[0:00] So, this is picking up from where we were last Sunday evening, and this is Romans chapter 9 beginning at verse 30, and we're going to read through to verse 21 of chapter 10.
[0:17] So, Romans chapter 9, verse 30, now hear God's word. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who had not pursued righteousness have attained it, that is righteousness that is by faith, but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching the law.
[0:43] Why? Because they had not pursued, because they did not pursue it by faith. But as if it were based on works, they have stumbled over the stumbling stone.
[0:57] 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.
[1:13] I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
[1:29] 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.
[1:42] 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.
[1:58] 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.
[2:20] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
[2:34] The same Lord is Lord over all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed?
[2:47] And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
[3:04] But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?
[3:15] So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have. For the voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
[3:35] But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. With a foolish nation I will make you angry.
[3:46] Then Isaiah is also bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
[3:58] But of Israel, he says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Romans chapter 9.
[4:11] Romans chapter 9. As you're making your way there, let me pray for us this evening as we come to God's word.
[4:29] Father God, we confess before you this evening that we don't always take in what is proclaimed in your word. We don't always read what is there, but it's often been the case we have read over and read through and never truly perceived what it is that you have said.
[4:50] Father, we pray that your light of truth will enlighten our mind with a view of changing our heart. We recognize, as Paul says here, that it's not just about what we confess with our mouth, but it's about what we know to be true in our heart.
[5:05] With the heart we believe and with the mouth we confess. And so, Father, as we come to your word this evening, help us to understand it. Help us to take it in.
[5:16] Help us to live it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, you will notice, hopefully notice, that this part of Romans is really a continuation of what Paul began to say at the beginning of Romans chapter 9.
[5:38] He hasn't moved on to another subject. He's sticking on the same subject. So, this, all the way through to chapter 10, verse 21, is really the same line of thought, the same message that Paul has that he began with.
[5:55] And we, therefore, ought to remember that the words that Paul is speaking here are still words where his heart is filled with anguish for those who are not saved.
[6:05] You remember how in the beginning of chapter 9, he has great anguish over those who are not saved. And you'll notice here at the beginning of chapter 10, verse 1, that that really hasn't changed.
[6:19] He has a desire and he prays to God that they may be saved. Now, I did say that last week would raise a load of questions.
[6:30] And they did. And this week will also raise a lot of questions. But one of the things that the Bible is absolutely content with, one of the things that the apostles are absolutely content with, and so should all pastors be, is to hold things in tension without constantly feeling the need to explain everything down to its finest detail to the point where you actually go beyond Scripture.
[6:59] And be careful when you listen to people. And this is a guide for listening to people who speak God's word. And you must apply it to your own pastor.
[7:10] And that is, what is he saying that we can see in the word ourselves? And what is he saying that is beyond the word? And hopefully, when it comes to this, I stick very, very closely to what the word says.
[7:26] I may draw out implications, which you ought to be able to see. And that takes, of course, discernment. That's one of the issues that Paul has with the church in the letter of Hebrews, is that he's saying things that are clearly there in the text, but they fail to see them.
[7:43] So there is a discernment level there. But Paul is very happy to hold things in tension. And chapter 9 through to the end of chapter 10 seems to be filled with several oxymorons, dry water, things that just don't seem to be true.
[8:01] But in the great scheme and plan of God, they must be true in order to be present. But he doesn't argue the case of the details.
[8:14] He's more than willing to hold things in tension. You know, one of the tensions might be, if I can use an illustration, would be the very tension of prayer when God plans everything anyway.
[8:27] Why pray? I can understand the tension. I can understand the tension of praying to a God who is sovereign over everything and has control over everything, and then are left with the question, well, why pray if God has got everything in hand?
[8:41] I can understand the tension. I can even appreciate the tension. I can explain the tension. But that logical process goes beyond Scripture. You don't see that kind of argument in the text because that's not the kind of argument you should be getting yourself involved with.
[8:59] If the Bible says pray because God gave you prayer, then you pray. And if God says he's in control of everything, whether you pray or not, then you continue to pray and continue to believe that God is in control of everything.
[9:12] This means that the believing life is one where we do have to hold things in tension. Okay? We do have to hold things in tension. It's not easy. We don't have everything figured out.
