In Only Four Words

 

SERMON July 22, 2018

In Only Four Words

 

You can listen to this message here: https://youtu.be/bclTtf5_R1I

 

 

 

I recently read a challenge someone placed on one of the social media sites I follow. Here was the challenge: “Tell me a sad story, using only four words.”

 

Some responses were quite humorous, like, “I’m out of chocolate,” and “We have no bacon.” For me, those are very sad stories, especially the one about being out of chocolate.

 

Some, of course, were much more serious. But one four-word story immediately resonated with me because of its sober truth:

 

“They Died Without Jesus.”

 

I want us to look at that sad story today, and my primary text comes again from St. Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome. “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” (Romans 10:13-16)

 

Many of you will recognize part of Paul’s quotation is from Isaiah 53, which begins: “Who has believed our report?” Other translations render the verse, “Who has believed our message?”

 

And just what IS the message that the Holy Spirit told us most people would ignore? Here is a part of what Isaiah wrote in his prophecy:

 

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried . . . But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
to fall on Him.

 

Listen! This is the message St. Paul referred to when he asked the Christians in first century Rome, “Who will believe it?”  And it is this message from Isaiah’s prophecy, and many similar texts, which sits at the center of the message which God Himself commissions every Christian to tell others. It lies at the heart of the Lord’s charge to each of us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;  (Matthew 28:19-20)

 

If the Church does not do what God commissioned us to do, then our friends, our neighbors, our families will die without Jesus.

 

But who will believe what we tell them? We know from the history of both the Old and New Testament eras, only a remnant of earth’s population have believed the report and followed the true God.

 

So, why do you think so many people choose to not believe the message? Scripture gives us several reasons. I want to address only a few because in looking at them we might learn something about ourselves AND how we might become more effective and more fruitful in our work for Christ.

 

1. Carelessness about our lifestyle and our teaching. So, how can our carelessness lead others astray? Paul talks about this in Romans 2 when he writes, beginning in verse 21:

 

“You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?  . . . . You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.”

 

In virtually every denomination, regardless of their label, you will find men and women shamelessly living together outside of marriage. You will find women who have had abortions to avoid having a child. You will find alleged Christians brazenly engaging in sexual perversions condemned by God in both the Old and New Testaments. And you will find in many church pews and pulpits alleged Christians who publicly endorse politicians who support behaviors for which God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

In 1965 Pope Paul VI wrote an encyclical titled “Gaudium et Spes” (Joy and Hope). In it, he says something that ought to be very troubling to Catholics and Protestants alike. Here is a portion of paragraph 19, addressing atheism:

 

"Without doubt those who willfully try to drive God from their heart and to avoid all questions about religion, not following the dictates of their conscience, are not free from blame. But believers themselves often share some responsibility for this situation. For, in general, atheism is not present in people's minds from the beginning. It springs from various causes, among which must be included a critical reaction against religions and, in some places, against the Christian religion in particular. Believers can thus have more than a little to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are careless about their instruction in the faith, or present its teaching falsely, or even fail in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion."  (Emphasis mine) 

You will not likely read a more cogent assessment of the rise of atheism in modern day.

So, our carelessness about God’s requirement of lifestyle holiness is one reason people choose to not to believe the message.

 

2. The unholy trinity of ‘me, myself, and I’ is another reason some choose to not believe God’s message. When people live according to whatever is right in their own eyes, the result of always tragic – for themselves and for those who follow their example. If you want to know how a “me-ism” culture ALWAYS ends up, read the last five chapters in the Book of Judges. It will scare you, especially as you watch the daily news.

 

Enthroning self above God is nothing less than a well-oiled journey along that broad way through the wide gate that leads to an eternity separated from God, an eternity of torment and anguish, of abject loneliness and despair cast forever from God’s holy presence.

3. Another reason people reject Christ, a reason intimately linked to the unholy trinity of ‘me, myself, and I” is when they do not want to change their lifestyle. The Lord Jesus addressed this type of rebellious spirit head-on in the third chapter of John’s gospel. Everyone here is probably familiar with John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 

But the Lord continued in verses 19-20: [And this is God’s judgment]: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.” (NLT)

 

In other words, people reject God’s message because they CHOOSE to live according to their own way.

