The Way of Faith

Well I feel like it’s my birthday
and Christmas and Father’s Day and that’s 58 minutes. Here we go. All right. If God’s
people would take their Bibles and turn back once again to the
book of Romans. And let’s go ahead and turn,
since we have all the time in the world, let’s go back and
turn to Romans chapter 9 and we’ll take a running course at
these verses before us. We find ourselves in that new
greater section of scripture where Paul is dealing with the
sovereignty of God in chapters 9 through 11. But specifically
here he narrows his focus to the pursuit of righteousness
and how that squares with the sovereignty of God that God was
yet sovereign although nations had squandered their opportunities
before him. God is just God is holy and God’s
name would not be defamed in a sense. Paul is taking up God’s
cause in arguing these points. And he opens up in verse 30 of
chapter nine with a contrast between Israel and the Gentiles
that the Gentiles had almost stumbled upon this righteousness
that was offered by God while the Jews who to whom had all
these privileges as Paul laid them out in verse nine. They
had squandered those privileges and they did not arrive at the
righteousness that was laid out there for them. Paul turns the
corner and you might even make the case somebody might bring
up the point that Israel was certainly zealous. Was it a lack
of zeal? Was it a lack of desire on Israel’s
part? And Paul takes that point up
in chapter 10. The zeal is not the same as faith
and Paul appeals for prayer for this wayward nation. Paul says
that it’s just and right to pray for them. He says in verse 1,
Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is
for their salvation. Paul had not given up hope for
them. Paul would lay them before God and plead for them. But why? Why pray for Israel? Simply because they had a zeal
for God. They had a zeal for God. But
they lacked a particular knowledge. And Paul explains that in verse
three, not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to
establish their own. They did not subject themselves
to the righteousness of God. They lacked God’s righteousness
and they sought to establish their own and they sought to
establish their own by a strict adherence to God’s law. Paul
says that is foolish. It’s foolish to pursue righteous
perfection before God because in verse four he says Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. To
continue to pursue God on those terms to continue to pursue some
kind of Righteousness before God to think that we can attain
to a certain standard, Paul says, is ridiculous. And why does he
draw that conclusion? Because of its historical failure.
Look at verse five. Moses writes that the man who
practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by
that righteousness. It’s got to be perfect. The man
who attempts that means of salvation better do it perfectly. You better
get up early. You better get a running start.
You better pray for all the grace you have, because not only today,
but the rest of your life has to be perfect. But the righteousness
based on faith speaks thus. Do not say in your heart who
shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down. Don’t
think that you have to go inform God that we need a savior. God
already knows and he’s already provided. God has already sent
his son the Lord Jesus Christ or who will ascend into the abyss. Don’t think that you’ve got to
go and wake Jesus up from the dead. Don’t think that you’ve
got to go revive the savior. That is to bring Christ up from
the dead and Paul goes on to say God has provided a means
of salvation and to continue to try to pursue righteousness
based on the law is silly because God has provided already. That’s
what he takes up in verse eight. Look, if you would, at verse
eight, but what does it say? What does the scripture say is
the means of salvation? The word is near you in your
mouth and in your heart. Now, we looked at that. What
Paul is alluding to is that that same message that Moses professed
is the same gospel, the same message that now the apostles
are preaching. It is justification by faith.
The word is near you. in your mouth and in your heart
is confession of faith. And that’s what he’ll go on to
say. Look at verse 9. That is the word of faith which
we are preaching. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus
as Lord, it matters what we believe. It matters what we confess. And
just a mere articulation of those words doesn’t save us. We spent no little time looking
at that. But what it does point to is
that there is content to the confession and that we must believe
it in the core of our being for it to bubble to the surface and
come out by way of confession of mouth. Paul inverts the order
he follows essentially what Moses says. When he says first if you
confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart
obviously The order is reversed. Paul isn’t suggesting that there’s
two different ways of salvation or that you can be saved in two
different manners. He says that if you confess and
believe they’re one in the same one will produce the other that
if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately you cannot
keep silent about it. You believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead. You shall be saved. This is no
light topic. This is the greatest message
in all of Scripture. The message of salvation. There
isn’t anything better. There isn’t any greater message
in Scripture that we can focus upon that we can proclaim than
the message of salvation. This is it. Look at verse 10. Why does he say all this? For
with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness and with the
mouth, he confesses resulting in salvation. Well, we spent
no little time on that part of it last week, and that’s where
we want to just zero in for just a brief moment that Paul is making
here the case for salvation by a confession of faith. And I
want you just to glance down and notice what he does here.
