ROMANS 10:8-21 PREACH THE GOSPEL2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 10:8-21 Preach The Gospel

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

We're here in Romans chapter 10. We'll be looking at verses 8 through 21 this evening, finishing up Romans chapter 10. But let's start the evening by reading through verses 8 through 13. So Romans chapter 10 verses 8 through 13. Starting in verse 8 it says, But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach.

Verse 1.

Verse 13. Verse 13.

Here as we are working our way through Romans chapter 10, we're continuing to talk about the gospel. And we've been talking about the gospel since the very beginning in Romans chapter 1. We've seen the incredible benefits of what Christ has done for us upon the cross and justification by faith. We've

talked about our access to God. We've talked about being, you know, set free from sin, from death, from the law, and all the things that are entailed in the gospel. And here in the last couple chapters, in chapters 9 and 10, Paul's continuing to talk about the gospel, but also dealing directly with the nation of Israel and their rejection of the gospel and how God has used that to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.

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point of the things that Paul is sharing here in the latter half of Romans chapter 10 is that the gospel is meant to be preached. And so the title of the message this evening is Preach the Gospel. The gospel is available to the Jewish people. That's what Paul will be talking about, but they have not received

received it. They have refused it. And because of that, God has brought the gospel also to the Gentiles. But he'll be making the point that the gospel is a message that must be preached. Like that's the basic concept of the gospel message. It needs to be delivered. It needs to be spoken forth. And

as well as received. And so tonight, the Apostle Paul will be encouraging us and challenging us to go and preach the gospel to the world around us. Well, we're going to start in verses 8 through 10 with point number one, and that is the gospel we preach. So in order for us to preach the gospel, of course, we need to have a grasp of what the gospel is. Looking again at verse 8, it says, but what does it say?

And so Paul's been talking about what the gospel is and that it's not something that you have to climb to the highest heights or, you know, explore the deepest depths in order to achieve the gospel or achieve salvation. But it's not something that you have to climb to the highest heights or, you know,

He quotes here from Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 14, and he says, the word is near you. It's in your mouth. It's in your heart. It's immediately accessible to you. You can receive the word of faith. You can receive the word that God has, which of course is the gospel message.

And so the gospel is attainable. It's within reach. You don't have to achieve some level of spirituality or some level of self-sacrifice. You don't have to, you know, climb some high mountain or get some great understanding of

You must simply believe and receive the word that's right in front of you, the gospel message that is within reach right there for you. And he basically gives us a simple version of the gospel message here in verse 9. He says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So in verse 8, he says, here's the word of faith which we preach. Here is the message that we deliver that must be believed. And in verse 9, he gives us the gospel. To confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. And doing that, you will be saved.

And so there's an element of confessing and there's an element of believing. These two go together. They're intertwined. They're not separate things necessarily, although we could talk about them, you know, a little bit distinct from one from another. But

When there is a real faith, when there is a genuine belief, it comes with confession. There's a natural outflowing and expression of the belief that is there. And so these are necessary elements of salvation. Now, as you look at this verse 9, you can see that the gospel is a simple message. Paul says, this is the word of faith which we preach. It's a simple message.

It's a simple message in that the concepts are simple. You don't have to have any type of, you know, high education or engineering degree or, you know, spiritual diploma or something like that. A child can understand the concepts that God has given them.

Paul is talking about here, confessing the Lord Jesus and believing that God has raised him from the dead. And that's the way that God intends it. It's meant to be a message that anyone can receive, that there doesn't have to be, you know, some level so that some are disqualified automatically because they just don't measure up. They're not even able to receive the message. And

Now, the concepts are simple, although, of course, the Christian life can be very difficult and challenging, and there are spiritual truths and depths of wisdom in God that we will never understand. But at the same time, he makes the gospel message. He makes forgiveness, and to be able to have right standing with God, easily accessible. And so, again, you don't have to climb the heights. You don't have to explore the depths. You can just believe God.

This word that is right here in front of you, every individual, every human being is able to receive the gospel message. That's how God wants it. And then as you go on into verse 10, you can see it's really not so much additional, but just a restatement or a clarification of verse 9. In verse 10, he says, "'For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.'"

