statements and truths. I'm not
going to review the message this morning, but I would like to just look back again at two or
three things that Paul says here in the early verses of chapter
10. When he was talking about his
brethren, the Israelites, He said, my heart's desire and prayer
to God is that they might be saved. Now, I said this this
morning, Paul wasn't saying these people were atheists, and we're
not saying that about our friends and neighbors. He's not saying
that they didn't believe that there's a God. They did believe
that God was the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac. Israel was
his nation, and they built a tabernacle, a temple, and went through the
motions of religion. But what he says is that though
they had a zeal for God, and they had religion, they didn't
know God. They were ignorant of God. They
didn't know him. And then he gives this this primary
evidence, this undeniable evidence that these religious people did
not know God. And what was that? Well, verse
3, he says they're ignorant of God's righteousness and they're
going about to establish their own righteousness. Now here is
an undeniable evidence that a person does not know the living God. is when he thinks that that God
will accept him on the basis of his works. He doesn't know God. If he thinks
that because he attends church, or he's an active church member,
or he gives to the poor, or to help a missionary, or that he
tries to live a moral life, that God will show mercy to him. The fellow says, well, I'll do
these good deeds and God will take a liking to me. He doesn't
know God. And he doesn't know himself.
You see, God, he said, God said, my thoughts are not your thoughts.
My ways are not your ways. As the heavens are high above
the earth. How high are the heavens above the earth? Millions of
miles. millions of miles to the third
heaven, the sun's millions of miles. And so high are my ways
above your ways, saith the Lord. And any person that thinks that
God, it's like I felt so bad because the racing driver got
killed the other day. That's so sad, a 36, 37 year
old man going around a track 237 miles an hour and got killed. I weep for his family. I weep
for his loved ones. But one of his friends made this
statement. Well, he's up there in heaven
probably now telling God a good joke. Now that's sad. That's sadder
than his death. That people have that kind of
conception of God. And this is what Paul is saying
about his religious friends and loved ones. They're religious,
they have a zeal for God, and they do all these religious works,
but they don't know God, because they think that their religious
works will influence God to show mercy. And that's not it. You see, God is perfectly holy.
And whatever we, whatever God accepts must be perfect. It says,
the scripture says it must be perfect to be accepted. And not
even our best deeds are perfect. Isaiah said our, even our righteousnesses
are full of sin. There's nothing we can do perfectly. Nothing. Not in this flesh, in
the flesh no man can please God. You see that's why we need Christ.
That's why our Savior came. He came not to help us, He came
to save us. He didn't come to patch up our
righteous garment, He came to destroy our old righteous garment
and give us a new one. Christ came not to show pity
to us, He came to redeem us. To do everything for us the law
requires, everything justice demands, everything that God
Almighty commands, and present us haughtily, wholly without
blame before God in love. We were dead, He raised us. We
were filthy, He washed us. We were guilty, He paid the debt. We were sinners, He saved us.
and lifted us and presents us to the Father. And you see down
there in verse 5, it says, what does Moses say? Now here's what
he says to people who want to be saved by the law. He said,
do you hear what the law says? Do you know what the law says? It says, be perfect. It says,
the man, verse 5, which doeth these things, not admires them,
not agrees with them, does them. You see, my friends, God's law
doesn't require you just to be outwardly moral, it requires
you to be inwardly perfect. God's law doesn't just reach
to your act, it reaches to your attitude. God's law not only reaches to
the manners, you know, we can smile and We're not smiling in
here. Like the little boy's mother
said, sit down. He wouldn't move. She said, sit down. He sat down. She heard him murmur something,
mumble. She said, what did you say? He
said, I'm sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up
on the inside. And that's us. And that won't
do. That'll do for us now. She told
him to sit down, he sat down. And that's all she can require.
But that's not all God can require. And that's not all God does require. I can even sin doing a good deed
unless I do it for the glory of God. Unless I do it, if I
do it to get recognition, you know, I see these clubs and all
who give thousands of dollars to different, but they always
put the picture in the paper. Here's the president of the club
presenting a check to Mrs. Ramey back years ago for $2,000
and that kills his good deed. When you broadcast it, when you
do it for self-glory, when you do it for praise, when you do
it for recognition, when you do it for publicity, you're dead,
dead in the water. God won't accept it. He said,
let your good deeds be done in secret. And your father who sees
in secret will watch you open. So we just messed up. And the
law requires perfection. If you want to be saved by religion,
by deeds, by morality, by law, then you've got to be as good
as God Almighty. That's how good you have to be.
