ROMANS 10:1-11 WHOEVER BELIEVES ON JESUS WILL BE SAVED2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 10:1-11 Whoever Believes On Jesus Will Be Saved

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

We are here in Romans chapter 10 this evening. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 11. And so let's take the time this evening to begin by reading through this passage together. Romans chapter 10 verses 1 through 10, beginning in verse 1, it says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Verse 5. Verse 6.

Verse 9. Verse 9.

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.

Here we are this evening in Romans chapter 10 and continuing to look at some exciting things, some powerful truths that the Apostle Paul continues to make clear and elaborate on for us. And he's really recapping and hitting a lot of things that we've been studying throughout the book of Romans as we've been talking about the gospel week after week after week. This evening I've titled the message, Whoever Believes on Jesus Will Be Saved.

Paul the Apostle has been talking about the gospel message, and we've been dealing with the different elements of it. In chapter 9, he kind of shifted gears a little bit as he continues to talk about the gospel. He's also been talking about the Jewish people and their receiving, or rather rejecting, of the gospel message.

And that continues on into chapter 10. And as he explains about how to receive the gospel here, he's explaining why the Jews have not received it. The Jewish people as a whole have rejected the gospel and salvation because they've not approached the idea of salvation or righteousness in the way that God has designed.

And so in the process of talking about their relationship to salvation and righteousness, though, we get to see some incredible truth about believing in Jesus. And that is the method by which God has chosen for all people everywhere without exception to be saved. And so whoever believes on Jesus will be saved.

And there's three points that we'll look at as we go through this passage together. Three points to help us understand the gospel message and receiving that gospel message, really what it means to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. And so point number one, we'll find in verses one through eight, and that is that we must submit to the righteousness of God.

To believe on Jesus for salvation requires a submission to the righteousness of God. Paul begins here in chapter 10 with verse 1 saying, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. And so you can see here, Paul continues to express his love for the people of Israel and his desire, his heart for them is for salvation.

Now, we saw this also in chapter 9. You might remember in chapter 9, Paul says, I tell you the truth, I'm not lying. My conscience bears witness within the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren.

There Paul was expressing his desire. He wished it was possible for him to sacrifice himself and be cut off from Christ so that they could be united to Christ and experience salvation in the righteousness of God. And so we talked about that there in chapter 9 and the heart of Paul for his people, for the people around him. And he continues to express that here in verse 1 of chapter 10. He says that his desire, his prayer,

And so the things that he wants is the things that he's praying for. But the things that he wants is not new cars and fancy shoes or anything like that. The things that he wants and what he's praying for is for the salvation of his people. And I think in this, Paul is a great model for us. And I would encourage all of us to

to maybe reevaluate our prayer life and our prayer time, specifically in prayer for those who need to be saved. And do we have this kind of desire? Do we have this kind of yearning and love for people around us that they would be saved, that we would be willing to persistently and continually and ongoing prayer for them, that we would continue to lift them up to the Lord, that they would have an opportunity to be saved. And so I want to ask you,

And I think as we talk about the gospel message, it's really important for us to consider that in our own lives. Now, of course, we've been talking about the gospel for months now as we've been looking at Romans. And for us as believers, we've heard the gospel. We know the gospel. You know, at the end of the month, there is going to be the Harvest Crusade, and Pastor Greg Laurie is going to deliver the gospel, and people are going to respond to the gospel. And there's a lot of

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And so it's important and it's crucial, even though some of these things are things that we have known and heard for many years, these things we need to be refreshed in and revived in. And I think even as we look at verse 2 in just a second, that God wants to encourage us to be zealous, to be passionate about the gospel, and specifically as we pray for those who need to be saved. Amen.

Well, let's look at verse 2. He says, So Paul is praying for his people, the nation of Israel, and he says, here's their condition. Here's their state. They do have a zeal for God, but their zeal for God is not according to knowledge. It's not according to the truth.

And I think it's interesting as you look at verses 1 and 2 together. Notice what Paul says. My prayer for them is that they would be saved. They are zealous for God, but not according to knowledge. In other words, zeal for God is not sufficient for salvation. Paul is here declaring, I'm praying for them to be saved. They're passionate about God. They're zealous for God.

but they're pursuing God in the wrong way. And so it's not just enough to be passionate or zealous or excited about or diligent in a pursuit of God, but knowing the truth and pursuing God according to what he has revealed is essential for salvation.