And so it's these two concepts, believing and confessing. These are the essential elements for receiving this forgiveness, this righteousness that Christ offers to us. The word believe, it means to be persuaded, to be convinced, to trust in something.

Sometimes we talk about believing as, you know, an acknowledgement of some type of information, but that's not what the Bible talks about when it talks about believing in Jesus or believing in God. It's not just acknowledging facts. It's not just acknowledging information. It's not just an intellectual thing. It's abasing your life upon what you believe. And so it's

It's foundational. It impacts every element, every aspect of your life. And the example I used last week, and I will continue to use because I love the example, is gravity. Because, well, you, as you're sitting there, are not bracing for impact with the ceiling because you believe in gravity.

Because you believe it, it impacts your behavior. It impacts everything that you do. Your whole life is based upon the reality of gravity and that you believe in gravity. Now, if you decided to refuse to believe in gravity, that wouldn't change gravity. You would still be experiencing the effects of gravity. But you could brace for impact with a ceiling if you want to. You'd look kind of funny, you know, just always like watching out for those things overhead that you might collide with if there was no gravity. But

But it doesn't change the reality. And that's the same with the gospel message. When you are called to believe in Jesus Christ, it's something that you build your whole life. Every moment of your life is based upon the truth and the reality of who Jesus is, that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that he did die upon the cross for our sin and then was resurrected on the third day.

It changes your behavior. It impacts your life. And that's what we're talking about when we talk about believing in Jesus. It's a belief. You trust in him to such a degree that your salvation, your forgiveness, your hope of eternity, and every day is a trust in him, a looking to him, and a resting upon him. Well, he says we're to believe that God has raised him from the dead.

And I think Paul uses this to kind of, you know, encapsulate a summary of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It represents the fullness of his work, of his ministry. And so to believe in Jesus, that God has raised him from the dead, includes to believe that he died upon the cross for our sin. It includes to believe that Jesus is who he declared to be because the resurrection of Jesus was the authentication of the rest of the ministry of Jesus.

And so it was a way for him to prove that he is who he claimed to be. And so his teachings are true. His ministry did take place. His death upon the cross is the means of salvation. So believe in Jesus. Base your whole life on the understanding that Jesus resurrected from the dead.

And so that's one aspect to the gospel that we preach. The other aspect is confession. And this is not, you know, walking into a booth and, you know, telling your sins aloud to someone or, you know, presenting them to someone here in the church. Confession is to agree with God. It is to acknowledge the truth and be on God's side as far as what he declares to be true.

Now, believing and confession go hand in hand. They are necessary together. And you could look at it this way, that one is internal and one is external. That the believing, he says, with your heart you believe and with the mouth you confess. And so there's the internal believing in Jesus and that results in this outward expression, the mouth confessing. And so your words will reflect the changed heart when you believe in Jesus, right?

And so you can believe in the sense of acknowledge the truth about who Jesus is, but still be missing something essential if it's not impacting your life, if you're not letting it dictate who you are and what you do. And so when he talks about confessing the Lord Jesus, he's not talking about magic words, specific formula, say it this way, use this tone, you know, use these specific words. And then if you say it with the right exact combination, well, then you'll be saved.

No, but he's talking about having an outward expression that reflects a reality that you believe in Jesus. It's a confession of the reality that is taking place within. It means to agree with God or to profess the same thing that God declares. God declares about Jesus that he is God who became man.

God declares that Jesus died upon the cross for the sin of all humanity and that he rose again the third day and that by believing in him, every person can have everlasting life. God declares that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. He's the creator of the heavens and the earth. This is who God declares Jesus to be. And when you believe in Jesus...

in a genuine way, then you will have that expression, that outward confession. Your mouth will testify that you agree with God, that this is who Jesus is. And so again, it's not a magic formula. And if you say the words...

that doesn't necessarily indicate that there is salvation. A lie cannot save you. And so if the confession doesn't match the reality within, that's not going to be life-changing. It's not going to be, you know, salvation. The gospel...

in order to receive it, it requires this believing in Jesus in such a way that there is this confession that goes along with it, that the internal and the external match because you have turned your heart over to Jesus Christ. And so this is the gospel that we preach. It's about who Jesus is. It's about what Jesus did. And in order to receive this gospel, you must believe it and confess it.

