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And now we're going to listen to God speak to us, as we read the Bible, which is his word, and he speaks to us this evening through the writings of one of his servants, the Apostle Paul. What he has to say is, in fact, quite a closely argued argument. I shall try to read it as sensibly as I can. Perhaps you will care to cooperate with me and try to follow the argument as I read it. The passage is to be found in the Epistle to the Romans and chapter ten. The Epistle to the Romans and chapter ten. It is Paul the Apostle speaking, and he says as follows: Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for them, that they might be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby. But the righteousness which is of faith says like this: Don't say in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down. Or who shall descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. Then what does it say? Well, it says like this, the word is near you, in your very mouth, and in your heart. That is, the word of faith, which we preach, that if you will confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart it is that man believes unto righteousness. And with the mouth it is that confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whosoever believeth in him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction, there is no difference between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all. And that same Lord is Lord of all. And that same Lord is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they be preach except they be- how shall they preach except they be sent? Even as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things. Ah, but they did not all obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. How would I say? Didn't they hear? Yes, indeed. Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, did not Israel know? First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy with those who are no nation, with a nation void of understanding will I anger you. But Isaiah is very bold, and he says, I was found of them that didn't seek me. I became manifest unto them that did not ask after me. But as to Israel, he says, all day long I have stretched out my hand unto a disobedient and And gained gainsaying saying peace. people. You mustn't ask me how I know it, but tonight I can tell you on reasonably good authority that sometimes a congregation like this will go away and discuss the preacher. They are to be heard saying, what an odd fish he was. Did you notice what old-fashioned clothes he wore? Must have come out of the ark. What an odd accent he had, and did you notice those funny m- m- mannerisms that he had? Curious. Wonder what he does for a living. Do you imagine he's married and got half a dozen children? And so forth and so on. Congregations have been known to go away and discuss the preacher. They even occasionally discuss what he preached about and whether it made sense or whether it was all double Dutch. Would it surprise you to know that sometimes preachers go away and discuss their congregations. I do, I confess that at once to you. I shall probably discuss you tonight before I'm finished. I don't mean with my fellow Christians, but with my God. And I find I'm not alone in this habit. I find other preachers there are that discuss their congregations. And one so notable a preacher as the Apostle Paul, he not only discussed his congregation, but he wrote down here in the Bible exactly what he thought of some of them. And you see, the thing is easy to understand why preachers fall into that habit, for no true preacher occupies a pulpit like this just to be an entertainment to the congregation for a half an hour. Not to while away a few minutes with an interesting little discourse, thereafter to be forgotten. Not even to preach to people that they ought to be good and behave and be decent citizens. A true Christian preacher who occupies a platform as I a- occupy one this evening has a job of work to do. What he's after is this, so to preach the gospel of God that people in his congregation will come and actually find the Lord. He's expecting people, as they sit on the seat, to hear the gospel, to wake up to the fact that they are sinners before God. He's expecting, as they sit on those seats, that as they come to see, goodness me, I'm a sinner. That then they shall penetrate into their hearts what the preacher is saying, that God has a salvation for them, a gift for them. That they are expected to receive the Savior, and receiving him to enter into peace with God, and to experience that revolution in life that is being born again and becoming a child of God and having peace with God. That's what the preacher is expecting. Naturally enough, you know, when it doesn't happen, when people come and just listen to the sermon and then go away and forget it, the preacher, if he's an honest fellow, will start to think, well, why on earth didn't they get saved then? Paul had the problem, I say. You see, Paul the Apostle, of course, was a magnificent preacher, and he had preached thousands of times in all sorts of places. He had preached in the barbarous regions of Paphlagonia to Paphlagonians. He had preached in the sophisticated cities of Greece, like Athens and Corinth. He had preached in the powerful colonies of Rome, like Philippi, and Paul the Apostle had seen thousands of people born again by God's Holy Spirit. He watched one thug of a jailer one night in a place called Philippi, a man that a few hours before had ripped his back open with his Roman cat o' nine tails. He watched that man that very night discover the gospel, discover the Savior, and actually pass from death unto life and get converted and born again and find salvation and