For generations, theologians and Bible students have debated the virtues of predestination. The conflict, it seems, revolves around man's free will and God's election of saints long before the earth was formed.
So how do we make peace with this biblical doctrine?
Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl answers this sensitive question by using Romans chapter 10 as his guide. Along the way, he'll challenge the claim that releases us from personal responsibility. clarifying that every man and woman must make a life-defining choice. Let's resume our study in Romans 10, titled Straight Talk About Responsibility. When you get to chapter 10, you turn to the horizontal.
Because in chapter 10, you realize Each one of us is responsible for the truth we hear. We are free to accept it or we are free to reject it. And so the Jews are now responsible for their action. If they reject the Messiah, waiting for one yet to come. There are consequences.
And one of them is the Jew is set aside, and by the grace of God, Gentiles, like most of us, Have the privilege of hearing and responding to the gospel of Christ. How great is that? In fact, if I were to give a one-sentence statement To describe the 10th chapter, it would be this: God has now rejected Israel because Israel has rejected the Messiah. It doesn't mean that he keeps his message out of their reach. Verse 21, the gospel continues to be offered to all.
That's grace. As for Israel, he says, all the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. I love Paul's heart. Chapter 10 is an analysis of human responsibility. Look at Paul's heart.
Brothers, sisters, my heart's desire, my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. He's heartbroken. He remembers those lost friends that were classmates. He remembers fellow Pharisees when he was a member of that sect. He remembers how.
Maybe not all, but most of them still are lost. that haunted him at night. My heart's breaking. Broken over the fact that so many still reject the Savior. You see, just knowing they're lost doesn't mean you stop praying, it means you start praying.
It means you reach out very diligently in prayer for them. That's what he's doing in verse 1. May I give you a little extra word of caution here? Guard against anti-Semitism.
Okay. Don't go there. It's ugly. One wag put it this way: how odd of God to choose the Jew, but not so odd as those who choose the Jewish God and hate the Jew. You go, what?
So let me do that again.
Now this time think. How odd of God to choose the Jew, but not so odd. as those who choose the Jewish God and that hate the Jew. Stop the hate. Stop the vengeance.
Let your heart break over the lost. Chew. Be grateful that in grace the Lord set them aside and reached out to. pagans like us. Who have nothing righteous in our background.
We didn't have to stumble over righteousness. when you come out of filth. There's nothing to stumble over. But when you come out of self-righteousness like the Jews, you gotta fight through the pride. That's what verse 2 is saying.
I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. You don't think they are zealous for God? You visit the whaling wall. You stand at a distance and you watch. as they through the day with exhaustion.
Bow. And pray. A can and again. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Pushing those little prayers in the stone.
of the wall. This is zeal. You visit their Their areas in Jerusalem, and you see how they dress, and you see how they look, and you see how they're following it to the letter as they see it. Even the little curls on there. for their sideburns and the beards and the hats and the black ones.
Garments and all of it full of zeal. You live in a community where there's a synagogue, you'll see greater zeal for the synagogue than you'll see in most Christians for the church. They prepare their food on Friday and they don't touch that kitchen except to serve it. through the day that follows. Zeal.
But no knowledge of Christ. Verse three: not knowing about God's righteousness. And seeking to establish their own. Righteousness. They did not subject themselves to the righteousness.
I'm God. See, the key word is subject. When you realize it's not your righteousness, and you realize that the righteousness comes from another, you are bowing in gratitude for the righteousness. That he places in your account. That's what we Gentiles do.
We have no righteousness. Hardest people on earth to talk to about Christ are the proud. The self-righteous. Try to convince a truly religious person of the need for Jesus. Especially one who works hard in his religion or her religion.
They're so proud of their own righteousness. Yeah. Shoot. Most of us came out of nothing like that. We just By the grace of God, heard the message.
and came to Jesus. And he's sovereignly Credited to our account the righteousness of God. in place of our unrighteousness. The Jew has to climb through all of this self-made righteousness. All of the works, all the stuff.
Verse 4, don't you love it? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who works real hard. No? To everyone who sincerely stays in his religion. No.
to everyone who What? believes. Get that Clearly settled in your mind. Get it fixed in your mind. Elvina Hall, 19th-century hymn writer, put it this way: Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. He paid it all. He picked up the tab.
