All right, other than that, why don't we turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 10? And again, I'd like to read from verse 5 all the way down to verse 13. But our focus today is going to be on verse 9 through 13. Romans chapter 10, verses 5 through 13.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based in the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' That is to bring Christ down. Or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' That is to bring Christ up from the dead.

But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord over all, bestowing his riches on all who call upon him.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this morning. I want to especially thank you, Lord, for our collegiates who have labored in the last four years, Lord God, to finish up their college life.

And I pray that you would continue to bless them in their transition, whether they will go on to study more or to work or just headed back home. I pray, Lord God, that this transitional period, Lord, that you would especially watch over them. Their hearts would not stray with the challenges that come with transition.

And help them, Lord God, to find brothers and sisters that they will continue to run this race with. We pray for the families that are here, that you would watch over them, that as they celebrate, their hearts may be full, and that you continue to remind them, Lord God, that it is your grace and your sovereign hands, Lord, that's watching over their home.

We also want to pray for the fathers of our church. As we celebrate Father's Day, I pray, Father, that you would bless the fathers of our church, that with all the challenges of living in this fallen world and trying to provide and protect and lead our homes, I pray that you would continue to give them strength, that their labor is not in vain.

And I pray, Father God, that today will be a source of much encouragement, Lord, to give strength to persevere in their good work. So we ask, Lord, that you would make your scripture alive this morning and speak to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Just to kind of give you a heads up, I know we've been talking about what's happening in India, and as you guys know, we've started a ministry out in India, or not started, but is doing some support work out in India.

And so we've announced to you when we came back from India in February that we're going to get behind them, we're going to help them build a training center for the pastors, because where they are, they don't have any place to meet. They have about 30 or 40 pastors that gather together in a tiny room and probably could fit no more than six or seven people, but they have 30 people crammed in there, and that's the only place that they can meet.

So we're actually building a training center with the two other churches, with BMC and Cross Life, and so they actually found the land, and then they're going to purchase the property, and then they're going to start building pretty soon. And so I may have to fly over there to kind of, again, assist with the funding and all of that.

But as you guys know, the work out in India is very interesting, because there's persecution is ramping up, and so the work that they're doing, they really require our prayers and that hopefully we're not just watching from a distance, especially those who went with us, that you remember the pastors.

And again, as you guys know, last time we went, the two of the pastors were beaten up. And what was interesting or challenging to me was, we were all obviously very, very shocked because the pastors literally got beaten up right in front of us, but after it was all done, we were concerned for them, and the simple response that they gave us was, "We're used to this.

They're used to this pressure." So we were the ones shaking up, and they were just kind of like, "Yeah, this, obviously it's not fun, but every once in a while something like this does happen." So the ministry that's happening there, again, even though we're just doing support work, is extremely important.

I've been out to India probably about six times now, and especially in the beginning, and even now, there's certain things that I need to adjust to. And one of the things that I need to adjust to is, every time, some of you guys know or been to India, when they agree or disagree, they usually just kind of shake their heads sideways.

We usually do this by going, "Yes" or "No," but they shake their heads sideways. So it's very confusing because we don't do that here. So we're used to shaking our heads this way, and they do it exactly the opposite. So I remember the first or second time that I was there in India, and I would do some training in how to study the Bible, and then I would say, "Yes, do you agree?" And then they would sit there and go like that.

So I don't know what that means. So after the class, I pulled one of the pastors aside saying, "When you say this, what does that mean? Does that mean yes or no?" And he said, "Okay." So okay what? Okay yes, okay no. It just means okay. So that still doesn't help.

So when you go like this and you say, "Okay," is that a positive or negative? And he said, "It could mean both." It's very confusing, right? It's just the body, they just gotten so used to it that it's kind of like, "Uh-huh, mm." That's kind of like the way, I guess the best way I understand why they do that.