Now, somebody says, well, I believe we just do the best you can and
you'll go to heaven. No, sir. You've got to do the
best God can do. Not the best you can do, the
best God can do. You've got to be as perfect as
God. Well, nobody's going. Yes, they are, because there's
some people perfect in Christ. You see, Christ was perfect.
He was a perfect man. He came down here as our representative. He came down here as our savior.
He came down here as our federal head, and he met this law. He met Moses Law. He never hated
anybody. Not his worst enemies. When they
nailed his hands to a cross and spit in his face, And last while
he died, he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they
did. That's perfection. He loved his
enemies. He loved God with all his heart,
mind, soul, and strength. He was tempted in all points
as we are yet never seen. He's perfect. And in him, we're
perfect. And see, that's what the gospel
says. Paul says in this 10th chapter, he said, the law says
be perfect. The gospel says in Christ you're
perfect. So, verse 9 says, if you'll confess
Jesus is Lord, that he's your Lord, he's your master, he's
your savior, he's your substitute, he's your righteousness, he's
my shepherd, he's everything. You confess that he's Lord and
believe that in your heart that God Almighty sent him and pleased
God to bruise him, and raised him from the dead, and seated
him at his right hand, you'll be safe. For with the heart man
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation." Now, verse 11 says, the Scripture
says, and I'll tell you when I looked at that, the Scripture
says. I looked at that, I thought, well, but that phrase, ought
to most often be on the lips of those who preach. Thus saith
the Lord." When we preach, we preach not our opinions, we preach
not our thoughts, we preach what the Scripture says, what the
Scripture says. This is our foundation, this
is our reason for believing. By the way, why do you believe
what you just said? All these things, because that's
what the Scripture says. And I'll tell you, when I say
scriptures, I mean Old Testament and New Testament. I mean not
just the words in your Bible in red. I mean all the Word of
God, all scriptures given by inspiration of God, from Genesis
to Revelation. And the Old Testament and the
New Testament are in perfect agreement, perfect agreement. Look at verse 11 here, it says,
For the Scripture says, Whosoever believeth shall not be ashamed.
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the
Redeemer, shall never be put to shame. Well, the Old Testament
says that too. In fact, this is a Scripture
that's taken from the book of Joel, isn't it? It's the book
of Joel. I can't think of the Scripture,
let's see. Now it's the book of Isaiah,
Isaiah 28, 16. Turn over there. This is the
same thing in the Old Testament. Isaiah 28, verse 16. Listen to
it. Now what did it say? Verse 11
says, the Scripture says, Whosoever believeth on him never be ashamed. Now listen to Isaiah 28, 16. Thus saith the Lord. Therefore
thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion. for a foundation, a stone, Christ
the rock of ages, a tried stone, tried by man, tried by God, tried
by Satan, tried by the law, a precious cornerstone, cheap cornerstone,
a sure foundation, and he that believe it shall not make haste,
shall not be confounded, shall not be ashamed. Same message,
same message. How was Abraham saved? Turn back
to Romans, where we're studying, and go back to Romans 4. How
was Abraham saved? Now this is very important. The
Scripture says. The Scripture says. That's what
Paul preaches, the Scripture. Now Romans 4, listen to it. In
verse 1, Romans 4, what shall we then, shall we say then that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Or
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory
before men, but not before God. But what saith the Scripture?
See, this Paul bases everything he says on that one, what saith
the Scripture? What saith the Scripture? Well,
what does it say? We'll turn all the way back to
Genesis, chapter 15. All the way back to Genesis chapter
15. What saith the Scripture? This
is the word Genesis, the beginning, the beginnings. Genesis 15. All the way back there. Genesis
15, verse 4. All right. What saith the Scripture? Verse 4, Genesis 15, And behold,
the word of the Lord came to Abraham, saying, This shall not
be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bow
shall be thine heir. And he brought Abraham forth
abroad, and said, Look now toward the heavens, and tell the stars,
if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord,
and he counted it to him for righteousness. My friends, this
gospel we're preaching is the gospel of the scriptures. Gospel
of the scriptures. Let me turn to these passages.
You just listen to this. 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says this,
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I
preached unto you, which also you have received, wherein you
stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he
was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures." Oh, so this
is so important here in Romans 10, verse 11, for the Scripture
said, whosoever, that's what, that's the whole message of this
book. Moses wrote of me, he said. Abraham
saw my day. Isaiah wrote of him. People of
the Old Testament will say by looking to the coming of Christ,
we'll say by looking back to the person and work of Christ.
