Free Speech - Part 1 (Romans 10:5-13)

Look at Romans chapter 10. By God's grace, we're going to try. We won't get all the way through, but we'll get close. Verses 5 to 13 today. Book of Romans and chapter 10. We are deliberately teaching chapters 9, 10, and 11. We are taking on these chapters.

If you're new to this church, we go verse by verse through the scriptures. And Romans 9, 10, and 11 are the most controversial verses and our chapters, and that shouldn't be the case. Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11 should bring you profound security and comfort. It all depends on if you're willing to know the truth or not. And this is a very powerful, powerful continuance to where we've been in this chapter and in this series.

Today, we're looking at a message titled free speech. Free speech. God style. Free speech. Romans chapter 10. I'll begin in verse 5 if you pick it up in the even numbered verses. Romans 10:5 says, "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law." And he quotes now the Old Testament. "The man who does those things shall live by them."

"Or who will descend into the abyss? That is to bring Christ up from the dead." "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." "For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame." Oh, that's powerful. Verse 13, we'll end here. "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Amen.

Father, we pray for the moving of your Holy Spirit in our lives. Lord, we ask and trust of you even now. You're talking here. You're speaking about salvation. Soul saving. Disciple making. Christian maturity. Eternal life. And God, we pray that we would leave this building today different because we have come that we might see Jesus. We pray in His name and all God's people said, "Amen." You may be seated, church.

Free speech is what we are talking about. Free speech God style. I I want to just say this. I I've always believed this, but I do not believe free speech is something that is made up by our First Amendment in the US Constitution. I believe the US Constitution and its First Amendment has free speech because it is a God-given thing. I think our founders recognized that. In fact, Amendment 1 and Amendment 2, our founding fathers concluded that 1 had to be 1 and 2 had to be 2. Did you know that? They deliberately decided, "We got to move these two up to the front of the line." Because God made us. They called it natural law. Man will speak what he thinks and man will defend that which he loves. And so you have the first and second commandments, but today's not a history or a civics lesson. It's about the ultimate free speech. And the ultimate free speech is found in the in the absolute liberty of the Lord Jesus Christ. How was that known? How was that experienced? And listen, is that a New Testament thing or is it a consistent old and New Testament doctrine of the very will of God? And I think you already know the answer to that. I think you're going to be reminded that it is the will of God that you experience free speech in the sense that God has built you in such a way for you to speak not only freely, but listen, to speak truth. And all truth begins with God and it ends with God. And for us, the great free speech that you and I ought to practice today, many of you do, is that you would confess Jesus Christ as Lord. That you would confess and not just confess by saying so, but you would say so because it's true in your life. And so by way of introduction, Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." That's a beautiful verse. I tell you that if I was a politician and I was campaigning, that would be my campaign slogan. Is uh be free. Be liberated. Do not become entangled. In what? In the former things, the things of the past, the yoke of what destroys. Liberty. Freedom.

I mentioned, I think it was Wednesday night. I have to mention it again. In Leviticus chapter 10 or chapter 25, excuse me, verse 10, there is the verse there in the Bible that is printed, that is embossed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The great Liberty Bell that the British tried to destroy. You know, it's a 2,000 and 2,008 lb bell. And the British Cornwallis ordered it to be melted down and destroyed. And so our founding fathers took it down from Independence Hall and they carted it over about 90 miles away to Allentown, Pennsylvania and they hid it in the basement basement of the Zion Church. And that's where they hid the Liberty Bell. Why why What's so important about a bell? Answer, nothing. What's so important about that bell? It's called the Liberty Bell. And that verse is on that bell. The Liberty Bell says, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." It's not political liberty. The true liberty and freedom that you and I can experience is that which is brought to you by Christ. That's why the the government of God, the doctrine of God, the gospel of God is something that is transcendent and envelops the entire world to all those who will listen. And it's incumbent upon us to listen and to accept and to receive. God wants you free. And as we go through this study today, I want you to be asking yourself, are you free?

