Romans 10:1-13

Man's heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). We have a lie deep in our hearts. We believe that basically we are pretty good people. We still hold on to the lie that if God has distinguished us from the unbeliever, it must be because there was something in us that He found lovable.

Paul demolishes this illusion in Romans 9. But the lie is not so easily dismissed. We say in our hearts, "If the whole of humanity has come far short of the commandments of God then it must be because God's standards are too high, or too difficult to understand. If God's standards are too strict for anyone to keep, then isn't He unjust for condemning someone for not keeping them? If we really try hard and do our best, then surely that would make us acceptable to God." This is the question that Romans 10 deals with.

"Nor is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Do you think it's possible for a person to be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ? Most people in our society would say, "There are many roads that lead to heaven, and if you're sincere and live a moral life then surely you'll go to heaven...no matter who you worship or what you believe." But our text teaches there is only one way to heaven, and anyone who teaches there is another way is a liar who is under the delusion of Satan. There is only one way to be saved from the guilt and consequences of our sins, and His name is Jesus Christ! Acts 4:12: "Nor is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved."

"Self-denial" is not the same as "denying yourself." The thinking within the church prior to the Reformation was that of self-denial-paying penance, doing works of contrition, prostrating yourself before a plaster statue, or retreating to monasteries and basically depending on your own good works or the works of really good "saints."