This is really important because sometimes we can maybe be swayed a little bit by the idea that, well, as long as someone really loves God, you could say, Paul could say, you know, the Israelites, they were zealous for God. They loved God, but they weren't saved. And so it's possible to express and to declare a love for God, even to have emotional attachment to God, and not be saved. That's not the same thing. It's not the equivalent.

it's possible to be religious and not be saved. Because, of course, the Jewish people were especially religious. And they were religious according to the covenant that God had given to them at Sinai, as well as a bunch of traditions that they had added on to that. But they were religious. They were zealous in their pursuit of that religion. They were zealous in their keeping of that religion.

They were passionate about God. They were passionate about being the people of God and about pursuing God in the ways that they had known. And so Paul describes it as zeal, but not according to knowledge. Now, as you think about the zeal of the Jewish people, again, this is where I think it's appropriate for us to evaluate our own hearts and the condition of our hearts, the temperature of our hearts.

Is there a zeal? Is there a burning passion in our hearts for God? I think it's interesting that the Jewish people were zealous for God.

And we can look around at many examples, you know, even in our day today, at those who are very religious and they're very zealous in their religion, false religion or what have you, that there's those who are very zealous. But many times, as believers, we can...

be lacking in that kind of zeal. And I think as believers, we need to hear the gospel and be reminded to be zealous for it, to be stirred up, to be hot, to be passionate about the gospel, to be zealous for God, because, well, we have the truth. We have the knowledge that God has revealed. So they were zealous for God without knowledge, but we have the

the knowledge. We have the insight about who God is and how to approach God. And so we have all the more reason to be zealous than anybody else on the planet. Now, people can be zealous for all kinds of things. And it's easy to listen to. It's fascinating to listen to someone talk about something that they are passionate about.

If you go in your smartphone or whatever kind of device you have, if you look at the podcast options, there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of podcasts, which are basically just talk shows. People talking about things that they're zealous about. And they can talk for hours and hours and hours every week about things that they're passionate about, things that they're zealous about. Personally, one of the things that I'm zealous about, that I'm passionate about, is technology. And so every week I listen to...

a few hours, maybe six to eight hours sometimes, of people talking about technology. And I love it. It's fascinating. It's just enjoyable. And they could talk for, in fact, there's a lot more that I don't listen to, right? It could go on and on and on. It's fascinating. It's easy to listen to someone talk about something they're passionate about. Someone might come up to you and start talking about comic books, and you maybe don't even care about comic books or characters or anything like that. But when someone's zealous for it,

You know, there's an appeal to that. It's intriguing to hear someone talk about something that they're passionate about. Maybe you listen to Jonathan talk about the Dodgers. And maybe you tune out right away. Or maybe you kind of catch the fire. You hear the zeal. You hear the passion in him. Or maybe you hear someone talk about their kids. And they're zealous. They're passionate about their kids. And so, you know, they can go on and on and share because there's this great passion. There's this great zeal.

And again, for us as believers, we have the ultimate truth. We have the greatest message ever given, the greatest truth that's ever been told. And it's something that we should never be tired of. But I think maybe we need to be stirred up many times so that we are zealous for the truth.

Now, Paul knew what he was talking about here, because remember that before Paul was known as Paul, he was known as Saul. He was Saul of Tarsus, and he was the greatest example, you could maybe say, as one who had zeal without knowledge.

Because Saul was zealous for the Jewish faith, for Jewish tradition. So much so that he was persecuting Christians, getting them to denounce Christ, torturing them, throwing them in prison. It was zeal for God. He thought he was doing God a favor. He thought he was pleasing God. He was zealous for God in his mind, but it was without knowledge.

He didn't know the truth. He didn't know what really was going on and what really needed to be done. You and I, we should be as zealous as the Apostle Paul, even before he was Paul, Saul of Tarsus, that kind of zeal, because we have the truth.

And so as we talk about the gospel this evening, I would encourage all of us to let God evaluate our hearts and help us to get fired up for the gospel, to be zealous for this truth that has been revealed. It's the greatest truth that's ever been told. Well, let's dig into these things that Paul is sharing here as we start now in verse 3. It says,

Here's why they have zeal but no knowledge. Because although they're passionate about God, they've sought to be right with God, but they've not been right with God.

