Jesus Saves

Jul 05, 2026

Linked Podcast: After The Amen - Ep. 36

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Good morning, Frank Moose Bible Church. We ought to try that again. Good morning, Frank Moose Bible Church. That's much better. Excellent. Good to be together. Glad that you're here. Glad to be with you this morning. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Pastor Mark. I'm one of the pastors here on staff. And it's my privilege to lead you in the Word of God this morning. So if you have your Bibles, take them out and turn with me to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. If you didn't bring a Bible, there should be one on the seat back in front of you. I'd encourage you to use that. If you don't own a Bible, take that one home with you. We'd love for you to have a copy of God's Word. If you're looking for the book of Romans, it's the sixth book into the New Testament. So if you find the division between the Old and New Testament, then you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, then the book of Romans. If you've been around this summer, you know that we've been going through a sermon series focusing on key familiar Bible verses. We want to give some extended time to those verses. So far in our series, we've looked at John 3.16, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, 2 Timothy 3.16. Last week we looked at Romans 8.28. And this morning we're going to look at Romans 10, 9, and 10. And I want you to look at the verse. I want you to hear it and see it right here at the beginning because we're going to dive into it a little deeper this morning as we work through this text together. But here's our key verse for this morning. 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. Saved from yourself, saved unto God. Simple verse. The text goes on to say, For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, Everyone who believes in him, believes in Jesus, will not be put to shame, for there's no distinction between Jew and non-Jew, Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing all his riches on all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Familiar with that verse? Pretty famous verse, pretty familiar verse out of Romans chapter 10. Well, my father, Robert Hazen, was born and raised in Southeast Detroit, the River Rouge area. He was born in 1935, which means he was born between the twin tragedies of the Great Depression and World War II. Let me see, the Great Depression started in 1929, World War II started in 1939. He was born in 1935, so he was born right between those twin tragedies. While the late 30s, 1940s, early 40s, the Detroit was booming. They'd come out of the Great Depression. Ford Motor Company was there. Again, my dad was raised in the River Rouge area. River Rouge Ford Motor Company, they had over a hundred thousand employees in the early 1940s. So that area was just booming. And that was the context that my dad was raised in. My father was raised in a home with a married couple. Both his parents were employed. His dad was an overhead crane operator on Zug Island, unloading ships in the Detroit River. And his mother worked for Ford Motor Company. She would have been one of those Rosie the Riveters during World War II. But both his parents worked. My father was also raised in a home that was unchurched and irreligious. They did not have a Bible in their home. My father was not raised in a Christian context. They did not go to church. They knew nothing about the Bible, nothing about Jesus. And because my father was raised in a home where both parents worked full-time, my father had a lot of unsupervised time on his hands. And as a young man, he began running the streets and with little supervision, and he found himself hanging out with the wrong crowd and making all sorts of decisions that was getting him into all kinds of trouble. By the time he was a young teenager, he was getting in enough trouble that he was beginning to get in trouble with the law. He had been caught shoplifting, various degrees of theft, vandalism, destruction of property. So as my father's run-ins with the law increased, his father, my grandfather, had no idea what to do. He felt he was going to lose his son, and he was losing his son. So the only thing he could think of is he just he had to get his son out of the city. The city was destroying his son. And so in light of that, he and my grandmother, my grandfather and my grandmother, they left their jobs. Left their job as a crane operator, left Ford Motor Company, they sold their home in Southeast Detroit, and they bought a small little farm in Mayville, Michigan. Swaffer Road. And my dad got dropped into Mayville High School. He actually graduated from Mayville High School in 1953. But during my time, but during my dad's time in Mayville High School, something remarkable happened there. You remember the Gideons? The Gideons are that ministry, they distribute Bibles. They used to pass out Bibles in the schools and universities and prisons. Back in the day, you used to go to the hotel and you'd look into the little drawer next to the bed and there would be a Gideon Bible there. Well, the Gideons were a ministry that distributed Bibles, and they came through Mayville High School, and my dad was there as a high school student, and they gave all the students a pocket-sized New Testament. My dad, remarkably, took that pocket-sized New Testament home. Most of the kids throw them away. My dad took his home and dropped