He takes this passage and he inserts five statements of proof
and they each begin with this little word for for with the
heart man believes resulting in righteousness and with the
mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. That’s the first
for statement. Look at verse 11 the second for
the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. That’s the second for statement,
the second proof that he offers. The third proof is for there
is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The fourth for statement
is found immediately afterward for the same Lord. Is Lord of
all abounding and riches for all who call upon him and the
fifth and final for statement, the fifth. Argument. In his case, for salvation by
confession of faith for whoever will call upon the name of our
Lord will be saved. Now, as I said last week, it’s
it’s almost as if Paul is in a courtroom and he’s building
this case and he’s making statement upon statement and he’s making
argument after argument for. The case by salvation, by confession
of faith, and. I suggested to God’s people last
week that there are denominations whose leaders wear very tall
hats that say that to believe this that you can be saved set
apart that you can enjoy salvation purely by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You are anathema. You’re accursed
if you believe that. So this is a very important subject. We already said there’s no subject
greater than salvation. And for Paul to make the case
for salvation by confession of faith, this is no casual argument. We can’t take an indifferent
approach to this. This is the gospel. The first
case that we saw, the first argument, if you will, in this case for
confession by faith. Salvation, rather, by confession
of faith is that the confession of faith is effectual. It does
something. Look at the passage with the
heart man believes. Resulting in righteousness, it
does something, it saves the individual with the mouth, he
confesses, resulting in salvation. Both things are true. Both things
are necessary. If you have the one righteousness,
you have the other salvation. If you have salvation, you have
the other righteousness. It does something. This confession
of the mouth, this belief in the heart that wells up that
Jesus Christ is who he said he was, and you believe it and you
articulate it, and when you articulate it, it does something. It changes
you. It saves you. Paul says, first
and foremost, the confession of faith is effectual. It works. But secondly, and for this, he
moves deeper into the passage into verse 11, and he says that
not only is a confession of faith effectual, a confession of faith
is scriptural. This isn’t something that came
along suddenly by way of New Testament apostles who said we
need a new approach to God. This is biblical. Look. Down at the passage, if you will,
verse 11, his second of five, four statements for the scripture
says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. Faith
is crucial. And this idea that confession
of faith, that articulation of the faith that we have in Jesus
Christ, it is scriptural, this has always been the way of salvation. It’s not a new thing. This isn’t
something that the apostles made up. Paul says. That this case for
salvation by confession of faith should be open and shut. That
it is an absolutely biblical message, it is rooted in the
Old Testament scriptures, Isaiah 28, 16. Thirdly, The confession of rather the
case for salvation by confession of faith was given to us thirdly
by the confession of faith is general. The confession of faith
is general. Look at what he says in verse
12. There is no distinction between
Jew and Greek. Now I told you the word I left
it out again on purpose. I told you the word that I used
last week you could just as soon insert here confession or confession
of faith is universal. Now I didn’t want to shock anybody. I didn’t want to you know scare
anybody to think that we’re drifting in a particular direction to
suggest that all are saved. That’s not what I’m saying at
all. But if we are saved there’s one way. If you are to be saved,
there is one way of salvation and it’s universal. It’s not
that there’s one means of salvation for the Gentile and another for
the Jew. There isn’t. There is a universal
means of salvation. There’s one way. It’s very general. And look at what Paul says. There
is no distinction between Jew. And Greek. If you are going to
come to Christ, if you are going to be saved, if you’re going
to find yourself residing in heaven, if you’re going to enjoy
the righteousness of God, there’s one way. And that is by believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ and professing him and him only. The confession of faith is general. But there was a fourth point
that Paul articulated, a fourth point in his case that he’s making
for salvation by confession of faith. Not only is a confession
of faith effectual, scriptural, general, it is personal. Look at the passage. There is
no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord
of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. We talked
about this last week. You know, this idea that, you
know, I’ve taken Jesus as my personal savior, as if there’s
multiplicities of Jesus. There isn’t. There’s one Lord. There’s one Savior, and he’s
the same Lord of all. The same Lord is Lord of the
Jews. The same Lord is Lord of the
Gentiles. The same Lord is Lord of you
and Lord of me. There’s one Lord. And it is personal,
intensely personal when God calls a sinner to himself. He doesn’t
call groups of people. He doesn’t call denominations.
