Pursuit of Righteousness – Pt 5

If God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn back once again to Romans chapter 10. Where we find ourselves once
again. We have begun this new section,
which actually began in chapter 9 and verse 30 several weeks
ago, where Paul takes up the whole issue of righteousness
and specifically the attempt, particularly by the Jews, of
trying to secure the righteousness of God by means of works. Paul
says that was a ill-fated attempt and He essentially points out
in the opening verses of chapter 10 the not only the wayward attempt
of the Jews to secure that righteousness but the proper means of securing
that righteousness. Paul pointed out that there was
good cause to pray for the nation of Israel in their waywardness.
There was good cause to say that they were wayward. There was good cause to say that
they were not without hope and so Paul points that out in those
early verses and essentially draws to the conclusion that
the way to pursue righteousness is the way of faith. He begins
that subject in verse eight and we’ll pick up there this Lord’s
day having laid a good foundation in the consideration of those
verses over the past few weeks. If you would, just follow along
with me in verses 8 through 13 this morning. Paul is setting
a contrast here of what the Word of God does and does not say.
What it did and did not imply. And he picks it up here in verse
8 with the contrast. 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. That if you confess with your
mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart
man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says whoever
believes in him will not be disappointed for there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all
abounding in riches for all who call upon him. For whoever will
call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Paul had pointed
out regarding the Jews that they were worthy of prayer because
of their uneducated passion. They had gone about the pursuit
of righteousness in all the wrong ways. If you look back at verse
two, he said that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance
with knowledge. It was an uneducated zeal. They
lacked a particular knowledge, specifically a knowledge of God’s
way, and in that sense, their effort was insubordinate. They
did not submit to God’s manner of the pursuit of righteousness.
They chose instead to pursue their own. So says verse three,
not knowing about God’s righteousness and not knowing because they
didn’t want to know and seeking to establish their own. They
did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Why? not pursue the righteousness
of God why not pursue the law’s righteousness because Christ
has come and that is the end of the law. In essence it’s an
obsolete approach. Paul draws this conclusion and
states his reasons for it in verses five through seven and
essentially he points back to a passage of scripture in Moses
writings that point to essentially justification by faith that extols
the virtue of faith and extols the right way to walk with God
is by faith. That’s the subject that Paul
takes up in much greater detail in verses eight through thirteen.
When Paul says what does it say the word is near you in your
mouth and in your heart he points to the fact that All that the
Jews needed was right at their disposal. They could articulate
God’s standards and essentially faith and the readiness to exercise
that faith was also ready at hand in their mouth and in their
heart. Paul points it out that that
is essentially the same gospel that he and his fellow messengers
were preaching. That’s what he says at the end
of verse eight. That is the word of faith, which we are preaching.
That’s what Moses was alluding to in that verse in Deuteronomy. Paul goes to expand essentially
what he means by this word of faith. And if you just look at
verse nine, just by way of a very quick review, he says, what is
this word of faith? He describes it very clearly
in verse nine. that if you confess with your
mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead you shall be saved. There’s no muddiness here. There’s no lack of clarity of
what Paul’s talking about. He’s talking about our eternal
salvation. He’s talking about the fact that
we need God’s righteousness. We need to be justified and he’s
talking about faith and he melds all of those together in this
one section. Now, we talked about it. We’ll
spend just another moment or two by way of a quick review. That if you confess with your
mouth, Jesus as Lord, essentially what Paul was pointing to there
is not just merely the articulation of those words. I suggested to
you that if a reporter came and asked you about your faith and
parroted back that phrase, Jesus is Lord, that doesn’t make him
a Christian. But if someone welling up from
within in their faith that Jesus Christ is indeed God, that he
is indeed Lord of all, if that wells up within the heart and
spills forth in the speech an articulation of that truth, that
is the means of salvation. And if he believes in his heart
and Paul doesn’t mean to suggest that there are two different
ways or two different steps. One produces the other faith
produces confession. Confession comes from faith.
Paul says if you believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead and we talked about it. The resurrection is not an
unimportant doctrine. The resurrection is God’s essential
stamp of approval on the work of Christ on his incarnation
on his life his perfect sinless life on his death on the cross
and ultimately God raised him. It’s not an unimportant doctrine
and for a person to be able to say well Jesus is Lord but I
don’t believe in the resurrection. Paul says that’s not possible.
