Try it. I want to invite you to read the book of Deuteronomy with me. If you can open up your bulletin, you will see, we have an entire train schedule waiting there for you, thirty-four chapters in five weeks. There will be videos that we will post on our YouTube Scripture of the Day channel. I’ve got to tell you, I read this entire book of Deuteronomy this week. And it is so encouraging. And I want to invite you personally. Will you read Deuteronomy with me? I will read it again over the next five weeks. Who's in? who's like, yeah, I'll read it with you. All right, because what you're going to see is that Deuteronomy is more of the Bible than you think it is. There are a lot of places where you're reading Deuteronomy that aren't called Deuteronomy, you just don't realize it. As Moses explains the law to the people, he gets to our heart response to God. And Moses, his explanation is quoted by other prophets. It's quoted by Jesus, it's quoted by the apostles. It's even quoted in Romans chapter 10. So, I want to invite you to open your Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 10. And we're picking up on a massive quote from Deuteronomy that Paul is using to explain our response to the gospel of Jesus. He's using a passage that they were familiar with in Deuteronomy 30, where Moses gave them a response to the law. And so, if you look with me at Romans, chapter 10, and you look here, in verses 6-8, he's breaking down Deuteronomy 30:11-14, but he's interjecting into it. What you need to respond to is that Jesus is the Lord, what you need to respond to is that God raised him from the dead, because if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be what everybody? You will be saved. And there's nothing more important than being saved. And so, we want to pick up right where that quote from Deuteronomy, right where that left off, and now he's going to speak to us in Romans chapter 10, verse 10. And out of respect for God's word, I'm going to ask if we would all stand up for the public reading of Scripture. And I'm going to ask if you would give this your full and undivided attention because this is the word of God through the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome. I'm going to start in Romans chapter 10, verse 10, and all read to verse 13. Romans 10:10-13. Please follow along as I read.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And if you've got our handout there, if you want to get your pen out and take some notes, you can just start circling with me look at the verse 11, there where it says, “For the scripture says, ‘Everyone…’ You might want to circle “everyone” in Romans 10:12. It says, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all.” You might want to circle “bestowing his riches on all.” You could circle “who call on” him. And then Romans 10:13 brings it home. In fact, you could say, verse 13 is the main point. It's the preaching point. It's what we're here to talk about. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, how many of them? One hundred percent of them, all of them. So sometimes someone might use hundred percent language where they're like, you always do this, or it's never like that. And you're like, hey, there are some times I do that, but his point here is he wants all to mean all; he wants everyone to mean everyone. If someone calls on Jesus, they will be saved. And if you have never believed in Jesus Christ, you need to call on his name here tonight. That's the point of this passage. And if you have called on the name of the Lord Jesus, at the end of this service, we're going to take communion together to remember that Jesus has saved us, and we should give him thanks. Because if you've called on the name of the Lord, guess what? You have been saved. That is the point here.
So, let's go through this, verse by verse. I've got a point to go through each verse here with you. And then we've got kind of a summary of what we've been learning from Romans 9 and 10 through this section of scripture. And so, look at Romans 10:10, and notice these two things that we saw before. The heart one believes, and the mouth, one confesses, because if you look back up to Romans 10:8, he quoted Deuteronomy 30:14. And he said here… what does it say the word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. And so, hey, Moses was saying, you know what the law is, I just explained it to you, you could say what the law is, you could have the law in your heart, you can do it. That was the point that Moses was making. Well, now he's saying, here's how you're going to do it, you actually are not able to do it. If the goal is to be saved, you cannot save yourself as the goal is to be righteous before God; you cannot do works to get righteous. No, you have to insert into that “if you confess with your mouth.”
Well, let's talk about who Jesus is, and believe in your heart what Jesus did when God raised him, that's how you're going to be saved. You have to respond, not just to doing it yourself, you have to respond to Jesus. So, he took the mouth and the heart that were there in Deuteronomy, and then he quoted a similar idea, but he inserted Jesus into that famous, famous Jewish texts. Now, here in verse 10, he switches the order of the two. Look at it with me. He says, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” So, kind of two parallel statements, both leading to salvation or justification where God declares you righteous because of your faith in Christ. But notice how he flips it around so that you believe in your heart, and then you confess with your mouth, and I tried to do a lot of reading about this passage. And all the scholars, all the commentators, they thought this is very significant, because as Jesus teaches out of the abundance, or overflow of the heart, out of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so, the reason you would confess something with your mouth is it's coming out of what? You believe in your heart. And so, this idea of your heart is a very important idea. We don't want you to just externally call on the name of Jesus here tonight, we don't want you just to intellectually think, yeah, Jesus could save me and agree with it intellectually, if you're going to call on the name of Jesus to be saved, you need to do that from the deepest part of who you are, from your heart, from your spiritual being within you, from your soul. That's where you need to call on the name of the Lord, you need to call on him with all you've got. And that's the idea of the heart here. And guess what book of the Bible in the law really gets into the issues of our heart? Well, turn with me to Deuteronomy, chapter 6. And the Deuteronomy even says to the Jews that it's not enough for you to be circumcised as the descendants of Abraham, you need something to happen in your heart. In Deuteronomy, it brings up this idea that even your heart needs to be circumcised; your heart needs to be changed. Like, you as you are, cannot just go and do good things. You can't just put on the right things to do, or to know the right answers to say. It has to really come from who you are inside your body, your soul. You were made in the image of God, and you were made to be a spiritual being, and it has to come from your heart, which is the control center of your soul. It's who you really are. And so, Deuteronomy 6:4, the famous passage called the Shema. It says here, “O Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your what? Heart. So, this is the idea. I'm sure that many people have gone to a church service, or some kind of evangelistic event, and they've heard somebody up there talking about Jesus, and they knew that believing in Jesus was the right thing to do. They knew that calling on Jesus, confessing Jesus, they knew that was the thing you were supposed to do to be saved. And maybe they even prayed a prayer with somebody, or maybe they even said something. But did they really do it from the heart? See, did they really do it with all that they are?