He doesn’t call nations. He calls people, individuals,
souls, and he calls them to reckon with him. Paul says this case
for salvation by confession of faith is intensely personal.
It comes down to you. It comes down to you standing
before a holy God, as we even sang about this morning. It comes
down to you and what you’re going to do with the message of the
Gospel. It doesn’t matter what denomination
you belong to. It doesn’t matter what family
you belong to, what your parents believe. It doesn’t matter what
long legacy that you have, family history, ardent faith in the Lord Jesus,
it doesn’t matter. What matters is your own personal
interaction with the Lord God Almighty. And He’s the same Lord. The same Lord that’s Lord of
all. Paul makes a fifth and final point. This case for salvation
by confession of faith is not over. Paul has one last point
to make that not only is confession of faith effectual, confession
of faith is scriptural, confession of faith is general, confession
of faith is personal, and finally, confession of faith is practical.
Look at the passage. For whoever will call upon the
name of the Lord will be saved. It’s so simple. It is an acknowledgement
of your desperate need. It doesn’t. It’s not rocket science
here. It’s a recognition of the fact
that we are sinners. You don’t need me to prove that
to you. Listen to your own heart. And
a calling on the Lord, that was always the means, as we saw last
week in Scripture, that when the saints of God were in trouble,
that’s what they did. They looked up to God and they
called upon his name. This isn’t a simple formula.
It’s a it’s a biblical truth that when God’s people, when
they are in trouble, then they look up to him. They call upon
him when sinners. When sinners realize their desperate
condition, when sinners realize that they have offended that
holy God, when sinners realize that they are in judgment already
in the midst of being judged, when sinners realize that there
is no hope, when sinners realize that without a Savior they are
doomed. It’s intensely practical that
they look up to God and they call out to him for help. God
help us. Call upon the name of the Lord.
This call is intensely practical. This is the only thing that they
could do. They have literally gotten to
the end of themselves. They’ve gotten to the end of
all human means. They’ve gotten to the end of
all human counsel. They’ve gotten to the end of
all human wisdom. They are absolutely destitute.
And all they can do is the most practical thing available. To
look up to God and to plead for his help. The salvation. By confession of faith. Paul
proves it. He lays it out as being absolutely
true that sinners are in desperate need of a savior, and if they’re
going to be saved, they better call out. They better first place
their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They better cry to him
in repentance and cry to him for salvation. It’s their only
hope. And Paul, as he turns the corner
into this next section of Scripture, verses 14-21, Paul wants to extol
the way of faith. Paul wants to talk about and
tout this great way of faith. It’s that simple. If you would,
read along with me. Verses 14-21. As Paul takes up the great subject of the means
of imparting saving faith. How do we get it? Verse 14. How then shall they call upon
him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach unless
they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things.
