Romans 10. The title of the message is The
Importance of Preaching. We will see this as we go along
here. Paul says here in verse 9, that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall
believe in thine heart." Believe in thine heart. Salvation is
a heart work. It's believing with the heart.
You know, when you believe with the heart, whatever it is you
believe with your heart, you embrace it. You embrace it. When you believe with your heart,
your affections are tied to it. Your affections are tied to it.
And if thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart
man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Then he says here in verse 11,
For the Scripture saith, Whatever we have to preach, the
message that we have to preach, our only warrant for preaching
it is from the Word of God. I'm not at liberty to give you
my opinion on anything from this pulpit. I'm at liberty to give
you what thus saith the Lord. Anything other than that, It
leads to trouble. It leads to trouble. For the
Scripture saith, and Paul in his writings is always referring
to the Scriptures, always referring to the Scriptures. And when he
refers to the Scriptures, he's referring to the Old Testament
Scriptures. For what saith the Scripture?
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And he's quoting
from Isaiah 28.16. He's quoting from Isaiah 28.16,
where God said, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, and whoever
believes on him will not make haste, is what it says there.
But here, Paul says it means he'll not be ashamed. That's
what the Scripture says. Whoever believeth on the Lord
Jesus Christ with the heart, now, with the heart, you embrace
Him. With the heart, you receive Him
as Lord and Savior in that order. Lord and Savior. Whoever your
Lord is, that will determine the Savior. He's Lord and Savior. And whoever believes on Him shall
not be ashamed. We have the Word of God on this.
We can take God's Word at this. That whoever believes on Christ,
when this life is over, will not be put to shame. Over in
Job, it says, they were confounded because they had hoped. They were confused. But the preacher said, if I repeated
this prayer after him, I'd be saved. I'm confused here. Well, repeating a prayer never
saved anybody. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
has saved everyone who has believed on Him. With the heart. With
the heart. And this righteousness that Paul's
been writing about, that we need in this salvation from sin that
we desire. I desire to be saved from my
sins. Do you desire to be saved from your sins? Hell doesn't even enter into
my mind. I'll tell you what enters into my mind, my sins. If the Lord will save me from
my sins, I have nothing to worry about. Years ago, Years ago,
in a place that I worked, this man was, he was getting, he was
all tore up. Some preacher there had gotten
him all tore up. And he was talking to me about heaven and hell. He wasn't talking to me about
Jesus Christ and sin. He talked to me about heaven
and hell. And I asked this man, I said, which do you fear the
most, God or hell? He said, I fear hell. I said,
well, if you find favor with the judge, you don't have to
worry about the prison, do you? I said, you fear the wrong thing.
Christ said, fear, I tell you who to fear, fear Him who has
the power to cast both body and soul into hell. Don't fear anyone
who can only destroy the body, fear Him who can cast both body
and soul into hell. He's the one, He's the object
of our fear and my sins, my sins, I want my sins put away. That's
what I want. Because I know if my sins are
put away, I have His favor. I have favor with the judge.
Justified. That means nothing against me.
Nothing against me. So this righteousness that we
need and this salvation from our sins that we desire is had
by faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I like what it says here. And it extends, listen, to whosoever
believes. Whosoever. It doesn't matter. It doesn't mention anything here
about the man, he's such a wretch, he can't be saved. I want you
to listen here. No one will ever be cut off because
of sin, because of nationality, because of background. You know
why Israel could not enter the promised land? One reason, only
one. Unbelief. They did not believe
God. You know to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ is to believe God. You're literally taking God at
His word. Not to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ is to call God a liar. It literally is to call God a
liar not to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to say, I don't
need Him. That's what it is. It's to say,
I don't need Him. I need Him. I need Him from beginning
to end. I need Him. And as to whosoever believes,
Lord, I believe what that man say, Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief. And that's what I feel. You feel
that? Lord, I do believe. I believe
thou art the Son of God. I believe Jesus Christ is the
Messiah. I believe He is the Lord. I believe
He is the King of kings. I believe He is God Almighty
manifested in the flesh. Lord, help my unbelief. But I
do believe. I don't have any problems with
whosoever believes because I know, I know in my heart that everyone
who believes God is the work of God. They said to the Lord,
our Lord, they said, what can we do, what might we do that
we might work the works of God? What can we do that we might
work the works of God? You know what our Lord's answer was? This
is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. That's God's work. That's God's
work. That's the work of God. So whosoever
believes shall not be ashamed because that is the work of God.
