Lesson 45b

All right, we are in Lesson 45, Romans 10. And just a reminder that 9, 10, and 11 of Romans was really kind of a subset that Paul takes time to address Israel and the Jews. And so there are a lot of things that are focused on the Jews, but have application with us too.

Again, it shows, we've shown in the first part, that Paul has a real heart for Israel and the Jews. And he knows the truth and he wants to give them the truth. And just their rejection of it and what's been going on through the law system. And now he's opening up grace. And again, when I look at Galatians 2, I just see that's really law versus grace on trial. and showing how good grace is, and telling the Jews about what grace is and all this. But just the understanding when you see that, and you see in the beginning of this where Paul, he just has this love for them. But just understand where they're coming from.

Their whole life has been based on law. The synagogue is the most important thing to be a part of. And now Paul's basically telling them to reject all that, and then by their rejection, they get thrown out of the synagogue. So when he gets this, he's pleading with him now, even though that's going to happen.

He's telling him all these things about the system that they're in, or were in, and what's available through Christ. So in question two, what does it mean that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes? And that was in verse three. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. in verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

So I was just starting to get into it last week. What was the law intended to do? To make you... Put a spotlight on our sin. Okay. Show us So does it make you a better person? No, no, no. Just to show us we can be a better person. Did it impart life in any way? No. You know, that's where a lot of, I think, contemporary Christianity has a problem, is that they think the law is something that's going to make you a better Christian.

It's holy and righteous. That's what it is. But was the law ever for us as Gentiles? No, that's number one in most Christian belief now is that, oh, it applies to us. Well, no, it never did. But then if you're trying to do it, Paul through Galatians and here, it's the end. We're not under it. And he's pleading to the Jews now about it. But the law was never intended to make you a better person. And there are several scriptures that back that up.

Romans 5.20 in the same book. The law came in so that the transgression would increase. So the law wasn't meant to restrain this. It was to manifest this. Like I said, spotlight, highlight, show. And then Romans 7, 5.

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law. So isn't this something we really want to strive for, to get to the law, so it arouses our sin? Yes! Yes, that's what we want to do. We want to get as close as we can to the law.

Romans 7.7, I would not have come to know sin except through the law.

So it was meant to show sin. So again, all these things with the Galatians, all that, it was to point to the need for Christ. That the law would never satisfy, never give you impart life, it would never do anything but expose your sin nature and arouse it. So in Galatians we see that grace versus law and that, but Paul even here now says it's the end. Through Christ it's the end of the law for righteousness. So, again, I gave it away, who was under the law? Jews. Okay, were the Gentiles? Never.

So, Newell summarizes this by the end of the law for righteousness. He says, to him that believeth, therefore, Jew or Gentile, Christ dead, buried and risen is the end of the law for righteousness, in the sense of the law's disappearance from the scene.

We read in chapter 7-6 that those who had been under the law were discharged from the law, brought to naught, put out of business with respect to the law. The law has nothing to do with them as regards to righteousness. He also says, the vast discussion among commentators concerning the expression the end of the law would never have been had it been recognized, one, that God gave the law only to Israel and he said that it was a temporary thing, a ministration of death to reveal sin and therefore the necessity of Christ's death. And that Christ having come, the day of the law was over. It was annulled. So again, when in this verse we see Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." So again, this was the end of the law.

So when you look at a lot of Christians, and we had this discussion with the group that Banger is associated with, but the law is good. We should still be under the law. The law is good, it's holy, it's righteous. One, we were never under it, and two, we never should be under it now as Christians. So it clearly states here, and this is for the Jews, But it applies to us, too. Christ brought an end to the law. So, again, the dual application.

He's telling it to the Jews, which are very hard, as I started off. This was their life. They know by rejecting this, they get thrown out of the synagogue, which was, you know, like, you're part of the you know, the biggest administration, you're sitting in the Capitol building and you're some big muckety-muck, and now he's telling you, you're not, get out of there, it's worthless. So, this is a big deal to them. And again, why he's pleading to them, he says at the beginning, I have such a heart for the Jews. Because he knows what it means, what he's telling them is going to mean to them.

So, question three, what is the contrast shown in verses five and six? And I'll read that. For Moses writes, that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows. So, what is the contrast? Stunned silence. Law and faith. Righteousness from law and righteousness by faith. Two different systems. Law and faith. He clearly says that there's one based on law for righteousness, and there's one based on faith.

