Grace Revisited

Everybody have notes. OK. Chapter 10. This morning we're going to look at verses 6-13. Again, what's happened here at Johnson's is that we've entered into an accelerated pace. We were going real slow, which was real good, and so this thing was initially set as a two-year project course. And with the pace that we were at, it was going to be more like three. So the elder said, what are we going to do? Do we want this thing to be three or do we want it to stay two? And so the decision was to stay two, and so therefore we had to shift this thing into fifth gear. So we're now instead of going like 1, 2, 3, 4 verses, we're up to like 5, 8, 10 verses a week. So yeah, my jaw is dry. Anyways, we're trying to get through 6 through 13 today. I think that we can do it. Okay, what I want to do is read chapter 10, and I want to read verses 1 through 13 here.

Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge, for not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own.

They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law, shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down. Or, Who will descend into the abyss? That is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say?

The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching. Verse nine, That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus says, Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scriptures say, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Okay, so I want to do a little bit of a review this morning just as we get going. So chapters 9 through 11 are essentially prophetic. So what about the nation of Israel? Paul is taking chapters 1 through 8.

He's laid this wonderful foundation that all are lost and all can be saved. And here's how you're saved. And not only does he talk about how you're saved, but he talks about how you're free from the power of sin, how you're free from the power of the law. Here's the Holy Spirit who ministers these wonderful truths in your life. So now, what about the nation of Israel? We see Paul's heart for his brethren, the nation of Israel.

We saw that in chapter 9, verses 1-3. For I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were a curse separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." And then last week Roger brought out to us in chapter 10 verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for their salvation.

So chapter 9 started off with Paul kind of pouring out his heart and showing his desire that for his brethren Israel would be saved. And then chapter 10 started off the same way. So it's a serious matter. It's nothing to be that Paul is taking lightly the Jews here in their salvation. So he reveals his heart.

So the question comes up, since God has given the covenants and he's given the promises to Israel, what has happened to the nation as a whole? And it seems like that's this prophetic section that we're in here, chapter 9 through 11. And as we end today in chapter 10 verse 13, put this halfway through. So we'll be halfway through this prophetic And if we look at chapter 9, back in verse 4 and 5, it says, For who are the Israelites?

To whom belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the law, the temple service, the promises? Whose are the fathers? From whom is the Christ according to the fathers? Who is overall God, blessed forever? to the Israelites were given all these promises were given all these covenants so all these things were given to them and actually if we go back to chapter 3 we looked at this maybe a year or so ago I don't remember but look at chapter 3 in verse 1-4 then what advantage has the Jew or what benefit What is the benefit of circumcision?

It's great in every respect. So there we see that being a Jew has its advantages. In this section of chapters 1-3, the point was God judges with no partiality. When he's viewing all of mankind, whether you're a Jew, whether you're a Gentile, the judgment of God comes upon all mankind with no partiality. But is there an advantage? Is there a benefit to being a Jew? Yes. God says, yes there is. First of all, in verse 2, that we were entrusted with the oracles of God. We were given the promises of God. We were given the covenants of God. We were given the commandments of God. What then, if some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God?

Will it? May it never be. Rather, let God be found true, and every man be found a liar." So that's showing that in the future, what God has said, He's promised that Israel is going to be fulfilled. And that's obviously in a yet future time to come and during the millennial reign. But notice here verse 4, let God be found true and every man be found a liar. And go back to chapter 9 and verse 6. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. And essentially, let God's word be found true.

There's a benefit for Israel. There's been promises. They're saying, boy, we certainly aren't seeing these promises come to fruition. And what Paul is saying is, let God's word be found true. God's word is not going to fail. So we're right in the middle of this prophetic section. I thought it's important to get the context of what's going on here with this section.

So, so far, how has Paul responded to this question in relation to what's happened to the nation of Israel as a whole? Well, he started off in chapter 9 by pointing out the fact that not all of Israel are part of Israel. So it's kind of a difficult, you know, tough thing to understand there, but not all of Israel is part of spiritual Israel. So, what's happened to the nation as a whole. The first thing that he points out is that not all of Israel are part of spiritual Israel, as he begins to explain to them what's going on.

And then secondly, God sovereignly chooses on whom he will have mercy, making them part of spiritual Israel, and he hardens whom he wants. So, not all of Israel are part of spiritual Israel. He's going to have mercy on whom he has mercy, and he's going to harden whom he hardens. And Israel sought righteousness through self-righteousness in the law, and not through faith.

