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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the Internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can Preaches told free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to take your Bible in. Turn to the book of Romans, the book of Romans. We’ve been studying in the book of Romans on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. And we’ve gotten now to the tenth chapter. The tenth chapter of Romans is a very interesting chapter. And I’m not sure that I can give you everything that it says. I’ve only been studying it for about 45 years, and I still have not gotten everything out of this portion of Scripture.

It is loaded with so much. And so any time we study the Bible, we’re only scratching the surface because it is a book of wisdom. And we’ve got little ole finite minds. God is infinite, knows so much, knows it all. And whenever we read a verse, we think, well, that verse, this is what it says. And yet with the Lord, when we get to heaven, God’s going to say, now this is what I really said. And I think we’re going to really be surprised at how much is revealed in the Scriptures that because of some fleshly desire that we didn’t put enough studying into something, we just didn’t get it.

I talked to a lot of people that have questions about the Old Testament and what did they really have to know? What did they really have to believe? And so some say, well, they had a pre-calvary gospel. Their gospel wasn’t the same as ours. They didn’t have to believe in the Lord like we do. And I’ve listened to this and I’ve read and studied and I’ve tried to figure it out. And I believe that they had to believe what we believe.

I believe they had to believe in the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah, just like we believe. And they had to trust in His blood just like we do. I believe are scriptures that prove that. But there’s a lot of good people, I mean good Bible teachers that don’t believe it. But they’re clear on gospel, you know, for this time in which we live and believe the gospel is just like we believe it. But it’s here in the book and it’s the next chapter.

So we have to cover it. I don’t like skipping over scripture. But when he starts off in chapter 10 of book of Romans in verse one, brethren, feel the heartbeat of the apostle Paul. Why was God able to use him in such a great way? He says, my heart and prayer desire for Israel is that they might be saved. I believe he had caught a glimpse of heaven. He had traveled with Luke, who wrote the book of Acts and the book of Luke, and Luke’s the one that talks about and gives us the picture of hell in Luke 16.

So those two men, one had a vision of hell and the other one had a vision of heaven. And I imagine that between the two of them they had a pretty good picture. I was told the other day somebody said there was this until Larry Munson on the radio and he always comes out and now let me give you the picture. Let me give you the big picture. This is what’s going on. This is how they’re dressed and so forth.

And I think sometimes God said now here’s the picture. need to see. And God tries to paint a picture for us to visualize the reality of things that we can’t see, but it’s real. And we’re to take it by faith in what God says is true. So he makes the statement in verse 1, 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.

They have a zeal. There’s a lot of religions today that have zeals. I believe the Muslims, they have a zeal. And they believe that they’re doing Allah a great favor because they were told that this is how they honor Allah, their God. The only thing is that they’re following the religion made up by a man, but nobody would want to admit it because if they did then somebody else would kill them because it blasphemy. And yet there’s many Muslims that have accepted Christ as their Savior and realize the error of what’s being done and they have to disguise themselves, nobody know their name and so forth and go in certain countries because they would kill them if they did so.

did so. But they have a zeal. The Jews had a zeal. And many religions to date, they got zeal, but he says here, but not according to knowledge. In other words, they don’t know the truth. So in verse three, he says, for they be an ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. Now, evidently, he’s talking to the nation of Israel, and he’s talking to them about in the previous chapters how that he had given them the law.

So God gave the law to Israel. So they were not lack of knowledge concerning the law for righteousness. They knew the law, but they couldn’t keep the law, but they were ignorant of the righteousness that God would give as a gift. Now, if they knew the one and didn’t know the other and were trying to earn their righteousness and then be rebuked by God, then evidently the righteousness of God in Christ must have been told to them, but they didn’t get it.

They didn’t get it. And if you’ll notice there in verse 32 of chapter 9, why didn’t they get it? Why didn’t they understand it? they saw it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. Now they couldn’t stumble at the stumbling stone which is Messiah. If they didn’t have them, if they didn’t know about them, but the Old Testament did tell them about the Messiah. And it says for their in verse 33, as it is written, behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense and And get this, whosoever believe it on him shall not be ashamed.

This is talking about for Christ’s righteousness. The righteousness that they could have had by faith, they stumbled over it because they had the law given to them. And so they just assume you’ve got to keep the law and yet they didn’t keep the law. They had a zeal but not according to truth. They didn’t understand something. They didn’t see something, just like people today. They’re religious people all over the world. And yet they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, so therefore they go about to establish their own righteousness.

