True vs. False Salvation (Sermon transcript for 7-14-19)
**I thought it would be fruitful/helpful to post this online for anyone who may be unclear on the Gospel call, what it is and is not, and how one can determine whether or not they are trusting in a true or false conversion experience. (Based upon a study of Romans 10)**
To this point, Paul has been dealing with Jewish objections to why God would allow the Gentiles to be saved and why God would not save all the Israelites. He’s made it clear to them that it was always God’s sovereign plan to call everyone to repent, regardless if they are Jew or Gentile, and that forgiveness and salvation would only come to those who repent and believe – salvation has always come by faith. Now, Paul moves into chapter 10 of his letter to the Roman Christians, and God directs Paul through the Holy Spirit to write a simple chapter on the nature of the true Gospel call. What is the Gospel call? How is it applied? How are people genuinely saved? How are people supposed to respond when they hear the Gospel to know that they’re really forgiven? Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14 when talking about salvation: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
The process of becoming saved is so simple that a child can experience it, but it's such an offensive message to this world that it becomes increasingly difficult to accept for many people. When Jesus said that the way of salvation is a “narrow gate” and the way to it is “difficult”, He’s referring to how Him being the only, exclusive way to get to heaven is difficult for this world to follow, and to follow Him while living in this world is also difficult because the majority of this world hates Jesus and hates God. The gate through salvation is also a “narrow gate” because only one can go through at a time – meaning, salvation is a personal decision to follow Christ – only you can make that decision for yourself – no one else can repent of your sins and follow Christ as Lord of your life – only you can do that. “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and few find it.”
On the other hand, every other way this world tries to get to heaven is easy to find and easy to access. The way to destruction (Hell), has a “wide gate and broad road.” Many people on this road, if not all of them, believe it leads to the same place as the difficult road with the narrow gate - heaven. In other words, there’s a lot of people in this world following various religious systems and many different gods, all believing that they’re going to heaven somehow. Many will argue today that all religions basically believe in the same god – but that’s a ridiculous statement showing that people who believe that have never actually studied these other religions at all. True salvation is put plain and clear by Jesus: You either come to salvation by Me, or you have no salvation. Any other salvation you claim to have is a false salvation (John 14:6).
Romans 10
“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.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” 21 But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”
Let’s break this up into three sections: 1) False Salvation 2) True Salvation 3) The Gospel Call
I. False Salvation
• Religious sincerity does not save. (v.1-5) “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.” For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
-Remember, Paul said that he had such a love for his people, the Jews, that if he could, he would give his salvation to them and he would go to hell in their place. His prayer and deepest desire was to see his people come off their religious high-horse, repent, and believe in Jesus as their Lord and Messiah – but so many of them refused to do it. -He even pointed out to them – “You have a zeal (a passion) for God, but not according to knowledge” – They had a religious system, it was about following OT rules, and in following that system they had rejected the knowledge they had been given that forgiveness and salvation was not found by doing all of that – forgiveness and salvation are found only in repentance of sin and faith in Jesus. They held onto an impossible system and they were deeply sincere in doing it – but it was simple – God said, “If you make 1 mistake in the Law, you have broken all of it.” Just 1 mistake. Galatians 3:10 – “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” James 2:10 – “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
The purpose was to show them that God’s standard of goodness is impossible for us to keep on our own. We need some serious help. Verse 4 – “Jesus is the end of the Law; He is the end of trying to be religious enough and good enough to please God.” Believing in Jesus and confessing Him as Lord of your life is the only way to transfer the right goodness to you.
**Today, there are roughly 4,616 different religious systems in this world. There are Billions of different gods. And one of the biggest lies being told today is that simply being passionate and sincere in your beliefs is enough to go to whatever you want to call heaven. Sincerity and passion don’t save anyone – only Jesus does – because out of these 4,000 religions and billions of gods, only 1 lived a perfect life on our behalf and died in our place to cover our sins. Only 1 is a true Savior – only 1 did all the work for us while the billions of other false gods, and 4,000 different religious systems all call us to do something to make it. Religious sincerity does not save.
II. True Salvation
• It is gained by confessing Christ as Lord and believing He is alive. (v.6-11) “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.”
