The Righteousness of God II

 

“The Righteousness of God II”

Romans 10:1-21

SUBJECT: ISRAEL’S PAST

THEME: The Principle for Receiving God’s Righteousness is Faith and not Works; This is why Israel is Presently Set Aside as a Nation—Unbelief.

RELEVANCE: God’s righteousness is received by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the ONLY way anyone can receive the righteousness of God! The Nation of Israel missed God’s salvation and blessings because of their lack of faith and not the unfairness or inconsistency of God.

INTRODUCTION:

Paul is confident the gospel as the dynamic, saving power of God is available to everyone who believes. Salvation is obtained through faith—not works—revealing God’s righteousness, which is consistent from beginning to end. Yes, the ‘righteousness of God’ is the theme of the book of Romans, and it is discussed in these following verses.

MESSAGE:

III.  THE ACCESSIBILITY OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom. 10:6-8)

"But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach" (Rom. 10:8).

Remember, Paul is contrasting the "righteousness based on law" (which requires perfect, impossible performance) with the "righteousness based on faith," which is plain and free to all.

God is saying the gospel is not hidden, distant, or inaccessible. In fact, the opposite is true; the Gospel is nigh, accessible, and available to all. The gospel is easily accessible. Salvation is not a distant, unreachable goal, but a present reality found in believing the message of faith that is preached. This is true because of two historical facts.

       A.   THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST (Rom. 10:6)

But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above)" (Rom. 10:6).

            1.  This Is Impossible for Man to Do

We cannot go all the way to Heaven to get Christ and bring Him down to the earth in order for folk to believe. This is a human impossibility!

            2.  This Is Not Necessary for Man to Do

The fact of the matter is that He already came down from Heaven and was born into the human race. We must accept this purely by faith.

      B.  THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST (Rom. 10:7)

"Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead)" (Rom. 10:7).

            1.  This Is Impossible for Man to Do

We cannot go into the depths of the grave to bring up Christ again from the dead. This is humanly impossible; no one can achieve this!

            2.  This Is Not Necessary for Man to Do

It also is not necessary for us to raise Christ from the grave; He already accomplished this. We must accept this purely by faith. The Incarnation and Resurrection are two elements of saving faith in the Gospel, and people cannot supplement either. The Righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel—it is near, accessible, intelligible, and easily understood! Such God-wroth actions are communicated in the gospel message, to be saved a person must accept the Incarnation and the Resurrection.

Christ’s salvation (the righteousness of God) is achieved through faith only, not by impossible human efforts to find God. Again, people do not need to complete, supplement, or add to the work of the Lord Jesus at Calvary. I repeat, augmentation, reinforcement, expansion, support, or strengthening is not necessary! God is delineating how Christ has already completed the necessary work (incarnation and resurrection), meaning the message of deliverance and redemption is immediately accessible, near, and centered on belief, not tough "ascension" or "descension," or our help. The righteousness of God is presently available to everyone directly through believing the gospel of Christ. Oh, how wonderful and gracious is our God!

IV.  THE SPECIFICS OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom. 10:9-10)

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:9).

Here we are remined how salvation comes to us through a combination of genuine internal faith (believing in the heart that God raised Jesus)—resurrection, which results in confession or any public acknowledgement (confessing with the mouth that Jesus is Lord)—incarnation.

        A.  CONFESSING THE LORD JESUS—INCARNATION

I Jn 2:23, Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth (Confess; Rom. 10:9) the Son hath the Father also.

              1.  To Confess the Lord Jesus is the same as acknowledging that the Babe born in Bethlehem’s manger is the very Lord of Glory, that the Jesus of the NT is indeed the Lord Jehovah of the OT. God incarnate is the point.

              2.  To Confess the Lord Jesus is to acknowledge Him as the Supreme Sovereign over All Humanity and not merely the Jews. One must deal with Him if they are to be saved; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life!

              3.  To Confess the Lord Jesus is NOT an act of 100% Submission to Him as a Condition of Salvation. Yes, He is Lord of all and Yes, He is Jehovah God and every repentant sinner must acknowledge this!  However, to require total commitment of every aspect of ones life as a condition of salvation is not scriptural. The problem is, we don’t even know yet all that He requires of us, so to what degree do we submit?  When we present the gospel, the sole condition for salvation must be maintained on the basis of faith for justification.

         B.  BELIEVING WITH THE HEART UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS—RESURRECTION  Rom 10:9-10, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

                  1. The Element of Heart Faith in the Resurrected Christ, vs 9

God has raised Christ from the Grave as proof that Christ completed the work necessary for our salvation, and that God is satisfied with that work.  Believing this with the heart means that we trust God through our mental, emotional, and volitional powers.

                  2. The Exercise of Heart Faith unto Righteousness, Vs 10

Saving faith consist in the personal appropriation of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive credit for righteousness through faith in Him!

                  3.  Some have made oral confession a condition of salvation on the basis of Romans 10:10: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The Bible, of course, does not impose this limitation. Paul evidently was stressing the same truth found in James 2:20; that is, a genuine possession of Christ in one's heart will surely lead to a confession of Christ with one's mouth. The fruit will prove the root. (See Matt. 10:32; Luke 12:8; John 12:42-43; Matt. 12:34.) The method, then, of righteousness, is faith in Christ not a work of confession; however, confession is the natural result of saving faith in the heart!

When we present the gospel, we must maintain that faith is the sole condition of justification. But we must also remind sinners and saints constantly that Jesus Christ is Lord (Jehovah-God), and should be acknowledged as such.^[1]

The confession is an acknowledgement that God has been incarnated in Jesus (cf. v. 6), that Jesus Christ is God. Also essential is heart-faith that God raised Him from the dead (cf. v. 7). The result is salvation. The true order is given in verse 10: For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (lit., “it is believed unto righteousness”), and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (lit., “it is confessed unto salvation”). Yet these are not two separate steps to salvation. They are chronologically together. Salvation comes through acknowledging to God that Christ is God and believing in Him.^[2]

Thus, to confess Jesus as Lord includes a heart belief in His deity, incarnation, vicarious atonement and bodily resurrection. Robertson says, “No Jew would do this who had not really trusted Christ, for Kurios (Κυριος) in the LXX is used of God. No Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as Kurios (Κυριος). The word Kurios (Κυριος) was and is the touchstone of faith.”^[3]

 

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^[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1721.

^[2] John A. Witmer, “Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 481.

^[3] Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 178.