I want you to take your Bibles
and open them with me to Romans chapter 10. Romans the 10th chapter. Now I'll say that in these 17
verses the first 17 verses of Romans
10, you have their heart and soul of every God-called, God-sent
minister of the gospel. Their heart and soul of His ministry
is found in the first 17 verses of Romans chapter 10. There is
not a more important chapter anywhere to be found in God's
And there are seven facts revealed here about the gospel ministry. Seven facts I want to bring out
to you today. Seven facts that are revealed
about the gospel ministry. First of all, every God-ordained,
God-sent faithful minister wants his heroes to be saved. Listen
to Paul in verse 1 of chapter 10, "'Brethren, my heart's desire
This is my heart's desire, and this is my prayer to God for
Israel, that they might be saved, that they might be saved. The
faithful minister is not interested in making proselytes. He's not
interested even in making converts. He's not interested in getting
people to believe doctrine. He's not interested in increasing
the number of people in his denomination. He is definitely not interested
in those things. If those are his goals, he is
not a faithful minister. He is not sent of God. The faithful
minister is interested primarily in one thing. He wants his heroes
to know the living God. He wants his hearers to be brought
by the Spirit of God into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Now that is his one goal, my
heart's desire, my prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. The people for whom Paul is praying
here had religion. It was no use for Paul to bring
them any more religion. They had all the religion they
needed, but they didn't know God. These people to whom he
preached and for whom he prayed, the people he's talking about
here, had laws. They had all the laws and rules
of morality and religion, but they didn't know God. These people
had ceremonies. They had enough ceremonies to
keep them busy all day long every day. They had tradition. They were busy for God, but they
didn't know God. And the faithful minister has
one desire. He's not interested in making
a report to the denomination. He's not interested in numbers.
I always get amused when I go in these churches and see these
signs up on the wall, number attending Sunday school. What
difference does it make how many you have in Sunday school? Number
here this Sunday, number here last Sunday, number here a year
ago. What difference do those figures make? Amount of offering
received this morning, amount of offering received a year ago
today. Who cares what happened a year
ago today? These people had religion, they
had laws, they had rules, they had ceremonies, they had traditions,
but they didn't know God. And Paul said, My heart's desire,
and I think he speaks here for every faithful minister of the
gospel. I'm not talking about every preacher.
I'm talking about every faithful minister of the gospel. I'm talking
about everybody whom God has sent to preach his word and to
represent him and to be his ambassador. Their one desire, their one desire and one goal
and one object, as far as their heroes are concerned. They want
them to be saved. They want them to know God. Our
Lord Jesus said this is eternal life, that they might know thee. Not that they might go through
the motions of religion, not that they might go through the
motions of tradition and ceremony, not that they might memorize
theology and dogmas and doctrines. This is eternal life, that they
might know thee, the living God. A man needs a saving relationship
with Christ. Whatever he has, if he does not
have that, we've been of no service to him. Now the second thing, about every faithful minister
of the gospel, he knows that most religious people are trying
to be saved by their own righteousness. Now that's true. Most religious
people are trying to be saved. They're trying to get to heaven.
That's so. Let that be established. They'd like to go to heaven.
And they're trying to get there. They're trying to get to heaven.
They're trying to be saved. But they're trying it. They're
trying to be saved by their own righteousness. Look at verse
2. Paul says, I bear them record. I bear them record. The record's
clear. These things we know, they have a zeal of God. They
have enthusiasm for God. Most people do. All religious
people do. They talk about God. They talk
about heaven. They talk about hell. They talk
about salvation. They talk about the cross. They
talk about charity. They talk about good works. They
have a zeal for God. They've got enthusiasm. But look
at that next line, it's not according to knowledge. What does he mean,
not according to knowledge? It's not according to the scriptures.
Their zeal for God, their knowledge of God, is not according to scripture. They're ignorant of God's will,
they're ignorant of God's ways, they're ignorant of God's word,
they're ignorant of God's salvation, they're ignorant of God's righteousness.
And my friends, ignorance is deadly whether it's willful or
whether it's sincere. And every honest minister knows
that most religious people are trying to gain heaven by their
own righteousness, look at the next line, for they being ignorant. Now watch this very carefully.
Paul said, I want them to be saved. That's my heart's desire,
that's my prayer. And I bear them record. I know
this. They have a zeal of God. They talk about God. They have
an enthusiasm where God is concerned and where heaven is concerned
and where hell is concerned. But it's not according to knowledge.
