The Condition of The Heart
A Sermon on Romans 10:9-10
Scripture
9That 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. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Sermon Description
Why do some people demand that society must be more tolerant while simultaneously being intolerant of Christianity? Some even say that they believe in Jesus, yet scoff at the doctrine of repentance, saying that modern humanity needs a more intellectual message for today’s world. In this sermon on Romans 10:9–10 titled “The Condition of the Heart,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones confronts the notion that confessing Jesus as Lord is only an intellectual action and shows that true belief in Christ is one that affects the whole personality. By analyzing the book of Romans, one is able to see that the unbelief of a person cannot be broken by intellectual argument because the intellect has been darkened by the condition of the heart. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds that one’s condition before salvation hated God and that hatred controlled their thoughts towards God. One’s words reveal the condition of the heart, and out of the mouth is what reveals whether or not one truly believes in Christ. If the listener is struggling to know what true belief is, this sermon will help them analyze Scripture and apply it to their life.
Sermon Breakdown
- The apostle Paul summarizes saving faith in Romans 10:9-10.
- Saving faith has a threefold division: content, character/nature, and proof.
- The content of saving faith is believing Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead.
- The character/nature of saving faith is believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth.
- The apostle repeats himself in verses 9 and 10 to emphasize the importance of the heart and confession.
- The repetition highlights dangers to avoid: going to extremes and superficiality.
- The heart refers to the center of one's personality, not just feelings. It means the whole person.
- Unbelief is not just intellectual but is essentially a matter of the heart. The "modern fallacy" is that unbelief is purely intellectual.
- This fallacy is found both outside and inside the church. Some promote a "new theology" to appeal to modern intellectuals.
- The argument for new Bible translations is also based on this fallacy. The real issue is not understanding terminology but the heart.
- The natural man does not receive spiritual things because they are foolishness to him. His heart is darkened.
- Examples show the problem is the heart, not the intellect: Romans 1, Matthew 11, John 3:19, John 5:44, Paul before conversion.
- The natural man rejects and ridicules the gospel. His problem is not lack of understanding but antagonism and hatred.
- Ephesians 4 describes the unregenerate as having darkened understanding and blindness of heart.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.