[0:00] And happy Father's Day to the fathers out there. Amen. Right back at you. Thank you. Thank you. Last Sunday we're going to continue with what we got into last Sunday.
[0:15] But before that I thought I'd tell you this in case you didn't know. We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ and we believe our King James Bible exalts Jesus Christ and his deity meaning that he is God and that's a truth about the divinity of Christ.
[0:32] And so I've heard said this week that Jesus is divine and we are the branches. Set you up for a corny joke. There you go. Yep.
[0:43] All right. It's all about the delivery and I don't have it. Okay. So let's see. Where do you want to go? How about go to Romans chapter 10 this morning to begin?
[0:55] We'll get to that in a minute. And last Sunday I went through a little bit of a just I called it cautions for soul winning.
[1:09] Cautions meaning there's there's been a movement and it's been a trend. That kind of oh it's been years since it really kind of caught some ground and some traction.
[1:21] And the movement was just like that's the most important thing there ever is and ever should be and ever will be. You're saved to win souls and if you're not winning souls you're not right with God.
[1:31] And you know there's always an element of truth to these things. It's true. You should be conscious of the souls around you. You should be trying to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. You should care and have compassion.
[1:42] And Christ died for them. And the overemphasis of it though however has kind of merged into this soul winning emphasis of if you're not you've got to get them.
[1:57] You've got to win souls. And so what happens over time is like is tactics change and methodology changes and and softens so much so that men are just looking to get a prayer out of a person and then claim that soul for Jesus Christ and move on.
[2:16] And so my goal last Sunday was to like just stop everything when it comes to soul winning and cause you to see things differently and not look not get excited that oh I can lead this soul to Christ and if I can just get them to pray this prayer.
[2:31] Because if you've done that I don't know about you I've done it on the street and just dealing with people and taking them through the Romans road or doing something and then they pray the prayer and it's just like did they really get saved?
[2:44] I mean I checked all the boxes they followed all the script and you just feel like but what did it really happen? I mean you don't I was with a guy one time and he said all right we were meeting up after doing two different streets.
[3:01] And and we came back and met up at this corner and and I said how to go and the one guy he's like well we we led this girl to the Lord this teenage girl and the guy beside him was looking at he's looking at me he's like.
[3:18] Yeah no that's not what happened and I said really and I so I kind of dug in a little bit on this conversation I was like so tell me about it how'd it go? And I was like well I said did she get saved and the other guy's like I mean he's just frustrated he didn't want to start an argument but he goes well she didn't get gloriously saved but she did she did pray the prayer.
[3:39] And what he means is I didn't see any outward conviction I didn't see anything I just got her to pray this prayer. And so that stuff goes on and I try to caution you away from it and so some of the things that we looked at last week the first statement I made was not to assume anything when you're dealing with a soul.
[4:00] Don't assume that they understand the gospel just because you gave it to them. Don't assume they understand it. Don't assume that they're saved and don't assume that they're lost just because they say they are.
[4:10] The best thing to do is ask questions ask the right questions not leading questions not questions of a yes and no nature but questions that get something from them so that you understand what they think about the Lord Jesus Christ about the Bible about heaven and hell.
[4:27] Do they even believe hell exists? Do they understand that? Do they know that their sins are against God? Do they know that God is not just some loving God who just can't wait to fix their life? What do they believe?
[4:39] What do they know? You need to ask the right questions and we went through I gave you some examples of that last week that can help you from being from leading somebody down a road that you think they need to get to and it may be that that's not happening at all today.
[4:53] The other thing was then listen. Listen carefully. Listen to what they say. You're building an understanding of what's in their heart and then how you can deal with them accordingly. And the last thing was to look for conviction.
[5:05] And if that if it's obvious that God's not dealing with them and if they're more concerned about what time it is or about the the text that they're getting and then God's not in the room as far as that goes.
[5:18] And you need to be careful not to just well let me just get you to pray this prayer and then I'll leave you alone. You're not helping. And we saw the Pharisees were making them twofold more the child of hell than themselves by converting them proselytizing them.
[5:32] And so I want I warned you about some it's just some confusion that can come about from attempting to win a soul to Christ. Now that's this is not to say that you just back off completely and be so cautious and careful that you don't attempt.
[5:46] By all means just go in with caution go in understanding that there may need to be some plowing first and there may need to be some groundwork laid and be content.
