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The River ChurchSermons

Romans 9-16

Israel's Present

Chuck Lindsey · Sunday, 5 October 2025 · Romans 9:30-10:21 · 57:22 · 9,764 words

Romans S24 · 9:30-10:21 Grand Blanc

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

The sermon answers the question how can a person be saved forever by showing that salvation comes through faith in Jesus, not through keeping the law or good works. It explains that righteousness is a gift from God given to those who are convinced that Jesus is God and died for their sins, and that anyone who tries to earn salvation by effort will fail. The message calls listeners to admit their need, turn to the Lord in belief, and be willing to share the gospel with others.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

save 128 stumble 21 righteous 45 will 76 never 34 whoever 14 convince 13 try 36 forever 16 stone 10 reject 17 need 52

Topics

Salvation 29 Faith 16 Righteousness 11 The Gospel 5 The Law 3 Prayer 3 Israel 2 Sin 2 Hope 2 The Holy Spirit 1 The Gentiles 1 Assurance 1 Election & Predestination 1

Scripture referenced 46

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 9 1:23 Romans 10 1:28 Romans 10 2:21 Romans 9 4:08 Romans 10 4:12 Romans 9 4:15 Romans 9:30 4:15 Romans 9:31 4:41 Romans 9:30 6:09 Romans 11 6:29 Romans 11 6:57 Romans 11 7:24 Romans 11 7:30 Romans 11:30 7:49 Romans 11:31 9:39 Romans 11:32 10:00 Romans 10 10:30 Romans 9:32 15:00 Matthew 21 16:19 Romans 9:32 16:48 Romans 10 20:45 Romans 10:1 20:45 Romans 10:3 21:05 Romans 10:4 24:06 Romans 10:5 27:17 Leviticus 18 27:22 Romans 10:6 29:50 Deuteronomy 30 30:17 Deuteronomy 30 30:36 Romans 10:8 31:59 Romans 10:9 35:00 Romans 10:9 37:53 Romans 10:10 39:50 1 Corinthians 12:3 40:00 Romans 10:11 40:53 Isaiah 28:16 40:57 Romans 10:12 42:32 Romans 10:13 43:37 Romans 10:14 46:33 Romans 10:14 46:51 Romans 10:15 49:05 Isaiah 6 49:15 Romans 10:15 50:11 Romans 10:17 52:16 Romans 3 55:00 Romans 3:16 55:00

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 14 lines, 0:38. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Dave Hudgens.

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Good morning, good to see you guys here this morning.

Good to be together with you.

It is always so good to be together

and there are always reasons not to.

And so I want to thank you for your courage this morning.

I know for some of you, it was a push for you to come.

And so I just want to thank you.

What a blessing it is to gather together.

And again, there's always reasons

not to, but thank you for what you're doing.

Your encouragement is significant to me.

So we are going to be in the book of Romans this morning.

So if you have a Bible,

I'm going to ask you to open it up to the book of Romans

and we'll be in chapter nine.

And then we're going to make our way through

about 16 verses or so in chapter 10.

Okay, so it is the women's retreat.

So a lot of our ladies are gone,

amazingly, I got all of my children here today.

They're all, I'm pretty sure they're all fed.

I don't know if they were fed well,

but they're all fed and I didn't leave anybody at home,

but I did get here late today.

And so now I cannot blame my wife anytime we are late

because I got us here late,

but you can't let her know that.

Okay, so, all right.

Well, this morning we are going to look

at one of the most important questions

that could ever be asked.

How could, really,

it is the most important question.

How can a person be saved forever?

That's where Paul goes now in Romans,

end of Romans nine and in through chapter 10.

How can a person be saved forever?

What steps have to be taken?

What does a person have to actually understand

or do or any of that?

That's what we're going to talk about this morning.

Okay, and so let's pray

and let's ask the Lord to speak to us.

We come to you, Lord, today in need.

We ask for,

we ask for you to speak.

We ask for you to help us hear you.

I pray, Lord, help us hear you.

Help us to come away now

from all that's going on in this world

and to come aside

and to hear what you would say to us.

If you need the Lord to speak to you this morning,

just ask him in the quietness of your heart.

Just ask him, Lord, speak to me.

Help me hear you today.

We thank you, Lord.

We love you.

Give this time to you in Jesus name.

All right, so that's the question.

How is it that we are saved?

How is a person saved forever?

Not just in this life.

Like, how do we, you know,

how do we be safe in this life?

That's not the question.

The question is,

how are we forever safe?

You could ask it a different way, right?

You could say,

somebody might say,

well, how do you go to heaven?

How do you have eternal life?

Various ways of saying this,

but it's essentially,

how are we safe forever?

What must a person actually do?

What must a person believe?

In order to be safe forever?

How does it even happen?

We're going to try to answer

these questions this morning.

Really, Paul answers these questions for us.

So I want us to pick up

where we left off

at the end of Romans 9.

And like I said,

we're going to get about 16 verses

into chapter 10.

We'll move through it pretty quickly.

So Paul asks this in verse 30 there of Romans 9.

He says,

what shall we say then?

After everything we talked about last week,

what shall we say then?

so non-Jewish people,

who did not pursue righteousness,

they have somehow,

they have attained salvation.

They've attained righteousness.

They've become safe forever.

How did this happen?

He goes on,

even the righteousness of faith.

the chosen people of God,

right?

