Charles Spurgeon, the great 19^th century Baptist pastor, was once asked, “Have you been able to reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility?” His answer was this: “There’s no need to reconcile friends.” Spurgeon’s remark should cause us to recognize that God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are both vital truths to knowing God and growing in godliness. This means that when we discuss this controversial issue we must be sure not to dilute either side. Instead, we must be extreme! The truth is not in the middle; it is in the extreme. Therefore, as I preached Romans 9, emphasizing the extreme sovereignty of God, so I will now preach Romans 10, emphasizing the extreme responsibility of man.¹Before we look at our text we need to better understand the intellectual dilemma we find ourselves in.

The truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility are called an antinomy.²An antinomy is two seemingly opposed truths that are undeniably true,³yet how they can be true together is beyond human comprehension.⁴Both truths are clearly taught throughout Scripture, yet how they fit together, only God Himself knows. It may help to recognize, “In God’s higher rationality, things which we think must be either/or can in reality be both/and.”⁵That is why we can say that God is sovereign and man is responsible. Since Scripture presents both and doesn’t try to reconcile the two, we shouldn’t either. In Romans 9:30-10:21, we see Paul urging Israelites (and Gentiles too) to believe and evangelize. If this is to happen, three commitments must be made. The first of these three commitments is found in 9:30-10:4.

1. Works must be resisted (9:30-10:4). In 9:30-33, Paul writes, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at thatlaw. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”⁶

In these four verses, Gentiles are pictured as unconcerned about pursuing righteousness but they actually end up attaining it, while Jews who made the pursuit of righteousness their national pastime, come up empty-handed. Why did this happen? Verse 30 tells us that the Gentiles were willing to place their faith in Christ. Unfortunately, 9:31-33 inform us that most Jews focused on keeping the Law and as a result stumbled over the stumbling stone, Jesus Christ. Unlike the Gentiles, the Jews couldn’t accept Jesus because His plan of salvation was too easy. Had God asked them to go on a pilgrimage or work their heads off or give generous portions of their resources, they would have accepted that. But because He simply asked them to believe in a humble Messiah, they refused. They stumbled over the simplicity of it all.

This is true of many people today as well. We refuse to accept God’s righteous demands. Paul uses the word “righteousness” 11 times in this passage. Throughout the book of Romans, Paul has explained again and again what God requires of man. God demands perfect righteousness-the kind that can only be found in His Son. Yet man would rather foolishly attempt to work his way to heaven than accept God’s free gift, offered through the work of Jesus Christ. I urge you not to make this same mistake-the consequences are eternal.

In 10:1, Paul writes, “Brethren, my heart’s desire⁷and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.” Please notice Paul’s “heart’s desire” is for the salvation of the Jewish people. It was this desire that made Paul willing to forfeit his own salvation for the sake of his Jewish brothers (see 9:3). But please notice that Paul does something about his desire-he prays. Paul possessed the two non-negotiables in evangelism: passion and prayer. If we are to be faithful and fruitful in sharing our faith, we must have passion. This is not an option! We must genuinely love lost people.

We must ache for neighbors, co-workers, and relatives who are without Christ. Some are hurting, empty, and lonely; others are happy, successful, and carefree. However, all are in need of the free gift that Jesus offers. God’s Spirit works through our passion and prayers to see those that are lost set free. If you don’t sense a yearning welling up within your soul, pray that God would enable you to rediscover what He has given you. As necessary as passion is, prayer is even more important. Unless we prepare with prayer we will never be as fruitful as we could be. Spurgeon said, “In due time the weeping intercessor will become a reaper of souls.” God honors men and women who humbly submit themselves to Him. He longs for us to ask Him for souls.

