I try to make it a point when
I'm preparing a message, and when I finish preparing the message,
to ask myself, is this a message you would preach if you knew
those to whom you preach would never hear another? Preaching the gospel. always
be done with that kind of weight, that kind of heaviness, with
that kind of burden. What I've got to say to you this
morning is a matter of eternal consequence. It is that which
you need to hear, and I pray God will give you grace to hear
it. Let me make an assumption. I
hope it's true. I assume that you're here this
morning because you would be saved. You know that you are
an immortal soul. You know that you will spend
eternity either in the bliss of God's saints in heavenly glory
or in the torments of the damned in eternal hell. And you want
to be saved. For some of you, this is more
than an occasional desire. I'm confident some of you here
are anxious, and with anxious hearts you seek the Lord. You
want Christ. You want to be reconciled to
God. You want to live in communion with your creator. God has shown
you and you know that you're helplessly lost and justly condemned
by nature. God has shown you and you know
that the Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience unto death, by
his precious blood has obtained eternal redemption for sinners.
God has shown you and you know that salvation is all together
by God's free grace, God's free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord,
the gift of God's grace through faith that God alone can work
in you. God's shown you and you know
that salvation, eternal life, and faith in Christ are both
the gifts of God and the operations of God. Salvation, eternal life,
faith in Christ will be yours only if God gives them to you. And salvation, eternal life,
and faith in Christ will be yours only if God operates them in
you. You know these things. You're
convinced by God through his word that they're true, and yet
you're not saved. If you could have anything in
the world, this is it. I would like to be saved by God's
free grace. If that's the case with you,
I have a message for you who would be saved. You'll find it
in the 10th chapter of the book of Romans, Romans chapter 10. Our text will be verses one through
13. Here the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, shows
us how sinners are saved by God's amazing grace. He doesn't tell us how to get
saved. He shows us how sinners are saved.
There's a huge difference. There's a huge difference. You
can go in most any Baptist church anywhere in the world on any
Sunday morning and you'll have some preacher stand up and tell
you how to get saved. He's lying to you. He's lying
to you. You can't do something to get
saved. Rather the word of God and the gospel of God's grace
shows us how God saves sinners. Let me show you five things in
these 13 verses. Number one, I want you to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my prayer, my heart's desire
to God that you may know my Redeemer and be saved by his grace. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. The Jews counted this man Paul
to be their enemy. He had been one of them. He was
one of their chief leaders. And then God saved him by his
grace, revealed Christ in him. And this man who had sought to
rid the world of the name of Jesus Christ, who sought to rid
the world of people who profess to follow Christ Jesus, this
man, Saul of Tarsus, is made to be Paul, the apostle, the
messenger of Jesus Christ. And now the Jews despised him
as much as they despised Christ, whom they crucified upon the
cursed tree. Why? not because Paul was their enemy.
No, no, no, no. But because Paul was their truest
friend. This man, Paul, came to his brethren,
his kinsmen after the flesh, this one who is a friend to their
souls, and told them the truth. But in telling them the truth,
he denounced firmly their religion of self-righteous works salvation. told them plainly using their
own Bible the Old Testament scriptures taking the the Bible they had
in their hands and Showing them that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Christ of God He is the Christ of God I just read again this
morning in Deuteronomy 18 about that prophet. God said he would
send Israel. He would raise up one from their
midst, one among their brethren, one who is one of them, a prophet
like Moses. But he said, this prophet, they
will hear. They will hear him for this prophet
is the God-man, our Redeemer. And when John the Baptist came
on the scene, the Jews said, are you Moses or Elijah? Are
you that prophet? Are you that prophet? Are you
that prophet? And then when the Lord Jesus
revealed himself to Nathanael, Nathanael said, I found him,
the Christ, that prophet, that prophet, the one of whom Moses
and the law spoke. The apostle Paul came to the
Jews, taking their very scriptures and showed them that Jesus of
Nazareth is God's salvation. and showed them plainly that
salvation is by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith
alone, and denounced their false religion, showing them the error
of it by the scriptures they profess to believe. And for that,
Paul was counted their enemy. The same is true of God's servants
in every age. It is the heart's desire, the
prayer of God's messenger, that those who hear his voice might
be saved. I do not preach to you. I do
not ever preach with a stoic, hard indifference to your souls. I have often heard men say, it
doesn't matter to me whether you believe what I'm preaching
or not, it does matter to me. I want you to know God. I want
you to know the Son of God. I want you to know Jesus Christ,
the Lord. I'm preaching to you eternity
bound sinners. I know that there is only one
way of salvation. Jesus Christ is the way. And there is no other name given
under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. Through this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ of God is preached
unto you free justification, free salvation by God's almighty
grace. If you die without him, you'll
