The Simplicity of Salvation

as a social worker, Jesus came as a savior, as a savior for man's greatest need and the desire that you ought to have for all of your loved ones is that that need would be met. Man's greatest need is salvation. Take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 10, Romans has been called the Constitution of Christianity and the more we read it, the more I believe that to be true. Let me ask you a question. Think of the person that you love the most. What is your deepest desire for that individual, perhaps your children, your parents, your kin folks? What do you desire for those that you love the most? Do you desire for them, for example, parents? Do you desire for your children and education? Is that your great desire? If that's all you desire, you're going to raise a clever devil. That's all. Do you desire for your children, culture? Now we're trying to refine young intellects and add culture, but that's your heart's desire. If culture is your hope, all you're doing is making the world a better place to go to hell from. Is that your desire? I mean, what do you want? You say, "Well, I want them to be materially well off. I want them to have a sufficiency." Well, what difference will that make if they have it all and then die and rise in the judgment to face a God, they do not know? You see, Jesus came not as a great philosopher, not as an educator, not as an economist, not as a social worker, Jesus came as a savior, as a savior for a man's greatest need. And the desire that you ought to have for all of your loved ones is that that need would be met. A man's greatest need is salvation.

Now salvation is no fashion word, and some today in our more cultured churches have kind of shoved the word "salvation" out the back door, and that's something that the church across the railroad tracks talks about, but not us. But friend, if you listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 19, verse 10, Jesus said, "The Son of Man," he'd call himself the Son of Man. He said, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost." And the angel, when the angel announced his birth said, "Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." And when the Apostle Paul thought of his loved ones, those who were his relatives, notice what he said in chapter 10, verse 1, "Be brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. My heart's desire, O God, that they might be saved." And so we're going to think a little bit about salvation, and we're going to think about it under three headings. And heading number one is the righteousness that God rejects. You would think that God would accept righteousness, wouldn't you? But there is a righteousness that God rejects, and I believe in a sophisticated audience like this, perhaps the first point, may be the one that needs to be heard the most. Let's look again here, Romans 10, verse 1, "Breatherate, my heart's prayer to God for Israel is," and by the way Israel was the most religious nation on the face of the earth at that time, "my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved, for I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness." You say, "Education is costly, friend, I want to tell you ignorance is far more costly than education, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness," underscore that, "have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The Moses describedeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the men which doeth those things shall live by them, but the righteousness which is of faith, and I'm going to stop reading

right there for a moment, but let me tell you there is a certain righteousness that God rejects, and the righteousness that God rejects is self-righteousness. a better person, by doing good deeds. God rejects that righteousness. Now why would God do that? Well, because God is holy. And God, being a holy God, cannot countenance any sin, none whatsoever. And man is sinful at his best, and the best that man can do is not enough. Not enough. That's the reason keeping the ten commandments can't save you. Number one, you can't keep them. You don't have what it takes to keep them in your own strength. And even if you kept most of them, what good is that? If you're hanging over a fire by chain of ten links, and nine of them are forged steel, and one of them is made of paper, how safe are you? A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. That's the reason the Bible says if we should keep the whole law. And yet, if in one point, we are guilty of all. God demands perfection, and we just can't supply it. Man really, basically is ignorant. When it comes to spiritual things, that's the reason we need to go to the Word of God. We have people today that say, "Well, I'm looking for a church that suits me." Well, you better stop that. I mean, who are you, God? You better find a religion, a salvation, a church, a truth that suits God, and submit yourself to what God has said. Man always gets it backward. Naturally, for example, the Bible says, "Believe and be baptized." And what does man do? He baptizes little babies and hopes one day they'll believe. That's back. The Bible says, for example, that adults are to become like little children. What do we do? A little child comes forward to give his or her heart to Jesus, and we take the little child, and we ask the little child a lot of adult questions. And if the little child can't answer the adult questions, we say the little child is not ready. But God says the adult is going to have to become like a little child, and just come with a child like faith. The Bible says, "Seek ye first, seek ye first, the kingdom of God in his righteousness." What do most of us do? We seek things first, and put God second. And wonder why it doesn't work. "Seek ye first, the kingdom of God in his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Now, what difference does it make if everything seems to be going right for you except for the main thing? I may have told you about an experience I had not so very long ago. I flew into Tampa, Florida. Had to go across the state. I rented an automobile. And it was a nice automobile, not an expensive but a very nice brand new automobile I got in there.