So, if you are taking notes, let's get this down for point number one: You've got to “Call with all you are.” If you're going to believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and to be saved, if then you've got to believe with everything you've got, there is no fifty-fifty; there's no halfway in halfway out, there's no lukewarmness. Here, you're either calling on Jesus to save you, or you're not calling on Jesus to save you, and to really call on his name, it comes from your heart. It comes from actually God even doing the work on you, in your heart. God says that he's going to give his people a new heart, he's going to put his Spirit within them so that the Spirit will cause them to walk in his ways and be careful to obey his commands. And so, Deuteronomy says, hey, you can't just go do what God tells you. You have to have a response to God, from your heart, and God is worthy of your love. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Like, God loved you. And he loved you by sending Jesus for you. God chose to set his love upon you as one of his people. And because God loved you, you should respond to God with love. But if you know yourself, and you know how your heart is, that's not what you would do. That's not who you would be. Oh, you might do some good things for God. You might say some right things to God, but to have a whole heart change, that's all in for God. No, you're not going to be able to do that yourself. You need God to regenerate your soul, to give you a new heart. And that's what Deuteronomy starts to get to. In fact, right here when he says, this kind of, like a very clear idea that you’ve got to love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, just like everything, you are everything you've got, you need to respond to God with all of you. And when they came to stump Jesus, and they said, what is the greatest commandment, they thought it was a word trap. They thought it was a trick question. There are so many commandments in the law, how could you say one is greater than all the others? And Jesus just right away, he says, no, the greatest commandment is this, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. In fact, a lot of people, even people out on the street, not even at church, you ask them, what are the two most important things for people to do? A lot of people say, love God, and love people, they may not be able to tell you, Deuteronomy is where that came from. But that's what Moses is getting at here. Hey, can you hear what I'm saying? You’ve got to respond to God with all that you have. And then he goes on to say here in verse 6, “these words that I command you today, they shall be on your heart.” That's the whole idea. You’ve got to get God's Word on your heart, and then God's word will do its work in you and God's word, by the power of God's Spirit, as we are going to talk about later, that's what's going to really empower you to live this new life, to really love God. You’ve got to get it on your heart. And then if it's on your heart, look what you will do, verse 7, “you shall teach them diligently to your children, you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk.”
By the way, when you lie down, when you rise, like whether you're at home or whether you're going out, whether it's a nighttime, and you're going to sleep, or whether you're waking up in the morning, if you've got God's Word on your heart, it's going to come out of your wad, it's going to be coming out of your mouth, and you'll be speaking it to your spouse or to your kids, because it's on your heart. See, so when it says you’ve got to believe with the heart, one believes, well, that's talking about from the deepest part of who you are. You're putting your trust in Jesus and you're calling on his name, to be saved. And if you're just going at Jesus halfway in halfway out, you need to ask yourself tonight, are you really going for Jesus at all? Because you’ve got the response is, you go at it with all your heart, soul and mind.
People have come to me and they've said, I tried Christianity. It didn't work for me. And my response to them is that's the problem right there is, you tried. This is a wholehearted trust in Jesus, you’ve got to give it all up to Jesus. That is what it means to believe from your heart. What you're saying out of your mouth has to come from who you really are. You have to call on Jesus with all that you are. I'm sure a lot of people have said, Jesus come and save me, but they're still holding on to something else that they're trusting in besides Jesus. Well, that's not really calling on his name, to be saved if you don't really believe with your heart.
So go back to Romans, chapter 10. Because I want to make it clear that everybody that can hear me here tonight, everybody in this room, everybody that's watching this online with us right now, if you can hear what I'm saying, you are putting your trust in something. I want to make that very clear. Because we might think of it like there are people who believe in Jesus. And then there are people who don't believe in Jesus. Well, if you don't believe in Jesus, it's because you are trusting something else. You may not be even aware that you are doing this. But what is going to help you through the day, what is going to keep you going in this life in this life are regularly scheduled part of your life is trials, everybody here is going to have trials in this world, we will have what, everybody? Trouble is coming for everybody. Everybody here, you're going to have a hard time. In fact, it's probably going to get harder from how it's been. Hey, that's the facts. What's going to keep you standing through all of that? What is the foundation when the rain falls and the wind blows and the water level rises? What are you standing on? Maybe you're even leaning on your own understanding. But you are thinking you're turning to something, you're looking to somewhere when the going gets tough. Well, maybe you give up what do you turn to? Maybe you try to keep going, what are you trusting in? Because everybody's, they're looking to something as their foundation. And maybe some people think, well, I'm trusting in Jesus, but really, you're not trusting in Jesus, you're still looking to this other thing over here to satisfy you. Or this other thing over here is your source of strength, because it wants to draw a contrast. Look at Romans 10:11. Right here this scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to… what does it say there everybody? Shame, or sometimes it's translated haste. It's Isaiah 28:16. We saw this same verse, get quoted back at the end of Romans chapter 9. And Romans 9:33, it said, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame at the end of” your life. Or at the end of all time. When the day of judgment comes, the great and awesome day of the Lord that is surely coming upon planet earth, there will be people who are ashamed. There will be people who on the Day of Judgment want to flee, want to run with haste, want to think I am not ready for this, and they're looking for a way out. And whoever believes in Jesus, you will have a foundation that will keep you standing through the hard times in life. And on the day of your judgement, you will not be ashamed, because you called on the name of the Lord Jesus. We are the only people on the right side of history in all of humanity are the people who call on the name of Jesus to be saved. In the end, we will be the only ones vindicated, everybody else will be busted. Because what they were on was shifting sand. There is only one Rock of Ages, there is only one solid rock that's going to help it be well with your soul, whether you're in the heights or the depths of whatever you go through in this life. And if you haven't put your trust in Jesus Christ, whatever flim-flam operation you are putting your trust in, it's only a matter of time till that falls apart in your face. These are the facts. It's not like you get to decide if you believe in Jesus or not. If you don't believe in Jesus, and you die, or you do believe in Jesus, and you live, those are your two options. Call in his name, and he'll save you. And the reason you need to get saved is impending doom is coming upon every single one of us.
