If you would, get your Bibles
and turn to Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 10. Our message
this morning is going to be beginning in verse 16, going through the
end of the chapter. As you remember, the last message
that I had was entitled, The Necessity of Hearing the Gospel. Well, this morning, the title
of the message is, Faith Comes by Hearing. And to begin with
this morning, I'm going to go back a few verses at the beginning
of the chapter and speak a little bit on verses 1 through 4. Bill went through these verses
this morning a little bit, so I'm not going to spend as much
time on them since he did a great job going over these verses. Most of you were here this morning
for that. I'll say a few things about it. The reason I'm going over these
first four verses here is that Paul is continuing to speak on
these things concerning his kinsmen according to the flesh, the nation
Israel, in this entire chapter. I thought it would be a good
thing to go back and say a couple of things on these first four
verses here. Paul states in these verses here,
that you'll see in Romans 10, 1 through 4, where Paul says, brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. For
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Now, Paul states
in these verses that we just read that his heart's prayer
and desire for Israel, his kinsmen according to the flesh, is that
they might be saved. He desired their salvation. He
says that majority of them were lost. And the reason they were
lost is that they were ignorant of God's righteousness. and therefore,
of necessity, they're going about to establish one of their own.
Now, he then points out in verse four what is meant by the righteousness
of God, what is meant by God's righteousness, which is the righteousness
of Christ. He does this by stating that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. In our study
this morning, Paul will bring up this gospel again. In verse 16, speaking of the
Jews, he says that they have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God in Romans 10.3. Now, as we'll see in our
study this morning, that even though in God's providence one
might hear a gospel preacher or might hear another believer
as we tell people about the gospel of God's grace and the truths
that are contained within this gospel message, it doesn't necessarily
mean that they'll believe it from the heart. As verse 16 says,
obey the gospel doesn't mean that they'll obey the gospel
even though they hear it. One thing that I failed to mention
in our last study as it relates to hearing the gospel One doesn't
necessarily have to physically be sitting in a pew and listening
to a gospel preacher preach the gospel in its clarity. In God's
providence, one might also have heard the gospel by reading a
gospel message that is in print. Maybe an old writer that had
pinned down the gospel message hundreds of years earlier. Whether
you've heard the gospel preached directly from someone or have
read it in print from an old gospel writer. When hearing the
gospel, some will believe it, and some individuals might even
give mental agreement to it for a while. But they will eventually
stray away, those that just give mental agreement to it. They'll
give evidence that they never did truly have God-given faith. Now, let's look at Romans 10
and verse 16 here. Where Paul says, but they have
not all obeyed. They've not all submitted, heeded,
welcomed, and affectionately embraced that good news that's
in the gospel. It says, for Isaiah saith, Lord,
who hath believed thy report? Verse 16 here says that they
have not all obeyed or believed the gospel. The day here, the
day here refers to those who hear it. and to those whom it
is preached. We realized that although ministers
may be sent forth by God to preach the gospel and that they are
able to preach the gospel in its clarity and in its truth,
yet we also know that there is no success without the power
of God attending it. God must do a work in a sinner's
heart. He must be born again. God must
come by his Holy Spirit and impart that principle of life, causing
that individual to believe what he's hearing. Now, ministers
may preach and men may hear and yet not obey or heed and hearken
to the gospel. That is, they may not sincerely
embrace the doctrines of grace and submit to the doctrines that
identify the true the true Christ of Scripture and how he saves
sinners based on his person, on his work, on his righteousness
alone. Always keep in mind, we the preacher
or the teacher or the individual that tells people this gospel,
we're not in control of who believes it or who rejects it. This work
belongs only to God and God alone. God commands us, his ministers,
to preach the gospel And he'll add to the church who and when
he sees fit. He'll make them willing in the
day of his power. We're just the preacher. Preach
it in its clarity as much as we can. The fact that all who
hear the preaching of the gospel with the physical ear, in other
words, they understand, at least they hear this message being
sent out. They hear it with the physical
ear, but do not receive it by faith. That is, they don't hear
it with a spiritual ear. All of it is a clear testimony
to the natural depravity and spiritual deadness of all men
born of Adam. Christ, in speaking to the Jewish
religious leaders, as they persecuted him because of healing that blind
man at the Pool of Bethesda, that Bill talked about this morning.
Christ says in John 5, beginning at verse 39, You search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that
you might have life. By nature of left to ourselves,
none of us would believe this gospel of God's grace in Christ.