So you can’t separate the two. Paul said, if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. And from
here, Paul begins to essentially make a case for salvation by
the confession of faith. Paul is going to use a very simple
device, this little word for. And he uses it five times. And
he basically begins to stack reason upon reason upon reason
on why the case for salvation by confession of faith is legitimate. It’s true. It is the means of
salvation. Glance down, if you would, at
verses 10 through 13. I said there were five of these
statements, five of these, if you will, proofs. In verse 10,
we find our first proof. With the heart man believes resulting
in righteousness with a mouth. He confesses resulting in salvation. That’s the 1st 4 clause, but
there’s another look at verse 11 for the Scripture says whoever
believes in him will not be disappointed. There’s a 3rd 4 clause and that
we find in verse 12 for there is. No distinction between Jew
and Greek. There’s a fourth for clause at
the second part of verse 12 for the same Lord is Lord of all
abounding in riches for all who call upon him. And then there
is that fifth. For clause found in verse 13
for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord. will be saved. Paul is building
the case. He has already stated the case
that justification by faith, even from the earlier chapters
of this great epistle, and he’s already made the statement, the
suggestion here that that is the focus, that is the means
of securing righteousness, that of faith, But here he begins
to state definitively and make a full and final case for salvation
that comes merely by means of the confession of faith. Now
it may surprise you, I don’t know where everybody was raised
and what everybody’s background is, but it may surprise you to
know that there are denominations that would say If you believe
that, you are accursed. If you believe that all you have
to do is place your faith in Christ and you’re saved, that
you have thereby secured the righteousness of God, you’re
saved. If that’s what you believe, you’re accursed. The Roman Catholic
Church believes that. The Roman Catholic Church stands
justification by faith on its head, and it must, because the
Roman Catholic Church advances the whole issue of works. So be careful what you believe
here. Do you really believe this? Is this really what you believe? But if the scripture says it,
and if Paul’s case here that he builds is true, then there
is one way of salvation. And it is by confession of the
mouth and articulation of the truth of the gospel that Jesus
Christ is Lord God, indeed, and that God raised him from the
dead. Let’s look at Paul’s case for salvation by confession of
faith, but first of all, at the fact that confession of faith
is effectual. Confession of faith is effectual,
look at verse 10. 4. With the heart, man believes,
resulting in righteousness. In other words, it works. You
place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it does something. In this case, as it points out,
it makes one righteousness. It gives one, rather, righteousness. Now, we’re not made perfect.
We’ve talked about righteousness before. We’re not made sinless.
We are given the full measure of Christ’s righteousness. It
works. It’s effectual. But that’s not
all. This confession of faith is also
of the mouth. And it says, with the mouth he
confesses, resulting in salvation. It works. This little word for just allows
Paul to begin to build upon what he’s already said. But if you
confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Paul
begins to introduce the reason for that statement, the proof And essentially what he points
to is the fact that the Christian life is essentially starts like
a coin with two sides from the inside. It’s a matter of faith. And the faith wells up and ultimately
the faith issues forth in the righteousness of God. But outwardly,
externally, verbally, This confession of faith essentially is that
which puts us on the path towards salvation and towards heaven.
Now, in verse nine, we were caught off guard, perhaps bothered by
the order, because first it was confession and then faith. Well,
we were all worked up into a dither over that. Some of us. Paul is
an. Paul isn’t confused, he merely
was seizing there the way that that was articulated in Deuteronomy.
First the confession and then the faith. Here he reverses it
back around to what would be for us a more natural order. First comes faith, and then comes
the confession flowing forth from that. established. There is a state,
a condition of being in faith. Their belief is now exercised. The information came, it was
received, it was accepted, it was assented to as being true. Salvation, we know, is entirely
by faith. That is the great theme of this
entire book. What Paul is presenting to us
here in these verses is essentially a definition of saving faith. Paul articulated this from the
very earliest verses of this epistle. Romans 1.16, I am not
ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For in it, that is, in the gospel,
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Paul hasn’t changed his position.