And so, go with me to Isaiah 28. Turn with me to Isaiah 28. Because we looked at this passage when we were in Romans 9, and I read the verses around this passage. And the verses here in Isaiah 28 make this very kind of disturbing tone. And I read it here at our church, maybe you were there that day. And it sounded even disturbing when I read it, that the leaders of Israel here in Isaiah 28, the leaders of Israel, the leaders of God's people, who are scoffing his prophet Isaiah, and the things that Isaiah is saying on behalf of the Lord; so they're openly making fun of the Prophet. They're called scoffers here in Isaiah 28:14. And then it says in Isaiah 28:15, and this is going to be disturbing here. It says, “Because you have said we have made a covenant with death and with shield the place of the dead,” we have an agreement. Now that sounds to me like some kind of deal with the devil, that sounds to me like, some kind of horror story that you hear about. It sounds very disturbing. And the opposite of this covenant of death is this stuff. And that gets laid in Isaiah 28:16. “therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: Whoever believes will not be in haste.’” They won't be fleeing; they won't be ashamed. They won't have to hide. Whoever looks at the stone that God's laying down, whoever puts their trust in him, they won't be ashamed. But you guys over here are making this covenant with death. Look what it says right there in Isaih 28:18, “Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.” Now, if you just read those verses like we did last time we were here, it's like you got Jesus and you can believe in him for life, or you're making a covenant with death. And that just sounds twisted. I mean, maybe some people are out there literally thinking I want to make a deal with death right now so I have a better life. That sounds very disturbing. But if you keep reading what's happening here in Isaiah, you realize this isn't some backroom disturbing deal with the devil, that what they're putting their hope in this covenant with death is something that's out in the open. It's something that everybody can see. It's a public thing that they're putting their trust in. In fact, God rebukes them here in Isaiah 29, about halfway through. Look at Isaiah 29:13. If you keep reading through these chapters to get the bigger context here, he says, “And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their’”… what does it say there, everybody? “While their hearts are far from me. They have an external yes to God. They have an intellectual, I agree. I'll say the right answer with God, but it's not coming from their heart; “their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people.” These people aren't really believing in me. These people aren't really trusting in me. They're saying good things about me, but their heart is far from me. See, God knows everybody who's halfway in halfway out. Jesus is ready to vomit out the lukewarm out of his mouth. They can see straight to your heart. God knows right now, as you hear is tonight, whether your heart is really a you've called on the name of Jesus, you're all in or whether you're kind of saying the right thing, but you're not really believing in your heart. God already knows that about you. And go to Isaiah 30:1, because this is what they have put their trust in. This is Isaiah 30:1-5, and this is something everybody would have known, this would have been on the front page of the newspaper, this would have been on Channel Four News at eleven. “’Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the Lord, ‘who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.’” Here's God saying I know what you're putting your trust in you when you made an alliance with Egypt. And you think that because you made this alliance with Egypt, that when the other nations come against you, and the day of war happens, and they come to try to take your land and kill you, it's going to be okay, because we've got an alliance with Egypt. Is that going to work out for you? No, you've put your trust in Egypt, and on that day, you will experience shame. That's what God says here. I mean, how ironic that here at the time of Isaiah, God's people are putting their trust in the very place that God saved them out of. And, instead of trusting God to save them, they're trusting in the mighty nation of Egypt to be on their side. And the things that you're putting your trust in there right there in plain sight. They're very obvious. What about when the times get tough? What do you hope is going to help you through it? What do you think is going to profit you? Who are you turning to? What are you going back to in your thoughts? What are you believing is going to help you win the day of adversity when the day of trouble comes, because God's people who were not wholeheartedly believing in God, and who were scoffing his Prophet, they've made an agreement with death. And you know what that was putting their hope in? Egypt? See, I'm concerned that maybe some here tonight, oh, we're saying we believe in Jesus. Oh, we're trusting in Jesus. But when the going gets tough, are you turning to prayer? Are you turning to the Word? Are you turning to your faith in Jesus? Or are you looking for a quick fix of this to feel better about your life? And are you calling some family member? Or are you still thinking the United States of America is going to save you? Are you looking at your bank account? I know plenty of guys here at the church that they wake up and how their stocks are doing, how their Cryptos are doing, how their investments are doing. That's what sets the tone for their day, not what who's sitting on the throne of heaven, but how their money is doing right here, right now. You can believe in a lot of things, but whoever believes in Jesus will not be put to shame. Because if your faith is in anything other than Jesus, it is only a matter of time till that gets exposed. It is only a matter of time.
