March 17, 2025 • 54 mins
In this engaging sermon, guest speaker David White steps in for Pastor Karl to unpack Romans 10, a chapter rich with the promise of salvation—or "soteria," as it’s called in Greek. Diving into Romans 10, David explores Paul’s heartfelt plea for his fellow Israelites to embrace salvation through faith, not works. With personal stories—like his dad’s grace-filled response to bike-stealing teens—he illustrates the difference between mercy (not getting what we deserve) and grace (getting what we don’t deserve). David’s core message is clear: "Salvation cannot be achieved; it can only be received because grace is greater than you." Quoting Paul, he emphasizes that believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord" opens the door to God’s gift—no effort required, just acceptance.
David challenges listeners to move beyond mere hope into prayer for their heart’s desires and to share this good news with others, echoing Paul’s call for beautiful feet that bring the gospel. With wit and warmth, he warns against complicating grace, urging us to simply receive it. This episode is a compelling blend of scripture, storytelling, and a call to live out faith in everyday life—perfect for anyone seeking clarity on salvation’s simplicity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Well. Good morning.
Flip side. Happy Sunday.
It is a beautiful, beautiful Sunday.
Happy Saint Patrick's Eve day.
Wearing my green.
So hands to yourself.
It was, also, opening day
(00:21):
for baseball, little league
and our softball league. And,
you know,I've always wondered my whole life.
Who is tougher, boys
or girls?
Girls.
Pregnancy is a big deal, right?
Like that's it. That's, You got that.
(00:42):
But this weekendwas the nail in the coffin.
Because boys, right?
I mean, boys, we saw the weather.
I'm on the board for the Little League.
We saw the weather man.
It was a crazy storm last week, right?
We saw the weather Friday and feel.
Oh, yeah. Cancel the games.
Cancelopening day, cancel it, cancel everything.
(01:05):
And here's softball.
Little weather, little, waterthat don't hurt.
So, Gianna Cody, the presidentand her husband are right over there.
Thank you guys so much for,just your devotion to the softball league.
My Pink Panthers, we came out yesterday.
We lost, like, 12 to 0.
(01:26):
But, you know,softball girls are tougher than boys.
Go aheadand, you know, clap for the girls.
You know, Winning's not everything.
Winning is not everything.
I'm telling that to myself right now.
All right, bro?
Anyway, happy.I hope you're having a great day.
Happy Sunday.
(01:48):
Pastor Carl is not here.
He's also having a good day.
He is up in Idaho right now.
He is visiting his, his son.
Him and Shelleyare visiting their daughter in law,
and they're also hanging out with athe guy named Randy.
If you don't know who Randy is, Randy
is their brand new grandson.
(02:09):
So let's clap for Randy really quick.
I'm in.
I'm in education.
So every year I seeall these brand new names of kids, right?
Like, Phoenix is one of these kids.
I have this year at my school.
And, Randy, I just got to say,Randy is such a cute baby name.
I gotta say, like baby Randy.
(02:30):
But Randy is one of those namesyou don't see that often anymore.
So anyway,when Pastor Carl and Shelley, you're back,
make sure you make sure you gogive him a hug and say congratulations.
And let him ask him how Randy was doing.
I'm sure they have good news.
With that Carl, it's.
He's not here.
It's always an honor for me to step inand fill in for Pastor Carl.
(02:52):
What a gifted teacher and preacher he is.
And what an honor it is for meand my family to call this place
our home church.
And so thank youall for being part of this
and part of this church,if you're newer here or new today.
Thanks for choosing this place.
Rather than heading up the hill, the snow,or going to run around on a nicely,
(03:15):
nicely done softball field and playing.
Thanks for choosing this placethis morning.
If you've been with us for some time,you would know that we've been walking
through the book of Romans, chapterby chapter,
verse by verse.
Romans is a beautiful letterthat was written by a guy
(03:37):
named Paul to a church in Rome,an ancient church.
The the group of people that met at
this churchwere a group of of Jews and non-Jews,
which the Bible refersto them as, as Gentiles.
Right.
And we've been walking through
and it's been such a beautiful journeythrough the book of Romans.
(04:02):
And today we land on Romans chapter ten.
Now, before we jumpin, I have to say that there's a word
in Romans chapter ten that is mentioned.
The this word or a form of thisword is mentioned more
in this one chapter than any other chapterin the New Testament.
(04:22):
And so before we jump in, I just want to
to just talk about this one word.
The word.
That's the Greek version right there.
And in English it's pronounced so teria,
so teria, and it's a noun.
And it,and it means, like a place of, of rescue
or safety, physically or morally.
(04:47):
It means to be like, place of deliverance
or healthy, to be saved or saving.
When we
translate that Greek word to English,we often,
use the word salvation
or to be saved.
(05:07):
And these are a couple wordsthat, that in, in church circles or like,
religious cultures, we hear these wordsa whole bunch, like, hey,
salvation is found in blah,blah, blah, right?
Or hey, are you saved?
I remember being in like seventhor eighth grade.
I, my friend was like, hey, come to thislittle pizza thing in the cafeteria.
(05:29):
And it was,
Athletes in action, Christian group.
They brought pizza to our school.
And I got in there and I'm all like,you know, walking in and and this big,
the guy leading the thing, he walked up
and before I could even say, hey,where's the pizza?
He said, hey, are you saved?
(05:51):
And I'm like,
save some pizza.
Like, what are you talking about?
And so I just want to, like, like, starttoday's talk with.
These are some words.
Salvation being saved.
So, Terry,they're they're Christian words.
We use these a lot in church.
And so the question is,what are we being saved from?
(06:13):
Or what is so teria?
What are we being rescued from?
Now, the book of Romans,it paints a pretty clear picture.
In Romans chapter three,Paul says that we all fall short.
We all sin.
It says we all mess up.
That guy, that girl, this guy,that dude, that girl way in the back.
(06:35):
We all mess up.
And then in Romans six, Paul says,
you know, the wages of sin.
You knowwhat you deserve for sin is death.
And so this idea of so tarea,
the reasonwhy Romans ten says it over and over again
(06:55):
is because of this ideathat, yeah, I'm not perfect.
I mess up.
I have sinned.
How am I rescued from that?
How am I rescued from death?
Todaywe're we're going to answer a question.
Paul will answer a question in Romansten that humans have been asking
(07:19):
from the very beginning of time.
Every human, every race, every culture,
every religion seeks to answerone big question.
And it is, how do I experience?
So today,
(07:40):
how am I saved?
And in the book of acts,
Paul, the writer of this,this letter later is in prison.
He's sitting in there in prison and
and a soldier walks up to himand asks the very same question. Hey.
Hey, guys. How how do I get saved?
And we
(08:00):
find that, through this whole thing,you're saved.
The wages of sin is death.
In Romans six, the wages of sin is death.
But there is a gift, a gift of so teria.
And it's found through Jesus.
Now, we've we've named this whole series.
(08:20):
The last few months we've been in Romans.
We've named it Grace.
And then we have this mathematical symbol.
Grace is greater than.
And then fill in the blank.
So, like grace is greaterthan your addiction, right?
Grace is greater than your your,your mindset.
(08:44):
Grace is greater than, sin.
Grace is greater than depression.
We have this slidethat has all these different words.
And the idea is thatwhatever is going on in your life,
God's grace is greater than it.
Let metell you what grace is really quick.
(09:06):
My dad's over there.
He's the guy with the white hair.
I got a future coming.
Thanks for coming. Death.
One time,me and my dad, we're at Woodward Park.
Some of you guys know where WoodwardPark is.
Beautiful park right over there somewhere.
We're riding our bikeslike a father and son.
It was cute, man.
We were just.
Hey, dad was loving life.
It was a day like this.
(09:27):
We set our bikes up against a tree. Laura.
We are overhere, like doing dad and son stuff.
We're just like, hey, let's skip rocksand teach me how to play catch and stuff.
I was like an adult, though.
So is more like, hey, dad, how's politics?
And, while we're over here doing stuff,some high school kids stole our bikes.
They just took off and we came out.
(09:49):
We're like,hey, what in the world where our bikes go?
Oh my goodness, this is terrible.
Let's go home. Right.
So we're getting in the car
and all of a sudden here comethese dudes are riding our bikes.
And there was four of them.
One kid riding my bikewith a kid on his handlebars.
Another kid riding my dad's bikewith a kid on his handlebars.
(10:11):
And they're just like, whoa,what a great day this is.
We just got some brand new bikes,and I'm like, hey, hey, dad.
There he goes, our bikes.
And he's like, let's go get him.
I'm like,all right, man, now you're speaking.
Let's go boom!
It's not my style though.
I don't do that stuff.
But, that's what I was thinking.
So here we go.
An adult and his dad, we drive.
(10:35):
We drive ahead of them.
We, like, drive a couple.We had this plan, Jana.
We drive ahead of them,we get out and we're hiding
behind some trees
and, like, do.
What are we doing, man?
He's like, we're going to get our bikes.
I'm like, all right, here we go.
These guys there and then nothing.
They had no clue man.
(10:55):
They're riding our bikes up.
And all of a sudden we're just like, hey,
one of them boom topples over,the kid goes flying,
the other kid falls on the groundand they're like, what?
The other kid kicks the other guy offand he's just pedaling.
Just pedalinglike trying to get out of there.
I'm just like,
hey, dude, that's my bike, you know?
