Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter
9 as we continue our study through Paul’s letter to the church
in
As we read through this section on Israel’s present rejection of God we are going to see that the Jew’s refused to come to God by faith, they wanted to work their way in and it is not only the Jew’s who do this, there are many people who try to reach God by a works salvation and that will never happen. Listen to what James Montgomery Boice wrote regarding this issue. We are told:
If
anyone could ever have achieved salvation by his own efforts,
it was Martin Luther. In 1505, when he was twenty-one years old,
Luther abandoned a promising career in law and entered the monastery
of the Augustine hermits at
In those days the monastic orders prescribed ways by which the seeking soul could find God, and Luther, with the determination and strength that characterized his entire life, gave himself rigorously to these tasks. He fasted and prayed. He devoted himself to menial work. Above all, he practiced penance, confessing his sins, even the most trivial, for hours on end until his superiors wearied of his exercise and ordered him to stop until he had committed some sin worth confessing. Luther’s piety gained him a reputation for being the most exemplary of monks.
Later he wrote to the Duke of Saxony, “I was indeed a pious monk and followed the rules of my order more strictly than I can express. If ever a monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly have been entitled to it. Of this all the friars who have known me can testify. If it had continued much longer, I should have carried my mortification even to death, by means of my watchings, prayers, reading and other labors.”
Yet Luther found no peace through these exercises.
The monkish wisdom of the day instructed him to satisfy God’s demand for righteousness by doing good works. “But what works?” thought Luther. “What works can come from a heart like mine? How can I stand before the holiness of my Judge with works polluted in their very source?”ÿ
It was not until John Staupitz, the Vicar-General of the Congregation and Luther’s wise spiritual father, set him to studying the Bible that Luther realized what the difficulty was. He was trying to earn salvation by works of human righteousness, when the righteousness we need is not human righteousness at all. It is divine righteousness, and this can become ours only if God gives it to us, which he does in the gospel.
Luther had been seeking righteousness by means of human works, when what he needed was to accept God’s righteousness by simple faith and therefore stop trying to work for it.
- James Montgomery Boice, Romans Volume 3, pp. 1133-1134
That is what we will be looking at this morning, man’s reasonability to choose, to come to God by faith as we have seen God’s sovereign election over the past few weeks in our studies. So with that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 9, starting in verse 30 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word.
Paul, once again is going to deal with some questions that his Jewish brethren might have in regards to what he had already written. Paul is anticipating what some of their objections might be and he wants to deal with that so they don’t come to some faulty conclusion. So let’s break down these verses and see what the Lord has for us as we look at Israel’s present rejection of God and the focus is man’s free will to choose.
Paul just finished speaking of God’s election making it possible for the salvation of the Gentiles and it truly is God’s grace. Keep in mind that at the Exodus God rejected the Gentiles and chose the Jews to work through in order to save the Gentiles. But the nation of Israel, not just individual Jews because a remnant did believe, rejected God and thus, God will use the Gentiles and work through them in order to save the Jews!
The struggle for the Jews is that the Gentiles never pursued righteousness while the Jews did! They worked hard after righteousness and yet they did not obtain it! This blew their minds because how can they miss out when they were seeking righteousness and how can the Gentiles get in when they were not? Folk’s, the answer is simple and Paul is going to deal with this reason in the next two verses but I want you to understand this struggle.
You see, this struggle is going on today in many denominations and in non-Christian religions where man is trying to attain righteousness by his good works, the things that he does and it is not going to work. Think of all the rules or laws you might say in some churches, in some religions and what is the reason? To attain a certain righteousness before God and yet, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “For we have all become like one who is unclean [ceremonially, like a leper], and all our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from God's favor, hurrying us toward destruction]. [Lev 13:45,46.]” And The Living Bible says, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we put on our prized robes of righteousness, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves we fade, wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away.” Does any of that sound good? Absolutely not and yet man still tries to attain righteousness by his good works, his good deeds, his keeping of the Law you might say!
In other words, the Jews even though they were trying to attain this righteousness before God by keeping the Law have not attained it and the Gentiles, who were not trying to attain this righteousness before God by keeping the Law, they saw themselves as sinners, have attained it. But how did Israel miss out and the Gentiles attain this? Let’s read on and you will see as Paul is going to explain it to us.
