Alright, now back in the passage
that Brother Joe just read, Romans chapter 10, I've entitled the
message this morning, Believing and Confessing Christ. Down here
in verse 9, Romans 10 verses 9 and 10 are so familiar to most
of us when it says that, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God 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. That's the crux of the message,
but I've, you know, I've spent a lot of time on the first four
verses, actually the last few verses of chapter nine and the
first few verses of chapter 10, I've spent a lot of time talking
about those verses, preaching from them, Admittedly, because
especially what you have in those verses is just one of those sections,
passages of scripture that really sets forth the crux of the matter,
the heart of the gospel, and what this thing is all about.
There's so... and we need to understand that
because there's so many. And we need to understand it
for ourselves. Now, I'm not just talking about looking at other
people. I'm talking about examining ourselves. You know, the scripture
says examine yourself to see whether you be in the faith.
And I want to know, and I believe you want to know, that I'm not
just fooling myself in this thing about salvation. about forgiveness. I don't want to come before God
and end up like those false preachers in Matthew chapter 7, you know,
talking about how much we've done for the Lord, and only to
hear Him say, depart from Me ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. And that's the way I preach to
you. Now, you know that. I mean, those of you who have
heard me for these several years, you know that these are self-examining
messages, and they need to be. because our eternal life is on
the line here. We've seen so many who have passed
on, and I just want to know that I've told them the truth from
the Word of God. And I know everybody claims to
be telling the truth. Everybody claims to be a Christian. We live in an age of bumper sticker
religion. Everybody sees a line here, a
line there, It's almost like we're so infiltrated with this
stuff that it's something we don't think about. It's like,
you know, I could sit up here and talk to you about hydrogen,
and you may listen for a little while, but you're not going to
think too much about hydrogen today, are you? It's not going
to be on your mind, but I can tell you right now, if you didn't
have it, you'd die. H2O. We have to have that, but we
don't spend our days thinking. And that's the way it is with
religion today, with what people call Christianity. They see this
verse here and that verse there, and it's just, you know, we're
American, you know. We're all saved. That's not the case. And
I want you to see, that's the way the unbelieving Jews began
to think in their generations. We're Abraham's seed, you know.
We were circumcised on the eighth day. We have the law of Moses,
all of that. And why would you ever question
that I'm saved? Why would you ever question that
we're children of God? And we just go on through life
like that, and then die, and then some preacher gets up and
preaches the funeral. Sometimes they might talk about,
well, he made a profession of faith when he was seven years
old, which means mommy and daddy got him down the aisle some way.
and got him baptized, you know. And I'm not just making fun now
when I say that. I mean, this thing about salvation,
this thing about true Christianity is a life lived in Christ. It's not just going through life
in the daily doing and all of that, not thinking about it.
But this is why we need to be grounded in this truth. When
it talks about believing and confessing Christ, I want to
know, do I really believe Him? Believe in Him? Believe Him?
Do I really confess Him? Well, when I started this series
of messages, I began back in Romans 8, plan to go through
up to Romans 11. One of the reasons I told you
that I did this is because I was struck by this notion that's
become so popular today about, it's a movement called Christians
and Jews United. And what you have there is people
who claim to be Christian and then the Jews, and talking about
not Jews ethnically but religiously, coming into fellowship with one
another. And it just struck me that that's not scriptural, that's
not biblical. Where is our fellowship? Well,
our fellowship is right here, in the Word of God. That's why
I read in the opening passage, 1 John chapter 5, that's talking
about fellowship. And it says there, God is light.
That means truth, that's what light is. It's truth. If you
want to see the light of God, look to Christ. He's the light
of the world, the scripture says. He is that light. John the Baptist
said, I'm not the light. Christ is the light, I'm just
pointing you to the light. He's got the increase, I've got
the decrease. When the Bible speaks of the
stars in Revelation, it's talking about preachers of the gospel.
And I tell my Bible study class, the Sunday school class, I said,
they're not movie stars even though they might think they
are. And I act like it sometimes. But they're not movie stars.