(11:16):
And and I get in frontof him and finally he stops.
Mercy.
Okay. Mercy.
What they deserved was a little better,but that's not myself.
So what they deservewas calling the police,
and they probably deserved to talk.
And a ride in a police carand probably a talking to.
(11:39):
That's mercy.
They didn't get that though.
They did not get that.
So mercy is not getting what you deserve.
But here's Grace.
My dad says, where do you guys live?
And they're like, we live.
I don't know.
You remember, like, far away,like they live by Bullard or something.
(12:02):
And he's like,get in the car and take you home.
They get in the car,
we're driving. We're talking with him.
The dude I just was about to.
And we're talking.
We're hanging out,and my dad offers them a job.
That's Grace.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
(12:24):
Grace is getting something.
Even though you don't deserve it.
Grace is unmerited.
UN achieved unearned gift.
And so we've named this series
Grace is greater than fill
(12:45):
in the blank. And,
my endeavor today.
Is not to be flowery
or engaging or or funny.
My task today is to be accurate.
(13:06):
It's to be clear
because the message today
has eternal consequences.
Because we're going toanswer the question, how do I experience
so Terraria.
And I tell you, I'm
I give you mymy one like line from the beginning.
(13:29):
That way we're all clear.
And I gotta say, I gotta preface this.
Every speech class, every sermon class
is either taken or given.
I always we always learn this thing.
Never, ever disrespectyour audience in your intro.
And I'm about to.
(13:51):
I'm about ten.
I'm about to.
Because here's my one point.
Salvation.
I'll let you actually read it.
So Taylor Taylor has read that first.
It says salvation
can't cannot be achieved.
(14:13):
It can only be received
because grace is greater than you.
Grace is greater than anything you can do.
Any money you got, any hair you got.
Grace is greater than how as much Sundaysas you come to grace
(14:35):
is greater than your work achievements,your effort.
Grace is greater than anythingyou can conjure up to try to get.
So today.
It's because salvation can't be achieved.
It can only be received.
(14:58):
And here's the questionI want to just like start with
why is it that humans have such a hardtime?
Reason achieving something
without feeling like, what
do I have to do to get it?
Let me just give you an example.
Like, have you ever gotten a compliment?
(15:18):
And you, you think like,how do I compliment them back?
I mean, this happens to meall the oh, That doesn't sound
that doesn't sound exactly right.But let me give you an example.
When people compliment me,my first reaction and instinct is okay.
Hey, Dave, nice shoes.
Hey. Hey, Billy.
And I like your shirt.
Like, why is it that I can't just saythank you right?
(15:41):
A little while ago, my friend,
he met me at, Dutch Bros.
He's like,hey, Dave, we need to get together.
It was around Christmas time, and
and so I, I'm like, sure,let's let's get together tomorrow morning
I get to Dutch Bros a little bit early.
That way I can buy my drinks.So that's not awkward.
(16:01):
Like I have to buy his or anything, right?
I'm getting there. I'm a little early.
I'm sitting there drinking my drink,and he walks in.
And this is how he walks in.
He walks in like this.
You know, the first thought was,
oh yeah, I didn't
I didn't bring a gift for him.
Why he whyhe didn't tell me it was a gift exchange.
(16:23):
Why didn't he tell me anything?
And my first instinct was okay.
What?
In my car or my pocket, can I give him?
And he walked up and said,Hey Dave, hey, Merry Christmas, man.
I was like, I can't receive that, man.
I made upsomething like, I left your gift at home.
You know, I.
(16:45):
But why is it that humans feel like
if you do something for me,then I have to do something for you.
You scratch my back,then I get to scratch your back.
You do me a favor.
I owe you one.
The pointtoday is salvation can't be achieved.
(17:07):
It can only be received because God's
grace is greater than you.
God's gift of grace
can only be received.
Today we're going to jump into Romanschapter ten.
If you have a Bible or a smartphone,or if you just kind of
want to follow along,you can go ahead and get there.
(17:31):
And I'm just going to pray this in father,
this morning,
I pray,God that you would be here with us.
Thank you for being here.
Thank youfor bringing these people into this space.
Now, would you open our ears?
Would you open our eyes to hear and see?
And I'm even going to pray this, father,that it would be so unique
(17:53):
to the second service,that it would be so unique to these people
in this crowd that you would speak loudly.
I pray that I would hear you so clear
that we would hear you and see you
this morning, especially me.
Thank you for your book, Romans ten.
(18:15):
Now help lead us through it.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Amen.
All right, so,Paul, he's writing this letter to a church
in Rome full of Jewsand non-Jews, Gentiles.
And he starts chapter ten with this line.
(18:37):
He says in verse one it says this.
He says,
brothers and sisters,
my heart's desire and prayer
to God for the Israelitesis that they may be saved.
There's our first time
that they may experience so teria.
(18:58):
He starts off with this thing and and
real quick pause.
If anybody ever comes up to you and says,my heart's desire is this,
you better lean in,because that is a very strong word choice.
He says, my heart's desire in prayeris that these Israelites,
these Jews, that they would be saved.
(19:21):
And the question is, why iswhy is his heart's desire so,
so into these Israelites?
And the answer is because he is one.
He is a Jew.
He is an Israelite.
He. In Galatians he describes himself
as a Hebrew of Hebrews,an Israelite, a Jew.
And what he's sayingis, these are my people.
(19:45):
These are the kids I grew up with.
This is my family.
These are the kids I played in The Sandlotwith when I was in third grade.
Like.
And it's my heart's desireand it's my prayer that they would receive
Jesus that they would be receivingso teria
salvation.
(20:06):
Quick point.
Paul is modeling something that so oftenwe don't do, because I believe
that every single one of us in this place
has hearts, desires.
I have hearts desires
that my kids would be successful.
I have hearts desires that the PinkPanthers would beat the Wolfpack.
(20:28):
Next time.
I have hearts desires that my familyand my friends would would grow to know
Jesus more than just a character or
I have a heart's desire
that so real would be a real thing.
For the thing that I have experiencedof Jesus's love and power
would be experienced in my familyand my friends and my coworkers.
(20:51):
That's my heart's desire.
But hope.
Sanger says this hope is not a strategy.
Paul models something pretty cool.
He says, my heart's desire is this.
But his desires lead to prayers.
Let me ask you this.
(21:13):
What are your heart's desires
and are you praying for them?
Or are you hoping it happens?
Maybe it's a job. Maybe it's financial.
Maybe it's for your kids.Maybe it's for yourself.
Maybe it's for who? Whoever
do your heart's desires lead to?
(21:34):
Prayer?
I'm sure that every single one of youhave somebody.
Something in your brain right now.
I encourage you to write it down,
and then I encourage you to pray for that,
because hope is not a strategy,but potentially the most
supernatural and powerful strategywe have access to is prayer.
(21:58):
Paul says this.
And then verse two, he goeson, he says, for I can testify.
So I can say,
that about them,that they are zealous for God.
They are the Israelites.
I can testify that they are zealousfor God, but their zeal is not
based on knowledge,since they did not know
(22:23):
the righteousness of Godand sought to establish their own,
they did not submit to God'srighteous ness.
What he's saying is this.
Hey, guys, my heart's desire is thatthey would be saved because I know this.
They are zealous.
They are enthusiastic.
(22:43):
They are so devoted to God
and His things that that it's crazy.
They're so engulfed in the law.
But, man, they're missing the mark.
They're a little bit misdirected.
It's kind of like the old phrase,
like they're barking up the wrong tree.
(23:06):
And it's it's funnybecause when scholars read this
and they make little notes about it,they say Paul is actually describing
himself.
In Galatians chapter five,
Paul describes himselfas before he met Jesus.
He says, I was a zealous religious Hebrew.
(23:28):
And then I experienced Jesus.
Barking up the wrong tree is a referenceto an old hunting phrase.
If you go raccoon huntingand they send the hounds out
and the hounds,the dogs will go find a raccoon,
and they'd bark at itand the thing would run up a tree.
And then they they'd sit thereand they'd bark up at the tree.
(23:49):
Well, row, row, row, row. Right.
And then the hunter wouldjust walk up with his gun
and he'd say, good dog.
And then he'd point and shoot the raccoon.
Barking up the wrong treemeans this dog runs.
Barking up some tree.
But the raccoons overthere is hanging out,
and the hunter comes up and he says,what are you doing?
(24:11):
What are you barking at, you dumb dog?
There's nothing up here.
Raccoons over there.
Just like, yeah, I trick that dog.
And what Paul is saying is, guys,I know these people.
They're devoted to God,they're devoted to religion,
they're devoted to the book,
but they're missing the mark.
(24:33):
And I
for a moment, I'm going to say something,and I might walk
between the aisles and step on some toesright here,
because there are so many people.
And I'm gonna say this,there are many religious people
that are so devoted to
(24:54):
things that are not the main thing.
There are so many peoplethat are so engulfed
in, like, you got to do a certain thing.
You gotta be a certain way,you gotta go to church every Sunday.
You go read every single day, man.
And if you don't do that, you go, you'rethey're devoted to the wrong things.
They're missing the mark.And all those things are great.
(25:17):
But some people areso devoted to missions,
we gotta be involved with missions, butthey forget about their own neighborhood.
Some people are so involved withsocial justice, man, we gotta be like,
we all go and they forget about the loveand power of Jesus Christ.
Some people
are and I'mthey're so engulfed in a policy there.