By their own means, by their own resources, they have not submitted to God according to his righteousness or the path that he has provided. He says that they are ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, ignorant, it's not that they are uninformed, but really that they are willfully ignorant or unsubmitted. He says they're ignorant of God's righteousness and

seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. And so this idea of righteousness here, it's the idea of being right with God. And so they're ignorant of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of how to get right with God because what they've done is they've sought to establish their own righteousness. Paul is saying that the Jews are clinging to

I like the way that the New Living Translation words this verse. It says, And that sums it up really nicely. They cling to their own way of getting right with God.

They're refusing to accept God's way. No, we're not going to accept that. We're not going to approach God that way. We're going to approach God this way. And their idea was to keep the law. That was their approach. That's what they insisted. They would not submit to God's way, submit to the righteousness of God. God has declared very clearly the way to get right with him.

He's declared the way. He's made it clear. He's made it abundantly clear in sending his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. So that Jesus himself testified in John chapter 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. It doesn't get more clear than that. Jesus is the way.

In order to submit to the righteousness of God, to submit to the idea of getting right with God, we have to accept the testimony of God. We have to accept the testimony of Jesus Christ, that he is the way, and that there is no other way to the Father except through Jesus Christ. That is the only way to get right with God. Jesus is the only way. He is the only truth, the only life.

And people who fight against that are not saved. People who try to approach God some other way, aside from Jesus Christ, they're not saved. It's not possible to be saved any other way. The only way to be saved, the only way to get right with God is to give up our own ideas and to submit to what God has revealed. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

The Jewish people, Paul says, they've sought to get right with God by their own righteousness, by their own keeping of the law, by their own traditions and practices. And in doing so, they've missed out. They have zeal, but it's not according to the truth. It's not according to knowledge. And so they do not have right relationship with God because they refuse to submit to the path that God has declared.

Verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And so Paul says, the problem here is they're seeking to be made right with God by their own righteousness, by keeping the law, but Christ is the end of the law. He says he's the end of the law for righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness. In other words, he's the end of the law for righteousness.

We don't just throw out the law. The law has no value. The law has no purpose. No, but we throw out the idea of getting right with God, having right standing before God by keeping the law. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. When we try to get right with God by the law, well, we're always going to fail. We're always going to fall short.

The Jewish people were trying to get right with God and present themselves as righteous before God by keeping the law. The law of Moses, as well as the traditions that they had developed over the years. And many people follow this. There are many who try to approach God, try to present themselves as right standing before God by keeping of laws. Now, it could be, you know, the laws of Moses or any other system that they have developed in their own mind or someone else has told them about.

So that many people believe when they stand before God at the end of days, you know, in eternity, that there will be a measurement of how well they did, you know, how well they performed, how well they kept. And the general idea, the general mindset is, well, as long as, you know, my good works outweigh my bad works, then that's all that's necessary. But that's not what God has said. That's not the way that God has established, right?

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. There's not a way to be right with God according to the law or by keeping the law. He's the end of the law for righteousness. That's it. That settles it.

And it should settle it for us, but sometimes we fall back into this idea of trying to be right with God by keeping rules and regulations and laws. We attempt to be more diligent or more faithful or more pleasing to God by our keeping of laws. But for those who believe, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. You have right standing with God by believing in Jesus.

Now, to support what he's saying here, to kind of further elaborate on it, Paul quotes from two passages in the following verses. He quotes from Leviticus chapter 18 and Deuteronomy chapter 30. In verse 5, he quotes from Leviticus chapter 18. And here he's explaining that the way to have life by the law is to live by the law.

So if you are going to be, you know, righteous before God by keeping the law, that means you have to live by the law. In verse 5, he says, This is from Leviticus chapter 18, verse 5. And here he says, And he says,

There in that passage, God is telling his people, don't follow the ways of Egypt, where you came from. Don't follow the ways of the people of Canaan, where you're going. Instead, follow my ways. And the main point of what God is saying there in Leviticus chapter 18 is, you got to follow my ways. You got to obey and you got to live in obedience to these things that I am commanding you. And so Paul here in verse 5 of Romans 10 is saying,

The man who does those things shall live by them. He's saying, look, if you're going to try to approach God by keeping the law, then you're going to always have to keep the law. And we've already established, as we've gone through the earlier chapters of the book of Romans, it's impossible to approach God by keeping the law because none of us can do it perfectly. None of us can do it flawlessly. We all fall short of the glory of God. No matter what system we come up with, if we go back to the Ten Commandments,

None of us keep the Ten Commandments perfectly or flawlessly. If we come up with our own religious system, we come up with our own ideas. Well, if I do these things, and I do these things, and I do these things, and I don't do those things, then that'll be, you know, perfect for me to approach God, and God will accept me that way. But even whatever system we establish, we're not even able to keep those things.