However, they did not all heed the glad tidings, for Isaiah
says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes from
hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely
they have never heard, have they? Indeed, they have. Their voice
has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of
the world. But I say, surely Israel did
not know, did they? At the first, Moses says, I will
make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation
without understanding, I will anger you. And Isaiah is very
bold and says, I was formed by those who sought me not. I was
found by those who sought me not. I became manifest to those
who did not ask for me. But Israel, as for Israel, he
says all the day long, I have stretched out my hands to disobedient
and obstinate people. Paul opens up this section with
a string of questions. They’re beyond just rhetorical
questions. They’re not just a device that
Paul uses. Paul’s talking about The privilege
that he has in preaching to the Gentiles, he’s been talking about
that since Romans chapter one. The privilege that he has to
take the gospel to those that, even as Isaiah said, sought him
not. Paul is, in a sense, defending
God here as well. That God cannot be taken to task
because now the gospel has come to the Gentiles. God has not
turned his back on them. God has not judged them capriciously. And he asks these four questions
as he opens and they form this incredible logical chain, I have
loved this verse since I first became a Christian and longed
to preach it. What these verses point out is
the conditions that are absolutely necessary to build one upon another. Call is indispensable on. For
saving faith. Saving faith will not come without
a hearing of the gospel. The hearing of the gospel will
not come without the preaching of it and the preaching of it
will not come without the sending. All in all, Paul is building
this case for the evangelization of those who sought him not. If you would, I want to look
at the way of salvation here in verses 14 through 17. We’ll
purpose to grab these verses this Lord’s Day and take up the
rest in the weeks to follow. If you would first look at the
fact that with regards to the way of faith, the means of imparting
saving faith, Paul says that calling upon Christ requires
faith. Now, he says it very plainly
in the verses just preceding. He talks about this call as if
any at any moment we could just call out to God with a clear
understanding of the fact that God has provided a Savior and
that all we have to do is call out to him. The problem is not
everybody knows that. And that’s what he says in verse
14. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not
believed. Well, I hadn’t thought about
that. When he says they talking about
all people, it certainly would include the Jews, it certainly
would include the Gentiles, it’s talking about everybody. How
can anybody call upon him if he hasn’t even heard about him?
How can anybody turn to the Savior unless he knows there is one?
How can anybody turn to Jesus Christ in faith unless they know
that Jesus Christ existed and that he died for sinners, that
he paid the sinners payment on the cross? How can they turn
to him? So in the context, Paul dealing with the improper and
the proper pursuit of righteousness, the way of faith is over against
the way of works. Paul concludes that the greatest
act of faith is a calling upon the Lord, a confession of faith.
But jump back to verse 8. What does the Scripture say?
The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. Justification
by faith essentially starts here. That is, if the word of faith
which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth,
if you call on the Lord, if you confess with your mouth Jesus
as Lord, And believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead. You should be saved. What great
news. Look at verse 10 for with the
heart man believes resulting in righteousness with a mouth.
He confesses resulting in salvation. That is true. That is great news. But what if you don’t know about
it? Paul declares in verses 11 through
13 that this gospel is freely proclaimed to all It’s offered
to all it’s it’s given to all this is the universal means of
salvation. It’s very general. Look at verse
11 for the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.
Whoever man woman rich poor Jewish Gentile doesn’t matter whoever
believes in him the means of salvation is the same. There
is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is
Lord of all abounding and richest for all who call upon him for
whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Oh,
what great news. But what if you don’t know about
it? What if you don’t know about the Lord Jesus Christ? And that’s
where the content of our faith comes in. Paul says that calling
upon Christ requires faith. It requires a belief structure. It requires a belief in a particular
content. It requires belief, faith in
the gospel message, the totality of it. That Jesus Christ came
for sinners. He paid a penalty for sinners
that he suffered, died, was buried, and rose again. Paul says the
resurrection is absolutely crucial. And of course, he says, faith
precedes this calling on Christ. You can’t call out to Him whom
you do not know. That’s what he says. It’s a confession
of faith. Faith precedes this response,
this calling upon the Lord, this confession of the mouth. But
from where does the information come calls one to faith. How do we hear the good news
of the righteousness of Christ given to sinners? How can we
come to know the gospel? How can we have enough information
to generate, to warrant faith? Paul says it this way, how then
can they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? Here that he points to this belief
system, this this act of belief, this act of faith is an act of
trust. It’s a placing one’s trust, a
commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not a passing casual
leaning upon God, a trial basis, if you will. As one said, there must be trust
in Christ. If we were to call upon his name,
it is the relinquishing of every other confidence and abandoning
to him as our only help. Paul says, look. Before anybody
can call out to God in faith. There must be a belief structure
undergirding that. Where does that come from? Paul says the second Absolutely
requisite element in this is that faith requires the hearing
of content. Faith requires the hearing of
content. Look at verse 14 again. How shall
they call upon Him whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And we all begin to squirm. We all begin to suffer under
The thoughts of conviction. How indeed shall they believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In whom they have not heard.
