A Matter of the Heart - Romans 10:1-21
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Well we are continuing our series in Romans. We are in chapter 10. And then last chapter was dense, it was complex. There were a lot of issues around God's sovereignty and mercy and justice. And today Paul is gonna remind us that salvation is a matter of the heart. This is still in support of this larger argument that Paul is making, that the nation of Israel failed to attain righteousness through faith and instead tried to earn their way to heaven. and try to earn their salvation. And Paul's gonna say, it's not about that, it's a matter of the heart. And today I hope that this chapter serves as an encouragement and a reminder of how our faith, what God cares about most is our hearts. I wanna walk through this chapter and just guide us through Paul's thoughts and the truths that he addresses. So I know we just did, but we're gonna pray one more time for you to bow your heads. God, we come before you eager to understand your truth, who you are and what you do. So I just pray that as we dive into your scriptures, that you would help us to understand, God, that your spirit would be working in us right now, that we would be, just something would stick out to us that would help us to feel closer to you, to feel like we know you in a deeper sense. And God, you use this time for your glory. We pray this in your name, amen.
So I wanna start by just reading and then kind of, again, just going through it. We're gonna start in verse one. If you have your Bible, you can turn there. It'll be up on the screen. Verse one says, "Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them and they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. In this section, Paul is explaining that the Israelites thought that they were the culmination of the law, that their own righteousness was the goal. They thought, here's the law that God has given us, we are the missing piece. I'm what really matters in this equation. If when I follow the law, I become a better person, and that's the goal, that's what God wants. It's about me, it's about me being better. But really, the law was supposed to help the Israelites see what really matters, which was their inability to fulfill the law, their inability to follow the law perfectly. And it was actually there to show them that they have a need for Christ. They have a need for God. Christ is the culmination of the law. The law points to him and the law is fulfilled in Christ by him living his perfect life. The law draws us closer to God. as we strive to be like Jesus, we have to depend on Jesus to follow God. We so often think of the law as rules of do's and don'ts that restrict us. We don't like rules naturally. When in reality, the law that God has given us helps us live life to the fullest, as God intended and as God designed. And when we live in God's design, Whilst life will still be full ups and downs, we at least experience the goodness of God through it all. When we don't live according to God's law, we put distance between us and God. We move away from God. And whether life is hard or good, if we aren't living the way that God designed, we'll be living in that season of life, distant away from Him. And we never want to do that. We wanna be walking closely with him.
So I wanna ask this morning, the first set of questions is this, how often are we making the law about us? How often are we using the law to either think better of ourselves to think, look how good I am, look at all that I'm doing God. Or are we using the law to even, that we can think better, that God thinks better or that others will think better of us. I want others to see how good I am compared to God's law. Look at this. Sometimes we need to understand that it's not about us. We need to get out of the way. We gotta remove ourselves from being the primary focus and see that the law, while it helps us and it grows us and it draws us closer to God, it's still not about us. It points to Christ. And when we are walking in His perfect ways, as God designed, it's not us that's glorified, but it's God that is glorified. So in this first section, he's explaining, this is how the law works. To the Roman church, to the Israelites there, this is how the law works.
Let's continue reading in verse five. It says, "Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law. The person who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that is by faith says, do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down. Or who will descend into the deep? that is to bring Christ up from the dead. In this section, Paul is explaining how the law can be misunderstood. Paul mentions that this was the case all the way back when Moses wrote the law. And I love how often Paul does this, brings in the Old Testament, because it stresses the continuity of scripture, that the Old Testament ties into the New Testament, that Jesus' words are supported by the Old Testament, the old laws and vice versa. Scripture supports scripture. When we seek to understand what the Bible says, we do so by looking at other parts of the Bible. Paul is doing that very thing here by bringing Old Testament references in to understand who God is and what God does. And that's an example for us. I think too often we try to solely understand God based on our own experiences, based on just what we know and what we've learned about God. And while those things have a part to play and our understanding of who he is, our primary way that we should be seeking to understand God is through his word. It's the biggest tool we have to understand his character.
