Romans 10:5

Romans 10:5

Romans 10:5 says; "For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law, That the man who does those things shall live by them." Over and over again in the book of Romans Paul has described and emphasized the fact that justification cannot come by the keeping of the law: it cannot come by good works. "By the keeping of the law shall no flesh be justified." This time Paul quotes from the Old Testament book of Leviticus to make his point. What it means is that for someone to become justified by the keeping of the law, they must perfectly keep the law without ever failing. No one has ever done that, except for Jesus, and therefore no one has ever been justified by the keeping of the law.

If you try to justify yourself by your own efforts before God, it will not happen, but there is a way in which a person can become justified before God, and that’s by faith in Jesus Christ. God created justification by faith because He loves us and because He knows that humans will fail to be justified by their works. Romans 10:6-7 says, "But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above.) Or, who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ from the dead.)"

Do not ever think, "I must do something to be justified before God, or I must do something to be accepted by God, or I must do something to be pleasing to God." If you think that, then you are wrong. It does not work that way. The way to become justified before God, the way to be accepted by God, the way to please God: is to believe. Do not think that you must do something to gain God’s favor. Jesus Christ is the only one who accomplished that, and He not only accomplished it for Himself: He also accomplished it for us. Jesus did it all. There is nothing for you to do but to have faith in Him and what He did for you.

The only one who ever walked the earth and who had victory and accomplishment with every detail and every incident was Jesus Christ. Two of the greatest incidents in the life of Christ were His coming into the world and His leaving the world. He came by means of the virgin birth and He left by means of the resurrection from the dead and the ascension. No one else was ever born the way that He was born, no one else ever lived the way that he lived, and no one else ever left this world the way that He left it. You could never bring Christ down from above, you could never cause Him to rise from the dead, you could never do all the other things that He did; and therefore: you could never be justified by your works. But you can be justified by faith.

If justification by faith is so important and if justification by faith is the only way to go to heaven, how does one acquire that kind of faith? How does one become justified by faith? Paul answers the question in the next several verses of Romans Chapter 10. Romans 10:8-9 says, "But what does it say? The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved."

Paul talked about justification by faith, and then he said that this is what needs to be done to be saved. Being justified by faith and being saved are the same thing. They are two different ways of looking at and describing the same event. Justification by faith looks at salvation from a judicial point of view. God is the supreme judge of the world, and everyone must eventually give an account to Him. Whenever someone goes before a judge in order to be judged, the hope and the desire of the accused is to come away justified, and to not come away from the proceedings a condemned person. People can do certain things in order to avoid being condemned by the judicial process of this world. However, there is only one thing that you can do to avoid leaving the judgment hall of God as a condemned person: and that is to have faith, the right kind of faith, faith in Jesus as your Savior.

Another way of looking at justification by faith is to call it salvation. If you are justified by faith then you are saved. If you are saved, you are saved from hell; you are saved from your sins, you are saved from condemnation. That is a wonderful thing to have, and if you are saved you will be eternally grateful to God and to Christ. To be justified and to be saved is the most important thing in the world. You will live on the earth for a few short years, but afterwards you will live somewhere else forever. It is very important that you be saved. Remember that Jesus said, "What shall it profit a man should he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul; or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

God has provided for our salvation so that no one has to lose their soul. Every person in the world could be saved if they understood and applied Romans 10:9 to their own life and situation. It describes salvation in a nut-shell and says, "That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Notice that it says to confess with your mouth the "Lord" Jesus. If someone is your Lord, they are your master. It is your goal and your purpose in life to do what they want you to do. Salvation involves a turning to God for the purpose of serving Him and giving your life to Him. You are saved if you turn to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you, but only if you do so with the intention of also making Him your Lord. Not only must you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, but you must also believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. When you believe on Jesus for salvation, you are coming to Him in a spiritual sense and talking to Him as a person would talk to their friend. You can do this because Jesus rose from the dead, and He is alive. You can know Jesus because He is alive. He is never far from any one of us, and He is especially ready to answer the prayer of the lost soul who reaches out to Him for salvation. Jesus said, "I am come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Notice also that salvation is in a person: the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. No human can give you salvation, no church can give you salvation, no church ceremony can give you salvation, no priest or preacher can give you salvation, no religion of any kind can give you salvation; nor anything else that you can imagine except Jesus. Jesus can save you, because He is the Savior of the world. If you speak to Him and ask Him for salvation, He will save you. "There is none other name among men whereby we must be saved." Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but by me."

Romans 10:10-11 says, "For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed." There is a definite relationship between what you believe and what you say. No one can be a believer and then never communicate his belief to others. If you believe that Jesus is your Savior, then there are other people in the world to whom the Lord wants you to communicate your beliefs. If you really believe, certainly you have told someone that you believe. Remember that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid", and He said, "No one lights a candle and then puts it under a basket." If God has turned on the light of salvation in your heart, then He will also do things so that it will shine outward for the glory of God and the spread of the Gospel.

