“If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. vs9

Here is absolute certainty. If you believe on the Lord Jesus, you will be saved. People talk about election and predestination, as if God is keeping us away. He's not. He's saving all who come to Him.

First, Paul loved Israel. “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation [vs1].” He wasn't against them, so how could God be? What motivated Paul but the Holy Spirit? God's DESIRE to save is greater than man's, but He also has an irresistible call. It is not one or the other: it's both.

Secondly, people can have zeal and be lost. “For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge [vs2].” Zeal is not enough, nor sincerity. People are frightened by this and angry, but truth has never been subject to human opinion. God, as quoted by Enyi during our conference, has no counselors at His throne, only worshipers. He gets truth to man. He saves by the revelation of Jesus Christ, so let us take the gospel to the world, and NOT BE SATISFIED that our friends and family are religious.

The reason people perish is man's rejection of God, not God's unwillingness. “Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness [vs3].” It's not God saying, “Stay away.” It's man refusing to come. It's not God saying, “Do something difficult.” It's man saying, “I refuse your gift. I do not believe you.” When men realize that faith was so simple, they’ll blame themselves, not God!

Living by the law is hard work. “For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: ‘The man who does these things will live by them [vs5].’” It's impossible, but Christ is the end [vs4]. We don't have to earn it, but trust God to give it. We don't have to have the will power, but confess our sin. Christ asked the lame man, “Do you desire?” It is enough to WANT to be made whole. We don't have to be good enough or good at all. We believe on Christ, and doing that, we instantly have all of the righteousness that we’ll ever need.

Take hold of the the Lord Jesus. Take hold of His covenant. Let Him supply all for you. Salvation is about obedience and submission to the gospel. “They did not submit to God’s righteousness.” It is trusting the Lord to bless you.

Thirdly, this is what the Apostles preached. “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 proclaim, that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him out from the dead, you will be saved [vs8-9].” Take heed to it, and you will be saved. This is how Paul balanced Romans 9 with prayer and pleading. He opened chapter 9 with desire to be damned, if it would save the Jews [vs1-3]. He opened chapter 10 with pleading for them and reasoning [vs1-13]. This is what Calvinism is meant to do: Make us zealous pleaders - men that explain the gospel, and say, “Come.”

You will be saved. This is absolute. I'm offering salvation in the name of the Lord and commanding you to come. I'm sticking it out, Paul is saying, and telling you to receive it.

Confess Him Lord. He is Lord. You are only sounding most reasonable and telling the truth. Confess the big truck will crush you, and take mercy by moving out of the way. Self preservation would save you, if you only considered your danger.

You can be saved by the God who punished Christ, or you can be punished forever. You can obtain mercy or be hardened. It's up to you. What will you do? Will you trust Christ or perish? Will you confess Him or deny Him...move or stand before the truck?