The precursor to our study today is found in those opening verses of this chapter. Verse 1 says, "Brethren, my heart's desire," says Paul, "and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." Liberated. Free. Verse 2. "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God." Very excited about God. Very committed and passionate about God, but not according to knowledge. They don't get it. Verse 3. "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness." That's the whole point. We'll be on it today. What is How do you get God's righteousness? "They go about seeking to establish their own righteousness." We call that self-righteousness. "Having not submitted to the righteousness of God." And here's the punchline. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." It doesn't mean the law is wrong. The law is perfect, but when the Bible says Christ is the end of the law, it means watch. It means that the law is hungry and almost like the the jaws of a lion open waiting to be fed. It's starving. The law is waiting to be satisfied, but in all of the thousands of years since the giving of the law, the law cannot be satisfied. But how does the law come to an end? It's not abolished. Listen, it's not taken away. In fact, if you are not a Christian today, if you're not a Christ follower, you're under the law. Did you know that? The law is looking at you and the law is saying, "Feed me. I'm going to consume you." My perfection, the Ten Commandments will eat you up. And it's looking at you and you've got nothing to feed it. And it's coming after you. Christ steps in and satisfies the law. When the law, so to speak, feeds upon Christ, it's that the law looks at the perfect man. When the law encounters the perfect man, the law is then satisfied. That's why Jesus Listen, that's why God became flesh. He didn't become an angel. He didn't visit us through some unicorn experience. He was nothing else but listen, everything you and I are. Christ came into this world. It had to be Christ the Son of God. Christ our mediator that took upon himself our representation, which was sin. And when he presented himself on the cross as our representative, watch this, the law, as it were, the righteous demands of God looked up and down the Son of God, looked up and down, inside and out, and found no blemish, found no sin, found no error. There was nothing wrong with him, and the law just closed its mouth, and it walked away, and it laid down, and went to sleep. Satisfied. Its demands had been made complete in Christ.

Now, the other side of the coin is this. Same coin, other side. That by Jesus Christ doing that, he died. And he died because you and I are dead in sins apart from him. But he died in the flesh, the Bible says, and he was laid in the tomb, and on the third day resurrected from the dead. And when he rose again from the dead, it's proof positive that not only did Christ die for our sins because he is the perfect one, but listen, he broke the power of hell, and by doing so, he was resurrected from the dead, and so that's why you and I have the 100% guarantee that if death were to come to our life today, you and I as followers of Christ would immediately bypass hell, bypass the grave. How's that? Listen, if you can get a fast track pass at Disney to get to the front of the line, why not heaven through Jesus Christ? And that's exactly what he does. You get to go around because Christ did it all, an entrance into heaven itself.

Church, jot it down. Free speech number one begins with this. Free speech is the great revealer. The great revealer. We're going to find this out. How so? Mark it. When Moses speaks, when Moses speaks, he's the great revealer, Moses. Verse five says, "For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law." That's good. That's perfect. That's beautiful. And what does it say? "The man who does those things shall live by them." That's a great statement. That's a That's pure truth. Moses writes. You ought to circle the name Moses, and you ought to underline the word writes. Moses writes. Moses communicates. Moses tells us about the righteousness which is of the law. The law is righteous, church family. It's perfect. You don't ever make fun of the law. You don't You don't ever say the law is is is not relevant anymore. The law is relevant to every person that is without Jesus.

Let's set up really quick side note. If you doubt what I'm saying, and you tell somebody, listen, don't By the way, this church should know better than this because you've all been trained in the call ministry or other forms of ministry evangelism. Don't ever ask somebody, "Hi, what's your name?" "My name's Fred. What's your name?" "My name's Jack. Do you believe in God?" "I sure do." "Oh, praise the Lord. God bless you. You want to pray?" "Oh, sure." And you pray with them, pat them on the back, and walk away, and you think you just witnessed to somebody. You didn't witness to anybody. When somebody says, "Yeah, I believe in God," ask them, "Who is your God?" What's his name? Or what's their names? All right? Ask questions. Because here's the point. When you ask them, "If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?" "Oh, of course." What What What makes you so sure? "I'm a pretty good person." Well, that's interesting because the Bible says all men are liars. "Are you a liar?" "No." Well, let's think about this for a moment. Have you ever told even a white lie, which is a human construct, right? It's like Well, it wasn't a black lie. It was a It was a white lie. Well, somebody will say, most often they say, "Well, who hasn't?" So, you are a liar. You just said you're a liar. I guess I did. Have you ever committed adultery? "No." Well, let me be more specific. Jesus said if you look at someone and you want to be with them, it's a flash, instantaneous thought. Whoa, would like to be with that. Have you ever had that thought? "Well, who hasn't?" So, you're an adulterer. The conviction comes upon them because the law is righteous and true. You're not calling them names. In that moment, the Holy Spirit says, "Busted." And by the way, yes, the Holy Spirit busts us because he loves us. And he speaks.

And Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law. And he says here that a man who does those things, the law, shall live by them. In other words, you want to adopt the law to save you? I have a lot of Jewish friends. I love them dearly. Some of them know Yeshua as Messiah, and some of them don't. And the ones that don't, they will tell me, "I'm I'm better than my neighbors in my entire area. I'm better than my neighbors. I I I'm very moral." You can't be very moral and get to heaven. If you could be very moral and get to heaven, then Jesus wasted his time and blood at the cross. You can't get there by morality. Moses is saying, "You want to live by the law? Just know this, you sign up for that, you better keep it." You better keep it.