-This passage shows us the wonderful simplicity of the Gospel call. Where all the other 4,616 religious systems in this world give their followers a list of rules for a possible chance at getting into whatever they call heaven, Jesus does all that work for us and He calls us to respond by turning away from our sins and living for ourselves, believing He is Who He claimed to be, and calling on Him to be our Savior and the Lord over our lives.
v.6-7 – These may seem like odd phrases, but the point Paul is trying to make is that there isn’t some super-spiritual odyssey a person has to take to find salvation. You don’t have to go on your own spiritual journey to find Jesus in the heavens or somehow go back to Him in the past while He was in the tomb – this isn’t some difficult, overly-spiritualized path you have jump on to find salvation. There’s a lot of bizarre religions out there that have their followers go on these strange spiritual quests, sometimes involving different drugs and even demonic activity. None of that crazy stuff is needed. It’s simply this: “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe He is alive, you are saved.” Simple. Simple. Simple.
“confess” – (Gk. ‘homologeo’) – “To concede, acknowledge publicly and openly” – this confession is not a hidden or secret thing. Remember, Jesus said, “If you deny Me I will deny you before My Father.” There are no closet Christians. This confession we are to make in response to the Gospel is not something done quietly or in shame. Romans 1:16 – we are unashamed of the Gospel – if we truly believe it, we are to openly proclaim it. True believers make it known. That’s part of what the act of baptism does – it’s a public display of the decision made.
“Lord” – (Gk. ‘kurios’) – “Leader, Master” – The confession we must make in order to be saved isn’t simply a prayer of, ‘God, I believe all this information I’ve been given about Jesus,’ – we’re to openly believe and proclaim that Jesus is our Lord, the Leader and Master of our new life. And then, of course, we must believe He is alive.
Have you made this confession?
III. The Gospel Call
• The Gospel must be shared. (v.14-17) “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
-Simply stated: The Gospel was designed to be shared with words. The old saying, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words” is a nice saying, but it’s a bunch of bologna and it’s likely from Satan himself – trying to masquerade as an angel of light. Listen, Scripture makes it very clear here – although we are to be the salt and the light, and our
good deeds are important, people are not saved by our righteous living. They are saved by the proclaimed Gospel – “How can they believe in Jesus when they have not HEARD?”
• The Gospel is a pursuit by God. (v.18-20) “But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
-The Jews had been given all the benefits and all the chances for centuries to be saved. As they continually rejected God for other gods, God first gave them warning through Moses (v.19) that He was going to expand His call to salvation to Gentile people, but that went in one ear and out the other. Why did God expand? To get His people to repent and come back to Him, but they rejected even that. -And in the midst of God expanding the call, and seeking to save the lost outside of just the Jewish nation, what did the prophet Isaiah boldly say? The pagan, godless people of the Gentile nations, who weren’t even concerned with the God of the Israelites, were being saved. It’s a miracle only God can work. God was saving people, bringing them to faith, who weren’t even looking for Him. -This is something we need to understand about our salvation and about the Gospel call: God does the seeking and God does the saving. No one seeks after God, we must be drawn to Him by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel call. It’s in God’s seeking us out and calling to us, that we’re given the ability and opportunity to respond in faith. IF GOD DIDN’T DO THE SEEKING, NO ONE WOULD EVER BE SAVED. Jesus Himself said, “I came to SEEK and to SAVE the lost.” We are still responsible in all of this to respond rightly, but again, without the Gospel call and without God seeking us out and drawing us by His Spirit, none of us would ever be saved. He is the only God who seeks His people. PRAISE GOD THAT HE SEEKS US.
• The Gospel is a patient but limited call. (v.21) But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.” -God sent Israel prophets, faithful leaders like Moses, and ultimately Jesus, and what did the nation of Israel do, generally speaking, with all of them? They rejected them and their message, and many of them they killed – including Jesus. So, God said, “I stretched out My hands so long to you people, but you continue to be disobedient and reject Me. You even killed My Son.”
-And in Romans 11, God makes it clear, because of all this constant, continual rejection over the centuries by the nation of Israel, He has done the same thing He did with Pharaoh – He has hardened many Jewish hearts so that they can no longer repent. But He doesn’t go back on His promise in doing that – He still promises in Romans 11 that there is a small number of Israelites, the remnant, that He will save. Those who have not totally and continually rejected Him.
What does that mean for us today? The Gospel call is available and open to all – and God is full of mercy and patience, giving people ample time to respond – but one day that call will come to an end. There will be no more chances for people to respond. And there’s also a point, only God knows, where people can literally reach a point of having a heart so hard toward God that they will never repent. Again, only God knows that point in a persons’ life.
So, for us, we live with a sense of urgency. We share the Gospel when we have the opportunity and while there is still time.
