Transcription
[Music] You have your Bibles or your iPhone or your Android. Turn with me to Romans chapter 10. If you're new today, we're in a series on the book of Romans. We've been in it for quite a while, we'll be for quite a while, but it's an exciting, exciting study.
We come to Romans chapter 10. The Apostle Paul is writing about the simplicity of salvation. And maybe it's important for me to qualify that. It's simple for you and I to receive it. It wasn't simple for God to provide it. Can you imagine the complexity of saving mankind, of transforming sinners into saints, of moving people from darkness into life? The complexity that that would involve in heaven. I think one of the things we will be absolutely stunned by is when we realize all that God did to make it possible for you and I to be saved, and not only saved, but adopted as his children. We'll absolutely be amazed by that. God went to great lengths to save us.
What's wonderful, though, and what we saw last time, is that although salvation and saving humanity wasn't simple, God made it simple for you and I to become Christians. That he didn't say, like, you know what, climb the highest mountain if, if you want to be a Christian, you want to go to heaven, climb Mount Everest. All those who get to the top and get the selfie on top, you get to go to heaven. He didn't say, if you can, if you can swim the deepest ocean, if you can traverse the greatest desert, then you can be saved. No. What does the Bible say? He made it very, very simple. That if we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved. Are you serious? That if I, if I say, Jesus, I'm gonna follow you, and I believe he died for my sin and rose again, if I believe that and I say that, I inherit salvation? That is absolutely amazing. And the scripture is clear, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone, anyone, at any time, anywhere, who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
So then, the question really becomes, if it's that easy, if it's that simple to get saved, then why aren't more people saved? Have you ever wondered that? Why is it that more people aren't saved? The answer is that it all comes down to a choice that people have to choose to be saved. They have to make that choice to be saved. In fact, you could, you could call it, what we've titled the message is, the greatest choice. The greatest choice that a person can make is the decision regarding what they'll do with the good news of the gospel. Having heard it, will they respond to it? You know, our life is filled with all kinds of decisions. Where we're gonna live, what we're gonna do, who we're gonna live with, what we're gonna eat, who we're gonna cheer for this afternoon. Choices. But the greatest choice of all is the choice regarding what we'll do with Jesus.
You know, our choices are important. When we make our choice, literally, it makes us. When we make our choice, it determines our destiny. And ultimately, we are the sum total of our choices. Choices that we make today determine the life we're going to know tomorrow, and the next, and the next. And honestly, what you do with Jesus, what you do concerning your spiritual condition, will determine not only your tomorrow, but it will determine your eternal destiny. Choice is so, so important. Moses puts it this way, choose life, not death. We have choices that we made that have huge ramifications.
When you come to Romans chapter, chapters actually, we could say 9, 10, and 11, the Apostle Paul is talking primarily about the Jewish people. He's talking about why more of the Jewish people have not been saved up to this point. Chapter 10, he's talking about salvation, talking about the simplicity of salvation, but ultimately, it comes down to a choice. People have to choose to be saved. Let me just say this, because there's some here today and you've not yet made that choice. Some of you will hear about the choice, potentially for the very first time in your life. Maybe you're watching online, you're hearing it for the first time, or you're at one of the other campuses, you're hearing about salvation for the first time. It's a choice that you have to make, and it's a choice to be saved. And the choice that you make could have wonderful consequences and benefits for you. In fact, it says this in Romans, that I just think is such a great verse. I've thought about this all week. Scripture reassures us, no one who trusts God with their heart and soul will ever regret it.
You know, there's people, maybe when we talk about salvation, or maybe you're away from the Lord and we're talking, and for you, it's a matter of rededication. And you're just saying, you know, but if I do, and what if, and will I, and what? You're saying, well, I regret that choice. Will I be sorry I made that choice? And here's what the scripture says: no one will ever regret it. You are never, ever going to regret giving your heart to Jesus Christ. That also should be a real confidence boost for any believer here that is, you're talking to people of the Lord. Sometimes you're saying, you know, well, I want them, I want them to receive Christ, and I hope it outputs a good thing for them. Like, what? It's going to be the best thing that ever happened to them. They will never regret it.
