Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? What he meant was: "Christ is the end of legalism." If the first book in the Bible showed that it was only the call of God that made Israel what they were, its second book as clearly proved that all was over with the called people, had it not been for the mercy of God. Not thus does God deal with souls. Hence it is wholly apart from the law, whilst witnessed to by the law and prophets; for the law with its types had looked onward to this new kind of righteousness; and the prophets had borne their testimony that it was at hand, but not then come. He said he had no experience but this, The good elders very properly asked, "Are you converted? You will get the foreboding of this world with all of its problems. The righteousness of faith, on the other hand, is easily available to all men upon the conditions mentioned in the next phrases. It is "revealed," and this too "from heaven." But they have not all obeyed the gospel. His answer is: "You cannot say that Israel never got the chance to hear; for scripture plainly says that God's message has gone out to all the world.". Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They cannot say God has rejected them. I have always felt obliged to the Cardinal for that admission; because the best is good enough for me, and since trusting in Jesus is the safest, I intend to stick to it even to the end. iii. This maintains both the glory and the moral universality of Him who will justify the circumcision by faith, not law, and the uncircumcision through their faith, if they believe the gospel. Its remarkable that Paul found something good to say about these Jewish people who persecuted him so mercilessly. Observe, the gospel is not simply remission of sins, nor is it only peace with God, but "the power of God unto salvation." Where then is boasting? Everything Paul touches in this letter he relates to God. As Moses explains in v. 11, "What I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach." They ought to have known better: they had every chance to know better; but they rejected the appeal of God. There never can be solid peace with God without both. But when Paul emphasizes the need to believe that God has raised him from the dead, it is not that we believe the resurrection as opposed to the cross, but encompassing the work of Jesus on the cross. They wanted Jerusalem to be shut down completely on the Sabbath day, and he just let their sections be shut down but allowed cars to be driven in other sections. Thus the proof was complete. 4. This believing, or trusting, is the whole of the matter, and neither heaven above nor the abyss beneath will ever reveal another salvation. That is quite true, because Isaiah says: "Lord, who has believed what they heard from us?" The point is best understood by examining the source of Pauls information. Just as the sun in the heavens is not for one people or land alone, no more is the gospel. We are as full of evil as an egg is full of meat, and our heart is like a cage of unclean birds. Every mouth was stopped; the Jew by his own oracles, as the Gentile by their evident abominations, shown already. But what saith it? But what saith it? Finally he comes to two other witnesses; as from the Psalms, so now from the law and the prophets. And their words to the ends of the world.. This God has wrought in Christ. Why, next, it forbids the questions of despair. What He does is to pierce and penetrate the man's conscience. Cold desires do but beg denials; we must even breathe out our souls in every prayer. A person cannot save himself. What was to be the stumbling-stone? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This word of faith is our message, that, if you acknowledge with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Increase of privileges can never avail without the soul's self-judgment before the mercy of God. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. This is the first ground. What glory so rich as that of the Christ Himself duly appreciated? Nevertheless the apostle does not expressly mention heaven here. Thus one could not fail to see these two weighty inferences: the bringing in to be God's sons of those that had not been His people, and the judgment and destruction of the great mass of His undoubted people. And the blessedness of the gospel is, that it is (not merely an exercise of mercy, but also) divinely just. The righteousness of the law is an impossibility for all who have sinned even once, and the truth is all responsible men have sinned more than one time. Or, Who shall descend into the deep? And I love it. What about the doctrine of election? Eleazar the priest was brought before Antiochus Epiphanes whose aim was to stamp out Jewish religion. Though Paul preached against them, yet he prayed for them. This was no question of legal obedience, although the law came from Jehovah. A disobedient and contrary people: This tells Gods assessment of disobedient, Messiah-rejecting Israel. At least they have a, Seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God, i. Believe that he can save you; believe that he will save you; at any rate leave the whole matter of your salvation with him in unquestioning confidence. Where lies the value of belonging to the circumcised people of God? There is no limitation there; the promise is to everyone; therefore, there is no difference between Jew and Greek. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, alone is capable of performing the mighty works of salvation required by humanitys sinfulness, and He has already done them. d. But what does it say? Their opposition to the gospel is from a principle of respect to the law, which they know to have come from God. He has put the two things together, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." The word is nigh thee There is no occasion to seek high or low for the saving power; the word of reconciliation is nigh. Righteousness can be gained by sinful men, but it can only be secured by faith and not by deeds. It is not yet executed. Now you won't get that on television, nor will you get that in your evening newspaper, watching the news or reading Time Magazine. Paul has been saying some hard things about the Jews. or, Who shall descend into the deep?" a. A Monument for the Dead, and a Voice to the Living, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 7th, 1883, by, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. Anybody being able to . Now, soul, thou hast nothing to do with asking vain questions; thou hast to accept the result of the Savior's actual performances. Be he Jew or be he Gentile, his only righteousness by law must come through the doing of the law. Man complicates the issues. For Christ is the end of the whole system of law. Romans is a book about God. First Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation and I will anger you ( Romans 10:19 ). We cannot speak of the state of things before the flood as a dispensation. Secondly, We need not go to the deep, to fetch Christ out of the grave, or from the state of the dead: Into the deep, to bring up Christ from the dead. ** See No. (2.) That same energy of the Holy Ghost which had displayed itself in Jesus, when He walked in holiness here below, was demonstrated in resurrection; and not merely in His own rising from the dead, but in raising such at any time no doubt, though most signally and triumphantly displayed in His own resurrection. As Cottrell observes: Moses emphasis is clearly on the accessibility and understandability of Gods law. Now, the gospel forbids us to dream in this fashion. But Paul makes it clear: There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. This is the faith which saves the soul. (Spurgeon). Hence the depravity of the heathen found little or no cheek from conscience, because it was bound up with all that took the shape of God before their mind. As this was now made known to all, as the apostles preached it everywhere, it could be said to be nigh them; there was no need of searching other lands for it, or regarding it as a hidden mystery, for it was plain and manifest to all. No, my dear friend, do not say that even in your thought. So there must be confession with the mouth. And here it may be repeated that it is no question of pardoning the sinner, but of condemning the fallen nature; and this so as to give the soul both power and a righteous immunity from all internal anguish about it. THE DESTRUCTION OF EXCUSES ( Romans 10:14-21 ), 10:14-21 How are they to call on him on whom they have not believed? He wished his beloved ones to go to their beds; and since they would stop with him, he desired them to sing." To the limits of the holy land? But what saith it? "But if [for so it should be read] thou art named a Jew," etc. Confess with your mouth: Confession has the idea of agreeing with. "The word is nigh thee." Yet from beginning to end there is no anger in it; there is nothing but wistful longing and heartfelt yearning. And she takes advantage of it and gives me a bad time, because she is totally independent when it comes to Grandpa.She loves to play her little independent games. To man this is the hardest of all obedience; but when once secured, it leads peacefully into the obedience of every day. a. You may now believe in Christ and live eternally. Now it is clear that that obedience could be given only by a man who was desperately in earnest about his religion. Of course our new Perfection brethren, spick and span saints as they are, are not like Jack, they are not "poor sinners, and nothing at all," and I am afraid lest some of them should find out that Jesus Christ is not their all in all. was true, accordingly, before the law, right through the law, and ever since the law. d. Seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God: Israel had a lack of knowledge. Have as many good works as you can cram into your life, but never tell anybody about them, or think anything of them. Hence the faithful derive from this passage remarkable consolation with regard to the certainty of the word; for they may no less safely rest on it, than on what is actually present. There is nothing about law there; it is all based on faith. The unbelieving Jews were the most bitter enemies Paul had in the world, and yet Paul gives them as good a character as the truth would bear. It was a message that went out from God to sinners as such. Isaiah was very bold, and he said, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that ask not after me. Judge ye whether any one of us has fulfilled the whole law. Glad tidings of good things, but not all who hear obey. Then your principle is your condemnation. Paul does not raise the possibility of the message being read. When a man is at length awakened to a sense of sin he cries, "I long to be saved! The condition of the Roman saints called for a setting forth of the gospel of God; but this object, in order to be rightly understood and appreciated, leads the apostle into a display of the condition of man. Thy salvation rests in Jesus, rest thou in Jesus. He had bought the truth and would not sell it, and so he stuck to. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): a. Christ is the end of the law: Jesus is the end of the law for those who believe. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. Verse 21. 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. a. Then follows a warning against those who bring in stumbling-blocks and offences. It is true God gave them that law for which they were so zealous; but they might have known that, by the appearance of the promised Messiah, an end was put to it. They thought they needed not to be beholden to the merit of Christ, and therefore depended upon their own performances as sufficient to make up a righteousness wherein to appear before God. God was not satisfied alone. You say, "Who shall descend into the deep?" Did the Jews take the ground of exclusively having that word of God the law? All then that believe, though uncircumcised, might claim him as father, assured that righteousness will be reckoned to them too. He laughs at all our comeliness, he knows that it is a hollow cheat, a vile sham. Confessing the Lord Jesus--openly professing relation to him and dependence on him, as our prince and Saviour, owning Christianity in the face of all the allurements and affrightments of this world, standing by him in all weathers. The word of faith - The doctrine which requires faith, that is, the gospel; compare 1 Timothy 4:6. The word abyss (abussos) is usually found in the book of Revelation (Revelation 9:1-2; Revelation 9:11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:1; Revelation 20:3). There never was a sinner yet to whom God said, "You must not trust my Son": on the contrary, it is written, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." We have Paul informing us that he transfers sometimes in a figure to himself that which was in no wise necessarily his own experience, and perhaps had not been so at any time. Second Sunday in Lent Our Savior/Redeemer Pettibone/Woodworth, ND: Sun, Feb 20, 2005 Second Sunday in Lent : IN NOMINE JESU . Thus, having shown the Gentile in Romans 1:1-32 manifestly wrong, and hopelessly degraded to the last degree having laid bare the moral dilettantism of the philosophers, not one whit better in the sight of God, but rather the reverse having shown the Jew overwhelmed by the condemnation of the divine oracles in which he chiefly boasted, without real righteousness, and so much the more guilty for his special privileges, all now lies clear for bringing in the proper Christian message, the. Jesus said, "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and few there be that find it, but broad is the way and broad is the gate that leads to destruction" ( Matthew 7:13-14 ). He descended into the grave, so that he dwelt among the dead! You can also change some of your preferences. This occupies the central part of the chapter, which then closes with the unfailing and faithful power of God for us in all our experiences here below. We have had justification, both by blood and also in virtue of Christ's resurrection. Hence, as is shown later in the chapter, Adam is a head characterized by disobedience, who brought in death, the just penalty of sin; as on the other hand we have Him of whom he was the type, Christ, the obedient man, who has brought in righteousness, and this after a singularly blessed sort and style "justification of life." Christ did not come to make the law milder, or to render it possible for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted as a sort of compromise. Man goes back to the righteousness of works. Romans 10:17, NLT: So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. Thus corruption not only overspread morals, but became an integral part of the religion of men, and had thus a quasi-divine sanction. No topic is treated with anything like the frequency of God. But even if it were not already broken, should we get through to-morrow with its temptations, bearing such a heart as we have within us, without breaking that perfect and spotless law? A message of peace and of life, glad tidings of good things. That is, it is not merely pardon of past sins, but deliverance from sin, and in due time from all its consequences. Along with this he gathers testimonies from more than one prophet. Again, we cannot neglect the emphasis on. The design of the law was to lead people to Christ. Oh, my bearer, our salvation lies in this! Oh, how I love that phrase.That is why I love the ministry so much, because I have the privilege to bring to men glad tidings of good things. It is the going forth of His richest blessing. God is not far from each one of us (Acts 17:27) because His will is right at our fingertips. And that word is the message of faith which we proclaim. "Whosoever." If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved: We do not gain Gods righteousness by works. Anyone who thinks that justification by faith is a new concept needs to re-study the Old Testament and the book of Romans. This is unto righteousness. Moses said, "That the man which doeth those things shall live by them." gospel of God. Believe in Christ as you would believe in your friend: believe that he died for sinners, and trust in him for salvation. Salvation isn't way off in heaven some place. I'm sorry you can't accept it, but that is the way it is. The shedding of His blood was absolutely necessary: without that precious expiation all else had been vain and impossible. Let the cross pass. 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