They're ignorant. And their ignorance is in the
most vital area. Look at this first line of verse
3. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Their ignorance
is in the most vital area. A man wouldn't be too bad off
if he didn't have much knowledge of what's going to happen in
the future, prophecy. A man wouldn't be too bad off
if he didn't have too much knowledge of the kings of the Old Testament
and their rules and what happened during their rules. A man wouldn't
be too bad off if he was ignorant concerning the minor prophets
and the things that they prophesied, or even the types, or the symbols,
or the ceremonies of the Old Testament. He wouldn't be too
bad off, but these people are ignorant of God's righteousness. What's he talking about? They're
ignorant of the way that God saves sinners. They're ignorant
of the way that a sinner can appear before God in a righteous
state. That's what they're ignorant
of. And the results of this ignorance is what? Look at it. They go
about, verse 3, to establish their own righteousness. Now brethren, Paul said, I want
my hearers to be saved. I want them to know God. Now
they have a zeal of God, I know that. They're religious by nature,
religious by custom and tradition. They have a zeal of God, but
they're ignorant. And their ignorance is in the
most vital area. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of the only
way that a sinner can come before a holy God and be accepted. They're
ignorant of their foundation, of their heart of redemption. They're ignorant of that. And
their ignorance has led them to go about to establish their
own righteousness. Now then suppose a king's having
a feast, and in order for everybody to come in, he's got to have
on a certain garment. And you and I are ignorant of
the type of garment we have to have on. And so we go about to
make our own garment and to fashion our own costume, and we come
to the feast and we don't have on the right garment and the
right costume, so we're cast out. And that's exactly what
he's talking about here. They're ignorant of the most
vital area. They're ignorant, and the result
of it is that they're going about to establish their own righteousness
before God, and 95% of the religious people in this world—now listen
to me, I believe this, I really do—95% of the religious people
in this world hope to get to heaven, either because of what
they have done, or what they are doing or what they will do.
I really believe that, and I'm not just saying that. I'm not
just using exaggerated figures to make my point. I believe that 95 percent of
the religious people in this world hope to get to heaven,
either by what they've done, what they are doing, or what
they will do. And that's nothing in the world but going about
to establish my own righteousness. Isn't that what it is? Now, the
third thing that every faithful minister knows in these seven
facts about the ministry, the faithful minister knows there's
no salvation in the law, none whatsoever. There's no salvation
in good works. There's no salvation in what
I do or what I am doing or what I will do. Look at verse 5. For
Moses, Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law. What did
he say about it? That the man which doeth those
things shall live by them. You know what he's saying here?
He's saying that the only way to live by the law is to have
an absolute, perfect conformity to the law. There's no man who
can do this. The law requires not knowing,
not agreeing, not trying. The law requires, as Moses says,
doing, doing. And even Abraham couldn't be
justified by the law. Turn back to Romans chapter 4.
Listen. In Romans the fourth chapter,
It says in verse 1, "...what shall we say, then, that Abraham
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? If Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before
God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Even Abraham couldn't be justified by the
law. There is no salvation in the
law, for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us. And every faithful minister of
the gospel knows, as Moses described the righteousness which is of
the law, that it is impossible, absolutely impossible, for any
son of Adam to be justified in any way by the law or by the
deeds of the law. Now, the fourth thing. The faithful
minister of Christ knows this, that Christ is the only righteousness
that God will accept. Look at verse 4. For Christ is
the end of the law, that is, the goal of the law, the consummation
of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
types of the law were fulfilled in him. that their purpose of
the law was fulfilled in Him. The law was given to bring us
to Christ. The demands of the law were fulfilled in Him. The
holiness of the law was fulfilled in Him. The honor of the law
was fulfilled in Him. Turn to Romans chapter 8. In
the 8th chapter of Romans, verse 3 and 4, listen. What the law
could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh. God sending his own Son, and what the law could not do,
we're talking about the ceremonial law or the moral law, what it
could not do, that is, it could not justify, it could not redeem,
it could not save, it could not offer any hope to the sinner.