So if it's so wonderful, why aren't more people saved? That's really the issue we're gonna look at in verses 14 through 21. And the issue is, why aren't more people saved? Is because they have to choose. There's a choice. Two choices that these verses talk about. First of all, they have to choose to obey the gospel. People have to choose to obey the gospel. It's not enough to just say, I agree with it. It's not enough to say, I'm not against it. It's not enough to say, you know what, that's, that's okay, or, you know, I like church. That's, that's not the same as saying, I'm gonna obey the gospel. You have to choose to obey the gospel.
Let's pick it up in verse 13. Romans 10: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If that's true, and it is, then what does it take for someone to call on the Lord? What do they have to have in order to be able to call on the Lord? And what Paul does is he answers that with a series of rhetorical questions in verses 14 and 15. Let's look at question number one. It says, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?" In other words, you can't call on somebody you don't believe. You don't know about them. So how can you believe in him? You can't call on him, is what he's saying. Question number two, "And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard?" If you've never heard the gospel, it's very difficult to believe the gospel, right? You got to hear it, and when you hear it, then you have to believe it, and then you call. Here's another question. Question three, "And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" In other words, God's plan that people would go and people would preach. Fact, look at it in verse 15. "And how are they to preach unless they are sent?"
So the plan is that there would be people that would preach the gospel. Who are those people? Well, I think there's two categories. There are those who are, according to Ephesians chapter 4, we won't look at the verse for the sake of time, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, people that God has given, the Bible calls them gifts to the church, to equip the church, people, the saints, for the work of the ministry. God sends them out. Missionaries. We send them out. We send them out that they might preach the gospel. And yet, may I suggest to you that it's not just some classification of clergy or professional preachers, but that in a very real sense, God's intent is that every single believer would be a preacher of the gospel.
In fact, look at it in John chapter 20 and verse 21. Again, Jesus said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Jesus is saying, listen, you go, you preach, you tell people about the gospel. In Matthew chapter 28, here Jesus is meeting up in Galilee after he's been resurrected. Many believe there are, this is the time that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 15, where it says, "And 500 saw him at one time." Some people believe that as he came, the text implies that he actually came from the air, came across, glided towards them, which would be pretty, pretty wild, pretty cool, wouldn't it? And he comes to this crowd, this gathering, not just of the apostles, but of 500 believers. And what does he tell them? "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you." So you go, you baptize, you're teaching so people can obey. And we go knowing this, that he will be with us to the end of the age. That's God's plan. That all of us are to go. That all of us are to share the gospel. You're to go. If you know Jesus, and share the gospel.
And here's why, because there are some people you have access to that the preacher at the church doesn't. There are some people you have access to that the televangelist doesn't. There are some people you have access to who are never gonna pick up a Bible, they're never gonna read a book that shares the gospel. But you are, in the words of Paul, a living epistle, known and read by all men. You're gonna be the preacher. You have to go. And as you go, you can go with this kind of confidence, not only that God wants to send you, but as you're going, you're bringing the good news of the gospel, and it has power to set people free.
Look at it in verse 15. Very interesting, as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news." Now, I don't know, most people's feet aren't that great looking, man. I'm just speaking for myself. My feet, it wouldn't do you any, it would not bless you at all if I put a picture of my feet up on the screen. You should be like, I could have done without that. What he's talking about here, though, is he's talking, he's quoting Isaiah 52. And in the context of Isaiah 52, what it's talking about is, it's talking about there's coming a day when the nation of Israel is going to come back to the Land of Israel out of captivity, out of the bondage of Assyria, out of the bondage of Babylonia. And there are going to be people that will announce, people that will herald, people that will proclaim that now Israel has been set free. And not only that, Israel has been set free, but that our God reigns in Zion. So it's the idea of this celebration, this freedom from captivity, this time when the Lord reigns in power. And when the people that give that announcement, it's such great news, it's as if everything about the messenger is beautiful. It's kind of that idea because what the messenger is saying is, you're going to be released from captivity.
