Go with me, if you would, back
to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. I have titled
this message, The Critical Issue in Being Saved or Lost. The critical issue in being saved
or lost. We're going to look at some very
critical verses of scripture. I feel very burdened about this
message. I feel very heavy about this
message. We're about to look at some very
critical verses of scripture. And everybody, starting with
me, one thing that is weighing on me is time is of the essence. We have right now. We're not
promised tomorrow. All we have is right now. And
everybody, starting with me, needs to really pay attention
to what our Lord has written in His Word right here. We need
to pay desperate attention to this. This is the determining
factor in whether a person ends up being saved or lost. Saved or lost. Now, before we
go into this, I want us to realize that God determined who would
be saved and lost before the foundation of the world. Christ
was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. All
of it before the foundation of the world. God the Father elected
the souls that He wanted to save before the foundation of this
world. He said to all of them, I have
loved you with an everlasting love. Christ said to his father,
every soul that you gave to me, I've lost none of them. None of them are lost and never
will be, never. So what I want us to realize
and what we're about to see is this critical issue, this critical
difference, this determining factor will not determine the
cause. This will not determine the cause
of whether or not God chooses to save a person. That was determined in eternity
past. That was determined before the
foundation of the world. What this critical issue will
reveal is what God has already determined to be done concerning
us. This difference is the evidence. We are about to see the evidence
one way or the other. God will cause every soul that
he's chosen to save in his good time, at his good moment in time. He'll cause every soul that he's
chosen to save to see the truth of what's being said right here.
And I pray that's today. I pray that we see it today. If we've seen it before, I pray
we see it again. And if we've never seen this
in our lives, I pray He opens our eyes today. May today be
the day of salvation. Every soul purposed to salvation
will believe this. Every soul purposed to salvation
will bow to this. Their eyes will be opened to
this. They will understand this. They
will see this. They will cry, amen. and they'll
believe it, and they'll obey it, and they'll see this to be
their only hope before God. One hope. Every soul though who
has been left alone, if God leaves a person alone and God does not
give eyes to see this and faith to believe this, every soul who
has been left alone in his or her lost condition will ignore
this. We'll totally ignore this and
we'll continue on in his or her error before God. So that's what
it means when we say this is the deciding factor. It means
how God causes us sinners to respond to this right here. This will evidence whether God
has purpose to save our souls or to leave us in our lost condition
before him. Now, our text is gonna include
the last part of chapter nine, but let's start this message
by reading the first few verses in chapter 10, all right? Romans
chapter 10, verse one, it says, brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul had a deep burden for men
and women's souls. He had a deep burden. He knew that he had no control,
none whatsoever. None whatsoever. Over whether or not men and women
were saved or lost. He knew that that was all in
the in the hands of God. He knew that. But he also knew
that God had chosen to use the preaching of the truth. He knew that. God had made him
keenly aware of that. That he had chosen to use the
declaring of the truth to men and women. To be the means of
calling his lost people to the evidence, calling them to the
light, calling them to the quickening of their salvation. And that's why Paul preached
so fervently and he preached so relentlessly. That's what
motivated him. He held out such hope, such hope
that God had some people that he was going to call to himself. If I didn't believe that, I couldn't
preach. I don't believe I could preach. Sadly though, oftentimes Paul
would preach the truth of the gospel to men and women and it
would fall on deaf ears. Oftentimes he found that men
and women were not interested in the truth of God's word and
the truth of salvation. Often, quite often, He would
tell men and women, this is the truth of what God is saying.
And it was just deaf ears. They were just not interested. They'd rather just carry on with
their tradition and their error. Totally opposite of what God
has declared in His word. They just didn't care. Religion
is good enough. Just happy in their blindness, satisfied
with their lost state. It broke Paul's heart. It broke
his heart. It pained him watching men and
women leave this world without any evidence of knowing the truth
concerning Christ. No evidence of this critical
issue that exposes a soul that God has saved and called to Himself. It grieved Him to watch men and
women remain spiritually dead and blind, who thought they were
spiritually alive and could see. And I can enter into His grief. I can enter into His grief. I
know men and women right now I know them well and I care about
them. And they're lost. They evidence
the fact that they're lost. And it grieves me. It grieves
me that they can't see it. It grieves me that they're so
blind and dead to the reality of their condition before God.