No, they're stars that shine with the light of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. I'm not a light, but I point
you to the light. And that's what it says here
in 1 John 5. It says, God is light and in
Him is no darkness at all. Now, if we say we have fellowship
with God, and we walk in darkness, In the darkness of false religion,
in the darkness of no religion, whatever, whatever darkness it
is, we lie, he says. We're telling a lie. We're a
living lie if we do that. If I claim to have fellowship
with God who is light and in Him is no darkness at all, but
I walk anywhere but in the truth of salvation by God's grace in
Christ, I'm a living, walking lie. That's what that... You
know, and you say, well, boy, that's pretty hard. That's just
truth. A walking lie. My life is a lie. And therefore,
he says, and we walk in darkness. And there's no fellowship. Well,
that's what Paul's saying here by inspiration of the Spirit,
and that's why I've spent so much time on this. And that's
why that has, I pray that the Lord, that the Holy Spirit will
just grind this into our hearts and our souls and our minds.
What's he talking about there in the first four verses? He's
talking about the failure of the Jews to achieve the righteousness
that they sought. They knew they had to be righteous
to be pleasing to God. What is it to be righteous? It's
to be not guilty. That's what it is. It's to not
have sin charged to you in the court of a lawgiver who cannot
lie. Did you hear what I just said
now? Now think about that. You know, man can charge you
or charge me with something and it could be a lie. We can be
falsely accused. You probably have in your lifetime.
Probably will be again. I have been falsely accused. Now, I know we're all sinners.
In that sense, you know, if anybody just says you're a sinner, that's
not a false accusation. We're sinners. We're either sinners
saved by the grace of God or a sinner lost in our sins. But
you may have been falsely accused. Man can do that. Even the courts
of man can do that. We've seen examples of people
who've been put in jail and been there for years and now they've
got this new DNA testing and they do that and they find out
the one they put in jail was innocent of the crime. And so
that's possible. But here's what it is to be righteous.
It's to be not guilty, not even chargeable, in the court of a
lawgiver who cannot lie, who cannot do anything but tell the
truth, and the same lawgiver who sees into the heart. Now you know we can appear pretty
good on the outside, but this lawgiver, this judge, he knows
our thoughts, he knows the intents. I mean, when you look at somebody
and say, I love you, he knows whether or not it's really the
truth. If there's any hatred harboring
in my heart, he sees that. That's right. Now, that's what
it is to be righteous, to stand before that lawgiver and not
be charged. That's why David in Psalm 32
made this statement. He said, blessed is the man to
whom the Lord God imputeth not iniquity. That is, he doesn't
charge me with sin. Well, are you a sinner? Yes.
Am I a sinner? Yes. Well, how can he not charge
me with sin? Well, he explains it over in
Romans chapter 4 when he's talking about Abraham and David as examples.
He said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness. charges righteousness without
works. Where am I going to find that?
Well, the Jews sought it in their works. Verse 3 of Romans 10,
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, God's justice,
God's requirement, and going about to establish their own
righteousness. Now there's the question, am I going about in
this life trying to establish my own righteousness before God? Because if I am, then I can tell
you right now, I do not believe in Christ and I have not confessed
Him. If that's what I'm doing. If
that's what you're doing. If I'm trying to establish my
own righteousness, and people try to establish their own righteousness
in different ways. Some just in morality. I'm going
to try to be the best person I can be. Well, shouldn't you
do that? Yes. I mean, I don't disagree with these preachers
who go around saying, be the best you can be. I think I ought
to be the best I can be and I think you ought to be the best you
can be. But, if that's what I think is my righteousness before God,
what does that say about me? You see the difference? You have
a job, be the best employee you can be. I don't care if you're
sweeping the floor or signing the checks. Be the best you can
be at. Are you a husband? Be the best
husband you can be. Don't ever... Listen, set your
heart and your mind to be the best husband. Are you a wife?
Be the best wife. Are you a father or mother? Be
the best. Follow God's Word in every area
of life. Obedience, be a servant of God,
a worshiper, all of these things. But, if that's what you believe,
makes you righteous before God, what does that say about you?
It says that you're ignorant of God's righteousness. It says
that you're walking in a lie. It says you're not in fellowship
with the Father and the Son, and if you're not in fellowship
with the Father and the Son, you're not in fellowship with
His children. How can you be united? And that's what Paul's
saying here. Here's the failure of the Jews
to achieve the righteousness they sought. And my friend, it's
the failure of every son and daughter of Adam to achieve it
by works. It's failure. That's exactly
right. If what you're doing in any way,
in any shape, form, or fashion, I don't care whether it's religious
or not, if you think that God will save you or bless you or
keep you Based on your works, you're an abject failure. That's
what the Bible teaches. Verse 3, they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own
righteousness, and they have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Who is the righteousness of God?
Verse 4, for Christ. is the end, the fulfillment,
the completion, the perfection, the finishing of the law. He kept it. He satisfied its
justice. Nothing I do can satisfy God's
justice against my sin. Nothing I do can pay for my sins. Not even hell can pay for your
sins. Do you know that? No, sir. Nothing you do, nothing
I do, nothing we experience can pay for our sin. We may suffer
the consequences of sin, but I've heard people say that, you
know, about somebody who gets caught and put in jail and say,
well, he's paying for his sin. Well, he may be paying his debt
to society and that's fine and that should be the way it is,
but he's not paying for his sin. He can't pay for them. You can't
pay for them. I can't pay for them. We don't
have what it takes to pay for sin. You see what I'm saying? There's only one person who has
what it takes to pay for the sins of his people, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. He has the redemption price.
You don't have it, I don't have it. What is the redemption price
for my sins? The blood of the Son of God incarnate. That's the redemption price.
I don't have that. You don't have it either. Only
he has it. So what is my hope of righteousness? It's to stand before God under
the blood, washed in the blood. It's not a literal washing like
you take a bath. It's symbolic language that's
the same thing as being submitted to the righteousness of God.
I plead, not the fifth, I plead Christ. That's what it's all
about. Now, my issue is this. How do
I stand before God and be counted righteous? It's in Christ. He's the only
one who has that righteousness. He is my righteousness. That's
why He's called in Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6, the Lord, my righteousness. And I have no other righteousness
but Him. And if you have any other but
Him, you're in trouble. You're just in trouble. For Christ
is the end. That word end, I've told you,
it's the same word that he used on the cross. That word end there
in verse 4. He used that word when he was
hanging on the cross. When he said, it is finished. Salvation is based upon a finished
work. Not that you finished. It's not
based on a work that he started and I finished. That's the way
most people think of it today. God's done his part, now you
do yours. No. It's not a work that he started
and we finished. It's a work that he finished.
That's what redemption is. That's what justification before
God is. My sins charged to him, his righteousness
charged to me. How do I know I have it? He says,
to everyone that believeth. You see that? Righteousness is
only achieved by one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he achieved
righteousness by his obedience unto death on the cross. And
he didn't do it for himself, but he did it for his sheep.
His church, which He redeemed with His own precious blood.
His people, they're called God's elect. The Bible says, take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which
He hath purchased with His own blood. His sheep, He said, I'm the Good
Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Well,
look at verse 5. He says here, Moses. Now, you
know who Moses was. He's the one who led the Hebrew
children out of Egypt. He's the one whom God gave the
law on Mount Sinai. Moses represents the law. The
law given to Israel. And here's what he said. He said,
Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law. Now, Moses
describes that righteousness That's by the law. And here's
what he says. He says that the man which doeth
those things shall live by those things. Live by them. Now that's
really not a direct quote from Moses. That's a summation of
everything Moses wrote. Right there. Here's the summation
of it. Here's what Moses said is the
righteousness of the law. Let me give it to you in three
words. Do and live. There it is. Three words. Very
simple, isn't it? Do and live. Do what? Keep it
perfectly. And live. Disobey and what? Die. The wages of sin is death. What is sin? Transgression of
the law. Moses described the law. The
righteousness which is of the law. He described it. that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them." Look over
at Galatians chapter 3 with me. Now if you want to be righteous
by keeping the law, whatever law is in your head, it may be
the Ten Commandments, it may be the Ten Commandments plus
one. It may be going to church on Saturday instead of Sunday.
It may be going to the baptismal pool. It may be do this, do that,
do that, whatever. Now if you want to be righteous
by keeping the law, here's what the law says. Look at Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 10. It says, for as many as are of
the works of the law. Now that's a person who wants
to be righteous based upon keeping the law. You're of the works
of the law. In other words, if you came and
told somebody, say, well, I'm gonna do my best to be saved
by working my way into God's faith, you're of the works of
the law. And he says, what? Those who are of the works of
the law are under the curse. What does that mean? That means
you're not blessed. That means you're cursed. You're not in
God's favor. Now, why would you say such a
thing? Well, here's what's written, for it's written, cursed is everyone
that continues not in what? Underscore that two words there,
all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. In other words, you can't just
keep part of it. Half of it won't do, 75% of it won't do, 99 and
44 100s won't do on this. It may be on that soap, but it
won't do on the law. All of it. One hundred percent. In other words, you've got to
finish the law, you've got to complete the law, you've got
to perfect the law. That's why the Bible says here
in Romans 10, for Christ is the completion, the fulfillment,
the perfection of the law. You're not, I'm not, Christ is.
And if we, listen, we can claim to believe in Christ and to love
Him and to follow Him, but if we're of the works of the law,
if we're trying to be saved based upon our works, We're under the
curse. So he says in verse 11 of Galatians
3.10, look here. He says, but that no man is justified
by the law and the sight of God. That's evident. It's almost like
he's saying, how could you not see this? It's evident. We're saying, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We've all missed the mark. the perfection of the law in
our best efforts to keep it. Therefore, it's evident that
we're excluded in this matter of attaining righteousness by
our law keeping. He says, for the just, the justified
shall live by faith. What is it to live by faith?
Looking to Christ, resting in Him for all righteousness. He says in verse 12, now the
law is not of faith. Listen to this. He says, the
law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live
in them. In other words, the law doesn't say believe. It's
not of faith. The law doesn't command you to
believe. The law doesn't say anything about believe it. It
says do it. That's what the law says. The law says do it, keep it.
It doesn't say believe it. Whether you believe it or not,
do it, keep it. You know, there are atheists
who believe that a person should be moral. There are atheists
who believe that it's wrong to steal. I don't know why they
believe that, but they do. Oh, I know they have their little
explanations. One of them tried to describe it by the third law
of thermodynamics, whatever that is. Good night, idiot. But they do. They believe it's
wrong to steal. So they really don't believe
it, but they believe you should do it. They believe thieves should
be put in jail just like we who are Christians do. So the law doesn't require you
to believe. It says do and live, period. But look at verse 13,
now where's our hope then? Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How did he do that? He was made
a curse for us. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. You see that? Now, for whom did
Christ do this? Look at verse 14. That the blessing
of Abraham, what is the blessing of Abraham? It's salvation. It's justification before God
in Christ. It's the work of the Holy Spirit
to bring a sinner to Christ for salvation. Might come on the
Gentiles, not the Jews. See? God has a people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile,
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now why did Paul say just
the Gentiles here? Because he's preaching the Gentiles
here in Galatia. And He's wanting them to know
that your being a Gentile does not disqualify you from being
a child of God, and them being a Jew doesn't qualify them to
be children of God. There's only one thing that qualifies
a sinner to be a child of God, and that's Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. The grace of God in Christ. The
mercy of God in Christ. Look over at Galatians chapter
5. Now, who do we have fellowship
with? See? Those who are righteous in Christ.
Those who are going about trying to establish a righteousness
of their own, they deny Christ. We don't have fellowship with
them. Look at verse 3. Now, you've got to understand
something. Look back at Galatians 5. You understand that he's talking
about people here. He's describing people here who
claim to be Christian. Now, if you don't understand
it, you're going to miss what he's saying here. These people that he's
describing in Galatians chapter 5 claim to be Christian just
like I do and you do. We claim to love Christ, to know
Christ, to believe in Him, to rest in Him. But they looked
for other things other than the finished work of Christ to recommend
them unto God. False preachers had come in and
tried to divert their attention away from Christ and His blood
and righteousness to other things such as circumcision, the keeping
of days, things like that. And so he tells them in verse
1, he says, "...stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage." That's bondage. You see, a person who's going
about trying to establish a righteousness of their own through circumcision,
baptism, whatever, any work of a sinner, with or without the
help of God, that's bondage. Don't get in that. He said in
verse 2, look at it. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. You
claim to be Christian, but you say a person has to be circumcised
to be saved. Well, you're denying Christ.
He'll profit you nothing. You add anything to Christ and
his finished work, you deny him. You take anything away from it,
you deny him. Verse 3, he says, for I testify
again to every man, now listen to this, he said, I testify again
to every man that is circumcised. What he means circumcised for
that reason, for salvation, for righteousness, to be, in other
words, anything other than Christ. And you could put anything in
the place of circumcision, if you're baptized, thinking that that's
what recommends you unto God, that that makes you righteous.
He says that he's a debtor to do the whole law. You've denied
Christ, you've denied his righteousness, now you've got to keep the law.