forever perish in hell. So I want you to know him. I
want you to be saved by him. I want you to know what it is
to know God and to possess life eternal in Jesus Christ, our
Lord. I don't really care about much
else. I don't really care about much
else with regard to you or with regard to the world. I don't
really care about much else with regard to my own family or with
regard to their affairs in this world. I want you to know God. I want you to be saved by God's
free grace. I want you to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's the second thing. Multitudes, multitudes are religious
but lost, zealous but unsaved, sincere but dead. Most of the people to whom I
preach, like these Jews of whom Paul here speaks, have an undesirable
zeal for God, but they don't know God. And when you take the
scriptures Show them God's salvation. You take the word of God and
go right by the book, right by the book, and show them God's
salvation. Show them what God says. They
get enraged. They get enraged. They're angry. They get mad. Churches erupt. Folks just, they behave like
you wouldn't believe religious people would behave because they're
zealous. but they don't know God. Look
at verse two. For I bear them record. They
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Most of the people around us,
most of our families, most of our friends are just like these
Jews. Religious but lost. Devoted but
lost. Zealous but lost. Some of you
are in just that condition. You are very zealous about the
Bible being the word of God. Very zealous about defending
God's law and the things required in God's law. Very zealous about
moral issues. I suspect everybody hearing my
voice is opposed to abortion, drunkenness, drug abuse, adultery,
fornication, and sodomy. I expect everybody who hears
my voice is. If you're not opposed to it,
you ought to be. You ought to be. You may even be zealous about
maintaining the true worship of God. We worship God specifically,
specifically. I was just talking to Brother
Rick Warder, and I had no idea who he was talking about, so
I hope whoever it was hears this message. Somebody was attending
services there for several months, came real regularly, and quit. You won't guess why they quit.
You'll never guess it. You won't guess it a thousand
years. because Rick doesn't require women to wear hats in services. So they quit, just quit going
to church, quit worshiping God, or go somewhere where they hate
God, because you ladies don't wear hats in church. Zealous,
but don't know God from a billy goat. Don't know God from a billy
goat. You may be even zealous about
such things as that, just maintain strict worship, strict worship.
I can't tell you how many times over the years, I've been pastoring
now for 45 years, better than that. I can't tell you how many
times I've seen men and women attending faithful ministry,
sitting under the faithful preaching of the gospel because of some
Silly, insignificant, meaningless piece of nonsense. Get upset
and quit going to church, quit going at all, or leave a faithful
ministry and go to some Armenian church where they don't believe
anything, don't preach anything. Why'd you go down there? Well,
they don't wear hats over yonder. They don't wear them down here
either. Because they're zealous, but don't know God. They just
want to fuss and fight. You see, zeal without knowledge,
fleshly, carnal zeal is the zeal of spiritual ignorance. Now don't
be offended by what I'm saying. You may be brilliant about a
lot of things, but with regard to the things of God, if you're
without Christ, you're utterly ignorant. And you will never know anything
spiritually. You will never know anything
of the things of God until you know Christ. There's no knowing
this book till you know Christ. It can't be done. It can't be
done. Years ago, I was preaching out in Appomattox, Virginia with
Brother Gary Roper, who was pastor of Memphis, Tennessee. And Gary
made a statement. I wrote it down, I didn't want
to forget it. He said it's easier to teach a jackass nuclear physics
than it is to teach a lost man the things of God. It's easier. It can't be done. They have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Read on. Now here's
what proves it. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, being ignorant of God's righteousness, not ignorant
of the fact that God is righteous. Everybody knows that. Everybody
knows that. That's the reason that in the
most barbaric, tribesmen of the most barbaric ages in the most
barbaric countries in all the world, they punish folks for
murder and adultery and such as that. Everybody knows that
God's righteous. It's stamped on your mind, on
your heart, on your conscience by creation. You can't get away
from it. Everybody knows that God demands righteousness Everybody
does that's the reason folks are willing to sacrifice their
own children their own sons and daughters Burn their own sons
and daughters upon an altar to some God because they know that
God demands righteousness They've got to do something to make up
for sin But what is it men are ignorant of they're ignorant
of the righteousness of God. I Ignorant of the fact that Jesus
Christ, the God-man, has come into this world and brought in
everlasting righteousness, even righteousness that God requires,
righteousness that God alone can perform, the righteousness
of God, in the room instead of guilty sinners, he performed
righteousness. They're ignorant of it. They're
ignorant of it. And because they're ignorant
of the righteousness of God, they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. What do you mean? Establish their
own righteousness. They're going about to try to
make themselves good. Going about to try to make themselves
acceptable with God. Going about to try to make themselves
pleasing to God. Going about to try to do something
to make up for sin. And therefore they have not,
they will not, they cannot, they do not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God, it won't happen, it won't happen.