It had the greatest radio, and I found a station that had the most glorious music. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful Florida day. This car smells so good and looks so good. I got on the road. It was a great road, just going along fine, listening to the music. Having a wonderful time, but you know, it was one thing wrong. I was on the wrong road in the wrong direction. And the fact that the road was so good, and the weather was so fine, and I am so oblivious, that was not wonderful. That was horrible, because there I am just sailing along, feeling everything is fine, but in my ignorance, going the wrong way. And that's the way the people of Paul's day were. They, being ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now listen to me, big plane and straight. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous. It is a gift for the guilty. Do you understand that? You'll never be saved. Salvation is not a goal to be achieved. It is a gift to be received. And Paul's heart was just full of compassion for these people. He said, "The ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, and many will come to church and perhaps say, "You know, I need to change my way of living. I'm going to change my lifestyle. I want to be right with God." I've often used illustration, if you go to sawmill and I've done that on occasion, and watching old log being straightened out, crooked tree trunk, they'll drop that log on that cradle and run it through that big saw and it lops off one side, they'll turn it, run it through again, lops off the other side, run it through again, it lops off the other side. And finally all four sides have been cut and that log now is perfectly square, perfectly straight.

But if you go to the end and look, the heart is still crooked, is it not? Now that's what so many people do, they're just trying to establish their own righteousness and they say, I don't do this, I don't do this, I don't do this, I don't do that. What a good boy am I. Jesus was talking to the religious leaders of His day. Somebody said, my heart's designed prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He had primarily the religious leaders in mind the Pharisees. I've often wondered what a churchful of Pharisees would be like. Suppose I was the pastor of a churchful of Pharisees, let me tell you what it'd be like. Number one, they would attend a lot more faithfully than many of you. Number two, all of them would tithe. Number three, they would live outwardly clean, pure, more alive. Number four, they would be very busy about church work. Sounds like a good church, doesn't it? Oh did I forget to mention number five, they'd all be going to hell. All be going to hell, why? Because the ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. So the first point is this, the righteousness that God rejects, the worst form of badness is human goodness when human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth. Now here's the second thing I want you to see. Not only the righteousness that God rejects, but the righteousness that God reveals. Now there is a righteousness, and God has revealed that righteousness so continue to read verse six, but the righteousness which is by faith, which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into the heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what, Seth? The word is neither. Even in thy mouth and in thy heart, which is the word of faith which we preach.

Now there is a righteousness that God rejects, but thank God there is a righteousness that God reveals, and he mentions that in these verses verses six through eight. Look up here. If you're not a Christian, let me tell you, you are so close to being saved. I cannot tell you how near salvation is to you. I wish I had better words to express it. You may think that you're a long way from being saved. No, no, you are so close. Look in verse eight, but what's said that the word is neither. That means near thee. How near is it? It's in your mouth and in your heart. You don't have to go on some safari to find salvation. He says, say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven to bring Christ down from above? You don't have to go up there and say, Holy Father, would you send us a Savior? Would you let somebody come from heaven come down to this earth to save us? Nor if that one came down and did die for you on that bloody cross. You wouldn't have to go down into the pit, down into hell and say, Oh, let's bring him from the dead. Let's bring him to life again. Let's bring Christ from the dead. He says, you don't have to do that. Why? Look at it in verses six through eight. He has already come down. Fred, he has come down. Christmas is an established fact. Furthermore, not only has he come down from the heavens but he has come up from It is an accomplished fact. And that is the reason that it is so close to you, so near to you.

