Righteousness By Faith Explained

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Have you ever wondered what someone must do to become a Christian? Many people believe that becoming right with God requires living a good life, performing religious duties, or somehow earning his acceptance. In Romans 10, 5-10, the Apostle Paul explains that unlike the righteousness that comes from trying to keep God's law, the righteousness that comes by faith does not require impossible human effort. Instead, God's saving message is already near us in our mouths and in our hearts. Paul declares that those who truly believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead will openly confess Jesus as Lord and they will be saved. Stay with me as we discover why confession and genuine faith always go together and how every believer can know they truly belong to Christ.

Naaman And The Simple Cure

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2 Kings 5 gives us a story of the great Syrian warrior Naaman who traveled to Israel to seek healing for his leprosy. When he was instructed by the prophet Elisha to dip seven times in the river Jordan in order to be made whole, Naaman was infuriated. He voiced the truth that the rivers in Syria were much grander than the river Jordan and initially refused to follow the prophet's guidelines. Thankfully, Naaman's servants persuaded him to dip seven times in the river Jordan as directed. He then emerged completely healed. Sometimes it is the simplicity of the request that causes people to question its validity.

Why The Law Cannot Save

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In Romans 10 5, the Apostle Paul restated Leviticus 18 5, reminding us that Moses said righteousness could come by the law if a man could live by its regulations completely and perfectly. The Jews of Paul's time had lowered God's divine standard and replaced it with man-made traditions. As a result, many actually believed they live in satisfactory obedience to the law. In Matthew 1920, the rich young ruler, after hearing Jesus cite several commandments, replied, All these things I have kept. What Leviticus 18.5 is actually stating is that if, an impossible if, one could keep the law in its entirety, he would be acceptable to God. The law must be taken in whole or not at all. As James 2.10 makes clear, a person who fails in only one point of the law remains just as lost and under God's wrath as one who fails in every point. In Romans 10 6-7, the Apostle Paul quotes and paraphrases Deuteronomy 30, 11 to 13, as he states that the righteousness that comes by faith does not require some impossible Odyssey through the universe to find Christ. Jesus has already descended to earth, died on the cross, and risen from the dead. Christ Jesus has accomplished all that is necessary for man's salvation. God has provided everything so that all we need to do is to believe in Christ. By works of the law no one can be justified, whereas whoever simply calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The apostle contrasts the legal works method and the gospel method of salvation to show that one depends on impossible human achievement while the other rests entirely on Christ's finished work. Have we abandoned our efforts to obtain righteousness by works and put our trust in Jesus Christ?

A Rabbi Hears The Gospel

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Fortuitously, Count Zinzendorf was able to lead a Jewish man to experience righteousness through faith. In 1736, Count Zinzendorf was banned from the Saxon kingdom. He then moved to the district of Wetteravia. One day, as he was taking a walk around the grounds of the castle, Ludwig met a grey-haired Jewish man named Rabbi Abraham. Ludwig spoke kindly to the Jew. In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let us be friends. From then Ludwig regularly visited Rabbi Abraham in his small rundown home. Many times they would take walks together. One morning Rabbi Abraham opened his heart to Ludwig. I am looking for something, yet I don't know what I seek. Seizing the opportunity, Ludwig began to share the gospel with Rabbi Abraham. He told him about Jesus, how he had become a man so that he might bring men back to God, and how he was put to death on the cross. As Ludwig spoke, tears began to run down Rabbi Abraham's cheeks and dripped onto his long grey beard. Ludwig said, Believe on him, whose blood was shed by your fathers, that God's purpose of mercy might be fulfilled. So be it, Rabbi Abraham said, Blessed be the Lord who has had mercy on me. Have you encountered the risen Savior? Just as the solution for Naaman proved simple and near at hand once he stopped fighting it, the righteousness that comes by faith is also near, already within reach of every person who will receive it. While

