Results of Faith

I've had a really interesting week studying. Hope my voice holds up. And learning this week about things that I actually didn't know a lot about. And I found from my studies some interesting things. The first thing I want to start with is all of these verses from 6 to 13. And if you take a look at them and read them, verse six, seven, and eight talks about the availability of God's righteousness. And that was a big deal as we've studied the last couple of weeks that Paul keeps telling these Jews, it's right there, you just won't believe it. It's right there.

And when he goes through this idea, don't say in your heart, who will ascend to heaven and bring Christ down? Well, why would you do that? He's already here. And who will go a long distance to bring back the instruction from him because he's right here.

So the word is near you. It's right here. and in your mouth and in your heart. We'll talk a lot about mouth and heart today. And I think that's true of most believers, no matter what theology you come from. The word is near and it is in your mouth and it is in your hearts.

The second, when you look at verse nine, it's the requirement. It says that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Okay, now here's the problem with this verse. This is one of the verses that reformers hang their hat on, that there are two things you have to do to be saved. We'll cover that.

And then when we get to verse 10, we have the results. Verse 10 says, for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made, resulting in salvation. Now I'm gonna leave, I'm sorry, verse 11 is the assurance. Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. So there's a sequence in these verses. The last two I'm not gonna comment on, because I'm gonna give Roger a chance to talk about those.

So, we talked about last week, Paul referred to Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 11, which says, for this commandment, which I command you today, is not too difficult for you, and it's not out of reach. Now you see the parallels of that with what we're studying in Romans 10.

Verse 12 says, it's not in heaven, that you should say who will go up to heaven as to get it for us and make us hear it that we may observe it. Deuteronomy 30, 12, the it there is talking about the law. Somebody needs to go to heaven like Moses went on the mountain, get the information about the law, bring it back to us and tell us what it is.

In contrasting with that, verse six says, but the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows. Don't say that in your heart. who will ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down. Why not? He's already here. And Deuteronomy 13 says, nor is it beyond the sea in the depth or a long way away that you should say who will cross the sea for us to get it, for us and make us hear it that we may observe it. Again, it is the law. Romans 10, or 10.7 says, who will descend into the abyss or go that long distance? That is to bring Christ up from the dead. Guess what? He's already risen.

So that's why I think you see Paul using Deuteronomy 30 in these verses to explain to the Jews in their mindset about what's really going on in terms of who Christ is, the whole issue. Is this Jesus, the Messiah? Is he the son of God? Or do we keep looking?

We know that the Jew needed not just righteousness, but God's righteousness, but they were pursuing it in the wrong way by zealous works. These people were really eager. Romans 10 three says, for not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own red flag, They did not subject themselves to God's righteousness. So there's a difference between just plain ordinary garden variety righteousness and God's righteousness. Verse four says, Christ is the end of the law. for righteousness' sake. So these Jews are really trying hard to obtain a righteousness that they might be acceptable to God.

And Christ comes as the Messiah. He's made sin for us and he dies. That ends the whole program of self-pursuit of righteousness. It's over. Because it's already been supplied. And it's the same way for us as for the Jews. We must trust in Jesus Christ. and his work for our righteousness, because our righteousness is in Christ.

So, we talked a little bit last week about righteousness of itself, and it becomes, it's an absolute term when you're talking about God, the general aspects that God, with respect to character, he is transparently holy, and he's righteous in all of his acts and everything he does.

I love the verse, in him there's no darkness at all. And you combine that with love and his righteousness results in this thing that we call grace. God's righteousness is ever absolute and it's perfect to infinity. In him, no darkness. Don't ever look back and say, well, Lord, maybe you missed this thing here or that, no, he didn't miss anything. God is righteous and his righteousness is seen in a couple of ways. One, that he's a righteous person in and of himself. And two, that he's righteous in all of his ways. Everything he does is righteous. Okay, so.

We saw last week that 10.5 is a quote from Leviticus 18.5, that if you were going to be a zealous Jew and try to earn your own righteousness, here was the requirement. So you shall keep my statutes and my judgments by which a man may live if he does them. I am the Lord. So what are the general principles recognized in the law? The requirements is work righteousness. It's a continual doing, a continual performance of the law's demands.

If one doesn't perform, one should not be able to obtain the necessary righteousness to live eternally. If you don't do them all, you don't get any. You can't make one mistake. Now, Contemporary Christianity has tried to modify that by saying, well, you can go to confess and you can fix it.