(25:38):
Now we gotta vote for a thing. You know?
We gotta do this thing.
We are so political.
But they're missing something.
Some people want a certain someone.
Hey, can we teach you about the Bible?Right?
Like some religions,they knock on your door.
Some people are so like, yeah, you come inhere, I'm gonna teach you a lesson.
(25:59):
They're so convictedthat I need to prove everybody wrong.
But they forget to love them.
And by the way, I'm all those people.
I've been all of them.
And what Paul is saying isthere are people.
These people, the Israelites.
Sometimeswe're so devoted to the little things.
(26:22):
Gotta wear this, gotta drink that.
Can't drink this, gotta do this,gotta do that,
that they missed the main thing.
Because salvation can't be earned.
It can't be achieved.
It can't be bought.
Doesn't matterhow much you pay your tithe.
I once been a guy who
a couple of years ago we
were meeting a little group and he's like,I messed up, did something.
(26:47):
His wife was mad at him. He's like, well,
bettertithe a little extra this weekend. And
I thought, why is it so hard?
Because I've been there too.
Like I forgot to read the Bibleand then God's a little upset.
Like, why is it so hard that we feel likewe gotta earn it
when really it's a gift?
(27:10):
Salvation can't be achieved.
It can only be received.
Paul goes on in verse four,
he wraps this whole thing up.
He says, Christ Jesus is the culmination
of the law, like that bookand all those things are doing.
Israelites.
(27:31):
Jesus is all of that.
He says it's a culmination of the law,
so that there may be righteousnessfor everyone who believes.
And then he's going to quote Mosesfor a little bit.
He's going to quote a law book.
Those of you who consider yourselfBible scholars
would know that Deuteronomy
(27:54):
is part of the five booksin the Old Testament called the Torah,
and this is a literal law book
that the Israelites lived by.
And Paul is going to quote Moses.
It says in versefive, Moses writes about this,
about the righteousnessthat that people have by the law.
(28:14):
So the person who doesthese things will live by them.
But the righteousness that is by faithsays, do not say in your hearts
who will ascend to heaventhat is, to bring Christ down,
who will descend to the deep,that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
But what does it say?
And then he's going to quote Moses.
He says, but what does it say?
(28:35):
The word is near you.
It is in your mouth,
and it is in your heart.
It is in your mouth,and it is in your heart.
In other words, Paul is saying,you don't have to go to great lengths
to find or achieve salvationbecause it's already here.
(28:55):
It's already here.
And then here's the kickerare you ready for the kicker?
Verse nine.
Paul writes,
if you declare with your mouth
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heartthat God raised him
(29:18):
from the dead, you will be saved.
So tarea,
for it is with your heartsthat you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you professyour faith and are saved.
So teria.
(29:40):
There's a lot of things in life
that are kind of gray,kind of in the middle,
but but this is pretty black and white.
And there's no wayI can make this more clear.
Rather than just usingwhat Paul said a long,
long time ago,he said, if you believe in your heart
(30:01):
and you, professor, declarewith your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
you are saved.
In other words, yes, we all fall short.
Yeah, we all sin.
Yeah, we've all messed up.
Yeah, we all deserve death.
But Romanssix says the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of Jesus Christ is satalia
(30:25):
salvation
for those who believe
and confess.
I always wonder why
Paul is so like into this stuff,because that's who Paul was.
I'm sure you've
heard some of thesome people call, lip service.
Oh, they're all bunch of talk, man,but they don't follow it up.
(30:50):
When in Matthew,
Jesus was was speaking directlyto a bunch of religious people,
and he says, you guys honor mewith your lips, but your hearts is
far from me.
Jesus said, you honor
God with your lips,but your heart is far from him.
And what he's saying is, guys,
(31:13):
right here,if you first start believing in your heart
and then you profess it with your mouth,that's all you gotta do.
You don't gotta get a gift and dancearound it
and shoveland figure out how I got to repay you.
How can I earn this gift?
He says, if you believe in your mouthor in your heart,
declare with your mouth you are saved.
(31:33):
Because salvation cannot beachieved, can only be received
because grace is greater than you.
He follows this upwith a pretty interesting phrase.
He says in verse 11.
He says, as Scripture says, anyone
who believes inhim will never be put to shame.
(31:56):
For there is no difference between
Jew and Gentile.
The same Lord is Lord of all,
and richly blesses all who call on him.
For every one who calls onthe name of the Lord
will be saved.
(32:17):
There's no difference.
Some of us, man,we gotta go to church every single Sunday
and the rest of my lifewe gotta tie 10%, man.
If we can push the 15%now we gotta dress a certain way.
We gotta act a certain way. We gotta do.
There's no difference between the poor
or the the incredibly religious.
What he's saying is, man, there'sno difference between Jew and Gentile.
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There's no differencebetween black and white.
There's no differencebetween tall and short.
There's no differencebetween this religious person
and the orphan girlwho's just saying, Jesus, your Lord.
Because there's only one way to get it.
You just receive it.
Now it's just a side note.
(33:00):
Interesting.
When we say Jesus is Lord, some of us,we can kind of read that or say
it kind of flippantly, like, yeah,
it's kind of easy to say,oh yeah, Jesus is Lord.
Yeah. So what?
But to these people,
remember the Romans,
the Jews
in this church, to the Roman,
(33:23):
it would have been saying, Jesus is Lord.
He's the same as our Emperor.
It's crazy talk.
I can get killed for saying that.
For the Jew it was saying
Jesus is Lord, the same as Yahwehyour God from the Old Testament.
(33:43):
You mean the God who who createdthe earth,
God of Abraham and Moses and David?
I can get killed for saying that.
I want you to know that the heaviness
of saying and believingJesus is Lord, and for us,
when we believe in our heartsand say with our mouth
(34:06):
that Jesus is Lord, what you're saying isJesus is greater than my marriage.
Jesus is greater than my familyand my kids.
I really want that that, that promotion.
But but Jesus is Lord. He is in control.
You're saying God,Jesus is greater than my ambitions,
(34:27):
my efforts, my dreams.
When you truly believe Jesus is Lord,
you're saying something inconceivable.
Some of us gather here,
on a weekly basis.
Some of you might be herefor the very first time.
(34:48):
Thank you for choosing this place.
Some of youmaybe grew up in an a church tradition.
Or maybe you're kind of newerto this church thing,
but it's not all the timethat we truly get a moment to believe
in our heart and confesswith our mouth that Jesus is Lord.
And so I'd like to take a moment.
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I've got this little thing in my pocket.
It's a little communion cup.
We're going to move into communion.
I'm not fully done yet,so don't act like you're going home early.
Billy's over here packing up his stuff.
Sorry, Billy.
If you don't have one of these,let me just explain this.
There's nothing about thisthat is special.
There's nothing about this that is saving.
(35:33):
There's no so terribly in doing this.
I know different beliefsand different traditions.
They're like the First Communionis a big deal. Or.
Or I just kind of let you knowthere's nothing about this
that gets you anything.
This is a symbol.
This is a like a
it's it's a little it's a memento.
(35:55):
It's going to remind us what does save us.
And I have my friend back there.
If you don't have one of these
and you'd like to move forward,he has a bunch over there.
I even have a couple over here.
Go and just slip up your hand and andyou can get one of these if you'd like.
But let's take a moment,
because Jesus himselfwas sitting at a table
(36:19):
and he took a little piece of bread
that we have as a little like a wafer.
And he said, he says he broke it,
and he says, hey, guys,
this represents my body
that I'm going to give to you.
Because there's every time
you eat this, remember what I've done.
(36:43):
And what he was saying is, I'm aboutto die on a cross so that you may live.
If you believe with your heart
that Jesus is Lord,
if you believe in your heartthat Jesus is Lord,
and let's eat together.
(37:15):
And then the Bible says that in a
in the same way.
Jesus took a cup.
And, this morningwe have a little grape juice
that will be symbolic or represent,
what Jesus is about to say.
But he said he took a cup and he said,this is my blood.
This is my blood
(37:36):
that will be poured out for you.
Because salvation cannot be achieved.
There's nothing you can do.
There's no dove you can kill.
There's no amount of money you can pay.
There's no amount of timeyou can serve to achieve this.
He says,this is my blood poured out for you.
(38:01):
And I'd like to take a moment
to actually confessthat if you do believe it,
and I don't want to be cultish oranything, I don't want to sound all weird,
but like, if you truly believethat Jesus is Lord, then
I invite you to say that with me on three,one two,
three Jesus is Lord.
(38:22):
Let's drink together.
Now felt a little cultish.
We all did that. I'm like,what if someone's walking by?
They're like, dang, that's a weird church.
I'm not done yet, so don't go anywhere.
That's just the beginning, because Paulactually has a couple more things
(38:43):
to say, actually,and they're very, very, very important.
But first of all, let me say this.
Some of you may have done thatfor the very first time in your life.
Some of you may have done thatfor the 10th time or the hundredth time,
or maybe you just stumbled into itand you're like, actually,
yeah, I'm going to do this today.
(39:04):
I believe there's a party in heavenright now,
right this momentthat's saying, Praise God.
There are people who are receivingthe gift
of so, Terry.
The tendency will be then, okay, now,what do I gotta do now?
What now? What do I gotta do?
(39:26):
But I want you to know
that it's been according to this.
You've been.
It's been received.
Now, I will also addthat it's not a one time thing.