We're not even able to keep what our conscience declares is right and wrong. We violate our conscience. And we dealt with that in the earlier chapters of the book of Romans. So the point is, in order to approach God by the law, you have to be perfect in keeping the law. And that's something that none of us, no human being ever does.

has done or can do except for Jesus Christ. He's the only one who lived a perfect life, but the rest of us, we don't. So approaching God by the law is, that's hopeless. It's never going to work because as soon as you even start trying to, you've already failed. You've already messed up before you began. And so you can never do it that way. But to approach God by faith is a different matter. And so that's what he goes on to talk about in verse six, seven, and eight.

The way to have life by faith is to believe the word of God. And here, Paul is going to be quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 12 through 14. Let's read verse 6, 7, and 8. It says,

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 preach. Now there in Deuteronomy chapter 30, again, this is Paul quoting from verses 12 through 14. Moses is speaking to the people. He's delivering the word of God to them. And he's letting them know the commandment that is being given to you is not mysterious or too far off.

God's ways are not like, you know, so unattainable or un-understandable. Un-understandable? That's an interesting word. It's not too far off. It's not unreachable. You can understand what God wants of you. You can understand what God is asking for. The commentator Thomas Constable says it this way. He says, Moses' point was that the Israelites should not think that pleasing God was something beyond their reach. Moses is explaining to them that

You can be pleasing to God. It's not too difficult. It's not too mysterious. It's not some great mystery that has to be, you know, developed or unpacked. And so he goes on to elaborate there in Deuteronomy chapter 30 to say, look, you don't have to climb some high mountain. You don't have to reach into the heavens. You don't have to reach some incredible heights.

And Paul adds, you know, like in order to find Christ, you know, you have to reach this level of spirituality. You have to achieve this level of holiness. So you have to reach this level of whatever it is that we might describe it. And the idea being that like, okay, now I've grabbed hold of Christ and now I have Christ because I've reached this level. And then he goes the other direction. You don't have to reach some great depth.

to have some great depth of theology or depth of thinking. You don't have to explore to some great degree in order to obtain the life of Christ. It's not some great mystery. It's not some unattainable thing. The point is, you must believe and receive the word that's right in front of you. David Guzik puts it this way,

Instead of having to go to great lengths to achieve righteousness by the law, we can immediately receive righteousness by faith, by trusting in the word of the gospel. That's the idea here. You don't have to go to some great lengths. And sometimes we wish it was that way, you know, that, well, if I do this one great deed, and then I don't have to really do anything else after that, because I did such an amazing thing, you know, at that time. I did this great sacrifice, and

There's no sacrifice that you can make to be pleasing to God. There's no sacrifice that you can make to be righteous before God. There's no great deed that you can achieve, no great length that you can go to, no height that you can ascend, no depth that you can uncover that would make you right before God. There's nothing like that that exists. It's not some great mystery. There's a simplicity to becoming right with God.

Having a right standing before God. Again, in verse 8, he says, Paul says,

This is the word that we preach. It's the gospel message. And in the next couple of verses, he's about to give the gospel message in a very simple form. And that's the point here. That's the thing. The Jewish people have tried to approach God and be right before God by their elaborate and very detailed system of rules and regulations. And Paul is saying there's a simplicity here. Moses was saying back in Deuteronomy 30, there's a simplicity here.

There's a way to approach God, and it's not by some crazy thing that you can do or some level that you've attained, but it's responding to what God has said, responding to the gospel message. Whoever believes on Jesus will be saved. That's the message, and we'll see that in the next couple verses. But in order to accept that, we have to submit to the righteousness of God. We have to submit to what God has declared.

As you understand the gospel, as you understand what Paul is saying here, there's a responsibility that each of us has to submit to the truth that is being presented, to accept that and not fight against it and not try to substitute our own plan, but to submit to God's plan, submit to God's prescription for our sinful condition.