 

4. Yet others choose to not believe because they do not want to leave their comfort zones.  You may have heard the excuses: I’ve been a member of so-and-so denomination for 60 years. My parents were members before me, and their parents before them. I’m happy here. I see no reason to change now.

 

Listen. If THAT’S why they attend a particular church or denomination – because they’ve been doing it for decades – that’s the WRONG reason.

 

No church is going to get you or me to heaven. No pastor or priest, no parent or grandparent, no brother or sister will get anyone to heaven. Only a personal love for Jesus, only personal obedience to Jesus – only a personal relationship with Jesus will get us to heaven.

 

Of course, it is vitally important to regularly attend a church – and for those who are Catholic, to also receive the Sacraments. But attendance with only our body and not with our hearts is no attendance at all. Reception of the Sacraments with our bodies, but not also with our hearts is no reception at all. God tells us through His prophet, Amos:

 

“I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24)

 

And the Lord Jesus warned His followers: “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.” (Luke 13:24-28)

 

If we habitually participate in mortal sin, we will have every reason to dread the day of Judgment, regardless of how often we attended church or Mass.

 

The gospel message is a message of good news. It is news of God’s offer to forgive ALL our sins, whatever those sins might be. It is His offer of eternal salvation on the basis of His grace alone, and not at all on the basis of our good works.

 

Listen to what St. Paul wrote to Titus: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)

 

And listen to what he wrote to the Christians in Ephesus: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” 

 

This is not to suggest that Christians are excused from doing good works. On the contrary, those who say such things clearly choose to take texts such as these in Titus and Ephesians out of context. In each case St. Paul ties good works with faith that saves. Please read those passages in context for yourselves. But I say again, we must be ever vigilant to not put the proverbial cart in front of the horse by elevating good works above the faith that saves.

 

Yes, the saddest story of all stories that can be told in only four words is this: “They died without Jesus.” Like the tragic story of Lazarus and the Rich Man in Luke 16. That’s the story AND the destiny of every man and woman you and I have ever known who died without Jesus.

 

As we have seen before, the inflexible result of unrepented sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). When Jesus died on that cross, He substituted Himself to pay the penalty of your sin and my sin. The Father took our sins and placed them on Christ’s shoulders. He then took Christ’s righteousness and applied it to our hearts. You can find that text in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

 

To die without Jesus means to die without having received by faith Jesus’ death as the substitutionary sacrifice for their sins. Jesus becomes our substitution when we receive Him gift by faith. He substituted Himself to pay our penalty because He is 100% man AND at the same time 100% God. It’s called the Mystery of the Trinity – a mystery no one should expect to be able to fully understand with our very human and finite minds.

 

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is a vital Biblical doctrine because it  explains how Jesus the God-Man could be our substitute. And BECAUSE it is a foundational doctrine of Christian faith there have been – and there are today – many people in and out of the pews, as well as a growing number of religious teachers and pastors who insist that Jesus is NOT Almighty God in the flesh of a man.

 

These false teachers do the work of Satan as they try to convince others that Jesus is NOT co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. They tell people Jesus is a created being. Some even believe Jesus was a man who lived well enough to become a god – just as anyone else can live well enough and become a god.

 

But Scripture is unambiguous about Jesus being co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. For example, St. John tells us in the opening verses of his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God.”

 

When Jesus told the Pharisees that He and the Father are ‘one essence’ (John 10:30), they completely understood that Jesus was claiming to be fully equal with God the Father. That’s why they picked up stones to execute Him right there on the spot.

 

The saddest story in four words: “They died without Jesus.” Think of it a moment – to die and spend an eternity in abject hopelessness. Loneliness. Torment. Knowing you are forever abandoned by God to an existence of unending despair.

 

That is the saddest story anyone can experience. And that is why we should want to tell everyone who will listen – “Come to Jesus. Come now. While you still can.”

 

And that is why WE should always live our lives carefully, both in private and in public, so that we do not give scandal to the gospel and give unbelievers excuse to turn to their own self-idolatry, to continue in their rebellion against God, and to live life their way instead of God’s way.

 

When God Seems Silent

 Sermon July 18

                                           When God Seems Silent

You can listen to the message here: https://youtu.be/Kt_JnE8Dg_0 

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

 

The focus of my message today is once again God’s love for us. This time that focus is in context with the question, “Why does God sometimes seem silent to my prayers?”

