A sermon preached from Romans 10:1–13 by Ps Sunday Phiri

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My name is Sunday Phiri, and I serve as one of the elders here at Kitwe Church. I am glad to be able to bring God’s Word to you this morning.

This morning we find ourselves in Romans chapter ten, verses one to thirteen. Last week we finished Romans chapter nine, and today we continue in chapter ten. We are working through a series in the book of Romans here at Kitwe Church.

Consider this situation. Sunday has been attending Kitwe Church for the past fifteen years. In his mind, he believes he is a member of Kitwe Church — because he has been attending for fifteen years, and because he has been giving financially to the church. He thinks he belongs here.

Then Pastor Simon intervenes and begins to explain to Sunday what it actually means to be a member of Kitwe Church — and the path to becoming one. He explains that membership requires going through baptism and membership classes, and that at a certain point Sunday will sit with the elders, share his story of how he became a Christian, and hear from them in return. Pastor Simon has explained to Sunday — who did not truly understand what membership meant — the way to become a member of Kitwe Church.

That is what Paul is doing in Romans chapter ten. He is explaining to the people of Rome the way to salvation, the way to righteousness. That is essentially the title of this sermon: The Way to Righteousness, the Way to Salvation. We are going to consider four points in Romans chapter ten, verses one to thirteen.

Point One: The Way to Salvation Begins with Paul’s Heart Toward the Jews (vv. 1–2)

In verse one, Paul writes:

“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”

Paul is praying for the Jewish people, that they would come to know Jesus Christ. He is not merely wishing for this — he is not merely longing for it — he is actively praying for it. This was Paul’s deep desire: that the Jews might know Jesus Christ, that they might receive salvation, that they might be delivered from the wrath of God and from their sins. He prayed for them because they were lost. They did not know the Savior, and his heart was for them to come to that knowledge.

Dear friends, do we pray for lost people? Do we long for them to come to know Jesus Christ? Do we carry Paul’s desire for those who do not yet know him? Do we commit them to the Lord in prayer as Paul did? Paul was following the very heart of God: 1 Timothy chapter two tells us that it is God’s desire that all people might be saved. Paul aligned himself with that desire — praying that these lost Jews might come to know Jesus Christ.

Do we carry that same heart? Do we pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ, or do we only pray for ourselves? Let us pray for the lost. Let us desire their salvation. Let us long for it.

Now, in one sense, the Jews were Paul’s enemies. And in another sense, they were his family — because he was a Jew and they were Jews. Let me explain the first sense. When we read Acts chapters twenty-one through twenty-seven, we find that these very Jews for whom Paul is praying were the same Jews who wanted him dead. They were the same Jews who persecuted him, who troubled him, who plotted against him. Some of them had taken an oath, saying they would not eat for forty days until they had seen Paul killed.

And yet — Paul was praying for their salvation. He was longing for them to be saved. Imagine: the very people who want to kill you, and you are on your knees praying for their souls. Do we pray for our enemies? Do we pray for those who trouble us — those who feel like a thorn in our flesh? Do we wish good things for their lives, or do we secretly wish them harm?

Paul was following his Master. When Jesus was crucified, he prayed for those who were murdering him: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Paul was also following the example of Stephen, who at the moment of his death prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Jesus prayed for the salvation of those who killed him. Stephen prayed for the salvation of those who killed him. And Paul prayed for the salvation of those who were trying to kill him.

I want to share something with you. Last Sunday evening, on my way home, I sat next to two elderly ladies on a bus. One of them was lamenting because someone had been stealing groundnuts from her field. She did not know who it was, and she was wishing this person dead. She said, “May a vehicle knock that person down. I planted these groundnuts alone when I was young — now that they are ready, he comes to steal them. May he die.”

Is that what we do? Paul does not do that. He does not pray evil upon his enemies. He does not wish harm upon those who trouble him. He follows the instruction of Jesus: “Pray for those who persecute you. Bless those who curse you.” Are we doing that as Christians? Or are we planning evil for our enemies, wishing them harm? That is not Christianity. Christianity prays for the lost. Christianity wishes blessing even for those who trouble us.

