I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Romans, Romans chapter
10, Romans chapter 10. I'd like to look at a few verses
here, Romans chapter 10. I'm gonna try to start, look
at verses nine to 13, Lord willing. But verse 13, I'd like to just read that scripture,
that verse, and then we'll look at the others. And I do pray
that the Lord be pleased to meet with us. Romans chapter 10, verse 13,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. If there's ever been a scripture
that I would desire that the Lord teach me, this is it. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now we all have been
taught for years, the Lord has given us, given his people a
heart to know that almighty God is sovereign and he saves whosoever
he will, whoever. Whoever the Lord is pleased to
save, that's who he's gonna save. You got a people that he's everlastingly
loved the Lord Jesus Christ and he loves them. They're his elect,
they're his bride, they're his chosen, they're his people. And
we know that. God's got a people and he's gonna
save them. But this scripture right here
is one that I think that we all would desire to know to know
by revelation, for whosoever, whosoever, Jew, Gentile, male,
female, bond-free, shall call upon the name of the Lord. I want to look at that in a moment.
What is it to call on the name of the Lord? Shall be rescued. They'll be delivered. They'll
be saved. According to this world's religion,
there's never been a scripture probably more misunderstood than
this one. Whosoever will. I'm going to
tell you right now. I absolutely believe whosoever
will let him come. You know, the problem is man
by nature won't. He won't. Man won't come, has
no desire to come, but whosoever will. They come because they've
been made willing in the day of God's power. I know that,
you know that. For sure, this scripture right
here has been greatly abused, quoted to give false assurance
of eternal salvation men and women who've been manipulated.
And they've been told by religious hucksters, the Lord warned us,
beware, beware of the leaven, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. It's a lie, what they're feeding
people. Be careful, be careful. They
make merchandise of men's souls. I mean, this is scriptural language.
They tell men that this, that just merely, this is all it takes.
I mean, just turn on the TV, just give it a second, it'll
come around. Have men standing there and they'll
say that, now all you have to do, this is all you gotta do,
this is it, this is it. Pray this prayer. They got it,
they got it down pat. ABC, ABC. EFG, EFG. H-I-J. You're saved. You're saved. They make men believe
that man's efforts, mere words, that they just repeat, is all
it takes. We think of our precious Savior
and what He bore. the sin of his people that he
bore in his own body and laid down his life, forsaken of God. My God, my God, why have thou
forsaken me? You know why? Because God's holy. He's just. He's a just God and
a savior. And to tell men, this is all
you got to do. You're lying. That's not what
God said. This is what the scripture says,
Ephesians 2, 8, 9. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works. Not of works. Why, lest any man
should boast. I believe there's some of us
here that know something about that. I believe that there's
some people that the Lord has truly revealed himself to you. And they know something of man's
frailty. 2 Timothy 1, 9. Who has saved us
and called us with a holy, a powerful, an effectual, calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. Salvations of the Lord. It's
not, it's not by mimicking a few words. I can teach a minor bird,
I guess. They say I could, I've never
done it. to mimic, to say stuff. It's just a bird. It takes a
new heart. Calling upon the Lord is not
that which establishes salvation, but it's the evidence of that
which God has done in the heart. New heart. Life imparted. Now let's just consider for a
few minutes the glorious truth set forth in the Holy Scriptures.
Now look, let's look back at Romans, Romans chapter 10. Verse nine. Now here's what the
Scripture says. Romans 10, nine. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Somebody say, I believe, I believe
that. I believe that. I normally don't do this, but
Brother Henry Mahan's got a commentary. And he made a few comments on
that scripture right there, I just read. And I read over that, and
I thought, you know what? First of all, I'm gonna acknowledge
Brother Henry wrote this, and it's good. So I'm just gonna
read just that much is all it is right there. But listen to
what he said. Here's what scripture says. If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. This is what Brother Henry made
comment on that. To confess Christ with the mouth
is to make sincere, hearty confession to God before men that Christ
Jesus is our prophet to reveal God, our priest to atone for
us, our Lord to reign over us, When this is our experience,
we confess it. We confess that in believer's
baptism. To believe in our hearts that
God raised him from the dead is to, number one, believe that
he came into this earth as God in the flesh. Secondly, to believe
that he truly died on the cross for his people, for our sins. And number three, to believe
that that sacrifice was effectual and sufficient for God raised
him from the dead. If we shall confess, we shall
confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in our heart,
God raised him from the dead for us, for his people. Demons
will say, I believe he raised him from the dead. I believe
that. But who did God raise him from
the dead? For a people of God's choosing. That's what it is. If I shall confess with thy mouth,
I believe this. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God and salvation. It's a hearty, a hearty confession. It's not a mimic. It's not a
minor bird, like I said. It's just, it's a confession
of the heart. Lord, give me a heart. Give me
a heart. I have, I've heard this, I've
heard this preached for years and years and years. Lord, I
want to hear it tonight. I want to hear it and Lord, give
me a heart to believe it. To trust Him. It's a confession
that arises from a true experience of the soul through the regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit. It's to believe that God Almighty, the one that we by faith believe, has saved us. Lord, I believe
that. I believe it. And I confess it
to you. God saved me by grace. It wasn't
in my works. Why? Because I'd boast. I'm going
to boast in it. Man, I tell you what, I had some
boasting that I, man, I'm telling you, I was good. Oh, I was just,
oh yeah, I just, this, I'm gonna just say a little bit about that
in just a minute, too. The emphasis of a believer's
confession is that his mouth says forth
what's in his heart. It's what I believe. God is safe. Matthew 12, 34 says, for out
of the abundance of the heart, out of the abundance of the heart,
the overflowing, out of the abundance of the heart, the overflowing
of a man's heart, his mouth speaks. If you wanna know what somebody
cares about, just listen to them. They'll tell you in just a second.