So that's what Paul is doing right now. And he's doing that by quoting Deuteronomy. And he's bringing in these old words from Moses and he's saying, sorry, my notes, where'd they go? Technical difficulties. He's quoting Moses from Deuteronomy and kind of combining some of these old verses and kind of adding his own take on it to help explain to the Roman church, this is what it's about. And it's about, we'll find out. Okay, okay, hold on. We'll edit this out, everyone who's, don't worry about it. (laughs) We won't, that's the, yeah, we can't. (laughs) Okay, yeah, Paul's explaining it. Doing the law is still a good thing. That never changed. It's just not the thing that will get us into heaven. The doing of the law is not the thing that will get us into heaven. It's rather, it's an indicator of where our hearts are at, and therefore, where our relationship with God is. If we are following the law, that's probably an indicator that we are wanting to be close to God. If we are not following the law, then that's probably an indicator that we have no care or intention of following God. Now there's discrepancies in that, and we can follow the law, we'll get to that, and still not be close to God. But the law is an indicator, usually an indicator of where we are, where our hearts are at in relation to God. And so church, I wanna ask, where are our hearts today? As indicated by us following God's instruction. Are we abiding by His word? Do we have a desire within us to follow Him and His instructions and His wisdom that He has given us in scripture? Or are we trying to do our own thing? Saying, God, I know you've said this is how it should be, but I like to do it this way. And my heart's over here. And the law is also consequently just out of our radar. Paul is tying together scripture, the entirety of the Bible, helping the Roman church see that this isn't new, but this is how God intended the law to act and to be all along. So that's how the law can be misunderstood. Let's continue reading in verse eight. It says, "But what does it say? The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart. That is the message concerning faith that we proclaim. If you declare 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. It is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As scripture says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all, richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This section, Paul is explaining how faith works. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. There it is, a matter of the heart. This is how faith works.
Notice what Paul isn't saying. He's not saying, he's not saying if you obey all the commandments and you hold them perfectly for the entirety of your life, then you will be saved. It's not it. He's not saying God, if you follow God as to the best of your ability and try with all the effort, and God sees that you're giving everything you can, then you will be saved. No. He says, "Declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart and you will be saved." God, salvation is a heart issue. It's not works, it's not abilities, it's not effort. It's about your heart. When I was up at Tahoe, I was with some other churches and met our, or re-met and spent some time with our new district superintendent, Mike Skor, great guy, Pastor Chris knows him really well. Maybe some of you do too. But he was speaking about Abraham from Genesis and how Abraham's faith worked. And he said this, he said, "We wanna equate obedience with God, or obedience with earning God's favor and attention. And if we do this, this and this, then we will receive this, this and this." And that's not what God intended. He also pointed out the difference between the disciples and Pharisees. And see the Pharisees thought they had to do something to get God's attention and approval. And if they didn't, they would feel guilty about it. The disciples were spurred on to grow and be deeply transformed from within by the love of God and the desire to be like Him. And even when they messed up, it wasn't necessarily guilt that they felt, but this desire to grow and be more like Jesus. And so I wanna ask, which one are you today? Are you like a Pharisee? And I don't mean that in a mean way, 'cause we often talk about the Pharisees as the bad guys of the New Testament, but are we trying to do things to earn God's attention and approval? And if we don't do certain things in our Christian walk, are we feeling guilty? For example, in however you do your morning time or your walk with God, if let's say you wake up and you wanna spend 30 minutes with God, are you doing that to try and please Him? Are you saying, "God, look what I'm doing. "Look how I spent my 30 minutes. "See how I was spending time with you." And if you miss that time, are you feeling guilty? Are you thinking that God is disappointed in you? Or are you spending time with Him in the morning because He is someone that you love? And like anyone else, like in any other relationship, time with them is important and it's how you grow closer to them. Do you see the difference there? One's this checklist and when we're doing something to see God's approval, the other one is out of love, motivated with a desire to have a deeper relationship with him.
