Righteousness, salvation, preaching. That's my subject this morning.
Righteousness, salvation, preaching. Open your Bibles with me to Romans
chapter 10. And I want us to look at these
21 verses of this chapter together. And I ask that you will listen
carefully. I pray that God will give me
your attention and give me the grace and power of his spirit
to preach and you the grace needed to hear what he teaches us in
these 21 verses about righteousness, salvation, and preaching. As we read these 21 verses together,
we look at the verses one at a time. I want to make seven
statements that will set forth that which is taught in the passage.
Seven statements that will give you the sense of the scriptures,
and I pray cause you to understand them. First, understand this. Righteousness is to be found
only in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, the God-man, our
substitute. Our Savior said in Matthew chapter
five and verse 20, except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you can't be saved. except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. You've got to have
a better righteousness than any you've ever imagined. The scribes
and Pharisees were the elite of the elite among the religious
folks of his day. They read the scriptures every
day. They prayed three times every
day. They fasted twice in every week. They gave tithes of everything
they had, everything. Corn in the field, eggs in the
basket, and money in the purse. They gave tithes of everything,
everything. They dressed like good religious
people. Anybody could see them and see
that they were godly. Anybody could. In fact, folks
were so impressed by them that they would say if any two people
will get to heaven, if just two people got there, one would be
a scribe and the other a Pharisee. They were good religious people
who went to hell. Our Lord said, you've got to
have righteousness better than that. Not a righteousness men
can see and not a righteousness men can fake. Not a righteousness
men can produce. A righteousness that only God
can perform and only God can give. The Jews would not bow
to Christ the Lord. They would not receive him as
the Lord their righteousness. Rather than trusting him, they
stumbled over that and tried to put on righteousness. They
thought they could perform righteousness by wearing righteous clothes
and sewing pieces of scripture in the hem of their garments.
By having their pockets stuffed with tracts and a New Testament
laying on the dashboard of their car, they could show that they
were righteous. And everybody said, boy, he's
righteous. He's righteous. I'm not talking about righteousness
that men can see. If men can see it, it ain't righteousness. I'm not talking about righteousness
men can perform. I'm talking about righteousness,
real righteousness. This is righteousness that God
requires, and it can be found only in Jesus Christ the Lord.
Look at verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul says,
I want my brethren, my kinsmen after the flesh to know God.
I want them to be saved. I'm seeking the salvation of
God's elect. He was not anti-Semite when he
said, Israel's cast off, I go to the Gentiles. He said, I want
my brethren after the flesh to be saved. I'm preaching the gospel
to them that they might be saved. I'm here today for that same
reason. It is my prayer, my heart's desire to God for you that you
may be saved. I preach the gospel of God's
grace to you as I do. I give myself to this work for
the glory of God. And I preach the gospel of God's
grace to you as I do with plainness, with clarity, with the utmost
simplicity. And I labor at doing so that
you may know God. that you may be saved by Jesus
Christ the Lord. I want you to know and trust
and worship the Son of God. Look at verse two. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God. Most folks do. Most folks do. Most of the people
that you know and I know have a religious zeal. They have a
zeal of God, a zeal to know God and serve God, a zeal for the
things of God, a zeal that makes them sometimes very devoted in
their religious practices, a zeal that makes them sometimes very
strict in the way they live, a zeal that makes them sometimes
even sacrificial. They have a zeal for God, but
there's a problem. It's a zeal of ignorance. They
have no knowledge. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. I don't mean by that they don't
know how to recite scripture. I don't mean by that, Paul doesn't
mean by that they don't know how to quote the commandments,
but they don't know what the scriptures reveal. They don't
know God. They don't know Jesus Christ.
