All right, well we're going to turn now to the book of Romans chapter 10. There was one thing I forgot to announce and that was that I was getting another load of Gospels of Luke. So they're sending another three boxes. to me to distribute in Broadford. So it'd be great to have some help. Thanks to those that helped last time, we were able to get those out fairly swiftly. But yeah, if you could help, that'd be great. They're not with me yet. They're being sent. So should have them maybe this week, maybe next week. All right. Let's pray and ask the Lord for help as we come and consider his word. Let's pray. Father, we're here today, we're here to sit before you. We've just sung about your word and we want to be those simple hearted that receive your word. And we pray, Lord, that you would bless us today. We want to hear all that you have to say to us from the text of scripture. And so please help me and guide me, and may you be pleased to use my mouth to be a blessing to all of your children here, and even those that are not yet your children, those that are still without the fold. Lord, may they even this morning be drawn in. So Lord, hear us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. So this morning we're looking at chapter 10, we're making a start. Verses one to four is all we're gonna tackle this morning. So verses one to four, it's the first paragraph. Let's read it together. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation for I testify about them that they have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge for not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. All right, well. What do we need to get into heaven? Is there any more important question than that for us individually? What do we need to get into heaven? And many put this question off. Some just think, well, I'll think about it later. Maybe when I'm a bit older, maybe when I think I'm a bit closer to death. But I think it's something we must settle now. For the plain and simple fact is we don't know where our end will come. We also need to make sure that we have the correct answer to this question. Are you sure? Are you sure this morning that you have the correct answer to the question of what do we need to get into heaven? Or how can I be saved? Or whatever way we frame it. Are you sure you have the correct answer? It must be God's answer. not man's answer of course many people have proposed answers to this question but we've got to be sure that it's actually God's answer it's God's heaven not man's and God is the one that lets people in so we're going to be sure that we have the right answer to that question well today we're going to hear about God's answer today So it's very important things we're looking at. And may God grant us the ability to concentrate and to take on board what God says through his servant Paul. There are three points I'm going to draw out of our four verses this morning. The first has to do with Paul's desire and prayer in verse one. all of these are about the same thing it's all about salvation so first Paul's desire and prayer and then second is something we mustn't be wrong about it's from verses 2 & 3 and then lastly a believers realization or what a believer has come to see and to understand So let's first then, Paul's desire and prayer, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. So Paul here is speaking about his desire and his prayer for others It's specifically a desire and prayer for the Jews of his day. That's the them in that verse. Paul was a Jew, Jesus was a Jew, but many of the Jews of Paul's day had rejected Jesus. Paul's desire and prayer was for the Jews to come to see that Jesus is indeed the Savior and to receive that salvation that Jesus offered. So Paul's desire and prayer was that the Jewish people, particularly of his day, those he knew, those that were his family, those that he grew up among, that these people would be saved, that they would, in the end, be received into heaven when they passed on from this life. Paul desired and prayed for this thing, for their salvation because it is the most important thing by far. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 26. Jesus said, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world? That's everything the world has to offer. I don't think that's just materially but everything that you could possibly get out of this world. All the joy and the happiness and everything. What will a profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? What price can he pay for his own soul? Of course there is no price that he can pay. What if we have everything? Everything this world has to offer it but in the end we lose it all. But in the end we have nothing. Doesn't mean anything really does it in the long term. If we have salvation, we have everything, don't we? Ultimately, and in the end, we have everything. But if we don't have that, then in the end, we have nothing. Let me ask you today, is this salvation, is that the most important thing to you? Is that what you're seeking after in your life? Or are you settling for lesser things? Are you running after this world and all that it has to offer? Running for all the wealth and the treasures and grabbing all that you can get? I hope that salvation for each one of us is the thing that we're pursuing. And we're not settling for those lesser things that just don't last beyond this world. But what about for others, not just for ourselves? Because Paul's desire here was not just for his own salvation, although I'm sure he valued that tremendously, but he was concerned about others. What about you? Do you