Notice that Paul does not lay the failure of Israel at the feet of God, His sovereign election but at the feet of the Jews, and in reality, man himself. In fact, religious people are the hardest ones to speak to regarding this issue because they see themselves as righteous before God. They are trying to attain some kind of righteousness and feel that God will applaud their efforts but He will not! And here, as Paul is speaking to the Jews, they did not seek God by faith but by works, by trying to attain righteousness by their own efforts and God sees their efforts as filthy rags! Paul, in Ephesians 2:8-9 makes this point very clear as he wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” And The Amplified Bible drives this point home even more as it tells us, “For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]”
And to prove his point Paul quotes out of Isaiah and what this prophet said of the coming Messiah. When the Messiah comes to Jerusalem He will be a stumbling block to some, a rock of offense as he quotes Isaiah 8:14, 26:16, but why? Because they will refuse to come to Him by faith but try to attain righteousness by their own efforts. To others He will be the One who lifts them up, to those that simply believe by faith. There will be no shame, no offense, no disappointment as he quotes out of Isaiah 26:16.
If our righteousness is like filthy rags before God then how in the world can we become righteous before God? That is a great question and Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And as The Living Bible puts this verse, and I really like the way they state it, “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!” In other words, it is not our righteousness that makes us right before God but the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed into our lives by faith or poured into our lives by faith. But before that could happen, our sin was poured upon our righteous God as He paid the penalty for our sins on the cross of Calvary and it is then that His righteousness was then able to be poured into our lives by faith, by believing and receiving Him into our lives!
Now, is Paul contradicting all that he has previously said here in Romans chapter 9 dealing with God’s sovereignty? Absolutely not, it is just giving to us another side of the coin you might say. Yes, it is 100% Gods sovereignty and yet, it is 100% man’s free will to choose, human responsibility! And don’t try to figure it out that just does not work. How do we reconcile something like this? I don’t think we have to; we just need to believe it by faith. I like what J. Vernon McGee wrote. He tells us:
You
will never be able to reconcile the sovereignty of God and the
responsibility of man. But Paul is making it very clear here that
if you are going to be saved it is your responsibility.
It is “whosoever will may come” (see Mark 8:34) and
“ . . . him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”
(John 6:37). You can come; don’t stand on the sidelines and
say, “I’m not elected.” But I have never heard
of anybody being elected who didn’t run for office. If you
want to be saved, you are the elect. If you don’t,
you’re not. And that is all I know about it. I cannot reconcile
election and free will.
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Vol. IV, p.716
Now, as we move into chapter 10 this morning we are going to see man’s responsibility or his free will to choose, to receive Christ as Paul says in Romans 10:13, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” Here again God tells us to believe it by faith, divine election and man’s free will. As we have seen, it is not something we are going to be able to understand or reconcile with our finite minds, nor does God ask us to as I have said. It is like the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; one God manifested in three distinct persons, I can’t figure it out with my finite mind but God has clearly shown us this truth in His Word and He wants us to believe it by faith! It is as the Lord said in Isaiah 55:8-9, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.’” So let’s move into Romans chapter 10 as Paul is continuing this thought of Israel’s past rejection of God.
For some, they would rejoice over the stumbling of another or say something to the effect, “They are only getting what they deserve!” But not Paul, we saw in the previous chapter, that if it were possible he would go to Hell if his Jewish brethren would be saved and here, once again, we see the heart of Paul for his people. They rejected the Rock, Jesus Christ and tried to attain righteousness by works outside of the Messiah. And as Paul sees their stumbling, it then leads to action on his part, it leads Paul to pray for His people that they might be saved. May we have that same heart towards family, friends, co-workers; that they would be saved and pray for them! You see, that care, that love can break down those hard walls that people may put up. If they see us as self-righteous looking down upon them, they won’t want what we have and I wouldn’t want it either! But if we show that we love them, care for them, that we are not only concerned for their eternal destiny but that concern has lead us to some concrete action, PRAYER for their salvation and they can see that it is not just empty words that we speak!
Paul knew from his own personal experience that you could have a real zeal for God, be very active for God and yet, lack the true knowledge of God, which in the end is meaningless. God will not accept it for you must worship Him in Spirit and truth! Thus, he is able to speak on this subject because he knows it firsthand. And still today the Jews try to attain righteousness from the Law and it doesn’t work. Listen to this letter written by a rabbi to a young man who had turned to Christ and you will see what I mean. We are told:
The basic question about religion is how to elevate man, and bring him into closer relationship with God. (That is the rabbis’ view of the purpose of religion. It is to elevate man, not to change him.) We believe that God revealed to us in the Torah (the Law of Moses) how he wants us to live, so that we can be in harmony with his divine purpose. Our role and religious purpose is to obey God’s laws - to love him and to obey him. We exercise our fee will by proper intention and, through having done the good deeds, are elevated so that it become progressively easier and more natural to continue to do good and to resist evil.