We saw that in the latter part of chapter 9. I think Bob did a good job of bringing those things out to us. So, national Israel did not receive God, but they pursued the law of righteousness. And they did not arrive at the righteousness because of unbelief. Essentially, really, was the bottom line. If we look at that in chapter 9, in verse 32, let's read that. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. So they were going after it through their own self-righteousness. through the law of righteousness. So, why is it what's happened to the nation as a whole? Well, they're pursuing the law based on the principle of self-righteousness instead of being based on the principle of faith, the righteousness which is by faith.

Christ is the end of the law. We saw that last week. Roger brought that out in a great way. Verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law of righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ had done it all for them, but they didn't believe. That's really the bottom line. What we're seeing here in chapter 10. Christ had done it all. And that's the point that we're going to pick up today. That's why we entitled it Grace Revisited. Christ had done it all, but what?

They hadn't believed it. And that's why this has happened to the nation as a whole. That's why the nation as a whole hasn't entered into what it is that God has for them. Because they haven't believed in what it is that God has put forth. Kind of a big intro and review, but I think it's important to keep this whole section in context of talking about the nation of Israel, It's prophetic. Why haven't they entered into what God has for them?

And then we're going to get into chapter 11, exactly what is going to take place, and when will their time be fulfilled. Okay, so in verse 6, we start off with this word, but. So verses 6-13 are in strong contrast to chapter 9-30, through 10 verse 5 okay so what we see here verse 6 but the righteousness based on faith speaks this and then it goes on to say don't say in your heart and so this is in contrast to the righteousness of the law and you see in verse 31 of chapter 9 but Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not arrive at it So they were pursuing these things based on self-righteousness, the righteousness which is of the law. Look in verse 3 of chapter 10. Not knowing of God's righteousness, they were seeking to establish their own. They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

But, the righteousness based on faith says this. So, we've got this big contrast between the prior set of verses and now we're going to talk about the righteousness of God, the righteousness which is based on faith, which is really grace revisited. What is it that God has done for mankind? The righteousness based on faith says this. The righteousness Based on faith and the righteousness of God are essentially the same thing. I don't think we can make much of a difference between the righteousness based on faith and the righteousness of God. Because the righteousness of God is what? It's a righteousness which is based on faith. And a righteousness which is based on faith is what? The righteousness of God.

So I think as we go through this section, We see these phrases, righteousness of God and righteousness based on faith, used several times. I think that we can safely view those interchangeably. So when we look in verse 6, the righteousness based on faith speaks this. I think we can also say the righteousness of God says this. God's righteousness says this.

Now the Gentiles attained to the righteousness based on faith. Look at chapter 9 verse 30. What shall we say then that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith? So they attained it. Here's the Gentiles attained this righteousness. Why did they attain it? Because they believed. because they sought after it by faith, because they believed is why they attained this righteousness.

Therefore, if the righteousness of God is based on faith, and it is to be attained by faith, then don't say this in your heart. I think that's what we see in this verse 6 here. The righteousness based on faith says this, don't do this. Does that make sense? The Gentiles attain the righteousness of God because they sought after it by faith.

So because it is by faith, don't do this. Well, don't do what? Let's keep reading verse 6b-7. Don't say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

So, it's all by faith. The righteousness of God is attained by faith, so therefore, don't say in your heart, don't seek after this, is what it is that he's trying to tell them. Okay, I won't take the time to look up Deuteronomy 9, chapter 4, but I do want to look up Deuteronomy 30, verses 11-14, which is where this quote is coming from. Is this making sense? Are you tracking the flow here? Any questions? Any thoughts? Additional ideas? Okay, so we've got Deuteronomy chapter 30, and we have a quote here, chapter verses 11 through 14.

Anybody that finds it and you'd like to read, please just read out. For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say, Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart. Okay, thank you.

So, verses 6B through 7 and also included in 8. We haven't gotten 8 yet, but this is coming from Deuteronomy 11-14. Now, there's a little bit of a different twist with his quote here, and we're going to talk about that in a couple seconds. So, if Paul is saying, don't do this in your heart, then it's important to know what these statements mean. If he's saying, hey listen guys, this righteousness is attained by faith. God's righteousness is based on faith. Therefore, don't say this in your heart. We need to know what does he mean by these two statements. Because he's saying, don't say this in your heart. Don't let this be your mindset.

