INTRO

This morning we were shown from the beginning and end of Romans, that gospel is God’s
Gospel, a Gospel concerning on the person of Jesus Christ.
God’s purpose to magnify His glory in the Gospel includes the means by which he designs
the Gospel to go to the darkest corners corners of the world: He packages the Gospel in
“clay pots” ss as to accomplish His promise through sinful vessels who live by faith in the
Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them..
A sister in our home fellowship group sent this devotional thought to our group this week
that perfectly introduces tonight’s message:
It’s humbling and interesting that the Word of God describes us believers in 2 Cor.
4:7 as clay pots ( ordinary , breakable , replaceable, plain etc…).
Just vessels, to carry and proclaim a precious , divine , eternal and everlasting glorious
message of the Gospel.

As we were studying 1Peter 2 it’s also humbling that He exalts us in a higher position,
“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE
FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who
has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”
What a gracious God we have ! He reminds us of who we are and see with our
unveiled eyes of Who He is ❤
We were saved to give Him glory !
Let’s proclaim !

The glorious treasure of the gospel in clay pots is what is compelling. We sometimes get it
reversed and focus hard on trying to be compelling so people will hear and believe the
Gospel. But if the Gospel itself is the compelling glory … it’s not our job to make it more
compelling, but to believe and proclaim.

Our theme for this year’s missions emphasis is Compelled by the Gospel, and how fitting
that on this our first Sunday we consider what this means by coming to the Lord’s table.
Really, this theme raises two simple questions:
1. Is our church compelled by the Gospel?
Don’t be so to quick to answer until you consider what it means to be compelled by
something. “compel” is a verb defined by Websters as to force or drive to a course of action
So to ask if we as a church are compelled by the Gospel is to really ask if the Gospel
“drives” us to take a course of action that Paul drives home in Romans 10:14: “How then
will they call on Him whome they have not believed? And how will they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preach? And how will they
preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “how beautiful are the feet of those ho
bring good news of good things!” Paul seems to indicate that the answer to whether a
church is compelled by Christ’s mission is tied to whether their feet go to take the gospel
where it is not being heard …
 But in the immediate context, before Paul asks how the Gospel is sent to others, his
main point that he is addresses is why some are not even compelled to believe the Gospel
for themselves … so before we can even address the question of what compels us to take
the Gospel to Eye-mac people in Afghanistan, Paul wants you to grapple with the even
more fundamental question: Are you yourself compelled by the Gospel? And if not why?
Paul wrote this letter to the Romans to unpack the glory of the Gospel. This is why he opens
in ch. 1 with the famous words “I am not ashamed of the Gospel …” … Paul was compelled
by the Gospel and he wants the church in Rome to also be compelled by the Gospel, and
even to help send Paul to Spain where the Gospel has not yet reached … But in the middle
of the book, there is a section that some misunderstand as a parenthesis to Paul’s main
point … what about Israel? Why their unbelief? Did God’s Word fail? And how does this
section tie into Paul’s entire Epistle? How is it that God’s chosen people, the one who
poessesed the Law and all of the prophets that all point to the Gospel, how is it possible
that they would reject their own gospel? If anyone whould be compelled by the Gospel, it
would be Israel …Right??
But … this is Paul’s point … we can only be justified by faith in Christ and His work… but we
can only have that faith to believe if we are compelled to believe … that is we must truly see
our condition as God sees it and then to truly believe Jesus alone is Lord … this is why Paul
contrasts the missed the point of the gospel because of unbelief …In unbelief they
rejected their king, their savior… unbelievable .. the lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world was not the Savior they needed. Away with Him … Nail him to a criminal’s cross
… Crucify him … How dare you tell us that our righteousness falls short … We don’t need a
Savior like the gentile dogs … we are the ELECT … and how dare you imply that we are
unclean … even worse than the lepers, tax collectors, and prostitutes that you love to hang
out with … not us …

So here Paul clearly explains why God’s own chosen people in Israel were not compelled by
the Gospel to believe … Paul’s central point in Romans 10 is that those in Israel were not
compelled by the Gospel because of their hard hearts of unbelief …and the greatest danger
of being in a state of unbelief is that it ever hardens you to not see your need of Christ …

So in preparation for taking the Lord’s supper tonight, I want to walk through two
compelling truths of the Gospel that we must believe or be reminded of as a church so that
we might with one mind strive together for the faith of the Gospel: First, we will see how the
Gospel exposes our greatest need is for a righteousness that we don’t own; secondly we
will look at how the Gospel is a summons you to believe on Christ alone for the
righteousness that God requires.
Our first point, found in Romans 9:30 through 10:4,

1. The Message of the Gospel displays God’s righteousness (Romans 9:30 – 10:4)

Paul drives home the truth that the message of the Gospel alone reveals the
requirement of God’s righteousness by declaring “For Christ is the end of the Law for
rightousness to everyone who believes” that is, to be compelled by the Gospel, you
must first see how great your own personal need of the Gospel is for yourself …. The
gospel first and foremose summons you to renounce every ounce of self-
righteousness that would harden your unbelieving heart.

