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The River ChurchSermons

Romans 9-16

Israel's Present

Mitchell Holmes · Sunday, 5 October 2025 · Romans 9:30-10:21 · 33:59 · 6,218 words

Romans S24 · 9:30-10:21

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

Romans 10 shows that God's sovereignty does not erase human responsibility; every person must own their sin, turn from trying to earn righteousness, and trust in Christ's finished work. The sermon calls believers to stop deflecting blame, to examine whether they are still trying to prove themselves to God, and to rest in the salvation already won. It also urges everyone who has received the gospel to share it boldly, warning that failing to speak leaves others without the hope they need.

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.

responsibility 25 varsity 10 jacket 7 sovereignty 8 elevate 5 shortcomings 4 zeal 7 responsible 5 default 4 achieve 5 checklist 3 uncomfortable 5

Topics

Salvation 10 The Law 6 Faith 6 The Gospel 5 Prayer 3 Mission & Evangelism 2 Israel 2 Righteousness 1 Atonement & Sacrifice 1 Obedience 1 Election & Predestination 1

Scripture referenced 20

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

Romans 10 7:58 Romans 10:1 13:07 Galatians 3:24-25 14:42 Romans 3 16:25 James 2:10 16:33 Romans 2 20:18 Romans 2 20:18 Romans 2:14-26 20:18 Romans 2:26 20:40 Romans 1 22:15 Romans 1:20 22:15 Philippians 2:12 22:37 Philippians 2:21-23 23:00 Romans 10 24:35 Romans 10:9-10 24:35 Romans 10 25:51 Romans 10 26:37 Romans 3 27:43 Romans 3:14-17 28:44 John 15:18 30:45

Transcript

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

morning. Good. My name is Mitchell. I'm the children's pastor at our River Church Waterford

location. That might be a little too close to my mouth. So I get the honor and privilege of working

with all the five to 11 year olds, the elementary age kids at our Waterford location. I love what I

do. I love working with kids. I love, you know, helping them to develop their early steps in

their relationship with Jesus Christ. But most importantly, I love to preach the word of God.

And so I'm excited to be here. I've been here once before with you guys. As you guys know,

Pastor Pat and his wonderful wife, Jasmine, had their baby Cade and got to bring him home this

week. But it's just been a busy couple weeks. And so I figured we'd help him out and give him a

break. And just so I want to thank him for sharing his pulpit and just happy to be here and, you

know, be a part of part of this with you guys. So we're gonna be in chapter number 10 today. Okay,

we're continuing in our in our series in the book of Romans.

Paul has been making a flawless argument for the case of Christianity, why Christ is who he is,

why the Bible is true. And it brings us to today. So last week, we learned quite a bit about the

sovereignty of God. Most specifically, we learned a difficult truth, but a truth nonetheless,

about God's sovereign election. There are those that God, you know, has chosen before the beginning

of time that will be his children. But Paul here, he's talking about the sovereignty of God. He's

here as a reminder, continues that thought, a new chapter doesn't necessarily mean a new thought.

These chapter breaks are put in place by us to, you know, help us to understand and, you know,

give ourselves a pause in between, you know, these different segue points. But it is a continuation

of chapter number nine. Okay. And before we get into chapter number 10, a question that I have

for you is there's, is there ever been a time in your life that there's been something that you,

you know, really strive for, sought after,

tried to get to, but you just couldn't quite make it? You couldn't quite get to,

couldn't quite get to the thing that you're looking for. You couldn't quite achieve it.

So for me, when I was a senior in high school, all of a sudden, for the first time ever,

I decided I really wanted a varsity jacket. Okay. All of the cool kids at my school had a varsity

jacket, which you got by playing in a varsity sport. So I'll let you guess how easy it is to

get onto a varsity sports team when you haven't done sports.

Your whole life. But so I decided I wanted one, right? I'm like, oh, to get to prom, you know,

what girl's going to go to a prom with a guy that doesn't have a varsity jacket? So I'm like, man,

I'm just, I got to get this, you know? And I'm like, you know what? I play, I'm involved in

competitive water skiing. And I don't think they're going to give me a varsity jacket for that.

And I like chess. I play a lot of chess. Maybe I'll get on the chess team. No, they're probably

not giving me a varsity jacket for that. I know I played baseball for three years when I was a child.