So we have to know what do these things mean, in order to know what he's talking about. What do you think? What do you think about these statements here, who will ascend into heaven is equivalent with to bring Christ down, who will descend into the abyss or the deep to bring Christ up from the... what do you think that means? Any thoughts? Okay, Christ has already descended into the earth, risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven. His death and resurrection were satisfactory to God and do not need to be repeated. In fact, it's impossible for this to be repeated. It's not necessary and it's humanly impossible to do this again.

And I think that's what these folks were thinking. Do we need to bring Christ back? Does he need to be crucified again? In a sense, they're kind of like, we missed it. Let's bring him back for a second act. Yeah, let's have him do it over so that we can believe in it.

Well, Paul is saying, don't say this in your heart. And the point is, he has already done it. He only needs to do it one time. It's not something that he needs to repeat. It's not something that you can... it's not like you can go get him and bring him down and force him to repeat this thing so that you can believe it. It doesn't need to be repeated. The fact of the matter is it's already happened. God's Word has revealed it. Simply believe in it. I think that's what he's driving at here. Wayne?

Is that what those that don't believe in eternal security are actually saying? Yeah, that's a good point. to crucify Christ again. This may be chasing a rabbit a little bit, and I'm sure it is, but how on earth can the Roman Catholics celebrate Mass every Sunday? They bring Christ down from the cross, sacrifice him each time they do that. That's right, that's right. And yet they say they believe in the Bible, but the Pope pronounces conflicts with it.

It's just amazing that it's this way. That's enough of that. No, those are good points. Wayne and Art, thank you. They're in a sense recrucifying Christ again for what they did since the last time that they confessed their sins. Boy, we better recrucify him again. They kind of keep going through that pattern. It's bondage. It's tied to the church. For the Catholics tied to the Church, and for the legalists tied to the law through self-effort.

It seems to be talking about self-effort, and I may be wrong here, but the first thing it says is, don't say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? Can I do it by myself? What that is doing is bringing Christ down. Descending to the earth, what they're doing is, by their legalism, trying to do it on their own. Basically what that's saying is that what Christ did was not enough, so he has to come back down. I don't know, it seems like it's even something that they're doing. They want to do it on their own. What Christ did was not enough.

That's right. I don't know if that's... No, I think that fits well. I think it is a combination of the two. I think that fits well. Man certainly isn't in focus. It's man's timetable. Now I'm going to get busy and do it for me right now. That's sort of like the Gospels where it says, with Lazarus, do they need somebody to come? Well, somebody already came. Is somebody going to come and tell them about it? No. Somebody already came. The same way here.

God has already revealed his Son. So man doesn't need to reproduce it again on his timetable, with his view. Yes. Which is self-righteousness, which is self-effort, which is works-oriented. Any other thoughts? I just have one. I kept reading in Deuteronomy, and the next couple of verses, I'll just read it, it says, See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.

For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and keep His commands, decrees, laws, then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. The word walk just jumped out at me, as walking is not necessarily a work, it's just walk in His ways. It's not a work, it's just walking His ways. And if you're walking in His ways, you're going to keep His commandments, and there's that faith.

Yeah, and it seems like, I think so, and there we're talking about Old Testament physical blessings there, which God had already laid out for the nation of Israel, so then they are walking by faith in what God had already done for them. He's already blessed them physically in the Old Testament. So here, in Romans, we're seeing what God has already done spiritually.

Not physically, but spiritually. And Paul's exhortation to these guys is, listen guys, walk by faith in what it is that I've already done to you spiritually. And it's not a work. Because God's already done the work in physically taking care of things there and spiritually taking care of things here. So simply walk by faith in what it is that God has already done. Is that where you were going? Is that what you were thinking? That it's more by faith, not the words. Exactly.

And that's Paul's point here. That's the whole point here because they were trying to establish their own self-righteousness according to the law of righteousness. And he's saying, no. And that's part of the reason why Israel hasn't entered into, as a nation, God's blessings as Israel. Because you're trying to attain it based on your own self-righteousness. So he comes back to the gospel. of don't try to crucify Christ again. Christ has already died, once and for all been buried, resurrected, ascended. Simply believe in that. That's going to come out very clear here. A couple more verses.

Wow, am I shaking that? Or are my eyes really bugging out? A big truck driving by or something? It's like last week, it's not beeping where I'm driving. a big car, the boombox stereo, and the sound waves are making the kids... Okay, so, let's ask a couple questions about this text we already read here. In the Old Testament, the Word was near to them. Let's read verse 8. So what does it say? And then he gets into the quote here. The word was near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching. So in the Old Testament, the word was near to them, not far off. What is the word referring to in the Old Testament? Do you remember? Should we read it again? Do you still have your finger in it there, Ruth? Can you just read that for us again verses 11 through 14?