Read the text

No one can be saved by a religion of works, however hard he or she tries. Many are
trying. Most of the world’s religions are works religions. But the Bible says that if you
would be saved, you must give up any thought of contributing to your salvation by
what you do and instead trust Jesus Christ and his work completely. As one
commentator says, Christ “charged himself with the doing.” He has left us “only the
believing.”

In an evangelistic crusade, an evangelist stopped the invitation and asked for every
Christian to witness to the person next to them. A small boy turned to the gentleman
standing near him and said, “Mister do you know Jesus as your personal Savior?”
Very condescendingly, the man looked looked down at the little boy and replied,
“Why son, I’m an ordained deacon!”
With all the innocence in the world, the little boy replied, “Mister, it don’t matter
what you’ve done. God will save you anyway!”

Romans 9—11 deal mainly with the problem of Israel’s failure to find righteousness before
God and, therefore, salvation and eternal life. Paul is addressing the question of
unbelieving Israel and God’s unfailing promises … How can God’s unfailing Word to His
covenant people seemingly fail in light of the wholesale rejection and unbelief of Israel
regarding Christ.
.
Paul’s answer is that God’s Word has never failed and His purposes to exalt Christ as the
focus of saving focus was not restricted to Jews alone—No, Christ is the apex of all the
promises of God so that His electing love is directed for the Glory of His Name as revealed
by His Son. He is not only the Cornerstone of God’s salvation and purposes, but He
Himsself is the stumbling stone for all who don’t believe. Paul states in 9:30 that the
Gentile peoples—all those uncircumcized, unclean and so-called people on the outside of
the coevnent---they who NEVER had the adaantages of God’s prophetic Word through His
revealed Law, it is the very ones on the outside who somehow attained a right standing with
God through Christ, whil Israel, with all of her advantages, has not attained a right standing
with God. This scandalous reversal is explained in vs. 30-31: “Gentiles who did not pursue
righteousness have attained it, that is a righteousness that is BY FAITH …Israel who
purused a law that would lead to righteousness did NOT succeed in reaching that law …”
Why? Vs. 32 makes their belief or unbelief in Christ the central point: Why? Because they
did not pursue it 1by faith, but as though it were 1by works. They stumbled over athe
stumbling stone …Just as Isaiah foretold “ BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION bA STONE OF
STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM dWILL NOT BE
DISAPPOINTED.”

Three times in Romans 9:30 to 10:8 Paul explains why Gentiles are now grafted in and Jews are
cut off. Each time it is justification by works versus justification by faith. Each time, Paul
wants you to see clearly the ground of your entrance into God’s family.

First look at Romans 9:30-32, "What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue
righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued
a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they
did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the
stumbling stone." The issue that divides is: whose righteousness do you count on for
righteousness and entrance into God’s family?

Second, Paul says it again in Romans 10:3-4, "For, being ignorant of the righteousness that
comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they [Israel as a whole] did not submit to
God's righteousness. [And what is that?] 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone who believes." Israel stumbled over this stone and the Gentiles believed: We trust not
in our own righteousness but the righteousness of another, Jesus Christ.

Third, Paul says it one more time in Romans 10:5-8 Notice contrast in the two phrases in verse 5
and 6. Verse 5: "For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the
person who does the commandments shall live by them." Then the contrast in verse 6: "But the
righteousness based on faith says . . ." That’s the dividing line: righteousness from law or
righteousness from faith.

So why are so many in Israel not part of the true spiritual Israel and so many Gentiles a part of
it? Paul’s first answer in chapter is 9 is because of God’s purpose according to election. But here
in Ch. 10 we see that Paul’s answer is: Israel, by and large, rejected Christ for righteousness
while many Gentiles embraced Christ’s righteousness by faith alone.

Of all people, the Jewish people who were given the words of Moses should have subject
themselves to God’s rightousness … but what prevented them from submitting to God’s
righteousness in order to be saved … NOTICE how verse 3 shows 2 things made them
stumble:

1. Not knowing about God’s righteousness

2. Seeking to establish their own
This is not just Israel. every religion of the world drives people away from faith in Christ …
Whether it be the message of ISLAM that sets up a system of moral acts that make you right
with God or Roman Catholicism that puts a “Christian” wall paper on a system of working
your way to God’s good standing … Buddhists depend on their superstitious rituals of
honoring Buddha to elicit good fortune … Pouring milk on the Buddha will assure that my
baby is healthy …

Satan has used religion to keep people from saving faith all the way back to Cain and Abel.
Cain’s anger that God would favor his brother Abel is interpreted very clearly in HEBREWS
as providing an ogering without faith … this is the the essence of religion .. .whther you are
the blameless in all matters of the law like Saul before his conversion or whether you are
the Muslim strapping on explosives and becoming a martyr in a holy Jihad that he thinks is
earning a paradise with God ….

