The Responsibilities of Man
Receive Jesus Christ by Faith (Romans 10:1-13)
Proclaim Jesus Christ to All (Romans 10:14-21)
Even To those who do not seek (Romans 10:19-20)
Even To those who disobey (Romans 10:21)
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Intro
Good morning. We are still continuing our Series through Romans called Summer in Rome for several more weeks.
Last week, we saw as we studied Romans 9, that God is completely sovereign, in control of all things and able to keep His word and His promises perfectly.
We also saw that He is completely sovereign in regards to the salvation of men and we discussed the doctrine of election and saw how God is motivated by His mercy and compassion toward the salvation of men that He has elected before the foundation of the world for salvation.
We also began discussing that while salvation is completely a sovereign act of God through election, it is also ordained by God to be given to men as they believe and receive Jesus Christ.
While that seems difficult to wrap our minds around completely it is true, and nowhere are the responsibilities of Man more clearly spelled out than in this chapter we are going to look at today, Romans 10, so you can begin turning there.
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If you really think about it, it is amazing that what many men believe to be two strongly opposing doctrines, God’s Sovereignty and Man’s responsibility to make choices and act, are found right here standing side by side in Scripture, without much difficulty in Paul’s mind.
When Charles Spurgeon, that great preacher from the 1800’s, was asked if he could reconcile the truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, he said, “I never try to reconcile friends.”
And I think that is where our problem lies. Some people are busy making enemies out of what are friends in Scripture.
God’s Sovereignty and Man’s responsibilities are not diametrically opposed to one another. They are friends and can coexist within Scripture and within our lives as we trust and follow the Lord.
So, as we spoke mainly about the Sovereignty of God last week, we are going to be talking this week about the responsibilities of Man as outlined in Romans chapter 10.
Romans 10
10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”
19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
20 And Isaiah boldly says,
“I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But concerning Israel he says,
“All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Pray
Ok, Paul begins these verses like he started out Chapter 9, talking about his love for his fellow Israelites. Paul’s desire is for them to be saved, but the fact remained that many of them were not. It is not for a lack of zeal, however. The Jews were very zealous for the Lord. But their zeal was not in accordance with knowledge.
Have you ever met anyone like that?
Sincerity does not equal salvation
Someone who is zealous for God and sincere in their beliefs, but their zeal and spirituality is not based on what the Lord has revealed in His word, but rather on what they want to believe about God, or on what they want to do.
Sometimes we want to think that people who are sincere in their spirituality must be saved because they are so sincere.
Sincerity does not equal salvation.
The Jews sincerely believed that they needed to follow the law and they believed that others did too.
They were sincerely wrong, however.
Their sincerity is not based on knowledge, on the knowledge that the Lord had revealed to them.
Sincerity and zeal will not save people, if their zealousness is not based upon the knowledge God has revealed in His word.
Then the question arises, well how do we know what is true? How do we know we can trust the Bible to be God’s word?
Well, God has given us His word and when you truly look into how we have received book, you will see that there is so much evidence that points to God as the author over and above any other religious writing there is.
We spend a good deal of time discussing this at our Back to Basics seminar. If you want to know more, then you should come to our next Back to Basics Seminar on Saturday, October 1st.
The Bible really is the Word of God, it is His word of knowledge and truth to us, and we have got to have our zeal, based upon the knowledge that God has revealed to us through His word.
What are you basing your hope in? Your sincerity? Your Zealousness?
Is your hope based upon what the Lord has revealed in his word, the knowledge about who Jesus is and what He has done to provide salvation for all who will Receive Him?
And this is one of the major things we find in Scripture that the Lord has given us responsibility in, even in light of His Sovereignty, and that is to
Receive Jesus Christ by Faith
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In these verses, Paul clearly tells us that there is no thing we can do in regards to works.
He quotes Moses about the righteousness that is sought after by the law as something we must do – Live by the law for your righteousness. You can’t do it.
These verses that Paul quotes of Moses are basically saying that you can’t do anything to bring the Messiah to you. You can’t go and get Him and say “Look how good I am.” You can’t do anything to save Him from what He already did. He died for your sins and He is the only one who can save us. You can’t save Him.
Salvation is completely of the Lord.
Now this is in contrast to many of the pagan religions of the day who were trying to constantly show the ‘gods’ how pious and good they were so these gods would act on their behalf.
Elijah – Prophets of Baal
Think about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Those prophets were trying to get their god’s to act and trying to get their attention by cutting themselves, by yelling louder.
1 Kings 18:27-29
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
There was no answer, however, because their ‘gods’ are not God. We do not need to do anything to get the attention of the One True God, the God who created heaven and earth. He has already acted and obtained salvation and it is He is working to get our attention.
Jesus tells us in John 6:44 that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” The God of the universe is working to draw men to Himself so that they might believe.
Transition
The Righteousness that is by faith will not be seeking to get God’s attention and bring Christ down to see or by seeking to do anything in our own power.
But what does a Righteousness that is by faith do?
It responds in belief.
Romans 10:8-10
"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
God in his sovereignty has given us the responsibility of receiving the salvation He offers through faith in His Son and the work He has already accomplished.
