Call on Jesus – Romans 10:11-13

Romans 10:11-13 (ESV)
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I get the feeling Paul is trying to get a point across to us. Over and over, the theme of salvation by faith alone is coming through! So let’s take a quick look at some of the themes in these verses in Romans.

Everyone!

Everyone who believes will not be put to shame. What shame is Paul speaking of? He means the shame of coming before God with your sins still in place, and the shame of being rejected by the Father when He is finally, fully revealed on the last day. It is the final shame of ultimate rejection by God, who in that very moment, you will know and understand to be God, your creator! The shame of knowing that God actually did love you, and what He did for you, but you chose to reject.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Again with the ‘everyone!’ One of the key themes in Romans has been to explain that before Jesus came, God used the Israelites, His chosen people, to be His witnesses in the world, and that salvation would come through them. Now that the law is fulfilled in Jesus, this time has passed – before God there is now no distinction between the ‘chosen people of Israel’ and everyone else, salvation is through Jesus who has finally met all of the just requirements of the law, and paid the penalty for all.

Salvation is not works. There is nothing you can do, on your own, to be saved.

Salvation is not obedience to the law. Prior to Jesus, obedience to all the Laws of Moses was a requirement, as were all the sacrifices in the temple. Since Jesus has fulfilled that, salvation is no longer by obedience to the law, but through the grace of God in Jesus.

Salvation is not devotion, poverty, service or anything else. Just like works – you can’t become a monk to be saved. You can’t devote your life to poverty to be saved. You can’t even devote your life to service to be saved – you are saved alone through Jesus. Some of these things (just like obedience) may come as fruits of that faith – but none of them will save you without faith.

Salvation is not hereditary. Salvation never was hereditary, however, the message of God was familial –the children of Israel were God’s chosen messengers. And yet, still ‘gentiles’ could choose to be grafted into that society and relationship with God should they choose. But now even the message of salvation is open to all and preached to all. Everyone.

So what is the key message? Call on the name of the Lord – Jesus. I mentioned it before – some of the things that we associate with salvation, such as good works, can be a fruit of salvation. But not a single one of them will bring salvation – only faith in Jesus, His death and resurrection will do that for you.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So do it. Call on Jesus – and you will be saved.

Thank you again Lord God that you sent your Son to pay for our sins in your abundant love. Thank you that you have shown grace to us when we could not have done a thing to save ourselves. Teach us your ways, guide us to you, show us that without faith, works are nothing, family is nothing and commitment is nothing. Remind us daily that it is in You that we have salvation, and not in any other. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Righteousness based on Faith! Romans 10:5-10 (part 2)

Romans 10:5-10 (ESV)
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on 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 abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, 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.

Following on from yesterdays post, we know that no one can ever become righteous by their own effort or obedience – it is simply impossible. So what then? Yesterday we spoke of ‘but’. And that ‘but’ is this – the righteousness based on faith.

Galatians 2:15-16 (ESV)
Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

It is through faith that we know that our works are nothing, and we cannot ascend into heaven to reach God on our own effort. It is through faith that we know that we could not descend into the grave and defeat death – we know that through His death and resurrection, Jesus has already defeated death!

It is through faith that we rely on Jesus death to cleanse us of our sin, and through faith that we rely on Jesus perfect life of obedience to fulfill our justification. For Jesus not only died that so that our sins could be forgiven, but He lived a perfect human life, that we can be fully justified before God, having substituted our disobedience for His obedience, and suffering our punishment on the cross.

And finally, it is through faith that we believe that Jesus was resurrected from the grave. It is true we have the written record and testimony of Jesus resurrection, but we haven’t seen it ourselves. We have to rely on our faith in God, His revelation, and the guiding of the Holy Spirit to give us faith that He was truly risen from the dead, ultimately defeating death.

John 20:29 (ESV)
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

So it really is as simple as that. First, you believe in your heart the historical facts of Jesus work. Second, you confess this belief with your mouth, by proclaiming that ‘Jesus is Lord’. And you are righteous.