You will never trust the righteousness of God's Son who is the Lord
our righteousness, unless God strips you of all righteousness
and graciously forces you to trust His Son. This is the charge
Paul laid at the feet of the Jews in his day. And this is
the charge I lay at the door of the professed church of our
day. 21st century Christianity is
a religion void of the knowledge of God. As void of the knowledge
of God as Judaism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, or Shintoism. Yes,
I'm laying that charge at the door of the Baptist Church and
any other church of this 21st century age of idolatry. It's
as ignorant of the knowledge of God as Judaism, Mohammedism,
Hinduism, or Shintoism, unless they believe and profess the
gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. I lay
this charge at the feet of every unbeliever. If you do not trust
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because of these three damning evils. If you leave here today without
faith in Christ, it will be because of these three damning evils. First, you refuse to trust him
because you're ignorant of God's righteousness. You're ignorant
of what God requires, of what God is, and of what God alone
can perform, that which he has performed in his son. Second,
if you refuse to trust Christ, it's because you're still going
about trying to establish righteousness for yourself. You're still trying
to make yourself good. either by legal works of obedience,
moral reformation, or religious services and sacrifices and works
of devotion, Bible reading and prayer, by feelings, experiences,
or knowledge, by repentance or remorse or guilt, something,
just something by which you can make yourself good. You see,
when men and women seek to establish righteousness before God, no
toil is too great. No pain is unbearable. No sacrifice
is too costly. No service is too demanding.
How can you say this man doesn't know God? Look at what he's done
for him. Look at what he's paid. Look
at the price he's paid. Look at the sacrifice he's made.
Well, let's look at it a minute. There are multitudes of folks
who worship Mary as if she were God, who live all their lives
as celibates in a priesthood, who sacrifice all the wealth
of the world to live in that celibate priesthood. That's costly. But they don't know God. They
don't know God. The Mormon church has become
acceptable as Christian in our day. Most folks look at Mormons
as being Christians. Mormons are pagans. They deny
that Jesus Christ is God, but they're devoted. They're devoted.
Do you know what folks in the Mormon church do? All of them,
they spend two years as missionaries. two years as missionaries. You'll
see them riding their bikes up and down the streets with a pack
on their back, passing out litter too. They do it with devotion. Every time I go across the water,
I run into more missionaries who are on mission trip. They're
devoted, but they don't know God. The Islamic martyrs, that
fellow who just as weak, sacrificed his life in the name of God. Sacrificed his life, he devoted.
He devoted, but he doesn't know God. The work is like setting
up a pile of stubble before a blazing fire. The work of trying to make
yourself righteous. It won't last long. It's like
standing up a dead corpse, it's sure to fall. It's like building
a house on sand, trying to make yourself righteous. The house
you build is going to fall. It's going to crumble before
you. When a sinner begins to see his guilt, his sin, when
he begins to sense the danger of everlasting condemnation by
an angry, just, and holy God, the very first thing he does,
the very first thing he does is he goes about to make himself
righteous. It's just as natural as a thirsty man drinking water.
Men by nature all presume they can do good. You remember the
Philippian jailer? when he was trembling, fell down
before Paul and Silas. He said, sirs, what must I do
to be saved? Well, Paul and Silas did not
say to him, you need to get right with God, or you need to say
this prayer, or you need to start serving the Lord, or you must
give your heart to Jesus, or you need to make your decision
for Jesus. You see, the whole religious
world capitalizes upon man's bent to legality and gives him
something to do. Paul and Silas weren't like that.
