Who can be saved

Romans 10:11-15

Who can be saved?

Romans 10:11-15, For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. ¹³ For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ¹⁴ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” In dealing with the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, the apostle Paul must explain the unbelief of Israel. For anyone who listens to him might be prone to question and say that if your new gospel is true, why didn’t the people of God accept it?

Paul must explain, as a defence of the validity of his message, the unbelief of Israel. Romans 9, he began to explain that from God’s viewpoint. God had planned it that way. God had sovereignly designed it that way. God was not surprised by the unbelief of Israel.

It was in the plan. Romans chapter 10 deals with it from the side of Israel. Romans Chapter 9 God knew about it, it was in the plan, it didn’t surprise God. That was God’s part. On the one hand you have the plan of God, On the other hand, you have the will of man.

Romans chapter 10 at the fact that Israel rejected Messiah, Israel rejected the gospel of grace, the gospel of justification by faith, the work of Jesus on the cross. They rejected that because of wilful unbelief. V 3, that they were ignorant.

In their unbelief they were ignorant. Five reasons for the unbelief of Israel to rightly understand the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. The person of God, 2. The provision of Christ, 3. The place of faith, 4. The parameters of salvation, 5. The predictions of Scripture. Israel was ignorant of the person of God. They thought God to be less than He really was and so they thought they could come up to God's standard by their own works.

Luke 16:15, And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

They thought God would accept certain things that God would not accept. V 3, For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

They made a terrible error in not understanding the person of God, how holy He is, how righteous He is. They did not understand the provision of Christ.

V 4, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. They didn't understand the provision of Christ. They didn't believe that He was the only one who could provide a righteousness they had to have.

They thought they had no need for Him, they could get there on their own. Their works would get them there and so they didn't understand the provision of Christ. Christ is the termination of law for righteousness. The moment a person sees Christ and understands who He is and what He's done, he knows that legal, ritual, works religion, is a thing of the past and all self-saving efforts are over. The soul is abandoned to the redeeming grace of God in Christ and therein lies true righteousness.

Israel was also ignorant of the place of faith. V 4, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. All about believing, which is another word for faith, comes from the same Greek root.

Righteousness is available. The righteousness that pleases an infinitely holy God through Christ through faith, it's to everyone that believes. Faith is the issue. To verify that righteousness comes by faith, Paul goes on to quote from Moses.

Leviticus 18:5, which says the man who does these things shall live by them.

The righteousness which is of faith speaks like this, and he quotes from Deuteronomy 30:12-14. Moses says you don't have to ascend into heaven, you don't have to descend into the pit somewhere, into the sea, into the depths down to the caverns of the earth, you don't have to go beyond your ability above or beyond your ability below to attain righteousness. It's near you. It's in your mouth.

Christ came to bring us the gospel, went into the grave to triumph over death, and coming out of the grave assures us of the truth of the gospel. So, Moses saw that there was righteousness by grace, by God's grace, sending a message to us so that we don't have to climb up some ladder of legalism.

It is the word of faith which we preach, which we continually herald, which is the heart of the apostolic message.

Everywhere they went they preached that message. It wasn't something you had to hunt for. So, the righteousness that comes to men is a righteousness that's very high because it must meet the infinite standard of the holiness of God.

It's a righteousness that we can't gain on our own and so Christ provides it for us. It is appropriated to us by faith, by believing, not by pursuing it, not by trying to ascend to heaven or descend into the depths, but by receiving it.

How do you receive the righteousness of faith?

How do you receive the righteousness of God?

How does a person really become saved? Answered in verses 9 and 10. Two words are critical, faith and confession. Lordship is inherent to Jesus Christ. He is Lord. He is Lord as affirmed by the Father in His resurrection, when He exalted Him and made Him Lord.

Salvation is to believe that He is all of that and to affirm that you take your place under His sovereign rulership. Israel was ignorant of the proportions of salvation. V 11 to 18 that they did not understand the extent, the measure, the breadth, how far it really reached.