I want to show you this little quote. I mean, it's not a quote. It's not a quote from Moses. It looks like Moses said it. I'm I'm saying if you can name any religious leader or some spiritual guru throughout all of human history, they would all have to submit to one man. Watch. Moses. You think about this for a moment. And if you go to the United States Capitol, or the Supreme Court of the United States, Moses is there. Why him? Because he's the great lawgiver. And this is so true because watch. I mean this. I don't I don't I'm not saying this to upset anybody. I'm telling you I'm saying this to get you to think. If Joseph Smith walked into a room and Moses was there, Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter-day Saints, Mormonism, Joseph Smith would bow down to Moses. He would just He would just have to go like this. You're Moses. Charles Russell, Mary Mary Eddy Baker, um uh Listen. Muhammad. If Muhammad walked in a room and Moses was there, Muhammad would bow to Moses. There's nobody greater. But when Jesus walks into that room, Moses turns and bows to Jesus. It's Moses who gives up joyfully and gladly. Moses prophesied that God is going to send you a prophet like me, but him you're going to listen to. Speaking of the Messiah.

Leviticus chapter 18 verse five. Right quick. We're going to We're going to go big and quick. Leviticus 18 verse five. "You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them, for I am the Lord." That's what Moses was talking about, and that's what Paul is here citing. Mark it down in the footnotes of your Bible there in Romans chapter 10. Leviticus 18:5. Moses is announcing, God is saying, "You're going to live by the law, you got to keep it." You're going to pick the law? You're going to pick morality? Then you've got to be morally perfect. Are you going to pick the law? Then you cannot Listen, you not only cannot break the law, you cannot even think against the law. Strong, right? Hang on. We're going to a good place. Not now, later. We're going to a good place. This We're not over yet.

Deuteronomy 27 verse 26. "Cursed is the one who does not confirm or establish or say in all the words of this law." "And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'" Amen means let it be true, or it is true. And God is setting them up. He's saying, "Listen, if if you don't continue in everything that is written in the law, you're cursed." Getting a little closer, huh, to the skin, as it were.

Leviticus 17 verse 11. One of the most powerful verses in the scripture. Leviticus 17:11. By the way, mark it down. This is the introduction of the gospel in many ways in conjunction with Genesis 3:15 as well. Leviticus 17:11 says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." Wait a minute. I thought it was in the law. No, the life of the flesh is in the blood. "And I have given it to you upon the altar to make what?" "Atonement for your souls." "For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." Everybody see this? Who wrote this? Moses wrote this. Written to the children of Israel, but regardless, it is the law of God. What is the point? You got the 10 Commandments. What happens in the day that you break a commandment? Look, what is God saying? You need atonement. You guys are awake, right? You guys awake? You need atonement. You need atonement. God says you need atonement. And is it more laws? Is it an 11th commandment? A 12th? The 23rd commandment? No, it's got to be blood. Mark it down. That's New Testament thinking, everybody. Again, if you're Jewish today, be thinking about this. We are preaching atonement for our sins. That's what we're preaching. Why? Because it's a consistent doctrine of the entire scriptures. Old and New Testament alike. And it begins with what God told Moses. I need innocent blood to appease my righteousness so that you can keep living. When you break the law, you need to get blood and have that covered by the act of atonement.

James chapter 2 verse 10 says, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, I'd love to hear James talk about this. He was He He's just got to be speaking in a way that's got your attention. And yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all." I wrote in my notes, just one out of 10. So, if you're If I'm in a boat and you're you Not a boat. Let's make it more scary than that. If I'm on the If I'm If I'm on the edge of a cliff and you weren't paying attention, you're taking a selfie, you're backing up, trying to get the Grand Canyon in your camera, and you fall off the edge of the cliff, and you you grab on to a chain that's hanging off to the side, and and you say, "Help me! Help me! Pull me up!" And I say to you, "I can't pull you up. You have to pull yourself up." "Oh, okay." And you You're on that one link, then you get to the second link, you get to the third link, the fourth link, the fifth link. Stop right there. How you doing? Pretty good. Everybody on the side with their cameras out, ready to post this, is saying, "He's doing pretty good. He's gotten to the fifth link." Sixth link. Seventh link. Eighth link. Ninth link. One more left. Everybody's cheering. He's going to make it. Snaps. The 10th link snaps. Well, he kept nine of them. It doesn't matter. The splat at the bottom of the canyon still sounds the same. If it broke Listen, if it broke at the 10th or the first, it's still the same. Are you with me? Well, I've been doing pretty good. You know what? We all know that you are so fallen. You don't know it yet. But we know it. But when you begin to wake up to the realization that the law cannot save you, only atonement can save you, according to Moses, you'll find out that all you need to do is have one thought that breaks the 10 Commandments. And let me be Let me be affectionately accurate. None of us got past the first one. The first one tells us we're to love God with all of our heart, with all of our very being. The moment I read the 10 Commandments, I realize I've I've broken the first one cuz I've lived a life that didn't I didn't always love him. And let's be honest, Christian. Can I say this for you? I'm going to say it for you anyway. You and I don't love God the way that we ought to love God. We need to love him more. I feel embarrassed when I tell him I love him cuz it's so hollow. I love you, God. And it's like it's like cardboard. Right? It's like, "What is that?"

But the opening scene of something, and you guys know this very well. We've touched on this more recently as well, but the opening scene of this is gorgeous. It's sunset. It's interesting day, by the way. It's a sunset. The sun is setting. It's not yet hitting the horizon, but the sun is very heavy in the sky, low in the sky. And it's interesting cuz it's a Sunday evening in Jerusalem. And what makes it odd is that it's a double Sabbath. It's an unusual thing. There's several double Sabbaths that have happened in Israel's history. It just so happens that John tells us that on the Sunday or on the weekend, I should say, that Jesus Christ was crucified, it was a double Sabbath. Usually the Sabbath ends on Saturday night. Well, this is Sunday. And Luke chapter 24 verse 13, the Bible tells us It's a beautiful moment. Now, behold, two of them, that's two disciples, were traveling that same day, Sunday, to a village called Emmaus. By the way, this is fun. We've actually been there. We stood there. I taught a couple of sermons there. Emmaus has been archaeologically uncovered. Comp- 100% archaeological stop along the way. Which was 7 miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together and all of these things which had happened. And so it was that while they conversed and reasoned, argued. It's a good It's a good word. Argued. They argued with each other. Not fighting, but they argued. "Well, what about this? Well, what about that? Yeah. If that was the truth, then how about this?" That as they're going for it, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know him, recognize him. And he said to them, "What kind of conversation is it that you're having with one another as you walk and are sad?" Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things which happened there in these days?" Listen to Jesus. Is this You got to You guys, he's got a sense of humor. It's awesome. Jesus said to them, "What things?" Is that great? This is God talking. Well, what? So, they said to him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel." So, they've lost hope. They were looking for a political redeemer. They They didn't recognize that Isaiah demands that the redeemer of Israel must first physically suffer before he establishes his politics, his kingdom. And so, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. Verse 22, "Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb earlier, astonished us when they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." Then Jesus said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in and listen, in all your feelings, s- slow to believe in all of your opinions, slow to believe in all your conjectures? No. Slow to believe in what, church? In all. Remarkably, in all. Ought not, he says, believe in that the prophets have spoken? Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things? This is amazing. He's saying, "Read your Old Testament, guys. You should know how this was going to go." And enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, Jesus expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. All the scriptures. All of the Old Testament. Remarkable. Awesome.

Free speech. Speak it. The great revealer, Moses, is telling us. Not only Moses, look at verse 6. When righteousness speaks. Look at verse 6. But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. So, Moses wrote about it. Righteousness speaks about it. And it does it by faith. Watch this. The But righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" That is, to bring Christ down from above. Now, I want you to pay close attention. This is This is kind of deep, but not really, actually. It It sounds more difficult than what it really is. This is not a secret code. It's not some mystery to solve or some uh trick from God. Don't Here's what it means. Verse 6. Don't be asking the question, "Where am I going to find righteousness? How do I find Listen, how do I find the medium or the mode or the vehicle that can make me right before God? Do I go to heaven and search and find it there? Is that what I need to do? Pretty soon he's going to say, "You can descend into the lower depths of the sea." You're not going to find it there, either. Watch This is so cool what he's about to say. You're looking in the wrong spot. My dear friends, listen. Still to this day, so many Jewish people, with their scriptures, are looking in the wrong spot. I mentioned this to you last week, I believe, in one of the services. That I shared scriptures with many Jewish friends, and they don't even know what I'm talking about, even though I'm using their Hebrew Old Testament that they own. And they say, "We've never heard these verses before. We've never read this before. Why do we not Why how How is it that I didn't know this?" Because you were never taught the forbidden scriptures. No wonder why Listen, those who want to control you spiritually call them the forbidden scriptures. You're not to read them. Now, some of you are Catholics. I'm Look, I'm out Apparently, I'm out to offend everybody today. Some of you are Catholics. Many of you are Catholics. Uh Some Few. Few. But most Catholic churches do not want nor allow you to read the Book of Revelation. I'll tell you why. If you read the Book of Revelation, you'll be set free. It's By the way, it's not the Book of Revelation. It's the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. You want to meet your great high priest? He's not in the Vatican. He's in heaven. And he's waiting to hear from you.