Listen, when you and I share the gospel with people, we're bringing good news that sets people free. We're bringing good news that tells people, you can be set free from sin. You can be set free from the bondage of sin. You can be set free from the future of eternal judgment and damnation. You can know a time and a season of the Lord's favor, of the Lord's freedom, of the Lord's salvation. You can know that that's what the gospel brings to people.
In fact, as we're presenting the gospel, here's something very interesting. Verse 17: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Faith, remember, faith is what God gives when somebody's justified. It's the act whereby God grants the sinner faith to believe. We saw that last time. When a person's justified, where does that faith come from? It comes from hearing. Hearing what? And hearing through the word of Christ. Now, this is really interesting, because what it's telling us is that faith, which is necessary, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, so that no one may boast." So it's, it's a faith is divinely energized in the human heart. How does it come? It comes when you and I are talking, speaking the word of Christ.
You know, a lot of times people have the idea, well, you know, I can, I, they would never listen to me, or I, I just don't think God could use me to share my faith with other people because I'm not very, I'm not a real talkative person, or I'm not very articulate, or I don't know the Bible very well. And if they ask questions and I'm not gonna have the answer. And so what happens is people talk themselves out of the responsibility to share the gospel, to be the sent one into the lives of people around them. And the enemy loves it. Not realizing, people don't, that it's not your ability to be smooth and persuasive in your conversation. It's not all of your backlog of biblical knowledge that makes you an effective proclaimer of the gospel. It's great to know all you can, but ultimately, when you and I are talking to people who don't know Jesus, what do we need to do to ignite faith in their heart? We have to say, so they can hear what? The word of Christ. Talk to them about Jesus.
You know, there's power in the name of the Lord. Proverbs says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." There is power when you say the name of Jesus. There is an attendant power in that name that at the name of Jesus, Paul writes, "every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God." That there is a power in his name. And so when you and I, it's as simple as this: if you want to see divine faith, saving faith, released in the heart of a person who does not know Jesus, what do you have to do? Do you have to be persuasive? No. What do you have to do? All you have to do is tell them about Jesus. Tell them, "Do you know what? I want you to know something. God loves you more than you can imagine. So much so, he sent his Son, Jesus, to die for your sin. And if you'll put your faith in him, if you believe he died for your sin and say, Jesus, I'm going to follow you, your life will be miraculously transformed." And you know what happens when you just say that? It's not complicated. When you say that, faith rises in their heart.
Listen, that this is the confidence. It isn't in our ability to know so much or to be persuasive. It's in just simply getting the simple gospel out to people and saying him to that end. And I've said this in times past, but there, there was a few years ago, it's really popular. You saw it a lot. And if you have it in your home or your office, you know, God love you, but I, I just would like to give you a different perspective on this little plaque that was popular. And they, it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, which there is no credible evidence he ever said it. So somebody just attached his name on it to give it even greater credibility. But it's, "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words." Can I just tell you, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard and the most unbiblical thing.
So what Paul says, Paul doesn't say, "So faith comes from having people watch you and, if necessary, say something." No, it says, "Say something." And don't just say something, talk about Jesus. And when you talk about Jesus, faith fills a person's heart and will energize them to believe the gospel in a way that results in salvation. I mean, this is exciting. Listen, you don't, hey, I'm all for, I say, get all the education you can. There is no benefit in being ignorant. But at the same time, don't think you have to have a ton of theological education to share Christ with people around you. A simple, very simple message of Jesus dying for people's sin will transform people's souls. Isn't that like the most, I mean, you're just like, wow, a simple, a simple couple of lines with Jesus' name will eternally transform somebody's soul powerfully. It's an amazing, amazing thing. One of the greatest statements in the book of Romans.
