In Your Heart And On Your Lips...

I often hear from others, in the many environments and hats that I wear- “That I am not religious” --- Well, neither am I.  Romans 10:8 describes The Spirit of my faith, in as much The Gospel does not ignore at all The Law- O.T., but as in The O.T. time religious zealots had absolutely NO FAITH. (10:1-3) The ‘religiously’ practiced rules and rituals to the extreme of missing out on a relationship, faith, in God.  Their faith was in doing it all correctly or – right.  Ok, NON-theologian over generalization perhaps…

God’s Word here, as the ‘living’ Word that it is – best replies to this.  Read it instead with an open heart ALL that is being said here.

Acts 23:11, Rom 9:18-10:21, Underlined R9:33, 10:4, 8-13, 14-15, 17

Acts 23:11 The following night The Lord stood near Paul and said, Take courage!” As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome”

R9:33 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.  They stumbled over the ‘stumbling stone’ 33 As it is written: “see, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall and the one who trust in Him will never be put to shame.”

10:1-4, 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

…8 But what does it say? “The Word is near you: it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you will believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  11 As the Scripture says, “ANYone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”  12 For there is NO difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and for EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  14-15

10:8 NOTES: The Word – In the O.T. passage the ‘word’ is God’s Word as found in The Law.  Paul takes the passage and applies it to the gospel, ‘the word of faith’ – the main point – readily available to ANYone who will receive it from God through Christ.  Righteous is gained by faith, NOT deeds.

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I confess my personal distain for ‘religious zealots.’ They have critically hurt me, and they daily give Christianity a bad name. YET by GRACE and God’s heart in my heart I am reminded that Paul- who wrote this book- at one time was one himself. We all arrive by grace to faith in Jesus.  None more than Paul illustrates the ANYone- this message speaks to.  Personally do not even know how to completely share my own ‘Damascus Road’ experience and conversion… awakening….

Simply will say- Jesus is ‘God WITH us’ – in EVERY way.  The Truth is He, and He alone sets one free, by abiding in Him and therefore, He abiding in you.  Holy Spirit Counsels your spirit with His Spirit.  ALL the fullness of the Deity is found in the face of Christ. R10:9 speaks to that specifically.  “Lord” (Greek Kyrios) is used over 6,000 times in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of O.T.) to translate the name of Israel’s God (Yahweh), it is clear that Paul, when using this word Jesus, is describing Deity to Him- Jesus.  ‘in your heart’ in Biblical terms the heart is not merely the seat of emotions and affections, but also of the intellect and will.  ‘raised from the dead’- a bedrock Truth of Christian doctrine. –Christian- simply means that they believe not only that Jesus lived, but also that He still lives.

This heart hears that in ‘the Word is near you: it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is the WORD of faith we are proclaiming.  Amen, respecting the Amen in Him, Christ Jesus- Amen.