that God would save men & women, boys & girls.
But if prayer is sincere, it’s always accompanied w/effort. Paul teaches as well as prays. He prays that Israel might be saved & then he explains the barriers, the hindrances that are in the way & tries to remove them.
You may be praying – but do you ever speak to the one for whom you are praying? I’m sure your prayer is sincere, but your prayer has not reached that fever-pitch of passionate earnestness which will secure an answer; b/c if you were absolutely earnest, you would go to the person for whom you pray & explain the way of salvation.
[If you want your son to be a scholar, you send him to school. If you want your daughter to learn a certain trade, you educate her in it, don’t you? Well if you do that in the common things of life, why not use God’s means of helping others come to faith?]
Oh, that every believer would know that effort w/o prayer is presumption & prayer w/o effort is hypocrisy! The godly obedience of blending prayer & effort will produce great results!
We are to pray AND labor for the souls of men. But let me remind you, that as you do, you will be faced w/3 barriers to their conversion. Those 3 barriers are recorded for us in vv. 2-3 of Romans 10. Let’s read them together & see the hindrances to saving faith.
Romans 10 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, & seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
- If we labor for souls, we must not be content unless souls are really saved!
- Paul says, "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God." Well, does not that satisfy you, Paul? They are zealous for God. They are red-hot. "No!" says he, "Not unless it’s in the right way! They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." - We are so thankful when we see tears streaming down cheeks; but, you know, people cry at the movies, & there’s not much to that!
- Pray to God that it may not end in a river of tears; but that the heart would bleed as well as the eyes weep. It might be that we have induced some to give up some of their outward sins.
- & that’s good. But it is written, "Ye must be born again;" & if this vital change is not experienced, all outward reformation will land them short of heaven & that means hell!
- Paul's love for souls led him to pray & to labor; but it led him to be very concerned that none stopped short of real living faith in Christ.
- When you think people are turning to Christ, be happy, & don’t throw cold water on anybody; but see that it’s really the work of grace in the hearts of people. Make sure that the plough goes deep. Work thoroughly b/c only those who are truly converted will stand.
- We don’t want a lot of people that will run in at our front door & run out at the back; but we want saving work; & our prayer should be, "Lord, change the people by Your divine truth, through Your Holy Spirit!"
[In Martin Luther’s day he said he often felt like hammering people over the head w/the Bible b/c they couldn’t grasp the truth that people are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. They struggled w/trying to work their way to heaven. But God was not & is not impressed w/the works of our flesh! He’s interested in our righteousness.]
- The fight today is the same as in Luther's day. The words have changed, but the fight is still—Are you saved by your own merits, or by the merits of Jesus? Are we righteous through what we do, or are we righteous through what Christ has done? Is sin washed away by tears & penances, or is sin washed away by the precious blood of Christ alone?
So the problem is there are 2 kinds of righteousness; our own righteousness & the righteousness of God. & there has always been & there will always be, a conflict between the two. Men will choose their own righteousness, & they will not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. & so, our text gives us 3 hindrances in the way of a man's salvation.
1. The 1st hindrance to saving faith is IGNORANCE. (v. 2)
- According to the Church of Rome, "Ignorance is the mother of devotion." But according to the word of God, "Ignorance is the mother of error."
- What we want our fellow man to possess is knowledge of spiritual truth. Especially w/regard to God's righteousness; b/c the 1st problem is that…
A. Man is ignorant of the righteousness that God Requires.
- Man wants to be saved by his own righteousness, but if that were possible man’s righteousness must be perfect!
- IOW if you’ve committed one sin, you’ve stained your character in the sight of God, & your hope of perfect righteousness is gone.
- God's law requires obedience, from the 1st moment that you understand that law, & then as long as you live.
- If we had kept the law of God completely, from the 1st command to the last, from the 1st day until now; even that would not save us; b/c if at any time during the rest of our lives there were to be one sinful word or deed, it would spoil the whole, & God could not accept our righteousness.