All of them self condemned before the very God who sent His Son to provide the only
rightousness that saves … a righteousness by faith … a turning away and renouncing of your
own righteousness by bowing in humble faith to Christ alone ….

So the least likely, the ungodly, can actually get right with God by clothing themselves in
Christ’s righteousness, and the most likely, the self-rightesous, are left condmened as they
keep clinging to their own filthy rags.

On December 8, 1934 John and Betty Stam, were beheaded in Tsingteh. CIM
mission headquarters in Shanghai sent word of the Stam’s execution to 20-year
old Dick Hillis, who was just completing his first year in China with China Inland
Mission. Hillis reportedly said, "Will I, too, be captured and murdered? Am I going
to die here, too, Lord, alone and thousands of miles from home?"

I was told I was doing an injustice to people to come to them as a Christian

missionary. I want you to know I wouldn’t turn over in bed for religion…but I would
circle the world for the sake of the gospel!

…To suggest that we not communicate the love of Christ to those who have
not heard would indicate the gospel has nothing to offer them. I believe
Christianity has everything to offer religious man. From a
spiritual standpoint, man has retrogressed rather than progressed in spite of
religious efforts. This clear indicates that man’s religious escalator only runs
downward (Romans 1:23).

Another missionary Dr. John T. Seamands, gives some powerful contrasts in

his book, “The Supreme Task of the Church”:

• Religion is man-made; the Gospel is God-given.

 • Religion is what man does for God; the Gospel is what God has done for
man.
• Religion is man’s search for God; the Gospel is God’s search for man.
• Religion is good views; the Gospel is Good News.
• Religion is good advice; the Gospel is a glorious announcement.
• Religion takes man and leaves him as he is; the Gospel takes a man as
he is and makes him what he ought to be.
• Religion ends in an outer reformation; the Gospel ends in an inner
transformation.
• Religion whitewashes; the Gospel washes white.
• Religion places the prime emphasis upon doing; the Gospel places the
emphasis on a Person.
• You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and Buddhism still remains with
its four noble truths and its eight-fold path.
• You can take Mohammed out of Islam and Islam is still intact with its
five pillars of action and its six articles of belief.
• But if you take Christ out of the Gospel there is nothing left, for the
Gospel is Christ.

But vs. 4 shows us that the great reason that God made the Gospel the great divider is
the purpose to make Christ the supreme glorious fulfillment of all He requires …

the verse literally reads like this: “The end of the Law is Christ for righteousness for
everyone who believes…”

The first word, “Telos” could be translated literally as the “end of the law” as in consummation
or it could be translated “goal of the law” or it can be translated “ fuilfillment of the LAW” ……

the Law contains all of God’s holy requirements for a right standing … and for Christ to be
the “end” of the Law, in one sense, this does quite literally take place when the veil is torn in
two, and the demands of the Mosaic Covenant are made obsolete when Christ establishes
a better covenant. However, the context of Romans would put more stress on the
meaning the fulfillment of the Law’s requirements. Paul had already explained that in
Christ, a righteousness apart from the LAW was providied through the redemption of
Christ (ch. 3). This is why Phil tooks us this morning to Romans 3:23—26 for it explains
the how God can justify the ungodly but uphold His perfect justice and
righteousness…
and in ch. 4, Paul goes over backwards to show that that this righteousness gifted by God is
received by faith and not works. But here, the stress of this verse is that the fulfillment of
the Law is Christ for something specific … it is for righteousness for everyone who
believes… Christ Himself then is sent to not only be God’s righteousness (undiluted and
fully glorious in every part) but to be the sole means by which the requirement of God’s
righteousness may be fully met only by those who believe in Him.
This helps define what Paul means in vs. 13 below when he quotes Joel: “All who call upon
the Name fo the Lord will be saved …” we know from context that Paul is defining saving
faith as calling upon the Name of the LORD for HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS: It is a call to be saved
from our own self- condemnation of trusting in ourselves, or religion, or any other thing in
heaven other than Christ alone for the righteousness that we don’t have apart from Him.

Israel missed the point of her own law, namely, to point her to Christ –They redefined God in
order to justify their own self-righteousness. But in justifying themselves, they were in fact
Lowering God’s righteousness.