And every child of God everyone who has already placed their
faith in Christ must be pierced by those words we must be awakened
by those words. that unless we are willing to
share the good news of the gospel, we may not be able to articulate
it with professional clarity. We may not be able to preach,
as it were, from a pulpit. But we can hand someone a book.
We can invite someone to church. We can open up and begin a dialogue. with the Savior or about the
Savior who’s paid the penalty for sinners. It doesn’t take
a great deal of skill to be able to enter into a conversation
and to say, you know what? I have placed my faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. I believed that I was a sinner. God showed me such. I believed
it with all my heart. I didn’t need anybody to argue
that case. I saw what was in me. And I saw how hopeless I
was. And somebody told me. They gave
me a booklet. They gave me a tract. They invited
me to Sunday school. They invited me to church. And
I heard. I heard about this Savior, this
Jesus. I heard that He had paid the
penalty for sinners. And the more I thought about
it, the more I read about it, the more I began to pray about
this, I found it to be true. I believed it. I saw that it
was absolutely the truth. And then one day I had the privilege.
I told a friend of mine, you know what, I, I believe this. Why have you prayed? I think
so. I think I prayed and they began
to articulate how they came to faith. And then one day they
have the privilege. standing in the waters of baptism to proclaim
the Lord Jesus Christ that they believe and they were baptized. What a privilege. It doesn’t take a great deal
of skill or expertise to articulate your faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It’s real, isn’t it? It happened. It’s not like it’s
a script that you have to memorize. All you have to do is look back
as we saw as we looked at the book of Titus. Look over your
shoulder. Look at who you once were. Look at the society in
which you stand now. Look at the work that God has
done in your life. How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? They can’t believe. They cannot
call on God because they cannot believe until they’ve heard the
good news of Jesus Christ. And in a very real way. Don’t
let yourself out by the verses that follow in a very real way,
this lays on every believer’s plate. This is the responsibility
of every believer to articulate the gospel as best they can,
as often as they can to whomever they can. that Paul says there’s a third
requisite. Don’t let yourself out. You can
bet I’m not going to let you out. Paul is discussing the means
of imparting saving faith, and he says that calling upon Christ
requires faith. Faith requires the hearing of
contents, and content requires a communicator. Here’s where
you could jump off. Look at verse 14 again. How shall
they call upon him whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? You know, I’m on good record.
I’m on tape or CD or whatever means you want to talk about.
I don’t even know how you record digitally. It’s there for anybody
who wants to listen to it. I’m on record. By saying I don’t
particularly care to be called. I don’t particularly prefer to
be called pastor. I don’t like at all to be called
reverend. To be called a preacher, it’s
accurate and it is a privilege. It just
isn’t my preference because it takes off of all of your plate
and puts it all onto me as if I’m the only one. As if I’m the
only one to preach the gospel. Why I don’t know how to help
you friend go see my pastor friend the very right reverend. How should they hear without
a preacher. You know there’s been too much made of that word.
The gospel though it doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It doesn’t
just spontaneous. spontaneously present itself
to each and every member. Now you can look out and you
can see God’s handiwork in a sunrise or a sunset or the birth of a
baby. The fact that spring suddenly springs to life. You can see
God’s handiwork. But you can’t lay hold of Christ.
You can’t know Christ. You can’t understand the giving
of a savior unless that’s articulated. You can know general revelation
But you can’t lay hold and grasp special revelation, which is
Christ. It must be proclaimed. It must be shared, it must be
taught, a witness must be born and the gospel must be preached. One Puritan said it this way.
The gospel does not fall like rain from the clouds. You know,
there’s a lot of Christians that function that way. Well, I’m
not going to do it. But somehow we expect others
to come across this information. I’m not going to share Christ
with anybody, perhaps it will fall like rain from the clouds.
