The God(ness) of God: The God of Gospel – Week 3
This sermon is week 3 of The God of Gospel section of our “The God(ness) of God” sermon series. It is an exegetical treatment of Romans 10:9-13, addressing the themes of confession and conversion, belief and beliefs, the gospel call to everyone, and shame versus riches in Jesus. This sermon was originally preached May 25th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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June 1st, 2008
Pastor Duane M. Smets
Series: The God(ness) of God | Romans 9-11
I. The God of Glory 9:1-29
II. The God of Gospel 9:30-10:21
III. The God of Future 11:1-36
II. The God of Gospel 9:30-10:21
Week 3 – Romans 10:9-13
Introduction
Good morning. We’re in the third week of The God of the Gospel part of our “God(ness) of God” sermon series from Romans 9-11. Last week we focused mainly on verse 5-8 of Romans 8 and talked mostly about how religion is different than the gospel. Today’s verses were part of last week’s text but there is enough important content for us to deal with that they deserved their own week.
This week there is a dual primary theme. When I read this text I end up asking the question, “Is it mainly talking about how a person gets saved and becomes a Christian?” Or, “Is it mainly talking about the message of the gospel that Christians are to share?” Now I think it is both because on one hand it is talking about how the gospel works inside us, how it’s something entirely different than religion having something to do with our hearts and with Jesus, and not rules or performances, or abilities.
That’s one hand, on the other hand there is this inherent offer that is put forth in the words, asking us, compelling us, inviting us, to put faith in Jesus and that inherent offer in turn teaches us what Christians are saying is offered to everyone in Jesus. So let’s read the text and hopefully you’ll see that and then we’ll get into looking at four issues this text address both for us individually in our personal Christian beliefs and for us as missionaries in our personal message we share with the people of San Diego.
Read text and pray.
Lord God thank you for this morning. Thank you for giving us a special day of the week to worship you together. Thank you for giving us a book to probe our thinking, to move our hearts, and to shine light on the glory and wonder of Jesus. Would you help us today as we ingest its words. I pray you would give us insight into the faith you bestow so that we might more fully understand the salvation in Jesus many of have us have had pledged to us. I also pray that the gospel offer of Jesus and the greatness of that offer would be especially clear today for any who has yet to have a heart and mouth moved to trust in Jesus. And I pray that you would unlock a passion and comprehension of the importance of mission for us as a community known as The Resolved Church. Holy Spirit of God, work in these moments as we worship you through the Bible.
Confession and Conversion
So here’s the four main points we’ll talk about today, “Confession and Conversion,” “Belief and Beliefs,” “No One and Everyone,” and then we’ll end talking about “Shame and Riches.” So first, our first point, “Confession and Conversion.”
Now first you probably noticed that the part of our text today just kind of happened to start in the middle of a sentence, it starts out “…because, if you confess with your mouth…” So first let me tell you how this week connects with last week, how confession is a theme of this text, and then how theologically it relates to conversion, becoming a Christian.
Okay. So last week I ended by telling this story from the 5th book of the Chronicles of Narnia as a illustration of how the point that the law or religion cannot save, only person and work of Jesus in the human heart. Verse 8 had quoted a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy. So last week we looked at the whole context of what was going on in the story of God’s people leading up to the words Paul quoted here in Romans 10.
Now, I’m not going to repeat all of that today, so I’ll just remind us that the point of the passage was that when God does a work in the human heart, Moses in Deuteronomy called it circumcising it, kind of a graphic picture, but it sure paints a picture of the seriousness of our condition…but when God does that work, then God’s word will be doable because then it will be as verse 8 says, “near you, in your mouth and in your heart.”
Paul, the human author of Romans, picks that up and says, “Ah, hah! “That is the word of faith that we proclaim!” That’s the gospel. Then he spends the next five verses going into that to explain what the word of faith is, what the gospel message is. So that’s what we’re doing today. Were explaining both the content of the gospel we believe in and the message of the gospel we are putting out there.
Alright, so let’s talk about confession. Confession is woven in throughout each of these verses. First it’s explicit, “If you confess with your mouth…with the mouth one confesses…(there are) riches for all who call on (Jesus)…(and) everyone who calls on (Jesus) will be saved.”