DAN DEWITT WRTIES,

"If we water down our conception of God to make the gospel message more palatable
we will find that, in the end, we are no longer doing true evangelism. We merely market
a god of our own invention, attempting to woo people in with a hazy image of an
impotent deity." Dan DeWitt, "A Guide to Evangelism," 77-78

In his book What Is the Gospel?, Greg Gilbert uses satire to help us see how we naturally
diminish our concept of “God”:

Let me introduce you to god. (Note the lowercase g.) You might want to lower your voice a
little before we go in. He might be sleeping now. He’s old, you know, and doesn’t much
understand or like this “newfangled” modern world. His golden days— the ones he talks
about when you really get him going— were a long time ago, before most of us were even
born. That was back when people cared what he thought about things, and considered him
pretty important to their lives. Of course all that’s changed now, though, and god— poor
fellow— just never adjusted very well. Life’s moved on and passed him by. Now, he spends
most of his time just hanging in the garden out back. I go there sometimes to see him, and
there we tarry, walking and talking softly and tenderly among the roses. . . . Anyway, a lot of
people still like him, it seems— or at least he manages to keep his poll numbers pretty high.
And you’d be surprised how many people even drop by to visit and ask for things every once
in a while. But of course that’s alright with him. He’s here to help. Thank goodness, all the
crankiness you read about sometimes in his old books— you know, having the earth
swallow people up, raining fire down on cities, that sort of thing— all that seems to have
faded in his old age. Now he’s just a good-natured, low-maintenance friend who’s really
easy to talk to— especially since he almost never talks back, and when he does, it’s usually
to tell me through some slightly weird “sign” that what I want to do regardless is alright by
him. That really is the best kind of friend, isn’t it? You know the best thing about him,
though? He doesn’t judge me. Ever, for anything. Oh sure, I know that deep down he wishes
I’d be better— more loving, less selfish, and all that— but he’s realistic. He knows I’m
human and nobody’s perfect. And I’m totally sure he’s fine with that. Besides, forgiving
people is his job. It’s what he does. After all, he’s love, right? And I like to think of love as
“never judging, only forgiving.” That’s the god I know. And I wouldn’t have him any other way.
. . . Okay, we can go in now. And don’t worry, we don’t have to stay long. Really. He’s grateful
for any time he can get.
Does Gilbert’s picture reflect how we think of God? Let’s be honest with ourselves about
this.

So Paul here declares how the Gospel shatters every religious approach to God that entirely
demands works to earn God’s favor:

But the Gospel is good news for God sends His Son as His final word to say to hopeless
sinners: look to my Son. Behold my righteousness: Christ … he is the end of the hopeless
law-keeping struggle to earn righteousness. : Look to Him and believe Him for the
righteousness that you fall so short of …

And isn’t it at the cross that we find Christ revealing the degree of God’s righteousness in
the degree that he fully drank the cup of God’s wrath in its entirety as a substitute for
sinners who fully deserve the wages of sin themselves …

And this is the good news of the Gospel, it reveals the righteousness of God is available as
a gift free of charge ….

LUTHER ILLUSTRATION

Romans 1:16: The gospel is the power of God for in it the righteousness of GOD is revealed.
WHAT does Paul mean the righteousness of God. ??? Listen to Luther’s struggle as he did not
understand how God’s righteousness could be good nes?

“But I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a sinner with an extremely
troubled conscience. I couldn’t be sure that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not
love, no, rather I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners Why does God heap
sorrow upon sorrow through the Gospel and through the Gospel threaten us with his
rightouesnss and his wrath?” This was how I was raging with wild and disturbed
conscience. I constantly badgered St. Paul about that spot in Romans 1 and anxiously
wanted to know what he meant.

I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the mercy of God, I paid attention to
their context: “The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: ‘The righteous person
lives by faith.'” I began to understand that in this verse the righteousness of God is that by
which the righteous person lives by a gift of God, that is by faith. I began to understand that
this verse means that the righteousness of God as revealed through the Gospel that by which the
merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: “The righteous person lives by faith.”

All at once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise itself through open gates.
Immediately I saw the whole of Scripture in a different light.
I exalted this sweetest word of mine, “the righteousness of God,” with as much love as
before I had hated it with hate.

Luther had been taught that the revealing of God’s righteousness was a bad thing—the way God
would punish the unrighteous.

But a right understanding of “righteousness” (in the original Greek) allowed Luther to see that
this is not at all what Paul is saying. Justification isn’t a process; it’s a declaration by God of our
righteousness in Christ, immediately imputed to us. The moment we believe the promise of the
gospel, we are pronounced righteous.