How is it that they pursuing,

apparently pursuing the law of righteousness,

they have not attained to the law of righteousness.

So last week we showed how

the majority of Israel,

then and even

still today, they are not saved people. They are lost people. Even though they are, as a people,

as a nation, they are the chosen people of God. We said it last week. That did not mean that they

were chosen for salvation. It means they were chosen for representation. What do I mean? Well,

as the people of God, they were supposed to declare who God was to the rest of the world.

It doesn't mean God chose that nation and said, they're saved no matter what, no matter what

happens. These people, you know, they don't even need forgiveness because they're automatically

in. That is not what happened. They are just as lost as anyone else. But as a nation of people,

God chose them and said, listen, tell the nations around you, I'm going to reveal myself to you.

Now you reveal me to the nations around me. So not chosen for salvation,

but for representation. Okay. So sadly, so much of Israel throughout history and even today,

they have rejected God.

They have rejected their Messiah, their Messiah. They've rejected the savior who came to them to

rescue us all. But this leads to Paul's question there in verse 30. It's basically how in the world

did people who weren't looking for the Messiah find the Messiah? How did you, how did this happen?

And he goes on, he's going to answer it in the next verse. But first, let me just say this,

because it's very important for next week. When we go into Romans 11, it's very important that

you know this. Let me say this very clearly. We as the church do not replace Israel. Okay. Very,

very important. You understand this. We, as Paul says, we are grafted into the vine.

We do not replace the vine. Okay. God has not rejected Israel and moved on to us. This is such

a big deal because if God could reject Israel, which is the point of Romans 11, if God could

reject Israel and move on to Israel, he would have done it. He would have done it. He would have done it.

He can reject you and move on. I want you to understand how serious that is. You cannot say

the church has replaced Israel. If you say that you are saying God can replace you. It's, it's,

it's a, it's an attack against God's faithfulness and his character. And that is the point of

Romans chapter 11. God has not rejected Israel. He has not moved on. The church has not replaced

Israel. And so again, Romans 11 will show this, but it's based on God's faithfulness. We have been

grafted into the people of God, the true people of God, which includes people from all nations,

all tribes, all languages on the earth and throughout all of time. Okay. So I hope that's

clear. But listen, the question that Paul asks notice verse 30 is how, how did this happen? How

did the Gentiles, you and I who did not search out, seek out righteousness, how did we find it? Well,

the Bible says that we did not seek righteousness. No one does. The Bible says no one searches after

God. It is God who comes and seeks after us. He tries to make himself known to us. I don't know

about you, but when I finally saw my need for Jesus Christ, it wasn't because I was on some,

you know, mission to find him. He came and found me revealed himself to me in my rebellion, in my

lostness, in my hatred, even of him, he came and made himself known to me. And yes, it was up to me

offering. He didn't override my will. It was up to me, but man, he is the one who initiated, not me.

I didn't go, Hey God, God, pay attention to me over here. I want to be saved. God was like, Hey,

Hey buddy, I've tried to rescue you. Stop running, turn towards me. And this is the faithfulness of

our God. So we did not pursue righteousness. No, he is merciful and good. The question is how did

people who did not pursue righteousness become righteous? By the way, when we say righteous,

given, we mean righteous before God. Righteousness is something given. It's perfection given by God,

even though we're not perfect. It's our standing before him. It means salvation. So how did the

people that weren't looking for it find it? Well, the answer is actually given in the question.

Notice what it says there. Uh, even the righteousness of faith. We're gonna talk

about it here in a second, but this is actually the answer. How did, how did anybody become

saved? It's through faith. So verse 31 asks, but Israel, uh, they were pursuing the law,

of righteousness. They were all about the law and, you know, keeping the commandments and the feasts

and the dietary restrictions and on and on and on. How is it that a bunch of, you know, that people

that seem to be about a bunch of laws and rules and regulations and righteousness, how is it that

they didn't find it. Well, the answer is very simple. Look at verse 32. How'd this happen? Well,

because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Here is why they did

not find righteousness. Please hear this. They did not seek to be saved by faith, by belief,

but instead they sought to be saved by works or by their efforts or by their deeds. Very simply,

and this sets up all of chapter 10, anyone who tries to earn salvation will not be saved.

Anyone who tries to buy it from God through good works, anyone who tries to, you know,

earn it from God so that they're owed salvation, it's not going to be given. Salvation,

the Bible says, can only ever be a gift given to those who know they need it. And so this is

something that,

that every person can receive regardless of, of whatever is going on, you know,

whoever they happen to be, their social status or their nationality or whatever,

it doesn't make any difference. It's all of us who know we cannot earn it. We cannot deserve it.

We cannot buy it. We cannot be owed it from God. And so we could ask today, why are so many Jewish

people today still unsaved? Because they seek to be righteous by their work. Why are so many

completely unsaved today because they seek to be righteous by their work. Why are so many religious

people still unsaved today? Because they seek to be righteous by their work. Why are church goers

still unsaved today? You go on and on and on. If we seek to be saved by our work, it will never

happen. People remain unsaved when they try to be righteous by their own works. Now, the opposite of

this is faith. The word faith just,

it seems mystical in some way, but it's really not. All it means is that you're convinced.

It means you're persuaded. It's like either Jesus is God and died on a cross for my sins,

or he isn't. I'm either convinced of that truth or I'm not. I either have faith in that or I do not.