He took care of everything. And you and I stepped in and said, thank you. Thank you.
Now, his focus turns from the Jew to all lost people, beginning down at verse 8. I want to suggest there are four statements that will help. On clutter the passage in case it's a little unclear to you. The first is in verses 8 through 10, because the gospel is available. People are responsible.
Verses 8 through 10, because the gospel is available. We're all responsible, Jew and Gentile alike. What does it say? The word is near you, it's in your mouth, in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching.
So the gospel begins by being. Preached.
So there's the declaration. You may have heard the gospel through a printed page. You may have heard the gospel through a song. You may have seen the gospel lived out in someone's life, which led you to information about the gospel. You may have heard the gospel at a crusade that you attended.
You may have heard the gospel from the person you married, or the one who is your friend, or a roommate at school, or a fellow athlete on the team. But someone declared to you the message Of eternal life. The word of faith was declared to you.
So that's declaration. Look at verse 9. Here's appropriation. that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord. If you believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead.
Look at the next four words. Don't muddle them, don't stutter, don't misunderstand them, don't put them in a fog. You will be. Saved. There it is.
That's it. You say, well, Chuck, that's easy believism.
Well, I'd like to know what hard believism is. I've never seen hard believism. You know where the heart is? It's Christ. He did the hard thing.
He paid the complete penalty for the sins of the world. He who knew no sin was sin on our behalf, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him and because of Him. That's the hard thing. Having done it all for us, we take it as a gift. Never make a gift.
A wage. It's a Yeah. It's a gift.
So the appropriation is: we confess with our mouth, we believe in our hearts. And so the result is: look closely, verse 10. With the heart, a person. Believes. Resulting in what?
Righteousness, the sovereign act of God whereby He declares righteous the believing sinner while we are still in a sinning state. It's called the doctrine of justification. Doesn't make us righteous. We still struggle with sinful problems through our lives, but he declares us righteous in God's eyes. Before the cross, we are all unrighteous.
After the cross, we are all positionally righteous. Before the cross, we are full of ourselves. After the cross, Christ has invaded and taken up the throne of our lives. As a result of believing in Jesus, a righteousness we never had is credited to our account. How marvelous is that?
It's a financial term for the record. In this case, it's the spiritual record. It's taking us in our bankrupt state and filling that record, filling that account with righteousness, whereas it was once empty. No righteousness. And so, as a result of that righteousness being transferred, we are justified.
Whoever believes in him Will not be disappointed.
Now, here's the third fact. Got him? are the second. Because the offer is universal, everyone is responsible. Because the offer is universal, whoever.
Everyone is responsible. To whom is it offered? Everyone. Our culture and other cultures, Jew and Gentile, young and old. Male, female.
Educated, uneducated. Whatever color. whatever race. Don't miss whoever, all, all, whoever, verses 11, 12, 13. There's no distinction between Jew.
And Greek. Because the offer is universal. Everyone is responsible. Let me make this real clear so nobody misunderstands. Staying real close to a Christian.
Will not make you almost a Christian. Staying real close to your car overnight. in your garage. will not turn you into a car. You'll still be who you are.
Hanging around a church a whole lot and listening to even learning the Psalms will not get you a little closer. You are either in or you are out. You are either a believer or not a believer. This brings us to the third fact. Because rejection is predictable, the unsaved are responsible.
16 to 20. Because rejection is predictable the unsaved. Are responsible. Look at 16.
However, they did not all heed the good news. Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? Look closely. Faith comes From hearing. And hearing.
by the word of Christ. Be careful. You could think that means by just reading the Bible, you are going to become a Christian. This is a word concerning Christ. Hrema is a spoken word, translated here, word.
Christ is the subject. that is being declared. One person rendered it this way.
So then faith comes out from what is heard. And what is heard comes through a word concerning Christ. You heard of Christ in some particular way that was not the way I heard of Christ. I heard of Christ through my mother. My mother led me to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
We had a pastor who preached the gospel and through my mother's words to me about Christ and through the pastor's speaking of Christ, I realized that as a little boy, I needed Christ as my Savior. And I trusted him, and I've never had to trust him again. For salvation, that was settled. I have a very good friend of the Navigators who had a buddy of his who just couldn't accept the fact that once he trusted Christ. He really was forever in the family of God.