I'll just make the baseball team. I'll be, I'll be a part of their varsity team. I'll get the

varsity jacket. And of course that didn't happen. Not even slightly. I'm pretty sure they watched

me throw once and they're like, you can, you can go. All right. You can go home. We've seen all

we need to see. But I really wanted a varsity jacket and I couldn't achieve it. You know,

I didn't, I didn't have enough time invested into something to achieve that goal. You know,

so maybe, maybe my personal story doesn't resonate with you, but if you're a Detroit fan and you like

Detroit sports, the Lions, despite being the best team in the NFL last year,

didn't achieve, you know, the thing that they've always strived after a Superbowl ring, you know,

and maybe, maybe this year, but who knows? But so here, as we look into chapter number 10,

we're going to be looking at, you know, striving for something that we just can't quite achieve.

Okay. Now Paul's heart here is we're going to read in chapter number 10, specifically in verse one,

he has a heart for the Israelites, for the Jewish people that he identifies with. He's a Jew himself.

And so he's going to talk about, you know, they're,

they're zealous. The word zeal or to be zealous is to, to have an intense passion and excitement and

an eagerness to worship the Lord, right? They're zealous, but for the wrong reason,

they're missing the mark. So here he's writing to address the issue and he's making it clear that

there are some responsibilities for every human being. So let's pray. And then we'll spend some

time in the word of God. Lord, we love you. And God, I just thank you for the opportunity to be

here today. I thank you, Lord, that we are able to gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ,

spend time in your word and grow in our relationship with you. Please speak through

the text today. Be with each and every one of us in your name we pray. Amen. So Romans chapter number

10, we'll go through it once, and then we're going to break it down and understand what Paul's trying

to communicate to the audience. So he says in 10 verse one, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer

to God for them is that they may be saved. Again, this is in reference to the Israelites. For I bear

them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge for being ignorant of the

righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own. They did not submit to God's righteousness

for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes for Moses writes about

the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live

by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, 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 that we proclaim

because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised

him from the dead, you will be saved for with the heart one believes in is justified. And with the

mouth one confesses and is saved for the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put

There's no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches

on all who call on him for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will

they call on him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him of whom they have

not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless

they are to send unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who

preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says,

Lord, I will not obey the gospel. I will not obey the gospel. I will not obey the gospel. I will not

obey the gospel. I will not obey the gospel. I will not obey the gospel. I will not obey the gospel.

Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through

the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed, they have for their voice has gone out to

all the earth and their words to the end of the world. But I ask, did Israel not understand first

Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation with a foolish nation. I'll make

you angry. Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have

shown myself to those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not seek me. I have

shown myself to those who did not ask for me. But of all Israel, he, God says all day long, I have

held out my hand to a disobedient and contrary people. So here, remember Paul is transitioning

and he's making it very clear. If nine is all about the sovereignty of God, God's election,

his, uh, all, all consuming power, right? If it's about that here, he's transitioning and he's like

that sovereignty, God's ability to have his hand in everything, controlling,

controlling everything, be involved in everything. Can, uh, choosing what things are going to come to

pass, right? If all of those things are true, it does not, however, eliminate man's responsibility

in this chapter. We're going to see that the, the idea of responsibility is repeated several times.

So we're going to break it down. And so here in chapter 10, it's just really, really focusing on

several of man's responsibilities. Now, as we think about it, as we think about God's sovereignty,

God's all knowing power,

God's election, his presence in our lives. And then we think about our responsibility,

our free will, those two things seem to be opposites, but that is not the truth, right?

In reality, we can't reconcile how those two things work together in the same way that we can't

reconcile the Trinity, three beings that are one, three persons of God that are one complete God.

We can't on this side of heaven, wrap our mind around these truths yet. They are the opposite

sides of the same coin.