But thanks to God, thanks to God that he does make some willing
in the day of his power. Look at John 6, 44. Here it says, Christ says, no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw
him. And I raise him up at the last
day. The heart of man, the mind, the affections, and the will
of the natural man is so hardened by ignorance, by self-righteousness,
and pride. Therefore, he will not come to
the Christ of the Bible for salvation unless God draws him by his spirit. Also look at 1 Corinthians 2.14. Paul says, but the natural man,
that is, all of us by nature born of Adam, receives not the
things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned." God has to do a work. It takes the sovereign, powerful
work of God, the Holy Spirit, to bring a sinner to faith in
Christ and repentance of dead works and former idolatry. We will not come to the true
Christ of Scripture unless God does His work. This is called
a new birth. In scripture, Christ speaking
to Nicodemus says in John 3, beginning at verse 3, Jesus answered
and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, which is
meant the gospel of God's grace. Nicodemus said unto him, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
spirit, which is meant the grace of the Spirit of God, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. Unless a man has this work of
God's grace wrought in his soul, he will never understand divine
and spiritual things. So he can have no right to things
belonging to or relating to the kingdom of God. He also cannot
be thought to have passed from death to life and to have entered
into a state of grace. And then verse six says, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Now in verse 16 here, Paul quotes
from Isaiah 53 one. Isaiah, who was inspired by the
Holy Spirit to say, who hath believed our report? And to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? The vast majority of the Israelites,
of whom we're talking about and Paul's talking, speaking of in
chapter 10 here, to whom Isaiah in his day, and as well as Paul
in his day, stubbornly refused to believe the glorious message
of God's free, sovereign grace and salvation of sinners by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Even though the gospel was preached
to them, they rejected it. So why should we think in our
day it should be any different? You look back in Isaiah, at that
time he didn't, at one time he didn't see anybody that would
believe what he was preaching. Preaching the same gospel we're
preaching today. He was alone. He thought he was alone, and
God told him that he had a remnant. He had quite a few thousand men
that he had, that was his elect. But Isaiah didn't see anybody.
His church wasn't full. And so our next verse here refers
back to verse 16, where Paul says, In verse 16, but they have not
all obeyed the gospel then in verse 17 here. He says so then
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God the two things
necessary for a sinner to possess true faith and belief of the
gospel are produced by God the Holy Spirit in the new birth
they are spiritual life indicated by spiritual hearing, being able
to understand and believe from the heart what you're hearing,
this gospel of how God saves sinners, and the Word of God,
the gospel itself, which is the power of God unto salvation.
According to Romans 1, 16, it says, 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, also to the Greek. Both of these, spiritual life
and the word of God, the gospel, in the hands of the Holy Spirit
will produce true faith and godly repentance. The order that we
see in scriptures is that we must call upon the Lord God to
be saved. To call upon him means that we
must believe in him. To believe in him means that
we must first hear of him. Gospel preacher or someone must
tell us about him, the true, the true Christ of Scripture,
the true God. And to hear of him means that we must have heard
the true gospel preached. And to preach the gospel, one
must be sent of God to his people, to his elect. Now, in our next
verse, we see Paul saying in Romans 10 and verse 18, We see
Paul saying, but I say, have they not heard? Remember, faith
comes by hearing. And it says, yes, verily, their
sound went out into all the earth and their words into the ends
of the world. The apostle here began this verse
with the objection, have they not all heard? As in all of Paul's
writings, in view of him being an Israelite and a Jew himself,
he knew ahead of time that some of his kinsmen, according to
the flesh here, might have objections to what that he's about to say. In this case, he gives the objection,
have they not heard? He then gives the answer in the
next part of the verse where he says, yes, verily, their sound
went into all their earth and their words until the end of
the world. Here in verse 18, Paul quotes
from Psalm 19 concerning God's testimony in creation and in
his word. I don't have time to go over
the entire psalm this morning, but the psalmist David, he used
this typically to refer to the preaching of the gospel in the
last days, beginning with apostles. In this psalm, David also prophesied
of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. God the Holy
Spirit inspired Paul to use this psalm to prove the necessity
of preaching the gospel by men sent of God for the salvation
of God's elect, both Jew and Gentile. Some believe that this
is also referring to the one time that the word of God was
preached to the entire world. The word of God at that time
had reached the then known parts of the habitable world, which
was before the destruction of Jerusalem, according to Christ's
prediction in Matthew 24, 14, which says, and this gospel of
the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony
to all nations, and then the end will come. And also as the
Apostle Paul testifies in Colossians 1, beginning at verse 3, where
Paul says, We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all
the saints. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which is coming to you as it is in all
the world and bringing forth fruit, as it doth also in you
since the day you heard it, and knew the grace of God in truth."
