God Raised Him from the Dead (Easter 2008)

God Raised Him from the Dead (Easter 2008)

“God Raised Him from the Dead”

(Romans 10:1-13)

Easter Sunday

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

(3-23-08) (AM)

  • Take God’s Word and open to Romans, chapter 10.

 

We continue to celebrate the risen Lord Jesus Christ!  Romans is in the New Testament, right after the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and John—then the book of Acts, and then you’ll find Romans.  If you see 1 and 2 Corinthians, you’ve gone too far.  Romans, chapter 10.  In a moment we’re going to read the first 13 verses and you’ll want to have your Bibles open.

 

In Romans chapter 10, the Apostle Paul is writing about salvation.  He’s writing about how a person can be absolutely sure he or she has eternal life and how to be sure about going to heaven at death.  This certainty is found in believing in the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, believing God has raised Him from the dead.

 

Now as we read the first few verses, we’ll read where Paul talks about his desire that his fellow Israelites, the Jews, would understand this about Christ.  They’re trying to get to heaven on their own, without Christ.  So listen for Paul’s corrective word here as he points us to the Lord Jesus.

 

  • Stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.

 

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”

6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

7 or, ” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

9 that 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.

10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

My message this morning is entitled, “God Raised Him from the Dead.”  I really believe God led me to this passage as I reflected upon verse 9, a verse familiar with many of you, especially those of you involved in our FAITH Evangelism Ministry.  Romans 10:9 says, “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.”

Believing in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, believing in the supreme event of history that occurred 2,000 years ago on that first Easter Sunday, the event will celebrate this morning, is the key to salvation.  But saving belief in the resurrection of Christ involves a submission to Him as the Lord of our lives.  So I want to talk about that this morning as we consider aspects of salvation, of what it means to be saved from our sin.  There are some things we need to know about salvation.  First:

 

I.  Consider the Works of Salvation (1-5)

 

Maybe the word “works” there should be in scare quotes.  To the believing evangelical Christian, the word “works” has little to do with salvation.  But that is just the point Paul is making here.  He is clarifying that man cannot “work” or earn his way to eternal life in heaven.  What Paul is doing here in the first few verses of chapter 10 is correcting an erroneous view of the Jews.  Paul’s fellow Jews had come to believe that they could actually be saved, actually earn God’s favor and receive eternal life, by being good enough and righteous enough by following the Old Testament Law.  What Paul does in these verses is explain that that is impossible.  He teaches that the Law was never meant to save anyone, but rather to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

That’s why Paul writes what he writes in these first four verses.  Look at them again:

 

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

 

Paul is saying that the Jews were seeking to establish their own righteousness.  They were trying to be good people and earn their salvation by following the Law.  But Paul says in verse 4 that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”  That word “end” there means, the “goal, purpose, fulfillment.”

 

Paul corrects a misunderstanding about the Old Testament Law and it’s a misunderstanding that continues today.  People in the Old Testament and in the New Testament are saved the same exact way, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Law was given, among other things, to show the Israelites their need for a Savior, a Messiah, someone who could save them from the righteous demands of the Law.  The Old Testament believers were not saved because of their keeping the 10 Commandments and fulfilling the law perfectly, because they could not do that.  They were saved, rather, on the basis of their faith and trust in God, just as we.  They looked forward to a Messiah who would come, we look back to a Messiah who has come.  They looked forward to the cross by faith, we look back 2,000 years ago by faith.  But all are saved the same way, by grace through faith in Christ alone.

 

So Paul writes that Jesus Christ is the “end of the law,” the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law.  He speaks of this elsewhere in Galatians 3:24 where he says, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

 

We, too, need this corrective teaching.  You ask the average person, “How is a person saved?” and that person will say, “You’ve got to be a good person.”  Well, according to Paul, that’s just the problem.  None of us can be a perfectly good person.  And if we’re going to get into heaven by our works then we’ve got to be perfectly good.  That’s why Paul gives verse 5:

 

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”

 

In other words, “If you want to get into heaven based on your own goodness, if you want to get into heaven by being a righteous person, then you’ve got to live by the law, and you’ve got to live a perfect life of obedience, so good luck!”  Paul spoke of this impossibility earlier in chapter 3:

 

Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

 

It’s impossible to get to heaven on our own.  We cannot earn eternal life by keeping the law.  The law points out just how great a sinner we are and how desperately in need of a savior we are.  This is why Paul’s heart’s desire is, according to Philippians 3:

 

Philippians 3:9, “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”

 

So this first point, the “works” of salvation reminds us that we don’t get into heaven by our works.  We cannot work our way there.  We can’t get into heaven by being a “good little boy” or a “good little girl,” because we’re all sinners, Romans 3:23, and unrighteous in God’s sight.  God cannot allow even the slightest sin into heaven.  So we can’t get into heaven based on our own righteousness.  We need to be covered in the righteousness of another.  This is where the Lord Jesus Christ comes in!  He is the One who does the “works” for us.  He is the One who lives the perfect life we ourselves could not live.  He is the One who takes the punishment we deserve by dying on the cross for our sins and granting to us His righteousness if we believe.  So, having considered the “works” of salvation, let us:

 

II.  Consider the Way of Salvation (6-10)

 

In verses 6-8, Paul explains that there is no real mystery here to finding the Good News of the Gospel.  You don’t have to go up to heaven to find the answer nor do you have to scale the depths of the earth.  The answer is closer than that.