Maybe. Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven so that you have to ask who will ascend into heaven to get it and claim it for us so we can obey it. Nor is it beyond the sea so that you have to ask who will cross the sea to get it and claim it for us so we can obey it. No, the word is near, is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it. Okay, so what is the word referring to there? The word is in your heart, the word is in your mouth, it is near to you so that you can obey. What's the word referring to there?

Yeah, exactly, the law of the commandments. Okay, yeah, very good. And so, that's what we see in the Old Testament. And so now in the New Testament, because he says he's using the same quote, here in chapter 10, verse 8, what is the word that he's referring to here in verse 8 of chapter 10? What's the word? This one is real easy. Yeah, the word, the word of faith, Christ.

He says it later on in that verse. So this is Grace Revisited, the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Don't try to bring Christ down from heaven so that you can crucify him again. But believe in the fact that he has already been crucified, buried, raised, and ascended, and this word is near to you. I think that's what Paul is. Don't try to do this thing on your own. It's already been completed. So, the Word is near to you. What do you mean?

Well, Christ had come just as the Old Testament said that He would. Christ was not remote from them. The Word, Christ, the Word of Faith had come to them, very near to them. Christ had come among them. He died and rose again in their midst. The resultant righteousness was available to them in their very mouth and heart because Paul and other disciples were teaching and preaching the word. Therefore, they had no excuse. It was just as in the Old Testament, the law and the commandments were right there. They had the temple, the sacrificial system, it was a constant reminder to them. It was in their midst. Well, so was Christ.

He was very near to them. There's no excuse, and He was so near to them, there's no need to try to redo it. It's ludicrous. What a thought to try to redo it. Also in the Old Testament, the Messiah was presented, so they knew the Messiah was coming. Yeah, that's right. That was a promise. They needed to believe it. Okay, so the word is near to you. That is the word of faith which we are preaching.

Paul and the other disciples were preaching. Okay, so verse 9 through 13. We see this word here, believe, is used three different times. It says believe in verse 9, it says believes in verse 10, it says believe in verse 11, and then we see call upon him is used two different times over in the end of verse 12, who will call upon him, and verse 13, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so the issue is that they are without an excuse, and they need to believe, and they need to call upon the Lord. It's the bottom line. Stop with your self-righteousness. Stop with trying to attain, through the law of righteousness, God has done it all. Don't try to redo it, but believe and call upon the name of the Lord. That's what Paul is really driving home here. So, verse 9, that, or some translate it, because, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord. So the idea here of confess is simply to say the same thing or to agree with what the scriptures say about Jesus as being the Lord.

And there's a similar idea when we talk about confessing our sins. When we talk about confessing our sins, what do we What do we mean by that? We simply mean that we're going to agree with God about our sin and thank Him for our forgiveness, which we already have. That's what we mean by confessing our sins.

So we're going to confess Christ Jesus as Lord. We're simply going to agree with Him and what the Scriptures say about Jesus being as Lord. That's what is meant by the idea there of confessing. We comes across this way. to confess Jesus as Lord includes a hard belief in his deity incarnation, vicarious atonement, and bodily resurrection."

That's the content of the belief there. I didn't go into all the details, but how he arrived at that was with the definition of Jesus in the scriptures, in the Old Testament, and also the definition of Lord, referring to His deity. That's how we arrive at that conclusion. The amount of verses we have to cover these days don't allow us to go into that detail, but it's there. So, confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, verse 9, believe in your heart, God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.

Just to point out, confess and believe are aorist's active subjunctive, in case those of you that are interested in that. So the subjunctive carries with it the idea that you might do or you might not do, to confess and to believe. You can do it, but you might not do it, is the way it's coming across here.

So, the believing in their heart here, this is in contrast to just an oral confession or an intellectual decision. So, it's more than just outwardly confessing something to be true. So, as I try to package it and get my hands around it, this is the way I put it.

Verse 8 talks about the Gospel being near to them, and we see real clear evidence for that. near to them in their mouth and in their hearts. So he is simply saying to confess with their mouths what is already in their mouths. But it is not just an outward oral confession of something, but it is an inward belief with a heart that results in salvation. Because verse 8 says, the word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart.

So, in a sense, it was already there. They were hearing it. They were hearing the gospel being preached. They knew of it. It was on their lips. They could probably articulate it back to people. But the issue was what? They weren't believe in it, in their heart.