Have you responded properly to the Gospel call as it’s been laid out for us in Romans 10? Are you taking advantage of Gospel opportunities while there’s still time? Consider these two questions today.
To this point, Paul has been dealing with Jewish objections to why God would allow the Gentiles to be saved and why God would not save all the Israelites. He’s made it clear to them that it was always God’s sovereign plan to call everyone to repent, regardless if they are Jew or Gentile, and that forgiveness and salvation would only come to those who repent and believe – salvation has always come by faith. Now, Paul moves into chapter 10 of his letter to the Roman Christians, and God directs Paul through the Holy Spirit to write a simple chapter on the nature of the true Gospel call. What is the Gospel call? How is it applied? How are people genuinely saved? How are people supposed to respond when they hear the Gospel to know that they’re really forgiven? Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14 when talking about salvation: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
The process of becoming saved is so simple that a child can experience it, but it's such an offensive message to this world that it becomes increasingly difficult to accept for many people. When Jesus said that the way of salvation is a “narrow gate” and the way to it is “difficult”, He’s referring to how Him being the only, exclusive way to get to heaven is difficult for this world to follow, and to follow Him while living in this world is also difficult because the majority of this world hates Jesus and hates God. The gate through salvation is also a “narrow gate” because only one can go through at a time – meaning, salvation is a personal decision to follow Christ – only you can make that decision for yourself – no one else can repent of your sins and follow Christ as Lord of your life – only you can do that. “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and few find it.”
On the other hand, every other way this world tries to get to heaven is easy to find and easy to access. The way to destruction (Hell), has a “wide gate and broad road.” Many people on this road, if not all of them, believe it leads to the same place as the difficult road with the narrow gate - heaven. In other words, there’s a lot of people in this world following various religious systems and many different gods, all believing that they’re going to heaven somehow. Many will argue today that all religions basically believe in the same god – but that’s a ridiculous statement showing that people who believe that have never actually studied these other religions at all. True salvation is put plain and clear by Jesus: You either come to salvation by Me, or you have no salvation. Any other salvation you claim to have is a false salvation (John 14:6).
Romans 10
“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.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” 21 But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”
Let’s break this up into three sections: 1) False Salvation 2) True Salvation 3) The Gospel Call
I. False Salvation
• Religious sincerity does not save. (v.1-5) “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.” For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
-Remember, Paul said that he had such a love for his people, the Jews, that if he could, he would give his salvation to them and he would go to hell in their place. His prayer and deepest desire was to see his people come off their religious high-horse, repent, and believe in Jesus as their Lord and Messiah – but so many of them refused to do it. -He even pointed out to them – “You have a zeal (a passion) for God, but not according to knowledge” – They had a religious system, it was about following OT rules, and in following that system they had rejected the knowledge they had been given that forgiveness and salvation was not found by doing all of that – forgiveness and salvation are found only in repentance of sin and faith in Jesus. They held onto an impossible system and they were deeply sincere in doing it – but it was simple – God said, “If you make 1 mistake in the Law, you have broken all of it.” Just 1 mistake. Galatians 3:10 – “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” James 2:10 – “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
The purpose was to show them that God’s standard of goodness is impossible for us to keep on our own. We need some serious help. Verse 4 – “Jesus is the end of the Law; He is the end of trying to be religious enough and good enough to please God.” Believing in Jesus and confessing Him as Lord of your life is the only way to transfer the right goodness to you.
**Today, there are roughly 4,616 different religious systems in this world. There are Billions of different gods. And one of the biggest lies being told today is that simply being passionate and sincere in your beliefs is enough to go to whatever you want to call heaven. Sincerity and passion don’t save anyone – only Jesus does – because out of these 4,000 religions and billions of gods, only 1 lived a perfect life on our behalf and died in our place to cover our sins. Only 1 is a true Savior – only 1 did all the work for us while the billions of other false gods, and 4,000 different religious systems all call us to do something to make it. Religious sincerity does not save.
II. True Salvation
• It is gained by confessing Christ as Lord and believing He is alive. (v.6-11) “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.”
