Salvation, how?
Romans – Chapter 10
Review
- What was Chapter 1 about?
- Gospel
- Discusses how bad the Gentiles are (remember: “Greeks and barbarians”)?
- What’s Chapter 2 about?
- Judgment – God’s Judgment falls on all.
- Jews aren’t much better than the Gentiles from Chapter 1
- Chapter 3?
- Justification
- Faith through Salvation, not works
- Works are THE FRUIT of Salvation through Faith (in Jesus Christ)
- Chapter 4?
- Faith
- …Of their fathers (Abraham and David)
- Shouldn’t be a new concept for them.
- Chapter 5?
- Result of Justification
- We receive benefits. Jesus is contrasted (mostly) with Adam
- Chapter 6?
- Life and Death – Believer’s Style
- Alive in Christ, dead to sin.
- Chapter 7?
- Our Motivation – The Law motivates by Fear. God-followers are motivated by Love.
- Chapter 8?
- Our Position with God in the Spirit.
- Chapter 9?
- This is God’s show. He can, He does, He will…just because He wants to…just because He’s God.
Introduction
- What’s your opinion of Romans (thus far)? Easy, hard, straightforward, confusing, basic, advanced, etc?
- How did you all do this week reading Romans?
- What is your opinion of this chapter? Easy or lots of questions, difficult and convoluted?
- Pretty easy, but highly relevant chapter to today’s church and body of believers.
- Can you group any of these chapters together?
- 1-5 deal with justification / conversion, ie “getting” saved
- 6-8 deal with sanctification - “living” saved.
- Chapters 1-3:20 deal primarily with God.
- Chapters 3:21-7 deal primarily with Jesus Christ.
- Chapter 8 - introduces the Holy Spirit
- Chapter 9 – talks about God’s Authority and the history of Israel
- Chapter 10 – talks about God’s Mercy and the present Israel
- Any guesses what Chapter 11 will be about?
- J. Vernon McGee says “Romans chapters 1-8 are doctrinal. Romans chapters 9-11 are dispensational. Romans chapters 12-16 are duty. The first eight chapters of Romans emphasize faith. Chapters 9-11 emphasize hope. Chapters 12-16 emphasize love. There is another way to view Romans: the first section deals with salvation; the second section with segregation; and the last section with service.” (Thru the Bible, vol. 4 pp 708)
- In a few weeks, my friends from Romania will (probably) be here. They are missionaries. They walk down every day to the market to get their food for the day. They drive A LOT to minister to different churches that they’re responsible for that are fairly far apart. They make many of their own clothes. They are in a largely Roman Catholic society that is fresh from under Communist rule. They are EXTREMELY socially and financially depressed (as a culture). They baptize in rivers and lakes. They don’t have the many types and flavors and translations of Bibles we have. They don’t have an entire industry of contemporary Christian Romanian music writers churning out music for them. Yet, they’re on fire. They are experiencing explosive growth in their churches. And, all the while, they’re one of the last groups (compared to Israel, modern civilizations, etc) to hear the Gospel. What about us? Are we bored with the Gospel because we’ve had it longer than the Romanians have?
Lesson
- vv. 1-4 [READ – Rom 10:1-4] – The current state of Israel
- v 1-3 – What do we understand from these first verses?
i. Israel is not saved. – Paul says he wants them to be saved, therefore, that means they’re not.
ii. They have zeal for God, but it’s based on ignorance (not according to knowledge).
iii. They are ignorant of God’s righteousness
iv. They attempt to establish their own righteousness
v. They are not submitted to the righteousness of God.
- Sounds like they’re “busy”, no? They “have a zeal”. But they don’t have knowledge. Do we do this?
- V 4 – There are two ways (at least) to read this verse.
i. Christ [means or signals] the end of the Law. As discussed in previous chapters, we’re not held to the Law any longer. We could never measure up and we don’t have to, because of Christ.
ii. Christ is the end, meaning the goal, of the Law.
iii. I think both interpretations are accurate.
iv. Note: This verse states “righteousness to every one that believeth”…not doeth, tryeth, worketh, flaunteth, paradeth, etc.
- vv. 5-13 [READ – Rom 10:5-13] – The current standing of Israel
- v 5-8 – The righteousness achieved by the Law is not enough; not up to God’s standard – we’re incapable of achieving that standard. [v 5 – from Lev 18:5]
- What do we have to do? Where do we have to go to get that righteousness? Up? Down? Nope. It is “nigh”. It’s in our mouths (because we like to talk the talk), and in your heart (because the Lord God writes it on our conscience). We just have to believe it. [v 6-8 – from Deut 30:12-14]
- So, what’s with “believing”? (v9-11) – confess the Lord Jesus. Believe He rose from the dead. That’s it. You’re saved. No what? Believe with your heart. Confess with your mouth. It’s that simple.[v 11 – from Isaiah 28:16]
- Heart – what’s the significance? Children wonder if Jesus is actually in there – dodging blood cells, bacteria, cholesterol blobs, etc. But we’ve also talked about that there’s a choice involved. That’s head (Rom 8:30 – def. of “called” indicates a choice.)
i. What’s the relationship between the head and the heart and the mouth?
