With the help of Bonny and Austin, we all know a little bit about twins. One of the things that we know is that with these two twins there are a lot of differences. I don’t personally know any identical twins, but the subject fascinates me, and from what I understand even identical twins are not identical. Despite the many similarities between them, there can be lots of physical, spiritual, mental and emotional dissimilarities. Take for example, fingerprints. I think that finger-prints are one of the many small miracles of God – tiny miracles. That the Lord should have created fingerprints in the first place is a mystery. It doesn’t appear to me that they have any real purpose, except for the identification of criminals. And it doesn’t appear to me that evolution has any reasonable explanation for their existence. If it is true that every set of fingerprints is different, the next question is – why? Has there never been anyone in the billions of people, and the 6,000 years of human history, who didn’t have the same fingerprints as David Oldfield? That is what we are told. No two people are exactly alike.
But obviously, some people are more obviously NOT alike than others. We have one man who speaks nothing but Mandarin Chinese, and another who speaks English. They have different skin tones, different eye structure, different eating habits and different cultures. And here is one man who speaks American English but another who speaks British English. And here is one from Idaho and another from Mississippi, claiming to speak the same language, but they aren’t quite the same dialect. There are people of different cultures and different outward religions. Some people like to read, some prefer television, and some rather listen to music than to read or watch. I could go on and on, but you understand, and you know that it’s not necessary that I go on. In fact, you know that some people like to go on and on, while other people prefer to be short and concise.
Here is a question worth considering sometime when you have nothing to read, to listen to or to watch – How much difference between people does it take before there are grounds to ostracize one or the other? Here is someone with red hair, while you have blond or brown – is that enough to cast aside the red-head? How about someone with red hair and blue eyes? Is that sufficient difference to spurn or snub someone? What about the man with the heavy German accent, or the lady who can’t make her tongue form letter the “r”? I have known people from India and Pakistan who enunciated the English language far better than any native North American. Shouldn’t those people look down on us lazy-speaking people? Isn’t it true that in that category they are better people than we are – technically speaking?
And why do some races of people so universally hate some other race of people? I have a hard time believing that children hate other children simply because of their skin or their language. Not forgetting the sin that is in all of us, it seems to me that bigotry is something that we learn from others, rather than something which flows automatically out of our wicked hearts. Of course, the Jews of the New Testament hated the Greeks and Romans, perhaps with good cause. Those Jews were politically and militarily dominated by foreign powers for many years. But why did those Jews hate the Samaritans? In fact, the Jews generally-speaking hated all gentile people – Roman, Greek, Ethiopian, whatever. And this hatred has usually been returned in kind.
Right now in this country there is a general fear and hatred of Muslims. It wasn’t so prominent twenty years ago, but it is undeniable today. Many look back on September 11th and conclude that all Muslims are wicked people. I wish that there was some way of knowing how many Muslims were appalled by that attack? I can’t say for sure, but I tend to think that only a small percentage of those people were really happy. And what made those terrorists take those desperate steps? Was it their religion? Why do so many Baptists hate and fear Muslims, but not the Roman Catholics, who have murdered more of our people throughout history than Islam has? Generally speaking bigotry is unrealistic and illogical.
But I am getting too far from my intended subject. In Romans 10:12 Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, makes a definitive statement about the differences between people, and then in the rest of the chapter He goes on to explain. He says that there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. It’s not that there is absolutely no difference, but when it comes to man’s need and God’s salvation there is no difference. Instead of “Greek,” Paul could have used the word “Gentile,” because that is what he meant by the word. And we can lawfully substitute any number of other words in there, and it would always be the same. There is no difference between the Indian and the White man, or the Inuit and the White man. There is no difference between the Francophone and the Anglophone. There is no difference between the Arab and the Englishman. There is no difference between the Asian and the Caucasian. There is no difference between the Republican and the Democrat. There is no difference between the intellectual and the red neck. “For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”
Let’s consider Paul’s statement in its entirety.