So, in a sense, it's confessing with your mouth what's already there, but not only that, it is inwardly believing what you would confess outwardly, and that inward decision of faith is what results in salvation. I have another question. Though the scripture apparently, and I think we agree, that this is primarily to Israel, that if they are to believe in their heart and confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, they shall be saved. How about we the Gentiles?

Sure. Same. Same thing. There's no difference between the Jews or the Greeks. He's going to get into that in verse 12. There's no difference. Because, you know, we're in the church age now. You know, God is not exclusively working with Israel as he as he did in the Old Testament and as he's going to in the future millennium, now we're in the Church Age, the Age of Grace, there's no distinction between the Jew or the Gentile, it's the same. It's by faith.

It's interesting, you throw this word confess here in this passage, and it's a little bit interesting. I wanted to look at one scripture which I thought was a little bit interesting. John 12, At first read, it can be a little bit confusing. Some denominations have even taken this to an extreme, this idea of confessing the Lord with your mouth. John 12, 42 and 43 says this, Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God."

So there's an instance where you see someone believing but not confessing. So there's a little bit of a doubt there. I'm not sure. So I just pose the question. If one is not willing to outwardly confess, do they really believe? And that's a subjective question, so there's really no answer for sure about that, but it's certainly worth thinking about.

But let's say this. A word of caution regarding this passage I think needs to be made. Oral confession is not a second requirement for salvation. Scripture is clear. And there's some denominations that say, you know what, boy, he said he believes, but he hasn't come down front and confessed his salvation before the congregation. I'm not sure that the guy saved. I don't think we can go there. Scripture doesn't go there. Does that subjective thing you mentioned before, is that the answer to that question? Might or might not? I think so. They might believe, they might not believe.

I'm talking about the confession. How did that apply to the believing? It applied to both. The confessing and the believing, they were both heirs, active, subjunctive. It's given the idea that if one confesses and believes, if one does, then you can either believe or you could not believe. The reason I put that is because it's not saying when you do, it's saying if you do. That's the way it's coming across there with the subjunctive.

So, Jim, the word confessal, was that homo legale? Yes, it was. Again, I didn't get into it. We're trying to cover eight verses, you've got to draw a line somewhere. We're already five minutes from class and we're on slide five. Well, I'm only six, we might make it. But this is critical that we understand these points here, because we might be challenged on this.

Well, the Word of God says you've got to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe. If you're not confessing, then I'm not sure you're saved. Well, I think that's very, very dangerous and sketchy ground, and I don't think it's biblical. Belief in the heart is a critical requirement for salvation, and the scripture is so clear about that.

Confession is simply the outward manifestation of the inward response of faith. In a sense, it's kind of like baptism. People say, well, if you're not baptized, I'm not sure you're saved. Well, what is baptism? It's the outward showing of an inward decision that I trust in the Lord as my personal Savior.

See? Context proves this. If we look at this, we're looking at this section in verses 9-30, chapter 9, 30, and 10-15. Faith and belief are mentioned 11 times. And while we have confessed, it's mentioned too. So the simple principle of hermeneutics, if the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense. And we're seeing it. 11 to 2, don't tell me you're going to drive your stake on two words of confess to say you've got to confess the Lord to be saved. You've got some hermeneutical problems there if you're going to go that route. Any thoughts, questions? Yes, exactly. That's right, that's right, yes. So verse 10 reiterates the same points with a different word order. And we get to this word order thing, you know, Verne has every week been hitting us with this chiasm, you know, in Isaiah, and he's even got it in Galatians now, you know.

So, if you look at the verses there, in verse 9 and 10, we do have a chiasm represented. The verses are emphasizing the same point of believing with the heart, the gospel, and confessing with the mouth. So verse 9 and 10, we see that these are personal. Now we're going to make a shift as we move into verses 11 through 13, that these are going to be more of a universal. Because if you look at these, verse 9 says, if you, meaning a specific, personal individual, and then verse 11 says, whosoever believes, and verse 12, there's no distinction between the Jew or the Greek, and verse 13, whosoever calls. So we see he really broadens this scope here of what he's talking about, of faith, as being the key point.

So verse 11, whosoever believes, Larry just brought it out, believes in Him, will not be disappointed. This word is also used, KJV uses the word ashamed instead of disappointed there. And so this word is also used in chapter 5 and verse 5 and it's the Same quote, which is from Isaiah 28, verse 16, which is also used up in chapter 9, in verse 33. I thought that was interesting. I don't know if I remember seeing a same quote out of the Old Testament used so closely together. Have you guys? I thought that was kind of interesting.