- When a man commits one sin, he is guilty of disobeying all the commands of God.
James 2 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, & yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
[Here is a chain containing 20 links. If I break one of them I have broken the chain. True, there are 19 perfect links; but if number 20 is snapped, the chain is too short for its intended use. IOW now the chain cannot do what it’s supposed to do.]
- You may by thinking, “My life is not just snapped, it’s smashed! My links are not broken, they’re melted. I have absolutely nothing to bring before God!”
- Dear friends, that’s wonderful news! That means that you are the very ones for whom Christ came!
Luke 19 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek & to save that which was lost.
- & that means you! You are an empty vessel that God longs to fill. You have a broken heart which God desires to make anew.
- But here is our problem; most people are not aware how perfect, how complete, any righteousness must be, before God can accept it.
The 2nd problem is that…
B. Man is ignorant of the righteousness that God Provides.
- For every soul born, who will believe in Christ, there is a perfect righteousness; not ours, but God's.
- God came in human form & fulfilled every jot & tittle of His law.
- He was "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." & His obedience is ours, if we believe.
- God looks at us as if we had done what Jesus did.
- Jesus died & rose again; & God sees us as having died in Him & risen w/Him & now alive in Him!
- Our righteousness is the righteousness of the Son of God—a perfect righteousness, a divine righteousness, an everlasting righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- There are literally millions on this earth who do not know that God justifies the ungodly; that God cleanses sinners through what Christ has done & suffered.
- There are literally millions that don’t know that believing in Jesus Christ whom God has sent to pay the sin debt of the vilest & the ones far-off can make them one w/God by the blood of Christ!
- Oh, I wish the world knew it! If they did know it, if they did really hear the gospel; they would believe it.
[Spurgeon once told of a man he saw preaching on the street w/no one to listen to him but a dog. Spurgeon said, “I really thought that he might as well have gone home.” But then he heard a true story about that man. There was a woman who had been in depressed for years, so much so that it made her very ill. A man went to see her & she said to him, "You sent a man to preach under my window 3 months ago.” To which the man replied "No, I never sent anybody to preach under your window." "Oh, I think you did,” she said, “b/c he came & preached, & my maid said that there was nobody listening to him. I didn’t want to hear him; & since he made so much noise, my maid shut the window. As I lay in bed, I couldn’t help but hear him b/c he shouted so. & I thank God I did, b/c I heard the gospel, & I came to Christ. But you didn’t send him?" "No, I did not,” the man said. "Well," she said, "then God did. There was nobody in the street listening to him; but I heard the gospel, & I found the Savior, & now I’m prepared to die."]
- Don’t ever give up! Keep firing those arrows of the gospel message! You don’t ever know where your shot will land!
- I believe every time the gospel is preached or witnessed that there is someone whom God means to bless by His grace.
- But the majority of mankind are ignorant of the righteousness which God requires, & ignorant of the righteousness which God has provided.
C. Man is ignorant as to how to Receive God’s righteousness.
- God’s righteousness is not earned. There is nothing anyone can do to earn it; there is no work anyone can do to deserve it.
- So how do men receive the righteousness of God? Mankind should know “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
John 14 6 Jesus said…"I am the way, the truth, & the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- You see in order to receive the righteousness of God, you must receive the One who is righteous!
- The vast majority don’t know Jesus who is our righteousness. He is the righteousness of God! He is God's only-begotten Son; He is God, the Word made flesh; born at Bethlehem, nurtured in the carpenter's shop, working here for the souls of men; stretching His arms on the cross, giving His side to be pierced, His soul to be breathed out, His body to be laid in the tomb, that men might be saved.
- You see our great difficulty is human ignorance even of the facts of the truth.
- There are multitudes that have never read a chapter in the Word of God; never went to Sunday-school as children, & have never darkened the door of a church.
- We can see what their blindness can never see.