Luther said, “Now, just as Christ by his birthright has obtained these two privileges [kingship
and priesthood], so he also imparts and shares them with everyone who believes in him.” Luther
called this the “happy exchange”: on the cross Christ gives us his righteousness; in
exchange he receives the wrath of God.
So Paul uses Israel’s unbelief as a warning that one reason that you may not be compelled by the
Gospel is that you are doing what they did: they trusted in themselves that they were righteous …
so they didn’t believe because they couldn’t see their need …

But Paul’s second point found in 10: 5 through 10:13 expands on vs. 4 to bring home the truth
that The message of The Gospel points to Christ alone as the conscious focus of all saving faith:
“All who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved”: In Jeremiah 23:6, Christ is prophetially
called The Lord our righteousness” This means that the Gospel not only exposes your bankrupt
righteousness so that you hang your head in despair and mourn over your condition, the gospel
always summons you each personally to exercise the kind of faith that calls on Christ alone to
give you His righteousness and salvation.

Paul emphasizes in verse 9-13 the object of our faith … is Christ alone. … He will say later
in ch. 10, fatih comes by hearing and haring by the word of Christ. So This is second
compelling truth of the Gospel that we must believe:

2. CHRIST is the sole focus of SAVING FAITH for all people

Romans 10:9-13

Notice how in vs. 5-8

Paul quotes from Moses to support the Gospel demand for faith be contrasting
therighteousness by law-keeping (leviticus: doing the law) vs. righteousness by faith

Notice vs. 5: The righteousness of faith is not something that you do or earn but something
that you believe, and by inserting the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, He’s making
the point that God’s Law was not given so that you might lower HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
by attempting to make your works and obedience able to earn eternal life. Luther is helpful
in defining the Law’s limitation: “The law cannot produce that which it demands because it
cannot give a person a new spirit to bring about a new creation and existence or to make the
heart new, true, pure and straight. It can only reveal that which is right now with a clarity that
portends of the final judgment.”

He says that what this text is really pointing to is "the word of faith that we proclaim" (v. 8), that
is, to faith in Christ. Listen to the way he weaves Christ into this text in Romans 10:6-8:

But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into
heaven?’" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or "‘Who will descend into the abyss?’" (that is, to
bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth
and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)."

Paul is using expressions for what is clearly impossible. If someone could produce Christ or
his power on demand, bringing him down from above or up from below, that person would
be a miracle worker. But we are not to look for that, any more than we are to look for an
additional revelation.
How, then, does faith speak? Paul gives the confession of true faith in verses 8 and 9: “But
what does [faith] say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is,
the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

First, Faith is essential not because it is your faith that saves you, but it is your faith that
unites you to the ONE who alone is able to save you: Christ Jesus.
For the message that is near us, in our mouths and hearts, is Jesus, and the confession of
faith through which we are saved is that “Jesus is Lord” and that God raised him from the
dead. Those are not simplistic items, as we will see. They involve a great amount of biblical
theology. But they are truths we must believe about our Savior. This is the point of the
Gospel. Christianity is Jesus Christ. So anything that detracts from him or his work is a
false religion.

Notice what happens to the language of the passage in verse 9. In verse 5 Paul has been
quoting Moses. He tells us what Moses said. Verses 6 through 8 have been quoting “the
righteousness that is by faith.” They tell us how faith speaks. In verse 9, the language shifts
from the third person to the second person, emphasizing the word you. “That if you
confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.”
So the essence of the true gospel is a summons from God Himself that you must
believe: “You must believe it.” It is not of works, or based on strenuous egort of penance
and a process that you eventually arrive at and get justified by a lifetime of Christian
brownie points. NO, it is entirely the from the humility of childlike faith that comes
when you see you need CHRIST more than you need anything else. It is the admission
that you are entirely bankrupt in your ability to earn God’s favor. How can a man on
death row demand His rights! No, your face is downcast and the only expression that
comes from a brokenness of begin aware of how far you fall short of God’s
righteousness, is Oh woe is me, I am undone … or Have mercy on me O Savior.
Therefore, it is only those who believe on the Son of God for RIGHTEOUSNESS who are
save. We must

How, then, does faith speak? Paul gives the confession of true faith in verses 8 and 9: “But
what does [faith] say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that
is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is
Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Notice that Paul is simply following the order found in the text from Deuteronomy, which he
is quoting. Deuteronomy says, “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your
heart so you may obey it” (Deut. 30:14). Paul repeats that order accurately, adding specific
Christian content for each part.
IN the next verse he turns it around but says the same thing: For it is with your heart
that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
 It is clear Paul is not providing an ordered listing of steps to salvation or contrasting
some items of belief that are internal with other items of belief that are external Paul is
speaking of the entire package of saving faith in the Gospel. The confession that “Jesus is
Lord” and the belief that God raised him from the dead are both essential truths that must
be believed and confessed..
Let’s consider why these are the core truths that Paul uses to summarize the object
of saving faith:

