I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. I'd like to read verse 13. I'm
going to actually deal with verses 9 to 13, but verse 13 is what
I want to consider this evening. Romans 10, 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening as we
call upon You, we ask your blessing upon the preaching of the gospel.
Lord, help us to hear. Teach us by your Holy Spirit.
Forgive us for Christ's sake. These things we ask in the name
of our Lord. Amen. If there's ever been a verse
of scripture that set forth the surety of
salvation. This is it. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, I'm going to be honest with
you. I want to know what that means. I want to know exactly
what that means. Because that verse of scripture is so plain. It's easy to read. And I understand
the words. I understand them in my head.
But I want to know what that means. That is speaking of salvation. And I'm going to meet God. Now I know this. It's got to
be one of the most misunderstood verses of Scripture that's ever
been read. Because I know for sure And I
know this from experience. I'm not telling you something
I don't know. I've told you before, I came
out of false religion. A lot of you here, and I'm thankful. I've told you this again. I'm
so thankful that so many of you came up listening to Brother
Scott from your youth up. You heard the gospel. That's
all you've ever heard, Mitch. Pat, Chuck, you guys, you grew
up under this. I didn't. And I know something
about a false assurance being told, all you have to do is just
call on the Lord. And it was always put to me that
calling on the Lord, praying, verbally, asking, seeking, was
the reason that the Lord saved me. It was always put forth to
me that what I did was what merited or what established My salvation,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now I know this, Ephesians 2,
8 and 9 says this, For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Now here's
the part that would always throw a wrench. in what I was being
told, not of works, lest any man should boast. And I found great reason to boast,
because I had walked down an aisle. Walking down an aisle
meant everything to me. Praying you know, the sinner's
prayer. And that meant everything to
me because that was the establishing of my salvation. 2 Timothy 1.9,
Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, that
is a powerful and effectual calling. And here it is again, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So I know this, I know it now,
calling upon the Lord is not what establishes salvation. That which establishes salvation
is Almighty God coming to a sinner in regenerating grace through
the preaching of the gospel and saving him and then telling him
about it. That's when he knows it. Now
I want us to consider just a few minutes here A few verses before
that leads up to that verse 13. I want you to look with me at
verse 9. Now listen to this. Romans 10, 9. That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. Now hear again. Now just listen
to the wording. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth, believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, the Scripture sets forth here
that if a needy sinner is found to express a hearty
confession of the mouth before God, before the church, for the
world concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is His Lord and
Savior, the One who has borne His guilt, saved Him by His grace. Apart from any works on that
sinner's part, A confession that from the experience of grace
in the soul, through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, Almighty
God has already saved that person. Now let me tell you what we just
read. If I shall confess with thy mouth, and shall believe in thine heart."
Now here's where the rubber meets the road, right here. Out of the abundance of a man's
heart, that is out of the overflowing
of his heart, his mouth is going to speak. Whatever a person believes
in their heart, that's what they're going to say. Before the Lord was pleased to
regenerate me by His grace. I spoke exactly what I believed
in my heart. And you did too. That's exactly
what we all did. What we believed in our heart,
that's what we spoke. Now, verse 9 is saying, If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, Let me tell you
what that says. If I confess with my mouth because
of a new heart that the Lord Jesus Christ is who He says He
is in these scriptures, not meaning that I believe that there is
a Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody believes that. Devils
believe that. But to confess the Lord Jesus
Christ is to confess that who He says He is, who is He? I'll tell you this, He's the
Son of God, made flesh, who before the foundation of the world,
according to an everlasting covenant of grace, He stood as the surety
of God's sheep. God elected a people. and gave them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Entrusted Him. Now you know this
is so. For the sake of time, we've read
these scriptures. Ephesians 1-9, He hath chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy, without blame, before Him in love, bound to give thanks
unto God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
chosen you unto salvation. to confess with the mouth the
Lord Jesus because of a belief in the heart. Someone will say,
who is the Lord Jesus Christ? I'll tell you who He is. He is
God's Savior who has eternally stood as the surety for a people,
giving Him and electing grace. And He came into this world for
this purpose, to glorify God in the salvation of His elect. And He's going to save them.