But even after six years of going and interacting with the pastors, every time they shake their head, I have to take a step back and, "Okay, what did he mean by that?" And the Indian culture is a very Asian culture, so they're not direct. So if they agree or disagree, they're not very expressive.

So you kind of have to know the culture and kind of figure it out. Now the reason why I share this with you is because there are certain things that I've gotten so accustomed to, being raised in the United States, that certain gestures mean certain something different to me.

So every time I go out to India, I have to readjust. What I see isn't necessarily what it means to me. So I have to constantly work to turn that off in order to understand what they mean by that. Again, even after six years, even after all these interactions, it's still my immediate reaction is, "What does that mean?" It sounds like no, you know?

Again, the reason why I share all of this is because there are certain things that we've become so accustomed to, things that we have become so accustomed to, sometimes it blinds us to anything else. The Jews, the passage that we're looking at, we're talking about the gospel message, and they were so convinced that they were God's chosen people and they were the ones closest to God.

And so when Christ came and preached the gospel and began to rebuke the religious leaders, it was strange. It's like that didn't fit their paradigm. The Messiah that they were waiting for didn't look anything like what Jesus was saying and doing. And even with the apostles, when they began to preach the gospel, the people that were coming in and were taking ownership of the early church were the Gentiles.

So even the supposed converted Jews had a very difficult time understanding that the Jews and the Gentiles are in the same boat, that the only way of salvation is by the name of Jesus Christ and everything that they've done prior to meeting Christ, Paul calls it rubbish. And they had a very, very difficult time.

In fact, if you read most of the New Testament, it's written to combat that prejudice, that the Judaizers just could not let go of their prejudice because they spent so much time thinking that their Messiah was going to look like this and salvation came in this workspace, you know, obey the law.

And then all of a sudden he says justification is by faith and by faith alone. They received some parts of it and rejected other parts of it. And even though they received at one point, they would forget it, you know, a couple of years down the line. Remember, even Peter and Barnabas had an issue with that.

They were followers of Christ. Peter was the leader among the disciples and he had a hard time with that. There are things that as Christians being raised in a church and in a Christian culture and maybe even say a post-Christian nation that we've become so accustomed to that this is what we think Christianity is.

This is normal. And there are things that you, if you first start studying the Bible and read it carefully and see how it was applied in the book of Acts and how the early church behaved and what they did and then you apply that to Christianity we see today, it's nothing like it.

So I can understand why so many people come to church and say, well, you know, it's a culture shock. How do you apply any of this? They have never seen anybody really apply what they see in scripture. You know, the danger of becoming accustomed to a form of religiousness and yet having no power is that we become blind to the real power.

We become so accustomed to religiosity, just coming to church and doing the work and because this is all we see and this is all we've experienced that we think that's normal. And anything that comes from outside that challenges that, that seems abnormal. And we end up shunning the very thing that God may be bringing into our lives to open our eyes to show us the truth.

That is exactly what the Jews did. Even though they had all the benefits, all the preparation, they had the laws of God, they had the prophets, they had God's written word. And yet when the Messiah came, because he did not fit their culture and what they were waiting for, they completely rejected him.

In the previous passages we looked at in chapter 10 where Paul says that he confesses that they had zeal but not according to knowledge. They didn't lack passion, they didn't lack application, but they just did not know God. When we look at this passage this morning in verse 9, again in conclusion or in continuation from the previous week, Paul says those who live by the law, those who obey the law, they have to live by the law.

In other words, they have to obey it completely. You can't just do your part and God does his part. If you are trying to be saved by the law, he said you have to go all the way. And if you break even one of them, you're guilty and you're a lawbreaker.

He said the first thing about accepting justification by faith alone, he says we do not say who's going to go up to heaven and bring him down. Or who's going to descend and bring him up. In other words, it is absolutely impossible that you cannot earn your own salvation, you can't go up and then do something to bring him down to be gracious.