Who is the Lord to whom Paul refers? It is not just that he is saying that there is only one true God over every man. He is saying that the Lord Jesus Christ, who happens to be the sovereign God over all His creation, is rich unto all that call upon him. Let’s line up a number of people from around the world – There is someone from Japan who worships in the Shinto tradition. There is a Buddhist from China, an Hindu, a Muslim, a Catholic, a native American, and an animist. We have an atheist, a Baptist, a Protestant, a sun-worshiper, and a volcano-worshiper, along with a host of others. Now, let’s somehow teach them all that they are sinners, standing on the lip of Hell. Let’s make their feet and faces feel the flame; Let’s make their noses burn with the scent of brimstone. Let’s make them so terrified that they can hardly contain their sanity. Like the worshipers of Baal, on the top of Mount Carmel, they might all call upon their gods. They might slash themselves with knives, fast for days, and pray with tears toward their various gods. They might throw young virgins into their volcanos and burn a hundred candles before the other virgin. But their time, trouble and turmoil will be in vain. Because there is no difference between them: for the same Lord over all is rich in grace only unto them that call upon HIM.
No sir, there is no essential difference between the child raised the Muslim home and the child raised in a Baptist home.
When William Carey and his team went to India, it was only after years that any Hindu called upon Christ. But when they did, the Lord honored His promise, and those believers were saved. When Adoniram Judson traveled to Burma to preach the gospel, it was many more years before there were any converts won to Christ. And throughout the first decades of his service in that country, there were undoubtedly thousands of devout, religious Burmese who died, hoping, and expecting, to enter some sort of heathen paradise, but every single one of them, without exception, awoke in torment for their sins. Then there was first one, and then another, and another, who repented before God and who put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one Burmese who complied with Romans 10:13 was not saved by the grace of God. Missionaries and gospel preachers have ministered among the head-hunters of New Guinea and the Lord kept this promise toward them. More recently there were the Auca Indians of Ecuador who left their ungodly and debauched ancient religion to put faith in Christ. Not only were they made into new creatures in the Lord, but several have become effective evangelists among their own people and towards others. This story can be told again, and again, and again, from around the world. Mongolians, Mohammedans and even a few Mormons have been saved by the grace of God.
It doesn’t matter how much some Christian may fear or even hate the religion of the Muslim or the Catholic, his invitation ought to be the same given to them as it is to his own children – “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; the Muslim and the Hindu, the atheist and the Baptist… “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
And yet “who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Not only was the person of Jesus of Nazareth beaten almost beyond recognition, but as the Son of God and the Anointed One, He was not recognized either. The Jews were certainly not looking for a Messiah who would die so ignobly. And the Romans could hardly contain their indifference at the crucifixion of another worthless Jew. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek in the deadness of their hearts and in their complete lack of faith.
John 12:37-41 makes a powerful commentary on Isaiah’s statement and upon man’s universal rejection of Christ and unbelief. “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.” There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek – we are all completely dead in trespasses and sins.
These verses take us into the theme of the next chapter. These verses are like the slice of a surgical knife into the heart of Jewish bigotry. As Isaiah said, the Lord has stretched out his hands toward a disobedient and gainsaying – back-talking – people. He has used a dozen different means, a hundred times, pleading with them to repent and trust Him. But with only a few individual exceptions, the nation has constantly spurned the evidences of His love. And so throughout history, but more widely in these last days, God has almost entirely stretched out his arms to the Greeks and Gentiles. He has said to the Burmese and other Asians, “Come unto me all ye ends of the earth.” “The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” We Gentiles have not only seen the salvation of God, but many of us have experienced it. It was Jeremiah who said, “Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD. O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.”
No, “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It does not matter what our skin color might be, what our native language is, or what our past religion was. We all have the same sin problem – the spiritual deficiencies and deadness. But we also all live under the same King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the same scriptural promises apply to us as to Abraham, David, Daniel and their kin folk. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”