So first, we’ve said it many times, but the culture you live in, the people groups you live among and the traditions that you come from is very important. In Romans the two people groups were Jews and Gentiles and in both confession was a big deal.
For the Jews confession was a regular part of their religion. Many Jews, still today, recite the Great Shema, twice daily. “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God! The LORD is One!” In Gentile culture the reciting of words took common place in courtroom oaths, magical incantations, and prayers to the gods.
Confession today is still a big deal. In the larger Christian circles, the goal of many churches and many Christians is to get people to pray this certain prayer, there’s even a name for it, they call it “the sinners prayer.” Many times they will even point to this passage as support for doing such a thing. Maybe you’ve prayed the “sinners prayer” yourself at some point?
When I first became a Christian I was told that you need to evangelize if you are a Christian. I was told that the way you do that is by telling people that they are sinners and if they listen and repent you pray a prayer with them. Well I really liked being a Christian, so I figured, we’ll okay…so one time I was at “The Block” which is this outdoor mall up in Orange County. I saw this group of gangsters. You could tell they were gangsters because they wore FUBU and had big chain necklaces you know. J Shows how dumb I was. So I walked up to them and told them all that I believed Jesus was coming back in the sky one day and asked if they wanted to hear me talk about it for a minute. One of them said okay, so I started preaching at them…after about five minutes they were all ready to pray the sinners prayer. Now I know some real gangsters, or at least some kids who think they are real gangsters and they’ll do anything for heaven or Jesus, because they’re scared. J
I’m not so sure that is what this passage is telling us as Christians to do. We’ve been learning like last week, that the essence of the gospel is that we cannot save ourselves only Jesus can. The act of saying a prayer will not save us. Only the person and work of Jesus can save us, that’s the gospel. In fact I think if we look at this text a little closer, it may in fact be trying to correct an idea that could form in our heads thinking that we are safe or saved just because we pray a prayer.
Belief and Beliefs
So lets look at it a little closer and talk about belief and beliefs…”if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
First, what is the confession here, the word of faith, the gospel being proclaimed? It is simple, three words, “Jesus is Lord.” That tells us two things: One, this confession isn’t like a confession a criminal would make if he had done some crime, got caught and admitted to it and wrote out his confession to the police. Two, it tells us that this confession is a positive affirmation, a creed of sorts that one comes to accept, namely that Jesus is Lord.
Now, saying Jesus is Lord in first century Palestine was big deal. Written on the coins, proclaimed throughout the land as a recognition of the Roman Government was the often quoted phrase, “Kaiser estin Kurios” – Ceasar is Lord. It would be somewhat like if someone went around saying “George Bush is Lord.” I know, kind of weird. But back then it was just part of the fabric of life. It was a statement acknowledging the complete political authority and during that time considered even divine authority of Ceasar.
That’s was tough for the Jewish crowd because for them, the great Shema, ” Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God! The LORD is One.” Only God is the Lord. Then on top of it all Jesus comes on the scene, lives for 33 years, the last three years of his life teaching, preaching, and perfoming miracles and he ends up getting crucified essentially for claiming that he is the Lord and saying that eveyone needs to believe in him.
So the phrase “Jesus is Lord” is a big deal. It cuts to the central claims of both the Jewish and Gentile group and what their hope was in. The phrase “Jesus is Lord” became the first Christian creed becauses it summed up the whole of Jesus life and ministry…his claim to be God himself, his claim to be the hope and leader of the human race, his life, his death, and his resurrection accomplished something extremely significant for us spiritually and for the future of the world.
But here is my question I think this text probes us in, does just saying those words and their phonetic sound mean anything? Well, for the political government of the time it did. They didn’t care if you really didn’t like Cesaer as long as you gave him lip service and said “Kaiser estin Kurios.” But does saying Jesus is Lord really mean anything when it comes to us and God?
Let’s look at the text again…”you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So Paul here seems to be saying, “wait a minute, hold on…it’s more than just a confession, this is a heart issue.” Verse 10, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” So Jesus is Lord is a belief that must come from the heart for it to be real, the confession of the mouth is just the outward manifestation or demonstration of that inward work in the heart.