Well, you say, if that happens, faith is there, well then why aren't more people saved? Look at number 16. "But they have not all obeyed the gospel." You see, there's a choice. When people hear the gospel, are they going to make Jesus Lord of their life? Are they going to say, "Jesus, what'd you say? I'm gonna do." Because Jesus said this, Luke 6: "Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and don't do the things I ask?" It doesn't make any sense that you, he's not Lord if you're not going to do what he asks. And in order to be saved, you've got to confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, remember, and believe in your heart God has raised him from the dead. That's what's necessary to be saved. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" Every person has to make a choice. You have to decide, am I going to not only believe, but believe that says, well, I think it's true, is not the same as belief that commits its life to that truth. And committing your life to it says, if he's Lord, he's in charge. If he's Lord, I'm gonna follow him. If he's Lord, what he asks, I'm gonna do. And Paul says, "But they have not all obeyed the gospel."
Everybody has a choice to make. Listen, every, every single week, all things being equal, on Sunday morning, we want people to have the opportunity to make that choice to receive Christ. It's, it's very simple. You believe he died for your sin and he rose again, and you say, "I'm gonna follow Jesus." And when you, when you say, "I'm gonna do that," when you, those two things are true of you, powerful things happen in your life. But they don't happen accidentally. They don't happen incidentally. And they don't happen just because you're sympathetic to the gospel. They happen because you make a choice. And not to make a choice is to make a choice. To put off a decision is to have made a decision, really.
When it comes to the nation of Israel, as Paul is writing, because that's his primary thinking, and I think while the primary application is to the Jewish nation, I think the secondary application is to all people everywhere. So Paul says, "They have not all obeyed the gospel." So somebody says, well, you know what, maybe what the problem is, is that they didn't hear the gospel. Look at in verse 18. "But I ask, have they not heard?" Paul says, "Is Israel not believing because they have not heard?" And he says, "Indeed they have heard, for their voice has gone out to all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." You say, what's happening there? Paul is quoting from Psalm chapter 19, verse 4. And you'll hear me quote from that a lot. I love that Psalm. And what he's doing is, Paul is making a Rabbinic argument. And so the Word of God just flows from him because Paul is a rabbi. No doubt has the entire Old Testament memorized. He no doubt has it all in his heart. It starts to come out. He says, "Have they not heard?" Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out. So he's quoting Psalm 19. And Psalm 19 is about the revelation of God through natural means, that is, nature, and through spiritual means, supernatural means, that is, the Word of God.
So here's the way it works. Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge." And then Paul says, "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." In other words, here's what he's saying: Israel should have known there was a God because when you look at the heavens, the fact there is a design says what? There's a designer, right? The skies, when you look at the sky and you see in the sky and you watch the weather patterns, the design says there's a designer. I can remember when Debbie, now, we're taking cookies one time to a family. The wife had come and it filled out a card, and we were taking cookies to their home. And as we were there, we came in, and the husband was there, and he was a diesel mechanic, a really nice guy, very nice guy, but very firm that he was an atheist. He did not believe in God. But, but we come, we came in, and we were talking with his wife. And he's kind of listening. And we're talking with him. And he says, "I just want you to know, I don't believe all that stuff. You're never gonna catch me at church because I don't believe there is a God. I don't believe God exists." And he has, he goes through the big long line of all the reasons why he doesn't believe. And so I said, "Well, well, let me just say this to you. The Bible says, 'The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.' I said, you know what? When you go out, when we're gone, I want you to go outside and look up at the sky. It's a clear winter night. When you look at the stars and you see all the stars moving in perfect synchronization across the sky, and you realize that the constellations had been there through the generations, and they move with predictability, and they move with an order. And you think of all of that. You watch out. And then when you get up in the morning, I want you to watch the sunrise. And I want you to watch the, you know, it's gonna come up tomorrow morning, just like it did the day before, and just like it did today, and the day before that. And when you begin to see all the brilliant colors, and you begin to think about the weather patterns, I just want you to say, as you look at that, to think, could there be a God? Because the Bible says the heavens tell us there is a God. And the Bible tells us we can know that God. He tells us, it tells us who that God is, and how much that God loves us." And he just looked at me. He wasn't like, "Oh, I'm gonna do that." He was just like, "Man, you know." But we left. And about a month later, he came to church. And we gave the invitation, he came forward. He told me with tears in his eyes, he said, "I could not get away from what you said. He said, when I look up in the sky at night, he said, the words you said, it was like you were still saying them. And when I looked at the sun in the morning, it was like I was hearing your voice." And the words that you said, that is the power of the Word of God.
