This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our study of the Book of Romans, we're in chapter 10 this week. This
is our first day looking at this incredible chapter of the Bible. As we begin
this chapter, let me remind you of something.

Chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Romans focus on some pretty tough theological
questions. These are also deeply personal chapters. Each of these three chapters
starts with a personal and passionate statement from Paul.

For instance, Romans chapter 10 verse 1, he starts out by saying, "Brothers, my
heart's desire and prayer to God is for the Israelites that they might be saved.
" I'd like to focus on that one verse today as we begin our look at this
chapter. The one question of that verse is, "How do I make this my passion?

How do I have a passion for people to come to know Jesus, to be saved, to be
rescued by his love? " Before we focus in on that question, how do I make this
my passion, a couple of questions. Maybe from last week you're still thinking
about election as we talked about Romans chapter 9.

The question is, "Wait, isn't it God's job to elect people? How can I stay
passionate and still believe in election if it's God's job to do it? He's going
to get it done whether I'm passionate about it or not.

" Well, remember from last week we talked about the fact that the Bible teaches
both predestination and free will, both God's election and our free choice. And
that if you lean too far in the way of free will, you get humanism. We're in
control of our fate.

But if you lean too far in the direction of election, you get fatalism. It
doesn't matter what we do. So don't lean too far in that direction.

You remember also last week we talked about the picture of two ropes through the
ceiling and that predestination and free will are like those two ropes that are
connected above the ceiling in ways that we cannot see in the power of God. We
also talked about the picture of a coin trying to look at both sides at the same
time. And that in our human capacity, we can't see both sides of a coin at the
same time.

But God can. God can see how his election and our free will somehow fit
together. And so when he tells me to be passionate about people's salvation, and
he also tells me that he's in charge, he chooses and he elects and he calls, I
can be comfortable with both.

I don't totally understand it, but I can be comfortable with it because I trust
God. If God has determined all the details of our lives, some people think,
"Well, that must mean I have no choice. " Or if God gives us a choice, that
somehow puts us in control rather than him.

Our God is an awesome God. He is able to give us, as a part of his creation,
this free will to decide, and yet he's able to remain completely in control of
his creation. How does he do that?

He's God. So we believe both in God's sovereign control and in human free will
as taught in the Bible. It's important to keep those two truths in balance.

We don't believe that the Bible teaches a view of God's control or
predestination in which we're assigned the plan of God without our choice being
involved. Some people call that double predestination, meaning that some are
predestined to heaven and others to hell. Don't believe that.

We believe instead that the Bible teaches God in his wisdom, has allowed our
choice to play a part in this process. God in his greatness is able to know
about and be in control of everything, and yet also to allow us to have free
choice. That does not make sense from a human perspective.

Both of those things could be true, but that is just a reminder of how much
greater God is than we are. God draws us to himself, and yet no one comes unless
they respond to God drawing. That seems like a contradiction.

It seems to us that it has to be a contradiction, but it is not because of the
greatness of God. So with that question out of the way, what about passion? As
we take a look at Romans chapter 10 this week, we're going to talk about being
an expert witness.

And talk about each day one thing that an expert witness must understand. An
expert witness in a trial is someone who is seen by the court as a person who is
well skilled in that area, able to speak as an expert. And the truth is we are
all witnesses.

We're witnesses of what Jesus Christ has done in our lives, whether you try or
not. And so I would like you to be an expert witness. Don't try to be a
prosecutor.

Don't try to be a judge or a lawmaker. But do try to become the most expert
witness that you can be. We live in a sometimes suspicious, sometimes threatened
generation.

And so this generation deserves our attention to the detail of understanding how
we can best share this good news of who Jesus really is. I'm going to be an
expert witness that starts with that question we talked about at the beginning.
The question of passion.

An expert witness understands that there has to be a passion for salvation.
Jesus has a passion for our salvation. In fact, his death on the cross is called
the Passion.

That's where the name of that movie came from, The Passion of the Christ. It's
been called The Passion for thousands of years before that movie came out. And
Paul talks about his passion in Romans 10 verse 1.

You break down this one verse and it tells you where passion comes from. He
says, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that
they may be saved. " Pretty simple verse, but it talks about passion.