What'sith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy heart and in thy mouth. You say it's in my heart and in my mouth. I'm not even a Christian, yes, but it's in your heart and in your mouth. Well, how did it get in my heart? I just put it there. Adrian, how did you put it in my heart? The Word of Faith, which we preach. I just put it in your heart and it's in your mouth. You say in my heart? Yep. In my mouth? Yes. Be careful what you do with it because it is there. And in a moment we're going to see, since it is there in your heart and in your mouth, what do you need to do? You need now to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth. You don't have to go off looking for salvation, folks. It is there. The Word is nigh thee, even in the heart and in thy mouth. That is the Word of Faith, which we preach. And God has revealed that righteousness. You see, there's the righteousness that God rejects. There is the righteousness that God reveals. I prayed before I preached this morning. God brought you here today and God sent me to tell you that Jesus Christ has come down from heaven, the Son of God, that He died upon that cross, that He stepped out of that grave He has risen and the Word is in your heart and in your mouth ready today for you to receive it and be saved. Isn't that good news? You see, there is the righteousness that God rejects and there is the righteousness that God reveals. And now let me show you the righteousness that God receives. What should you do? Well, let's continue to read. Look now in verse 9. Here it is. Here's what God will receive. Watch it in verse 9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, remember it's in your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, remember it's in your heart, that God hath raised them from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's by print on white paper. Look at it, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture said, "Whose so ever believeth on him shall not be shamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Now, the righteousness that God receives is this. It all centers around Jesus Christ. Look in verse 9. And let me tell you what you to do with Jesus. Are you listening? Are you paying attention? In the balcony, listen, your destiny here. We're talking about you. We're talking about your soul. We're talking about heaven and hell. Pay attention. Don't you let that devil take this word out of your mouth and out of your heart today. Listen to it. Number one, you must confess Christ as the reigning Lord of your life, the reigning Lord. I've chosen the word reigning very carefully. Look in verse 9, "That if thou

shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus." The Lord Jesus. The lordship of Jesus is the central confession of the Christian church. Why did Jesus come to this earth? Why did he suffer bleed die on that cross? Why Easter morning put in the margin of your Bibles, Romans 14 verse 9, "For to this end Christ both died, rose and revived that he might be Lord of the dead and the living." That's why. That's why Jesus came to this earth, suffered, bled, died, walked out of that grave that he might be Lord. Now, what is God all about? Listen to Philippians 2 verses 9 through 11, "Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, speaking here about Jesus, and given him a name which is above every name." And that is true. There's no sweeter name than the name Jesus, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Somehow, somehow we've gotten the idea that Christ is saviour, that I've been guilty of saying that. But friend, that's not really New Testament language. New Testament doesn't say accept Christ as your Savior. He is that, and He is Christ. The New Testament says, "Confess Christ as Lord, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus." Every time, ever so often, somebody will say something like this. You know, when I was a child, I accepted Jesus as my Savior. And that settled whether I was going to heaven or hell. And now, I have made Him my Lord. No, I'm sorry. God sent me here to tell you if He's not your Lord, He's not your Savior. Salvation is not some sort of a cafeteria line where we say, well, I believe I'll have a little Savior here today, but no lordship, thank you. No, Jesus is Lord.

We have a lot of people who've come down Church Isles like they're doing God a wild favor, so they can have a little fire insurance and not go to hell accepting Christ, quote, as the Savior. Now He is Savior, and He does save. But friend, you cannot have what He gives unless you receive what He is. He is Lord. Have you ever taken yourself off the throne and put Jesus Christ on the throne? You know, the church is called the bride of Christ. Let's just imagine there's a wedding. The vows have been set. The cake has been cut. The rice has been thrown. Tom and Susie are in the car they're driving off. Susie looks over to Tom and says, Tom, would you please take me home? He says, well, Susie, I can't take you home. You know, our home won't be finished for two weeks. We're going on our honeymoon. And then when our home is finished, I'll take you home. Susie says, no, Tom, I don't mean that home. I mean my home. I want you to take me back to my mother. I want to go home. Now, Tom, I want you to understand something. I am glad that you are my husband. When we got married, I took you as my husband. I'm glad that you're my husband.

But I want you to take me back to my home. Now, Tom, I know that you love me. And I want you to know I'm grateful to be your wife. And Tom, I'll try to come see you on weekends. And Tom, if I get sick, I'll call you. If I need anything, I'll call you. But Tom, I'm going back to my old way of life, but I'm happy to have you as my husband. I'm going back to my old way of life. Tom, take your hands off my life. Have you ever known anybody that said, now, Lord Jesus, I take you as my Savior? Thank you. That's done. Now, I'm going back to my old way of life. Oh, yes, Lord, I'll come see you a few times on weekends. And Lord, if I need anything, if I get sick, I'll call on you. Friends, that is the kind of religion that is filling hell. Filling hell. People have never really made the authentic confession that Jesus Christ is, Lord. You're not saved by doing good works. I don't mean that. We're talking about the righteousnesses which is by faith, but it is faith in Christ as the reigning Lord. Now, have you seen him as your reigning Lord? Not only you've confessed him as reigning Lord, but look in verse nine, as risen Lord, as risen Lord, that if thou shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart, that God hath raised him