Don't try to reach some height in order to achieve salvation or to be, you know, acceptable to God. Don't try to reach some depth in order to achieve salvation. The gospel is right there. It's right in front of you. It's accessible. It's available. And anyone can receive it.

Well, let's dig into what he's talking about here as the gospel message. Point number two now as we go on looking at verses 9 through 11 is that we must believe that Jesus resurrected. So first we must submit to the righteousness of God, not try to stick to our own plan, but believe and receive what God has declared. And the first part of that is to believe that Jesus resurrected. Verse 9 and 10 say this,

Here, very simply, we have the gospel declared and how to receive the gospel message.

It's there in verse 9. It's kind of repeated in verse 10. We have it, you know, the same thing said in slightly different ways to help us understand and to help us see, well, this word that is right in front of us. And it's a simple message. It's simple in its concept. That is, we're able to grasp hold of this. It's not some weird great mystery that, you know, only the elite can uncover and find out about. It's a simple message.

It essentially consists of two things, believing and confessing. He commands us to believe and to confess. And these two things go together. Both of these are necessary elements of salvation. And so we'll look at these. The first part of this is to believe that Jesus resurrected. In verse 9, he says, again, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So we'll talk about the confess part of this verse in the next point. But here he says, if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved. The word believe is not some super special, ultra amazing word. It just means to be persuaded that something is true, to put your trust in something.

But we need to also understand that although the word itself doesn't like, you know, shatter our world, the idea, the concept of believing in Jesus is something that is essential and important for us. That is, to believe is not just acknowledging information. It's not just acknowledging, you know, some historical facts. You're not asked to believe some historical data and say, okay, I believe that took place, right?

On December 25th, 1776, George Washington crossed the Delaware River. It was the first attack, surprise attack, in the Revolutionary War here in America. Historical fact. Do you believe that? That's not equivalent to what we're talking about when we talk about believing in Jesus. We're not just talking about, okay, here's the historical information about Jesus.

He was born. He did these things. He died at this time. He resurrected on this day. Remember these dates. You're going to be quizzed on the history exam later on. And so make sure you remember those things and believe those things. That's not what we're talking about. It's not just understanding or accepting some historical information. What we mean when we talk about believing in Jesus is that, well, your whole life is changed, right?

Because of what you believe about Jesus. What you are asked to believe is life-changing truth. It's not just historical data. It's life-changing truth. And when you believe this life-changing truth, it impacts every element of your life. There's not one aspect of your life that's unchanged when you believe life-changing truth. Now, an example that I like to use, and so you've probably heard me share it several times, but you could think about something like gravity.

Now, as we are going through the service this evening, I have noticed that none of you are bracing for impact with the ceiling. How come you're not bracing for impact with the ceiling? Because, well, you believe in gravity. You don't have any fear of impact with the ceiling because you believe that you're going to remain in your seat.

You believe that you are going to be continued to be pushed down or to be pulled down, depending on how you want to look at it, by gravity. Now, you could be ridiculous and say, well, I don't believe in gravity. Well, that's fine. It doesn't change anything. Gravity is still the same. You still remain on earth. You're not floating about because you declare that you don't believe in gravity. You're still affected by it the same way. But when you believe in gravity...

Well, you live your life accordingly. And so you don't brace for impact with the ceiling. And you take each step believing, well, that the next foot's going to land. And so your whole life is based upon everything that you do. Every moment of your day is based upon your belief that gravity will continue. I would say that's a good example for us to understand believing in Jesus.

When you're asked to believe in Jesus, when the Lord tells us to believe in him, it should have that kind of impact because it's a life-changing truth. The reality of who Christ is and what he's done for us and what that means for us to believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead, it impacts every part of our life. Now, we could be ridiculous and say, well, I don't believe that. It doesn't make it not true, right?

It doesn't change anything except for us, you know, living in denial about the reality that is there. But when we believe in Jesus, when we believe the revelation of Jesus Christ found in the scriptures, well, there's going to be an impact. It's going to change. And every step of our day is going to be impacted by our belief, by our understanding of who Christ is and what he's done for us. And so believe that Jesus resurrected.