That isn't what the laws teaches. As simple as I can say it, righteousness which comes from the law keeping is unforgiving, it's stringent requirements and you must do all of them all the time, no exceptions. And we don't like to be told that, but that's what the law is. That's what the law told the Jew. And if you want to get under it, that's what you have to accept. Designed to bring self despair. Once you break the law, the law asks for immediate condemnation. It gives you no future opportunity to make it right. If you're under a lost system, there's no way to make it right. It's pretty stringent.

So we talked about the exhortation in verses six and seven. Don't say in your heart, who will ascend to heaven? That is to bring Christ down. Or who will descend into the abyss? That is to bring Christ up. The Lord Jesus has already become our righteousness and the Jews' righteousness. He is that.

Romans 5.20 and 21 says the law came in so that the transgression would increase. It wasn't so that you could get better, it's so that you could see your sins for as bad as they really are. And where sin increased, guess what?

Grace abounded over all. Oh, new element here, grace. So that as sin reigned unto death, and sin was a reigning principle, reigning over, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So what's introduced now is this issue of grace, but grace is associated with a person and the person is the Lord Jesus himself.

So verse eight, so what does it say? The word of God. The word is near you. It's in your mouth, it's in your heart. That is the word of faith, which we are preaching. The word is right there, right there. Now he compares Romans eight with Deuteronomy 30, 14, but the word of Lala is near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may observe it. Verse eight, he says, the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, the word of faith that we're preaching, not the word of law. Deuteronomy refers to law in your mouth and in your heart. And what he's saying is, is that if you were a Jew in 50 AD, 50 BC, Were you a student of the law? You better believe you were.

They studied it. They read it. They memorized it. They knew it. It was in their mouth. It was in their hearts. It was in their head. They knew. They're not ignorant about what the law is. And that's why they use, why this term is used. And we'll see some verses that show. The phrase simply reflects that Israelite knew and understood the law. They had studied it and they could recite it verbally.

So here comes the word of God in Romans and says, well, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness because he paid the cost. He paid the cost. The cost was death. He brought God's righteousness near for all by his finished work. then the only thing left to do is to do what?

Believe them. I mean, think about it. If I solve your problem, what's your attitude towards my solution? You either believe me or you don't. And if you do, you get to avail yourself of the results. If you don't, you're still stuck where you were before.

Not to keep the law or do good works. I'm aware that every day I don't deserve any of this, and so are you. We know that we don't deserve this grace that we live under. But for anyone to attain righteousness of the law, they needed to take what they knew and actually put it in performance. I was talking to a guy the other day who had spent some time with a couple of young men that are into reform theology, and they were banging on him really good that he had to do this and do this and do this and do this. And he was kind of frustrated. And I said, well, do they understand that they have to actually perform everything they're talking about? He said, well, we never got to that point. I said, well, the next time you talk to him, make sure they understand that point. that whatever they say we gotta do, that they're doing it.

So what verse eight does is really set up verse nine and 10. Verse eight says, what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith. This word here is the word rhema. It means spoken word. It's not written word, logos, it's spoken word.

And in this case specifically, he's referring to the message of the gospel Paul was presently preaching. One of the interesting things, and we talked about it at Sunday school this morning, because we all have Bibles, and we all have computers, and we can look up words, definitions, but the Greeks didn't do that, and the Jews didn't do that. I mean, they had the Torah, but the Torah was in the synagogue, it wasn't in your house. Everything that they learned and everything that we learned from Paul was verbal, verbal.

So when he says the word is near you, he's talking about the spoken word, it's in your mouth. That's why Paul retains the wording of Deuteronomy 30, 14 with the heart and mouth in the following verses, because it's spoken and they understood that. And what we will see today in these verses are not formula for evangelism, but an emphasis on the nearness and availability of faith righteousness. You find in contemporary Christianity that they'll take these verses, this verse and the next few, and they make a requirement out of them for salvation. So, verse eight introduces two key words. The two key words are heart, heart and mouth. Verse nine through 13 is an elaboration of these two words on where this message is lodged. Where is the message lodged? Where does it hang out? Where does it abide? Where did the message in the Old Testament go? Their mindset was that it went to your mouth. It lodged in all their minds and their hearts, but it was in their mouth.