it on the dining room table and just left it there. His dad came home from work later that day, even though he lived in Mayville. He was carpooling with a group of friends down to Pontiac and he was still working as an overhead crane operator. But he got home from work that day and he noticed this New Testament laying on the table. And for some amazing reason, he picked that New Testament up, put it in his pocket, and he began reading the Bible for the very first time. He took that New Testament with him to work and he began reading the Bible during his breaks. And he read for the first time ever, he read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the four written accounts of Jesus' birth and life and death and resurrection. He read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, then he gets to the book of Acts, and he reads about the ongoing ministry of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit through the lives of the apostles. And then he gets into the book of Romans. And when he gets to Romans chapter 10, our key verse, 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. And in that overhead crane box, my grandfather confessed Jesus is Lord and believed that God raised Jesus from the dead. And he came home from work that day, a saved man. He had been saved unto God. And he had been brought into a whole new life, a whole new relationship with God. My grandfather, Marshall Hazen, is the first one in the Hazen family that we know of who heard the gospel and believed on Jesus Christ. It's a remarkable story. He moved to Mayville because he thought he needed to save his son, his son from prison. And he gets to Mayville and he's introduced to Jesus through reading the scripture and through faith in Jesus, he was saved unto God. In response to this whole new life, and his whole family recognize it, he was just a changed man. But in response to this whole new life, he began taking his family to a little country church, Rich Bible Church. It's still over around the corner, I think, of Swaffer and Kelch Road and Mayville. And shortly after that, my grandmother heard about Jesus Christ and came to place her faith in Jesus. And my father became a believer in Jesus before graduating from high school. And that crazy rebellious kid saved out of Detroit ended up marrying the pastor's daughter. That's how the grace of God rolled into my family. How did the grace of God come into your life? Now, because we're digging deeper this morning, I need to keep pressing forward with that story. See, my grandfather had four children. My dad was the oldest of those four. How many of those four believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sin, rose again for their salvation? How many of those four confess Jesus is Lord and are saved? Those four had fifteen children. I'm one of those. How many of those fifteen believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, rose again from the dead, and provided for their salvation? How many of those fifteen confess Jesus is Lord? Those fifteen have had a small army of children. I stopped trying to count them up. And those children are now having a great army of children. We're now on the fifth generation. How many of that generation are believers? How many of them believe Jesus rose from the dead and confess Him as Lord? I can tell you honestly, it's a mixed bag. There are believers and there are unbelievers. There are professing Christians and there are professing atheists. There are descendants of my grandfather who are now raising children in unchurched, irreligious homes just like my dad was. Is there any hope for them? Faith in God, belief in Jesus, it's not passed down genetically. And it doesn't just happen because you're in the family. And it's not automatic. Matter of fact, we know that you can be raised in a good Christian context and be a long way from God. Now, this is a really practical conversation because in the church today and in the Christian community today, we are regularly inundated with statistics from these research organizations that continue to tell us the great number of kids who are raised in Christian homes, raised in Christian churches, they go to Sunday school, they attend youth group, they go to Christian camp, and then as they become adults, they walk away from the faith. They grow up in a Christian context, but they're not Christians today. And the statistics are always large. You want me to just give you one, I can make one up. 87% of kids growing up in Christian philosophy. You know, it's always a big number, and I think it's meant to scare us. The statistical number of people raised in Christian contexts, but now who are unbelievers, it raises all sorts of questions. As parents try to figure out how did it happen? What went wrong? What was missed? How did that happen? Who's to blame? Did the children's ministry at church fail to teach the Bible effectively? Did the youth group just spend so much time in fun and games that they failed to lay a robust biblical Christian worldview? Did the parents drop the ball and fail to pass on the faith to their children? Is God to blame? Maybe he didn't elect them. Well, that's in the deep end right there, isn't it? See, not only is this a practical conversation that many of us are dealing with, it's also a biblical conversation. Because this very familiar verse that's still on the screen that communicates to us how that if you confess Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That verse is