They're telling us the rains are coming tomorrow. Right? What was the slogan that we were talking about? Turn Around, Don't Drown? Did anybody see that on a sign? Stay home, rains are coming, right? The Day of Judgment is coming. And people are going to and maybe they you know, sometimes we get these big storms that are coming, and they never show up, right? But I'm here to tell you what the Scripture tells you is you will have trials, and then you are going to die. If everybody here lives long enough, we will all die. It is only a matter of time. And it will not matter how close you are with other people, it will not matter how much money you have in the bank, it will not matter who won the 2024 election, on the day that you die, there is only one who can save you. And is your trust in him right now? Because a day of calamity is coming. This is the message of the Bible. The message of Scripture is not a promise, like believe in Jesus and all will be well. It's like, believe in Jesus because all is not going to be well. And the only way it will be well with you is if with all your heart, with all your soul, with all you can muster up, with all that you are, you have called on Jesus. You've put all your trust in him. You realize nothing else, not yourself, or anyone else is going to be able to save you. And so, what is being promised here? Look back at these words here in Isaiah 30:5. Hey, even though Egypt looks high and mighty right now, right? And I understand this example of Egypt. I have never met a person who told me, well, I've put my hope in Egypt. So, I'm going to be all right. Don't worry about me, Pastor. Nobody's ever said that. But I have met many people who have put their hope in sin, making them feel better about life. I have met people who have put their hope in their family and their money and their country thinking that's what's going to help them through life. But look what it says in Isaiah 30:5, “everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.” That is what the Scripture is teaching.
And so, you need point number two: You need to “Call before it's too late.” You need to call before it's too late. If you are somebody and you know you haven't wholeheartedly put your faith in Jesus, you haven't really believed and called on his name yet, well, if you know that about yourself, I don't want you to think here today, well, I've got a choice that I can make. I can decide to believe in Jesus, or I can decide not to believe in Jesus. No, if you don't believe in Jesus, that means you're going to end up relying on something else. And whatever else you're relying on, it will not be there for you when you need it. And I don't want you to have to figure that out on that day. I don't want you to realize that you wasted your life, that you put your hope in vain things, that you got your priorities all out of whack, and you were hoping this was going to happen, when that was never going to work out for you. No, you have something that you're hoping is going to help you through. And I'm encouraging you, hey, before your day of shame comes, make sure you've called on the name of Jesus. And if you're talking to somebody, don't act like oh, yeah, well, you can believe in Jesus later if you want to, or you can believe whatever you want to believe. No, you either believe in Jesus, or you experience shame. Those are the options. It is faith or shame, and everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame because God's given the one sure foundation for the storms to come. The only friend that's going to save you on the day you die is Jesus; you're never failing.
Friend, Jesus is the only one you can trust and who will never disappoint you, who will never let you down, who will never leave you by yourself, who will never not be there when you need him. It is Jesus and only Jesus that can save your soul. And he's the only one where you trust in him. And if you don't put your everybody here, I don't even know how many days you’ve got left. I don't even know how many days we have a seat before Jesus returns. I do know that it will be too late for many people. And I do know that on that day, there will be unbearable shame from which there will be no recovery.
For everyone who does not believe in Jesus, there is only one foundation that can actually save you, you’ve got to believe in him and the good news. If you go back to Romans 10, the good news that our passage is saying over and over is that everyone who believes, everyone who calls, all who call on him will be saved, will be justified, because he is the Lord of all is what it says. So, you're coming at him with all your heart, you’ve got to do it before the day of shame comes. But then look at what it says here in Romans 10:12. I found this verse to be super encouraging, because it says “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.” It doesn't matter who you are or where you came from, for the same Lord is Lord of all. And then I love this line right here. “bestowing his riches on all who call on him.” So, remember, one of Paul's primary concerns, particularly in Romans 9, 10, and 11, is he's trying to explain how God chose the Jews. But not all Israel is Israel. And now the call of God is actually going out not just to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, or here it says it as Greek. So, these are the people from all the other nations, all the other people groups, different languages, the people who are not God's chosen nation of Israel, well, you're from this nation, or you're from this nation. Well, yeah, the Gentiles. And so there's a couple of ways to think about this.
Go back to Romans 3:22, because that was the other place here in Romans, where he talked about this distinction, and he's trying to say, in this way, there is no distinction who you are before God. And there is no distinction, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Greek, it doesn't matter what kind of person you are, where you were born, how you grew up, how you've lived your life. That is not the distinction that needs to be made. In fact, in Romans 3:22, he says here, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe.” And then he says, “for there is no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So whoever you are, you were born a sinner, and you are in great need of a Savior, whether you are one of God's people, the Jews here among us, or whether you come from some other nation in some other people group, you are a sinner, all of us, it doesn't matter. There's no distinction. In fact, go down and look what he says here about the Jews in verse 29. This is Romans 3:29, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?” Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised are the Jews by faith, and the uncircumcised the Greeks through faith? I mean, anybody who believes, anybody who calls on the name of Jesus, he's the God of all people, and all who call on him will be saved. And then as if to prove this point… go back to Romans 10:12, right, because he's the God of all, all can call. That's what Romans 10:12 is saying, the same Lord is Lord of all. And what a beautiful phrase here “bestowing his riches” on all who call on him. So, this is what this is emphatic, all right. He's already said everyone, but now he's saying all and all.