from the dead. Why does he say that? Why does he say, if you believe in the virgin birth, or if you believe that he died on the cross, or if you believe that he's the Son of God, why did he say that you believe that God has raised him from the dead? Well, friend, that's just shorthand for all of the rest of it. You see, the resurrection that we're celebrating this time of the year is the capstone of all of the rest of it. You see, in order for him to be raised from the dead, he had to be a man to come and be raised from the dead. That's the incarnation. In order for him to be raised from the dead, he had to die on the cross, in order to be raised from the dead. That is the crucifixion. raised from the dead because the Bible says he's shown to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. All of our Christian faith is wrapped up in that. The incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the deity of Christ. It's all in this one statement. You see, listen, to be a New Testament Christian, you believe in Christ as the reigning Lord. You believe in Christ as the risen Lord, believe that he walked out of that grave. I believe that with all of my heart there's more proof that Jesus Christ rose from the dead than there is the Julius Caesar ever lived. And then thirdly, you confess him as the reigning Lord, as the risen Lord, and therefore as the redeeming Lord. Look again in verses 9 and 10, look, what's it? If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, the reigning Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, that's the risen Lord, thou shalt

be saved. He is the redeeming Lord, for with the heart, man, believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. That's what man needs. That's why Paul said, look, my heart's designed prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now I want you to see the relationship, therefore, between the heart and the mouth. He says, believe with your heart, confess with your mouth. You're not going to boot leg of blessing. You're not going to sneak into heaven. Jesus said, if you are ashamed of me, and are my words before this sinful and adulterous generation, then I'll be ashamed of you when I come to the glory of the Father with the Holy Angels, but Jesus said, if you will confess me before man, I will confess you before my Father. Now notice the relationship. The heart is private. The mouth is public. What man believes in his heart, he will confess with his mouth. In a few moments, I'm going to give a public invitation. I'm going to ask you to do something all glorious and all wonderful. I'm going to ask you to leave, you see, and openly and publicly, unashamedly. Come forward, letting it know, letting the whole world know if possible, that you believe in Jesus Christ. He said, oh, no Pastor, I couldn't do that. I don't want all those people to know I believe in Jesus. I don't want all those people to know that I'm a sinner and lost, and on my way to hell, and now I've received Christ and I've been saved and redeemed. I don't want everybody to know that I have associated my life with Him. You know what's going to happen to you? You're going to die and go to hell.

Why? Because you're ashamed of Jesus. Walking down one of these aisles doesn't save anybody, shaking the hand of any preacher's not going to save anybody, we all have enough good sense to know that. That isn't what saves. It's what it indicates that saves. What does it indicate? We're not ashamed of Jesus. Friend, if you could give me a megaphone or a microphone and put me on the tallest mountain or building in this world, I would be happy to tell the whole world I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord. Am I going to sneak into heaven? You're ashamed of Jesus, can it be? Somebody hung naked on a cross for you and suffered the excruciating pain of the cross. You say I'm going to preserve my dignity, I'm not going to go forward. People leave churches two ways. Some leave dignified and some leave justified. You don't have to make up your mind. You can't be ashamed of the Lord Jesus. So what confession is is just faith turned inside out that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. You see, a confession literally means an agreement. You agree with God. You just say amen to what God has said. God says, look, Jesus is your Lord. He died for you. He was buried. He rose again.

Amen to that. Hallelujah. I receive it. I believe it. And that settles it. Whose ever therefore Jesus is speaking shall confess me before men. Him will I confess also. but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father, which is in heaven." Now let me tell you what happens when you do this. Here's the two full result. Now look at it, we're coming into the landing strip here, but look in verse 11. Here's the first result of that. For the scripture said, "Whosoever believeth on him shall not be shamed." Now that is true, that you not be ashamed of Jesus, but that's not the full meaning of that word. Whosoever believeth on him shall not be shamed. What the full meaning is this, and listen to it very carefully, and you may have a translation that gives it this way. Whosoever believes on him will not be disappointed, will not be disappointed. Now I've lived long enough to know one thing, "I have never, never known, nor will I ever know." A person who ever really truly gave his or her heart to Jesus Christ, who was disappointed in Jesus. I have been serving him more than a half a century, and I can tell you he is more precious to me,

