God of Our Salvation

Well, we are into our study, well into our study, in this fourth section of Paul’s letter to the Romans, which we have titled Sovereignty, this fourth section. Sin, salvation, sanctification, sovereignty, and there’s one more behind it. Here in chapters nine through 11, Paul is articulating God’s sovereignty over the nations. the nation of Israel and the Gentile nation specifically, effectively the Jewish people and the non-Jewish people, God is sovereign over all.

As Paul argues, last week we focused our attention on the opening argument of Paul’s discussion here in these chapters. We were in chapter nine, verse one through 21, where we titled it A Nation’s Rejection Does Not Upset God’s Plans. We were reminded there in verses 14 through 19 that God is a God of mercy. Paul declared God’s mercy and then applied God’s mercy and defended it and discussed the implications of God’s mercy. If we were to sum up Paul’s argument in one verse, verse 18 would capture it well. He has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. God is sovereign in the exercise of his mercy.

Today we come to the middle portion of Paul’s argument, and we might tend to think that it begins in chapter 10. As we noted a few weeks ago, that subsection actually begins at the end of chapter nine. Chapter nine, verse 30, and it courses down all the way to the end of chapter 10. Remember the numbers in our Bibles? chapter and verse breaks, they are not inspired. And this is one of those clumsy breaks that we often see in scripture. It is far better to take chapter nine, verse 30 and 33, together with chapter 10, than it is to append it, glue it clumsily onto the end of chapter 9.

The theme or the title of this second section in chapters 9 through 11 kind of goes hand-in-hand with the previous. A nation’s rejection does not upset God’s plans, and here in this second section, a nation’s dullness does not thwart God’s intentions. Let’s take this section, if we could, in its entirety. Chapter nine, verse 30, and we’ll course all the way down to the end of chapter 10.

What should we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith. But 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.

Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. but the righteousness based on faith speaks thus. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead, 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, For 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.

How then shall they call upon Him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

But I say surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have. Their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At first Moses says, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation without understanding, I will anger you. And Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who sought me not. I became manifest to those who did not ask for me. But as for Israel, he says, all the day long I have stretched out my hands to disobedient and obstinate people.” There are three sections, as I’ve hinted in times past, of this subsection of chapters 9 through 11. The first portion kind of captures Israel’s pursuit of the law of righteousness. That’s what we see in 9.30 through 33. And then in chapter 10, verse 1, all the way through verse 13, we see Israel’s futile grasp at salvation. They tried, and they failed. And then the third subsection here, Israel’s dullness to the call of the gospel. We’ll find our way through this, but no person, even the devil himself, nor even an entire nation, can impede God’s intentions.

Having set his heart on mankind’s redemption, nothing can stand in God’s way. Just because one nation rejected his love and his means of salvation does not lead God to abandon that plan. God will carry out his plan of redemption. God will save sinners. This is effectively what Paul declares in verses 30 through 33 of chapter 9. He points out that Israel tried to short-circuit the means of salvation. They tried their own way. They made the pursuit of righteousness their life’s goal, but they went about it in the wrong way. They did not pursue righteousness by faith, as Paul says in verse 32. Rather, they sought it by works. through their attempt to actually try to keep God’s law perfectly. But because they could not live according to the law, they did not lay hold of righteousness. God’s righteousness, it turns out, was not a matter of human effort. Rather, it was available only by faith.

Well, that failure on Israel’s part did no damage to God’s design. There was another people, another nation, the Gentiles, the non-Jews, who stumbled upon God’s righteousness. They were not seeking it or pursuing it, and yet, by simple faith, they attained God’s righteousness. They would be declared righteous simply by their faith in Christ. Well, the whole paragraph is at once both a tragedy and a triumph. The Jewish people squandered their attempt at securing God’s righteousness while the Gentiles found it. It all came down to the manner in which these nations sought salvation.

