Romans Ch 10

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Welcome to Mount Vernon on stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Your host Mike Swick Mike Swick with if not for God today and we are doing illumines chapter 10 Romans chapter 10 I get into this one of the things I think about what I think of Romans chapter 10 is there's a story of a guy who was who had passed away and he told his wife that he wanted to be buried with all of his money.

Wife said yeah I'll do it. And so the guy passed away and the pastor had actually come up to this lady and said what I heard that your husband he wanted to be buried with all of his money.

He said you actually do that and he said yeah I did in the past was like no you didn't do that and she says yes I did and pastor said I can't believe that you took all of his savings.

All his money you put it in there with MEP buried him with his money and she says yeah I wrote a check and so one of the things that I think about is with Romans chapter 10 is that you know when you read Romans 123456789. Everything what kinda comes together it comes together as Romans chapter 10 about what the gospel is and what were supposed to do and how were supposed to share the gospel. Why were supposed to share the gospel and it all makes sense heard a story not too long ago and it said that when Constantine in the early centuries, when he said that everybody in this country has to be a Christian that the soldiers who in Constantine's army said we will be baptized just like you tell us to be baptized, but they said that we are not going to baptize our swords or sword were to hold are stored above the water, and so our sword will not go under with us and so what they were essentially saying is, is that yes I'll give my whole life to Christ.

Except for the part of my sword. The part where I still want to go into battle when I still want to do it my way.

The way that I want to do it and when you read the Bible and when you especially read Romans chapter 10 really feel if you look at it you say men that's that's just not the way that it go so here we are. Romans 10 and I would be using the new King James version and it says brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zero for God, not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, for Moses writes writes about the righteousness which is of the law, the man who does does these things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way to not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from a barber who will descend into the abyss. That is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what is it say the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved. For with the fur with the with the heart one believes in righteousness and with the mouth confession is made on the salvation for the Scripture says whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. Verse 13 for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed in how how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard and how about how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach unless they are sent.

However, as it is, as it is written, how beautiful are the people beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. Bring glad tidings of good things, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for for Isaiah says award, who has believed our report so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But I say have they not heard yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the end of the world right but I say did Israel not know Moses says I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation.

I will move you to anger by a foolish nation but Isaiah is very bold and says I was found by those who did not seek me, I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me but to Israel. He says all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient into a contrary people and thanks be to God for the reading of his word. You know what I think about that and I and I think about you know really what is the gospel, you know, one of the stories that I've told before, and I've heard it many times is that there was there was a guy who really his whole life wanted always hear John Wesley speak and hear and preach in and so one day he finally got to hear John Wesley preaching, John Wesley preached on John chapter 3, you must be born again. So few months later that the businessman when it went ahead and he saw that John Wesley was preaching again and he said on the scene again and John Wesley preached on John chapter 3, you must be born again. So one more time. This cut same guy he wanted to go hear John Wesley said on a hearing for the third time he says he goes to your preach and what he preaches on his John chapter 3, you must be born again. So afterwards the man was excited to meet Wesley he he he came up to Wesley. He said John Wesley. He said I love your preaching. He said, but I'm curious as to why you're always preaching on John chapter 3, you must be born again. John John Wesley, looked at him with a with a twinkle in his eye and he said because you must be born again, and friends. There is no other way to get to heaven, other than by the by the precious blood of Jesus Christ you know. So what is it mean to be born again. What is it mean to be a Christian you know I'll tell you what it doesn't mean the one thing that it doesn't mean is that somehow we work hard enough at the end of our lives since we work hard enough we are to be able to enter into the kingdom of God is matter fact, when you read Romans nine through Romans 11 were to be in Romans 11 next that Romans nine to Romans 11 really the whole book of Romans really the whole New Testament it says that in and I think was Romans nine that many of the Jews had tried to make it. They had try to be saved by their own righteousness, and it says that is not how it works.

You do not get in by your own righteousness as we all know that it says in Romans chapter 5 that God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us all the stories I've heard years ago was for Matt Chandler's book the explicit gospel and Matt Schiller in and his friends had been really working on a girl. They were they were there were telling sharing the gospel with this girl only what they wanted her to know about Jesus and and they said okay this is were working.

Talk to about Jesus talk to about Jesus. Finally, there was a rally. It was a Christian rally and they said okay great.

We are going to go to this rally and we are to make sure that this girl get saved on and so when they went to the rally.

