Romans 10, I wish everyone could
hear this. This is such a vital chapter,
such a necessary and needful, all of
God's worthy, isn't it? You know, after all these years, most engineers
should be able to give some kind of an account I ask you what's
in Romans 1, you can tell me what's in Romans 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, certainly 10, Romans 10. These are chapters the Lord has
used so greatly for the salvation of many. Paul, this is his salvation with
the Lord. revealed to him, he's conveying
here in Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 1. Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. Now Paul had many enemies. Our
Lord said all who believe and declare and witness the truth
will be hated by all men. for His namesake, for His honor,
His glory, for His righteousness. And Paul had many enemies, and
he had many critics who falsely accused him of many things. And
our Lord said that would happen too. He said, Blessed are you
when men shall revile you, persecute you, and say all manner of evil
against you falsely for My namesake, for so Persecuted they the prophets. He said, rejoice. You're in good
company with the prophets. They were persecuting their enemies
for the truth, for declaring the living and true God. And they falsely accused them,
they falsely accused Paul of many things. They accused him
of trying to destroy the law. That's what they accused the
Lord of. They accused him, Paul, of, in
Romans 9, you heard it, they said, well, why would God, if
salvation is by sovereign election, sovereign mercy, then why does
he find fault? If it's all according to his
sovereign will and man doesn't have a free will, how can God
judge us then? And why preach? They accused Paul, basically,
of what? What we have been accused of
is hyper-Calvinism, meaning that only elect are going to be saved
no matter what. They're going to be saved no
matter what. But Paul didn't believe that.
He didn't say that. He said the Lord has chosen by
the foolishness of preaching to say that. For whom he did
foreknow, he did predestinate. Yes. And whom he predestinated,
he called out by our gospel, the gospel, the true gospel.
But they accused him of that. If only electors say, why preach? But they're all false accusations. And they accuse everyone who
believes and declares the truth of not having a burden for souls. Paul said, Brethren, at my heart's
desire, he had just declared the sovereign God in no uncertain
terms. that he will have mercy on whom
he will, not of him that willeth of him that runneth, but it's
of God that showeth mercy. And then he said, but my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. And that's my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Rocky Mount, Virginia, is that they might be saved. And we talk
to our neighbors and we try to bring them. We're on the radio,
have been for 20 years. Paul had a burden for souls. And not knowing, he didn't know
who the elect were. One fellow said to Spurgeon one
time, you believe only the elect will be saved, don't you? Spurgeon
said, well, yes, that's what the Scripture says. He said,
then why preach? Just preach to the elect. He
said, I would if they had an E on them. But I can't see it, so I preach
to all. But I do know this, the elect
will come. God sees it. They have the blood,
like the blood on the houses of the doorposts of the children
of Israel and Egypt. Who saw that? God did. So Paul preached, and so do we.
And my heart's desire, and your heart's desire and prayer to
God your loved ones and those you know and your neighbors is
that they might be saved. Saved. Saved from what? Saved from what? John stood up and preached, Who
hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? We sing that song, Saved from
wrath and make me pure. Saved from sin. Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Trying to
find the center. There are not many of them. Everybody's religious. Everybody
speaks that. Save from bondage. We'd be not
in bondage. That's what the Pharisees said
then. We'd be not in bondage. We're free. This whole book talks
about bondage, and Christ came to deliver them who were in bondage. Verse 2, Paul says, I bear them
record. He's talking about his brethren,
his Jewish brethren, Israel. I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. He says, oh, they're
zealous. They're enthusiastic. He says,
I know. I was just like him. He's talking about himself here.
He says concerning zeal, nobody was more zealous than me. No,
in the Bible, he said, nobody knew it better than me. But you know what he confessed?
He didn't know God. He didn't even know God. Oh,
he had a zeal of God, but he didn't even know God. How many does that describe?
He said, oh, they're zealous, they're enthusiastic, they strongly
believe in God. But he says in verse 2, not according
to knowledge. Now, brethren, we've already
looked at foreknowledge, haven't we? Foreknowledge. That it's much deeper than right
here. That it's much deeper than than knowing some facts and be
able to quote some things. It's to know the true and living
God. Our Lord said this in John 17,
verse 3, this is like eternal, that they might know Thee. Not about Him, He's the Creator,
He's this, He's that way, but know Him, be vitally joined to
Him. Christ said to some, I never
knew you, means He never came and revealed himself to them
and became one with them and they with him. That he was in
them and they were in him. And he, like a husband and wife,
a relationship. You know that man, don't you?
