Romans chapter 10. I'm going
to start here at verse 12 and hopefully bring a message through
out of these next few verses. But I want to talk today about
the universality of the gospel, the universality of the gospel,
the gospel for all, the gospel for all. Now, when the Holy Ghost
is pleased to bless the gospel, to make it Paul said, it's the power of
God, the very power of God unto salvation. But it's the power of God unto
salvation to them which believe. And oh, how effective. If only
voice, a man hears his mind, could be much better, don't want
to be much better off. But if he hears the voice of
God, the Holy Spirit in the preaching, and he's the only one who makes
it effectual, makes it Powerful. It makes it alive. It makes it
vital. It takes that understanding and
puts the darkness out of it and turns on the light. Takes that
dead heart and starts quickening it. Takes that heart of stone
and begins to make it flesh. He's the only one that can do
that. But yet as we face truth, just naked truth, truth as it
stands alone is a powerful force. Oh, a powerful force. And though
whether the Holy Ghost is present or not, the truth must be faced,
and we must face it, and we must reckon with it. That's why Paul
said, you know, in 2 Corinthians 2.14, he says this, we are always
under God to make the triumph in Christ Jesus, for we are a
sweet saver. We are a sweet saver under God
as we preach Christ. So as we preach Christ, this
sweet savor makes us triumph. It's unto God that we're standing
before. It's unto God that as we preach
Christ, it's a sweet smell and savor. But unto them that believe,
it's a sweet smell and savor. When they smell Christ, when
they understand that gospel, it's a savor of life to them.
But at the same time, those that don't believe, that hear the
same gospel, that here the same Christ is not a saver of life
to them, it's a saver of death. It put them that are perishing.
Now, one way or another, the gospel has an effect upon a man.
If a person's totally indifferent, it still has an effect. It's
either saving a man or damning a man. It's either giving him
life or hardening him. The same sun that melts wax is
the same sun that hardens the clay. The same sun that brings
forth fruit that you and I can eat also brings forth obnoxious
weeds that you just cannot kill. It does. And a person cannot
be indifference towards the gospel. And I'll tell you this, the greatest
blessing of the gospel is this, that it's universal. that no
matter where you go and who you preach to, you preach the same
gospel to the same people. That's what I love about it.
That's what our Lord, He told His disciples. He said, go ye
into all the world, and every place you go, preach the gospel. Preach the gospel of He that
believes that gospel, and is baptized and confesses that faith
in Christ. He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned." Just point blank, point blank, like that. And so what
our Lord's telling us here is to be preached to anyone, at
any time, in any situation, anywhere. It don't ever change. And I love
that about it. It's to be preached to anyone,
whether it's one person or a hundred, anytime, in season or out of
season, in any situation you may be in, in any place on the
face of this earth. Now, that's a great encouragement.
Ain't that what he says there in Romans 10 and 11? For the
Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
He won't be ashamed to declare this gospel, go out with this
gospel. But now I want you to start,
we're going to start here with talking about, first of all,
talking about the gospel being universal. Look here in verse
12. Look at the mercy of God to all. The mercy, we say it's
a gospel for everyone. Gospel to all. Universal gospel. He says in verse 12, for there
is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. What mercy
that God has to all. He says there's no difference
here between the Jew and the Greek. There's no difference
between the bond and the free, the cultured or the ignorant,
the rich or the poor. And that's what our Lord says
here. You look at a Jew, and you look at a Gentile. A man
that's born in religion, born by nature a Jew, raised in law,
raised in ritual, raised in ceremony, and a Gentile over here who's
a pagan, an idolater, a heathen, don't know anything about God,
never interested in God. God says to Jew and Greek alike,
there is no difference. Now in this world, me and you
make distinctions in people. We make distinctions in people.
We make distinctions in people with their positions in life,
their power in life, their wealth in life, their educational background
and that. I know folks that go to places
to worship, they call worship, and go to churches where they
can be with people of the same eco, social-economic level that
they are. Got to be on the same social
level, same economic level. If you got a good education,
you want to go where everybody's got a good education. If you
go where everybody makes $100,000 a year, that's where you want
to go. But Paul, we make distinctions
in people here. God, He don't make distinctions.
He has no respect to persons. He don't care how high you are,
what position you are. He don't care how low down you
are. He don't care how educated you are or how ignorant you are.