And I'll show you why in a minute. The word of God is proclaimed by the word of the mouth, rhema. The message came out from his mind and when he learned it, it was in his mouth. That connects it, I think. The mouth and heart are figures expressing possession. I had it in my heart and I have it in my mouth. So, You can turn to this, but you don't have to. I'll give you an example. Jeremiah 15, 16. Your words were found and I ate them. And your words became for me a joy and a delight of my heart. For I have been called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. Where were the words? He ate them. That was their mindset. They're here. I ate them. or Ezekiel 2, eight through 10.

Now you son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you. Do not be rebellious like the rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I have given you. Then I looked and behold, a hand was extended to me. and lo, a scroll was in it, and when he spread it out before me, it was written on the front and the back, and written on it were lamentations, mournings, and woes. What's the exhortation here?

Open your mouth and eat it. A Jew understands that the word is in your mouth. That's where it comes from. That's where it's resonant. It's where it's lodging. Both of these are figures of possession. That's how they owned it. You might say to me, well, how do you have this information? I said, well, I got a file on my computer. I would never say, oh, it's in my mouth. We don't think like that, but they did.

So faith, righteousness, is similar to this, yet much different than law righteousness, though this is what Paul is contrasting here. What's similar about the two? Faith righteousness is similar in that it is close by, it's easily known, and it's easily understood. How tough is it for Christ died for you? How hard is that? It's not very difficult.

The one Messiah the Jews had been looking for had come. And if they put their faith in him, they would attain to God's righteousness. And that's what they were after. They're different because law righteousness always leaves with much is left to do, whereas faith righteousness all has been done by the Lord Jesus.

One of the One of those questions I like to ask my Catholic classmates is, well, three questions. Did Jesus die on the cross for your sins? Yep. Did he get them all? I think so. Did he leave any for you to clean up? Yeah, I think he did. Really? They have no understanding.

So 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. Verse nine. So what requirements does God mean for salvation? To the Jew, a Jew had to have the righteousness of God in order to be saved. But when a Jew thinks about salvation, we always think about, well, where are we going? We're going to heaven. What do you think a Jew thinks? He's going to the kingdom. That's how he thinks. He's not going to heaven. He's going to the kingdom. To the Christian, we're going to heaven. The Jew needed individual righteousness, God's righteousness to be saved.

Look at the whole story of Nicodemus. It's all right there. The word if here, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, is a third class conditional clause which means maybe you will, maybe you won't. This isn't since, this is if. Both requirements take us to the same place. Do you have to do both? Could you do either and be saved? I don't see anybody going. So, let's put 10 with it.

If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, a person believes, resulting in righteousness. And with the mouth, he confesses resulting in salvation.

Is Paul talking about two different things for salvation? Got to do both of these to get saved? I don't see anybody doing this either. You're afraid to answer, aren't you? If he is, then we have two things we have to do to be saved. This is said after we are told in John 3 that there's nothing left for us to do other than to believe. Why this order? Why did Paul write it this way? The first reason is he's maintaining the order of Deuteronomy 30, 14.

By the word of the law is very near you, word first, in your mouth, in your heart, that you may observe it. So both have common ground, but watch what happens here. Every believer, every belief has a in whom you believe. Every confession has a to whom you confess. You see the difference there? Every belief has an in whom that I believe in, that you believe in. Every confession I have, I do it to whom. So let's explore that a little bit.

In 1 John 1, 9, who are we confessing to? What is 1 John 1, 9 about? It's about sins, right? And when you confess your sins, who do you confess them to? You confess them to God, right? If we confess with your mouth, who are you confessing to? God, because God is the one who can save. A man can't save you. God is the one that will forgive you. With our mouth, we are confessing to somebody. Does that make sense? I hope that's clear because it's... And with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. So what do you think of when you hear the word confess? I think you think of the word sin with it. Can you think of other places where you would think about the word confess that didn't have to do with sin? Sin is not present in these verses. We're not talking about sin here.

Confession means to say the same thing. Homo logeo, two words in one. Homo, homo you, together with the same. and logo, meaning to agree with, say the same thing about sin. When I confess my sins in 1 John 1, 9, I don't do the Catholic thing about, bless me, Father, for I have sinned and lay a mouth. What I do is, is I go with them and I say, Father, I'm here to say the same thing you say about my sins.

