SERMON TITLE: A Glorious Promise of Salvation
SCRIPTURE: Romans 10:5-13 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 12-1-24
Sermon Discussion Guide
Take notes here
It’s good to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And — if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — are joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
We’re continuing our series in the book of Romans this weekend. This is a journey where we’ve been having our view of who God is and who we are refined, shaped, and expanded by God’s Word to us in the Bible. This refining, shaping, and expanding of our view of God and ourselves can be both encouraging — for example when we catch glimpses of God’s sovereign mercy for his people — and challenging — like when we realize that God’s mercy is something we can’t earn nor is it deserved.
And — if last week’s sermon was a deconstruction of what is believed by many when it comes to salvation — today is the day of reconstruction — of building a view of salvation according to God’s Word. And salvation — according to God’s Word — is beautiful — it’s majestic — it’s awe-inspiring and hope-giving. For the gospel — what’s often called the Good News — is a wonder to behold when we allow it to penetrate our hearts and minds.
Now — let’s turn to our passage. And I’m hopeful that God will use our passage to magnify the beauty of his gospel to us today. We’ll be in Romans chapter ten — looking at verses five through thirteen. We’re in Romans chapter ten — beginning in verse five. There Paul writes…
Romans 10:5–13 (ESV)
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 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 that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
So let's start with the good news: Everyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord — and believes that God raised him from the dead — will be saved. Everyone.
Now there are some specific details about this believing and confessing that we’ll get into — but this is the good news of the gospel. Everyone — no matter your race, gender, nationality, or socio-economic bracket — regardless of your political affiliation, which college football team you root for, or if you mistakenly think pineapple goes on pizza — everyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead will be saved.
Let’s return to Paul’s words and see how he explains this wonderful truth to us. We’re back in verse five.
Romans 10:5–7 (ESV)
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
Here Paul continues the contrast that he brought up earlier in his letter: the difference between salvation by works and salvation by faith — or — as he calls it here: righteousness based on the law and righteousness based on faith.
So — first — a couple of definitions. Let’s start with the word righteousness.
Righteousness — in its simplest definition — means to be right with God. We live in a culture where people — who believe in a divine power — assume that their relationship with that divine power by default is right — is good — that there’s nothing off in the relationship. And this idea so easily infiltrates our thinking as Christians — which is why we must be people of this book. For this book — the Bible — God’s Word to us — describes a very different reality. A reality where our relationship with God is not right — it is not good — this book shows us that something terribly wrong has happened to our relationship with God. Where — in fact — our relationship with him is described as a spiritual death.
Now — even those who assume our relationship with God is — by default — good — recognize that something is wrong with the world — even wrong with humanity. And we have all kinds of reasons as to why we think those people over there are ruining things for the rest of us.
We tend to think, “If only those other people had some education — some understanding of our view of things — they’d come to realize how much better our view is…and the world would be a better place and we’d all live happily ever after” or something like that.
The problem is that folks who see things differently than you see you and your view as the problem — how dare they! But that’s the trouble, right? Which tells us if more education was all that was needed — surely the education of the tragedy of war — especially in a conflict going back for centuries in the Middle East — surely those folks have all the education in the tragedy of war they need if education was the solution to make things right.
The way Paul describes all of this is by calling it a righteousness based on the law — or a works-based salvation or righteousness — where we believe that obeying a set of rules will ultimately lead to our salvation. Paul’s obviously meaning eternal salvation — but even temporary salvation — like peace between warring nations — fails to last because even temporary relief cannot be sustained based on obeying a set of rules. For there always seems to be someone ready to break the rules, right? Another crazy person taking their politics too far or another terrorist group setting off another bomb. If rules — and educating everyone on the benefits of us all obeying the rules was all that was needed — surely we’d have figured that out by now.
But we haven’t because — as Paul says — works-based salvation requires that we live according to the commandments or rules that have been set by the One who created us. And we can’t even obey our own rules — much less the rules God has given us — because our problem isn’t a lack of education.
Now I know some of you still aren’t convinced. So let me ask a question on a rather touchy subject: How many times have you started a diet and quit because you just couldn’t obey the rules of the diet? Too touchy? How about this one: Ever got a speeding ticket? Cops don’t pull you over for obeying the speed limit. And — even if you haven’t gotten a speeding ticket you know — and so does everyone else — the only reason you haven’t is because you haven’t been caught. Not because you never speed.
When it comes to dieting and speeding — a lack of education isn’t the problem, is it? And — if we can’t obey simple rules — rules that we know have an immediate benefit to them — like not getting pulled over by a cop — why would we think we have a chance to earn salvation by obeying God’s commands?