There used to be this insurance commercial, I don't know which insurance provider. I'll do my best to describe this funny scene. It was some women who had a bunch, this one woman had a bunch of pictures, like printed out pictures on her wall in her living room. And she invited her friends over to like her pictures. And it was supposed to be this play on like Facebook. And she's like, look at my vacation photos right here. And the one friend's like, oh, I really like that one. And the other friend's like, that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. And the one lady's like, I unfriend you. And she's like, no, that's not how this works. And I feel like that's Paul right now, just over and over again, trying to tell the Israelites, that's not how this works. Salvation and how you think of it happening, that's not how it works. You've got it wrong. You think it's if you try so hard and you earn, no. It's a matter of the heart, Israelites. And for us today, church, it's a matter of your heart. The problem with it being workspace is that you can do the right thing and be rotten on the inside. For example, let's say I mess up or I'm rude to my wife. I can do the right thing by apologizing. I can say the words, I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah. But on the inside, I can be bitter, I can be selfish and private thinking like, I was not wrong in the first place. I'm just doing this to make you happy. Like, you know, all those things that no one here relates to that. No, you guys are all amazing. But we can be rotten on the inside and still do the right things. And so God being infinitely wise knows this and never set up this earning system by saying, if you just do the right stuff, no. He's like, I know what really matters and it's people's hearts. And so I want your hearts. God cares about your hearts. Faith is a matter of the heart. Declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. That's how faith works. Let's continue in verse 14. "How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. but not all the Israelites accepted the good news for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Paul's now sharing about how sharing the gospel works and people need to hear the gospel. Believing and knowing God, our creator, Jesus, our savior comes from hearing the message of Christ. Someone needs to preach and witness and testify 'cause how else will the gospel be proclaimed? And how can anyone preach unless they were called to do so by Jesus? Well, guess what? We all were in the great commission by Jesus as go and make disciples, which includes testifying to who God is. So think of it this way, if you're with a bunch of people and there's some who don't believe, that means that there's someone there that needs to hear the gospel. And if you're with those people, don't be looking around saying like, hell, I wonder who God called to reach these people. I wonder who that is. I wonder when they're gonna come into this picture and share good news. No, it's you. You are all sent, you are all called to share the gospel. There are only two parties, those who need to hear and those who can share. There's not the third party of like, I'm just the witness to like see it all happen and wonder how God works. That's the main, no. Either you need to hear it or you can be sharing it. We talk about this weekly, you have the responsibility and the ability to share God's word. As little or as much as that may be, right? You can share that they need God, that God loves them, that God sent His son to die for their sins and to save them. You can share just what God has done in your life. I'm still learning about God. I don't know everything, but I know that he's done this for me. Boom, gospel being shared right there. The gospel needs to be heard. And by the way, this shouldn't stop once you become a believer. Just because you've heard the gospel once and accepted Jesus doesn't mean that you don't need to keep hearing God's truth. On the contrary, you need to hear God's truth regularly, daily, routinely. You wanna grow closer to God? That happens by spending time hearing from Him. That comes most often through His word, Sundays like this, community groups, your own daily devotion, prayer time, silence. All those things are ways that we are growing closer to God, hearing from Him regularly.
Paul also writes this phrase, "How beautiful are the feet." We don't say that anymore. It's a great, it's a beautiful feat, sir. It's not something we often say anymore. And so I just wanna remind us that this reference is a reference to the messenger of victory, who would, after the, in the Roman Empire, after there was some war and victory, they would send out these messengers to go to all the villages and say, "Hey, the battle's been won." And the term used, I think we talked about this at the very beginning of our series, the term used there was the gospel. We think of the gospel as strictly about the Bible and God's word, but the term in the Roman empire was, the gospel message was a message of just victory. And so you had this gospel messenger who would go out and tell all the villages, Rome has won. And the phrase often used was like, how beautiful are the feet of the messenger who gets to share about the victory with people? And so Paul is using that term here. How beautiful are the feet of the one who gets to share about the ultimate gospel message. The victory that we share in is the ultimate victory. It's Christ's victory over sin and death. There is no better gospel message than Jesus's gospel message. And God delights and considers it beautiful when we share his gospel. That is a message that we ourselves, people need to hear for the first time and we need to hear over and over again. Paul tells the church in Rome that sharing God's truth is a must. Now you've probably heard, even from Pastor Chris and myself, preach the gospel and when necessary use words. Well, that's only partially true. We should live in a way that glorifies God and points people to Christ, but we do so through our actions or inactions so that opportunities can arise, so that moments can happen when the gospel can be shared. It's not necessarily realistic to just walk up to a person and start sharing the gospel. If you have that gift, that's amazing. But we emphasize the whole, your actions and the way you live pointing to Christ, because hopefully and prayerfully, by doing that, it'll lead to a conversation. It'll lead to the gospel being shared in words and getting to testify to the work that God has done in your life. So that's still true. Preach the gospel when necessary use words, but that part of when necessary, be waiting for that. Don't think of it as like, hey, I never get, I don't ever have to share. I'll just do the part where I live really well and hopefully somehow they meet God. No, do that, but also be ready. Be ready to share the gospel. Couple of questions for us to just reflect on. Do you realize and do you know, and do you live in this way that You are commissioned by Christ to share the gospel. You are sent. You don't need anything official from this church or from the pastors here. You are sent as a believer to go out in your world, in your community, in your family, your neighbor, wherever it is, and to share the gospel. And do you know that when you do that, God delights in it and he's saying, how beautiful are the feet that brought my message to someone else? And are you ready? Are you ready to share? Again, as little or as much as that may be. If you've got that 10 point, like gospel message ready, good on you. That's awesome. Amazing. If you're like, all I know is that God's been doing some stuff in my life and I can share that. Great. Share that. Point to how Christ is at work in you. So that's how sharing the gospel works.