peace with God. In that very same city, he had watched a very sophisticated lady. She was the head of a fashion business. She imported the most beautiful material that ever a lady could wish for to make a dress from. Evening gown stuff it was. Purple, so they called it in those days. And he watched that dear businesswoman listening to the gospel, and presently he saw it go all over her face. Ah, she'd seen it. The Lord opened her heart, and the woman grasped salvation and was saved. Oh, Paul had seen it happen thousands of times. But you know, always and again. As he preached the gospel in all sorts of congregation, there were certain people that just did not get saved. And it was a big problem to him. It was a big problem because you might have thought that they were the very people that would have got saved. They were his own Jewish fellow nationals, and these Jews, I must tell you, had been brought up from little children with the Bible read in their ears. They even had bits of the Bible written out on paper and and knocked on their doorposts. They've been to the synagogue thousands of times ever since they were infants and heard the word of God read. They knew the Bible. They were exceeding. The very people you might have expected, therefore, to get saved. And yet time and time and time again, when Paul had finished his preaching and preached his heart out, these were the people that remained unsaved. So Paul sat down and wrote about them, tried to work it out in his heart. Well, why is it they don't get saved then? And tonight we're going to listen to him, analyzing the reasons why those people didn't get saved. And you know, we need to be careful, don't we? Because as we listen to Paul, maybe God will be analyzing us. You saved? Could it be with any of us that we're just the people that you might have expected to be saved? We were brought up in Sunday school, our parents were Christians, we know the Bible, we've sung the Christian hymns, and yet not saved. Why not? As we listen to Paul discuss his congregations, maybe we shall find our own difficulties. Pray God we shall find the answer to them. Why weren't they saved then? Oh well, says Paul, I tell you one reason why. You know, when it came to these spiritual things, they one made one fatal mistake right from the beginning. When they thought of God, then they said to themselves, well, obviously if you're going to be saved, the way to be saved is to lead as good a life as you could possibly lead. You know, it seemed obvious to them, so obvious to them they didn't stop to think. Why, they said it stands to reason you can't be an absolute sinner and expect to be saved. They said, therefore, the way to be saved is to try and be as good as you can, as religious as you can, go to church as often as you can, read the Bible as often as you can, try to keep God's holy law. Well, it stands to reason that that's the way to be saved. And of course it isn't, but they thought it was. And so they made a mistake almost before they started in these things. Thinking that God's holy law is given us so that we should keep it, and doing the best we can to keep it, we should eventually qualify for God's heaven and for being saved. That was a most serious mistake. And Paul tries to explain it here. He says, you see, you see the mistake they're making, don't you? For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, for being saved. Do you know, as I listen to Paul telling us about that, what the true function of God's law is and how we can be saved, and that we're not saved by keeping God's law. I illustrate it to my little mind by a thermometer. You know, if you're feeling a bit gray or a bit sick, and you come home from work and you say, I don't know, I might be ill, I think, and you go to the cupboard and you get out a thermometer and you put the thermometer in your mouth and presently you draw it out and look at it and you say, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, one hundred and five! Ooh, I'm pretty ill. And of course, you being a sensible person, you say, well, I must get to bed. Uh, you know, hundred and five, goodness me. Um, so to bed you go, and you get somebody to go after and phone up the doctor, and you bring the learned doctor, and the doctor gives you medicine so you can get better. And what would you think of me if you called on me one day and found me sitting up in bed with a big thermometer in my mouth, and you say, hello, old chap, what's wrong with you? I say, I'm pretty ill. Do you know, I, I got this thermometer out and I put it in my mouth, and lo and behold, I've got a temperature of one hundred and five. And you say to me, yeah, I suspect you've gone and called the go- doctor, haven't you? Oh no, I say, I don't believe in doctors. I don't believe in doctors. No, you say, look, the trouble is this, this thermometer thing, you see. This thermometer shows I'm, I'm very bad, I'm one hundred and five, but I, I'm convinced that if I do my level best to sit here and suck this thermometer, I can get this thermometer down to where it should be. You'd say, my dear good man, the fever has gone to your head. You're going a little bit delirious. The thermometer isn't given you so that you suck it to get better. The thermometer is given to you to show you that you are desperately ill and to drive you to the doctor so the doctor can make you better. You'll never get better sucking a thermometer and trying to get it down to normal. But that's how it is with God's law, isn't it? How many a man and woman have I met who are telling me in the confidence of their hearts, but you see, I'm doing my level best to please God and to keep his holy law, and I find it desperately difficult. Of course they do. But that isn't the way to get saved, is it? God's law is given