Righteousness. How do we get it? Do we invent it? Is there a mode of doing? Is it a list of thou shalt nots? Do we climb up to heaven and search for it there? Do we build our own Tower of Babel and try to reach it? Or do we take a submarine down to the bottom of the sea and probe around to see if we can find redemption that way and righteousness that way? That's You would say that sounds ludicrous. And yet people do this more than what I'm saying here, than what the scriptures are even saying. Listen, Jesus warned about this. He warned the Pharisees. He said, you know, "You guys will not believe that I'm the Son of God and that my father sent me, and you will not believe in my words, because you have no truth in you. If you were of my father, you would believe the words I'm telling you." But here's the part that's sad. You're not only lost, but you go around the world, and you make converts who are 10 times or seven times worse than the children of hell than you are yourself. Jesus said that. Bound in people up in legalism. How are you going to get righteous? Just reform yourself. Straighten up. Wash your face. Put on appropriate clothing. Drop these words. Give this money. Listen to me. Do these rituals. Get that box checked off, and you'll get righteousness. And the Bible says, "No way. You can go to heaven, or you can go to the depths of the sea itself, and you will not find it." And those words come from Moses, as well. Righteousness.

Deuteronomy 30, verse 11. Deuteronomy 30:11. "For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'" This is Moses talking. Did you think this was Paul talking? This is Moses speaking. "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it." It's not do the rule, it's do it this. It's believe this reality. You can't earn it, you can't find it. The fact is, God reveals the pursuit of heaven in your own hearts. God awakens the heart. The law is to convict you. You are to feel that conviction. And it's a very uncomfortable feeling. And when you sense that conviction, I'm in trouble. And you look around, you're like in You're paranoid. You're like looking around, and you feel like you're being pointed at by everybody, and nobody's even looking at you. And it's like, "What do I do? I know. I have to ascend to heaven. I've got to do all these things and and eat these mushrooms and sit on a pyramid with a crystal in my navel. And drink this tea and No, that's not it. That's not That didn't work. I got to go down into the depths. I've got to go to I've got to go down to the very very uh find Atlantis and and and find the secret world, and I'll find it that way." Moses says, "Knock it off." Moses says, "Can you say Can you say what God is doing in your heart? Can you say it?" Do you have the freedom of speech to say it? You understand if we were in North Korea right now, the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, North Korea. Did you know the freedom of speech reigns there? Only through Christ. It's illegal to mention his name, but can you? Will you? You know, many do. And they pay the price. Free speech. Are you really free to say and to proclaim what you believe? You might be in the freest country on earth, which when when you find it, let me know. I'd like to go there. You might be in the freest country on earth and not be able to be free enough to say Jesus is Lord. Jesus is my righteousness. Because you're not free on the inside. You're still stuck in the commandments. You're still stuck in legalism and works. If I just do this and I don't do the other, I'll be accepted. If you go up into heaven or down into the abyss, nope. It's not going to work.

When verse six tells us, "But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, don't say this in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" That is to bring Christ down from above. Galatians chapter 3, verse 11. Galatians 3:11 says, "But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God That's the Lord, by the way. Is evident. For the just shall live by faith." New Test Listen, "The just shall live by faith." You guys are experts on this now, but I'll just pretend you're not. "The just shall live by faith." Quoted by Paul to the church of Galatia. Mentioned again in the Book of Romans. But why is it mentioned in the New Testament? Because it is found in the Old Testament. More specifically, it is found in Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4. But more specifically than that, is it is declared before Habakkuk was ever born, it was spoken by God to Abraham, because Abraham believed, put faith in God, and God declared him righteous. Do you see how this message never changes? It's awesome. This is not some fairy tale. This is not some very well-established religion. C.S. Lewis, you know, when he was an atheist, he tried to break it. He tried to break Christianity. He was going to undo it. By the way, um Bertrand Russell tried it. That didn't work. A lot of people throughout history have tried it. Voltaire tried it. It didn't work. But there are some who tried it, and then they wind up being confronted with the truth, like a 2 by 4 right in the face. I I just saw Lee Strobel uh speaking, and he was a He was a hardcore atheist. And now he's one of the greatest proponents of faith in Christ and the word of God. And guys like Josh McDowell, who wrote the book Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