They're religious zealots without knowledge. without the knowledge
of the Son of God. This is life eternal, our Savior
said, that they might know me, thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John Trapp spoke of zeal. He said, zeal without knowledge
is like wildfire in a fool's hands. It's like the devil in
the demoniac. It cast him sometimes into the
fire and sometimes into the water. It shows a great many things,
but not godliness, not righteousness. Verse three, for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, not ignorant of the fact that
God is righteous. Everybody knows that. not ignorant
of the fact that God requires righteousness. Everybody knows
that. Ignorant of the fact that God
has performed and accomplished righteousness in Jesus Christ,
his son. Ignorant of the righteousness
of God. Therefore, they're going about
to establish their own righteousness, going about to make themselves
good, to make themselves holy, to make themselves right before
God. And as long as they keep trying
to make themselves righteous, they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. I'm calling for you to give up
your righteousness. to give up your goodness, to
give up your imaginary holiness, to give up all of those things
by which you think you set yourself above others and commend yourself
to God. Until you give it up, you'll
never trust Christ, but rather you'll keep on stumbling over
the stumbling stone. you will not submit to the righteousness
of God. Submitting to the righteousness
of God is trusting Jesus Christ, his obedience, his sacrifice,
his intercession, his person, his work, trusting him alone
for righteousness. That is for that perfection of
character. and perfection of work and perfection
of life that God requires. That righteousness that exceeds
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, for it is perfect
righteousness such as God requires. Now, look at verse four. Here
is righteousness, the only righteousness there is. Righteousness that
will fit you for heaven. Righteousness that will make
you good enough for God. Righteousness that will cause
you to laugh and sing and rejoice even when you know the law of
God and all its demands. This is righteousness, which
every heaven-born soul is convinced of by the Holy Ghost in the new
birth when he reveals Christ in us. Romans 10 verse 4. For Christ is the end. Now let me tell you how you spell
that. It's complicated. It's complicated. It's spelled
E-N-D. End. the finishing point, the stopping
place, the getting off place, the termination, the fulfillment,
the accomplishment. Christ is the end of the law. Well, what place does the law
have in our life? The end. What does the law have
to do with us? Christ is the end. But what is
our relationship to the law? It's the end. Christ is the end
of it. Christ is the end of it. Christ is the end of the law. The ceremonial law, all the types
and sacrifices and figures of the law, and the moral law, as
it's called, the Ten Commandments, the requirements of the law.
Christ is the end of the law, totally the end of the law. That means there's no place for
the law, no place for the law in the house of faith. Christ
is the end of the law. But preacher, don't you think
we ought to live by the law? No, no. But don't you think the law is
our rule of life? No. But don't you think the law
measures sanctification? No. But don't you think the law
is motivation for God's people? No. But surely we ought to have
the law on the plaques, on the school houses and courthouses
and church houses. No. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Every kind of righteousness.
justifying righteousness, sanctifying righteousness. Christ is that
one of whom the law spoke. Christ is that one to whom the
law appointed. Christ is that one of whom God
said, this is he. Christ is the one the law tells
us to trust. Christ is the one the law tells
us we must have. And when Christ has come, he's
the end of the law for righteousness. We don't have any covenant with
the law, no commitment to the law, no constraint by the law,
no curse from the law. Christ is the end of the law.
Well, brother Don, if you don't preach the law, how do you expect
people to know how to live? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Watch this. To everyone that
believeth. To everyone that believeth. Believe on Christ, you're free
from the law. Keep on trying to keep it, and
you're under the curse. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. I don't think that we keep the
law to be justified. I don't think that we keep the
law to be sanctified. But Brother Don, we need to teach
people to keep the law just to show their devotion to Christ.
You can't show somebody devotion to Christ. You can't do that. You can't do that. You can show
folks religion. You can't show devotion. Only
God can see that. Only God can see that. Well,
we teach folks to keep the law to show their love to Christ.