[5:58] If all God allows you to do is plow a little bit and plant a seed be content if that's all that you can do today. Don't be a fool to think I have to get them.
[6:08] This may be the last chance. That's the devil put pressure on you to do something that God's not trying to get you to do. And I know in your mind you think well doesn't God want to save them today? Today's the day is yes I know that too.
[6:21] But reality says not every sin did you receive Christ the first time that you heard the gospel. Did you understand it fully start to finish? Probably not. All right.
[6:32] So let's go to something that kind of is a whole different way but it's still in the same realm here. Of when you're dealing with the lost there's another side.
[6:43] And what's commonly we're in Romans because what's commonly taught today is to use the Romans road. And the Romans road is a tremendous tool in trying to take a soul from point A to point B.
[6:58] And to lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I've used it. It's wonderful. It's a great tool. But I also have to caution you in this way is to avoid relying upon it and not being able to deviate from it or not having a better handle on the scriptures.
[7:19] I think the Romans road a tremendous tool for somebody who knows their Bible. And they know what they're saying and how to handle the scriptures. But I'd say if all you get taught is just this little like here's my cheat sheet of references and I'm going to lead somebody to Christ.
[7:37] You've got to be careful that you don't rely upon something and not really understand what you're doing. And what you do is you just end up trying to get to that prayer. Because that's where the Romans road ends.
[7:50] It's by far the most popular method for soul winning. And like I said to start, I'm not against it. I've used it and I still will use it or use elements of it. But I want to get you to kind of back away from it for a second and consider what it is.
[8:05] And be careful that you're not misusing it, something like that. The origin, the origin, I mean where did the Romans road come from? Did it come from the Apostle Paul?
[8:18] Did it come from God? Is this the early church is what they used was the Romans road? I don't know where it came from. I don't know who or what were the, who initiated this thing.
[8:32] But I know it wasn't God in the scripture, right? Now again, I'm not bashing it. So don't feel like you have to defend it or feel that way. But let's just be honest. God did not give us the Romans road.
[8:43] Man came up with the Romans road as a method to utilize for soul winning. The Romans road is supposed to highlight Bible truths within the book of Romans.
[8:55] It's kind of supposed to be a summary of what the book is teaching. Remember, this is the first book, right? From the Apostle Paul to the church. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the ministry of Jesus Christ.
[9:07] The book of Acts, the transitional period, going from the Jews and primarily to the Jews, from the ministry of Peter to the ministry of Paul, and moving toward the Gentiles. The book of Acts ends saying, we're going to the Gentiles.
[9:18] They're going to hear it. And then comes Romans. The very first book in the chronology of the King James Bible has the Apostle Paul laying out the fundamentals of salvation.
[9:30] The doctrines of salvation are expounded upon in detail. It's this book that you learn the words redemption. And you see predestination and sanctification and glorification and justification is expounded upon.
[9:47] It's a very doctrinal book with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the element of works being removed from salvation and the grace of God.
[10:00] So this book lays out salvation and it's 16 chapters long, correct? So that's Paul's doctrine of salvation.
[10:13] That's his Romans road, is the book of Romans. Paul did not, and God did not, take the book and just shave it all the way down to a few verses.
[10:25] That's not really what God did. Now, if you have a handle on the book of Romans, then I'd say you can easily hop and skip, is what I'm trying to say, around to teach these doctrines.
[10:38] But let's back up to see that this book of Romans is an important book and this introduction to the church epistles and to church age doctrines.
[10:49] But the problem, though, is that if people don't know the book of Romans, and I don't mean you got to go to Bible school and sit through an institute and every word of every verse, and now I can lead a soul to Christ.
[11:00] But I do mean that if you don't have an understanding of the book, and all you have is four verses on a little piece of paper, I'm not sure that you're going to quite convey what the word of God is trying to convey to the soul.
[11:13] Now, I've researched the Romans road a little bit, and what I've found was, I've found some stuff that was, I want to say it was back in like the 20s.
[11:25] It was either the 20s or the 30s. I found some stuff, the oldest version of the Romans road that had 16 verses in it. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, 16 verses.
[11:38] Somewhere along the lines, that was too much. And so it went down to about 10. And then when I learned the Romans road somewhere in my life, it was about six.
