Now, our lesson this morning
begins in verse 11 of Romans 10. For the scripture saith,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now, Paul writes,
whosoever. Scripture says, he's quoting
Isaiah here, whosoever, whoever they may be, whatever their background,
whatever their nationality or different fleshly distinctions,
whosoever, without distinction, believes the Lord Jesus Christ,
who believes Christ with the kind of faith that we read about
last week in verse 10, where they believe with the heart and
they confess Christ with the mouth. Whosoever has that kind
of faith in Christ is a person that God has saved. Whoever they
are, if they have that kind of faith, they'll never be ashamed. They'll never find themselves
ashamed. Now, we preach a narrow gospel,
don't we? We preach a narrow gospel because that's the gospel
of Scripture. It's a narrow gospel. There's
one way of salvation. But we preach a gospel to a wide
audience. To all men. Look over Matthew
28. We preach to all men because
that's our Lord's commission. We preach a narrow gospel to
all men. Matthew 28, verse 19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. See, we go, we preach this narrow
gospel to all men. And to all men, whosoever, regardless
of who they are, there's this connection between faith and
confession, between salvation and confession. You preach to
all men, and then those who believe, you baptize them. You let them
confess Christ in believers' baptism. Whosoever, we preach
a narrow gospel to all men. We don't decide who can hear
the gospel, who can believe it, who cannot. We preach the gospel
to all men wherever the Lord opens the door. And this word,
whosoever, gives hope to all sinners without exception, whoever
you are. There's ample warrant for everyone
to believe Christ. There's ample warrant for everyone
to come to Christ for mercy. Because this narrow gospel gives
plenty of room to any sinner. Any sinner, whoever you are,
you come to Christ. You believe on Him and you won't
be ashamed. Whosoever believes, whoever they
are, will not be ashamed. They won't be ashamed, first
of all, to confess Christ. How could you be ashamed to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ? What a joy to be able to confess
Him and say, He bore my sins. I was in Him. When He died, I
died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose, He arose
for me. That's a joy to confess Him.
The question is, how can I possibly be ashamed of Christ? I can understand
He'd be ashamed of me, but how can we be ashamed of Him? We
won't be ashamed, those who believe in Christ, because you won't
be found naked. You're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. You won't be ashamed in judgment.
You won't be ashamed because your hiding place, your refuge
won't be swept away. You won't be like that foolish
man who built his house on sand. He found himself ashamed when
the storm came because it swept everything away. But the wise
man wasn't ashamed. He built his house on a rock.
Those who believe in Christ, those who build on Him will not
be ashamed, whoever they are. And Paul explains in verse 12
about this whosoever. He says, For there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. This whosoever means the
Gentiles too. Now, you remember these Jews
that Paul is writing to, they never wanted any Gentile to have
mercy. They hated them. They didn't
want them to have mercy. But Scripture tells us not only
are the Gentiles not excluded, they're equal. completely equal
with it with the Jew because there's no difference. There's
no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. There is no
second class citizens in God's kingdom. They're all equal because
they're all clothed alike. They all have the same righteousness.
They all have the same obedience. They all have the same Savior.
It's Christ. There's no difference because there's no difference
in any of us, regardless of where you were born or what you look
like. There's no difference in Adam. We read that back in Romans
chapter 3. We studied it just a few weeks
ago. There's no difference in Adam. In Romans 3 verse 22, even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's
no difference in Adam. All flesh is the same. You can
dress it up to look different. You can teach it to talk different.
You know, what's that movie where they took the woman and taught
her to talk different? Yeah, My Fair Lady. You can make
her My Fair Lady, but she's still the same. Flesh is still flesh. It never changes. In the sight
of God, all flesh is equally depraved, totally depraved. All
flesh is in equal need of Christ. There's no difference in Adam.