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, said this to the Corinthians, For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I love this verse because, again, we see the simplicity of the gospel. Paul says, when I came to you, I had a determination. I had something in mind. I wanted to make sure I didn't get sidetracked with a bunch of things, that I didn't go down, you know, different things and take us down paths that would just distract from the core, the main thing. The main thing is Jesus Christ and him crucified. Right?

And so when I came to you, I determined that's the only thing I want to talk about. That's the only thing I want to be focused on. That's what I want you to know. And the Apostle Paul in saying that, I think is a good example for us. And I would encourage you to think about that. The gospel we preach, it's all about Jesus Christ and him crucified.

It's not about, okay, so the campaigns are already starting, right? So it's not about politics. Politics have nothing to do with the gospel we preach in the sense that, you know, the main message, it doesn't change the message. We're not trying to get people on our side, you know, politically or in other social, you know, things that we see. Our main mission, our main message is

is not, you know, turn away from this thing or turn away from that thing. It's Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's not, this is bad. That's a bad idea. We shouldn't do things this way. We shouldn't do things that way. Everybody should do this. Our main message, the gospel that we preach, the good news that we have to offer is Jesus Christ and him crucified. And if you will believe in Jesus and confess him as Lord and Savior,

You will be saved. Well, going on in verses 11 through 13, we have point number two, and that is we preach the same gospel to all people.

Notice in verse 11, he says, Now, Paul in chapter 10 here is quoting a lot from the Old Testament because, again, primarily he's speaking about the nation of Israel. And so he's pulling in the Old Testament scriptures to illustrate his point.

Although he's speaking primarily about the nation of Israel, the principles and the concepts here are the reality for all people. And so whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. It's a quotation from Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. And here Paul is making the point that the main emphasis here is on the word whoever. The point that he's making is whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. The gospel is simple and it's accessible and

And the point is that anyone, at any time, anywhere, can receive that gospel message and can experience the forgiveness, the right standing with God, can experience the relationship with God that's provided for us by Jesus on the cross. And a good example of that, you could consider the thief on the cross, right? They're alongside of Jesus. He believed that

It didn't matter what he had done. It didn't matter that he was a criminal being put to death for some crime. We don't know exactly what. He was one of the whoever's, or as it's often referred to as the whosoever's. He was one of the anybody's. Anybody who believes on him will not be put to shame.

There is no individual, no human being who has gone beyond the limits of God's grace in providing salvation. Anyone can believe. Whoever can believe. That's the point. In verse 12, he says, He says there's no distinction. There's not a difference between the Jew and the Greek person.

Now, referring to the Jews and the Greeks, it was a way to refer, you can also say it this way, the Jews and the Gentiles. And we're familiar, that's a phrase that's often used throughout the scriptures. It's a way to talk about all humanity. Everybody falls into the category of Jew or Gentile. There's two kinds of people in the world that have ever existed, Jews and Gentiles. That's kind of the general idea. And the Jews are descendants of Abraham, right?

And Gentiles are everybody else. And so he's using Greek to kind of refer to the rest of the world because it was predominantly, you know, they spoke Greek. They were influenced by the Greek culture, which was the empire that ruled prior to the Roman Empire. But so the point that he's making is there's no distinction between those who are descendants of Abraham and those who are not. There's no distinction when it comes to...

the gospel. There's no distinction when it comes to salvation. There's no distinction when it comes to right standing before God. All nationalities fall short of the glory of God, except for those Hispanics. No, I'm just kidding, right? No, they all fall short. We all fall short. There's no nationalities that are different. The Jews don't have some special advantage in that they don't fall short of the glory of God.

Now, Paul was very clear. Romans chapter 3 verse 23. We all fall short of the glory of God. There's no distinction between the nationalities. All nationalities deserve the judgment of God because we fall short. And one nationality doesn't have an advantage over another. We all stand in that same place of deserving the judgment of God. All nationalities are unable to make themselves right before God.

So one nationality, whether it be Jew or some other nationality, does not have some kind of advantage of making themselves right before God and making themselves acceptable before God. No, we're all completely, utterly hopeless in making ourselves right before God. There's no way for us to make ourselves righteous. All nationalities must receive righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.

