The Accessible Savior
Romans 10:1-13
Intro: Perhaps you’ve heard of the game, 4 truths and a lie. It is often used as a mixer for people to get to know each other better. You write down 5 things about yourself, and they are all true but one. The other person tries to guess which one is not true.
-Well, Paul was confronting some of the lies that were hindering so many of his fellow Jews from being saved, or made right before God. There were many truths that they embraced from God’s law, but they were deceived regarding the nature of God’s plan to make people righteous so they could have fellowship and eternal life with Him.
-One of those lies was that they could keep the law well enough to establish their own righteousness. The truth they focused on was that they were zealous for God! That was biblical, but only to the degree that their zeal aligned with who God is, not who they tried to make Him out to be. Another lie was that salvation was designed primarily for Jews- God’s chosen people. They had been given the law of God through Moses and figured that everybody else would have to become Jewish to be saved. Paul and other leaders of the early church spent considerable time battling against this lie. And especially in Romans, Paul is writing to this mixed group of believers (Jews and Gentiles), telling them that God is reaching out to everyone, and whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!
-So in Romans 10 Paul pours out his heart again regarding his burden for his Jewish brothers and sisters who refused to be saved on God’s terms and were trying to do it their own way. I’d like to share 4 simple statements that Paul was making about getting right with God.
1. Stop looking for a different Solution
1 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."
-It is commonly believed and accepted in our culture that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. “I won’t disrespect your beliefs if you don’t disrespect mine.” Unfortunately, this PC precept has caused many people to stop challenging people’s assumptions – even if they are clearly erroneous. It doesn’t take a college degree to know that two completely opposite claims cannot both be right. Granted, not everything in life is binary. Sometimes we disagree with others because they are looking through a different lens than we are, perhaps while describing the same thing.
-But Paul wasn’t concerned about being popular or accepted by his fellow Jews. He was pretty confrontational at times. Just read Galatians! So Paul said the Jews (as a whole) were zealous for God, but their zeal was based on false assumptions. They were so busy trying to establish their own goodness through conformity to the law that they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
-They couldn’t see the forest for the trees! They got so engrossed with all the trees (the law) that they missed the forest (God’s overall plan to save people). Jesus and the message of salvation was woven all throughout the law. Jesus and true salvation by faith in Him was really what the law was aiming at all along.
-1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
-Bottom line, the only way we can get right with God is to trust Him and His way more than we trust ourselves and our ways. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Prov. 14:12).
2. Stop looking for a different Savior!
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).
-Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 30:11-14 “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” Note that Paul is quoting this OT passage as an expression of the word of faith or the word from God which we are to believe.
-Moses can no longer ascend Mt. Sinai where heaven and earth met to receive God’s word for Israel! Jesus already came down to this earth. If we are waiting for someone else to give us a 2nd opinion or a new revelation that says something different, that is the same as denying that Jesus already came, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a sacrificial death, and provided for our forgiveness.
-Jesus already died as an atoning sacrifice in our place and rose from the dead. Listen to one of the earliest hymns or creeds from the early church: 1 Corinthians 15:3b-5 “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.”
-Descending into the deep may be a reference to going down into the Red Sea, where God delivered them from death and redeemed them. The deep is also a reference to death. Jesus rose from the dead, showing that He is our powerful Savior who has power over death! Many Jews were still awaiting a Messiah who would come and deliver Israel from the tyranny of the Romans and restore their political and military prowess. They rejected any notion that the promised Messiah had already come as the living Word of God to them.
-How many people today are looking for a different savior than the one God provided for us from before the world began? (Money, power, success, falling in love, pleasure, escape – so many other saviors that cannot save!)
-God says, “Stop looking for another savior! Stop looking for another solution! Instead, receive the true word that I have already given you! My own Son, Jesus Christ!”
3. Believe that Jesus died and rose again!
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…
-One of the coolest things about these verses is the fact that salvation is not out of reach! God’s love and favor is not limited to the elite few who are perfect in every way. We have an accessible Savior who is the living Word of God to us who became flesh and lived on this earth as one of us. He brought salvation to us!
