The Church has Great Passion for the Salvation of Souls

I am going to preach out of Romans 9 and 10 this morning under the banner of truth that our Holy and infinite and all powerful, all knowing wonderful, and awesome God is sovereign…He is sovereign over all things…Romans 9 clearly shows us.

He is sovereign over Jacob and Esau, and Pharoah and Moses.

From the sparrow flying in your yard…to the ants on the ground…from the hairs on your head…to the days and boundaries of your life…all things means all things…he knows the very words I will speak this morning…our God is an awesome God!

And He knew me and loved me and chose me while I was yet a sinner…before I could love Him with my heart of stone…before the foundation of the world for that matter.

The God of all creation…the one who put the rings around Saturn...formed me in my mothers womb.

And our foreordaining, foreknowing, predestining, sovereign God also ordains something else for us…His people…the Church...

That we would be the intruments of salvation for those who will become the children of God.

How? By us caring deeply for lost souls…and therefore telling them the good news of Jesus Christ…the gospel.

So that some might be saved.

Therefore if you are saved…it is because...

God saved you…and it is also because someone told you the gospel.

It is because…

God gave you a new heart and a new mind and also because...you repented and believed .

It is because by His power…His very Spirit…God has caused you to be born again…and also because you died to self and now live to Christ by putting the sin in your life to death by the power of the bery Spirit He has put inside you.

And there are people in your family…in your home…in your school…in this town…in your future…and maybe for some of us at the ends of this earth…who will be in heaven someday…loving Jesus and enjoying him as their greatest treasure forever…because of you.

Because you at all costs…with great passion in your heart for their eternity...told them the gospel…the good news about Jesus.

I truly believe our Church has a few next steps…and one of them involves a deep, enduring, true passion for the lost…those whom we know are without Christ…and for the salvation of their souls.

And Paul in Romans 9 and the beginning of Romans 10 sandwiches the clearest and most powerful statements on the sovereignty of God over all things…including salvation…Paul sandwiches that with a passionate cry for His own role…and desire…for the salvation of others.

Paul clearly knows God is sovereign…and that truth does not cause Paul and should not cause anyone with the Holy Spirit to be flippant or lazy or careless about souls…it does the exact opposite…it drives us deeper into a love for and desire for people and for their salvation.

Even those…maybe especially for those… who Paul knows think that they are going to heaven…they think are saved...

Let’s read our verses for this morning.

Paul has just written the awesomeness of Romans 8…ending with this...

Romans 8:37–39 ESV

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Then he says this...

Romans 9:1–3 ESV

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Jump to...

Romans 10:1–2 ESV

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.

Wow.

What a passion. Paul was a passionate dude.

The one who was once all in in His persecution of Christians…now is giving His life to build up the church and save the people he had sought to destroy. When Paul believed something…it was obvious in His life.

But isn’t that true of us?

What if we truly believed that we were enlisted into a spiritual battle…what if we could see what Elisha saw...a battle for the eternal destiny of the people in our neighborhood, workplace, home, school, church...

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We are in a Spiritual battle…but for what? What is the goal…what is the battle over? What are the evil forces wrestling against us to obtain?

For people…for souls. For people’s eternity. The fight is over where people will spend forever…in heaven or hell.

That is what the rulers and authorities and cosmic powers over this present darkness and spiritual forces of evil are after…they don’t care so much about our earthly possessions or relationships or our earthly pain or loss…they are after souls. They are looking for eternal companions in hell.

What if we believed that as a church?

With that let’s go back the the text. I will read it one more time and jut imagine Paul’s emotion…His passion.

Romans 9:1–3 ESV

And...

Romans 10:1–2 ESV

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.

Here is what we will look at in the rest of our time…I want to ask a few questions and then see how this applies to us…Revival Church…in America…in Wisconsin…in 2018.

First question...

I. Who are these people for whom Paul had great sadness and unceasing anguish in his heart?

To begin with.

They were once his friends (because He was once one of them and lived like them) but now his enemies. These people resented the unsaved He encountered in all of His travels.

They knew who Paul once was and they did not like how he now lived…they did not like how he was changed...and they did not know the God who Paul now lived for…Jesus.

They could not believe his new passion and sincerity when he became a Christian and many now many hated him for it.

But Paul did not run from this…because he also knew...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

So his response response was to look upon them in their lostness…and with great sadness...to pray for them…or actually…cry out for them and their salvation.

Romans 9:2 ESV

that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

So the first thing we can see for us...is that our response and heart for the lost…even when they hate us or no longer like us or even if they persecute us…or tease us…or lie about us...is to love them because they are lost...

Matthew 5:44 ESV

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Father forgive them…for they know not what they do.

Paul also tells us that these are his kinsmen according to the flesh.

These were his people…the ones he once rolled with…hung out with…partied with…lived life with.

For us…these are our former friends…our neighbors…or those we work with…live with…see at the library or basketball games or anyone whom God would put in our lives…or had been in our past lives when we too were not living for Jesus.

We will soon see in a few weeks that the church is part of a world wide mission…the mission to get the gospel until the end of the earth...

Christianity is expansive; we are part of something ginormous...

But, at the same time, our belief and passion is best seen and displayed when it turns its power towards those who are nearest to us.

Is your spouse unsaved? Love him to Christ!

Is your child unconverted? Pray for and love that child to Christ!

Are your neighbours or friends living for Jesus? If not…lay them on your heart and pray to God on their behalf, and find any opportunity to tell them or even plead with them until they are saved.

By all means we need to support and pray for and hopefully even send someone to India or South America or China...

But on a daily basis for those of us who are not sent to the ends of the earth…our heart should be breaking for and our prayers should be lifted up for and our gopel should be spoken to…our invitations into fellowship should be often extended to...

Those we encounter day to day in....Fall Creek, Altoona, Augusta…Eau Claire...

Those you encounter at work, in your home, in the high school gym, at the football game, the park...and everywhere else you go.

The lost are among us…and like those Paul is praying for…many, if not most, do not think they are lost.

If we turly belive that…and begin more and mopre to see it with our eyes…and feel it with our hearts…it would change our interactions…it would change our words…in would change our prayers...

May we be a people who are passionate to draw others to Christ!

One other thing we should note...

Paul considers these people to be living in a great sin…the worst of sins.

And you may ask…how do I know? What sin were they in? Paul doesn’t tell us…or does he?

How do we know that these people Paul is praying for are not...exceedingly moral…good people.

How do we know that they are not very religions…go to church…listen to sermons…take communion...

These that he is praying for all would tell you to your face if asked that they are God’s people…that they are the saved.

Of many of them you could have said. He is a good guy…or she is a nice person.

And most of them were even religious…they went to temple…they called themselves by a religious name.

Like many in our day....they were good people and went to church…attended a building on most Holy days…did the religious traditions of their day....and yet they were living in the worst of sin.

Do you know what is the greatest of sins? To reject Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. To not truly love and know and live for Jesus.

These people Paul is praying for had rejected Jesus for who He is our Savior and our God...

And instead they had set up their traditions, their paying of tithes, their fasting and weekly attendance at temple. The checked the religious boxes of the day and to everyone else…many of them even seemed to be zealous for God.

Is this much different in our day? In our culture? How many in our lives feel that they are saved because they check all the boxes?

They are pretty good people…go to church…got confirmed…call themselves Christian…they do the traditions of some denomination…they have been baptised.

Yet do not know, love, and live for Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They have not received Jesus as the greatest treasure in the universe…the have not been born again to a living hope, by the Spirit.

They have not truly repented of their sinfulness and put the faith of their entire lives into the hands of our wonderful savior…Jesus.

The second question I want to ask…is Paul for reals?

II. Why did this grieve him so greatly? And unceasingly?

Short answer…because he believed in his heart that they were destined for hell.

This grieved the apostle Paul greatly, because he knew they were separate from Christ and therefore destined for hell. We know he means that, because he says what seems to us unbelievable in Romans 9:3.

Romans 9:3 ESV

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

And notice before telling us this he makes sure we know that he is not lying.

Romans 9:1–2 ESV

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

My prayer for us this morning is this...

That God would grant us more of this heaviness of Spirit. And godly sadness and internal anguish…for the unsaved around us…in a culture where many think they are saved and are not.

May we be deeply and unceasingly caring for the souls of our neighbors, friends, coworkers, teachers, coaches, and family members…and the thought of theirs souls being lost for ever.

May we be willing…and eager to tell them the gospel that saves. Even if it offends them or makes us unpopular or more likely…uncomfortable.

Why would Paul clearly…3 times…in the name of Jesus and under witness of the Holy Spirit tell us that he is telling the truth…that he is not lying?

Because we would otherwise not believe that Paul…the Paul of unspeakable, unquenchable joy…Paul who calls us to rejoice always...

Wants us to also know that we are…sorrowful yet always rejoicing.

Sorrowful about what? The unsaved among us.

The lost…the deceived. We live among them.

The thought of these people going to hell....caused him…and should cause us.

Romans 9:2 ESV

that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

Do we feel this?

Not just on Sundays or Wednesdays…or Easter and Christmas?

If there was a physical battle happening right now around us…and you knew about...but others around you did not…if a bomb was coming....or if a disease was spreading and you knew the only way to be saved from it…and most of the people around you thought they were ok…or worse thought they were getting a weekly antidote...but in reality you knew that they were going to die from it…

What would you feel in your heart for them…what specifically would you pray for them…AND THEN what you DO about it and and SAY to them...and how urgently would you say it? And how often would you say it?

That IS the Spiritual battle we are in...

It is not nebulous…it is not unlear what we are fighting for...

It is a battle for the eternal salvation of others against the prince of the power of the air…the god of this world…the tempter…the enemy…the father of lies... the deceiver of the whole world…and the Spiritual forces of evil…that is who and what we are up against. And we have a promise.

Romans 8:31 ESV

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

And therefore Paul…and I believe God is calling us…to have anguish and sorrow for anyone we know who is not clearly saved...

And God has already been preparing us for this…because what is needed for this battle?

Our battle plan is that victory will come by prayer…and the power of the Spirit and the fellowship we have with each other…

This is the mission of the Church…we were saved to be sent. We were blessed eternally to be a blessing to others…and our hearts we opened to the the beauty of Christ and the knowledge of the gospel…so we would tell others.

Isn’t this the love of Christ…isn’t this exactly what Jesus did…isn’t this the heart of Christianity…if we are to be conformed into the image of a Savior who came to serve and tell and gather and then die for us…what would we look like and live like as were were being made into his image? And our hearts were becoming more like His?

Who are we and what is in our hearts...if we do not want to give others what God has freely given to us…while we were yet sinners...

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

We can not give our salvation for others…but we are alive…you are alive...so you can live this life as though you would give them your salvation...if you could.

Paul’s example to us…Revival Church...is this…we are called to walk out of this place as the unified, powerful body of Christ…the church…with one heart…one mind…one hope…one gosel...

Speaking the truth in Christ…by the power of the Spirit…because we are on a mission…in a battle…for the lost to be found.

III. What if?

Y’all what do we have to lose…we know of the victory coming…we know the hope we have…we know Jesus…we have the power that raised our Jesus from the dead…we are the body of Christ that Jesus promised would do greater things.

This is a promise!!! Do you believe it?

John 14:12 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Notice how Jesus starts this…truly truly I say to you!

For real…do we believe this?

So here is what I will be praying for us…for our church…for me…for my wife and kids...

Because if not us...then who...

Prayers/applications

God help us think more eternally and feel the weight of other people’s eternal destiny.

If God would grant us this…if this is the way we thought about and waw others...it would make us more like Chrsit.

We would love like he did.

He became a curse for us. He went under the pain and awfulness of God’s wrath for us. Jesus did what Paul could wish, but could not do.

Why? Because Jesus was looking forward. He beared the weight of the cross for us…because if the joy that was coming…for Him and for us.

For our eternity…for our reconciliation with God…to deliver me from sin, and death, and what I deserved…hell. Jesus paid it all.

God give us, by you Spirit, that kind of heart for others…for the lost among us. And for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

This should be our constant feeling; if we believe the world of God...

We should be a people of unspeakable joy always…and simultaneous…in our hearts…sorrow for the lost.

May we have our hearts conformed into the heart of Christ…and may we more and more become like our Savior and Lord?

I fear much of American talk of salvation is selfish. We in the church...teach people to think and want their own salvation, and then when saved we talk much of what that salvation means for us…which is good and amazing and beautiful…it is our only hope...

However we do not speak enough of the other driving instinct of a saved soul, a longing to bring others to Christ. May we not become the elder brother in the parable and instead may we live in a way and pray in a way and speak in a way that would bring prodigals home.

And if we saw the world and others in this way how much more easily would we forgive.

These that Paul is praying for are those who now do not like him…some even hate him…some even want to kill him...

And he loved them and bore with them. We will bear with those who bother us and forgive much more easily…anything someone does to us…if we see them eternally…either as part of the body of Christ…or as desperately needing Jesus.

So number one....God help us believe and see eternally…to feel the weight of other people’s eternal destiny.

One more point…if you are saved and the other person is not…they don’t see it and you do.

Like having on conversation with someone on a trail…and a grizzly is coming at them from behind them.

Which brings me to prayer/application point number 2…that we would not only see it and think this way…but also.

2. God grant us a deep passion in our hearts for the lost we now see more clearly.

So first…God grant us to see…and then…to have our hearts set ablaze for others.

Please pray for this kind of passion in your own heart and for our church.

Young and old.

In order to have this kind of heart we need to pray…Tiffany reminded us on Wednesday...this is a work of God in hour hearts and the power of the Holy Spirit is needed to make us more like Christ in this way.

And also how much more would we pray for the unsaved that we know...if this was our heart for them.

If we had unceasing anguish and sadness for the lostness of their souls.

We would pray with both an awful weight on our hearts and a great power in our prayer because of our confidence in the greater things that Jesus plans to do through us when our hearts are aligned with His in this way.

When God’s Word tells us to pray without ceasing…I believe this is part of what makes that happen in our hearts and lives.

We cannot force this, but when the Spirit of God has moved in our heart to see others eternally and care deeply for their eternal destiny…heaven or hell forever…it will bring us to pray day and night for those whom you love…and also...

As you walk down the road or are at work or school or in your home or in the mall or at camp or in Zimbabwe and see people eternally…you will be brought to prayer and then action because of your anguish for where their their body and soul are headed eternally.

A thousand things will lead you to pray, and that prayer will lead you to action.

3. God grant us the boldness and power to then act…to speak the truth of the gospel to the unsaved.

So God help us see…then God help us feel…and the God help us do.

At Paul’s conversion Jesus tells him why he was saved…why he was chosen…and I believe it to us this morning.

Listen to what Jesus said to Paul…in Acts 26.

I pray God would plant this on our hearts. On our church in a poweerful way.

English Standard Version Chapter 26

I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

He is sending us to open eyes…to turn people for the ways of this world…and the power of salvation…to the light of the Gospel and to God.

Why? So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified by putting their faith in Jesus.

Let me end with re-reading the verses…and then in that same context I will read Romans 10 14-17 which I we have heard multiple times in the last few months…but they take on a more powerful meaning in this context.

Romans 9:1–3 ESV

Romans 10:1–2 ESV

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.

So chiurch…how will they get that knowledge…the knowledge that if the recieve and beilve and surrender to it will save them?

From us…when we see this way and feel this way and then DO this way and speak this way.

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

So...

Romans 10:14–17 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

We have been given the gospel so that we would speak it to ears…faith comes from hearing...

May this be us…may this be Revival church…and bring revival before our eyes.

May we see the greater things…because when this is our heart…and this is our boldness…and our beautufil feet move us to use our mouths to speak gospel...

Then we will see the true power of the Holy Spirit sent to us for these greater things.

May God save souls and open eyes through us…because He has chosen us for that very mission.