I was uh I was a little alarmed uh this week. And it wasn't as alarmed. It's just I took my my posture to actually uh defend myself. I got out of my vehicle this this this Wednesday night. I got out uh It was Thursday night. Got out of my vehicle, and this big guy was kind of in the dark area, kind of a I mean, not a I wasn't in a dark area. The lights from the trees and stuff. It's not like I was on the corner of like 9th and G Street, you know. I get out of my vehicle, cuz I'm dropping something off, and this guy goes, "Hey! You!" And he's big. He's big. He's like 6'3". He's coming right at me. "Hey!" And I go, you know, you got to do this. You You You don't go like this. "What?" You do that, you're dead. I went like this. I just went, "What is it?" And I'm ready. I mean, I'm ready. I'm ready. And the guy goes, "You know what you did?" And I go, "What I do?" And he goes, "I saw you one time at Costco, and my wife's a Christian, and I'm not, and you tell me that I should read this book." And so I I went and got it, and I read it. And I go, "Okay." And he goes, "That was uh right at the beginning of COVID, and you said I've been coming to the church ever since." So, I brought one so hard, and I hit him. No. Be- Because it No, I was going to say, "You shouldn't do that to me." But it was very precious. Very, very sweet. God's word, God's righteousness, sets you free.

Isaiah 45:24 says, "Sure to the Lord, I Listen, surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To him, that is the Lord, men shall come." And boy, I tell you, if you're a Gentile, you ought to circle the word men, cuz it means mankind. It means not only the Jews, but all mankind will come to the Lord. That is, you have the ability to be saved. You have the opportunity to be saved. It doesn't mean all men are saved, but all men could be if they would. God gives you that. Homework for later, friends, if you want to go deeper, read Isaiah chapter 52 and Isaiah chapter 53 to find out more about the Messiah being your atonement.

The third consideration is found here in verse 7, and that is free speech is the great revealer this way, when logic speaks. Logic, reason, argumentation. Verse 7 says, "Or who will descend into the the abyss?" That is, to bring Christ up from the dead or from the grave. The statement doesn't mean hell, it means in the depths of the sea. If you look at an an uh a translation that might have depths of the sea, that's that's completely fine. That's completely good. It's not necessarily talking about hell itself. It could be uh speaking of Hades, where uh Abraham's bosom, the paradise, was prior to the resurrection, but that's emptied out. That's no longer there for the believer. Thus, when you pass here, you go immediately with the Lord. You don't go to where Abraham once was. That place was emptied out, the Bible tells us, after the death of Christ at the cross. So, does it make sense that you can actually descend into the depths of the sea and find that which is going to bring you salvation? You say, "Jack, that is so ridiculous." I understand it is. But you know how how susceptible the human spirit is to this kind of shenanigans that we In fact, I don't mean this as a joke, but think about the original Indiana Jones movie, the the original one. And you remember that Indiana Jones is looking for this idol, and he gets there, and he winds up he's got the bag of sand, and he's going to grab the idol's head to try to Right, he's got it right there. And what's with the idol? Well, you don't find out till later till that French guy who's working with the Nazis, it's believed that this idol can bring you eternal life. You say, "Well, that's ridiculous." Ain't it though? It doesn't keep people from pursuing it. And by the way, be careful when you pursue eternal life. What kind of life do you want to live forever? The Bible's clear, all of this, heaven or hell, will live forever. You should go to the place where God is. It's called heaven.

So, when it says here that that is to bring Christ up from the dead, we have to add these verses to our study before we move on. In John chapter 3:13, the Bible says, "No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven." This is Jesus speaking. That is, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. I've come down. You don't Oh, this is so fun. You don't go to heaven to find me. You don't go into the depths of the sea to find me, Jesus is saying. I came to you. Are you in Are you involved in a religion? One way to tell, if you're not sure. If you're involved in a religion, you practice something religiously to be right with that god or gods. You're doing something to make them happy. The only way for you to get to them is if you do these things that they demand of you. It's called paganism. It can even have a cross on the building. If that's their theology, it's pagan. It's not New Testament. But this is God. He looked down upon us, and he came here. He came here to save us. He came here to die on the cross for our sins. He rose again from the dead so that So, listen, so that you would have eternal life. That's why technically Christianity is not a religion. Seriously. Well, National Geographic says it's one of the great three religions. Of course, that's what National Geographic knows about theology, which is nothing. Christianity is an encounter with the God who came down. And he's so amazing that he knocks on your heart, wherever you may be.