given in a context. And the context of that verse is the bewildering reality of Israel's unbelief. And Paul's wrestling through in this part of his letter, he's wrestling through how did Israel not believe? Of all people, they had all the privileges. They literally were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. They were the first ones to receive the word of God. They had the promises, they had the prophets, they had the law, they had the tabernacle, they had the temple, they had a long history with God, they had the worship regulations. For goodness sakes, Jesus was born into their race. He was born in Bethlehem, not Norway or New Hampshire. Jesus lived, was born and raised, died in their proximity. How did they miss it? I mean, Jesus spent his entire life, 33 years of, well, at least three years of ministry at the end of his life. And when he died and ascended to heaven, how many believers were there? 120? How many Jewish people were there? Million? Plus? How do they miss it? And Paul wrestles with that in the context of Romans 9, 10, and 11. So if we're going to dig deeper this morning, we're going to have to deal with that context. As we look at Romans 10 this morning, we realize that we are three-quarters of the way through a letter, through a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. Paul's letter to the church in Rome, as Pastor Joel mentioned last week, it's literally a missionary letter. The Apostle Paul is a missionary. He's spread the gospel message everywhere he's gone. He's planted churches everywhere. He's writing the church in Rome because he wants the church in Rome to support him on his missionary endeavors. All the churches that Paul has planted are east of Rome. He wants to take the gospel, not to Rome because the church is already there, but through Rome, west to Spain. Spain needs to hear about Jesus. So Paul sits down and he writes a letter. And as he writes a letter, he says, Hey, this is the gospel message that I preach everywhere I go. Matter of fact, if you went back to chapter one, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. The gospel is the good news of the glory of the happy God who mercifully saves sinners unto himself through the powerful work of Jesus. And he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. This is the message I'm preaching everywhere. This is the message that I'm taking to Spain. And he writes them this letter saying, Would you support me and my missionary endeavors to Spain? Paul writes down what he preaches. And the book of Romans, if you want to know what Christians believe, the book of Romans is the most concise yet comprehensive message of the gospel. It's what Paul preached everywhere. Let's give it a little bit of thought. Early in the letter, in the opening chapters, Paul makes the case that everyone is lost and everyone needs a savior. No matter your race, no matter where you're from, no matter your gender, no matter your background, whether you're a moral degenerate or a moralistic prude, whether you're religious or irreligious, it doesn't matter. Everyone is lost, everyone needs a savior because we've all been made in God's image and we've all missed the mark. We have not lived up to the standards that we should have as good human beings. We've all fallen short. Thankfully, Paul goes on to say, for all of us sinners who've been broken off from God because of our unbelief and sin, God has promised a savior and God provided a savior. And that provided savior is the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came, second member of the Holy Trinity, came and was born of a virgin. He lived on this planet, he lived perfectly. He did not sin. He lived perfectly for you and me. He died victoriously. He died in our place. Our sin Jesus took upon himself and he nailed it to the cross. It was a sacrifice of atonement. So Jesus took our punishment. He was nailed to the cross. He died in our place. He was risen victorious from the dead. He's ascended into heaven. He's seated next to the Father in great power. He is the Savior of God's provision. Paul goes on in the letter to say, union with God through faith in Jesus Christ brings people into a whole new life and guarantees them ultimately ultimate glory, eternal life with God in a new heaven and a new earth. People who are joined to God through faith in Jesus will not be put to shame, nor will they be separated from God. As Paul is elaborating on all this glorious truth, talking about God's provision for our salvation in Jesus Christ and how widely known that is, and how he's preaching it everywhere, and how he hopes to take that message to Spain, as he's walking through all this good news of the gospel, Paul begins to run into the bewildering reality of Israel's unbelief. His own people largely have rejected the gospel. The people who should have been the most prepared, the people who should have known better, the people who should have been ready to believe, they don't believe. And so in Romans 9, 10 and 11, Paul picks up on that context. Look with me, Romans 9, chapter 9, verse 1. Look at it. He says, I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Great sorrow, unceasing anguish. This is bigger than I spilt the milk. This is on the level of like my child has cancer and is going to die. This is crushing him. Unceasing anguish. What's the anguish? He says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. You jump over to chapter 10, verse 1. He says, Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them, the Israelites, is that they might be saved. They're not saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for being ignorant of the righteousness of God, Jesus, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, self-righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness. They've rejected Jesus. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. You go over to chapter 11, verse 1, he says, Has God, I ask then, has God rejected his people? Paul is dealing with this bewildering reality of Israel's unbelief. How did it happen? Well, let's learn from that this morning in the context of this letter. In this section of the letter, Paul deals with Israel's unbelief in two parts. And we're going to look at both parts. The first that he deals with is what's God's part in Israel's unbelief? I mean, after all, God chose them. And God has a long history with them. And God sent Jesus into the world through them just as he promised. Is Israel's unbelief somehow God's doing? Is God at fault? He'll answer that. And then second, he'll pick up on what was Israel's part in their unbelief? Clearly, we can't leave them out of the conversation. They're the ones who should have believed, but they didn't believe. How did the gospel operate toward them and how do they remain in unbelief? That's where we're going this morning. We'll look at both of those sections. Let's begin where Paul begins. He jumps right into the deep end by looking at God's part and Israel's unbelief. As Paul begins to address this, Paul doesn't hesitate to bring out the truth that God takes initiative. And God makes decisions, and God chooses people. God elects people. And we find that all over the scripture. How does that doctrine fall on you? You can't avoid it. God chose Abraham. God came to Abraham and chose Abraham and promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation. And that through those descendants, the promised rescuer would come into the world. The one who was promised way back in the Garden of Eden, the one who would come and crush Satan's head and provide salvation for mankind. That person was going to come through Abraham's family. Aren't you glad God chose Abraham? Well God chose Abraham, but not anyone else in the world. But God chose Abraham through him, he would bless the world. God chose Isaac, not Ishmael. God chose Jacob, not Esau. God chose Judah, not any of the eleven brothers, not Joseph. God chose David, and God chose Solomon, and God chose Elizabeth and Mary and twelve disciples and Paul to be a missionary to the Gentiles. See, God takes initiative. And God makes decisions, and he chooses people, he elects people. It's a biblical doctrine. And as a biblical doctrine, we learn as we study about God's election, it's always connected to his mercy and his compassion. God's election of people is always connected to his mercy and compassion. God elects people for his glory, for their good, and for the world. God's election of people that springs from his mercy and it never ends in failure. Let me take you on a little logical journey that Paul takes us on as we develop Romans 9 and 10. Paul begins with the fact that God chooses people, not based on their performance. Thank God. God chooses people not based on their performance, but based on his mercy and according to his purpose. Well, what's God's purpose? We know God's purpose. God's purpose is to advance his own glory. God is committed to the advancement of his own glory because there's nothing higher, there's nothing better, there's nothing greater, nothing more glorious than his own magnificence. To apprehend his glory is the best thing that will ever happen to you and me. That's the trajectory for which we are saved, that we might see God and see his glory and enjoy his glory for all eternity with him. So God is committed to making his glory known, and his decisions and his elections and his actions are directed toward that goal. So God chooses people in the course of time, not based on their performance, but according to his purposes. God's purpose is to advance his own glory, and stay with me. His glory is best seen in his merciful decisions and his compassionate actions. It's true. Paul declares God does as he pleases. And we know that it's God's pleasure to save people. It's God's pleasure to save people unto himself so that they might see his glory. And he's always saving people who don't deserve it. In the Bible, God's election is always connected to his mercy and compassion. It's never connected to his cruelty or his meanness. Because God is not cruel, nor is he mean. God does take the initiative. God makes decisions. God elects, and God is compassionate and merciful. And if God didn't take the initiative, and if God didn't make decisions, and if he didn't extend his mercy and compassion to people who are lost, we'd all be damned. Frankly, it's not surprising that some people don't believe it's a miracle any of us do. And that's where Paul takes us in the logic of his letter. So here's the answer to the first part of handling the bewildering reality of Israel's unbelief. God's not responsible for their unbelief. It's not God's fault, because God is the one who has been working for their salvation all along. And his electing decisions all along the way have worked toward that end. So today, let's not, you and I, twist God's election into something that it's not. His election of people is always connected to his mercy and compassion, and it's not a