You have no power to bring up Christ from the dead to atone for our sins. In other words, what Paul was saying in three different ways, it is impossible to add to what Christ has already done. So in verse 9 he says because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Our primary focal point this morning is going to be on verse 9 and what that means and then again and how the ramification of that is in the following passage. So this morning I want to look at three separate things that he says about justification by faith in this passage.

First saving faith requires genuine belief. Nothing I'm going to say to you this morning is probably going to be new to you. But I want you to take a closer look, not only what it says, but what does it mean in application. Number one, saving faith requires genuine belief.

Number two, saving faith is confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. And third, saving faith requires genuine belief in right doctrine. So let's look at the first one. Saving faith requires genuine belief. If you've been raised in the church, I mean that's probably all you've heard. It is by faith and not by works.

We're called Protestants because we protested against salvation by works. That there are no mediators between us and God. There's no priest that we have to go through. We don't have to go to confession to get to God. So we protest it and say salvation is by faith alone. So the backbone of Protestant faith, which you and I are part of, is justification by faith alone.

So if you've gone to an evangelical church, you probably heard this growing up all your life. But if you've ever shared the gospel with somebody outside the church, and you kind of have to take yourself back. If you weren't a Christian until later on in life and you remember what it was like to hear the gospel for the first time, some of you may remember thinking, "That's it?" That's it?

I've had people reject, in the context of sharing the gospel, reject salvation by faith alone simply because it was too easy. You mean that all the sins that I've committed, you mean those guys who are doing all the terrorists who are killing people, that if they just believe in Jesus, that all of that is going to be wiped out and they're going to be in heaven too?

And you have people like Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer that if they don't confess Christ that they're going to be in hell? How can that be fair? See, if you've been raised in a church, it's very strange to hear anything different. But if you hear that as a non-Christian, you mean that's all that is required.

How can that be right? No wonder you Christians are a bunch of hypocrites because you guys are just saying things because it's just easy. The simple answer to that is yes. The simple answer to that question is yes because that's exactly what Jesus said. Salvation is by faith and by faith alone.

Mark 16.14 says, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." So the simple answer to salvation by faith alone, you mean that's it? Yes, the answer is that's it. There is nothing you can add to that. There's nothing you can do.

You can't earn it. You can't pay off your sins. That's exactly what Paul has been saying. You can't ascend up to heaven and you can't descend and bring him up. It is impossible for you to do that. So the only way of salvation is by genuine faith. In fact, in John chapter 6, 26 through 29, some of you guys who know that passage, that's the passage where Jesus feeds the 5,000.

He's at the peak of his public ministry. The disciples go to the other side to rest and those people who were fed, they crossed and find out where he is and they finally meet Jesus in John chapter 6, 26. And Jesus sees right through where they are. He says, "You're not coming to me because you know who I am." And you saw the sign.

"You're coming to me because you ate and you want more." There's something not about Christ. It's something that Christ can give you. So many Christians come to Christ because they believe that if you go to church, God's going to bless their business or they're going to make you healthy, answer prayers, our children are going to be taken care of.

And it's nothing more than superstition that if I don't attend, if I don't do the right things, God's not going to bless my life so I need to go faithfully. So it's nothing more than superstition, especially in a post-Christian culture. See Jesus sees right through that and he sees a defective faith and he says, "You're coming to me not because you believe me but because you ate and you want more." How many people fall away from their faith because they want something and when Jesus doesn't give it to them, they're disappointed with him.

Whether it's church people, whether it's leadership, or whether it's just friends or maybe circumstance in life, like where is God in all of this? And as soon as he doesn't answer my prayers and doesn't give me my bread, whatever that may be in our life, you say, "Well, he's not doing it for me." Well Jesus sees right through that and he warns them in verse 26, John 6, 26.

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life, which is the Son of Man will give to you.

For on him God the Father has set his seal." So Jesus says, "You're coming seeking temporary things. I've come to give you eternal things, to seek labor for things that are eternal." In verse 28, "Then they said to him, 'What must we do to be doing the works of God?