Usually some of y'all.
In 1998, when I was at camp this night,I said this thing, and that's cool.
I love that it's beautiful.
But I also believe thatthis is a lifestyle, that this is a
(39:49):
a way of being, that every step I take,I'm breathing in.
Jesus is Lord and everything
I say is saying Jesus is Lord,even when it doesn't sound like that.
And we can spend another three hourstalking about
what does it mean to to professJesus as Lord.
Tim and I had a good conversationthe other day, and Dylan, was it.
(40:13):
We'll get into that later,
but let's first finish,
because nowPaul has a couple of questions.
He has a questions for those of youwho did this
in verse.
Let's see 14 I think. Yep.
14. He says question time.
How how then can
(40:33):
they Israelitesor those people you have in mind,
how can they call on the onethey have not believed in?
And how can they believein the one whom they have not heard?
And how can they hearwithout someone preaching to them?
And how can anyonepreach unless they are sent?
(40:54):
And then he says, as it is written,
how beautiful are the feet
of those who bring good news.
In other words, what he's saying is,how are people supposed to believe
or professanything if they haven't heard it?
And how are they supposed to hear itunless someone else believes it
and says it?
(41:17):
And then he says,how beautiful are the feet?
And he's quotingIsaiah, a book in the Old Testament,
because in the Old Testament, Sophia,there were these cities
and they didn't have cell phones.
They didn't they couldn't
call the battlefield and be like, hey,how are the troops doing?
They would have a watchman
and he'd be at the city gate,usually in like a little tower.
(41:38):
He'd be, oh, I can stand on that.
But he'd be upand he'd just be kind of looking around
and he'd be waitingand watching for the messenger,
because there was some
guy, potentially a girl,because girls are tougher.
And the guy would be thehis only role would be to run
to another kingdom or whereverthe battle was.
(41:59):
He'd run sometimes for miles,and he'd get the news
okay to me, and he'd run back
and the watchman would be like,oh, there he is.
There's the messenger,and the watchman would go down and he'd go
see the messenger, and the messengerwould run up and say, oh,
the battle has been won.
(42:19):
We won the battle.
And the watchman be like,that's great news.
Hey, everybody, the battle has been won.
And he looked back and he says,your feet are beautiful.
The dude just ran 70 miles.
His feet are not beautiful.
They look like crazy people.
Feet.
But what he's saying is, man,you brought the best news I could hear
(42:43):
the way you did.
It was beautiful.
But how can people hear
if no one says it?
And how do people believe
if no one brings the news?
The last words on earth that Jesus said
(43:06):
before he ascended rose toheaven was this.
He was speaking to a group of peoplemuch like yourself,
who believed that Jesus was Lord,
and he told them,
go in
Matthew 28, go and make disciples.
(43:28):
Baptize them.
Teach them the good news of so Korea.
And I want to say this.
It's not just Carl's job.
It's not just for a Sunday.
You don't have to have a little cute, cute
(43:49):
Mike and be up on a stage to say it.
You don't have to have a degree.
Jesus wasn't like,let me see your theology degree.
Let me see what seminary you went to know.
He said, do you believe? Go.
Doesn't
have tobe the way that everyone else does it.
It's. It's your way.
(44:11):
Jesus is Lord.
Do you believe that?
Then declare it.
Do you guys see the cycle?
There's a cycle
no one can believe
unless someone else believesand declares it.
And no one can hear itunless someone says it out loud.
(44:33):
And then once they say it out loud,they have the option to believe
or not believe.
But once they believe, then they say itand someone else will believe
and someone else will say it,and then someone else will believe.
And do you guys seethe cycle happening over and over?
Jack, let me make this point.
God could have done anything
(44:53):
to bring people to Jesus.
He could have put a big Ole fluffy angelright here.
And the angel, I guarantee you guys beenlike, dang, what's what do you got to say?
I want to hear what you have to say,
to say Jesus is Lord,but instead he has me today.
He could have, like the Old Testamentwrote on the wall,
hey, Jesus is Lord.
(45:17):
I guarantee we would have been like,whoa, okay, I believe now
instead you got me.
God could have done anything. He could.
He could make this little chair spinif he wanted to again.
And then I'd be like, see, you believehe could have done that, but he didn't.
God's normal way to bring people to
(45:37):
Jesus is love,and his power is through lumps of clay.
Roman nine says,
God's normal way to spread the kingdom.
The good news that salvation can be earnedor achieved
is through people like you and people
like me.
(46:00):
Don't ever think
that you don't have what it takes.
The Bible is black and white.
How to reach so tareaand then it's black and white.
What you're supposed to do after it.
A friend of mine has a church in Fresno.
His name is Renae Pastor Renae.
(46:23):
I have some family that goes there,and he's a buddy of mine.
I don't know if anybody'sever been to Valley Christian Center.
You guys have. Right?
Nowadays they have this, sign as you're
leaving the parking lot of this church.
They have this sign, and I just liked it.
And you have a chance to make a fancy one.
But I went aheadand wrote it on my computer, and it says
(46:46):
they have this sign of the church.
It says this now.
It says you are now entering the missionfield.
I love that idea.
It's not just the pastor's job.
It's not just the the dude
who went to Fullerton
(47:07):
or the theological cemetery or seminary.
It's an all the pastor joke there.
It's not just the guy who gets up in frontbecause he's brave enough.
It's all of us.
Sarah, can you do me a favor?
Can you go put this on the wallover there?
Here's a little couple tacks.
Just put it right on rightnext to the wall on your way out.
(47:29):
That way. We'll see it just for today.
We'll have it there.
You can do it now.
You're not going to miss nothing.
Salvation cannot be achieved.
No amount of money, no amount of time.
You serve.
No matter how what you do,
(47:49):
you have to humble yourself
and just receive it.
Paul ends this part.
Paul ends chapter ten with somethingvery, very, very sad.
He's quoting Isaiah.
He's quoting at.
And then he he comes to this in verse 21.
(48:16):
Paul is quoting Isaiah
in the Old Testament.
Isaiah was quoting God
speaking to the Israelites.
Let's receive this today
as a warning,
because Paul ends like this.
He says, but concerning Israel,but concerning the Jews,
(48:41):
he says, all day long
I have held out my hands.
To a disobedient
and obstinate people.
In other words, he's saying,
there is always going to be people.
(49:06):
Who don't know how to receive the gift,
and they will be disobedientand they will be stubborn
and they will do their little things.
They will try and try and try and
but here's God saying all day long,
all day long I hold my hands out
(49:29):
to a disobedient people,
to a stubborn people.
See, humans,
we have this
wire in us that says,
I can't just receiveit without doing something
guys do
this morning, today, let's not complicate
the good newsthat salvation cannot be achieved.
(49:54):
It can only be received.
Because when you get the gift, decideto open it.
You can find a key.
And Jesus says that I am the door.
I am the gate.
Nobody gets to the fatherexcept through me.
(50:18):
Salvation cannot be achieved.
You can't rub the door.
You can't dance for the door.
You can't give to the door.
But you can believe in your heart.
And you can confess with your mouththat Jesus is Lord.
And that door.
What Jesus says is man.
So tarea,
(50:38):
so tarea.
Yes, the wages of sin is death.
Yes, you've messed up a bunch. Yes.
Can you accept the gift?
This morning,
we're going to.
We're going to.
I'm going to close up right now.
But I want to turn your attentionto something
(50:59):
really quick at yourin front of your table.
Not your table with your table,but in front of you, there's a chair.
And in that chair there's a little welcomecard and decide serve, connect.
This is not just for new people,by the way.
This is for everybody.
On the back of it, it says info card.
And then it has some likeit has some little options here.
(51:22):
And I'm going to encourage you.
I'm encourageevery single one of you today,
some of you, because there's a different
there's a couple of different typesof people in this room right now.
There's some of you that said,
yeah, I follow Jesus.
I've decided to follow him for a longtime, and today I'm doing it again.
(51:42):
Good.
Praise God there's some of youthat may have done that
for the first time.
Or maybe there was a timewhere Jesus was not Lord.
And then today you're like,okay, Jesus is Lord, I'm gonna believe it.
Imma say it.
If that's you, just tell me.
I decided to follow Jesuseven if you've already done it,
(52:07):
tell me, tell us.
We love to serve with you alongside you.
We want to walk with you.
There's another group of you that
that may have beena little bit more encouraged
today, or maybe inspired.
Maybe there's someone that
when your heart's desiresturned to prayer, maybe someone stuck out
(52:29):
like.
Like you. You're thinking of that.
That son of yours,
or maybe that coworker.
I encourage you to write their name downright here.
Write it down.
We want to join you in the mission field.
(52:49):
And then there's
there's some of us herethat are still thinking.
And I'm going to be honestand blunt about it.
Some of us are still like,that's it's too easy.
Can't be that easy.
What do I have to do?
Wherever you're at,we'd like to know about it.
(53:10):
I encourage you to fill this out.
Give it to me.
Give it to Jeff. Give it to Heather.
Drop it in that box over there.
We want to join you as you move forward.
Because salvation.
Is a pretty big deal
and it can't be achieved.
Can only be received
(53:31):
because God's grace is greater than you.
May you, my friends,
may you come to believe thatJesus is Lord of your life.
Truly believe it.
Me, you,
my brothersand my sisters, may you declare it.
(53:53):
Profess it to your kids, your wife,
your husband, to your family,to your coworkers.