That is extremely significant. If you’re familiar with “altar calls” in churches, this verse is why I quit doing them. That’s why the little slide we have which comes up after each sermon right before communion is worded very carefully. It says, “If you desire to express a turn toward new faith in Jesus Christ we invite you to partake with us as well.” It is worded that way so that will not get the idea that any sort of confession we ever make is something that we do or conjur up in ourselves, it purely the gracious work of God in our heart.
I want to press in a little deeper on this here . I know you all secretly watch American Idol. This last season was it was one of the most watched Television shows of all time, something like an average of 32 million viewers. I’m ashamed to admit it and my only excuse is that my wife made me watch it, but we watched it this season for the first time. J
Here was my favorite part of the whole show. Everytime a person got kicked off, they would be all crying and talking about how great it was and how special it was to be a part of such a thing, and then they would make this switch into preaching mode and almost everytime they would say something like this…”I just want to say dreams do come true, just follow your heart and your passion, you just need to believe in yourself, thank you thank you thank you.”
That was my favorite part of show. I would just start laughing every time. Because I’m sitting there thinking, what about all hundreds of people who had that dream too but didn’t even make it on the show because their voices sucked?! What happened to their dreams and passion…didn’t they follow their heart?!J
Now, what I’m gettting at is just because you may be passionate about something in your heart doesn’t make it true or right. When it comes to spirituality…that is the mainstay idea, at least here in San Diego. Believe whatever you want if it helps you, just follow your heart and your passion.
But the thing is Jesus in Matthew 15:19 that more often than not, your heart can lead you astray (Mt. 15:19). That folllowing our heart is the thing that messes us up most the time. So here is my question, what is real Christian belief? What really makes you a Christian? If it is not some deed (that’s last week), and it’s not some specific confession, and if it’s not just being passionate in your heart…then what is it? What does it really mean to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord?
No one and Everyone
I think maybe the next couple verses will help us. So let’s look at them and talk about what it means to call on the Lord, how no one who calls will be rejected and how everyone who calls will be accepted…no one and everyone.
Verse 11-13, he’s still explaining the heart and mouth thing for us…”For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who belives in him (Jesus) will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distincition between Jew and Greek; for the Lord (Jesus) is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved.’”
Now notice something with me. We’ve been talking about belief. That there is this connection between true belief in the heart and the confessions and thereby actions we make with our mouth and our lives. And by the way Jesus also said that too, that out of the mouth the heart speaks (Lk 6:45). But notice this. Paul carries the word believe first in verse 11…”everyone who believes.” Then Pauls switches words, he switches to the word call…there are riches for “all who call on Jesus…(and) everyone who calls on the name (of Jesus) will be saved.”
What’s going on there? First something about the word believe. The word believe is the same Greek word as the word faith from “the word of faith we proclaim” in verse 8, the only difference is one’s just the noun and one the verb. You don’t see that in English because faiths as a verb is not a word. If it said, “Everyone who faiths in Jesus will not be put to shame…” that would be weird.
But I’m not sure that really helps us out much, maybe a little, but it still has this air of ambiguity about it. Having faith and believing are these huge vague ideas for most people if they are honest. The word “call” helps us a lot here I think in clearing up some ambiguity. Verse 11 says everyone who believes…okay, how do you believe? Verse 12 and 13, you call out to Jesus!
That’s getting closer because a call expresses something greater than just a wishful chance, a calling out is genuine from the heart and it is a at the same time a confession or an acknowledgment. Have you ever heard someone scream the word “help” when they were in dire need?
I never have. I heard little kids in swimming a pool get scared and say that. But I’ve never heard someone trying to get my attention because they were in danger and scream out “help!” I can imagine it though.
Now I don’t think the Bible is telling us here that you are supposed to scream out Jesus name, but I think that is the idea that is expressed here, it is a hearfelt deep conviction of your own personal situation and a recognition that Jesus is the only one present to help. And so we call out to him.
How does that work? I think it works like this, I think this is how you become a Christian… Everyone, all of us have our own personal situations and contexts, and everyone one of us has challenges with life, things going on beneath the surface, some we are aware of, some we are not. It may be in a sermon, it may be from a conversation with someone, it may be because of something you’re reading or because of some life jarring experience…but you begin to see your need…that you need something and you need it bad because you are mess deep down.