to us to show us that we are desperately sick, spiritually speaking, and then to drive us to the Savior, who can give us forgiveness of sins and make us right with God. I wonder if we've all seen through that. I remember once upon a time, being in Vienna, trying to learn some German, it was difficult enough, when in the student refectory I met an American. Well, that was pleasant in its way. And as we fell to talking over our fish and chips, he told me that he had been in training as a priest. I said, that was very interesting. Ah, but he says, I'm not a priest now, I'm an atheist. I've ditched Christianity completely, he says. I've given that stuff up, you see. I'm an atheist. There's nothing in Christianity. I said, that's very interesting, old fellow. Tell me, I said, if you wouldn't mind, when you were in training as a priest, what did you understand about salvation? What did you think in those days about this question, how is anybody saved? Oh, he said, that's simple enough, you know. You have to be baptized as an infant, and then you have to to go to church, and then you have to read the Bible, and then you have to do your best to keep God's law. I said, it's anything of the sort, is it? He said, of course it is. I said, no, it isn't. No, no, I said, the Bible says that salvation isn't that way. We don't get saved by keeping God's law. We get saved when we come as sinners to Jesus Christ and admit our bankruptcy and receive from him the free gift of forgiveness and justification and eternal life. Oh no, he said nonsense. No, he said, I'm an atheist, but if I were going to be a Christian, I got it right and you got it wrong. He said, what a very curious man. And I wonder if I speak to somebody tonight and you're about to ditch Christianity. You've decided there's nothing in it. It irritates you to hear preachers constantly preaching to you how you ought to be good, you ought to do this, you ought to do the other. Indeed, as I speak to you tonight, I come across to you as somebody that's telling you that you're not good enough and that you ought to try better and you ought to try harder, and you say, I'm trying hard enough, am I not? And if that's how I come across to you, well, I'm sorry I'm not putting it right, but that is not what Christianity says. I plead with you, before you ditch Christianity, at least find out what the Savior is saying. Of course he's saying we're sinners. But he's not grumbling at you and telling you, look here, you must do better than that and pull your socks up and try to merit God's pardon and and his heaven. The blessed Savior is saying to you that you, in common with the rest of us, are a sinner, but he has a gift to give you. He could make you right with God this very night and introduce you to peace and security and assure you of a place in God's heaven. He could give it to you as a gift. Or let's try, shall we, not to get started on the wrong foot. Let's at least get this thing clear, that what God is offering is a gift of pardon, he calls it justification, and eternal life through the Jesus who died for us at Calvary. Alas, when Jewish, when Paul's fellow Jews heard about this, they may didn't like it. They like to think that they were good enough as they were. And they went on with their religion. And they would not submit to God's way of salvation. Thousand pities, wasn't it? Ah, but then apparently there were some other people, and I'll tell you why they won't say it. When they listened to Paul preaching, they they stuck out their chest and they said, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, well, it may be right, you see, but you know, you can't know until you get to heaven, you see. None of us can know, can we? We can't know, listen, none of us know until we get to heaven. And you know, there are multitudes like it now. They say very learnedly after you have preached, ah, yes, that was very interesting, but of course we can't be sure of these things until we get to heaven, can we? And I have to tell you that that's utter nonsense. The Bible says, don't say in your heart, who shall ascend up to heaven? You don't have to. Why not? Because Jesus Christ has come down from heaven, right to where we are, to tell us. And that's the glorious thing about salvation. You don't have to wait till you get to heaven. You don't have to wait until you stand before God's great judgment throne before you know your eternal destiny. You can know it tonight, here in this very place. Jesus Christ has come down from heaven for this very purpose. Listen to him as he stood amongst his contemporaries with two feet on this earth. Say, when it comes to the final judgment, I'm going to be the judge, ladies and gentlemen. Get that into your heads. I shall be the judge. And if you would like it, I could tell you your verdict right now. That's the wonder about the gospel. Do you want to know your eternal verdict, where you will be in eternity? You could know it this very night. You could have it from the judge himself. For the judge himself is our blessed Lord, come down from heaven and listen what he says to us. He who hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed already over from death to life. Oh, my friend, I wonder if you capture the wonder of that thing. Fancy being able to know it in your heart of hearts, on the authority of the judge himself, that you've already passed over from death to life. You have eternal life. You shall never perish. You shall never come into condemnation, and you could have it now. It's nonsense, if you'll let me tell you, sitting there and saying to yourself while you listen to me preach, ah well, but we can't know for sure until we get into eternity. And then there were others, and they said, yes, you know, but, uh, there's nobody been, uh, to the dead and