He isn’t presenting anything new. He’s pointing essentially
here to justification once more. A believing which obtains righteousness. Justification by faith. But Paul
also moves here in verse 10 to consider this act of confession
with the amount he confesses resulting in salvation. See this faith of the heart. The faith of the heart is worthless
unless it issues forth in a practical belief, an outworking of that
faith. The confession of Christ is absolutely
indispensable. We must confess Christ. As one said, nothing less than
open loyalty to Christ. No mere recitation, even of a
sacred universal creed, is the witness of the whole man to Christ.
In other words, he says that you can’t just go through the
motions, merely reading some kind of a confession, reading
it on a creed, reciting it in some way, shape or form. And
that has been the big tripping point for so many. is that they
think that just by having rehearsed these verses, by parroting them
back, some prayer that some person put into their head, that merely
reciting those things has made them to be saved. It’s not the
case. There must be faith. There must
be confession. There must be repentance. And
those things must issue forth in a full confession of Christ. Not just with the mouth. It starts
there. that ultimately it issues forth
in the whole life. One pastor said it this way the
confession with the mouth represents the fact the whole process by
which the Christian in his life on earth owns and obeys his Lord. He refuses to deny him in this
evil world the narrow path along which the justified move to their
eternal home. They will not give up. They will
not abandon Christ. They will not deny him lordship
over their lives. He is Lord. And if you have one,
as we said last week, if you have one of these elements, faith
or confession, it will issue forth the other. If you are truly
saved, you cannot begin to articulate the gospel without faith. And
if you have faith, you cannot help but ultimately to issue
forth in a confession. But Paul makes a second point
here. He’s building a case, as I’ve
suggested, for salvation by confession of faith. And not only does he
give us the truth that confession of faith is effectual, it works,
it does something. And all of us who have named
the name of Christ or proof of that today, that our hearing
of the gospel at one point in time gave us an opportunity and
we believed and it began to take root in our hearts and it ultimately
issued forth in salvation. It did something. And we know
in our hearts that we’re saved. God has begun to work in us.
We now stand in the righteousness of Christ. It did something.
The pole points to a second truth, and he says, not only is faith
effectual, this confession of faith is secondly spirit, pardon
me, scriptural. It’s scriptural. Look, if you
will, at verse 11, for he says, for the scripture says, here’s
your proof. Here’s the proof of justification
by faith, the fact that it is effectual, for the scripture
says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. Would that word there, disappointed,
no, you and I would look at that in the context. That is, that’s
a tremendous understatement. Not only are we not disappointed,
we’re taken from the lowest of low and placed in the highest
of highs. Not only are we not disappointed,
we are elated, thrilled, overwhelmed with God’s goodness and grace. This quotation that Paul seizes
upon is essentially suggested by the word salvation. Paul seizes
upon that and he cites this verse, Isaiah 28, 16, and he introduces
it as a proof of what he had just said, the statement in his
previous verse, that faith leads to justification. Where’s your
proof, Paul? Here it is. This case for justification by
faith is proven by scripture itself, specifically Isaiah 28,
16. Isaiah here points to salvation,
points to help from God as being through faith, nothing else. Whoever believes in him will
not be disappointed. Whoever places their faith in
the living God will not be disappointed. He will be helped. He will be
saved. But Paul adds one little syllable
here. One little word. And it’s translated here, at
least in the New American Standard, as whoever. And it gives almost
a universal feel for this passage. What it basically points to is
just the broad range of validity to this verse. Paul adds it but you can already
step back and see the universal nature of this salvation and
what he points to is not that every person in the world will
be saved but that it is open both to the Jew and to the Gentile.