If we're coming to you for the wrong reason, what should we do?'" Verse 29, Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you do what? That you believe in him who he has sent." What do I do? If I'm coming to you for the wrong reason and he says, "Labor for things that aren't going to perish but are eternal," what should I do?

And the thing that he tells them to do as a central thing for coming to Christ is to believe. So the simple answer to that question that may be difficult to understand, that even the early church had a hard time understanding, is to believe. The most important thing that a Christian needs to do every single Sunday is to believe.

The most powerful thing that a Christian can do in prayer is to believe that the person that you're praying to is able to answer your prayers. To believe is the work that he called us to do. Because with unbelief, no matter what you do, you will be ineffective. If you pray in unbelief, it is ineffective prayer.

If you worship in unbelief, it is not worship. If you gather in unbelief, it will just lead to frustration. So the central work of a Christian, he says, is to believe. Now having said that, especially in the church, our automatic knee-jerk response is, "Of course we believe. That's why we're here.

I raised my hand years ago and came down the aisle. Of course I believe. I wouldn't be here if I believed." And so we just make a knee-jerk reaction and we just assume genuine belief. Now John talks about the subject of believing probably more than any other author. In fact, the word "believe" or "faith" is mentioned three times more, up to four times more than any other book in the Bible.

That word "believe" is concentrated in the Gospel of John. So I'll encourage you, if you ever go back and study the book of John, go back and circle how many times he uses the word "believe." Over 40 times, spread out in 16 chapters. He says the primary thing that Jesus calls us to do is to believe, but then he qualifies that belief.

He qualifies that belief so that we don't just assume that if you have these certain doctrinal statements or certain things that you feel, he qualifies that in John chapter 8. 31 through 34, Jesus is preaching and he says, "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and truth will set you free.'" So let me stop right there.

Who is he talking to? He said people who believed. So there's a distinction, right? There's a distinction between the immediate reaction of the Pharisees and some of the people who said, "That guy is filled with demons." So those people immediately, they wanted to kill him. They wanted nothing to do with him.

And they were trying to crucify him. So they had that people. He's not talking to the people who are rejecting him. In this text, he's talking to a group of people who are hearing and saw the miracles. Maybe some of them ate the manna, ate the bread and the fish.

And they said, "He must be a prophet. He must be the Messiah." And he says, "To those who believed in him," he emphasizes, "you have to abide in my word. Then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Now when they heard this, they didn't hear it like we hear it.

It's like, "Yes, we're set free." They're actually offended by it. Set free. Because to be a slave at that time was the lowest person that you could be. Basically if you were the lowest in society, it's like you have all these different groups and said, and basically Jesus says, "You have to be set free.

You're a slave." And they were offended. "We're not slave. We're children of Abraham. We've never been slaves. So how can you say that you've come to set us free?" Verse 33, "They answered him, 'We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free?

Why do you say this?'" Because they're offended. "And Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.'" Now this encounter goes all the way down to verse 45 and 46. And it concludes with Jesus saying to them, "You do not know who I am because you are not from God.

Your father's the devil." In verse 44. Imagine that. He began this conversation in verse 31 saying that these are ones who confess to believe in Jesus and yet in verse 44 he says, "You are not a believer. You're not a child of God." So John is qualifying the definition of believing.

Some believe but we're not Christian. They're not saved. So they didn't have saving faith. Now what was the distinction? They could not accept Christ as their Savior. As our Messiah, as our King, you are welcome. As someone who's going to provide and heal and feed us, you're welcome. But when Jesus said, "I've come to set you free because you are bound in your sins," they were offended and said, "How dare you say that to us?" See the word for abide in my word here is a very, very important word.

Because the word abide qualifies saving faith. Let me say that one more time. The word abide here qualifies genuine saving faith. It's not just somebody who believes. It's not somebody who says, "You know what? I heard the words of Jesus and it makes sense to me so I believe." And then he qualifies that.