Once again in verse 19 here, Paul asked a question as he did
in verse 18. The question in verse 18, speaking
to the Israelites, speaking of the Israelites, have they not
all heard? Now in verse 19, the question
is, beginning here, it says, but I say, did not Israel know. First Moses said, I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish
nation, I will anger you. God's gospel is to be preached
to all whom God gives opportunity. Look at the command of Christ
in Mark 16 verse 15. Christ says, and he said unto
them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. Even though God gives the command to go, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every man, men by nature
will stubbornly refuse to bow to God's word where it is left
to themselves. This of course includes all men
by nature, but the context here in verse 19 is speaking of the
Jews under that old covenant. The Jews had the law of Moses,
which was a testimony of the utter depravity and sinfulness
of man. Speaking of the nation Israel under the old covenant
and whether they had heard the gospel and Did they not know
of the gospel or was it preached to them? Let's look at some things
that give evidence that the Jews had the gospel preached to them
Look at Galatians 3 19 Wherefore then service the law
It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made. Speaking of the law, the law
was given or added because of transgressions according to Galatians
3.19. God gave the law that sinners
might see their sinfulness and their utter impossibility of
being saved based on the sinner's deeds or on their works of law.
We see that the law was added because of sin And in our next
verse, we'll see that the law was also a schoolmaster or a
tutor for the nation Israel. Galatians 3 and verse 24 says,
wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that
we might be justified by faith. The law, or that old covenant,
called a schoolmaster here, would teach them the gospel of Christ,
the coming Messiah, and how God saves a sinner based on Christ's
righteousness alone. I don't often quote men word
for word, but I think in this case that it'll give us a good
idea of exactly what's meant by this law being a schoolmaster.
Now, an old writer, which most of you are familiar with, John
Gill, says this, and I quote, of the passage is, this passage
of the law being a schoolmaster, to bring them unto Christ, is
that the law performed this office of a schoolmaster until the coming
of Christ, which shows that, till that time, the church was
in its minority, that the Jews were but children in knowledge
and understanding, and therefore stood in need and were under
the care of a schoolmaster or tutor. which was the law by which
the whole Mosaic administration is designed. They were taught
by the moral law, the letter of the law, by the writing on the two tables
of stone, God give Moses. They also had other statutes
and judgments. They were taught their duty to
God and to men. They were taught what is to be
done and they were taught what is to be avoided. They were taught
what is righteousness and what is not. They were taught the
nature of sin, its demerits, and consequences under that law,
that Ten Commandment law. But these gave them no instructions
about a Savior and life and righteousness by Him. The ceremonial law, on
the other hand, gave them some hints of the gospel scheme and
the way of salvation by Christ. but in a manner suited to their
state of children and childhood estate. The ceremonial law, which
stood by types and figures, by rites and ceremonies, by shadows
and by sacrifices, it taught them by divers of various washings. They were taught the pollution
of their nature and their need of the blood of Christ to cleanse
from all sin. By circumcision, they were taught
the necessity of regeneration and the internal circumcision
of the heart. By the Passover and the daily
sacrifice and other offerings, they were taught the doctrines
of redemption, satisfaction, and atonement. And by that brazen
serpent, they were taught the necessity of looking to Christ
for salvation and Him alone." Even though God gave the nation
Israel the ceremonial law, which contain in pictures and shadows
the person and work of Christ, the coming Messiah. They still
refuse to see the truth of the law, and they perverted it by
using it as a means to promote their religious pride and self-righteousness. And all of us do this by nature.
