Good morning, everybody. Joe, that was an excellent message. So turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. I want to read verses 13 through
17. Romans 10, 13 through 17. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our report? So then, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. We have here a very familiar
passage to all of us. I've told you about, some of
you about this, but there was a time when I read this passage
and was looking up the meaning of the words in the passage.
I mean looking at each word to see what the meanings of those
words you know, specifically in verse 17. I, of course, had
a doctrine I was trying to defend, and I just knew this was one
of those proof texts to support my doctrine. When I looked at
the meaning of the words, they did not mean or say what I expected
them to say. What did I do? What did this
flesh do? I gaffed it off. I'm sure I told myself something
like this, I just don't understand what it's really saying, trying
to say. Instead of taking it for exactly what it said, I dismissed
it and kept interpreting it to fit my doctrine. For a little
while anyway. The next day happened to be Sunday. Walter happened to be preaching
on a passage. Guess what book it was? Romans
Guess what chapter it was It wasn't Romans 9 it was Romans
10 And guess what verse he was on verse 17 You know what God
said to me through what Walter was saying to me the first means
exactly what it says The scripture says that God will
correct his children this was God correcting me and I'm not
saying that I now do not have any problems with this. That
is, that I read every scripture for exactly what it's saying.
I still have this flesh, and it will try to have its way.
I have to deaden it, mortify it, get rid of it. But God has
opened my eyes to a few things here. I think he's giving me
something to tell you this morning, and I pray he has something for
you. Here in this passage, as you are all familiar with, we
have the following things mentioned in what I just read. Whosoever
calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. They cannot call
unless they believe. They cannot believe unless they
have heard. They cannot hear without a preacher. They cannot
preach unless they be sent. How beautiful are the feet of
those that bring us the gospel. But not all have obeyed the gospel,
or you can say believed the gospel. Faith by hearing, or it is okay
to say, faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. Now just to be clear about this
verse that I spoke about, verse 17. This verse means exactly what
it says, but I want to be more clear if I can. Faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This happens every
single time. It is not a hit and miss kind
of thing. First of all, hearing is by the
word of God. Meaning the man sent is going
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified every
time. Because he is sent by God to
do so. God does not send a man in this
sense that does not preach the gospel. God is not sending these
men forth to preach lies. I'm not saying any man preaching
that they are preaching faith. I'm saying those sent by God
are preaching faith. So the hearing that is done here
is the word of God, and more specifically, the gospel of Jesus
Christ in him crucified. The faith of Jesus Christ. Faith cometh by this hearing.
Faith cometh by this hearing every single time. There is not
a time when this does not happen in this context. And I want you
to bear with me for a little bit here, but anyone hearing
a man sin of God, faith is coming to them, no matter if they obey
or not. This passage itself gives us
its own interpretation along with other scriptures, which
are rightly divided, comparing scripture with scripture. But
it gives us its own explanation. It says what I'm saying in Romans
10, verses five through eight. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thy heart, who shall
ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down
from above. Or who shall descend into the
deep? That is, to bring up Christ again
from the dead. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach. If a man is preaching the gospel,
he is preaching the word of faith. So anytime a man sent of God
preaching and you are hearing it, then faith is coming to you. Now let me give you something
else. There are passages that I read that I struggle with,
and I wonder, what are they saying? What are they trying to tell
me? I have quite a few of those. But this one has caused me to
ponder and think, praying, God, give me an understanding of this
passage. I talked to Walker briefly about this passage one time.
I'm sure he told me what it was saying. He explained it, and
he knew what it was saying, but it just didn't sink in at that
time. Or I should say, God was not pleased to reveal it to me
at that time. You don't have to turn far, but
turn with me to Romans 1. Romans 1. Romans 1 and verses 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, It is written
the just shall live by faith If a man is preaching the gospel
he is preaching the word of faith so anytime a man Scent of God
is preaching and you're hearing it then faith is coming to you This says from faith to faith
and What? And I want to keep it in context
here. This is talking about everyone that believeth, not to everyone
that heareth the preaching, although there may be others hearing audibly. But these that believe are also
hearing by faith given them by God in the new man. The faith
of the gospel preached comes to those who have faith imparted
and they believe. Are there other passages that
will help give a little more light on this? Turn with me to
Hebrews 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4 and verses
1 and 2. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached,
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Hearing the faith of the gospel
must be mixed with faith in you before it will profit you anything. Meaning this, the spirit of God
must come to you giving you life, That life from the spirit of
God having fruit, not only faith but love and all these things
that we read in scripture. You having this by the gift of
God, you will then hear the word preached as it is sent to you
by God through someone preaching the gospel to you. And it will
cut you to the core. It will also fill you with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. Our Lord teaches this very thing
about giving life in Luke 8, where he gives us not a parable,
but the explanation of a parable that he gave. Even in our passage
or the chapter where our text is found, it tells us, for with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. But we certainly
are not believing with this old nature, this old heart that we
have. It is clear from scripture that
until we have a new heart, we cannot and will not believe Jesus
Christ, even if we are hearing the word of faith, that is, hearing
the gospel. He tells us himself that the
seed falls on an honest and good heart. If you believe that you
have this, that is, the honest and good heart, as you were born
in Adam, then you do not know God. If you believe this old
heart, this heart of stone, has been tilled or worked on so that
you can then believe, then God has not shown you who you are
and who He is yet. If you ignore this saying of
Jesus Christ, it is unbelief and rebellion. It is clear what
our Lord told us, that the seed sown does not create the good
ground, but it merely falls on it. That is the word of faith
falling on the ground that has faith. The two coming together
and the plant comes first. And not only that, but it brings
forth fruit to perfection. That fruit being believing Jesus
Christ. All kinds hear the gospel. Some
of those who hear are saved and some of those who hear are perishing. 2nd Corinthians 2 verses 15 through
17 reads this way For we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ
in them that are saved and in them that perish to the one we
are the saver of death unto death and to the other the saver of
life unto life and Who is sufficient for these things? For we are
not as many who corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity,
but as of God in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. We are never a saver of death
to life, nor life to death, but either death to death or life
to life. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. That is without faith given in
the new heart and the faith that comes from hearing the gospel,
both. You must have both or you will
never believe Jesus Christ. Without the one, you will not
have the ability. Without the other, you will have
not heard. And therefore, in either case, you will not have
heard Jesus Christ, and therefore, you will not believe. Is it a
far stretch to say that when we preach the gospel we are preaching
faith? Jesus Christ and him crucified
is the ultimate picture of faith in God. But let's look at a few
other passages. Acts 6 and verse 7 reads this.