- V 12-13 – there is no difference between Jew and Gentile (Greek)
i. God’s over them all.
ii. He saves anyone who calls Him and believes on Him.[v 13 – from Joel 2:32]
- vv. 14-21 [READ – Rom 10:14-21]
- What’s the point here? There must be messengers. We must tell people.
i. We tell, they hear, they believe, they call (on God).
ii. This is a wonderful position to be in. (We’ll have beautiful feet! :) Feel free to take off your shoes and socks to examine them. Yes. It’ll be quite a transformation. :) (Isaiah 52:7) Well, actually it’s wonderful because we get to lead people to Christ. Cool!
iii. V 16 – Who has believed? – This is from Isaiah 53:1. We do the work (with our feet), but who believes? Truly, even when we do the work, not many believe in the grand scheme of life. The importance is to impact those around you.
iv. V 17 – Faith comes by: doing, preaching, thinking, working, gossiping, belittling, psychoanalyzing, politicizing, philosophizing, etc… NO! It comes by hearing the Word of God.
v. Does Israel know this? Have they not heard? Yes. They’ve heard. But they don’t accept it. Therefore, God will provoke and anger them by rising up [a part of] the Gentiles (a no people, a foolish nation, in the eyes of Israel). How will they be provoked and angered? Stay tuned for Chapter 11.[v 18 – from Psalms 19:4][v 19 – from Deut 32:21]
vi. V 20 – Israel did much to achieve righteousness with all their work in the Law, rules, processes, etc, but never actually looked to God. They missed the forest for the trees. The Law is to point to God, but they only saw the Law. The Gentiles didn’t go looking for God, but found Him. Gentiles didn’t have the privilege Israel has, but still came out ahead. [from Isaiah 65:1]
vii. V 21 – Israel is called disobedient and obstinate. [from Isaiah 65:2] It’s hard to hold up your hands for a long period of time [See Exodus 17:9-12 for Moses story of holding up hands], but God does. He has mercy on Israel.
Summary
- What’s your key verse?
- v 13
- What do you think now of this Chapter?
- We’ve talked about head, heart, mouth, and feet.
i. Can you have some of the pieces and not all? Ie, head, no heart, feet and a mouth? Sure, that’s really common in my opinion. Can you have a heart, feet, no head, and a mouth? Sure. What about a heart, a head, feet, but no mouth? What do these pictures (people) look and act like?
ii. Are some combos better than others?
iii. Are some combos a progression?
iv. What does Israel (or the Pharisees) look like (Lots of head, even more mouth, little feet (ie, didn’t really do much unless it got them seen) but no heart)
v. What do you look like? How do you improve that picture?
- This chapter is SO the picture of today’s church and believer. Apathy runs rampant. People think they can just “do” and “show up” and that’s all there is. Because their title says “Sunday School teacher”, “Regular Attender”, or even “Member”, that’s their ticket. Israel thought (and thinks) this.
- Head-knowledge is meaningless. Doctrine without salvation is condemnation. Should we care if we know more Bible than someone else does? No. We should care about their eternal life.
- This format/style of teaching is to show a method of Bible study so that individuals can do it independently. It’s not to just analyze for the sake of analysis. It’s not theology for the sake of study. It’s not doctrine for the sake of church membership. Bible study is spending time getting to know God by His Word. We’re developing a relationship with God by understanding what He’s already told us.
- Israel had every privilege with God, yet they consistently rejected Him. We have privileges too: a Country in which it’s free to gather and worship, no physical persecution (yet), comfortable meeting places, clothes, heating/cooling, Bibles in any size, color, translation (and interpretations), formats (paper or electronic), etc. We have heated baptismal pools, for goodness sake! We have different music styles, tempos, instruments, etc. But for what? Does any of that stuff mean you know God more? No. YOU have the responsibility to use the e-Bible or to read your pocket New Testament or to discipline your self to stop and have the devotion that noone but yourself is keeping you from.
- What can you do now, starting Monday, to realize Chapter 10 in your life? How are you following God’s will? How are you ACTING like you’re a child of God?
- Take advantage of the benefits we have today with the Bible, access to God, etc.
- Make God a priority – covet your devotion time with Him.
- Talk about Him. Is God only for church-goers (or Israel)? No. God is for the sick, the sinful (the Gentiles too).