The law offers no hope. The law requires absolute perfection. The law requires doing Not only
in deed, but in thought, not only in action, but in attitude,
the law requires absolute conformity. And what it couldn't do, that
is, it couldn't save, it couldn't present the center of righteousness. Listen, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh. Christ became a man. He was not
born in sinful flesh, he was born in the likeness of sinful
flesh. and for sin, condemn sin in the
flesh. The fifth thing, every faithful
minister of the gospel wants his hearers to be saved. He knows
that they have a zeal of God, he knows they're religious, but
he knows they're ignorant of God's righteousness, and they're
going about to establish one of their own. And he knows the
law can't save in no shape, form, or fashion. There's no way for
me to give you any rules by which you can live and be accepted
of God Almighty. No way. There are no rules at
all that will save you because you couldn't keep them. And he
knows that Christ is the only righteousness that God will accept,
not yours, not mine. Let me read you something we
read in the study just a moment ago. Psalm 39. Turn over there
with me just a moment before we go into the next point. Psalm
39. Listen to this. In Psalm 39, down here in verse 5, Behold,
Psalm 39, 5, Thou hast made my days as a hand-breath and mine
age is as nothing before thee, verily every man," read it carefully,
"...at his best state is altogether vanity." Don't ever forget that. Every person, we're not just
talking about men, we're talking about women and young people
too, every person at his best state, not at his lowest point,
but at his best, when he's in the church, standing praying,
nothing on his mind but God, his best state, he's all together. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing." Now, the true faithful minister of the gospel knows
that. That's the reason he doesn't brag on the flesh, because there's
nothing to brag on. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. And he knows the fifth thing. Every faithful minister
knows that the righteousness of Christ, by which we can be
accepted before the Father, by which we can be regarded as holy,
is ours by faith. That's how it's ours, it's ours
by faith. Turn to John chapter three. In
the third chapter of John, beginning with verse fourteen, now listen
to this. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. All right,
preacher, by the law we can't be saved. By the deeds of the law we can't
be righteous before God. Christ came down here in the
flesh and worked out a perfect righteousness, a perfect holiness,
with which Almighty God is satisfied. How do I get it? How does it
become mine? By faith. Not by works, by faith. The people of Israel were bitten
by the serpents. They were dying in the wilderness.
God said, Moses, make a serpent like the one that has bitten
the people and put it on a pole and raise it up. And whosoever
looketh will live. And our Master says right here,
in the same way, as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness,
the helpless, hopeless, bitten, smitten, dying Israelites looked
and they lived. They didn't live by running,
they didn't live by doing, they didn't live by endeavoring, they
didn't live by perseverance, they lived by looking. They received
from that act of God acceptance. Look at the next line, "...for
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. When the Philippian jailer came
trembling and fell at the feet of Paul and the other apostles,
he said, What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe."
This righteousness is ours by faith. When the Ethiopian eunuch
was riding in the chariot beside Philip, Philip was teaching him
the gospel, he says, Here's water, what doth hinder me from being
baptized? And Philip said, If you believe
that Jesus is the Christ, you may. He said, I believe. And Paul says here in Romans
chapter 10 that there's no difference. There's no difference. If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart, God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved." Now look at verse 12. For there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek, between the old and the young,
between the male and the female, between the moral or the immoral. There is no difference. For the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that work for him, no, that
call on him. The same Lord over all is rich
unto all that deserve it. No, sir, that's not what it says. It says it called on him. For
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And
every faithful minister of the gospel knows in his heart, God
has taught him, that this righteousness with which the Father is pleased
and this righteousness in which we can come before the Father
and be accepted and be made a child of God is ours by faith, and
that's the only way you can get it, by believing. Just believing. And now the sixth thing. Every
faithful minister knows this, that the preaching of the gospel
is necessary to faith. Look at verse fourteen. How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?" What's
he saying? He's saying a man gets mercy for calling upon the
name of the Lord Jesus. But how's a man going to call
for mercy if he does not believe in the saving power of Christ?
How's a man going to call for mercy if he does not believe
in the saving grace of Christ? How's a man going to call for
mercy on one in whom he does not believe? Look, read the rest
of it. And how are they going to believe
in him if they've never heard of him? How can a man believe
on Christ's righteousness and Christ's redemption and Christ's
sacrifice and Christ's substitutionary work if he's never heard of him? That's what the man said When
Christ asked him, Do you believe on the Son of God? He said, Who
is he that I might believe? The Ethiopian eunuch said to
Philip, Of whom does the prophet speak? Of himself or some other
man? Who's he talking about here?