Paul moves immediately to the proportions of salvation, how far it extended. The Jews had a very difficult time accepting a message that was also given to Gentiles. They rejected the gospel in the ministry of Paul partly because it seemed impossible that a salvation which included Gentiles equally with them could ever be of God.

They were convinced that they were the chosen people. The Gentiles entered into that salvation convinced them that it couldn't be their message, their revelation from God. So, Paul here says they were ignorant of the proportions of salvation. They were ignorant of the extent of saving faith.

They were ignorant of how far the gospel was intended to reach.

V 11, For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” “Whosoever believes on Him.” That is a quote from Isaiah 28:16.

Isaiah 28:16, Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.

This scripture is one of their favourites. Isaiah is their most beloved prophets. Salvation by faith has always been God's plan. “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” But more than that, he adds this word "whosoever"with emphasis.

What Paul emphasising is that even Isaiah said the extent of the gospel is to anybody. It's the "whosoever". It shows that anyone who believes in Him is not disappointed, anyone.

The word "ashamed"is the word to be disappointed, or to be disillusioned. It can be the word to be defeated.

Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel [c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

It isn't the idea of shame as we think of it. It's the idea of disappointment. Paul says I am never disappointed in the gospel. It always accomplishes the work that God intends it to accomplish. Anybody who became a Christian who was disappointed.

The gospel is a proven product, a proven commodity. And that's what he means. Whosoever believes on Him will not be disappointed.

2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Paul has no fear that the gospel won't work its power and that it won't work its power on anybody, on whosoever.

Paul quotes Isaiah as the source of a whosoever gospel that extends to whosoever believes. The sovereign decree of God all through chapter 9. The whosoever’s in chapter 10.

• On the one hand it is the decree of God.
• On the other hand, it is the whosoever believes.

Romans 9:33, As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

The same text, the same reference, and the same thought. Gospel for the whosoever. ✓ God offered salvation in the Old Testament to whosoever, ✓ God offers salvation in the New Testament to whosoever. ➢ As whosoever believed in God in the Old Testament is not disappointed.

➢ Whosoever believes in Christ in the New Testament is not disappointed.

In the true nature of God's redemptive plan was to extend to everybody, Jew, and Gentile. The only barrier to salvation is not racial, and it's not cultural. The only barrier to salvation is personal rejection. It's not a Jewish gospel.

God is not a Jewish God. Now the Jewish people had a hard time with this. They really struggled with this.

Illustration

Reluctant prophet Jonah.

Jonah 1:1-2, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Jonah was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel. Jonah's time of ministry would be somewhere between, ⁷⁵⁰ and ⁸⁰⁰ B.C. His name means “dove,” or messenger of peace.

Israel was prosperous. During the time of Jonah and the time of Jeroboam II, Israel had extended its borders all the way east to the place of Damascus. So, they occupied a tremendous amount of the original territory that had been promised to Abraham. There was a time of peace except for the fact that the Syrians and the Assyrians kept raiding them.

They had these sort of guerrilla raids all the time. They, therefore, grew to hate the Syrians and the Assyrians who were to the east. The capital of Assyria was Nineveh. They were not Jews. They were Gentile people. Nineveh was a monstrous city. It was a great city.

The population is estimated to be about 600,000 people and historians say it was a three-day journey across the city. A large city for the ancient world. Nahum the prophet called it a bloody city. He said it was a city full of fraud, full of lies, full of robbery, full of sensuality, full of violence, full of witchcraft, full of idolatry.

The Assyrian soldiers were known for their cruelty and their brutality. The Jewish people really hated them.

God says to Jonah, "Go to them." Jonah knew what for. He was a prophet. Go preach to them. That just really went against his grain. Why should the marauding, evil, pagan, Gentile Ninevites gets in on the blessing of God?

God had a reason for sending him. He sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach a message of salvation to the Gentiles to shame Israel. Because they were so resistant to doing that. They were so steeped in

• paganism,
• idolatry,
• witchcraft,
• evil and
• sin.