It's nothing magical. It's just very simply, are you convinced that that is true? And if you are,

then you will be saved. If you are unconvinced that that is true, you are unsaved. Okay.

Very simple. When we are convinced that we really are sinners, that we really,

can't save ourselves, that we're really not good enough, that we really are not going to get there

by being nicer than everybody else or doing better stuff than anybody else. When we're really sure of

that, when we're convinced of that truth, we cry out to the Lord. We're convinced that he is God,

that he died for us, for our sins on that cross, that it wasn't just some martyr situation,

but that God was actually saving us. When we are, when we are convinced of this, that is how we are

saved. So many people have a hard time with this though. And they have a hard time with it because

it is so simple and it is all him and not us. You see, as we, we, as people, we've got this problem.

We want to contribute, right? It would be easier for me if someone told me, listen, man,

you do 75% and God, he supplies, whatever you can't do, right? He makes up the 25%.

I want to contribute. Not so in Christianity. It does not work. In fact, every other religion

on the face of the earth is that right? It is you, you do what you can do and we'll

see what happens at the end. God will make up the difference. Hopefully if you've done enough,

that is every other, you name it, religion on the planet. It is only through Christ that it is

already done. The moment you believe this is very, very important. You understand it is either

finished at the cross or it is not. And it is still dependent on you. Jesus said it was finished.

So many people have a hard time with this. My own grandfather, I remember, um, he had a very hard

time with this idea. He felt like he was getting a get out of jail free card that he didn't deserve,

you know? And at the end of the day, he was like, I've done so many things. I,

I don't deserve to just be forgiven like without, without any, you know, anything.

And by God's mercy, my grandpa was able to trust Christ and came to Christ at the

final moments of his life. But this was his hangup was where's my part. Your part is to receive.

It's like, grandpa, I'm trying to give you a, trying to give you a Christmas present.

Where's your part. Your part is to receive, not, not try to pay me for whatever it was

that I purchased. Right. So, but people,

people stumble at this. Look at verse 32, but they stumbled. They stumbled at that stumbling stone.

As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.

And whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. The Jewish people, indeed, most people

have stumbled at the stone that is in the road. You say, what does that mean? Well, listen,

the path to salvation is very narrow and there is a large rock right in the middle of it,

right in the middle of it. If you try to run down that path of salvation through your effort and

your strength, you try to run down that path of salvation by your church attendance and being nice

and taking care of people and serving and helping others and whatever it may be. Those are all good

things. You're going to trip on that rock and you're going to fall down and you are going to

fail to make it. However, if you see that rock, that massive rock, which is the Lord Jesus and

his work, this isn't my picture. This is God's picture. He says, there's a stone in the way

and you either run and trip into it and you lose, or you run to that rock and you fall on it.

You come in need and you fall onto Jesus and his work. And you say, I need this.

You will be saved forever. Again, this is not my picture. Jesus said it. Matthew 21,

44. He said, whoever falls on this stone, literally to collapse and fall on this stone,

on him and his work will be broken, but it's in a good way. It's a brokenness that then results in

healing, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And so this is the same idea as

stumbling over this rock and all being lost. So Romans 9, 32, when it says they stumbled at the

stumbling stone, he's talking about Jesus Christ. They stumbled over him. And maybe you do today.

Maybe you are stumbling over Jesus.

You're not stumbling over religion. You're stumbling over Christ. You're not stumbling

over, you know, organized stuff. We don't need any of that. We need Christ. And you're stumbling.

Your refusal to believe is your refusal to believe him and his work, not the church, him and his

work. And so trying to run and be righteous by your own work and by your own effort is never

going to happen. And that was the same thing for them. They tripped over the only rock that saves,

which is the Lord Jesus and his work. And so practically this just meant that they rejected

Jesus. They saw him as nothing. They saw him as a religious crutch for people who just not aren't

strong enough, you know, to do it themselves or whatever. And so, uh, they kept the Jewish people,

they kept performing their sacrifices. Do you remember what happened when, uh, Jesus was

crucified? Do you remember what happened to the veil in the temple? Veil in the temple was 14

inches thick. It took 400 priests to hang it. Do you remember this? And it kept, uh, you

from the arc God's presence. It kept you out. And that's what it said. It said, stay out because of

the holiness of God. When Jesus died, it says that thing split from the top to the bottom all the way

down and opened. And the way of that, it was God saying, come to me. Now my, my righteousness has

made it so you can have righteousness. You come directly to me. God intended us to come directly

to him. Guess what they did? Not, not even two days later, they stitched that curtain back up.

Sacrifices. They went back to their offerings. They went back to their festivals. They went back

to all these things, performing religious rights. They stumbled over the stone instead of falling

on it. Listen, instead of falling on him in need. And this is what every unsaved person ever has

done. And if you are unsaved here today, this is the issue. They had no need to be saved. Every

person who is saved knows their need to be saved. I need

to be saved. I am not good enough. Cannot. I need him to save me. And he has by his mercy,

but that's every, that's true of every believer, every unbeliever. They do not have need. That's

the issue. And so this is, but listen, this is how a person has always been saved. This is

the entire Bible shows us. This is how a person has always been saved, which is why

the quote that's given here is from the Old Testament book of Isaiah and also Psalms.

