Sermon: The Message of Faith, Pt. 2

In Romans 10, Paul is making an appeal to his readers of the significance of the gospel and the importance and responsibility to believe the gospel.  In verse 8, he says the word of the gospel has come near (in the person of Christ).  What is this “word of faith” (Rom. 10:8), this gospel?  And what can it do?

I’ve told the story of Luke Short previously.  Do you remember it?

“It took a long time for the conversion of Mr. Short. He was a New England farmer who lived to be one hundred years old. Sometime in the middle of the 1700s he was sitting in his fields reflecting on his long life. As he did, ‘he recalled a sermon he had heard in Dartmouth [England] as a boy before he sailed to America. The horror of dying under the curse of God was impressed upon him as he meditated on the words he had heard so long ago and he was converted to Christ — eighty-five years after hearing John Flavel preach.’” [Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.]

The gospel is powerful to save.  It is powerful to save long after the message has been preached.  And the gospel is powerful to save any person.  In Romans 10:9-13, Paul says it this way,

The message of the gospel is the message about Christ that must (and can) be believed for salvation.

In these verses, Paul answers four key questions about the gospel — what it is, how it is received, what it does, and who can respond to it.  These questions address the centrality of the gospel and demonstrate its importance and priority — for all people.

1. The Content of Faith: What is the Gospel? (v. 9)
2. The Mechanism of Faith: How is the Gospel Received? (vv. 9-10)
3. The Result of Faith: What Does the Gospel Do? (v. 10)

• The gospel produces salvation
• The gospel produces justification

4. The Accessibility of Faith: Who Can Respond to the Gospel? (vv. 11-13)

• The gospel is a universal opportunity (vv. 11, 13)
• The gospel is an impartial opportunity (v. 12)

Download the rest of this sermon on Romans 10:9-13.

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