come back again to tell us, is there? And I've heard people talk like that, uh, myself. They stick out their chest as though they were scientists or something, or philosophers, and they say, ah, well, Mr. Preacher, there's nobody who's died and come back again to tell us what it's like. What nonsense. Of course there have been. That is precisely what Jesus Christ our Lord has done. He has died, and he has come back again. And he tells us with all the solemnity of his being, there is a heaven, and there is a hell. And you and I are going to one or the other. Oh friend, don't wait until you get there to find out, will you? Trust Christ that he's not leading you astray. He says there's a heaven and there's a hell. And that's why he died, so that we might go to heaven. Saved by his precious blood. Now there were other people, I'll tell you why they weren't saved, says Paul. You see, when they heard the gospel, they said, ah yes, Paul, well that might do very well for some people, you know, but we're different. Oh, says Paul, how's that? Oh, they said, you see, we're Jews. Now, Paul, you're doing a very good work, doubtless, all this evangelism, do you see? But when we don't need it ourselves, you want to go to the prostitutes and the drug addicts and all the other boys around the corner, and those hideous Gentiles, those sinners of the Gentiles, they really could do with your gospel, Paul, you see. They do need cleaning up. Go to there, to Soho or to Paris or something. But of course we don't need it. We've always been religious. Do you know it's a very odd thing, when Paul went to the prostitutes and the Gentiles and the people in Soho and so forth, do you know what they said? They said, we're different, you know. They said, you know, yeah, those Jews of yours, they like religion, don't they? Well, we don't mind if they find religion helpful and a comfort. We don't mind them enjoying religion, but you see, we don't need religion. We're different. Isn't it odd? And God looks at us straight, and he says, you know, you're not different. No, no. You can be Jew or Gentile, Englishman or Irishman, you're not different really. You may be modern and sophisticated or ancient like me and antiquated, but there's no difference in this, that we all have sinned in the past. And we still come short of God's requirements. There is no difference. There is no difference in this that we need to be saved. And friend, thank God there's no difference in this either, that we all can be saved if we want to be. Be you Jew or Hottentot, be you young or old, the same Lord over all is rich to all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There's no difference. You're not different, man. You're not different, woman. Thousands of people like you have been converted and saved. And you can be saved too. At a very silly mis- s- silly excuse, that. You're not different. Ah, but said pe- some people to Paul, ah yes, Paul, maybe, but then this salvation is a difficult thing, you see. Paul, they said, you know, you must, uh, face the fact that you're very good at religion. Oh, we do admire your faith, Paul. You're ever so good at religion. But then we find religion difficult, you see, and this business of being saved, it is so mysterious and difficult. You say, what did you say to them, Paul? And Paul just grinned at them. It's like no nonsense difficult. Of course it isn't. Being saved is not difficult. Let me tell you how easy it is, he says. The word is near you. The word is in your very mouth. God couldn't do much more for you, could he? God's put the very word in your mouth. You've only got to speak it, man. The word is in your very heart. All you've got to do is accept it. If you shall believe in thine heart that God has raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, the one who died for you, now risen for you, and with your mouth you shall confess him as Lord. God himself says, you will be saved. There's no mystery. It's not difficult. You could do it now before this service is finished. Well then why, why, why aren't people saved then? You turn around to me and you say, Mr. Preacher, I'll tell you why I'm not saved. Oh yes. You say, because you keep talking about believing the gospel. I don't know what you mean by the gospel. I've never heard the gospel. Really? Well, that's a very good reason for not being saved. You've never heard the gospel. You don't really know what the gospel is. Well, no wonder you're not saved then. Friend, would you let me take that s- excuse away forever? If you want to, you can hear it. In fact, let me stop everything now. And let me talk to you who don't really know what the gospel is. Let me tell you. God says we are sinners. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. We have sinned. We come short of God's requirements. We deserve his eternal condemnation. Is that clear? Oh friend, now let me tell you the gospel. Jesus Christ loves you. God loves you. And he commends his love to you that while you were still sinner, this very moment, while you were still a sinner, Christ died for us. He was wounded for our iniquities, bruised for our transgressions. He bore our sins in his body on the cross. Now he's risen. And it means this. That if you will admit that you are, like the rest of us are, seriously and solemnly before God, a sinner deserving of God's just wrath and condemnation. Knowing you cannot save yourself or merit salvation, if you'll come to Jesus Christ tonight, in true repentance, and receive him as your savior, then God is prepared to pardon you right now, forgive you. Give you the gift of eternal life now. And promise you that you shall never perish. And the Savior is prepared to come and live in your heart and life. And walk with you the rest of life, through life, and home to God's