So that's the contrast. You've got to realize, this again was a huge change for the Jews. Besides their thought of birthright citizenship, I'm a Jew, I'm in. That's when Nicodemus, he's like, hey, what do you mean? I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew. I'm in. I've got the card, the green card. I'm in."

Now he's saying, not only that, but the law that you based all this on is out. And so it's not by works, it's now by faith. So there's quite a difference here to the adherence of a law, but now he's saying it's simple faith in what Christ completed on the cross, and now imparts to all believers. So it's a completely different thing. So we take these as kind of minor things, and we look at it and go, well yeah, it's based on faith. But put yourself in the audience that he's talking to. These are Jews who have based their entire life on it, and now he's saying, it's no longer based on everything that you've done for your entire lifetime, but now it's based on faith.

Do we see that today a lot in, and I know in the Tuesday Bible study when we were talking about grace, and what that means. A lot of Christians today think that faith still means you have to do a lot of stuff. Resting and just accepting the blessings is difficult.

Do you see that sometimes? Don't we have to do something? We have to do something to earn this. Well, if you earn it, what's that little thing called unmerited in our discussion of grace? So I think today it's real applicable, too. I think a lot of people still want to do things. And I was talking to somebody after class last week, that when you start realizing that, that I need to do something, who's that coming from? Adam. Adam. And that also tells you that there's still Adam in you, in your flesh. And we've just gone through, there's nothing dwelling good in my flesh, and the Romans 7.

But you've got to realize, when there's an inkling of needing to do something for the blessings, realize the source of that. That's the old man. And when we try and put ourselves under a law or anything like that, that's the old man screaming for some part of being relevant. So, again, the Jews were under a law system and that's completely different. If we go under it, it's trying to overcome the screaming of that old captain that's, you know, the mutiny and the captain's been replaced but he's still screaming at you.

Whenever that, you know, you've got to do something. You've really got to do something. And again, we heard on the radio on the way coming in, we were talking about that, it was doing, we've got to do five blessings a week or, you know. Five good things or five, I can't remember, something to do with Christmas. Some poll that came out that said, on average, five good things in a month. We should be doing five a week. Does that make you feel better? That God's going to like you just a little bit better if you did five a week rather than five a month good deeds?

Isn't that the way that a lot of us were raised, to please our parents? Absolutely. Totally. Just think of the whole world system. I was talking to somebody about how a guy I work with, actually in Buena Vista, he's a strong believer, he's an engineer that I deal with up there, and we were talking about grace, and he's got a lot of good things similar to what we teach, and we were talking about that.

I told him about Grace, and he did the same thing. He said, yeah, I bought you lunch last week. When you come up this week, you buy me lunch. Mike and I always kid about, after teaching Grace classes, you bought last week? OK, I'm buying this. You owe me. The practical demonstration of Grace. But he did the same thing. He said, yeah, I bought you lunch last week. So I said, oh, yeah, that's Grace, right? But that goes totally against what what the world teaches. We were taught, you know, if somebody asks you over for dinner, well, you ask them back for dinner. Why is that?

Because you feel indebted to them or, you know, but, you know, that's perfectly an example of the old man and how it works. You know, oh, you can't get all these blessings from God just by faith. What do you mean you can just accept unmerited, you've got to do something for all those blessings. You know, to get, you know, a good work job or something, you got to do something for it because God won't bless you unless you do something good. Once you start realizing where that's coming from, I, you know, I try and in my own mind, when I start doing that, that I need to do something.

And immediately I understand that that's the flesh, that's the old man who's doing that. So. Jesus mentioned that with the Pharisees. When somebody offers to put a meal, set out a meal, you try to reciprocate. Well, instead of reciprocating, give to the poor. Set a meal out for the poor. Give it away.

Everything is totally against what we learn here in the Scripture. What the world teaches. Completely different. Which is, you know, very hard for us to overcome what the world has taught us. As you said, our parents told us all these different things, and it's just the way you do things. Well, that's how you do it. That's what you do. You obey your parents to please them. Right. So I took that and I obeyed God to please Him. Yeah. Well, it just doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. It's totally different. So we kind of suffer through some of the same things when we teach about grace. This is what the Jews did in trying to get rid of their law-based system. So we have similar type things. Okay, from verse 8, what does the word of faith which we are preaching mean? So I'm going to read from 6 through 8. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows.