The Word Is Near Your Heart

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growing up in the Caribbean, on one side of the island was the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other was the Caribbean Sea. We were warned that if anything were to go awry while we were in the water, we were not to fight against the currents as that would guarantee our demise. If we simply relax, our bodies would float along with the currents and we would be okay. The solution to survival was close by as it rested with the individual. In Romans 10 8, the Apostle Paul continues to quote from Deuteronomy 30, 14, Paul states, But what does it say? The word is near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart. That is the message concerning faith that we proclaim. Jewish phylacteries are small black leather boxes containing parchment scrolls with Torah verses. Historically and today, observant Jewish men bind these phylacteries to the left arm near the heart and on the forehead between the eyes during weekday morning prayers. This practice symbolizes keeping God's word near the mind and heart. The Greek word that is used here for word is remain and refers to the spoken word as uttered when preached. The word of faith is near us. Many people believe that they have to go to an altar in some sort of meeting to be saved. Salvation is available to us wherever we may be found. The righteousness that comes by faith is in our mouths, as it can be expressed with normal human speech. In those days the heart was often used to refer to the mind. This word of faith can be readily understood in the mind. Paul is emphatically stating that we can immediately receive righteousness by faith, by trusting in the word of the gospel. This good news is readily available to anyone who received it freely from God through Christ. The Greek word that is used here for proclaim refers to an official whose duty was to proclaim loudly the commands of an earthly king. The imperial herald would enter a town on behalf of the emperor. He would then make a public proclamation of the message which his sovereign had ordered him to give. He spoke to the people exactly what the emperor had instructed him to say: nothing more, nothing less. Similarly, as Christians, our role is to clearly announce the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Dr. John Scudder I was inspired to proclaim the word to a lost and dying world. John Scudder was a successful young doctor in New York City when in 1819 a patient gave him a pamphlet titled The Claims of 600 Millions. The pamphlet was about the people of Asia and how most of them had never heard the gospel. As John Scudder read the pamphlet, he became convinced that he should go to Ceylon as a medical missionary. He then applied to be the first medical missionary ever to go out from the United States to a foreign land. This decision came at great personal costs. His father cut him out of the will and refused to see him again. The family later endured the loss of their first three children on the mission field. John and Harriet Scudder went to Ceylon and then on to India. Seven of their sons later returned to the United States for their education. They then came back home to India as qualified doctors of medicine and pastors. The two daughters Harriet and Louisa, both married Englishmen, who also serve in India. What if God is calling us to take the message of righteousness by faith to a lost and dying world? At

Confession Shows Real Faith

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the heart of Christianity are two unique and uncompromising claims. In Romans 10 9, the Apostle Paul states that if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The Greek word used here for confess has strong legal connotations. It implies that the Christian acknowledges openly and agrees with what God has declared. To confess Jesus as Lord is therefore not an empty phrase. It is a public declaration of allegiance to him. When Paul wrote the book of Romans, the Jews as a nation had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. For an individual to accept Christ and confess that he was the Messiah would typically result in persecution and ultimately death. For a Jew to embrace Christ and subsequently confess him as Lord, knowing that persecution was sure to come, was an indication of true salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit. The phrase you will be saved is not intended to reveal a condition for salvation by public confession, but rather points out that no one facing death would confess Christ as Messiah unless indeed he or she was saved. The Greek word curious that is used here for Lord signifies sovereign power and authority. In the Old Testament, curious is translated as Jehovah, Yahweh, that is the name of God, more than 8,600 times. Paul, when using this word of Jesus, is ascribing deity to Jesus Christ. The Roman Emperor Caligula, Herod the Great, Candace, the favored queen of Upper Egypt, were referred to as Curious Lord. In the book of Acts, Jesus is referred to as Savior twice, but 92 times as Lord. In the entire New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Savior approximately ten times and some 717 times as Lord. If a man called Jesus curious, he was ranking him with the Emperor and with God. No Jew would do this who had not really trusted Christ. No Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshiping the Emperor as curious. Confession is not a condition of salvation, but the inevitable outward expression of what has happened. Paul specifies two bedrock truths that must be believed in order to be saved. The first is that Jesus is Lord, the second that God raised him from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the foundational truth of Christian doctrine and the central thrust of apostolic preaching. Christians believe not only that Jesus lived, but that he died on a cross, rose from the grave, and he still lives. Christ's resurrection from the dead is unmistakable, irrefutable proof that he was a satisfactory sacrifice for sin and that he fulfilled God's work of redemption. In Romans 10 9b, Paul states that if we believe in our hearts that Christ rose from the dead, we will be saved. The apostle Paul then goes on to state in Romans 10 10, for it is your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. The Greek word cardiac that is used for heart here does not refer to the physical organ. Instead, it refers to the heart as being the center of the personality. It indicates that the heart controls the intellect, emotions, and will. When we believe that the sinless Son of God bore God's full wrath for our sins on the cross, it affects our heart. When we truly believe in Jesus, trusting in his death and resurrection, God justifies us. When these truths have entered our hearts, we will profess our faith, which will be the sign that we are saved. Faith in Christ is essential to obtain the gift of righteousness. Confession of Christ provides the outward evidence that this gift has been received. A man becomes righteous, perfectly righteous, to believe in God's record concerning his son. However, the evidence that this faith is genuine is found in the open confession of the Lord with the mouth. Once we can truly claim that we have believed in him and then confess Christ, we are saved. In Luke 23, 42 to 43, we find that the crucified Christ was very near the thief on the cross. He recognized Jesus as the righteous king and entrusted himself to him. In return, Jesus assured him that very day that the thief would be with him in paradise. Have we believed and confessed Jesus as Lord as this former thief did?