Just give them a second. They may hold off for a minute,
but just give them a second. Whatever they love, that's what
they're gonna talk about. A good confession, a good agreement
concerning God's promise is not merely a head knowledge of something.
It's not merely just an acknowledgement of some universally known facts. It is a heart confession. Demons,
devils, know the facts of the Lord. They know facts about the
Lord. When the Lord came into a The country of the Gergeshins,
the scripture says, this is in Matthew 8, two men possessed
of a devil, approached the Lord, scripture says, and when the
devils came up to him, they cried out, saying, what have we to
do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? Art thou come hither
to torment us before our time? Was he the Lord Jesus? Was he the son of God? Yeah. Did they have a heart for him?
No. They knew who he was. Men have a head knowledge of
who he is. That's what's so dangerous about
this. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Men say, this is all you got
to do. It's a confession of the heart.
They call out of the heart, out of the heart. These demons, they
knew who he was, they confessed who he was, but they had no love
for him, no interest in him. What have we to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God? A good confession proceeds from
a convinced heart. Let me tell you what this does
for me right now, Neil. It makes me want to say, Lord,
give me a heart for this. Give me a heart. Lord, don't
pass me by. Don't pass me by. Don't let me have a head. Lord,
I can see. I can see and I've known of this
happening to people. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, don't leave me to myself. Those that were given unto the
Lord Jesus by the Father in electing grace before the foundation of
the world, those whose sins the Lord bore in his own body. I've heard that, I've heard that.
Lord, give me a heart to believe and trust you that you have borne
my guilt. You've paid my debt and my righteousness,
Lord. The only righteousness that you'll
accept is your righteousness imputed to me. Lord, save me. Save me by your grace. Let me ask you this. Can I have
any assurance? Now, here's a question I know
every believer right now. You've already perked your ears
up, your spiritual ears. Can I have any assurance that
I have an interest in God's grace? Is there any scripture? There's
a lot of them, but tell me one again right now.
Tell me one again. I want you to turn over Philippians
chapter three. I was looking at this just this
afternoon and I thought, man, I want to mark this one. Is there
any, here's my question. Is there any assurance of having
an interest in God's grace? Is there anything that you can
tell me from the scriptures that'll give me some hope that I'm one
of the Lords? Well, Philippians three, one
to three, finally my brethren, Rejoice in the Lord. What does that mean? That means
don't find your joy in yourself. Don't find your joy in what you've
done. Don't find your joy in what you think you've accomplished
for God. Rejoice in the Lord. To write
the same things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous. But for
you it's safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision, for
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Let me tell you, believer, what
you're thinking right now. Lord, truly, I don't have any
confidence in me. Leave it to me, I'll quit. I'll
quit. Lord, help me. David, he prayed
this. This was in Psalm 51, 10. Create in me a clean heart. Lord, do something for me that
I can't do for myself. Create in me a clean heart and
renew within me a right spirit. That's what a believer wants.
That's what they desire. Help me. Oh, Lord, help me. Well, back in Romans chapter
10, verse 10. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. The faith of God's elect, faith,
that grace, that gift that the Lord gives us, we're not born
with. It's given unto you to believe.
All men have not faith, Scripture says. The faith of God's elect
is a genuine work of God in a new heart. I'll give you a new heart. I'll give you, create in me,
create in me a clean, pure heart. Lord, do for me what I cannot
do for myself. That new heart, that work, it's
a work of God. Not a work of me. I'm telling
you, it's all of grace. We don't add anything to it.