Those who believe, "If you abide in my word, then you shall know the truth. Then you will be my disciples and the truth shall set you free." See the word abide is mentioned again later on in John chapter 15 and he uses that word abide about 11 times in that one short section saying that you cannot bear fruit if you do not abide in me.

I am the vine and he is the vine dresser. Or you are the vine and I am the vine. You are the branches and if you do not abide in me, you cannot bear fruit. So when he says you cannot bear fruit, basically it means you cannot live. So what does the word abide in me?

It means to continue. It means to rest. It means to rely. So to believe isn't just how you feel. It isn't just what you think. It is a transformation that takes place that causes us to be connected with him. I want to look at one more passage before we get to the second point.

In Hebrews chapter 11, 6, where the author of Hebrews is warning these second, third generation Christians who are reverting back to Judaism and after 10 chapters of Christology, of not to, warning them not to drift away from this great salvation. He says in chapter 11, 6, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." Now that's the ESV version.

Without faith it is impossible to please him. Without genuine faith. You cannot come to God by your work. You cannot come to God and add to anything Christ has done. First and foremost, it is only by faith that we are connected to him. But I want you to continue to read with me what he says.

"For whoever draws near to God must first believe that he exists." Now the word "exists" here in Greek is the third person singular, where we get the word "I am." So the NASB has translated this that whoever would draw near to God must first believe that he is. Remember the seven "I am" statements in the book of John?

I am the bread of life. I am the light. I am the gate. I am the good shepherd. I am the vine. I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. He has seven "I am" statements saying all that you are seeking, you are seeking through me.

And he says, I am. So what the author of Hebrews is saying, without faith it is impossible to please him, but he who comes to God. There's an assumption that if you believe him that you will come to God. That you will seek God. So genuine saving faith leads to a pursuit of Christ.

And those who pursue Christ will pursue him because they believe that he is. That he is. He is what? He is the resurrection and the life. He is the bread. He is the light. He is your shepherd. He is divine. If you don't believe that Christ is, then you're not going to be seeking him.

If you feel that, if you think that rest is found in vacation, that's what you're going to be seeking. If you believe that joy and happiness is found in having things, then that's what you're going to be pursuing. If you believe that to feel alive you need to follow the pattern of this world, then that's what you're going to be pursuing.

Belief isn't expressed simply by coming to church. Genuine belief isn't simply found by being active and serving in the church. Genuine belief is expressed by what you are pursuing. That's what he is saying. It is impossible to please God. Now could coming to church be an expression of your belief?

Absolutely. Could coming to church and serving, is that an expression of your belief? Absolutely, can be. But not always. You can come to church all your life and pursue the world in a post-Christian culture. You can find rest in going to places and not in Christ. So he continues and it says, "For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he is," that he is our pursuit, he is our life, he is our goal, "and that he rewards those who seek him." In the NIV it says, "who earnestly seek him." In New King James it says, "who diligently seek him." The word seek isn't just a casual looking or casual going.

In the Greek it is an intensive word. He says, "He who comes to God must believe that he is." And that's why you're pursuing him and because you find life in him you are diligently seeking him. Not acceptance in the church, not an easy life, not koinonia, at least the way that's described in our culture, but him.

I find life in Christ and so I pursue Christ. I find rest in Christ so I diligently seek Christ. I find purpose in Christ so I am diligently and earnestly seeking him. So he is qualifying, the saving faith isn't simply right thinking and right feeling. All those things are true and we're going to get to that in a minute.

But genuine saving faith is qualified by abiding. Now don't be confused, he's not saying that if you do these things that somehow that's going to save you. No, he's saying if there's a genuine faith in you and you believe that he is, why wouldn't you seek him diligently? Sometimes we're confused and I may not get to the end of the sermon today but it doesn't matter because I think this is important.

Sometimes we're confused. I think a lot of people in the church genuinely don't know if they really believe or not. If you ask them, they'll say yes. But in the quietness where there is no pressure, nobody is going to judge you and you ask yourself without any judgment, you sit there and you don't really know.