 

Such silence has happened to me far more often than I like to remember. And the same has happened to so many others with whom I have spoken during the nearly half-century I have walked with Jesus.

 

Why does God sometimes seem so silent when we are so desperately in need?

 

No Christian has not at one time or another – and often at many times – tried to wrap their minds around God’s apparent silence in the face of bone-shattering tragedy. A child develops cancer – and then dies. A husband is horribly injured in a car accident – and never fully recovers. A woman or a man pray for years that God would bring them a godly spouse – and yet they remain single. A wife develops debilitating dementia – and gets progressively worse.

 

There’s no end to the horrible things that CAN go wrong and DO go wrong in life. And like Job, who in one fell-swoop, lost his ten children, his wealth, and his health, we melt into a pile of mournful depression, wondering why God is treating us so.

 

Certainly, there are times God says yes to our prayers. But my message today looks at the other side of our prayer life – when God seems silent to our prayers and we ask the question again and again, ‘Why.’

 

I remember very well asking that question of God back in the winter of 2019 when Nancy had her stroke. I’ve told that story many times, and will not repeat the story, except to say this – because it segues into the larger point of my message.

 

I’d never known such emotional trauma in all my life as Nancy lay there in her ICU bed for three weeks.  I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop crying, could hardly pray or even read the Scriptures. My entire being focused on fear – fear of what would become of Nancy and trying to understand what God was doing with us. I was at the absolute lowest point in my Christian walk – a walk that had been by then some 45 years.

 

And then, suddenly and quite unexpectedly – unexpectedly because God had seemed so silent to me during those weeks – suddenly God asked me two questions: “Richard, what do you know about Me?”  And the second, “Why do you know it?”

 

It is those two questions I want us to examine now before I try to answer the one about God’s silence. Those two questions – and our answers to those two questions – will be the foundation for how we will ultimately deal with God’s silence to some of our prayers.

 

That foundation will be either firm because we have come up with the right answers to those two questions BEFORE we need to deal with out next desperate life-struggle, or it will falter badly if we don’t settle those two questions.

 

So, Christian, what do we know about God? And why do we know it. Let me answer the second question first:

 

Why do we know what we know about God? That’s easy. It’s all there between the covers of the Bible. Surely the heavens and nature itself declare to us God’s existence and His glory and His handiwork. It is only the willfully self-blinded who look at it all and convince themselves it all ‘just happened.’ But about God and His character, we find those specifics – at least the specifics He wants us to know – in the pages of Scripture.

 

So, now to answer the first question: What do we know about God? Specifically, what is it we know about God AND His character upon which we can confidently rest when we struggle with the fear that God is silent to our heart cries?  This is IMPORTANT because without this confidence, no other answer to the question of why God seems silent can ever satisfy.

 

First, we know God is omnipotent. All-mighty. He is utterly sovereign over nature, over nations. Nothing slips passed Him – not corrupt politicians at every level of government. Not corrupt news broadcasters, not corrupt business leaders or corrupt religious leaders.

 

Nothing gets passed His gaze. Not our loneliness, our fears, our confusions, our heartaches, our pains – He knows it all because He is All Mighty and omniscient.

 

What does Scripture tell us about His authority? For example,

 

Isaiah 40:15-17 “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust . . . . All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are

regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”

 

Isaiah 40:7-8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”

 

There are hundreds of such assurances throughout Scripture that testify to God’s unequaled power and authority, but let’s just let these two suffice for the sake of time.

 

What ELSE do we know of God’s character? He loves YOU. Whoever you are, whatever you have done, however often you have done it – He loves you. In it all, through it all. How do we know this? 

 

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son . . . And finally for our purposes here: Jeremiah 31:3 – “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

 

We’ve got to get this. This same omnipotent God loves us so deeply, so passionately, so warmly, that He demonstrated His love by willingly and lovingly sending His dear Son to pay the requisite punishment of death for our rebellions and sins. What more could even an almighty omnipotent God do to prove His love for us?

 

And there is one more thing I want to remind us of about God’s character before we get to the question of why He seems so silent when we need Him most.

