Sermon: What Unbelievers Need

Unbelief is not unusual.

Unbelief is — and always has been — far too typical and too common.  Accounts of unbelief are well-known:

• French philosopher Voltaire is reputed to have said, “If a miracle occurred in the market place of Paris and in the presence of 2000 men, I would rather disbelieve my own eyes than the 2000.”
• Twenty-five years ago George and Tina Rollason gave birth to a daughter and believing that God had nothing to do with her birth, named her Atheist Evolution Rollason. “There [are] so many people named Christian or Christine…This is just one person named Atheist.  What’s…the difference?”
• A little over a decade ago there was much excitement when noted Atheist philosopher Anthony Flew rejected his atheism. A reporter for a Christian journal interviewed him:  “Flew has had to assure former students that he does not now believe in revealed religion. ‘Even one of my daughters asked if this meant we were going to say grace at meals,’ he said. ‘The answer is no.’  Flew is also quick to point out that he is not a Christian. ‘I have become a deist like Thomas Jefferson.’… To make things perfectly clear, he told me: ‘I understand why Christians are excited, but if they think I am going to become a convert to Christ in the near future, they are very much mistaken.’  ‘Are you Paul on the road to Damascus?’ I asked him.  ‘Certainly not.’”  Flew died in that unbelief.

You know people just like that — people who are closed to the gospel and refuse to believe.  What will it take for them to believe?  If we only read Romans 9, we might be tempted to say, “They need to be elected by God and there is nothing we can do about that…”  But that’s not what Paul says.  Paul says the unbelief of unbelievers — particularly unbelieving Israel — is their responsibility.  In Romans 10:1-4, Paul says,

For unbelievers to be saved, they must believe — and they are responsible to believe.

What do unbelievers need to be saved?  Paul identifies four components that lead to salvation…

1. Unbelievers Need Our Joyful, Compassionate Prayers (v. 1)
2. Unbelievers Need Zeal — and Knowledge (v. 2)
3. Unbelievers Need God’s Righteousness (v. 3)

• They need to learn God’s righteousness
• They need to rid themselves of self-righteousness
• They need to submit themselves to God’s righteousness

4. Unbelievers Need Christ (v. 4)

• Christ is — and always has been — the goal
• Christ is available to everyone

Download the rest of this sermon on Romans 10:1-4.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.