Now, as Paul is saying this, here's what Paul is thinking. First of all, he's saying, "Have they not heard?" Indeed, Israel should have known because it was nature itself said there was a God. So in one hand, you could take it that way, that nature itself showed them that there's a God who has a plan. But beyond that, he's taking this scripture and he's saying, the gospel has gone out. Have they not heard? Of course they've heard. Paul was a part of them hearing. But he says to the Colossians, as he writes them, a place he's never been, he says, "This gospel is gone all over the world." Had it gone literally everywhere? Absolutely not. But it was on its way. It was mushrooming out. It's like a, it's like a shock wave at Calvary had set off a shock wave where the gospel now goes around the world. And people are regularly hearing about the gospel. So they had the opportunity to hear.
Said, "Well, maybe, maybe they they didn't understand it when they heard it." And Paul answers that. Look at it. "But I ask, did Israel not understand?" And here's what he does. He's gonna quote two verses. He's gonna quote from Moses and Deuteronomy chapter 32, then he's gonna quote from the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 65. And to us, it wouldn't mean as much as it would to a, a person who was Jewish. But Moses would represent the law, and Isaiah would represent the prophets. Together, that's pretty much the whole Old Testament, the law and the prophets, in the Jewish way of thinking. So what Paul is saying, "Did they not understand?" Of course they did. The law and the prophets told about Jesus. The law and the prophets set up an understanding of the gospel. Watch this. "But," he asks, "are they not Israel? Did Israel not understand?" First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry."
What's he talking about? He's talking about the fact that when Israel rejected the gospel, didn't receive the gospel as a nation, did Jewish people receive the gospel? Yes. The disciples were all Jewish. Paul was Jewish. We, we owe all the Jewish people a wonderful gratitude and debt of Thanksgiving for bringing us the gospel. And someday they will be saved. But for a time, what's happened is, Israel, as a nation, said, "No, we're not interested." So what did God do? God used a little bit of psychology. You know, it's kind of like this with my grandkids. You know, I got eight grandkids. And so there are some of them that play hard to get, and I'm game on for that. I, I am refused to be ignored. So, you know, and I'll do things to get their attention. But then, you know, some of them are really playing hard to get. And so then what I do, not having, it's not that I've turned away and I've been like, "Oh, well, forget about you, you'd never say that about your grandkid." So, but what I do, because I want to get their attention, I turn to another one and I have a whole lot of fun with that one. And pretty soon, I'm having a lot of fun with that one, and the other one's saying, "Hey, that's not, hey, I don't want to miss out. I want to be a part." Do you know what that's what God's doing? They wouldn't accept the grace, the glory, the miraculous favor of God. And so God says, "I'm gonna go after a foolish, that's the Gentiles. I'm gonna find the people who are not a people, and I'm gonna make them my people. And I'm gonna lavish them with grace. I'm gonna lavish them with favor. I'm gonna lavish them with a revelation of me, of who I am, and how awesome I am." And what's going to happen is, as Israel sees that, they're gonna desire that. And I'm telling you, you go around people who are Jewish who know about God, and when they watch people who are Christians who have a deep, genuine love for God, there's something about, I've been around enough Jewish people, I know of what I speak. They're like, "I just love that. I love how you, you know." And they're watching that relationship. And that's exactly what's happened. He is, God is working with them. He's reaching out. It's not that they didn't hear the word. The gospel's everywhere. It's not that they didn't understand. They had the law and they had the prophets.
