Last week, as we studied the previous chapter, we learned of the sovereignty of God in salvation. Yet even though God is sovereign, and He gives mercy to whom He will give mercy, and He hardens the heart of them whom He desires, yet even so, God does not work independently of us and our desires. And so God instructs us to pray for the lost, to pray for their salvation. Paul uses himself as an example of prayer for the lost. And he uses his kinsmen, his nation, his people as examples of those whom he will pray for. His heart’s desire is for their salvation. The issue of salvation is not ONLY according to God’s sovereign will. But God’s will also incorporates man’s will. Not only the will of the man in need of salvation, but the will of the man who prays for someone’s salvation. Somehow, in a seemingly contradictory way God’s sovereignty in salvation incorporates man’s prayers and man’s decisions.
So as far as Paul is concerned, there is great value, in fact, a great necessity for him to pray for their salvation. He says in verse one concerning the Jews, vs1 “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
And that illustrates that our family and neighbor’s salvation should be our priority as well. Our greatest desire should be to see our kinfolk saved. And from my experience that is a very common prayer request in our church prayer meetings. We pray very often for the salvation of certain loved ones of our congregation. And from time to time we get reports that God has indeed drawn such a one to Him that they might be saved.
But I have to say I get another sense at times from well meaning, sincere parents concerning their loved ones. And that is they seem to have a greater concern for the loved ones well being, their financial or societal or physical well being, than they do about their spiritual well being. And so I wonder how effective their prayers really are. Because even if the loved one ends up getting a good job, or gets married, or any number of other things we think are essential to happiness in this world, and yet remains unsaved, the fact is that they are very likely to soon encounter misery of another kind, and even if they should escape misery in this life, what is to become of them in the next? Do we have a greater regard for this life than we do for eternity? I’m afraid that our actions speak louder than our words.
So it is important that as Christians our priorities are right. It’s important that our desire is to see the salvation of our loved ones. And it is important that we pray diligently for them, because in some mysterious way, God uses the prayers of the saints to change people’s hearts and minds and bring them to salvation. And God commands us to pray for others salvation.
Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” God would not command us to pray for other’s salvation unless there was some effect that our prayers can have.
So not only should we desire their salvation and pray for them, but 1 Tim.2 says that God also desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. So we can be sure then we are praying according to the will of God, because He desires all men to be saved. As 2Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” So incorporated into the sovereignty and election of God in salvation is the desire of God that ALL men might be saved.
Now going back to our text, Paul speaks of the need for all men to be saved. “Saved” may be a term that may be foreign to some of you here this morning. That word may even make some of you uncomfortable. But I would suggest if that’s so it is because you are unfamiliar with the Bible.
When you study the Scriptures you find that the need to be saved is absolutely unavoidable. Christians have to talk about men and women being saved because the fact is that men and women are lost. There is no escaping the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that the human race into which we are born is already a lost race. Romans 3:23 Paul says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This is why the good news of John 3:16 is that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life," (John 3:16).
You know, the lifeguards talk about how many “saves” they might make while working on the stand. If someone is able to swim, then they are not in need of saving. If a person is swept out in a rip current, and they are drowning, then they are in need of saving. The problem a lot of people have with that word “saved” is that they do not recognize they are lost, without hope, and in need of rescue. They somehow think that they can make it on their own.
We can never deal realistically with life until we face up to this fundamental fact: People are not waiting until they die to be lost - they are already lost. It is the grace of God that reaches down and calls us out of that lostness and gives us an opportunity to come to Christ and be saved. Therefore saved is a perfectly legitimate word to use. It makes us uncomfortable only when we refuse to face the fact that men and women are lost. They are born into a fallen race in which it is appointed unto man one to die and after that, the judgment, and they are facing eternal separation from God.
Now in chapter 10, Paul is addressing the issue of why God saves some and yet not others. And to that point, he has shown that the Israelites, who had all the benefits and privileges of God’s providence towards them, had yet not obtained salvation. And in Paul’s answer to this question he couples principle of the sovereignty of God with the responsibility of man to respond.
Now, to our ears, God’s sovereignty and man’s choice is an apparent contradiction. But as we have discussed in the previous messages on chapter 9, we have come to the conclusion that things that as Jesus told the disciples concerning salvation, that things which are impossible with men is possible with God. He is the author and finisher of our salvation, and yet we have a responsibility to believe, to repent, to follow Him.
