Pastor Steve Hopkins, in his sermon at Barnet Bible Church, delves into the Apostle Paul's epistle to the Romans, focusing on the concept of righteousness and faith. He emphasizes the futility of seeking righteousness through the law, contrasting it with the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Pastor Hopkins highlights that salvation is not achieved by human efforts or law-keeping but through faith in Christ's completed work. He underscores the significance of heart belief as opposed to mere intellectual assent, stressing that true faith is a heartfelt conviction that transforms one's life. Through examples from Scripture, he illustrates that genuine conversion leads to a life of public confession and a decisive break from old patterns of sin. Hopkins warns against adding human efforts to the gospel, asserting that it must remain unaltered: grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The sermon concludes with a reminder that believers in Christ will not be ashamed at the final judgment, as God's grace sustains them.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Good afternoon again. Romans, We are back to our study of the epistle of the Apostle Paul, the letter of the Apostle Paul to the believers at Rome. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord, we'll be reading Romans chapter 5, verses 5 through 11 together.

Read with me the Word of the Lord beginning with verse 5 through 11. For Moses described it the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead but what saith it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Let's pray. Father from everlasting to everlasting, You are God without beginning and without end. You made the heavens and the earth from nothing. Beside You there is no God. Not unto us, O God, not unto us be glory, but unto your name give glory.

And we pray, O God, once again this afternoon that through the illuminating power of the working of the Holy Spirit within each one of us that we might be granted understanding in this hour. For the building up of your church and for the glory of the name of your Son Jesus, we pray these things. Amen. And amen. Let's be seated.

So as I said, we're returning again this afternoon to our study of Paul's letter to the Romans. Our last message on Romans was entitled Christ our righteousness, where we looked at how the end of the law is Christ for righteousness. Christ for righteousness to everyone who puts their trust in Him and what He alone has done to save us. How many were here for that message? I said at that time, if there was one word that was the rallying cry of the Reformation, that it was the word alone.

Whether it is the sacramental system of Rome or any other religious system that teaches faith in Christ plus anything Human works human merits or any other thing in order to be justified in God's sight, that adds to the gospel, and the word of God deals seriously with additions to God's word. You know, the apostle Paul took it very seriously, And he didn't just deal with the Jews on this thing of contrasting righteousness by keeping the law, which is impossible for as many as are under the law or under the curse of the law, Galatians 3, 10, but contrasting this thing of keeping the law versus the righteousness of God provided in Christ to all who believe. Paul didn't just stand by and let anyone add to the gospel or even blur the lines of the truth of the gospel. The Apostle Paul was willing to confront any and all who would attempt to in some way change the gospel of Christ. Remember he said, if even an angel from heaven were to preach unto you any other gospel, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, forever damned." Anathema, anatema.

And you remember, Paul was willing to confront the Apostle Peter to his faith, whom the Catholics say is their first pope. He confronted him to his faith. We read this in Galatians chapter 2, when Peter's behavior was inconsistent with the truth of the gospel, when he started withdrawing himself from Gentile believers, fearing the circumcision crowd, saying that the Gentile believers not only had to have faith in Jesus but also had to be circumcised. Paul didn't put up with that sort of thing. He says, I withstood him to his face.

He didn't put up with it either outside of the church or inside of the church. Speaking of the Judaizers, in Titus chapter 1, Paul says, quote, their mouths must be stopped. How? By speaking the truth and by exercising apostolic authority. Their mouths must be stopped.

He said, who subvert whole households. In Matthew Henry's commentary on this he says they were overthrowing the faith of entire families and that's the sort of thing that happens when we say things like well doctrine isn't important. How many have heard that? Doctrine is not important. Yeah, That's the same thing as saying the purity of the gospel just isn't important.

Every one of Paul's letters in the New Testament said, look out for the bad guys. Every single one of them, Look out for the bad guys. Here's what they're teaching, but here's what the Word of God says. This is what's wrong with what they're talking about. This is what's right according to the Scriptures and the truth of the gospel.