Two truths that while profound and impossible for us to grasp fully work together as part of our

salvation. Kent Hughes says this, he says, this is a truth to be believed rather than fully

understood because we could spend our lives trying to fully understand how does God's sovereignty

hold hands with man's responsibility so that someone can be saved? Good luck. You could

dedicate your life and we'll never fully understand it. It's a truth to be believed

and relied upon, but never fully understood. Now,

many of you don't know me personally, but if you did take some time to get to know me,

you would know that one of my favorite things on the planet is the movie series,

How to Train Your Dragon, okay? If you haven't seen it, it's probably because it's an animated

movie for kids, all right? I love it. And they just released this live action one not that long

ago, so maybe you went and saw it in theaters. It's a phenomenal movie. And at one point,

the movie is all about this band of Vikings that don't like dragons. The dragons attack them and

they take out the dragons. But then, you know, I don't know if you've seen it, but it's a movie that

the one main character for the first time ever captures a dragon. And he starts to realize maybe

this isn't, they aren't as bad as we think they are. So he's got this dragon captive, his name is

Toothless, and he feeds him and he takes care of him. And then one day comes where he's like, I'm

going to try and pet the dragon. And so if you know the movie, it's an iconic scene. He reaches

out like this and turns away thinking maybe the dragon's going to bite my hand off. And he hovers

about this far away. And then the dragon comes the rest of the way and they touch for the first time.

And, you know, the whole series is about their friendship.

And so, you know, it just reminds me as we talk about, you know, God's sovereignty means

responsibility. It just reminds me of that silly scene, you know, you know, where the character

reaches out, he comes most of the way, but then the dragon still has to make the choice to come

the rest of the way to complete the transaction. When we read this, it doesn't negate the fact that

God is sovereign. God does the work. God comes, changes our lives through the movement of the

dragon. And so, you know, it's an iconic scene. He reaches out and takes it. Every human being,

every man, woman, and child has responsibilities. Now, as human beings, our default nature is to not

want to take responsibility. You might hear them like, that's not true. Okay. You either don't

have kids or have never volunteered in children's ministry because it is true. All right. If you

want to know whether that's true or not, go back into the kids area and just volunteer for one

week. At some point, some kid will need to be talked to about something, some behavioral issue

and if you know, if you spend any time with kids, what's the first thing when you say, hey,

why did you do that thing? They'll say, it's not my fault. It's not my fault. That kid hit me first.

She wouldn't give me a turn on the game. It was my turn on the game. So that's why I acted out

and threw something. It's not my fault. Our default state is to not want to take

responsibility. If your boss comes to you and says, hey, why are your numbers so down this quarter?

I promise you, your first response is not, well, I just didn't work that hard this quarter. That might

even be the truth, right? But there's going to be something else that we give first, right? Well,

you know, the economy isn't great. I just had a baby, you know, and whatever it is, there's some

other reason that we can give other than I just didn't work as hard as I needed to, right? It's

not our default state to take responsibility. We don't like to do it. For our sins, our default

setting is to place the blame on God. For our calls to God, we don't like to do it. We don't like to

reach lost souls. We point to the sovereignty of God and we think, I can just sit in my armchair.

If they're God's, God's going to get them either way. I don't need to be involved with that, right?

We don't want the responsibility. So we use that to avoid the responsibility, to avoid the

uncomfortable conversations. This is something that we have to actively fight against in our

Christian walks. Our flesh is at war with our spirit. So we have to push back daily against

our flesh so we can choose heavenly things. So the

first responsibility that Paul mentions in this chapter is the responsibility for every human being

over their sin, for his or her own shortcomings. This is clear in the way that he addresses his

brothers and sisters. In verse one, he makes it clear that they're not saved. He says,

He says,

He says,

And then as you move a little bit further into the chapter, you see, not only is he saying there's

hope for them, but he even begins to praise them. They're not lost people. He begins to praise them.

He says,

They have intense and immense zeal. They've come a long way. If you've spent any time studying the

history of Israel, you know what a struggle it is for them in terms of idol worship,

things that they put above God. That is not the Israel of today that we're reading about.

The Israel in today's passage is an Israel that really, truly worships Yahweh, but are just

misguided ever so slightly. They have zeal in the way that they worship him. Paul would know because

he was the chief among them in his zealous persecution of Christians, who he saw as heretics

and traitors to the faith. They passionately pursue what they believe is right, but having

passion, zeal, excitement, ambition, and steadfast belief in God is not the same as salvation.

And that's what Paul is hammering home here. And in their case, the Jews have even taken it one step

further. They've taken the law to be something that it never was, never was intended to be.

Galatians chapter 3 verses 24 and 25 say this,

The guardian that it's being talked about there carries the same connotation of a tutor. You know,

more than a teacher, less than a parent, a guardian, you know, someone who's actively

pouring into your life in the same way that a tutor would and a guardian does as well.

