To Everyone Who Believes
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
This morning is one of my favorite passages of scripture. Especially verse 9. I hope that you are as excited to dive into God’s word as I am this morning.
Recap:
Recap:
For the last two weeks we have been dealing with the question of, “What about God’s chosen people? If they are seemingly separated from God.”
Paul is going to assure us that God isn’t done with His people. Chapter 9 deals with Israel disbelief in the past, 10 deals with their present, and chapter 11 will deal with their future.
Last week we again looked at God’s choice and man’s responsibility. And in the later half of chapter 9 Paul uses the example of the potter and the clay. And rebukes those who questions God.
We are finite human beings, loaded down with sin, ignorance, and weakness, and we are in no position to talk back to God or question the wisdom or justice of His ways.
By all appearances the Gentiles found righteousness even though it didn’t seem that they really looked for it.
By all appearances Israel seemed to work for the righteousness of God with everything they had, but didn’t find it.
What we closed with was the fact that the crucifixion is a stumbling block for Israel.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
vv 1-3) Israel’s unbelief
vv 1-3) Israel’s unbelief
[1]The teachings of Paul would have been distasteful to the unconverted Jew.
Paul again is compelled to share his heart for his brethren. Paul isn’t rejoiced over the fact that they have stumbled over the stumbling stone:
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
You see, what would bring the greatest delight to Paul’s heart and the thing for which he prays to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
[2]Notice that Paul doesn’t condemn them as being godless and irreligious. Paul recognized that Israel has a zeal for God.
This was apparent from their careful observance of the rituals and ceremonies of Judaism, and from their intolerance of contrary doctrine.
Zeal is not enough; it must be combined with truth. Otherwise it can do more harm than good.
This is a perfect description of Paul himself before his conversion. Saul of Tarsus was a notorious persecutor of Christians before Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-20)
Another takeaway in verse 2 is the fact that Paul found something good to say about these Jewish people who persecuted him so mercilessly.
Let us emulate that heart towards those who persecute us.
[3] In verse three is where Paul gives us insight in where they failed. They were ignorant of God’s righteousness, ignorant of the fact that God imputes righteousness on the principle of faith and not of works.
They were going about trying to produce a righteousness of their own by keeping the law.
You see what they were trying to do was to win God’s favor by their own efforts, their own character, their own good works.
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Israels problem is twofold: firstly they had a lack of knowledge and secondly they also had a moral problem too.
They refused to submit to God’s plan for justifying ungodly sinners who believe on His Son.
People are unable to come to Jesus without the right information about the gospel, but information alone isn’t enough to save them. There must be a radical submission to the righteousness of God.
In these couple verses there is a clear emphasis on personal responsibility.
God’s election and right to choose does not diminish man’s responsibility.
vv 4-8) A contrast of righteousness
vv 4-8) A contrast of righteousness
[4]Jesus is the end of the law for those who believe. What that means for us is in the sense that our obedience to the law is no longer the basis for our relationship with God.
The law has not come to an end in the sense of no longer reflecting God’s standard or no longer showing us our need for a Savior.
The purpose of the law is to reveal sin, to convict and condemn transgressors. It can never impart righteousness. The penalty of the broken law is death.
In His death, Jesus paid the penalty of the law which men had broken. When a sinner receives Jesus as their Savior, the law has nothing more to say to them.
Through the death of our Substitute, we have died to the law. We are through with the law and with the futile attempt to achieve righteousness through it.
[5] In the language of the OT, we are can hear the difference between the words of the law and the words of faith.
You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
Moses writes that the man who achieves the righteousness which the law demands shall live by doing so. The crux of it is on their achieving, their doing.
What it boils down to is if you want to live by the law (finding life through the law), you must do the law- and do it completely and perfectly.
[6] In order to show that the language of faith is quite different from that of the law, Paul first quotes from verse 12 here in verse 6 and verse 13 in verse 7.
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?’
What is interesting is that, in their setting in Deuteronomy, these verses are not referring to faith and the gospel at all. They are speaking about the law, and specifically the commandment to:
What God is saying is that the law is not hidden, distant, or inaccessible. A man doesn’t have to go up to heaven or cross the sea to find it. It is near at hand and waiting to be obeyed.
