The Righteousness That Is Salvation
TEXT: Romans 10:1-13
THEME: The primary purpose of salvation is not to give you entrance into heaven. The primary purpose of salvation is to make you fit for heaven. Nothing can enter into heaven unless it is already righteous in the eyes of God. Hebrews 12:14 speaks of the “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Revelation 21:27 says of heaven that “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”
God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). Even the moon and the stars are not pure in His sight (Job 25:5) and man is no more than a worm and is much lower than the stars (v.6). How can we be accepted into God’s holy heaven?
Yet, there is a way provided to us by God Himself. It is not simply a ticket into heaven but it is a way by which we are made righteous in the eyes of God. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the imputed righteousness of Christ on us. We are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Christ is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
This message demonstrates the frustration and failure of those who go about to establish their own righteousness through good works. Then, it describes the gift of God and how we can have His righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. This message is also a remedy to those who would cheapen the true greatness of the gospel. Please observe the two paths to righteousness (HINT: Only one gets you to heaven).
I. RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT FAITH (Romans 10:1-5)
A. Its Failure: They Still Are Not Saved (v.1)
B. Its Features (v.2-3)
1. A zeal for God (v.2; Galatians 4:17-18)
2. Self-righteousness (v.3a; Matthew 5:20)
3. Rejection of God’s righteousness (v.3b; see Philippians 3:4-9)
C. Its Flaw (v.4-50
1. Their rejection of Christ (v.4); in seeking after God in their own efforts, they reject the way God provides through Christ
2. The requirements of the law (v.5; Galatians 3:10-13)
a. Under the law, life is only provided to those who fulfill every whit.
b. Those who fail in even one point (meaning all men) are placed under its curse. (see James 2:10)
II. RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH (Romans 10:6-13)
A. It is Available (v.6-8; Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
1. God does not require great feats of endurance or devotion in order to save us
2. Naaman represents those who think they should accomplish “some great thing” (2 Kings 5:13).
B. It is Attainable (v.9-11)
1. Its reception (v.9)
a. By confession (Matthew 16:15-17)
b. By faith (Acts 8:37; 16:30-34)
2. Its results (v.10-11)
a. Righteousness (v.10; Romans 4:6-8)
b. Salvation (v.11; Romans 6:23)
c. Boldness (v.11)
C. It is Accessible (v.12-13)
1. To both Jew and Greek (v.12; Romans 1:16)
2. To whosoever will (v.13; John 1:10-12)
CONCLUSION: Are you fit to enter heaven—not by your own righteousness, but by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ? As Philippians 3:9 says, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
If you are saved, are you walking worthy of your calling in Jesus Christ? As Ephesians 4:1 declares, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”
Copyright © 2002
Antioch Baptist Church Knoxville, Tennessee