And may you see so tarry,
not only in your life,but the lives around you.
(54:15):
Because salvation can't be received,can't be achieved.
It can only be received.
We have one last little song and it goes.
It's called.
This is Amazing Grace.
And we call it amazing Grace because
undeserved merit is pretty amazing.
Doesn't make sense for us humans.
(54:37):
That's why we call it amazing Grace.
Feel free to stay sitting.
Fill out the card.
Feel free to stand.
But let's finish todaywith a little bit of singing.
Well. Good morning.
Flip side. Happy Sunday.
It is a beautiful, beautiful Sunday.
Happy Saint Patrick's Eve day.
Wearing my green.
So hands to yourself.
It was, also, opening day
(00:21):
for baseball, little league
and our softball league. And,
you know,I've always wondered my whole life.
Who is tougher, boys
or girls?
Girls.
Pregnancy is a big deal, right?
Like that's it. That's, You got that.
(00:42):
But this weekendwas the nail in the coffin.
Because boys, right?
I mean, boys, we saw the weather.
I'm on the board for the Little League.
We saw the weather man.
It was a crazy storm last week, right?
We saw the weather Friday and feel.
Oh, yeah. Cancel the games.
Cancelopening day, cancel it, cancel everything.
(01:05):
And here's softball.
Little weather, little, waterthat don't hurt.
So, Gianna Cody, the presidentand her husband are right over there.
Thank you guys so much for,just your devotion to the softball league.
My Pink Panthers, we came out yesterday.
We lost, like, 12 to 0.
(01:26):
But, you know,softball girls are tougher than boys.
Go aheadand, you know, clap for the girls.
You know, Winning's not everything.
Winning is not everything.
I'm telling that to myself right now.
All right, bro?
Anyway, happy.I hope you're having a great day.
Happy Sunday.
(01:48):
Pastor Carl is not here.
He's also having a good day.
He is up in Idaho right now.
He is visiting his, his son.
Him and Shelleyare visiting their daughter in law,
and they're also hanging out with athe guy named Randy.
If you don't know who Randy is, Randy
is their brand new grandson.
(02:09):
So let's clap for Randy really quick.
I'm in.
I'm in education.
So every year I seeall these brand new names of kids, right?
Like, Phoenix is one of these kids.
I have this year at my school.
And, Randy, I just got to say,Randy is such a cute baby name.
I gotta say, like baby Randy.
(02:30):
But Randy is one of those namesyou don't see that often anymore.
So anyway,when Pastor Carl and Shelley, you're back,
make sure you make sure you gogive him a hug and say congratulations.
And let him ask him how Randy was doing.
I'm sure they have good news.
With that Carl, it's.
He's not here.
It's always an honor for me to step inand fill in for Pastor Carl.
(02:52):
What a gifted teacher and preacher he is.
And what an honor it is for meand my family to call this place
our home church.
And so thank youall for being part of this
and part of this church,if you're newer here or new today.
Thanks for choosing this place.
Rather than heading up the hill, the snow,or going to run around on a nicely,
(03:15):
nicely done softball field and playing.
Thanks for choosing this placethis morning.
If you've been with us for some time,you would know that we've been walking
through the book of Romans, chapterby chapter,
verse by verse.
Romans is a beautiful letterthat was written by a guy
(03:37):
named Paul to a church in Rome,an ancient church.
The the group of people that met at
this churchwere a group of of Jews and non-Jews,
which the Bible refersto them as, as Gentiles.
Right.
And we've been walking through
and it's been such a beautiful journeythrough the book of Romans.
(04:02):
And today we land on Romans chapter ten.
Now, before we jumpin, I have to say that there's a word
in Romans chapter ten that is mentioned.
The this word or a form of thisword is mentioned more
in this one chapter than any other chapterin the New Testament.
(04:22):
And so before we jump in, I just want to
to just talk about this one word.
The word.
That's the Greek version right there.
And in English it's pronounced so teria,
so teria, and it's a noun.
And it,and it means, like a place of, of rescue
or safety, physically or morally.
(04:47):
It means to be like, place of deliverance
or healthy, to be saved or saving.
When we
translate that Greek word to English,we often,
use the word salvation
or to be saved.
(05:07):
And these are a couple wordsthat, that in, in church circles or like,
religious cultures, we hear these wordsa whole bunch, like, hey,
salvation is found in blah,blah, blah, right?
Or hey, are you saved?
I remember being in like seventhor eighth grade.
I, my friend was like, hey, come to thislittle pizza thing in the cafeteria.
(05:29):
And it was,
Athletes in action, Christian group.
They brought pizza to our school.
And I got in there and I'm all like,you know, walking in and and this big,
the guy leading the thing, he walked up
and before I could even say, hey,where's the pizza?
He said, hey, are you saved?
(05:51):
And I'm like,
save some pizza.
Like, what are you talking about?
And so I just want to, like, like, starttoday's talk with.
These are some words.
Salvation being saved.
So, Terry,they're they're Christian words.
We use these a lot in church.
And so the question is,what are we being saved from?
(06:13):
Or what is so teria?
What are we being rescued from?
Now, the book of Romans,it paints a pretty clear picture.
In Romans chapter three,Paul says that we all fall short.
We all sin.
It says we all mess up.
That guy, that girl, this guy,that dude, that girl way in the back.
(06:35):
We all mess up.
And then in Romans six, Paul says,
you know, the wages of sin.
You knowwhat you deserve for sin is death.
And so this idea of so tarea,
the reasonwhy Romans ten says it over and over again
(06:55):
is because of this ideathat, yeah, I'm not perfect.
I mess up.
I have sinned.
How am I rescued from that?
How am I rescued from death?
Todaywe're we're going to answer a question.
Paul will answer a question in Romansten that humans have been asking
(07:19):
from the very beginning of time.
Every human, every race, every culture,
every religion seeks to answerone big question.
And it is, how do I experience?
So today,
(07:40):
how am I saved?
And in the book of acts,
Paul, the writer of this,this letter later is in prison.
He's sitting in there in prison and
and a soldier walks up to himand asks the very same question. Hey.
Hey, guys. How how do I get saved?
And we
(08:00):
find that, through this whole thing,you're saved.
The wages of sin is death.
In Romans six, the wages of sin is death.
But there is a gift, a gift of so teria.
And it's found through Jesus.
Now, we've we've named this whole series.
(08:20):
The last few months we've been in Romans.
We've named it Grace.
And then we have this mathematical symbol.
Grace is greater than.
And then fill in the blank.
So, like grace is greaterthan your addiction, right?
Grace is greater than your your,your mindset.
(08:44):
Grace is greater than, sin.
Grace is greater than depression.
We have this slidethat has all these different words.
And the idea is thatwhatever is going on in your life,
God's grace is greater than it.
Let metell you what grace is really quick.
(09:06):
My dad's over there.
He's the guy with the white hair.
I got a future coming.
Thanks for coming. Death.
One time,me and my dad, we're at Woodward Park.
Some of you guys know where WoodwardPark is.
Beautiful park right over there somewhere.
We're riding our bikeslike a father and son.
It was cute, man.
We were just.
Hey, dad was loving life.
It was a day like this.
(09:27):
We set our bikes up against a tree. Laura.
We are overhere, like doing dad and son stuff.
We're just like, hey, let's skip rocksand teach me how to play catch and stuff.
I was like an adult, though.
So is more like, hey, dad, how's politics?
And, while we're over here doing stuff,some high school kids stole our bikes.
They just took off and we came out.
(09:49):
We're like,hey, what in the world where our bikes go?
Oh my goodness, this is terrible.
Let's go home. Right.
So we're getting in the car
and all of a sudden here comethese dudes are riding our bikes.
And there was four of them.
One kid riding my bikewith a kid on his handlebars.
Another kid riding my dad's bikewith a kid on his handlebars.
(10:11):
And they're just like, whoa,what a great day this is.
We just got some brand new bikes,and I'm like, hey, hey, dad.
There he goes, our bikes.
And he's like, let's go get him.
I'm like,all right, man, now you're speaking.
Let's go boom!
It's not my style though.
I don't do that stuff.
But, that's what I was thinking.
So here we go.
An adult and his dad, we drive.
(10:35):
We drive ahead of them.
We, like, drive a couple.We had this plan, Jana.
We drive ahead of them,we get out and we're hiding
behind some trees
and, like, do.
What are we doing, man?
He's like, we're going to get our bikes.
I'm like, all right, here we go.
These guys there and then nothing.
They had no clue man.
(10:55):
They're riding our bikes up.
And all of a sudden we're just like, hey,
one of them boom topples over,the kid goes flying,
the other kid falls on the groundand they're like, what?
The other kid kicks the other guy offand he's just pedaling.
Just pedalinglike trying to get out of there.
I'm just like,
hey, dude, that's my bike, you know?
(11:16):
And and I get in frontof him and finally he stops.
Mercy.
Okay. Mercy.
What they deserved was a little better,but that's not myself.
So what they deservewas calling the police,
and they probably deserved to talk.
And a ride in a police carand probably a talking to.
(11:39):
That's mercy.
They didn't get that though.
They did not get that.
So mercy is not getting what you deserve.
But here's Grace.
My dad says, where do you guys live?
And they're like, we live.
I don't know.
You remember, like, far away,like they live by Bullard or something.
(12:02):
And he's like,get in the car and take you home.