Look at the four things he talks about. He talks about heart's desire. He talks
about prayer.

He talks about for the Israelites. And then number four, that they might be
saved. All of those result in passion.

Heart's desire is all about passion. It comes from the desire of our heart.
Passion isn't always logical.

You can't logic your way, intellect your way into passion. People can become
passionate about the smallest of things, the silliest of things, even the most
ugly of things. What is it that creates a heart's desire?

It's not logic. It is love. Love creates a heart's desire because Paul loved
these people that he had grown up with.

Because Paul loved his countrymen, he had a heart's desire to see their lives
changed. It starts with a heart's desire. It starts with love.

And then he says, "My prayer to God. " Passion is also born of prayer. It comes
from prayer.

Unless you're praying for people to know Jesus Christ, you'll never be
passionate about it. It's just that simple. So you talk to God on other people's
behalf.

You talk to God that other people might become saved. My heart's desire in
prayer, he said, is for the Israelites. Paul was specific with his passion.

He didn't just pray that people might be saved. He focused in on the people that
he knew, his own countrymen. Passion comes from focusing on people that you
love.

As he talks about the Israelites here, it's clear that he's saying the Jewish
people are lost. Just like I was lost as a Jewish man, Paul is saying before I
came to faith, the Jewish people are lost. They are lost because they failed to
receive God's answer to their problem, to their sin.

To have this kind of passion that Jesus had for our salvation, we have to
realize the truth that all of us are lost without Jesus. Everyone. It's not a
matter of one group against the other and comparing groups.

We're all lost without Jesus. This isn't about pointing fingers at any one group
of people over and above or under another. This is this is realizing we are all
lost and then focusing that truth, that realization on your love for one person,
one group of people.

And then Paul talks about his passion for salvation when he says, I'm praying
that they might be saved. Passion comes from knowing that Jesus and Jesus alone
could make a difference in our lives. People can be saved.

Things can change. And when you know that, when you see that, it makes you
passionate. If you knew that you had a cure for cancer that a friend of yours
didn't know about, you would be passionate about getting that news to them if
they had cancer or a family member of theirs had cancer.

I'm passionate, Paul says. So the question is, how do we do this? Sometimes the
truth is those who seem the most passionate about their faith in Christ also
seem to be the most offensive in the way that they share their faith in Christ
with other people.

Now, I would say that instead of a genuine passion, they often have maybe an
argumentative spirit or even an angry spirit. But it comes out in passionate,
loud words. True passion isn't about loud words.

True passion springs from love and true passion is compelling instead of
repelling. So where do I start? How do I develop that kind of passion?

I have discovered that those who can be most effective in their witness for
Christ, those who can be the expert witnesses that Jesus needs, are often those
who are most reluctant to witness because they care about others because they
don't want to offend other people. They're asking questions like, how do I see
my family saved? How do I go about telling them without offending them?

Well, here's where you start. Start with prayer. Start there.

Talk to God on their behalf. Paul said, "My heart's desire and my prayer. "
There's something about praying for people that you love that does something to
your heart and to their heart and makes all the difference in the world.

So start there. In fact, let's start right now. Let's talk to God right now in
prayer.

And I want to encourage you right now to talk to God on behalf of somebody else,
someone you know that does not yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Just
say, "Jesus Christ, you know them. You know their heart.

And you see they haven't yet started a relationship with you. " I pray that they
would. Might be somebody at your office.

Might be somebody in your family. Might be a neighbor. Might be just an
acquaintance.

Jesus, I pray that this friend of mine, this family member of mine, would come
to understand how deep your love really is. How great your plan really is for
their lives. Jesus, I admit that before I came to faith in you, I was afraid of
a lot of things.

I didn't understand a lot of things. I pray that in your love, you would set
those fears aside in their heart. You'd help them to understand the great love
that you have for them.

And Jesus, I pray you would remind me to often pray for this friend of mine,
this family member of mine, that they would come to know you and your love. And
I pray this in your name. Amen.

Well, tomorrow we're going to continue this look in Romans chapter 10, how to be
an expert witness as we look at verses two to eight.