have this desire for other people? Of course, we must care for people in every way, physical, psychological needs. But what good is that in the end if they're not saved? Are we merely happy for them to be happy and yet to go to hell? Is that what we want? Do we want people to be, you know, to have a joyful trip on the broad road that leads to destruction? Of course we cannot be settled for that. So again we must ask ourselves, do I share Paul's desire? Do you share Paul's desire? Do we as a congregation share Paul's desire? Is it our heart's desire and prayer to God for people's salvation? And we must ask the next question, What am I doing about it? If I have that desire, what am I doing about it? How am I spending my time, my valuable time and my resources? Paul said he did everything, was prepared to give up everything that people might be saved. How are we living our life? Are we living with that right focus? I know there's lots that we have to do that are attending to this life, I get that. But what's our heart's desire? That heart's desire, if we have that heart's desire, it's got to be lived out in some way and it starts really in the home, doesn't it? Doesn't it start in the home with those that are there? If we've got children with our children, if it's our parents with them. And the first thing we must do, brethren, is to pray. My heart's desire and my prayer to God is for their salvation. Of course, prayer is not the only thing, but I think in many ways it must be the first thing. The first thing we do because in prayer we're asking God to do what humans cannot do on their own. Only God gives life to the dead. Only God causes people to be born again. Only God tears out the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh. And so that's why we come to God and we cry out to God. Oh Lord, won't you save these people, these people that are around me, these people that I love, these people that I rub shoulders with, even those that I don't know, that I see on the street, these that are made in your image. Oh God, won't you save them? Is this what you pray for? See, prayer really shows our hearts, doesn't it? They go together. My heart's desire and my prayer. You cannot separate those things. But let me encourage you, brothers and sisters, that God hears these prayers. God hears these prayers. Paul knew it, and that's why he prayed. Paul's not just, this is not just sentimentality or a nice wish, you know, something you say, I'll pray for you. Paul knew that God hears prayers. Now of course God answers it in his own way, in his own time, but he knew this truth that God hears prayers and God hears your prayers. When they're offered in faith and through the Lord Jesus Christ, he hears those prayers. And so, brothers and sisters, don't give up praying. Don't give up praying. Sometimes we scratch our head, I don't know what to pray for. Just start making a list of those that need to be saved. You'll have enough to pray for. But pray and pray and pray and don't cease to pray. The Lord will hear and people will be saved. God has planned that people are saved through the prayers of his people. It amazes me that people were praying for me before I ever became a Christian. God heard those prayers and I just put my salvation down really in some sense to that. They were praying for me. I wasn't looking for God. but they were praying for me and God came after me so be encouraged brothers and sisters the second thing for this morning something we mustn't be wrong about this is two and three read those verses for I testify about them that they have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. We can be wrong about many things in life, as I'm sure we are wrong about many things. things concerning the Bible I know I don't have it all I'd love to but I don't there are many things that we can be wrong about but there are some things we can't be wrong about because the consequences are too great and one thing we can't be wrong about is how to be saved how to get to heaven Paul lamented because many of the Jews of his day were wrong about this. They were committed, they were passionate people, they were passionate about God, they served God, they poured their heart into serving God, but they were wrong! And Paul knows about this because that was Paul. We read from Philippians. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to Zeal, a persecutor of the church. Remember how he went into houses to drag off Christians who he thought were going astray. And how he went into Damascus to arrest people and bring them back for trial. Zeal! But he was wrong. And this is true of many today. There are many devoted people, many people who even outdo us in their zeal. Some even willing to go to their death, but are wrong. Spiritually speaking, they're running with all their might. They make us look bad. They make us look lazy and slothful. But they're running in the wrong direction. They're on the wrong road. They're headed toward destruction, their own destruction. And this was true of the Jewish people. Many of the Jewish people in Paul's day. Well, how were the Jews Paul's day wrong. Well Paul tells us, he says, I have a zeal for God but it's not in accordance with knowledge. Verse 3, for not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. So they were ignorant, they didn't know, they didn't know about God's righteousness. Now that doesn't mean that they didn't know that God was righteous, of course they knew that God was righteous, that's not the way that Paul's meaning this term here. It's really, they didn't know about God's way of being righteous, or God's way of making people righteous, or acceptable to him, or welcomed into heaven, or saved. we could just say it more simply, they didn't know God's way of salvation. They thought that they could be righteous on their own. Listen to this well-known parable of Jesus in Luke 18, because I think this captures the attitude of many in Paul's day. Luke 18 verses 9 to 14, I'm going to read the entire parable. Notice how it begins. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The tax collector stood and was praying this to himself, God I thank you that I'm not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And I think this parable really captures what Paul is saying here. They didn't know about God's way of salvation or God's way of being righteous and they thought they could be righteous on their own. by following the law of Moses. Supremely they failed to see that they were sinners and in need of rescue. Another way to put it, they were drowning. Spiritually they were drowning and they couldn't swim. Their only hope was that God reached down and grabbed them and pulled them out, but they couldn't see it. They were like most people. Or many people at least. They thought they were righteous. themselves I'm a good person that's what many people say today I'm a good person and so with that I think well I'm a good person surely God agrees with me so when I come and stand before him that's what he'll say you're a good person come into heaven but that's a fatal error That's the error the Jewish people of Paul's day were making. We're good people. We're going to be right. We're going to be let into heaven. But in doing that, they rejected God's way of salvation. And that's the tragedy of it. Thinking that their righteousness was good enough, they didn't need God's righteousness what do I need that for I've got my own and that's pretty nice and shiny and impressive I think it's true to say that most religious people make this same error they may be devoted people They may be devoted churchgoers or whatever religion it is, going to their temple or place of worship, but they're wrong. Pursuing some kind of salvation, but pursuing it in the wrong way and rejecting God's salvation. It's not enough to be sincere. I think many people have that in their head. As long as I'm sincere, God knows my heart, as long as I'm sincere, He will welcome me. As long as I'm sort of doing my best. But let me tell you very plainly, none will be saved that way. None will be saved by doing their best. Why? That's salvation by works. That's exactly what Paul is speaking against. It's the opposite of the gospel. None are saved by doing their best. That's just establishing their own righteousness. That's really just saving themselves. That way doesn't work. The true way of salvation is actually coming to see that I cannot save myself. I need God. I need God. He is my only hope. It's really coming to that place of helplessness. I need rescue. That's how we come. That's really the place that we need to come to in order to be saved. Let me ask you, is that where you are? Are you helpless? Do you see that you can do nothing? Have you cried out to God? Verse 13 tells us, I know this is leaping ahead a little bit, that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's it. calling on the name of the Lord. Lord, rescue me. Lord, I'm drowning. I can't swim. Left to myself, I'll never make it to heaven. I am utterly undone. I need you, Lord, have mercy upon me. It is really like that prayer of that man we read in the parable. God be merciful to me. The sinner! That's all I am! That's all I'll ever be! Is the sinner! Oh Lord be merciful to me. Oh and our God is a merciful God. He delights to have mercy on such people. Brethren, you must be very, very clear about this. And I hope that we are. Really, I feel in my job I have failed if you are not clear about this. What is the way to heaven? What do I need to get into heaven? Please listen. Please listen. What do you need to get into heaven? The answer is simple. You need to be righteous. That's God's answer. You need to be righteous. And if we have this, if we have a righteousness, that's the only thing we need. And we will be led into heaven. In a sense, we could say it rather crassly, but it's our ticket to heaven. If we have that righteousness, we have what we need to be welcomed in. But the vital thing is, how do I get it? How do I get it? One answer. Faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, it is not earned by our effort. No matter how much effort we pour into it, day after day after day, no matter how many tears we shed, we can never earn it. It is given by God freely. And if you come to God, you will receive it. If you come to God with that humble faith, you will receive it. That's the only way to receive it is in humility. Lord, I know I cannot save myself, but I see you. I see you offering this salvation to me. And so, Lord, oh, I receive that salvation. I put my trust wholly in your son. That is the way of salvation and that's something we can never be wrong about. We must not be wrong about. Well, let's move on to the final point. The final point, which really reiterates a lot of what we've already been talking about. But it's said this way, verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. I've put the point here as a believer's realization, a believer's realization. There's different ways this can be taken but having poured over this and actually when I was doing my master's degree I wrote a paper on this passage so I've spent hours and hours pouring over every word. it and it's interesting again I've come to study it this week and I've come to the same conclusion but you know reinvestigating relooking rethinking that doesn't mean I'm right of course I might be wrong but anyway but what I'm saying is true nonetheless it can be established for many other places in scripture But I think what Paul is saying here is that in verse 4, he's describing something that is true for all believers. Something that is true for all believers. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. I take those together, the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. So to believers, this is true. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. What does that mean? I think it means that Jesus brings us to an end of that way of trying to be righteous on our own. That's what I think the law for righteousness, or observing the law to get the status of being righteous. Christ is the end of that. Terminates that way for believers. In other words, we've given up on that way. We've stopped trying to save ourselves. We've stopped trying to prove ourselves to God. We've stopped trying to be good enough to earn our way into heaven. And we've come to see that Christ is the only way of salvation. John 14 verse 6. Another magnificent verse. Jesus said, the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but through me fundamental truth there's only one way of salvation Jesus is the way and that's what we've come to see Paul himself came to see that. That's why we read the Philippians passage, Philippians 3, because in Philippians 3 Paul describes his own realization. He came to the point in his own life of seeing that his own righteousness won't cut it, It's only Jesus and His righteousness. Let's hear Paul, Philippians 3, 7-9. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Now, what are those things that he says were gained to me? Well, hopefully we'll see in verse 8. More than that, he says, I count all things to be loss. in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. You see he's putting two things side by side there. He said whatever things were gain on the one hand he's come to see as rubbish and thrown them out. Why? Because he's come to see Christ. Yet it hasn't fully explained what he means. Verse 9, and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, from keeping the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. It's that God-given righteousness to all who put their trust in Jesus. In other words, what Paul is saying here is he saw what all of his good deeds counted for. He saw, he in a sense amasses them and piles them up and sees what are they? Rubbish! And so throws them out. He did that because he saw the righteousness offered in Jesus. He saw there, there, there's a perfect righteousness. That's just what I need. When I compare my righteousness to Jesus' righteousness, I see that it's just filthy. And it could never save me. Jesus' righteousness is a life of absolute obedience, of untainted love. That's what we all need to be welcomed into heaven and only Jesus offers it. As Isaiah said long before, that our righteousness is but filthy rags. Filthy rags. And that is what believers have seen. That's what believers have realized. We realize, along with Paul, our righteousness is as filthy rags, only Jesus' righteousness will get me into heaven. Now again, we must ask this of ourselves, is this me? Have I accepted the righteousness of Jesus that He has offered to me? Have you accepted it? If not, will you accept it? Have you looked to Jesus and seen in Him the salvation that you need and that salvation is given freely and nowhere else? If not before, come now, because He offers it to you today. Will you have Him as your Saviour? as He stands here through His Word today, as He is present by His Spirit today, and as He offers to you this righteousness, He says, My righteousness, My righteous life, My atoning death, everything that I have done here on earth, I now grant to you. Will you have it? And even if you've done it before a hundred times, I encourage you, do it again, accept it again. We must accept this daily in our way, this righteousness that Jesus offers. My friends, don't put this off. Today salvation is offered. God has come near and he is speaking to you. Come to me, he says, and be saved. All the ends of the earth. Say yes to the Lord. Come and follow Him. And follow Him on this joyful road to heaven. You don't have to live anymore in fear and doubt. You don't have to worry about what's going to happen in the end when you have Jesus' righteousness. You will be with Jesus. Guaranteed. Amen. May the Lord bless. His word to us today. Let's pray together. Lord, Lord Jesus, what you offer to us is astounding. You offer to us more than any could ever offer to us. The very thing we need to secure our eternity. And Lord Jesus, we thank you and praise you that you give it to us so freely, so freely. You hold it out to us. You say, come to me and I will give it to you. You don't even wait for us to come to you. You come to us with this offer and you hold it out to us. And Lord, it is our corporate prayer today. Your people gathered here together. It is our prayer. that each one here today hearing these things will believe and will receive this salvation, that none will go away, none will put it off. From the youngest to the oldest, none would put it off. Please, our God, hear our cry. Even this day, our God, save people, we pray. Gather them into your everlasting kingdom. May there be joy in heaven. The sinner's repenting and coming to you. Hear us our Lord and our Saviour and our God. We pray these things all in Jesus name. Amen.