There is an argument that by ‘confessing’ you are actually performing a single, small ‘work’ of your own to gain your salvation. No! You are justified by your belief alone! The confession of your faith is a pure and simple overflow of your heart, for out of the abundance of your heart your mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34-37). If Jesus is truly your Lord, and you are physically able to speak, then you will confess that Jesus is Lord. This isn’t a ‘good work’, or even a work of salvation – it is the overflow of a heart that is finally right before God, and amazed that something so wondrous would be done for them.

Jesus IS Lord.

Do you believe it?

Lord God, thank you again that we can be declared righteous before you, even though we haven’t lived a wholly righteous life, and we haven’t the ability ourselves to atone for our sins. Give us faith to believe, and strengthen that faith in us through Your Word and the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Righteousness in your own strength? Romans 10:5-10 (part 1)

Romans 10:5-10 (ESV)
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on 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 abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, 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.

Over the next few studies, we will look at these verses in Romans where Paul discusses again our salvation in Jesus! The first part of this discussion is a simple reiteration, almost a summary, of righteousness from the Old Testament law.

If you want to be declared righteous from the law, you must do everything that is in the law, all of the time. You must, in essence, live the law.

Difficult, but achievable? No, it is simply impossible.

Romans 3:9-12 (ESV)
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”

No one, by their own obedience and works, will be justified before God. If we were to go back to our studies in Romans 2 and 3 (This one is a good summary – What use is the Law?), you will see that the law shows us our sin, and our need for a savior. If you go back to Romans 6 (Is the law sin?), you will see that when the law comes it guides and directs, but more than anything it shines the light on the sin that is already is in our lives.

If we were to stop right here, we would think the whole proposition is hopeless. There is no way, on our own, to be righteous. There is simply nothing we can do – nothing we can say – no effort we can make, that will make us righteous on our own effort.

But.

That’s right, the very next word is but. And this ‘but’ leads us to this simple statement – 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.

We will spend more time on this over the next few days, but know this. You cannot do it yourself – no way, no how. But God has done it for you, and you just need to take on His righteousness, rather than strive for your own, and you will be saved.

Yes, it really is that easy.

Lord God, thank you that you have made a way for us to be righteous, you have made a way that we can truly overcome sin and death, and be right with you for eternity. Continue to give us revelation into your Word, as we take the time to study It and truly know what it means. Teach us as ever to know You more. In Jesus Name. Amen.

(photo flickr / Barak-Janah)

Establishing your own? Romans 10:1-4

Romans 10:1-4 (ESV)
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

We live in a success focused and motivationally filled world. Everyone wants and expects success. We get calendars, posters, screensavers and emails telling us daily that ‘you can do it – you just gotta believe!’

There are some great motivational quotes out there to get us going and keep us moving.

• “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napolean Hill
• “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Sir Winston Churchill
• “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential, these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” – Confucius
• “If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

But what are all these quotes saying? In effect, that we have the power within us to do whatever we dream, so get up, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get moving.

And so, we come to today’s passage in Romans. Paul here is continuing to speak of the Jews (following on from these verses). What does he say? Because they were ignorant of Gods righteousness, they decided to make up their own. Because they didn’t look at what God wanted, they set their own path. And they were zealous about that path! So zealous in fact that when God’s righteousness in Jesus Christ was revealed, they weren’t interested.

You could easily look and say ‘wow, that’s kind of dumb!’. And yet, so often in our own lives, we get caught up in what we are doing. We stick by our mantra of ‘quitters are losers’, and so persist in doing what we are doing, going down the path we have set for ourselves. But where does that path lead?

Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Wow. There is a reason that the word ‘repentance’ means to ‘turn around’ or ‘change direction’!

What can we learn from this?