So, they just isolated themselves and they never went. God gave them one classic object lesson. One prophet went one time, preached one time and the whole place repented. It shamed them by the fact that a heathen city would repent at the first preaching of a strange Jew that came into town. Israel's

reluctance to reach the Gentiles was thus rebuked by the tremendous ministry and result of Jonah's work. Jonah didn't want to go. So, in verse 3 he rose up to flee. Got on a ship and he got thrown out of the ship, swallowed by a great fish, vomited up. Even the fish couldn't tolerate disobedient prophet.

Finally, he got the message, and he went. Jonah preached and chapter 3, the whole place repented. God saw their works and how they had turned from their evil way and God repented the evil He said He would do unto them and did it not. They had a revival in a pagan city.

Unbelievable.

What was Jonah's response?

Jonah 4:1, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. He was furious. He was angry. His anger was all about the fact that he couldn't stand the thought that Gentiles entered into the covenant with him.

Jonah 4:2-3, So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious

and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” God was gracious, God didn't kill him.

Romans 10 — of how tough it was to break those Jews loose to reach Gentiles. If they went into a Gentile country and came out, they shook the dust off. They didn't want Gentile dust taken into Israel. They wouldn't go into a Gentile house because they thought Gentiles houses were defiled. They wouldn't eat with a Gentile utensil, or a Gentile plate or drink out of a Gentile cup because they thought they were defiled. They didn't even want to touch Gentiles.

The Jewish prayer every day when they rose in the morning was, "I thank God that I'm not a woman, a slave or a Gentile."They were reluctant to share anything, even their faith in God. So, when the message of salvation came in the New Testament through the apostles and it started extending itself to the Gentiles, it became something the Jews did not want to receive.

Remember the strategy of the apostle Paul when he went into a new city, always went to the Jews first. Went to the synagogue and tried to win as many Jews as he could and then to the Gentiles. If Paul had gone to the Gentiles first, he never would have been able to go back into the synagogue. So, he went there first because they were so resistant to anything that was a Gentile thing.

The gospel as it extended to the Gentile world from Acts 8 on, as it began to move out into the Gentile world, first the Samaritans, and then the uttermost part of the earth, as it moved out it became more and more detestable to the Jew.

They rejected it, and finally in almost a climactic thing they see the apostle Paul as a great threat to Judaism who preaches this Gentile gospel. Acts 21 chapter the apostle Paul comes into the temple and people stir up the people and they grab the apostle Paul, and they cry.

Acts 21:28, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

They saw Christianity as something very distasteful. The whole city was moved. The people ran together, took Paul, drew him out of the temple and at once the doors were shut. The Romans rescued him and put him in prison for his safety because they would have killed him. Very hostile.

Paul is saying here is that they didn't understand the proportions of the gospel, the proportions of salvation, but they saw it as a Gentile message. Therefore, they could not receive it and they would not receive it.

John 16:1-2, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. ² They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. V 12, For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. Paul can't say anything more devastating than that.

These people, who were so zealous of their identity.

They have preserved themselves through all the centuries because of a zeal for their own racial identity and religious heritage. These people, who believe so strongly that they are different than Gentile people, are told by Paul there's no difference, no difference.

The word "difference,"diastolē means distinction or division. There's no division, no separation, no difference at all.

Galatians 3:26-28, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are all one. There's no Jew and Gentile. We don't recognize that as a distinction in terms of knowing God. “Whoever believes, there is no difference”. There isn't even any difference!

Ephesians 3:1-2, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— ² if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

The unique direction of his special ministry as an Apostle.

Ephesians 3:6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, Non-Jews should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.

Ephesians 2:14, For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

The Jew and Gentile are made one in Christ. V 12, For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. All who call upon Him. Another way to say "whosoever." The "all"here is like the "whosoever."

All who call, it doesn't matter who they are, Jew or Gentile, He is equally rich unto all of them. The Jews were looking for a national deliverer, not a universal Saviour. They were looking for a very Jewish kingdom, not one that included Gentiles, to say nothing of one that said there's no difference at all.

They didn't see the proportion of salvation. They didn't see that the Lord is the same Lord over all. V 12, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. The same one. The idea is sovereignty, that there's one Lord and the same Lord is Lord over all.