Now, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I think Paul is mentioning it here as a representation of the fullness of the ministry and work of Jesus. You know, it's kind of the climax of what Christ did here in his earthly ministry. So to believe in Jesus and believe that Jesus resurrected includes understanding that Jesus declared himself to be God, the Son of God, who became man again.

to die upon the cross for our sins. It includes that we believe the work and the life and the ministry of Jesus. It includes that we believe the teaching of Jesus. It includes that we believe that Jesus is God who became man, who died upon the cross for us. And so to believe in Jesus is not just acknowledging historical information like we do with George Washington or other historical figures, but to believe in Jesus alone.

involves basing your whole life on the understanding that Jesus resurrected from the dead. Well, he kind of restates verse 9 again in verse 10. He says, Now again, notice the contrast.

The Jewish people that Paul has a heart for, he wants them to be saved. He's praying for them. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And so they've missed out on the righteousness of God because they've insisted on achieving that righteousness by their own means and methods. But for the one who believes, it's unto righteousness. The way to have right standing with God is to believe, to believe in Jesus.

And this is something that it is earth shattering if we will accept it. If you believe in Jesus, you have right standing with God. No questions, no ifs, ands, no buts, no conditions, no sometimes, not other times. If you believe in Jesus, you have right standing with God. You attain the righteousness that they were pursuing, but the right way to achieve that righteousness is

is by faith, by believing in Jesus. And so he says, with the heart, one believes unto righteousness. It's internal. With the heart, you believe. With your inner being, with who you are to the core, you believe in Jesus. But then he's going to go on to explain, then that's going to impact, that's going to affect the external.

It's internal, you believe, but the internal can't be changed and transformed by believing in Jesus without the external also being changed. And so as we talk about confession, he's talking about the external. With the mouth, you confess, but with the heart, you believe. The commentator Leon Morris says it this way, if anyone really believes, he will confess Christ. So it's natural to link the two.

He links the two in verse 9 and 10, believing and confession, believing and confession. They go hand in hand because when you believe, it's going to affect your whole life. It's going to affect all that you do. Well, finally, for this point, verse 11, for the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. And here he's quoting Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. So here is Isaiah.

One of those great whoever statements in the scriptures. Whoever believes on him, whoever believes on Jesus will not be put to shame. Your faith in Jesus, you'll never have to be ashamed of that in the big picture. Now you might feel shame in the moment as people make fun of you. There's going to be that kind of persecution. The Lord said to expect that. But the idea here is that your faith in Jesus is valid now.

And at the end of days, as you stand before the Lord, you'll receive the fullness of the promises that is given to those who believe in Jesus. And so everyone who believes in Jesus will not be put to shame. You have a sure foundation. You have a guarantee. You won't stand before God in eternity and go, oh, I didn't know there was more than believing in Jesus. I just thought that was enough. I was supposed to keep all the laws too. Paul's saying that's not going to happen.

Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. If you believe in Jesus, you will not be put to shame in eternity, in the big picture. You have the confidence. You have the guarantee of eternity with God, of righteousness, right standing with God, and the fullness of eternity that he has in store for you. Believe that Jesus resurrected. Point number three going on, well, actually staying here in verse nine and 10. Point number three is confess that Jesus is Lord.

And so Paul combines these two things together, to believe in Jesus and to confess that he is Lord. Again, verse 9 says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

Again, to believe and to confess. These two go together. They're necessary elements of salvation. You can believe and still be missing something essential. Think about what James says in James chapter 2, verse 18 and 19. He's talking about the famous discussion, faith and works. He says in verse 18, but someone will say, you have faith and I have works.

He says, show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. Verse 19, you believe that there is one God, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. Here, James is making the point, you can believe in Jesus. You can believe in God. You can believe what God says about himself. You can believe all of those things and still be missing out that there is a

necessary overflow of that faith. Think about it this way. Back in verse 3, he says that the Jewish people were ignorant of God's righteousness. They were seeking to establish their own righteousness and that they had not submitted to the righteousness of God. The idea here is that you can know the truth and

That is, you believe in the sense that you know the truth of who Jesus is and what he has done, but you can also be unsubmitted to it. And so be like the Jews. It's not that they were ignorant in the sense that they didn't have the opportunity to hear or to know, but that they willfully chose not to submit to

That the opportunity for righteousness was there, but they chose instead to insist on their own way. And there are those who believe in the sense that they know the truth. They understand what Christ has done. They believe that Jesus died upon the cross for sins. They accept that truth. But acknowledging, again, the historical facts is not...

the equivalent of salvation, that there's something that must flow from it, but not works in order to be saved, but works because there is a change that has been made. There's a change of life. There's a change because of this faith in Jesus Christ. And so this confession is that outward, that external part of believing in Jesus.