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, and in your mouth, and in your heart, that is, the word of faith which we are preaching. So what, you know, actually, what is this, who will ascend into heaven, what did that, what did that mean to the Jews? Would you please repeat that? Yeah, when it says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, What does that mean? What does that mean to the Jew? I don't know. They were all about the land.

Yeah, they were to bring God down. It was to bring the Messiah to them. Bring God down to them. That would mean we're going to bring Him down. We're going to ascend and bring Him down. Now, the other is we're going to descend into the abyss. If Christ came and died to the Jew, who would go to the abyss to get him. So they were kind of like, basically, are you going to go up to heaven and bring him down, or are you going to go into the abyss and bring him up? Why would they use the word abyss?

Well, it's if he died. Abyss is, was death related. So if the Messiah died, which I, you know, and the Messiah would suffer. And so I think this is to bring him back up, that they would bring him back up from death. And so it's kind of saying, You know, who's going to do this?

But, he's now saying the Word of Faith which we are preaching. So different than a Messiah coming down, them bringing a Messiah down, or them doing anything. Now, the Word of Faith which we are preaching. So what does he mean, the Word of Faith? What's he preaching? Well, the Gospel. The Gospel? 1st Corinthians 15, 3-8. Basically, that's it? Yes. It's just the Gospel message.

That's what he's preaching now. Instead of all the messiah and all the different things that they had been brought up on and talking about, now he's talking about exactly Christ's death, burial, resurrection, ascension. All those things he was talking about are death, burial, and resurrection. I don't know if he was talking about his ascension at that point. Well, the mystery of Christ.

Yeah. Well, I guess it is the ascension too. Isn't that in Corinthians 2? The 15? I think I have that actually. I tell you, whether it has the ascension, because Paul was writing that too, so, you know, whether he was preaching that too, so it must have had the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Yeah.

I think there's an awful lot in here based on identification, because, number one, Christ being the end of the law means that he died to it. He took on the law and paid the penalty, and once that penalty was paid, He died to it, and so those that believe in him also die to it.

And when you're talking about going down into the abyss to bring Christ up, how did Christ get resurrected? It was by God's grace through faith alone. There's no way that you can bring Christ, the Messiah, back to life through works. You can't do it. You can't go to heaven by works.

That's why both of these are done. Again, it's law versus faith. It's the Jews trying to, I can go up and do it, I can do this, based on, yeah. The other aspect is that Christianity is a system based on a completed work. There's nothing much to do. It's already been done. And so our faith is based on God having already accomplished everything that needs to be done.

And so what law says to you, well it's not all done. You got to keep doing it. There's some stuff left over for you to do. Yeah. When, in fact, the whole premise of Christianity is a completed work. It's over with. Yeah, done. Well, and that steps into white grace. All I can do is accept. There's nothing more to do. It's just, thank you. It's the whole gospel message. Newell put it this way. These are all the things that Paul had been teaching.

Jesus was the Christ, that he had come, and again, this is kind of about the Messiah coming to bring him down. He had come, Christ had come, died for sin, been buried, been raised and been seen by many witnesses after his resurrection. And he ascended and is seated at the right hand of God. So that's through the Corinthians and all of what through his epistles. Basically, that's what he was telling them. And again, I think that was an important thing that he had come, that the Messiah had come. And that was a big deal because they were still waiting for him. So that was the message that he was preaching. Questions? Did you have something? Okay. Question 5.

Do verses 9 and 10 apply to the Jewish nation or to all believers? So, coming on after we've just read those now. 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 with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulted in salvation. So again, remember this is kind of a subset directed to the Jewish audience, who at this point had been presented the whole gospel. Now Paul says, confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.

Why would he state that at this time, to the Jews at this time? So remember, this is for the Jewish audience. He's saying, confess with your mouth. Why would he do that? Was it because they were afraid of him? came down to the synagogue and persecuted like Nicodemus who came at night. Why did he come at night?

We know. We have a good thought about that. That's exactly right. What happens if they confess with their mouth that Jesus was Lord? There's the exit. You're out of here. So, this was a big deal for them. Confess with your mouth. This is what they were saying. You confess.