They get in the car,
we're driving. We're talking with him.
The dude I just was about to.
And we're talking.
We're hanging out,and my dad offers them a job.
That's Grace.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
(12:24):
Grace is getting something.
Even though you don't deserve it.
Grace is unmerited.
UN achieved unearned gift.
And so we've named this series
Grace is greater than fill
(12:45):
in the blank. And,
my endeavor today.
Is not to be flowery
or engaging or or funny.
My task today is to be accurate.
(13:06):
It's to be clear
because the message today
has eternal consequences.
Because we're going toanswer the question, how do I experience
so Terraria.
And I tell you, I'm
I give you mymy one like line from the beginning.
(13:29):
That way we're all clear.
And I gotta say, I gotta preface this.
Every speech class, every sermon class
is either taken or given.
I always we always learn this thing.
Never, ever disrespectyour audience in your intro.
And I'm about to.
(13:51):
I'm about ten.
I'm about to.
Because here's my one point.
Salvation.
I'll let you actually read it.
So Taylor Taylor has read that first.
It says salvation
can't cannot be achieved.
(14:13):
It can only be received
because grace is greater than you.
Grace is greater than anything you can do.
Any money you got, any hair you got.
Grace is greater than how as much Sundaysas you come to grace
(14:35):
is greater than your work achievements,your effort.
Grace is greater than anythingyou can conjure up to try to get.
So today.
It's because salvation can't be achieved.
It can only be received.
(14:58):
And here's the questionI want to just like start with
why is it that humans have such a hardtime?
Reason achieving something
without feeling like, what
do I have to do to get it?
Let me just give you an example.
Like, have you ever gotten a compliment?
(15:18):
And you, you think like,how do I compliment them back?
I mean, this happens to meall the oh, That doesn't sound
that doesn't sound exactly right.But let me give you an example.
When people compliment me,my first reaction and instinct is okay.
Hey, Dave, nice shoes.
Hey. Hey, Billy.
And I like your shirt.
Like, why is it that I can't just saythank you right?
(15:41):
A little while ago, my friend,
he met me at, Dutch Bros.
He's like,hey, Dave, we need to get together.
It was around Christmas time, and
and so I, I'm like, sure,let's let's get together tomorrow morning
I get to Dutch Bros a little bit early.
That way I can buy my drinks.So that's not awkward.
(16:01):
Like I have to buy his or anything, right?
I'm getting there. I'm a little early.
I'm sitting there drinking my drink,and he walks in.
And this is how he walks in.
He walks in like this.
You know, the first thought was,
oh yeah, I didn't
I didn't bring a gift for him.
Why he whyhe didn't tell me it was a gift exchange.
(16:23):
Why didn't he tell me anything?
And my first instinct was okay.
What?
In my car or my pocket, can I give him?
And he walked up and said,Hey Dave, hey, Merry Christmas, man.
I was like, I can't receive that, man.
I made upsomething like, I left your gift at home.
You know, I.
(16:45):
But why is it that humans feel like
if you do something for me,then I have to do something for you.
You scratch my back,then I get to scratch your back.
You do me a favor.
I owe you one.
The pointtoday is salvation can't be achieved.
(17:07):
It can only be received because God's
grace is greater than you.
God's gift of grace
can only be received.
Today we're going to jump into Romanschapter ten.
If you have a Bible or a smartphone,or if you just kind of
want to follow along,you can go ahead and get there.
(17:31):
And I'm just going to pray this in father,
this morning,
I pray,God that you would be here with us.
Thank you for being here.
Thank youfor bringing these people into this space.
Now, would you open our ears?
Would you open our eyes to hear and see?
And I'm even going to pray this, father,that it would be so unique
(17:53):
to the second service,that it would be so unique to these people
in this crowd that you would speak loudly.
I pray that I would hear you so clear
that we would hear you and see you
this morning, especially me.
Thank you for your book, Romans ten.
(18:15):
Now help lead us through it.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Amen.
All right, so,Paul, he's writing this letter to a church
in Rome full of Jewsand non-Jews, Gentiles.
And he starts chapter ten with this line.
(18:37):
He says in verse one it says this.
He says,
brothers and sisters,
my heart's desire and prayer
to God for the Israelitesis that they may be saved.
There's our first time
that they may experience so teria.
(18:58):
He starts off with this thing and and
real quick pause.
If anybody ever comes up to you and says,my heart's desire is this,
you better lean in,because that is a very strong word choice.
He says, my heart's desire in prayeris that these Israelites,
these Jews, that they would be saved.
(19:21):
And the question is, why iswhy is his heart's desire so,
so into these Israelites?
And the answer is because he is one.
He is a Jew.
He is an Israelite.
He. In Galatians he describes himself
as a Hebrew of Hebrews,an Israelite, a Jew.
And what he's sayingis, these are my people.
(19:45):
These are the kids I grew up with.
This is my family.
These are the kids I played in The Sandlotwith when I was in third grade.
Like.
And it's my heart's desireand it's my prayer that they would receive
Jesus that they would be receivingso teria
salvation.
(20:06):
Quick point.
Paul is modeling something that so oftenwe don't do, because I believe
that every single one of us in this place
has hearts, desires.
I have hearts desires
that my kids would be successful.
I have hearts desires that the PinkPanthers would beat the Wolfpack.
(20:28):
Next time.
I have hearts desires that my familyand my friends would would grow to know
Jesus more than just a character or
I have a heart's desire
that so real would be a real thing.
For the thing that I have experiencedof Jesus's love and power
would be experienced in my familyand my friends and my coworkers.
(20:51):
That's my heart's desire.
But hope.
Sanger says this hope is not a strategy.
Paul models something pretty cool.
He says, my heart's desire is this.
But his desires lead to prayers.
Let me ask you this.
(21:13):
What are your heart's desires
and are you praying for them?
Or are you hoping it happens?
Maybe it's a job. Maybe it's financial.
Maybe it's for your kids.Maybe it's for yourself.
Maybe it's for who? Whoever
do your heart's desires lead to?
(21:34):
Prayer?
I'm sure that every single one of youhave somebody.
Something in your brain right now.
I encourage you to write it down,
and then I encourage you to pray for that,
because hope is not a strategy,but potentially the most
supernatural and powerful strategywe have access to is prayer.
(21:58):
Paul says this.
And then verse two, he goeson, he says, for I can testify.
So I can say,
that about them,that they are zealous for God.
They are the Israelites.
I can testify that they are zealousfor God, but their zeal is not
based on knowledge,since they did not know
(22:23):
the righteousness of Godand sought to establish their own,
they did not submit to God'srighteous ness.
What he's saying is this.
Hey, guys, my heart's desire is thatthey would be saved because I know this.
They are zealous.
They are enthusiastic.
(22:43):
They are so devoted to God
and His things that that it's crazy.
They're so engulfed in the law.
But, man, they're missing the mark.
They're a little bit misdirected.
It's kind of like the old phrase,
like they're barking up the wrong tree.
(23:06):
And it's it's funnybecause when scholars read this
and they make little notes about it,they say Paul is actually describing
himself.
In Galatians chapter five,
Paul describes himselfas before he met Jesus.
He says, I was a zealous religious Hebrew.
(23:28):
And then I experienced Jesus.
Barking up the wrong tree is a referenceto an old hunting phrase.
If you go raccoon huntingand they send the hounds out
and the hounds,the dogs will go find a raccoon,
and they'd bark at itand the thing would run up a tree.
And then they they'd sit thereand they'd bark up at the tree.
(23:49):
Well, row, row, row, row. Right.
And then the hunter wouldjust walk up with his gun
and he'd say, good dog.
And then he'd point and shoot the raccoon.
Barking up the wrong treemeans this dog runs.
Barking up some tree.
But the raccoons overthere is hanging out,
and the hunter comes up and he says,what are you doing?
(24:11):
What are you barking at, you dumb dog?
There's nothing up here.
Raccoons over there.
Just like, yeah, I trick that dog.
And what Paul is saying is, guys,I know these people.
They're devoted to God,they're devoted to religion,
they're devoted to the book,
but they're missing the mark.
(24:33):
And I
for a moment, I'm going to say something,and I might walk
between the aisles and step on some toesright here,
because there are so many people.
And I'm gonna say this,there are many religious people
that are so devoted to
(24:54):
things that are not the main thing.
There are so many peoplethat are so engulfed
in, like, you got to do a certain thing.
You gotta be a certain way,you gotta go to church every Sunday.
You go read every single day, man.
And if you don't do that, you go, you'rethey're devoted to the wrong things.
They're missing the mark.And all those things are great.
(25:17):
But some people areso devoted to missions,
we gotta be involved with missions, butthey forget about their own neighborhood.
Some people are so involved withsocial justice, man, we gotta be like,
we all go and they forget about the loveand power of Jesus Christ.
Some people
are and I'mthey're so engulfed in a policy there.
(25:38):
Now we gotta vote for a thing. You know?
We gotta do this thing.
We are so political.
But they're missing something.
Some people want a certain someone.
Hey, can we teach you about the Bible?Right?
Like some religions,they knock on your door.
Some people are so like, yeah, you come inhere, I'm gonna teach you a lesson.
(25:59):
They're so convictedthat I need to prove everybody wrong.
But they forget to love them.
And by the way, I'm all those people.
I've been all of them.
And what Paul is saying isthere are people.
These people, the Israelites.
