The message about Christ Jesus

Romans 10:1-17

Key verse 10:9,10

Good morning. Last week, chapter 9 taught us that God has a right to have mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and to harden whom he wants to harden. Also, God has a great patience even to the objects of his wrath. Also in his great patience, God calls the Gentiles as his own people. At the same time, when his chosen people Israel was unfaithful to him, out of love, he disciplined them. Today, in chapter 10, Paul says with our mouth when we declare Jesus is Lord and with our heart when we believe God who raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved. Today is July 4th. More than 300 years ago, in 1776, America publically announced the declaration of independence from British. Back then, America was a colony of British. But through the declaration of Independence, American revealed their belief: a right to pursue happiness, liberty, equality, freedom, and so on. Similarly, in today’s passage, through the message about Christ Jesus, we also receive the righteousness of God, salvation and faith. I pay that God may bless us to have biblical understanding about those three things.

  1. The message about Jesus brings God’s righteousness

In verses 1 – 4, Paul talks about how we can obtain the righteousness of God through Israel’s failure. Look at verse 1. He prayed for Israel to be saved. Last week, in chapter 9, he shared how much he had great sorrow and unceasing anguish because of his own people Israel. Israel was God’s chosen people. They had the law. They seemed to be first people they should obtain God’s righteousness. However, they failed to have God’s righteousness. Why? Because even though they are zealous for God, their zeal is not based on knowledge. Zealous means “passionate”. You know how passionate they are for God. In Paul’ time, they tried to observe the law, did circumcision on 8th day, offered animal sacrifices, tithe, fasting, and so on. Even today, Jewish men wear hat (Kippah), on the Sabbath day, they do not drive but walk and even not push elevator button. But Paul said “their zeal is not based on knowledge”. What kind of knowledge does he talk about? Let us read verse 3 together. “Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” They did not know the righteousness of God. So they sought their own righteousness. Their own righteous is, according to chapter 9, they pursued the law as the way of righteousness. They thought through the works of the law, they could be righteous in God’s sight. Why do people need the righteousness of God? Righteousness in Greek means “the state of him who is such as he ought to be”. Before Adam sinned in Genesis, man had the right relationship with God. There was no separation between God and us. But as sin entered this world, our righteous relationship with God was broken. We lost our state as we ought to be. So in order to stand before God again, we need to be righteous in God’s sight. God did not give the law for Israel to be righteous. When we look at the OT, Israel just came out of their 400 years slavery life. They did not have any rules or the law. So God gave them the law and he wanted to discipline them as kingdom of priest and a holy nation. Also as Paul said (Romans 7:7), through the law, God wanted them to see their sins and looked for a Savior.

Then, how can we, a sinner, be righteous in God’s sight? Through Christ Jesus. Let’s read verse 4 together. “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes”. Culmination means the highest point or the end. How does Jesus become the highest point of the law? Because he fulfilled all the law. Because he shed his own blood to pay for sinners who broke the law. Because the law eventually pointed out him. In the OT, when man sinned against God, there was only one way for them to stand before God; that is the blood of the animal. Through shedding the blood, sinners could be present before God. Also in Exodus, at the Passover, how could Israel avoid God’s punishment? Through the blood on the doorpost. When the angel of death came, he checked only one thing: the blood of the lamb on the doorpost; if he sees it, he passes over, if not, goes in and kills every firstborn son. He did not care who was inside houses, could be good people or bad people. Also in Chinese character, righteousness means sheep over man. It is very interesting. Long time ago, China was not Christian country, yet, how they made a word of righteousness in this way. But the more interesting is that the Bible says Jesus is the lamb of God. Jesus shed his blood for sinners on the cross. Now, when anyone believes him who died as the lamb of God, when anyone stand s before God with the blood of Jesus, they become righteous in his sight. It is like we put Jesus over our head in the presence of God. This is the righteousness of God. Thank God for granting us to be righteous through Christ Jesus!

  • The message about Jesus brings Salvation

In verses 6 – 7, Paul explains that God’s righteousness through Jesus is not his idea. It was already written in the times of Moses. Really? Let’s look at verses 6 – 7. These verses are from Deuteronomy 30. Before Israel entered the promised land, Moses repeated all the law and told them to obey it: How many laws are in the OT? 613 laws. But if God lists 613 laws one by one and tells you to obey them, how do you feel about it? Israel was honest. They said that obeying the law is like going up to heaven or going down to sea. They said it is impossible. Then, Moses told them “what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.?” How? He said “No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” While he talked about the law, all of sudden he introduced the word. What is the word? But he did not explain about it in details. It was kind of mystery. It was hidden for ages.

Then what is the word Moses mentioned? Look at verse 8. Let’s read it. “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:“ According to verse 8, the word Moses mentioned is the message concerning faith, another meaning is that the message about Christ Jesus.