He don't care how much money you make. He don't care how poor
you are. He don't care anything about you as you stand in this
world in the eyes of other men. You're the same in the eyes of
God, no matter who you are. And I tell you something, we'll
leave all the distinctions men make here when we go to glory.
When Paul says, you know, he says, said that, you know, in
Christ there's neither bond nor free, Jew nor Greek, Scythian,
barbarian, but Christ is all in it, and that's all it'll be
about when we get to glory. What it says here, the Jew says
the Gentile can't be saved. Gentile can't be saved. There's
no way. That's why they ask the Lord
Jesus, why ain't it your mess to Republicans and sinners? They
go out among the Gentiles to go and wash themselves when they
got back. The poor says the rich can't be saved. The fellow that's
got a bigger education says the ignorant can't be saved. He can't
understand. But the gospel here says this, there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. No difference whatsoever. There's
no difference in sin, are there? There's no difference in sin.
There may be a difference in the amount of sins a person commits. There may be a difference in
how profane people are in different days. But I know this, that man,
as far as God's concerned, he's as safe and forth in front of
God as sin. Some sins are greater than others.
But I do know this, that when God looks at you, if you're outside
of Christ, all he sees is sin. All he sees is corruption. And
there's no difference in nature. We all got a fallen nature. We
all have the same father. We all come from our father Adam.
We all got a corrupt nature. We all got a depraved nature.
We all, beloved, are sinners. There's no difference. The gospel
sees us all just alike. And what is that? In need of
mercy. There's no difference between
anybody in this world. They may think there's a difference
in people, and they may act like there's a difference in people,
but God says there's no difference. A Jew or a Gentile, all are under
sin. All have missed the mark. All
by nature are corrupt. All by nature are enmity against
God. But look what he says here. There
is no difference. Oh, God's so merciful to all.
Then he says, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that
call upon Him. What does that mean? The same
Lord over all. He's Lord over Jew and Gentile
alike. He's Lord over Romans 14 says
he's Lord over the dead and the living. What does that mean?
He's dead over the dead, sinners that are dead, and trespassers
that sin. He's Lord over the living. And that's why, beloved,
whether we live or whether we die, we're going to live under
the Lord, or we're going to die under the Lord. We're going to
live to his glory, or we're going to go to hell to live to his
glory. One way or another, he's going to get the glory, but he's
Lord over all. And the Scriptures tell us that he's Lord over all,
so his will is paramount. And look what it says there.
He is rich unto all. He's rich unto all. Oh, now,
you want to see how rich he is? Look in Romans, I mean, excuse
me, Psalm 50. That quick. Psalm 50. Look with me in Psalm
50. Let's see how rich he is. Fellas, tell me one time you
wanted to preach on the riches in Christ. Paul talks about the
riches in Christ, the riches of His grace, the riches of His
glory. And I said, all you got to do is just ask, how rich is
He? How rich is He? Men can count their money in
this world. They count their houses. They count their cattle. They count their acreage. You know, we can count everything
we got. You can put a number on everything,
but you cannot measure the wealth of God. Everything else can be
measured in this world, but you can't measure. Man can measure
the trees, how many is in a certain parcel of ground. You can measure
water, you can measure fish, but I'll tell you this, one thing
you can't measure, you can't measure the wealth that's in
God. You can't measure the wealth and riches that's in Christ.
Because they're all together different kind of riches. Look
what it said here in Psalm 50, in verse 9. I'll take no bullock out of your
house, nor he goats out of thy foes. For every beast of the
forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. It's what he said, every piece
of cattle that's everywhere in this world, it's mine, it's mine. And look what he says here, I
know all the fowls of the mountains, I know every bird that flies.
And the wild beasts of the field are mine, that you never see
or hear. If I were hungry, I wouldn't
tell you, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. When something happens, you say,
well, the Lord took it. It was the Lord, so He just took
what was His. And He really does. It's His.