[It must be very painful to a blind man for someone to say to him, "Now I am looking over a beautiful landscape. & there I can see a beautiful body of water, & just beyond the hills I see the sea. There is a ship out there sailing." & the blind man says, "Oh, I wish I had eyes that I could see, too!"]
- The Holy Spirit makes us see, so that, as we tell the story, we place a burning desire in the hearts of others to see too.
- When the prodigal son came back home, his father said, "Bring the best robe, & put it on him; & put a ring on his hand, & shoes on his feet." But, he never fed him. The father does not say anything about that. He says, "Bring hither the fatted calf, & kill it; & let us eat, & be merry."
- It’s the servants & all the rest of the household that are to eat. There is nothing said about killing the fatted calf for the prodigal. No, you see he had lost his appetite, & others must begin to eat first; & when they began to eat, he would be sure to join them.
- There is no surer way of creating an appetite than seeing other people eating.
- Let’s enjoy the things of Christ so much that we make the of poor sinners' mouths water, & they will begin to ask, "What is this wonderful thing?"
- We need to tell what we know; b/c ignorance—even of the simple facts of the gospel, is extremely common.
2. There is another thing that stands in our way that is worse than ignorance, and that is, SELF-WILL. (v. 3a) 3a For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, & seeking to establish their own righteousness….
- IOW Man sees God's righteousness, &, instead of accepting it, he says, "I think I could match that. I can do that. I’ll set up my own righteousness."
- How foolish! If I’m standing at heaven's wide-open gate & a voice said, “Come in," & I said, "No, I think I prefer a place down by the ocean" what kind of fool would I be?!?
- How could any human thing at its very best match the divine righteousness of God?!?
- Human righteousness is a great lie: it is filthy rags! It is actually an oxymoron!
- Yet in what kind of efforts are men spending their time & energy?
A. In Vain efforts.
- According to the text, they try "to establish their own righteousness."
[If I had a corpse here—& I’m glad I don’t—but if I set it up, & it tumbles down. Nevertheless, I will put its legs out a little wider, & see whether it will stand. Down it goes! Now I will prop it up. Surely, I can make this dead thing stand. But, no: it has a tendency to fall, & down it goes! Have you not seen sinners trying to set up the corpse of their own righteousness & make it stand? But until there is life inside, it cannot stand. & so, our righteousness has no true vitality, no life within, & it will not stand.]
- Men often ask God to "mend them" when what they should ask is for God to "make them new."
- Some say, “But I have been baptized, & I have always gone to church!”
- & as wonderful as that is & as helpful as that can be—it means nothing w/o the righteousness of Christ!
- It’s simply men trying to “establish” their own righteousness.
- & that means that they are very earnest, very diligent, very dedicated to what they think righteousness is.
- But we’re talking about people who are lost, blinded by the prince of this world.
- They cannot see true righteousness & therefore have no idea what it is or how it should look.
[Let’s suppose we are on a ship out at sea. & we ask the people on board if they think we will stay on course. & one of them says, "I know that we won’t drift far out of course." "Why?" "B/c we have such a big anchor on board." What good is an anchor on board? An anchor is only good when you let it go & it grips something unseen below. But while the anchor is on board, it is only dead weight for the ship.]
- Many want to feel something or see something in which they can trust. & that’s pride or self-will!
- God’s salvation is all grace! God gives the promise of his grace, & man try to buy it.
- & if you think God’s grace & salvation can be bought or earned they you will never have it!
- God’s terms are free, rich, sovereign grace; a sinner, w/nothing, receiving everything from God!
B. Let me also say that the efforts of men for their own salvation are Deadly efforts.
- God says, "There is a cure for sin. Take it." Man says, "No, I will find the cure by my own means." & he goes & takes his own dose—& dies in his sin.
- God says, "I will forgive." Man says, "I will try & deserve to be forgiven"; as if that could be possible.
- The Church of Rome says that venial sins are sins that deserve to be forgiven. What kind of sin is that? Yet some men seem to think that, somehow or other, they can deserve to be forgiven.
