SERIES: The Book of Romans
Our Responsibility in Salvation
Introduction: And now for the rest of the story …. If you were here last Sunday you heard a very strong message on the sovereignty of God. Romans 9 can almost take our theological breath away, as it teaches that God does what He wants with His creatures, and there is no one who can accuse Him of being unjust or unfair—because He is God. He makes choices among men before they are ever born, and those choices are not based upon anything in those individuals but rather upon God and His purposes. God’s choices even extend to wicked men like Pharaoh, whom God used to bring about His desired ends.
Now, let’s face it; if the only part of the Bible we had was Romans 9, it would be very difficult to avoid the conclusion that the biblical philosophy of life must be fatalism. After all, it almost seems like God is up in Heaven pulling puppet strings, and men on earth are dancing to His tunes. And it almost seems like someone could want desperately to be saved, but if he’s not one of the elect, he’s out to lunch.
Nothing could be a worse distortion of the biblical position. Whenever a passage like Romans 9 is read in isolation from what comes before it or after it, there is inevitable distortion. However, when we read it and study it in context, it’s literally amazing how balanced the Scriptures are on such subjects as divine sovereignty and human freedom and responsibility.
Often the balance is found in the very same verse, like in Luke 22:22 or Acts 2:23. Luke 22:22, for example, says, “The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed (or determined), but woe to that man who betrays him.” If Christ’s death on the Cross was determined beforehand, why does God pronounce a judgment on Judas for helping bring it about? Sovereignty and responsibility in the same verse. But when you have an extended and systematic development of a doctrine like the sovereignty of God (such as we find in Romans 9), it may be necessary to read not just the next verse but the next chapter. And when we do that in this case, we find one of the strongest chapters in the Bible on the corresponding subject of human responsibility.
Listen carefully to God’s Word as found in Romans 10:1-17:
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. {2} For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. {3} Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. {4} Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
{5} Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” {6} But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) {7} “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). {8} But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: {9} That 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. {10} For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. {11} As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” {12} For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, {13} for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
{14} How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? {15} And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
{16} But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” {17} Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
This Scripture passage begins by pressing home the fact that …
The responsibility of mankind in salvation is to believe. (1-10)
It is not to work or to give or to go on pilgrimages or to seek miracles or to do penance—it is to believe, which means to exercise faith in Jesus Christ. (The word “believe” and the word “faith,” I remind you, are the exact same word in the original language of the New Testament). Now in order to establish this point concerning man’s responsibility to believe, the Apostle discusses three kinds of religion: the religion of works, the religion of signs, and the religion of faith.
The religion of works doesn’t work. (1-5) Since we commented briefly on the first paragraph of chapter 10 several weeks ago, we will only summarize the message now. The Jews as a whole, says Paul, are people of great religious zeal, albeit misdirected zeal. He should know, because he himself was a Jew and was such an avid Zionist that he persecuted the early Christians with a vengeance, thinking all the time that he was doing God a favor.
In fact, it is that very attitude of “doing God a favor” that is the downfall of any religion of works. Anytime a person tries to establish his own home-made righteousness, as verse 3 describes, he is in trouble. You can’t achieve righteousness; you can’t earn it; nor can you have your lack of it made up by the super-meritorious work of the saints, as some teach. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible to indicate that one mortal human being can transfer merit that he has earned to anyone else.
No, friends, the only way to get the righteousness that God requires is to receive it from God Himself. And thankfully, He is willing to give it to us. God’s own Son practiced perfect righteousness, and since He died in our place, God is willing to credit Christ’s righteousness to our accounts if we will renounce our self-sufficiency and put our faith in Him.
It’s amazing how many people would rather work for their salvation than trust God for it. However, the religion of works is doomed to failure, as the history of Israel makes clear. For centuries the Jewish people misused the Mosaic Law, believing that by stark attention to its details they could earn a right standing with God. What they failed to understand is what verse 4 tells us: “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” In other words, Christ is the culmination, the fulfillment, and (in a sense) the termination of the law. Instead of the temple our focus is to be Christ; instead of Moses, Christ; instead of Aaron, Christ; instead of the law, Christ; instead of ceremonies, Christ; instead of worship localized in a building, Christ.