So we have to be serious about these things, And we have to be ready to have an answer for every man for the hope that lies within us, as Peter said. And we have to be prepared to exhort and reprove and to rebuke with all longsuffering, with patience and with sound doctrine, with gentleness also, he said. And we must be prepared to do that even if it costs us our reputations, even if it costs us our relationships. Any gospel that adds to grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and what Christ has alone done for our justification in God's sight must be confronted. In the passage before us, The apostle really is continuing to do just that as he continues to contrast the unattainable righteousness which is of the law with the righteousness which is of faith, teaching us that righteousness does not come through human effort or law keeping, but again by trusting in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God provided in His Son.

And look at how he puts it in verses 6 and 7. Everyone look at your Bibles here in verses 6 and 7 of chapter 10. But the righteousness which is of faith, feeks on this wise, or after this manner, say not in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. Paul says, don't say in your heart, who shall ascend or who shall descend. The gospel isn't about what you can do or what you shall do.

It's about Christ and what he has already done. And it isn't a far off. It isn't out of the reach of anyone who would lay hold on it by faith. It isn't locked away in the heights of heaven or buried in the depths of the sea or of the earth. The good news of the gospel of righteousness by faith is set right before us and within the reach of every one of us.

We don't have to ascend to heaven to bring Christ down. The incarnation is history. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Amen. We don't have to descend into the lower parts of the earth to bring Christ up.

Christ has already died and risen. Jesus has done everything necessary to secure our eternal salvation, everything. He's come down from heaven, died for our sins, and risen from the dead. There is nothing more to do but to simply believe it and receive it. The word of faith, Paul says, that we preach unto you, it's near you, even in your mouth and in your heart.

That is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you shall be saved." Pretty simple. A five-year-old can understand it. Any five-year-olds here today? Yep. A five-year-old can understand it.

And in the next verse, he gives the order. Look at the order. Faith followed by confession. For with the heart, man believes under righteousness, that is, unto the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to our accounts. With the heart man believes under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So, If you're saved here today, this is how it went. Someone shared the gospel with you. Someone communicated the gospel to you. The Spirit of God pierced your heart with it. You believed.

And then you started confessing Jesus with your mouth. That's the history of everyone in this room who has been born of the Spirit, who is trusted in Christ, who has been brought to saving faith. That's what happens. You heard it, God pierced your heart with it, you believed it, and you started confessing it. Christ and Him crucified for you personally.

Jesus said, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What is in our heart comes out of our mouths. When you put your trust in Christ, when He saved you from your sins, when that change was so worked in your heart and in your life that you know God has saved my soul. You couldn't help yourself. You had to tell someone.

The demon-possessed man that Jesus saved went into Decapolis and told everyone the great things that Jesus had done for him. The woman at the well left her water pot and went into the city and told everyone about Jesus and many believed because of her testimony. Paul himself goes from persecutor of Jesus to confessor of Jesus. With the heart, man believes, and with the mouth, confession is made. But what does it mean?

What does it mean that with the heart man believes? True and saving faith is heart faith. It's heart faith. Remember me talking about Don Stubblefield and his auth quoted, has The truth made it that 18 inches from your head to your heart. True and saving faith is heart faith.

Back in Romans 6, Paul said, God be thanked that though you were the servants of sin, now you have obeyed from the heart. Now you have obeyed from the heart, that doctrine or the form of doctrine that was delivered unto you, the gospel. True and saving faith is from the heart. It is not merely intellectual, neither is it merely historical. Knowing the data and even assenting to the data or the content of the gospel intellectually is not enough.