- The Bible calls on the vilest of sinners & says “Come!” It calls to those who are lost & undone “Come!” It calls to those to have no righteousness of their own & says “Come!” - Everything you need is in Christ. Come & have Him, & He will not refuse to receive you if you come on His terms.
-But reject His terms, & salvation can never be yours.
3. Briefly, I want to share w/you the third hindrance to saving faith which is OPEN REBELLION.
- Look at the text, v. 3b 3 For they…have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
- Here is a criminal who will not submit to be pardoned. Here is a sick man who will not submit to be made well. Here is a man with a broken leg who will not submit to have it healed. Here is a poor beggar in the street who will not submit to be made into a gentleman.
- It shows the absurdity of self-righteousness, that men will not submit themselves to the greatest blessing that heaven can give. It’s a matter of submission.
A. So this submissive word is a very Searching word.
- Ask yourself, “Am I not saved b/c I will not submit to God? Am I such a self-willed fool that I will not submit before my Maker—so that I will not yield even to have salvation for nothing?
[A song Rich Mullins wrote had a line in it that said, “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want – than to take what you give that I need.”]
- That’s the reason why many people don’t have peace.
- If they were spiritually bankrupt, if they were cleaned right out, they would have perfect rest of soul; but in their self-righteousness, they fight against God.
B. It is a very Sure word.
- Sinners don’t have anything to be proud of, & yet every sinner is as proud as Lucifer.
- The vilest of sinners are proud of their own righteousness.
- But you say, "A sinner has nothing to be proud of." & neither does a good, moral person – even if they think they’ve never done anything wrong.
- No one has any more righteousness than anyone else has. & no one measures up when tested by the Word of God.
- Yet, the worse a man is, the harder it is for him to bow to the righteousness of God.
C. It is a very Suggestive word. "They have not submitted to the righteousness of God."
- They will not admit that God is King. They deny His sovereignty.
- How can anyone be forgiven when he questions whether the king is king? When he denies the rights of the one who condemns him, how can he be pardoned?
- You must yield; submit to the fact that God is God.
- Man thinks that God is hard & demands too much; but God puts before all men everything for nothing, & he still says that the price is too high!
- It’s his heart that is too high, his proud looks that bring down.
- Unless God brings them down, men will not submit to the power of God.
- He will not yield himself to God to work w/him & in him & for him.
- He wants to do all himself; & then, if he got to heaven, he would throw his chest out & want to share the glory.
- But it will not happen! It’s all of grace from first to last; & the sinner must admit that, or else the gate of heaven will never open to him.
D. Lastly, it is a very Simple word. "They…have not submitted to the righteousness of God."
- You ask, "Is that all that I have to do—to submit myself? Is that all?"
- Release your pride, put aside your rebellion. Submit yourself.
- In your heart say, "Lord, if I am sent to hell, I deserve it. But I submit & I plead for mercy. I plead the precious blood of Jesus to wash my sin away. I not only submit, but I delight in it. I am happy to believe that…”You have promised to forgive all who on Your Son believe. Lord, I know You cannot lie; give me Jesus or else I die.”
Conclusion: Beloved friend, may the Holy Spirit lead you to submit. You have been kicking & struggling; now submit! You have been talking about it. Submit! Give it all up. No more of your talk! Come to faith! When you submit to God, you have the victory!
When God is King, you are safe. When you take Christ to be everything & you are nothing, then neither death nor hell can ever divide you from the heart of God! When you are not your own, you are Christ's; but so long as you are depending on yourself, you do not know the Lord, & you cannot know him.
Invitation: May God bless this simple testimony to everyone who hears it & praise be to His name forever! Amen.
Is God calling you to repentance today? It may be repentance of lifelong sin. It may be repentance of recently un-confessed sin. Whatever it may be, will you submit to Almighty God? Will you seek Him now?
Hymn 478 Seek Ye First