‘The word of faith we are proclaiming’

[Romans 10:1-15]

                We have already considered two things under the title of “The stumbling stone” centered on Romans 9:30-33.  Those two things mean that Jesus Christ became the stumbling stone (vv. 32, 33) to the Israelites who followed the law of righteousness (v. 31), while He became the steppingstone to the Gentiles who followed the law of faith (3:27).  In other words, we learned that Jesus Christ became the stumbling stone to the Israelites who relied on works and the steppingstone to the Gentiles who relied on faith (9:32).  We learned that the Israelites, for whom Jesus Christ was the stumbling stone, would be put to shame, and the Gentiles, for whom Jesus Christ was the steppingstone, would never be put to shame (v. 33).  After that, we were encouraged to live a steppingstone life as those who have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ.  In particular, we were challenged to live a life of steppingstones leading dying souls to Jesus.

                If we look at Romans 10:1-15, we see the apostle Paul living a life of steppingstone.  In other words, Paul wanted to fulfill the mission of steppingstone to lead the Israelites to Jesus.  Looking at Paul's attempt to fulfill this steppingstone mission, I thought of three application questions.  As we ask ourselves these three application questions today, we would like to receive the lessons and grace that God gives to us.

                The first question is, ‘What do we really want from our heart and what do we ask God for?’

                In A. W. Tozer’s book “That Incredible Christian”, there is a chapter called “The Importance of Self-judgment’ (Ch. 31) in which the author Tozer talks about seven rules for self-discovery about how we know that we are real Christians.  The first of those seven questions is “What we want most.”  How would you answer this question?  What do you most want?  When I asked myself this question, I thought, “What I want most should be the glory of God.”  But when I asked the question again while meditating on this passage, I came to the idea that the answer was, 'If we are true Christians, what we want most must be what God wants most'.  Then, what does God want most?  A few things came to mind: (1) living for God's glory, (2) right worship, (3) obeying God's commandments, (4) devotion, and so on.  And there are things that God wants from us.  But when I think of Acts 1:8, one of them is that God wants us to live a life of witnesses who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ by receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.  God wants us to live a life of steppingstone to lead dying souls to Jesus Christ.

If we look at Romans 10:1, it tells us what Paul wanted: “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”  What Paul wanted in his heart and what he asked of God was clear.  He desperately wanted the Israelites to be saved by believing in Jesus.  He desired that he himself be cursed and cut off from Christ for the salvation of his brethren, the Jews, his kinsmen according to the flesh (9:3).  As I meditated on the words of Romans 9, I challenged you to pray with an earnest heart like Paul and put your energy into evangelism, at least for the salvation of the souls of your family and relatives.  I challenged you to pray and evangelize with an earnest heart like Paul did for the salvation of the souls of your unbelieving husbands, wives, children, parents, and descendants.  Do you have a longing in your heart to evangelize the souls of your family and relatives, and do you pray to God?

The second question is, 'How do we really think we are saved?'

Look at Romans 10:2 – “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.”  Writing to the saints in Rome, Paul says that the Jews have zeal for God, but that zeal is not according to knowledge.  In other words, the zeal of the Jews was not according to the correct knowledge based on God's revelation, that is, the truth.  Look at verse 3: “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.”  In other words, the Jews were working hard to establish their own righteousness without knowing God's righteousness.  Clearly, the truth of God is that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, from faith to faith (1:17).  But the Jews did not try to be saved by hearing the gospel and believing in Jesus, but by keeping the law, self-righteousness.  They were not zealous according to the word of faith but according to legalism (10:8).  In other words, the Jews were not zealous based on faith, but zeal based on works (9:32).  This zeal is very dangerous.  The reason is that although they were zealous, they were zealous according to wrong knowledge.  Think about it.  Think of being zealous according to the truth and being zealous according to lies.  The true truth is that our salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ.  We are forgiven of our sins and justified only by the merits of Jesus Christ on the cross.  It is not that Jews are forgiven of their sins and justified by keeping the law that they believed in.  So Paul is saying to the saints in Rome and to us: “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (10:4).  In other words, the vain efforts of sinners, like the Jews, to establish self-righteousness through their efforts to keep the law are over.  As for how it ended, it means that it is over if we believe in Jesus Christ (MacArthur).  Therefore, Paul earnestly desired that his brothers, the Jews, his relatives according to the flesh, repent of their unbelief in trying to be justified by keeping the law, turn around, and be justified and saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

How are we actually be saved?  We are never saved by works.  It is not that we earn God's righteousness by doing good deeds diligently.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ can we be justified and saved.  Paul makes it clear: “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”  Whoever truly believes in Jesus in heart leads to righteousness, and whoever confesses with the mouth that Jesus is Lord is saved.  In other words, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13).  There is no difference between Jew and Gentile (v. 12).  Only those who believe in Jesus will be saved and will never be put to shame (v. 11).

The third and last question is, ‘What are we doing for the salvation of our unborn believers?’

Look at Romans 10:14-15: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”  Paul teaches that we must preach the good news, that is, the gospel, for the salvation of the unborn believers.  If we were not sent, how would we preach the gospel to our unborn believers?  How can our unborn believers hear the gospel without a preacher?  And how can our unborn believers believe in Jesus whom they have never heard of, and how can those who do not believe in Jesus call on Jesus?  In a word, since we who believe in Jesus are disciples of Jesus and also sent ones, so our mission as sent ones is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So, what are we to preach?  What we are to preach is “the word of faith” (v. 8).

What we have to preach is the word of truth, that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  We must never preach the untruth that salvation is obtained through human efforts and deeds.  It is not the word of faith, and it is not the true gospel.  We must spread the word of faith to our unborn believers and to the dying souls.  We must boldly preach, ‘If you believe in Jesus, you will be saved!’  In particular, like Paul, we must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to them while praying with earnest desire for the salvation of the souls of family members, relatives, and friends who are dying without knowing Jesus.  In this way, the feet of those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ are beautiful (v. 15, quoting Isa. 52:7).