So, the book of Romans, Paul's great case is the case for justification, right standing before God, the pardon of sin by faith alone.
And as a result, he kind of meanders back and forth, talking strictly to the Jews and then talking to the Gentiles.
And at times it can be a tad confusing.
But speaking in general to the Christians in Rome, he addresses us and says,
chapter 8 and talks about how this life will be difficult.
Both from internal struggle with sin and from external means it will be difficult.
And he goes on to praise God, that God is working all things for our good because he is sovereign and in control.
He is working those things for our good that we might praise him and exalt his name.
So even when we struggle, we know that God is in control.
And he turns in chapter 9 and it seems a little bit random, but we get the following arguments going through 10 and 11 to grieve over the fact that most of Israel,
not all his evidence that he himself had believed in Christ, but that most of Israel had rejected Christ.
That they were given all of these privileges, these windows into God's heart, and yet they missed the ultimate point.
And that was that they desperately needed a Savior.
And that Savior is Jesus Christ.
They missed that.
But that in no way discredited the gospel.
And that's what he goes on to tell us in the rest of chapter 9, that in fact, was consistent with God's plan.
God's sovereign purpose of salvation to include the Gentiles as well into the fold.
That's us, I think, probably all of us, benefit greatly from God's sovereign plan to include us in his people.
So then we get to chapter 10.
And he turns once again to speak of the Israelites.
Let's read together the first 13 verses.
Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
For I bear the 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 ascend 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.
For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
And so he takes us in chapter 9 to this great depth, this unfathomable truth about God's sovereign election, his sovereign purposes for his people.
Right?
It's this kind of stuff in chapter 9, the weight of it, that causes our minds to kind of rent in two.
We can't quite make sense of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
It's this kind of teaching that leads him to chapter 11, verse 33, where he says,
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.
It's that movement.
But he seems to pause for us here, doesn't he?
As he's talked about how God is completely sovereign over the election of his people,
that he's calling his own to himself.
We see him cycle back once again to his people, Paul's people, the Israelites.
Right?
Beginning of chapter 9, he lamented them.
He wished that he himself could be cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers.
He desperately wanted them to receive this gospel truth.
Then he goes on to tell us that it's God's sovereign control.
It's God's power.
God works faith in people so that he can show mercy on whom he will show mercy.
So that no one can boast in their salvation.
And he comes back here in chapter 10, verse 1.
Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God is for them that they may be saved.
And here's the great evidence, the great culmination, the understanding of Paul's love for people.
We know that Paul loved the Gentiles.
Paul was sent to them and he was actively pursuing them.
Actively preaching the gospel to them.
But even those whom he had turned from, the Israelites, he still had a desperate desire for them to come to Christ.
Because he loved them the way Christ loved them.
He grieved the fact that they were rejecting the gospel.
So here's Paul as he's presented to us, fully understanding that God is sovereign over these things, yet brokenhearted that these people might come to Christ.
And so therefore he prays for them.
He's moved to pray for his people.
Ought we not to do the same?
So then he says, I bear them witness 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.
So here's a people who, with all their effort, was pursuing God.
For all that they knew, they were pressing after him.
But it was the wrong zeal.
It was focused in the wrong place.
It was not according to knowledge.
Being ignorant of the righteousness of God.
These people didn't understand what the righteousness of God looked like.
They had missed the fact that God was holy and that they were not.
Certainly men can try to do good things.
And we may try to define that as righteousness.
But it is not the righteousness of God.
All of our good works are as what?
Filthy rags.
Right?
It's not the righteousness of God.
There are many, many people in this world that with great zeal are pressing toward what they think is going to put them in right standing before God.
And yet, it's not according to knowledge.
It's according to their own working.
And he juxtaposes that way.
Their efforts to establish their own righteousness.
Their own version of the righteousness.
But yet, it's not the righteousness of God.
D.G. Barnhouse, John Overton, let me borrow a commentary.
He's an influential 20th century preacher, commentator.
Tells a neat analogy about this.
About little dolls.
Have you ever seen little dolls that are weighted at one end so they always stand upright?
Our modern day version of that is the weeble.
Are you familiar with the weeble?
Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down?
I have a weeble with me today.
This is...
Cade doesn't play with this, but it's in his room, just the same.
So it's weighted at the bottom.
So no matter what you do to it, it stays...
This is really bad, because I don't have any place to set it.
But no matter what, it's weighted really heavy at the bottom.
You put it upside down, it turns back over.
Back this way.
Right?
Weebles makes a clown that stands on its head.
Okay?
So it would be opposite.
It would be upside down.
And that is us, prior to Christ.