Does it not say in Ephesians that faith is the gift of God?
It's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's the
work of God. Any person who believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ shall not, will not, cannot Be put to shame. God will honor His Word. I tell
you what, you take salvation away from feelings and you base
it on the Word of God. This is why I believe. This is
why I believe I'll stand before God accepted. I believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I call on You.
I call on You. I call. And that person will not be so
disappointed. You won't be disappointed. In fact, you'll stand amazed
when life's over. You'll stand amazed at the grace
of God. That's when you and I will really
understand grace. That's when you and I will see
amazing grace to be really amazing, is when we stand before His presence,
spotless, spotless. We won't be disappointed, we
won't be embarrassed of our faith in Christ, because all that He
has promised, He will do. All the promises of God in Him
are what? Yea and Amen. You can take it
to the bank. And he says here in verse 12,
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. That's
what he's saying there in verse 12. Well, there's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon Him. There's no difference. I told
you last week, all distinction is gone in Christ. In Christ we are one. In Christ
we are God's children. And there's no difference. The
Jew is not favored over the Gentile. I heard a man say this years
ago. These things keep coming back now. It's amazing how you
can get this rewind going when you stand in a pulpit. But I
heard him preaching and he was a landmark, if any of you know
what landmarkism is. And he said, being a Baptist
is like riding first class. Anything else is like having
a riding coach. I thought, you have no clue what you're talking
about. In Christ there is no first class, second class, third
class. We are all one. We're all brothers and sisters
in Christ. That's what we are. There's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. There's not one bit of difference
between any person who's in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no advantage. One does not have advantage over
another. There's no advantage. For the same Lord over all, He's
over all, is rich, rich unto all that call upon Him. You can
take the person that has gone to the gutter. I mean gone to
the gutter. The same Lord is as rich to him
or her in grace. It's like Mary Magdalene. The Lord cast out seven devils.
He is as rich to her as He is Mary, the one who's called the
mother of Jesus. He's as rich to one as He is
to the other. All things are yours in Christ. Each one of you. Each one of
you. We have the same. The same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon Him, from the uttermost
to the guttermost. He's rich unto all that call
upon Him. Boy, that's just a wide berth
there, isn't it? I mean, there's just no class
that says, I'm gone. No. Whosoever, whether Jew or Gentile,
calls upon Him, all who are saved have the same Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He's rich in mercy and grace
to every person who calls upon Him for salvation. He's able to supply all our needs. The Scripture says He's able
to save them to the uttermost, And Henry used to quote that
sometimes as guttermost. He's able to save to the uttermost
then that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make
intercession for them. He stands in God's presence for
them. Verse 13, For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now why does Paul say, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved? Here's why. His name reveals who He is. It
reveals who He is. And it's evident that a person
who calls on Him knows something about Him. God has made Himself
known. Christ has revealed Himself.
If you're going to call on a person's name, if I call on Doug's name, all of you in here, you know
him. You know him. When I call his name, you know
something about him. And for me to call on the name
of the Lord, that's not just saying Jesus Christ. That's just
not saying a name. But when Paul says here, who
serves the call on His name, he's talking about a person who's
made Himself known to you, and you know something about Him. I may not know much about Him,
but I know this. I know He can save this sinner. Lord, You can make me... Oh,
isn't that what the leper said? Lord, if You will, You can make
me clean. He knew two things. He knew that
man was the Lord. The Lord of heaven and earth.