Because most of them wouldn't do it. Because it meant they were ostracized. They were kicked out of the synagogue. Could they get work? They were dead to their family. They were dead to the family. Everything that they knew and owned was gone. That's why I think a lot, you see when all of Paul's epistles are bringing monies back to Jerusalem, because what happened to all these people who believed in Christ in Jerusalem? Kicked out of their synagogue, their families disowned them, could they get work? Very hard, all of that. So that's why Paul always brings back from all of his journeys, from usually the Gentiles, bringing back monies to Jerusalem to the Jews who had been kicked out of the synagogue.

So, because they confess, he wants them to confess because otherwise, you know, if you confess it, you know the consequences. I think you have to tie Versailles to this. Versailles says the message is close to you it's in your mouth and in your heart you know what the truth is and so what Paul is telling the Jews here you know I'm not telling you something new and the deal is that you have it but you won't confess it you won't publish it but you know the difference and so it condemns them because there isn't any doubt there was too much evidence that Jesus was the Messiah and that his life and death, burial and resurrection all fit the pattern of what they knew the Messiah was supposed to. And so he's kind of accusing them of saying, you know better. You know the truth. There's no, you know, we're not giving you information that you've got to go out on a limb and believe.

What I kind of equate it to is almost like for us what baptism means. a public proclamation of what's transpired in you. He's now telling him, confess this. Because he just said he, and that's right, he just said we preach, whatever it was, yeah, that is the word of faith which we are preaching. And we just said what that was, that was the whole gospel. Now he's saying, confess that, show that you believe that. Well, go ahead.

This goes way back to when Jesus healed the blind man who was blind from birth. And the parents said, you know, when the Jews asked the parents, was your son born blind? They said, well, ask him. He knows what happened. They said that. Because they didn't want to be ostracized from the synagogue, because the Jews already said that anybody who claims this guy is the Messiah will be kicked out of the synagogue. So the parents were just protecting themselves. You know, that was the big thing.

Oh, no. And again, I think it is the public proclamation. Like I said, the only thing I said as I was going through this is how it relates to baptism for us, where we have a public proclamation of what transpired inside us. We don't have the consequences of that like the Jews did here. Because, you know, you're disowned, everything we talked about, you now confess that Jesus is Lord.

Totally. What you've done is now cut yourself off from everything you know. And so this is a big deal for them. I mean, what he's telling them to do is, yeah, we've preached the whole message to you, now confess it. Let people know. It's a big deal in Muslim countries.

They can be killed for confessing Christ. And their families will kill them. Well, I think still within the world, I think Christianity is the most persecuted, I think. So the world still wants to crucify anybody associated with Christ. So that's still anybody who proclaims in any other nation, even here. Christians are minimized or made fun of or whatever.

A lot of times it's not about giving up our life, but you're ostracized because you're a believer. You believe in that stuff and all that. So again, here it's to the Jew. What this means to him is confess with your mouth. Tell the people what you believe. What we've just preached to you in the verses, now you confess it. And he knows what he's telling them to do.

Yeah, you confess it with your mouth and let it become public, then... Yeah. And then... So yeah, because many... Let me get back up to where... The New King James says... But what does it say that it is the Old Testament? And in Deuteronomy 30, it tells them exactly this. They know. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, going back to Galatians, the law pointed to Christ. Everything pointed to Christ. They're not unaware of what's going on.

And when He came, they just rejected when He came. This isn't what we had in mind. This isn't what we thought about. This isn't how we portrayed it. So it doesn't exist or it's not true. So let me get back up here. Again, this was directed to the Jewish audience, who at this point had been presented the whole gospel. Now Paul says, confess with your mouth. So he tells them this, so they confess it and start publicly doing this, which would ostracize them. So the second portion of this is directed at the Lord being raised, too. As Noah puts it, for Christianity, as we have said, begins with the resurrection.

No matter how thoroughly persuaded a Jew might be that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies at his birth, life, ministry, and death, there remained the stupendous task of faith to believe in the heart that God had raised him from the power and domain of death, of that which was the wages of sin for the whole world. So again, it's confessing that Jesus was raised. That was a huge deal.