And then he's got another “everyone” scripture, Joel 2:32, that he wants to bring up. So, Paul was willing to die on this hill. Paul gave his life so that Gentiles like me could know that I can believe in Jesus and be saved. And there wasn't just one kind of group of people that God was choosing to save, but that God was saving “all” who call on the name of his Son, Jesus. And we today take for granted that Gentiles, many of us can be saved when it costs the Apostle Paul his life to make that point. And he wants to make that point. He wants to make that point. In fact, he wants to go way beyond even the distinction between Jew and Gentile. He wants you to know that it doesn't matter who you are, we can all be one in Christ, we can all be saved in Christ, we can be newly defined, we can have a new identity. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation and the old you, no matter who you are, the old you is gone. And behold, the new has come. And so, he says here in Romans 10:13, everyone who calls, and that's a quote from Joel 2:32. So everybody, grab your Bible with me and turn to Joel 2:32. And you know Joel better than maybe you think you do, because Joel is famously quoted in another scripture. So even though you may not know it as Joel 2, you might know it as Acts 2. Is anybody having a hard time looking up Joel. Joel is the really tall guy here at our church, if you know who he is, he is a beautiful soul. Joel, if you know him here at our church, he's also right after Hosea and right before Amos, if that helps you. But Amos isn't really famous, so you might not know where he is, either. And then after that, you know, you got Hosea, Joel, Amos, and then you’ve got Obadiah, right, so just go to Obadiah. And that'll be fine. So here in Joel, chapter 2, this is quoted in Acts 2 in the first sermon of the church by the apostle Peter. So before he says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” it says this, starting in Joel 2:28, ““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” Maybe some of you remember, when we went through Acts chapter 2, and we went through this quote, we were able to identify, I mean, Paul, he's breaking all the all the racism down. Now, not only is he trying to say it doesn't matter if you're a Jew, or a Greek, how about it doesn't matter if you're male or female. Let's talk about sexism here. It doesn't matter if you're a son, or your daughter, he's given his Spirit to all flesh. It doesn't matter if you were born male, or you were born a female, you can call on the name of the Lord, and you can be saved. And then he says, hey, the old men look at them, their dream and dreams, and look at those young men. They're seeing visions, hey, let's get rid of ageism. Doesn't matter if you go to club 65 or if you go to club 56. It doesn't matter where you are, if you're in the high school ministry, and you're a young man, or whether you would be somebody who has been in church longer than that young high schooler’s been alive, and you could teach him a thing or two. It doesn't matter who you are, the Holy Spirit, he's coming to all people. And then it says, hey, the male and female servants in those days, there's no classism. There's no elitism. Doesn't matter if you're of noble birth. It doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank. It does not matter who you are, I'm talking to you. It doesn't matter if you grew up like me as a church kid, learning the Bible from day one, always knowing what is right or wrong, always having good examples in front of you. Or if you grew up where you had no good examples, and you were given a warped worldview, and you grew up on the streets, and you grew up in the world and you grew up not even knowing about God or scripture or what was right or wrong. It does not matter who you are. If you call on the name of Jesus, you will be saved. All means all, and just like the Jews thought they had a leg up a lot of church people think that they're closer to being saved than the person who's in prison tonight. But let me tell you, if the church people don't humble themselves and believe in Jesus with all their hearts, they're as far away as anybody because you’ve got to call on the name of the Lord. And it doesn't matter whether you grew up knowing about Jesus from day one, or whether you've never heard about Jesus until this day, all means all, and all, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And you and I have. We're being honest here at church tonight. That's not how you think. Because right now, if you could think through people in your life, you think some of you have said things like this, that person's close to being saved. That person, they're very far away from God. And I know what you mean, like maybe you can tell God's drawn that person, maybe their eyes are being open, maybe you can see the work of God. But the truth is that some of us are judging people by their external appearance, by how much church they've been to, by maybe even their gender, maybe even their race, their age, or their class. And we're deciding in our own minds who's closer to getting saved than that person over there that I don't really see getting saved. But anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, that person is most definitely going to be saved
And so, let's get that down for point number three: We’ve got to say call, no matter who you are, call, no matter who you are, you’ve got to call with all you are, but you can call no matter who you are. That's the point we're trying to make. And emphatically here, this point, because it's not just that there was racism back in the day that Paul's writing, just like there is racism today. There are people who discriminate against other kinds of people. But see, it was different in between Jews and Gentiles. It's not just how we might think of as racism. It's also this, like spiritual judgment is what it is. It's also this holier than thou, because see, I'm one of the people of God. And see, God made a promise to my descendant Abraham, and God revealed the law through my leader, Moses, and God established a kingdom through my king, David. And so, you see, I'm actually one of God's people, and those people over there, they're not God's people. So that's just trying to be honest here tonight, trying to share my personal experience of being involved in many different churches, most of them in Southern California for my entire life. There are many people at church that have the same pride, the same arrogance, as the Jews were; they are judgy church people, and they don't think a lot of Democrats can really get saved. They don't think a lot of politicians are really going to get saved. Well, that neighbor I like them. They could get saved, but that neighbor, I don't think they're getting saved. I'm not talking to him. There's a lot of that going on, actually. And what we came to learn here tonight, what Paul wanted to make so clear that he was willing to appeal to Caesar, and give his life is that it doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, on the day that your eyes are open, and you believe with your heart and you confess with your mouth, and you put your faith in Jesus on that day, God will save you. He will declare you righteous no matter what, no matter how righteous you think you were before that, which was zero percent, or how unrighteous you knew you were before that. I mean, people who think, yeah, God couldn't save me. I've done too much. And they've done things that in their heart, they crossed the line, and they knew that they crossed the line when they crossed the eye. I'm pretty sure in a room this size, there are probably people who think even as I'm talking right now, I don't know if he could save me not based on what I've done. And yet, I'm also pretty sure that there's people here tonight that are thinking, I think he could totally save me. And it's all because of Jesus. It's all because of calling on him. It's all because admitting that there's no distinction. I'm one of the sinners, and I need him to be my Savior.