No, that won't work. That won't work. Because every
outward show is nothing but the outward show. Well, how do believers
live? The love of Christ constraineth
us. That's all. That's all. Of him
are you, you who believe in Christ Jesus, in him by grace, who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. All right, here's the second
statement. First, righteousness is to be found only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Second, the righteousness of
God in Christ is salvation. Jesus Christ himself is God's
salvation. Get Christ, you got salvation. Salvation is not in the church. Salvation is not in a decision
you make. Salvation is not walking down
to the front of the church building, kneeling at a mourner's bench
or an altar or anything of the kind and saying the sinner's
prayer. Salvation is not in the confessional booth. Salvation
is not in something you do. Salvation is not in something
you experience. Christ is God's salvation. Get Christ, you get it. Miss
Christ, you miss it. He alone performed righteousness. He alone makes sinners the righteousness
of God. Now notice the language of Scripture.
It's not just that He gives us righteousness. but he makes us
to be the very righteousness of God. As he was made sin and
punished for sin, all who trust him are made the righteousness
of God in him and rewarded for righteousness according to justice
by the grace of God. He is of God and to us, righteousness. And in these verses, five through
nine, the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, shows
us the difference between law righteousness and gospel righteousness. Now again, this is deep, deep
stuff. This is deep stuff. You gotta
listen carefully. If you don't, you're going to
read a 5,000 page book on law and be confused. So listen carefully. Here's the difference between
gospel righteousness and law righteousness. Law righteousness
says do something. That's it. Law righteousness
says do. Keep the commandments, be circumcised. Now, I don't know anybody these
days who would tell you, you got to be circumcised physically
to be saved. But I know thousands of folks
who will tell you in a heartbeat, you got to be circumcised to
be saved. What's that mean? That means, Mark, you got to
do something. Believe on Jesus' hand. Believe on Jesus and. Trust the Lord Jesus and. You
gotta trust Christ and. Law of righteousness says do
something, do something. Gospel righteousness says done.
That's the difference. The difference between salvation
and damnation is doing and done. The difference between Babylon's
religion and the religion of the gospel is do and done. The difference between false
prophets and true prophets is the false prophet says, do, do,
do. The true prophet says, done,
done, done. Now let's see if that's what
the book says. Look at verse five. For Moses, the law, described
but the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. Gospel righteousness
says Christ has done everything. In verses six through eight,
the Holy Ghost tells us that Christ is that one who performed
everything required of God in the law that he spoke to the
children of Israel by the mouth of his servant Moses. And when
we read verses six through eight, I want you to go back to the
book of Deuteronomy and see the quotation that Paul is giving
him. First, let's look at Romans 10,
verse six. The righteousness, which is a faith, speaketh on
this wise, say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Who's going to bring down the
Messiah? Who's going to bring down that one who will keep the
law? Who's going to bring down that
one who's the woman seen? Who's going to bring down that
one who will crush the serpent's head? Who's going to bring down
that man who is God, who fulfills all things according to the law?
or who shall descend into the deep. That is, this man having
suffered and died in our stead, according to all the prophets,
buried in the earth, now who's gonna raise him up from the dead?
That is, to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what sayeth
it? What does the law say? What does
the righteousness of faith say? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. What on earth is that talking
about? The word's near you. It's in your mouth and in your
heart. This is the word which was constantly
on the lips of God's people throughout the Old Testament age. This is
the word that was in their hearts, Messiah, Messiah, Messiah, Messiah,
God's anointed, God's anointed, Redeemer, Redeemer, Jehovah who
says, that's the word that's near you in your heart and in
your mouth as you sing praise to God. That's the word of faith. which we preach. Now turn back
to Deuteronomy chapter 30. I want to show you this. Paul
is quoting to us from this passage of scripture. What Paul says
here in Romans 10 is exactly what Moses spoke prophetically
back here in Deuteronomy. Moses in the law preached faith
in Christ. Moses, when he gave the law,
which said do and live, Never, never, never, never, never, never,
ever, ever, ever. Have I got enough nevers and
evers in there? You got that. Never, ever did
Moses say you gotta do something to be saved. Never, never. Moses preached free grace just
like I preach it now. Moses preached salvation by faith
in Christ, just like I preach it now. When he revealed the
law, he's pointing to him who fulfills the law, the end of
all Christ Jesus. Paul says so in Romans 10. He
tells us that Christ is the righteousness God requires. He's the righteousness
performed and accomplished by God. He's the righteousness revealed
by God. He's the righteousness received
by faith. And this is without works. Look at Deuteronomy chapter
30 verse 11. For this commandment, which I
command thee this day, is not hidden from thee, neither is
it far off. I'm not talking to you about
some secret, speculative, mysterious thing nobody can understand unless
they've got a degree in theology. It is not in heaven that thou
shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it
unto us, that we may hear it and do it? O no! Neither is it
beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea
for us, and bring it unto us, that we might hear it and do
it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in
thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Isn't that exactly what Paul
said in Romans 10? See, I have set before thee this
day life and good and death and evil, in that I command thee
this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and
to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgment,
that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless
thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. Well, that
looks like works to me. It doesn't until you read Romans
chapter 10. And Paul said, no, this is faith.