Aren't you glad? I would mess it up. Oh, I'd mess
it up. And then whatever I thought I
did, I'd boast in it. Lord, help me. The sheep lovingly behold the
Son of God by faith. They behold Him. They've been
taught of His sufficiency by the Lord's Spirit to save His
people from their sins. They believe that. And they get
so tired of themselves. And they battle. They battle
all the time. There's a battle going on, a war going on within
them. And they're willing, they're
willing to forsake whatever for Him. They're willing to forsake. I told you this very quickly,
I'll tell you again. Not very many years ago, I was
here. I was here, gone somewhere to
preach, a little old church. And folks didn't receive the
message, Pat, at all. They didn't receive the message.
and one but about a couple of messages
there, preached there. And this is what the report was,
it came back. They told these preachers, don't
come back, don't come back. What you're preaching is gonna
split this church, and it ain't worth that. The scripture says, Sterning
the Lord, Luke 14, 26. If any man come to me and hate
not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brethren,
his sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now, I know that Thanks be unto God that we don't
find ourselves to where we end up always being at odds, hating. That word hate right there, let
me tell you what it means. Hate, that's what it means. It
means hate, it means despise, it means it's... Here's what
he's saying. A believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ And some of us here have crossed this path to where this
message is divisive. And let me tell you what a believer
will do. He's gonna take God's side against
mama, daddy, brother, sister. He takes God's side against himself. I'm nothing, he's everything.
Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. You're the potter,
I'm the clay. He's gonna take the Lord's side.
And the Lord's setting forth here. A man will take God's side
against his own life. If he had to make a decision
between denying the Lord and his life, but we've got records
of it, where men set the torch, and they burned him at the stake,
they sawn asunder, they were hanged, they were brutally beaten,
but by the grace of God, they don't deny him. Scripture sets forth. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Then in verse 11. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Here's the foundation
of our hope. Here's the foundation what we
believe. Here's the foundation of it right
here. For the Scripture saith. For the Scripture saith. What
saith the Scripture? Here's the foundation. What the
Scriptures set forth, what God's Word set forth. This Word is
breathed of God. That Word that the Lord has magnified,
the Scripture says. Above all His name. That amazes
me. Word, the Lord is magnified.
His word, his word, his word. The scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever, like I said
a while ago, Jew, Gentile, male, female, bond-free, whosoever,
Believeth, whosoever is persuaded, whosoever has confidence in,
whosoever believeth, not as a demon. The demons believe that he was
a person. They believe that. They mocked
him, thou son of God, become the tormentors. Oh, this one
right here, whosoever believeth, has confidence in, that he's
able, that he's truth. He's the way, whosoever believeth
on him and trusts himself to him, that he's able to save to
the uttermost them that come unto God by him. Whosoever believeth shall not
be ashamed. He's not going to be ashamed.
Whosoever confidently continues to believe that a man is not
justified by works, by the works of his flesh, but by the faith
of, the faith of Jesus Christ shall not be ashamed. He that
believeth on him, convinced that his, that is, that Christ's faith
imputed to me. This is the wonder of wonders.
His faith as a man, he walked this earth and imputed that faith. to me. You did that to me. Boy, my unbelief,
my guilt, my sin, my rebellion, he took that. Paid the debt. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Not be ashamed to confess and
proclaim him before men. Call on the name of the Lord. Verse 12. There's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon him. It's not the slightest bit of
difference concerning the mercy of God toward all types of people. Jew, Gentile, his elect, his
bride, his chosen. We're all under sin. We all have
come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous. They're
no different, no different. Some here have been raised under
the sound of the gospel in years, years, years, years, and years,
until they heard. I was raised in false religion,
false religion. Heard a lie for years and years
and years and years. And the Lord, saved both kinds
the same way, by grace, through faith, not of themselves. It was a gift of God. There's
no difference. There's no difference between
the Jew, the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all
that call upon Him. The same Lord who redeemed the
sheep, the ones who shall surely call upon the name of the Lord.
is rich unto all that call upon him. How does one know of his richness
in mercy that has been shown to me? How do I know? How do I know? Well, I'll tell
you what I'll do. I'll give up. I'll give up everything
else. When a believer When one loved
of God, chosen of God, when he hears the truth and God gives
him faith to believe, I tell you what he'll do. Paul said
he'll give everything else up. He'll give it up. Philippians
3, 7 and 9. But what things were gained to
me, things that he thought he possessed, that merited salvation,
things that were done by him, that he thought were necessary,
For his salvation, things that were gained to me, he said, those
I counted loss. For Christ, yea, doubtless, I
count all things but loss to be a disadvantage. I count all
things loss. It's a hindrance, it's an injury
to me. For the excellency, for the superiority
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, whom I have suffered
all the loss, I've suffered the loss of all things. What did
Paul say? I suffered the loss of them. I lost them, I allowed them,
I didn't. His ceremonial righteousness,
Jewish righteousness, the loss. Self-righteousness, loss. pretended glory, lost, I count
all things but loss. Oh, that I may win Christ, I
may gain Him, be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. And then in closing, I'm gonna
close right where I started. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Whosoever shall call upon
his name in a spirit of God-given humility,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord before the Lord,
recognizing by the grace of God, of his sovereign deity, recognizing
by grace that the Lord himself has promised to never leave,
never forsake, believing him, hoping in his mercy, calling
upon him who has set himself before his people by grace, declares
himself to be their salvation. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord, And all that that name entails, name of the Lord, his character,
his glory, his honor, his deity, shall be saved. Lord, this is
what I got. I got your word. And Lord, by
the grace of God, that's all I need. Lord, save me. Save your people. For your namesake,