[9:26] Now, the other issue here is the issue of the promise, that if God has promised salvation and there are people who are not saved, then has God failed to keep his promise? And that's a valid question.
[9:38] If God promised that these people would be saved and they're not saved, has God failed to keep his promise? And Paul says, no, not at all, because every promise that God makes is kept in Jesus Christ and you've rejected Jesus Christ.
[9:55] Okay? God makes the promise of salvation and the promise of salvation is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and these people are rejecting Jesus Christ. This is how you get to the unforgivable sin in the Gospels that we see.
[10:11] Now, the unforgivable sin is only one sin. It's not a sin that you have committed and you think, that must be it. That sin that I committed the other day must be the unforgivable one.
[10:23] No. The unforgivable sin is rejecting forgiveness. And if you reject Jesus and you reject the forgiveness of God in Jesus, then guess where that leaves you?
[10:36] That leaves you unforgiven. So, the unforgivable sin is rejecting the forgiveness of God. Okay? It's fairly simple. I mean, I know that many books have been written over the subject and complicate the issue, but it's really not that complicated.
[10:51] Okay? The unforgivable sin is the only sin that you can commit that can leave you unforgiven. Now, what would that be? Well, that would be rejecting the forgiveness of God. It's really rather simple.
[11:03] Now, the other thing to notice here is that all the promises of God are enjoyed, but they are only enjoyed in Jesus Christ. God keeps all of his promises, but he only keeps them in Jesus Christ.
[11:14] So, if you reject Jesus, it may appear to you that God hasn't kept his promise, but rather it's more the case that you haven't turned to Jesus Christ.
[11:25] So, this raises another issue, and that issue is very important because salvation does not come in five steps to fullness and freedom. I want you to think about that.
[11:39] In fact, there is absolutely nothing in God's word that comes to five steps to fullness and freedom. You know, I've seen books on parenting. I've seen books on marriage.
[11:50] I've seen books on a whole number of things. Five steps to a happy marriage. Not according to scripture. Five steps to child rearing. You know, this is the perfect model.
[12:02] Not according to the Bible, it isn't. Nobody does parenting right. Nobody does marriage right. The only reason why any of it stays together and is fruitful comes down to the grace of God.
[12:12] We have responsibilities. We have a huge amount of responsibilities, but at the end of the day, we are all at the mercy of God, and that's another reason why God calls us to prayer.
[12:23] Get God to do it. God's involved in all of it. Use him. So, salvation here is really important that we understand it must not be put into the category of steps to fullness or steps to freedom.
[12:38] Salvation comes as a person, and that's why people stumble over him. Because if you give people something to do, which they can do, then lo and behold, haven't I done well.
[12:50] I've completed the five steps to fullness and freedom, and then guess what? I now have, according to God, fullness and freedom. The trouble is, it doesn't come that way.
[13:01] It comes as a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. And what that means is this, that we are obligated to rest in the accomplishments of a person, another person.
[13:16] That means that we are not to rest in our own accomplishments, and even if we did rest in our own accomplishments, they wouldn't accomplish anything before God. There is nothing that we can do that is all that great that could achieve salvation.
[13:32] And this is bad news for people who have high pride. Okay? This is, the gospel is bad news for people who have high amounts of pride.
[13:47] Because salvation comes as a person and not five steps, that is a serious offense to people who have pride. Because now they have to bow the knee. Now they have to, now all the focus is taken off what they can do and put on what they can't do.
[14:05] And people who have pride don't like to be told what they can't do. Okay? And you'll also find that the message goes out that anybody can do anything if they only apply themselves properly.
[14:18] That's just not true. Some people are born smart, and some people aren't. Okay? We all have different abilities, and that's why God creates a body. Because not everyone's an arm, not everyone's a leg.
[14:30] We're meant to support each other because not everyone has a great brain, not everyone has a great physical ability. And that is crucial, absolutely crucial to remember that, especially in a Christian community.
[14:46] So people who suffer with pride don't stumble over five steps. Rather, they enjoy them. They love them. Look at what I can do, and look at how much better I can do it than you.
[14:59] But they stumble over Jesus because Jesus is saying to them, this is something that only I can do. The life that I have lived is something that only I could do.