Remember in, what is it, the Sadducees who don't believe in resurrection? So again, there was a whole sect that was totally not even thinking about resurrection. They don't even believe it. Now, he's telling them not only this, he's telling them the whole thing. Death, burial, and resurrection. You now confess. By confessing him as Lord, you're confessing that there's a resurrection. which was a big deal to them and to a major sect, the Sadducees.

So in these verses, what is connected with faith? Is it righteousness or salvation? Both. Do we have any other thoughts? Is it righteousness or faith, you say? Or salvation? Righteousness or salvation? Yes. What's the difference between righteousness and salvation? I don't think there is. Between righteousness and salvation? What is salvation?

I'm declared righteous by God. I'm saved. So there's two things right there. There's salvation, which is Salvation means I have a right standing before God that I didn't have before. Right, but there are two things there. There's new life. You can be declared righteous and not have new life. I don't think so.

Well, I mean, through the economy that he has, and we've gone through this before, what he does is, yeah, but you have to die first, right? So, saving part, there's death first and then salvation, new life. But in that same process, you're imparted righteousness, declared righteous. Well, Abraham believed God and he was accounted righteous.

Did he have salvation? Yeah. To the salvation we have? No. But you can't say that a Christian today is imparted righteousness, because what happens is the Spirit baptizes him into Christ. He has Christ's very righteousness. It isn't an impartation, it's a union with the One who is the Savior. Right. But who's He directing this at? Jews. Jews. So, what have we just talked about?

What are the two ways? Law or faith. So now, if you read what it says, So, with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. So are there two different things there? The heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confesses. I don't think those are two separate activities. They're one thing. So it's by the mouth is one thing, but they're the same thing? The point is, if you or anyone believes in the person and work of Christ and never says anything about it, he's still saved. He doesn't have to profess it loudly. He just believes it. Right.

So again, remember, and that's the differentiation between what this section is. Who is it for? The Jews. This is not particularly pointed at us. It's for the Jews, which was confessed. Do you think the Jew had to stand up and publicly say that he believed that Jesus was the Messiah?

I think he was saying, you need to do this, like the baptism. It's not a requirement, it's what he's telling him to do. You have to confess. By confessing it, you're now proclaiming what you know is true. And I said, that's the best I try and equate it to, is baptism. It's not anything related to your salvation. What it is, is a public demonstration of what's true inside of you. So he's saying, tell them what's true inside of you now.

Yeah. And when you speak out, they're confirming their salvation. Yes. Yeah. I mean, it's like what we do. I mean, like I said, baptism, the nearest thing I can think of for us as believers, it's a public proclamation. They're confessing. Yes, I believe Jesus is the Lord.

He was resurrected. That's one of the things that I think is an important part of what Paul preached. was the resurrection, which again, the Sadducees didn't believe, many Jews didn't believe in resurrection. Was it in Thessalonians where he gets into what happens to people who die? He had to explain this about resurrection. So again, he's telling them this is something new about resurrection.

So really, what the verse says, it equates the faith to righteousness. It's not specific to salvation. Now transfer us, because there are two different things here in the verse, that's what I'm saying, transfer it to us. It may be a different thing as far as a Christian. But what he's telling him here is faith is now righteousness. It's two different things. He splits it out specifically.

So that's why I said, it may be saying for us the same thing, but to the Jew he's saying, The righteousness is based on faith, and that's where it all begins. And then through the heart, I believe it, which results in salvation. Now for us, again, you may bring those together, righteousness and salvation. Again, I think it's kind of two different things. The death has to happen first, and then you have new life saved. And then with that salvation, you are declared righteous. I don't think there's an extra step for a Jew to get saved. All he's got to do is believe. No, I know. But he breaks it out into two different parts here. Sure he does. So there are two different things he's telling of the Jew. It may be the same, but he breaks it out into two different things, which is the righteousness comes by faith. So let me ask you a question about this confession. In 1 John 1-9, I'm to confess my sins.

Am I to do that publicly? No, I don't think you have to. I don't think this is the same thing. I don't have to confess publicly. I just have to agree with God. Well, I don't know. I think he's trying to say through the previous verses, this is a public confession. This is something that's different. But, you know, because why do you say confess with your mouth? I mean, Does a tree make a noise when it falls in the forest? To me, it fits with the rest of the verses. It's a confession publicly. I mean, I can confess in a closet, but why would that mean anything?