It belongs to Him. And oh, He's rich in power? Who's
got the power that God has? Who has the knowledge that God
has? Who has the grace that God has? Who has the wisdom that God has? Who can forgive like God does? Who has the wealth of mercy that
he can reach mercy, can reach down to the lowest and go, beloved,
and reach to all men on every place on this planet at all times,
day and night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, millennial
after millennial? Who is wealthy as God? Huh? And oh, beloved, and not only
this, but he says he's rich unto all that call upon him. Call
upon Him. That's who you call on. And He's
got all those wealth and riches for you. Now look here in verse
13. Look at the terms of the gospel.
The mercy is to all. And then look at the terms of
the gospel. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Now, whosoever, that's a wide
word. The gospel is wide. It's as wide
and as big and as glorious as God, and yet it is as narrow
as God. And I'm grateful that that says
whosoever. Now, if you put my name in there,
Donald Bell, you know how many Donald Bells are on the face
of this earth? There's a bunch of them. I know three myself other than
me. I know three myself other than
me. So let me ask you something. If it said Donald Bell there,
how would I know if it meant me or one of them or somebody
else? But when it says whosoever, that
includes me. That includes me. Oh, but it
says here, whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall
call in faith, shall call in simplicity, shall call in honesty. Now, you know when people talk
about calling on the Lord. You go through the Gospels, and
you go through the Old Testament, and when people called on the
Lord, they didn't make great big old long prayers whenever
they were in need. You go through the Gospels, and
how many times did all they say was, Lord, have mercy on me.
Lord, have mercy on my daughter. What do you have? Lord, that
I may receive my sight. They didn't go into a great big
long spiel of what they need. They didn't get down and pray
long, long prayers and have to pray through and go through a
long rigmarole. They just cried. When they'd
seen Christ and seen their need of Christ, they just said, Lord,
have mercy on me. They said, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Very simple. If you can count
the words, generally on one hand, that they would ask the Lord
for mercy and ask the Lord to do something for them. They didn't
go through a great big long spiel. They just laid themselves before
the Lord and cried out in simplicity and cried out in faith. Lord,
would you have mercy on me? Lord, would you give me my sight?
Lord, I'm a clapper. Can you cleanse me? If you will,
you can. And then this word, call upon
the name of the Lord, it means call continually. Most Roman
road people, these soul winners, say that you call on the name
of the Lord, you say it just like that, and you never happen
to know that's a one-shot deal. But I tell you this much, whosoever
shall call, and you look at that, and it means call and call and
call, because if you ever call the first time, you'll be calling
the rest of your life. You'll be calling on the Lord,
calling on His name, calling on His power, calling on His
grace, calling on His mercy, calling on Him for your needs.
You'll never, it'll be a lifelong calling on Him. And then look
what it says. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. The name of the Lord means to
call upon the name. You know what that means? That
name here is put for character. For character. Look over here
in Romans 11, 33. You see, He's not like us. He's not like us. When we talk
about a man's character and a person's name, man's known by his name,
good name, bad name, a name that can be trusted, a name that can
be called on. Well, here's one that can be
called on in a character, perfect character. Romans 11.33 says
this, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. Look at all the judgments God's
made over the generations and generations. Why did He make
this judgment? Why did He make that judgment?
Why did He deal with this way? And why did He deal with another
way? You can't find it out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Who hath been His counselor? Who ever talked to God and told
Him what to do? There's been a lot of folks tried.
They say, Lord, do this, Lord, do that. We command you in the
name of Jesus, do this and do that, and do the other thing.
But anybody that knows God, they just let the punctures of the
earth strike with the puncture. But all woe unto the man that
striveth with his mankind. Who art thou? O man, that will
say unto God. The replies against God. But
he goes on here to say, Who hath first given to him, and it shall
be recompensed to him again. For of him, through him, and
to him are all things." Look with me in Exodus 33. Look in
Exodus 33, talking about the character of God, the name of
God, calling on the name of the Lord. Exodus 33, verse 18. We've seen this so many times,
calling upon the name of the Lord. Two men went up to the temple
to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a publican.
One of them was very, very religious, and the other had no religion
at all. And the Scripture says that the
Pharisee prayed thus with himself, and began to brag on himself
before God, like God didn't know who he was and what he had done.
I thank you that I'm not lied to. I pay my tithes. I fast twice. I pay my alms. I do all my alms. There stood
a publican. That Pharisee was up close to
the altar, up there where everybody could see him pray and hear him
pray and talk about how good he was. If anybody goes to heaven,
that fellow right there is going. That old publican, he stood way
back out. The altar is way back there.
He stood way back here. And he didn't even lift his eyes
to heaven at first. He stood and looked up all the time. The
Republican wouldn't even lift his eyes to heaven. He kept his
eyes down. Started smiting on his breast.
