The Essence Of Salvation Series

Text- Romans 9:30-10:13

Title- The Essence Of Salvation

Romans 9:30 - 10:13 30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." NAU Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ’WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), 7 or ’WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." 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 are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

I. Salvation is by Faith not works 30-33

II. Salvation by Faith is Found only in Christ- 1-5

III. Salvation by Faith is near- 6-8

IV. Salvation by Faith is simple- 9-10

V. Salvation by Faith is for everyone- 11-13

Over the last year and a half I’ve learned that there are a lot of aspects to being a pastor that they don’t teach you in seminary. Pastoral leadership involves having a wide scope of knowledge.

They don’t teach you roofing or maintenance, although I was fortunate to learn a lot about that stuff by working as a maintenance guy. They didn’t teach me about law, there are a number of legal issues that I’ve come across. Fortunately we have members of the church who are lawyers and have offered sound advice. They just don’t teach much about real estate development in seminary either. And regardless of the size of the church, managing property is a part of the job.

There are a lot of different things that I am learning on the job, but probably the most complicated is web development. We are fortunate to have people in the church who are skilled in this area, but I still like to know how to do stuff. How hard can it be to update a web page or find ways to better use the internet. My mentality is always, if someone else can figure it out, than so can I.

So I called a meeting together with different people who know stuff about web design and computer stuff and asked lots of questions. They explained things using words that I thought I know, like “contribute” and “dreamweaver” and “cookie”. But I have absolutely no idea what they are saying. It was like they were speaking a different language. So I mostly just smiled and nodded.

At that point I employed another important tool of pastoral leadership- delegation. I asked, can you do it? Ron Ottman and others have been very helpful in keeping things running. He has also been very helpful in helping me understand how things work.

Sometimes I feel like our study in Romans is a lot like learning how to do web design. I know that this book of the Bible is a deep one. The stuff that we are working through is some of the most complex theological ideas in the entire Bible.

Paul uses big theological words like propitiation and justification and reconciliation to explain salvation. Paul gives us a detailed history lesson and uses examples like Abraham and Adam & Eve and Jacob & Esau. Paul also dives in deep into the mystery of God’s sovereignty and God’s holy character.