And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith. First of all, the first part
of the verse talks about the word of God increasing. In other
words, God's gospel was being proclaimed more and more, but
also more people began to listen to the gospel. Then it says that
these priests were obedient to the faith. Obedient to what faith? The faith of the gospel. They
listened intently to the gospel, where at one time they were not.
These things are really quite simple if you take them for what
they say. But natural fallen man has too
much pride, and I'm talking about myself, too much pride that I
feel I have to defend my doctrines instead of just taking God's
words for what it's actually saying in His Word. Let's look
at another one in Romans 1 again. Romans 1. in verses 1-5. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the
son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. This is saying they hearkened
and were attentive to the gospel of the faith of Jesus Christ.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Again, another
one in Galatians 1 and verse 23. But they had heard only that
he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith
which he once destroyed. This specifically here is telling
us that the church in Judea had never seen Paul in person, but
they heard about him. The faith which he once destroyed,
how was he doing this? That is destroying the faith.
He was going around shutting people up who were preaching
or hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified. He
was locking them up so they could not continue to preach the gospel.
But now the church hears that he was now preaching this faith. Was he not preaching the gospel?
Yes, he was preaching the gospel. The gospel is the faith of Jesus
Christ. If we believe it will be by the
faith of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ will not believe for us.
But it is that one and same faith that Jesus Christ has that he
has given us. Him being the source of it and
the object of it. We will then believe to the saving
of our soul. That is, we then have peace with
God. God has never needed saving.
I do. This is not talking about saving
me from the justice of God in God's eyes. We are saved by the
preaching of the gospel so that that salvation becomes known
to us. so that we then have peace with
God. That is, we take sides with God
against ourselves. Galatians 2 and verse 16 says
this, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law. For by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified. Faith in Christ will not put
away your sin. Faith in Christ will not justify
you. Faith in Christ will not make you righteous. Faith in
Christ will not make you holy. Faith in Christ will not make
you one of God's elect. Faith in Christ will not cause
you to be born again. Faith in Christ is the evidence
of it all. Hebrews 11 and one says, now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. We walk by faith and not by sight. It is the faith of the gospel
proclaimed that is the faith of Jesus Christ, shown in who
he is and what he did. That is to say, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Knowing these things, it should
shed more light on the importance of hearing the gospel. Because
faith cometh by hearing. If you haven't been given this
new heart wherein it is honest and good and enabled to believe
Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ, meaning you have been given faith
so that when the gospel you hear is mixed with the faith given
in you, you will believe the gospel. Knowing this makes this
following passage a little bit stronger in Galatians 3.11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith. The enablement of God giving
us faith to believe and sending us someone to preach his word,
the faith of Jesus Christ, it gives us food for our souls.
And that is how we live. It should be our chief desire
to hear the gospel. Fellowship with believers without
the gospel is no fellowship at all. At least there's no value
in it. But if I have fellowship with
God's saints in the gospel, made so by him, then it is glorious
fellowship in his dear son. Philippians 127 says, only let
your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether
I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs
that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. We should continually look unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Because it is he that
has satisfied the holy justice of God on my behalf. It is his
faith which we proclaim. It is his faith which has been
given. Faith being proclaimed is not
of me, but of God. That is it, it is his word, the
word of God which we proclaim. So I have no boast in what I
am saying if I'm saying what God says. It is he that has said
it and given it to me to say. It is he that imparts to us that
faith which enables us to believe. So I have no boast in my ability
to believe because that also comes from God. 1 Corinthians
2 and verse 5 says this, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. After seeing these
things in scripture, why would we not be about trying to preach
the gospel, trying to hear the gospel, trying to defend the
gospel, trying to support the gospel? It is what we live by. It is our food. That is the faith
of the gospel that is preached, Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I am thankful that he has been so pleased to allow us a place
where we can hear his word. His faith coming to us at least
every Sunday. I pray he continue with us, giving
us his gospel, that whether we are in distress or in joy, that
we might glory in Jesus Christ, our true and living bread. I
pray that there are others who will hear this gospel from faith
to faith, to the saving of their souls. Amen. Dear Lord God, all the power
is of you. You give us all things. Our strength
comes from you. We have none. Be with Walter
as he stands to speak. Dear Lord, if you be pleased,
may you open our hearts, minds, and ears, dear Lord. But if there's
anyone out there, dear Lord, may it be that you open their
hearts, minds, and ears, giving them faith, dear Lord, to believe
your gospel. All these things we ask in Christ's
name. Amen.