That's where his problem was, in his heart. And he saw that
sacrifice on that altar. He saw that bloodshed and that
sacrifice being offered. And that, he said, Oh God, with
his head down, his heart broken, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Be propitiated to me, the sinner. That's what it means to call
on the name of the Lord. And look what he said here in
Exodus 33.18. Moses is talking. He said, I
beseech thee, I beg of thee, I implore thee, show me thy glory. And this is what God's answer
is back, I'll make all my goodness pass before you. God's goodness
is passing before us right here this morning. When we're preaching
the gospel, the goodness of God's passing by us. When we open a
Bible, the goodness of God's passing by us. If God wakes us
up clothed in our right mind, the goodness of God's passing
by us. Every time, beloved, you have somebody that prays for
you, the goodness of God's going by you. When you go home at night
and you lay down in this good soft bed and get a good night's
sleep, the goodness of God is passing by you. If God lets you
live this side of hell, it's the goodness of God that's passing
by you. If you've got somebody that loves
you and cares for you and prays for you, it's the goodness of
God that's passing by you. He said, I'll cause my goodness
to pass by, and all the goodness of God that's passing by right
here, right now, all the goodness of God that's passing by here
in the gospel, in the preaching, in the word, in the begging,
in the pleading, with the earnestness, oh God, open hearts, oh God,
make men see your glory. He said, I'll make my goodness
pass before you. And they said, I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before you. I'll make my character known.
I'll make myself known to you. And then he says, and this is
what I'll do. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious and
show mercy on whom I show mercy. And so, beloved, whosoever calls
on that name, that name that's got the mercy, that's got the
compassion, that's got the goodness, That's the name you call on.
And I'll tell you something, beloved, and I know this without
a shadow of a doubt, you'll call upon the Lord as you see Him
and as you know Him. You will call on Him as you see
Him and as you know Him. Just in what I just said. Your
view of Him will determine how you call on Him. If he's high
and holy and lifted up, if he's the one that's got the
glory, if he's the one that's got the goodness, if he's the
one that's got the salvation, if he's the one that's got the
grace, if he's the one that's got the mercy, if he's the one
high and lifted up and sitting on his throne, that's the God
you'll call on. If he's this one pecking at your
heart's door to get in, that's the one you'll call on. Your
view of him will determine how you call on him all the days
of your life. This little old teenage God, as Brother Henry
used to say, Beloved, he's not worthy to be worshipped, because
he's a ridiculous thing. But the God of Jesus Christ,
the God that came down in the person of Jesus Christ, the God
that was manifested in the flesh, the God that came down here to
bear our sins in His own body on the tree, the God that came
down here to die to satisfy God's justice in you, Israel, that
God is worthy to be worshipped and praised and bowed to and
submitted to and worshipped and praised and acknowledged. and
trusted all the days of your life. Huh? Oh, my. Now, though that's the terms
of the gospel, who's the whip? Shall call upon the name of the
Lord. What does it say? Shall be saved. Now, look what
else is said here. Look at the method of the gospel.
Here in verse 14, 15. There's four questions asked
here. Four hows, four questions. So
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. Now, calling,
we talked about calling. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? How is someone going to call
on somebody they've never believed? You see, men can't trust or have
faith to call upon an unknown or an unrevealed Christ. You can't call on somebody that
you've never believed in, that you've never been revealed to
you, that's unknown to you or unrevealed to you, you can't
have faith in Him. Then look what it says here, the next question.
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
How are you going to believe on somebody you've never heard
anything about? Anybody that's never heard, and
have Christ set forth to them, They can never be saved. I don't
care where they're at on this planet. There ain't one name
under heaven whereby a man can be saved. And people get upset
with that. They get angry. They say, well,
what about the heathens? And what about this one? And what
about that? They've never heard. They've got a God they're calling
on, believe me. You go to India, they've got
more gods than you can count. You go to Africa, they've got
more gods than they can count. You go to Rome, He sits on a
throne over there. Their God does. Right here in America, everybody's
worshiping something if it's nobody but theirself and their
own will. But, oh, beloved, how shall they believe in Him whom
they have not heard? Look with me over here in Matthew
chapter 14 just a minute. I'm talking about heard. Heard. You've got to hear about Him.