 

Scripture assures us that this same almighty and omniscient Creator actually wants to enter into a loving RELATIONSHIP with us. He wants to be our Father. He wants to adopt all of us into His family as His children.

 

When we talk about God wanting us to be His children, Scripture does NOT mean ‘children’ in a generic sense, as in ‘all humanity are His creation.’ No, this is an actual ADOPTION into His eternal family as a true Father to sons and daughters brought specifically into the family by their faith in the salvation and forgiveness of sins which He initiated through Jesus’ sacrificial atonement, death, and resurrection.

 

St. John tells us: “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10-13)

 

So, I say it again – because it is vitally important to our walk with Christ – without a rock-solid trust in God’s omnipotence, sovereignty, love, and our relationship to Him as His adopted sons and daughters through faith and obedience to Jesus – we will not be able to move toward successfully wrapping our minds around the inevitable questions when God seems silent to our prayers.

 

Which now brings us to that question of His silence – WHY does it seem so?

 

Well, again, back to Scripture for our answer. The Bible gives us several possible reasons for His silence. For example:

 

1. The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart. (Psalm 66:18, New Life Version) In other words, if I am persistent in choosing my way above His commandments – why should I expect our Holy God to hear my prayer? That is nothing less than insolent presumption and arrogance. St. Paul tells us, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”  (Galatians 6:7)

 

The remedy to that barrier to answered prayer? Confession, repentance and changing our direction.

 

Second: We ought not expect our holy God to hear our prayers if we harbor an unforgiving attitude toward someone or some ones. We must never gloss over this problem because God does not gloss over it. When the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray what we call the Lord’s Prayer, He taught them: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And then almost immediately He follows on with this warning: “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Third. Sometimes God does not answer our prayers in order to test us, to see what is in our hearts . . . not that He does not know what is there, but so that WE might come to terms with what is in our heart. Deuteronomy 8:2-3 is one Biblical example. John 6 is yet another. You may remember the incident in John 6 when the Lord said what seemed to everyone unbelievable words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Many of His followers turned and walked away from Jesus. And then the Lord turned to the Twelve and asked: “You do not want to go away also, do you?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. (John 6:67-68)

 

When God does not answer our prayers – what shall we do? Some walk away when they do not understand what He is doing with us. What will we do?

A fourth possible reason for His silence: Scripture tells us that sometimes we just will not know why God does or does not do anything. For example, Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

Such a recognition and acknowledgment to ourselves that we cannot know all there is to know about why God does or does not do anything – our acceptance AND our acquiescence to His higher ways and higher thoughts will go a long way in our learning to trust our omnipotent and loving Father to do what is right for us – even when he says, ‘No” – which brings us to the last reason we will look at today about why God may seem silent to our prayers.

 

5. Sometimes God flat-out says ‘No’ to our prayers. He said No to St. Paul when the great apostle asked Him THREE TIMES to remove his thorn in the flesh. Many of you remember that text in 2 Corinthians 12. And let us not forget, the Father also said flat-out No to His beloved Son, Jesus in that Garden of Gethsemane. So, we should not be shocked if God at times also tells us flat-out – ‘No’ to our prayer.

 

I do not know if I have adequately answered to your satisfaction the question about God’s sometimes silence to our prayers. But my message today is quite honestly the best I come up with for myself when I ask that question.

 

As I said earlier, there are other reasons we could come up with from the Scriptures that might also help us understand His silence in those circumstances. But all of our answers – both the ones I have listed today, and the ones we could debate for a long time – all of those answers must be rooted in the correct answers to the questions God asked me when I was at my lowest ebb: What do you know about Me?  And why do you know it?

 

We ALL must come to an unshakeable understanding deep in our souls, that God loves us. And that He always, always has our best interests at the center of His heart. We MUST get that in the deepest recesses of our souls.

 

And this is IMPORTANT: Such unshakeable confidence and trust in God’s omnipotence and love is NOT something we can gin up on our own. Such confidence can ONLY be born and sustained by God’s grace and gift of the Holy Spirit. The weapons of our spiritual warfare are NOT of the flesh, but they are divinely powerful and divinely provided.