And they're so happy in their religion. And they're leaving
this world one by one, going out into destruction. And it
breaks my heart. It breaks my heart. It makes
me want to preach twice as hard and twice as much, begging God
to have mercy. He's so able. Like that leper
came to Him and said, Lord, if You will, You can. That's my
prayer. If You will. And thank God you
said you're so willing. Thank God you said you delight
to show mercy. Because if you will, you can
save them. You can open their eyes. You can give life to their
souls. It pains me to see men and women
remain in that lost, dead state. No concern for the truth. It
pains me. I know it pains you too. That's what motivates us to keep
preaching this truth. That's what motivates us to keep
preaching this truth. Why do we keep standing up preaching
the same message about the same man and the same salvation on
the same centers? Why do we do that? It's because
we know that God has used this means to call His people to Himself. The hope is that for some who
are still lost and some who are still blind, the hope is that
it just hasn't been God's good time yet. God saves and God quickens in
His good time. when he is pleased to do so. Abraham, that father of the faith, Abraham was 75 years old before
God opened his eyes, before God gave him any faith. He was lost in religion. He was
an idol worshiper and for 75 years he had no idea. But that was God's good time
for him. For that reason, Paul was motivated to say, as long
as there's breath in me, I'll preach this critical issue to
men and women, and I'll pray to God that he'll use it to save
their souls. He preached this critical issue
right here. Romans 10, verse one, it says,
brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. Now, I pray the Lord might open
our eyes to this. This is what he said, all right? This is what he said. He said,
oh, they have a zeal for God. They are so zealous for God. He didn't say, oh, they're laying
in the gutter. Oh, I can't get them out of the
bars. Oh, they're just blaspheming and black. He didn't say that.
He said, they're so zealous for God. They talk about God. They pray
to God. They witness God to other people. Everybody they run into, they
bring up God. They want to end up in eternity
with God. That's their heart's desire.
They want to end up in eternity with God. They try to advertise to everybody
how much they love God. They have a zeal of God. But Paul said, here's the problem.
He said, it's not according to knowledge. It's not according to knowledge. Verse 2, He said, I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. It's not according to truth. It's not in line with what God's
Word says the evidence is of a saved person. It doesn't match
up with what God says, this is the evidence of a saved person. Their zeal does not show that
critical issue difference. And here's the reason why. This
is how you can tell that this man who has such a zeal for God
is still lost. Here's how you can tell, verse
3. He said, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. That's what men and women are
blind to. That is what men and women are
blind to. They're not blind to the fact
that there is a God. They're not blind to the fact
that they need to be saved. They're not blind to the fact
that He's holy and just and pure and that's what He demands. They're not blind to any of that.
Here's what men and women are blind to. God's righteousness. God's righteousness. Men and
women naturally do not know what that means. I'm saying that now
you may not know what that means. Naturally, men and women do not
know what that means, they don't know who that is. Paul is talking about men and
women who have a zeal of God, that's who he's. That's who he's
referring to when he says this, he said, that's the ones who
don't know, not according to knowledge. They're religious. You won't find more religious
men and women in the world, but they're ignorant of God's righteousness. If you ever find a man or a woman
who comes to know God's righteousness and bows to God's righteousness
and believes on God's righteousness, you'll find a man or a woman
who evidences being saved. You say, well, Paul, how do you
know that they're ignorant of God's righteousness? How do you know that? How do
you know what's in their mind? How can you say that? You can't
know a man's mind. You can't see into a man's heart.
How can you accuse them of that? How can you be so confident of
that? Paul said, here's how you can know. Here's the evidence
of it. Verse three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness. He said, you can know it because
they will not stop trying to establish their own righteousness. That's how you can know it. That
evidence is the fact that they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. That's what he said at the end
of verse three. Now, what is righteousness? What does that word mean? What
does that word mean? It means rightness. It means what is right, what
is acceptable to God. It's a goodness that God would
approve of and say, yes, that's right. A standard of perfection
that would make us worthy to dwell with him. Righteousness. Righteousness. Paul said, here
is this critical issue evidence. All right, verse two. I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. 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. He said, that's the evidence
that they're lost. That's the evidence that they're
lost. There is only one righteousness that God will accept. His own. His own. Verse four says, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Now, what does that mean exactly? You say, explain this critical
issue to me. Explain to me exactly what you're
getting at. Well, the apostle Paul did right
here. If you look with me at chapter 9, verse 30, it says, what shall we say then? What does all this mean that
Paul is talking about right here? Here's what it means. Verse 30,
it means that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,
have attained to righteousness. even the righteousness which
is of faith. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness."