And notice — Paul also speaks well of them. Verse two: “I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God.” He was giving a good testimony on their behalf. He was speaking well of his brothers and sisters — even those who were his adversaries. Do we speak well of one another as fellow believers, as members of the family of God here at Kitwe Church? Or do we speak evil of one another? If we speak ill of our brothers and sisters, let us repent and follow Paul, who blessed those who persecuted him.

Point Two: The Way to Salvation Requires Knowing Ourselves (vv. 3–4)

“For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

The ancient Greeks had a saying: in order to succeed in life, you must first know yourself. If you do not know yourself, you cannot succeed. The Jews did not know themselves in the right way. They thought they could make themselves right before God. They believed that because they were Jews — God’s covenant people, with the law, the traditions, and the heritage — they were sufficient in themselves. They did not need help. They thought: we are good enough. We can stand before God on our own merit.

That is the wrong way to know yourself. The right way is to see yourself as you truly are: weak, sinful, unable to achieve righteousness before God on your own, in desperate need of help. The Jews did not consider themselves spiritually bankrupt. They thought they were able. And so they sought to establish their own righteousness rather than submitting to the righteousness God provides.

Dear friends, which of these describes us? Do you see yourself as a good person — able, self-sufficient, capable of managing your own standing before God? Or do you see yourself as weak, sinful, unable to make it on your own? Because salvation is not for those who say, “I have it handled. I can do it. I do not need help.” The righteousness of God, the kingdom of God, is not for those people. It is for those who say, “Lord, I am weak. I am a sinner. I cannot make myself right before you. Help me.”

That is why the world hates Christianity. Because Christianity always tells us the truth about ourselves. Christianity says: you are weak; you are unable; you cannot manage on your own. The world tells us the opposite. It says: you are powerful, you are capable, you can make it. I saw a video on social media recently — it happened here in Zambia. A member of parliament publicly insulted a fellow member, and the video went viral. People were cheering. They were commenting, “You are a man! You are powerful! When I grow up, I want to be like you.” In the very moment of his wickedness, the world was applauding him.

But Christianity goes the other direction. It tells us the truth: you are evil, you are wicked, and you are in need of a Savior. That is why the world hates it. Christianity does not flatter us — it puts us in our right place before God.

We need to know ourselves as weak people who cannot achieve righteousness on our own. Pride tells us we have arrived — that we are able, that we can handle it. But the Bible says pride goes before a fall. Remember Nebuchadnezzar: he had made it to the very pinnacle of earthly power, and he began to think, “I am a king. I am a great man.” What happened? God turned him into an animal. He ate grass like an ox behind the palace for seven years. It was not until Daniel chapter four, verses thirty-four and thirty-five, that Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses and acknowledged that all the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing before God. That is when the Lord restored him.

Friends, it is better to humble yourself before the Lord humbles you. Better to bring yourself low before God does it for you. If pride and ego have crept into your heart, let us repent and ask God to forgive us. Salvation is not for those who think they are good people. It is for those who see themselves as weak, and who cry out to God for help.

Point Three: The Way to Salvation Is to Believe and Confess Jesus Christ (vv. 5–11)

In verses five through eleven, Paul compares the righteousness that comes by law with the righteousness that comes by faith. He writes:

“For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on 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.'”

Verse five quotes Leviticus: those who keep the law will live by it. The principle was do and live — work and live. Keep the law, and the Lord will bless you. But who among us can keep the law? We are sinners. We are unable. No one can keep the law.

And so Paul sets before them the righteousness that is by faith. He says, do not go looking for Jesus — do not ask who will ascend to bring him down from heaven, or who will descend to bring him up from the dead. The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart. In other words, Paul is saying: Jesus is near you. We find Jesus and his righteousness, we find Jesus and his salvation, in his Word — in the Scriptures. We do not find him in dreams or visions or our own imagination. We find him in the Scriptures.

So stop working. Stop striving for your own righteousness. Believe in Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness.

But what exactly must we believe about Jesus? Two things.

First, we must believe in the person of Jesus Christ — that he is Lord. There are people who believe Jesus was just one of many great religious leaders: a good man, a prophet, a moral teacher worth emulating. Salvation is not for those who hold that view. Salvation is for those who believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord — that he is God, that he is one with the Father, that he is the Creator of the universe. If you do not believe that Jesus is God, salvation is not for you. Salvation is for those who confess him as God, as Lord.