Do you have zeal? Is that zeal for the things of God, for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, rather than something of your own creation? From the example in Matthew above, even some who think they are doing the things of God are not – so even when you think you are, it is always good to take some time out to review. Look about, see what the fruit of your zeal really is. See what your heart motivation really is – is it a motivation for the things of God, or a motivation for yourself?

We can easily get caught up in things of the world. Even easier we can get caught up in our own biases, our own programs, our own ‘high horses’, and so leave the path of what God wants in our life and move onto our own. Don’t do that! Instead, pray that God will reveal to you His will. Offer back up to Him even those things you think you are doing in the Name of God, to make sure that it is His will that is being done – and not your own.

Lord God, help us to see when we are zealous for our own things, and not for yours. Especially when we have convinced ourselves that our way is in fact yours, and we blaspheme your name in doing so. Teach us to be humble and submit to you in all things. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Your rules don’t work – Romans 9:30-33

Romans 9:30-33 (ESV)

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Your good works will not make you righteous. Good works, without first having faith in Christ, are nothing.

Your rules, regulations and laws will not make you righteous. One of the key themes in Romans is that we all are sinners, and no one is capable of meeting every single requirement of the law fully. Obedience is nothing without faith in Christ.

Our perspective is faulty. As God’s greatest creation on this earth (Genesis 1:28), we rightfully see ourselves as above all that is around us. We are more than the birds, the animals, the fish and the trees. Even the more intelligent animals like dolphins or apes, or even dogs and cats, have got nothing on us. We have reason, we have intelligence, we have the ability to learn, to communicate. What we fail to take into account is what a little place this planet is. Just as we were set over the earth, there is a Creator who is still over us, and all of the rest of the universe. He is so much bigger, greater and more powerful than we are, but because he is not directly visible to us in our day to day lives we live as though He doesn’t exist.

And so, we make judgments on our perspectives. We try to be ‘good people’, and by our judgment, we often are. We try to do ‘good works’, and by our judgment, they are truly marvellous. And yet – we leave God out of this picture.

What we are doing is bringing God down to our level, to our intelligence, to our judgment. And so we make a list of rules that we feel will make us ‘righteous’. And then we follow those rules, and call out ‘Hey God, look how great I am. I’ve met the lot!’.  We have turned God from an all-powerful Creator of the universe, to someone on our level. We are no longer talking to the real God, but a made up apparition in our own minds.

That is the craziest, most amazing claim of all Christianity. To be made right with God, there is only one thing we need – faith. The rest is done. We don’t bring God down to us with rules or laws or works, but we are lifted up to God.

We don’t do the work – He does.

And because then He does the work, our works are nothing. Our laws are nothing. Our rules are nothing. The only way to be made right with God is to have faith, and to believe in the work that Jesus has done for us all on the Cross.

Simple isn’t it?

Prayer

Lord God, help us to gain a right perspective of ourselves and You. Help us to see where we fit in Your creation, rather than bring You down to our level, and create an idol in our own image. Thank you that You have done the work for us, and we need only believe! Help us believe rightly in you! In Jesus name. Amen.

Everything is NOT ok – Romans 9:25-29

Romans 9:25-29 (ESV)

As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”

In our lives, we often think that everything is going just fine. Maybe as Christians we think that we are ’saved’, we are on the path, we are doing the right thing, we are in God’s plan. Maybe as someone who is not a Christian, we believe we are ‘good people’, and that we are helping others, we are honest, and we are doing the right thing. Surely everything is ok?

Whilst often many of these conditions are true – we are doing good works, we aren’t breaking any laws, we may even be ‘saved’ – we begin to fall victim to the belief that God owes us something.

We begin to think that ‘everything is ok’.

Today, I am here to tell you, that everything is most certainly NOT ok.

One of the things that I find hard to understand is the holiness and righteousness of God. I fail to grasp that even the smallest sin in my life is utterly detestable before God, and that for even a small sin, He cannot bear to have me in His presence – He is THAT holy. It is beyond our comprehension. I am sure many of you find the same thing – how can God condemn us to eternal punishment for one little thing?