[11:51] But I've seen gospel tracts. I've seen them, and I will never order them. They've got three verses on them from the Romans. And they call it the Romans road, three verses. You're a sinner.
[12:03] Christ died. Call upon his name. And if people are going around handing that out, thinking that this is the gospel, this is salvation in a nutshell, and any lost soul, anyone from six years old to 600 years old can pick this up and read it, and they can understand and know Christ.
[12:21] I think we're missing the point. And I think the Romans road has become abused. When it was 16 verses all that time back, there's 16 chapters whittled down to 16 verses to teach truth.
[12:36] You could probably do it. But as it gets down to six, and then five, and then four, and even three. And I told you before about a guy that I went out door knocking with that tried to go through the Romans road.
[12:49] And I listened to him. He never said the name of Christ one time. He said God. He said God several times. And he was from the Midwest. And so he said God.
[12:59] And I was so annoyed by it, I wanted to just stop. Stop this right now. How can you possibly tell this man he's going to go to heaven when you've never one time mentioned the name Jesus Christ?
[13:12] The gift of God is eternal life. Do you want eternal life? God will give you eternal life, and you can just pray to him and ask him for it. And that's frustrating.
[13:24] It's frustrating. So I want to caution you on just relying upon what today, if you pick up a track, it could be a very, very slimmed down version of what the book actually is supposed to be.
[13:36] So let's look in Romans chapter 10. And let's look at this passage where it kind of climaxes, so to speak. The Romans road, that is.
[13:49] And look at it. Here's the verse. This is the verse that any soul winner that uses the Romans road wants to get to. If there's one verse, it's this one, and you all know it. Verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[14:05] Amen. I love that verse because I know what it means, and I know what it's done for me. I get it. Romans 10, 13. But please understand that although you're familiar with it, and although you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, please understand this verse does not stand by itself.
[14:27] This is not the climax. It's not Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and then 10. And when we get up to verse 13, it's like on a banner for whosoever.
[14:38] I mean, that's how the preachers preach it when they want somebody to trust Christ. Shall call it. But that's not. It's an afterthought to verse 12 where he's talking about there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
[14:51] And they're, I'll read the verse, for the same Lord's rich unto all that call upon him. And for whosoever shall call. It's like anybody can do it. It's really just an afterthought to verse 12. Definitely not the climax of the book.
[15:03] Although it's the end of our Romans road, as it stands, we need to understand a little bit more about the book. And be careful that we're not just running to the prayer. That's what I'm trying to get you to avoid.
[15:16] Now let's look at this passage here. This is where the soul winner attempts to push for a decision. And that's fine if you laid the right groundwork first. But look at verse 13.
[15:27] For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The question comes in verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
[15:40] And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? The implied answer is they can't. They cannot call on him if they haven't believed on him. Verse 14.
[15:52] How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? They can't. If they haven't believed on him in calling in faith, they can't do it. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Not possible. And how shall they hear without a preacher?
[16:06] And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel.
[16:17] For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now here's the passage broken down in order. Kind of Paul goes backwards with it.
[16:29] He backtracks. And the call of verse 13 is the final step. If we can call it a step. I'm not trying. People get all bent out of shape about that. You're saying there's works to salvation.
[16:39] You have to call. That's a work. And that's been a debate for a while now. It's nonsense. How shall they call on him? So the final step actually is being saved.
[16:52] Do you see that? That's the final thing in this chain if we can call it that. Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. So salvation is the end. Before that is the calling upon the name of the Lord.
[17:05] Before that is believing on him. Before that is hearing by a preacher. But what are they hearing? They're hearing the gospel of peace.
[17:18] They're hearing glad tidings of good things. And there's the word gospel in verse 16. So they hear the gospel. And of course to hear the gospel the preacher has to be sent and so forth.
[17:31] Now they're exercising faith in the gospel. Or in the finished work at Calvary. Come to... Well notice this phrase.
[17:41] This is what I want to point out from this passage. Is verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. Now he just went through this little chain of starting with the preacher being sent.
[17:54] To ending with somebody saved. And he kind of summarizes that in verse 17. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. But he said before... But they haven't all obeyed the gospel. And what does that mean to obey the gospel?
[18:06] Because that's the phrase we're going to focus in on today. I told you last week that we're going to kind of try to draw out a little bit about what appropriates salvation. Is it just the words of a prayer which we have to be careful about?