They both say it, read it. Verse 33, as it is written in both Isaiah and the Psalms,

behold, I, God lay in Zion, Israel, a stumbling stone, which is the Lord Jesus and a rock of

offense, which is his work, what he did. Now, how do we know that this stone is the Lord Jesus?

just keep reading. Look at verse 33. We're not stumbling over Christianity. We're struggling.

We're stumbling over Christ. Look what it says. Verse 33. And whoever believes, what does it say

on him? That's the issue on him will not be put to shame. Oh, you can find problems

with organized religion. You can find problems with people. It's him. Whoever believes on Jesus,

on him and his work. This is how you keep from stumbling. This is how you are saved for all

eternity. You believe on him. You fall on him in your need and belief in his work. This is how a

person is saved forever. And it always has been. That's the whole point. Now let's further explain

in chapter 10. Look what Paul says. Verse one, be brethren, my heart's desire. We know this from

last week. My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved for. I bear

them witness, man. They have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge. They're getting

it wrong because they're rejecting Christ.

It says verse three for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. This is wild seeking to

establish their own righteousness. They have not submitted. They've not surrendered to God,

to the righteousness of God. And man, if you're born again here today, you know what, you know,

what's required. You have to give up your way of trying to be saved and you have to turn to him

and surrender to him. That's what happens. And so Paul, as we saw last week, he,

he desperately wants the people around him to be saved. He desperately wants that. He says, man,

they've got a zeal for God and for righteousness, but man, they missed the point because like so

many people in the world, they might have a zeal for religion. They might have a zeal for good

things. They might have a zeal for, you know, they want a good family. They want things to be good,

whatever, but they have missed Christ. So Paul says they are ignorant of God's righteousness.

Hear this. You cannot earn righteousness.

Given to you. And to think otherwise is to be ignorant of God's given righteousness. It can

only be given to you. And so instead, here's what they do. Instead, they sought or they seek to

establish their own righteousness. I want you to think about this for a minute, understand what it

means to try to establish your own righteousness before God. It is crazy. It means you have to

reject Jesus Christ as God. And as the one who came to save us, you have to reject that. You have to

reject the cross. It means nothing for you. You have to reject that completely. You have to refuse

all of God's attempts to try to save you. You have to ignore all of his attempts to convince you of

your need. And instead you have to try to establish your own righteousness before God for him to save

you. And people do this through dumb little religious nonsense, right? They do it through,

oh, I'm going to attend church a few times a year. I'm going to give to the needy. I'm going

to help people. I'm going to let my good outweigh my bad. I'm going to, I'm going to go through,

I'm going to do whatever I can do for God to look at me and say, you know what? You're a pretty good

person. You've helped a lot of people, folks. It's not enough. It will never happen. You seek to

establish your own righteousness. It will never happen. God will never owe you or anyone else

salvation. Salvation is a gift given. In fact, the whole Bible says it, you cannot earn a gift.

It is simply received.

Salvation is a gift given to needy people who know they need it. You got to humble yourself.

That's why it says a submission to these things, right? You have to humble yourself before God

and admit your need. It cannot be earned. It cannot be deserved. The way to be saved

is through Christ alone. Look at verse four. I love this verse so much. I don't have any tattoos,

but if I did, I probably would put this one all over, right? Here it is. For Christ is the end

of the law.

For righteousness to everyone who believes what a beautiful, beautiful verse. Please hear this

to believe on Jesus Christ and his work for your salvation. It brings an end to every other attempt

to be saved by any other way to believe gives you salvation and brings an end to trying to save

yourself. I love it. He is the end of all that for the person who is saved, isn't he? I mean,

let me just say this to you. I don't, I don't say this bragging in any way. I am not trying to be

saved. I am saved.

And it's not because I've done anything to deserve it.

It is only because of his faithfulness.

I'm not trying to be saved.

I don't wake up in the morning hoping I will be saved today.

I am already saved.

I am sure of that.

Not because of anything I've done, but because of everything he's done.

I'm not trying to get it.

I already have it.

And so my life, I just want it to please him.

I just want to bless him with my life.

I already have salvation.

I'm already his.

It's already done.

He's already done this.

It's his work.

It's not my work.

And if it was my work, then yeah, I'd wake up every day going, man, I hope I get it right

today, you know?

And then by the end of the day, I'd be like, ah, man, there's no chance I'm saved today.

I hope I don't die today.

By the way, that is how, when I first came to know the Lord, that is how I lived.

I wanted to be saved so badly, but I did not understand these things.

And so I woke up and some days I was like, man, God, I'm going to do it today, man.

I'm going to be such a good Christian today.

And I'd get about halfway through the day and I'd have to give myself an altar call,

repent and take communion.

And then I'd get to the end of the day and I'd be like, oh yeah, it was a good day today.

I'm super saved today, you know?

Wake up in the morning, oh, I'm not saved, you know?

This is how it went back and forth, back and forth.

Because I didn't know it wasn't based.

I thought it was 75-25, right?

I didn't know.

And maybe that's where you live and you don't know.

And so this is why your Christian life is not worship.

Because there's not a lot to worship when it's 75 you and 25% him.

But man, when it's 100% him.

And you just.

You just begin to respond with, God, you're so good.

Here's my whole life.

You can have everything, anything you want, whatever you want.

It's all yours.

It belongs to you because of what you've done, man.

It is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Christ is the end of the law.

We're not trying to earn salvation.

We have it because of him.

Belief in his work is how a person obtains righteousness.