Here is where knowledge and sincerity meet.
Here and throughout the Scriptures, God provides us with the knowledge we need to know about the salvation He has provided through His Son.
And He gives us in an encapsulated form, what it means to receive Jesus by faith.
But how do we really do that?
How do you Receive Jesus by Faith?
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First it is important to understand that we Receive Jesus by faith by believing in Him and what he has done.
John 1:12 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— NIV
We receive Christ by believing in his name. That is more than just believing he was or is a person. That means believing in Him, in who he was and what He did.
And these verses in Romans give us some of those essential beliefs about who He is and what he did that we must believe to be saved.
And when it says in Romans 10:9 that we must confess that “Jesus is Lord” it is meaning that we must believe that
Jesus is God in the Flesh
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That Jesus , a real man, was also, really God.
That is part of what it means to be the Christ
When we look back at the gospel of John, He begins with this.
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John 1:1, 14 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.… 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
The deity of Jesus is an essential part of belief. Jesus is God in the Flesh.
But we see a couple of other things as well in these verses that we must believe.
We also need to believe that
Jesus Died for our Sins
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In Romans, Jesus’ death for us is implied. That we must believe in His resurrection from the dead, tells us that we must believe He died. And the purpose of His death was for our sins.
1 Corinthians 15:3 gives some of the essentials a bit more clearly.
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Paul says there that part of the gospel we need to believe is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3
He is the substitutionary sacrifice. He died in our place, taking what we deserve. We must believe this for salvation.
And one final thing that Paul tells us here is that we must believe that
Jesus Rose from the Dead
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Romans 10:9
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. NIV
A belief in Jesus Resurrection is essential to salvation. It is through the resurrection that Jesus is declared and proven to be who he said He was and the proof that shows He can keep his promises.
In fact, Paul began with this as he started out this letter to the Romans.
Romans 1:1-4
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1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
The resurrection is essential to the Christian Faith.
1 Corinthians 15:13-14
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If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Those 3 things about Jesus are essential to believe.
That Jesus is God in the Flesh.
That Jesus died for your sins.
That Jesus Rose from the dead.
When we believe that in our heart, truly believe that Jesus is who He said He was, and He did what He said He was going to do for us, for me, then we should just acknowledge that and confess that to the Lord.
Have you ever done that?
Have you ever confessed Jesus as Lord, believing that He died for you and rose from the dead?
If not, I am going to take a moment right now and lead you in a prayer of confession.
Now these words are not magic. Salvation is truly about your heart. Uttering these words without belief will do nothing for you.
But as we confess our true belief, God works and saves us according to his will.
If you have never confessed Jesus as your savior, then why not take this moment to do that.
Pray
Transition
Receiving Jesus by faith is not the only responsibility the Lord has given us.
In His Sovereignty, He has also given us the responsibility to
Proclaim Jesus Christ to All
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Romans 10:14-21
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Now when it talks about someone preaching to them it is not talking about just a person who preaches. This is not just for preachers and pastors, this is for all.
Those of us who have received Christ have the best news in the world to share. And the Lord wants us to share it! He wants us to proclaim it boldly.
This is the last thing he told those who would begin the church before he ascended into heaven.
Mark 16:15 - "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
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The Lord wants us to proclaim this news to everyone.
And this is not just for those who walk through the doors to come to church.
Not just for those whom it would appear to us as they are seeking Him.
No, this is for everyone,
Even to those who do not seek
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Listen to some of these last verses in Romans 10:19-20 again
19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,
"I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding."
20 And Isaiah boldly says,
"I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."
Those whom God revealed himself to where not hearing Him. So to arouse their jealousy and show them their own foolishness, God revealed himself to those who were not even seeking him, the gentiles.
God has shown His compassion and mercy to those who did not seek and He wants us to proclaim the good news of the gospel to everyone, as his word tells us, even to those who are not seeking him.
That means we need to be sharing Christ outside of these walls.
This chapter says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Would you say your feet are beautiful?
Are your feet bringing good news to those who you have relationship with?
We need to seize the opportunities that the Lord places before us to proclaim the good news to everyone.
At our work places on Monday mornings. When we talk about our weekends with our coworkers or schoolmates, seize the opportunity to talk about what you heard at church.
“This weekend I learned what it really means to believe in Jesus. It is not just believing He is a person, but that Jesus really is God and that He died for me, for me personally, and that He rose from the dead. What do you think about those things?”
Pray for opportunities and then expect them.
If you are afraid of messing up the gospel, keep the insert from today and go over those verses so you can better know them and so you can more easily share them with others.
There is no greater blessing than being used by the Sovereign God of the universe to proclaim the good news of Jesus with others.
God uses us to affect other people’s eternities. Amazing. Is God Great or what.
I would like to invite the worship team back up this morning.
Worship team come up
We are going to close worshipping our great God this morning.
As we do that, I want you to be thinking of whom the Lord has placed in your life that you can proclaim Jesus Christ to and share the good news of the gospel with.
As we take the responsibilities that the Lord has given us seriously, He is glorified in our lives, and that is what He has sovereignly created us to do.
Let’s worship him this morning.