That is the Israelites, working, trying to work out their own righteousness.
And yet, no matter what, no matter what they do, no matter how hard they try, no matter how zealous they are,
they'll always land on their heads.
But we, as Christians, are turned around.
1 Corinthians 2.14 says,
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him,
and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man, those without Christ, those without the Spirit of God abiding within them,
no matter what they do, doesn't matter how hard they try to do it,
they cannot gain their own justification before God.
And that's what the Israelites were trying to do.
They missed the point.
Ezekiel 36.26 and 27.
Ezekiel writes,
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and be careful to obey my rules.
2 Corinthians 5.17,
Paul writes,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come.
The lead that was once in our heads, that always kept us upside down,
has been placed in our feet.
So that no matter what we do,
we always land on our feet.
Because we're found in Christ.
We could paraphrase this to say,
They, being ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and going about to establish some other method of acceptance and approach to God,
have not submitted themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They're standing on their heads.
Because man's natural inclination is not to submission.
Meaning, literally, the word submit means to hand over oneself,
to enslave oneself.
That's not kind of our normal mode,
our modus operandi,
our MO.
We don't tend to do that naturally.
Look at Adam and Eve in the garden.
What was the original sin?
They wanted to be like God.
The action that was the evidence of their heart was that they took of the fruit.
But it was because they wanted to be like God.
They wanted to be their own masters.
And that is how we naturally are.
We have been tainted from there on to serve our own ends.
We don't readily submit in this way.
And what is it that we're meant to submit to?
God's righteousness.
So what is he saying?
Are we meant to submit to the law?
Is that what he means when he says God's righteousness?
Certainly, we can think of righteousness in that way.
A right standing.
A proper way of living.
I don't think so.
This obviously is an argument.
We're going to argue this.
But if you want to later,
we can debate this if you'd like.
But I don't think so.
Because in the very next sentence he says,
For Christ is the end of the law.
So it's Jesus Christ who is God's righteousness.
The perfect holy example.
The one without sin.
That we're meant to submit ourselves to.
Because the text says,
He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Christ came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.
Matthew 5.17.
It's from the Sermon on the Mount.
Came not to abolish it, but to fulfill it.
The law has great importance in our life.
Prominence as Christians.
God's moral law still is meant to be obeyed.
We are meant to keep that law.
So it's very prominent in our life.
However, it's not preeminent.
Christ is preeminent.
And Christ is the means by which we fulfill the law.
He comes to fulfill it.
In Him are the promises of God.
Yes and amen.
It's because we're clothed in His righteousness
that God sees that we have upheld the requirements of the law.
So our lives, as we're being perfected, as we're being moved,
are being perfected and worked out.
We're looking more and more like God
because we're doing a better job at keeping the law.
That is the result of our life in Christ.
And ultimately, we have already been perfected
because we're found in Christ.
Is your head spinning?
Mine too.
Right?
The kingdom has come and is still coming.
We have been sanctified and are being sanctified.
We've been made perfect and we're being made perfect.
It's the language of the Bible.
Blow your mind.
Right?
James 2.10 says,
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point
has become accountable for all of it.
So what is James saying to us?
In all of human effort,
if somebody could possibly,
and this would never happen,
but if somebody could possibly keep the entire moral law
but only fail at one point,
they would be held just as accountable
for the person who keeps none of those laws.
Right?
Whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point
has become accountable for all of it.
There is nothing you can do apart from Christ
to be found justified before God,
to stand before him and not be condemned.
Church, this is the metanarrative of humanity.
All of us are under the curse of sin.
All of us.
No one gets to avoid this.
Paul's made that point repeatedly to us.
Both the Jew and the Gentile,
all are under this curse.
Galatians 3.10 says,
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse,
for it is written,
Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things
written in the book of the law and do them.
So we all need a Savior.
Every single one of us.
And my prayer has been,
throughout this week and this morning,
that everyone sitting in this room
has a Savior.
Jesus Christ.
The way.
The truth.
The life.
We don't get options.
Oprah's horribly wrong at that point.
There's not lots of ways to go.
And boy, is somebody zealous for good works.
We could say Oprah is.
Oprah's going to hell.
She has not placed her faith in the one
who fulfills the law.
Verse 6.
But the righteousness based on faith,
not on works.
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.
What is Paul saying to us?
As he quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 30.
He's saying there's no great journey you have to go on.
There's no massive effort that has to be put into play
for your salvation to be worked out.
Jeffrey Wilson wrote,
The sheer perversity of unbelief is shown
by the many who choose to undertake an impossible odyssey
rather than put their trust in an acceptable Christ.