Yes, we must know the data, we must know the content of the gospel message, very important, that's what the Apostle Paul dealt with over and over again and we must assent to it intellectually. Yes With our minds but knowing and understanding the content of the gospel and even assenting to it intellectually does not save us A person can have a PhD in systematic theology and be able to tell everyone exactly how it is that a person can be saved and not be saved themselves. Being convinced even by reason that Jesus died and rose again does not save anyone if the heart has not been affected. The saying of a prayer which I grew up with, say the sinner's prayer you're saved, no the saying a prayer, making a profession of faith, making a decision for Christ when the heart has not been changed is external religion. All the way through the Old Testament, the prophets are always saying things like, what?

Cutting your flesh in circumcision doesn't matter if your heart has not been rent, if your heart has not been cut, if your heart has not been pierced, if your heart has not been changed, Martin Lloyd-Jones. There is such a thing as mistaking a theological intellectualism for saving faith. It is one thing to accept a body of doctrine with your mind, believing in the doctrines of salvation instead of believing in the person and having a saving faith in Him. It's another thing to have a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can be a perfectly orthodox theologian and have no spiritual life at all.

And Martin Lloyd-Jones names names. This is from the 1960s and I'm not going to name his names. I have a study of the matter. But having the knowledge of the doctrine doesn't save us. Well, I can tell you how you can be saved.

Here's the doctrine. Here's the passages. Yes, but has that personally hit the core of your being? Has the truth of it changed you? Has God used that to cause you to flee to Christ and embrace Him as your only hope of salvation.

Some have merely what is called a historical faith. They are convinced that Jesus Christ was a real person. He existed. They believe the historical account of his death and even of the proofs of his resurrection. But a historical faith does not save anyone.

One must believe from the heart the truth of the gospel as it applies to him or to her personally. This is a personal thing. This is about me and God. This is about me and Jesus. When we believe from the heart, we believe all that God has said in his word concerning us and his son us and who we are and what we are in our sins and his son and what He came to do to save us from our sins.

And we put our trust in Christ and what He has done to save us as our only hope. Our only hope. To believe from the heart is from the core of one's being to embrace Jesus Christ and trust Him, to place one's trust in Him alone and what He alone has done for their righteousness, for their acceptance with God. You may be, remember again me quoting Don Stubblefield, has that truth made it that 18 inches from your head to your heart? Is your faith just a head thing or is it a heart thing?

Paul says with the heart man believes unto righteousness, with the heart. The heart here signifies the core of one's inmost being. This is the real you. Are you listening to me? The heart, that's the real you.

This is the real me. This is who I really am. This is what I really believe. This is where my hope and my trust really lies, in the core of my inmost being. Unless the heart has been changed, and that's the work of God, there's no conversion.

I believe it's Ezekiel 36. You've all heard this passage. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And I will give you a heart of flesh, that is a heart that is alive and beating for God, for Christ, and I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you to walk.

Y'all listen, I will cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments. Wow. Well, what about confessing Christ before others? We already saw that from the abundance of the mouth, the heart speaks and all true believers confess Christ before others. There are no undercover Christians.

There's no such thing. But does the mere public confession or profession of Christ mean, okay, you're in. See, I grew up with that. I will name names in the independent Baptist churches. I grew up with that.

You walk the aisle, you say the prayer, you sign the card, you make the public confession, you're saved, you're in. But then you watch as the people filter off this way and off that way, and They go back to their lives of sin so many times. What's going on? Has there been a heart change that has affected the very core of your being. Jesus said, this people ought to be with their mouths but their heart are far from me.

Is it possible to confess Him with your mouth but your heart to be a thousand miles away? Jesus says it is. You know, some people get caught up in a movement or in a national revival of excitement or interest about Jesus. They see others publicly confessing Jesus, so they're starting to use Jesus' names. Jesus is popular now, and they begin to confess Him also.

But has there been a heart change? Only time will tell. Have they been born again? Has the heart of stone been replaced by a heart of flesh that is alive and beating for Jesus? Only time will tell.