[15:11] The death that I am going to die on the cross is something that only I can do. And this is why Paul says in chapter 9, verse 33, he makes it very clear that whoever believes in Jesus Christ, whoever believes in this stone, you know, not the stone of stumbling, but the rock on which to build our life, whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
[15:36] Okay, those who want to try and climb over him will stumble in their five steps to fullness and freedom, but those who believe in him will not be put to shame.
[15:48] Now, Paul summarizes this by saying effectively that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. Therefore, whoever hears the word of God can come to faith, and therefore, it's not just the Jews who come to faith, but it's Gentiles also.
[16:06] Okay, that's how you come to faith, by hearing the word of God. Two things to notice then. The first is righteousness, that right standing with God only comes by belonging to Jesus.
[16:19] Nobody has a right standing with God. Nobody has their sins forgiven. Nobody is right with God in any way unless they belong to Jesus.
[16:30] Okay, they have to belong to Jesus. Paul's answering how they get to belong. They hear the word. The word produces faith, and the faith causes them to run to Jesus.
[16:42] Well, the second thing to notice here is that very thing, that salvation and faith is in Jesus. Every promise that God makes, every word that God preaches is to lead us to Jesus Christ.
[17:01] And so when people come to faith, they come to faith not having worked out how to get to Jesus all by themselves, but they've worked out how to be brought to Jesus by hearing the very word of God.
[17:14] You know, God makes it incredibly simple for us, but we tend to mess it up, okay? Salvation works in a very, very simple way. Jesus accomplishes it all, and we get to belong to Jesus' accomplishment by hearing about it, by believing it, and by trusting him.
[17:32] That's essentially the process of the gospel here, that faith comes by hearing. It doesn't come any other way.
[17:43] Faith comes by hearing the word of God. The reason why I try to stress the word of God so heavily here is not for the purposes of preaching, but for the purposes of your own faith, okay?
[17:55] If you're struggling with faith in any area, not just in the area of salvation, you need the word of God, okay? You don't need five steps to this, five steps to cure anxiety.
[18:06] You need the word of God penetrating every fiber of your being. That's what produces faith in you. So we're going to divide this into two main sections.
[18:19] The first section is, of course, the righteousness of God. The second section is the fact that faith comes by hearing. But remember, at the end of chapter 10, verse 21, God is proving himself to be patient, holding out his hands to a disobedient people who just will not come.
[18:37] So let's set the scene right, that everything that we're going to talk about righteousness here, and everything that we're going to say about faith coming by hearing here, is set in the context of God who stands patiently waiting with his hands open to you, okay?
[18:55] This is where God is, even this very evening, patiently waiting for you to come. So let's begin then with righteousness. Paul has to deal with Jews who think that righteousness comes by achieving five steps, or 13 steps, or whatever it may be.
[19:15] He has to tell them that righteousness has never come that way. It only comes in the fact that it comes in Jesus. Now, this comes as a shock to them, because these were people who've received every promise of God, okay?
[19:30] These are people who've received all the blessings of God. All of these things were to lead them to Jesus Christ, and they decided that they didn't want his righteousness. They wanted a righteousness all of their own.
[19:43] And that's what Jesus says in Mark 2, isn't it? I did not come to call the righteous, but those who are sick. In other words, I did not come to call those who are self-righteous, those who think they have a righteousness all of their own.
[19:58] Now, they believe that if they kept the law, they would be righteous, and that's not untrue. I mean, Paul affirms several times in the book of Romans that whoever keeps the law of God will be righteous.
[20:10] The reality is, is that no one is able to keep the law of God. But how important is righteousness to you? Well, let me put it simply.
[20:21] Without righteousness, without holiness, there is no heaven. Period. Any of this idea of, you know, I can mess around.
[20:32] You know, I can't help my feelings. I can't help it. Trust me, God is clear on two things. He forgives sin, and he hates it.
[20:44] Okay? God forgives sin, and he hates it. So we should be very clear not to try and pursue our own righteousness, which is a sin. Now, you'll notice here that Israel were a people who were only content to try and keep the outside of the cup clean.
[21:03] That's self-righteousness. They are only content with trying to keep their outside of their life clean. And yet the righteousness that Jesus describes and Paul describes here is a righteousness that must go deep down into the heart.
[21:22] But the people here, five steps to fullness and freedom, are simply keeping the outside of their lives clean. I want to stress that, especially in the current climate.
