Romans chapter 10, just one verse
this morning, I believe, we all will have time to look
at. You remember the context. It's one of the blessings of
these verse-by-verse studies is to see the context each time
and remember these lessons, the previous lessons, and their bearing
upon the verse that we're looking at now and the one we're looking
at now will have bearing and shed light on the one we'll look
at next time by God's grace line upon line verse 11 for the scripture saith
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Paul has given
the instruction that he has in this letter regarding how that
going about to establish their own righteousness before God
is vanity and worthless and hopeless, and that for a sinner to be saved,
for his countrymen, the Jews, to be saved, and that was his
prayer for them, that God would save them, and here's how God
does that. He causes a sinner to submit to God's righteousness
in Christ. He causes a sinner to confess
before God that all of my righteousness is nothing but guilt before God. It's all sin. It's all cause
for the condemnation and wrath of God. Even my very righteousness
is that which I consider my best deeds are sin and render me guilty
before God. The law says what it does so
that the sinner will say, I'm guilty before God and shut up
about everything else, what we've done and what we have. Oh Lord,
we've done many wonderful. No, you haven't. that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before him, and
to submit to the righteousness of God. What's that? Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness, the termination of the law as
a means of righteousness, and the goal of the law unto righteousness. Christ, to submit to Christ. He taught all of that, he says
here in verse 11, because of what the scripture says. For
the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him, not whosoever
does their best for him, not whosoever turns over a new leaf
and lives for him, consecrates their likeness, whosoever believes,
submits to salvation by grace through faith. That's why Paul has said all
that he has, because that's what the scripture said. That's what
he says here. And we know who God is because
of what the scripture saith. We know that we're sinners and
we need his grace. We need to submit to his way
of salvation because of what the scripture saith. We know
that God saves sinners. We know that he does have mercy
on sinners. We know something about the good
news. because the scripture saith so. We know how God saves sinners. How? For the scripture saith. I've never really had much Value and I guess I'm like everybody
else in this I don't really place a whole lot of value on other
people's opinions usually Certain people I value their opinion
on certain things very highly but With regard to spiritual
things no man's opinion is worth anything Nothing, it's worth
it. It's what does the scripture
say? What does, what did God say?
Tell me what God said. Don't tell me what you think
he meant by it. Just tell me what God said. He's able to say
what he means in his word. Tell me what kind of God he is
from the scripture. Holy and majestic and sovereign
and almighty. Talk to me about the almighty
God, not the one who wants to do things and can't. Not the
God who tries, the Almighty God. He said to Abraham, I am God
Almighty. Not would you let me do something
for you. I'm God Almighty. Here's what I'm going to do for
you. That's what God, that's how God speaks in the scripture.
Tell me about the mercy of God. How merciful and kind He is. The smoking flax He won't quench. The tender reed He won't break. Talk to me from the scripture
about what God said about bringing a clean thing out of an unclean. You know why I'm interested in
that? Because I'm unclean. And I know enough about God to
know I need to be clean. Tell me how God can be just and
justify sinners. How he can pronounce me holy. and not compromise his righteousness.
Tell me how that's possible because I'm a sinner. Tell me how I can stand before
him and not be ashamed. That's what Paul is saying here.
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Why is that important
to you? Because I'm a shameful wretch.
I'm ashamed of everything I am and everything I've done and
ought to be. ought to be a lot more ashamed
than I am. How can I stand before God unashamed? Paul's telling
us, and he's not making, he's not expressing an opinion. He
said, here's what the scripture says, and this is why I'm teaching
you what I'm teaching you, for thus saith the scripture. The
scriptures direct shameful, guilty, miserable sinners, wretches like
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. He that believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. All through the word of God we
are directed look and live. Come to me and let's reason together
about your sin. How though they be red like crimson
they can be as wool. It's Christ, the scriptures,
thus saith the scriptures, he that believeth on him. Isn't
that what the scripture says from start to finish? It's about
him. It's the gospel concerning his
son, Paul said in Romans one, his son, Jesus Christ. God wrote in the scriptures that
if I look to him, I'll live, that his precious blood washes
sin away. and that though my sins be red
like crimson, they'll be as white as snow. God commands me in his
book to believe on his son, Jesus Christ, the Lord, and that believing,
I'll have life through his name. I'll have life. I need no other
argument, we just sang. I need no other plea. Isn't that
what Paul preached? Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. That's all you need to know.