And there's no difference in Christ. Let's read on here in
Romans 3 verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. In Christ there is no difference. There's no national distinctions,
there's no fleshly distinctions. Look over Colossians chapter
3. Colossians 3 verse 11. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, But Christ is all and in all. When God looks at you, when
He looks at His children, when He looks at Mike Bartram, He
doesn't see Mike Bartram. He sees Jehovah said Kenneth,
that's your name, the Lord our righteousness. He sees the Lord
Jesus Christ. When God looks at any man, He
either sees Adam, in whom there is no difference, or He sees
His Son, Christ, in whom there is no difference. And God Paul
says He's Lord over all. Christ is Lord over all. He's
Lord over all by creation. He created it. It's His. He's
over it all. He's the King. And it's His by
blood-bought redemption. He created it and He bought it.
It's His. He's Lord over all. The God with
whom we have to do. And He never changes. God's immutable. He never changes. So He doesn't
change the way He deals with men. He has no favorites. You
know, I might have my favorites and deal with one, somebody different
than the other. God doesn't do that. He deals with all men the
same, on the same ground. And all men, whosoever now, regardless
of who they are or where they come from, if they will call
on the Lord, they'll find out the Lord's rich in mercy. He's
rich unto all that call upon Him. The thief on the cross. That heathen, a murderer, found
that out. He found out the Lord is rich
unto all that call upon Him. Lord, remember me. Today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. And Saul of Tarsus. Do you think
of a more religious man than Saul of Tarsus? Lord, what will
you have me do? I'm yours. The Lord is rich unto
all that call upon Him. Now read on in verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now this is a quote from
Joel 2, verse 32, and I want you to turn back there. I've
got that marked. If you'll find Daniel, Hosea,
and then Joel. This is why when we were children
at sword drill, Sandy wouldn't let us put these ribbons in our
Bibles. I cheated. I did this yesterday, so I thought,
sure as the world, I'd get in front of her, but I won't be
able to find it. In verse 32, And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the
Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Well,
who is it that's going to call on the name of the Lord? It's
the remnant whom the Lord shall call. We call on him because
he called us first. The thrust of this verse, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, is not on our power to
call. It's on God who calls. The emphasis
of the verse is not on our power to call. It's on the power of
the Lord to save anyone, whoever, no matter what they are, no matter
how rotten they think they've been. The emphasis is on His
power to save. He saves whosoever will call
on His name. See, the gospel never changes. I think it's important to always
point this out. How many times we see this, the
gospel doesn't change. Paul quoted Joel. Back in verse
11, he quoted Isaiah. He's preaching the same message.
And when somebody starts preaching a different message, get away
from them. Because the Gospel never changes. There's not going to be any new
light shed on this. The Gospel never changes. The
message is salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
you call on Him for mercy. You call on His name. That's
what Scripture says. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Now this is a call of somebody
that's got some knowledge. They're not just calling indiscriminately.
They're not calling on some idol. They're calling on the name of
the Lord. And his name reveals who he is. Just like Jacob's name revealed
who he is. He's a chief. He's a supplanter. His name revealed who he is.
The name of the Lord reveals who he is. What scripture tells
us his name is Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. You call
on him. He'll provide everything you
need. Everything God requires, He'll provide. Jehovah-Jireh. You call on Jehovah-Retha, the
Lord to heal it. He heals all your spiritual diseases.
You're full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores from the
tip of your head to the tip of your toes, but you call on Jehovah-Retha,
the Lord to heal it. You call on Jehovah-Neesi, the
Lord our banner. He's the banner that we live
under. He's the flag that we run up the pole. It's His country
that we live in. He's the message we hold up.
You call on Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. The one who came
and made peace through the blood of His cross. You call on Jehovah
Rehoboam. We're sheep. We're so dumb. We'll
just go anywhere. You call on Jehovah Rea, the
Lord our Shepherd, the one who leads His sheep beside still
waters, who takes them into the green pastures of His Word. You
call on Him. He'll have mercy. You call on
Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is present. He told
His disciples, the apostles, I'll go with you to the ends
of the world. He's there. He'll never leave you nor forsake
you because no matter where you go, He's there. He's present. And you call on Jehovah Sidkenu.