Belief in his work is how a person is saved forever.

But listen, if you try to earn it, deserve it, work for it.

If you try to be.

Load it from God.

You.

It's going to grind you out.

Look at verse five.

Moses writes about the righteousness, which is of the law.

Back all the way back in Leviticus 18 five.

Here's what Moses said.

The man who does those things shall live by them.

Let me rephrase it for you.

The person who tries to be saved by being good better be perfect.

That's what Moses said.

If you're going to try to approach God and not need to be saved where God has to give you salvation.

If you're going to try to approach God that way, you better be perfect.

You cannot fail.

You cannot mess up.

Not even one time or you are going to lose it forever.

Here's a James two 10 says, whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in even one little point is guilty of all of it.

You become a lawbreaker in that moment and you need to be saved.

Um, let, let me, uh, let's just say even if you somehow it's impossible, let me just, even if you somehow perfectly kept the law your entire life, but then failed just one time.

You would become a lawbreaker and you would need to be saved.

Let's say by some miracle, you have never sinned in your entire life.

If you've never sinned, go ahead and raise your hand real quick.

I just want to good thing.

Don't raise your hand.

Cause then you'll sin.

Don't do that.

Right?

Okay.

So, cause then you're bragging, right?

Okay.

Right.

So if you've never sinned in your whole life, you've never broken even one of God's commands.

You've never at any time been jealous.

You've not one time hated someone.

You've not one time, you know, you know, even somewhat lied.

I mean, come on, right?

You've never even one time wanted something that didn't belong to you.

I mean, right.

Come on.

Let's just say you never did.

You never sinned.

You made it to 80 years old and then you're driving here to church and someone cuts you

off on the freeway.

And then you think about what you want to do to that person.

80 years isn't enough.

You just blew it.

You just blew it.

You just ruined it.

You negated 80 years.

80 years does not matter.

You messed up.

You blew it in one point.

Now, of course, that's ridiculous.

We sin.

More than that.

Every single day of our lives.

But this shows how impossible it is to be saved through good works.

This idea we're going to let our good outweigh our bad.

Absolute nonsense.

It will never happen.

Nobody's good outweighs their bad.

Does not happen.

So real salvation is through faith and not through works.

Look at verse six.

But so on the other hand, righteousness, this righteousness, which comes through faith,

it speaks in this way.

Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven.

That.

that is to bring Christ down from above or who will descend into the abyss.

That is to bring Christ up from the dead.

These verses are actually a quote all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy,

chapter 30, where the Lord reveals that salvation has always been by faith

and never been by works.

Chapter 30 of Deuteronomy says that eternal life is set in front of you

and that you do not need to ascend into heaven to try to get it.

And you do not need to cross the depths of the sea

or go into the depths of the sea to try to bring it up for yourself.

It's talking about your work.

It's talking about that it is simple faith.

It's right here.

It's right there, Deuteronomy 30 says, right there for you to grab hold of.

It is through faith.

It's always been the same, never by works, always by faith.

And here's the thing.

It's not far off.

It's not far off.

Maybe you sit here today and you're like, I don't know how to be saved.

It is not far off.

It's right here for you.

You do not have to ascend into heaven to try to bring it down to you,

meaning you don't have to try.

The religious heights and accomplish something at the top,

you know, in order to attain salvation or have it.

You don't need to do that.

Jesus Christ already came.

You also don't need to try to go into the depths, right?

And afflict yourself and, and all of these things and suffer and make yourself,

you know, worthy to be given.

You don't need to go into the depths to pull salvation up for yourself.

That's the whole point of the passage.

Our Lord Jesus was already punished for us.

You don't need to please hear this.

Salvation is not far from you.

If you are unsaved,

it's not far from you.

You don't have to go to Israel to get it.

You don't have to climb up steps on your knees to get it.

You don't have to,

you know,

travel to a church or find a priest or anything else to get it.

You don't have to walk through the lowest valleys to get it.

It's right here.

You have it right now.

The ability to be saved.

It's available to you.

It tells you how close this is.

Look at verse eight,

how close eternal salvation is for you is right here.

What does it say?

The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

That's how close you are to being saved today.

It's already in your heart.

It's already in your mouth.

This is the word of faith.

Paul says,

which we preach.

Please hear this.

Your eternal salvation is right here for the taking for the receiving.

It's in your mouth already.

It's in your heart already.

It's right there.

If you will confess your need,

if you will believe you will be saved forever.

And this is the word of faith.

let me,

let me pause here for just a second.

If you've been in the church for any length of time,

you've heard the word,

There are word of faith churches.

There are word of faith movements.

There,

you know,

these things,

false teaching that claims that we use our mouth to speak things into existence,

that we,

we manifest things with our mouth.

There's this whole segment of people that teach this stuff,

right?

Where you can speak illness out of someone.

You can speak death out of,

you can raise people.

You can stop,

you know,

poverty from yourself.

You can create wealth.

You literally speak these things into existence and they call it the word of faith.

Okay.

it's absolute nonsense.

you go into any Christian bookstore,

you're going to find tons of books on this nonsense.

The only verse in the entire Bible where we find the words word of faith are right here.

And it has nothing to do with power coming from our mouths.

It has everything to do with salvation.

Okay.

So we don't have power.

He does.

We don't speak things into existence.

He does.

We,

we don't declare.

He does.

He is God.

