Romans 10:1-13
“Getting right with God”
Welcome!
Would you open your Bibles to...
2Cor. 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Pray
Intro
√ How does a person get right with God?
Ex. Arafat and Shaon – where does one start to bring them together?
Ap. The divide which separated God and Man was even greater.
False righteousness (vs. 1-3)
Rom. 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
Rom. 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom. 10:3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
√ Paul’s desire
That Israel (the Jews) might be saved
The clear implication of his statement is that Israel – the Jews are not saved!
(Obviously he is speaking in general terms as he himself is a Jew who is saved.)
Very important and timely point which we’ll get to in a moment – but first – why is it that Israel has not found salvation?
Because Paul tells us in vs. 4 that they…
1) They are ignorant of God’s righteousness
2) They sought to establish their own righteousness separate from God.
3) They have not submitted to God’s righteousness
Let’s look at each of these points because there is far greater application than the Jew.
√ Man’s religion
Paul’s description of the Jewish religious expression could just as easily describe any of Man’s religions.
How’s that? Because this description characterizes all of Man’s attempt to reach God on their own.
1) They are ignorant
of God’s righteousness:
As Paul has already clearly established in his letter to the Romans the righteousness of God is found only by faith in Jesus Christ.
Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Rom. 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
And…
Rom. 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Rom. 3:22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
And…
2Cor. 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The point – that there is One Way to become right with God and it is by faith in Jesus Christ.
2) They sought to establish their own
righteousness:
The Jew who rejected the Gospel message sincerely believed that he could make himself right before God by his own good works.
That by maintaining the Law of Moses, and the traditions of the elders, he could earn his way to heaven.
3) They have not submitted to God’s
righteousness:
As we saw in our study last week Paul tells us that the Jew stumbled over the Gospel of Christ…
Rom. 9:32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
Rom. 9:33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
The Gospel of Grace is an offence to the mind of the Jew. Paul understood that as he too at one time had been enraged by the preaching of Stephen.
The problem is that when they hear of God’s Grace they wrongly assume that the preacher of Grace is speaking blaspheme against God’s Law.
What they miss is that the message of Christ is not to take away the Law, rather, it is to recognize that we as humans cannot keep that Law and that we need a Savior Who can!
√ Ultimately Paul’s description of the Jew’s rejection of the Gospel gives us a picture of all human religions.
Ex. Tower of Babel
Gen. 11:4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Tower of Babel was a “ziggurat” – a four sided pyramid with a temple at the top. The idea was to reach heaven by their own means…
…they had rejected God’s way and sought to establish their own.
The birth of all false religious systems which has as it’s foundation this motivation…
“and seeking to establish their own righteousness”
vs. 3
Human religion can be boiled down to…
Works oriented
Lacking knowledge of God’s revelation
Not submitting to God
One other important point….
Rom. 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
…these folks are zealous for God – but without knowledge (revelation).
That’s a dangerous combination!
Ex. The Islamic terrorist
Zealous to serve God – lacks knowledge of God.
Reminds us that a person can be zealous and sincere, and be sincerely wrong!
Ex. Saul of Tarsus persecuting the Church
Ap. Christian – do you know what you believe? Is what you believe based upon the whole counsel of God?
Ex. John Haggee teaches that the Jews don’t need to accept Jesus to be saved!
As we’ve just read the Bible clearly says that the Jews are not saved apart from the Gospel of Grace.
True righteousness (vs. 4-7)
Rom. 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Rom. 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
Rom. 10:6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
Rom. 10:7 or,” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
√ Paul begins by telling us that the only true righteousness is found in Jesus Christ.
Note vs. 4…the NIV reads…
“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
The word translated “end” is placed in the emphatic first position in the Greek sentence.
It means that Christ is the designed end (termination) or Purpose-Goal of the law…
…the Object to which the Law pointed.
Gal. 3:24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal. 3:25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
The point?
That the Law did not, nor could not, of itself make a person right before God.
Rather, Jesus fulfilled the Law by keeping it perfectly during His sinless life and then gave His life in payment for the penalty of sin.
The Law then pointed to Him as the source of the God-provided righteousness that the Law could not supply.
So…a person can only be made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
√ Paul’s second point is that this isn’t a new concept – it’s actually in the Law!
In verses 5-7 Paul quotes from Leviticus and Deuteronomy to prove his point that a person is saved by faith-righteousness – not works- righteousness!
Note vs. 5
Rom. 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
Paul’s point is that if a Jew wanted to be saved by his own works he had to keep the whole Law perfectly!
An impossible task!
Jam. 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Contrasted with the righteousness of faith which God has provided…
Rom. 10:6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
Rom. 10:7 or,” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
…Paul’s point is that the Jews already had everything they needed in the words of Moses to bring them to faith in Christ.
That is, the Gospel of Grace – salvation by faith in Jesus Christ is contained in the sacred scriptures of the Jews – all they had to do was look!
Ex. The rich man
Luk. 16:27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
Luk. 16:28 ‘for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
Luk. 16:29 “Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’
Luk. 16:30 “And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
Luk. 16:31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Wow! The Jews in Paul’s day had the truth in their hands and in their head…
…but they didn’t receive it with their heart.
Ex. Like a man with a map and directions – won’t look at them cause he thinks he knows where he’s going!
Good way to get lost!
Ap. How many people who think of themselves as Christians today, who are offended by the idea that a person must be “born again”, are as lost as the Jews in Paul’s day!?
√ So how does a person get saved?
The way of righteousness (vs. 8-13)
Rom. 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
Rom. 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom. 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom. 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Rom. 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
Rom. 10:13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
√ Paul presents the Way – or the means – by which a sinner is saved – made right with God.
Confession with one’s mouth of what one believes in his heart!
Please note the total absence of any works of righteousness.
No Law to keep
No mountains to climb
No penance to be done
No religious group to belong too
The work of righteousness – making sinners right with God is a work that only God can do.
The work was finished by the Son on the Cross…
“It is finished!” – John 19:30
Accepted by the Father…
“Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead),”
Gal. 1:1
Testified by the Holy Spirit Who transforms the lives of those who trust in Christ.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
II Cor. 3:18
There is nothing that we as humans can add to the work of God to save us. We can only be right with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
√ The end of the Romans road
Good place to begin memorizing the Bible…
Romans 3:23
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 10:8-13
Reminds us that Paul’s purpose in life was to communicate the Gospel with a lost world.
His passion was to tell both Jews and Gentiles about the love of God as expressed through the gift of His only Son.
Ap. How about you and me this morning?
We may not all have the gift of evangelism – but we can all evangelize – we can all share the love that God has given to us.
We need to be ready to share what it is that God has done in our life by the power of the Cross.
Don’t make it complicated – keep it simple – it’s God’s work – we just need to become partakers of His free gift.
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