Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
May 29, 2022: SOAP #4560: Proverbs 10-12; Romans 10

SCRIPTURE:  Romans (NIV) 10:1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 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. …
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? …
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

OBSERVATION: In these verses we can see that people are saved by responding to what they know.  The must put their faith in what they know.  Their knowledge comes from what they have heard.  What they hear comes from someone sent. 

It is so important that they know the truth.  The, the truth that one’s righteousness comes from God, and they cannot depend on their own good works.  As verses 9 and 10 say: 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.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Faith, even zealous faith, cannot save if it is not based on knowledge of truth.  Saving faith is based on truth. 

APPLICATION: I am not saved by how good of a husband or parent I am.  I am not saved based on my ministry as a pastor.  I am not saved by how many SOAPs I write, or how well I drive a school bus.  I want to do those things in a way that shows my love for God and what He has done for me.  My salvation rests only on what Jesus did for me by dying on the cross for my sins. 

PRAYER:  Lord, thank you for forgiving my sins.  Use me to tell others about you and what you have done for them.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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