Now back in Romans chapter 10,
if you'll turn there with me, this morning I want to talk to
you about the matter of true heart confession of Christ. True heart confession of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul had such a heart
for lost people. And it's showed forth in his
preaching, in his evangelistic zeal to get the gospel out to
the lost. And here he mentions in Romans
10 his countrymen, his brothers and sisters, not in Christ, but
in the flesh, Israel. As you study through the book
of Romans, you have to look at the context and understand is
paul talking about the israel of god which is spiritual israel
those who believe in the lord jesus christ or is he talking
about the nation israel which as a whole rejected the lord
jesus christ and he says here in verse one of chapter ten he
says brethren my heart's desire and prayer to god for israel
is that they might be safe so it's obvious here he's talking
about lost people He's praying for their salvation. Now I know
that there are times in the scripture, in fact in the book of Romans,
I think it's chapter 13, he talks about praying for the salvation
of believers in the sense of being glorified. He says our
salvation is nearer than when we first began. We first began
our experience of salvation when we were born again by the Spirit.
when we under the preaching of the gospel were brought to faith
in Christ and true repentance. And then as we grow in grace
and knowledge, as we get closer to our own death here on this
earth from this life, our salvation, our complete deliverance is closer,
nearer than when we first began. Even up to final glory in heaven.
But here he's talking about those who are lost in their sins, their
religious but they're lost. They claim to be the people of
God, but they're lost. They have a zeal. Look at verse
two. He said, I bear them record that
they have a zeal of God. Now that zeal there is zealousness
in religion. It's also zealousness in morality. There were many of these that
Paul speaks of who were students of the scripture. but they didn't
know Christ. They missed the message of the
Scripture. Do you know that you can be a student of the Scripture
and still miss the message of the Scripture? I know because
I've been there. I spent time in seminary studying
Greek, studying Hebrew, studying church history, studying Old
Testament history, New Testament history, going through the various
schools of criticism of the Scripture. trying to figure out what this
one said, what was the original, all of that, and still did not
know Christ. I've been there. Christ told
the Pharisees in John chapter 5 and verse 39, he says, you
do search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. He said, they are they which testify of me. They read
Moses. They claimed to be followers
of Moses. They claimed to be keepers of the law of Moses.
And Christ told them there, he said, Moses wrote of me. They were students, but they
missed Christ. So they have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. Now, anybody who would put down
this knowledge, I believe, is either sadly spiritually sick
or just plain ignorant. And I'm not saying that to be
critical or mean, but this is what the Holy Spirit inspired
the apostle Paul to write. This is not just Paul's opinion.
You may have heard the term Gnostic or Gnosticism. And I've been
accused of being a Gnostic because I uphold this knowledge. And
I believe it's necessary in the salvation of a sinner. I believe
when God saves a sinner, He teaches that sinner some knowledge. He
doesn't leave him in ignorance. And I believe that because that's
what the Bible teaches. Well, that term gnostic, it's
a term that means knowing ones. They were people who boasted
of their knowledge, but it was a mystical knowledge. It wasn't
knowledge. The knowledge I want you to understand
and know about today is knowledge that comes right from this book
here. It's not some kind of a mystical
revelation that I've had in a dream or a vision or an experience
that I'm going to tell you about that if you ever get it, you'll
know it. That's the kind of Gnosticism.
No, Paul's talking about a vital, saving knowledge here. And he
said they didn't have this knowledge. They had zeal, they had religion,
they had morality, they had sincerity, but they didn't have this knowledge.
Well, what is this knowledge? Well, he tells us in verse three,
look at it, he spells it out. For they being ignorant of what?
God's righteousness. Now, what is God's righteousness?
Well, you know, the term righteousness can also be translated justice. They're interchangeable in the
New Testament and in the Old Testament too. God's righteousness. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of what God
requires. That's what they're ignorant
of. They're ignorant of God's judgment of us as human beings
in this world, fallen in Adam. That's what they're ignorant
of. Let me show you something about God's righteousness. Turn
back to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. And look
at verse nine. Now this, this will tell you
something about what man by nature does not know about God's righteousness,
God's justice. And he's talking about Jew and
Gentile here. He talked about the Gentile world,
who in their idolatry and unbelief. And then he talked about the
Jewish people who had the law of Moses, but again, they're
ignorant. They miss Christ. And he says
in verse nine, what then are we better than they? Now, what
he's saying here is this. We Jews who had the law of Moses,
who had the prophets, who had the scriptures, Are we any better
off than the Gentiles in this matter of a standing and relationship
with God? That's what he's talking about.