He knew that. And he knew that he had the power to make him
clean. You don't have to be a theologian, just a sinner. Christ doesn't
save theologians. He saves sinners. Paul, the Apostle
Paul, had to come down and get in the dust as a sinner. Not
as a theologian, not as one who was well-trained and studied
in the Scriptures, but as one who needed mercy. One who needed
mercy. That's what it's talking about
here. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. Let me
just give you a few names of the Lord I've got written down
here. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. You know that. When you call on Him, you know
He'll provide all that you need. He has the power to provide salvation. He has the power to forgive you.
He has the authority to do that. You know that. Jehovah Rapha,
the Lord that healeth. Lord, you can make me clean if
you will. Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner. He's our banner. He's the one we are under Him. Jehovah Shalem, the Lord our
peace. I know if I have peace with God, I'm going to have it
through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. I know that. I know that. Jehovah Rea, the
Lord my Shepherd. Now I may not know these names
as I'm reading them to you, but I know this, I know the Lord's
my Shepherd. I know He's my peace. I know He's the one who heals
me. I know that. Jehovah Sid Canu. Jehovah Sid Canu. the Lord our
righteousness." Now I know that. I know that if I'm going to stand
righteous before God, I'm going to have it in Jesus Christ. All
these names, Jehovah, Shalem, the Lord is present. All these
names, now listen, all these names and all that they mean,
they are all wrapped up in the name Jesus Christ. They are all
wrapped up in that name. Jesus Christ. So whoever calls
upon the name of the Lord, and I just gave you a list there,
shall be saved. Now here's a good question Paul
asked in verse 14. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? This jumped out at me as I was
reading this last night, or yesterday evening. How then shall they
call on Him in whom they've not believed?" Faith precedes calling. God has to work faith in you.
Faith is the work of God or you'll never call. You will never call. He says here, you will never
call on someone you've not believed. You didn't believe God. You didn't
believe Him. And he's saying here also this,
how can the Gentiles be saved who've not believed in Him? They've
not believed Him at all. How can a person call on His
name if he doesn't believe that He's able and willing to save?
Every person, now listen, every person, whom God has saved, and
we can go back to the Gospels, all those people whom He healed,
every one of them, when they called on Him, when they called
on Him for sight, when they called on Him to be able to walk, when
they called on Him to raise the dead, now listen, every last
one of them believed before they called, or that had never called. Every one of them believed. Lord,
give me my sight. Those two men, they said, Lord,
give us our sight. He said, what do you want? He
said, what do you want? I'm paraphrasing. What do you want? He said, they
said, give us our sight. You know what he said? Do you
believe I'm able to do this? They said, yes, Lord. And you
know what happened? They received their sight, which
was evident. They did believe it. And that's
why they called. That's why they called. How then
shall they call on Him of whom they've not believed? And listen,
how shall they believe in Him of whom they've not heard? This goes deeper than how shall
they believe in Him of whom they've not heard of. Now that can be
said. You can't believe in someone
you've never heard of. But how shall they believe in Him of
whom they've not heard? You remember what the woman at
the well, she went back into town. Come see a man that told
me everything I ever did. And the whole city goes out to
hear him. And as he spoke to them, you know what they said?
Now we believe, not because of her word, but because we have
heard him ourself. We have heard him ourself. You're
sitting here and you've sat here for years. You've heard the gospel
preached, and then one day you heard Him. You heard the Lord speak. Your
heart was smitten. As the old writers would say,
you gained an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ when before
you had no interest in Him at all. And then one day you come
and then you have an interest. You have an interest in Him.