It says the gospel does not fall like rain from the clouds, but
it is brought by the hands of men wherever it is sent from
above. A message necessarily implies
a messenger, and my only question to you in this regard is, do
you actively pray that God would open up avenues? Paul did. Paul,
the greatest evangelist the church has ever known. Every time he
responded to others, to churches, when he wrote a letter, pray
for opportunity. Pray for my mouth. Pray that
I would be able to articulate the gospel in such a way. How often do you pray? For opportunities
like that, and when they come, how often do you seize hold of
them by God’s grace? Oh, God help me. God help me
just just to lay out my faith. In simple fashion. To this person
who so desperately needs it. In this means of imparting saving
faith. There’s a fourth requisite that
he takes up here in the beginning of verse 15. Not only does calling
upon Christ require faith, faith requires a hearing of content,
content requires a communicator, and a communicator requires a
commissioning. Now, here’s another opportunity
for you to divest yourselves of the responsibility of this,
and you can’t. You can’t because I’m not going
to let you. How can they preach unless they are sent? See, I’m
not ordained. You see, that’s your way out.
You can try it. I’m not going to let you out
of here. You can try that. I’m not ordained. I didn’t go
to seminary, OK? Pastor, Reverend, I, you know,
I, I barely am able to articulate my own faith, much less lead
someone else in it. When Paul says here, how shall
they preach unless they are sent? For the gospel to be preached,
authoritative messages are needed, those that are sent by God. They’re dispatched with this
purpose. And for God to break out a message like this, it didn’t
just happen. It didn’t just coalesce. It wasn’t
just a bunch of thoughts that somebody, as they began writing,
said, oh, here’s a good means of approach to God. God was very guarded with his
message. In the book of Jeremiah, you
have this string. Jeremiah 14 one that which came as the word
of the Lord to Jeremiah and you have this dispensing of the word
you have this special revelation given to Jeremiah. And that’s
what makes honestly that’s what makes special revelation in this
day and age. God told me that’s what makes
it so disturbing to me that someone would literally usurp the place
of a prophet. And claim a message from God.
God was very guarded about what he did and what he said. God
was very guarded about how he opened up new messages to the
people. In verse 23 of that same book,
Jeremiah says, I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but
they prophesied. And now you’re saying, Pastor,
you just made my point for me. I didn’t go to seminary. I wasn’t
ordained. I haven’t been saved with this
message. We’ll see. Jeremiah later would say, recording
the Lord, I have not sent them declares the Lord, but they prophesy
falsely in my name. You ought to be very careful
of what messages you claim come from God. You ought to be very
careful about what you articulate. But we have it on good authority.
We have it on good authority to proclaim that Jesus Christ
is God, that Jesus Christ was sent by God, that Jesus Christ
was born of a virgin, that Jesus Christ lived a perfect, sinless
life, that Jesus Christ was crucified, that Jesus Christ died and was
buried, and Jesus Christ rose again, the Son of God, to sit
at the right hand of God. We have it on good authority.
We have it on God’s authority. What we have is the apostolic
message. The apostles were given this
message and they were given it. And what you and I share now,
that’s secondhand information. We’re not inventing or creating
anything. In fact, that’s the very scourge
on our land is that there’s too many who do. We speak the truth. We’re just sharing what we’ve
already been told. One pastor said it so excellently,
and I’ll take it apart sentence by sentence. He said we should
not confuse the word preach here with modern Sunday morning sermons. That, too, may be included in
Paul’s meaning, and as I said a moment ago, it is my absolute
privilege to stand up here and to preach and so many times include
the gospel in that. But we shouldn’t confuse that
word preach It may be included in Paul’s meaning, but it is
not the primary thing that he has in mind. His verb properly
denotes the action of a herald, someone who is given a message
and told to proclaim it, and believe me, you’ve been told.