There's a lot of confusion because you're busy at church. You went to missions. You shared gospel with people. You're paying tithe and you have on the outside, you're doing everything that a good Christian is supposed to do. And because of that, there's a lot of confusion in the church.

If you were to be honest with yourself and you ask, we ask ourselves, do I really believe? Do I really believe that he is? Is he whom I am pursuing? Am I pursuing the church? Am I pursuing community? Am I pursuing purpose? Or is he whom I'm pursuing? Genuine saving faith.

Salvation is by faith alone but this faith has to be genuine. It has to be biblical. That leads to our second point and I'm not sure I'm going to get to the third point but the second point is, saving faith is confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.

In our culture, confession is simple. It's very simple. I confess. Jesus is Lord. You may say that. I remember there was this guy I knew back in high school and this guy was just on fire. He was constantly sharing the gospel and you ask him, how are you doing?

He would say, hallelujah. I mean this is like a high school junior and a senior and everywhere he would go, hey John, how are you doing? Hallelujah. Jesus is Lord. We say Jesus is Lord in our songs, in the passes that we memorize. So to confess, if he says all it requires is to believe and confess, I mean anybody.

So we made this sinner's prayer that anybody can just repeat and say. And if you say these things, because he says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead, then you're saved. So that's it? That's all I have to do?

Why not? Maybe I kind of believe but if that's all I have to do, why not? I buy a ticket just in case if I die and this thing is real, at least I have a ticket. Insurance. Right? And it says we're not saved by works or whatever, whatever I'm doing, you know, maybe I feel guilty but it has nothing to do with my salvation.

Maybe I'll be a church but if I'm not a good Christian, I'm not really pursuing Christ, it doesn't matter because I confessed Jesus is Lord and I kind of believe that he was raised from the dead. I had some doubts but we never dig beyond that. Because that's what it says.

I did what the Bible required me to do to be saved. And then there's so many people in the church who've hung their hats, their salvation on that. I did what they told me to do so everything else is extra and if you make me feel guilty, you're the problem.

Is that what he really says when he says confession? It's important for us, one, we understand that this scripture is being written during an oral culture, meaning more people weren't able to read and write during this period of human history than there were people who were able to read and write.

So everything was passed down in oral tradition, they had to memorize it. So today, if we want to feel safe that somebody makes a promise, our words don't weigh a lot, especially in our culture. So if we want to feel secure, what do we need? We need some collateral.

We need some kind of contract. Write a contract and you write these things and then if you break this contract, here's the consequences. We get it notarized and we file it and so now we feel safe because it's written. But you making a promise is like, what does that mean?

I can't win a lawsuit with a promise. But remember, in an oral tradition where you couldn't enter into a contract with people who don't have words to be able to do that. Your confession was a contract. So the word confess here has much more weight than simply saying these words.

Because in that culture, saying it and being it was the same thing. That's one thing that we need to understand. Secondly, the word for confession, at least in the way that it's used in the biblical writers, was more than just something private that you say, you go in a closet and say, "Jesus is Lord." The word is translated in other places as proclamation.

That's how Paul uses it in 1 Timothy 6.12. Fight the good fight of the truth. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. And again in Acts 24.14, Paul standing on trial because of preaching the gospel, he says, "But this I confess to you that according to the way which they call sect, I worship the God of our Father.

And this I confess, proclaim to you." So many theologians think that this confession is directly linked to public baptism. Now we don't know that for sure, but just by understanding how that word confess is being used, it wasn't something private, it wasn't something that you just thought, your inner thoughts and say, "Oh yeah, he's Lord." He's to make a public profession, declaration.

In our understanding, in our context, it was kind of coming into a covenant relationship with God and making a public declaration and saying that He is my Lord. That I no longer have loyalty to this world. I am no longer a citizen of this world, but He is my Lord.