The reason that the Israelites failed to obtain salvation was because they refused to recognize the truth in regards to their condition. They had a great deal of religious activity and they thought as a result they were doing ok. But they failed to see that they were in fact lost and in need of a Savior. So the first thing we see in regards to man’s responsibility is to believe the truth of God’s word.
Paul says in vs 2, “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.” Paul makes a very important point here. Having enthusiasm for religion, or having a zeal for the things of God, does not in and of itself accomplish salvation unless it is based on the truth. To use the analogy of drowning again, you can have a person drowning who is making a great deal of motion, he may be splashing water all around and kicking and waving his arms, but it’s not doing him any good. He is nonetheless drowning. Activity, or zeal, or enthusiasm alone cannot save you.
Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. That’s why sound doctrine is so important. That’s why it’s so important that you go to a Bible believing, Bible teaching church where the truth of God’s word is paramount.
Paul speaks later on in this chapter about the necessity for the preaching of the word, without which they cannot know the truth, and as such cannot be saved. He says in vs 17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” So the knowledge that leads to salvation is found in the word of God, and it’s important that we subscribe to the truth, so that we might be saved.
Now the main truth that Paul says was lacking in his kinsmen, the Jews, was that they thought they could obtain righteousness from their own efforts. Vs3, “For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” They thought they could make it on their own. They thought their righteousness would be sufficient.
However, the scriptures teach that God is holy, and God alone is righteous. The law revealed the righteous standard that God required. And everything in the OT pointed to the need for man to appropriate God’s righteousness on their behalf. This was particularly taught through the sacrificial system that the Law laid out. The sacrifices taught the principle of the innocent dying for the guilty. The blood from the lamb which was applied to the doorposts taught that another had to die for your sins, so that you might not die.
But the Jews missed all that the scriptures taught concerning the righteousness that God required and only God could supply. Instead, they tried to lower the standard of righteousness required by the law, in order to satisfy their own shortcomings.
Paul says though in vs 4 that Christ is the end of the law , so that there is righteousness for everyone who puts his trust in Him. What Paul is saying is that Christ was the end goal of the law. The law simply showed us that we are sinners. It was given to magnify our sin so that we would understand how far from God’s standard of righteousness we were. All the law pointed to Christ as the satisfaction of the law. He alone could keep the law perfectly. He was God in the flesh, and He was perfectly righteous without blemish. And only by His righteousness applied to our account, could we be saved. Our best attempts at righteousness would always fall short of fulfilling the standard of God’s righteousness. But Christ’s righteousness was great enough to cover our sins through believing in Him as our Savior and Lord.
I love 2Cor. 5:21 which states that principle this way; “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” By faith in Christ, and what He has done, God transfers our sins to Christ, and His righteousness to us. And only by God’s righteousness given by God’s grace, can we be saved.
No man can be justified on the basis of his keeping of the law, in hope that he can earn his righteousness on his own. Vs 5, “For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.”
Moses said that in Lev. 18:5, but the problem was that no man could keep the law perfectly. All the law did was to condemn because no man could keep the law. The only man that could fulfill all the law was Jesus Christ. And accordingly, those who place their trust in Christ receive His righteousness and the life that is promised. What was impossible with men is made possible with God by faith in Jesus Christ.
So then there is a righteousness which comes through faith, not by keeping the law. Vs6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down), or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
Salvation then is obtaining righteousness but not by works, which we cannot do, but by faith in Christ, which He has done for us. What Paul is saying here that Moses taught salvation by grace through faith just as much as Paul did. The statement by Moses reminds us of when Moses commanded the children of Israel before they entered into the Promised Land. He set forth blessings and curses depending on their obedience and disobedience.
Moses said in Deut. 30:11, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’”
The point Moses is making is that the law has been given to Israel in the context of grace, and the Promised Land, which is analogous to salvation, was God’s gift to them. It was not the product of their labor or their righteousness. The difficult tasks of salvation are not ours to accomplish, but they have been accomplished for us by Christ. It was He who came to earth from heaven. It was He who died, and rose again and ascended to Heaven. The work of salvation was accomplished by Him and is obtained by faith in Him.
So to show the accessibility of salvation to us Paul continues to quote Moses in vs 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.” Again, the quote is from Moses speech in Deut. 30 vs 13. By means of the word of God, the promises of God, we are drawn near to God in our hearts. And that word must be appropriated by faith, the word must be responded to in faith.