Jew, Greek, Gentile, Hispanic, Italian, you know, whatever you want to say. We all receive righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. There's no distinction between the different nationalities. It's all the same. Jesus declared this as well in John chapter 14, verse 6, when he said, "'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

When he says no one, he says there's no distinction between Jew and Greek. There's no distinction between any nationality. No one comes to the Father except through me. If anybody is going to have access to the Father, it's going to be by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul says there's no distinction. He says the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. Jesus is Lord over all.

He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His authority has no limit. He has all authority in heaven and on earth. And so everybody who is under the authority of Jesus, everybody who's under the covering of his authority, the same Lord overall, notice, is rich to all who call upon him. Anybody who is under the authority of Jesus has the ability to call upon Jesus and experience the richness of

that Jesus has for them. He's rich. He has abundance for everyone who calls upon him. No matter what nationality, no matter what background, no matter what history there is, Jesus has abundant grace. He is Lord over all, and he is rich to all who call upon him. If you call upon Jesus,

He's got abundant grace, more than enough grace for everyone who calls upon him. He has abundant mercy. He's rich. He's wealthy. He has more than enough mercy for whoever calls upon him. He has abundant forgiveness. He's able to forgive all types of sin, all types of atrocities, all types of wickedness with abundance.

Nobody's forgiven in such a way that's like, ah, just barely squeaks by, you know, just like, oh man, if you would have done one more thing, you wouldn't have made it. There's abundant forgiveness. It's the same gospel to all people, no matter what their nationality, no matter what their background, no matter what they've done. Jesus is rich to all who call upon him. There's an abundance of blessing that he has for those who call upon him.

Going on to verse 13 here in Romans chapter 10, he says, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Another quotation to make the same point. This time the quotation is from Joel chapter 2 verse 32. But notice again, the point is, whoever, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. To call upon the Lord is Paul's way of also referring back to believing in Jesus and confessing him as Lord.

To call upon the Lord is to believe in Jesus and confess him. So again, it's not just saying magic words. Okay, just say the name of Jesus and now you're saved. Well, it needs to reflect a genuine change within, a heart within that believes in Jesus and that testimony, that calling upon the Lord is in agreement with the reality of your heart that you have believed in Jesus, that you have turned your heart over to him.

But again, the point here in verses 11 through 13 is that we preach the same gospel to all people. Now, there's plenty of room for variety in the sense that there's different styles of bringing forth the message, but the content doesn't change. The essence of the gospel needs to remain the same. You could think about Paul as he was in Athens ministering in Acts chapter 17, and

You might remember he was going around the city and he saw all these different idols that were set up and altars that were set up. And there was one altar that was set up and it had the inscription, to the unknown God. As they worshiped this multitude of gods, they thought, you know, maybe we missed one. And so we're going to worship this God that we don't yet know about.

And so when Paul started to minister to them, he says, okay, I want to talk to you guys about this unknown God that you're referring to. The one that you worship that you don't know about, I want to tell you about him. And so he used that to begin to share the gospel. It was a particular approach that was appropriate for the people of Athens in Paul's day. But the content, as he went on to talk about Jesus, was the same content.

as the gospel, as what we see here in Romans chapter 10. There's different approaches. There's different styles. Some people start with the law when they desire to share the gospel. There's what's been referred to as the good person test. Are you a good person?

And many people will say, yeah, yeah, I'm a good person. And so then, you know, you begin to walk through the Ten Commandments. And have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen? Have you ever cheated? You know, all of those things. And by the end of it, the person says, okay, well, maybe I'm not such a good person. I've broken the laws. And that's one approach. Others approach it, you know, kind of from the other side. Hey, did you know that God loves you and has a plan for your life? And that's one approach. And there's different approaches. There's different styles in bringing forth the gospel.

But the content is the same. We preach the same gospel to all people. Whether we're speaking to young or old or Asian or whatever nationality, it's the same message. It's the same gospel. We might use different approaches. We might use, you know, different things to begin the conversation or to illustrate the truth or to help people understand. Or maybe even to attract attention, we might use different things.

We've used, you know, in our history, we've used light the night, right, as an opportunity on Halloween to draw people out and to have opportunity to then share with them the truth, the gospel message. We've used breakdancing, you know, throughout our history. We've used skateboarding over in Japan. They use a lot of English classes and, you know, different things like that. There's different ways, there's different approaches, different styles. But again, it's the same message, right?