In other words, what is your standing before God right now?
What is my standing before God? What is my relationship with
God? Well, he says, are we Jews who
had all those advantages, are we any better off than the Gentiles?
And listen to his answer. No, in, no wise. That means no way. No, in no
way are we any better off. For we have before proved, that
means charged, he says both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all
under sin. Now later on he's going to say
it this way in Romans 3.23, he's going to say for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now what that literally
means, that doesn't mean that we are all as bad as we could
be. We know better than that. We
know that we could all be worse than we, we have the potential.
We have, we have that fallen, sinful human nature within us. And even lost people have a struggle. It's a struggle of conscience,
but even saved people have a warfare of the flesh and the spirit.
Don't you? I do. You do. If you're saved
today, if you know Christ, if you've been born again, you're
in a struggle. You're in a daily warfare and
it never lets up. Even in your best moments, usually
in our best moments, that's when we have to really fight self-righteousness. But we have that struggle every
day. So we're all under sin. Now, here's what that means.
Here's God's righteousness. Here's God's justice. That if
God were to ever at any time give me what I have earned or
what I deserve, it would be eternal damnation. And I'm talking about
right now as I'm standing behind this pulpit preaching to you. I still I still do not desire
that God give me what I've earned. And you know why? Because I always
fall short and the wages of sin is death. I don't want God to
give me what I deserve because what did Paul say? He said, this
is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save what? Sinners. Of whom what? I'm chief. What did the psalmist say in
Psalm 130 verse 3? Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? Somebody said, well, I just want
God to weigh my good works against my bad works. You lose. That's
God's justice. That's God's righteousness. And
that's what he's saying. He says in verse 10, listen to
it. Here's God's righteousness right here. Here's the standard
by which he measures all men and women. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. Now that's plain. You say, well,
surely so-and-so is a righteous person. He or she did the best
they could. No. The Bible says this is God's
judgment. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Verse 11, there's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. Notice it doesn't say there's none that seeketh after a God.
but none that seeketh after the true and living God." The God
that man seeks after naturally is one such as himself. And he says, they're all gone
out of the way. What's the way? Well, Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, and the lie. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. They are together become unprofitable. There's
none that doeth good, no, not one. That's in God's sight. That's
God's righteousness. Now we can talk about how people
do good in our view of it according to our human standard of it,
but when it comes to God and God's standard of goodness and
righteousness and holiness, what does He say? Here's His righteousness.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. No, not one. And then in verse 19, look at
it. He says, now we know that what things so ever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
To be guilty means you deserve judgment from God. Not blessing,
not salvation, but damnation. And he said in verse 20, therefore,
by deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified, declared
righteous, declared not guilty. in God's sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. So look back over at Romans 10,
verse three. They're lost, he says. They're
zealous, they're religious, they're sincere, but they're ignorant. And what are they ignorant of?
God's righteousness. Well, Paul, how do you know that they are
ignorant of God's righteousness? Look at verse three. He says, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Now here's what he's saying. Any sinner who is going
about to establish his own righteousness before God is really ignorant
of God's righteousness, God's standard. How do men and women
try to establish their own righteousness? By their works. By what they
do, what they quit doing. How many people have you heard
say, well, I know he's saved because he quit smoking, he quit
drinking, he quit doing that, he quit doing this. Well, preachers,
shouldn't people quit doing those things? Yes, but that is not
righteousness. You say, well, he joined the
church and got baptized. If you think joining the church
and getting baptized makes you righteous, you're ignorant of
God's righteousness. Should believers, I emphasize
believers, join the church and be baptized? Absolutely. That's
a command, but that's not righteousness. Should we try to live good lives,
obedience, sincere, zealous? Shouldn't we be zealous? He said
they have a zeal of God. Yes. But that is not righteousness. If you think it is, if you think
that is what saves you or keeps you saved, or that which earns
your reward in heaven, you're ignorant of God's righteousness.
You understand that? And that proves you're not submitted
to the righteousness of God. Now what is the righteousness
of God? Now remember, as you look at this, how Paul began
the book of Romans in chapter 1 he talked about the gospel
of God he talked about the person of Christ the God-man he talked
about how the gospel in verse 16 is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it to the Jew first the Greek also
or the Gentile also that's what the Greek means there and then
he says in verse 17 of Romans 1 he said for therein in the
gospel is the righteousness of God revealed From faith to faith,
as it is written, the just shall live by faith. What is the righteousness
of God? Look at verse four. Here it is. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Christ is the
righteousness of God. Not me, not you, not what we
do, what we don't do, what we're trying to do, what we promise
to do. What we pledge to do, that's not our righteousness
before God. Christ is the believer's righteousness. Not even faith. Faith is not your righteousness.