You want to accuse me of sin? What you need to know is Christ
died for me. That ends it. Whosoever believeth on Him, believeth
on Him. We know that believing on him
is not merely believing that he exists. James tells us that
the devils believe that there is a God. They knew who Jesus
Christ was. They said, if you come to torment
us before our time, they knew something about his purpose.
They knew something about a time regarding them when he would
wrap this thing up and put them where they belong to stay. And they're afraid of him. They
tremble. That's more than you can say
for a sinner without his grace. Even that believes that there
is a God. The pronouncement of God against
us is there's no fear of God before their eyes. The devils
have one up on us there. At least they're afraid of him.
But what do we have as believers that the devils don't have? I
got to thinking about that. The devils believe. That's what
that's what James said. The devils also believe. You
believe there's one God. And the devils believe and they
tremble. And there were those who believed
in some sense of the word whom the Lord didn't commit himself
to. But what does a believer, a true believer, one with God
given faith, the one that that Paul's talking about here that
believes in such a way that he can stand unashamed before God
Almighty. What does he have that the devils
don't have? Well, from the scriptures, let
me try to briefly explain that. The devils, and let me say this
about devils too, they never have any doubts whatsoever about
whether there's a God or not, or about whether he's on the
throne or not. They never have a doubt about that. They never
question that. They know exactly who he is and
where he is in that sense, that he's God. But I'll tell you what the devils
don't have. They're aware of his great power. They're aware
of his sovereignty, but the devils don't trust him. They don't submit
to him and they don't love him. And these are all descriptions
of faith from the Word of God. Let me be brief but clear, I
pray. Devils believe in Him, but they
don't believe Him. That's the first thing we're
talking about. Trust. Trusting Him is believing Him. Not just believing in Him, but
believing Him. When He says something, we say,
Truth, Lord. That's trust. Whatever He says
is right and true. Whether He says it about Himself,
whether He says it about us, whether He says it about our
sin problem and how that's solved, how our sins can be put away,
whatever He says, we trust Him. We believe Him. Nevertheless,
Lord, at Thy Word, we'll do what You say, because You said it.
Just because You said it. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. He'll stand unashamed before
God in that last day because he believed God. I didn't say
he believed in God. He did, but he believed God. He trusted him. Devils don't trust him. They
don't hang upon his every word and count like Job. Listen to
what Job said in Job 23, 12. Oh, He said, neither have I gone
back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Can you say
that? A devil can't say that. Our Lord asked those two blind
men in Matthew 9, 28, listen to this, when he was coming to
the house, when the Lord came in the house, But the blind men
came to him, and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I
am able to do this. In other words, do you trust
me? Do you believe I'm who I say I am? Do you believe I can do
what I say I can do? And they said, Yea, Lord. That's
a good answer, isn't it? That's short and to the point.
No him-hawing around. No, but I don't know about this
or that or the other thing. But what about this? No vain
questions, no fools. Yes, Lord, I believe you. I believe you. That's, that's,
God gives that. That's what God gives. The spiritual
application of that goes beyond believing that he's able to give
sight to the blind. I imagine the devils believe
that, that he can give sight to the blind if he wants to.