When you, you know, go to a different place, when you go to a foreign country, or when you go across the street, it's the same message. Again, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus and Him crucified. That's the main thing. That's what we need to be focused on. It's that same message. It's the message of Jesus Christ that needs to be preached.

Well, going on into verses 14 through 17, we have point number three, and that is the gospel must be preached. The gospel message is a message that must be preached. Check out verse 14 and 15. He says, "'How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?'

Paul here walks through some questions. He's designed these questions to help us understand the gospel must be preached. This is the way that God has chosen to bring forth his offer of salvation and forgiveness.

It's the gospel message. And the gospel is a message that requires that it be preached. It can't be received other ways. It can't be received in a different path. In order to receive the salvation, the gospel message, he says, how can they call on him?

Remember, he just said, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how can they do that? How can they call on the Lord and be saved if they've not believed in Jesus? And then how can they believe if they've never heard of Jesus? And how are they going to hear unless someone is declaring and proclaiming Jesus to them? How can someone go and declare that unless they

they are sent. The gospel must be preached. Check out this quote from Dave Guzik. He says, God could have chosen any means for the message of salvation to come, such as angelic messengers or directly working without a human preacher. Nevertheless, God's normal way of bringing people to Jesus Christ is through the preaching of the gospel.

You know, there's amazing accounts of God speaking to people in their dreams. And it's, you know, been happening. There's been lots of reports of that taking place in the Islamic world, that they're having visions and dreams of Jesus and people are getting saved. And that does take place. But as Dave Guzik points out here, the normal way that people get saved, the primary way that God has chosen to use is not through him saying,

giving someone a vision or a dream, not through angels, you know, announcing the truth. The primary way that people get saved is through preaching. And don't get confused and say that, well, preaching means, you know, they got to come to church and hear a good Bible study or hear the message or the whole idea of preaching. And the point that Paul is making here is we have to bring forth the message, not these certain people,

but believers. God has designed salvation to be passed on by believers in Jesus. There are those who, of course, are gifted and called as evangelists, and they have a special, unique gifting and calling for that. But we shouldn't begin to think that that's their job and we do something else.

Although we do have different roles within the body of Christ and different functions that we fulfill, we've spent a lot of time discussing that and considering that. But in addition to the function and the role that we have in the body of Christ, we also have the responsibility, the opportunity, the privilege, the need to preach the gospel. He says, "'How shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?'

And so his point here is that in order to call on Jesus, you must believe in him. Those who call upon Jesus are those who believe in him. And so in order to call upon the Lord to be saved, there's a prerequisite. You must believe. Now, if you don't believe, he says, how shall they believe in him who they've not heard? So if you don't believe in Jesus, well, you're not going to call upon him for salvation. But if you believe in Jesus, well, then you're

it means then that you must have heard about him. And if you don't hear about Jesus, you can't believe in Jesus. There has to be something that you hear about Jesus. There has to be information that you hear, you know, the testimony that you receive. And so if you have to hear about Jesus, he says, how shall they hear without a preacher? So if you have to hear in order to believe, in order to call upon Jesus to be saved, well, then there needs to be someone who's speaking about

so that you can hear. There needs to be someone who is bringing forth the message. Now, I don't mean it to come across so literally that, you know, you can't read and be saved. That's also hearing, you know, you can use your eyes to hear the message of the gospel. But the point is, in order for you to receive and believe the gospel message, someone needs to tell you the gospel message. And that's what preaching is.

I know a lot of times we use the word preach for this type of activity that I'm engaging in here. But preaching means to proclaim. And so in order for people to hear about Jesus, there needs to be someone proclaiming Jesus. And then he says in verse 15, how shall they preach unless they are sent? And so you see this chain that he's building. There must be people who are sent in order to proclaim, in order for people to hear, in

in order for people to believe, in order for people to call upon Jesus and be saved. So the gospel message, as you follow the chain back, it goes back to those who are sent to proclaim the message.