If the Jewish people had just listened to their beloved Moses, they would have known how futile was their attempt to earn their own righteousness, for in verse 5 we read, “Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: ‘The man who does these things (i.e., keeps these laws) will live by them.’” This quotation is actually not Moses’ words but God’s words to Moses, as found in Leviticus 18:5. There God is giving laws for various aspects of the lives of His people, and He seems to be saying that a person could, theoretically, find life in the law, but only if he kept the Law 100% and practiced it continually. Unfortunately, that’s a moot point, because no one does. Therefore, no one can receive life by means of obedience to the Law.
Another means of life must exist, and Paul refers to it in verse 6: “But the righteousness that is by faith says ….” But before he tells us what the essence of righteousness by faith is, he tells us what it isn’t, and in the process, he describes a second kind of religion:
The religion of signs is unnecessary. (6-7) In verses 6-8 three quotations are given from Moses’ farewell speech in Deut. 30. Turn there, if you will. Moses in this passage stresses the importance of repentance, obedience, and submission to God. Then in Deuteronomy 30:11 he indicates that this requirement is not that difficult. Certainly, God never asks of His people anything that is impossible for them to achieve. Let’s read Deuteronomy 30:11-16:
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
Now what Moses is telling the people here is that they were not to seek out additional revelation and they were not to seek miraculous intervention, but rather were to occupy themselves with obeying what they had already been given. Paul adapts Moses’ words in order to emphasize that there is no need to try to ascend to heaven to gain acceptance with God, because Christ has come from heaven to bring salvation to the world. He has come within human reach by His incarnation. And though apparently lost to us by death, He has been returned to us by resurrection. This means that the righteousness of God is within our grasp in the person of Jesus Christ. We had no part in either the incarnation or the resurrection—all that was of God. Our part is simply to believe.
Frankly, we have many today who are seeking signs and wonders as though the answer to the deadness of the Church lies in them. The entire Vineyard Church Movement is predicated on the assumption that the best and most effective evangelism, strong and rapid growth in the Christian life, and lasting assurance of salvation are attained only by miracles. I am quite convinced of the opposite. Jesus said, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” God is well able to perform miracles at any point in human history, but when people begin to focus on signs and wonders, they inevitably lose their focus on Christ and the all-sufficiency of His work on the Cross.
There is an alternative, however, to both the religion of works and the religion of signs.
The religion of faith is God’s way. (8-10) Look again at verse 8:
But what does it say? (i.e., what does the righteousness that is by faith say?) Here’s what it says: “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That 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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Here we have the two-fold aspect of saving faith.
1. Confession with the mouth that Jesus is Lord.
2. Belief in the heart that God raised Him from the dead.
If a person wants to know in a nutshell how to be get right with God, Romans 10:9-10 are excellent verses to take him to. If it seems odd that confession with the mouth comes before belief in the heart, just note that in the next verse “heart” comes before “mouth,” so apparently Paul is not trying to make an issue of the order. Certainly it is not possible to confess sincerely what is not already in one’s heart. The seat of faith is not in the head but in the heart. (I am not arguing about the part of the body in which faith is located; rather I am saying that it is not just an intellectual matter but a volitional one, an issue of the will).
God says that in order for a person to be saved, he must confess with his mouth and believe in his heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. That is the sine qua non of Christianity; it is that without which one cannot be a Christian. Jesus’ Lordship means He is God, He is Savior, and He is master over His people, over the Church, over our minds, our ethics, our careers, our ministries—everything. Furthermore, He is a resurrected Lord. Paul does not teach that Jesus is a dead martyr but rather a living Savior.
Pastor, are you saying that no one can be saved if he does not believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead? Yes! Friends, we live in such a mindlessly pluralistic society that it is considered uncouth, if not wickedly immoral, to even suggest that some religions may be better than others or, even worse, that some religions may be wrong. But some are wrong. In fact, all are wrong that do not call us out of our own inadequate self-righteousness to faith in Jesus as the risen Lord.
Some may be wondering why there is mention here of confession with the mouth, for there are many passages which mention only belief in the heart. For example, Acts 16:31 reads, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” No mention of confession with the mouth there. Or John 1:12, “But as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become sons of God.” No mention of confession with the mouth there. Is confession with the mouth essential to salvation or not? I would say that it is, if properly understood. Even though Acts 16:31 and other passages don’t mention it specifically, I think they assume it. The mouth is the organ for verbalizing one’s beliefs. Educational psychologists will tell you that a person doesn’t fully understand something until he is able to verbalize it.