One of the fruits of true conversion is the fruit of public confession of profession. A person who has been converted, who has come to saving faith, will inevitably confess Christ publicly. All true believers will confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, but all who confess the Lord Jesus are not necessarily true believers. Has there been a changed life? Jesus said the tree is known by its fruit.

A changed life means a changed lifestyle of progressive sanctification and growth and holiness and obedience. It means new fruit appearing on a new tree. True conversion affects the heart, not just the intellect or the emotions. When I was a boy in the 1960s, millions of people, not even just tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, millions of people were flocking to the Billy Graham Crusades. Anyone here old enough to remember the Billy Graham Crusades?

You can go back and you can watch it. It's pretty exciting. Big time, you know, People would come and sing and present different things. It was huge. They had, there was no indoor environment where you could get all the people inside.

They had to do it in outdoor stadiums, and the stadiums were filled with people. 1.2 million people attended the Los Angeles Crusade. In Toronto, it was 1.3 million. In South Korea, it was 1.1 million people. Million people.

I mean, we were just in a building with 73, 000 and I'm like, whoa! One point one million, one point two million, one point three million. They would have these altar calls at the end of each meeting and they would ask people to come down the aisle in front if they wanted to, this was the wording, to make a decision for Christ. And thousands upon thousands of people came down and prayed with counselors to receive Christ. Two hundred thousand people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ at the sole South Korea crusade alone.

200, 000! But the crusades later reported that when followed up, 85% of non-churchgoers who made, quote, decisions for Christ didn't go to church afterwards, didn't join a church afterwards. Where did they go? What was it all about? Just the hype of the moment?

Revival is breaking forth, everybody was saying. Where are they? What happened to the nation? Decisionism says that if you make a decision for Christ, you're for sure saved, but the life bears it all out over time. Mr.

Belk used to say, whatever's in the well eventually comes up in the bucket. I think that there are a lot of people who want a Jesus who will save them, that is from the penalty of their sins and from hell and eternal damnation and the wrath of God, but they don't want a Jesus who will be their Lord. They want a Savior, but they don't want someone to tell them what to do and what not to do. They like the idea of a Savior, but not a Lord. Jesus is my Savior.

He saved me from hell and God's wrath, the penalty of sin, but a sovereign Lord and master, I didn't buy into that. Paul says that you must confess him, but look what it says, the Lord Jesus, you must confess him as Lord. Somebody says, oh, I missed that part. Confess him as Lord. John MacArthur.

That is, that will confess that Jesus is the believer's own sovereign, ruling Lord in whom he trusts for salvation and to whom he submits. By the end of that submission thing to Jesus as Lord. Now I signed the card at the church. I believe in Jesus as my Savior. He saved me from my sins.

I don't have to go to hell now. Not this Lord thing. James said, you believe there's one God? The demons believe and tremble. Again, MacArthur, James teaches that even demons acknowledge truth about God.

His point is that men can hold such demon belief, belief that is theologically correct but does not include reception of Jesus as Lord, receiving Him as Lord. People may be well aware of their sin, they may be under deep conviction about it, they may even have a great emotional sense of guilt from which their longing to be delivered, but they do not repent and forsake the sin that causes the guilt. We had some great men die this year. MacArthur was one of them. Nor do they trust in the Savior who can forgive and remove that sin." Close quote.

Oh, brothers and sisters, don't ever gravitate away from those who preached the truth of God's Word even when it made people turn away. Don't turn away from them. Remember them, keep their messages alive, continue to listen to them. R.C. Sproul.

Intellectual affirmation of the truth claims of the gospel must be embraced with personal trust and affection for the truth, something no demon will ever do. That is why Paul says that it is not enough to believe it in our heads. We have to believe it in our hearts. The point is that we can say that we agree with something intellectually without it ever getting to the core of our being. Close quote.

If we confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts We shall be saved if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, that he died for my sins, and he rose from the dead. You truly believe from the core of your being that this has affected you personally. You shall be saved. True heart belief comes from a new heart, a heart changed by God. Martin Lloyd-Jones.