And whoever places their faith in Christ, Jew or Gentile, will
be saved. They will be helped. Paul makes it explicit that this
scope is universal in nature. This is a broad sweep, this gospel. Paul had just quoted Isaiah 28,
16. Do you remember that? Flip back if you need to in order
to get to Romans 9.33. Flip back to Romans 9. Paul had quoted in a different kind
of a fashion here, a little bit different context. Look at verse
thirty what should we say then that Gentiles who did not pursue
righteousness attained righteousness even the righteousness which
is by faith that Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not
arrive at that law. Why. Because they did not pursue
it by faith but as though it were by works they stumbled over
the stumbling stone 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. Paul blends two verses together,
Isaiah 8, 14 and 28, 16. But here, jumping forward back
again to Romans 10, 11, Paul seizes this verse and lays out
the truth, the blessedness of the truth. What he had already
done is essentially use those two verses to point to the fact
that Israel had stumbled over that simple truth. of justification
by faith. Here, Paul points to the fact
that it’s scriptural. It’s a biblical idea. This idea
of salvation merely by the confession of faith. Again, it’s not new. Romans 1, 16 and 17. Again, that is essentially the
gospel. Paul is not done building his
case, though. Paul wants to take us to a third
point, a third proof, if you will, in this case for salvation,
a confession of faith. Not only is confession of faith
effectual, not only is confession of faith scriptural, confession
of faith is, if you will, general. Now, this is where a thesaurus
sometimes will just Not give you any help at all. Because
really the point that I’m trying to make here is the confession
of faith is universal. If I were to use the word universal,
we have a stampede at the back door. The point that Paul is making
here is that it is broadly available to all. Look at verse 12. There
is no distinction between Jew and Greek. It is broadly universal
to all. It is general. This confession
of faith, this means of salvation is the general universal means
of salvation. There isn’t an approach for Jews
and another approach for the Gentiles. There isn’t a way of
salvation for Jews and yet another for Gentiles. Paul says there’s
no distinction. There’s no distinguishing. When
it comes to justification by faith, that is the means of salvation. Or two, or three, or more. What Paul is pointing to here
is this nearness that salvation was to the Jew. How close it
was, how readily accessible it was. The Gentiles found it merely
by stumbling upon it. As soon as they heard the standard
of God’s law, they said, well, we can’t do that. We need help,
God. The Jew, on the other hand, said,
I think we can do this. I think we can do this law thing.
I think we can live perfectly enough. Paul’s pointing here to how close,
how near justification was to the Jew. All he had to do is
look. Ultimately, it’s revealed in absolute clarity with Christ. The Jews and the Gentiles have
the same access to salvation. They have the same opportunity.
They would be saved in exactly the same way if ever, and if
at all. Paul had repeatedly reflected
upon this absence of any kind of distinction. about sin, about
condemnation, about salvation and the opportunities therein.
The Jews and the Gentiles were in the same pool all the way
along. Let me take you on a tour. Go
back a few words to Romans 1. It’ll be a quick tour. in Romans 1. I’ve already said
it, but let’s read it together. I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. There weren’t two
ways of salvation. There’s one way of salvation. It’s faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 3, if you would. We’ve got four of them to look
at here in Romans 3. We’ll be here for a moment. Look
at verse 9. What then? Are we, Jews, better
than they? Not at all, for we have already
charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. Paul puts
himself in with them. All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. Look at verse 19 of chapter 3. Now, we know that whatever the
law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that
by every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become
accountable to God. Paul’s driving this point home,
that there’s no difference. Look at verse 21. But now, apart
from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe,
for there is no distinction for all who sin and fall short of
the glory of God. There’s no distinction. There’s
no different way of salvation, one for Jew, one for Gentile.
Look at verse 29. Or is God the God of the Jews
only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles
also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since
indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the
uncircumcised through faith is one. There’s no distinction.
Paul makes the same point in Romans chapter 4 verse 11 and
12. The same point in Romans chapter 9 verse 24. There’s no
distinction. Back if you would to Romans chapter
10. Paul in Romans 3.22 said that
both are sinners. Both stand in the same predicament,
the same peril. They both stand under the same
judgment. There’s no distinction in that
regard between Jews and Gentiles, and there’s no distinction with
regards to the means of salvation. There is no distinction between
Jew and Greek confession of faith is the general is the universal
means of salvation. Look at the fourth point rather. The fourth point in this case
for salvation by confession of faith. Is that the confession
of faith is personal. Let me explain that one. Not
only is a confession of faith effectual scriptural general
it is personal and what I mean by that is perhaps the best illustration
is whatever you hear you know and it’s usually a newer believer
and they captured it from somebody. I’ve accepted Jesus as my personal
savior. And so we begin to almost I mean
if you wanted to build a caricature on this thing. He’s got his Jesus
and this guy’s got his Jesus. Everybody’s got their own little
personal Jesus. We know that that’s not true.