So if we go up to chapter 9, verse 30, the last part of chapter 9, verse 30 says, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed. Okay? We have the same thing here in verse 11. Whosoever believes in Him will not be Disappointed. Wasn't that interesting? I think Bob covered that for us two weeks ago. I won't spend a lot of time on that, but I did want to mention this word here. Being ashamed of the Lord is not what Paul is trying to communicate here. Disappointed. What do you mean? When Paul says ashamed, is it the same as disappointed? The NAS translates it disappointed and the KJV translates it as ashamed. There I believe it is a different word. Yeah, I do bring that out though.

The idea here is that the sinner who believes in the Lord is not going to be defeated or disappointed. And it is a different word in Romans 1, but the same idea comes across in Romans 1. The shame of the gospel means he's not afraid that the gospel is going to be defeated. So he goes in there with confidence.

In what? the Gospel. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel in the sense that I'm not ashamed of the Gospel being defeated. Because I know the Gospel is sourced in Christ and therefore I know that the Gospel is going to be victorious. Because in the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

Okay, so the person who trusts in the Lord, verse 11, will not be put to shame in the sense of defeated or disappointed. Okay, and why? Why is that the case? Look back at chapter 5. Why is the person who trusts in the Lord not going to be ashamed or not going to be disappointed? Chapter 5, I actually meant to write there 3-5. I mean 1-5, it all goes there, but let's look at 3-5.

Because we exalt in our tribulations, knowing that our tribulation brings about perseverance, perseverance proving character, and proven character hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

That's why the person who believes, who trusts in the Lord is not going to be disappointed or is not going to be ashamed because of the source of the gospel. I mean, Christ is the gospel. That's why he's not going to be put to shame or disappointed. Verse 12 shows here, as you were bringing out earlier, that there is no partiality or distinction between the Jew or the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.

This was a major issue. We've just finished going through almost one more week of Acts with our neighbors and if you go through Acts and see the big, big, big change on the horizon with ethnic people groups with racism essentially was what it is. It was major to try to break into the Gentiles with the gospel and get the Jews to understand that God's purpose was for the gospel to begin to go out into the Gentiles. Major deal. And so Paul is wanting also to drive home to these guys saying there's no distinction. God is now working with both the Jews and also the Gentiles.

And this was a major... we could do our own study on it. This was a big big deal. It shows no partiality in dealing with sin. We saw that back in chapters 1 through 3. And it shows no partiality when people are coming or calling upon Him as their Savior. We won't take the time to look at these verses.

Galatians 3.28 talks about there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, but all are one in Christ.

Colossians 3.11 reiterates that same point. I'll let you look those up. So, bounding in riches for all who call upon him. So there's no partiality, but for the same Lord is the Lord of all. Bounding in riches. Let's look at Ephesians 3. Let's go back to Romans 2. I won't take the time to look at all of these. We'll just look at a couple of them. Romans 2, verse 4.

The idea here of the Lord abounding in riches, Romans 2.4, or do you not think lightly of His riches and forbearance and His patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads to repentance? Just talking about the riches of God, the kindness of God.

Ephesians 1.7. Let's look at that one.

Ephesians 1.7. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. Okay, he's talking about the riches of God that's coming out. And then chapter 3 of Ephesians, in verse 4. I meant to say 14. Change that. 3.14.

For this reason I bow my knee before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives this name, that He would grant to you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." So as we read through these few verses, thinking about the riches of God that he's talking about here in verse 12 of chapter 10. So, He grants you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above beyond all that you ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church, in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. So as we go back to Romans 10, there's no distinction, it's the same word of all, abounding in riches.

We just read about there in Ephesians that the abounding riches of Christ who is shed to anybody who believes. And I think as we look at verse 13, whosoever We'll call upon the name of the Lord, we'll be saved. Again, these last three verses really talk about the universality of God's intent for salvation. And this is a quote coming from Joel, chapter 2, verse 32, which I think is there.

Paul is just making sure his point is clear. He's driving home the same point. A lot of material. Fifty minutes. You know, you got it in a race car and hit the gas. So, okay. Let's pray. Lord, thanks for our time. Thanks for your word here, which shows us how much you desire for all people to be saved. Here specifically, the nation of Israel, how you never prevented them, you never excluded them, but you intended for them to believe in the gospel just as you want everybody to believe in the gospel. And that's your heart for us as the Gentiles and also for the nation of Israel as a whole. So thanks for showing us your heart and your love and your riches to us in the scriptures this morning. In your name we pray. Amen.