This is all about faith. How do you keep the command of
God? How do you keep God's command?
Walk before me and be holy. Walk before me and be perfect.
Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and being. Love your
neighbor as yourself. How do you do that? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him who did it all. And
if you trust Him, He did it all for you. I don't mean your trusting
Him makes you righteous. I don't mean your trusting Him
means that you make Him to be your representative. I don't
mean your trusting Him somehow completes what He did. I mean
your trusting Him is the revelation of the fact that He did it for
you. He is made of God unto you righteousness. How do you know that's what he's
talking about? Go back a couple of pages to Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy
chapter 18, yeah. Deuteronomy 18, verse nine. When thou art come into the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to
do after the abominations of those nations. What abominations? They're idolatry. the works of
their hands, their attempts to make themselves righteous, their
attempts to make themselves godly, their attempts to make themselves
holy, their attempts to satisfy the requirements of God. Don't
do that to their abominations. Verse 13, thou shalt be perfect
with the Lord thy God. Now I know we try our best to
say that word perfect, that means sincere and upright, and it does
carry that idea. You can't be perfect without
being sincere, but you can sure be sincere and not be perfect.
What's it say? Thou shalt be perfect with the
Lord thy God. How? Look at verse 15. The Lord
thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thy
brethren like unto me. Unto him ye shall hearken according
to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb in
the day of the assembly. Say, you remember when they got
the law, they said to Moses, let us not hear his voice again. Let me not hear the voice of
the Lord my God. Neither let me see his great
fire anymore that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, they
have well spoken that which they have spoken. To what? They've
well spoken. We've got to have a mediator.
We've got to have somebody between us and God. Verse 18, so God
says, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like
unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command them. and it shall come
to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which
he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. All right,
look back at verse nine of chapter 10 in Romans. Romans 10, verse
nine. This is the word of faith which
we preach, the word that's near you. It's in your heart and in
your mouth. If God gives you life in Christ, if God's given,
put Christ in you, he calls this Christ to dwell in you and you
confess him. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. To confess Christ is to worship
him. To call upon His name is to worship
Him as God, my Savior. Now, listen to what Paul says.
I can't think of any portion of Scripture, except perhaps
John 3, 16, that has been more maligned, misused, and twisted
by religious folks who don't know God from a billy goat to
make it say what it doesn't say than Romans chapter 10, verses
9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. They say, well, if you'll just
call on Jesus, he'll save you. Jesus saved me! No, no, that's
not what it said. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, confess Him, worship Him as Jesus, Savior,
your Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him
from the dead, that is, if you trust Him, as the Christ of God. If you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, thou shalt be saved. This is not a conditional promise.
It is a declaration of fact. Larry Brown, if right now you
believe on the Son of God, you shall be saved forever. Larry? Don? Mark, stuff like us, yeah. Salvation's yours forever. Faith
in Christ is more than just knowledge about Him. Faith in Christ is
a heart work. It is believing in the heart,
from the heart, with the heart, by the work of God the Holy Spirit
in your heart. It is a work wrought in us by
the Holy Ghost. Believe in Christ, we're saved. Saved by grace, saved by blood,
saved by Christ, saved forever. Now look at verses 10 through
13. Here's the third thing. This great salvation is free. The free gift of God to all who
trust his son, the Lord Jesus. For with the heart, not the head,
the heart. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. Somewhere in the margin of your
Bible or in your notes, write this understanding of the text.