And I’m not trying to be flippant about this. I’m trying to make
a point. There’s one savior. You’ve personally accepted him.
as your savior but there is no personal say there is no individualized
God. There is no individualized Jesus. There is no individualized little
savior that you accept all on your own. That’s what Paul was pointing
to is God the God of the Jews on them one God for the Jews
and one God for the Gentiles and one for everybody. Let’s
have everybody have their own God. That says no. Look at verse 12. There’s no distinction between
Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all. When we come
to Christ, we come to the Christ. When we accept Him as our Lord,
we accept Him as the Lord. When we take Him as our Savior,
He is the Savior. The same Lord is Lord of all. That was the point of the confession,
right? When we come to faith, we confess Jesus as Lord. He
is Lord of all. That’s part of our confession,
that He is absolute right to sovereign control over our lives.
We submit ourselves to Him. He is Lord. No longer are we
in some kind of pseudo control of our lives. We don’t retain
any. We submit ourselves wholly and completely to Him. He is
Lord. The same Lord is Lord of all
and abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. What a cool
verse this is. It’s almost an aside point, but
you can’t just read past it. Abounding in riches for all who
call upon Him. Here’s the image. Remember the
illustration that Jesus used, the parable? Remember the guys
go out early in the morning and they’re working and they get
paid and they strike a contract? Right? You’re going to get paid
one denarii, and then some guys come later, and they strike a
contract with the landowner. You’re going to get paid, at
the end of the day, one denarii. And then later, more guys come,
and at the end of the day they come, and they all get paid one
denarii. Wow! Something’s unfair here. Or is it? There was no unfairness
with God. God wants to save the Gentiles
or God wants to save somebody at five o’clock as opposed to
nine o’clock in the morning. God will do what God wants to
do. But the bottom line here is that this mindset that God
could somehow run out of his riches is absolutely ludicrous.
The same Lord is Lord of all abounding in riches for all who
call upon it. Let me give you where I believe
Paul was taking this idea. Just think with me. It’d probably
be best just to jot down a few of these. In Romans chapter 11,
which verse I’d love to get to one day. In Romans chapter 11, Paul says in verse 33, all the
depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He just says it is absolutely
inexhaustible. This rich storehouse of God,
there’s no way that God would ever run out on wisdom and knowledge. Philippians 4, 19. Paul says,
my God will supply all your needs. according to his riches and glory. There are no exhaustible resources
with God. There are no things that God
can run out with, where we come to him and he says, oops, sorry,
I just passed out my last blood. It’s a silly, silly thought to
even think it. Romans 2.4, do you think lightly
of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience? Do
you think that you can exhaust God’s patience? Do you think
that God might run out? Romans 9, 23, he did so in order
to make known the riches, the absolute wealth of his glory. But God, Ephesians 2, 4, being
rich in mercy and inexhaustible supply, even when we were dead
in our trespasses and sins, we couldn’t run out on God’s mercy. Paul is making the point here
is that the Lord Jesus Christ is rich beyond measure. Rich
doesn’t even… earthly words are used to try
to apply and to try to explain what Paul is saying. Abounding
in riches. There is no end to what Christ
possesses for all who call upon Him. The word riches points not only
to the sheer quality of the gift. It is wealth. I mean, it’s heaven.
It is forgiveness. It is eternal life. It is worth
far more than all the gold that the world could mine. Eternal
salvation by faith in the risen Christ that also points to the
absolutely sufficient, priceless wealth that is beyond measure. It points to the fact that it’s
an inexhaustible supply. This is a treasure that knows
no bounds, no limits. It is available for all who come
to Christ in faith. The Jew doesn’t need to look
down his nose and fear that because it’s 5 o’clock and now the Gentiles
are just coming in while we’ve worked for centuries. It’s silly. That’s not going to exhaust the
supply of grace. It’s not like one of those bargains
that you read about in the newspaper that if you get there early,
you get there on time. A TV is available to you for
the first hundred people. Or you get a hat if you go to
the Rockies game for the first 500. This isn’t salvation for
the first 10 million through the gates. It’s a silly thought. It’s an inexhaustible supply. But notice. It’s an inexhaustible
supply for all who call upon him. What a beautiful word. The
word literally can be translated appeal. You know where this word
is used whenever two other cases it’s used, but on this other
occasion, Acts 25, it’s used by Paul. I was in trial right
in the midst of a series of trials came to reports one after the
other. At the end of it he says, you know what? I appeal to Caesar. I call upon Caesar. This is the
child of God coming before God and appealing to him for help. The only help. The only place
he can turn to help. The greatest help that can be
provided. It’s inexhaustible. It’s a crown.