So this idea of confessing is much more powerful than the way we would hear it today in English. You know, years ago when we went to Romania, the Romanian church has a clear distinction between somebody who was baptized and was not baptized. You will see a church filled with maybe 50, 60 people and then we would ask them, "Hey, how long have you been coming to church?" And the first thing that they would say to you is, "Oh, I've been coming here three years, but I'm not baptized." So today we would think, "Oh, how come you're not baptized?" And that's the first thing that we need to obey.

And then they would distinguish between other people in the church and they'd say, "Oh, that sister is baptized." Now we didn't dig into how they understood that, but the distinction that they made was if you were baptized, meaning you made a public profession, that there was no turning back.

That they were sold out Christians. That these people have no earthly possessions, that they're willing to pack up and leave. It's like, "Jesus Christ is Lord." That's a baptized Christian. That's how they used it. And I thought that was interesting because I think that's closer to the biblical scene that I see in the Bible than maybe the way it's being practiced today.

And so when Paul says, "To have faith and to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord," it means to enter into this covenant relationship, publicly professing and denouncing the world and making Christ as Lord over their life. In Philippians 2.11, the scripture says that because Christ humbled himself, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Every tongue will declare that he is Lord. Now why is this Lordship, establishing Lordship, so important to Christian faith? Because the essence of salvation is to reestablish his Lordship. Let me say that again. Sometimes we think of Lordship salvation versus non-Lordship salvation. If Christ is not Lord, he's not your Savior because the whole point of salvation is to reestablish him as our Lord.

Because look at Genesis. What was the rebellion? What was the core sin? They refused to obey God. And they decided that they're going to make independence and find life away from God. It wasn't like, "Oh, I'm going to look for wickedness." What did they do? They ate of the tree that they weren't supposed to eat.

Think about that in today's terms. Why would that cause eternal damnation? They ate. When was the last time you ate something and said, "Oh man, you know, this is so sinful." You know, maybe in and out, too many in and out burgers. I don't know, you know, chili cheese fries, maybe too many.

Buffets three days in a row. When was the last time you ate something and you thought, "Oh, this is going to disconnect me from God." Why would that simple sin cause eternal damnation for mankind? It wasn't the eating of the apple in and of itself. It was Adam and Eve saying in their own hearts that, "I'm not going to believe in God.

I'm going to trust myself. I'm going to trust what Satan says." And what happened was they rebelled against God and His lordship over their life. So when salvation comes, the whole point of restoration is to reestablish His lordship, His kingship over our life. So you can't be a Christian if He is not your Lord.

Because the whole point of salvation is to restore this relationship between creator and creation. In fact, that's exactly how salvation is described in Colossians chapter 113. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Son in whom we have redemption for the forgiveness of sins.

He didn't just deliver us. He transferred us from one kingdom to another kingdom where you had Satan as the king over this world, fallen world, and now we have who? Jesus as our king. King. See, when we talk about the word saved, we have two different meanings, even in English.

We are saved from something, right? Oh, you know, saved you from danger. You're swimming out in the ocean. We saw a shark and then, you know, you're in danger so we saved you. Saved you from something. And a lot of people see our salvation simply as the first. We were saved from sin.

We were saved from hell and condemnation. But the word saved also, even in English, has the other term. Saved for. Like I save money, right? If you're eating something and you have dessert and you really enjoy it and say, "How come you're not eating that?" I'm saving it, right?

You're not saving it from harm. Maybe from you, you know, but you're saving it because you're cherishing it. So the idea of salvation has two meanings. One is to save us from something and then saving for something. See what are we being saved from? From the domain of darkness.

From sin and its consequences and its judgment. What are we being saved for? To be brought into the kingdom. To reestablish his lordship over our lives. And that's why 1 Peter 2, 9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." There are a lot of people in churches, in our generation, who is absolutely convinced that they are saved from their sins, but have no trace of any fruit for what they are saved for.