Let’s read verse 9. “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”. According to verse 9, the message is that Jesus is Lord and God raised Jesus from the dead. When we declare the message with our mouth and believe it with our heart, we will be saved. We will be righteous in God’s sight. Here, declare means “to make known officially”. Also what does “Jesus is Lord” mean? Lord means “King”. So when we publically confess “Jesus is Lord”, we announce to ourselves and to people in the world, from now on, Jesus is my king, I will put my trust in him, I will obey him, I will follow him, I will live for him. Here, we may have one question: Why do we have to publically confess Jesus is Lord? Why not keep it within me? When we openly announce our faith with our mouth, it is for us, and for those who listen to my confession, and most of all we glorify God with our mouth. In the Bible, there was a woman who suffered bleeding over 12 years. One day, she touched Jesus’ cloaks secretly and was healed. Jesus knew his power had gone out. So he asked people who touched his clothes? Did not he know who touched his clothes? Of course, he knew. Yet, he kept looking around until she came forward. Eventually, she came and told him the whole truth publically. Then, Jesus told her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Jesus helped her to declare her faith with her mouth. Also as you see, “declare” and “believe” are present tense. It means we do not just one time declare Jesus with our mouth and believe God with our heart when we believe him first time or for baptism ceremony. Rather, every single day we need to declare Jesus with our mouth and believe God in our heart, then we will be saved.

Look at verse 10. Paul now talks about a relationship between God’s righteousness and salvation. Let’s read verse 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.” Based on this verse, justification and salvation go hand in hand. Of course, in order, justification comes first and then our salvation. With our heart, when we believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and God raised him from the dead, at that moment, we are justified. Justified means “righteous”. So we become righteous in God’s sight, when we believe Jesus with our heart. Also, when we profess our faith with our mouth, we are saved. As you see, Paul emphasizes once again the importance of professing our faith with our mouth. Profess means “declare or confess” openly. At college, a professor profess their knowledge in classroom. He does not keep what he believes in secret. Similarly, God wants us to profess what we believe with our mouth.

Then, who can obtain the righteousness of God and God’s salvation? Only for the Jews, absolutely not, Look at verse 11 and 12. God’s salvation has no distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. Either the Jews or the Gentiles, whoever declares Jesus with their mouth and believes in God with their heart, they will be saved. God is Lord over all people and richly blesses anyone who believes. So in verse 13, Paul quotes a famous verse from the OT. Let us read verse 13. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”. Verse 13 says “everyone”. When anyone calls the name of the Lord, they will be saved. Do you call on the name of God every day? Let us use this great privilege of calling on the name of God.

3. The message about Jesus brings faith

So far, chapter 10 teaches us we will be righteous in God’s eyes through Jesus. Also we will be saved when we declare Jesus is Lord with our mouth and when we believe God who raised Jesus from the dead with our heart. How easy it is to be saved. How easy it is to have right relationship with God. We do not need to observe 613 laws. What a good news!

However, no matter how the good news is, what if no one preaches the good news, then who can hear the good news? So in verses 14 – 15, Paul talks about the importance of preaching. Let’s read verses 14 – 15. “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 anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” This is true. How were you able to believe in God? From birth, you decided to believe God? No. In your life, there was someone who told you about the gospel or invited you to church: the someone might be your parents or friends or bible teachers, or someone else. The point is that when someone is sent to preach the gospel, she/he obeys the calling and goes out to share the good news, when people hear the message, they believe in God and calls on the name of God. What a beautiful story! So Paul say How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

In reality, it is never easy to preach the gospel to people. But when we share the good news, how does God look at us? In God’s sight, our feet are so beautiful. Think about this: through our preaching, one sinner can hear Jesus, believe in him, and call on the name of God. Through our preaching, one sinner may be saved. Since the great commission of Jesus in Mt 28, so many people have obeyed and preached the gospel in all over the world. America used to send so many missionaries to overseas. But these days, not only outside but even inside America, preaching the good news is rare. The Bible says people are dying. Hosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:” When people do not know knowledge of God, they are perishing. I pray God may use us to preach the good news. Would you want to join in this beautiful gospel work?

Look at verse 17. Can we read verse 17? “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Where does our faith come from? It comes from hearing the message about Christ. When we hear the message about Christ Jesus, we do not know how, but God gives us desire to believe in him. So it is important for us to listen to what. When we hear songs like believer or BTS’s diamond, when you hear media news, when you hear lectures, such things might give us rest or knowledge. But they do not give us faith. I do not mean you should not listen to them. But what I am saying is that faith comes from hearing the message about Christ Jesus. That is why we have to listen to the word of God through 1:1 and SWS faithfully. Then, our faith continues to grow. I grew up in an atheist family. I never heard message about Christ until I entered college. At college, a friend of mine invited me to Bible study. When I look back now, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! But honestly, first couple months, I had no idea what the Bible said. I almost quit the Bible study. But by God’s grace, studying John’s gospel chapter 4, when I heard about Jesus who wanted to give the living water to the Samaritan woman, out of nowhere, in my heart, I began to think “wow! if such a living water really exists, I would like to drink it too”. That moment, the seed of faith was planted in my heart. I also realized that I am a sinner because even though Jesus came to quench my thirst, I completely ignored him and only sought waters from the world. I repented and welcomed Jesus into my heart. So it is true that “faith comes from hearing the message about Christ Jesus”.

In conclusion, today’s passage taught us that by believing Jesus, we become righteous in God’s eyes. We are saved when we declare Jesus with our mouth and believe in God with our heart. Also through hearing the message about Christ Jesus, we can have faith. As we see, Jesus is the main point of all three things. I pray we may get to know him more and more.

Key verse 9 and 10: 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, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved