Sermpne On the Net

ARE YOU LISTENING?

Romans 10: Paul repeats his cry for his fellow Jews who are lost in their own ways, i.e., refusing to accept the righteousness of God, preferring their own. Jesus is the end of the law but they do not accept Him as their Messiah. Verses 3-4: “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone that believes.

 

Moses describes the difference in the law and faith: those who live by the law will die in that law and those who live by faith will live in Jesus.

 

Verse 9: Paul says, “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.” He goes on to say that it must come from your heart to be justified and professed with your mouth to be saved. Isaiah 28:16 states that ‘those who trust in Him will never be dismayed.’ Verse 13 says, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

 

How is it possible to hear? How is it possible to know? Verse 17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing (listening) the message, and the message is heard (hearing) through the word of Christ.” God has given us a tremendous opportunity. There are two sources of hearing; one is by listening to Preachers reading from the Bible and the other is by reading the Bible yourself. I prefer the latter because it allows me to ‘hear’ from God directly. The Bible is not a book of mystery, it is simple and self explanatory, especially if you read the Gospels and ‘listen’ to Jesus’ own words. If you seek God with your heart you will find Him and he will ‘speak’ to you from His Word. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of your getting involved and reading the Bible. I remember the circumstances of my own conversion 45 years ago. I was reading the Gospel of John and Jesus revealed Himself to me. It was then that I realized that God was alive and well and what I needed to do was to accept what he was telling me. Finally, I listened.

 

I will conclude with God’s ‘secret formula’ found in John 3:16,’ “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.” I listened, I believed, I have faith.

 

For those who do not know Jesus as their personal Savior I ask you to do what I did. SEE AND HEAR FOR YOURSELF, BY READING His Living Word.