 

And when we come to a place of spiritual maturity, that place where we know with absolute certainty that He always has our best interests at the center of His heart, then it will be as natural for us as breathing to thank Him – yes, even to PRAISE Him – regardless of how He answers or does not answer our prayers.

 

Oh, God the Holy Spirit – move in Your supernatural way in each of our souls, that we will all come to that place of absolute trust in our heavenly Fathers unchanging love for us.  Amen

 

My Way, or God's

 

Sermon July 11, 2021

My Way. Or God’s Way. 

You can listen to this message here: https://youtu.be/rJ1CnLECnKg

 

Before I read our text from Romans I want to introduce the theme for today’s message with the lyrics of a song written by Paul Anka, to be sung by Frank Sinatra. I’ve mentioned this song before and I do so again now because it demonstrates precisely why the country and yes, many parts of the Church, is in such terrible spiritual shape.

 

Surely, this has got to be the saddest and most spiritually harmful songs Sinatra ever sang. “I Did it My Way” became his signature song and is become the anthem of many people, even in church pews, of all places.

 

At the memorial service for Sen. John McCain in August of 2018, Sinatra's "My Way" played as the casket was carried out of North Phoenix Baptist Church. And according to a report in the online publication, Daily Mail, Sinatra’s song is now among the favored songs played at funerals.

 

Did you get that? The favored song at funerals is not a Christian hymn that speaks of the love and mercy and the promises of God for eternal life. No, instead it’s the spit-in-God’s face song that has its very roots in the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden.

 

Here are the lyrics. If you have never listened closely, please pay attention now:

 

“And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case, of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full. I traveled each and every highway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.

“Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exception. I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway, and more, much more than this:
I did it my way

“Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew, when I bit off more than I could chew, but through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way.

“I've loved, I've laughed and cried, I've had my fill, my share of losing. and now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing to think I did all that, and may I say, not in a shy way, oh, no, oh, no, not me. I did it my way

“For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has not. To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows and did it my way.

The title of my message today is simply, “My way, or God’s way?” Such is the question that Israel faced, as I will demonstrate in a moment. And such is the question YOU AND I face this afternoon.

 

Our text comes from sections of Romans 9 and Romans 10. Here is the section from chapter 9: I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. (Verses 1-5)

 

And then Romans in 10 in which Paul explains WHY Jews then – and Jews today and everyone else who insists of living life their way – why they are lost and without hope of eternal life.  

 

Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. ³ For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. (10:1-3)

 

God makes it clear through the apostle that the Jewish nation – God’s Chosen People – who did not seek or serve God the way God told them to seek and serve – they were lost.  The were lost in Paul’s day, and they are lost in this day. It ought to make our blood boil to hear people in pulpits and in palatial church offices opine that Jews are saved simply because they are Jews. That’s like saying just because a person in baptized that they are guaranteed heaven, regardless how they live.

 

But from cover to cover of the Bible, God tells it differently. God tell us salvation is not only God’s idea, but that salvation is granted us by God when we do things His way, and not ours.

 

God taught the great King David that lesson several times in his life. Let me tell you of one of those lessons. It has to do with David and the priest Uzzah. You can find the story in 2 Samuel 6.

 

In this section David and all Israel were celebrating before the Lord as they were bringing back the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. They had placed the Ark on an ox cart to transport it back into the city. But as they drew near the oxen stumbled and knocked the Ark off balance. Uzzah the priest reached out to keep it from falling. But, the writer tells us: “The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him . . . and he died.”

 

Now, if that’s all we know, then we should have some questions, not the least of which would be: Why did God kill His priest for trying to protect the Holy Ark?

 

But now look at the sequel to this story in the 15^th chapter of 1 Chronicles, especially verses 11-15 where we are told that after Uzzah’s death, David again decided to bring the ark to Jerusalem. But this time: “David called for . . . the priests, and for the Levites . . . and said to them . . . because you did not carry it at the first, the Lord our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.”

 

I want to repeat that last statement of the text. David recognized God struck down His priest because they “did not seek Him according to the ordinance.”

 

In other words, only after Uzzah’s death did the priests transport the Ark God’s way – not their way. It was only after Uzzah died that they inserted poles into the rings of the Ark and carried it on their shoulders – as Moses had commanded 500 years earlier (see Ex 25:10-14 and Num 4:6-15).