What Paul does is takes these same words and reapplies them to the gospel. He says that the language of faith doesn’t ask men or women to climb to heaven to bring Christ down.
It would be utterly impossible to bring Christ down; but it would also be unnecessary, because Christ has already come down to earth in His Incarnation!
When Paul quotes:
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?’
He changes it from “who will go over the sea” to “Who will descend into the abyss.”
His point is that the gospel does not ask men to descend into the grace to bring Christ up from among the dead.
This would be impossible again, and also unnecessary, because Christ has already risen from the dead.
Notice that in verse 6-7 we have the two doctrines concerning Christ which were hardest for a Jew to accept- Christ’s Incarnation and His resurrection.
Yet these are a must to believe if you want to be saved.
[8] Paul quotes:
But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Instead of having to go to great lengths to achieve righteousness by the law, we can immediately receive Righteousness by faith, and trusting in the word of the gospel.
vv 9-13)How to be saved
vv 9-13)How to be saved
Verse 9 is one of the verses I quote the most when sharing the gospel. It shows us that we do not gain God’s righteousness by works. Instead, we gain it by confessing and believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
We do not gain righteousness by works. We gain it by confessing and believing in the Person and work of Christ.
Lets break this verse down:
“Confess with your mouth:” Confession has the idea of agreeing with. The idea is that we agree with what God said about Jesus, and with what Jesus said about Himself.
It means that we recognize that Jesus is God, that He is the Messiah, and that His work on the cross is the only way to have salvation.
“…Jesus is Lord” Lord here is “Kyrios”: coveys the idea of someone who is in a position of authority.
The Jew would use this word of God and the Gentile would use this of the emperor.
Paul using that particular word here is placing Jesus up there with the Emperor and with God.
He was giving Jesus the supreme place in his life; He was pledging Jesus implicit obedience and reverent worship.
But that not all: We must believe in our “hearts that God raised Him from the dead.”
Some have wondered why Paul didn’t mention the crucifixion in this passage. And that is because it encompasses the work of Jesus on the cross too.
The question often arises, “can a person be saved by accepting Jesus as Savior without also acknowledging Him as Lord?”
Mere intellectual agreement with the facts of the cross and the resurrection is not enough. You must believe in your heart; and even that belief is not enough without the accompanying action of confessing with our mouths.
“We believe everything which the Lord Jesus has taught, but we must go a step further, and trust him. It is not even enough to believe in him, as being the Son of God, and the anointed of the Lord; but we must believe on him... The faith that saves is not believing certain truths, nor even believing that Jesus is a Savior; but it is resting on him, depending on him, lying with all your weight on Christ as the foundation of your hope. Believe that he can save you; believe that he will save you; at any rate leave the whole matter of your salvation with him in unquestioning confidence. Depend upon him without fear as to your present and eternal salvation. This is the faith which saves the soul.” Spurgeon
[10] belief and confession together produce justification and salvation.
A heart believing unto justification and a mouth making confession unto salvation, are not two separate things, but two sides of the same thing.
Woe to the person who makes salvation in Jesus difficult. Because it is scandalously simple.
[11] Now there is some debate on what verse Paul is quoting. It could be Isaiah 28:16 or several other texts.
In my opinion, I think Paul is referring to Isaiah 28:16 and quoting:
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.”
The word everyone in verse 11 forms a link with what is to follow in verse 12.
In:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We learned that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile as far as the need for salvation is concerned, for all are sinners.
Now we learn that there is no distinction for the availability of salvation is concerned. The Lord is not an exclusive God, but Lord over all mankind. And He is rich in grace and mercy to all who call upon Him.
[13] Joel 2:32 is quoted to prove the universality of the gospel. One could scarcely wish for a simpler statement of the way of salvation than is found in these words: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This is another note on human responsibility. From Romans 9 we see salvation is God’s doing. Here we see that we have a role to play also. Divine Paradox. Praise the Lord.
vv 14-15)Proclaiming the Gospel is necessary
vv 14-15)Proclaiming the Gospel is necessary
The Gospel summed up in four points:
Accountability
Bad News we’ve sinned
Good News Jesus died and rose for us
How are we going to respond?