And the only ones who do that are those that don’t know the truth. Because once you do understand it and you know that it’s free, well then you don’t have to try to earn something that you know as a gift, but they don’t know it’s a gift. And so I do believe that this portion of scripture chapter 10 is talking about where this faith comes from. This new righteousness because he’s explaining how that God had dealt with the nation of Israel.

See chapter 9 generally we say talks about the past of Israel and chapter 10 the presence of Israel and chapter 11 the future of Israel and it’s kind of like thrown between chapter 8 and chapter 12. If you’re reading through the book of Romans and you get to chapter 8, you can just jump from over chapter 8 and go right into chapter 12 and it doesn’t miss a beat. So these three chapters are sitting right in here for a reason.

They’re written to explain some things that have been said before, how that salvation is free, you’re saved by faith, you’re never condemned, God will never cast you out and never lose you. And so he uses the nation of Israel as an example, a living example, how that there’s always a remnant. They cannot be annihilated. They will always be. And just like you as a child of God, you will always be a child of God. So we see that. We understand that.

So now look there in verse 3 of chapter 10. So we are talking about how a man is to be saved because he said, brother, that’s my heart’s desire for Israel that they might say, but they don’t know. And so he says, for they be an ignorant of God’s righteousness. But why were they ignorant? It wasn’t that God didn’t give it. They didn’t believe it. They wouldn’t believe it. They stumble over that. Many people stumble over the gospel because that’s too easy.

That’s too easy. It’s too simple. It’s got to be more than that. So they stumble over that truth. And it’s just by faith. They can’t believe it. I’ve had a man tell me one time, I can’t buy that. You’ll never convince me. Well, maybe not. One man tell me, says, you can’t tell me. I says, no doubt I can’t.

But he says, they go about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. So there is a by works righteousness and a by faith righteousness. By works God says you can’t have it because it’s not by works. No man is going to be justified in the eyes of God by his works by the law. And so there is another righteousness that God will give you and it’s by faith. So whenever you read the book of Romans in chapter 3, then it tells you that the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ.

And that’s the only way. Now look there in verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that does what? That believes. Is that talking about now? Or was that before the cross? I believe that’s always been Christ is the end of the law for righteousness because he’s talking to the nation of Israel. It’s jumping on them because they had not believed and why haven’t they believed it? All these years, 1500 years of the nation and they wouldn’t believe.

And yet Christ would bend the end of the law for righteousness for them because God used the law to show that a man cannot save himself by his works. And even though they made the sacrifices in the temple, all those sacrifices did not pay for sin. And those sacrifices, the blood of bulls and goats, as it says in Hebrews chapter 10, will never take away sin. But now hold your place right here and just look at Romans chapter 3.

I want you to see this one verse. And Romans in chapter 3, look there in verse 25. whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, the satisfaction, the payment, through faith in His blood. To declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed to the forbearance of God, that’s Old Testament. That’s what they did before the cross. They still had to believe in the sacrifice, the payment that was going to be made by the death the Christ and had their faith in his blood because putting faith in the blood of bulls and goats won’t cut it.

It would never satisfy and the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. And then he says in verse 26 to declare, I say at this time, this side of the cross, his righteousness. So before and after it’s all deals with Christ. And so now he’s talking to the nation of Israel, the Jews, referring to what they could have had and how that they were saved by faith the same way. And so now as he writes to the Romans and tells them that a man is saved by faith and all the world is guilty before God.

And even though the Jews had an advantage because they had the law given to them in Romans chapter 3, look now in verse 5. For Moses, now look where he’s going to, all all the way back to Moses. And this is written in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30. And way back in the Old Testament, these scriptures were fixed in the raid are from that person of scripture, way back there, and this is what they mean. Now sometimes the scriptures tells us things that wasn’t previously known.

Now for example, when you read in the book of Jude, when it says an Enoch walked with God and that he was a preacher, and he preached this, it says that he preached about the Son of God, the Lord, coming in glory to execute judgment upon all the wicked, and has about three verses there. But whenever you go back to the Old Testament where it says they’re in chapter five of the book of Genesis, Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him.

