Love Like Jesus - Die Like Jesus
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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.”
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.
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 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.
Today is Easter Sunday.
We celebrate all that Jesus did. He died on the cross in order to save this world. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only dear son, so that everyone who believes in him, would not perish but have eternal life.”
Paul reinterprets Jesus’ mission in our text today.
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.
Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Believe in Your Heart that God Raised Jesus from the Dead
One of my aims this morning is to clarify as well as I can what the apostle Paul means in Romans 10:9 when he says that “if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.” This needs clarification because Satan believes that God raised Jesus from the dead. But Satan will not be saved. Satan also confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord. Again and again Satan’s demonic messengers, when confronted by Jesus, cried out, “I know who you are—the Holy One of God” (Luke 4:34); or, “You are the Son of God” (Luke 4:41); or, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” (Luke 8:28). Satan and his forces have no doubts about the true identity of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, Lord of all. Therefore Jesus said in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” And so everyone in this room today is faced with the most important question of your life: Is my acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord and my conviction that God raised him from the dead like Satan’s, leading to destruction, or like Paul’s, leading to salvation?
My goal is that we leave today rejoicing in the finish work of Jesus and to be grateful in the confidence that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved.
I don’t want to just teach this morning that there are people who confess Jesus is Lord, and are still lost. I want to appeal to your minds for the sake of your hearts for the sake of your salvation.
The biblical context of Romans 10:9
There is a practical theological problem that Paul is dealing with with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Why? The problem of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah
Why? The problem of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah
Two thousand years before Christ, God chose Abraham to be the father of the Jews.
Two thousand years before Christ, God chose Abraham to be the father of the Jews.
The Jews needed only to trust God and his obey hispromises.
The Jews needed only to trust God and his obey hispromises.
And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
The Jews needed to obey his counsel.
The Jews needed to obey his counsel.
For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
Time and time again, the nation and the people did not trust God, and became disobedient.
Time and time again, the nation and the people did not trust God, and became disobedient.
They would rebel, and God would bring judgment and God would raise nations to oppress his chosen people.
God would call them again to rely on his promises and obey his commands.
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
If they do this, blessing and salvation would be before them!
Israel’s history would prove otherwise.
It was evident that Israel’s final blessing and salvation would be through a Messiah. Someone who would come as the son of David, and would purify and cleanse God’s people from all sin and deliver them from the hands of their enemies.
Malachi prophesies...
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Christ and the Law
Christ and the Law
In Romans 9:30-10:10, Paul goes a long way to answer why the Jews rejected Jesus.
Paul argues that Jesus did not contradict the law while the Jews were faithful to the law.
Israel refused Jesus because they misunderstood and misused the law.
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.
The Jews would pursue the law; but their pursuit of the law did not succeed in reaching that law.
The Jews would pursue the law; but their pursuit of the law did not succeed in reaching that law.
Why?
Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Believe in Your Heart that God Raised Jesus from the Dead
When God made the covenant with his people at Mount Sinai, the divine requirement was not that they should try to earn their way into salvation by works, but that they should trust his mercy and let all their obedience flow from the joy of faith.
On the other hand, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness succeeded to receive it.
On the other hand, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness succeeded to receive it.
Why? Because righteousness - being in right standing with God can only be attained by faith not by works.
The heart of the Law’s teaching is faith alone. And that is what Jesus was all about.
Live by faith, not by works.
Christ died so that we can be delivered from the works mentality that produces a heart that cannot please God!
Christ died so that we can be delivered from the works mentality that produces a heart that cannot please God!
Christ died so that we can wholly trust God and his promises.
That we can trust in his mercy.
That we can be set free from “doing” but move us to “loving” and dying to self so our obedience flows out of the joy of faith.
Israel missed the point and made the law a job description to earn wages from God.
Israel missed the point and made the law a job description to earn wages from God.
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Double meaning...Stumbled over the stumbling stone…the Jews stumbled over Jesus because they stumbled over the heart and message of the Law.
The message of Jesus and the Law is exactly the same. God takes the initiative to love you, seeks you out in mercy, and buys you back (redeems) to be your God.