And he would call my friend in the middle of the night, he'd say, Bob. You know, I'm really uneasy. Bob would say, let's turn to John chapter 3, verse 16. He said, Bob, we did this yesterday. Turn again to John 3.
Let's see if it's gone. Let's look and see if it's gone.
So they'd turn on the phone. He'd cut two in the morning, for God so loved the world that I wish you'd stop calling. No, no. He gave his only, and so he'd read the, he said, is it still there? He said, yes.
Then you're still in his family. Why? Because you believed in him, didn't you? Yes.
Okay, thanks Bob. Two days later, ring. Bob, I just don't feel like I'm still in the face.
Okay, John 3:60. Bob, we've done this five times already. How many times do we have to read it until you're convinced? Why? Because it doesn't make logical sense.
Everything else you work hard for. Everything else you have to keep up. Everything else you've got to keep earning, right? I mean, you didn't move into your new home and go, well, everything else is taken care of, did you? It's funny, once a month you get a little reminder.
You've been using the electricity. Guess what? You got to pay. You got to write the check. Or somehow you got to get the money back to them.
Or guess what? You're in a home, it's dark. And before long, there's no water to take a shower in. Why? Because you didn't pay the water bill.
Because that's the way it works in life, except in salvation. You don't pay anything. You go, what?
And every time you go, what? You're denying what he said. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will be saved. You will be saved.
You will be saved. You won't feel saved. You will be saved. You won't always act like you're saved, you will be saved. And some of you look at me like What?
It's true. It's called the doctrine of eternal security. You're in, you're safe. You're saved. You're there.
But the amazing thing is most don't accept it. Oh, I've worked for everything in my life. I'm going to work for this one. I'm going to help you buy the new building, please. Please.
Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross. I cling. You're responsible just as the Jews are responsible. to take the message Believe it. Verse 21.
Because the God is faithful. All humanity. is continually responsible. As for Israel, he says, All the day long I've stretched out my hands to a disobedient. Obstinate.
people. It's true. You continue to give the gospel and you continue to run into the disobedient and obstinate. and you continue to give the gospel and you continue to run into the disobedient and obstinate.
Well, I could just never believe that.
Well, I'm sorry, but I just have to keep telling you because it's the truth. It's the truth. Accept it. Believe it. God continues to reach out.
It was a great day in my life when I began to rest easy knowing that I'm not responsible for what happens in your barn. We've learned from one of our adult children about barns. You have your barn. I have my barn. Each barn has a fence around it.
We can talk at the fence. But there's no reason for you to climb over the fence and get in my barn and start doing my stuff. And there's no reason for me to climb over and get it. It sounds like what an adult child would say to a parent, doesn't it? Guess why they'd say that?
Anyway, they'd climb back over and come over here and do my stuff. No, let's stay out of each other's barns. Why? Because your barn is your business. My barn is mine.
I will never climb over the fence into your barn. I promise you. If to the last day of your life you choose to reject Christ, I'll never invade your barn. Why? Because I can't change things in your barn.
Your barn is your business. What goes on there is your decision. Poor do I rest easy at night? You say, well that's pretty irresponsible, Chuck. Really?
You want me in your barn? Talk to Cynthia.
Well it's bad enough just doing our own barn. But get into yours, I don't know enough to tell you how to do your barn. I don't know what's keeping you out of the family of God. It's really none of my business. My job is to tell you There's bread to eat.
There's water to drink. You don't have to starve over there. It's available.
So that brings us back to responsibility. The Christian. The Christian's responsibility is to share. And care. and pray.
Stop. That's it. The Christian's responsibility is to share and to care and to pray. Obviously, we're to live a life and we're to be an example, but shaping people's relationship to Christ, you tell them about Christ. You care about their situation and you pray.
That's it. You trust God. You trust God. Most amazing things happen. I had a guy tell me just a couple of weeks ago, he said, Chuck, I want you to know that years ago I was listening to you on the radio, had no idea what you looked like.