-What does it mean to believe in God? James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder.” We’re talking about something more than just mental agreement with a fact. When you believe something in your heart, it affects who you are and what you do. When you really believe something in your heart, it becomes worth dying for!
-Now specifically, v.9 speaks of believing that God raised Jesus from the dead. How can we believe something that happened almost 20 centuries ago? How do we know it is true? Well, along with the verse we just read from 1 Cor. 15, there is quite a lot of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The most powerful evidence came from the testimonies of the eyewitnesses (over 500), most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote 1 Cor. If his claim was false, they could have challenged it on several fronts. But we don’t find that to be the case. They were willing to die for believing in their hearts that God had raised Jesus from the dead! Many of them were killed because they believed what God had said and had accepted what Jesus did on their behalf.
-How are we justified or made right with God? By believing what God says with our hearts! But there is more. Let’s look a little closer at vv.10-13.
4. Make a public confession that Jesus is Lord!
…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."
-Paul likely had Christian baptism in mind in v.9 when he said, “Confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord.’” It was a public confession that a person was aligning their lives with Jesus and identifying themselves as a follower of Him. Their faith in who Jesus was and what He had done for them prompted them to acknowledge Him as Lord of all, specifically Lord of their lives.
-Maybe you consider yourself a Christian, but you’ve never made a public confession of faith. You may believe but you’ve not followed the Lord’s instructions to be baptized in water. You have come up with your own solution on how to be saved and what it looks like when you are saved.
-When we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, we are declaring that He is the Son of God and that we will do things His way. We will obey His teachings and not make it up as we go. We will no longer take our cues from our culture or from what our friends think is okay, but from Jesus Himself!
-The power of making a public confession of faith that Jesus is your Lord and leader is that you become accountable to the Christians around you who love you and will help you as you grow in your faith. If we just say we believe in Jesus and try to live a Christian life apart from other Christians (the body of Christ), we are missing an important part of God’s plan for our walk with Him. I’m not suggesting that a person cannot come to Christ without being part of a church, but we need to remember that the church is God’s idea. We need to be part of a church family where we have a place to belong, where we have something to offer, where we have mutual support, and where Jesus is honored in and through His body, the Church. If we think that we have a better idea than God and don’t need His church because so many people are imperfect there, then we are in danger of making it up as we go. God knows best!!! The church (people following Jesus together) is God’s idea and His plan for you and me!
-We won’t always agree and we may even mess things up sometimes. The Roman church did. The church at Corinth did. Some of the churches in Revelation 2&3 did. But did Jesus disown them? No! He warned them and corrected them, but just as He promised, He was always with them, continually changing them into “a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. …holy and without fault. Ephesians 5:27
-That’s who I want to be! Someone who believes in my heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Someone who has made a confession with my mouth in front of others that Jesus is the Lord of my life. I want to be someone who is part of God’s family, the Church, also known as the Bride of Christ! I also want to be one who helps others believe and confess Jesus as Lord and become part of God’s family as well! I see the words Anyone and Everyone in these verses! Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!
-How about you? God has given us a Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no other Savior! There are no other solutions to our sin problem! There is no other way to get right with God! All of the good works in the world will not make your righteous or qualify you for heaven. Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
-Who do you want to be? Let me close with just a few questions: Have you been trying to find another way to be accepted by God? Without faith it is impossible to please God! Do you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead? Maybe you are still searching some things out. Don’t put it off. Do your research. Ask for help. Settle the question in your heart and mind once and for all – Did Jesus die for our sins and come back to life? If so, was that enough to cover me and my messy life? If you believe God’s word to you, then the answer you come to will be yes! Finally, have you confessed Jesus as Lord and followed Him in water baptism? No more halfway stuff! Do it God’s way! Go all in with Him! You have a Savior who loves you and gave everything for you. Will you give yourself wholeheartedly to Him? That is the simple truth of salvation: Jesus died for me and rose again. I publicly confess that He is the Lord of my life and commit to follow Him all the days of my life!