But here's the spiritual application of that. Do you believe that
he is who he claims to be, that he's the son of God, that he's
the sovereign one who says, I give life to whomsoever I will, and
he can back it up? Do you believe when he said,
I did this so that you might believe that the son of man has
power on earth to forgive sins? Are you in on that? Well, he can forgive if you know
you then you don't believe There ain't no if To what he says Do you believe that his precious
blood can actually wash your sins away Do you believe that
his blood? Is price enough to pay even for
your sins and for all of the sin of all of his people for
all time, that once in the end he made one offering for sin,
and by that one offering he perfected forever everybody he sanctified
with it. Do you believe that? Do you believe
he's able? Trust, trust. Do you believe that in Him, that
standing in Him as your representative, as your righteousness before
God, that you stand there blameless and holy and unreprovable and
unashamed in the very sight of God? He that believes like that
won't be ashamed. Do you submit to Him? That's
the second thing. Devils don't trust Him, they
don't submit to Him. They rebel, just like sinners
do. You know, the Lord said that
Judas was a devil. We're a whole lot like devils,
aren't we? We have a devil by nature. And we are devils in
the sense that we do everything they do by nature. We reject
and refuse and rebel against the Lord Jesus Christ and his
way of salvation, his righteous claims upon us. and the truth
of His grace. But here's the question. What
about you? Do you submit? You see, Paul said in this same
context, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, you'll be saved. Believing in
your heart, when you confess it with your mouth, believing
in your heart that He's Lord. you'll be saved. It's to cast
your helpless soul upon him and say with Thomas, my Lord and
my God. Submit to his way of salvation,
to his person. That we personally submit to
him. Paul said, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness in the same context They go on about
to establish their own righteousness. What's the problem, Paul? They
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
And the next word out of his mouth is Christ. Christ. That word there, they have not
submitted themselves. What does that mean? It means
to subordinate oneself, to submit to one's control. to yield to
one's admonition or advice. In other words, it's to forsake
yourself and submit to him. Subordinate yourself to him. Submit to his control and to
his truth. Yield, you must yield to the
one that you hate by nature. the one that you rebelled against
in Adam and were born rebelling against and will and have rebelled
against until the day of mercy. You must own him in other words
in the very character in which you crucified him. You put a
crown of thorns on his head and said hail the king and spit on
him while you were saying it and nailed him to a cross and
put a sign this is the king over his head. in mockery. And we,
you and I, must and we will, by God's grace, own him in that
very character in which we rejected him. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
that we crucified and it's the Lord Jesus Christ that we'll
bow to for salvation or we won't have it. And then the third and final
thing, the devils will never love him. I know that we think of love
and faith as two different things, and we have to distinguish things
in order for our puny minds to understand them. But there's
never one without the other in the salvation of God in Christ.
This faith that He gives is a loving faith, it's a faith
that falls in love with Him. To believe Him, to know Him,
is to love Him. Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Of all the questions
that he could ask Peter, a lot of water had gone under the bridge
since that day that he called Peter from the seashore there,
and he dropped his nets and followed the Lord. A lot of things that
he could have asked him, but his one question to Peter was,
fallen Peter stumbled in the dust and made an idiot out of
himself, Peter. denied the Lord, Peter, here's
the question, do you love me? In other words, just like me,
Peter, do you love me? Isn't that it? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him go to hell when the Lord comes. It's just
right. You ought to. I ought to. And we sure enough will. Acts chapter 8, verses 29 through
37. I was going to read that. We
just have a couple of minutes. You know the story there. That
Ethiopian eunuch was reading. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes
we're healed. And he said, Sir, who is Isaiah
talking about there, himself or some other man? And Philip began at that same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And somewhere along the way he
said, Is there any reason why I can't be baptized? He had seen some who had been
converted and who had believed this same gospel confess the
one that they believed. And he said, why can't I do that? And Philip said, if you believe
with all of your heart, thou mayest. And that word heart
there means with all of your affection. with all of your emotions,
with all of your desires, with all of your appetites, with all
of your passion, and with all of your will. Do you believe
like that? Then you'll stand before God
one day unashamed, because you'll stand there in His Son, Jesus
Christ. Let's bow together.