So, I think he's telling them, here is confess with your mouth. So, compare this with James, where my righteousness before God is by faith alone. But my righteousness before man has to be visible. But that's saying the exact same thing here. Righteousness comes by faith. That's exactly what he's saying here too.

I think the reason he persuades people to confess is that believing in your heart separates you from not believing. But confessing separates you from society. Once you confess, then they'll cut you off. You can believe in your heart and live the lie, or you can confess with your mouth and get separated from that lie. Maybe that's the larger commitment, physically speaking, in the flesh. So you need to start a new life.

I think this goes back to what I'm kind of focusing on here is what the verse says. Faith comes, or righteousness comes by faith. It wasn't salvation, particularly here. The believing part is about new life and all that. Believing is in the heart. Heart, yeah. So again, that was... Accepting is in your life. In life, right. So I just was trying to break out. It's a little bit here, and Newell puts it this way.

Therefore, while in both parts of Romans 10.10 Paul refers to the man of verse 9 as the one who is to be saved, it is well to let this verse remain as it is.

The Lord went on earth among the Jews and asked that they confess him publicly. The Spirit still asks this. Not only Jews, but Gentiles must confess him, although the former presentation of the truth in chapter 10 is as it would apply to a Jew to whom had been offered a Messiah concerning whose claims he had to decide, according to several Old Testament scriptures. The Gentiles did not have the scriptures, and the matter of presentation of the gospel to them was much more simple. But confession with the mouth will follow the faith of God's elect, Jew or Gentile." So again, it was more specific to the Jews. I think what Newell is putting out is that it was more to the Jew about what the confession by mouth and that.

Because he's going back to, it's still simple faith. That's all you need. Do you need to confess with your mouth for salvation? No. No. So that's, you know, part of the breakout of this is you don't have to do that. He was just asking for the Jews to publicly proclaim this. Separate yourself from the society that preaches the lie.

Yeah, and then I went back to the simple gospel message, 1 Corinthians 15, 1-5. you know, which Paul later lays out very straightforward. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I believe to you as first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. So that's, you know, the simple message of faith. And that's what you believe in your heart. Alright. I've got a question. Okay. You know, this is off the subject a little bit, but what do you think about... We never get off subject.

What do you think about Newell's comment here that those thus confessing Christ's Lordship and believing in the heart that God raised Him would be saved? Yeah, the Lordship. Lordship, or is it just confessing Him as Messiah? Yes, I think it's confessing Him as the Messiah. That's not the Lordship. I didn't agree to the Lordship part. It's really just saying that the Messiah who they waited for came. And all the rest of the Jews are saying, no, he did not come. He did not come. This guy is not the Messiah. We're still waiting. And the reason why they did that is because it didn't fit their profile. Well, yeah.

Even though all the law and all the scripture pointed... There were people on the Sabbath, and they thought, oh, okay, whoever heals on the Sabbath is doing worse, so he cannot be Messiah. Yeah. I mean, there's all this stuff that they... It didn't fit. Like I said, he was supposed to come and kick these dirty Romans out of here. Oh, yeah. He was supposed to do all this stuff. The Messiah that we had in our minds was like this. I didn't fit the profile, he's not the guy. Even though he fulfilled all the scriptures. Alright, question 6.

Are there limitations to the whoever's in verses 11-13? for the Scriptures say whoever believes in him will not be disappointed for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord over all abounding in riches for all who call on him and for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved so verse 13 is actually from Joel 2.32 so since these chapters of Romans are focused on Israel and the Jews is this only for Jews? Whoever, only whoever Jews believe? Huh? It's all. So are there limitations on this?

Neither Jew nor Greek. Jew nor Greek. You know, just think again what blows, think of a Jew who couldn't even associate with a Gentile. Couldn't go to his house, couldn't eat a meal, couldn't do anything. And what did he just say? There's no distinction. Remember all these guys, I was born a Jew, I'm a chosen person, and now he's saying there's no distinction between Jew and Gentile? I just go to what he's saying here in the audience he's talking to. This is now the Jews, and he's saying now there's no distinction. Well, he's previously said that Christ is the end of the law, and the law is what made the distinction.

This is now salt on the wound. All your system is gone. And oh, by the way, there's nothing between you and the Gentile. No, you're no different. Go have dinner with them. Go to the football game with them. You can now freely associate with the Gentile.