It’s a wealth beyond measure. The same Lord is Lord of all,
both Jew and Gentile, offering his inexhaustible riches to all
who appeal to him. The poem makes a fifth and final
point. In this case for salvation by confession of faith, not only
is confession of faith effectual, scriptural, general, personal,
fifthly, it is practical. What do I mean by that? Look
at verse 13. Whoever will call upon the name
of the Lord will be saved. This is real. And the person
that is calling is in real trouble. They are in real peril. They’re
in a desperate need. And I’ll show you the context
of the verse that he quotes in a moment. But it’s a desperate
situation. And it’s a calling upon the Lord. Let’s pause right there. Calling
upon the Lord. That was an Old Testament way
of literally falling on your face before God in worship. You
are my only hope. You alone can be my help. You alone can save me, God. There is no other God before
me. You are Almighty God. And to you I come. Adam and his descendants recorded
in Genesis 426, they called upon the name of the Lord. Abram,
before he got his name changed, Genesis 12, 8, he built an altar
to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord in worship.
Same thing in Genesis 13, 4. Genesis 21, 33, after his name
was changed, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree
at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord. It’s
somebody who is in trouble. It’s somebody who is in need.
It’s somebody who is not willing to turn to any other resource,
but God Himself is the one who calls on the name of the Lord.
It was an Old Testament formula, but Paul brings it into the New,
and he says, Are you in trouble? Are you a sinner? Are you in
desperate need of a savior? Call on the Lord. And by doing
so, he points clearly and explicitly here to the fact that Jesus Christ
is God. He applies this title, Jehovah,
to Christ. And he says, if you call on the
name of the Lord, you shall be saved. If you call on Christ,
if you call on the name of the Lord, he is your help. He is
your salvation. and no other. The verse was Joe
232. And in the context, they were
in deep trouble. Remember, they were in desperate
trouble. And the prophet there comes to
them and he says simply will come about that whoever calls
on the name of the Lord will be delivered. Well, not Zion
and in Jerusalem, there will be those who escape. As the Lord
has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls, just as
in those days, Paul is pointing
out once more, that if you will narrow down those to whom you
turn, if you will limit yourself to the God of Scriptures, if
you will limit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will
look to the Messiah and to Him alone, if you will call upon
the name of the Lord, you will be saved. That’s where
we started this entire discussion, isn’t it? Whoever calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved. What Paul points to quite plainly
and quite explicitly here is that these five little steps,
these five little proofs that he gives us are absolutely explicitly
the means of salvation. It’s the gospel. The confession
by faith is not only effectual, it is scriptural. It is all the
way back to the Old Testament or its roots. It is general. It applies to all. It is personal. But we must do the calling. We
must do the appeal. We must look to Christ, because
the same Lord is Lord of all. And we must come to Him and call
to Him in a confession of faith. Would you bow before that God? And merciful God, Lord, for us,
though the world and the most powerful religious institutions
in the world say that this belief, this doctrine is anathema. Father, we humble ourselves before
you to confess to you that we believe it to be the very truth
of God. This confession by faith for
salvation This justification by faith that flows from it.
Lord we find it to be true. Proven in the court by Paul himself. Lord we thank you. We thank you
that if we believe this we know that you have done a work in
our heart. That you have done the work of salvation. Lord God
we plead with you on behalf of anyone in our midst who does
not know these things to be true. that Jesus Christ is the Savior,
and by placing our faith in Him, we are saved. Father, do a work
in their heart as well. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.