They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Well, Brother Don, all the churches
say that. No, they don't. They say, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and do good. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and get baptized. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and join the church. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and read your Bible every day and pray real often. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and keep the commandments. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and go to church. No, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Here's the third
thing. If you refuse to trust Christ,
it's because you're seeking to establish your own righteousness
and you refuse to submit to the righteousness of God. You may
perhaps see the doctrine of the gospel. You may even acknowledge
that righteousness is in and by Christ alone, that Christ
is himself the righteousness of God, but you won't submit
to it. You won't trust the Lord Jesus
for righteousness because you vainly imagine that you're righteous. You vainly imagine you can produce
righteousness. You vainly imagine that somehow
there's something you can do to atone for your sin. You'll
never be saved. You will never submit to the
righteousness of God in Christ until you give up your own righteousness. All right, look at verse four.
Here's the third thing. I'll just mention it now and
come back to it, Lord willing, in a week or two. In verse four,
the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, tells us
again, this is the one, two, three, four, fifth time in the
book of Romans. This is the fifth time he tells
us Christ is the end of the law. Christ is the end of the law. Now, I've never sent a telegraph,
but I watched the old westerns. And I watch folks dictate messages
to send by telegram. And they'd say, go to 2734 Old
Stanford Road, full stop. Full stop, that means put a period
right there, that's the end of the sentence, next sentence.
Will you hear me? Christ is the full stop of the
law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe it. This is exactly Paul's doctrine. This is the testimony of God
the Holy Spirit through our scripture. Salvation does not come by the
works of the law. Sinners are saved without works. Christ is the end of the law,
the terminating point, the finishing point, the conclusion, the abolishment,
the fulfillment, the cessation, the stop of the law. Christ is
where the law stops because Christ fulfilled the law. Christ is
where the law stops for righteousness. Doesn't matter whether you're
talking about justification or sanctification. Whatever righteousness
is, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. You can't
make yourself righteous by keeping the commandments. You can't make
yourself righteous by fulfilling the requirements of the law.
You can't make yourself righteous by keeping Sabbath days. You
can't make yourself righteous by doing good. Christ did it
all. He's the end of the law. That
means that we no longer serve God by the law. We're not constrained
by the law. We're not motivated by the law.
We're not inspired by the law, and we're not terrified by the
law. We're free from the law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone who trusts him. Now, look at
verses five through eight. Here the Spirit of God shows
us the difference between every false counterfeit gospel and
the gospel of God. The difference is just two letters,
just two letters, that's all. All false religion, every counterfeit
gospel puts you to work and says do, do, do. Do, do, do. All false religion, every counterfeit
gospel puts you to work and says do. The gospel of God calls you
to rest and says done. The gospel of God says quit doing,
done. The gospel of God says quit working,
all the work's done. The gospel of God calls you to
rest, to rest, and says, done, come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll put you to work. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll put a heavy yoke
on you. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll bring you back under the yoke
of the law. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll threaten you with punishment. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and the Savior says, I will give you
rest. I will give you rest. The gospel calls sinners to rest
in Christ, for the work is done. Look at verse five. For Moses
described that the righteousness which is of the law, that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. Now Paul
is here quoting from Leviticus 18. He's showing us that he and
Moses are in full agreement with one another. The law was never
intended to be a means of salvation. It was not given to be a means
by which sinners could make themselves righteous. No commandment was
given, nor could be given, that would bring redemption, forgiveness,
and eternal life. The law was just a shadow, a
picture, showing what must be done, both in the commandments
and in the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law. Know you turn to
Hebrews chapter 10. Hold your hands here in Romans
10 and turn to Hebrews 10. I Know that folks Jump all over
what I'm preaching you say well poor poor brother Fort and he
just doesn't know the difference between the ceremonial law and
the and the and the moral law He didn't know the difference
between the rights of the law and the commandments of the law
well I'm gonna tell you a little something. Neither did Moses. You try to find me a place in
this book where God separates the ceremonial law from the Ten
Commandments. Find me a place in this book
where God separates observing the Passover and keeping the
Sabbath day. Find me a place in this book where God separates
making a sacrifice, a peace offering, and keeping various commandments
in the law. There's no such separation. Is
the law then against the promises of God? This law that demands
righteousness? This law that demands perfection?
This law that demands absolute holiness? God forbid. For if
there had been a law given, which could have given life, then verily
righteousness should have been by the law. This is what it means,
Lindsay, Galatians 2.21. If it were possible for God to
give you a commandment by which you could be righteous, that's
how you'd be righteous. If it were possible. But look
at what Paul says in Hebrews chapter 10. For the law, ceremonial and moral,
the Ten Commandments and all the rituals of the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of those
things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? If you
could make the fella doing the business perfect by doing the
business, then there's no more business to be done. Would they
not cease to be offered? If a man could bring any sacrifice,
whether you're talking about a lamb on an altar or keeping
a Sabbath day, If a man could do any sacrifice by which to
make himself perfect before God, that he's got nothing else he
has to do, that ceased to be offered. Because that the worshipers
once purged, once God satisfied, once justice is satisfied, once
the law satisfied, should have had no more conscience of sin.