So Israel, responded to God’s salvation incorrectly. And in the opening verses of chapter 10, Paul begins to elaborate on Israel’s futile grasp at salvation. And he reiterates his longing for his countrymen’s salvation in verse one. His prayer to God is for their salvation. And Paul admits that this nation was indeed a zealous people. They passionately pursued their own standard of righteousness. They sought their own version of salvation by their own means. The bottom line, as Paul captures in verse 3, is that they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

To drive home his assessment, in verses 6 and 7, just glance down at 10, 6 and 7. Paul quotes a really remarkable passage here. He goes to the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, and he cites, as evidence of Israel’s errant ways, Deuteronomy 30, verse 12.

And I say that it’s remarkable that Paul should go to this passage because Paul interprets it or applies it in a very unique way, certainly a way that Moses did not foresee. In its original context, Moses is referring to an attempt to enter into heaven so as to bring God’s law down to man.

But here in Romans 10.6, Paul takes this passage and he essentially personifies righteousness as speaking. Righteousness here is the one calling out, and God’s righteousness says, according to Paul, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven. And Paul, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, applies that statement to suggest that ascending into heaven in order to extend maximum effort to lay hold of the Savior. It’s obviously absurd.

the point that Paul’s making here, and indicating that same effort in verse 7, he says, who will descend into the abyss? This is a manufactured suggestion by Paul. It’s not a quote from the original. It’s not in that passage in Deuteronomy. He adds it for effect.

Not only can we not go boldly into heaven and apprehend a savior, neither can we go into the world of the dead and bring Christ up. In reality, God has already done both of those things. Sending his son to be born in the flesh, raising him from the dead, God has already done it all.

The point is, God has already provided for the salvation of sinners. We don’t need to make this maximum salvation effort, as Paul outlines there, bursting into heaven, bursting into the world of the dead. Salvation is not a matter of this impossible human effort.

The question arises, if those things are not the means of salvation, if they are not fruitful to save sinners, what then? And Paul answers that question in verses 8 through 13. The salvation that God has already provided. In this short passage, what Paul seeks to do is to highlight the features of salvation that God has already provided. If you would, I want to focus our attention on verses 8 through 13 this morning. The God of our salvation, where Paul is highlighting the salvation already provided by God. First of all, we see the simplicity of God’s salvation. The simplicity of God’s salvation. Look at verse 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 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.

Verse eight, Paul initiates this presentation with a very strong contrast to that which he has just said. But, he says, but what does it say? he is still hearkening back to that passage in Deuteronomy, the one that dismantled the idea of dramatic human endeavors, dramatic human effort. And he cites here, Deuteronomy chapter, verse 14 of that same chapter. The word is near you in your heart, in your mouth and in your heart. God has not made salvation to be the fruit of extreme effort. No, in fact, it is a simple message that can be verbally articulated. It can be learned. It can be spoken. It can be readily taught and preached. The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. It’s not a message that is difficult to grasp, challenging to put into words. When it says here that the word is near you, that’s a Hebraism. It’s a familiar phrase that implied accessibility and understanding, familiarity. It’s the opposite of something that is hidden or far off. And the phrase suggests here that God’s message of salvation is not a mystery. It’s not an enigma. It’s not some vague or obscure philosophy. It is a message that is easily understood and communicated. This is what Paul means in the second portion of that quote, that the word is in your mouth and in your heart. The news of God’s salvation can be verbally declared and ultimately received by the hearer, welcomed into the heart. It’s a message that when heard is welcomed with love and affection.

Jesus, remember, tells a parable. recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the parable of the soils. And in it, Jesus tells of, remember, four kinds of landing spots where the seed that is indiscriminately flung might fall. Those four soils represent, as you may remember, four different types of the human heart. from the hardened footpath that represents the hard-hearted individual to whom the seeds do not even penetrate, to the rocky soil heart representing the heart in which the gospel hardly takes root, but eventually succumbs to the challenges of the world, and the thorny soil representing the worries and concerns that choke out the message of the gospel. That beautiful parable happily tells us of a fourth soil, the soil, the good soil, which Luke describes falls into an honest and good heart that eagerly receives the news of the gospel.