A true spiritual conversion radically alters the direction of one's life. Well, no, I didn't buy into that going in a different direction thing. I just bought into the Savior thing. That's all I signed off on the card when I came forward at the revival. True spiritual conversion radically alters the direction of one's life.

It is not a partial change, it is a decisive break with old patterns of sin. Ouch. The entire person, mind, affections, and will is radically, completely, and fully changed in conversion. That's saying you become perfect. Listen to Martin Lloyd-Jones.

He goes on and on and on in his messages on progressive sanctification. We grow in holiness and obedience to God, but the old patterns of sin, there is a decisive break with them. Can you say that's true of you today? I've had a decisive break with the old patterns of sin in my life, My mind has been changed, my affections have been changed, my will has been changed, there's been a radical change in my life. I hope we can all say that.

Paul goes on to say in the passage before us as we draw to a close. With the heart man believes in the righteousness, with the mouth confession is made into salvation. Then he says, for the scripture says, look at the passage, this is the last verse in our passage this afternoon. For the scripture says, whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed. So this is where he was going now.

This Friday our family and maybe some others in the congregation are planning to travel to Dallas to attend the Vodi Bakam memorial service. On this last passage, on those words, Vodi Bakam commented on these last words, whosoever believes on him will not be put to shame. He comments, that's a reference to the judgment to come. So I'm talking about this live. That's a reference to the judgment to come.

We have hope in the gospel. The grace that saves you is the grace that keeps you. Close quote. The grace that saves you is the grace that keeps you. Close quote.

The grace that saves you is the grace that keeps you. You're not gonna stand before God on the day of judgment and be disappointed who have put their trust in Christ, who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, whose righteousness has been imputed to them and their sin to his account. You're not going to be disappointed on the day of judgment for believing the gospel and confessing Christ before all. You're not gonna be ashamed. You're not gonna be disappointed.

There are gonna be many who are gonna be ashamed and many who are gonna be disappointed and many who are going to be ashamed, and many who are going to be disappointed, and many who are going to be in utter terror, but not the believer in Christ. You're not going to have any regrets. The grace that saved you was the grace that kept you. And I want to, in closing here, in honor of Vodi Bakum, just end with some of his last words in the preaching of the gospel. And then we'll close.

Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us. All we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But God laid on him the iniquity of us all, and Christ died for sin once for all, the just for the unjust. And God imputes our sinfulness to him, and he nails our sinfulness to the tree.

And Christ dies and rises again the third day for our justification. And there's another imputation. The righteousness of Christ is actually imputed to us so that God can be both just and the justifier of the one who places faith in Jesus Christ. So that all those who come to faith may enter in. So that all those who trust him might be saved.

But not only saved, but sanctified. Because he is the firstborn of many brethren, we're justified and we're adopted into the family of God, and as his family members, we're sanctified. And we begin to bear the family resemblance. And we continue to be further sanctified throughout this life, but the very same gospel that saves us until one day when all is said and done. We're not just saved from the penalty of sin.

We're not just saved from the power of sin, but one day when we are glorified, we are glorified and saved from the very presence of sin. Amen? That's the gospel, He said, that we preach. That's the gospel that we need, And that's the gospel that is more than enough. Amen, let's pray.

Father, all we need is the gospel of your Son. And we thank you God that your grace has brought it near. We thank you Lord for Christ our righteousness, the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. We thank you Lord that though we cannot be good enough to get you to accept us, you can save us from our sins because of what Jesus has done. And that we can be made perfect in your sight and accepted in your sight forever Because he obeyed perfectly and died for our sins on the cross Thank you God of the simplicity of the message of Christ righteousness becoming our righteousness the moment we put our trust in him And I pray Lord that would be the situation with every person under this roof today.

We ask it in Jesus name, Amen.