So we see that the answer to the question of, have they not
heard or did not Israel know, is a resounding yes. Therefore,
it leaves them without excuse. Now, in verse 19 of Romans 10,
referring to God using the calling of the Gentile nation to provoke
the nation Israel, the Apostle Paul uses what Moses said as
recorded in Deuteronomy 32 verse 21, where it says, they have
moved me to jealousy with that which is not God, They worship
false gods. They have provoked me to anger
with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy with those
which are not a people. I will provoke them to anger
with a foolish nation." This was written back by Moses in
Deuteronomy. In light of Israel's rejection
of the gospel, God will send it to the Gentile nation, who
were described as them that are no people. and a foolish nation. This would certainly provoke
the Jews to jealousy, and it would anger them. They thought
that they and they only were the children of God, not the
Gentile. And of course, under that old
covenant, God chose that nation to reveal himself. And all these
things, the ceremonial law, the commandments written on tables
of stone, They heard it. They were in unbelief. Most of
them, when they're in the wilderness, it says most of them were in
unbelief at that time. Most of them didn't enter in
to the promised land. All this is to show that God
is not to blame. There's plenty of evidence. The
Jews who stubbornly refuse to believe God are to be blamed
and are held accountable for their unbelief. This can also
be said of all men who reject Christ's righteousness imputed
to the sinner as the only way and means of salvation. God's
given us a lot of evidence, folks, having to do with the Israelites
and the Jewish nation and how they rejected Him. And He's given
us a lot of evidence and they're without excuse. And you know,
today, men will be without excuse too. The gospel is going out. Many of you have told many people
this gospel that we believe. Some believe, but most reject
it. Now, in Romans 10 verse 20, it
says, But Isaiah is very bold and saith, I was found of them
that sought me not, and I was made manifest unto them that
asked not after me. Not only was the testimony of
God's law set before Israel, but also the testimony of the
prophets that God sent, such as Isaiah, who preached the gospel
to them with clarity. Isaiah also prophesied of the
rejection of the nation Israel and the calling of the Gentiles
to faith in Christ. Look at Isaiah 65 verse 1. It
says, I am sad of them that ask not for me. I am found of them
that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me,
unto a nation that was not called by my name. All of this is to
show that salvation is of the Lord and that the only hope for
sinners, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, no matter what nationality
you are, no matter where you come from, the only hope is to
believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone for
salvation. Now, in our last verse here,
verse 21, Paul says, but to Israel, he says, all day long I have
stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gainsaying
people, a rebellious people. God is not to be blamed in this
matter. He freely gave Israel every advantage
and commanded them to believe, believe the gospel. He freely
gave Israel every advantage and commanded them to believe. He
had He had told them the foremost purpose of the law and forbade
them to either seek or expect salvation based on anything other
than the blood and the righteousness of the coming Messiah. He had
told them through his prophets of his coming rejection of the
nation Israel. His rejection of the nation Israel
as a whole was because they would reject Christ, the Messiah, and
insist on a salvation condition on himself. that religious pride
that Bill talked about this morning, and that all men by nature have.
The Lord stretching out his hands all day long to them refers to
the ministry of the prophets sent by God to the nation Israel. But the scripture says that they
were stiff-necked and a rebellious people, uncircumcised in heart
and ears, unregenerate. The nation as a whole would not
listen to the prophets. They rejected Messiah and his
gospel. They killed the prince of life
and persecuted his apostles. Because of all of this, God was
just when he cast them off as a chosen nation. However, God's
clear that there is a chosen remnant from among that nation. God calls them a remnant according
to the election of grace. We'll speak on this a little
more in the next chapter, in chapter 11, when we get into
that. God's promise of salvation, conditioned on Christ alone,
is real. It's sincere, and it's altogether
reasonable. He commands sinners to believe
it and forbids sinners to reject it. Our rule and responsibility
is to obey him. If individuals insist on remaining
in unbelief and idolatry, as did the majority of the nation
Israel, the fault and blame is their own. God has continually
revealed whosoever will seek salvation by His grace in Christ
shall be saved. But you've got to seek it God's
way. You've got to seek it based on God's Son, His righteousness
alone. and forsake anything that you
think you do or that's done in you that might recommend you
to God. Christ is that perfect standard
of righteousness. God accepts him. He says, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He's pleased with
his son and he's pleased with all who are in Christ, in his
son. very well pleased with it, not
based on what we do, but based on what Christ did. There is
a necessity of hearing this gospel. Faith does come by hearing and
hearing by the word of God, the very gospel of God's grace in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Christ alone for all
salvation. Do not look to self or to your
deeds and works of law. God has given us in his word
the example of the rejection of Christ by the majority of
the nation Israel. Will you follow their example
of unbelief? Or will you heed God's word and
flee to Christ alone for salvation and eternal life? Flee to Christ. Put all your trust in Him. Don't
continue holding on to your works for salvation. For God calls,
He calls that holding to the arm of the flesh. That's holding
on to your flesh. Holding on to what you do, don't
do. Thinking that it recommends you to God. Well, faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, the Gospel. Amen.