We are not.

Okay.

Very important.

So the word of faith is literally translated.

It's literally belief expressed.

Okay.

We don't manifest anything.

It's belief expressed.

And it refers to salvation as the whole chapter is all about salvation.

So please hear this belief expressed in Jesus's work in who he is.

That is what saves might be an inward,

you know,

prayer that's expressed.

It might be an outward prayer.

It might be through words.

It might not.

It might be just in the mind.

It might be in the heart,

but you are expressing belief.

Salvation occurs as you express your belief to God.

Then you are saved.

So you don't need to walk forward.

You don't have to be at a certain place.

You don't have to do anything in particular.

If today it's right there,

it's with you.

If today you will believe you will confess and believe you will be saved.

saved. This is the word of faith.

faith, Paul says, which we preach. Salvation is by faith and not by works. So verse nine says,

if you confess, here's how simple it is, with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and you believe in your

heart that God has raised him from the dead, what does it say? You will be saved. By the way,

the word confess there means to say the same thing as someone else. What does it mean? It means that

now you begin to say the same thing about Jesus as God says about him, right? So before I was

saved, I didn't think Jesus was really anything. I thought he was a religious leader or he's like

a teacher or martyr. I don't know what I thought, right? Now I say with God, he is God. He is king.

He is savior. He is Lord. He is worthy. He is, right? I'm saying the same thing. I'm confessing

Jesus, but also confession means I am saying the same thing about me that God says about me.

So before I was saved, I used to think I was fine. I used to think I was okay. I thought I was good.

I thought I was a decent person. I wasn't trying to hurt anybody. And so I said about myself that

I was okay. But when I came to Christ, I began to confess the reality, which is that I am not okay.

I am not good. I am not righteous. I need to be saved. So that's what it means to confess the

Lord Jesus. It means you are saying you're believing and saying the same things that God

says about you and about him.

And about what he did that he says, does this make sense? So you must confess. And then also

you must believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. Again, there's that word

believe. Are you convinced? Are you convinced that Jesus not just lived? That won't do it.

Not just died. That won't do it. Not even that he rose from the dead. That may not even do it.

Demons believe Jesus lived, died, was buried,

rose from the dead. They even know he's alive. Now, do you believe that he, that he came,

that he died for your sin? That's the defining difference that he came and actually saved us

through his death, that he was buried for us, but then he rose from the dead and he is alive now

because sin was paid for, was dealt with. And so now you are saved and you are alive because

he is alive. Does this make sense?

We have to believe not just that he, you know, in, you know, that he rose from the dead,

but that he is alive forever. And it was all because of our sin. Do you believe this?

That's the question. Well, these are the requirements you must confess and you must

believe. These are the requirements to be saved forever. And so the result is what verse nine

says. You will be saved. By the way, this is future tense. So it doesn't just refer to right now.

this is not, you will be saved from all trouble. I wish it said that, right? Wouldn't that be

awesome? Confess and believe you'll be saved from all trouble in this life. You'll never stress

about a bill again. You know, you'll never worry about the price of eggs again. You know, I wish

it said that it doesn't say that it's literally future tense. It means you'll be saved forever

and ever. You'll be safe forever and ever and ever and ever in his presence. That's the promise.

So how does it happen? Verse,

10 with the heart, it says one believes unto righteousness. Man, what a beautiful thing.

Notice you can't work yourself into righteousness. It is only by believing it is with the heart.

Please hear this. It is not just a superficial belief. Like man, you know, I might as well add

the religion thing to my life in case I don't make it like it's a flood insurance policy. Like triple

a just called you, right? You're like, yeah, it sounds pretty good. Put the, uh, put the flood

insurance on me just in case I, you know, run into a problem.

You know, I said, some people are like, you know what? Put the church thing on my, uh, on my policy

just in case I don't get there on my own. I got back, I got backup, you know? Um, no, with the

heart, you must believe it must be real. It cannot be a superficial thing. You must actually have

your real understanding. I actually am in need. I am not strong enough. I am not enough. And then

verse 10 and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Let me ask you,

you honestly say that Jesus

Christ is Lord of

your life?

life. Can you honestly say that? Because according to 1 Corinthians 12, 3, the unsaved person cannot

say that and mean it. Here's what Paul said. He says, I make known to you that no one speaking

by the spirit of God is going to call Jesus a cursed, or literally, if you know him, if you

know Jesus, you would never call him nothing. You would never say he's worthless. You would never

say he's trash. You would never say that about our savior. You speak about him in a way that

shows your love for him. It goes on and it says, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by

the Holy spirit of God living within them. Apparently you can't really say and mean that

he is Lord unless of course you are, you are already born again. He's either Lord of your

life or not. But here's the promise. If you have turned to Jesus Christ for salvation,

you're never going to regret that decision. Look at verse 11 for the scripture says all the way

back in Isaiah 28, 16, whoever believes on him will never literally never be put to

shame. The word put to shame means embarrassed. Some of us go to great lengths to never be

embarrassed. We don't ever want to look like a fool. This is the idea that if you turn to Jesus

Christ, there will never be a point when you realize you have made a mistake. Um, you are

never going to suddenly have the, you know, you, you die and it's like, Oh no, I should have

trusted in myself. That's not going to happen. Oh man. It was actually all about service and

and, and giving money. Oh, didn't get it right. Oh, it was really about Allah all this time. Dang it.