In order for there to be the receiving of the message, the receiving of the gospel, it comes back to there needs to be those who are sent to proclaim. And so who is that? Who is supposed to be doing the preaching? Who is supposed to be sent to proclaim the gospel? I hope you know where I'm going with this. Every believer is. We all are sent to proclaim the gospel message.

Let me just remind you of Matthew chapter 28. We refer to it as the Great Commission. Jesus in verse 18 came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus begins this command with some, what's the right word I'm looking for here? Well, he declares all authority has been given to me.

He begins the command making sure we understand he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the highest authority. His commands override all other commands. His word overrides all other words. He has all authority. And then he says in verse 19, go therefore and make disciples. So the highest command is to go therefore and make disciples. This is the command from Christ, the highest authority.

He gives this command, of course, to his disciples. But again, we might think, well, maybe it was just for those disciples, and so they were to go forth and make disciples, and that really doesn't necessarily apply to me. You know, I'm not one of those disciples. And so Matthew 28, verse 20, Jesus goes on with this command, saying, Amen.

And so you see there, he says, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He there indicates that this was a command that was not just for the lifetime of those disciples that he was speaking to at that moment, but this was a command that was for all disciples until the end of the age, until the return of Jesus Christ.

And he says, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. So he has the highest authority, and he's given you this command, and he will be with you all the way until the end. And so the command is to go and make disciples. The gospel must be preached. Notice Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples. Go make disciples. Go preach Jesus Christ.

Go proclaim who Jesus is. Go declare the truth about Jesus. That is the Great Commission. That is the task that is given to every one of us as believers in Jesus. The commentator Thomas Constable says this. He says, unfortunately, many Christians are waiting for some special calling from God to go. They do not realize that God has already sent them. And this evening, as we talk about preaching the gospel,

I really want to remind you and encourage you that you already have been sent. And because you've already been sent, people have the opportunity to hear. Because people have opportunity to hear, they have opportunity to believe. And because they have opportunity to believe, they have opportunity to call on the name of Jesus and be saved. God wants to use every one of us as believers, as agents who bring forth the gospel message.

and understand that there's a requirement. It must be preached. If people in your life are going to receive and experience the gospel and forgiveness and salvation, someone needs to preach to them. Someone needs to proclaim the truth about Jesus. Someone needs to declare what he has done and give them an opportunity to hear so that then they can believe, so that then they can call upon Jesus and be saved. That's the only way. Okay, there's some exceptions, and those are

real and they're rare. The normal way. If you want people in your life to experience salvation and forgiveness, somebody's going to have to preach to them. That's the way he delivers the gospel message. And so who's going to preach to them? Who's going to proclaim? Who's going to declare the truth of Jesus Christ to your friends, to your family, to your neighbors, to the strangers that you meet? Who's going to declare that? Who's going to bring forth that message?

And again, the point is we all have that responsibility. It falls upon all of us. We must preach the gospel. Well, going on here in Romans chapter 10 and verse 15, he says, how can they preach unless they're sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Here he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 52 verse 7. He's saying we're to have beautiful feet.

Those who preach the gospel of peace, those who have glad tidings of good things, they have beautiful feet. Now in Isaiah, the context is a little bit different. It's not talking about the gospel message in the sense of Jesus Christ. It's talking about deliverance from Babylon and being set free. But Paul uses that thought in saying, okay, think about those who are in captivity. And then here comes a messenger.

They see a messenger running on the hill. They see them coming and he's shouting. He's proclaiming good news. We're set free. We're delivered. Babylon has fallen. You know, we have this deliverance. Your God reigns. And for the captive who's there watching this take place, you think, wow, beautiful feats. Bringing forth that message of deliverance. Bringing forth that message of salvation.

And so Paul uses that idea to say, look, this is the same type of thing with the gospel, that there are those who are in captivity, they're stuck, they're trapped in sin and death, and we're to be like those messengers, to have beautiful feet who run and proclaim and shout, you can be set free, you can be delivered, there's opportunity for salvation. But even though there is this opportunity and this message going forth, in verse 16 he says, but they have not all obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah says, who has believed our report? And this is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 53, verse 1. And so the message needs to be preached, but the preaching of the message doesn't guarantee the receiving of the message. And we'll talk more about that in the final point. Verse 17, he says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is the way that God has chosen. Faith comes by hearing.

and hearing by the word of God. That is, we need to proclaim the word of God. We need to speak forth the gospel message. We need to speak forth the truth of God's word so that people can hear it. We need to type out the word of God and the message of Jesus Christ so that people can hear it, so that they have the opportunity to believe and to call upon the Lord to be saved. Faith comes by hearing the word. And so our job is to get the word out.