Deuteronomy is saying to us,
We don't have to build a tower to the heavens
or find a way to dive to the bottom of the sea
in order that we might be righteous.
So what does it say?
What does the righteousness based on faith say?
Verse 8.
But what does it say?
The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart.
That is the word of faith we proclaim.
That is the one,
Jesus Christ.
Because,
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.
On the tail end of all of this talk
of God's sovereign election of his people,
Paul comes back to the simple profundity
of the gospel.
Simple because it's just that.
If you confess with your mouth
and believe in your heart
that Jesus is Lord,
you will be saved.
It's factual.
It's stated very emphatically here.
What does that mean
in light of God's sovereign election?
You believe in your heart,
you confess with your mouth,
guess what?
Sovereignly elected.
Great.
Let's live the Christian life together.
I think that's what it means.
Profound.
Because why would God show mercy
to anyone
who has set themselves up
as an enemy,
as a hater of him?
Why would he do that?
Because he's good
and he's God.
It's profound
that God would love us
that much
that he would call us
out of darkness,
who willingly put ourselves
in darkness,
who have said to him,
I don't like your light.
In fact,
I hate it.
I'm going to a different place,
a dark place.
Well,
I don't have to be in your light.
God grabs us by our ankles
and he drags us,
kicking and screaming
by grace,
through faith,
into his light.
He begins to work in us
the things that are dark in us.
He begins to work that out
that we might be light
to this world.
It's an absolutely profound,
profound word.
Verse 10 says,
for with the heart
one believes
and is justified.
And heart doesn't mean
the beating muscle,
pushing blood
to your extremities
right now, right?
When the Bible talks about
the heart,
it's talking about
the center of who we are,
our very being itself.
It's with that heart
that one believes
and is justified.
And with the mouth
one confesses
and is saved.
And he's not saying
that it's a two-step action,
but that if you believe,
you will confess.
I would imagine
that as the author
of Hebrews,
who we don't know
who that was,
but was writing this,
they had this kind
of thought in mind
in chapter 7,
verse 19.
He writes,
for the law made
nothing perfect,
but on the other hand,
a better hope
is introduced,
through which
we draw near
to God.
And that is
the one,
Jesus Christ.
If you believe
in your heart,
the Greek term
for believe
doesn't quite
shape out
the same way
our term does.
When we think
of belief
as Americans
with the English language,
it's just simply
believing something's true,
right?
Believe that's true.
This is black.
Yep,
I believe that.
My life experience
has told me
that I'm not colorblind,
so when somebody
tells me
when I order the podium,
the podium is black,
I expect it to arrive black.
I believed him.
It's black.
There it is.
A mental ascent.
Yeah,
that's right.
The Greek term
looks differently.
It's not only
a mental ascent,
but it's a belief
that connects
to your heart.
It's a guttural belief,
the center of who you are,
and it necessarily
flows into action.
Here,
believing in your heart
flows into
confessing
with your mouth.
If you believe
that Jesus Christ
is Lord,
that he is
the Son of God,
that he was sent
on the behalf
of sinners,
lived a sinless life,
died a death,
bore the wrath of God
on our behalf,
buried,
resurrected,
ascended,
seated at the right hand
of the Father,
now interceding for us,
that we might be
the righteousness of God
in him.
If you believe that,
you're going
to talk about it.
If you don't talk about it,
you may not believe it.
And that doesn't necessarily
mean you're not a Christian,
it just may mean
that you don't believe it
in that day.
You've turned your back
on the gospel.
You've ceased
to confess.
There are certainly
in all of our lives
a time of regeneration.
That heart of stone
is taken out
and the heart of flesh.
The Spirit of God
comes and abides in us.
Repentance and belief,
but yet,
the life of a Christian
is a life
of repentance
and belief.
Turning from sin,
turning to God.
Turning from sin,
turning to God.
That's the evidence
of what's happening
inside of us.
I've used this example
before,
so I apologize
if you're getting
tired of it,
but it's such a perfect one.
My son,
Cademan,
who is two,
a little over two,
really likes trains
right now.
I kind of hope
he loves trains
the rest of his life
for how much
he likes trains
right now.
It's probably a phase,
but the kid
loves trains,
and he talks
about them
all the time.
I understand
almost nothing
he says right now
except train.
I get them.
Train and caboose,
I get those words.
We were at,
our community group
met at a park
a couple of weeks ago.
Those of you who are there
will remember this,
and we were interrupted
by a train
not far from
downtown Gainesville
blowing its horn
and going by,
and then Cade
standing up on the hill
behind us
yelling about the train,
telling us
everything he could
think to tell us
about the train,
which we understood
only the word train,
and he's so excited.