One of our members, Dagmar Hampel, recently did just that. Dagmar is a great prayer warrior. She is a single woman who has a burden for lost people and often prays several hours a day. This past September, she asked the Lord to bring someone into her life that she could share with. The Lord responded to Dagmar’s prayer and brought Manuela Harvey (a German single mom). Dagmar built an immediate friendship with Manuela and was used by God to lead her to faith in Christ. This Sunday evening Dagmar will be baptizing Manuela. If you talk with Dagmar, she will convince you that this can be your story as well. As individuals, we must possess passion and prayer.⁸If we don’t have these two essentials, then we must cry out to God for them. As we do, we need to remember that at the core of our being we long to be committed to the work of evangelism and prayer. At the moment of conversion, God instilled in us a passion that loves being in His presence (prayer) and sharing His gift (evangelism). Yet, we continually need to be reminded and exhorted to do what we have been called and created to do. The following poem is one that I have referred to many times over the years.

You lived next door to me for years

We shared our dreams, our joys, our tears,

A friend to me you were indeed-

A friend who helped me when in need.

My faith in you was strong and sure

We had such trust as should endure,

No spats between us ever rose

Our friends were alike, also our foes.

What sadness, then, my friend, to find

That after all, you weren’t so kind.

The day my life on earth did end

I found you weren’t a faithful friend…

For all those years we spent on earth,

You never talked of Second Birth,

You never spoke of my lost soul

And of the Christ Who’d make me whole.

I plead today from hell’s cruel fire

And tell you now my last desire,

You cannot do a thing for me,

No words today my bonds will free.

But do not err, my friend, again,

Do all you can for souls of men,

Plead with them now quite earnestly

Lest they be cast in hell with me.

We are responsible before God to share the good news with those who God has placed in our sphere of influence. Don’t let another day go by where you say, “The time isn’t right.”

Returning to 10:2-3, Paul explains that Israel’s problem was her self-righteousness. This was evidenced by both ignorance and arrogance. Paul writes, “For I testify about them that they have a zeal⁹for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.¹⁰For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject¹¹themselves to the righteousness of God.”Sadly, the “zeal”of the Jews was not based on “knowledge.”Zeal is an admirable quality, but zeal without knowledge is pitiful. Most people know that the Jews are an intelligent people. Over 12% of the Nobel Prize winners have been Jewish. They dominate the fields of science, literature, the arts, music, philosophy, and economics. But in their worldly wisdom they have outsmarted themselves.

We see people all around us who are zealous for lost causes. We see it in the cults, we see it in politics, we see it in social areas, and we see it in the militias. In fact, sometimes it seems as though zeal increases in direct proportion to ignorance. Paul should know. There was a time when his zeal was notorious. However, what Paul did not understand at that time is that God’s righteousness cannot be earned by any amount of zeal. It can only be received as a gift. After he became a Christian, of course, he didn’t lose his zeal, but now it was based on truth. Paul wants this same transformation for his people. He doesn’t want them to display a zealous ignorance any longer. He wants them to maintain their zeal but come to the knowledge of the truth and to humbly subject themselves to God’s righteousness.

This can only occur when the Jewish people come to grips with the truth of 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” This begs a question that scholars have debated for centuries, “In what sense is Christ the “end” of the Law?” The clue to the meaning of the word translated “end” is found back in 9:30-33. In this context, Paul used the word-picture of a footrace to describe how the Jewish people stumbled on the track and the non-Jewish people who had faith in Jesus crossed the finish line. The word translated “end”¹²was sometimes used to describe the finish line in a race, so if Paul is still thinking about that word-picture, then Christ is the finish line of the law of Moses. Now the finish line in a race is both the termination of the race-the race is over once the finish line is crossed-but it’s also the goal of the race.¹³So the word “end”¹⁴refers to both termination and goal-that Jesus terminates the law of Moses by inaugurating a new law (i.e. “the law of Christ”) and Jesus is the goal or fulfillment of the Old Testament law of Moses.

[Not only must works be resisted, but also...]