That's why I say, I just try to put myself into the audience he's talking to. And to a Jew, this is like, you're kidding me. But he says, now whoever will call upon him, But they had it in the scriptures. We'll see that they had clearly pointed to that their rejection was going to lead to it being Christ and God would be offered to all in the Old Testament. Look at some of the scriptures of that. So this is open to all. This is something that is still applicable today. It's whoever. There's no limitation.

Reading verse 12 clearly indicates that there is now no distinction between Jew and Greek or Gentile. For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. From verses 5 and 6, Paul just showed that righteousness now is based on faith and not the law. Therefore, we are not under the law, which was solely for the Jews, but now through faith righteousness was obtained.

And then Newell goes on. First, salvation is promise. Second, it is to be saved, not save yourself salvation. Third, it is the Lord who is to do it. Fourth, he does it for all who call upon his name. Fifth, he does it for whoever. It's anybody. So there is now no limitation to the salvation through Christ. Jew, Gentile, anybody. Anybody can come now through simple faith. It isn't a law-based system. It isn't a chosen nation. Anybody can come. There's now no distinction.

So again, just think of that to his audience and what that means. So if we can, quickly, from verse 13, question 7, what does call upon the Lord mean? Is that all that is needed for the Jews or us today? In verse 13, for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Is this Paul's gospel, call on the Lord, that's all you need for salvation? You wouldn't call upon somebody unless he was real. So is that all you need for salvation? No. Call upon the Lord? Call upon him in faith. Okay, so you just call upon him. call upon him in faith. Okay, I believe that there is a God.

Justin is not talking about God. A couple different things. What about the soldier in the middle of a battle? Lord help me. I'm calling upon the Lord. What Lord is he talking about? It's got to be the right Lord. Well, and help me. I wouldn't want to judge what God is going to do for that person. But if I just call upon the Lord, what about a Muslim who is calling upon his God? Allah. Allah. Not the real God.

I guess the point is, just by calling, again I thought about the soldier who is in the trench and the bombs are blowing up, Lord protect me. I'm calling upon you Lord, protect me. Is he saved? You can't tell by that. That's true, you can't. You can't.

But is that, by faith, accepting the Lord is Son of God, who died for me, buried, resurrected, and saved? In that instance, you can't be too specific about what they're saying, because you don't know what's in their mind, what they know, what it means to them, to ask God for deliverance or whatever.

Yeah, the point being is just calling upon the Lord. To me, it takes me back to Romans 1. Everybody knows there's a God. And when I'm in the midst of the battle, I'm calling upon God. I know there's a God. Help me, Lord. Yeah, but that's to get you out of the situation like Santa Claus. I guess that... Does Santa get you out of the situation? I didn't know that. That's a new twist on Santa. I'm of a mind that if any human being will exercise Romans 1 faith, you know, God, you're not the tree in the middle of the village. I don't know who you are, but I believe you. You'll get the gospel to them before they die.

Right, but just calling upon, and my point is, is calling upon the Lord the only thing you need. Right all the fact and I'll get to that the facts and the tracks and the whatever But the point being it's just calling upon the Lord. You can't there instances where I'll call upon the Lord I have no idea. I just know there's a God I'm gonna call him Lord and get me out of this mess I'm heading down, you know, the path and the train is gonna hit the wall. Help me Lord. I'm calling upon you Lord and I don't know if that person's saved or not.

What does he know? He just knows that Romans 1, there's a God. It's a good thing you're not in charge. Me? No. God saves people easily. Oh, we've had this argument before, and I'm of the simple faith here, you know, if not the identification druids that are not... I mean, I'm much more of the simple faith, you know, that believe in the Son of God and these basics, but... Well, we're arguing from the opposite sides now. All right. All right. Let's close. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time, and we thank you that you know all these things.

And even though we may not know all of what you have in the Scripture, we rely upon the Holy Spirit to bring us forth the truths of your Word. And again, we just thank you for your word and what it means to us. And again, we do need to know, uh, these facts of who Christ is and what he did and, uh, the finished work on the cross, his death, burial and resurrection and ascension and how, uh, what that means to us as believers. And, uh, we just thank you again for this time, just to open up your word. And we pray for Mike as he brings the message to us in the next meeting. Again, just prepare our hearts to receive it. And again, may all we do here and there just honor and glorify you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.