Warren Wiersbe writes this about it. He says,

The law was a signpost pointing the way, but it could never take them to their destination. Now,

I'm not talking about the law like go the speed limit, pay your taxes. That's not what we're

talking about. The law is the Old Testament. And the Israelites have taken the law, this list of

and they have taken it and turned it into this checklist that had to be followed. And if you

missed on the checklist, they could look down their noses and be like, hmm, I have never done

that. Hmm, interesting. You know, that's what they've turned the law into. But again, as Wiersbe

says, the law was a signpost pointing the way, but it was never meant to take them to the destination.

Now, what is it pointing to? Paul is saying that the law was given to the Jewish nation to lead

to Christ. The law is meant to show us that we fall so miserably short of the standards that God

has. It's meant to show us, hey, this is the law. You should be aware of the fact that you are not

currently completing it. You should be aware of that fact. All of us fall short. If you remember

in Romans chapter 3, it says all have sinned and fall short. All of us are short of perfection.

James chapter 2 verse 10 says it slightly differently. He says,

has become guilty of all of it. The necessary requirement for heaven is perfection in terms

of following the law. And it's possible to be 99.99% accurate, flawless, incredible, and still

miss on one point and become guilty of all of it. So if the law is meant to show us that perfection

is unattainable, the standard of God is unattainable, it's meant to point us to the fact that we need

John MacArthur says anyone who is not utterly self-deceived realizes the impossibility of never

stumbling, even in the smallest way. Now the nation of Israel, instead of seeing the law for what it

is, instead of seeing it as something that's pointing them to the need of the coming savior,

they've attempted to establish their own righteousness by adding to the law as a means

of elevating oneself, to making oneself closer to God so they can feel better about themselves,

to make themselves feel better about themselves, to make themselves feel better about themselves,

it's a means of elevating themselves. They had an intellectual knowledge, they had head knowledge,

they were wise, they knew the scripture, but they did not have the discerning spiritual knowledge

that would be required for salvation, the heart knowledge that is needed. And we look at the

Israelites, and I think it's really easy to look back and be like, man, they were so foolish. I'm

going through the book of Exodus with a friend of mine in a one-on-one study that we're doing,

and in Exodus, you know, I'm like, man,

two weeks ago, you had a laser beam from heaven leading you out of Egypt, and now you're so quick

to forget and fall back into idolatry. Man, how dumb can you be, right? So we look back and we

just think like, man, it's foolishness, right? But we do the same things in our lives. We do the

same things in our lives. We need to recognize that having a desire for godly things does not

mean that we are saved. The Israelites here, they've placed the

wrong thing at the top of the pedestal. They've placed the law, completing the checklist,

looking all, as much like the part as they can, and they've elevated it above the Savior who was

standing in front of them. And there are people who still do this to this day. There are people

who are the first people in the door to come to church. They unlock the door and start the coffee

pot. There are pastors. There are people who volunteered in the nursery ministry for 27 years

that have thought to themselves, I've, look, I've done the things,

I've been a part of it my whole life. I've been here at church since I was 12 years old.

And yet it's possible to still have missed it. It's possible that you could be the most

passionate preacher, most dedicated worker, most humble door greeter on the planet and still be

dead in the sight of the Lord. It's possible to be lost. And the enemy does such a great job in

convincing us that our actions are where our safety comes from. We do the same thing. We

elevate ourselves in our minds. I am so thankful that I'm the one who's able to come and

and do this thing for the church, right? But in reality, everything that we do should be about

elevating Christ. And to that point, on the flip side of this argument, it says this in James

chapter two, it's, it's, as it's stated in James chapter two, verses 14 through 26, I'm not going

to read the whole thing. It says that faith that does not lead to a zeal, a faith that does not

lead to a desire to live in the obedience of God and do the works that are expected of us is not

true faith. Here's the verse I do want to read. The one verse I want to highlight is James chapter

two, verse 26. At the end of the verse, it says, faith apart from works is dead. So while the works

are not what saves us, the Bible makes it clear. If you have true saving faith, if you really placed

your trust in Jesus Christ, it will show in your actions. It will show in the way that you treat

those around you. It'll show in the things that you're suddenly willing to do that you never

thought in a million years you would be willing to do. Now, Paul is writing here. The first

responsibility is a wake up call saying, Hey, wake up, wake up, Israel.