You have an interest in salvation. You have an interest in God saving
you. You have an interest. Why? Because you heard Him. Now I believe, not because I
heard the preacher, but because I've heard the Lord. He's called
me. He's called me. As Samuel went
to Eli, the Lord calls Samuel, and he went to Eli, and he said,
here I am. He said, I didn't call you, go
back to bed. And he heard him again, the Lord called him again,
he went to Eli, and he said, I didn't call you, go back to
bed. And the third time he came, he said, listen, the next time
you hear that, you say, Lord, speak. And he did, and then the
Lord revealed himself to him. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? Never heard Him. They never heard
of Him, but they never heard Him. They never heard Him. Henry used
to say, you cannot believe on an unrevealed Christ. You can't
do it. In verse 14, and how shall they
hear without a preacher? How shall they hear unless God
sends a preacher? God does not work apart from
means. God is a God of means. And it
is pleased God to take vessels like me, clay pots, so that it
be evident that the power is of God, not of me. He uses a
clay pot. And He sends that clay pot. He
put this treasure in earthen vessels and He sends that earthen
vessel to preach the gospel. He gives the gifts and abilities
to preach and communicate the gospel. And that preacher preaches Christ.
Christ is our message. Christ in His deity, Christ in
His manhood, Christ in all the aspects of Christ. Christ is
like the rainbow of many colors. There's many sides of Christ.
Many. One Christ, but there are just
many things about Him. But God sends a man and that
man's message is Christ. And as Paul said in 1 Corinthians,
it is pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. The world calls what I'm doing
foolishness. The intellectuals call this foolishness. But this is how it pleased God
to save sinners. To believe the message. The message
of grace, the message of Christ. That's what Isaiah said in Isaiah
53, Who has believed our report? And Paul quotes that here a little
later. And how shall they preach except they be sent? How shall they preach? They can't. Preaching is a gift of God. What
I'm doing, now listen, what I'm doing, if I am called of God,
what I'm doing is supernatural. It is. Now anybody can stand
here and take an outline and give it to you. Anybody can read
a commentary, write down some cliff notes and give it to you.
But to preach in the power of the God Spirit and sinners be
saved and the church be fed, that is a supernatural power
and work of God. How shall they preach except
they be sent? God calls them, God equips them,
God sends them. And if God sends them, you're
the most blessed people on earth. I'm telling you the truth. My
job, what I'm doing, my responsibility is far more important than the
President of the United States. I was trying to think of the
story Henry told of a missionary whose son stepped down from being
a missionary, and he took a position as an ambassador. I'm thinking
it was over in England. He took a position as an ambassador,
and he came and told his father about it, and his father was
so sorrowful of it. He said, I'm so sorry. I'm so
sorry. You just stepped down from the
highest calling on earth. to be an ambassador. What the president says may affect
your pocketbook, and it will, one way or another. I try not to get into that. But
what I say has eternal life and death attached to it. What I
say has the glory of God attached to it. What I say is far more important.
It's far more important. And what you believe, and the
one you're listening to, be careful. Be careful. Always be educated
in the Word of God so you won't be duped by anybody. By anybody. Bring your Bible and open it
up. And search the Scriptures. Be like the brave Bereans who
searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so. How shall they preach except
they be sent? And he says here in verse 16. Well, let me read verse 15 again.
And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written?
How beautiful are the feet! I mean just the feet of them
that preach the gospel of peace. How beautiful are their feet
because it has the image here of carrying the gospel, a messenger,
someone carrying the gospel. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. Whosoever believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be saved. That's glad tidings to a bunch
of rebels. It is. But they've not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who hath
believed our report? That's over in Isaiah 53. Not
everyone believes. There have been people who have
grown up and sat under the gospel all their lives and never believed
it. Never believed it. I've seen
people sit for years under the gospel, then leave it. I've seen
it happen. They've not all obeyed the gospel.
He's quoting Isaiah. He's quoting Isaiah. It takes the Spirit of God to
enable a God-hating sinner to believe God. Because the natural
mind, it says, is enmity with God. It's enmity. You know, it seems like only
a few believe it, doesn't it? I mean, look, this house, I guarantee
if we turn this into entertainment, I could fill this place up. I
guarantee we could add on. We could add on to this church.