And I don't believe
that his joy
is actually complete
until he begins
to tell people
about it.
He doesn't just like
stand quietly
on the hill
thinking,
I love trains.
Trains are the greatest.
But he involves us
in that joy.
We're taking Cade
today,
this afternoon,
actually,
we're going to hop
in the car
right after the service
and take him
all the way
to Chattanooga
because they have
an amazing train ride
just tailored for a boy
like him
that goes over bridges
and through tunnels
and turns around
on a turntable.
It's going to be awesome.
And I'm so looking forward
to it.
Hopefully he'll survive
the afternoon.
The kid loves trains.
And I'm afraid
that sometimes
Cade loves trains
more than I love Jesus
because I don't talk
about him the way
he talks about trains.
How often
do I miss
the opportunity
to praise my Lord
with my mouth?
And I miss it.
With you guys even,
how quickly does our
conversation after the service,
the service is all about
Jesus Christ,
yeah,
and right after the service,
what do you talk about?
Just a little place
for that in your life,
a little place for Jesus.
We relegate him off
to the 10.30
to 12 o'clock hour
and then we're done
beyond that.
Is this not
the greatest thing
that has ever
happened to you?
You may not have
ever really felt
the weight of your sin
and the,
gosh,
I hope you do.
I hope it doesn't mean
that you sin great
in the coming weeks.
But I hope you
recognize how holy
God is,
how perfect he is,
and how really
wretched you are.
This
just epiphany
hit me
when I was in college
and I was driving
to pray
with a group
of students
from the BSU
and I honestly
don't remember
what I was praying about.
I don't remember
what was going on
in my head
and I was struck
with how incredibly
holy God was
in comparison
to myself
because I realized
that I was
worshiping
my own idea
of who I was
in Christ.
Is that,
can your head
wrap around that?
I had set up
in my mind
Nathan
who serves
Jesus Christ
and that's
who I was
worshiping,
not Jesus.
I think the layers
of our sin
and how absolutely
sinful I am.
And in that moment,
I had to pull over.
I was crying.
I had to pull over
because I just
couldn't believe
how deluded
I had been
for so many years
and had missed
the fact
that God
is perfect
and even when
I think I'm
really on a good
path,
when I'm the most
zealous I can be
in my Christianity,
that yet still
I fall so
desperately short
of his
righteousness.
And then I
praised him
because in Christ
I'm perfect.
Right?
Praise God
it doesn't depend
on us.
Praise God
it depends all
on him.
So if you
believe in your heart,
you will
necessarily
confess
with your mouth.
And that's
what Paul
is saying
to us.
For the
scripture says,
and he's
quoting Isaiah
49,
23,
everyone who
believes in
him
will not
be put to
shame.
He's drawing
us back to
the Old Testament
constantly in the
book of Romans.
Everyone who
believes in him
will not be put
to shame,
for there is no
distinction between
Jew and Greek,
for the same
Lord is Lord of
all,
bestowing his
riches on
all who call
on him.
for everyone
who calls
on the name
of the Lord
will be
saved.
There we have
it again.
That's Joel
2,
32 that he's
quoting from.
As a church,
and I hope
as a Christian
who believes
in the scriptures,
you hold up
high the
sovereign election
of God.
You see that
he is ultimately
in control.
He is all
powerful over
all things,
including the
salvation of his
people.
I hope that
you believe in
that.
And we've
talked about
all the great
reasons that
you should.
It's an
encouragement to
your soul.
It's a movement
to evangelism.
You ought to
believe in
that.
But what does
Paul talk about
next, right after
he got done
talking about
that?
He doesn't
say,
therefore,
brothers,
build large
buildings,
wear nice
suits,
drive fancy
cars,
come together
and say to
each other,
good morning,
brother,
I've been
praying for
you.
He doesn't
say,
form holy
clubs so
that you can
come together
and pat
yourselves on
the back
because you're
God's people.
He doesn't
say that at
all,
does he?
He says
instead,
I have a
desperate
heart to
see the
Israelites
come to
Christ.
I pray
for them
because anyone
who calls
on the name
of the
Lord will
be saved.
Charles Spurgeon,
a great champion
of the
doctrine of
election,
was asked
one time,
why do you
even preach
the gospel?
And he
said,
because the
elect don't
have a
yellow stripe
painted up
and down
their back.
If they
did,
I would
go around
lifting up
shirt tails.
God has
called us
to be the
means to
his ends
and we
ought to
be about
that work.
Next week
we'll talk
at length
about the
following
verses.