The preacher took the stage and they said end in disaster ensued. I don't know how else to describe the sermon.

There was very little Bible and it he gave us a lot of statistics about STDs and by the way this girl that they were showing the gospel with might've been in a little bit wilder or whatever it was and he said that there was a lot you don't want syphilis. Do you and it's all fun and games until you have herpes on your lip in the middle of all this moralistic fear mongering's big illustration was to take out a single red rose. He snarled the rose dramatically on stage, caressed its petals and talked about how beautiful this Rose was and how it had been freshly cut that day.

In fact he said it was such a beautiful rose that he wanted all of us to see and to smell it. So he threw the rows out into the crowd and he encouraged everyone to pass out past the rows around as he near the end of his message. He asked for the rows back. And of course we got back in his hands. It was broken and swooping in the patterns were falling off.

He held up this now ugly rows for all of the world to see in his big finish.

Was this know who in the world would want to rose like this. This Rose now would you be proud of this, Rose. Is this Rose lovely his words and his tone were merciless. I was such an idiot because doing all of that I had been praying that our friend Kim who was sharing the gospel with was listening. I was praying that Kim would really hear what the preacher was saying about the story rose but there was no real climax to the message is essential message which was supposedly to represent to represent Jesus's message to a world of sinners was this hey don't be a dirty rose. He then explained he even explains, this approach was dramatically effective in producing shame but not really effective in producing hope on the way home Kim or friend was quiet even though we talked about the concert and what had gone on.

I asked her on multiple occasions if everything was okay if she was all right and what she thought of the message throughout our drive. She was quiet, which was not like her because I just thought naïvely that maybe the Holy Spirit was convicting her and that we talk about it later in that she would tell me that she was a new creation. Kim continue to act strangely around me for a while about a week or two later, Kim didn't show up for class. She didn't show up for class for a week. I called and left several messages but I couldn't get hold of her. After about three weeks I began to get nervous.

I wondered if she had dropped out of school. She had a dark past and I was wondering if she'd fallen back and said into some of her old habits that I got a phone call from a woman who claimed to be Tim's mom Kim had been in an accident and had been in the hospital right across the street from the University so I hung up the phone with her mom and I walked over to the hospital. She was all bandaged bandaged up in her face was still swollen.

She'd fallen out of a car that was going 70 miles an hour and it struck her head on the concrete and fractured her skull. The swelling wasn't so extensive as to cause long-term damage, but it did enough damage to keep her hospitalized for several weeks in the middle of our conversation, seemingly out of nowhere. She asked me do you think that I'm a dirty rose my heart sink inside of me and I began to explain to her that the whole the whole weight of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus wants that rose Jesus's desire to save, redeem, and distort and to restore he wants to restore the dirty rose he said when I was alone by myself. He said when that preacher had passed around that dirty rose and he asked what a dirty rose like this.

He said that I would've said Jesus. Jesus wants that dirty rose because he came to die for us. He came to die for sinners who we did nothing for him. We did nothing to deserve his grace we did nothing to deserve his love, but it says in Scripture that while Jesus came to save sinners that while he died for those who committed sin. This is that we love him because he first loved us, and friends.

I believe that's the truth. 100% the truth when I go back I think about John. Was it one of the things that I think about is that you know John chapter 3 that you must be born again.

One of the things that he did not say is that you don't you don't work hard enough until you until you get in, you know, until you get to the kingdom you don't somehow become such a good person that you're deemed worthy now as we've all said before were not saved by our works, but you know because Jesus saved us, and because of what Jesus did for us. We want to live a life that's that's worthy of him. You know but but the truth is is that when I when I really realize this, and what I really realize what is going on in this world and what is going on in this chapter of Romans chapter 10 is that we forsake all we forsake all everything family mother father daughters friends. Everybody is it doesn't matter what anybody else says Jesus comes first, Rick Warren, who wrote the other purpose driven life. His father tells a story about his father when his father was dying and his father had dementia and the very end.

His father kept on getting out of the bed and Rick and his siblings were trying to put them back in the bed in his father said no no no no no I need to get out.

I need to get out and finally Rick asked his father he said, why do you want to get out of this bed and go and he said I just want to tell one more person about Jesus.