Wake up, America. Wake up, walled lake. It is a wake up call. We are responsible for our shortcomings.

We can't fall trapped to the prey of convincing ourselves. I have zeal. I have done the works.

I've done the things. I must be one of God's children. Paul's saying, wake up. It's possible

you're wrong. He's hoisting a massive warning sign, trying to alert us that if we haven't taken

responsibility for our sins, it's time to get uncomfortable and ask some tough questions.

Not many people do that well. Not many

people get honest with themselves and ask questions. Now, a natural extension of this push

of our responsibility for our shortcomings is to take responsibility for our own salvation.

It's time to take an honest assessment of our salvation. And that's what Paul's encouraging

the reader to do. Have you taken a moment between you and the Lord to really assess

where you're at? It's clear in this passage and many others that we

alone are responsible for our salvation. Romans chapter one, verse 20. If you were here at

church a couple of weeks ago, it says, God's nature is clearly perceived, so we are without

excuse. You, me, every single person we hold dear, our children, our neighbor, our loved ones,

every single person will have to answer for our salvation. It's our responsibility to get brutally

honest with ourselves. No one else is going to do it, but you alone with God. Philippians 2, verse 12.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more

in my absence. Here's the crazy part. I'm not going to do it, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. The most terrifying passage in all

the Bible, Matthew chapter seven, verses 21 and 23. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,

will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On

that day, many will come to me. Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons

in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, this is the bone

chilling part. I will declare to them, I will declare to them, I will declare to them, I will declare to

them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. The Bible says, sort out your

salvation with fear and trembling. Do not be one of the people that on that day says, Lord, I did

those things. I was in church. I gave to the poor. Don't be one of those who's convinced themselves

of a falsehood. And you're told, depart from me. Now, if you're new here, I don't mean for this

to sound as doom and gloom as maybe it's coming across right now. If you're new here and you're

like, I don't know Jesus. I thought it was supposed to be better than this. This is kind of scary.

I assure you it is. But I have to start here because this is a message that it's meant to

wake people up. Paul's trying to be blunt and honest. The language here is intentionally bold

because there are many, many people then that Paul's writing to and today who have allowed themselves

to believe a lie that they are saved when they are not. Now, the good news is the gospel of Jesus is so infinitely

profound that we will never understand it while here on earth. And yet at the same time, it's so

simple that a child can understand it and be saved. The key to it is in this chapter 10 verse 9 and 10.

I'm going to read it one more time. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the

heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. If you

are here for the first time and you don't know Jesus, you don't know about the cross, you don't

know why we're in God's word studying this right now, are you ready? Here is the most important

truth in human history. As we've already discussed, we all have sinned. We all cannot enter heaven

because of our mistakes and failures. Despite that, Jesus, the Son of God, left heaven. He came to

earth. He lived as a man and he never sinned. The only man who's ever walked the planet and never did wrong. At the end of his life, he died

on the cross. In so doing, he paid the price of death that comes with sin. Being sinless and going

to the cross allowed him to pay the price that you, me, and the rest of the world couldn't afford.

And here in Romans 10, we see God is saying, if you believe that, if you believe Christ is the

Son of God, if you believe he lived on this world, never sinning, if you believed he paid the price

for your sins on the cross and died for you, and if you believe I rose him back from the dead three days later, then you will be saved. If you confess him

as Lord, if you repent of your sin and you turn to Jesus, you will be saved. Now again, this is one of

those things that we can spend our whole lives trying to wrap our minds around and never get it

because the depths of this is not something that we can ever understand. But the simplicity of God

became man, never sinned, and paid the price for you is something that anyone can understand. It is

available to all. Romans 10 21 says, but of Israel, he says, all day long I've held out my hand to a

contrary people. I love the image of God standing with his hand held out saying, I'm here. It's

available. Will you reach and take it? Will you reach up and take my hand and trust in me? Elsewhere

in the Gospels, we see one of the apostles begin to walk on water and walk out to Jesus. And this

is one of my favorite visuals. He begins to sink when he takes his eyes off of Jesus. He has no way

of saving himself. He couldn't swim, but Jesus reaches down, grabs him, and pulls him out of the

water. The same is true for us. God does come to seek and to save the lost. He does leave the 99

behind to search for the one, to search for you. He does call his flock to him. God is sovereign.