reason for Israel's unbelief, nor anyone's unbelief. You can think of it this way: if you go back to the early chapters of the book of Romans, and Paul lays out the clace that everyone deserves to be damned, because we've all missed the mark, we've all fallen short, we've all not believed God, we've all gone our own way. If all of us deserve to be damned, then fairness from God would dictate everyone be damned. The fact that God is saving people is purely based on his mercy and compassion and immeasurable grace. The whole plan of God's eternal salvation springs from God's initiative and his decisions and his actions. And if it weren't for God, there wouldn't be a single one saved. God's election is a glorious thing. It's not a mar on his character. And that's where Paul begins. So let's move to the second part. Well, if it's not God's fault, because God has been working for their salvation, and God has made decisions for their salvation, and God has sent them Jesus for their salvation, God has done the work. Well, then what's Israel's part in their unbelief? Can we learn something from them? How do they miss it? How do they reject the gospel when it came to them? Well, think with me through Israel's history. Let's go all the way back to the beginning. God chose Abraham, and he made promises to Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation. Now we're celebrating our 250th anniversary as a nation. Happy birthday, America, 250 years. In order to be a nation, what do you have to have? You have to have people, you have to have law, and you have to have land. You have to have all three of those. So God chose Abraham, told him that his descendants would become a great nation. Through those descendants, the Savior would come into the world. But he told them he'd be a great nation. You have to have people. Well, God increased them as a people during their captivity in Egypt, 400 years in Egypt. And Joseph was actually chosen for their perseverance. God brings them out of Egypt through mighty acts of power. Moses was chosen, and he led the children of Israel out through mighty acts of power. God leads them out of the bondage in Egypt. He takes them to Mount Sinai, and at Mount Sinai they receive their law. So they become a great people, they now have their law. God leads them and ushers them into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua. We're familiar with that history. Now think with me for a moment. From the time God led the nation of Israel out of Egypt all the way to their Babylonian captivity. That's the bulk of your Old Testament. So from the time that God leads the children of Israel out of Egypt, through all of their judges and kings and prophets, centuries of time. What does the Bible tell us about Israel? The Bible tells us clearly they were rebels. They were a rebellious nation. From the time they wrote out to the time they were into captivity, they continually disbelieved God's word. They disregarded his law. They worshipped other gods, they did their own thing, they went their own way, they lived as people who had no relationship with God, they did not keep the covenants, they were rebels. They were rebellious. Well, as I think about that, I'm like, I'm glad God saved some of them. Because if God didn't save some of them, his promises would have failed. I'm thankful for God's election. There were some that were saved. Because if God didn't save some of them, they would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah says that, and Paul quotes them in Romans chapter 9. For several hundred years, the nation of Israel was rebellious. They're described in the Bible as stiff-necked donkeys. You ever been called a stiff-necked donkey? If you have, it's not a great term. But Israel, they're stiff-necked donkeys. They're rebellious children, they're unfaithful spouses, they're indiscriminate whores. God's prophets continually call Israel from the rebellion to faith in God and faith in his word and to come to him with a pure and single heart. But they they they remain continually rebellious. As a result of the rebellion, the Assyrians come in and they sack the northern tribes of Israel, take them all captive. The northern tribes are taken captive, they never return. A hundred years later, the the the Babylonians come and they sack the southern tribes of Judah. They're taken away to Babylon. Temple is destroyed, nation of Israel looks like it's disappeared, it's gone. They go over to Babylon for 70 years. And just as God promised them, Israel would come back to the land and rebuild the temple and re-establish their nation. And they do that 70 years later. You know what's fascinating about that history? After their captivity, they were cured of their rebellion. They had learned their lesson. They're not going to disregard God now. They're not going to disobey God's laws now. They turned from their rebellion, went through their captivity, and they turned to religion. They would now be super religious. They were not going to ignore God's law. They're going to double down on God's law. After the captivity, they were so fixated on keeping God's law and not breaking his rules, and they became so disciplined in their religious affections, they started making up rules so that they wouldn't break God's rules. You ever hear of the Pharisees? You know where they came from? They came from this group post-captivity. They're no longer going to be rebellious, they're going to be super religious, and they're going to pursue their