The most important proposition in the world to believe and verbalize is this one: “Jesus is Lord.” That was the earliest doctrinal statement fashioned by the Church. When Peter preached his great sermon in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the punch line which led to literally thousands of conversions was this: “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” I think Peter would have said that secret belief in Christ was, at the very least, suspect belief. Listen to John’s Gospel, 12:42-43: “Many, even among the leaders, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”
The question is, “Were these rulers saved?” And I must answer, “I’m not sure.” It does say they believed, and we know a few examples like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea, who pretty much kept their faith to themselves. On the other hand, it is very hard to accept the last statement as a description of born-again believers—“they loved the approval of men more than the approval of God.” I would say that at best these men were trying to do something that is ultimately impossible—they were trying to be secret disciples. Someone has said that secret discipleship is a contradiction in terms, for either the secrecy kills the discipleship or the discipleship kills the secrecy.
I wonder if there are those here today who are trying to be secret disciples. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one who knew a great many “secret disciples” in Nazi Germany. He served in the state church, a church in which many claimed to be believers and yet never thought of paying the cost of confessing Christ openly. Bonhoeffer fought such a practice, calling it “cheap grace,” and by contrast he called for a grace that was “costly.” He wrote,
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[i]
Later he speaks of “costly grace,” and describes it this way:
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son. Above all it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life.[ii]
Bonhoeffer was consigned to the concentration camp at Buchenwald and was hanged by the Nazis just days before the Allies liberated Germany.
Belief in Christ and confession of Him properly belong together. They are but two parts of the same saving experience. Oh, that we would quit trying to play it safe and begin to openly confess our allegiance to Jesus. Of course, public testifying is not the only legitimate way to confess Christ. We do it also when we participate in public worship. We confess Christ when we participate in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We confess Christ in the way we conduct our business. We confess Christ in the way we handle temptation and trials.
Now I know individuals who rarely attend worship, care nothing about the ordinances of the church, selfishly horde the resources of their business, and fret and stew over the trials of life, and yet they claim to be Christians. But can there be any legitimacy to such claims?
Let’s be rid of all “secret discipleship,” if such a thing even exists. We do not have long to live. Let us use our time well and wisely, above all by trusting wholly in Jesus Christ and by confessing him boldly.
So the first thing we have seen is that it is man’s responsibility to believe.
The responsibility to believe presumes an ability to believe. (11-13)
One of the basic tenets of morality is that responsibility presupposes ability. We do not put the criminally insane in prison; we do not hold a child responsible to practice adult behavior; and those who miss work because they are ill are not fired from their jobs, for they did not have the ability to carry out their responsibility.
Therefore, if God holds people responsible to believe in His Son for salvation, we must assume they have the ability to believe and to trust Christ. If they do not have that ability naturally (because of their depravity and spiritual deadness), we must assume that God will grant it to them supernaturally. And in fact, I believe that may be what John 1:9 is speaking of when it calls Jesus “the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
These next three verses, 11-13, establish this point by means of emphasizing the word “whoever”and the word “all.”
A bona fide offer of salvation is made to everyone. (11-13) Isaiah 28:16 is quoted: “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” That means exactly what it says—whoever believes will not face shame. Shame is a concept that has outlived its usefulness to much of our society. As Bob Dole pointed out this week, Time-Warner and the entertainment industry surely know nothing about shame. But it is a biblical concept. It speaks of disgrace and extreme humiliation. What the Bible tells us is that those who do not trust Christ, though they may be shameless now, will be overcome with shame in the day of God’s judgment, while those who trust Christ here, though they may be made objects of great ridicule, scorn and shame by unbelievers, will have no shame hereafter.
The key to this verse, however, is the word “anyone.” It says, “Anyone who trusts in him will neverbe put to shame.” Wouldn’t it be a cruel joke, contrary to God’s divine nature, if there were some whom God refused to allow to believe, some who wanted desperately to be His children, but He said, “No, I won’t have you. You’re not among the chosen”? But it’s not that way, for God has made a bona fide offer of salvation to everyone: whoever believes will not be ashamed.
No arbitrary distinctions exclude anyone. (12) Verse 12 reads, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.” The distinction between Jew and Gentile is here used as just an example of the divisions among men. The point is that salvation is not the exclusive possession of any race, and I think we could add, any class, any IQ level, any level in the power structure. No one can say, “I am lost because I wasn’t born in the right place to the right parents or at the right time.”
