Charles Spurgeon Commentary Romans 10:1

"Brethren, my heart`s desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved." — Romans 10:1 (ASV)

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

No curse falls from his lips, though they had persecuted him without mercy, hunted him from city to city, and gnashed their teeth at the very mention of his name. Yet he has no desire for them but their salvation; he utters no malediction against them, but the prayer goes up from his very heart, that they might be saved. Let that be your worst wish for any living man. Whatever he may do to you, let this be your heart's desire and prayer for him, that he may be saved.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Desire is the mother and the soul of prayer my heart's desire and prayer. These Israelites had hunted Paul and sought to kill him. They were his deadly enemies; but the only return he made them was to pray that they might be saved. I hope you will never have a worse wish for your worst foe.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Paul had a tender heart towards all unconverted men and women, and he longed and pleaded with God that they might be saved. Do all of us have this unselfish, compassionate feeling? I am afraid that some Christians are very deficient in it; yet, in the dread of an immortality to be spent in woe unutterable by all unbelievers, our hearts' desire and perpetual prayer should be, as Paul's prayer for Israel was, that they might be saved. And if there is one class among the ungodly which should touch our hearts more than all the rest, it is those who are earnestly seeking salvation, but who are seeking it where they will never find it, namely, by the works of the law.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

They had hunted Paul from city to city, but the only feeling for them that he had was a wish that they might be saved. Such a wish as that should be in the heart of every Christian; his desire for his bitterest enemy should be that he may be saved.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Now these people had persecuted the Apostle. Wherever he went they had followed him up; they had hindered his work; they had sought his life; and yet this was the only return that he made to them – to desire and pray that they might be saved. Let us never be turned aside from this loving desire for those among whom we dwell. We wish them nothing worse – we cannot wish them anything better than that they may be saved. Let us not only desire it, but let us pray for it. Let us turn our desires into the more practical and holy form of intercession.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

The same thing over again – his deep concern for his countrymen.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Paul is writing concerning: the Jews – the very people who had driven him from city to city, and who had again and again sought to take his life. Yet he could not forget that these men were his own countrymen; and, consequently, with a consecrated patriotism, he desired beyond everything else that they might be saved.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

Let this be our heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel.

Sorrows upon sorrows have come to the Lord’s ancient people even down to this day; and they have been scattered and stripped, and rent and torn in almost every land. Who does not pity their griefs and woes? Let it be our heart’s desire and daily prayer for Israel that they may be saved through faith in the Messiah whom they have so long rejected.