Lordship in their life is just empty confession of mouth. Means nothing. I can say, walk around and say, "I love you, I love you, I love you." Nobody's going to stop. I can just go on campus and say, "I love you, love everybody." No one's going to stop. You say, "Oh, that crazy Asian guy." No one's going to stop because they don't believe me.

Because it's empty words, it means nothing. Saying I love you with nothing to show for it has no power whatsoever. He's not talking about empty confession. He's talking about covenant relationship with Christ has been established as Lord over our lives. Now let me touch down where the rubber meets the road.

Where is he Lord? What is the most tangible evidence of his Lordship over our lives? The two things that every single person cherishes and protects, your money and your time. Your money and your time. You can see if Christ is Lord over your life by the way you spend your money and by the way you spend your time.

You can say he's Lord, but if your money spending is independent of his Lordship, it's empty confession. You can call him Lord, but if the way that you spend your time has nothing to do with his Lordship, then it's empty confession. The Jews in the Old Testament refused to say the word Yahweh because in the Ten Commandments it says you should not use the Lord's name in vain.

So they were so afraid of using the Lord's name in vain, so they replaced all the places where Yahweh is mentioned and what did they change it with? Adonai. Adonai. So if you look at your Hebrew translation in the Old Testament where the word Yahweh is mentioned, it is translated with capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.

Lord. And when it is all in capital, it means that in Hebrew the word actually is Yahweh. So what they did was because they wanted to show reverence toward the name of God, they chose a name or a word that best would describe their relationship with God. And the word that they chose was Adonai.

And the word Adonai means Lord. That they understood that their relationship with God was the creator and creation. Even though this creator calls us his son, even though he cherishes us, fundamentally they understood that he is Lord. He doesn't serve me, I serve him. I didn't come, he didn't save me so that he can live the rest, I can live the rest of my life with God saying, "Okay, now what do you want?

I've done that for you, now what do you want?" We have that completely backwards. He saved us for his glory, not ours. So the essence of salvation, the very essence of salvation is to have genuine faith that causes us to pursue him diligently for what purpose? To confess him as Lord.

I'm not going to get to the third part today. I think that's enough for us to digest. And I want you to take some time to really wrestle and think about this because like I said, there are certain things that you've gotten so accustomed to, you and I, and I'm included in this, that you and I have become so accustomed to, we just have a knee-jerk reaction saying, "Oh, that's okay." And as difficult as this may be to swallow, especially in a Bible teaching church where you feel like you have all the right doctrines, when the scripture says, "The end time's going to come, you call me Lord, Lord, but I had nothing to do with you," could we be in danger of doing the same?

Could people in our church be in danger, have form of godliness, yet not know Christ? That you have zeal, but not according to knowledge. That you're checking off all the right boxes, but if you were to honestly confess, do you believe that he is? Is he whom you're pursuing?

Is it he that you believe is where you're going to find life and Sabbath? It is by faith, and by faith alone, but because it is by faith, and by faith alone, it is absolutely imperative that we have absolute assurance that this faith is saving faith, not empty confession.

Would you take a minute to pray with me as we invite our worship team to come up? I don't think you need me to explain again why this is so important, and why this keeps getting pounded from this pulpit. The reason why I keep pounding this up on the pulpit is because the pull to nominal Christianity is so strong.

The pull to just conform to Orange County Christianity is so strong, because I feel the pull. I have to fight every day to watch my heart, that I don't just assume anything. That even in preaching, even in leading Bible study, even as I'm going to India to help these pastors, even in the context of doing all of that, I have to constantly ask myself, do you believe?

It is not enough, and it is not safe where you and I live. Not to question, not to assume, and to constantly ask ourselves, because what's going to lead you to sanctification, what's going to lead you to a passionate love for Christ is not a knee-jerk reaction, but genuine and sincere contemplation.

Do I believe? And if I believe, what does that mean? Let's take some time to pray and seek the Lord genuinely from our hearts as our worship team leads us.