The Lord our righteousness. He'll meet your chief need. The
Lord our righteousness. And to call on His name means
we're going to humble ourselves and say, my name's nothing. His
precious name is everything. That's what we're doing. We're
humbling ourselves and saying I'm nothing and He's everything. To call on His name is to believe
His Word. To believe the promises of His
Word. Whosoever shall call the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Do you believe it? Those who call on Him do. They believe
His word. We believe what He says about
us and what He says about yourself. And He says, whosoever. He doesn't
put a name in there, does He? Any sinner. He doesn't say Frank
Tate. Frank Tate, if you'll call the
name of the Lord, shall be saved. I'm glad He didn't say that.
I'm rather, he said, whosoever. Because if he said Frank Tate,
I think he meant somebody besides me. I know a whole lot of other
Frank Tates. I believe there'd be a whole
lot more worthy to be called than this fella. I know some
of my ancestors, my dad. There's a Frank Tate who's a
former heavyweight boxer. He's a middleweight boxer and
a heavyweight boxer. Now he's a jazz player, gospel
kind of deal. Frank Tate fought John Tate in
the early 80s for the heavyweight championship. He moved up. Frank
Tate moved up to fight in weight, you know, to fight John Tate.
To my dismay, John Tate beat him. He couldn't beat that Frank
Tate. He's more famous, isn't he? More people know him. But
he said, whosoever. That leaves room for me and you
to call on the name of the Lord. Whosoever you are, be saved. Now verse 14. Now how then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? Now these next verses, there's
five hows. There's no true calling on God
without faith, without believing Christ. There can't be any faith
without healing, who God is. There can't be any hearing without
a preacher. And there can't be any preaching without a divine
commission unless God sends them. The first how. How should they
call on Him in whom they've not believed? If anybody's going
to call on the name of the Lord, they've got to believe Him. They've
got to believe who He is. Now men will call on the name
of the idol, the God that they believe in. Men are religious. They'll call on the idol they
believe in. Look at all the different idols
men call on. But they'll never call on the true living God unless
God gives them faith to believe, to believe who He is. Look over
at Hebrews chapter 11. We must believe that God is. We've got to have faith in Him. Hebrews 11, verse 6. But without faith, it is impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." We must believe, have faith that God
is both willing and able to save. If you believe that, you'll call
on him. The second how? How shall they believe in him
of whom they've not heard? Men will always call on an idol.
They'll never come up in their imagination to decide to call
on Jehovah unless somebody tells them who Christ is. The only
way they'll ever call on Him is for somebody to tell them
who Christ is. But how should they hear without
a preacher? It's pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, the foolishness of what men call preaching. People
think what we're doing right now is foolishness. But this
is the way God's chosen to save sinners, by the foolishness of
preaching. This is why Paul preached to the Gentiles. And it's why
we preach today. The motivation is the same. Because
how should they hear without a preacher? Just never underestimate
the importance of preaching. Now, I know the Lord can save
by sending His Word. You can read one of the messages
of the apostles, and the Lord could be pleased to open your
eyes. I know He's done it in the past. But almost always,
somebody needs a preacher. They can be like the Ethiopian
eunuch. He understood what he was reading, but he needed a
preacher to tell him. Of whom does the prophet speak?
Of himself or some other man? He needed Philip. Nineveh, that
great city, repented at the preaching of Jonah. They never would have
repented without a preacher. Solomon didn't call himself the
king of Israel. He called himself a preacher
because that's more important. And the greatest blessing God
can give a group of people To give a town is to send them a
faithful pastor who will preach the Word. That's so. I'm so thankful
he does. But how shall they hear without
a preacher? We never would have. Well, look at verse 15. And how
shall they preach except they be sent? As it's written, how
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things. The fourth house, how
shall they preach except they be sent? A preacher is an ambassador
sent by the Lord to deliver his message in his place. You can't
be an ambassador. I can't just go to Mexico and
pretend to speak for the United States of America because I've
not been given the message. I've not been sent by the president.
You can't be the ambassador unless the king gives you the message
and then sends you to the country he wants that message delivered
to. Our ambassador to England tells
a whole lot different message than the ambassador to Korea.