[18:19] Versus the concept, the understanding, and the faith being applied. And believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I remember verse 9 of Romans 10.
[18:30] It says that if you'll confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Believe in your heart God raised in front of the dead. Thou shalt be saved. And then verse 13. Call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Is that the same thing or is that something different? And if we started pulling a few little phrases out of passages all over our New Testament.
[18:43] We come up with a few different versions. Or ways that can confuse somebody about what do I have to do? And so if we just pray the prayer. And yet that doesn't seem to give peace to people when they're not really getting the whole story.
[18:59] Now obey the gospel is a phrase that I'm not going to go around saying to a lost man. But in this church this is what we'll study. Is what Paul calls obeying the gospel.
[19:10] Alright come back to chapter 16. He doesn't just say believe the gospel. He says obey the gospel. If the gospel is according to 1 Corinthians 15.
[19:23] How that Christ died for our sins. According to the scriptures. That he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. If the gospel message is that Christ died for our sins.
[19:34] And that he's resurrected and alive today. Then believing that. People call it head knowledge. Believing that. Is that sufficient for salvation?
[19:45] I believe. I mean how many religious church goers around this world. Believe that that fact took place. And yet aren't saved. And that are still in their sins.
[19:57] And trying to work their way to heaven. So believing the gospel. In just in its historical concept. Isn't really obeying the gospel.
[20:08] Verse number 25. Romans 16 25. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel. And the preaching of Jesus Christ.
[20:19] According to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. But now is made manifest. And by the scriptures of the prophets. According to the commandment of the everlasting God. Made known to all nations for the.
[20:30] There's the phrase. For the obedience of faith. Paul's the one that uses these words. Obey the gospel. And to all nations. The obedience of faith.
[20:41] It's connected to his gospel. And the preaching of Jesus Christ. Mentioned in verse 25. Come back to chapter 1. We'll see something else. This is all in the book of Romans. The beginning and the end.
[20:55] This thought about obedience. Obeying the gospel. The obedience of faith. All right.
[21:06] Verse number 5. Paul says. By whom we have received grace and apostleship. For obedience to the faith. Among the nations for his name.
[21:17] That shows up in the very first chapter. It shows up in the last chapter. And in the first chapter. He goes on to describe preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Rome. In verse 15 and 16.
[21:30] And he just gets right into this thesis. On no more of works. All have sinned. Christ died. Christ is the sacrifice. The propitiation for our sins.
[21:40] And so on. This obedience of faith. God called and enabled the apostle Paul. To preach the gospel. And he calls the nations.
[21:51] To obey it. Or to. Exercise faith in it. Now come back to. We're going to hop around a little bit here. Come back to. Well come to chapter 6.
[22:01] We'll see this word. Something about this again. Chapter 6. Chapter 6 verse 17. Chapter 6 verse 17.
[22:17] But God be thanked. That ye were the servants of sin. But. Ye have obeyed from the heart. That form of doctrine. Which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin.
[22:28] Ye became the servants of righteousness. What did they do? They obeyed. From the heart. That form of doctrine. What was that? That was. The only thing that can deliver them.
[22:38] From their sins. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That form of doctrine. Delivered them. He calls it. Doctrine. Is the gospel message. It's the obedience of faith. It's obeying the gospel.
[22:51] Alright. Turn to. Come. Come back to 2 Thessalonians 1. For a contrast here. 2 Thessalonians 1.
[23:12] And look at verse number 8. When Jesus Christ comes back. In his second coming. With fire and vengeance. There's a group here. That he's going to destroy.
[23:23] And who would that be? Verse 8. In flaming fire. Taking vengeance on them. That know not God. And that obey not the gospel. Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[23:35] Now what is obeying? It's exercising faith. In the gospel. Now again. I mentioned already. You call in the name of the Lord. You're saved. You believe. From your heart.
[23:45] You confess. Or believe. From your heart. Confess with your mouth. You're saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. These are all statements. That seem to be.
[23:56] On the surface. A definitive statement. And a definitive remark. But I don't think any one of them. Just stand alone. Like we kind of. Make them stand. There's more to it.
[24:06] And there's. A more thorough explanation. That is given in the scriptures. And that a lost soul needs to understand. What they're doing. I'm trying. I'm definitely not trying to overcomplicate things. But I'm afraid.