You could write down under point number three Galatians 3:28. You could write down Colossians 3:11. You could write down these verses that say, hey, there's no Jew or Greek. There's no male or female, there's no slave or free. Now this is just who you are in Christ. And everyone who calls on his name, you are a new creation in Christ. Now, that's the distinction that it's for all. Okay? But then look what it says. If you're with me in Joel to still go down to Joel 2:32, “it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And then look what that says, “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape.” See, there's that idea that tribulation is coming, judgment is coming. It's going to get really bad. And if you call on the name of the Jesus then on that day of judgment, you will be saved, you will escape. And then it says something fascinating here, “as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”
Okay, so one of my purposes in this sermon here tonight is to appeal to anyone who is in here, that God would speak to you, that you would realize you've only made some kind of halfhearted intellectual agreement with Jesus, you haven't really transferred your trust from something else to Jesus. And you can tell that when the life gets hard for you, you're not leaning into Jesus, you're leaning on your own understanding, you're leaning on somebody else, you're leaning on sin. I'm speaking to you, and I'm trying to encourage you tonight, you should call on the name of the Lord to be saved. And whether you've been faking it at church for twenty years, or whether you're brand new to church, if you call on the name of the Lord, he will save you. I want you to make a call. And what I'm telling you is if I'm giving you the name to call, I'm giving you the number to call. And if you make this call, what does it say? He will bestow on all who call on him, he will bestow his Word on everybody, riches. Now that this is an offer. What I am fully aware that what I am offering, I am offering, that if you sincerely from your heart, transfer your trust to Jesus tonight, you will be saved through future tribulations, through death, even through a day of judgment, you will be saved. And what you will get on the other side of all of those hard things is you will get every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You will have an inheritance reserved in heaven for you that no one could ever take away from you because God will guard it and he will keep it in heaven for you. In fact, right now, if you've called on the name of the Lord Jesus, right now Jesus is preparing a place for you; no one else gets that place. Jesus is making that place for you. And when you get to Heaven, you will find wealth beyond your wildest dreams. You will walk around the New Jerusalem where they pave the streets with gold, that you will be one of the richest people because you will be given all the riches of the kindness of the grace that is in Christ Jesus. All you do is you make one call to him, and you get bestowed upon you riches forevermore in our day and age. That sounds like a scam. Right? That sounds like some kind of deal where they tell you hey, your Netflix account has expired. You better go here, bro. I don't even have Netflix. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I'm not falling for that one, right? You have got all kinds of people telling you, they'll help you out these days, all kinds of scammers. That's what people think this is. I think this is a scam. I don't trust organized religion. Don't trust that guy at that church. He's trying to take your money. Watch out for those people. Look, I'm not I'm not trying to take from anybody. I'm trying to tell you how to get rich. That's what it's saying. God will bestow his riches on all who call on him. And it's talking about riches that are way more than the things the pride of possessions and what money can buy in this life. It's talking about some verses you might want to write down next to the riches, would be Ephesians 1:7-9. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.” You can have God's goodness lavished upon you. How about Ephesians 2:7? “So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” you think it's great to be saved? Now if you've called on the name and you think I'm so glad I'm safe, you don't even know how glad you are to be saved yet. There's unsearchable, unfathomable, immeasurable riches waiting for you.
Here's a verse to write down. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “that you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Do you know how good Jesus was? Do you know how he gave his life for you? Do you know how he died in your place on the cross, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” If you are in Christ, if you've called on the name of Jesus, you are rich, that's what the Scripture says. You should walk a little taller out of here. You should feel a little more confident about your future walking out of here, because you have put your faith in the one where you will not be put to shame. And you are rich, all that you have in Christ. Wow, where do you see it in the ages to come, you won't even be able to count all the riches of the inheritance that has been given to you in Jesus. So, and it’s not only am I telling you, if you haven't yet called on Jesus, not only am I telling you that there's a day of doom coming where you will be ashamed if you don't call on Jesus, but I'm telling you that if you call on the name of Jesus, you will find this thing called grace. And this thing is amazing where God is good to you. And not only does God not give you what you do deserve, he gives you unlimited goodness that you don't deserve. It's rich, what God has for you in Christ. That's the word the Bible wants you to think. Make this call to Jesus, and you will be rich is the idea. Like, this is a call that's going to work out, like you know that that kind of scenario, like if you could only make one call if you were, if some people took you away, and they said they were in charge, and they took you away. And they said, you’ve got one phone call? Well, I mean, that's the idea here. If you call on Jesus, that one call that will answer the problem, you will be saved.
Let's get that down for point number four: you want to “Call with faith Jesus saves.” And I'll tell you, it's true for me, this room is full of people who will tell you it's true for them. And there's a lot of people in this room who have testimonies that I called on Jesus. And you know what, it's true. You know what, I'm rich in Christ, you know what, I have been blessed. I do know grace. And it's all because of Jesus giving it to me. It's not because of me, or what I've done, it’s because of what Jesus did for me, and I'm so glad that I called on his name. In fact, everything I do now, I want to do it in the name of Jesus, everything I asked for now, I asked for it in the name of Jesus, because I called on the name of Jesus, when I had nothing except death coming and judgment coming, and I made the call on the name of Jesus. And now I've got everything. Now I have eternal life. Now I have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And I've died to who I used to be in my flesh, and I now have the Spirit of the Living God living in me, because I called on the name of Jesus. See, doesn't mean life won't be hard, doesn't mean you're not going to die. But you will be rich, is what Paul believes. Jesus had all the riches in heaven, the Father is going to give everything to his son as an inheritance. And yet Jesus humbled himself and became poor, because Jesus wanted to give his riches to you. It's like a story that seems too good to be true. But it's based on true events, it actually happened. It's a true story. And some of us are living where we've called on the name of the Lord, and he has saved us. So, I am asking you, if you have not called on the name of the Lord, I am asking you to with your whole heart, realize you will be shamed. Unless you call on his name, and whoever you are, or what you've done, you can call on his name and you will be saved.