own moral perfection, and they do it all apart from faith in God and trusting in his promised deliverer. You see, you can be rebellious and lost. And you can be super religious and lost. And that's their story. In Romans chapter 9 and 10, Paul says they became so fixated on the law. I mean, they were they were such good Bible students. They were studying their Bible, they were working that out. They don't want to break the covenant, they don't want to be rebels, they've learned their lesson. They become such students fixed on God's law and on their own moral perfection that when Jesus came, they don't even perceive their need of him. Who needs a savior when you're saving yourself? And that was their situation. Fascinating, isn't it? We learn so much from our Bibles. So glad for the Old Testament. Israel went from really rebellious to really religious. And in both ends of the spectrum, they're as lost. Dead as a doornail. You know, I have a really big yacht, uh, a really big rock in my front yard. I mean, I have a really big rock in my front yard. It's over four feet high, it's over four feet round, it is a giant rock in my front yard. You know who really likes that rock? I have 12 grandkids. They love that rock. They climb on that rock, they lay on that rock, they jump on that rock, they jump off that rock, they push their siblings off the rock. They love that rock. Your kids don't need another tablet, just get them a big rock in the front yard. You know who doesn't like the rock? The UPS guy, when he's paying attention to his little mobile devices, he's walking across the front yard. Because if you walk into that rock, it's not moving. You're gonna get hurt. God put a rock in Israel's path. It's a big rock. And no way they're gonna miss it. No way they're gonna miss it. God put a rock in Israel's path. It was the rock of their salvation, it's the rock of Christ Jesus. There's no way they're gonna miss him. But Israel had become so fixated on God's law, so fixated on keeping the rules, so fixated on keeping the covenant that when Jesus came, they ran right into that rock and stumbled over him. Look at chapter 9, verse 30. What would we say then? That Gentiles, these are non-Israelites, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained it? That is the righteousness by faith. That's my grandfather's testimony. The only righteousness he had was the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He was not a lawkeeper, he didn't have a Bible. He came to faith in Jesus Christ and was gloriously made new, sin forgiven, totally born again. So Paul says, What should we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is a righteousness by faith. But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they would not pursue it by faith, but as it were based on works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Yet whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, very zealous, very religious, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, Jesus, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, self-righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness. They did not believe. For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone who believes. You see, the history of the nation of Israel is a great case study in unbelief. And Paul's dealing with that in Romans 9, 10, and 11. And through looking at Israel's history and through reading Paul's letter to the Roman church and learning about Israel's unbelief, we come to understand that you can be rebellious and lost. Certainly. You can pursue your own path and go your own way and be a rebel and be lost, but you can also be religious and lost. Super religious, super fanatical, super obedient, and miss Jesus entirely because you're just trusting in your own effort to keep God's rules and make yourself right before God. See, God's way of saving people isn't through self-directed living, rebellion, and it's not through self-directed religious perfection. God's way of saving people is through Jesus. And it's always been that way. It's always been that way. The people who were saved in the Old Testament were looking forward to that fulfillment of promise, and they were trusting in that Savior who was to come. Jesus was that savior. And the people who come to have a relationship with God post-Jesus are trusting in Jesus Christ, who is their Savior, who bore their sins away on the cross, rose again for their salvation. See, God's way of saving people is always through Jesus. Jesus has done the work and he's provided for our salvation, and we come to God and come to new life through trusting in him. If you want to circle back to that matter of election, Jesus was chosen. In the divine fellowship of the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, according to 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 20, Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world to come and be our Savior. And in the course of time, he willingly came. Became a sacrifice atonement, paying for our sins in his own body on the cross. God by himself, through Jesus Christ, would reveal the glories of his mercy and his compassion through saving people unto himself, people who don't deserve saving. And everyone who comes to the Father through Jesus, God gloriously saves. The glory of God's justice and the glory of his grace and the glory of his mercy and compassion is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ and in his death and in his resurrection. And