Having the correct knowledge is crucial. In fact, often having the correct knowledge and implementing it, is sometimes the difference between life and death. Now something that I reckon pretty much everyone in this room is well aware of is the importance of washing our hands. You may have grown up being reminded to wash your hands when you came inside and hopefully your parents taught you to wash your hands after going to the bathroom. I would suspect that for anyone here at church today who is over the age of 10 we would all now be experts in handwashing. This is mainly because of the COVID pandemic and around 2 years of being reminded at every turn about how important it is to wash your hands, for this not only keeps you well, but also those around you. Now this wasn’t the first time that the importance of washing hands to save lives was stressed. Because back in 1847 Ignaz Semmelweis saw in the maternity ward an incredible difference in outcomes between student doctors examining women giving birth and midwives. Many more were dying from being treated by the student doctors and not because of a lack of skill. It was because of infections. Ignaz worked out that these doctors were not washing their hands when they went from patient to patient or even from autopsy to patient. So he then required the staff to wash their hands with chlorinated lime. In so doing the mortality rate of women who had given birth in hospital dropped from over 18% to just over 1%. Wonderful news for those unlucky enough in the 19th century to give birth in hospital. Yet this wonderful, lifesaving news was rejected by most when Ignaz introduced it in 1847. In fact it wasn’t until the 1870’s and 80’s that antiseptic hand washing became the widely accepted practice. So many lives could have been saved. Yet, the message was rejected by most in the medical establishment.
In today’s passage in the book of Romans we see Paul’s sadness that his fellow Jews were rejecting the correct knowledge, the life-giving message of the Gospel, the Good news about Jesus. And Paul was heart broken at their rejection of Christ. For he knew that without Christ they had no salvation. Listen to what he says in Chapter 9 verse 2
2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
And so with these words hanging in the air, look at what Paul goes on to say in chapter 10. Have a look at verses 1-4
10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
- The Ingredients of Salvation – Knowledge and Faith
Do you notice the two ingredients to salvation here? The two ingredients to being right with God. To be saved you need:
The correct knowledge concerning the righteousness of God which is Jesus; and
Faith in Christ
For, to be saved these two things are what is needed. Paul then starts to unpack this in our passage for today. Have a look at verse 8 with me.
- The Message Concerning Faith (The Gospel) – Knowledge
8 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:
Paul in verse 8 quotes a passage from Deuteronomy in the Old Testament and in so doing shows not only that our heart and speech are both involved in our salvation, more than that he makes the point that Jesus was always the message that would be proclaimed and believed. This is precisely what we read in verses 9 & 10.
9If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Jesus Christ is the message
Here Paul says to the church in Rome. He says this message concerning faith. Or we could just as easily say the way of salvation is Jesus. What Paul has done brilliantly here is to make a summary statement. If this was all that the Bible had to say about being saved, well friends we may well be scratching our heads. Yet in this simple phrase we have two snippets of the glorious Gospel that are pregnant with meaning.
Jesus is Lord
Firstly that Jesus is Lord. Paul is saying that Jesus is God. More than that he is saying that Jesus is the only God. He doesn’t say one of many lords. But that Jesus is Lord. By declaring this truth, you are testifying to the fact that Jesus alone is Lord. Jesus alone is God’s Son and Jesus alone the Messiah, the anointed one of God. No Jew would do this unless they completely trusted in Jesus, for it was stating that Jesus is the promised Messiah, that Jesus is divine. As for a Roman or a gentile it was saying that Jesus is the Lord and the emperor is not. But salvation isn’t just a matter of saying some words, as true as they are. For friends the demons acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, the Bible records in Mark 1:24 the demons calling Jesus “the Holy one of God”. In Mark 3:11 that Jesus is the Son of God, and again in Matthew 8:29. Now declaring Jesus as Lord is crucial for Salvation.
Faith in Christ Means Salvation
Yet so is trusting in Christ as our redeemer, as the one who makes us righteous through faith. Which is Paul’s second point in verses 9 & 10. We are justified by faith from our heart. Verse 9 talks of believing that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that I want to say a big hearty Amen. I also want to say that God raising Jesus from the dead shows that he was dead. Shows that Jesus died on that Cross, and in so doing paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world as we read in 1 John 2:2
2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
As I said before verse 9 is a summary verse. A Gospel summary verse. Paul in Romans 3:21-26 and throughout the book of Romans does a wonderful job of showing that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and unpacking righteousness through faith in Christ. Paul here in distilling our belief into just talking about God raising Jesus from the dead actually points to the whole Gospel message of Jesus’s perfect life, death and resurrection.