You know, that's why Our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples,
who do men say that I, the son of man, am? Matthew 14, verse
34. And they said, well, some say
you're Jeremiah, some say you're John the Baptist, or you're one
of them other prophets, or you're Elijah. But he said, then who
do you say that I am? Well, you're the Christ. You're
the Christ. You're the son of the living
God. That's who you are. He said, Oh, Simon, you're blessed. Oh, how blessed you are. Flesh
and blood didn't make you know that, but my Father which is
in heaven. Now, look what it said here in
Genesis, Matthew chapter 14, verse 34. And when they were gone over,
they came into the land of Gennesaret. Now, listen to it. And when the
men of that place had knowledge of him, knowledge of him, Narayim what? Of his power, of his compassion,
of his love, of his grace. And when they done that, they
sent out into all that country round about and brought unto
him all that were diseased. The only people that they brought
to him was folks that had something wrong with them. The only people
that they brought to him was somebody that had something wrong
with them. Diseased. The disease of sin, the disease
of conceit. Look what he said here. And besought
him, they didn't tell him how they had to do, but they besought
him, they asked him, that they might only touch the hem of his
garment. You know where the hem of his
garment's at? If you're going to touch it, you've got to get
down. They had to get down to touch the hem of that garment.
Can we please, would you please let us just come up here and
touch the hem of your garment? That's all we want, just touch
the hem of your garment. We know you've got the power. Can we just touch the hem of
your garment? The hem of the garment's on the
ground. Huh? And didn't look what it says,
and as many as touched. were made perfectly whole. That
just about makes me want to holler. Oh, bless His holy name. Now,
listen to me. Men must have the correct information
of Christ before they'll believe on Him or call on Him. You've
got to have the correct information. There's been a lot of misinformation
given out concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of misinformation. They give out misinformation
about His love. They say He loves everybody.
He loves everybody exactly the same. If that's so, if He loves
me as much as He loves Judas, who's already in hell, then the
love of God, I can't trust Him. And then you know they say that
he's dead. He died for everybody. He died
for every man on the face of the earth. But it's up to them
whether they choose to let that death save them or not. If that's
so, then his death may not save me. Because there's a multitude
in hell that's already gone. So what good would his death...
How could I trust his death? See, I have misinformation. And
what about his blood? He shed his blood to save you
from your sins if you'll mix your faith with it, your tears
with it, your repentance with it, and come to the altar and
accept it. Well, then if it's said for everybody,
there's already a multitude lost. And there's no law of people
that's never heard about that blood. Well, what good will that
blood do me? I can't trust it either. If it
didn't save those people it was shed for that's already perished,
how do I know that I'm not going to perish? Huh? Oh, beloved, listen. If one believes
this false information, you listen to what I'm telling you, if one
believes this false information, then there'll be a false trust
and a false calling on the Lord. Ain't that right? Do you know
how many people are trusting in Jesus, and it's based strictly
on their power and their will? And we'll go out here into this
world and tell everybody, you know, Jesus loves you, and Jesus
died for you, and if you'll just let Him, He'll
save you. You reckon anybody ever let God
do anything? I told a fellow the other day,
I mean, he's a fine fellow, a fine preacher, that every once in
a while, you know, we slip back into these old gears, and he
said, you know, he said, I believe the Lord's wanting to tell me
something, teach me something. And I just stopped him right
there. I said, no, no, God don't want to do anything. If God's
going to teach you something, you're going to learn it. He
ain't trying to teach you anything. If he's got a lesson to teach
you, you're going to learn it. He ain't sneaking up on you and
whispering in your ear, well, I'd like to... No, no. If he's
got something to tell you, he'll tell you. And you'll know you've
been told, too. Ain't that right? Oh, my. And then he said, here's
the third question. Then how shall they call on him
of whom they had not believed, called upon the name of the Lord?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they had not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear? I know that people make little
of preaching and preachers, but it pleases God by the foolishness
of preaching to save him that believe. This is one of the greatest... Paul said, Woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. Here I am. I'm just a man, just
like you all are. There's not a whit difference
in me and you, other than I have a calling to preach, and you
don't. It comes with a calling. How
shall they hear without a preacher? God calls men to preach. And
our Lord was a preacher. John the Baptist was a preacher.