Once God satisfied, your conscience says that's enough. That's enough.
But in those sacrifices, There is a remembrance again made of
sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he, the Lord Jesus, cometh into the world, he says, sacrifice
an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. In offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. The Lord God said, this prophet,
this one who's coming, this Messiah, this Christ, this King, this
Redeemer, he will do everything I command. He'll fulfill all
the words I put in his mouth. He said, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. Above when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither has pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Now watch this. He taketh away the first. He taketh away the first. He takes away the law of carnal
ordinances and carnal commandments that he may establish the second,
the gospel of God's free grace, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time for
all God's elect. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering oftentimes, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, this
man, Christ Jesus, the Redeemer, the God-man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. How come? Because the work's
over. Now the worshiper has no more conscience of sin. Now God's
no longer angry. Fury's not in him. Justice is
satisfied. Righteousness is brought in.
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. What on earth did that? That
can't possibly mean what it says. That's just exactly what it means.
By his one finished obedience to God, Jesus Christ forever
made perfect all those set apart by God in eternal grace, in eternal
election for himself, whereof the Holy Ghost also is witness
to us. That is, when God the Holy Spirit
comes, he testifies in your conscience what Christ did at Calvary. For
after that, he said before, this is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. God says, when I come
in saving grace, I put my spirit in your heart, that law that
tormented you. Now has its fulfillment, and
it has its fulfillment in you, because you believe on God's
side. And God says to you, your sins and iniquities will remember
no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. No more offering for sin. What
on earth can that possibly mean? It means exactly what it says.
It means, babiestus, if Christ is your Redeemer, you don't owe
God anything. You got that? Justice is satisfied. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. In the Old
Testament, nobody could do that. The holiest of, the holy of holies,
that's the place where Aaron, God's high priest, could come
once a year. Only that man could come. He
could only come with the garments God provided. He could only come
with the blood of the sacrifice God provided. And he could only
come at the mercy seat at precisely the time God ordained. Anybody
else come in any other way, he's dead. Now we come boldly into
the holiest. come to God directly by faith
in Jesus Christ, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house
of God. Now watch this. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. God says, come and welcome. Come
on in sinner, you're welcome. Come to me sinner, you're welcome.
Come to me with a true heart and full assurance, I won't cast
you out. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, made
clean in Jesus Christ the Lord. Back here in Romans 10 verse
five, Paul tells us that those who seek righteousness by the
law, they say something must be done. Those who seek righteousness
by faith declare everything is done, Christ did it all. I like the way John Bunyan put
it. He said, run, Don, run, the law commands, but gives us neither
feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings,
it bids us fly and gives us wings. Here's the difference between
law righteousness and gospel righteousness. Law righteousness
says do and live. Gospel righteousness, the righteousness
which is of faith says done that we may live. Look at verse six.
The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven, that is bring Christ down from above, or who
shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. What's he talking about? The
righteousness of faith doesn't say somehow you gotta get something
that will bring down redemption to us and bring up satisfaction
to God. Oh, no, no, not the righteousness
of faith. But what saith it, verse eight,
the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that
is the word of faith which we preach. the gospel of God's free
grace, that which was preached back in Genesis chapter 3, that
which was preached in Exodus chapter 20, that which was preached
in Deuteronomy chapter 30, that which was preached throughout
all the Old Testament, that which is preached by all the apostles,
salvation by Christ alone, finished! by the Redeemer, that's the message
we preach. It is nigh you, even in your
heart and in your mouth. This is the thing that God requires. This is the thing that your conscience
tells you God requires, perfect righteousness and perfect satisfaction. This is Paul's doctrine. This
is Moses' doctrine. This is God's doctrine. The whole
work of righteousness and redemption is a done deal. It's a done deal,
fully, perfectly accomplished for needy sinners by the Lord
Jesus Christ. There are no works for you to
do, no conditions for you to meet, no qualifications for you
to satisfy. Just this one thing you must
concern yourself about, and that is faith in Christ. Dost thou
believe on the Son of God? Well, I don't know whether I
do or not. Yes, you do. Oh, yes, you do. You know whether
you're trusting yourself or you're trusting Christ. You know whether
your hopes in yourself are in Christ. You know whether you're
trusting what you do or trusting what Christ has done. Dost thou
believe on the Son of God? Nothing either great or small,
nothing, sin or no. Jesus did it, did it all long,
long ago. When he from his lofty throne
stooped to do and die, everything was fully done, hearken to his
cry. It is finished, yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, is it not? Weary, working,
plotting one, why toil you so? Cease your doing, all was done
long, long ago. Till to Jesus work you cling,
by a simple faith, doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. So cast your deadly doing down,
down at Jesus' feet. Stand in him, in him alone, gloriously
complete. All right, go back to chapter
10 of Romans again, verses nine through 13. Let me wrap this
up. Here the Spirit of God shows us what's involved in saving
faith. This faith in Christ involves
your head, your heart, your will, and your life. It is a confessional
faith. I just had to use that word.