I like James Boice’s observation:
You may be rich or poor, educated or uneducated, advantaged or disadvantaged. You may be passive or highly motivated. You may be religious or not religious at all. You may be moral, or you may be very immoral. You may have lived in sin a long time. You may have committed adultery or stolen money. You may even have murdered someone. It does not matter. The text says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[iii]
Verse 12 goes on to say, “Jesus is the Lord of all.” Does that mean that all are saved? No, it means that every knee shall someday bow to Him, whether in heaven or on earth or under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. Some shall do so willingly and others unwillingly, but all will do it. Of course, it makes a great deal of difference whether we do it willingly or not. It can be willingly, for He richly blesses all who call upon Him (v. 12).
And lest there be any doubt in our minds about the universality of this Gospel offer, the Apostle summarizes in verse 13:
Salvation results for whomever calls upon the name of the Lord. (13) “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” There are no exceptions to this principle. As far as I know this is the only prayer of an unbeliever that God has obligated Himself to answer—the prayer that calls upon the Lord for salvation.
Well, so far in our text the Apostle has been talking about the responsibility and the ability of everyone to personally believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beginning in verse 14 he emphasizes the responsibility of the one who is already a believer in God’s plan for reaching the lost.
The believer has a responsibility to evangelize.
Here’s the point: if some people were unable to believe and thus had no chance to be saved, then it would be rather absurd for God to tell us, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everycreature ….” But since God has revealed Himself to all men and all men are able to believe and indeed responsible to believe, that creates for us who are already saved a responsibility to share the Good News.
I’m not suggesting here that God is totally dependent on us nor even that if we don’t evangelize, some who otherwise might be saved will be lost, though some would suggest that as a logical corollary. Jesus once said that the stones would cry out the message if His disciples were silent. What I am suggesting is that even though God doesn’t need our help, He has chosen to use us and therefore we are responsible to be useful servants. Here’s how Paul stresses this responsibility:
Five essential steps that lead to salvation: (14-15)
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Reversing the order of these steps so that they are chronological, we find that the first step is that
1. A messenger is sent. Biblically a person doesn’t just decide he’s going to become a missionary or an evangelist or a pastor. Rather his or her gifts are recognized by the Body of Christ and he is sent out with authority. Our local church has been blessed to send a number of its members into missionary service. We have others who have been sent to prepare for local church ministry, and still others who have been set apart for prison ministry or other kinds of evangelistic work right here in St. Louis.
That’s the first step in the process and a very important one. We who are in positions of leadership need to be constantly on the lookout for those demonstrating gifts which would allow us to set them apart as messengers of the Gospel. “Pray the Lord of the Harvest, that He may send forth laborers ….” There is, of course, a sense in which all of us who are believers are commissioned as messengers. The great Commission is the responsibility of all of us. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
2. The messenger proclaims the truth. The last phrase in verse 14 reads, “How shall they hear without a preacher?” Paul does not have in mind here a professional clergyman. The word for preacher simply means “a proclaimer of the truth.” The one who is sent must proclaim the truth so that men can be saved. The trouble is that a lot of us talk to our neighbors and co-workers and fellow students about everything but the truth of God’s message. A great many preachers are even guilty of that, preaching about politics, social issues, ethics, and anything else except how a person can be saved.
3. Individuals hear the message. “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” It is not sufficient for us to proclaim the truth only within the four walls of our church buildings, for most of the lost will never venture inside. That is why we must take the message to the people where they are—to work with us, into the neighborhood, over the radio, on TV, overseas.
Once the messenger has delivered the message within the hearing of the individual, the individual becomes responsible to believe the message. God has never called upon us to win the lost—only to evangelize them, i.e., to tell them the good news.
4. Individuals believe what they hear. In addition to believing that God exists, the individual must believe God when He speaks. I believe it is possible to believe in God without believing God. God has spoken and His revelation is found in the Bible. If one believes that God exists without believing what He has spoken, he doesn’t possess saving faith.