Had no idea where you were. Didn't know you're from Adam? I listen to your message. And I thought, well, that sort of makes sense. And it was completely different from what I'd ever believed.
And he said, I listened a little further, tuned you in the next day, listened a little further, tuned you in the next day. And he said, You know what? Come here. You're my spiritual father. And he heard me.
Work. And I thought. Let go. Why are we so happy? Because I had just shared and cared and prayed.
I don't even know him. He's born again as I am. Or you may be. You need to share. Keep caring.
And pray. Now The non-Christian's job is to face the truth. and come to terms with it. You hear it? You receive it.
You check it out. And then you come to terms with it. You're going to believe it or you're going to reject it. I uh Cannot do that for you. That's your barn.
That stuff goes on behind your fence. I'll come to the edge and talk to you about it. Hopefully I won't insult you or make you feel uneasy. But I will at least come to the edge and say A care. Care about it.
But you could die there. Not believing that's your choice. Don't ever blame anyone for your choice. I love Abraham Lincoln's words. Every man is responsible for his own face after age forty.
I like that. You're responsible for your own soul at the time of death. Don't ever blame another preacher. You're responsible. You're on your own.
Oh, you and the Lord. Which is the third? The Lord's responsibility is to save whoever comes to Him. Trust me, he will. He will.
He won't ask you to clean up your life. He won't ask you to get sincere. He won't say that until you come to church for the next two months to prove that you really mean business. He won't say to you, until you stop smoking, I'm not going to talk to you. Until you stop drinking, I am not going to talk to you.
I'm not going to listen to you. I'm not going to believe you. Until you get rid of your drugs, I'm not going to stop it. None of that is in Romans 10. And they had all those things back then.
Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's amazing what He can do to your fishbowl. Maisie, what he can do to your bard. 'Cause see, he has a right to all barns. With him there are no fences. Let's pray.
Forgive us, our Father, for messing up the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. Forgive us for being indifferent about it. turning it into a system of legalistic works. For demanding of people things that not even we could have done when we were lost. Forgive us, forgive us, forgive us.
Help us to live a life in such a way that people are drawn to you. May our faith be contagious. May our joy Be irresistible. Our understanding of people and their great need. Be deep.
Free of judgment. And may your son have his way. in and among us and even in spite of. Us.
Now, Lord, we commit to you the week and the opportunities to share. Maybe be Gracious. Faithful. consistent. Caring.
Courteous. And Lord, may your spirit work with us. once we have shared. And begin to pray. Commit to you all who have never trusted Christ.
Yeah. that you would make them Uneasy, restless. even sleepless. Till they find that rest in you. In the Savior's name we pray.
Everybody said. Amen. God has made salvation available to everyone through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we're praying that you will confess Jesus as Lord, believe that God raised Him from the dead. And when you do that, you will be saved.
This is Insight for Living. Our Bible teacher Chuck Swindahl titled today's message, Straight Talk About Responsibility. If you'd like to learn more, Chuck and his creative team have assembled a collection of helpful study tools for this comprehensive series on Romans. First, we have the Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook. This spiral bound resource for Romans comes in two volumes, and both are available now.
Next, our special bundle includes Chuck's commentary on Romans from the popular Living Insights Commentary Collection. And third, the bundle includes audio messages from Chuck's teaching series on Romans.
So check out this special bundle of resources by going to insight.org/slash offer. Insight for Living is made possible on your station because of grateful listeners who give voluntary donations. And today our team would like to say thanks to our monthly companions. You can become part of this growing family of friends right now by going online and following the simple instructions. By doing so, you'll ensure that Chuck's teaching continues on your station.
But here's the best part. You'll play a significant role in extending God's love to those who have never experienced His grace before. Plus, when you become a monthly companion right now, we're pleased to extend a special gift offer. It's a free downloadable PDF of chapter 5 of Chuck's book, Abraham, One Nomad's Amazing Journey of Faith. The passage is about Abraham's friendship with God.
And in this message, Chuck describes five benefits that God grants to his friends. To learn more and donate, visit insight.org/slash monthly companion. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuckswindahl describes the unique role of God's chosen people when our study in Romans continues Tuesday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Straight Talk About Responsibility, was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R.
Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