Rich in mercy, Rich in grace, Rich in love, Rich in anything you need to cover your sin and give you salvation. He is rich enough to grant all that a man needs and all that he asks for.

It doesn't matter who he is, He's equally rich, He is equally Lord over all. It talks about the fullness of goods or the fullness of resources. He is the same Lord over all and He is equally rich toward all. No difference in the Jew, no difference in the Gentile.

All equally could come to Christ and He would be rich toward all and be the same Lord over all. "All that call upon Him." The only condition. Didn't matter what they were, just calling upon. Calling on God here in this text is the idea of expressing faith toward God.

It is the idea of being a believer. It is the call for salvation. Men calling God and this is the other side of that saving work of the Spirit. God calls men and men in response call back. Calling on God is the idea of, ➢ calling on Him for salvation, ➢ calling on Him for forgiveness, ➢ calling on Him for mercy, and

➢ calling on Him for grace. Calling that has the elements of Romans 10:9-10, the element of belief, and confession of sin and the lordship of Jesus Christ. So, all who call, whosoever believes, those are the key phrases in these two verses that express the tremendous breadth and proportion of salvation.

V 13, For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We have the whosoever in verse 11, We have the call in verse 12, and Here he brings it together, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

It comes right out of the Old Testament.

Joel 2:32, And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls. Salvation, Old Testament and New Testament, has always been for whosoever calls, whosoever seeks God.

Calling on the name of the Lord in the Old Testament is an interesting phrase. It primarily refers to worship. It refers to calling out to God in terms of adoring wonder and praise, speaking of His majesty, extolling His virtue, humbling yourself beneath His sovereign power.

It is an Old Testament expression of true-hearted worship.

Psalm 79:6, Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You, And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.

Psalm 105:1, Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Psalm 116:4, Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

Psalm 116:13, I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord.

We find it in many other places. Calling on the name of the Lord is the idea of worshiping the true God with a true heart.

In the New Testament it is to call upon the name of the Lord whose name is revealed in Jesus Christ, whose name is revealed in Jesus Christ. When you call upon the name of the Lord, that means all that He is and all that He's done and all that He claims to be. The name of the Lord means all that He is. That's the essence of His name.

The name of the Lord is clearly defined, who He is, what He's done, explicitly revealed in Scripture, calling on the name of the Lord specifically in an act of faith that includes the attitudes of verses 9 and 10 is all that is necessary for a person to be saved.

In Joel 2:32 this refers to God, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,"it refers to God. In this text it refers to Christ, and therefore this text equates God with Christ. Calling upon the name of the Lord is revealed in Jesus Christ, is the same as calling upon the name of God for they are one and the same.

V 13, For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The person who calls on the name of the Lord, whoever they are, anyone who does is going to be saved. The one who recognizes His deity, that's part of His name. The one who respects His authority, that's part of His name.

The one how honour His majesty, that's part of His name. The one who believes His Word, that's part of His name. The one who commits to His sovereignty, that's inherent in His name. The one who hopes in His mercy, that's part of His name.

The one who loves Him as Lord and Saviour, that one is saved. The word "saved"means delivered. Those who call on the name of Christ in faith are delivered. Saved is a word that speaks of that which we are rescued from. The Hebrew form, yasha, is used over 200 times in the Old Testament.

The Greek word New Testament word, sōzō, is used, 106 times and in 45 Times in noun form, which is used often by Paul. About 300 odd times that the word "saved"is used in the Scripture. God has come to save men, to deliver them from sin and suffering and death and hell.

Whom is that salvation offered to? V 11 says, "Whosoever." V 12 says, "All that call,"and V 13 says, "Whosoever shall call." So, the emphasis here is on the extent of salvation. It's as wide as the world of those who believe. For all who believe on God's terms there is offered salvation, eternal deliverance from death and hell.

Should the Jews have known this? Sure, they should. They should have known it. They had the scriptures.

Joel 2:32.

Isaiah 28:16.