Christ is. You believe in Him. And that word end there, I've
said it a thousand times, for Christ is the end. You remember
when Christ was on the cross in John 19, I think it's verse
30, He said, it is finished. That's the same word, end. Christ
is the finishing of the law, the fulfillment of the law. He's
the perfection of the law. He kept the law. You didn't,
I didn't, and don't now. Some people believe that when
you are saved, or as people say today, get saved. I don't like
that language, but it's not scriptural. But they say, well, then you
can keep the law. Oh, no, you can't. You're still
a sinner. If you're truly saved, you're
a sinner saved by grace. You're saved by grace, kept by
grace, and you'll end up by grace. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. So let
me tell you something. First of all, the true heart
confession of Christ begins with submission to God's way of righteousness
in Christ. That's where it begins. Submit
to God's judgment of ourselves. What am I? I'm a sinner. At my
worst, obviously, you don't have any problem seeing me at my worst
as a sinner. But here's God's righteousness.
Here's God's judgment. At my best, I'm still a sinner. Whether I'm in the pulpit or
in the gutter, I'm still a sinner. That's what I'm saying. That's
taking sides with God against ourselves. and submit to God's
way of righteousness in Christ. I have no righteousness before
God, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the
dead. He is Jehovah Sid Canoe. That's
how Jeremiah put it in chapter 23 and 33. Jehovah Sid Canoe. You know what that means? The
Lord, our righteousness. That's the confession of the
heart of a believer. I'm a sinner. You see, I have
nothing to recommend me unto God except one thing, one person,
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The best sermon that I ever preach
is not enough to make me righteous or recommend me unto God. That's
what I'm saying. The best act of love and charity
that I've performed is not enough to make me righteous and recommend
me unto God. Man at his best, the scripture
said, is altogether what? Vanity. Everything but Christ
is vanity when it comes to a relationship with God, when it comes to a
right standing with God. And then secondly, the true heart
confession of Christ denies the righteousness of works. Now listen
to verse four, five. He says, for Moses described
that the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. He says, but the, turn
over to Galatians chapter five with me just for a minute. Now the righteousness of the
law is the righteousness of human works, which always falls short. The unbelieving Jews claimed
three things. that they thought made them saved,
or children of God, or righteous before God. They claimed, number
one, that they were physical descendants of Abraham. And you
remember John the Baptist said, don't say that. That's not good
enough. Remember in Matthew 3, he said, don't think to say that
you're Abraham's seed. Being a physically born descendant
of Abraham will not save you, will not make you righteous,
will not wash away your sins. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And the second thing that they
claim was circumcision. We be circumcised. And Jewish
unbelievers came into the churches of Galatia preaching that. They
said, these Gentiles that you claim are children of God now,
they're not circumcised. They have to be circumcised to
be saved. The third thing they claim was that they kept the
law of Moses, but they didn't. But look at what Paul says in
verse 1 of Galatians 5. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free. Be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage, legal bondage. Behold, I Paul saying you that
if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If
you think circumcision saves you or makes you righteous or
recommend you to go, Christ will profit you. You don't need Christ.
If that's what you think. He says in verse three, he says,
for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
he's a debtor to do the whole law. In other words, if you think
any act. of human obedience in any way
saves you or makes you righteous or recommends you to God, let
me tell you what position you're in. You're a debtor to do it
all, to keep the law perfectly. Now that's what he means back
here in Romans 10 when he says Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. In other words, if you're trying
to establish a righteousness of your own by any act of human
obedience, or will, human will. And you've got it all to do.
You've got to keep it all. And let me tell you something,
you're already starting off in the negative column, aren't you?
Do you think any acts of obedience, of human obedience, can wash
away past sins? No. No. Look at verse 5 of Romans 10.
He says, Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the
law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
but the righteousness which is of faith. Now that doesn't mean
faith makes you righteous. That means faith is in Jesus
Christ who makes a sinner righteous. He says it speaks on this wise.
Here's the way the righteousness of faith speaks. It doesn't say
do and live. That's the law. That's legalism.
It says say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven.
That is to bring Christ down from above. or who shall descend
into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.