I don't know if we have an ambassador to Korea, but if we talk to somebody
in Korea, we've got a different message than we do to the folks
in Great Britain. You've got to have a message
for God's people at that time. It's God's message, and He sends
His messenger with it. The preacher has got to be commissioned. He's got to be qualified for
the work. He's got to be given the message from God. And when
the Lord sends him, he's going with the authority of God Almighty,
under the power of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5, you know this
scripture. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20. Here's the importance of preaching. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. Call on His name. Come to Him
for mercy. Whoever you are, you call on
Him for mercy. You'll find out He's rich unto
all that call upon Him. That's the message of God's ambassadors.
And God's preachers bring good tidings. They preach the gospel
of peace. They're not warlike men. They
preach the gospel of peace. When the Lord Jesus came incarnate
into this world, what did the angels sing? Joy to the world. Peace on earth. Here is peace. He's come to make peace through
the blood of His cross. He's come to make peace with
God for His people. And He's glad tidings of the
Gospel. This is the best news men have ever heard. Our message
is not a depressing, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you, woe is
you. That's part of it. To tell men
our sin, who we are, what we are. But you can't preach the
gospel without the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Woe
is us that call on His name. He's rich unto all that call
on Him. And the fifth how, how beautiful are the feet of them
that preach this gospel. The people of Jerusalem in the
Old Testament, they didn't have cell phones. They didn't have
communications, satellite communication. When a battle was going off in
a far-off country, they had to wait for a messenger, a runner,
to come from there to where they were to bring them the news of
the battle. And when the messenger came with the good news of victory,
he's a welcome sight. Oh, they loved to see him coming.
Well, if you love the message, you'll love the messenger. If
you love the master, you'll love his servant. If you love the king, you'll
love his ambassador. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12, And we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you, and which are over you in
the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in
love for their work's sake. and be at peace among yourselves.
Now look back at Galatians 4. The Apostle Paul came and preached
to these people at Galatia. They heard the gospel. How much
did they love him? Galatians 4 verse 15. Now where
is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record, that
if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own
eyes and given them to me. That's how much they loved him.
That sacrifice. They'd pluck out their own eyes
and give it to him if it were possible. If they could. Because
they loved him. How beautiful were his feet that
came and preached the gospel to them. Now, verse 16. But. But they'd not all obeyed the
gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed, I'll report
him. See, here's another example. Things never change. The message
never changes, and men in the flesh, their response to the
message never changes. Lord, who's believed till I report?
The gospel has been preached to the Jew, now it's preached
to the Gentile. But most of them haven't believed.
Most of those old Jews didn't believe. Same as today, the Lord's
turned to the Gentiles, most of them don't believe either.
Human nature's the same, whether you're Jew or Gentile, whether
you're religious or you're God's the same and human nature's the
same. They never will change. But the
gospel is worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy of belief by everyone,
but very few believe. Right here's an example. Very
few believe. Well, then someone might ask,
what good is it to spend hours preparing to preach. What good is it to spend hours
in the Word, hours in prayer and alone in the study, wrestling
with the Scriptures to find the message, to sacrifice, to preach
the gospel to people? What good is it then if you believe?
Verse 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. Faith in Christ depends on hearing
the gospel of Christ, and that's why we preach. Because no one
will believe if they don't hear the gospel. It's not just hearing
with these ears, although this is where it starts. It's hearing
it's mixed with faith. And it's not just hearing anybody.
Anybody can buy a Bible and buy a suit and stand up behind a
pulpit. It's not just hearing anybody pretending to be a preacher.
Faith. Salvation comes from hearing
God's word. The Word of God. That's what
we've got to hear. This is the Word. This is the
power of God unto salvation. And I know few believe and few
hear. And somebody might say, well,
what's the point? If so few hear, what's the point? Well, I can
tell you. Brother Henry preached to thousands. I mean just thousands and thousands.
I don't know how many people he's preached to. How many of
them believed? I do not know. I'll tell you
what I do know. That preaching changed my life. It made a big difference to me.
I'm telling you, it made a big difference to me. I don't know
about anybody else, but it's worth everything to me. And it
is to you. Those of you who are under his
ministry, it is to you. Well, today, John's going to
preach a whole lot less. How many believe? How many will
believe, I don't know. But I know this, that preaching
means everything to me. Your preaching means as much
to me as Henry's did. Because it's not just servant,
it's the message. It's the Word of God. Faith cometh
by hearing and faith grows by hearing too. Feeding on the Word
of God. Well, why preach without faith? Without preaching, you never
have faith. Well, then why hear? You know, don't become fatalistic.