- Ray Stedman, From Guilt to Glory, Volume 2, p. 38
And thus, the idea here is just to keep working and working at being righteous until it becomes easier and then one day you will have reached the place of righteousness before God! That is truly zeal without knowledge and Paul is going to show us this in the next few verses. And think about it. How much righteousness do you have to attain to enter in? No one knows. Well, I will tell you, perfection and we will deal with that in a few minutes.
But what about Gentiles, what about Muslims, they truly have a zeal for God. That is true but it is not according to knowledge and it is not just Muslims, it is Hindus and Buddhists and any other person who tries to achieve righteousness by their own efforts, they have a zeal for God but it is without knowledge! And Paul is going to show us the problem we have in the next verse.
This should put to silence every person who is trying to attain righteousness apart from Christ. You see, man’s righteousness is far different than God’s righteousness. We look at someone like Mother Teresa and all her good deeds and she was more righteous than most people today, and thus, God must accept her! But Paul says that is the wrong way to look at this. It is not based on her good works but on the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary.
“Hey Joe, that is not what is says!” You are right, but it does say that we are “ignorant of God’s righteousness” and instead of seeking after that we are trying to do it on our own and that will not work, it will never work, it is the broad way that leads to destruction! Then what is God’s righteousness? It is perfection, not one sin ever and if you think you are there, sorry, your pride just brought you down!
Listen to what Jesus said in John chapter 16 as He is speaking of the work that the Holy Spirit will do starting in verse 7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” John 16:7-11.
So when the Holy Spirit comes He will bring conviction to our lives in regards to sin and not sins! The word used for “convict” speaks of things that were used in a court to present the evidence and bring about a conviction. Here Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit will convict us or present to our hearts these things and then what we do with them will determine our destiny. What sin will send us to Hell? We do not have to guess because there is only one; Jesus tells us that it is the rejection of Him, not believing Him to be Lord and Savior in your life! You see, Jesus is the only provision for sin and if you reject Him, you will die in your sins!
He will convict us of righteousness. What does that mean? It means that the only standard that God will accept is perfection. How do I know that? Because Jesus said, “because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.” If God the Father will only accept perfection before Him, that means that Jesus was righteous and if we want to see the Father, we must go through Jesus. As I have said, His righteousness must be imputed into our lives by faith!
And if you reject Jesus, if you try to come to God in your own righteousness, you will be judged, you will be convicted and sentenced to the Lake of Fire at the Great White Throne judgment, you will be eternally separated from God!
For the Jew, they tried to attain God’s favor by keeping the Law, all 613 commandments and yet, James tells us, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. If it were possible for you to keep the Law and at the end of your life you broke one of the Laws, lets say you coveted, James is saying that in the breaking of that one Law you are guilty of all the Law. Why is that? Because God only accepts perfection and breaking one Law is just as bad as breaking them all. Then it is impossible to keep? Exactly! You see, Paul is telling us here that it is not only important to have the right information but then you must apply it to your life, you must submit to the righteousness of God that is found in Jesus!
Robert Murray MaCheyne, that godly Presbyterian preacher, tells the story of how he was passing out Gospel tracts one day and he gave one to a very well dressed lady. As she looked at it she gave this man of god a haughty look and said, “Sir, you must not know who I am!” In a kind and gentle way he replied back, “Madam, there is coming a day of judgment, and on that day it will not make any difference who you are!” How true that is, the only thing that will make a difference is our relationship with Jesus and His righteousness accounted into our lives by faith!
And Paul is going to continue to drive this point home for his Jewish brethren and for all those that think they can attain righteousness through the Law. Look at verse 4.
Here is what is interesting with the Jewish people. When you look at everything about the Jewish religion, it all pointed to the coming Messiah. There was their sacrifices, the priesthood, the temple services, their religious feasts and covenants. The Law of God showed them that they were sinners in need of a Savior and the Law was to bring them or drive them to the Messiah, to Christ! Paul tells us this very thing in Galatians 3:24-25, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The problem came when they worshiped the Law instead of their Savior and many today do the same thing. They worship their church, their leaders, their religious experiences, their religious activities instead of the Savior and it was wrong for the Jew and it is wrong for us!