Paul even shows us the ridiculousness of righteousness based on works by essentially saying, “You think that what you do will save you? Well you might as well climb up to heaven and bring the Savior back down here to earth.” As challenging as climbing Mt Everest is — no one’s strapped on their climbing gear with the intent of making it to heaven — though many think they can do this spiritually.
Or — to keep the ridiculousness going — Paul says — for those who think that what they do will make them right with God — go ahead and climb down to where the dead are and find Jesus down there and resurrect him yourself — then we’ll know you’re the person who’s rules everyone should listen to. Whichever destination you pick — the journey is one of futility. You’re not gonna climb your way to heaven and — Jesus isn’t dead — he’s alive — so you won’t find him by climbing down either. But this is what righteousness based on the law — or salvation by our works is — it’s futile. For it’s a path that never leads to the desired destination. Because being made right with God is not something accomplished by our works — instead — it’s accomplished by faith.
Now — before we return to Paul’s words — let’s remind ourselves of what faith is. Recently — in response to an earlier sermon from our time in Romans — the following question was sent in. I’ve edited the comment as it was quite a bit longer than this:
If we’re all made in God’s image, we all have faith from the start, but then we make conscious decisions to not utilize the faith. If everyone receives faith, is it really considered a gift?
The question is based off of a verse I read during that sermon, which was...
Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Now — the English language can be tricky. But — without this turning into a grammar lesson — let’s ask ourselves a question. When Paul says “this is not your own doing” — what is he referring to — what is the “this” we don’t do? “This” is faith — and specifically — saving faith — or faith that results in a person’s salvation.
So — we’re going to do something different. Let’s make our own Gateway translation of this verse together. Let’s replace the word “this” with “saving faith.” Now the verse says…
Ephesians 2:8–9 (Gateway version)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And SAVING FAITH is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We’re getting somewhere — in fact — we’re almost there. But one more question: What is the “it” in “it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”? “It” also refers to “saving faith.” So now our Gateway version says…
Ephesians 2:8–9 (Gateway version)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And SAVING FAITH is not your own doing; SAVING FAITH is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Why’d we do that? Because I hope we now all see — from Scripture — that saving faith is a gift from God. So — to answer the question that was sent in: “Is faith really a gift?” Yes! Faith — and specifically here — saving faith — is a gift from God.
Though all people — Christian or not — are made in the image of God — being made in God’s image does not include having saving faith. For — if every person had saving faith — then all would be saved. Yet we know that not all people are saved. Thus saving faith is a gift from God — and saving faith is a gift given only to those who are the children of the promise — which is the point Paul’s been making throughout Romans.
Now — chapter fourteen of the Westminster Confession of Faith — a document that explains the theological tradition that Gateway is a part of — chapter fourteen of the Westminster explains the doctrine of saving faith. And twice — in the opening paragraph — saving faith is called a gift. It’s also called “A work of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of the elect and is ordinarily accomplished by the ministry of the word.” (Westminster Confession of Faith 14.1)
A couple of observations. First, the word elect — for our purposes — means children of the promise. Children of the promise is the language that Paul’s been using — so let’s stick with it.
Second, the rest of the statement is easily found in Paul’s words in Romans. For example, “saving faith being a work of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of the elect” is found in Paul’s words about the Spirit’s work in the lives of Christians such as…
Romans 2:28–29 (ESV)
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
And…
Romans 5:1–5 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
And…
Romans 7:4–6 (ESV)
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
And we don’t have time to read chapter eight in its entirety so these verses will have to do.
Romans 8:9–11 (ESV)
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So saving faith “is a work of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of the elect” and “is ordinarily accomplished by the ministry of the word” — which is found in the verses we’ll get to next week — where Paul writes…
Romans 10:14–17 (ESV)
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
If you’d like to learn more about saving faith — we recently recorded a podcast episode that covers this topic. You can go to our website — or to your favorite podcast app — and find episode 194 — to hear Laura and I discuss saving faith in more detail.
As an aside — here at Gateway — our goal is that all who follow Jesus — will be Word and Spirit Christians. Meaning that we’re Christians who live under the authority of the Word of God — meaning it’s our final authority on all matters — and who also live by the power of the Spirit of God. And we speak of this as the ongoing life of the follower — or disciple — of Jesus. But I want you to notice something. The Word and the Spirit are also the means by which God makes us into a Christian.
God uses his Word — ordinarily as it is preached — but there are many cases when — as someone was reading the Bible or saw it quoted in a book or pamphlet or some other place — but God used his Word as the means by which the Spirit gave a spiritually resurrected life to the individual — resulting in him or her having saving faith — or belief — in Jesus Christ for their salvation.
So the beginning of our life with Jesus is by the Word and Spirit. Thus we’re spiritually born as Word and Spirit Christians which is why we’re to continue as Word and Spirit Christians. Which — again — is why our vision — here at Gateway — is that we’d all be Word and Spirit Christians.