[24:17] As I started. I feel like the body of Christ. Has allowed it to become oversimplified. And make it something so simple. And it. The Bible does say. The simplicity that is in Christ.
[24:28] Is the devil that will beguile your minds. And bewitch you. However. There is some elements to it. That ought to be understood. By the sinner. So that they can.
[24:39] Obey the gospel. And believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come back to. Let's. I'm going to take you to Ephesians chapter 1. As well as Romans 10 again.
[25:01] I want to be at Romans 10. And read. And read. Read. A portion here. And then we'll go to Ephesians 1. Do I have to tell them.
[25:15] They have to obey the gospel. So they can be saved. No. You don't. But you have to understand. In your mind. As the soul winner. That they need to obey the gospel. That that's your goal. Is not just get to this prayer.
[25:26] And in these three lines of words. You'll be saved. But rather. You need to understand. Your goal. You're attempting them. To. To have their eyes open. To the truth. And to receive.
[25:37] By faith. The Lord Jesus Christ. As their savior. All right. Romans 10. Remember this. Now. Verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. Shall be saved. How then shall they call on him.
[25:48] In whom they have. In whom. In whom. They're believing in a person. In whom they have not believed. That's a question. And the answer is they can't. They can't call on him.
[26:00] If they haven't believed in him. How shall they believe in him. Of whom they have not heard. So the statement. Or the phrase there is. Believe in him.
[26:11] Believe in him. Now. There's an argument. Sometimes debated. Believe on him. Believe in him. Both of them. Both phrases are in the Bible. So. You can't just park on one.
[26:21] And make a statement. Believe in him. Now come back to Ephesians 1. Let's see how it's described here. Again. The apostle Paul. Writing to a different church. A different people. And.
[26:33] Recounting to them. Their. The. The chain of events. So to speak. Of their salvation. Verse number 12. We'll begin.
[26:43] That we should be to the praise of his glory. Who first. Trusted in Christ. That's. Paul. And anybody. Who's with him. In whom.
[26:54] Ye also trusted. Who did they trust? In. It's in Christ. They trusted in Christ. In whom. Ye also trusted. When did they do that? After that.
[27:04] Ye heard the word of truth. The gospel. Of your salvation. In whom. There's Christ again. In whom also. After that. Ye believed. Does it say they believed the gospel?
[27:16] No. It says they believed in. Whom. In the person. Of Christ. In whom also. After that. Ye believed. Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So the order of events here.
[27:28] Is that they heard. The word of truth. A.K. A. The gospel. Of their salvation. They heard it. And then they believed. In. Jesus Christ. Christ. As their savior.
[27:39] And then they were sealed. With the Holy Spirit of promise. And that's a lot shorter rendition. Doesn't talk about the. Preacher being sent. And any of that. But the belief.
[27:50] The faith. Is exercised in a person. And the message that's preached. Is the gospel message. They heard it. They believed in Christ. Not necessarily it.
[28:01] And then they're sealed. Until the day of redemption. And we could. Run the verses on that as well. To show you. That's the appearing of Christ. Or the rapture. Now. I should have kept you in Romans 10.
[28:12] If. You don't have to. But if you can get there quickly. I wanted to point something else out. Romans 10. And actually.
[28:25] We're going to hop around Romans. Just a little bit here. And cause you to think. A little bit. And maybe. Away from some things. You've heard. Or have been taught. So that we're careful.
[28:37] To be. Using the scriptures. Accurately. And not confusing. Somebody with them. Look at verse 9. Now.
[28:48] 9 through 13. In the Romans road. Sometimes. Comes as a. Chunk. Sometimes. Sometimes it's broken up. Sometimes it's Romans. In a. Like a list of verses.
[28:59] It'll be Romans 10. 9 and 10. And then. Romans 10. 13. And so let's read these here. Verse 9. That if thou shalt confess. With thy mouth. The Lord Jesus. And shalt believe. In thine heart. That God hath raised him.
[29:09] From the dead. Thou shalt be saved. So if I take that verse. Pull it out of Romans 10. Pull it out of the book of Romans. Pull it out of the Bible. And print it on a piece of paper.
[29:21] And hand it to somebody. Does this say you'll be saved? If you do this. Have you done that? Well what do I have to do? You have to confess. With your mouth. The Lord Jesus. What does that mean?