this moment, than ever. I am not disappointed in Jesus. Nor will you be, nor has anybody ever been. You'll never find anybody who in repentance and faith has given his or her heart to Jesus Christ, who says, "Oh, I am disappointed." No, you will not be. What is the first result? Jesus is satisfying. Here's the second thing that you'll find. Not only is Jesus satisfying, but you're gonna find that Jesus is sufficient. He is sufficient, look in verse 12, look at it, for there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord overall is rich unto all, that call upon him. Phillips translates that whose boundless resources are available to all, rich unto all. Riches fly away. What do you have that you cannot lose? You wanna know how rich you are? You add up everything you have that money cannot buy and death cannot take away. Then you'll know how rich you are. The same Lord overall is rich unto all, that call upon him. True riches, true wealth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Bill Bright founded Campus Crusade as a friend of mine. I love him as a dear man. He told a story that moved me greatly

about a very rich Englishman. His name was Baron Fitzgerald. Baron Fitzgerald, very wealthy. He had a wife and a baby son. The wife, the son and the Baron lived together in their wealth and their opulence. And then the wife sickened and she died. The left Baron Fitzgerald with the boy who was known as teens. This father already loved the son, began to pour more and more love into his son, his only son, his beloved son. And he loved his son and almost doted on the son. But then the tragedy compounded, the son got sick. And after many sleepless nights on the father's half praying for a son, yet the son died. Now, Baron Fitzgerald was a connoisseur of art and he collected magnificent art from all over the world. And he had this art treasure and then of course, the time came and Baron Fitzgerald died and he left in his will that his art was to be auctioned at his death because there were no heirs. All of the collectors and all of the people from around came that were connoisseurs of art to buy these precious, precious treasures worth many millions in English pounds and they were all there as the auction began. But there was one painting done by an unknown artist, not particularly significant. It was a painting of Baron Fitzgerald's son, his beloved son.

And the auctioneer said, the rules of the auction are these, this pictures to be auctioned first. What am I being? There was an embarrassing silence. Finally a thin voice came from the back of the room and made a bed. Just a pittance. A little bit. Nobody else bid. The gavel came down and said, "The painting is old, and the auction is over." He said, "Over? What do you mean over? It's just beginning." He said, "No, it's over." Let me read the stipulations of the will and the law you read that the picture of my son is to be auctioned first. And whoever buys the picture of my son gets the whole collection, gets the whole collection. Why? What was this man doing? He knew none of those people. He didn't need the money he's already gone. He wanted his own dear son to be honored. And so what he said is, "Whoever gets my son gets it all, gets it all." And that's what God is saying here in the gospel, "I love my son. I love my son. And when you get my son, when you get Jesus, you get everything that comes with Jesus. For the same Lord overall is rich unto all that call upon him." Just a moment, I'm going to ask you to give your heart to Jesus Christ. In baseball, you have three chances to get on base when you come to bat. Our three opportunities, basically. You're standing there, and the ball comes to you, and you have three strikes.

And we missed the ball three times, and don't get walked. You're out, three strikes, and you're out. In order for you to go to heaven, you have three opportunities, and you say, "Wait a minute, Adrian. I thought you said it's only one way." Well, listen to me, three opportunities. Number one, you could die before the age of accountability. You could die as a little baby, all little babies that die go straight to heaven. Do you know that? Straight to heaven. You could die as a little baby. See, if you died before the age of accountability, before you knew the difference between right and wrong, then you go straight to heaven. Do you understand that? Do you? Or if you understand, that's strike one. I mean, if you understand what I'm saying, you've already passed the age of accountability. So that opportunity for you to go to heaven is gone, right? Now, number two, there's another opportunity for you to go to heaven. And this is pure, theoretical. You could live an absolutely perfect life. Never sin ever one time, deed, word, thought, never, never, never, ever sin. Be absolutely perfect. You wouldn't need to be saved. Now, with the person who's done that, would you stand up? I want to see you. There's not a person in this building who could say, "Pastor Rogers, I have never sinned ever in thought, word, or deed, never, for all it's sinned and comes short of the glory of God." And I tell you, you've got two strikes against you.

There's only one other way, therefore, that you can be saved. And that is to give your heart to the Christ who died for you on that cross. The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And God sent me here to tell you that you need to be saved, and He will save you. And I want you to confess Him today as the reigning, risen, redeeming Lord. I say, "Lord Jesus, thank you that you did from them. Thank you that you rose from the dead. Thank you that you died for my sins, and I now receive you as my Lord and my Savior." [BLANK_AUDIO]