And you know that woman, don't you? That's much more than, oh,
he's five foot ten, or he's six feet tall. Sorry. He's six feet
tall. He's 170. It's, that's not it,
is it? You know Him. You know His characteristics. You know Him. He knows you. You
love each other. You know each other. When you
talk to people about God, they describe Him. And they describe
a God that's not the God of the Bible. But all of God's children have
the same Father. And if you ask them about Him,
they will describe Him the same way. They'll all be taught of
God. Taught of the Father. And every
man that has heard and learned of the Father does what? Comes
to church. Comes to Christ. He says it's not according to
knowledge. They believe in a God the way they think God is, the
way they want Him to be. preacher, or their religion,
or their relatives taught them God was, it's very appealing
to them, that He's a God like us. This is what most people
believe, that God is like us. They even refer to Him as the
old man upstairs. Now, you don't know God if you
refer to God in that way. He's an old grandfather. He just
loves everyone so much. He's like us. He's hoping, he's
wishing, he's wanting so badly for people to accept him. He's given you this offer. He sent Christ and Jesus to die
for you. It's an offer. If you would just
please accept it. God loves you. He really wants
to save you. He can't save you unless you
accept this offer. Brethren, that's not the gospel.
That's not God, and that's not why Christ came, and that's not
who he came for. Anybody that believes that doesn't
know God. I say that with a heavy heart. They're zealous. Very zealous. Paul was. And everyone who ever believes
in a God like that is lost. And whatever man preaches a God
like that is a false prophet. Here's the God of the Bible.
Look at Romans 9 again, okay? Here's the God of the Bible,
verse 11. Now, the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election. God's purpose. God does everything
on purpose. The God of the Bible. According
to election. And that stands. Not of works, but it's of Him.
It's of God they call Him. And you know why you call?
In Romans 10, whosoever shall call, you know why you call?
You know why anybody called? Joel 2.32 says, it's the remnant
whom the Lord shall call. That's why they called. Nobody
would call unless God called them. See, it gives God all the
glory. Verse Romans 9, as it is written,
verse 13, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now that's
what the God of the Bible said. What should we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is that unfair? That God hated
Esau? That's just not right. Hold on
now. That's what God said. Malachi
3, verse 15. He said to Moses, here's
the God of the Bible, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
will it. nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth." What's
the word? Mercy. Mercy means not getting
what we deserve. And mercy is always sovereign.
By definition, it's sovereign. It's not a right. It's a privilege. Or you don't. Scripture says
of Pharaoh, I raised you up for this purpose. For this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee. That's
not fair. Well, it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart, doesn't
it? Yes, it does. Then it says God hardened his heart. Which
is it? It's both. But I don't understand. God's people did
it. God's people did it. He's given
us an understanding. We know why our hearts were hard.
We hardened them. We hardened them. The obstinate,
willful rejection of the truth and unbelief. But God, He said a new heart. Ezekiel 36, this is, God says,
I will, I will, I will, I will give them a new heart. I will
sprinkle clean water on them. I will send my spirit. I will,
I will. He said, and you shall. There's
a difference between the God of the Bible. And that God is
being preached today. They say, if you will, God shall. No, no. Scripture says, God says,
I will, therefore you shall. And that way he gets A double
F on the program. And I'm not preaching this hard
or mean. You've got to preach dogmatics. Verse 18, Therefore he hath mercy
on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. Look at verse
21, Hath not the potter power over the clay? He's the potter
over the clay. You remember one time I brought
a lump of clay up here. You remember that? It was an
object lesson. I brought a lump of clay up here
and sat it right there. And only a fool in here would
say that that clay could do anything for himself. Only an absolute
fool. Well, God says, I'm the potter,
and you're the clay. Now, that's the God of the Bible. Go back to our text in Romans
10, verse 2. He says they're ignorant. They don't know the God of the
Bible. They don't know God and they don't know the scriptures.
Now, our Lord said this one time to the scribes and the Pharisees.
And I know when it did, it made them furious. The scribes, their
job was to transcribe the scriptures so they could have copies, not
the people, but they could have copies of the scriptures. They
kept the word from the people like Catholicism did years ago. until they were unable to do
so anymore. Until William Tyndall and others, by the grace of God,
laid their lives down so people could have a copy of the Scripture.