Then you hear about Jesus. Who he is and what he has done and what he offers and then something happens in your heart…this feeling, this thought arises…Jesus can save me! He is exactly what I need. He died on the cross for my sin and rose again. I need forgiveness and his cross can cover that. I need a God to worship, someone greater than myself, he’s risen and alive and worthy. Jesus is it.
When that happens and however that looks with each person I think that is when faith or belief happens. Ephesians 2:8 says that is a gift of God. So I think faith is truly more of a discovery of God’s work in your heart. It is that moment of realization of who you are and who Jesus is. Then out of that you begin to take action…you take communion, you talk about Jesus confessing him, you start to live your life differently…and it all flows out of this work done in your heart and your life becomes this ever ongoing calling out to Jesus.
Here is the deal, because I know some of you smart super intelligent people out there, your minds are spinning. So I’ll pitch this to you. From a systematic theology perspective of what is going on here considering all the last 10 chapters of Romans, there are four different calls. 1. God’s elective call within himself to have a people for himself. 2. The call of a preacher or a Christian to a non-Christian saying put faith in Jesus, he is Lord. 3. The effective call of the Holy Spirit to enable you to respond by working in your heart and giving you faith. 4. The call of the person who out of that heart work calls out with their mouth, Jesus you are Lord, save me.
Now, if for some of you, if the significance of each of those points didn’t make sense that’s okay. Here’s the main thing I want us all to get from that before we go on to our concluding last point. The call of the gospel which says, “Believe in Jesus!” is for everyone, period. That offer goes out to all. It doesn’t matter who the person is, what they have done, what they look like…the gospel is relevant and powerful enough to save anyone from any background and any lifestyle!
Jews, Gentiles, it does not matter…all cultural groups…”the same Lord is Lord of all” as verse 12 says. The next sermon in our series will deal entirely with this issue of the necessity of contextualizing the gospel for all different people groups. There are all kinds of different people groups. Here’s a couple I came across this week in a few different conversations.
There are dirt bike motorcycle groups who go out to places like Lake Elsinore and they have their own unique language clothing and viewpoint on the world. If you don’t know what Fox is and what a 2-stroke and 250cc’s are then you are stupid. I met another dude this week in the park named Pete. Pete’s life is all about Pectrums, Harmonicas, and music from the late 1800′s. And apparently there’s a whole bunch of other people he hangs out with who are into the same thing.
The point is we should never look at a particular person or a particular people groups and look down on them and think the gospel is not for them. It doesn’t matter if they are stuffy business men making gas cost a ton, it doesn’t matter if they are they taking advantage of the new lift from the ban on gay marriage, it doesn’t matter if they are people who think medical marijuana can save the world, it doesn’t matter if they think the Live Wire is the only cool spot in San Diego, it doesn’t matter if they are insult laden wannabe gangster kids at a group home! It doesn’t matter.
No one who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be rejected. No one will ever call upon the Jesus, truly from their heart, whom he will not receive and change. That is how the gospel works, how God does his saving work in those he is going to save, he does it through the call.
Shame and Riches
Our last point for today is an extension of this theme. Some of you maybe are on the other end of things, you don’t look down on others but you think you’ve just done some things that are too bad and shameful…too horrible and you are stricken with guilt and remorse and think you are damaged goods and cannot be loved or forgiven.
Look at the end of verse 11 and the end of 12: “…you will not be put to shame…(and he bestows) riches on all who call on him.” This is the gospel, this is word of faith being proclaimed, it says no, it’s not true that there are some people and some sins too great to be forgiven from. There will not be shame for you and instead the exact opposite, the riches of Christ who owns the universe.
Think about Paul, the human author of this book called Romans, he himself was a murderer before Jesus. He was forgiven and changed. What was shame was turned into boasting about the greatness of what Jesus did for him.
There is nothing God cannot forgive you of and change you and cleanse you from. Whether it is sexual sin, or some deep seated hatred, or something else…everyone who calls will be saved. If you’re thinking that you just need to forgive yourself, stop trying to do that, it doesn’t work, you can’t forgive youself, a price must be paid and it was paid for you on Jesus’ cross so that you wouldn’t have to try and make yourself pay and unsuccessfully try to forgive yourself. If you’re thinking that maybe it will just go away with time, it won’t. Our wrongs and our failures will eat at us deep down until we give up and call upon the name of Jesus.