It is also possible for men to believe that God exists and that He has spoken, but to stop short of applying the truth to their own personal lives. They may believe that Jesus is God, that He lived a perfect life, that He died and rose again, but despite all that fail to trust Him for their own eternal salvation. Which brings us to the final step:
5. Individuals call on Him upon whom they believe. And once again we’re back to the mouth—calling upon the Lord, turning intellectual faith into personal commitment. A final point I would like to offer is this:
Two indeterminable factors cause us to cast ourselves upon God for the results. The truth can be proclaimed, people can hear, and yet some still will not believe.
1. The sovereign choices of God are not known. I pray and I preach but I don’t get discouraged because I know that God is calling out a people for Himself. His Word will not return unto Him void; it shall accomplish what He desires; it shall succeed in the thing for which He sends it. If some do not believe I remind myself that God has never shown me the list of those whom He has chosen, nor does He want me to be concerned about that. But even more pertinent for our chapter this morning is the fact that …
2. The fickleness and rebellion of the human heart are unpredictable. Paul says in verse 16, “But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’” The implication is, “very few.” That’s the way it seems at times. It’s not because God is not merciful and gracious, for He is not willing that any should perish. He is constantly revealing Himself to sinful people and His Holy Spirit is bringing conviction upon their hearts. It’s because we are a disobedient and obstinate people, as the last verse in the chapter states, a people to whom God has stretched out His hands all day long. That’s the story of salvation—God searching, wooing, reaching out to reluctant people who would seemingly rather go to Hell trying to earn their salvation than to go to heaven as a free gift.
Conclusion: Some of you may be wondering how I could preach such a strong message on God’s sovereignty a week ago and such a strong message on man’s responsibility today. I can do it because I believe that Romans 9 is a strong passage on God’s sovereignty and Romans 10 is a strong one on man’s responsibility. I confess that I cannot reconcile these two chapters completely. If I could, I’d be the fourth Person of the Trinity. But I can accept them both because both come from God’s holy and infallible Word.
The most amazing thing to me, and the thought I would leave with you from Romans 10, is that in order to perish and go to Hell a person must actively resist the grace of a loving God. No one, not one person, will be eternally separated from God who has not personally resisted the grace of a God who sought to reach them.
That includes you. God loves you and He sent His Son to die in your place. And Jesus has provided the grounds for friendship between you and God. But you must believe, you must call upon His name, and you must confess that Jesus is Lord.
I close with the following story:
Near Sault Ste. Marie are the impressive Soo Locks, which link Lake Superior with Lake Huron. Not far from the locks is a retired Great Lakes freighter, the Valley Camp, now turned into a maritime museum, and inside the Valley Camp are tragic remains of one of the greatest naval disasters of modern times, two badly mangled lifeboats from the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. This is her story:
The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was a Great Lakes freighter nearly a thousand feet long, almost as long as the Empire State Building in New York City is high. She had sailed to Duluth, Minnesota, to pick up iron ore, and now, during the first week of November 1975, she was making her way across Lake Superior to the Soo Locks to bring the ore to the industrial cities of the South. The first day out, a terrible storm moved down out of Canada to the lakes. That is common enough on the Great Lakes in the winter months, but this was a particularly bad storm, with waves reaching twenty-five or thirty feet in height. The captain of a freighter that was following the Edmund Fitzgerald, from whom we have sworn testimony to what happened, was worried.
Somewhere along the way, the Edmund Fitzgerald began to take on water and developed an increasingly strong list to starboard. She sank low in the water. The captain of the other ship kept in radio and radar contact, but the Fitzgerald’s captain kept reporting that everything was all right.
The last communication from the doomed freighter was this tragic message: “We are holding our own.”
Minutes later the ship headed into a wave that washed over her low-lying decks, and she never came up. In less than ten seconds the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, with the loss of all twenty-seven people aboard. The captain of the ship that was following reported that she simply disappeared from his radar screen. One minute she was there. The next she was gone forever; the prop that was still turning driving her directly downward until she broke into pieces on the lake bottom.
If you have not called on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, your state is like that of the stricken freighter. You are headed into judgment–and who can say how close you may be to the ultimate disaster?
Do not say, “I am holding my own.”
Only a fool would say that when he or she is sinking, and you are sinking. Instead, call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Do so confidently, because, as our text says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[iv]
DATE: June 4, 1995
Tags:
Responsibility
Faith/works
Signs
Confession
Evangelism
[i] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, citation lost.
[ii] Bonhoeffer.
[iii] James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 3, God and History, Romans 9-11, 1231.
[iv] Boice, 1235-6. Slight editorial changes.