The two are linked together, not that they're like two separate things. Well, you know, too bad you only believed and you didn't confess, you know, so you're not saved. It's not like that. It's that when there's one, there is the other. When you believe in Jesus, naturally, there is a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Again, in verse 9, he says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. And so as he talks about confession here, you need to understand that

He's not talking about there's these magic words, and you've got to say these specific words in this specific way, in this specific order, and when you follow this formula, you know, well, then you can be saved. That's not what he's saying. That's not the idea or the intent behind this word confession.

You have to use these words. Make sure you use this tone. You know, say it exactly this way. He's not talking about some type of magic words or phrase. The word confess, it means literally to say the same thing or to agree with. But it can also be used as a way to say to profess something or to praise or celebrate something. And so as we talk about confession, we need to understand it's primarily an agreement between

Well, who are we agreeing with? Well, of course, we're agreeing with God. Confession is agreeing with God. It can also be profession, a declaration. I agree with God about what God says. Now, talking about Jesus being Lord. So he says, confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus.

What he's asking us to do here, what he's telling us is necessary for salvation is that we agree with God in who he has declared Jesus to be. That we agree with God in the revelation of Jesus Christ to us. That Jesus is God who became man. That Jesus died upon the cross for

for sin. That he resurrected on the third day. That Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and on and on and on we could go because the scriptures are the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so confession is not a magic formula but it's an agreement with God and a profession that you agree with God about who Jesus is. Now again it's not you know just the idea of well you

There are those who profess to agree with God. They profess to believe in Jesus. They profess. They say the words, but understand it's not just the saying of the words. A lie cannot save you. There's no salvation that comes from lying. So I believe in Jesus, but if it's not the reality, well, that doesn't save you. And so there's the combining of these two things. Confessing Jesus must match what is true internally.

That the outward expression of who you declare Jesus to be is who you really believe him to be internally. Jesus is Lord. Confess the Lord Jesus. Sometimes there's a conflict between those two things. Remember in Luke chapter 6 verse 46, Jesus challenged his followers. He says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? See the conflict there?

You call me Lord, you call me master, but then you don't do the things that I say. There's a conflict. The external doesn't match the internal. There's a profession, there's a confession, Lord, Lord, but there's not the matching life that goes with it. And the way to have the matching life, the way to have the Lord, Lord, and to do what Jesus says is to believe in Jesus and confess the

The lordship of Jesus. Confess the Lord Jesus. In verse 10, again, he says, for with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. And so there's the combining of these two things, the internal and the external. Believing in Jesus. When you believe in Jesus the way that the Bible talks about believing in Jesus, it will result in the confession, the profession, the outward lifestyle, the obedience to Jesus Christ.

Now, the order is different in verses 9 and 10 when it talks about believing and confessing. In verse 9, it says, confess and believe. In verse 10, it says, believe and confess. And I think, again, the point is Paul's not trying to, you know, so much distinguish these one from another, and one's this thing, and then one's the other thing, and make sure you have both. But he's

He's demonstrating that these are intertwined, that they're inseparable. They go together. There's no separating them. You have to believe in Jesus. It has to be true within. It has to be really who you are at the core, that you base your life, that you live your life according to the truth revealed in the scriptures about Jesus, as well as the outward expression of that with your mouth, with your lips, and with your life. And to have faith,

An understanding of the truth, but without the lifestyle or to have the profession, the declaration, without the genuine change within, that's not the picture. That's not the biblical understanding of salvation. William MacDonald puts it this way, confession is not a condition of salvation, but the inevitable outward expression of what has happened. It's the natural product of believing in Jesus. That when you believe...

you will confess that Jesus is Lord. When you believe in Jesus, the confession that Jesus is Lord is the natural byproduct. And again, we're not just talking about the words, we're talking about the lifestyle that flows from it. Whoever believes on Jesus will be saved. Although I've talked a long time about this, it's a simple message. It's a simple message. How do you believe in Jesus? How do you experience the salvation that God promises?