Sometimeswe're so devoted to the little things.
(26:22):
Gotta wear this, gotta drink that.
Can't drink this, gotta do this,gotta do that,
that they missed the main thing.
Because salvation can't be earned.
It can't be achieved.
It can't be bought.
Doesn't matterhow much you pay your tithe.
I once been a guy who
a couple of years ago we
were meeting a little group and he's like,I messed up, did something.
(26:47):
His wife was mad at him. He's like, well,
bettertithe a little extra this weekend. And
I thought, why is it so hard?
Because I've been there too.
Like I forgot to read the Bibleand then God's a little upset.
Like, why is it so hard that we feel likewe gotta earn it
when really it's a gift?
(27:10):
Salvation can't be achieved.
It can only be received.
Paul goes on in verse four,
he wraps this whole thing up.
He says, Christ Jesus is the culmination
of the law, like that bookand all those things are doing.
Israelites.
(27:31):
Jesus is all of that.
He says it's a culmination of the law,
so that there may be righteousnessfor everyone who believes.
And then he's going to quote Mosesfor a little bit.
He's going to quote a law book.
Those of you who consider yourselfBible scholars
would know that Deuteronomy
(27:54):
is part of the five booksin the Old Testament called the Torah,
and this is a literal law book
that the Israelites lived by.
And Paul is going to quote Moses.
It says in versefive, Moses writes about this,
about the righteousnessthat that people have by the law.
(28:14):
So the person who doesthese things will live by them.
But the righteousness that is by faithsays, do not say in your hearts
who will ascend to heaventhat is, to bring Christ down,
who will descend to the deep,that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
But what does it say?
And then he's going to quote Moses.
He says, but what does it say?
(28:35):
The word is near you.
It is in your mouth,
and it is in your heart.
It is in your mouth,and it is in your heart.
In other words, Paul is saying,you don't have to go to great lengths
to find or achieve salvationbecause it's already here.
(28:55):
It's already here.
And then here's the kickerare you ready for the kicker?
Verse nine.
Paul writes,
if you declare with your mouth
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heartthat God raised him
(29:18):
from the dead, you will be saved.
So tarea,
for it is with your heartsthat you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you professyour faith and are saved.
So teria.
(29:40):
There's a lot of things in life
that are kind of gray,kind of in the middle,
but but this is pretty black and white.
And there's no wayI can make this more clear.
Rather than just usingwhat Paul said a long,
long time ago,he said, if you believe in your heart
(30:01):
and you, professor, declarewith your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
you are saved.
In other words, yes, we all fall short.
Yeah, we all sin.
Yeah, we've all messed up.
Yeah, we all deserve death.
But Romanssix says the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of Jesus Christ is satalia
(30:25):
salvation
for those who believe
and confess.
I always wonder why
Paul is so like into this stuff,because that's who Paul was.
I'm sure you've
heard some of thesome people call, lip service.
Oh, they're all bunch of talk, man,but they don't follow it up.
(30:50):
When in Matthew,
Jesus was was speaking directlyto a bunch of religious people,
and he says, you guys honor mewith your lips, but your hearts is
far from me.
Jesus said, you honor
God with your lips,but your heart is far from him.
And what he's saying is, guys,
(31:13):
right here,if you first start believing in your heart
and then you profess it with your mouth,that's all you gotta do.
You don't gotta get a gift and dancearound it
and shoveland figure out how I got to repay you.
How can I earn this gift?
He says, if you believe in your mouthor in your heart,
declare with your mouth you are saved.
(31:33):
Because salvation cannot beachieved, can only be received
because grace is greater than you.
He follows this upwith a pretty interesting phrase.
He says in verse 11.
He says, as Scripture says, anyone
who believes inhim will never be put to shame.
(31:56):
For there is no difference between
Jew and Gentile.
The same Lord is Lord of all,
and richly blesses all who call on him.
For every one who calls onthe name of the Lord
will be saved.
(32:17):
There's no difference.
Some of us, man,we gotta go to church every single Sunday
and the rest of my lifewe gotta tie 10%, man.
If we can push the 15%now we gotta dress a certain way.
We gotta act a certain way. We gotta do.
There's no difference between the poor
or the the incredibly religious.
What he's saying is, man, there'sno difference between Jew and Gentile.
(32:40):
There's no differencebetween black and white.
There's no differencebetween tall and short.
There's no differencebetween this religious person
and the orphan girlwho's just saying, Jesus, your Lord.
Because there's only one way to get it.
You just receive it.
Now it's just a side note.
(33:00):
Interesting.
When we say Jesus is Lord, some of us,we can kind of read that or say
it kind of flippantly, like, yeah,
it's kind of easy to say,oh yeah, Jesus is Lord.
Yeah. So what?
But to these people,
remember the Romans,
the Jews
in this church, to the Roman,
(33:23):
it would have been saying, Jesus is Lord.
He's the same as our Emperor.
It's crazy talk.
I can get killed for saying that.
For the Jew it was saying
Jesus is Lord, the same as Yahwehyour God from the Old Testament.
(33:43):
You mean the God who who createdthe earth,
God of Abraham and Moses and David?
I can get killed for saying that.
I want you to know that the heaviness
of saying and believingJesus is Lord, and for us,
when we believe in our heartsand say with our mouth
(34:06):
that Jesus is Lord, what you're saying isJesus is greater than my marriage.
Jesus is greater than my familyand my kids.
I really want that that, that promotion.
But but Jesus is Lord. He is in control.
You're saying God,Jesus is greater than my ambitions,
(34:27):
my efforts, my dreams.
When you truly believe Jesus is Lord,
you're saying something inconceivable.
Some of us gather here,
on a weekly basis.
Some of you might be herefor the very first time.
(34:48):
Thank you for choosing this place.
Some of youmaybe grew up in an a church tradition.
Or maybe you're kind of newerto this church thing,
but it's not all the timethat we truly get a moment to believe
in our heart and confesswith our mouth that Jesus is Lord.
And so I'd like to take a moment.
(35:11):
I've got this little thing in my pocket.
It's a little communion cup.
We're going to move into communion.
I'm not fully done yet,so don't act like you're going home early.
Billy's over here packing up his stuff.
Sorry, Billy.
If you don't have one of these,let me just explain this.
There's nothing about thisthat is special.
There's nothing about this that is saving.
(35:33):
There's no so terribly in doing this.
I know different beliefsand different traditions.
They're like the First Communionis a big deal. Or.
Or I just kind of let you knowthere's nothing about this
that gets you anything.
This is a symbol.
This is a like a
it's it's a little it's a memento.
(35:55):
It's going to remind us what does save us.
And I have my friend back there.
If you don't have one of these
and you'd like to move forward,he has a bunch over there.
I even have a couple over here.
Go and just slip up your hand and andyou can get one of these if you'd like.
But let's take a moment,
because Jesus himselfwas sitting at a table
(36:19):
and he took a little piece of bread
that we have as a little like a wafer.
And he said, he says he broke it,
and he says, hey, guys,
this represents my body
that I'm going to give to you.
Because there's every time
you eat this, remember what I've done.
(36:43):
And what he was saying is, I'm aboutto die on a cross so that you may live.
If you believe with your heart
that Jesus is Lord,
if you believe in your heartthat Jesus is Lord,
and let's eat together.
(37:15):
And then the Bible says that in a
in the same way.
Jesus took a cup.
And, this morningwe have a little grape juice
that will be symbolic or represent,
what Jesus is about to say.
But he said he took a cup and he said,this is my blood.
This is my blood
(37:36):
that will be poured out for you.
Because salvation cannot be achieved.
There's nothing you can do.
There's no dove you can kill.
There's no amount of money you can pay.
There's no amount of timeyou can serve to achieve this.
He says,this is my blood poured out for you.
(38:01):
And I'd like to take a moment
to actually confessthat if you do believe it,
and I don't want to be cultish oranything, I don't want to sound all weird,
but like, if you truly believethat Jesus is Lord, then
I invite you to say that with me on three,one two,
three Jesus is Lord.
(38:22):
Let's drink together.
Now felt a little cultish.
We all did that. I'm like,what if someone's walking by?
They're like, dang, that's a weird church.
I'm not done yet, so don't go anywhere.
That's just the beginning, because Paulactually has a couple more things
(38:43):
to say, actually,and they're very, very, very important.
But first of all, let me say this.
Some of you may have done thatfor the very first time in your life.
Some of you may have done thatfor the 10th time or the hundredth time,
or maybe you just stumbled into itand you're like, actually,
yeah, I'm going to do this today.
(39:04):
I believe there's a party in heavenright now,
right this momentthat's saying, Praise God.
There are people who are receivingthe gift
of so, Terry.
The tendency will be then, okay, now,what do I gotta do now?
What now? What do I gotta do?
(39:26):
But I want you to know
that it's been according to this.
You've been.
It's been received.
Now, I will also addthat it's not a one time thing.
Usually some of y'all.
In 1998, when I was at camp this night,I said this thing, and that's cool.
I love that it's beautiful.
But I also believe thatthis is a lifestyle, that this is a
(39:49):
a way of being, that every step I take,I'm breathing in.
Jesus is Lord and everything
I say is saying Jesus is Lord,even when it doesn't sound like that.
And we can spend another three hourstalking about
what does it mean to to professJesus as Lord.
Tim and I had a good conversationthe other day, and Dylan, was it.