Oh, it was really about praying to the saints. Oh man. It really was, you know, I mean, just go on

and on, right? Oh, there, there really is nothing after all this. I mean, I, I hung everything on

Jesus, man. What a, what a fool that is never going to happen for you. Just understand that

you have, you have hung everything on the actual hope.

On the real thing. The only one that can save us, the Lord Jesus, you have actually believed the

right thing. Do you know that? And so verse 12 says, um, there is no distinction is available

to anyone. There's no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord, uh, overall is rich

to all who call upon him for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do you know this?

There is no favoritism with God. There is no racism with God. There is no socialism with God.

There is no, uh, sexism with God. There is no ageism with God. If you have need, he will save

you. If you do not have need, then you will reject him and you will, you will condemn, you will damn

yourself. As we saw last week, the unbeliever prepares themselves for wrath. God prepares us

who know and love him for righteousness. Listen, he is rich. The Bible says endless is the word in

To all who call upon him. And so the simple promise verse 13 for whoever calls on the name

of the Lord will be saved. Three things to notice one, whoever raise your hand, whoever good people,

bad people, nice people, not nice people, grumpy people, happy people, right? Annoying people,

pleasant people. You know what I'm saying? Right? Whoever, whoever, anyone who calls on the name of

the Lord can be saved, will be saved. But notice you must

call on the Lord. It is not automatically given because you went to church or your dad was a

pastor or you got baptized when you were a baby or whatever. It's not automatically given. You must

call out the word call. There means to call in need. My kids call me. They go, dad, dad. I mean,

I'm running, right? Cause there's some urgency to that. There's some need. I go, what, what do you

need? That's what this is. This is a call for help. You must call for help in order to be saved. And

notice the promise will be saved. It's not a, well, maybe why don't you go ahead and call on

the Lord and we'll see what happens. Right? And so my grandmother,

She was a Mormon for more than 40 years

and thankfully turned to Jesus Christ

in the final couple of weeks of her life, praise God.

But she never had this assurance of salvation

because there is no assurance in false religion.

There is no assurance in Mormonism.

It is works-based righteousness.

So she never knew if she did enough.

I would ask her all the time,

Grandma, how do you know you're going to heaven?

I don't know.

I hope I've done enough.

I hope I've done enough.

What finally rescued my grandma

was understanding that Christ alone has done enough.

It's not 75-25.

It is all Him.

It's all His work.

And she trusted in His work.

And my grandma, thankfully, my grandma trusted Christ.

Please consider how amazing all of this is.

It is not do enough and we'll see if you're saved.

It's not give a lot and help a lot and serve a lot

and maybe you'll be saved.

It's not try hard and maybe you'll be saved.

It's simply this.

Do you see your need?

If you do, call out to the Lord in your need

and He will save you.

Now, when we talk about this,

we're talking about the most important thing

that we could ever share with anyone else.

This message is the most important thing

we could ever share.

And this is why Jesus got His disciples together

and told them to go and share this one message.

The message of Him, what He has done,

repentance and belief.

And so the question to you is,

will you share it?

And that's what verse 14 says.

How shall they call on Him

in whom they have not believed?

How can they call on Jesus?

They've never heard of Him.

If you know the Lord here today,

this is a plea from the Lord to you.

He is asking you to share the gospel,

the message of what He has done with other people.

Verse 14, how should they believe on Him

in whom they have not heard?

How shall they hear without a preacher?

Let me ask you a question.

How will your family members call on Him to save them

if no one has ever told them?

How will they call on Him

if they've never heard of Him and what He has done?

And now some of you immediately got all theological.

And you're like, well, you know,

God will send, He doesn't need me

and He'll send somebody

and God can work all that out

and someone will tell them about it

and I don't need to be the person.

And I go, oh, okay.

Maybe you're the one that God was bringing.

Well, God will bring someone.

He did.

Well, God will send someone into my workplace

to share the gospel.

Yeah, He did.

You know, God will just,

He'll bring someone along

and they'll sit around my family gathering table

at Thanksgiving

and they'll share the gospel.

Now go ahead and point out,

point out yourself.

That is the person God's bringing.

You know what I'm saying, right?

You're like, God, I know you got a plan.

And He's like, yeah, you're my plan.

And you're like, oh, why?

But maybe there's another plan.

You're the plan.

You're the one.

Listen, I don't mean to be mean

and depending on what you have at Thanksgiving

and you invite me,

but I'm not coming to your Thanksgiving.

Unless you have a lot of pie, right?

But I'm just saying like,

not really coming to your Thanksgiving

because I'm at my Thanksgiving.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, who's sitting around your table, right?

And so listen,

you are the,

you might be waiting for someone else,

but God says you're there.

It's hard to imagine that in your family

or in your school

or in your neighborhood

or in your workplace,

it's really hard to imagine

that with you there,

God is going to bring someone else

to do what He's asking you and I to do.

You're not sharing with my neighbor.

I've been sharing with my neighbor now

for eight years.

You're not sharing with my neighbor.

He hasn't received Christ.

His family hasn't received Christ,

but that's my responsibility.

It's hard to imagine that,

God's sending someone else except you.

Look what it says, verse 15.

How shall they tell anyone?

How shall they preach unless they are sent?

And that's what happens.

If you are willing,

He will send you.

In the book of Isaiah chapter six,

the Lord asked,

who shall I send and who will go for us?