Leaving no room for misunderstanding here, Paul explains the citation of Moses’ words. And he explains first the word. He says that this simple message, easy to communicate and understand, is the word of faith which we are preaching. It is the message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. It is not a message of works. It is not a message of try harder. It is not a message of demanding human effort. It is a message that calls the hearer to a simple ascent of faith. The message of God’s salvation calls those who hear it to respond by believing. And it’s that straightforward appeal made by the apostles to sinners. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Paul says that this is the message that we are preaching. It is the gospel, the good news of salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That simply by believing in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. We are declared righteous, granted salvation by God himself.

And again, in order to be explicitly clear about this matter, Paul basically explains his explanation. In verse nine, he says that reception of salvation by God is simple. Would you glance at verse nine? 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. That’s the simple message of God’s salvation, the good news of the person and work of Christ, his incarnation, his resurrection from the dead. There are two elements to this formula here, confess and believe. Both elements are absolutely necessary. Confession without faith would be completely empty. And faith without confession is void. First of all, confession here is not the confession that speaks of the acknowledgement of our sin, although that certainly is involved in repentance. The confession of which Paul speaks here is a declaration of faith. a verbal commitment of faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul means by confess with your mouth. It’s the same thing that we do when we give our so-called testimony, the story of how we came to know the Savior. Ultimately, we proclaim our faith in Jesus, that we acknowledge and yield to him as Lord. He is at once our Lord and Savior. Saying that Jesus is Lord is one of the most common identifiers of God the Father in the Old Testament. It affirms that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Paul says that the simple message of his Lordship He is supreme over all principalities and powers. He is Lord.

1 Corinthians 12, Paul declared there in verse three that no person can come to that conclusion on their own. If you come to the recognition that Jesus Christ is Lord, it is because the Holy Spirit did that work in your heart. Christian will readily declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

There’s a second element to God’s salvation here, that we must believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. And this belief, this faith, is not a mere assent to some idea that Jesus lived. Most people, even non-Christians, have a tendency of believing that Jesus existed

This belief in Christ is a belief in who He claimed to be. God in the flesh, the Son of God. It’s a belief in the truthfulness of what He taught. It’s a belief in the genuineness of His miracles. And a belief that He really and truly accomplished what He came to do. That is, atone for and redeem sinners by His sacrifice on the cross.

This was acknowledged by God by raising him from the dead. The resurrection was God’s declaration that Jesus Christ was God incarnate, that his sacrifice was accepted as payment for the sin of the world. Paul says that Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, Romans 1.4. And this believing, Paul insists, takes place in the sinner’s heart.

The heart is often pictured in scripture as the center of our being, where our soul resides, where our affections and our will have their orientation. Here it points to the inward orientation of our faith. Our one dear brother, I can remember, who obviously grew up during the space race of the 50s and 60s, referred to the heart as the mission control center of the individual.

This means that the message of God’s salvation must come into our minds, be considered, and ultimately received in our inner man, in our hearts. Saving faith is not just intellectual assent. This is the response to God’s offer of salvation. And it’s not an either-or proposition here, either confession or faith. It’s faith, belief, that ultimately issues forth in a confession, a proud, unashamed confession of faith in Christ.

When we believe, God lavishes us with Christ’s righteousness, and when we confess him publicly, he grants us salvation. You shall be saved, Paul concludes. Saved from the guilt and power and sin. Saved from the condemnation and the wrath of God. Saved from the sting of death. This is no casual promise. It is the greatest news in all the world that if we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. There is no greater, no simpler news of the means of salvation than that.

Paul is highlighting, remember, the salvation that God has provided, and not only the simplicity of God’s salvation, but secondly, the inner workings of salvation. We see it in verse 10. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

You see, Paul knows that this all sounds too good to be true. Whenever you share the gospel with a friend, even the first time that you heard it, you mean all I have to do is place my faith in Jesus Christ and I’m saved? Yes. Paul knew that this sounded too good to be true, and so he proceeds to present the inner workings of God’s salvation in verse 10, and he flags his explanation of those two previous verses, verses 8 and 9, with the telltale word for. He’s explaining it.