Folks, I get reprimanded all the time. I don't much get reprimanded
to my face. I get reprimanded back yonder. We're confessional Baptists. That means we observe a confession
of faith written by men. Well, we're not confessional
in that sense. We do have a confession. Our confession is Jesus Christ
the Lord. 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. What's this
talking about? Well, you've got to come in front
of the church and confess before men Jesus Christ. You've got to go out yonder in
the world and confess before men, Jesus Christ. You've got
to say, I believe in Jesus. He's not talking about something
you say with your mouth. If that were the case, then folks
who are incapable of speaking could never be saved. He's not
talking about something you gotta say with your mouth. He's not
talking about something even that must be said to men that
men may hear that you write down. He's talking about something
you gotta confess to God. Something you got to confess to God, not
to the preacher, not to the priest, not to men, but to God. What
is that? We confess the Lord Jesus as
the Christ of God. Oh God, this is he of whom you
spoke throughout the book. This is the woman seed. This
is that prophet. This is that priest. This is
that king of whom you spoke. I confess that Jesus Christ is
my prophet, by whom God is revealed and known by me, that one by
whom God makes himself known to me. I confess that Jesus Christ
is my priest, the only one who can make atonement for me, the
only one who can satisfy justice for me. I confess that Jesus
Christ is my king, and I willingly bow to him, my king. This confession
arises from and flows out to God from a heart faith in Christ. Believing in my heart that God
raised him from the dead. The Lord Jesus has been accepted
of God as my Passover, my sacrifice, my substitute, my surety. He
was delivered for our offenses. raised again for our justification. God raised him from the dead.
God accepted him. Christ, when he was made sin,
was delivered to just damnation. He was delivered for our offenses,
and Christ, when he had Fully satisfied, the wrath and justice
and holiness of God was raised again for our justification. Raised because justification
was accomplished. And accepting Him, God accepts
me. So I am made the very righteousness
of God in His Son. To believe that God has raised
him from the dead is to believe that once he came into the world
in human flesh. It is to believe that he lived
on this earth in real humanity. It is to believe that he died
upon the cursed tree. It is to believe that having
died, he fully met all the requirements of God when he said, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. Now he's raised from the dead. In Adam all die, in Christ shall
all be made alive. Now this is God's promise to
all who trust his son. Thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That means if you believe on
Christ, you can't go to hell. If you trust Christ, you can't
be damned. If you come to Christ, you can't
be cast out. If you look to Christ, you can't
perish. Now here's the conclusion of
the whole thing. For with the heart, man believeth under righteousness. With the heart, man believes
all that God revealed in this book and fulfilled in his Son
with reference to righteousness. And with the mouth confession
is made, made to God unto salvation, with reference to salvation.
Lord God, now I believe, now I believe. Now I believe that
Christ is indeed your salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Every heaven-born soul
possesses a heartfelt acquaintance with the person and work and
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every saved sinner, every soul
taught of God to know Christ, possesses a blessed heartfelt
enjoyment of Christ, of his finished work. It's called in Philippians
1, the joy of faith. The joy of forgiveness. The joy of reconciliation. The joy of peace. The joy of
acceptance with God. The joy of grace. And in every
believing soul, there is a continual coming to Christ. Believing Him. Trusting Him. Looking to Him. Confessing that He's the Christ.
confessing that He is God's salvation, confessing that He is righteousness. It is a confession continually
made to God by sinners, saved by His grace. I believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. My Savior,
my Lord, my righteousness, my King, my all. My only hope, my
only plea is that Christ died and died for me. God make him
yours. Amen.