But the scribes would transcribe the Bible word for word. And
the Pharisees diligently studied it. The Law of Moses. That was
Saul of Tarsus. And they fancied, our Lord said
to them, you search the Scripture. He did. He said, you search the
Scriptures, and in them you think you have life. What did he say? He said, you don't know God.
You don't have life, because they or they which testify of
me. It's not a history. It's not
facts. It's not just doctrine per se,
but it's the doctrine of Christ. It's all about Christ. And he
said to these Pharisees and scribes one time, he said, you do err
not knowing the Scriptures. over the power of God. And I
think of that all the time when I talk to Pharisees. I talk to
people who don't know the Scripture. People fancy that they do. They
don't do it. This is the one thing you'll
know about. If you know anything about the Scriptures, you'll
hear Scripture, Scripture, Scripture, Scripture, Scripture quoted by
true preachers. Yes, you will. If you know the
Old Testament, you'll hear the Apostles quoting Scripture, Scripture,
Scripture, Scripture in all their preaching. But our Lord said,
you do err not knowing the Scripture. You know a few Scriptures. You
know this Scripture. You know John 3, 16. You know Romans 8,
28. Not all of it, but some of it. Not 29. But you know these Scriptures,
but you don't know the whole context. You don't know from
Romans 1. You don't start in Romans 8.
You start in Romans 1. You don't start in John 3, 16.
You start in John 3, 1. And you don't end with John 3,
16. You go to verse 36. It talks about the wrath of God.
He says, you do err not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power
of God. The power of God. Go to Isaiah
46 with me. Isaiah 46. This would be a good message
to give to someone I've met. Here is Scripture that speaks
of the power of God. Here is scripture that speaks
of the God of the Bible and His absolute sovereign power over
all flesh. And this is just one of thousands. One of thousands. In fact, the
whole Bible begins this way. In the beginning, God created. What does that mean? He did it
all. And all through Isaiah, brother,
he says, where were you when I did this, when I did that?
Who did I ask when I did all this? Who did I consult? Is this okay if I do this? That's so far from God, isn't
it? Isaiah 46, Baal, Baal, Thou,
Nebo, Stupor. Who's that? That's two idols
that they made. Israel. Israel. Religious people are supposed
to know God. It says they're idols. They're
carried upon the beast, upon the cattle. Your carriages were
heavy load and they're a burden to bear. They stoop, they bow
down together. They could not deliver the burden.
Themselves are gone into captivity. What he's saying is that they
carry their God around. That the people would carry their
God. Their God was carried by them. That their gods couldn't
do anything unless the people let them. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
and all the remnants, remember the election, remnant according
to the election, the house of Israel, which are born by me. How long? From the womb. From the belly. Carried by me
from the womb. You know what? You and I can't
do anything unless God lets us. It's not like they say, God won't.
No, no, no, no. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say God wants anything. Nowhere. You won't find it. Let, let God. God said in Isaiah 43, I will
work and who shall let it, they shall prevent it. He said, you're
carried by me. Read on. To your old age. Don't
you love this? You know, some people hate this. How could you hate this? Well,
if you're not a sinner, if you're not poor and needy and weak and
helpless, wounded, sick and sore, wretched, miserable, poor, blind
and naked, everybody if, they don't know it, without strength,
without God, without hope in themselves. People that aren't
like that don't like this. Independent. But those that are those things,
He says, I am He to your hoary hairs I will carry you. I have
made you. Isaiah 43 says, Bring forth the
people that I created for myself. That I made for myself. I made
them. Born of God. Born again, made
by me. Created a new creature, made
by God. I've made him and I'll carry
him. I will carry and I will deliver. Do you like that? Brethren,
that is all our salvation. The power of God. When they speak
of power, most speak of power that God can. God can. God can. He's able. If. Hold on now. Don't add an if to it. Read on. To whom will ye liken me? To
make me equal, compare me. Verse 7 says that their God,
they bear Him on their shoulders. They carry Him. They set Him
in His place, and He's standing. And He can't move. And they cry
unto Him, but He can't answer. Oh, He says, remember this, show
yourselves Men, bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors,
remember the former things of old. I am God, there is none
else. I am God, there is none like me. I declare the end from
the beginning. From ancient times, things that
are not yet done, say my counsel shall stand. I will do all my
pleasure. They said to David one time,
David, here's our God, so do what we let them do. And he says,
where's your God? What does He do? David said,
He's in the heavens, and He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Verse 11, he talks about Cyrus.