Let's go ahead and finish our chapter now in verse 18. But I asked, this is Paul, did they not hear? Of course they did. Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Again, I asked, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, I will make you envious by those who are not a nation. I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding. And Isaiah boldly says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. But concerning Israel, he says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. In this last section here, Paul is explaining how sinful hearts tend to work. Paul anticipates and knows that Israelites have some negative feelings when it comes to other nations receiving salvation by God. They were God's chosen people, were the special ones. And when they start seeing someone else receive the blessing and grace and love and salvation of God, it's not always positive feelings. They're like, "Oh, that's great." No, it's... It's kind of like a kid, and maybe you guys can relate, we can relate certainly at this. There's lots of toys in a kid's life, right? And some, they all have phases. And so Kinsley's had some favorite toys, and for a season, it's like all she's played with. And then sooner or later, we'll just end up at the bottom of the toy bin. And it's down there and we're like, all right, that toy is gone. and we'll kind of go through these purgings, like, "Hey, let's get rid of some stuff. Let's give this to another kid." And she hasn't seen it in months, and we'll bring it out. She's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where's that one going? Whoa, hold on. That's my toy." We're like, "Well, you haven't played. Let's let another kid enjoy this." "No, that's mine." "Well, you haven't played with it in a long time. No one else can have it. It's still mine." It's kind of what Israel, that's what they feel when God starts offering salvation to the whole world. He's like, "Hey, now the whole world can experience it." He's like, "Whoa, me, we're the people. God, what are you doing?" Sinful hearts tend to make it all about us. We become prideful, selfish, self-centered, and we can no longer have a godly perspective and joy in someone else coming to Christ, experiencing the love of God. Are you mindful of your heart when someone comes to Christ? Some people are saved and we rejoice and we welcome them in with open arms. Oh, so good that you're here. And yet sometimes, maybe this is just me, sometimes when I hear about someone coming to Christ, for whatever reason, I'm skeptical. I'm like, did they? Really? You sure? Something about that kid whose toy is now being given away. We can be possessive of our faith, of our faith community. We can be possessive of our priority in a church family. There's a whole other heart issue that we have to deal with here. That's pride, possessiveness, priorities that are in disarray when it comes to God's kingdom. Sometimes it's helpful just to think this. When we get to heaven, I'm sure we will all be shocked by some people that are there with us, that we are sharing eternity with. We're gonna turn and be like, really? You're here? (audience laughing) You? Like, yeah, I love God. Like really? Okay, well, let's do eternity together. Just recently, a pastor friend was telling me of someone in his life who wants to become a pastor. And this person does not look like a typical pastor or a typical Christian, because before their coming to faith, They were living a life that was not at all close to God. This person has full face tattoos of a clown, has face implants to make them look more like a clown. And so it's just, his life was full of partying with wild satanic people. And because of a broken relationship, he's come to know Jesus in this miraculous way. And when this friend was telling me about this, and there's an article about it, I was reading this article, I was like, really? Really? Are we sure? Are we sure about this? And I had a heart check after reading this passage. And I was like, okay, I'm sure that God's not up there being like, really? I'm sure God is overjoyed about this person who maybe was so far away from him, coming to him and saying, God, now I love you. And I had to have a heart check. Does my heart reflect God's? Shouldn't I be overjoyed when someone's eternity is changed for the better? So just as believing is a matter of the heart, our reactions towards people believing is also a matter of our hearts.