[29:32] How do I do that? Just say Jesus? Say the Lord Jesus? Oh it says no. Believe in your heart. That God raised him from the dead. Well I believe God raised him from the dead.
[29:44] That verse has never set well with me. All my life. I've never quite understood. How that is the salvation message. That. And because I'm.
[29:55] I analyze. And I'm literal. And that. You have to be with the word of God. And with doctrine. And that says. If you confess with your mouth. The Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart. That God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. For with the.
[30:05] Of the heart. Man believeth on the righteousness. With the mouth. Confession is made on the salvation. So I've believed. And I've confessed. Do I have to confess. In front of the church. Where do I.
[30:16] How do I do this? And there's some confusion about that. And rightly so. Because it's not. The definitive statement. On this is what you do. Oh. Salvation comes.
[30:27] There's truth to these statements. Of course. It's the word of God. But it's. Again. You just can't remove it. From where it's at. And pretend like. This is it.
[30:37] This is the climax. It's not. God raised him from the dead. Yes he did. Do not all Roman Catholics believe that? As far as I know. Isn't that part of their doctrine?
[30:50] Isn't that a doctrine Lutherans would subscribe to? Do the Mormons believe Jesus was raised from the dead? Do the Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus was raised from the dead? Do they have a problem confessing him?
[31:04] I don't know where they draw the line there. One time I was dealing. I didn't know I was dealing with a Jehovah's Witness. But I was. And they said to me. About this name of the Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord.
[31:14] And what name is that? And I was like. Oh. That's good. Because it's Jehovah from the Old Testament. Where Paul's quoting from. And I thought. Oh.
[31:24] And the Lord just like. Caused my eyes to go down and see verse 9. And I was like. Well it says in verse 9. Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. That's the name. And that kind of blew up the conversation.
[31:36] Anyway. This. This thought of just believing God raised him from the dead. Does that bring about salvation? No. No. That's not it. Now turn back to Romans chapter 1.
[31:48] And let's consider something about what. What that resurrection did. We won't get.
[31:59] We'll go through this very quickly here. But verse number 4. Is what I want us to consider. Verse 4. Romans 1. 4. And declared. This is speaking of Christ. Verse 3. Concerning his son Jesus Christ.
[32:11] Declared to be the son of God with power. According to the spirit of holiness. By the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection declared him to be. Authentically. The son of God with power.
[32:23] And a holy son of God at that. Sinless son of God. The resurrection. Believing that. You're. There's something you're. You know what Paul did. He already laid this groundwork back in Romans 1.
[32:34] About who the son of God was. And the resurrection. And so again. Pulling something out of chapter 10. We've got to be careful. We might not be quite covering the material.
[32:45] The way the apostle Paul covered the material. In the book of the Bible. Turn to chapter 4. Something else. About the resurrection. So maybe in chapter 10.
[32:59] It's not such a definitive statement. That many make it out to be. Chapter 4. And look at verses 24 and 25. Speaking of Abraham.
[33:13] And him. Believing God. And it being counted to him for righteousness. It says. But it wasn't written. Verse 23. For his sake. Alone. That it might be imputed to him. But for us also. To whom it shall be imputed.
[33:25] If we believe. On him. That raised up. Jesus our Lord. From the dead. Isn't that worded differently? So does that. Something we need to consider?
[33:37] Is Paul saying two different things? Are we believing on Jesus Christ? Are we believing on him? That raised up Jesus our Lord. From the dead. Is that two different people? Verse 25 says.
[33:49] Who was delivered for our offenses. And was raised again for our justification. I'm not trying to confuse you. I'm trying to at least show you. That you're not just believing in a fact. Of a resurrection. Do you believe Jesus is alive?
[34:02] Yes. Do you swear you believe it? Yes. Okay. You can be saved now. That's kind of how it comes out. Whether you mean it or not. When you look at just those particular verses.
[34:13] And the statements they say. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Are you believing in the resurrection? Or are you believing in the resurrected Jesus Christ? I'd say you're believing in the person.
[34:25] According to Ephesians chapter 1. Now I have a lot of material here. I'm not going to take you through the book of John. But the book of John. What a blessing.
[34:35] Of a gospel. We've studied Matthew in detail. And we saw this Jewish slant. This kingdom slant. John gives some of the same stories. And the same situations.