When Belief Changes A Nation

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The confession of Jesus as Lord and the belief in the heart that Jesus rose from the dead transforms not just the lives of the believers but those around them. The Sudan Interior Mission documents a phenomenal change that took place in Ethiopia while it was under Italian occupation during World War II. When the British missionaries left at the start of the war, there were only three partly organized churches with no more than 150 believers. Estimations at the end of the war indicated that there were then 10,000 believers. The jails seemed to have been particularly effective in spreading Christianity. Many Christians were imprisoned for continuing to preach and gather for prayer and worship while on the Italian occupation. The jails were primitive, and in many cases the prisoners were not fed. Food had to be brought to them from the outside by friends and relatives. The imprisoned Christians were cared for by their fellow believers and were bought enough food to meet not only their own needs, but also the needs of others around them. This impressed the other prisoners who wondered what kind of religion made people care so much for each other and even for strangers. Many of them were converted as a result of this. Sometimes a prison warder would let the Christians go because they were creating too many converts. The wardens feared that if the Christians stayed any longer, the entire prison would be turned into one long prayer and preaching service. Have we believed in our hearts that Jesus has risen from the dead and confessed him as Lord?

Invitation To Pray And Follow

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We started by asking if you have ever wondered what someone must do in order to become a Christian. As we analyze the passage, we discover that unlike the righteousness that comes from trying to keep God's law, the righteousness that comes by faith does not require impossible human effort. Instead, God's saving message is already near us, in our mouths and in our hearts. Paul declares that those who truly believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead will openly confess Jesus as Lord and they will be saved. The time to believe in our hearts that Jesus rose from the dead so that we might be made righteous in the sight of God is now. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Yesterday is forever gone. Today is all we have. If you have never truly believed in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess him as Lord, you can do that right now wherever you are. Have him believe, openly and publicly confess Jesus as Lord and commit your life to serving him completely, always and ever. Before you go, if this message spoke to you, like this podcast and subscribe so you don't miss what God is doing here at Catch on Fire Podcasts. If you are ready for real change, take a moment right now to pray with me. Jesus, I give you my life, lead me, forgive me, and make me new. If you pray that, welcome to the family. Follow along, stay connected, and let's walk this walk together. Grow in scripture, discipleship, and Christian leadership through the online course found at Biblical Discipleship Academy.uscreen.io. Discover the covenant story and learn to see the Bible as one unified story. Go deeper with until Christ is formed in you and grow as a disciple of Jesus. Explore leadership is discipleship and learn why true Christian leadership begins with following Jesus. Start studying, start learning, start growing. Join us at Biblical Discipleship Academy dot uscreen dot io.

Declarations Psalm And Blessing

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Please join me as we confess words of life over all of our lives. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are still holding on to God's unchanging hand. We are still in God's holy plan. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are living holy lives as God requires. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, giving clothes to those in need, ministering to the sick and visiting those in prison, and we are doing so to the least of those among us, as when we do so we are ministering to Jesus. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we have received healing, as by his stripes we are healed. From the crown of our head to the soles of our feet, all of our bodily organs are working correctly. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that God is ordering our steps, that all weapons that are formed against us have been utterly and completely destroyed, and every tongue that is rising against us in judgment is condemned. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that all generational curses are cancelled. Anything that runs in our ancestral bloodline that is not of God has no power over us, our children and our grandchildren, and is eliminated forever right now. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that angels are watching over and keeping our family, our children, our grandchildren, our loved ones safe. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that every negative word that has been and is being spoken over our lives and that of our family, children, grandchildren, and loved ones is cancelled and sent back to the pit from whence it came. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are the head and not the tail. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are not and will never be ashamed. Our enemies have not and never will triumph over us. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that anything that is not of God that has been dispatched to hinder our blessings, our progress, and our well-being is immediately destroyed. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are financially in line with God's word, and as such we are lenders and not borrowers. As a result, all of our debts have been paid and are forgiven. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that the enemy of our souls has no authority over our finances and our funds, and that we are good stewards of the money that God has placed in our keeping. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that in the area of business and our carriers, that just as Isaac reaped a hundredfold, the blessings of Abraham are falling on us, and we are reaping a hundredfold from whatever we put our hands to. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are living under an open heaven in every area of our lives. Blessings are falling on us, our family and our loved ones. These blessings are being manifested in our lives, in the spiritual and in the physical. Let's repeat the 23rd Psalm together. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen.