Paul begins his teaching by
revealing that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone who believes (Rom 1:16). It didn’t matter whether that believer was
Jewish or Greek or any other nationality (by implication); what mattered was
that the believer BELIEVED that the gospel of Christ had the power to save
him…but from what? Why was the believer in need of Salvation?
The very next verse gives us
the first inkling about what Paul is referring to when he instructs about the
power of the gospel…it contains the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD…not in the pages of
the bible, but in the PRACTICE of the instructions given within it…
For therein (i.e. within
it); is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, the just shall live by faith.
The righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith, it implies that there are various levels or
degrees of faith; or various differing extents to which one has practised the
BELIEF in the righteousness of God.
The just shall live by faith
is an expression that shows how LIVING is equated with PRACTISING in the
bible…for if the just shall live by faith, it reflects that the just shall live
by PRACTISING his/her BELIEF in the righteousness of God, and as he develops
skill in the practice of it; so also does his understanding of it increase so
that he enters deeper levels of practising the righteousness of God.
Indeed elsewhere in the
Scriptures, there is an allusion to developing SKILL in the practice of
righteousness, it calls those who are not familiar with its practice UNSKILFUL
in the word of righteousness.
Heb
5:13 For every one that useth milk is UNSKILFUL in the word of righteousness:
for he is a babe.
In the very next verse we
see why the gospel is the ONLY power that can save Man, and we see exactly what
it saves Man from…
For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Just as the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith, so also is the wrath of God revealed
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
The sum of it all is that
the gospel is the power that saves us from the wrath of God that is against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness, for it is the Principle within us that opposes
unrighteousness and ungodliness.
Rom
3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all
and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:.
The book of Romans teaches a
lot on the subject of this righteousness of God that we receive by faith of
Jesus Christ…it shows how righteousness is received into the heart:
Rom 10:10 For with the heart
man BELIEVETH unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
This is also the first point
at which the Church began to derail…for they failed to understand the meaning
of BELIEVETH and assumed it meant a certain AGREEMENT or assenting to the word;
because they saw they needed righteousness…they did not understand that the
heart BELIEVES by PRACTISING what it has grasped as its own and compels the
whole Man to do so…thus the confession of the mouth is only to affirm and
release what the heart has already believed unto.
Matt
15:18-19 But those things which PROCEED out of the MOUTH come forth from the HEART;
and they defile the man.
For
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies
In these scriptures we see
the connection between the heart and the mouth, the same connection we saw in
the above quoted scripture (Romans10:10).
THE THINGS WE SPEAK OR
CONFESS WITH THE MOUTH ARE THE THINGS WE ARE ALREADY DOING.
In verse 19, we see some of
the things the natural heart DOES…it is the heart that commits murder,
adulteries, fornications, thefts…not the body…the body merely executes what the
heart has already done in spirit.
These are the things that
the natural heart has BELIEVED INTO; hence it is confessed by the mouth.
Matt
5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
hath committed adultery with her ALREADY in his heart.
The act of LOOKING is an act
performed by the body, but the heart is the one that performs the act of
adultery before the body performed the act of looking. It is not that the heart
LOOKED FIRST, but that the heart committed the act of adultery in the
intentions and motives of the heart, BEFORE the body followed suit by the act
of looking.
It is clear therefore that
the actions of the heart are far weightier than the actions of the body, for
the body itself may not even go into the actual sin itself; whereas the heart
has already committed the sin.
The confession of the mouth
mentioned in Romans 10:10 is not to be
misconstrued as the admission of guilt,
rather it is the natural tendency of the mouth to execute what the heart has
ALREADY performed, just as we saw in the act of LOOKING of the eyes. It is the
natural outlet through which the mouth releases the contents of the heart into
physical manifestation so to speak.
Pro
4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
The things that proceed out
of the heart are the issues of life, spelt out by Christ as evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, etc. they proceed out of the mouth through
the meditation and articulation of man’s plans and desires and motives.
Thus when a person is born
again, he receives a new spirit and a new heart (the spirit of a sound mind…we
shall return to this later); this new spirit or heart no longer functions the
way the natural heart once did…it now has a new life within…the life of the
HOLY Spirit- the Spirit of Christ; and will begin to DO the desires of the Holy
New Life, and of this the mouth will meditate, do and speak of.
So when we come out for
altar call as newly born again believers, it is the wrong scripture to use…for
it is quoted out of context…it is meant for those who have already begun to
practise the DOING or BELIEVING into what the new heart wants to do…to practise
righteousness…holiness…love…
Rom
10:8-9 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
This is the scripture upon
which we base our altar calls usually, yet Paul was in no way referencing the
Salvation of the spirit, seeing as the Church to whom he was writing already
possessed this.
Paul was in fact laying down
conditions for something, with the conditional word IF…
Paul was referencing natural
Israel as it is written in verse 1:
Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
It was in follow up to this
his heart’s desire that he continues all the way into verse 10 where he is
still outlining the way for natural Israel to be saved, not by the law of
righteousness (verse 4); but by the righteousness of faith.
He was comparing the law of
righteousness with the righteousness that comes by faith, so he went on to say
in verse 5:
For
Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which
doeth those things shall LIVE by them.
But
the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine
heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from
above:)
Or,
Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the
dead.)
8
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
This is the essence of the
gospel that Paul preached…until he comes to this verse…
16
But they have not all OBEYED the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report…
There is an obedience to the
gospel that is required if our belief is to be confirmed as one that has believed unto righteousness.
Israel had heard the
gospel preached but had not OBEYED it.
There are many that HEAR the
gospel message and come out for altar call, yet are not genuinely saved…because
they did not first repent of their sins…they were ushered to the front of the
church with much applause to cheer them on…with congratulatory messages like
heroes…no one taught them how to repent…all they knew was they had AGREED in
their minds that the gospel message is the truth.
The first ‘Altar Call’ was
given on the day of Pentecost when 3,000 souls were saved. The multitude were
PRICKED TO THE HEART…in other words, they were CONVICTED not PERSUADED…not
CONVINCED; so much so that they asked Peter and the rest of the apostles the
question WHAT SHALL WE DO?
They were very concerned
about their predicament…they wanted ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE to be saved!
Here is Peter’s response to
them:
Acts
2:37-38 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then
Peter said unto them, REPENT, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost.
Peter did not lead them in
an Altar Call prayer…he did not lead them in a ‘Sinners’ Prayer’ because there
was a foundational thing to do, and that foundational step was not the
verbalizing of a confession or admission of guilt and a ‘receiving Christ into
their hearts’ no, they first had to REPENT!
Again Peter preached after
the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate and gave the PROPER ORDER of
Salvation:
Acts
3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Repentance of the heart under conviction came first BEFORE
Conversion, and then their sins would be blotted out.
Paul in preaching to King
Agrippa, told him about his own conversion and his subsequent assignment given
by Christ whom he had seen in a vision at Damascus. He told King Agrippa
precisely how he carried out the assignment to save souls:
Acts
26:19-20 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly
vision:
But
shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the
coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to
God, and do works meet for repentance.
We must never forget that
the heart believes UNTO righteousness…it is not some instantaneous act; it is a
believing UNTO…there is a process and that process is Repentance.
When a man begins to do
works that are tantamount to Repentance, he has begun BELIEVING UNTO
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Repentance then is the
foundation for the good soil upon which the Sower sows seeds and reaps a
hundred fold returns (Mark 4:14-20).
If you are familiar with the
parable, you will realize that many RECEIVED the Word even with joyfulness…they
were BORN AGAIN so to speak…they had ‘believed’ with their hearts unto righteousness
and confessed the Lordship of Jesus with their mouths…they had been accepted
into the church…and yet after a while…
16
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have
heard the word, immediately RECEIVE it with gladness;
17
And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when
affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are
offended.
They did not have root in
themselves…the ground was not good soil…it lacked ONE THING…genuine
repentance…the heart had not done any works of repentance, therefore its
BELIEVING was in vain!
Out of four different kinds of ground, all of them heard the word and received it...but only one was good ground...
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