First: Jesus is Lord

The first truth is that “Jesus is Lord.”! This was a confession of faith for which believers of
the first Christian centuries were willing to die. These three words testify to: (1) the person
of Christ, (2) the unique work of Christ, and (3) the ongoing rule of Christ over his people
and church.
In the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint), the word kyrios (“Lord”) is used
to translate the great Hebrew name for God: Yahweh, or Jehovah. It is used this way over
6,000 times. This is why most of our English Bibles do not use the name Yahweh but have
the word Lord instead. The disciples of Christ knew that this word was repeatedly used to
translate this great name for God. Yet, knowing this, they did not hesitate to transfer the
title to Jesus, thereby indicating that in their view Jesus is Jehovah.
Paul uses the term Kurios (LORD) forty-four times in this book. In thirty cases it is used of
Jesus Christ. In eight cases it is used of God the Father. In the remaining cases it could refer
either to the Father or to Jesus referred to as God. In other words, the term is used
interchangeably for both Jesus and the Father and is a clear evidence of Paul’s belief in
Jesus’ complete deity

The second implication of the title “Lord” points to His triumph in His work of savior. John R.
W. Stott writes, “The title ‘Lord’ is a symbol of Christ’s victory over the forces of evil. If
Jesus has been exalted over all the principalities and powers of evil, as indeed he has,
this is the reason why he has been called Lord. If Jesus has been proclaimed Lord, as
he has, it is because these powers are under his feet. He has conquered them on the
cross, and therefore our salvation—that is to say, our rescue from sin, Satan, fear and
death—is due to that victory.”

. The third important implication of the words “Jesus is Lord” is that Jesus rules over his
people and church … All authority in heave and earth or His …All enemies will be made
subject to him … as Psalm 110 declared …

SECONDLY: We confess that He is RISEN:

The second glorious truth of the gospel and the confession of faith provided by our text is
that “God raised him [that is, Jesus] from the dead.” This is God’s emphatic testimony and
historical proof that the one died on the cross was indeed who HE said He was : He is the
Son of God. But more than declaring His glory as the Son of God, the resurrection proves
that every believer in Christ is justified from sin. This is what Paul said in Romans 4:25: “He
[that is, Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our
justification.” The resurrection is God’s proof that the penalty for our transgressions
has been fully paid by Jesus.
By raising Christ from the dead, God has spoken in the most clear way possible to
the entire universe, “I have accepted the atonement Jesus made.” Repent now and
believe on my SON for eternal life ….

The Glory of Christ in the Gospel is that God has made Him alone to be the only way of
salvation. John Piper in his great missions book Let the Nations be Glad, reserves an entire
chapter to this truth which he entitle “The Supremacy of Christ as the conscious focus of
ALL Saving faith.”

The climax of God’s historic work of redemption is Christ’s coming to atone for sin on the
cross and be raised in Glory by His resurrection. Paul makes this clear in Acts 17:30-31, ,
“The times of ignornance God overlooked, but NOW commands all people everywhere to
repent beause He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a
man whom he has appointed”-- … But “NOW” is the key word in the turning of God’s
historic work of redemption—something NEW has happned. The Son of God has appeared.
He has revealed the Father. He has atoned for sin. He has risen from the dead. His authority
as univeral Judge has been vindicated. And the MESSAGE of CHRIST and CHRIST
CRUCIFIED is to be spread to all peoples. This turn in redemptive history reveals that God’s
grand design of all that He does in creation and redemption is the Glory of HIS SON. And
that means the aim of missions and the purpose of the church is make central the
proclamation of the Gospel of HIS SON both locally and globally. God’s aim for every
church is to keep the GOSPEL central. But how can our church keep the Gospel central if
we have lost sight that the glory of the center of the Gospel: Christ Himself, who in His
PERSON is the sole and necessary focus of saving faith for every human being that ever
existed, not and forever. And CBC, our purpose for existing is inextricably tied to God’s
purpose for sending His Son, as Peter says so clearly in 1 Peter 2:9: But you are aA CHOSEN
RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so
that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light; afor you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD;
you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’

The singular message of the Gospel proclaims the Lordship of Jesus and His Name as
the sole focus of saving faith. Apart from a knowledge of Him, none who has the
physical ability to know him will be saved” Christ Himself commanded those who
were listening to him “aEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way
is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the
gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” …
And this is exactly what Peter proclaims in the power of the Holy Spirit after being
arrested for preaching Christ:” The is salvation in no one else, for there is NO other
Name UNDER heaven given among men by which we must be SAVED…” (Acts 4:12)
Notice how the Gospel here focuses on the NAME of Jesus … “There is NO other Name
under heaven BY WHICH we must be saved”—The point of saying “no other name” is
not simply that Christ accomplished salvation--- but that we can only be saved by
calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. Peter says the same thing in Acts 10:43,
“Everyone who believes in HIM receives forgiveness of sins through HIS NAME …”
Forgiveness is only possible THROUGH HIS NAME … The message of the Gospel is
compelling because it is narrowly focused on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
belief or unbelief in HIM, in the Person of Christ, will result in life for death ….