Somebody hears by election and they become fatalistic and say,
well, no point in me coming to worship service. No point in
me, you know, doing it. If I'm going to elect, I'll be
saved. If I'm not, I won't. Nothing I can do about it. Oh,
yes, there is too now. Yes, there is. Faith cometh by
hearing the Word of God. You can avail yourself. You can
get yourself out of bed and get in to hear the Word of God. Yes,
you can do that because faith cometh by hearing. You can call
on the name of the Lord. If you do, you'll find out he's
rich unto all that call upon him. You can ask him for mercy.
You can do that. Now, verse 18. 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 I say, did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke
you to jealousy, if by them there are no people. And by a foolish
nation I will anger you. But Isaiah is very bold and saith,
I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto
them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith, all day
long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsaying people." You know, shouldn't the Jews have known
that the gospel was going to be sent to the Gentiles? Well,
yeah, they should have. Moses told them. He says, I'm
going to provoke you to jealousy by sending the gospel, sending
my mercy to the Gentiles. You know, a boy can have some
interest in a girl. But you know how boys are. He doesn't show her the attention
she feels she so richly deserves. So she turns her attentions to
another boy. Now, one of two things is going
to happen when she does that. Either jealousy is going to light
a little fire under him and he's going to start showing her the
attention she deserves, he's going to start wooing her to
get back into her good graces, or he's going to get mad and
pout and not talk to her anymore and cut off his nose by his face.
That's what happened to the Jews. The Lord sent mercy to the Gentiles
and instead of begging God for mercy, suing him for peace and
trying to get back into his good graces, they got mad and pouted
and refused him. And Moses told him that happened.
Isaiah was very clear. He says those Gentiles that never
sought the Lord, they never looked for mercy, they never had any
interest in Christ, they're going to find Him. They never did seek
Him for generations, but they're going to be a seeker. The Lord
said, seek and you'll find. Look at that in Luke chapter
11. Seek and you'll find. In Luke 11, verse 9, And I say unto you, Ask, and
it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. Now look over in Luke 19. I'll
show you an example of this seeking. Zacchaeus. Luke 19, verse 2. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans, and he was rich. He didn't seek the Lord. He had
no interest in seeking the Lord. He had no interest in mercy.
He had no interest in the blood. He had no interest in salvation. He spent his time cheating people
and getting rich. But verse 3, and he sought to
see Jesus who he was. But he could not for the press
because he was little in stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him. Zacchaeus found him, didn't he?
And he said, Zacchaeus, you make haste and come down, for today
I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down
and received him joyfully. That's how you receive Christ,
joyfully. But when they saw it, these Jews,
they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with
a manatee sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This
day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is
a son of Abraham. And Zacchaeus sought Jesus to
know him, who he is, and salvation came to his house. Now look at
verse 10 and you'll see why Zacchaeus became a seeker. Why did he find
the Lord? Verse 10, for the Son of Man
is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And that's why
the Gentiles found the Lord. That's why anybody finds the
Lord, because he came to seek and to save that which was lost. And the Lord came unto his own.
and his own refused him. And not only were they disobedient,
they were game sane. It's not just that, well, you
know, I'm not going to have him. They argued against him. They
did it to the point that they killed him. And Scripture told him it was
going to happen. And Scripture tells us many things. And we
shouldn't be surprised when we see them happen. Scripture tells
us men will disappoint you. Why are we surprised when they
do? Scripture tells us that false prophets are going to creep into
the church. Why are we surprised when they do? I mean, maybe you're
not. I am. And Scripture tells us that the
Lord, and we're going to look at this next week, may not, very
well may not, be done with the Jews. And I warn us, don't repeat
the mistakes of history. The Jews were prejudiced against
the Gentiles and they weren't provoked to jealousy. They weren't
provoked by jealousy to seek the Lord. The Lord might turn
back to those Jews. Let's not make the same mistake
Scripture tells us it could happen. Alright, I hope that will bless
you.