Look at verse 20. "Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, 'I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.'" In other words, God is revealing himself to people all the time. I mean, it's not that you can't understand that he's right there. And he's simple to understand. The gospel is simple. All you have to do is believe it. It's not complicated. All you have to do, he's saying, listen, I'm showing myself to people all the time. You say, why aren't they saved then? Because they didn't choose to obey the gospel.
There's a second reason. Paul shows us people didn't choose to open their hearts to a gracious God. They didn't choose to open their hearts to a gracious God. Look at in verse 21. "But of Israel he says, 'All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.'" You know, this is, this is an incredible demonstration of grace on God's part. You know, human nature would be this, and we have to be very, very careful that we don't ascribe to God actions or attitudes that are a part of our fallen humanity. You know, like where somebody rebuffs us, we try to reach out to them or be kind to them, and they're unkind back. And we try again, and they're unkind, and then eventually say, you know, "I, listen, I'm done. You know, obviously they don't want interaction. I won't interact." But here's the love of God. The love of God is to say, "Listen, you're not, you're not interested. In fact, you're disobedient and you're contrary. But you know what? You know, and you're not gonna do it. You know, and you're gonna go the exact opposite." What does God do with that? God says, "Listen, I am here. And not only am I here, that that open arms is, I'm welcoming you, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've gone, no matter how nasty you've been, no matter how disbelieving you've been, no matter how hateful you've been, no matter how lost you've been." His arms are open. And his arms are saying, "Welcome home." And he's constantly working in the lives of every single person to demonstrate his love, to demonstrate his grace, to demonstrate his mercy.
In fact, let me just say this. You're here today and you've never given your heart to Christ. Do you know what? The fact that you're sitting in this room is a beautiful display of God's love and God's work in your life. That God loves you so much that God orchestrated and coordinated the events of your life. You say, "No, I'm here because I came here." Well, you think that because you can only see from a natural perspective. But if you could see from a supernatural perspective, you'd understand. If you could see the spiritual world at work, you'd understand. No, no, God's been working all the events of time and eternity together to bring about your sitting in this room so that you can hear the gospel, maybe for the first time, maybe for the tenth time, maybe for the hundredth time, but that you could hear the gospel, that you might respond to the gospel, that you might experience the miraculous working of God in your life, the amazing love God has for you, that you might be in this room to hear the name Jesus, that faith might ignite in your heart, that your life might be eternally and gloriously and powerfully transformed, not only for today, but for every single tomorrow until you're in heaven. Right? That's the grace of God.
There's some of you, and you're away from the Lord. That means you came to him, but somewhere along the line, life's taken a different turn. But God, the God who loves you more than you could imagine, the shepherd who leaves the 99 to come after the one, he's come after you. He's brought you here today. You thought you were just coming, you thought you were doing somebody a favor, you thought, "I probably need to get back in church." But God was at work in your heart. God was at work in your mind. God was saying, "Listen, I love them so much, I'm gonna bring them to hear the gospel. I'm gonna bring them so they can hear the name of Jesus, because when they hear the name of Jesus, there's going to be a faith that's gonna spring up in their heart that's gonna cause them to rededicate their life, that's gonna cause them to give their heart to Christ." Whatever the case might be, that's the amazing grace and the pursuit of God. He's pursuing you. He loves you. And all you have to do is make a choice. The greatest choice of all, to say, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sin," and "Jesus, I'm gonna follow you." That choice to call on him and to be miraculously saved, or to have your heart recommitted and leave today different than you came. It's a choice that only you can make for you. But God loves you so much, he wanted you to be in an environment where you could make that choice and leave different because of his work in you. Amen.