The end of Paul's words here also points to how God works in a variety of ways. Salvation only through Christ, but how people are reached is different. We're all different and God's reached us uniquely about how we operate and how we think, we all don't have the same exact story. So even in this room, we all didn't come to know Jesus and be saved in the same exact way. Maybe some of us grew up in Christian homes and we've known Jesus or Jesus has been around our lives for all of it and we eventually came to faith and believe in him. Or some of us didn't come to know and believe in Jesus until adulthood and having lived a life away from God, but then came to know Him and believed in Him. Or maybe some of us have had like off again, on again relationship with God. If I was walking with you, but then I stopped and now I'm all in, but it's been back and forth. Or maybe some of us are sitting here today and still hesitant about what a relationship with God looks like. Paul says here, verse 20, Jesus was found by those who weren't even looking. And maybe that's some of your stories, that you were just living life, You're doing your thing, walking your own way. But God made himself very apparent to you and you couldn't ignore him anymore. He also writes in verse 21, God held out his hand continually, waiting for a disobedient and stubborn people. And maybe that's some of your story, that you've known God your whole entire life, knew that he was there for you, knew that he wanted you, but kept refusing to take his hand, kept refusing to surrender. saying, God, I don't wanna do that right now. I don't want relationship with you. I know about you, but I don't want it. Isn't God good to work in a variety of ways to reach a variety of people? It speaks to his desire, his heart of wanting so many to believe, wanting so many to come into his kingdom and be a part of his church family, his eternal family. I just love it. And I love that we all have different stories that highlight different aspects of God. God did this for me. That's amazing. God's grace really reached you in that. God was faithful in this story. It all ties back into sharing the gospel too, that maybe your story will reach someone in a way that my story can't, or maybe my story will be helpful in a ways that this story isn't. And isn't God using all of it for His glory? So we've seen how the law works, how the law is misunderstood, how faith works, how sharing the gospel works and how our sinful hearts tend to work. And through it all, the common thread is that faith is a matter of the heart. I just wanna end by asking these questions as you reflect on these this morning and maybe throughout this week. Do you have a heart that wants to draw closer to God? Do you have a heart that believes that God raised Jesus from the grave and that he is Lord? Do you have a heart that wants to share the gospel with other people and is ready to share the gospel with other people? And do you have a heart that isn't prideful or selfish, but rejoices when others come to know and believe in Christ? I encourage you this week to bring your heart before God, be vulnerable and honest with Him and ask Him through His Spirit to do the work, to bring to light some things like, "God, what can I work on? Where is my heart off a little bit? How can my heart be more aligned with yours?" And trust that the Spirit will work and transform you to be more like Christ and trust that God will continue the work that He has begun in you. He won't stop until you're with Him in heaven.
Let's pray. God, thank you for your gospel message. Thank you for the work that your spirit is doing in our lives. And God, I pray that through your word, we'd be encouraged and empowered and equipped to be gospel messengers, to bring your message of victory through Christ to people in our lives. You would give us words, God, in those moments, I pray that you would bring opportunities this week, moments to share with someone, the love of Christ. Again, maybe it's just a personal testimony or maybe it is scripture that we're sharing with someone. But I pray that when those moments arise, that through your spirit, we would have the courage and the boldness to share, to not ignore it, to not let and think that someone else will take care of it, but that we will feel the need to say, I'm ready. I'm gonna share right now. It takes faith, it takes trust. And so God, we trust and know that you will give us what we need in those moments. And God, I pray that you continue to work in us. Make us more like you. This whole church, our desire is to be representatives of Christ in our community, in our families, in our friends. So God use us for your glory. We're thankful for all that you're doing and know that you will continue to use us for your goodness and for your kingdom. We pray all this in your son's name, Amen.