And so if the word which is in your heart is believed and the word that is in your heart is confessed then you will be saved. Vs 9,10; “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
What Paul means is that we have to come to the place where we believe what the word of God says concerning Jesus Christ and we must confess it before men. Jesus said in Matt 10:32 "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” And part of that confession is we must recognize that Jesus has the right to lordship in our lives. Up to this point we have been lord of our lives. Up to this point we have run our own affairs. We have decided we have the right to make our own decisions according to what we think is right or best. But there must come a time, as God's Spirit works in us, and the truth of God’s word works in us, that we realize Jesus is Lord and we surrender our life to Him.
To confess Jesus as Lord is to recognize that He is God in the flesh, that He was righteous and holy, without stain or blemish. That He came to earth to offer Himself as our substitute, that He might pay the penalty for our sin, and that He has risen from the dead and ascended to Heaven where He ever lives to make intercession for us. And one day, He is coming again to earth to receive His people that we might live with Him in a new heaven and new earth. That’s what it means to believe that God has raised Him from the dead. It encompasses all that Jesus is, and what He accomplished for us through His death, and what He has promised in regards to eternal life.
And that aspect of eternal life is emphasized in Paul’s quotation in vs 11 which is taken from Isaiah 28. “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’” Another translation of that phrase is “whoever believes in Him will never be ashamed.” Never is forever. Never speaks of the day that will come to all men eventually. Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed for men to die once and after this [comes] judgment.” Everyone will stand before the judgment throne of God one day. And if you stand there on the basis your own righteousness then you will find that you have fallen short of God’s standard and you will face the penalty for your sin. But for those who trust in Christ for their righteousness, the scripture promises us that we will never be disappointed. In that day, when God asks you on what basis have you come, you can simply point to Jesus, and say, “I am here with Him.” On the strength of what He has done, on the basis of His righteousness, on the basis that He has paid for my pardon, I can stand before God and not be disappointed.
Many years ago, maybe it’s been almost 35 years now, I used to work as a manager for some of the Ritz Carlton hotel restaurants. And our more formal restaurants had a dress code. One of the first hotels I worked at with them was in Naples, Florida. I helped to open that hotel. And Naples can get really warm and so the people living down there dressed accordingly. But the rules of the Dining Room stipulated that men had to wear a jacket and tie for dinner. But when the guests came to the door it was quite obvious that many of them were unprepared for that requirement. And there would inevitably be a awkward situation where we would have to explain our rules and potentially turn the guests away, who had been expecting a nice dinner with their friends.
But what we ended up doing was we purchased a number of navy sport jackets and some ties and had them available in the coat check room for those who did not have one. So we provided at our expense the proper dress so they could enter the restaurant. Now that's a poor illustration of something like the righteousness of God. It's something we don't have of ourselves. It's something that is provided by the management. And that coat of righteousness which enabled the man to enter and eat, provided by the management gives you access to the glory of God. And so the righteousness of God that was through the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood shed on the cross of Calvary is sufficient to cover our sins by being dressed in His righteousness.
I love the hymn we sing, “The Solid Rock” which has the line in it, “dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”
So salvation is not just some privilege or right given to me because of my heritage or nationality or whatever. The same blessing is available for all who will call upon the name of the Lord. Paul started off by talking about the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles in regards to salvation, but now he says there is no distinction between Jew or Greek. In other words, it doesn’t matter where you are from, what your nationality is, what your race is, what your skin color is, what your gender is, the same Lord is Lord over all. And there is only one way to be saved, and that by only one Lord.
Vs12, 13, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same [Lord] is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
Acts 4:12 says "Salvation is found in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” There is only one way to salvation, and that is by faith in Jesus Christ. And as Paul emphasizes here, saving faith is comprised of believing all that the scriptures teach us concerning Christ, believing in who He is, and what He has done, and what He has promised to do concerning us who believe. And confessing “Jesus is Lord.” Acknowledging that your submission to Him as the Lord, the Ruler, the Sovereign over your life.
Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I would ask you a simple question today. Have you called upon the name of the Lord? Have you confessed with your mouth Jesus as Lord? Have you believed in your heart all that the scriptures say concerning Him? If not, then what is stopping you from doing so now? Let us bow our heads right now, and call upon the name of the Lord that we might be saved. Jesus has accomplished all the work, He alone has the righteousness that we need, and He has promised to give us life if we trust in Him. Salvation is available as a free gift of God to everyone, to anyone, who will call upon the Lord.
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