He said, the Gentiles, the heathens, the heathens, which did not have
the law of God. Here it is right here. God gave
his law to Moses and Moses gave it to the children of Israel. And they held these writings
and God's word to them and the Gentiles, these heathen nations,
they didn't have God's law. All right, they did not have
the law of God. They did not know the law of
God. Be like saying today, well, he
doesn't even know the Bible. You don't even know what the
Bible says. They did not do the law of God. They did not even try to earn
a righteousness before God. He said, but they have attained
one. He said, but Israel, the ones
who claim to be God's people, the ones who go around saying
we're God's people, the ones who had God's law, and knew God's
law. They could quote it to you. Well,
now you know the Bible says. They religiously tried to do
God's law. That's why they kept slaying
animals and building temples and they were trying to do God's
law. The ones who did everything in
their power that they could do to earn a righteousness before
God. He said they didn't attain one.
and they're not going to attain one. Verse 32 says, why? Wherefore? Here's the reason why. It's because
they sought it not by faith. Faith in Christ, faith in God's
righteousness, which He provided freely for His people. in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, it's because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. Everything that was given in
the law was given to point us to the stumbling stone. The stone,
the rock, Everything given in the law was a picture to give
us faith in Christ. But he said they took that law
and they tried to do it themselves. They tried to do what God declared
Christ would do for them. And he said, in the process,
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. That stumbling stone is
Christ Himself. God's righteousness, God's way,
God's salvation. Men and women are trying to get
to God by another way than Christ. That's what's happening. Men and women are opening the
law. And they're trying to do it so they can get to God by
another way other than Christ. They're trying to go around Him.
They're trying to go over Him. They're trying to bring their
own righteousness, their own perfection, their own goodness
to God, and it won't work. All that men will do is stumble
and fall, stumbling over the Christ that they're trying to
work around. There is only one way to come
to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, no
man comes to the Father, but by me. It's only through the
good work of his hands. It's only through the good work
of his hands, it's only through the sin payment of his blood,
only. The blood of bulls and goats
and calves and doves and everything that they were trying to pay
their sins with by the works of their hands that will never
remit their sins. Men and women will never be accepted
to God by what they have to offer Him. Never, never. Because every work that they
have to offer Him is ruined by sin. Every work. The only way that any man or
woman will be accepted is in what Christ has to offer God
for them on their behalf. That's the only way. It's not
our works. It's His, it's Christ's. I pray
that will sink in. You ask somebody, what do you
have to do? The question is, what must I do to be saved? What
do you have to do to go to heaven? People say, well, you know, you
gotta do good. It's not by our works. It's by His. It's not by our deeds. It's not our deeds of the law,
it's His. This happened before the foundation
of the world. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. He died on that cross to redeem
His people before His people today were ever even born. And
they were saved in the blood that He shed. They were saved. When He said it was finished,
it was finished. We didn't have the law. We didn't
know the law. We weren't even alive. We were
dead. It's not our righteousnesses. It's His. It's His. Men and women take this law and
then look to themselves and say, now how do I stack up? We don't. And if we try to, we'll be cast
out. We'll be damned. The only reason to look at this
law and say, how does anybody stack up is to say, how does
Christ stack up? It's his. It's his. The word of God points us to
him. The gospel points us to him.
Salvation points us to him. Verse 33 says, as it is written,
behold, I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. That's Christ. and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed." They will not be lost
in the end. They will not perish. Chapter
10, verse 1 says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, the one that He
freely provided for sinful man, the men and women that He chose
to give it to, man has completely ignored God's provision. When Abraham and Isaac were walking
up Mount Moriah to sacrifice to God, Isaac said, Father, I
see the fire and I see the wood, but where's the lamb? And Abraham
said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb. And men have totally ignored
the provision of God for His people. They're trying to provide
for themselves what they cannot provide. Men have cast God's
provision aside. cast Him out. Christ the Lord. Verse 3 says, They being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. They've not acknowledged Christ,
who He is, what He did, who He did it for, why He did it, what
He accomplished in it. They have not bowed the knee
to Christ. They have not rested in His perfection
before God. Verse 4, it says, For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That means Christ paid it all. To say Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. What must I do? What must I do?