[21:36] Because I said last week, and a few people caught on, but a few others didn't. There is this idea, growing in the church, throughout this country and throughout the Western world, that I can be one way in my thinking and another way in my practice.
[22:01] That if I feel this way, as long as I don't practice it, I'm okay. That if I feel this way, and I have this kind of attraction, same-sex attraction maybe, as long as I don't practice it, it's not a sin.
[22:18] But that's just not true. Let's swap out the sin for something else. Bestiality. Is it okay for someone to be attracted to animals, as long as they don't practice it?
[22:34] And would you like them to babysit your children? Or what about a man who's attracted to young boys, or a woman to young girls? As long as they don't practice it outwardly, would it be okay for them to be a leader in Sunday school, or to babysit your children?
[22:55] Now, immediately, immediately you can see that the issue is not just an outside issue, but it's an internal motivational issue. So this idea, that I can be attracted to something internally, as long as I don't practice it, I'm okay with God.
[23:12] It's not true. Jesus made it very clear. That if a man looked at a woman with lust in his heart, he's already committed the adultery. Why?
[23:22] Because the righteousness that God speaks about is internal, long before it's ever external. Jesus is not content with only keeping the outside of the cup clean.
[23:35] He is very sure on the importance of keeping the inside of the cup clean. But listen to this, chapter 10, verse 3.
[23:48] The Jews, the Israel, they don't think that way. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
[24:04] Verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. In other words, Jesus is God's righteousness.
[24:16] And the way that you belong to that righteousness is, or the way that you have that righteousness, is by belonging to the one who is righteous, Jesus Christ. So this is, this is not about being content with keeping the outside of the cup clean.
[24:31] This is not about being content with keeping the outside of the life clean. This is about deep, deep, deep righteousness in the center of your being.
[24:43] Turning to Jesus means that you turn to Jesus with all your feelings and thoughts, all those eternal things, as well as all the external ones. Everything turns to Jesus.
[24:55] As we turn from sin, we turn to Jesus. Or rather, I've put that the wrong way around, haven't I? That it is as you turn to Jesus, you are turning from all these things.
[25:05] It is impossible to face opposite directions at the same time. And so when Jesus calls us to follow him, he is calling us to turn from one direction to another direction.
[25:19] And that direction is to follow him. Why? Because Jesus is not content with keeping the outside of the cup clean. Salvation is cleaning you from the inside out.
[25:31] So these people here, who've tried to establish a righteousness all by themselves, all on their own, get to Jesus Christ in whom the righteousness is, and they stumble over him.
[25:45] And they stumble over him because it's a person. You know, let me put it a slightly different way. Someone you don't like, an enemy of yours, they get something that you don't have.
[26:09] Do you become jealous? Not really, not always. Let's say they get a promotion that you don't get. Does it grate you? Yeah, maybe the promotion might grate you a little bit, but it's not all that much.
[26:22] But let's swap that person out for a friend. How does that make you feel? Suddenly, all this internal, you know, it's who the person is.
[26:34] These Jews are face to face with Jesus, who is the righteous one, who is one, who is deserving of all. And as they look at him, they cannot stomach it.
[26:49] They stumble over Jesus. They stumble over the person of Jesus because he is the righteous one of God. And their whole life, they have tried to do the right amount of prayers, go to church, the right amount of time, wear the right clothes, brush their hair, whatever else it may be, that looks like external righteousness.
[27:09] And then they come face to face with Jesus and realize that they spent all this effort on the outside and it's the inside that needs to be changed first. They stumble over the stone who is Jesus Christ.
[27:26] That's why we read from 1 Peter as we began our service. You can't work out how precious Jesus is by how many people build their lives on him because people will also stumble over him.
[27:40] And here's the thing that Paul says, these people, chapter 10, verse 2, have a real zeal for God. In other words, they are completely sincere in their religious duties. They're completely sincere in their religious activities.
[27:52] Okay? They are, dare I say it, they are the type of people that you would want to lead up every ministry in every church. They have a great zeal for God. The trouble is, they're sincere, but they are sincerely wrong.
[28:06] They're sincere in their religious activity, but they're unrepentant. They want to follow God, they just don't want to follow God through following Jesus.
[28:16] They want God without Jesus. And that's the issue here. And God is saying, you can't have me without my son.
[28:28] So Jesus Christ is either turned to or stumbled over. And it is no different today. It is no different today. The moment you share the gospel with anybody, that person will either turn to Jesus or they will stumble over him.