We have the wonderful promise of eternal life with our Lord and Saviour through faith in His work on the Cross. We can not make ourselves righteous before God. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Yet Jesus is God’s righteousness. He is perfect, He is our justification. We need only believe and profess our faith in Christ and his righteousness is given to us.
HEART for the Lost
This is what Paul is crying out to his fellow Israelites and indeed all of mankind. For Paul now reminds all of his readers, including us here today, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, everyone who calls Jesus Lord, will be saved.
Now friends this is my wish for you and my heart for everyone here today that we would look to God’s righteous one Jesus and not try and earn a righteousness of our own. Because we can’t.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved
This salvation is available to everyone. It doesn’t matter where you are from, where you are born. Jesus is Lord of all. And this is the message of the Bible is that Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. As Paul states.
11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul here is quoting the Prophet Joel from the Old Testament who prophesied that the day of the Lord would come and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We see this quoted in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.
Acts 2:21
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Friends Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through him. That we can be with God forever because of his Son’s sacrificial death on the cross to take away our sin is the best news that there has been or will ever be. And Paul after making it clear that salvation is only found in Christ, which is the message, then makes it clear that there is no message without a messenger.
4. Messengers are needed
You can’t respond to something that you don’t hear.
If Dr Ignaz had never told anyone about how important hand washing was to stave off infection, then perhaps this would have taken even longer. But he did change the procedure in the Vienna general hospital in Austria and many women were saved. And eventually his message was spread and accepted by the broader medical community. Yet this message wasn’t headed by other hospitals at first. Paul after not only sharing his heart for the lost, for those who don’t know Christ
14 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?
Paul now lays out his logic for preaching the Gospel. And it is a rather straightforward message. Now this isn’t new. The Lord Jesus gave us the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations. I think that Paul still has his fellow Israelites in view in this passage, however, I also think that his words are meant for the church in Rome and for us today. The Israelites all need the Gospel, just as everyone here in this church and all around the world need the Gospel.
Acts 8:31 Ethiopian eunuch
The story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 is perhaps the most helpful example of verse 14 in action. For here Philip is sent by the Holy Spirit to meet with this fellow and he asks the Ethiopian if he understands what he is reading as he read through the book of Isaiah. And we hear those famous words
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?”
So Philip explains the Gospel to him and he believes.
There is a fundamental truth that is you can’t know something without being told. Now that may be verbally or of course shown. Take changing a tyre for example. Now while I know that this isn’t practiced as much today by individuals as it was when I was younger, to teach someone to change a tyre there are really two ways to go about it. You can be shown how to change a tyre or someone can verbally take you through the process.
Paul then continues his statement about the Gospel message needing to be shared in verse 15.
15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
The statement “If only someone had told me” has to be one of the most heartbreaking expressions because it combines helplessness with preventable tragedy. It implies that a terrible outcome could have been avoided with just a few simple words. And Praise God when we obey Jesus’s command and train up those called as Pastors, Missionaries and Evangelists and send them out into the world.
Friends we hear the good news and then we believe. That is the message that we are left with. We can’t believe without hearing, but if you are a believer here then I want you to think back to that glorious time that you first believed. Someone, somewhere giving you a Bible or sharing the message of Christ with you. It may have been you reading the Bible, but many times it is someone sharing that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification. It is the best news that is available to every person on the planet. Christ died for you and me.
What we have seen is this passage is Paul’s heart for those who don’t know Christ. They are not saved and this causes him, and I pray us here today great anguish.
Paul reminds us that salvation only comes from faith in Christ, from our heart and our mouth.
And we see that faith can only come through the message of the Gospel, and that only comes from hearing.
And so today as we prayerfully send Deb out to share the Gospel at Macquarie University in the precious name of Jesus. We pray that students’ hearts and minds would be changed, and that many would confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead and be saved. I want to finish by saying if you are here today in person or on the livestream and you don’t yet confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, then I want you to hear the Gospel, I want you to know Jesus as your Lord and your saviour and for you to be right with God. If you are here today and that is you, then I would love to talk to you over morning tea.
God’s promise to us is that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Let’s pray