The gospel must be preached. And again, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And we're going to have to make this determination to not get sucked into a bunch of other things, but to continually come back to Jesus Christ and him crucified. I had an opportunity to have a discussion with a couple just yesterday and today. I've been engaged with them.

and they were in need of some help and stuff. And so we did our best to help them a little bit, but used that opportunity to share the gospel. But you know, what's interesting is, you know, this couple, they were hurting, they had a lot of things going on. They wanted to talk about everything except the gospel. They wanted to talk about everything and all the history and this person and that person and all these other things. And as Pastor George and I were ministering to them, we had to determine not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

We could have got caught up in the drama of the family. We could have got caught up in, you know, this thing that happened over here and this history over there and that thing over there and those plans for this. And there was all these things that, you know, they were really wanted to talk about. But our mission, our main thing, and I declared this openly to them, all those things we realize they're tough, they're hard, recognize that. But the main thing, the primary thing,

is what are you doing about eternity? What's your plan for eternity? We had to determine to not know anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified. You know, it's so easy for us to get swept up. People are really good at distracting. People are really good at changing the subject. And we need to determine not to know anything except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, I'm not suggesting that, you know, we beat people over the head and cram it down their throat, but that we be strategic in our hearts and in our minds.

looking for opportunity, making that the objective of our relationship with the people around us, that we would have the opportunity to share the truth of Jesus Christ to the world around us. We need to have that heart because the gospel must be preached. And the Lord has passed the baton to you and to me. And he says, all right, your turn. You declare it. You bring it forth.

so that people can hear, so that they can believe, so that they can call upon the Lord and be saved. Well, finally, point number four, as we go on into verses 18 through 21, is that the gospel must be received. So not only does the gospel need to be preached, but there needs to be a receiving of that message.

Now here again, Paul's primarily focusing on Israel and he's explaining that Israel has not received the righteousness of God that's found by faith in Jesus Christ. They've refused it. They have not received it. And it must be received. In verse 18, he says, but I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed. Their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. So haven't they heard? All right.

There's the beautiful feet. There's the messengers. There's the proclamation of the gospel. So haven't they heard? And he says, yes, they've heard. Here he quotes from Psalm chapter 19, verse 4. And Psalm chapter 19 is talking about creation declaring the reality of God. Psalm chapter 19, verse 1 says, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.

Creation declares the reality of God, the existence of God. They've heard, he says, because they've heard creation. Creation is preaching. Creation is proclaiming. Paul dealt with this also in Romans chapter 1 in verse 20. He says,

So there is a preaching that is going on that is not with people saying words, but with creation testifying the existence of God. And so he says regarding the Jewish people, yes, they've heard. And again, applying it to all humanity, yes, they've heard. Creation itself testifies and declares the glory of God. Verse 19, but I say, didn't Israel not know?

First, Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. And here he's quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 21. And there what God is saying is, you've provoked me to jealousy, talking to the Jewish people, by pursuing idols, by pursuing things that are not God. And so because you're provoking me to jealousy by pursuing these idols, I'm going to provoke you to jealousy because

By bringing forth my word, my work, salvation to those who are not a nation, to those who are the Gentiles, to those, although the Jewish people had the word of God, had the revelation of the scriptures, God said, you've provoked me to jealousy because you've pursued these idols. And so I'm going to bring forth the gospel to other nations to make you jealous.

So that you'll be longing for a work of God in you like is experienced by the Gentiles. So he says, Israel knew this because God told them ahead of time. Verse 20, but Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. Verse 21, but to Israel, he says, all day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Here he quotes from Isaiah chapter 65 verses one and two.

And there God is saying, I was found by those who didn't seek for me. In other words, the Gentiles. The Gentiles could have been seeking God. And if they were, they would have become Jews and began to practice Judaism. But the gospel was primarily received by Gentiles who were not seeking God. They heard the gospel message and then they responded to it. But it wasn't because they were pursuing God.