The scriptures tell you to be ready to make a defense. The
scriptures tell you to go and make disciples, the scriptures
tell you to share Christ, the scriptures tell you that you
must confess Christ before men. He goes on, though, and says
the notion of a higher authority is implicit in this message in
the concept of self-appointed herald is a contradiction of
terms. That’s what God was dealing with with Jeremiah and the so-called
prophets. He goes on and says the preaching
of the Christian message is impossible without divine commission. Now,
you might look at me and say, well, I haven’t had that. I haven’t
been sent to seminary, I haven’t been ordained, I don’t have a
divine commission. Oh, yes, you do. Goes on and
says a herald can have nothing to say unless it be given him.
The gospel is derivative. In other words, when we go out,
we don’t go out with our own message, our own idea. It does not originate with the preachers,
nobody can operate as a preacher unless God has sent him and he
has. He sent the apostles and he sent them with the message
of the gospel and what we share now is second hand, but we are
absolutely commanded to share it. Paul says. How should they call upon him
whom they’ve not believed? And how should they believe in
him who they’ve not heard and how should they hear without
a preacher and how should they preach unless they are sent just as
it is written. How beautiful are the feet of
those who bring glad tidings of good things. What he quotes
here is Isaiah 52 7. And I absolutely believe because
he quotes another verse Isaiah 53 1 in just a moment. I absolutely
believe that when Paul merely alluded to that verse Isaiah
52 7 that any solid student of the Old Testament would have
seized upon it immediately. And in our day and age we just
don’t we can’t. We don’t traffic enough. In the
Old Testament scriptures. We’re not familiar enough in
the prophecies of God. And so, if God’s people would
turn to Isaiah 52. Isaiah chapter 52. I want you
to see this in context. What does it mean? What is he
talking about? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
glad tidings of good things? If you take that just snippet
out of its context, I guess it’s true. Kind of. I don’t know what
it means exactly. feet really beautiful. OK. Here’s the situation. Israel has been carried away
into captivity. They’re absolutely under another nation’s power. And the message of hope comes
in Isaiah 52 verse one awake awake. Clothe yourselves in strength,
O Zion. Clothe yourselves in your beautiful
garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For the uncircumcised and
the unclean will no longer come to you. No longer are you going
to be under captivity, under the thumb of a foreign heathen
nation. No longer. Shake yourselves from the dust.
Rise up, O captive Jerusalem. Loose yourselves from the chains
around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” And God would not declare
that if He didn’t give them the means. God was releasing them
from captivity. For thus says the Lord, you were
sold for nothing and you will be redeemed without money. For
thus says the Lord God, my people went down at first into Egypt
to reside there. Then the Assyrian oppressed them
without cause. He’s talking about both captivities,
not only the time of Moses in Egypt, but now the time of Cyrus
in Assyria. Now, therefore. What do I have
here, declares the Lord, seeing that my people have been taken
away without cause. God was not blind to their plight.
God had not forgotten them. God was going to act again. The Lord declares those who rule
over them howl and my name is continually blasphemed all day
long. Therefore, my people shall know
my name. Therefore, in that day, I am
the one who is speaking. Here I am.” And it’s almost like
God says, here I am. You’ve been praying to me. You’ve
been longing for me to move. You’ve been waiting for the day
of your salvation. Here I am. How lovely. On the mountains are the feet
of him who bring good news, who announces peace and brings good
news of happiness, who announces salvation and says to Zion, your
God reigns. What he’s talking about here
is the prophets who brought the good news of their release, their
salvation. Earthly as it was. Look at verse
8. Listen. Your watchmen lift up
their voices. They shout joyfully together,
for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores
Zion. Break forth. Shout joyfully together,
you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His
people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The
Lord has bared His holy arm in spite of all the nations, that
all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of God. Depart! Depart! Go out from there. Touch nothing unclean. Go out
from the midst of her. Purify yourselves, you who carry
the vessels of the Lord. But you will not go out in haste,
nor will you go out as fugitives, for the Lord will go before.
This wasn’t an escape. This was an accidental. This
is God’s bringing the prison gates. This is God going before
them in an absolute earthly salvation. Behold, my servant will prosper.