(40:13):
We'll get into that later,
but let's first finish,
because nowPaul has a couple of questions.
He has a questions for those of youwho did this
in verse.
Let's see 14 I think. Yep.
14. He says question time.
How how then can
(40:33):
they Israelitesor those people you have in mind,
how can they call on the onethey have not believed in?
And how can they believein the one whom they have not heard?
And how can they hearwithout someone preaching to them?
And how can anyonepreach unless they are sent?
(40:54):
And then he says, as it is written,
how beautiful are the feet
of those who bring good news.
In other words, what he's saying is,how are people supposed to believe
or professanything if they haven't heard it?
And how are they supposed to hear itunless someone else believes it
and says it?
(41:17):
And then he says,how beautiful are the feet?
And he's quotingIsaiah, a book in the Old Testament,
because in the Old Testament, Sophia,there were these cities
and they didn't have cell phones.
They didn't they couldn't
call the battlefield and be like, hey,how are the troops doing?
They would have a watchman
and he'd be at the city gate,usually in like a little tower.
(41:38):
He'd be, oh, I can stand on that.
But he'd be upand he'd just be kind of looking around
and he'd be waitingand watching for the messenger,
because there was some
guy, potentially a girl,because girls are tougher.
And the guy would be thehis only role would be to run
to another kingdom or whereverthe battle was.
(41:59):
He'd run sometimes for miles,and he'd get the news
okay to me, and he'd run back
and the watchman would be like,oh, there he is.
There's the messenger,and the watchman would go down and he'd go
see the messenger, and the messengerwould run up and say, oh,
the battle has been won.
(42:19):
We won the battle.
And the watchman be like,that's great news.
Hey, everybody, the battle has been won.
And he looked back and he says,your feet are beautiful.
The dude just ran 70 miles.
His feet are not beautiful.
They look like crazy people.
Feet.
But what he's saying is, man,you brought the best news I could hear
(42:43):
the way you did.
It was beautiful.
But how can people hear
if no one says it?
And how do people believe
if no one brings the news?
The last words on earth that Jesus said
(43:06):
before he ascended rose toheaven was this.
He was speaking to a group of peoplemuch like yourself,
who believed that Jesus was Lord,
and he told them,
go in
Matthew 28, go and make disciples.
(43:28):
Baptize them.
Teach them the good news of so Korea.
And I want to say this.
It's not just Carl's job.
It's not just for a Sunday.
You don't have to have a little cute, cute
(43:49):
Mike and be up on a stage to say it.
You don't have to have a degree.
Jesus wasn't like,let me see your theology degree.
Let me see what seminary you went to know.
He said, do you believe? Go.
Doesn't
have tobe the way that everyone else does it.
It's. It's your way.
(44:11):
Jesus is Lord.
Do you believe that?
Then declare it.
Do you guys see the cycle?
There's a cycle
no one can believe
unless someone else believesand declares it.
And no one can hear itunless someone says it out loud.
(44:33):
And then once they say it out loud,they have the option to believe
or not believe.
But once they believe, then they say itand someone else will believe
and someone else will say it,and then someone else will believe.
And do you guys seethe cycle happening over and over?
Jack, let me make this point.
God could have done anything
(44:53):
to bring people to Jesus.
He could have put a big Ole fluffy angelright here.
And the angel, I guarantee you guys beenlike, dang, what's what do you got to say?
I want to hear what you have to say,
to say Jesus is Lord,but instead he has me today.
He could have, like the Old Testamentwrote on the wall,
hey, Jesus is Lord.
(45:17):
I guarantee we would have been like,whoa, okay, I believe now
instead you got me.
God could have done anything. He could.
He could make this little chair spinif he wanted to again.
And then I'd be like, see, you believehe could have done that, but he didn't.
God's normal way to bring people to
(45:37):
Jesus is love,and his power is through lumps of clay.
Roman nine says,
God's normal way to spread the kingdom.
The good news that salvation can be earnedor achieved
is through people like you and people
like me.
(46:00):
Don't ever think
that you don't have what it takes.
The Bible is black and white.
How to reach so tareaand then it's black and white.
What you're supposed to do after it.
A friend of mine has a church in Fresno.
His name is Renae Pastor Renae.
(46:23):
I have some family that goes there,and he's a buddy of mine.
I don't know if anybody'sever been to Valley Christian Center.
You guys have. Right?
Nowadays they have this, sign as you're
leaving the parking lot of this church.
They have this sign, and I just liked it.
And you have a chance to make a fancy one.
But I went aheadand wrote it on my computer, and it says
(46:46):
they have this sign of the church.
It says this now.
It says you are now entering the missionfield.
I love that idea.
It's not just the pastor's job.
It's not just the the dude
who went to Fullerton
(47:07):
or the theological cemetery or seminary.
It's an all the pastor joke there.
It's not just the guy who gets up in frontbecause he's brave enough.
It's all of us.
Sarah, can you do me a favor?
Can you go put this on the wallover there?
Here's a little couple tacks.
Just put it right on rightnext to the wall on your way out.
(47:29):
That way. We'll see it just for today.
We'll have it there.
You can do it now.
You're not going to miss nothing.
Salvation cannot be achieved.
No amount of money, no amount of time.
You serve.
No matter how what you do,
(47:49):
you have to humble yourself
and just receive it.
Paul ends this part.
Paul ends chapter ten with somethingvery, very, very sad.
He's quoting Isaiah.
He's quoting at.
And then he he comes to this in verse 21.
(48:16):
Paul is quoting Isaiah
in the Old Testament.
Isaiah was quoting God
speaking to the Israelites.
Let's receive this today
as a warning,
because Paul ends like this.
He says, but concerning Israel,but concerning the Jews,
(48:41):
he says, all day long
I have held out my hands.
To a disobedient
and obstinate people.
In other words, he's saying,
there is always going to be people.
(49:06):
Who don't know how to receive the gift,
and they will be disobedientand they will be stubborn
and they will do their little things.
They will try and try and try and
but here's God saying all day long,
all day long I hold my hands out
(49:29):
to a disobedient people,
to a stubborn people.
See, humans,
we have this
wire in us that says,
I can't just receiveit without doing something
guys do
this morning, today, let's not complicate
the good newsthat salvation cannot be achieved.
(49:54):
It can only be received.
Because when you get the gift, decideto open it.
You can find a key.
And Jesus says that I am the door.
I am the gate.
Nobody gets to the fatherexcept through me.
(50:18):
Salvation cannot be achieved.
You can't rub the door.
You can't dance for the door.
You can't give to the door.
But you can believe in your heart.
And you can confess with your mouththat Jesus is Lord.
And that door.
What Jesus says is man.
So tarea,
(50:38):
so tarea.
Yes, the wages of sin is death.
Yes, you've messed up a bunch. Yes.
Can you accept the gift?
This morning,
we're going to.
We're going to.
I'm going to close up right now.
But I want to turn your attentionto something
(50:59):
really quick at yourin front of your table.
Not your table with your table,but in front of you, there's a chair.
And in that chair there's a little welcomecard and decide serve, connect.
This is not just for new people,by the way.
This is for everybody.
On the back of it, it says info card.
And then it has some likeit has some little options here.
(51:22):
And I'm going to encourage you.
I'm encourageevery single one of you today,
some of you, because there's a different
there's a couple of different typesof people in this room right now.
There's some of you that said,
yeah, I follow Jesus.
I've decided to follow him for a longtime, and today I'm doing it again.
(51:42):
Good.
Praise God there's some of youthat may have done that
for the first time.
Or maybe there was a timewhere Jesus was not Lord.
And then today you're like,okay, Jesus is Lord, I'm gonna believe it.
Imma say it.
If that's you, just tell me.
I decided to follow Jesuseven if you've already done it,
(52:07):
tell me, tell us.
We love to serve with you alongside you.
We want to walk with you.
There's another group of you that
that may have beena little bit more encouraged
today, or maybe inspired.
Maybe there's someone that
when your heart's desiresturned to prayer, maybe someone stuck out
(52:29):
like.
Like you. You're thinking of that.
That son of yours,
or maybe that coworker.
I encourage you to write their name downright here.
Write it down.
We want to join you in the mission field.
(52:49):
And then there's
there's some of us herethat are still thinking.
And I'm going to be honestand blunt about it.
Some of us are still like,that's it's too easy.
Can't be that easy.
What do I have to do?
Wherever you're at,we'd like to know about it.
(53:10):
I encourage you to fill this out.
Give it to me.
Give it to Jeff. Give it to Heather.
Drop it in that box over there.
We want to join you as you move forward.
Because salvation.
Is a pretty big deal
and it can't be achieved.
Can only be received
(53:31):
because God's grace is greater than you.
May you, my friends,
may you come to believe thatJesus is Lord of your life.
Truly believe it.
Me, you,
my brothersand my sisters, may you declare it.
(53:53):
Profess it to your kids, your wife,
your husband, to your family,to your coworkers.
And may you see so tarry,
not only in your life,but the lives around you.
(54:15):
Because salvation can't be received,can't be achieved.
It can only be received.
We have one last little song and it goes.
It's called.
This is Amazing Grace.
And we call it amazing Grace because
undeserved merit is pretty amazing.
Doesn't make sense for us humans.
(54:37):
That's why we call it amazing Grace.
Feel free to stay sitting.
Fill out the card.
Feel free to stand.
But let's finish todaywith a little bit of singing.
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