And here he explains what it is that faith produces and what it is that confession of that faith produces. We should observe here that even though the order in verse 9 is general confession and faith, here Paul sets forth these two elements in their more natural order. Faith, then confession. Faith, or how Paul has it here, belief, is the initial ascent to the truth. As Paul said at the outset of this letter, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

This belief serves as a snapshot of a much more dynamic event. Paul says by believing, he’s capturing a very vast amount of data, where a person initially is languishing in their sin. They hear the truth of the gospel, and they ponder it for a moment, or even for a lengthy season. But they cannot get away from it. Their sinful condition continues to gnaw at them, and it seems to worsen by the hour. Meanwhile, there is this constant and beautiful fragrance. It is the gospel. It’s the news of the gospel, and they cannot avoid it. It does seem to be truly good news.

And for a season, it seems too good to be true that Jesus would become a man and by miraculous means become incarnate, that he came to atone for the sin of the world. The sinner continues to doubt, continues to hold back until which time they can do so no longer. They know the truth about themselves, and they come to realize the truth about who Christ is. And now they believe. They believe the truth. And the sinner turns to Christ in faith, and all of us who are believers know that season. They turn to Christ by faith, and they are justified, declared to be righteous in an instant.

Paul proceeds to show that when a sinner assents to the truth, the result is righteousness.

Yes, this is, once again, the doctrine of justification by faith, as Paul has articulated numerous times already in this epistle. Faith, Paul says again here, leads to righteousness. Where the sinner is not made righteous, not actually, but he is declared to be righteous, in God’s eyes, he is declared to have the very righteousness of his son, Jesus. This is the righteousness that the Jewish nation eschewed for a pursuit of their own version of so-called righteousness. Just as Jesus Christ was made to be sin on our behalf, so the sinner is declared to be righteous. It’s not a lifelong process. Justification by faith is instantaneous. The sinner has just moved from death to life, from spiritual death to life everlasting.

So God has moved the sinner, bringing them to faith in Christ, and Paul sets forth the balance of God’s transformation here, that of confession. Just as believing results in righteousness, so also confession is productive. It results in salvation. And in order to be declared righteous and therefore saved, both elements must be present in a believer’s life. There’s no such thing as a mute believer. If a person has faith, they will confess Jesus as Lord. Believing and confession go hand in hand. A person touched by saving grace will name the name of Christ. They will declare their faith. They will proclaim Christ as Savior. They will make a verbal confession.

Jesus said it very clearly in Matthew chapter 10. Therefore, anyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him, my heavenly Father, who is, I will confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. There is, in a confession of faith, a declared loyalty to Christ as Savior, A testimony to all that you are a follower of Christ.

The third highlight of salvation that God has provided, not only the simplicity of God’s salvation, the inner workings of God’s salvation, but thirdly, the wideness of God’s salvation. Would you look at verse 11 through 13? For the scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For 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. And you hear it over and over again, like a steady drumbeat. Whoever believes, verse 11, Jew and Greek, verse 12. All, verse 12. Riches for all who call upon Him, verse 12. And then once again in verse 13, whoever will call.

Here in these verses, Paul tells us of the wideness of God’s salvation. Glance, if you would please, at verse 11. And it should be immediately noted here that he cites as his absolute authority on this point, scripture, which plainly declares whoever believes, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. It’s a direct quote from Isaiah 28, 16. And of course, this comforting thought is pointing back to the same glorious news already in focus, salvation. He said it in verse 9, you shall be saved. He said it again in verse 10, that it results in salvation. This is the happy condition that the person who believes in him enjoys. In fact, this verse affirms everything that Paul has taught thus far, faith, Faith in Christ, a faith that leads to salvation, but here he enlarges that blessing with this grand word, whoever. Whoever believes, whether Jew or Gentile. He’s already established that there is no righteousness outside of Christ. And this means that salvation is the same for both. The means of salvation is faith in Christ. The means of salvation for the Gentile is the same as that for the Jew.