Well, first you submit to the righteousness of God. Throw out your ways, throw out your ideas of what God wants or what you think is, you know, what is necessary for salvation and listen to what God says. What does God declare is necessary for right standing with God? What does God desire of you? And that is that you believe that Jesus resurrected.

But don't get confused and start thinking that, well, okay, all I got to do is acknowledge that, accept that fact, accept that historical data. Intertwined with that, along with that, is the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. The outward expression. Now, don't get confused and think, well, all I got to do is say these words. Okay, I repeated that prayer. Okay, that means...

I believe in Jesus, and that means that I have salvation. But if it's not accurate to what's actually happening within you, then that's not salvation either. These two things are intertwined. So throw out your plan of righteousness and accept God's plan of righteousness, and that is to believe in Jesus Christ, and to believe in Jesus Christ to such a degree that your whole life is changed as a result.

That's the gospel, to believe in what Christ has done for us and to do so in a genuine way that changes your life. As I was looking at different aspects of these verses and passages and researching different things, I came across this website. And I'm not going to go through the details of it, but the title of the web page was, How to Receive the Gospel, 11 Easy Steps. And I thought, 11 easy steps?

I'm going to get to number 10 and not remember what number one is. I mean, how do you remember 11 easy steps? How do you receive the gospel? You believe that Jesus resurrected from the dead. You believe in Jesus Christ. And some will struggle with this. It's too easy. Anyone can do it. But that's God's point. Anyone can do it. That's what God wants. He wants it to be accessible to anyone. The concepts of the gospel are easy to understand.

Of course, living it out can be challenging. And you and I, even as believers, need to continue to follow these things, to submit to the righteousness of God, to submit to God's plan. Because even as believers, there are times we go back and try to present ourselves right before God by some other means. And so we got to continue to live in these truths.

to continue to believe in Jesus and let that be the truth that shapes everything that we do and all that we are. Every decision that we make and every conversation that we have, we need to continue to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and not just saying the words, but letting the words be the mirror of what's happening in our heart, the truth that's within. The gospel is a simple message. Believe in Jesus Christ.

And believe in him to such a degree that it changes your life. That everything else in life is now based on this new truth of who you accept Jesus Christ to be. Now, I'd like to close by going back to verse 1 and 2. In verse 1, Paul says, And as we consider the gospel message today,

The simplicity of it, I think it's appropriate for us to conclude by remembering what it's for. There's people in your life that need to be saved. And I would ask you to evaluate and allow God to speak to your heart about your desire and your prayer for them to be saved. And perhaps there needs to be a renewing passion, a renewing zeal, a renewing of love for those who are lost.

And what they need is not a lecture, not a scolding, not a big rebuke, or, you know, a two by four across the head. He says they have zeal for God. They're passionate, but it's not according to knowledge. We have the knowledge. We have the truth. We have the gospel message. That's what people need. That's what people need. Sometimes we get distracted in our conversations with the lost, right? We get, we're trying to solve all kinds of problems in their lives, right?

oh, you have, you know, you know, this kind of issue. And so let's talk about that and talk about that. And we go down this path and that path and deal with all these other things. Lord, help us to remember the real core, the real issue is salvation. It's the gospel message. And that's the greatest need. Not that we only talk about that and, you know, smack them with the gospel every time, but that we use those other aspects of conversation to come back around to the simplicity of the gospel.

to share with our friends, our loved ones, those around us, that Jesus Christ is Lord and what he did for us upon the cross. May our hearts' desire and prayer be for the salvation of those around us. And may the Lord use us to bring forth the gospel message to them. Amen? And so, Lord, we do pray for our hearts, God. I pray, God, that our hearts, as you evaluate them, Lord, that you would reveal things that are out of line. Lord, if there's things that...

our hearts don't match our lips, Lord, where our life doesn't match who we are within, Lord, if we're living in ways that are in disagreement with you, I pray, Lord, that you would reveal those things that we might correct them and repent and return to you. And Lord, as we allow you to stir us up with zeal and passion for you and for the truth of the gospel message, I pray that you would give us opportunity. This week, Lord, I pray you'd give us opportunity to share the gospel.

to live out the gospel, to represent you to the world around us. Lord, make those opportunities, we pray, and help us to be zealous, to be zealous, to have a heart, a desire, a yearning to be used by you to reach the world around us. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.