They knew the story of Jonah that God sent Him to the Ninevites. They knew that God's heart was toward redemption for those people, and they knew that there was a revival and they were in fact redeemed. They had all that revelation about the proportion of God's saving grace, God's saving power.

Paul wants to reinforce this. V 14-15, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And

how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” This is a very simple process of logic. If only those who call on the name of the Lord can be saved.

Only those who ask can be saved. Only those who ask on God's terms. Only those who ask properly, understanding who Christ is, who God is and what the salvation provision is, only those who come on God's terms and ask can be saved.

None can be saved who don't call. If only those who call are saved, then none can be saved who don't call. None can call unless they believe. None can believe unless they hear. None can hear unless somebody tells them. None can tell them unless they are sent.

So, God has a whole plan laid out. How are they going to call on one in whom they haven't believed? How are they going to believe in Him of whom they haven't heard?

How are they going to hear without a preacher? How are they going to preach except they be sent? Answer: They are not. If God doesn't send preachers who preach the truth so that men can believe and call on the name of the Lord, they can't be saved.

You don't get saved by some mystical meditation. You don't get saved by contemplating eternity or space or going in yourself or getting in a yoga position or looking at the stars or meditating. You can't be saved unless you call on the name of the Lord, all that He is.

You can't do that unless you believe, You can't believe unless you have heard. You can't hear unless somebody tells you. Nobody is going to tell you unless they are sent. God had to send preachers. There is no other way to believe than to hear the truth.

Clear message precedes saving faith. It doesn't happen by intuition. A clear message precedes saving faith.

The gospel, if it came to anybody, the saving message. If it came to anybody, was sent by God. Have you forgotten that God sent preachers beyond Israel? Have you forgotten that not only Jonah but other of the prophets preached the message of repentance and faith to other nations?

Have you forgotten that Jesus came to go beyond Israel? The apostles, including Paul, extended the gospel beyond the Jew? God has sent preachers beyond the Jew and that expresses the heart of God in His intention for salvation.

The gospel is for whosoever. God proved it by sending preachers to Jew and Gentile.

Did they miss this?

Did they forget about Jonah? Did they forget that God cared about a whole world of people? Did they think God only cared about them and their ingrown exclusivity? V 15, And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

But this is not talking about some physical thing. There's no real beauty in the feet. The beauty is in the message that the feet are bringing. This is a quote from Isaiah 52:7.

Isaiah 52:7, How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

The verse is a very joyous verse because good news is come to Jerusalem from Babylon. The news coming to Jerusalem from Babylon is that the captivity is over. The bondage is over. Deliverance is come. Here comes the messenger and he is running with the fact that Israel is going to be free, that deliverance is come, good news.

Everybody is so excited and so blessed and so happy. These are beautiful feet because they bring a beautiful message of liberation, a beautiful message of freedom.

They are beautiful because of the message they bear. As these messengers come to Israel with the message of deliverance and the message of freedom from captivity, they are received with joy.

Why would Paul pick that scripture? It doesn't just talk about Israel. In Isaiah chapter 52, the message came first to Israel.

Isaiah 52:9, Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.

Now the picture here is a historical event, the coming of a messenger announcing the freedom of a people in bondage but it is a symbol of a glorious future day when true redemption and true salvation comes to Israel, but not just Israel.

Isaiah 52:10, The Lord has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see

The salvation of our God. How far is it going to go the salvation of our God? To the ends of the earth.

Revelation the indication that are people from every tongue and tribe and nation and people gathered together and crying, "Worthy is the Lamb." They were beautiful not just to the Jew who was hearing about the coming redemption in the future age but to the whole world as the salvation message extended to the ends of the earth.

When they heard him quote Isaiah 52:7 they should have remembered that this salvation message was to extend to the end of the earth. They thought they had to reject it because it was a Gentile message, and all along in their own Old Testament, Isaiah and Joel and again Isaiah indicated that salvation would extend far beyond the nation Israel, far beyond. It is a gospel to include all.

The gospel still to all men, still to the ends of the earth. Whosoever believes, still to whosoever calls on the name of the Lord.