Book of Romans - Ch. 10, Vs. 5-Ch. 11, Vs. 4 (07/21/2002)

Open your Bibles to Romans 10, 5, and the 5th verse.

Romans 10 and the 5th verse. We have a visitor this morning,

Nellie Wiggins. We're glad you're here, Nellie. Just take it all in.

All right, for Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth these things, those things, shall live by them.

Now, can anybody live by them, Russell? Why? Is that the only reason?

All right. Virge, apparently man can't keep the law. What is the big deterrent of him keeping the law?

The big thing. Well, did

Jesus not keep it? Why are we not

Jesus? In what aspect are we not? All right,

I still haven't gotten exactly what I wanted. Yes, but Jesus wasn't

God. Dennis?

All right. Jesus kept the law because he was like Adam before the sin.

He did not sin. So, he kept the law.

He could keep the law. Joy? Well, we can't keep the law because we didn't even get started.

We come into the world with a sinful nature. That's the big dividing point. The man who doeth these things, meaning the law, shall live by them.

He that perfectly keeps all of these precepts in every point, he alone may claim life and salvation by them, but this way of justification is impossible to any who have ever transgressed any one law in all points.

If you're hanging by a chain over a cliff and it has ten links in it, if one link breaks, do you fall one -tenth of the way?

So, any one of them, of course, each embodies all of the others.

Six, for the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring

Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.

So, another stumbling block with the Jews was the death and burial of Christ.

Now, Jesus died. His body was put in the grave. But if he was

Christ, then they had a problem with Christ dying. Christ didn't die, but it appeared that he did because they couldn't see the difference.

When Jesus died on the cross, they held it to be proof that he was not Christ. Now, is that true?

What? No. Jesus was the Christ.

They still were wont to demand that they should see the risen

Christ with their own eyes, or that he be produced from the realms of the dead.

To have met the demands of the Jews would have been sight rather than faith.

Do you see how that would have been by sight? They would have had to see him physically.

But no one could see him. But what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.

That is, the word of faith which we preach is nigh thee. What does nigh mean,

Virgil? Near. The word is near you.

What does God's righteousness demand, David?

All right. It replies that what we do not have to go either to heaven or Hades to lay hold of salvation.

You don't have to go any place. It's right here. But that the word is nigh thee.

Bill, what does it mean, the word is nigh thee? The gospel is at hand.

Faith in it, nourished in the heart and openly confessed, will secure salvation.

Now, you can't fake it. You have to be real in receiving

Christ. And you don't accept Christ, you receive Christ. Romans 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the

Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.

This does not mean that you cannot be saved unless you speak audibly. Don't get that meaning.

My wife has a sister -in -law that believes you're not saved unless you go in front of the church and broadcast it.

That would be salvation by what? By the work of my mouth.

They were saved before they ever come down there. That's right, and you can't do that.

Ten, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now, David, what if I'm unable to speak? Can I not be saved?

The faith of the heart must be openly confessed. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to talk.

Maybe you can't talk. And I'm fast getting that way. This is a test of faith, pure and simple.

Unless Christ had provided such tests as confession and obedience, we could not know whether ours was really a belief of the heart.

That our faith moves us to confession is to an assurance of salvation.

The whole Christian life is a confession, your entire life. Eleven, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Now, whosoever believeth. David, does that make it possible for anyone to be saved?

Whosoever believeth does not mean that all people have the potential to believe.

God first causes the sheep to hear. Then he changes your belief.

In John 10, 27, if you want to turn over, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Paul goes on to say in 12, For there is no difference between Jew and Greek, for the same

Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. David again, is it possible for a person to call upon Christ without being saved?

What if I am associated with the church? Does that give me salvation?

Well, there is no difference between Jew and Greek.

All are equally welcome to this salvation. Here the

Jew has an exclusive privilege and from this Greek, from the

Greek is not rejected. One simple way of being saved is proposed to all.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he is the same Lord who has made all, governs all, and is rich in mercy to all that call upon him.

The call here is a different call than you hollering a verge. This is an effectual call.

What does that mean, Joy? You want to stumble around anymore?

Well, it is hard to explain. Let me explain it this way. There was a farmer that lived half on a half section mile.

His closest neighbor was at the next half section that put them a mile apart.

An old farmhouse, he and his wife were upstairs asleep. His neighbor, a mile away, was worried about her husband, had been all day.

But she went out in the barn and found him hanging. And she screamed so loud that it woke

Agner up. That's the call I'm talking about.

Now, we don't have to scream, but it is an earnest call from the heart.

And it's given to us by the Lord. No one is saved until they've already belonged to him.

And you belong to him from when, Verge? From the foundation of the world.

Thirteen, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We're to never persuade somebody to come and call on him.

I can't do that. This would be salvation by my mouth.

We cannot cause someone to call upon his name anyhow. Being saved is not a feeling, it's a fact.

That's right. All right.

Now, let's stay on this call for a moment. Is the

Lord waiting on you to get around to call upon him, David?

That's right. I want everybody to understand that. If you are saved, there was a point in time when

God called you. The Lord called you. Being saved is not a feeling.

Now, the feeling may come later, but it's not based on your feelings. If it was, it'd be salvation by your feelings.

In John 644, we have these famous words. No man can come to me except the

Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Father, draw him. What does draw mean, Dennis? Pull, too.

It means more than that, Russell. It means to drag. It means to force.

If you're pulled, you're forced by unresistible force. Fourteen.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Impossible.

And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard?