Salvation by faith involves believing and confessing with your mouth Jesus is Lord

Notice how Paul quotes Isaiah 28:16 in vs. 11 … the same verse that he had alluded to
earlier at the end of ch. 9. Here he declares, “For the Scripture says, ‘everyone who
believes in Him will not be put to shame” …. This is the precious stone, the
cornerstone, that God Himself sets in place as His King. The king and people in
Isaiah’s day failed to believe God, but trusted in alliances and other nations, so God
pronounced that His king would be the stone by which all can be saved by believing or
condemned by not believing. This is the staggering implication of the Gospel. We are
proclaiming the same Stone of salvation or eternal judgment. There is no room for
neutrality according to God’s.eternal purpose for His Son. This Son has been installed
on the throne, and here the only Name by which one can be saved is surrendering in
humble believe to Him.

Paul’s quote in Joel 2:32 is the very same prophecy from Peter’s first sermon on Pentecost:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” … in the context clearly Jesus is
the cornerstone from Isaiah 28:16 and Jesus is the Lord , even though in Joel 2:32, “Yhwh”
is in view. Notice in the context that Jesus is the glorious Lord, the eternal I AM, that is
confessed in saving faith. Notice how 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord … you will be saved …”

The Glory of the Gospel message is summed up in the glorious gospel words: Christ is the
fulfillment of the Law for God’s righteousness to all who believe… All that God requires to
be made right before Him for eternity has been accomplished in his redeeming work on the
cross. It is Finished is the triumphant cry of the God-man who Christ raised from the dead
and made Lord over every human being that He allows to breathe his air. The Gospel
proclaims Jesus to be the only mediator between man and God, the only righteousness
that can save, the only way, the only truth, the only life … and so … now, the Great message
of the Gospel is that “everyone who calls on the Name of this One … This Lord … the only
Name given under heaven to be saved …”
This is why the Message of the Gospel is the Word of Christ and by God’s initiative
must be Sent to every corner of the earth

This fuels the Gospel going forth ..

But When the glory of Christ as the singular focus of saving faith is not believed, the
church loses the urgency of carrying out Christ’s mission.

This is exactly what happened in the English churchs in William Carey’s day … the gospel
call became shackled a by what Andrew Fuller called “hyper calvinism”:Listen to what he
said in 1774, “I . . . durst not, for some years, address an invitation to the unconverted to
come to Jesus”. He went on to say, “I conceive there is scarcely a minister amongst us
whose preaching has not been more or less influenced by the lethargic systems of the age”
The price had been huge: in the forty years after 1718; the Particular Baptists declined from
220 congregations to 150 …

A “Warrant of Faith”?

If you ask: How then did anyone get saved under this system? The answer was that here
and there God would give what they called a “warrant of faith.” That is, there would be some
token granted by the Holy Spirit to signify that the persons were regenerate and elect and
therefore had a “warrant” to believe. For example, one way God did this, they believed, was
by forcibly suggesting a Scripture to one’s mind. (Ibid., p. 28).

What Fuller came to see was that High Calvinism had shifted the meaning of faith from
focusing on the objective person and promises of Christ onto the subjective state of
our own hearts, what they called a warrant of faith. In other words, saving faith became
faith that I am experiencing the regenerating work of God — faith that I am elect. Or, as
Fuller put it, the High Calvinists said that faith is to “believe the goodness of their state.”
This happened to Fuller at age thirteen (with Romans 6:14), and he thought for a while that
he had been saved. But the experience proved to be abortive this he responded:

He ended up writing a small book called the “Gospel Worth of Full acceptation” in
response to the deadening influence of the hyper-calvinism that would go on to stir a small
band of pastors to send William Carey to India in in 1792. Here’s how Fuller concludes:

Nothing can be an object of faith, except what God has revealed in his word; but the
interest that any individual has in Christ . . . is not revealed. . . . The Scriptures always
represent faith as terminating on something [outside of] us; namely, on Christ, and the
truths concerning him. . . . The person, blood, and righteousness of Christ revealed in the
Scriptures as the way of a sinner’s acceptance with God, are, properly speaking, the
objects of our faith; for without such a revelation it were impossible to believe in them. . . .
That for which he ought to have trusted in him was the obtaining of mercy, in case he
applied for it. For this there was a complete warrant in the gospel declarations
In other words, we should not say to unbelievers: Wait until you feel some warrant of faith
so that you can trust in that. Rather, we should say, “Christ is the glorious divine Son of
God. His death and resurrection are sugicient to cover all your sins. He promises to receive
everyone who comes to him and he promises to forgive all who trust in him. Therefore,
come to him and trust him and you will be saved. If you wonder if you are elect or if you are
regenerate, cease wondering and do what Christ has commanded you to do. Receive him,
trust in him, cast yourself on him for his promised mercy. And you will prove to be elect and
to be regenerate.”