The gospel
comes to
us through
words.
How are
people going
to believe
if they
don't hear
the good
news of
Jesus Christ?
This is on
the tail of
one of the
great chapters
on God's
sovereign
election.
Why?
Because it
has to be put
in proper
balance.
So many
of the
doctrines of
scripture
are like
walking a
tightrope
to get it
right.
I used this
analogy before.
We need to
be on the
tightrope
between God's
sovereign
election,
man's
responsibility.
What part
do we play
in carrying
the gospel
to the
world?
Both things
are fully
true.
They're
apparent
paradoxes.
In our
little minds
the two
don't quite
match up.
However,
in God's
magnificent
mind it
makes perfect
sense and
we just
can't
completely
understand
it.
So we're
meant to
walk the
tightrope
in between
and that's
why Paul
does this
for us
here.
This is
why we
believe in
verse-by-verse
exposition
of the
text.
We could
skip over
chapter 10,
couldn't we?
We could
skip over
chapter 9
and just
focus on
10.
There's a
perfect balance
for us
in the
scriptures.
And so
what is the
charge today
as Paul
kind of
steps back
from this
kind of
deep look
at the
doctrine of
election and
salvation?
He kind of
takes a step
back from
that.
What is the
charge to
us today?
I think you're
going to be in
one of two
positions.
You either
have,
with all your
effort,
with all
your zeal,
you've been
pressing to
be righteous
before God.
Christianity
for you has
been a list
of rules,
new laws.
You've just
jotting them
down and
you have
the do's
and you
have the
don'ts,
the sins
of commission
and the sins
of omission.
You're really,
really working
at it.
You're really
trying the
best you
can to
be a good
person because
you think
that's going
to accomplish
something
ultimately
for you.
You're
lost.
You haven't
placed your
faith in
Christ.
If you
haven't come
to the
end of
yourself
and realized
that there's
nothing good
in you
and that
all your
goodness is
found in
him,
you're lost.
Destruction
is your
end.
Today,
believe in
your heart
and confess
with your
mouth.
Turn from
your sin
and turn
to Christ.
You may
have deluded
yourself all
this time.
You may have
bought lies
set your
life right
this morning.
Nothing
special has
to happen
for that.
You know
that,
right?
I don't
have to,
I'm not
a special
purveyor of
God's grace
to you.
This is not
an altar.
You don't
need to come
up here and
sacrifice.
Christ has
already fulfilled
that.
It is
finished
in him.
Yes and
amen.
I hope that
phrase is
getting stuck
in your head
from the last
couple of
weeks.
all you
have to
do is
repent,
believe,
confess with
your mouth,
come talk to
somebody,
it's going to
flow out of
you.
Grab somebody,
look at the
person next
to you,
grab them
and tell
them,
I believe
that Jesus
Christ is
the Son
of God
and I
believe that
he died
for my
sins.
There's
nothing I
could have
done to
be in
right standing
with him.
I've placed
my faith
in him.
That's it.
Simple.
Profundity.
That's it.
Believe this
morning.
I plead with
you.
Believe.
If you're
a Christian
and you're
not confessing
with your
mouth,
believe today.
It's the same
call.
Repent.
Believe.
Have the
simple
profundity of
the gospel
work into
you so
that it'll
work out
of you.
Have a
heart for
your people.
Who are
your people?
Gentiles?
Gentiles.
They're all
around you.
It's the
people that
you go to
school with,
who live on
your hall.
It's the
people that
you work
with.
It's the
people that
you live
in a
neighborhood
with and
probably
don't know
their names.
I can be
guilty of
that.
Those are
your people.
Do you
break for
them?
Do you
desire to
be the
means to
the end?
Knowing that
anyone who
confesses,
anyone who
believes in
their heart
and confesses
with their
mouth,
will be
saved?
saved.
Great
motivation to
share.
I hope that
some of you
who are found
in Christ
this morning
can just
say amen
to everything
that I've
said.
Say,
man,
Nathan's
bringing it
today.
I am so
glad that
I'm not
under fire
this morning
for this.
But I
don't think
that's really
the case.
I know
many of you
well,
and I love
you,
and I love
your devotion
to Christ.
I'm
encouraged,
I'm spurred
on by
you to
serve him
more,
but none
of us
have arrived.
It can't
not be said
of any
of us,
that's the
example.
Run,
run after
that one.
He's got
it down,
or she
has it
perfect.
Right?
So examine
your hearts
this morning.
do you
believe
the gospel?
If you
do,
it's going
to change
the way
you live
your life.
Let's pray
together.
Let's pray
together.
Let's pray
together.
Let's pray
together.