 

The Holy Spirit tells us repeatedly through the Scriptures what He said to Saul through the prophet, Samuel: “Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.”  (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

 

So, back to the issue Paul talks about in Romans 9 and 10. Israel had a zeal for God. Many Jews and Gentiles today have a zeal for God. But, as Paul says, Not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to  establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

 

In other words, an ox cart, or poles? My Way, or God’s Way?

 

People all over the world – even in the Church – still think they need to work their way to heaven, to establish their own righteousness instead of doing it God’s way – which is only, only by obedient faith in Jesus. 

 

Look with me at what Paul tells us here in chapter 10 of Romans:

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [Gentile], for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” (10:9-15)

 

No distinction between Jew and non-Jew. God loves every one of us. And so, the promise is to everyone – that being ALL who call on the Lord for salvation HIS way will never be disappointed or cast from His presence.

 

THAT is why evangelism was so important to the heart of Paul – and why it is so important to the heart of God – so people understand the difference between doing things My Way, or God’s Way.

 

With the subject as serious as salvation, God is always straightforward. It never took a PhD in theology to figure out what God requires of all who wish to be saved. He leaves no room for question or confusion. Paul’s comment here to the Christians in Rome is the same as his comment to the Philippian jailer who asked him and Silas, “What shall I do to be saved?” And they answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31).

 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to believe in Jesus? According to Scripture, the belief that saves is NOT merely an intellectual assent. Intellectual assent, by itself, is worthless. St. James in his epistle tells us, “The demons believe – and they tremble.” (James 2:19). 

 

No, in context with the whole of the Old and New Testaments, belief that means anything of eternal value is synonymous with obedience.

 

And let me make a quick side-bar comment also about ‘faith.’ Faith that saves us is NOT a leap in the dark. God gave us brains and He expects us to use our brains to seek truth. That’s why God called the citizens of Berea “more noble’ than those of Thessalonica. Why?  Here is what it says in verse Acts 17:11 and 12: “For they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. ¹² Therefore many of them believed . . .

 

The Bereans believed because they first used their brains to investigate whether what Paul told them was truth. And when we finally settle on God’s truths, it’s important that we TELL others of our faith in Jesus.

 

And now back to the text: For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”

 

Listen, Christianity is not a private thing. It is not something we do only on Sundays. If we really have a salvific faith, then we will make open acknowledgment, open confession of our faith.

 

And let me add, if we do not feel comfortable in telling others of our Jesus, and what He has done for us, then we ought to examine our faith to make sure it is not merely an intellectual assent.

 

Listen, Paul knew what he was talking about when he tells us “Whoever will call on the Lord WILL be saved.” The man who did his best to meticulously follow the 613 laws of Torah, and who was so zealous for God that he became a murderous persecutor of Christians – Paul, who called himself the chief of sinners, he knew what he was talking about when he said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

That means you. And me. And everyone else in this building. No exceptions.

BUT, and now we circle back to his heart – and God’s heart – for evangelism.  Paul continues in verses 14 and 15: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”

 

If we do not tell them – who will?

 

Some of you remember this song by Fanny Crosby:

 

Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.. . .

 

Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,
Writhing in anguish and pain;
Tell of the grave where they laid Him,
Tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender,
Clearer than ever I see;
Stay, let me weep while you whisper,
“Love paid the ransom for me.”

·         Refrain:
Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word;
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.

 

Listen, I am not at all trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone. But I am trying to URGE you to take an active role in sharing Christ with others if you do not already do so. Ask God for SUPERNATURAL boldness to simply invite others to join us for Bible study, or for the Sunday message. Or you can give them any of the books I’ve offered you for free.

 

Let me conclude with this final word: Too many people even in the church, whether consciously or unconsciously, are content to live according to the attitude inherent in Sinatra’s song: “For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has not. To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows and did it my way.

God forbid it Lord, that any of us should continue to live life our way, and not His. We cannot earn salvation. At its most fundamental level, salvation has nothing at all to do with our way, with our good works, our efforts, even when our intentions are commendable.

 

No, salvation is granted to only those who seek it God’s way, through His gift to us through our obedient trust in the sacrificial atonement for our sins that Jesus paid.

 

 If we believe it – then let’s not keep it to ourselves.