Well, having furnished biblical support for the righteousness of God, which is by faith, Paul moves to explain and underscore this proof in verse 12. Glance down at that verse briefly. Where Paul says, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him. Paul explains his suggestion here of the wideness of God’s salvation when he says there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Just as all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so also all, that is everyone, may be saved through that same simple gospel. Believing in Christ, believing in Him. There are not multiple ways of salvation. There’s only the one. Believing in Jesus Christ. And to emphasize the sameness of the nations, Paul adds that the same Lord is Lord over all. Remember, he is sovereign over the nations. God is not whimsical or flighty or capricious. He changes not. In him there is no variation or shifting shadow, James 117. What a glorious encouragement for the Jewish people who would think to abandon this hope of salvation by law-keeping and look to Christ. But what a severe warning to those Jews who would cling to a false hope of pursuing righteousness by works. If anyone is to be saved, Jew or Gentile, it must be through faith alone in Christ alone.

Paul closes this portion in verse 13, underscoring this point one last time, the wideness of God’s mercy. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. For this final piece of support, Paul quotes from the prophet Joel. And in the original setting, the context is much more dynamic, taking into view the day of the Lord and the pouring out of God’s spirit as Peter cites it in Acts chapter two. But here, it is enough for Paul and his purposes in this particular context to take only a portion, just a sentence of Joel 2.32, just enough to affirm the wideness of God’s salvation.

In the Old Testament, calling on the name of the Lord was a familiar way of appealing to God for help, spiritual help. It included a humble sense of one’s need and an acknowledgement of the graciousness that we know to whom we should turn for help. So here Paul says, once again, that mercy is available for whoever. will call.

Would you humble yourself before the God of our salvation?

Lord God, we thank you. And we thank you for showing us our shameful attempt to be good enough to earn our salvation. In that sense, we are no different than the Jewish nation. who sought through such foolish means law-keeping in their attempt to secure their own salvation. They believed in their heart that their way was better. And Lord, for a lengthy season, we were no different.

Lord God, we thank you for humbling us. We thank you for showing us that work’s righteousness will never It has never saved a single person. Lord, we thank you for showing us the simple gospel. We thank you for showing us that by believing in Christ and confessing him before others, we too can be saved.

Lord, we thank you that you are the one that gives and bestows the most undeserved gift of all, the righteousness of Christ. Father, we thank you that now standing before you, if we have placed our faith in Christ, that God Almighty, a holy God, looks down and he sees only his own beloved son’s righteousness, not our goodness, not our family name, not our wealth, not our influence. God looks down and he sees the righteousness of Christ.

Lord God, we thank you. We thank you that as a mostly non-Jewish audience that your wideness in mercy has direct meaning for us. Father, we thank you that you did not just focus upon what were known as the chosen people, but you broadened out the call of salvation to include even us. Lord God, we humble ourselves before you and thank you for the salvation that you have granted.

Lord God, we know that not everyone in this room is saved. We don’t know their name or their identity. We just know by human nature that there are many that are still mulling over this message. They’re still gathering data, as it were, They smell the sweetness and the preciousness of this news. For them and for so many, it just sounds too good to be true. Not applicable to them that they are too great a sinner.

Lord God, we thank you for the balance of this message. It’s not our righteousness that we bring into heaven. We come into heaven only because we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Father God, we thank you for your work of grace and for any who do not know, who have not named and confessed, who have not believed in Christ as Lord and Savior.

Lord, we pray that you would so work in their hearts, make this day the day of salvation for them. that they too would be clothed in Christ’s righteousness, that they too would be forgiven, that they too one day would enjoy eternal life with Christ their Savior.

Lord, we plead all of these things in Jesus’ name, amen.