Impossible. And how shall they hear without a preacher? So, if you have caused someone to hear your preacher, we have here a chain of events from God's will that the

Gentiles also should call upon him. And Paul infers that the apostles were sent by God to preach to the

Gentiles only. Did Paul preach only to the

Gentiles? And how shall they preach except they be sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

Unless they be sent, what do we mean by this phrase,

David? All right, all right, and he does.

But be sure that you're sent by the call and not by Mama. Too many preachers are sent out because of Mama.

She wanted them to be a preacher. That's not the right avenue.

Yes, this supermarket causes me to think we know a lady quite elderly now, but she talks to everybody whether they want to listen or not.

She believes in salvation by force. But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

Is everybody saved? Can't everybody be saved?

For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? Who has believed our report?

Who? They have not all obeyed. The gospel has been preached excessively among the

Jews and Gentiles, yet only a few comparatively have embraced it, especially among the

Jews. This also had been foretold in the Old Testament.

Yet some, as foretold, when they heard the gospel, believed and were saved.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. How much of that action is of man?

Are you not answering and answering the question, or are you afraid it's a trick question?

All right. So then faith comes by hearing. Faith is of who?

God. Hearing is by who? So it belongs to God.

The hearing belongs to God. The word is God. The faith belongs to God. It's all of God.

All we have is to be willing. Be willing or not, it shall happen.

He changed your belief. Philippians 1...13.

Is that right? Philippians 1 .13. Somebody look it up.

Or 29. It's 2 .13. Philippians 1 .29.

Yes. Who was talking?

No wonder I didn't recognize that voice. That's right.

I believe that each one of his children... Now this is what I believe.

Talking to you like a man now. Each one of his children have an ordained group that will hear from them.

Can you go with that? That's right.

It makes no difference whether we realize this or not. These people will hear from us.

Just remember we are but a tool in the Lord's hand. It is his hand in our handle.

18. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily.

Their sound went into all of the earth and their words unto the ends of the world.

The world here is Ocamion. It's the

Roman world, not the whole universe. But I say, did not

Israel know? First Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are not my people.

And by a foolish nation I will anger you. But return to the objection.

Have I said, and have they not heard? You say that they have not all believed.

They have heard, but they have not believed. I ask, have they not all heard it?

Sure. Have not the means of salvation been placed within the reach of every

Jew in Palestine and within the reach of all of those who journeyed to the different Gentile countries where we have preached the gospel as well to the

Jew as the Gentiles themselves? Jew and Gentile have heard.

But Isaiah is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not.

I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. And unbelieving and gainsaying people just opposite of those who believed with their hearts made confession with their mouth.

21. But to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

God in his own time and only according to him, I should say the

Lord, will close this age. The close of this age is coming.

We like to think we're close to the end of it. When he has brought the last of his children into life and at the right moment notified them, then he will close the church age.

Now, we don't know when that'll be. There'll still be lots of people here.

In Matthew 1 .21, let me read it out of the Greek. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name

Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

He'll save the people of them from the sins of them. People of him from the sins of them.

God's not just hoping, setting and hoping that one more will accept me.

Now, let's go to chapter 11. By what method was

Jesus saved? That's right.

Why wasn't he lost? He was a man. See what?

All right. He, as Adam, had the potential to sin, but he didn't sin.

Never. I say then, hath

God cast away his people? It would seem like it. God forbid.

For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, let's look from an earthly viewpoint.

God has the rebellion of Israel to bring the salvation to us, the

Gentiles. Is that not the way it looks? Always the sin is voluntary on man's part.

Israel refused. Refused Jesus because they wanted to.

That's why they refused. They didn't want him. But even in the midst of this,

God sees to it that his seed is saved. Israel stood before God's eyes from eternity as his people.

In the immutableness of the sovereign love with which he made us his lies the impossibility of its rejection.

We're in the same position. Two. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.

Want ye not what the scripture saith in Elias? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying...

I want to stop there a moment. What does it mean when it says God foreknew? Dennis? All right.

Speaking after the manner of men, that's right. For in fact, knowing and foreknowing are the same thing with God.

Did you know that God has no foreknowledge? If he had foreknowledge, there would have to be afterknowledge.

He didn't foreknow and base your salvation on that. Three. Lord, they have killed thy prophets, dig down thine altars, and I am left alone and they seek my life.

They will not permit any person to speak unto them in your name. And they murder those who are faithful to the commission which they have received from him, from you.

They perverted and profaned beyond example and retained not the slightest form of godly religion.

Now, they kept a religion. They were religious. Man is incurably religious.

But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

There was a time when my wife and I decided that there was no one else left in Corsicana teaching the truth.

We're it by ourselves. You have

David Mitchell and all of you over here, how nearsighted we are.

These 7 ,000 are Israel in God's eyes. Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Now, several things here, and we'll close. What does remnant mean,

Bill? What does present time mean?

Now, what does the election of grace mean?

Yes. If you are of the elected, you could not lose salvation.

You could not have found salvation. Does time march forward into time,

Russell? Archie, does time march forward into time?

Well, does time march forward into time?

I think you're worried about my trick questions more than the answer. But you have no future time.

Joy? Well, there is no future time as far as man is concerned.

We don't have time tomorrow. In fact, we don't have time yesterday.

But we experienced yesterday. Is this creation expanding into space?

Dennis? Yes. You've covered it.

Well, it's expanding.

David? Is creation expanding into space?

Well, we'll wait until next Sunday. Well, I'll wait and ask you that next week.

He did it.

Russell, will you dismiss us, please? Yes, sir.