Sometimes we think we must first clean ourselves up before coming to God — like Joseph, who bathed and groomed himself before being presented to Pharaoh. We think: first I have to stop lying, stop stealing, stop the adultery, stop the dishonesty. Then I will come to God clean and he will accept me. But salvation does not work that way. We cannot make ourselves clean. Our righteousness — even our best efforts — is like a filthy mop. Who can clean a mop? No one. It is not until we believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we are made right. He is our righteousness. He is our salvation. Apart from him, there is none.

Do you believe that Jesus is God? Do you believe he is Lord, your Creator? Or do you see him merely as one among many — a great teacher, a prophet, a good example? If you see him only that way, salvation is not for you. Salvation is for those who confess and believe that he is God — without beginning of days, without end of life, eternal, Yahweh, Adonai.

Second, we must believe in the works of Jesus Christ — that he came to die for us. There are those who believe that Jesus came simply to live a good life we can emulate: to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to perform miracles, to be a moral example. But if that is all you believe, salvation is not for you. Salvation is for those who believe that Jesus came to die for their sins, to be condemned in their place, so that they might receive the righteousness of God and be declared innocent before him. He came to live the life we failed to live, and to die the death we deserved to die.

What do you believe about Jesus Christ? Do you see him as Lord and God who came to die for you? Or do you see him as just one of the good ones? I plead with you: believe in Jesus Christ as God, as the Messiah who came to ransom us and deliver us from our sins.

And what are the results for those who believe and confess? Verses nine and ten give us three things. First, they are justified — declared not guilty, innocent before God. Second, they are saved from the kingdom of darkness. Third, they will not be put to shame — they will not be condemned or disappointed on that final day.

If you do not believe in Jesus, your guilt still stands. You are still in darkness. You are still in bondage. And when he comes again — and he is coming — he will come not as Savior but as Judge. Hebrews tells us he will appear a second time not to bear sins but to judge. He is coming to judge those who rejected him on this side of eternity. Do you believe in him?

For us who do believe, we have a great hope. Our sins are forgiven. We are not condemned. He is coming to bring us our full salvation — to deliver us from this evil and wicked world. Look to Jesus, for he is coming.

And let us not think that believing and confessing is only something we did at conversion. Christianity, from beginning to end, is a life of believing and confessing Jesus Christ. We do not graduate from it. There is a well-known hymn: “Trust and Obey” — there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Our joy, our peace, our prosperity as Christians does not come from what we have accumulated or what we have achieved. It comes from continuously believing and confessing the person of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. If your Christian life feels miserable, perhaps you have drifted from this: from actively believing in Jesus, from confessing who he is and what he has done. Return to it. That is where our joy is found.

Point Four: The Way to Salvation Is to Call on Jesus Christ (vv. 12–13)

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

When Paul says “everyone,” does he mean everyone? Yes — everyone in the fullest sense. Every gender: male and female. Every age: young and old. Every race: black and white. Every social standing: poor and rich, educated and uneducated. If you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. Salvation is for everyone in that sense. No one is too young for salvation. No one is too old. Salvation is not only for one race or one people group. It is for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

Have you called on the name of the Lord to save you from your sins — despite what you have done? Sometimes the enemy whispers to us: “You have sinned too much. You have made too much of a mess. Do you really think God is going to hear you? Do you think he will accept you?” But Paul is saying: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, regardless of their background, will be saved.

Cry out to him for your salvation. Like Peter, who began to sink beneath the waves and cried, “Lord, save me!” — and the Lord saved him. Like the two blind men who called out, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” — and the Lord gave them sight. If you cry out to him, the Lord will save you.

Summary

Let me draw together the four points.

First, the way to salvation begins with a heart like Paul’s toward the lost — praying for them, longing for their salvation, blessing even those who trouble us.

Second, the way to salvation requires knowing ourselves rightly — seeing ourselves as weak, sinful, unable to achieve righteousness before God on our own merit.

Third, the way to salvation is to believe and confess Jesus Christ — believing that he is Lord and God, and that he came to die for our sins.

Fourth, the way to salvation is to call on Jesus Christ — and the promise is open to everyone, of every background and every history.

If you do not know Jesus Christ, I plead with you: call on him today. And to us who are Christians, I urge you to keep on believing and confessing what Christ has done for us. Amen.