All of that is true, but there's still a responsibility on us to respond. There's still

a responsibility on us to take his hand. In Romans 3, Paul made a point of showing that there is no

difference in condemnation. All have sinned and fall short of the law. God is sovereign. All have

sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And now here he's saying, there's no difference in

salvation either. If you're saved, it doesn't matter if you're a murderer or if you lied twice

in your life. You are saved. It is readily available to all. If you're here tonight and you

are a child of God, this passage should be an encouragement. You can recognize Christ came to

fulfill the law. The debt has been paid. The battle is won. The worship team led us in a song about

this. The battle is won. The end is written. We already know how it's going to play out. We don't

have to guess.

So ask yourself today, am I trusting in what Christ has done or am I still trying to prove

myself to God? True faith is the faith that rests in the finished work of Christ. Now the final

responsibility that Paul places on the readers in verses 14 through 17, let me read it one more

time. How then will they call on him whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him

of whom they have not heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach

unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach

the good news. Here Paul exhorts the Christian to take their salvation and begin to share it. This

can be intimidating. It can be uncomfortable. We know what's going on. It can be scary to go and

share our faith, to share our salvation with the world around us. It can be scary. It can be

uncomfortable, but it is a call for us to be ambassadors of Christ. It's called calling for

us to be mini Christ's. That's what the word Christian means to point in a broken and dark

world. It's a call for us to be ambassadors of Christ. It's a call for us to be mini Christ's.

To the hope and light found in Jesus at the foot of the cross. And we can take comfort in the fact

that this message doesn't come from us. It doesn't originate from us. This message is from God,

which should lead us with boldness knowing God has our back. God is behind us when we go out

and send this message. Now, as much as that should give us confidence, that doesn't mean

that there's going to be an absence of fear. Fear is a natural human reaction. And even if

we perfectly remind ourselves every single time that the Holy Spirit is with us, we're not going

there's still going to be times that sharing the good news, sharing the gospel is uncomfortable,

scary, nerve-wracking. It might preclude you from getting that promotion. That might look like

friends and family wanting nothing to do with you. We all know what's going on in the world right now.

We know how hard it is for Christians, but the call to spread the good news of the cross

is still there. It doesn't change those things, but it's there. John 15 verse 18 is of immense comfort.

Jesus himself says, if the world hates you, it's because they hated me first. While the message is

good news, while the message is a message of hope, salvation found in Christ, it's also offensive.

Telling people that apart from Jesus, none are good, no not one, is an offensive and difficult

thing to stomach. Telling someone if you don't turn the car around, you're going to drive off a cliff

and perish. Jesus himself says, if the world hates you, none are good, no not one, is an offensive and difficult thing to stomach.

It's a tough thing to hear. Telling the world that all are destined for hell because all are evil

sinners is not a popular one. So we have to be careful. We have to be careful in the way that

we frame this message. We have to deliver the truth of God's word in love. We can't allow

ourselves to be fooled by what we're seeing in the media or what the people around us are saying

because here's the truth. The most loving thing that we can do is warn someone when they're

holding out their hand and take it. They are destined for destruction. So I ask you today,

who is waiting to hear because you have yet to speak? Paul in this chapter tells us that we have

some responsibilities. Don't let yourself be fooled. We're all responsible for our shortcomings.

We're all responsible for our own salvation and we're all responsible for sharing that salvation,

sharing the good news with those around us. If you have questions, if you want help with that,

if you're scared, come talk to me. Come find Pastor Pat. Ask someone around you and say,

I don't know what that looks like but I'd love to find out more. If you're here today and you don't

know about the good news of Jesus and you want help and you want questions to ask, you have

questions you want to ask, we'd love to talk with you some more. Let's pray. Be done. Lord, we love

you. And God, I just thank you that you are a God of hope and you are light in the darkness. I just

pray for all of us, not just in this room, but every Christian take an honest assessment of their

relationship with you. That we not be fooled into thinking something that's not true. And I also just

pray, Lord, that you give us a boldness to take responsibility and answer the call to share the

good news with those around us. Lord, I just pray if there's anyone here who doesn't know the name

of Jesus, I just pray that you lay it on their heart to get honest right now. Ask some questions

right now. Approach someone for help today. I just pray that for the rest of us, for those of us that

are your children, Lord, I just pray that you give us a boldness that we've never known before.

In your name we pray. Amen.