That’s the internal affection of shame…but there is even more. If you notice the thrust of this passage is future. Salvation is future, the word “saved” here is a future passive verb. It has in mind a future day when the spiritual reality who God is and that all this physical world is truly about him, will be shown. The Bible says Jesus will come back in the sky one day, like I told those boys at the mall and when he does, everyone will see it and know it, he will set up his kingdom here on earth and rule with perfect justice and perfect peace.
When that happens, Philippians 2:10 says every knee will bow toward the name of Jesus, every knee will acknowledge that Jesus truly is the Lord. Here the thing. It matters a lot when you bow. If you bow now in worship and in love and thanks and adoration, you will bow with great joy in that day! You will finally be shown not to be stupid for trusting in Jesus, for banking your whole life on him, because he will be there and you will be accepted into the riches of his kingdom.
For others, they will bow, but they will bow in shame and humiliation and regret. They will bow their knees but in fright and fear for the judgment Christ will hand down for resistance to him and for hardness of heart.
You don’t want that, you want the riches of Christ. Yes, there is a metaphor here, I think, building off the idea that most people think money makes happy, that riches are good, so Paul here says you will receive riches in Jesus. So yes, there is the emotive aspect present but there is also a physical aspect in regards to Jesus future kingdom. When Jesus came to earth the first time he came as a poor meek peasant carpenter, he shielded his glory as the king of the universe, he hid it.
When he comes in the second time, his divine glory will not be hidden. He will come in his full kingly divine garb. There are a number of pictures of it in the Bible. Lightening and thunder but at the same time bright brilliant sunlight shining out of Jesus’ face. He’ll be show himself as the mighty warrior coming with his angels, he’ll be riding on a white horse, wearing a robe dipped in blood, a golden sash around his waist and a tattoo on his thigh saying, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19).”
And then he’ll set up his kingdom here on earth and change the very order of his creation which is stuck in this cycle of cosmic breakdown. There’s going to be great riches in his kingdom, riches we never dreamed of, not just brilliant things like gold, and diamonds, and a sea of glass and an amazing throne he’ll sit on in front of it…but crazy stuff like water coming out of his throne in the middle of the city with a trees beside it bearing twelve different kinds of fruit (Rev. 22). That’s crazy.
Conclusion
Here’s the conclusion, let me try and bring it all together for us, the conclusion is, “Jesus is Lord.” Everyone who calls upon Jesus will not be put to shame but be saved and welcomed into his riches. How do you call, you respond from your heart to his offer to believe in him and confess him as Lord. Jesus is the Lord, the call from you says, “he’s not just the Lord he’s my Lord.”
Friends, is Jesus your Lord today? He can be. There is not a person in this room whom that offer may not apply to. There is not a person in this city whom that offer may not apply to. Maybe you’re here and you say, but I want it to be genuine from my heart, I don’t want it to just be some words, some useless confession, and I don’t just want to respond because of something I may be feeling right now…what am I to do?
My answer is for you to let these words hit you, let them sink in. Only those who call, and the call must come from a realization that Jesus is your only hope. If that’s not where you are don’t call, it’s not like some magic trick that you just try and see if it works. The call is a deep seated conviction. Let the reality of what the Bible says about who Jesus is and the reality of your condition rise to the surface and let it propel you to see the answer that is in Jesus.
Maybe you’re here and you’re like well I’m already a Christian so what does any of this have to do with me? Here’s my answer for you. This text says there is a intimate connection between your confession and your heart, they are linked. So I ask you this, what areas are there in your life where your confession doesn’t line up with your heart. Think about those things and allow the gospel to work in you.
My other answer is, perhaps you’ve been a Christian for awhile, but you haven’t quite understood it. One of the great things which happens when you study the Bible like we do is it fills out your faith, it gives you better categories and words to understand what it is that God has done in you. So maybe allow this text to mature you in your understand of the gospel and how it works and then take it and start sharing that gospel with other peoples.
And for all of us I end with this one last quote, from a sermon by the apostle Peter right after Jesus’ church first got started. He said this, “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:10-12).”
Let’s pray.
