The Promise of the Cross
Romans: For the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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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. 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.”
The Lie
The Lie
First Paul begins with the lie that we all believe. Ever since the garden, we have been guilty of attempting to cover our own sin.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Notice what happens, Eve and Adam, effected by sin see themselves as sinful. But what is their response?
Was their response to fall upon the mercy of God? Was it to request his help? No.
Look at what we see at the end of verse 7, “they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Man’s reaction to sin is always to find some way to alleviate themselves from guilt.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
For all the world, the Old Testament stands as a stark reminder of the truth that we are sinful and woefully inadequate to save ourselves.
This is why the world, and liberal Christianity with its moralistic therapeutic deism rejects the Old Testament.
Coined in his 2005 book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, sociologist Christian Smith defines Moralistic Therapeutic Deism as such:
1. A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.[7]
Unfortunately, this type of deism seems to be popular not just among teens but also among Christians today.
But the Bible tells us a different story. Like Eve and Adam, we desire to attempt to “fix ourselves” but when we do, what we do is always insufficient.
Many in our culture, like the Jews in our text think they can make it apart from Christ. Even if they would never say this, they live like it’s true. Our culture is filled with all kinds of claims about the gospel.
It’s popular to say something along these lines:
“X is a gospel Issue.” And you can fill into it whatever you want. People use this language because they believe that a particular sin is so grievous that it compromises or contradicts the gospel witness of Christians individually and of the church visible and corporately. They want the sin to stop right now. So, they categorize X (pick a sin) and call it a “gospel issue.”
The problem is that when we do this, we are in danger of creating a group of sins that are “more deadly” than others. The new “seven deadly sins” that seem to revolve around the political or cultural zeitgeist of a given time.
These become things we can almost obstain from and achieve salvation apart from Christ.
But Paul notes that “good living” is entirely unsatisfactory. “the person who does the commandments shall live by them.”
But as James 2:10 notes, it’s not enough to keep most of the law all of the time, nor is it sufficient to keep all of the law most of the time
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
He continues to point this out
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).
Paul is pointing out the futility of our attempts at healing our brokenness.
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.”
This concept of a lack of grace is even seen in our own culture.
Notice todays cancel culture.
Whether it be actor Kevin Hart being cancelled for insensitive tweets from 2011, or Tik Tokers being cancelled for fat shaming it seems that forgiveness for past wrongs is nearly impossible.
No matter how much we flagellate, no matter how much charity we give to, or how sorry we say we are, we cannot make up for our sins.
Our past will always come back to haunt us and attempts to save ourselves are all like Adam and Eve’s attempt at self-salvation: They are simply fig leaves sewn together.
But Paul notes that God has made a way of salvation that is superior to ours.
The Promise
The Promise
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.
Here Paul clearly states what is required for our salvation.
Confess
Confess
"The word is homologeses, and it is a legal term. It means 'to assure,' 'to promise,' 'to admit,' 'to concede'; b. 'to make legal statements,' 'to bear witness' in the legal sense."
So it has the sense of bearing witness about a truth that you have attained.
We must confess, like in a trial, that Jesus is Lord. This is an important statement of fact, a statement that can only be made by revelation of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3
Paul is not speaking of a simple belief, but rather in a Spirit Led and passionate proclamation of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Believe
Believe
It’s not merely fideism, belief in something, anything is what matters. This faith has a subject. we must believe what is testified about Christ. We must believe the truth of the gospel, the truth of the empty tomb. The truth that Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
This is not easy believism. It's not simply believe and you will be saved. It's a call to have a complete submissive faith in Christ, body and soul. We cannot miss this. Herein lies the problem of the Jews, and in our day the problem of many Christians. But also herein lies the joy of the next statement:
Receive
Receive
You will be saved.
The verb is
future - "you will"
passive - "you will be" The verse is not active in voice. Paul is not saying "You will save", but rather, you will be saved. Salvation start to finish is the work of God.
God the Father regenerates sinners through the work of the Holy Spirit giving them hearts fertile to receive the word.
You respond in faith, but as we discussed last week, that faith that you express is a gift of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
You confess and believe in faith because of the life-change the Spirit has wrought in your heart.
And you are saved by person and work of Christ Jesus
And here is where we come full circle. Go back to Genesis with me.
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Adam and Eve’s sin begins with them attempting to cover their own sin, but it ends with God making a sacrifice to cover their sin.
Easter screams this truth, salvation is something done to you not something you do.
They aren't active in it, they are acted upon.
This is what God has done in Christ on the cross. Your salvation was paid for on the cross of Jesus. God was not waiting for you to repent and believe, Jesus' propitiatory work was done on the cross 2,000 years ago. In the same way Christ died for the sins of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he died for the sins of Dennis, and Kristy, and Debra, and John and every sinner who has lived and who ever will live who "calls upon the name of the Lord."
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.
God is bestowing riches (in the present) of all who call on him (in the present) no matter who they are.
So in that one verb, what Paul is saying You WILL BE SAVED not by your own power.
For with the heart one is caused to believe (passive) -
Notice the passive indicative. It's a statement of fact that we are caused to believe and in believing we are justified.
One confesses - present passive indicative. They are once again passively confessing so that EVEN THEIR CONFESSION is a work of God.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul quotes the prophet Joel here "that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Joel 3:2)
This is the prophecy that we see spoken of in Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost. The Spirit was poured out in the Last Days, The Day of the Lord, of Christ’s reign as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
George Whitefield at the age of 16 became deeply convicted of sin. He tried everything possible to erase his guilt through religious activity. He wrote, “I fasted for 36 hours twice a week. I prayed formal prayers several times a day and almost starved myself to death during Lent, but only felt more miserable. Then by God’s grace I met Charles Wesley who put a book in my hand which showed me from the Scriptures that I must be “born again” or be eternally lost.”
Finally, by the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, Whitefield came to understand Jesus’ words in John 3. He believed and was gloriously saved. After he became a preacher, he spoke at least a thousand times on the subject, “Ye must be born again.” He fervently desired that all who heard him might experience the transforming power of God’s grace.
Years later, Whitefield would write to Benjamin Franklin: “As I find you growing more and more famous in the world of letters I recommend to your unprejudiced study the mystery of the New Birth. It is a most important study and if mastered will abundantly repay you. I bid you, dear friend, remember that He before whose bar we must both soon appear has solemnly declared that without it we shall in no wise see His Kingdom.”
So here’s the question you must answer, have you been born again? Has God called you to Himself, given you a new heart and saved you? Has God drawn you to himself? If so, then no matter your past if you confess and believe you will be saved. The God who made skins animals to cover the sin of Adam and Eve has made away for you through the blood of the Lamb today.
if not, would you confess and believe today?