He says in verse 4, Christ has become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from
grace. You deny what you claim. That's
what he's saying. He didn't mean you lost your
salvation, you never were saved to begin with. If you claim to
be saved by grace, but you look to other things other than Christ,
and the grace of God in Him for salvation, for righteousness,
for forgiveness, for eternal life and glory, you deny Him.
You deny what you claim. Paul wrote in Galatians chapter
3, or 4, I can't remember, Go back to Romans 10, he said, you
that desire to be under the law, don't you hear the law? Do you realize what you're asking
for there? Moses described it. And here's what he said, look
at verse 5, Moses described that the righteousness which is of
the law that the man which doeth them shall live by them. If that's
how you're going to be saved, you better keep it all. You can't
do it. That's evident. No man can be
justified by deeds of law. Look at verse six. He says, but
the righteousness which is our faith. Now what is the righteousness
of faith? We've already seen, that's the
righteousness of Christ, which we receive by faith. We receive
Christ by God-given, Holy Spirit-wrought faith. And so we look at righteous,
our faith is not our righteousness. Christ is, we receive him by
faith. You see the difference there?
And he says, here's how that righteousness which is of faith
speaks. It speaks on this wise, or in this way. It says, say
not in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is to
bring Christ down from above. Or, verse seven, who shall descend
into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.
What's he saying there? It may sound a little confusing
to you. What he's simply saying is that
the righteousness which is of faith The gospel of God's grace,
which is wrapped up in what Christ accomplished, doesn't say you
can be saved by your efforts. You can ascend into the heaven
to bring Christ down. That won't do it. That's not
what the righteousness of faith says. As high as you think you
can go, or as high as I think I can go, we can't get high enough.
And I'll tell you, that's a telling message right here, because today's
religion that comes in the name of Christianity basically says
that. Ascend unto heaven and bring
Christ down. They portray Christ as hanging
over the banister of heaven just hoping that you will do your
part. That's not what the righteousness
of faith says, though. And no matter how low you go,
how deep you go, you can ascend into hell to bring Christ up
from the dead. That's the same thing as people
I believe saying today, Did He die for you in vain? Well, He
didn't die for any of His sheep in vain, friend. And your acceptance of Him or
receiving Him doesn't make His work successful. His work is
successful. And thereby all His people will
come to Him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. So salvation is not a matter of how high we can go
or how low we can go, it's a matter of looking to Christ. Look at verse 8, he says, but
what saith it, the word is nigh thee. That word nigh means near.
This is not some far off mystical message that's in the head of
some puffed up preacher who thinks he's got it all and if you ever
get it, you'll know it too. This is a simple message and
it's right here. You don't have to go to the Holy
Land to find it. You don't have to get baptized
in the Jordan to do it. You don't have to make a trip
to Mecca or Medina. You don't have to sit and stare
at your belly button until you reach Nirvana. It's right here. It's right here. It's neither,
he says, even in thy mouth. What's in our mouth? The gospel,
which is the power of God and the salvation. It's that simple
message of the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who
He is and what He did and why He did it and where He is now.
And it's in thy heart. You know what he means by that?
If it's in your mouth, it's in your heart. Now, we know people
can say things they really don't believe. But what he's talking
about here is that consistent preaching of the message of God's
grace in Christ. A false preacher can't do that.
He can hit on it sometimes, but he can't stay with it because
his heart's not there. He says it's in your heart. What
is the heart? I know we point here. That's not really the heart
that he's talking about. I hope it's not mine. I've got
rusty pipes leading to mine. I got that big old badge on me,
you know. I hope he's not talking about this physical heart. He's
talking about the spiritual heart. The new heart. That God the Holy
Spirit gives a sinner when he's born again. And it's the mind. It's the mind. I mean, I'm speaking
to you from my mind and to your minds. But it doesn't stop at
the mind. It's the affection. It's something
that grabs hold of your affections, what you want, what you desire,
what you see as true, and the will. That's what the heart is. You see, man by nature doesn't
have a free will. I know people say they think
they do. We make choices, and we make choices every day. But we choose what we want. And
human nature determines what we want. That's why a wolf eats
a sheep instead of grass. He's a wolf. Not because of his
own free will, he just prefers sheep to grass. He's a wolf. It's his nature. It's why man
sins. It's his nature. But when God
the Holy Spirit brings a sinner to see his sin and brings him
to Christ, that's the new heart. changes his mind, his affections,
and his will. And this message is in thy mouth
and in thy heart, that is the word of faith. Believing. Believing what? Believing that
Christ is all my salvation. Believing that Jesus Christ,
the one that is described and identified and distinguished
in this book from Genesis to Revelation, Not a false Christ,
not a counterfeit, not your idea of Christ or mine, but what God
says of him. Who is he? His name shall be
called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Who
is he? His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted
God with us. He's the Alpha, the Omega. He's
the beginning and the end. He's all and in all. He's the
Lord my righteousness, the Lord my banner, the Lord my protector. He is my creator. He is my redeemer. He's my God. That's who He is. And He's very man of very man
in every way, flesh and blood, without sin. He's my one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He's the Word made
flesh and dwelling among us. He's the one who dwells within
us by His Spirit and by His Word, for He is the Word. He's the
Word incarnate. He's the Word preached. He's
the Word written. He's the King of kings. He's
the Lord of lords. He's everything this book says
He is, nothing less and nothing more. That's the Word of faith which
we preach. We preach Christ and Him crucified. And He did a work,
a great work. I've heard people say, my faith
is in Christ, not in His finished work. Not according to this book.