The Bible says here, "With the heart man believes unto righteousness." To believe means to trust, to depend upon, to commit oneself to, and to have confidence in. When you believe upon the Lord for the first time, you rely upon Him for the forgiveness of sins. That is the first step in a life-long journey of believing on Him and relying on Him.

Romans 10:12-13 says, "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Just a few verses ago Paul told us how to be saved. He said, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Now he tells us who can be saved, and he makes it very clear that anyone on the earth can be saved: whether black or white, rich or poor, American or Chinese: anyone can put their faith and trust in Jesus and be saved. When you look at another human being, you are looking at someone who can be saved if they are not yet saved. You are looking at someone who can come into a relationship with God as their Father and Jesus as their Savior, and who can inherit heaven as their eternal destiny. Every person has a tremendous potential to be a child of God and then to be used of God in ways that no one could have ever imagined.

Everyone can be saved because there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. Everyone can be saved because the same Lord is over all. Everyone can be saved because the Lord always responds positively to whoever calls upon Him. When a black person calls upon the name of the Lord, then the Lord responds in the exact same way as when a white person or a Hispanic calls upon the name of the Lord. God is not prejudiced: only humans are.

A human who is a believer in the one true God should never be prejudiced against someone of another race. Two of the reasons are given right here in Romans chapter ten. Almost every page of the Bible emphasizes the equality of the human race in the eyes of God. We are equally related to Adam and Eve. Of all the people on the earth at a given time, we are equally removed from Adam and Eve: we can equally trace our lineage back to the same couple in the Garden of Eden. There is no difference. In that sense we are all members of the same family: the human family. A black person could look at a white person and say, "There is my brother" or "There is my sister", and they would be very accurate in doing so.

We are also equal because we have all sinned: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Every person, no matter what race they are, has done things that they ought not to do. When you see someone of another race do something that they ought not to do; it is a mistake to attribute their failure to their race. They failed because they are human. They failed for the same reason that you sometimes fail. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

All races are equal because God created all of us. It says in the book of Genesis that God created humans in His own image. Someone of another race was created in the image of God to the same degree that you were. All races are equal because God loves everyone. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." If God loves everyone in the world, should not those who are followers of God?

We are all equal because we all get saved the same way. Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." It is amazing how great is the variety of ways that the Bible uses to illustrate and describe salvation. Jesus said that it was like being born anew. He also said that it was like opening a door or taking a drink of water. He compared it to eating a piece of bread and drinking a sip of wine. Or who can miss the symbolism to salvation when the blind received their sight, when the crippled walked for the first time, and when the dead were raised to live again? But putting the symbolism and the illustrations aside, Paul here in Romans Chapter 10 and verse 13 says that to be saved, a person need only to call upon the name of the Lord. It certainly happened that way in the life of Jesus. Whenever anyone called to Him for help; He was always there for them and He always heeded their call.

When Jesus was crucified; one of the thieves who was crucified with Him turned to Jesus and said, "Remember me when you come to your kingdom." He obviously believed that Jesus was the Messiah and he called to Jesus for salvation. Jesus said to the dying man, "Today you shall be with me in paradise." If you have been saved, you have had a similar experience in calling upon the name of the Lord. One time Jesus passed by a place where a blind man sat begging. The blind man called to Jesus and said, "If you will, you can make me whole." Jesus immediately replied to the man, "I will, be thou whole." Salvation is just like that: a person realizes their own sinfulness, they desire to be forgiven and they want to change and start serving God, and therefore, they call to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and salvation. Immediately Jesus responds, forgives and saves that person, and makes them a child of God.

Romans 10:14 says, "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?" God has a plan for saving people from their sins. The plan centers around Jesus. Jesus came into the world to die for us, so that after He rose from the dead, He could then save us from our sins. When people hear the good news about what Jesus has done for them, they can call upon His name and be saved. But how can they call upon Him if they have not heard about Him? That is where you and I become involved and all the other believers. It is part of God’s plan that the unbelievers will hear about Jesus from the believers. God has given us the privilege of being workers with Him in the great work of salvation.

There are two ways to be a witness for God, and both are very important. The first way is by your life: by the things that you do and the way that you live. Your life is a book and people read it every day. When Jesus talked about the importance of being a witness in the Sermon on the Mount, He said; "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." You must learn to live for God before you can learn to speak for Him. Some people attempt to speak for God before they have learned enough about living for Him. They sometimes end up doing more damage than good.

This business of following the Lord is just that. God must be directing us. There is a time to speak and there is a time to be quiet. You should always attempt to live for the Lord, but you should only speak for Him when He leads you to do so. That is why Romans 10:15 says, "And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" This is associated with the verse in Romans Chapter 8 that says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." We need God’s leading in everything, including what we say and when we say it.

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