Proverbs 30:4, "Who has ascended into heaven or descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment?" Now, watch this. I'm I'm deliberately breaking it up. Job 26:8, "He binds up the water in his thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it." That's incredible, by the way. God floats clouds. God floats water through the sky. Heavy, heavy, incredible flooding water he floats. That should make you freak out. Think about it. I got to move this over to there so they can have rain and crops and snow. So, I'm going to float it. Notice the connection. I deliberately broke up Proverbs 30:4 A and B, and inserted Job 26:8 in the middle, just to make sure you know who we're talking about. Verse 4, "Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name? And what is his son's name, if you know?" On a count of three, can I hear the son's name? 1 2 3. Jesus. I heard Jesus. Did I hear you right? Yes. I didn't hear any other names. Nobody shouted out some other name. There is Listen, there's no other name given among men under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved, and that is the name Jesus Christ. There's no other name. Not even Moses. Not even Moses. It's Jesus. It's Jesus.

Psalm 2:7, Psalm 2:7. You have to hurry. We We're getting way behind. You have to hurry, you guys. Psalm 2:7 says, "I will declare the the decree. The Lord has said to me, 'You are my son. Today I have begotten you.'" The word begotten is, "I have glorified you." For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. There's only one and one only son that God will send who will be not only the glorifying one, but the one who is glorified. That is, he is going to live, he's going to appease the demands of the law, he's going to die on the cross for Jack's sins, and then to seal the deal, he's going to rise from the dead. And that message goes out to the end of the earth. Believe in him. Confess him. Trust in him. Go to him.

1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ also suffered once for sin sins sins." Oof, do I say it? Should I say this? It's true. It's going to be It's going to upset you. For Christ also suffered often? Look Look Look at the Look to your Look. For Christ also suffered Guess what the word in Greek means for once. Once. Once. The word actually means never to suffer again. That's what it means. Listen up. He suffered once for sins. What if What if you sin this week? Either you know how to deal with it through the scriptures, or you're going to go find somebody to confess to. And you're going to need bot- the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus again in the sacrament to be forgiven. Do you know that? Do you know people are taught this? Did you know the Bible condemns that thinking? Jesus never suffered again after he died on the cross, and he will never suffer again. Scripture says once, and it was once enough for not sin, for sins. Wow. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit. That's our Jesus. He is our righteousness.

Hebrews chapter 13:20 says, Hebrews 13:20. Now, may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's God's work. Next verse. These next few verses are epic. This drives cults crazy. Revelation 1:18. I am he who lives and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. If you read that chapter, it's Jesus speaking. Revelation 2:8. Jesus is speaking. And to the angel of the church of Smyrna, write these things says the first and the last, who was dead and came to life. Did your God die for you on the cross? Did your God resurrect from the dead? Listen, people will say, "If God died, then how could the universe stick together if he's dead?" When God died on the cross, he didn't cease to exist. Oh, newsflash, when you die, you're not going to cease to exist, either. His body died. Ever think about that? People say, "Well, if Jesus can't be God if he died on the cross, the whole universe would have flown apart cuz he's the one that holds it all together, the Bible says." That's right, he does. His body died. Because sin condemned the body in decay. But Christ at the cross not only took care of the body, but the soul and the spirit of who you and I are. It's called redemption. All of it.

Jeremiah 23:6. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Watch. Now, this is the name by which he will be called, the Lord our righteousness. Yahweh Tsidkenu. The Lord is our righteousness. That is so good. Nobody's Look, the Lord he's our righteousness, but I'm pretty righteous, too, myself, you know. None of that. The Lord is our, period, righteousness, period. That's freedom. That's liberty. That's a transformed life. And we'll have to end at this particular point here. It's verses 8 through 10, and that is the great reality. The great reality lends us to have free speech, and that is let the truth be told, verse 8. But what does it say? The word is near you. You're an expert on this now. You know this is from Leviticus. The word is near you, Deuteronomy, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. See the parentheses right there? That's in your scriptures. Parentheses are in your scriptures. That's Paul announcing we're preaching the gospel to you. The word of faith. Remember, faith has to have an object. You Faith cannot be the object. I have faith in faith. You're messed up. Faith is the car that takes you to the object. But are you putting 100%? The word faith is uh pisteuo in Greek, and it means to put all of your weight upon Jesus to Listen, the technically you do this You did pisteuo today when you came in, you sat in your chair. You sat down. You're going to go to your car, you're going to just sit down. You're not going to sit there and go, "Can somebody bring in a We have to Can I I need a welder. I I need a certified welder to check this before I sit down here. It's like, "Will it hold me? What kind of fabric is this, anyway? What's the cushion? What's the density? And what's the weight limit? Honey, before I sit down, can you look underneath to see Can it hold 250 lb?" You don't do that. You exercise pisteuo, faith, where you walk up and you sit down. The Bible says

that you and I, concerning Jesus, we are to walk up and sit down on him. I see that as a beautiful thing. Jack, come here. And he just scoops you up. Every day, as long as he's God, as long as he's alive, you can rest in him like that. When somebody says this thing or the other, when bad news comes, you open the envelope, it's time to sit down on him. You don't need to check him out. He's already proved himself faithful.