[28:46] But you're thinking, well, I don't notice anybody stumbling over Jesus today. You notice it all the time. This is what it looks like. I may not be the best person in the world, but what I've done in my life doesn't require the cross.
[29:02] Okay? I may not be the worst person in the world, but what I've done in my life doesn't require Jesus dying on the cross for me. It doesn't require his life to be perfect.
[29:14] It just doesn't require that. What are they doing? They're stumbling over Jesus. Because they can't come face to face with the fact that that is exactly what their life needs.
[29:25] That that is exactly what Jesus needs to do for them. That that is exactly what they need to believe in. So people stumble over Jesus because they are not quite ready or willing or whatever it may be to say, you know what?
[29:43] What Jesus did, I recognize that he needed to do that for me also. And here's the thing. When you realize that, there's no bad news.
[29:55] There's no, see, I told you so. Jesus doesn't even remind you of your sin. God tells us that he chooses to remember our sin no more. So you don't come to God and the relationship with God is constantly from now on, you see, see how much you need me?
[30:10] Well, we do need him. But it's not a reminder of how bad we are. God doesn't motivate us to love him by reminding us of how much sin we were in before he saved us.
[30:22] God's not like that. He doesn't do that. God convicts us of our sin. But God convicts us of our sin because he loves us, because he wants us near him.
[30:33] So to put it simply, there is only one way to become righteous and it doesn't come in five steps. It comes in a person and his name is Jesus. So secondly, how then does a person become righteous?
[30:49] What is the process? What gets a person to Jesus? And Paul says, chapter 10, verses 8 through to 17, in particular, that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes through or by the word of God.
[31:05] If a person confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead, that person, says Paul, will be, excuse me, will be saved.
[31:20] Paul goes on to say that the way that person gets to hear that message in the first place is by somebody taking it and by somebody talking it. Okay? Taking and talking.
[31:31] He says, everyone who believes will not be put to shame. Verse 11, which is exactly what he says at the end of chapter 9, verse 33. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
[31:45] So verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. So there are three things, I think, in particular, that are important here.
[31:56] The first thing is this, that the gospel has to be proclaimed in order for people to become righteous. Because there is only one way to become righteous and that is to come to Christ.
[32:07] That's the first important thing. The second important thing is this, that the gospel has to be heard. You think, well, doesn't that go hand in hand with the first thing? Not necessarily.
[32:18] Not necessarily. For this reason, that Vance Havner once said, Vance Havner is quoted as being the most quotable man in all of Christianity.
[32:31] And Vance Havner used to say that the gospel is not something that the church comes to hear, but something that the church goes to tell. So I want to put these important things in that framework for this simple reason.
[32:47] That the problem that you have is that the gospel needs to be proclaimed, but it needs to be proclaimed to people who haven't heard it. Okay? It needs to be proclaimed to people who have heard it, of course, but it needs to be continually proclaimed to people who haven't heard it.
[33:04] So the importance here is proclaiming it and for people to hear it. And that leads to the third thing, which is the gospel is something to be responded to. Now the response that God looks for is a faith response, but here's the joy.
[33:19] Here's the thing that should fill you with excitement. That God provides the response in the message. Okay? God, the gospel is saying, you know, you are to turn to God in faith and not in works, and that faith is produced in you as you hear the word of faith.
[33:39] So there's no disingenuous here. You're not going to a person like who has a debt towards you of say 500 pounds, and you're not going to them saying, give me my 500 pounds, knowing that there's no way that they can give it to you.
[33:54] The gospel provides the response. The gospel gives the person what they need in order to respond to the gospel. That's why Paul says here in verse 17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
[34:08] So when God tells a person to respond in his word, he is providing that response in his word. And that's why it's crucial that people hear the word of God concerning Christ.
[34:23] This brings us on to an important thing for the church, especially for the people here who didn't get it, and it's this, that it is impossible to have a belief in Christ without a knowledge of Christ.
[34:34] And yet, so often I hear these things being opposed in the church. They're actually put in opposition. Well, I know Jesus, I just don't know much about him. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
[34:46] The Bible makes it supremely clear that we know Jesus to the degree that we know about him, just like anybody else. To say that I know Jesus without knowing about him, what does that even mean?