But the message is the same. Paul, when he started this book
of Romans, when he began writing the epistle to the Roman church,
he said, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore
by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. See that? All right, let's see
verse 11 again. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Far, there's no difference. There's no difference. Now let
me say something here, and you listen carefully to me. May I say something very plainly
and very clearly? There's definitely a difference
in people. There is a difference. God put a difference in male
and female, a decided difference. God makes a difference in nationalities. There's a difference in personalities.
We're not clones, we're not robots. They say that, you know, they
say all men are created equal. Well, people have equal rights,
that's true. Equal opportunities, that's so,
but they don't have equal gifts. They don't have equal talents.
They don't have equal wisdom. They don't have equal strength.
They don't have the same personalities. They're different. And everybody
ought to be permitted to have equal rights and so forth. But
we're not clothed. We're not all the same. There
is a difference in people. Difference in ingenuity and enterprise
and effort and all of these things. But there's two areas in which
there is no difference. And that's what we're talking
about here. The two areas in which there is no difference.
He says there is no difference. Now, the first area, turn to
Romans 3. Here's the first area. There
is no difference. There is no difference. In Romans
3, verse 22. Now, let's look at this. Romans
3, 22. I have to go back to verse 21.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. being witness for the law and
the prophets. It's even the righteousness of
God, the holiness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ,
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, by the death of Christ.
It's unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no
difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Now then, male or female, there's no difference. They're
sinners. Old or young, there's no difference,
they're sinners. Wise and unwise, the man in the
White House, the man on Skid Row, there's no difference. See that? Young or old, there's
no difference. There is no difference, all in
sin. But he's a sinner, so am I. We're
born sinners. In Adam, we died. In Adam, we're
sinners. We're sinners by nature. We're
sinners by birth. We're sinners by practice. We're
all separated from God. Our sins have separated us by
nature, by birth from God. We're sinners by action, choice. Boy, here's something beautiful.
Now, my text, Romans 10, verse 12. Here's the second way in
which there's no difference. Catholic, Protestant, or Jew.
Jew or Gentile, male or female, old or young, rich or poor, there's
no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now verse 12, Romans 10, there
is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
The same Lord over all, Lord of all, God of all, is rich unto
all that call on Him. There's no difference. You see,
isn't that beautiful, Chuck? There's no difference. Well,
there's a difference in a lot of areas. Give honor to whom
honors do. Tribute to whom tributes do.
Custom to whom customs do. But there are two areas, and
these are the main areas in which there's no difference. We're
sinners under the wrath and curse of a holy God, deservingly so. There's no difference. Well,
I'm better than him. That's one worm exalting himself
above another. That's a lump of coal saying
I'm not quite as black as that lump of coal. We're all sinners. But thank God there's no difference.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's what verse 13 says. Now,
he's rich. Verse 12 says, unto all that
are called on him, now watch this, stay with me, for whosoever
Boy, that's a wide word, isn't it? Whosoever. It doesn't say
every Jew, doesn't say every Gentile, doesn't say every awakened
sinner. The only stipulation and distinction
here is whosoever. Whosoever. You know, if you make
out a will, if you start naming names, and designating different
things like that, you better be careful. Some smart lawyer
will find a loophole. Find a loophole. And here God
doesn't leave anything by name to Henry Mahan. My grandfather's
name was Henry Mahan. You know, Doug Weaver told me
the other day in this email or whatever, he looked up an address,
go see what they had under his name, He found another Douglas
Weaver in West Virginia. He said, there's two of us. Well, if somebody left something
to Douglas Weaver in his will, that'd be tough, wouldn't it?
They'd say, which one? But here God says, whosoever.
That's a wide word, isn't it? That includes me, you. Only person, it doesn't include
those who aren't willing to come. Now look, that's a wide word.
Now here's an easy word. Whosoever shall call. It doesn't
say whosoever shall work. There's no work involved. There's
no payment involved. There's no requirement. Just
call. Anybody can call. David described it. He said,
Lord, Psalm 130, out of the depths, out of the depths have I called
unto thee. Lord, hear my prayer. Lord, if
thou shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand? But there's
forgiveness with thee, so I call." Easy word, isn't it? Help! Help. Help. That's it. Help. Old blind Bartimaeus sitting
by the roadside. Blind, he couldn't see. Dirty
beggar. Covered with a blanket. holding
out a tin cup, seeking alms. And he heard a lot of people.
And he said, what's all the commotion? Now you talk about a helpless
man, a helpless man, a beggar, uneducated, dirty, filthy, poor,
helpless. What's all the commotion? Somebody
said, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He had heard that name. He had heard of that person.