Do we believe this? If we did, how would this message of the Gospel compel you in your
daily work, in your worship, in your life’s dreams and ambitions …

Well, notice how vss. 14 -15 provide a “therefore …”

Therefore … how are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is writeen, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.”

So why does Paul use “therefore” to transition to this missions sequence of questions …
And why does the very next verse, vs. 16, begin with “BUT or nevertheless, they have not all
obeyed the gospel?”

The answer to the therefore seems to be a statement that God has already worked and
continues to work to make the Gospel go out to all the nations …

God is behind sending the feet of those who preach the good newes, and God is behind the
sending of those preachers, and thus God is behind the call to those who have no heard,
and thus God is behind summoning belief in the glorious Lord that have never heard about
… and thus ultimatlely God’s great mission is already in place that people will call upon
Him …

This is the Lord’s work but the questions not only provide a reminder that God is aleready
working in and thourgh us to be proclaim the Gospel to all who have not heard …

But the verses that follow provide a double emphasis on the accountability of Israel for
their unbelief and the more broad truth that the availability of the gospel to the nations is
part of God’s purpose to glorify Christ and to remind the church that God’s Gospel is a
Gospel that clearly declares that calling on the Name of the Lord is absolutely essential for
salvation. Christ’s Work on the Cross must be the central message of the free gift ogered by
God, but Christ’s Lordship as God’s king must be the central Name that we proclaim.
We are not here first and foremost to oger messages of a better life or principles for a more
comfortable earthly stay … Oh no, the eternal and pivotal good news is that Christ is
ogered to all who will believe …

The Scope of The Message of the Gospel: To the ends of the earth

Why does Paul quote Psalm 19:4 in vs. 18. Psalm 19:4 says ““THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT
INTO ALL THE EARTH,
AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”

The context there is how the creation shouts God’s glory and the sun and stars are
proclaiming a message always from one end of the earth to the other.
.

It seems that Paul is answering the question “have they not heard?” And then answers with
Psalm 19, with “their voice” and “their words” referring to “night” and “day” and “heavens”
and firmament.

So is Paul teaching that general revelation in nature is all that is needed for salvation …
apart from missionary proclamation.

The context prevents us from concluding that we don’t needs to send missionaries if God’s
voice is heard by all in general revealtion… for vs. 14 just asked “How are they to hear
without someone preaching?” …No, Paul is not saying that natural revelation can serve the
same role as the word of Christ which gives rise to faith … notice vs. 17: So faith comes
from ahearing, and hearing by bthe word 1of Christ.

NO, the use of Psalm 19 is used by Paul to emphasize the universal spread of the Gospel.
There could be no stronger way to stress that the Gospel message is a message of Christ
that God purposed to have the very same universal scope of revelation as the stars and the
sun and the moon. Indeed, the Gospel cannot be prevented from goiing to every corner of
the world any more than the sun can be prevented from making its course acroos the skies.
John Piper says in realtion to this truth “The poin is that God has set in motion a missionary
movement of sending that will reach to all the peoples of the earth on the analogy of the
universal spread of God’s glory through natural revelation”

And if we are not a part of it as His church, with Christ as our Head, He will simply use
someone else.

This is sthe same emphasis in Malachi 1 to the weary priests who forgottent that the glory
of the message is about Gods Name and it this alone the compels God’s people to serve
the king of kings and bring good news to every corner so the world
Christ is the very fulfillment of all that the OT point towards. He is the seed of Abraham to
bless all nations. He is the greater prophet who Himself is the Word of God. He is the son of
David who is given an everlasting kingom. He is the LORD our righteouisness the one that
John the Baptist declares is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. HE IS the
COMPELLING MESSAGE of the Gospel. It His righteousness alone that summons every
Muslim to be saved by faith in Him not Mohommed. It is His righteousness alone that
summons every Hindu to forsake the gods of emptiess and bow to the One from whom and
through whom and to whom God has made all things … and tonight, God’s Word could not
be more clear. Have you believed in your heart an confess with your mouth that the RISEN
LORD is YOUR LORD. If He is not Lord of all of you, He is not Lord at all. His righteousness
alone is what God declares is your greatest need. BOW to him tonight and believe and
receive this priceless and eternal gift of love that will forever rescue you from yourself and
the penatly of your own SIN