Now what he's simply saying here is the righteousness of faith,
which is the righteousness of Christ freely imputed, charged,
and received by faith, doesn't have anything to do with human
works or human efforts, no matter how high the human goes or how
low he goes, it will not work. You can seek to rise to heaven,
build a tower of Babel, You can try to get down as low as you
can go. Try to pray your way into heaven.
Prayers will not make you righteous. That's right. Should we pray?
Yes, but not for that reason. You understand what I'm saying?
There's a difference. But look at verse 8. But what saith it? What does
the righteousness of faith say? The word is nigh thee. It's right
here. It's not something far off that man is in some kind
of unending search for. Like people in philosophy, they
talk about the search for truth, and they'll go here, and they'll
go there, and they'll seek religions, and religions here, and finally
they go to the old man with the white beard on top of the mountain.
And we see it in cartoons all the time, don't we? What is truth?
Because he can't put his finger on it. Remember Pilate when Christ
stood before him? And he asked that question, what
is truth? He's just expressing man's eternal,
unending, vain search for truth. Well, what's truth for you is
not truth for me. You've got your truth. I've got
my truth. Let's just learn to get along.
That's what man thinks. But no, the righteousness of
faith is not like that. It's right here. You're listening
to it right now from the word of God. And he says here in verse
eight, it's neither even in thy mouth, it's what we're preaching.
And in thy heart, it's in your mind, it's in your affections,
your will, that is the word of faith, the gospel, wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed, which we preach. And here it
is, verse 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him, on Christ, shall not be ashamed, shall not
be confounded. You see, the righteousness which
is of faith confesses Christ. That's what it does. Confession
is made by God-given faith in Christ. And that confession confesses
that I have no other righteousness but him, whom to know is life
eternal. And that confession is made with
the mouth. I'm going to tell you what I
believe. And it's also, in the other scriptures we learn, by
command of our Lord, it's confession by believer's baptism. We're
going to have a baptism this morning. She's going to confess
before you publicly, in the New Testament way, by command of
Christ, her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that all her righteousness
is Christ. Not in herself, not in the baptismal
waters, but in Christ. And that's why Christ left us
the beautiful ordinance of baptism. And it's been so perverted today. You have people who baptize babies.
There's nothing like that in the scripture, not even close. All that is is church tradition
begun by the Catholic church to gain control over people because
they knew if they could get their children, they'd get the adults.
That's what that was all about. It was political control through
religion and money. There's nothing in the Bible
about it. You say, well, you're being mean. No, I'm just telling
you the truth. You find it. Read it. Read it from Matthew
to Revelation. You show me one place in here
where a baby was baptized. It's not there. Who should be
baptized? All who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And let me say this, the baptism comes under the preaching
of the true gospel, not a false gospel. Those who were baptized
under a false gospel, let me tell you what happened to you.
You just engaged in a ritual that I call you just dumped in
water. Baptism is a confession of the Christ of the Bible, not
a false Christ. It's not something you gradually
work your way into. And it's not something you should
be struggling with. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you're commanded to be baptized. You're not to be in
some kind of inner debate about that. I'm not trying to get people
in the pool now. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying
to do that. I don't want anybody baptized
who doesn't believe. But if you truly believe Christ
and trust him for all your salvation, There should be no struggle in
your mind or your conscience. He commanded it. What did Philip
tell the Ethiopian eunuch when he asked him, what does hinder
me to be baptized? What did Philip ask him? Well,
have you worked hard for Christ? Or have you really searched in
your... No, he says, do you believe? And the man said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the son. And it's the Christ that was
preached in Isaiah 53. That's what baptism is all about.
Why should we be baptized? Because the Lord commanded it.
As our public confession, Lord never commanded you to walk down
the aisle, make a spectacle of yourself before people and they
can come up and put empty hands on empty heads. No, he commanded
you to be baptized. That's the, that's the first
act of public confession of a believer. And how should they be baptized?
Well, they should be baptized by immersion. That's what the
word is. It means to be placed into. And it's a type, it's a
symbol, it's a picture of our identification with Christ in
his what? His death, burial, and resurrection. That's why we believe in believer's
baptism by immersion. That's what it's all about. It's
a message, you see. It's confession, true heart confession. So, whoever is baptized, who
should be baptized, are those who have already been brought
to faith in Christ, and confessing him before men. That's what the
scripture talks about. Christ said, if you don't confess
me before men, I won't confess you before my father. Well, that
confession begins. It is our witness. It is our
telling people the gospel. It is our living lives consistent
with it. But it begins with believers'
baptism. And that's true heart confession of Christ.