Confessing
Your Faith
[Romans
chapter 10]
This
week in the book of Romans we will be moving on to chapter 10. The
apostle Paul was a Jewish man just like Christ was, and his zeal for
their conversion is well documented. But chapter 10 talks about
combining Judaism and Christianity into one faith, and how to live
that faith as a lifestyle. Let's get started with Romans 10 beginning
at verse 1.
“Brothers,
my desire and my prayer to God for the Israelites is that they might
be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God,
but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 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. Christ is the end of the
law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Moses described in this way the righteousness that is by the law:
'the man 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).
But what does it say? 'The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and
in your heart', that is, the word of faith that we are proclaiming:
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. As the Scripture
says, 'Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame'. For
there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is
Lord of all and richly blesses all who call upon Him, for 'everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'” (Romans 10:
verses 1-13, NIV)
What
does this tell us? First and foremost, it was Paul's hearts desire
that his own people, the Hebrew nation, should be saved. Paul remarks
concerning his own people the Hebrew nation, “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.
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for
everyone who believes.” The
Hebrew nation asserted that their salvation was derived from the Old
Testament, specifically the Law of Moses that encompasses five books
of the Bible from Exodus through Deuteronomy. The supreme sacrifice
of Jesus Christ has replaced the old law with the new covenant of the
shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of sins. “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. As the Scripture says,
'Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame'.”
Even
if you don't own a Bible, the Word of God can and should be written
on our hearts and in our minds. We can carry Jesus around with us,
dwelling within us, as we go about our daily lives. So let's do a
little self-examination here and ask a couple of key questions. Do I
truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Lord over the earth?
And, have I made Him Lord over my life? Or to put it another way, is
there anything in my life that I put ahead of Jesus? Is my job, my
home, my car and even my family something that I place ahead of God
and His kingdom? These are not easy questions for some. It's all a
matter of having correct priorities in life.
The next most important question we can ask ourselves
here is whether or not we truly believe that God raised Jesus from
the dead after He was crucified. For many this question is a
no-brainer since they were raised as Christians from childhood.
Others come to this knowledge and acquire this faith later in life as
they search for deeper meaning in their everyday living. But there
can be no doubt that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day
after He was crucified. This theme is stated repeatedly throughout
the New Testament, and it is prophesied in the Old Testament as well.
“Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to
shame”. If you believe in Jesus, you have a faith that is foolproof
and untouchable. Your faith is something that no one can take away
from you. It remains with you throughout your life provided that you
maintain and practice it every day. Furthermore, “everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. Saved from what, you
may ask? What is it that we should be so afraid of? The answer can be
summed up in two words: eternal death. To believe in Jesus Christ
means that those who truly love Him can pass from death to eternal
life when our physical lives are over and our bodies wear out. Those
persons who do not believe, or who believe in false gods such as
money or what they see on TV, die forever when their lives are
finished. And there will be a final judgment after this present world
comes to an end, which is inevitable and which will happen very soon.
So, we can either live once and die twice, or we can live twice and
die only once, after which we will pass from death to eternal live in
Christ and live with Him in heaven forever without end. The bottom
line here is that eternal life in Christ is not something that
happens only once and then it's over. Eternal life in Christ by His
resurrection from the dead is an ongoing process that is happening
continuously within our hearts and minds. St Paul comments on this
further down in this passage of Scripture when he says the following:
“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?' ” (Romans 10:14-15 NIV)
As you can see, belief is an ongoing process. It is not
something that happens only once and then it's over. You can't call
upon the name of Jesus unless you believe in Him. And you can't
believe in someone you have never heard of (how silly would that
be?). By the same token, how can we hear the good news about Jesus
without someone telling us, such as by reading this Bible study as
you are doing today? How can this good news be preached and taught if
no one is sent? Make no mistake about it, God has empowered me to put
up this website for the benefit of new believers who are without a
doubt searching for ultimate truth. This is particularly true for the
multitudes who are on the Internet, but who wouldn't touch a
traditional church with a ten foot pole. He has charged me with this
very mission, which I will continue to fulfill to the very best of my
ability outside the boundaries of organized religion, or “Church,
Inc.”, as I call it. And, how do we as new Christians come to this
new set of core beliefs? St. Paul summarizes this very question
further down in this same passage of Scripture when he quotes from
the Old Testament prophets.
“But
not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, 'who,
Lord, has believed our message'? Consequently, faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of
Christ. But I ask: 'did they not hear'? Of course they did: 'Their
voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of
the world.' Again I ask: 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.'” (Romans 10, verses 16-21, NIV)
Paul's very words right here amounts to a summary
judgment against his own people. Did Israel not hear the Gospel when
Paul and others such as the apostle Peter enunciated it to them? Did
they not understand me, he wrote? Back when I first became a
Christian in 1992, this was my experience exactly. A Christian
business associate had been talking to me about the Lord for months.
At first I was very skeptical because I had had a strongly negative
experience with the Catholic church when I was growing up. But God
pursued me through my friend all during that time. He used my friend
as a conduit for His power because He was seeking me, knowing well in
advance of myself that He had big plans for me and a solid pathway
for my life. The main point here is that God loved me first, rather
than the other way around. Now Jesus wants to do the same for
everyone whether they are reading this message today or not, whether
they believe it or not. He is reaching out to you personally to
reveal Himself to you. And He will be found by numerous individuals
like myself, whether we were seeking Him or not.
This is the best news of all. God loves us so much that
He has sent Jesus to each and every one of us. And Jesus has a plan,
initiated by His heavenly father to bring us all under His wing. This
includes yourself. So let's rejoice and be happy about finding God
whether we were searching for Him or not, because in so doing we will
gain a righteousness that is by faith just as Isaiah and Moses did.
We can be sure that He has already found us and has loved us first.
He has thought about us long before we ever thought about Him. Let's
all start today to live our lives to the fullest extent possible just
because we know that this is God's plan for our lives. We can
maintain a better outlook on life and have a much-improved self-image
by loving Jesus because He loved us first. I challenge all my readers
to do this. Watch and see how much your outlook on life improves when
we reciprocate God's love for us. It's the best thing we can do for
ourselves at this moment. By doing so, the peace of Christ that
surpasses all human understanding will be with us everywhere we go.
No comments:
Post a Comment