And — now that we understand what saving faith is — we can now turn to Paul’s next question. Which is found in verse eight.
Romans 10:8–10 (ESV)
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
In opposition to works-based salvation — or law-based righteousness — the righteousness that is by faith confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes that he was raised from the dead. This is the foundation of salvation that is by faith and not by works. And — not only is this the foundation — this is what ongoing righteousness — that is — living by faith — looks like.
I bring this up because — for many followers of Jesus — it’s easy to lapse back into a works-based righteousness after beginning in a righteousness by faith. Where we think something like, “I know Jesus saved me, but now I must continue to save myself or keep my salvation” or something like that. And this is not a burden we’re meant to carry — yet it’s a burden that crushes many of God’s people.
Paul’s response to such thinking are words like…
Galatians 1:6–9 (NLT)
6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
What kind of so-called gospel was being preached to the Galatians that Paul is refuting? He makes it clear — later in his letter to them — which you’ll see is nearly identical to what he’s said in our verses in Romans.
Galatians 2:16 (ESV)
16 Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
And…
Galatians 3:1–3 (NLT)
1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
The false gospel being preached to the Galatians — the lie that Paul is countering — was this: That salvation begins by faith alone but then is kept by what we do or don’t do — or as Paul says — by our own human effort.
So be free — friends — for…
Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
6 I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
And that even…
2 Timothy 2:13 (ESV)
13 If we are faithless, he (Jesus) remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.
This is the promised righteousness that is by faith. A righteousness that’s a gift given to the children of the promise from their Heavenly Father. This is where freedom is found — and hope is discovered — and joy is feasted upon — and shame is lifted — and purpose is made clear. For when your righteousness is based on your faith in Christ — which God has given to you — then it is a righteousness that is secure for all eternity.
This is the promise — this is the high note that Paul ends this section of his letter on. He writes in verse eleven…
Romans 10:11–13 (ESV)
11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Will you receive this promise from God? For it is a guarantee that everyone — including you — who calls on the name of Jesus — which is what saving faith is — will be saved.
To confess that Jesus is our Lord means we say that he is our authority — that he has our submission — that he has our allegiance. As one pastor has said, “To believe that Jesus is Lord is to take him as Master of one’s beliefs, ethics, relationships, and career.” Now — we tend to think of confessing Christ as Lord in an individualistic sense — especially here in the US — but know that there’s an equally important corporate aspect of confessing Christ as Lord. In fact — there are aspects of confessing Jesus as your Lord that can only happen with others.
When you read the New Testament you can’t help but notice the corporateness of their confessing that Jesus is Lord. They gathered together in large crowds — and in homes — to confess the name of the God who so loved them that he came to earth to make them right with him. Which shows us the vast difference between doing things for God — whether following a set of rules or doing certain religious activities — in order to gain his favor — and doing those very same things because you’ve already been given his favor. One is burdensome and death. One is freedom and life. One is a righteousness based on the law. One is righteousness based on faith. One is works-based salvation. The other is salvation by grace alone through faith alone.
My hope is that the Spirit of God is stirring in many of your hearts — even right now — to trust in God’s love for you as displayed in his Son. God is not abusive. He doesn’t demand that we work our way to him. He knows — in fact — that it’s impossible for us to ascend to Heaven on our own. Which is what we remember as Christmas nears — that Jesus came down to earth — he came down to us — because he knew that we couldn’t make our way up to him.
Do you see what love he has for you? What promises he’s made? What hope is yours if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead? For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Let’s pray together.
Father it’s so easy to say we believe that salvation is not based on what we do while we live as if it is. Like the Galatians — it’s easy to be foolish and to live as if the Spirit was powerful enough to start our salvation but — after that — we’re left on our own. Thank you for not leaving us on our own.
Spirit, forgive us for not trusting that your power — which began the good work in us — isn’t able to finish that good work in us. For you are not a spirit of fear, but are a Spirit of power. Thus we’re to live by your power as we live under the authority of the Word — obeying your commands — not to earn your favor and love — but we do so because you’ve already given us your favor and love.
And — Jesus — you’re the very definition of the favor and love that we’ve been given. For while we were still sinners — you died for us. While we were your enemies — you gave your life — in love — for us. When — on the cross — you declared, “It is finished” — the guarantee was made: that your plan of salvation — a plan to rescue every child of the promise — would happen.
And — Jesus — today we choose to take you at your Word. And in response to your words, “It is finished” — we say, “It is finished indeed.” And neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in you — Christ Jesus — our Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.
May you go knowing that everyone who confesses the name of Jesus will be saved. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
Stories, news, and resources for things happening at Gateway Church.