Now, I also want to talk to my brothers and sisters who have called on his name. We're going to remember that in communion here in a moment, and we're going to thank God for saving us. Anybody want to thank God for saving them here tonight? Anybody remember when you did call on him, and he did save you? Well, we're going to give you a chance to respond to him in thanksgiving. But I do want to kind of point out something. you're still with me in Joel, I hope. Are you still with me and Joel 2:32? Because part of what he didn't quote, and this has been so important for us as a church going through Romans 9, and Romans 10, at the end of last year, in the beginning of this year. Now, I just want everybody to see at the end of Joel chapter 2, the very last line. It says the survivors shall be those whom, what does it say there at the end of that line? Wait a minute, I thought this whole sermon was about, hey, you need to call on the name of the Lord, all who call on him will be saved. Everyone who believes will be declared righteous will be justified. I thought this whole sermon was about us calling on God. Here's the amazing thing. When you make that call to Jesus, when you call on his name, and you think you're doing something where you're calling on him, what you will eventually learn is that he'd already called you a whole long time ago. And that is what it says here, Joel, in the passage that is quoted, everyone who calls on his name will be saved, it wants to also put on there. Yeah, the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. So, it might seem to you like you're making this decision, it might seem to you like in this moment, right now, I'm going to call on his name. Well, I would encourage you to do that. But let me just tell all my brothers and sisters who have called on his name, it's because he called you. See, that's actually going to go to Acts 2. Look at how it's here. In Acts 2, when Peter is quoting Joel, when Peter is preaching on this idea, call on the name of Jesus, and you will be saved. Now, Acts 2 is when Joel 2 is fulfilled, because God said he would pour out his Spirit. And what is Acts chapter 2? It's the day of Pentecost. It's the Feast of Weeks when all the Jews have gathered together to celebrate the harvest. And what happens? Well, they get their answer to their prayers, the Holy Spirit comes with a mighty rushing wind, and tongues of fire on the heads of the apostles. And the spirit comes to do his work, the spirit is poured out, he's poured out on men and women, he's poured out on Jews who are there who believe, he's poured out there on old and young, on slaves and people who are free. The fulfillment of Joel 2 happens right there in Acts 2, and it creates the opportunity for the first sermon of the church, the first preaching of the gospel of Jesus, which Peter, they're like, Oh, these guys, what are they saying in these other languages? They're speaking in all these different languages. So not just the people that are local can hear, but people from all over the world can understand what they're saying, These guys must be drunk and Peter's like, no, actually, let me tell you something. And he quotes Joel 2, and Peter preaches that Jesus is the Lord, and Peter preaches that God raised him from the dead. This is here, the first sermon of the church. This is here, the first like preaching of the Gospel, public record that we have since Jesus died and rose again. And it is powerful. Look how he concludes in Acts 2:36. He says, “Let all the house of Israel,” everybody who had gathered there from all over the world for this feast, “let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Does that sound like what Paul's saying in Romans 10? That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, while there he is saying God made Him Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Well, there he is saying, you crucified him earlier, he made it clear multiple times that God raised him from the dead. Imagine here in that sermon, you killed Jesus, but God raised him from the dead. You're going to feel busted if you hear that sermon. And that's what happens. Verse 37, “When they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter, and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in, what does it say here everybody? In the names he said, you’ve got to call on the name. You’ve got to believe in it. You’ve got to turn from your sin, you’ve got to confess publicly, make a declaration through your baptism. You need the name, the only name given under heaven among men by which anybody can be saved. You need the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then, everybody look what he says here in verse 39, for the poor promises for you, the people who were there that day. And for your children, the people who are the next generation after them, and for all who are far off, everyone, what does he say here? Whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Wow. Do you see how that works? Peter can look at the people who are cut to the heart. And the people who are like, what must we do to be saved? What do we do to inherit eternal life, and he can look at those people, and he can say, call on the name of Jesus, repent, and get baptized, believe in the name of the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. In fact, it's not just for you, it's for people at a future time. It's for people from another place, anybody can call on his name, all can call, all who the Lord calls for himself. When you start looking for this, this call idea that we can call on God, but God is the one who's actually calling us.
Go back to Romans chapter 9, because that's what we have learned. He's saying, and he's making it clear, I'm trying to be as clear as he is, he is saying, anybody could do this, anybody could hear this message tonight, they could even hear this message on a recording later on, it wouldn't even have to be live, they could hear this message, and if they called on the name of Jesus, if they believed with their heart, and they confessed with their mouth, and they knew who Jesus was, and what he did for them, and they transferred their trust to Jesus, if they called on his name, they would be saved. And the reason they would be saved when they called on Jesus is because God already had a purpose to call them. That's what we learned in Romans 9:11. Look at what it says though. They were not yet born, God chose his people before they were born, before they had done anything, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. So, these are two truths, held intention that we call an antimony.
So, let's get this down for our review point from this whole section of Scripture: You should “Call on the name of Jesus, because God called you call, because God called you. That's how it works. People who call, and all can call, people who call on the name of the Lord Jesus, or those that God calls to himself all that God calls to himself. Now, what we're talking about here is both divine sovereignty, that God is the one who makes the choice, and human responsibility, that if you don't put your faith in Jesus, you will be put to shame. If you have ever thanked God for saving you, if you have ever prayed for someone else to be saved, then what you are acknowledging is that God, and only God, is able to save us from our sins. Would anybody like to say amen to that? Salvation is one hundred percent a sovereign work of God; you are saved because God called you, that's the story. And it's all for his glory; he gets all of the credit for your salvation. And if someone is not saved, they are saved because they have not called on the name of the Lord Jesus, and all of the blame, all of the shame will be credited to them, and they will be judged according to what they have done. And if that's hard for you to grasp, welcome to the church, everyone. Okay, maybe it's hard for you to grasp because I'm not making it as clear as I ought to as a preacher. But maybe it's also hard for you to grasp because God's ways are higher than our ways. And we will not fully understand God's purpose of God's election and his sovereignty, because there are secret things, and those secret things are already only known to God. You don't want to know where it tells you their secret things that only God knows. Deuteronomy tells you that and so. So, this is a difficult thing to fully grasp. And if you try to somehow bring these two truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility that God is calling all who will be saved, and all who want to be saved can call on the name of the Lord Jesus. If you're like, well, how does that all work? You have to hold these truths. You have to see both of them. You have to see that Romans 9 goes right into Romans 10. And so, if you're having a hard time seeing this antinomy, I want you to talk about it in your fellowship group, I want you to reach out to somebody.