I just want to tell one more person about Jesus and so when his father was dying. One of his last dying words to Rick was, Rick just continue to tell one more person about Jesus. I know sometimes we talk about spiritual warfare, and that we want we want to help overcome and we want to overcome spirit spiritual attack and we talk about doing good works, and we talked about helping the poor. Doing all these other things and that is also all but one of the things that I'm reminded of and I believe it was John Piper. He says that I think it is great that you will want to do all of these great health initiatives to help the poor to help the to help the down and out, and so on and so forth.

He said, but let me remind you that the greatest hunger that we could ever feed his eternal hunger to lead people to a loving and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that when they die they will be in heaven then and that they won't be in hell forever is actually reminded of a story about Libby Giglio and what what Louis had talked about and no was a Libby Giglio's Luis Palau and what Lisa talked about was this is.

He said that he went to go speak to many of the medical missionaries and he spoke to many people who were in the missionary field meet with with medicine or with doctors. Whatever it was and he said he said I think God for good Christian medical doctors. He said I think God for people that will go in and and share and you know sure clothing with people who need it. We we thank God for dentists to go into these other countries and they fix people's teeth.

He said that is also he said, but he said if we just go into these other countries. He said, and if we fix people's teeth and he says if we fix their health and we give them flashy clothes.

He said we will sit and he said we do that without sharing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ with them. He said that we will send them to hell with white teeth and flashy clothes.

I encourage anybody who's listening right now that if you're doing good works that is awesome. Continue to do those good works, but the greatest work that we can do is to share Jesus Christ the son of God with those with a lost and dying world was going to hell you know and and and so it it's interesting I think about this with many people. We will do anything that we can to try to do good works for God, other than sharing Jesus because we may think that it's socially awkward. You may think that it makes the other person feel uncomfortable or that makes it makes us feel uncomfortable, but one of the best explanations that I've ever heard. To this is, it was actually an atheist pendulum and he said that after one of the shows.

He said there was a guy said was a big guy who came up to him after his show and he said hey Pat I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your show and he said the guy looked him right in the eye and he said this, he said hey I just wanted to let you know I wanted to give you this Bible it's a New Testament Bible and Penn said that in the Bible there were these names and numbers of people that he could call this guy said to Penny, said he said I guess some sort of proselytizing to you right now.

He said I just wanted to let you know this, and I felt like it was important and so pendulous it actually share this on his YouTube page. The next day and you can look it up. It's called the gift of a Bible with pendulous but pendulous said you know there's many atheist or many agnostics need to be honest with you. There's even Christians who say you don't talk about religion and you don't talk about politics, so you don't share your faith, and he said, but I never believe that he said what this guy did by trying to proselytize to me but by trying to share Jesus with me. He said it was a beautiful thing he's in. He actually went on to say. He says he says if you're standing in the middle of the road and he says there is a semitruck coming coming down the road at you at 90 miles an hour and he says even if you don't believe the semi is coming to hit you.

He said at some point I push you away and he says this is so much more important. He said how he said if you really believe that I can go to go to hell, and in and burn their eternally if you believe that there's this place called heaven that I can go to and you don't want to share that with me because it's socially awkward.

He says how much you have to hate someone how much you have to hate someone. If we really believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and we really believe that people are dying and going to hell without trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior and we don't want to tell them about that because we think it's socially awkward, or we say why there's other stuff in ministry that I want to do. How much do we have to hate that person is so so important is butterfat, love, another story that I heard about John Wesley, John Wesley was actually behaved.

He was being robbed by a guy in this guy who was rotting John Wesley realized that Wesley had very little offer and so you get a little bit of money from John Wesley and he also got it.

I think John Wesley. There were some Christian literature that this guy had taken from John Wesley and and John Wesley gave it to him and the guy took it in before the guy goes the guys walking off after he had robbed John Wesley and he said in John Wesley elderly said just a second. He said I got one more thing for you and the guys like okay I'm robbing you. John Wesley said it's first John 17 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light that we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all son so many years later when John John Wesley actually had seen this guy now. The guy was a successful businessman and he had given his life to Jesus and was partially because of what he said what John Wesley and said to him when he left. So if you think that will people don't want to hear about this right now people are hungry for something, people are living in fear there there fearful of coded their fearful of death there thinking about it. Jesus actually put it this way. He says that the harvest is plentiful but but the workers are few and I wonder if he saying that to you today.