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes
we are healed. Who's he talking about? A man
can't call on the Lord If he hasn't believed on him and he
can't believe on him, if he hasn't heard of him, now look at the
next line. And how are they going to hear of him without a preacher? Somebody's got to preach. Somebody's
got to tell a man. What we're doing this morning
is necessary. We want our heroes to be saved. We know they're ignorant of God's
righteousness. We know they're going about to
establish their own righteousness. That's what they're doing. They're
going at it from the wrong way. Clothed in their dirty, filthy
rags, they're trying to clean them up and wash them up. They're
trying to put on a fig leaf apron that'll cover their nakedness,
and it won't do it. And they're rejecting God's righteousness. They don't know that the law
can't save, that the law can't justify, that to offend in one
part of the law is to be guilty of the whole law of God. They
don't know that Christ is the only righteousness, and the only
way to receive that righteousness is to believe on him, believe
on him. To believe, that's all, just
believe. He that believeth on the Son hath life, and he that
believeth not hath not life. And that's why we're preaching,
because they can't believe on one of whom they haven't heard. And they can't hear unless somebody
preaches. And when somebody preaches, that's
the way faith comes. Look at verse 7. The faithful
minister of the gospel knows this, that saving faith comes
by the hearing of the Word of God. It comes by hearing what
we're saying. Look at verse 17. Sum this whole thing up, faith
cometh by hearing. Hearing, that's how it comes.
It doesn't come from your parents. Faith doesn't come from your
parents. Scripture says in John 1, verse 12, talking about those
who are children of God, they were born not of blood. That
is, you might receive heart trouble from your daddy, but you won't
receive eternal life from him. In the blood you might receive
some kind of disease, but you don't receive salvation that
way, not by blood. Spiritual life is not transferred
from father to son. No matter how faithful a parent
is, no matter how strong his faith, his child has got to become
a personal believer in Christ for himself. I had one of my
relatives say to me one time, I'm the only preacher in the
mayhem clan, and he said to me one time, he said, I hope you've
got enough faith for all of us. Well, you don't argue things
like that, but I don't have enough faith for myself, let alone for
all of us. Faith doesn't come through your
parents. And faith doesn't come through the sacraments. Now let
me be honest with you without being offensive. Water placed
on the head of a baby won't put faith in that baby's heart. No
way. Material wine and wafers placed
on my tongue will not put faith in my heart. No way. It can't
be done that way. Baptizing my body in water will
not cleanse my soul from sin. It won't put faith in my heart. It won't give me a saving interest
in Christ. I don't want to be contrary.
I want to be truthful. But I'll tell you why we don't
go through all these little silly religious ceremonies around here
about gathering around the auditorium holding candles in our hands
and dressing up in robes and marching in processionals down
the aisle and doing all of these things, because all of these
outward forms and ceremonies and rituals, and no matter how
pretty they are and how touching they are and how sentimental
they are and how religious they are, they're not going to put
faith in your heart. They're not going to do it, and they're
not going to fool God either, because he doesn't look on the
outward countenance, he looks on the heart. He sees all the
corruption and the mess and the filth and the guilt and the hatred
and the rebellion and the envy and the jealousy and all these
things of which human nature is made of. There's no use going
through all that stuff. No use going through it. There's
no use going through those motions. Faith doesn't come that way.
It doesn't come that way. And faith doesn't come through
dreams and visions. I never cease to be surprised.
We live in what we call an enlightened age, and I think we do. I think
this is an intelligent age. But the notion still continues,
even in this day, that if a person dreams of seeing Jesus that he's
saved, If a person hears a voice in
the night that he's saved, if a person has some kind of vision
in the night that he's saved, well, a lot of people on this
earth saw Jesus and weren't saved. In fact, a lot of them nailed
him to a cross. They saw him and hated him. And
then old heathen King Nebuchadnezzar had a vision. And then Balaam,
Balaam heard an angel speak, and yet he died fighting God.
So you can have these dreams and visions and voices in the
night, and that's not the way faith comes. And faith does not
come through feeling. A holy feeling arises out of
faith, but faith's got to have a lot firmer footing than feeling. How does faith come? Faith cometh by, look at it,
verse 17. Faith cometh by hearing. Now, righteousness comes by faith.
Eternal life comes by faith. Christ is ours by faith. We're
justified by faith. We're accepted of God in Christ,
but that becomes ours by faith. And you know how faith comes?
It comes by hearing the Word of God. That's how faith comes.