The message of Jesus and the Law is exactly the same. God takes the initiative to love you, seeks you out in mercy, and buys you back (redeems) to be your God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Christ is not the termination orabolition of the law; rather Christ is the goal, climax, and fulfillment of the Law.
Christ is about what the law has been about all along.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.
This is Paul’s point in Romans 10.
Righteousness from faith
Righteousness from faith
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 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.
Raising Jesus from the dead is the fulfillment of the Law.
Raising Jesus from the dead is the fulfillment of the Law.
That means that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the goal and climax of the Law.
The righteousness that the law demands is righteousness that comes from faith.
The righteousness that the law demands is righteousness that comes from faith.
The righteousness which the law commands and the righteousness Jesus gives are the same.
The righteousness which the law commands and the righteousness Jesus gives are the same.
That righteousness is attained the same way, by faith in God’s promises.
Paul in, vss 6-8 quotes this text by Moses Deuteronomy.
“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Paul and Moses are saying the same thing.
It is clear that the law and commandments of God are not too hard.
You can do them and have LIFE through them.
Why?
And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Both Moses and Paul were aware that without a supernatural act of God in our hearts, we are utterly unable to love God, obey him and live.
Both Moses and Paul were aware that without a supernatural act of God in our hearts, we are utterly unable to love God, obey him and live.
It is easy and within our reach to do what God commands because God is strong enough and good enough to bring it near and put it in our hearts and cause us to walk in it.
It is easy and within our reach to do what God commands because God is strong enough and good enough to bring it near and put it in our hearts and cause us to walk in it.
Not because we can earn it, or strong enough or good enough to attain it.
So he sent Jesus the Messiah to do what we couldn’t do.
So that those of us who have faith enough in this gracious, enabling work of God in our hearts can truly say that the commandment is not too hard.
The commandment is near because God draws near to those who trust him.
Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Believe in Your Heart that God Raised Jesus from the Dead
What does it mean to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead?
It does not mean just to believe in the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Satan believes that. But he is not saved.
The key is found in verse 7.
“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
Satan’s lie is that salvation cannot be attained, you are not good enough, you don’t have enough strength or power to live a life that is unatainable.
Satan suggests that righteousness, life, and hope is beyond your reach.
But faith says, “I don’t believe that lie!”
Paul is saying that Christ is not waiting in hell for us to have enough power and strenght to raise him up.
God, instead, took the initiative, raised Jesus from the dead, and brought us righteousness, life, and hope to everyone who would reach out in faith.
What does the resurrection mean?
What does the resurrection mean?
The resurrection means that God is for us.
The resurrection means that God is for us.
God aims to close ranks with us.
God claims he did not abandon or alienated us.
God intends to overcome that feeling that he is too far up or too far down from us.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s declaration to Israel and to the world that we cannot work our way to glory.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s declaration to Israel and to the world that we cannot work our way to glory.
The resurrection is God’s divine intent to make what is impossible to get us there.
The resurrection is God’s divine intent to make what is impossible to get us there.
The resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God’s power to lead us in paths of righteousness and through the valley of death.
The resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God’s power to lead us in paths of righteousness and through the valley of death.
Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Believe in Your Heart that God Raised Jesus from the Dead
Therefore, believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact. It means being confident that God is for you, that he has closed ranks with you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy. Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life and hope and righteousness for which it stands. It means being so confident of God’s power and love that no fear of worldly loss nor greed for worldly gain will lure us to disobey his will. That’s the difference between Satan and the saints. O might God circumcise all our hearts to love him and to rest in the resurrection of his Son.
Practical takeaways
Practical takeaways
Believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact.
Believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact.
It means being confident that God is for you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy.
It means being confident that God is for you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy.
Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life, hope, and righteousness for which it stands.
Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life, hope, and righteousness for which it stands.
It means being so confident of God’s power and love for you that no fear of worldly loss nor greed for wordly gain will lure us to disobey his will.
It means being so confident of God’s power and love for you that no fear of worldly loss nor greed for wordly gain will lure us to disobey his will.
And that friends is the difference between Satan and God’s children.
And that friends is the difference between Satan and God’s children.
May God circumcise all our hearts to love Him and to rest in the resurrection of His dear Son.
May God circumcise all our hearts to love Him and to rest in the resurrection of His dear Son.