This was a man who was a heathen king that the Lord raised up
for this purpose, a ravenous, A man who went all over taking
people's captivity, and the Lord said, I'm the one that raised
him up. I'm the one that sent him. That gives me so much peace
when I look around at the world, at our present government and
all that. It gives me something. There's no authority but of God.
Nobody can do one thing unless God Read on, it says in verse 11,
I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed
it, I will also do it. Hearken unto me ye stout hearted
that are far from righteousness. Read on now, this is in context.
I bring near my righteousness. Now go back to our tape. How
many times have we already looked at righteousness? This whole
book of Romans is all about it. Do you know that's what Jesus
Christ's name is? Somebody say it. Say it John.
Loud. The Lord our righteous. The Lord our righteousness. Now every Christian knows. Every child of God has been taught
of God. That if they get and stand before
a holy and righteous God, it will be for one reason. Jesus Christ. His righteousness. Charged to. reckoned to, imputed
to, freely given to, sovereignly laid upon, robed, clothed in
His righteousness, and covered by His blood, which is the only
thing that can put away sin. Every child of God knows that
their salvation is one thing. I'm going to shout it, because
it gives me great joy to do so. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. But they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness. What's that? That's his essential
holiness. That's his character. That's
who He is. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. They say God loves the sinner
and hates his sin. He doesn't say that in the Bible.
Nowhere! The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. The love of God is in Jesus Christ. All those in Christ and Christ
in them, God loves them. They're a new creature in Christ. He has made unto us wisdom Righteousness. Yes, the average Christian today,
what is God's chief attribute, characteristic? Describe God
in one word. What is God like? Nine out of
ten. Ten out of ten will say, God
is love. But it's just not so. Now, God
is love. First John 4, 8 and 16. It's
just part of a verse. It's just part of a verse. Bless God, He is love. Bless
God, His love is sovereign. Bless God, if it wasn't sovereign,
nobody would be loved. Nobody loved Him. It's free. Bless God, it's free. It's bestowed
on whom He will. If it wasn't so, nobody would
deserve it. Nobody would get it. Bless God,
His love is electing love. Nobody loves Him, but He chose
them to love Him. Chose to love them and chose
them to love Him. And we wouldn't love Him. He's
electing love. God's love is eternal. Whoever
God loves, He loves forever. His love is saving. If He loves
you, buddy, you're going to be saved. His love is restraining. His love is constraining. His
love is keeping. Bless God, He is love. But that's
not His chief attribute. If God is first and foremost
love, why is there pain? Why is there suffering? Why are
there tears? Why is there sorrow? Why is there
destruction? Why is there torment? Why is
there hell? Why is there death? You can't
explain any of those things if you say God is love. You can't. All of that describes the holiness
of God. All of that describes the justice
of God, the wrath of God. You see, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. And every single person whom
God reveals himself to, they first come to know God as holy. The word love is not in the book
of Isaiah until chapter 35. The word love is not in the book
of Romans until chapter 5. The word love is not in the book
of Acts, period. I'm not disparaging or making
less of God's love, am I? I just described the true love
of God. But what I'm saying is that those
who say all God is is love, they don't know God. They fear the
Lord. And you know why you know this?
You know why you fear God? You know why you know God is
first and foremost holy? You know why? Because God chose
you. Because God revealed Himself
to you. Because God loves you. How can a holy God have anything
to do with sinful man? This is the question that nobody's
asking except the Bible and God's people. How can God be just and
justify the ungodly? How? That's right about the sister.
Jesus Christ. One way. It wasn't an offer to
man. It's an offer to God. It wasn't
an attempt by God to get man in the notion of believing Him.
It was an act of God, of mercy, of sovereign mercy and sovereign
grace in sending His Son down here to save a particular people
chosen by Him, to save them from all their sin, which they could
not save themselves from, to establish a perfect holiness
and righteousness, which they cannot. They couldn't do it.
Even if they wanted to, they couldn't do it. But He could
and He did. He's made unto us righteousness. He is our righteousness. The
Lord Jesus Christ came down here and lived according to the holy
law of God. Why? To show us how? Well, He
did show us that how. And He showed us clearly, you
can't do it. He said, God looks on the heart.