That’s all there is. Not until we read the book of Jude in the New Testament right before the book of Revelation do we find out that Enoch was a preacher and he preached about the Lord and that’s Jesus Christ coming in power and great glory and to execute judgment. But we wouldn’t have known that if it hadn’t been revealed here in the book of Jude. So there’s a lot of things they were told and a lot of things they knew and yet not written down in Scripture.

So how do you know that? Well, remember it makes this statement in the book of 2 Peter in chapter 2 where it makes the statement that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Talk about how wicked the world was, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God used him to build an art for the saving of his household and the whole human race. But when you read 2 Peter in chapter 2, it makes this statement.

And it was a preacher of righteousness. Now we didn’t know that he was a preacher of righteousness. Never said that. Not when you read back there in the Old Testament. But he was a preacher of righteousness. Now we’re talking about man’s righteousness, so you think you’d be talking about the righteousness of God. So see, they did preach. And what about the message before it was written down? In Romans in chapter 10, it talks about their line is going out through all the earth, talking about the message that is preached by the revolving of the stars and the sun and the earth and all the heavens.

So when you read the book of Psalms in the 19th chapter, when it says, and I saw the handi work of God. And he talks about how that God had done all these things and that the sun goes forth as a strong man to run a race. And all those things were to teach a story. And the stars had meaning. The sun had a meaning. The moon had a meaning. And so God taught many things. That’s why we today, we have many people that have twisted astronomy and turn it into astrology and turn it into something wicked.

At the same time, the 12 signs of the Zodiac are mentioned in the scripture in the book of Job. So God is the one who designed the Zodiac, the 12 signs. And those 12 signs are the teachings of the Bible. But today they have been corrupted. And now we have the complete word of God, so we don’t use those anymore. But now the people have taken that which God has given and begin to worship the heavens and tried to make meanings out of all of it and under what sign were you born.

And maybe some of y’all got up and read your horoscope this morning. If you did, that’s wickedness. That’s wickedness and ungodliness. And so an abomination to God, that’s not why God gave it. Just like there’s people today, they may worship the church house And they worship the Bible, but not the God that made the world and the God that made the Word. They don’t worship Him. And so people can worship the creature more than they create her. So things change.

But the Word of God still means what God intended. So here in the book of Romans in chapter 10, look here in verse 5, for Moses described the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth them shall live by them.” In other words, if you want to live and in chapter 8 of the book of Deuteronomy it talks about this and also in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30 it talks about this. But he says, I said before you this day to choose life or death.

In other words whether you live or die and he’s talking about physically there. Obey my law. And so there’s laws that God gave to the nation of Israel that affected their protection upon the earth, their blessings of God upon their land and their help, all these things, and they had to make choices. They make the right one, God blessed, they didn’t, God cursed. So God said it before them, they had decisions to make, but they did not keep the law.

They didn’t obey the law. So the law was the reveal that every man is sinned. Come short of God’s profession. But look in verse 6. But the righteousness which is of faith, so now in verse 5 the righteousness of the law and verse 6 the righteousness which is by faith. So chapter 10 I believe is time to get us to understand if you’re not saved by the law and you’re saved by faith. Where does faith come from? Where do you get it?

He got the law from God. Do you get faith from God? So there are people who believe that by grace or you say through faith and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and they think that the faith is the gift of God and they translate Ephesians 2, 8, 9 to mean that. So that means that if you want to be saved, you have to wait until God gives you the faith. give me the faith. So if that’s true, then no man can be saved until God gives him the faith.

And if he doesn’t trust the Lord, it’s not his fault, it’s God’s fault. So that’s fatalistic. That’s not what the word of God teaches. You see, faith is not the gift of God. Be in saved and have an eternal life. That’s the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It’s the gift of God. That’s the reference to your salvation. That’s free. But where do you get the faith from? Because some people believe and some people don’t believe.

Every man is born with the ability to trust. You start with your parents. You have to trust them. Maybe you knew it or didn’t know it. But you trust in the feed you and protect you and do whatever for you. But as you grow, you may get to the place where you have doubts about your mom and your dad. Whether or not they can do this or do that. And you question whether or not there’s bright and wise as you once thought they were.