Hey, young Christians, one of the greatest things is growing older as a Christian. Cuz you look back and you see all the great things that God has done, which causes you to look forward with excitement and peace. Yeah, it's true. He's never let us down.

The Bible says in Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek or Gentile." Verse 17, "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." Paul quotes the Old Testament.

Next, let the truth be spoken. Let it be spoken. Verse 9, "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Church family, don't miss this. The word confess, homologeo, means this, to speak the same word about Jesus that God does. To confess Christ is to agree what the Bible says about Christ.

Listen, I I issue this warning. So many people say they're Christians, and then they've got all this bizarre thought process as to how they live their life. We just found out that we You saw the news this week where Campus Crusade for Christ decided to change the meaning of being a disciple. As long as you're sincere, you can entertain any kind of sexual lifestyle you want, as long as you're sincere. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the days of deception. And And to not be deceived is to know the word. You don't make it up. And when God says, "This is my son, he's eternal," it's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all found, by the way, in the first chapter of Genesis, if you read it carefully. The triunity of God. In the beginning, Elohim, God in a singular plurality. Go figure that out. That he's your atonement. He's your salvation. He's the only one. That's what God is saying.

Can you confess that and mean it? Have you ever heard somebody say Jesus is Lord, but their life was never changed? It's because watch, this is so practical. They said it with their mouth, but it was never in their heart. It's got to be in your mouth and your heart. In fact, can I put it this way? It's got to be in your heart before it can be in your mouth. That sounds kind of gross if you think about it, cuz you know, if you're not feeling well, whatever you ate is going to come back up. And we don't We cringe from that. But can I apply it this way? Have you eaten of the truth of God's word? Do you know who Jesus is? Well, guess what? If that's true, that's what's going to come out. And when it comes out, the believer, that's what they live. And they speak. Because they confess. If you confess, is it a confession that is in alignment with the transformation of your heart? Yesterday, church, almost 800 people got baptized from this church yesterday. That's Just that alone is a church. 800 people. Their public confession was preempted by their change of heart.

Let the truth be spoken. And then finally, right here, verse 10, let the truth be known. For, number one, with the heart, one believes unto righteousness. With the heart. And number two, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. This is so cool. I love this.

So, when you're hearing the gospel, maybe you're hearing it right now. You can't go to heaven without Jesus Christ. That's why he came and died on the cross for you. He's perfect, you're not. You're a sinner, he's the savior. He says, "If you come to me, I will no wise turn you away." Jesus preached the first message of the very gospel in the New Testament, which is exactly the same gospel all the apostles preached and the disciples. And it starts like this, "Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." It's everything actually you and I just got done reading today in our scripture in our study today. Repent means change your mind. Metanoia. Meta after, noia thought. Have an afterthought about Jesus, change your mind. Repent and pistoi, put all your weight upon him. No more on you and no more on your money, no more on your gold, no more on your friends, no more on whatever, only on God. And he's the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord. He's not only the master, he's also Yah, Yahweh.

You can stand. I'm going to read you these verses. We're overdue. Now, you guys have have to promise me. I'm going to read these verses and then you have to leave. Uh cuz there's other people coming. Listen to this. In light of In light of Romans 10:10, look at Hebrews 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son. Remember the one from Proverbs 30? Whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Listen to this. Ephesians 2:15, "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the warfare." The word enmity is human warfare against the human creator God. Man warring against God. Having abolished in his flesh the warfare, that is the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, so as to create in themselves one new man from the two, thus making peace."

One more and we're done. Colossians 2:14. "Having wiped out all the handwriting of requirements that was against us." Did you know some of you who are not Christ followers, the meter's running. The ticker tape thing is just flying. The printer is printing every sin you think. Plus the ones you do. That's called the handwriting of requirements. They were contrary to us. They condemned us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to his cross. Amen. Amen. Right?

Lord, we praise you, God, for so great a salvation. May there be men and women and boys and girls today who would say, "I am going to put my life into your hands. I call upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, son of God, savior. I put my trust in I decide to do that right now. I ask him to wash me of my sins. And from this moment forward, place my trust in him." And all of God's people said, "Amen." God bless you, church.