 

6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

7 or, ” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

 

So Paul is like, “Look, the way of salvation is right here; close at hand.  This is what we’ve been preaching to you.  You don’t have to go on some quest for truth.  The answer is the Lord Jesus Christ and you may receive Him right here and right now!”  How?  What is the way?  Verses 9-10:

 

9 that 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.

 

Confessing Jesus Christ as Lord requires believing something in our hearts.  It requires believing God has raised Jesus from the dead.  We must believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose the third day for our justification.

 

It is not enough to just “confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus” if we don’t believe the right stuff in our heart.  To confess “Jesus is Lord” means that He truly is Lord of our lives.  And we make that confession based upon what we believe to be true in our hearts.  In Paul’s day the Romans were required to confess “Caesar is Lord.”  So to confess “Jesus is Lord” really meant something.  It meant that He is the One and only True Lord of Lords.  And we believe that because Christ rose from the dead, having done what neither Caesar nor anyone else could ever do.  So we’ve got to believe the right stuff in our heart.  In fact, Paul gives the order of events in verse 10:

 

10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

Faith in Christ precedes our confession.  That is, we become a believer in our heart and that heart-belief leads to speaking about it with our mouths.  It is with the heart we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, resulting in righteousness, and when that happens we’ll have no trouble speaking about it.  We will unashamedly confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  That means we’ll live for Jesus Christ as our new Master.  He is Lord.  He’s in charge.  This is why Jesus speaks so frankly about what it means to confess Him as Lord in Luke 12:

 

Luke 12:8-9, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.  But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

 

When we truly believe what Jesus did for us on Calvary’s cross, we’ll have no trouble confessing Him as Lord, no trouble living for our new Lord and Master.  Jesus died for our sins.  He took the punishment we deserved.  Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.”  That’s a spiritual death.  We all will die a physical death because of sin, but until we take care of our spiritual death we will experience what the book of Revelation refers to as the “second death” (Rev. 20:14 ) by being separated from God in a place called hell forever and ever.  Jesus died to take care of our sin problem.  He died to take care of everything.  He takes all of my guilt, shame, mistakes, errors, sins upon Himself.  He dies for me.  If I believe that then I will receive Christ’s goodness, His righteousness, His holiness, all of that will be credited to my account.  This Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5:21 when he wrote, “(God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Christ).”  If we truly believe that all of our sins are forgiven, our heart changes in a radical way.

 

On Good Friday in 1777, an English minister by the name of Thomas Scott, serving a parish in England, stood behind the pulpit and began to preach a message on Christ’s death from Isaiah 53.  He shocked his congregation when, in the middle of his sermon, he confessed that all he had ever preached before on this matter was wrong.  He told them he believed one must believe that Christ died for the sins of every one who would truly believe.  That Christ died for all of our guilt and condemnation and that He took the punishment we deserved when He died on Calvary’s cross.  The congregation was stunned.  Someone wrote, “To the astonishment of the congregation, it was apparent that their minister had been converted!”

 

Some of you may have a sort of “intellectual understanding” about the things of Christ, but you have never been converted.  You’ve never been saved.  Your heart has not changed.  Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

 

But the Gospel is not just for non-Christians to become Christians, the Gospel is for Christians, too!  Someone said, “We Christians need to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day.”

 

See, Jesus died for all of our sins, Christian: past, present, future.  He died for the penalty of sin, but the power of sin is still here.  As we grow in Christ, sin loses its power.  But here’s the deal: every single time we sin we should run to the Gospel!  Flee to the cross and thank God for Jesus Christ.  Because of Christ that sin has—listen!—already been forgiven.  So flee to the cross and simply say, “I’ve messed up again, Lord.  I repent.  Thank You that even that sin just now is covered by Your blood and I remain covered in the righteousness of Christ.  I don’t have to beg for Your forgiveness.  You’ve already forgiven me.  You said You have cast my sins as far as the East is from the West.  Thank You!  I humbly receive Your forgiveness as I get back on track again.”

 

That’s the power of the Gospel!  That’s what we sang about earlier:

 

“When Satan tempts me to despair; and tells me of the guilt within; upward I look and see Him there who made an end to all my sin.  Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free; for God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.”

 

We’ve considered the works of salvation, and the way of salvation.  Look with me now at the wideness of salvation.

 

III.  Consider the Wideness of Salvation (11-13)

 

That is to say, “the Gospel is for whom?”  Everyone!  Everyone.  Look at verses 11-13:

 

11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

 

It doesn’t matter who you are.  It doesn’t matter whatever your background.  The power of Christ’s resurrection through the Gospel is available to you.  If you believe in your heart what God has done for you in Christ, you need only “call upon the name of the Lord” to be saved.

 

That’s what 92-year-old, Pauline Jacoby, from Dyersburg, Tennessee explained to a young troubled man.  Check this out:

 

VIDEO CLIP (2:34)

 

That’s the power of the resurrection.  That’s the power of the Gospel.  Because He lives we may live, too.

  • Stand for prayer.

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