He's going to call every one of them out of darkness. All
that the Father giveth me. See, for me to believe and confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and just to say that He is the
Lord Jesus Christ, let me read you a scripture or two. Here
in Matthew 8, I'll tell you the story. There was two men possessed
of devils. This was in the land of the Gergeshins. It was talking about the Lord
had gotten there and when these two men that were possessed of
devils saw Him, They ran up to Him, cried out, and this is what
the devils within the two men said to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment
us before the time? Now let me tell you what they
knew. They knew who He was. And they called out and spoke
to that fact, who he was. Son of God, Jesus, we know that
you're the Savior of your people. They knew and confessed who he
was. But they had no interest in His
grace, in His blood, in His righteousness. They asked this question, What
have we to do with Thee, Thou Son of God? It's as if they were saying,
You came not into this world to save us, and we're not interested
in salvation. Your purpose and your will for
us, they ask. Have you come hither to torment
us before the time? They knew that there's a judgment
coming. They know that they're going to be cast into a lake
of fire. These are demons. These are part of the third that
God threw out of heaven with Satan. They know who He is. They know who He is. But a good confession. A good
confession comes from a convinced heart. What kind of heart is
that? That's that new heart that the
Lord gives in regenerating grace. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, who God says He is. Not one has come
into this world to try to save sinners. Thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead." Is there anybody in this world
you think that's ever heard the story of the Lord Jesus Christ
and heard of the resurrection that they don't at least acknowledge
that there was a resurrection? What does it mean when it says,
"...shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved." This is the significance of having
raised Him from the dead. What we're saying is, we confess
that all that the Father gave Him to do in the redemption of
His sheep, when He paid their debt, being made sin, and suffered
the penalty of God's wrath. Suffered the penalty that was
due. God's people. We're guilty. And He hath made Him to be sin
for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. When we say we confess
from the heart that God has raised Him from the dead, this is what
we're saying. We believe that God accepted what He did. And
based upon that which He has said concerning who He came into
this world to save, and that He finished the work, and that
he died and was buried and God who accepted that which he did
raised him from the dead. You're going to be saved. God will save you. Those given
the Lord Jesus Christ in electing grace from before the foundation
of the world, by faith, believe this, and they put no confidence
whatsoever in their flesh, in their works. Salvation is of
the Lord. But let me ask you this, can
I have any assurance, is there any scriptures that you can give
me, can you give me some hope? that I would have a part in this. I know this is so. But is there
any scriptures that you can give me to give me some peace? I want to know something about
this. Turn to Romans 5, verses 1 to
6. Romans 5, verses 1 to 6. Romans
5, verses 1 to 6. Being justified by faith. I can't go any farther until
I explain that, what I just read. The scriptures set forth that
the justification. Now justification, do you remember
what that means? That means when the law looks
at you and says, no charge. No offense. No record of an offense. No record of an offense. If Christ
has borne all my guilt, you say, but I'm a sinner. I know that. If we say we have no sin, we
make God a liar. But I'm a sinner. And my sin
is present with me. That's right. I know that. but
He hath made Him to be sin for us." And He paid the debt 2,000
years ago. That death that the Father saw
from before the foundation of the world, and He paid the debt,
and the debt can't be in two places at one time. The law looks at God's people
who sees in them. That is, in their flesh there
dwells no good thing. And the law looks at me, who
looks at myself and says, O wretched man that I am, and in Christ
Jesus having put away my debt. He paid the debt, Charlie. And the law says, No charge.
No offense. He bore it. He took it. Therefore being justified by
faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulations
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope,
and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us. Now
verse 6 is the verse I want you to see. For when we were yet
without strength... Now let me ask you something. Do you see yourself as having
no strength, no ability? There's nothing that I can do
that will merit God Almighty saving me. There's nothing that
I can do. I have no strength. When we were yet without strength,
now if you think that there's something that you can do, some
service that you can perform or some activity, if you think
there's something that you can do that will merit salvation,
now I'm not talking to you, but I'm talking to those that realize
that God has shown them that they have no strength. For when
we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. You see yourself as ungodly,
an ungodly sinner. What is ungodly? A sinner. Then
I've got some hope for you. God Almighty is a God of mercy
for people who are without strength, and see themselves as ungodly.