2. Faith must be exercised (10:5-13). In 10:5, Paul explains,“For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.” Paul is saying if a person seeks acceptance with God by keeping the Law, he must perfectly obey it or he becomes condemned by the Law itself.¹⁵Since no man can fulfill the Law, all men miss the mark and become condemned by the Law, which finds man guilty.¹⁶The purpose of the Law was to show man’s sinfulness. Another purpose of the Law was a means of helping Israel grow in holiness. In 10:5, Moses writes that man can “live”through obedience to the Law. Moses is not speaking of the hypothetical possibility of a man gaining eternal life;¹⁷rather he is referring to the “life” that results from maturity.¹⁸

In 10:6-8, Paul continued by speaking of “the righteousness based on faith.”Making use of the familiar language of Deuteronomy 30:12-24, Moses spoke of Israel’s need to accept God’s clear revelation. The righteousness based on faith centers on the work of the Messiah, the One the Jews had rejected. A righteousness by faith does not say, “Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down)” because He has already come. Nor does it ask, “Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)”because He has already risen. Paul then writes in 10:8, “But what does it say? ‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart’-that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.” What is this“word of faith?” It is found in 10:9-10.

Paul writes, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus asLord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness,¹⁹and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” In Romans 10:9-10, Paul seems to condition salvation upon faith in Christ plus confessing Him-not faith alone in Christ alone. Many evangelists today say that a person who is either afraid or unwilling to confess their faith in Christ remains unsaved. Imagine that! A believer being unsaved? Does that sound biblical? Absolutely not! These verses are set in a context where Paul shows this is precisely the problem with the nation of Israel as a whole. The problem is trying to do something to gain the favor of God. So, rather than supporting public confes­sion as a work that men do, the context supports the opposite conclusion.

The easiest way to understand these two verses is to recognize that 10:9 is salvation from the human side and 10:10 is salvation from the divine side. From the human side our confession validates our salvation, since no one can see into our hearts to know whether we have believed. But from the divine side, belief always precedes confession; that is, God doesn’t accept our confession until we have believed.²⁰

The word “confess”²¹means “to agree with, say the same thing, acknowl­edge.”²²The confession here is not to men, but to God²³and involves acknowledging that Jesus is Lord. Once we acknowledge that Jesus is God, we are to believe that Jesus rose from the grave. Please observe that 10:10 is an explanation of 10:9. The word “confess”comes before “believe”in 10:9 because “mouth”precedes “heart”in Deuteronomy 30:8. The word “for”indicates that 10:10 explains 10:9. Perhaps the point here is that this belief in Christ-that He is the God-man Savior-causes men to confess their faith to God in a prayer for salvation (see 10:12b-13).

In 10:11-13, Paul explains in greater detail: “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’” In 10:11, Paul clearly states, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” This is a tremendous truth. Again, Paul reminds us that there is great assurance and security in our salvation. In these three verses, Paul uses terms like “whoever”and “all”to demonstrate the breadth of God’s invitation. Verse 12 tells us that it is for both Jew and Gentile. Verse 13 makes it clear that whoever calls out to God will be saved. We must simply call out to God in prayer and be saved.²⁴The power is readily available through the great name of Jesus.

[Works must be resisted and faith must be exercised, and...]

3. Christ must be preached (10:14-21). In 10:14-17, Paul writes,“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!’ However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” In 10:14-15a, Paul asks four questions that receive a negative answer.

1. A messenger is sent. Every local church is responsible to send out messengers. We who are in positions of leadership need to be constantly on the lookout for those demonstrating gifts which would allow us to set them apart as messengers of the Gospel. There is, of course, a sense in which all of us who are believers are commissioned as messengers. The Great Commission is the responsibility of all of us. If you are a Christian, then you are a minister. A non-ministering Christian is a contradiction in terms. However, you can have beautiful feet, if you are a messenger of the Good News. The second step is that…

2. The messenger proclaims the truth. The last phrase in 10:14 reads, “How will they hear without a preacher?” Paul does not have in mind here a professional clergyman. The word for “preacher”simply means “a proclaimer of the truth.” The one who is sent must proclaim the truth so that men can be saved. The trouble is that a lot of us talk to our neighbors and co-workers and fellow students about everything but the truth of God’s message. A great many Christian preachers are even guilty of that-preaching about politics, social issues, ethics, and anything else except how a man can be saved. The third step is that…