The error I believe is that we take things from our human perspective – not the perspective of an immortal, all powerful, utterly holy God. Firstly, we only see actions. I might think that I would really like to have that sports car going down the road – but you see nothing until I either steal it or rob a bank to pay for it. God saw sin the moment I coveted it.

Secondly, because we are already sinful creatures, we are missing the ‘burden of holiness’ that God has. Our perspective is not from a high place looking down, but we are in among others just like us, so our measurement is purely human. To us, the desire for a sports car might be considered gluttony, or might be considered a good thing. It might be passed off as a mid life crisis, and whispered as ‘he will get over it’. For some people, it is simply normality – they and all their friends own at least one, and they have no idea why anyone shouldn’t have one. I am not saying a sports car is a bad thing, but that when we covet or lust over one, we have sinned. And usually only God sees that sin.

So from our perspective, there is nothing wrong until there is action, and even then we often write the action off because of our perspective. But to God, who is completely and totally holy, He can no longer bear to have us in his presence.

Coming back to our verses in Romans today, God has called many people to Him. But He didn’t call holy, righteous people – because there simply are none. He has called sinners, both Jews and Gentiles (anyone who is not of Jewish decent), to be His people. But it is God’s work, not ours. It is God’s call, not ours. We didn’t give up our sin and go to God, but God sent His son, to die on a cross, that the righteous requirement of the law would be fulfilled. And it is only in that work that we can become right before God, and we can come again before Him,

Everything is NOT ok. We might be saved. We might be doing good works. But in the end, we are still sinners – regular sinners. And without the blood of Jesus in our lives, we would be nothing.

Take some time this week and focus on that in your life. Focus on the work God has done for you. And when you do so, consider what your response should be.

Prayer

Lord God, thank you again for your work on the cross. Thank you that through Jesus, we can again come to You, as Your people. Help us to not rely on ourselves, not rely on our own works, or righteousness, but to rely entirely and completely on You. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Understanding Mercy – Romans 9:22-24

Romans 9:22-24 (ESV)

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

How can we understand mercy? How can we understand salvation? How can we come to see the power of God?

To understand all of these things, we need a contrast.

If the world was perfect – absolutely perfect, without fault or blemish, then we would not know anything else – because we would know only perfection, and perfection has no blemish. We would not understand what it is like to live in an imperfect and corrupt world. Indeed, we wouldn’t understand the term or concept of corruption in any way, because it simply would not exist. I think when we come to the ‘new heaven and new earth’ (Revelation 21:1), that is what it will be like – perfect.

But since our world is not perfect, in fact far from it, we understand differences between good and bad. We can see both mercy and wrath. We can see and know both good and evil. And we yearn for something better, something perfect. This is because God is merciful and loving.

What you say? Merciful and loving? How are all the bad things in the world related to mercy and love?

There are two parts of mercy here. The first is that God is enduring patiently with those who are sinners. Firstly that they may come to know Him, that they are given the time and place to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The second part is that by showing wrath, we come to understand mercy. By allowing us to see the outcome of those who do not love God, those of us who are saved can better come to know the righteousness and mercy of God.

If we never knew darkness, we could never fully appreciate the light – because the light would just ‘be’. But by knowing darkness, when we see the light we can appreciate it all the more.

Just so we don’t misunderstand – Gods mercy is not the only reason we see Gods wrath, it is just one benefit. God could have chosen to hide His wrath, rather than allow it to be seen by all. God cannot tolerate sin. His wrath and eternal punishment was always going to take place, but by allowing us to see it now, we can better understand Gods power and mercy.

God has patiently endured with this world – so that we could see His power, and understand His mercy, and that as many as possible would be saved.

Prayer

Thank you God that you have shown us your mercy. Thank you that you have called us, that you have saved us, and that we are no longer vessels of wrath, but have been made right with you through your son Jesus. Help us to see and know your mercy in our lives always. In Jesus Name. Amen.

(Photo Flickr / Josh Liba)