You took care of them, and I agree with you. I line up with you and what you say about sin. It's done. And I'm here just to agree with you. And what's the result? I'm cleansed from unrighteousness or put it another way, I'm restored to fellowship. It doesn't change my position one bit. So here it is not a confession for sin or a feeling sorry for sin as a prerequisite of salvation.

But you've heard that. Just turn on those televangelist guys. They lay this stuff on you really thick. Two key elements in verse nine, confession that Jesus is Lord, not your sins, and confession that God raised him from the dead, okay? The biggest obstacle for the Jews to believe was that Jesus was God. That was the hardest thing for them.

Even back in Deuteronomy when Moses was writing and saying, hey, pay attention, pay attention about what's going on here in terms of righteousness. When they are presented with the Messiah, their whole attitude was they prayed all the time that God would send the Messiah. Paul's message is that he already did. The Jewish nation still, to this day, is looking for the Messiah. So, what does this verse tell us? That we need to publicly confess Jesus in order to be saved? What do you think? Public confession is not required for salvation.

All you've got to do is look at John 1938. Let me go to that. I'll read it for you. If I don't turn the page, I'll get behind. Let's see. And this is an example that In John 19.38, after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate granted him permission so that he came and took away the body.

Why didn't he proclaim Jesus as the Messiah? or John 12, 42, nevertheless, many, even the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. Does that mean they either didn't get saved or they lost their salvation? Answer, no. Public confession is not part of salvation.

You okay with that? 10, for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. With each question by itself enough for salvation, either one that you do comes out the same place, doesn't it? Would you confess something that you didn't believe? They're really synonymous. The heart and the mouth are the same place. They're in you. The word resulting here leading to salvation and righteousness.

You made a confession of something that's already happened. Israel could not fulfill the law, the word of their God. Paul told them that faith righteousness could be in their heart and in their mouth instead of the law. So one must believe before they will confess Jesus as Lord. Now, John MacArthur says you gotta do both.

I can remember, and I've had this conversation with quite a few people that as an adult, if you're saved, the salvation message is believing in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. And then sometime later it dawns on you, wow, Jesus is the son of God, he's Lord. I can trust him about my salvation. I can confess that he is who he says he is.

One must confess Jesus as Lord before the Jew will call on his name. A Jew won't call on the name of Jehovah, of Messiah, unless he believes that he is first for deliverance into the promised kingdom. For Christianity, Newell said this, as we have said, it begins with the resurrection. No matter how thoroughly persuaded a Jew might be that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of birth, life, ministry, and death, there remained this stupendous task of faith, to believe in the heart that God raised him from the power and dominion of death.

And that which was the wages of sin, the king of terrors of the whole world. So our issue is the resurrection. The Jewish issue is the Messiah coming to rescue the Jews from trouble. So verse 13 really sums it up, although it's not one of the verses we're gonna spend time with. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. and there's no distinction between Jew and Greek for some, oh, I have a purpose here, for the same Lord as Lord overall.

In your handout, I want you to notice that I put verses six through 13 backwards. You notice that? You didn't pay attention. You probably didn't even notice it, right? What's interesting is, is that if you read verses six through 13 that way, it says one thing. If you read it backwards, it says the same thing. Watch.

For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. For, there's no distinction between a Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on him. Four, the scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. Four, with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. That, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus says, Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

But what does it say? The word is near you and in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we're preaching. Or who will descend into the abyss? That is to bring Christ up from the dead. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows. Do not say in your heart that you will ascend into heaven. That is to bring Christ down.

So the same thing. What I find interesting is that Paul is so careful in laying out the scriptures because he knows that he's got to be, as we studied in Sunday school, he's got to be accurate. He's got to be telling the truth. He says this morning in a verse, I tell the truth and I don't lie. And so imagine writing this to the Jews and saying to them, this is truth right here. This is it.

And if you just slowly take a look at it, it all makes logical sense, one right after the other. And oh, and if you want to turn it around, it makes logical sense that way too. So just to close, I think there is not two requirements for salvation. If you believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, you're saved. Now you may or may not confess him later, but you will. You will. Is the Lord Jesus the Lord of your life? Absolutely he is. But it wasn't a requirement for salvation. It's like, oh, I've got to state the obvious. He is Lord. So let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your word. How we thank you for the Lord Jesus and his work. And we really thank you for the Apostle Paul who was so careful to Show us your method and your way of salvation and it all centers in the resurrection of your son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.