And one of the angels was like,

well, there's nobody here that's qualified.

You know, I don't see anybody that's gone to seminary.

So I don't got it.

You're just gonna have to figure it out, God,

because there's nobody else, you know?

Isaiah just,

he said, here I am, send me.

Can I, can I just tell you this?

It's not, the issue is not your skill.

The issue is not whether you have all the questions answered.

The issue is your willingness.

Are you willing?

Do you put your hand up and say, okay, God, I'm willing.

God will give you what you need.

Your willingness is what stops him.

from being able to use you to bring the message of the gospel to the people around you. It's our

willingness that stops that. If you are willing, he is willing and he will do it. And so this

message is desperately needed. Look at verse 15, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of

those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Listen, I know it

can be scary to share this message. I know it can seem like they aren't going to hear it or receive

it. And we always focus on this part. We focus on the wrong stuff. We're like, what if they won't

hear me? What if they're going to be upset? What if they're going to be mad? And what, ready? What

if they heard you? What if they get all mad? What if they receive it? What if for them, it sounds

like life? What if in that moment, they're overwhelmed at the goodness of God? What if

they've just been begging for someone to say it? What if? We always think about what if it goes bad?

What if it goes good? What if they come to Christ as a result of you sharing your faith? I mean,

Jesus didn't get us all together and tell us to do this for no reason. People are going to receive

it. Some of you, you have received this message. It's life. The issue is our willingness. And so

it's true. Some will reject it. Verse 16, they've not all obeyed the gospel. Isaiah said, Lord,

who has believed our report? It's true. Some will reject it. Many people for sure, but some will

receive it. And very likely,

you are God's plan. Now, before we close, I want to remind you of something. It is not your words

or mine that save anyone. I know that. I know every time I step into this, I know it is not

my words that do anything for any of you. I know that. That's why I beg God to speak to you because

it has nothing to do with me. And it's not your words that are going to save anybody. You're not

going to put together a perfect argument that's going to put a person into faith. If you could

argue something, someone into faith, someone else can argue them out. That's not what it is. Listen,

you got to remind yourselves. It's not your clever argument. It's not your clever argument. It's not

that you can answer every question. It's not by being so nice that they have to receive it. Look

at verse 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How does a person become

convinced? They become convinced by hearing. Listen, that means we have to be saying something.

Have you heard the phrase, preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words? How many

of you have heard that statement? I hate it. Let's get rid of it. It's stupid. Don't do that. Preach

the gospel at all times and use words, right? It's the idea that we can just, listen, it's crazy to

think that we can just be nice and people are going to put it all together. That's insane.

That's crazy to think that somehow people are going to be like, you know what?

You are like the nicest person in this grocery store. I have just realized I'm a sinner in need

of salvation. Also, I saw you pick the orange up when it fell. You put it back. That said to me,

to put my life together. And so I understood immediately that I need to repent of my sin

and trust Christ and confess my guys. But this is what we think. I'm going to go into the grocery

store. I'm going to be the nicest person around. Do you see how I waited for that person to take

their cart before I got my cart preaching Christ? No, you're not. No, you're not. Listen, be nice.

Be kind. Please share. Please share how faith comes by hearing. But here's the part.

You can't, you can't do anything about hearing comes from the word of God. How does a person

realize their need? God's word convinces them of their need. Not you, not me. His word does this.

And so listen, this is where the real stuff happens. It's not because you were clever or nicer. It's

because God's word worked its way into their heart. So I want to encourage you, please share

God's word. Don't share, Hey, come to church. It'll make everything better in your life and things will

get better in your life and things will get better. That's not the gospel. It's not, Hey, try to be

really nice and also be spiritual. That's not the gospel. It's not even Jesus loves you. That's not

the gospel. It's not seek God, live, right. Be better, be nicer. Do good to your fellow man.

Be a better person. That is not the gospel. These messages do not, do not save share God's word.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

God, the gospel, John chapter three, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and

only son that whoever would believe in him and would, will not perish, but have eternal life,

share God's word. And this is why four weeks ago, we walked you through the Romans road of salvation.

So you would know what to share, what a person needs to believe. And so this morning, if you

know him, let me ask you, are you willing to share the gospel with others? Will you raise your hand

and say, I'm willing when God says, who will go for me, who will do it? You'll never go to the

people around you. If you're not willing, if you don't make that decision, God, I'm willing and

make it every day. God, I'm willing. I don't know if I have the right answers, but I'm willing. I

don't know what they'll say, but I'm willing. I don't know if they'll get mad, but I'm willing.

That's what it is. But then the second thing I would say is if you do not know the Lord today,

you can, it is not far from you. It's right here. It's not with me. It's not this church. It's,

it's you between you and the Lord.

It is in your mouth. He says it is, it is in your heart right now. All you have to do

is confess your need and believe, and you will be saved. Don't turn away, turn towards him

today. Amen. Let's pray together. Lord, we love you. We thank you for loving us and thank you

for your word and the truth of it. Lord, I pray for anyone here today that does not know you.

I pray, Lord, they would admit their need to you today. If that's you, that you would humble your

self before God, that you would admit your need today, that you would turn to him for salvation

and for life. He will save you if you will come to him in real belief and in real need. Turn to

him today. We love you, Lord. We thank you. We give our hearts and our lives to you. It's in

Jesus name. I pray. Amen.