If you're listening to this today and you say will there's so much stuff that I need to do and I want to share Jesus embouchure Jesus, but I'm just not doing it me tell you something if you wait until you have all of the answers and you wait until you have know exactly what you're said everybody you never to do it. There is something that is called paralysis from analysis. The best thing that you can just start doing is sharing Jesus with people and you will be surprised at what happens. I need as many, many years ago I went to a went to Bible study with our Ruth Graham rots her husband's name is Danny Watts. He was a dentist over in Raleigh. I went to the Bible study and one day as we were finishing up the Bible study. There was this guy who got up and he was the think he was the leader of Fellowship of Christian athletes and so what he said was there was this one guy who would always calm and he wasn't a question. He said, but there was this other cheerleader, this young lady. This guy really likes it whenever this guy went to Fellowship of Christian athletes and whatever this cheerleader was there. This guy was there to and so I guess after a while what that the preaching and everything that they were doing started to started to sink into the sky and so one day at the end of this guy was lead in the the preacher for Fellowship of the FCA Fellowship of Christian athletes. This young man came up to the guy who was speaking and he said hey listen man. He said I just need to ask you this, he said, why do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and so guy he did not say just said. He said I don't know I just do the let me tell you something if you listen right now that's not a chip that's not the best thing to say. That's not what you need to do, but many years later, this guy who told the sky this the young man of the young man who was going after the cheerleader who is not a Christian, yet he saw this guy and he the guy who was not a Christian was now a Christian and he was speaking at a rally and he saw this other guy and he said I want to think of this guy over here for leading me to Jesus all he said was I don't know I just do so. You never know you never know what's gonna lead somebody to Jesus, and you never know you never know what you could say that would lead somebody to Jesus, but we are job is just to open our mouths, our job is just to share the good news of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. There is another story. Charles Spurgeon.

He was preaching in the late 1800s and all of a sudden there was a day where they said that we need to we need to check the acoustics in this in this room, and so they had some guys were working on the ceiling and they said will will heat.

Charles said we want to say and they said just to say something out of the Bob and he said okay on the quote.

John 129 he says behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world said all of a sudden there was a guy who was working on the ceiling in that room and the guy started crying and right then and there he gave his life to Christ, so you never know why why people are going to come to Jesus and I've said this before my show. You know you know some of you. You may not be able to get out and see people are your your article to do it. Do you realize that we have tools at our dispensable right now that were literally, I send out hundreds of my shows each week to people I sent out hundreds of the shows and I've had I've had people who said don't send me this garbage. I'm not a variety people say stop sending this to me also had people tell me things like this. Thank you so much for shut sending me your shows Mike. I was doubting my faith and and now that I've been listening to your shows now IIII thought I found my faith again that people who said thank you so much for sending this to me I needed to hear this, you never know why.

Somebody's going to come to Jesus, but people will do it. If you are just obedient and sharing your faith. I like what Sandy Ballard said he was he's from the Baptist Church First Baptist Church of the med and he said there was a time where if I wanted to tell you that Jesus was good. He said I would actually have to I would actually have to go up to you and say hey Jesus is good. He says nowadays immediately I can put Jesus is good, and put it on Facebook and hundreds if not thousands of people can see that the best way is to share Jesus face-to-face. That is the best way to do it so there's that, you know it in and when you're going out when you're wanting to share the gospel. I'm reminded of a story about Charles Spurgeon where there was a guy who was following Charles Spurgeon around and he said while the fall even see what you're doing so at the end of end of two days, the sky was exhausted and he said to Charles Spurgeon.

He said man. He said I don't know how you do it. He said he said you're doing the work of two men and Charles said to me says because I have two men living inside of me.

We have the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not have to do this thing all on our in an outcome.

I'm glad that you're listening today. If you've never given your life to Jesus. I want to encourage you today is to say yes Lord, I surrender my life to you right now. Jesus forgive me of all of my sins thank you Jesus, for forgiving me of my sins, I follow you now for the rest of my life in Jesus name. And if you said that prayer and if you surrender your life to Jesus just as it says in Romans chapter 10 please please please share your faith with others. People are dying and going to hell. Please tell them the good news about Jesus that God hey I just want to thank one of our sponsors. Greater love world outreach Center over in Burlington North Carolina at 537 S. Ireland St. they have services Sunday at 1030 in the morning and they have a Wednesday night services seven Pastor Ron Harris. He's been on the station before we love to have him on if you want to feel welcomed, made to feel like you're at home, go visit greater love world outreach Center over in Burlington.

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