3. Individuals hear the message. “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?”It is not sufficient for us to proclaim the truth only within the four walls of our church buildings, for most of the lost will never venture inside. That is why we must take the message to the people where they are-to work with us, into the neighborhood, over the radio, on TV, overseas. Once the messenger has delivered the message within the hearing of the individual, the individual becomes responsible to believe the message. God has never called upon us to win the lost-only to tell them the Good News.

4. Individuals believe what they hear. In addition to believing that God exists, the individual must believe God when He speaks. I believe it is possible to believe in God without believing God. God has spoken and His revelation is found in the Bible. If one believes that God exists without believing what He has spoken, he doesn’t possess saving faith. It is also possible for men to believe that God exists and that He has spoken, but to stop short of applying the truth to their own personal lives. They may believe that Jesus is God, that He lived a perfect life, that He died and rose again, but despite all of that, many fail to trust Him for their own eternal salvation. This brings us to the final step.

5. Individuals call on Him, upon whom they believe. And once again we’re back to word-of-mouth-calling upon the Lord, trusting in Christ alone.

Backward Forward

step 5: call step 1: send

step 4: believe step 2: preach

step 3: hear step 3: hear

step 2: preach step 4: believe

step 1: send step 5: call

Paul closes this section in 10:18-21, “But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; ‘THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.’ But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, ‘I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.’ And Isaiah is very bold and says, ‘I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.’ But as for Israel He says, ‘ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.’”

This quotation is from Psalm 19, which opens with that well-known statement of natural revelation. Nature, the psalmist tells us, has a voice and while that voice is non-verbal, it reaches every human being. Since every human being has enjoyed natural revelation from God, obviously every Jew has also received it. And the last half of Psalm 19 deals with the special revelation of God’s written Word, and every Jew also received that. The Old Testament included scores of prophecies of the coming Messiah. Isaiah 53 is as clear an exposition of the Gospel of salvation by the sacrifice of Christ as you can find anywhere in the New Testament. So the Jews cannot use the excuse that they never heard the Gospel. Besides, Jesus and the apostles shared the Gospel with the Jews before they ever took it to the Gentiles.

In 10:19-21, we learn that the Jews also can’t claim they had no warning that God would “set them on the shelf” in favor of the Gentiles. As far back as the time of Moses, God warned the Jews that strangers and aliens would become partakers of covenant favor and blessing in their place if they continued in disobedience. Look at 10:19 where their own prophets offer three quotations from the Old Testament, each of which is a warning to the Jewish people. They simply cannot excuse themselves on the basis that they didn’t understand the warning.

Israel is without excuse. God rejected some of them because: (1) They thought they were good enough to be saved. (2) Their Bibles told them how to be saved by faith. (3) They had sufficient opportunity to respond to the message.

Satan and his demons were devising plans to cause people to reject the Gospel. “Let’s go to them and say there is no God,” proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every demon knew that most people believe in a supreme being. “Let’s tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked,” offered another. That was turned down because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin must be punished. The planning was going to end in failure when there came a voice from the rear: “Tell them there is a God, there is a hell, and that the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is no hurry. Let them neglect the Gospel until it is too late.” All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that if a person procrastinated on a decision for Christ, they usually never trust in Him.

Let’s share the Gospel as if everything depends upon us, yet rest assured that since God is sovereign everything ultimately depends upon Him.

Copyright © 2001 Keith R. Krell. All rights reserved. All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, C 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, and 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.Permissions: Feel free to reproduce and distribute any articles written by Keith Krell, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this information, not protect or restrict it.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Keith Krell, Timeless Word Ministries, 2508 State Ave NE Olympia, WA 98506, 360-352-9044, www.timelessword.com

Notes

All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, and 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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