-This passage shows us the wonderful simplicity of the Gospel call. Where all the other 4,616 religious systems in this world give their followers a list of rules for a possible chance at getting into whatever they call heaven, Jesus does all that work for us and He calls us to respond by turning away from our sins and living for ourselves, believing He is Who He claimed to be, and calling on Him to be our Savior and the Lord over our lives.
v.6-7 – These may seem like odd phrases, but the point Paul is trying to make is that there isn’t some super-spiritual odyssey a person has to take to find salvation. You don’t have to go on your own spiritual journey to find Jesus in the heavens or somehow go back to Him in the past while He was in the tomb – this isn’t some difficult, overly-spiritualized path you have jump on to find salvation. There’s a lot of bizarre religions out there that have their followers go on these strange spiritual quests, sometimes involving different drugs and even demonic activity. None of that crazy stuff is needed. It’s simply this: “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe He is alive, you are saved.” Simple. Simple. Simple.
“confess” – (Gk. ‘homologeo’) – “To concede, acknowledge publicly and openly” – this confession is not a hidden or secret thing. Remember, Jesus said, “If you deny Me I will deny you before My Father.” There are no closet Christians. This confession we are to make in response to the Gospel is not something done quietly or in shame. Romans 1:16 – we are unashamed of the Gospel – if we truly believe it, we are to openly proclaim it. True believers make it known. That’s part of what the act of baptism does – it’s a public display of the decision made.
“Lord” – (Gk. ‘kurios’) – “Leader, Master” – The confession we must make in order to be saved isn’t simply a prayer of, ‘God, I believe all this information I’ve been given about Jesus,’ – we’re to openly believe and proclaim that Jesus is our Lord, the Leader and Master of our new life. And then, of course, we must believe He is alive.
Have you made this confession?
III. The Gospel Call
• The Gospel must be shared. (v.14-17) “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
-Simply stated: The Gospel was designed to be shared with words. The old saying, “Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words” is a nice saying, but it’s a bunch of bologna and it’s likely from Satan himself – trying to masquerade as an angel of light. Listen, Scripture makes it very clear here – although we are to be the salt and the light, and our
good deeds are important, people are not saved by our righteous living. They are saved by the proclaimed Gospel – “How can they believe in Jesus when they have not HEARD?”
• The Gospel is a pursuit by God. (v.18-20) “But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.” 20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
-The Jews had been given all the benefits and all the chances for centuries to be saved. As they continually rejected God for other gods, God first gave them warning through Moses (v.19) that He was going to expand His call to salvation to Gentile people, but that went in one ear and out the other. Why did God expand? To get His people to repent and come back to Him, but they rejected even that. -And in the midst of God expanding the call, and seeking to save the lost outside of just the Jewish nation, what did the prophet Isaiah boldly say? The pagan, godless people of the Gentile nations, who weren’t even concerned with the God of the Israelites, were being saved. It’s a miracle only God can work. God was saving people, bringing them to faith, who weren’t even looking for Him. -This is something we need to understand about our salvation and about the Gospel call: God does the seeking and God does the saving. No one seeks after God, we must be drawn to Him by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel call. It’s in God’s seeking us out and calling to us, that we’re given the ability and opportunity to respond in faith. IF GOD DIDN’T DO THE SEEKING, NO ONE WOULD EVER BE SAVED. Jesus Himself said, “I came to SEEK and to SAVE the lost.” We are still responsible in all of this to respond rightly, but again, without the Gospel call and without God seeking us out and drawing us by His Spirit, none of us would ever be saved. He is the only God who seeks His people. PRAISE GOD THAT HE SEEKS US.
• The Gospel is a patient but limited call. (v.21) But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.” -God sent Israel prophets, faithful leaders like Moses, and ultimately Jesus, and what did the nation of Israel do, generally speaking, with all of them? They rejected them and their message, and many of them they killed – including Jesus. So, God said, “I stretched out My hands so long to you people, but you continue to be disobedient and reject Me. You even killed My Son.”
-And in Romans 11, God makes it clear, because of all this constant, continual rejection over the centuries by the nation of Israel, He has done the same thing He did with Pharaoh – He has hardened many Jewish hearts so that they can no longer repent. But He doesn’t go back on His promise in doing that – He still promises in Romans 11 that there is a small number of Israelites, the remnant, that He will save. Those who have not totally and continually rejected Him.
What does that mean for us today? The Gospel call is available and open to all – and God is full of mercy and patience, giving people ample time to respond – but one day that call will come to an end. There will be no more chances for people to respond. And there’s also a point, only God knows, where people can literally reach a point of having a heart so hard toward God that they will never repent. Again, only God knows that point in a persons’ life.
So, for us, we live with a sense of urgency. We share the Gospel when we have the opportunity and while there is still time.
Have you responded properly to the Gospel call as it’s been laid out for us in Romans 10? Are you taking advantage of Gospel opportunities while there’s still time? Consider these two questions today.
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