When one really hears the gospel, when he hears it, what does he hear? Well, he hears
the truth about himself. No make-believe, no phony, pious
religious voice the preacher employs that makes everybody
feel good. But that man, that woman, that
young person hears the truth, truth about sin. That preacher
from the Word of God describes us as we really know ourselves
to be, naked, guilty, hell-deserving, and we feel those sins. We hear
the truth about them. And then secondly, that man hears
of the mercy of God in Christ to the chief of sinners. Though
your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow." Grace
is for the guilty, mercy is for the undeserving. And then he
hears of the law and justice of God being satisfied by Christ. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, but
he washed it white as snow. And then he hears of the free
offer of salvation through Christ to anybody that wants it. to
anybody that wants it. It's free in Christ. Christ has
paid the bill. He's satisfied the justice of
God and the honor of God and the law of God. And he hears
of the power of God to keep us saved, the Holy Spirit's work
in sanctification. He hears of the wisdom of the
gospel, of the freeness of the gospel, of the authority of the
gospel. He hears that. And that's how
faith comes. A man hears it and he says, well
that's me, that's God's describing me there. God's describing my
heart, God's describing my disease, my need. God is telling me that
he'll show mercy on me. All I have to do is call on him,
believe on him. God's showing me the sufficiency
of Christ. That's how faith comes. You say, well, preacher, why
do some people hear and not believe? Some people hear that and they
say, that's it! That's it! That's the only way a sinner
can be saved. That's God's right. Well, preacher,
some people hear and don't believe. Why? There are three reasons. I'll give them to you quickly.
There are three reasons why some of you hear, some of you hear
this gospel and you're saved by it. You go out rejoicing.
You say, thank you, Lord. Thank you for doing for me what
I can't do for myself. Thank you for supplying a righteousness
with which you'll be accepted, with which you'll be satisfied.
Thank you for clothing me in the garments of your righteousness.
Thank you for putting away my sins. Thank you for giving me
life eternal. I believe Christ died for me."
But some people won't. They hear it, they hear it, they
heard everything you've heard, but they don't believe. And here
are three reasons. Number one, lack of attention. Getting a
man's ear and getting his heart are two different things. A lot
of people hear words that never hear God. Most of our hearers
never hear us at all. They're tuned to another channel.
They're hearing the voice of the world. They're hearing the
voice of business and the voice of pleasure and all these other
things. They're not hearing God. They're not tuned to God. lack
of attention. Second reason people hear and
don't believe is lack of desire. Some people come to hear us who
have no desire at all to be led into the truth. Listen to these
verses. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst, they'll be filled. But the man that's filled is
going to have to hunger. Oh, every one that thirsteth
come to the water. I'm glad this water is here this
morning. I need it. I'm thirsty." And that's the person that's
going to hear. He's a man that comes with a need. He comes with
a need. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Third reason why they
hear us and do not believe. Lack of attention, lack of desire,
and then lack of honesty. You'd be surprised how dishonest
most religious people are. Their hearts are not open to
God's Word. They'll say, I believe the Bible.
They don't believe the Bible any more than your dog believes
the Bible. They believe what they believe
about the Bible. Their minds are closed with tradition,
custom, religious training, and not open to the truth. It's there. If any man will to
know his will, God will reveal it to him. It's there. It's perfectly
clear. There's nothing clearer than
the things I've said this morning. They're right there in the Word
of God. Paul said, I want people to be saved. They're religious,
but they don't know God. They've rejected God's righteousness,
and they're going about to establish their own righteousness. And
they've not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God,
which is Christ. Christ is the end of the lawful
righteousness. What does Moses say about the
law? If you're going to be saved by the law, you've got to keep
the whole thing. That's what Moses said. Well, what is the righteousness
of faith? Here it is, that if thou shalt
believe that God raised him from the dead and confess him with
your mouth, you'll be saved. For anybody who calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they going to call
on him if they haven't believed on him? And how are they going to believe
on him if they haven't heard of him? And how are they going to hear of him
without a preacher? This is the way faith comes, it comes by hearing,
hearing by the Word of God. That's as clear as ABCs. And the only reason you don't
hear it and believe it is you're not interested in it, or you
don't have any desire for it, or your mind is so closed by
false religious training that you won't have it. But there
it is. Our Father in heaven, bless this
message. Open these hearts of ours and
these clouded, sin-clouded, self-clouded minds of ours. Reveal thy way
to us, thy word, thy righteousness, thy Son. Grant, O Lord, that
every person here might realize that there's no way to be accepted
of thee except in Christ. that every man at his best state
is altogether vanity, that all that we have is Christ, all that
we ever hope to have is Christ. No matter how much growth and
grace we have, we're still just vanity. Our righteousness is
Christ, and our sanctification and redemption is Christ. Honor
thy word and use it now for thy glory and our good. through Christ
our Lord, we pray. Amen. Don, you come lead us in
our hymn, please. Number 228, 228. Stay in place. My faith has found a resting
place, but it divides for three. I trust the ever-living One,
His words for me shall be. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. My heart is singing of the Word the written word of God. Salvation by my Saviour's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me.