Yes, Christ fulfilled the Law completely; He was the only one who could (Matthew 5:17-18). The problem for us is that we can’t keep the Law! Thus, Paul says that Christ is the “end” or TELOS in the Greek, which speaks of a termination, or the purpose or goal of the Law was to point people to Jesus, that is the completion of the Law as I have said. Of this verse, Spurgeon said: “Christ did not come to make the law milder, or to render it possible for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted as a sort of compromise. The law is not compelled to lower its terms, as though it had originally asked too much; it is holy and just and good, and ought not to be altered in one jot or tittle, nor can it be. Our Lord gives the law all it requires, not a part, for that would be an admission that it might justly have been content with less at first.”
Paul quotes out of Leviticus 18:5 and it sounds as if Moses is saying that the man who achieves the righteousness which the Law demands shall live by doing so. Does that mean Moses was teaching that by keeping the Law it could save you? No, that is not what Moses is saying here. The point that Moses is making is that if you could do this, which no sinful man can, then he would not be condemned to death. But no man, except for Christ could keep the Law perfectly and perpetually and the reason is simple. The Law was given to people who were already sinners and thus, they were already condemned to death! And even if it were possible and it isn’t, that they could keep the Law perfectly from the day it was given, they would still be condemned because God requires payment for those sins which they already committed!
In the minds of the Jews they saw the Scribes and the Pharisees as holy men of God and if only two people were to make it into heaven, one would be a Scribe and the other a Pharisee. But Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Thus, any hopes of man achieving righteousness by the Law is now doomed to fail from the very start, as Paul said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20.
And put this into perspective with Moses and what he was dealing with. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Law of God the children of Israel were already breaking it and 3,000 Jews lost their lives in the judgment of God (Exodus 32:28). But, on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit of Life descended upon the people, 3,000 lives were saved (Acts 2:41). It is as Paul said in Romans 8:2-4, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Paul continues on speaking of how people go to great lengths to achieve righteousness, reaching up into heaven to bring God down - but He has already come! Or reaching down to the grave to bring Him up - He has already risen from the dead! You see, a righteousness based on the Law denies His Incarnation and His Resurrection! It is as Geoffrey Wilson said: “The sheer perversity of unbelief is shown by the many who prefer to undertake an impossible odyssey rather than put their trust in an accessible Christ.” The foolishness of man trying to attain righteousness before God by his own efforts, it won't work, it won't be accepted!
In fact, remember what Jesus said in John chapter 3, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” John 3:13. And yet man tries to reach up to heaven to get to God while God, in His great love for us has come down from Heaven to rescue sinful man! In regards to all of this, one writer wrote, “It isn’t who is going to ascend into heaven to bring the Messiah down. Or who will descend in the abyss to bring the Messiah up. It isn’t the accomplishing of some great work. It isn’t the killing of the seven-headed dragon and getting the golden apples. It isn’t something that man can boast in. It isn’t something that man can glory in his accomplishments. Righteousness doesn’t come from our good efforts. Our righteousness comes as a gift of God imparted to us through our faith in Jesus Christ, which eliminates boasting. None of us can boast of how good we are or how righteous we are because my righteousness has nothing to do with my good efforts! My righteousness is completely through my faith in Jesus Christ! On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. My glory is in Jesus Christ. And in that righteousness that He has imparted to me because of my faith and trust in Him.”
You see, Paul is telling us that salvation does not come by the Law through works but by grace through faith in Jesus! And the idea here is that it begins in our heart, the inner man and not the outward act of obedience. Why is that? Because God wants your heart and once you surrender to Him, that which has taken place on the inside will be manifested in your actions.
For the Jewish religious leaders, they were trying to fulfill the Law outwardly but inwardly they were wicked, their hearts were deceitful as Jesus said “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” Matthew 23:23-33.
Yes Jesus was harsh, don’t you think? And with good reason, they were hypocrites, their lives were just for show, but inwardly they were wicked and Jesus wanted their hearts so that He can change them inwardly and that would then flow in their outward actions, their faith would be real. But what is this faith that Paul is speaking of?
First of all Paul tells us that we must believe in the Incarnation. That God became flesh and dwelt among us as the Scriptures tell us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. In other words if you deny the deity of Jesus Christ, that He is God then you are not saved!