You know, I had a business for 25 years. I know how to grow
a business, but this is not a business. This is not a business. This
is the body of Christ. When I preached on the radio
here, the man asked me, he says, why do you want to, he says,
why do you want to preach on the radio? I says, I want to
glorify Christ and reach the sheep. He said, he said, he said
to me, it was like, good, because most people want to do it as
a business. Most of them are trying to grow
the congregation. I want to glorify Christ first
and pray that the sheep that are out here, the lost sheep...
Christ said, I came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Do you know that you who believe
are of the house of Israel? You are of the house of Israel.
You are the true Jews. You are. That's what Paul said.
Paul said, we are the circumcision which have no confidence in the
flesh. We have no confidence in the
flesh. Our confidence is in Christ. Didn't I read, wasn't that in
Psalm 65 that our confidence was in God? Our confidence is
in Him, not us, not us. But they have not obeyed the
gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed, I report.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Faith comes by hearing the gospel preached, by hearing the Lord's
voice and the message. And hearing comes by the Word
of God. It doesn't come by me getting
up here and giving my opinion. It comes up here by the Word
of God. When God the Holy Spirit awakens you, quickens you, gives
you life, the Word of God comes to life, doesn't it? Until then,
it's a closed book. But now you can read the Word
of God and you can say, I see. I see. How many times people
say to me after preaching, I never saw that before, never saw that
before. Man, that was a blessing. Boy, you see it by the Word of
God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, he said, there their sound
went to all the earth. The gospel has gone throughout
the world. You know, nature itself declares that God is, and their
words have gone to the ends of the world. But I say, did not
Israel know? First Moses, he goes back to
the Old Testament, Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy
by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger
you. Moses told them this was going
to happen. God was going to turn to the Gentiles. That was told.
And when it happened, they still ignored it. They still didn't
believe it. They still didn't believe it. I read this before
coming out. Over here, let me see. I think
I forgot to write the number down. I was reading here in Hosea. Let me read this to you. Hosea
1.10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand
of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come
to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, You are
not my people, there it shall be said unto them, You are the
sons of the living God." God gave witness that He's going
to turn and save Gentiles. But they had such a prejudice
and such a hatred against the Gentiles, they were like, no,
because they called us dogs. I mean, they may have got it
right, but they're dogs too. It's like a pot calling the kettle
black. They're dogs too. Here's what
Israel forgot. They would trace herself back
to Abraham, but they wouldn't go back to Adam. They said, we'd
be not sinners. Well, then you don't need a Savior,
do you? I do. They fell in Adam like we fell
in Adam. They're the same nature we are.
We'd be not sinners. Oh, yes, you are. Yes, you are. And thank God if you know you
are. I mean, really know you are. But Isaiah, he says in verse
20, Isaiah is very bold and says, and he says it in Isaiah, I mean,
Hosea said it and it says it in Isaiah. I was found of them
that sought me not, I was made manifest unto them that asked
not after me. He gave us a a prophecy, a prophecy here,
he gave Israel a prophecy of what he was going to do. And
what is it? They did not believe him. It
all comes right back, it all comes back to believing God.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. But to Israel he saith, all day
long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsame people. All day long. If the gospel leaves
here, listen, if the gospel leaves here, it will be our fault. It
will not be God's fault. Everybody winds up in hell, winds
up in error, their own fault. They would not believe God. But
you who do believe God, it's by His grace. Or we'd all walk
out of here. Every last one of us would walk
out of here. But God, by His grace, says you're not walking
out. You know, I'm not gonna let you walk. I'm not gonna let
you perish. And that's his royal prerogative to do so, isn't it?
That's his royal prerogative. And I tell you what, he's sure
more gracious. He saved more people than I'd say. I guarantee
you. You and I'd save our families
and friends and everybody else, go to hell. But God saves people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation under heaven.
I mean, Heaven's going to be populated with a multitude, an
innumerable company of sinners saved by grace, that He would
not let them perish. If you and I could perish, we
would. We would if we could, if God let us. But thank God
for His grace and mercy. He's not letting us. He's given
us faith to believe Him and follow Him.