And you know what he did? He called. Jesus, son of David, have mercy
on me. He called him by his name. Son
of David, Messiah, Christ, have mercy on me. And the scripture
says, and Jesus stood still. He stood still. That's something
all the Pharisees and Sadducees and lawyers and scribes couldn't
do, make him stand still. Roman government couldn't stop
him in his path. Nobody could. But the cry of
a sinner made him stand still. And he said, bring him to me.
And boy, he threw that blanket off. came to the Lord. The Lord said, what would you
want me to do for you? He said, Lord, that I may see.
He made him whole. Whosoever, are you a blind beggar?
Are you a sinner? Are you in trouble? Well, it
doesn't say whosoever will work, join the church, and pay his
tithe, and bring God different things. It
says, call. But it says something very distinctly
here, it says, on the name of the Lord. This is an important
word here, on the name of the Lord. It's not just called out in the
space, somebody up there. Now this blind beggar said, Jesus,
Son of David. He was declared to be the Son
of God and made in the flesh the Son of David, the God-man.
And this man knew who he was calling on. He said, Whosoever
shall call on the name, that's an important word, the name of
the Lord. Moses was up there in that mountain,
and God said, I want you to go down into Egypt and deliver my
people. I'm sending you there to deliver
my people. And Moses asked this question.
Let's look at it over here in Exodus. I'll tell you, this is
so important here in Exodus chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. Moses asked this question in
verse 12. The Lord said, I'll be with you,
verse 12. He said, certainly I'll be with
you. And this shall be a token unto you that I've sent you.
When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, you'll
serve God upon this mountain right here." And Moses said,
now listen, Behold, Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to
the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your
fathers has sent me, and they shall say to me, What's his name? What am I going to tell them?
Well, it's just God. No. They want to know, What's
his name? The name. Whosoever shall call
on the name. The name. You know Jesus. You say, well, call on the name
of Jesus. There was a fella played outfield in San Francisco Giants
named Jesus one time. Jesus Alou. His brother Felipe
Alou was on one side of him and Matty Alou on the other. Down in Mexico, we go down there,
and there's a whole lot of little boys named Jesus, and some named
Joseph, and a bunch of girls named Mary, and there's a golfer
now, Jesus, Jose, Maria, somebody. But that's not the one. And Moses
knew, he said, when I go down there, and they said, what's
his name, what shall I say? And the Lord said, you say unto
them, I am. He said, I am. I am that I am. And he said,
Thus shalt I say to the children of Israel, I am hath sent thee. And God said, Moreover unto Moses,
I shall say to the children of Israel, The Lord God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, the God of
Isaac, hath sent me unto you. This is my name forever. This
is my memorial unto all generations. I am. I am the Lord that healeth
thee. I am Jehovah Sidkenu, thy righteousness. I am the Lord Jehovah Rapha,
thy healer. I am the Lord Jehovah Jireh,
thy provider. I am the Lord Jehovah Nese, thy
banner. I am the Lord Jehovah Rea, thy
shepherd. I am the Lord Jehovah Shalem,
thy peace. I am the Lord Jehovah Shema,
the Lord is present. I am the Lord. And somebody said this, to call
on the Lord is to call out of trouble on His name, and that
is to humble ourselves before Him and recognize who He is, what He has done, where He is
now, and to seek His mercy. I'll tell you, when that prodigal
son came home, he came home in this spirit and
this attitude, and he was received. He came home broken and repentant,
sorry over his sins, and his father ran to meet him. He said,
my father, I've sinned unto heaven and in thy sight, and I'm not
fit to be your son. Make me a hired servant. Now
that's contrition, and that's repentance, and that's humility.
And if anybody calls on his name, that's how they call, the name
of the Lord. All right, let me show you another
word here. Here's a sure word, back in our text. Whosoever shall
call, easy word, on the name, an important word, who he is,
of the Lord shall be saved. It's certain, it's sure. I love
the shalls of God's Word, don't you? They shall be saved. No perhaps or maybe, but they
shall be saved. But let's look at, let me move
on here a moment in verse 14. Now listen to this. But how shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? How shall they call on Him in
whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? If you'll notice in the scriptures,
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, turn over there a minute, 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, here's the necessity of this business of preaching.
God has elected a people, there's no question about that, and those
people are going to be saved, but those people are going to
hear the gospel. And they're going to call on
the Lord. They're going to find out who Christ is. Listen to
2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. And Paul said, We're bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Ephesians with me, chapter
1. You're very familiar with this
chapter in Ephesians. Look at verse 11. Now he's saying
here that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. But how are they going to call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how are they going to believe in him in whom they've not heard?