it's also seen in the glory of the salvation of sinners who don't deserve salvation. You see, Jesus saves. Let me give you a couple of landing places before we uh we celebrate the Lord's table together this morning. If you and I are saved, if you've come here this morning and you're saved, well, thank God. It is a miracle of grace to you. We don't deserve it. We haven't earned it. It came to us by way of God's grace. So if you and I are saved, it's because we've confessed Jesus as Lord and we've believed in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. We've heard the message. We are convicted of our sin. We are convicted of our brokenness. We are convinced that Jesus was our only hope and savior, and we rolled our faith over onto Jesus, and God has saved us unto Himself. It's that simple. And that's our story. Our histories may be very different, but at the same time, our story is just like my grandfather's, who simply rolled his faith over onto Jesus 80 years ago. If you and I are saved, then thank God. His grace has come to us, and we've not forfeited the grace by clinging to worthless idols, including the idol of our own self-righteousness, our own moral perfection. Now we've let that all go and we cling to Jesus. If you're not saved, if you're here this morning and you're not saved, I'll tell you, Jesus is your only hope. Jesus is your only way. There's only one way to be saved. Thank God there's a way. It is the way of God's purpose. And it's the way of God's decision, and it's the way of God's initiative and God's action. There's only one way to be saved. Thank God there's a way. Jesus is the way. If you're not saved, there's one way to be saved. There's a million ways to be lost. A million ways all along the spectrum from rebellion to religion. If you're not saved, it's not a hearing problem. Somehow in God's good providence, you're here this morning and you're hearing the message that God saved sinners unto himself through the powerful work of Jesus. So if you're not saved, it's not a hearing problem. You've heard the message. It's not an intellectual problem. Uneducated, irreligious crane operators can hear the message and trust in Jesus. So it's not a hearing problem, it's not an intellectual problem. And if you're not saved, there's no one you can point your finger at. You're not going to blame God. No one's going to stand before God at the end of the age and point their finger in his face and say, I'm not saved because of you. That'll never happen. God has worked for your salvation. You're not going to blame God, won't blame your parents, won't blame religion. You want to know why? The scripture tells us Jesus rose from the dead. He's the one you have to reckon with. If you're not saved, I plead with you today, trust in Jesus. Trust in Jesus. There's no salvation apart from him, but thank God through trusting Jesus, confessing him as Lord, believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead, there's salvation in his name. You know, Pastor Joe gives you a big idea every week. You want a big idea? Here's the big idea Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Jesus rose from the dead and he is Lord. That's the message. Simple verse, complex context, but we've dealt with it this morning. Romans 10, 9 and 10. You know, what we'd like to do now at the end of our service and before we go is we'd like to take advantage of celebrating the Lord's table together. The Lord Jesus Christ in his kindness left us a memorial service where we might remember him, where we might remember his body broken for us, his blood poured on the cross to pay for our sin, his powerful resurrection. And we partake of these elements and we remember Jesus and we do it until he comes again. We look forward in faith to his return. So if you have those cups that you picked up on your table on your way in, I'm gonna grab my own. Well, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is a a time for you and me to remember him and to remember him well in the way that Jesus prescribed. The Apostle Paul again wrote another letter. He wrote to the church in Corinth that he also planted. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he said this for what I receive from the Lord, for I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you. That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's partake of this bread as we remember Jesus Christ. Scripture goes on to say, in the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's partake of this cup together as we remember Jesus. Heavenly Father, we come to you in prayer, and we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that you take initiative and you make decisions and you work to advance your own glory, and we're grateful that your glory is most perfectly seen when you save sinners who don't deserve it unto yourself. We thank you that your grace has come to us, that we've heard the message. We thank you that Jesus is powerful to save. We thank you that everyone who comes to you through Jesus, you do not turn away. You pick them up, you take them up as your own children, your dearly loved children. What kindness, what undeserved mercy. We thank you for it. We thank you for this table. We thank you for this time to celebrate together as we remember Jesus' body broken for us, as is as we remember his blood poured out for our sin and for our salvation. We thank you, and we glory in the cross, and we boast in Jesus Christ, and we pray in his name.

unknown 44:52

Amen.