What must I do? To believe that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness before God, that means it's to
believe Christ paid it all. Christ satisfied God for His
people. God is satisfied. Christ put
away the sin of His people by the sacrifice of Himself, period. When He did that, in Him doing
that, it's to believe that He wiped the slate of His people
clean. His blood washed away our sin. Washed it away. After He cleansed His people
in His own blood, they were clean, they were spotless before God,
they were holy before God, they were righteous in Him, in His righteousness. And every soul that God gives
faith to, to believe that and to rest in that, will evidence salvation. Every
soul God gives that to, that's the evidence. A man who tries
to keep on working, a man who tries to keep on working,
evidence is that he does not believe Christ finished the work. And if a man does not believe
that Christ did indeed finish the work, then that man evidences
the fact that he's lost. He's lost in unbelief. The saved,
those who are saved, the saved believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They do. The saved look to his
righteousness alone. They say, not unto us, O Lord.
Don't look to me. All of my righteousness are filthy
rags. I can't see one righteousness
in myself at all. My only hope is that you'll look
to Christ. His righteousness alone. The saved realize that
they don't have anything to offer God. Nothing. They'll never have anything to
offer God. Verse four says, Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. That's what the saved believe.
That's what they believe. Verse five says, for Moses describeth
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
those things shall live in them. The law plainly says, this is
what God requires in order for you to be saved. The law plainly
says that if you do this, you'll be saved. But here's the problem,
no man or woman can. Cannot. Verse five 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 speaketh on this wise. 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 Christ again,
bring up Christ again from the dead. He said, that's not what
faith says. Not at all. Faith doesn't say
that. It doesn't say we need to go up into heaven and help
Christ come down so he can save us. And it doesn't say we need
to help Christ come up out of the grave so he can save us.
We need to help him. We need to help him save us. We need to help him make us ready
and acceptable to God. Faith doesn't say that. Works
says that. And that's what man believes
naturally. We need to help him. We need to help him. Now he came
up out of the grave. It's time for you to help him. That's not what faith says. Verse
eight, he said, what does it say? What sayeth it? The word
is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the
word of faith, which we preach, that 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. Faith says God did this. That's what faith says. Christ
accomplished this. The Lord Jesus. What do you need to do to be
saved? The Lord Jesus. The work is over. Christ accomplished
it alone. Without me. God did this without
me. The work is over. It's finished. He is done. He's done. He did the work. It's finished.
and I'm saved in him, only in him. Verse nine 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. 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 shall not be ashamed. That's the difference. That critical issue evidences
whether a person is lost or saved. A lost man does not have faith
in Christ. He believes the work is not finished
and he believes his righteousness still needs to be earned. But a saved man says Christ paid
it all. While the lost man's crying,
you're gonna lose your salvation if you don't grow in holiness
and grow in perfection. The saved man says, Christ paid
it all. Christ earned it all. Christ
is all my hope before God. I'm resting. You better go to
work now. You better go to work. The saved
man says, nope, I'm resting. Not doing it. I'm trusting in
him. Paul told the Philippians, he
said, everything else is dumb, but this right here, he said,
I want to win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is up the law, but that righteousness, which is through
faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. That's the issue. That's the
difference. Now let's close this message
in Hebrews chapter 4. Go with me over there to Hebrews
chapter 4. Verse 9. It says, There remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, Christ's rest, he hath also ceased from his own works
as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest." That means every time that thought of works comes
back up, do everything you can to fight it off and say, nope,
Christ paid it all. Labor, labor, labor to stay put,
labor to sit still. Every time that urge comes for
you to get up and go to work for God, labor. Labor to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. May God give us faith to rest
in the righteous work of Christ on our behalf. He did it for
us. No man can do it like him. No
righteousness like this righteousness. He gave us his own. If God does
give us that rest, it will evidence our salvation. Not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us. May God cause us to go about
establishing his righteousness and not our own. May God cause us to be ignorant
to our own righteousness. Paul said, this is what the apostle
Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. May God cause us to be ignorant
of our own righteousness. I don't know anything about what
you're talking about concerning my own righteousness. No. Ignorant
of our righteousness, only knowing his. only submitting to His,
the righteousness, which is the end. That means the fulfillment.
The law says satisfied. The fulfillment of the law for
us, if he does, if he allows us to rest in Christ, we'll be
saved. We will be saved. Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God is that we might be saved. Oh, I pray he might save us,
saved in the blood and in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, let's close with a
hymn. We're going to sing 272. This
is the solid rock.