Paul was a preacher. And I'll tell you something,
we aren't called to debate doctrine. I'm not going to debate doctrine
with you. We're not even called to share the gospel. How do you
share? We can share a piece of cake.
We can share a meal. We can share, cut a piece of
pie, share a pie. But I say something, we can't
share the gospel. All you can do is believe the gospel and
declare the gospel and believe the gospel. How am I going to
give you, how am I going to share the gospel with you? The gospel's
a declaration. The gospel's a declaration of
who God is. And what He did in His Son, Jesus
Christ. We're called to preach Christ,
who He is. God benefits in this way. What
He did, He lived a sinless, holy, obedient life to God Himself. And He did it not for Himself,
but for His elect people, for His blessed saints. And why did
He do it? He went to the cross. Beloved,
God put our sins upon Him and charged them to His account.
And when God put our sins upon him and charged him to his account,
God came down in wrath and punished him. God came down in justice
and caused him to die. And then he was raised again
because God was satisfied with him and caused him to serve his
own right hand. And the reason God did that,
so God could be just and holy and righteous and stay true to
His nature. And at the same time, justify
men like me and you, women like you and I, when we believe on
His blessed Son. And say, that's my only salvation
right there. That's my only righteousness
right there. That's the only hope I've got sitting at God's
right hand. If He bore my sins, then I don't have to bear them.
If the wrath of God poured out on Him, it will never be poured
out on me, because there's already nothing. If God's justice satisfied
in Him, I'll never have to die for my sins. Christ don't die
for them. How do you know? He was delivered for our offenses,
raised for our justifications. How is my justification at the
right hand of God? How do you know? Because I believe.
I believe right in the hand. Right this moment in time, the
only salvation I have in righteousness, I have set aside now in God's
right hand, having given that by way of a bloody tree. Oh, bless His holy name. Then it
says here, how shall they, here's the fourth question, how shall
they preach except to be sinned? Got to be sinned. This is a calling.
Isaiah said, Lord, God said, who shall I send? Isaiah said,
here, send me. He said, well, go. And this is what I want you
to say when you get there. Paul said he was called to be
an apostle by the will of God. And our beloved, no man takes
this honor unto himself but he that's called of God. And then
look what he said here. And then, no wonder he said,
as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
Oh my, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring the gospel
of peace through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
What's some of them glad tidings of good things we bring? Electing
love. God who loved us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Oh, eternal grace. When was grace
given us in Christ before the world began? The good news of
a suffering, satisfying Savior that satisfied God, and if you're
in Christ, God's satisfied with you. Of a redemption, that of
a blood that actually cleanses from sin and redeems a man from
the power and dominion of sin and actually saves him. Of a
justification that makes a man perfect in standing before God. of all my good tidings of an
accomplished salvation, a salvation already done. Let me tell you
something. It's not good tidings. There's
nothing good about telling a man, do this and be saved, and do
that and be saved. Let go and let God. You see people
say that, let go and let God. What in the world does that mean?
Let go? Let go of what? Let go of what? What are you going to let go
of? What have you got a hold of that you need to let go of?
I know what some preachers tell you. Let go of your sin. Let
God save you. I'm looking forward to the day
when it's all gone. If I could let go of it, I'd let go of it
right now. I'd never sin again. Would you? Huh? You wouldn't,
would you, Rick? We'd let go. We'd let go. Oh,
my. Let go. Let go of what? And let God do what? Let God do what? That all the
gospel we preach is to accomplish salvation. Salvation is done.
It's not for you to do. It's done. It's accomplished. It's full. It's free. And what
is it now? Believe and be saved. That's the word of faith which
we preach. But look at the rejection of
the gospel. Look down here at verse 16. Oh, here comes a fellow
preaching the gospel, setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ,
telling men to call on His name. He's rich in mercy unto all,
no difference. And then he says that they've
not all obeyed the gospel. They've not all obeyed the gospel. Oh, everybody's not obeying. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our report, who has heard us, who has believed our
preaching. That's what that report means,
our preaching. Huh? Oh my. And I'll tell you, that's
exactly what we do. We know we must tell it. We're
going to tell it. We're going to preach the gospel.
I'll preach it tonight. And we'll leave the results to
God. And let me tell you something, you all that know it, believe
it, support those who preach it, and leave the believing of
it to God. Leave the believing up to God.