And here's a book that I would recommend. It's on the back of your handout, if you flip it over. If this is hard for you to grasp, well, this guy, he's not going to say anything groundbreaking in this book, but he's just going to give it to you for 120 more pages, all right, because it is hard to grasp. But that's a part of how it is that all can call on the Lord, all who God calls to himself. How does that work? Well, it does work that God is sovereign in our salvation. And we are responsible to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. So, if you've never read this book, I reread it this week, it's not a very long book. It's like 120 something pages, 122. Here in this nice little sailboat sanctification sailboat version we've got. You can pick it up in the Book Nook if you want. And that'll help you think this through. What I find really helps is talking about it with other brothers and sisters, that will also help you really think this through because you called on the name of the Lord, because God called you to himself.
So, we want to take a moment right now to thank God for saving us. And so hopefully on your seat when you came in, or in the seat back in front of you, there's a some communion there. And we want you to open that up and get ready, we're going to sing a song right now as we prepare our hearts to take communion. And we want to really think this through, what we're about to do. Communion is a way that those of us who believe in Jesus remember who Jesus is, as the Christ, and what Jesus did when he died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. And so, we remember that little piece of bread represents his body that was sacrificed. And the blood of the cup there, that little drink represents his blood that was shed to redeem us from our sins. And so, we're going to do this to remember. This is a way for you to worship Jesus, to respond to Jesus, to give thanks. You responded to the Gospel by calling on the name of Jesus? Well, now we find out you called on the name of Jesus because God called you; but because you called on Jesus, you will never be put to shame. And God has bestowed all his riches upon you brother or sister. I cannot promise you what will happen to you in this life, but I can promise you that you will have life forevermore. And when you die, you will receive an inheritance that is so wildly rich, it will be beyond what we could ask or imagine. That's what is coming for you. And this is a moment for you to respond with all your heart, to love God, to thank him. If you are hearing this word, and you are convicted, and you are perhaps realizing that this text is speaking to you, that you still need to call on the name of the Lord Jesus to be saved. If you are knowing that is true about yourself that you haven't believed with your heart in who Jesus really is and how he really died for your sin. And he rose from the dead to give you a new life. If you know that you're still trusting in other things, you should actually take that reminder there, that communion. And you should put that back because you don't need the reminder. You need to apply this sermon in a very direct way. You need to call on the name of Jesus. And you need to ask God to save you right now. And let me just tell you, I've been preaching sermons for a minute, and I've spoken to a few people. And there's been a few times where I've even been able to realize that on that day, when I said that at the end of that sermon, or when we took communion, and that service, that was the last chance that person ever had to call on the name of the Lord Jesus to be saved. So, I don't want to tell you it's up to you, you decide whatever you want to believe, hey, you decide if you want to believe in Jesus. Take your time, figure it out. I want to tell you that if you don't put your trust in Jesus, whatever you are standing on, it is going to fall apart, and it could happen tonight. It could happen tomorrow morning. And I would encourage you to hear the Word of the Lord and to call on the name of Jesus before it's too late. That's what I would encourage you to do right now. So let me pray for all of us here together.
Father in heaven, we thank you for your Word, we thank you that we can go through it together here at church, we thank you that we can go to other scriptures that are used to make these points to us that Paul's make into the church in Rome. And Father, we just want to take a moment right now, to thank you for this beautiful promise that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be safe, that everybody who believes in their heart, they're justified, everybody who confesses with their mouth, they will not be ashamed when they die on the Day of Judgment. They will shine with glory forevermore. Someday, all of us who are in Christ, we will be made like Christ when we see him, we will be made perfect as he is perfect. And we will share in the inheritance, Father, that you have for your son, and we will know the riches of the grace that you have for us, and the kindness you've given to us in Jesus, we will know your riches forevermore. So, Father, people who were sinners have much to give thanks for here tonight. How could we not love you with all of our hearts when you sent your one and only Son, when Jesus gave all of his life, when this bread represents his body, when this cup represents his blood, when he had to die, so that a sinner like me could be set free. A sinner like me could have the spirit, a sinner like me, even if I die, I get to live, all because Jesus died in my place. Father, I pray that we would be a people who love you with all of our hearts, I pray that there would be no half-heartedness, no half in half out. But that we would come before you and offer our whole hearts, our whole bodies, our whole soul, our whole might, all that we are, we offer it to you as living sacrifices here. Thank you, God, for saving me. Thank you that you heard my call. Thank you that when I called you and I made that desperate plea for salvation, and I put all my faith in Jesus, thank you for teaching me that you'd already called me before I was even born, before you created the world. You already wanted me to be one of your people. Thank you, God, for saving me. And Father, I want to lift up anybody who's here, and they haven't made this call, and they don't know the riches, and there is shame coming. And maybe they've prayed a prayer at one point, and maybe they've kind of halfheartedly tried. Father, I pray that you would give them great clarity, I pray that you would open their eyes. And that they could see, this is how it really works. This is what it really is that everybody who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, they're not the same person. It doesn't matter if they're a man or a woman. It doesn't matter what race they are, how rich they are. Doesn't matter if they're old or they're young, if they call on the name of the Lord Jesus, they will receive your Holy Spirit, they will have a new heart and they will walk in the new life for evermore because everybody that Jesus saves, they cannot stay the same. They are a new creation. I pray that you would open their eyes to see all that is there in Christ. And that tonight is the night that they would call on his name, and that you would save souls here in this place. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.