[34:46] The same time frame of Jesus Christ. And he doesn't talk hardly a thing about the kingdom. And the doctrine of the kingdom. And he talks about believing on Jesus Christ.
[34:58] And he gives every. Almost every chapter. Every story ends with. And so many believed on him there. And his disciples believed on him there. And more believed on him. Not because of her word.
[35:09] But because they heard him himself. And they believed on him. And like that's John's thrust. That's why it's a great place to take a lost person. And say read the gospel of John. Because John has a goal.
[35:20] Of converting the hearer. Or the reader. To believing on the son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ. I was going to take you there. And show you that. But that's way too much study. For this morning.
[35:31] We'll close in Romans 10. We'll close in Romans 10. There's another.
[35:45] I have another passage to confuse you. From 1 Peter 1. Not to confuse you. But to show you. Where he talks about believing in God. That raised Jesus.
[35:55] Similar to what Paul said. And just to show you. There's a. If you want to pick a verse. You can pick one. But you better be consistent. Romans 10. Verse 1. Brethren. My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel.
[36:08] Is that they might be saved. So there's the context. Amen. For I bear them record. They have a zeal of God. But not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant. Of God's righteousness.
[36:18] And going about to establish their own righteousness. Have not submitted themselves. Into the righteousness. Of God. For Christ. Christ. Is.
[36:29] The end of the law. That's what they're trying to use. That's their religion. You could plug in. Whatever anybody else believes in. Into that statement. The law. Christ is the end of.
[36:41] Catholicism. Christ is the end of. Mormonism. Christ is. You put it in there. That's the teaching. Christ is the end of all of that. For righteousness. To everyone that believeth.
[36:52] Not talking about believing the law. Talking about believeth. Or believing on the person. Of Jesus Christ. Christ is the end of that stuff. The point is. In all of this.
[37:02] Is we want to be bringing them to faith. In Jesus Christ. Christ. We don't want to be running somebody through. A thing they think. Is what gets them.
[37:13] That faith in Jesus Christ. Or if I pray this way. Or you. I really. What I like to do. And it's. Now I've been around the Bible a little bit. And I didn't start this way.
[37:25] Just took some experience. But I like to. To. Start from scratch. With somebody. And I don't think. Oh let me take you to Romans chapter 3 verse 10. Do you see.
[37:36] Like I don't like to do that. I will. If it's right. But what I like to do. Is get them talking. And then we go from there. And we might end up in Peter. We might end up by the grace of God. In Hebrews. We might end up in Revelation.
[37:47] With the lake of fire. Just. What do they need. And what are they giving me. And that's how we're going to go. But that's from. Just some experience. Of handling the scriptures. And dealing with some people.
[37:58] And different people. If you don't have that. That experience. Or confidence in your Bible. Then something like the Romans wrote. Is helpful. But it's not. The crutch that it's become. And I'm telling you the truth.
[38:10] I'm not making up this stuff. To just get a Sunday school lesson together. It's become. Here's your cheat sheet. Get them to pray the prayer. And. We've got another one.
[38:22] That's where it's at now. That's what it's become. And it never should have gotten there. It should go back to. Let's teach the doctrines of the Bible. Let's understand. What we're handling here.
[38:33] And what they need. And then give them. According to what they tell you they need. You know they're lost. But do they know they're lost. You know that works can't save them.
[38:43] But do they know that their works can't save them. And so forth. So. One thing about the Romans wrote. I will say this also. It never mentions hell. It never mentions hell. And it doesn't really mention judgment either.
[38:56] And so that's a negative with using that. There's other ways of doing that. And getting to that point. But it kind of is a very just. You're a sinner now. Here's Jesus died for your sins. And call on them.
[39:07] And it can be oversimplified. To the where. You're not. Maybe getting accomplished. What you're hoping to get accomplished. And that would be your fault. That would be your fault.
[39:18] For not being prepared. Or your fault for. Just assuming something. That isn't actually happening. So I hope that. That ties together a little bit. With what we started with last week.
[39:29] And my goal again. Would be don't run them into a prayer. Run them into believing on Jesus Christ. And seeing. Understanding clearly. That he alone. Died for their sins. He alone can save their soul.
[39:41] If they'll believe. Or obey the gospel. Exercise faith in the gospel. And what he did for them. Alright. Let's pray. And then we'll be dismissed. Father. I pray Lord. That the running around this morning.