It wasn't because they were seeking God. It was because those were sent who were preaching and declaring the gospel, and they responded to it. They received it. So those who received the gospel were the Gentiles. Now, not that no Jews are saved or could be saved. Of course, the beginning of the church was Jews. But collectively as a nation, they rejected Jesus Christ. And those who individually received him experienced that salvation.

But again, of Israel, he says, all day long, I've stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. I've been offering myself. I've been speaking forth the message. I've been calling them to repentance, but they continue to be disobedient and rebellious. They will not listen to me. The gospel must be received. Our job is to preach the gospel. The results are not up to us. That's up to the Lord. That's up to the individual.

Again, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's our message. That's our mission. The results, that's not our responsibility. I like what Warren Wiersbe said about this. He says, when you feel discouraged in your witnessing, remember Paul, continue caring, praying, and sharing the good news. Keep those feet beautiful. It can be discouraging because we

Well, because the gospel must be received, it means some people, like Israel, refuse it. And that's disheartening. It's discouraging. It's incredibly sorrowful, especially when it's those that we're deeply connected with and we know. But let me remind you of verse 1 here of chapter 10 when he expressed his sorrow for the condition of the nation of Israel. He's greatly troubled by them and their rejection of the gospel.

In chapter 9, he went so far to say, I wish that I could be cut off from Christ so that they could be saved. He felt strongly about them. He wanted them to be saved. But nobody can be forced to experience forgiveness and grace by believing in Jesus. It must be received. And so when you feel discouraged, when people that you want to

to receive the gospel. You want them to turn and give their lives to the Lord. You want them to turn and change and let them be transformed by the work of God in their hearts. Remember, you're not alone in that. It's not because, you know, you're so ineffective as a preacher. It's because, well, the people have the responsibility to receive it. Even the apostle Paul, as much as he wanted them to be saved, couldn't get them saved.

They had to receive it. They had to choose it for themselves. As I talked about when we were there in Romans chapter 9, if it could have been possible for someone to be cut off so that the nation of Israel could be saved automatically, it would have been Jesus and he would have done that. But he didn't do that. He made the opportunity. He made the way. But it's still the responsibility of an individual to receive the offer of life and forgiveness that he is giving. And so our job is

is to preach the gospel. That's our job. Preach the gospel. The gospel that we preach, it's not complicated. The concepts are simple. It's believing in Jesus, confessing him as Lord, declaring the same thing about Jesus that God says about Jesus, that he is Lord of all and reigns on high and that he died upon the cross for our sin.

And if you believe in Jesus and call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved. It's the same message that we give to all people, no matter what their nationality, no matter what their background or history or where they come from. It's the same message to all people. But it must be preached. And so I would ask you to consider, how can the people in your life hear unless someone preaches? Who's going to preach? Who's going to declare? Who is going to bring forth Jesus Christ and Him crucified?

to those people, I would suggest to you that God wants to use us. God wants to use us. And we have an opportunity, we have a responsibility to make sure our feet are beautiful and to bring forth a message of deliverance. Now notice, it's a message of deliverance. Sometimes I think we get overzealous and we bring a message of condemnation, you know, judgment. And there is opportunity and there is appropriate time for that. But here you can see the thrust of what Paul's saying is that there's beautiful feet.

There is a danger of judgment. I forget the exact verse. I'm just remembering it off the top of my head right now. But there's a verse that talks about some you save by fear, you know, yanking them out of the fire. But others, it's by love and compassion. And so there's appropriate times for both. But be led by the Lord in sharing the gospel, in preaching the gospel. It needs to be preached, but it also must be received. And so leave the results

Up to the Lord and up to the individuals. Your job, my job, is to preach the gospel. Now, as Jesus gave that great commission there in Matthew chapter 28 and sent his disciples into all the world, he said, but don't go yet. Don't go yet. Instead, wait until you receive the promise from on high, until you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And so I'm going to take us now into a time of worship. And as we worship the Lord, I want to encourage you

As you think about the necessity of preaching the gospel, the necessity of the people in your life hearing the message so that they can have the opportunity to believe, so that they can have the opportunity to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, I want to encourage you, don't try to do this in your strength or with your resources, with your words, but you need to be baptized. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.