[35:05] And so the lesson here that Paul is bringing across is a very simple one. proclaim the message because in the message is the response that people need to respond to the message.
[35:20] Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of Christ. Very, very simple. Very simple. Paul then also has this to say that Israel should have understood that.
[35:34] That the people of God should have understood that faith always comes by the word of God and the way to be righteous in God is always to believe the promises of God in faith, just like Abraham did, just like Moses did, just like David did, just like many others did.
[35:51] The Old Testament is full of people who live with God by faith. There's only one way to walk with God and that's by faith and the way you get faith is by God's word and God's been speaking for a very long time.
[36:05] God has said a lot of things. We have them all what we need to have written down here for us. So here's a few considerations as we close.
[36:18] Before we can know how to respond, we need to know what we're responding to which means we've got to hear the message. Before we know how to proclaim the message, we need to know what the message is or else we don't know what to proclaim.
[36:32] We don't know what to proclaim. We may leave some stuff out unaware that we have actually left some stuff out. Dare I say it, we might even include things that should not be included like the people did in the church at Galatia.
[36:45] Suddenly, the gospel got added to. Well, you believe in Christ, yeah, but there's also these five steps to something else. Well, that is a problem.
[36:57] Another consideration is this, that when the word of God is proclaimed, nothing added, nothing taking away, it does produce faith in people who hear it.
[37:08] Now, those people surely have to respond, but they respond in faith only upon hearing the word of God. I really want to stress, I really, really want to stress that there is nothing else that produces faith in a person other than the word of God.
[37:25] No illustrations, no long-winded stories. You know, I don't want to, I don't want to criticize other people, I don't want to criticize myself, but I will criticize myself in front of you, that I can remember a time where I used to think that every sermon had to contain a funny story and several illustrations because that's what the people would enjoy.
[37:47] And then I realized that when I was including these things in a 20 or 23 minute sermon, whatever it is, that only 15 minutes of that was actual preaching. The rest of it was just storytelling, illustrating a point.
[38:01] Now, I can understand that they may be necessary for getting a point across, but I also understand that they don't produce faith. I also understand that they don't produce the faith that can only be produced by the word of God.
[38:15] And that's what's being stressed here. Also remember that as we listen to God, God is patient. God is standing here at the end of chapter 10, verse 21, holding out his hands to a people who are at present disobedient.
[38:35] Yet God is stood there holding his hands out, waiting for them to come. So here's the exhortation as we close. What's your confession?
[38:48] What's your confession? Well, your confession should be this, that I am right with God because of Jesus. Your confession should also be that I do not have a righteousness of my own, but the righteousness I do have, I have because I belong to Jesus Christ.
[39:05] That should be your confession. You should also have a confession that says that the only reason that I know Christ is because I have been told about Christ.
[39:18] Whether it's reading the Bible for myself, having God speak to me, or having God speak to me through somebody else who proclaims his name. Also, all Christians come under the lordship of Christ.
[39:31] That means that we are willing to admit and even more willing to accept that Christ is Lord over every part of our life, not just the outside, but the inside as well.
[39:43] That is also our confession. When Paul says that we are to believe in our heart and confess with our mouth, he then tells us what that belief, that confession is.
[39:55] Paul is holding us to a confessional Christianity. He's not just asking us to believe general things. The confession with our mouth is not, shouldn't just remain with our mouth, but it should be deep in our heart.
[40:10] Why? Because Paul, being an apostle, being saved by Jesus Christ, like Jesus Christ, understands that no one, not anybody, should be content with only the outside of the cup being clean, with only the outside of the life being clean.
[40:27] So like Paul, if you desire and pray for others to come to faith, just like Paul does here in chapter 10, verse 1, just like the anguish that he has that many would be saved who are not saved, just like Paul does here, then it naturally follows with no grudge at all, that it naturally follows that if you have a desire for people to be saved and you have prayers for people to be saved, then it naturally follows that they have to hear the word of God from you or they have to hear the word of God from someone.
[41:00] Don't stop at just praying. Don't stop at the anguish for them. Don't stop at just the desire for them. Finish with telling them the gospel. If you really desire the salvation of others, like Paul does here, and you really pray for the salvation of others, like Paul does here, then don't forget to speak the word of faith to them.
[41:22] The word that gives people salvation. Amen. Amen.