If you don't believe in His finished work, you don't believe in Him.
Paul said, we preach Christ and Him what? Crucified. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. He didn't become the end of the
law by what He is. He became the end of the law
by what He did. He is our righteousness. He is
our forgiveness. It's by His blood. That we're
forgiven of all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
me from all sin. All sin. He is my justification
before Him. He's my sanctification. My holiness. I have none but Him. That's who
He is. Jesus Christ. Look at verse 9. He says that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Jesus, God, our Savior. confess
with your mouth, and shall believe in thine heart." This is not
chronological here. What he's simply saying is that
what you confess with your mouth, you believe in your heart. Because
you've been born again by the Spirit. God has put this in your
heart. And he says that God hath raised
him from the dead. What does that mean? That means
he finished the work. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He is our justification. He's
not a dead martyr. He's not just someone we admire.
He is our Savior. He's our Lord. He's our life.
He is my righteousness. Thou shalt be saved. Verse 10,
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. You see that? I love that language. Believe
unto righteousness. With the heart, man looks to
Christ for righteousness. That's what that means. Where
are you going to find it? In your works? In your family?
In your church? No, in Christ. He is. And with the mouth, confession
is made into salvation. We state that with our mouth.
Now, let me say, in our culture, you know, that means walking
an aisle and all that. Listen, Paul knew nothing about that.
Paul didn't know anything about somebody playing just as I am
on the organ and begging people to come down an aisle. He didn't
know anything about it. What's he talking about, this confession? Well, this confession that's
made unto salvation, it's a confession that Christ is my salvation. It's a confession for the world.
Yes, we state it, but we live it. Look at verse 11. For the
scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
We don't have anything to be ashamed of. We confess Christ
before men. We confess Him in believer's
baptism. Not to be saved, but we're confessing
that Christ is our salvation. That's our identification publicly
with Him. We confess Him in our obedience.
It's the obedience of faith and love. We confess Him in the struggle
of the flesh and the spirit. Do you have a struggle with that?
I do. That's a confession of Christ. We confess Him as we
attempt to display and act upon the fruit of the spirit. an act
of kindness to a brother or sister in Christ. Christ said, in that
you've done this to the least of these my brethren, you've
done it unto me. That's a confession of Christ. Now we have to be
careful there. It's not the idea that people
have today, well, I'd rather see a sermon than hear one. No,
no. It's not the idea that, well, no matter what you believe, it's
how you live. No, sir. My friend, we confess with our
mouth what we believe. We trust Christ. Our doctrine
is Christ, and we're not ashamed of it. We don't have to be ashamed
of it, but think about this. We who know Christ, when we stand
before God, and I thought about this, Evan, with Ed, and with
my mother, I preached her funeral a couple weeks ago. And with
all the dear saints that have gone on to be with the Lord,
they stand before God. in Christ without sin, what do
they have to be ashamed of? Nothing. They stand before God
clean, washed in the blood of Christ. Though their sins were
scarlet, they're white as wool. Though they were red like crimson,
glaring, that's how God sees the sin, now they're white as
snow. robed in his righteousness, not
in the filthy rags of their own garment, but in the righteous,
white, pure robe of Christ's righteousness imputed. Boy, there's
nothing to be ashamed of there. He that whosoever believeth on
him shall not be ashamed, not be disappointed when God sees
his Son and his people in his Son. All right.