And then after you live about another 30 years you’ll find out what they were smarter than I thought. But you can put your faith in anything. You see a man can put his faith in the pure to take him to heaven, but that doesn’t mean that you can take you there You can put your faith in this church to take it to heaven, but that doesn’t mean it can take you there You see you’re the one that determines where you place the faith so you can place your faith in the Lord or you can place your faith in things But the thing is Can that thing that object of your faith do what you believe it can do?

see it’s not the size of my faith that gets me to heaven, it’s the object of my faith. I can put a lot of faith in this microphone that takes me to heaven and I got lots of faith. I really believe that doesn’t make Mount that hill of beans that they don’t have no power and so a man can trust in his good works and it has no power. So he says when you trust Christ as your Savior he gives you eternal life you go to heaven or what he did.

So where does the faith come from. So then, so then you know that you need it because that’s where you get the faith of righteousness. A righteousness God gives you by faith. Where are you going to get this faith from? So look there in verse 17 and you are on the line this verse in your Bible if you haven’t underlined it yet. So all it calls we’re talking about if a man is saved by faith then where does it come from?

So faith cometh by what? Hearing and hearing by the word of God. And you can’t trust in the Lord unless you hear about the Lord. And then you can’t hear about the Lord unless somebody tells you about the Lord. And so therefore, that’s why a man is to speak with the mouth and confess with the mouth of what he believes in his heart so that others can hear and understand how to be saved. It’s not a matter that you and I have to go up into heaven and get a hold of God and bring him down here.

And we don’t have to go down into the pits of hell and get a hold of God and bring him up here. So I don’t have to ascend or descend. And yet this scripture comes from the book of Deuteronomy, where it says, shall you ascend into heaven and bring down the Messiah? Or reach down into hell and bring up the Messiah? Wait a minute, what’s the Messiah doing in hell?

Because that’s what the scripture says. See there in verse six, but the righteous, which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, say, not in thine heart, who shall ascend in the heaven? That means to bring the Messiah down. Who shall ascend in the heaven? That is to bring Christ down from above. This is a quote from the Old Testament that was said by Moses. You say, well, Moses didn’t understand anything about Jesus Christ. Doesn’t it say in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures in Egypt?

So evidently he made his decision based upon Jesus Christ and upon the treasures that he would have with the Lord. And therefore he was able to muster up, I guess, the courage to leave everything that he had and to take a stand that he was going to deliver Israel from the iron grips of Egypt. The only problem was that he was willing to do it 40 years before God was ready. He’s going to do the same thing, but he did it 40 years later.

The timing wasn’t right. He was the right person, because he said he thought that God was going to deliver Israel by his hand, but they didn’t believe it. And so he left and went on the backside of the desert for 40 years. He learned the ways of the world for 40 years and came to the conclusion, look what I am. 40 years on the backside of the desert, realizing that he wasn’t nothing. And God had to unlearn him, teach him some new things.

And then God had to retrain him. And so the man lived to be 120 years old and a great man. But now look what he says in verse 8. And this is all in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy. Verse 8 says, for what? But what sayeth it? The word, excuse me verse 7, let’s get verse 7. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead. If this is what it meant to bring up Christ again from the dead, then evidently they knew that Christ, the Messiah, came from heaven and was on the earth and will be there and will be killed and come back again from the dead.

That’s Old Testament. So they knew that the sacrifices that they were making would not save them, because they were not to trust in them. Well, if they weren’t to trust in those sacrifices, just what then were they to trust in? God doesn’t save people two different ways. Everybody’s always saved the same way. We’re saved by grace through faith. They were saved looking forward to the cross, the payment the Messiah would make, and we’re saved looking back to that very same event.

So we’re saved by faith on both sides of the cross. Then look what he says. In verse 8, but what’s said that the word is nigh the even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. Why should we preach? Why should I tell people how to have eternal life? Because they can’t be saved except by faith and they can’t have faith to trust the Lord unless we tell the gospel message. So we preach the gospel so that people can hear and understand it and and trust the Lord.

We are not responsible for their decision. I am not responsible for any man trusting Christ or rejecting Christ. I have nothing to do with that. I and you are just to be faithful to give the gospel. So whenever you give out a track, you’re given out the gospel. When you get people to read a book or you talk to them on the telephone, see you don’t have to be behind this podium up here to be a preacher of the gospel.

Every child of God is to preach the gospel some way or another. So you preach. And by that, somebody liable to believe. And their eternal destination rests upon that truth. Now, if you don’t really believe that, then you won’t have a great desire to get it out. But if you really believe that, then you do. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message.

Our two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach by the line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe in the upper right corner of our home page.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound we will be changed caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up