He said, if you think Hatred. You've killed that person. So,
you want to approach God like that? You've kept the law? The
rich young ruler, I've done all these things from my youth up.
Oh, have you now? Not in the eyes of the Holy God. But, Christ
came. The Son of God came. And He said,
who convinces me of sin? Anybody. God said from heaven,
I'm well pleased. Isaiah 42, for his righteousness
sake, well do. Now, all of Romans, we've been
talking about this, haven't we? Paul's been talking about this.
Why did he come? Not to show us how to live, though
he did. Though he did. Oh, he did. He did show us how to live. But
he came that we might have life. That we might live with God and
be with God someday. How? Ain't no sinners going to
be there. No sinner is going to do that.
Stand in the foreground. Only holy and righteous and justified
people stand there. How? Did you do it? You have
anything to do with it? Could you? Can you? No, you can't. Christ did. He did. I don't understand. I do. I do. Don't you? Sisters, do you understand
that? I believe you do, don't you? Well, I've got to quit. It says
they have not submitted. It's more than just ignorance
that they need to be taught. Oh, brethren, Paul was more than
ignorant. He was a rebel. He hated it. He hated it. It's not just, well,
if you teach them, they just need to know higher doctrine.
That's not it at all. Saul says, I hate it this way.
And when you tell religious people that there's not one thing you've
ever done in all your life, that accounts for anything before
God. Not one single thing that you've
ever done that God accepts as a good work, a good deed, and
is well pleased with you for doing. Not one single thing ever. It's all filthy rags. Isaiah 64 says, it's all filthy
rags in the nostrils of God. And if you tell a religious person
that, That's what Paul, Saul of Tarsus, heard. He made a man. Do you mean I've been zealous? I've been religious? I've preached
all these messages all my life? I've given my body to be burned?
I've witnessed? I've won soul? I did many wonderful
works for Jesus and you're telling me I don't know God? Now, I didn't
say it. Christ did. Ah, you can't tell me I'm lost. Well, I sure hope God does. Because only the lost shall be
saved. You've never been lost. You've
never been found. Well, he says, they're going
about, they're not submitted, you see that? They're not submitted
unto the righteousness of God. Not submitting, that means bow
to Him. Bend the knee to submit. And
that's a whole lot more than, oh well, I see it, but I grudgingly
admit it. It's to come naked before the
Lord, to be clothed. It's to come hungry, to be fed. It's to come blind, to be made
to see. It's to come unrighteous. To
come before Him is unrighteous to be made righteous, to submit to righteousness of God. For
Christ, verse 4, and this is, I'm going to quit, He is the
end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believes it. What do you think about that?
Paul keeps saying, what shall we say to these things? Well,
if you know anything about the law, anything, And the next verse
he says, now Moses describes the righteousness of the law,
the person that do it these days. You do it, you'll live. Oh my. I've broken the first
one. Thus shall have no other gods
before me. Ah, covetousness. Christ is the end of the law.
He's the purpose of the law. He's the end of the law. The
law is a schoolmaster to bring His people to Christ. Christ
is the goal, the purpose of the law. The law was written to testify
of Him. To Him give all the law and the
prophets within. That's the reason God wrote the
law. To show us we're sinners and to point you to Christ, there's
your only hope. Before there was a
law, we already looked at it. Before there was a law, there
was sin, there was death, judgment. Before there was a law. Why?
Because all are guilty before the law. So God wrote the law.
So all right, here it is. He's broken all of it. Now look,
there He is. The Law Keeper. The Law Giver. The Law Keeper. The Lord your
Righteousness. Bow the knee. Confess. Believe
in your heart. Right there He is. Just believe. And I say unto you, righteous. Who wouldn't like that? And the
only ones that will bow the knee, bend the head, Brother Kelly,
the only horse that will do that is one you've broken. Broken! To this man will I look, Christ
said, God said, in Isaiah 61. To him is it a broken and contrite
heart. 63rd. 57th. Two places. Whoever the Lord breaks, He puts that yoke of Christ on
them. He puts that robe of righteousness
on them. And He declares them righteous,
justified from all things, freely, by His grace, through the redemption,
that's where? In Christ Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? My heart's desire and prayer
to God. We're on the radio everywhere now. My heart's desire and prayer
to God is that every religious person in this town will hear
this message and reject this false religion and come to Jesus
Christ. Amen. PRABHUPÄ€DA, SADHGURU, DEVOTEE
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