heaven. The gospel, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, was buried and is raised again according to the scripture. And all you have to do in true rep- is in true repentance, giving up faith in all else to receive Christ. I didn't put it very well, did I? But you've heard now, haven't you? You're still not saved. Why not? You say, you don't understand, Mr. Preacher, this believing business is very difficult. I remember years ago in my student days, talking with the chaps over dinner one night, and various things came up, and we began to discuss spiritual things, and one fellow lingered on, and when all the others were gone, he he leaned over the table to him, and he said, you know, David, do you know, I pray for faith every night before I go to bed. And it would have been unkind of me to say it, but I was tempted to say it. I nearly said, well, I should stop praying for faith if I were you. What would you think of me? I come down here tonight, and as you're going past, you, you are kind enough to stop and talk with me, and I say, and what might your name be? And you say, Ofracaty. And as you say it, a look comes over my face, and I say, oh, Ofracaty. Wish I could believe that. Difficult, you know. I said, half a minute. You wouldn't mind if I pray, would you? And I get down on my knees and say, oh God, help me to believe this woman that her name is Ofracaty. What would you do? Swipe me with your handbag or something? You will say the infernal cheek of the man. I told him my name was Oflacadie, and here he dares to doubt it. Am I such a liar that he has to call on God Almighty to help him to believe what I say? Why do we treat God like that? Is it all that difficult to believe God? Is he such a notorious liar? What do you really think of God? Oh, friend, if ever you're going to spend eternity in God's heaven, you'll have to get this matter settled. If you can't believe God, you'll not live in the same heaven as he lives in. Trying to live in a home with somebody that you neither believe nor trust would be very difficult, wouldn't it? If you can't believe God, you'll not live in his heaven with him. Why should it be difficult to think that he means what he says when he has loved us so much as to give his son to die for us and calls on us to believe and assures us that the moment we trust the Savior, he will give us eternal life and we shall never perish. Why is it difficult to believe? Oh friend, if you want to find it easy to believe, then the way to do it is to take God's word in your hand and put your very finger on the verse and read God's word and the Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. He who has the Son of God has eternal life. Ah, you've got one more reason, have you? Why people are not saved. You say, I know why it is, Mr. Preacher. I've heard it said, you know, that God is only prepared to save some people and others he's not prepared to save. He's chosen a few to save them, and he's consigned all the others to perdition, and it's no good if you're not one of the elect. You can't be saved. You might want to be saved, but God isn't prepared to save you. And you say, I think that was the reason why those Jews didn't get converted, because God hadn't chosen. God wasn't willing to save them. They wanted to be saved, but God wouldn't save them. Oh, friend, what a slander. What a slander. It's not true. The very opposite is true. Oh, listen to God speaking, breaking his heart as he speaks through Isaiah the prophet over those Jewish people, and he says as follows, all day long I have stretched forth my hands. Like a father, have you ever seen a father and a mother? And there's the little boy, and he's now learning to walk, and dad stretches out his hands, ready to catch the child as he takes his few tottering steps. And here is God pleading with Israel to come, and not only standing there and saying it, but stretching out his hands till he can nearly touch them and pleading with them to fall into his arms. You say it's a metaphor, Mr. Preacher. Of course it's a metaphor, but what a vivid metaphor for what God Almighty was doing at Calvary, friend. You suppose that you want to be saved and God wouldn't save you? Oh, what a nonsense it is. Think again of what was happening at Calvary, as men took God's son and nailed him to that cross. Oh, how it stretched God. Stretched out his hands to reach men. And so it is now. I tell you in God's name, that God's very hands stretch out to where you sit tonight. His fingers almost touch you. Oh friend, you only have to fall into those arms and say, God, I'm a sinner, I need to be saved. God, save me. You fall into his arms the very moment those arms will close around you, and nothing shall ever pluck you thereafter out of his hands. Save, friend. Let me tell you kindly, that if these have been your difficulties, now God, God has got rid of them, hasn't he? And you have no reason left for not being saved. And with the reasons gone, all you've got left is excuses. One day we shall stand before God. Oh friend, if ever you should stand before him unsaved, whatever reason will you give God for not having been saved? Now, surely none of us tonight is going to do such a thing. And if it is that any of us tonight are not yet saved, or we're not certain about it, then surely we shall not give sleep to our eyes this night until we have got this thing settled. So when the others have gone, do remember, you needn't go away unsaved or unsure. And if you are unsaved or unsure, then stay and talk to the elders of this church, or some young friend that has brought you here, or if you can find the courage in your heart, come and talk to me. My bark is worse than my bite. But friend, I repeat, God help us all. You need not go away uncertain Uncertain. Or or unsaved. unsaid.