What uses is a salvation offered to Jews and Gentiles if they never hear about it?
Here is where we have the heartbeat of Christian missions!
In a series of three “hows” (How then will they call? How are they to believe in Him? How are they to hear without someone preaching?), the apostle Paul foes back over the steps that lead to the salvation.
Lets look at it in reverse order:
God send out His servants.
They preach the Gospel (the Good News of Salvation).
Sinners hear God’s offer of life in Christ.
Some of those who hear believe the message.
Those who believe call on the Lord.
Those who call on Him are saved.
God could have chosen any means for the message of salvation to come, such as angelic messengers or directly working without human participation.
Don’t you see this is our calling. This is our job. We get to work for the kingdom by preaching the Gospel wherever we go.
You are not all called to be pastors, teachers, or evangelist; I understand that. Yet, if you call yourself a born again Christian you do have a calling. You have been given a ministry.
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We are called in our ministries, to proclaim the gospel through word and deed.
[15] God is the One who sends. And we are the ones who are sent. What are we doing?
It is no wonder those who preach have beautiful feet- They partner with God for the salvation of men. The feet speak of activity, motion, and progress, and those who are active and moving in the work of preaching the gospel have beautiful feet.
Family it is our privilege, responsibility, and birthright to go with beautiful feet to a lost and dying world and share with them the hope of Jesus Christ.
The prophets foretold Israels rejection of the gospel
The prophets foretold Israels rejection of the gospel
vv 16-17)Isaiah’s testimony
vv 16-17)Isaiah’s testimony
Paul states, “But.” His people did not listen to or take heed of the gospel. Isaiah had prophesied as much:
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
The question calls for the answer, “not many.” When the announcement of the the first arrival of Jesus it didn’t have many responses.
The question that Paul is answering is, “If salvation is so simple, available to all who trust in the person and work of Jesus, then why does Israel seem to be cast off from God?”
Again it comes down to their unbelief. They did not trust in God’s word through Isaiah and other messengers of the gospel. And therefore they are not saved.
[17] Faith comes to men when they hear our preaching concerning Jesus Christ, which is based solely on the written work of God.
But hearing with the ears is not enough. A person must hear with an open heart and mind, willing to be shown the truth of God.
If they do, they will find that the word has the right of truth, and that the truth is self-authenticating. and They will then believe and be saved.
v 18) David’s testimony
v 18) David’s testimony
So what then has been the problem? This quotation from:
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
proves that the word of the gospel went forth and Israel heard it. And this makes them more accountable for their rejection of the gospel.
Paul is not exaggerating: he knows that the gospel hasn’t been carried throughout all the earth, not even to all the lands that were known to the inhabitants of the Roman world.
Paul was well aware of that; at this very time he was panning a trip to evangelize Spain, a province where the name of Christ was not yet known. Romans 15:18-24.
But by now the gospel had been carried to most parts of the Mediterranean area where Jews were to be found; and that is all the argument requires.
v 19)The testimony of Moses
v 19)The testimony of Moses
God told Israel that He would bring others close to Him and make them Jealous. For the Jews their own Scriptures foretold exactly what would happen.
God warned that He would provoke Israel to jealousy by the Gentiles, and anger Israel by a foolish, idolatrous nation.
Yet Israel ignored this word again making them more accountable.
v 20)Isaiah’s second testimony
v 20)Isaiah’s second testimony
Isaiah’s bold prophecy was a warning that Israel ignored, making them… you guessed it accountable.
It is strange that Israel, for the most part, rejected their own Messiah. Strange as it was, this too was foretold. It wasn’t surprising to God or His prophet.
v 21)Isaiah’s third testimony.
v 21)Isaiah’s third testimony.
This last verse of this chapter tells God’s assessment of disobedient, Messiah- rejecting Israel. They are a disobedient and contrary people.
This verse gives us this picture of God’s flock of sheep mostly made up of Gentiles, with a remnant of Jews, with the Lord standing all day long with outstretched, beckoning hands to the nation of Israel, and being met with disobedience and stubborn refusal.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;