Now I want you to turn one other passage and then we'll go back
to Romans. Philippians. Philippians 3. Philippians 3,
1-3. Philippians 3, 1-3. Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you is safe. Beware of
dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of concision. Verse 3 is the verse of hope
for a believer. For we are the circumcision,
that is, circumcision in the heart, which worship God in the
spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, that is, in that which He has
done for His people, thankful that Almighty God would put away
my guilt in Him. and have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence. What have I ever done? Walking down an aisle means that
I can walk. I can at least maybe walk a little
bit in straight line. That's all it means. But I can
tell you this, walking 25 feet from back there to right here
didn't add one thing to my justification before God. back in Romans 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 is genuinely
a hard work. By faith, The sheep lovingly
behold the Son of God as their hope and life and peace and comfort. They've been taught of His sufficiency
to save His people from their sins. And I'll tell you this,
the Scripture sets forth that Almighty God is going to teach
them of their faithfulness of their lovingness toward Him. God's people absolutely will
forsake all for the Lord Jesus Christ. With the heart Man believeth
under righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on
him shall not be ashamed." What will a believer forsake,
if need be, for the Lord Jesus Christ? Everything. Everything. Can a confession in Christ be too costly? Not for a believer. I told you
about the psalm leader a year or so ago. I was down in Tennessee
preaching and they had a split. And one couple, one couple out
of that whole congregation came out. And it was over the gospel. That one couple that came out,
the man told me that they had a meeting over it. And he said,
now concerning this message that we've heard, the two messages
that we heard, he said they're not worth splitting the church
over. Listen to this scripture, Luke
14, 26. If any man come to me and hate
not his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters,
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Is that teaching that we that
we hate our parents? No. No, we love our parents. We love them. We respect them.
We honor them. But if it comes between my mother,
my father, my wife, my children, my brethren, my sisters, my own
life, I must have Him. I must have Him. I was listening
to a message at Brother Henry Priest, I think it was yesterday,
I was listening to it. And he was talking about a man
that the Lord had saved. And he said his wife didn't love
the gospel that he loved. And it caused problems. And he
got to a point one day, it was on a Sunday morning, and he said, I'm going to church. And she
said, if you go to church today, I won't be back when you get
here. She said, I'll take the kids
and I'm leaving. And he told her, he said, you know, there's
probably times that I could have very easily not gone. But he
said, you've put me in a corner. And he said, I'm going to have
to make a decision now. And he said, you do what you got to
do. And he left. He went to church and she wasn't
there. And Brother Henry said he saw one of the kids years
and years later and was able to talk to him. Didn't say what
he said to him, but he said the man was just put up against the
wall. For the Scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed of him. Shall not be ashamed of him before
others, and shall not be ashamed of him before the world, and
shall not be ashamed in the day of judgment, when Almighty God
says, well done. like good and faithful servant. Enter in to that which was prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. He that believeth
on me, convinced that Christ's faith, Christ's faithfulness
is the only righteousness that God will accept, shall not be
ashamed. Then in verse 12, "'For there's
no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.'" There's not
the slightest bit of difference between a Jew or a Gentile. That's what he's saying. There's
no difference between the Jew and the Greek. All are unsinned. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All of them are in need of God's
mercy. The same Lord who redeems one
sheep, redeems the other sheep. Jew or Gentile, bond or free,
male, female. And the Lord, the Scripture says,
is rich. unto all that call upon Him.
All the possession of the richness of God's grace and compassion
and pardon and mercy shall be bestowed upon His people. All
power has been given unto the Son. That's what John 17 to.
Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He should give
eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. How does one know? if His richness
of mercy has been shown to me." This was the heart of this message. Have I called on the name of
the Lord? Has God shown mercy to me? Have I confessed from
the heart the Lord Jesus Christ as He set forth? How do I know? Listen to this scripture, Philippians
3, 7 and 9. But what things were gained to
me? This is what the Apostle Paul
says. Now you know he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and he was a
Pharisee, and he was this, that, and the other. What things were
gained to me? That is, those things that I
thought that I possessed, things that I'd done and believed were
necessary for my salvation. What things were gained to me?