Now listen to Ephesians 1.11. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ, in whom you also trusted when? After you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. This is so important here. This
is why we preach, why we preach, why we continue to declare this
gospel, because how they're going to call on Him in whom they've
not believed, and how they're going to believe in Him of whom
they've not heard. And how are they going to hear without a
preacher? How are they going to hear without
a preacher? A preacher that's truthful. There
are a lot of preachers. There are a lot of professional
preachers. There are a lot of covetous preachers. There are
a lot of dishonest preachers. There are a lot of, back in,
our Lord said back in the days of Israel, they were false prophets.
And today, there are a lot of men in the ministry for various
reasons. There are a lot of compromising
preachers. There are a lot of preachers who tell people what
they want to hear in order to fill an auditorium. Paul said
when he left the elders at Ephesus, he said there are men who are
going to rise up who seek to lead disciples after themselves. But there are some true preachers
who tell men the truth. The truth about themselves, the
truth about God, the truth about the Word. And that's the kind
he's talking about here. And look at the next line. And
how are they going to preach? Except they be sent. Except they be sent. As it is
written back in the book of Isaiah, chapter 52, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. bring glad
tidings of good things. God can give us no greater gift
than to give us a faithful preacher, a faithful preacher who tells
us the truth, who preaches the Scriptures. What sayeth the Scriptures?
What does God say? That's what I've tried to do
for you today in dealing with this 10th chapter of Romans and
going verse by verse. This is what God says. This is what God says, what Scripture
says. And verse 16 is a sad verse,
but they've not all believed the gospel. The word obeyed is
believed. They haven't believed the gospel. We preach and some believe and
some do not believe. For Isaiah said, and this has
been the cry of preachers Prophets, back yonder, and preachers now
that are God's preachers. Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? And you know that's what this says. God plainly says
the law says perfection. But we can't meet it. The gospel
says believe. And whosoever believeth on him
shall never be ashamed. But there's no difference between
a Jew and a Gentile. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord, the Sovereign Lord, the Redeeming Lord, shall be
saved. He'll be saved. But how shall
they call unless they believe? And how shall they believe except
they hear? And how shall they hear except
some preacher comes? And how shall a preacher go unless
God sends him? God sends him. The Holy Spirit
accompanies His message with power. effectual grace, but they
haven't all believed, haven't all believed. But I tell you
how faith comes, verse 17, it comes by hearing. And I tell
you what, if there's anybody here, most of you here know the
Lord, know the gospel, love the gospel, rejoice in what I've
been preaching. But if there's anyone here who
doesn't know the gospel and has not believe the gospel and does
not have an assurance of heart that God's done a work of grace
in you and for you, this is what I do. I'd hear the word. If you
don't have confidence in me as a truthful preacher, as a God-sent
preacher, whom God has sent, whom God has anointed, whom God
has commissioned, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel, that have sent Then you find someone that you believe
is, glorifying God, teaching the scriptures, and just pull
up a chair and sit at his feet and listen to him. Because faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I don't mean
once in a while. I mean when I open the door on Sunday morning,
you'll be here waiting. When we open the door on Wednesday
night, you'll be here waiting. When we open the door on Sunday
night, you'll be here waiting. Hear the Word. Faith comes by
hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. That's
true. In whom you trusted after you
heard. And I'm not mean just hearing with these ears. I'm
talking about hearing with the heart. Hearing with the heart. Hearing with the understanding.
The Son of God has come, given us an understanding. Verse 18 says, talking about
Israel here now, have they not heard? Yeah. The Gentiles, have
they not heard? Yeah. The sound went out into
all the earth and the words unto the end of the world. God speaks
by two books. This book and creation. The world
book and the word book. And this sound has gone out all
over the world. I say, did not Israel know? Oh, yes. Yes, Israel had the
gospel preached to them. First Moses said, I'll provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people, by a foolish nation
I'll anger you. Did Israel know that the Gentiles
would someday hear the gospel? They didn't believe it, but they
knew it. Moses told them. They didn't believe it. But Isaiah
was very bold, and he made it very plain. He said, talking
about the Gentiles, God says, I was found of them that sought
me not, I was made manifest to them that asked not after me,
That's the Gentiles. Aren't you glad? You remember
what I read about us a while ago, without Christ, strangers,
foreigners, without God, without hope in this world, Gentiles.
But way back here in the Scriptures, God told how that He would call
a nation that knew Him not. What about Israel? Well, verse
21, and you can go into chapter 11 later if you want to, But
to Israel he said, all day long have I stretched forth my hand
to a disobedient and contradictory, argumentative people who just
will not bow. May God bless the message to
every heart. It's been a good day, and the
Lord's been good to us, and I'm thankful.