Secondly, you must believe in the resurrection, that God raised Jesus from the dead and that is the proof that Christ has completed the work necessary for our salvation and that God the Father has accepted the work, He is satisfied that the payment for man’s sin was in full. If you do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus then you are denying His finished work and you are not saved. Thus, you must believe not only that Jesus is God Incarnate but also that He rose from the dead on the third day just as the Scriptures tell us. And isn’t it interesting that many in the church today are being seduced by doctrines of demons that are denying these very things!
Thus, we don’t have to go to heaven to find Christ or to the dead but God’s Word is near, it is not complicated, the Word of faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All you must do, the free will of man, is confess that Jesus is Lord, believe in His resurrection and what is in your heart will be confessed from your lips! It is as Denney put it: “A heart believing unto righteousness, and a mouth making confession unto salvation, are not really two things, but two sides of the same thing.” That is saving faith, appropriating into your life the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ!
And please understand that it is more than just acknowledging these things, it is making Jesus Lord and Savior or your life. Why do I say that? Because listen to what James tells us, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!” The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror such as make a man's hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!” And The Living Bible says, “Are there still some among you who hold that ‘only believing’ is enough? Believing in one God? Well, remember that the demons believe this too-so strongly that they tremble in terror!” James 2:19.
Of course the demons know that Jesus is God, they were angels at one time until they fell with Lucifer or Satan but that does not mean they are saved. Saving faith is not only believing it is receiving these truths into your life by faith! Paul is speaking of a deep and personal conviction that Jesus is their Lord and Savior; He is sovereign in their life or the master of their life. And the idea here is that you have repented of your sin, that you are trusting in Jesus for your salvation apart from the works of the Law, and you are submitting to Him as Lord! But apart from believing in the Incarnation, that Jesus is God and that He was raised from the dead, you are still dead in your trespasses and sins!
Do you see the simplicity of salvation - it cost Christ His life and He has extended that free gift of eternal life based upon His finished work, if we believe by faith and receive Him into our lives. It is as Spurgeon said: “We believe everything which the Lord Jesus has taught, but we must go a step further, and trust him. It is not even enough to believe in him, as being the Son of God, and the anointed of the Lord; but we must believe on him . . . The faith that saves is not believing certain truths, nor even believing that Jesus is a Savior; but it is resting on him, depending on him, lying with all your weight on Christ as the foundation of your hope. Believe that he can save you; believe that he will save you; at any rate leave the whole matter of your salvation with him in unquestioning confidence. Depend upon him without fear as to your present eternal salvation. This is the faith which saves the soul.”
Paul tells us that it is with the heart we believe and that is unto righteousness. In other words, we believe by faith that all our sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more and that it is not our own righteousness that we can stand before God but the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed into our lives by faith. Then, the natural expression of that saving faith is confession, not a condition for salvation but it is what naturally flows from our lives when we are saved, we share it with others! And the word “confession” carries with it the idea of saying the same thing or to be in agreement with someone. Here the agreement is that Jesus is Lord and Savior!
Now let me say this as I close this morning and we will finish up this chapter next time. J. Vernon McGee makes these comments on what Paul is saying here. He wrote:
There are many folk who maintain that a believer has to make a public confession of faith. That is not what Paul is saying here. It does not mean to go forward in a public meeting. In the church I served for twenty–one years I saw many people come forward, but they were not all saved. Paul is not saying that you have to make a public confession.
Paul is saying that man needs to bring into agreement his confession and his life. The mouth and the heart should be in harmony, saying the same thing. It is with the heart that you believe. Your “heart” means your total personality, your entire being. You see, there are some folk who say something with their mouths—they give lip service to God—but their hearts are far from Him. When you make a public confession, you be dead sure that your heart is right along with you; that you are not just saying idle words that mean nothing to you personally. If there is confession without faith, it is due either to self–deception or to hypocrisy. If there is faith without confession, it may be cowardice. It seems to me that Paul is saying here that James is accurate, “… faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). If you are going to work your mouth, be sure you have faith in your heart, my friend.
“Believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead” means that the resurrection of Christ is the heart of the gospel. As Paul said earlier, He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Vol. IV, p. 718
Yes, the Jews present situation, as a nation, is they have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. The question or questions I will leave you with this morning is this, “Where do you stand with Jesus? Is He Lord and Savior of your life? Do you believe in the Incarnation, that Jesus is God and in His resurrection from the dead?” If you don’t won’t you make that confession this morning as you have opened your heart to these truths? And for the rest of us who have, may we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for all He has done for us. That we have eternal life not because of what we have done, but what He has done! As Paul said in Romans 6:11-14, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” May we not just believe it but live it!