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted, just as
many were astonished at you, my people. So his appearance
was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons
of men. Thus, he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths
on account of him. For what had not been told them,
they will see. And what they had not heard,
they will understand. No wonder the rabbis looked at
this verse and said, this is a messianic verse. Absolutely,
it’s talking about the release from Babylon, but it’s talking
about so much more. It’s it’s prophesying that there
is going to be a Messiah. That’s how the rabbis looked
at this passage. And when Paul says. How beautiful
are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things,
he points to the Prophets, he points to the apostles, he points
to the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and
he says, here is the fulfillment. Here is the fulfillment of those
words, but the sad words that follow. The sad words that follow are
the very verse that follows Isaiah 52, this great, incredible news.
Look at verse 16, if you would flip back You can get it in either
place either Isaiah 53 one or flip back to Romans chapter 16. However they did not all heed
the glad tidings. Here was this great this incredible
news. Of course they’re going to leave
Babylon. Of course they’re going to be released from Babylon.
Who wouldn’t go there in a foreign land. Of course they’re going
to take exit. But as far as this message of the Messiah they did
not all heed the glad tidings for Isaiah said who has believed
our report here is as he opens up into Isaiah chapter 53 you
know it you know it is the suffering servant the passage of Isaiah
53. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like
a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground. He had no
stately former majesty that we should look upon him. Paul says they didn’t all believe
it. And boy, was that the understatement
of all time. That here the good news of Christ came, the good
news of this Messiah. The very fulfillment of Isaiah
52. They didn’t heed it, you know,
the word means they didn’t obey it. Well, that’s strange, they
didn’t obey this message. You see, when the gospel comes,
the gospel calls for obedience, the gospel demands obedience,
the gospel demands repentance. The gospel demands baptism, The
gospel demands obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It demands
that we take him as our Lord. The gospel demands an absolute
obedience and to decline the gospel is to disobey God. No,
thank you. That’s disobedience. Let me show
you something really cool in the book of Romans. Turn all
the way back to Romans chapter one, verse five. We have all
the time in the world this morning. In Romans one five, Paul just
makes this kind of almost cryptical statement. That part of this commissioning
there in verse five, through whom we have received grace and
apostles, apostleship, why to bring about the obedience of
faith? They didn’t obey God because
they didn’t believe it. Faith is obedience. Look at the
end of Romans. It’s this divine book in Romans,
chapter 16, verse 26. But now is manifested by the
scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal
God has been made known to all the nations. Why leading to the
obedience of faith? See, the obedience that God requires
is faith. That’s why it’s so crucial when
Paul says, if you believe in your heart and confess with your
mouth. It’s absolutely crucial what
we believe, and it’s absolutely crucial what we’re willing to
confess. To obey the gospel is to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ leads to an absolute articulation of it, a calling on his name. No wonder Paul just summarizes
it so succinctly here in verse 17. He looks at all the data. In verses
14 through 16, he looks back at all that and says, so faith
comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. A divine
summary here. Paul says that this message,
this message about the Lord Jesus Christ must be believed. It must
be proclaimed in order to be believed. And it must be believed
in order to be articulated. One pastor said it this way,
Paul is speaking about the derivative nature of the Christian gospel.
It is not something that wise men have made up. It comes from
hearing the message given to those sent by God. It locates the content of the
preaching in what God has given, not in what the preacher has
thought up. It’s the word of Christ. The word about the Lord
Jesus Christ and the order is simple. People are saved. Through a simple
calling on God’s name. And that calling. Requires a
personal believing you come to faith and then you cry out and
that believing requires a personal hearing and that hearing requires
an articulation of the gospel by us. I’m so thankful that Paul
was faithful, aren’t you? That articulation requires ascending
and God sent them. God sent them with the news,
the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great message
we bear. Let’s rejoice before him. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your presence. You have saved us. For all who
have placed their faith in You, You have saved us in spite of
ourselves and not because of ourselves. Not because of anything
that we’ve ever done. Not because of our family name.
You drew us to salvation. You showed to us our need of
Christ. And You called us to repentance.
O God, grant us the grace to be faithful in articulating the
simple Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s in His name that
we pray.