Now look down here in verse 17. Here's the simplicity of faith.
Simplicity of faith. Where in the world, how do I
get faith? Where does it come from? Paul says, so then faith,
faith, this faith that he said, call on the name of the Lord.
Everybody's not believed. But you've heard, you believe,
you've heard a preacher, he's been sent. He brought you good
tidings. He's told you call on the name
of the Lord, that he's rich unto all, that there's no difference.
So where am I going to get this faith? He says, believe. So then,
faith by hearing. You understand? Yes. This is
why the foolishness, it shows that, please God, by the foolishness
of preaching, save them that believe. When a man stands up
and he preaches to you, And you sit and listen to Him talk to
you and preach to you. And then with that hearing, faith
comes with it. But what you're hearing is the
Word of God. We're going through the Bible
here this morning. Do you hear it? And faith comes with that
Word. That faith, you say, well, I
hear that. I believe that. My word. That's the truth. That's the
truth. He just told me. And I'm hearing
that. And He's showing me from the
Word of God. So faith is coming to you through your ears, through
your heart, through your understanding. And look what happens. By hearing the Word preached,
faith comes from hearing a message heard. Faith comes with knowing,
knowing God through His Word. Faith responds to knowing God. Faith responds to knowing Christ. And as you hear Him, and as somebody
preaches to you, that's why Eli said, is anything too hard for
the Lord? But here's the certainty of something.
Let me show you this real quick. Look in verse 19 and 20. If you
want faith, it comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. Just
keep coming. Hear the Gospel. Hear the Gospel. Hear the Gospel.
But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
But now look what Moses said. But did not Israel know? Yes,
Moses said, I'll provoke you to jealousy by them that are
no people in thy foolish nation. I'll anger you. But Isaiah is
very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I
was made manifest to them that that's not after me. And what
in the world does that mean? That means that I was out here
in the world. I wasn't seeking God. I wasn't after God. But he is after
me. So I was found of them that wasn't
even looking for me. Found of them who wasn't even
seeking for me. How does that happen? How does
that happen? Through this gospel right here.
You said you're not seeking God, no, God speaks to you. You weren't
seeking Him, but then you'll start seeking Him. You wasn't
asking after it, but then you hear that gospel, and you start
asking after it. And God says, you Jews, and I'm
going to provoke you to jealousy. See all them Gentiles over there,
I'm going to leave you over there in your heathen religion. I'm going to
let you put them beanie caps on your head. I'm going to wear
you around in big old black hats and have that air hanging down
around your ears, wearing them black coats, and really think
you're something. Let you go to the center of God
and talk about keeping your 637 commandments. 637 laws, and I'm going to save a
bunch of heathens, all they're going to do is believe me. They
ain't going to keep no laws, no rituals, no ceremonies. They're
just going to sit and listen to the gospel, and they're going
to believe it, and I'm going to save them. It says, you nations, you sought
me for generations, and you ain't found me. They wasn't even looking
for me, and they found me. And then, oh, the seed song. Thank God we're not on a fool's
errand. We have a message, and God will prosper it as He pleases.
Now, look what he says in verse 21. And oh, what a mercy, what
a wondrous mercy and longsuffering God has towards sinners, to people.
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my
hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. Now, you imagine
God. Now, here's God. He stands, and
His arms are stretched forth all day long. Have you ever held your arms
up very long? Can't hold them up very long.
But God said, I stretch forth my arms all day long. Whom do you stretch them forth
to? A disobedient and a denying people. Now you see, beloved, when it
says here, God stretched forth his hands, God isn't playing
games with men. He is patient, he is long-suffering,
and he stands all day long with outstretched arms, and he asks
this question, Why will you die? I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. And I'm stretching out my arms.
I'm reaching out to you. I've got the power in these arms,
in these hands, to save you, embrace you. And may God make
us like this, make us patient, our arms reached out for one
another, for one another's loved ones, for one another's children,
patient, willing to bear the burdens without stretched arms, pleading. Come, hear the gospel. Come, trust Christ. Believe Him. Believe Him. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the gospel. of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the truth as it
is in our Lord Jesus. Oh, how blessed your gospel is.
And Father, thank you for allowing me to preach it, teaching it
to me, teaching it to others here. Father, with your arms
outstretched, bring your people unto yourself.
We ask you in Christ's name, Amen.