Those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss. That means a hindrance. I count
those things that I formerly counted on, those were a hindrance
and an injury to me. for the excellency, for the superiority
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things." When he says, I have suffered
the loss of all things, he says, I have actually now experienced
the detriment, and I see now the damage of what I formerly
believed. What he's saying is this, if
God had not called me out of darkness, if the Lord had left
me in the darkness, thinking that all these things that I
had formerly done, I would have been one that stands before God
and said, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in Your name. We cast out devils
in Your name. We've done all these mighty works
in Your name. We, we, we, we, we. And to hear
Him say, depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. Paul says, I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dung, worthy only to be cast out, that I may win
Christ and 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 Him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That scripture
right there was first quoted in the Old Testament in the book
of Joel. This is what it said, Joel 2.32,
and it shall come to pass. that whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call." On the day of Pentecost,
as I wrap this message up, the Apostle Peter, whenever the Spirit
of God had fallen on the day of Pentecost, And you remember,
on that day, there were 120 disciples, men that were followers of Christ. The apostles were there too,
and these disciples. And the Spirit of God fell upon
those 120 preachers. And they began to preach in languages that they had never
formally learned. They didn't know. They were really
languages, but they had never learned them. They were Galileans.
But there were people there in that congregation, there in Jerusalem,
there on the day of Pentecost. They were there for the feast
of Pentecost, that Sabbath And these guys began to hear the
gospel preached in their language. And here's the account, Acts
2.16. Here they were preaching in languages
And Peter stood up and he said, but this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel. It shall come to pass in the
last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Not every individual person that's
ever lived in this world. That's not what he's talking
about. You'll understand what he's talking about to the Jews
that believed that only Jews would be saved. The Lord says,
I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons
and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions,
old men shall dream dreams. And all My servants and all My
handmaidens I will pour out in those days My Spirit, and they
shall prophesy, I will show wonders in heaven above." When the star
was seen by the Magi as they went to the place where the Lord
Jesus Christ was, signs in the earth beneath, Blood and fire,
vapor, smoke, the sun shall be turned into darkness. Three hours.
When the Lord Jesus Christ made sin, He was crucified about the
ninth hour, third hour, and then about the twelfth hour, from
the twelfth hour, noon till about three o'clock, till the ninth
hour. Pitch black. Pitch black. It says, "...and
the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the
Lord. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." Whosoever, whoever they are,
people from all over, Parthians and Medes and Elamites, dwellers
in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Persia, Pamphylia,
Egypt, parts of Libya, Cyrene, and strangers of Rome. All these
people were there. And they heard the wonderful
works of God preached in their own language. How could they
be saved? They weren't Jews. The Lord said,
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, as He's revealed
in these scriptures. And God was pleased, the scripture
said, to save 3,000 souls that day, on the day of Pentecost. And Scripture says in Acts 2,
41-47 that those that gladly received His Word, those that
God called out of darkness, they were baptized. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. They
had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods
and parted them to all men as every man had need. And they
were found, the Scripture says, continually, daily, with one
accord in the temple, praising God and having favor with all
the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. Whosoever. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord, invoke for aid, worship, appeal to him
whose name is the expression of his character. Jehovah-Jireh,
in the Old Testament, the Lord will provide. Jehovah-Rapha,
the Lord that healeth. That is that raises the spiritual
dead to life. Gives new eyes, new ears to hear
the gospel, to see by faith. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord my banner. The one in whom victory is certain. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our
peace. Jehovah Ra'ah, the Lord my shepherd. who the sheep hear His voice,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, and Jehovah Shema,
the Lord is present, whosoever shall call on His name, humbling
themselves before Him, recognizing by grace He's God, believing
His promises, and hoping in Him alone for mercy, and nothing
that you've done, calling upon Him who's set forth by the character
that He's displayed in Himself. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Okay.