With the heart, man believeth with reference to righteousness. Not believing, he becomes righteous. Not believing, he makes himself
righteous. Not believing, he somehow adds
to righteousness. He believes with the heart with
regard to righteousness. Christ is it! Christ did it. And with the mouth, confession
is made with reference to salvation. Confession is made not by confessing
Christ, we get saved. Not by confessing Christ, we
put the final touches on God's work. No, confessing Christ,
we confess Christ is salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, shall not be put to
shame, shall not be confused, shall not be confounded, shall
not make haste, For there is no difference between the Jew
and the Greek, between the Jew and the Gentile. You see, God
is no respecter of persons. I can't do anything but say this
now. I'll come back to it another day. I can't tell you how many times
over the years I have in conversation with folks, especially when I
was in college with a bunch of ignorant theologians, folks who
thought they knew everything about God, and since then talked
to them about God's sovereignty, election, predestination. I don't
believe that God's no respecter of persons. Well, their concept
of election and predestination makes God a respecter of persons.
The scriptures teach plainly he's not. God can't be bought
off by something you do. God can't be bribed by something
you do. He warns us over and over and over again that the
ruler of people can't take a gift. The priest can't take a gift.
The judge of the people can't take a gift because a gift will
corrupt him. A gift to buy him off. You can't
buy God off. God's no respected person. Doesn't
matter whether you're Jew, Gentile, black, white, bond-free, male,
female. It don't matter! The scripture
says there's no difference. The same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon Him. What's that mean, call upon Him?
Back in Genesis chapter 4, men began to call on the name of
the Lord. They began to worship God. They
began to worship God. That's what the word means. It
doesn't mean you say the sinner's prayer. It means you worship
God. Whosoever shall worship Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Lord
God, shall be saved. In every regenerate soul, there
is a heartfelt knowledge of the person, work, and glory of the
Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. He who calls sinners from
death to life, out of darkness into light, as he creates life
and faith in us, convinces the heaven-born soul of the person
and work of Christ as the Christ. He reveals the infinite merit
and efficacy of Christ in us, the sufficiency of His blood
and righteousness. He convinces us of righteousness
accomplished and judgment finished by Jesus Christ the Lord. And
there is in everyone in whom Christ is revealed a heartfelt
enjoyment of our blessed Savior as all our salvation. I read that portion in Nehemiah
before Scripture for two reasons. One, because of its reference
with regard to preaching. And the other, as the children
of Israel gathered to worship God, and they gathered to keep
the feasts, they gathered to offer the sacrifice to God, they
came and heard the reading of the law. Be ye holy, for I am
holy. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
And their hearts were downcast and they wept. I can't do it.
I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it.
I can't do it. And the prophet said, quit crying,
quit mourning, and rejoice. Be of a merry heart. The sacrifice
portrays Him who's done all. So rejoice in Him. And faith
in Christ, this new birth, this gift of faith in Christ, this
gift of life in Him, causes sinners to rejoice in Christ Jesus. I love how Paul uses that word
rejoice interchangeably for faith. We are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. In every safe center, there is
a continual coming to Christ. We believe him. We come to him. We rejoice in Him, and rejoicing
in Him as our only Redeemer and Savior, we continually come to
Him. As we sang in the song in the
bulletin this morning, just as at the first, we come to Christ
with all our sin, trusting Him alone for all our salvation.
Here's the fourth statement, verses 14 through 17. Salvation is brought to poor
needy sinners by the preaching of the gospel. Preaching is as
we read in Nehemiah, giving the sense of scripture. It is proclaiming
Christ crucified from the scriptures. Now listen carefully, please
listen carefully. You can preach that which is
written in the word of God in a verbally, grammatically correct
manner and never preach Christ. You can preach all the facts
revealed in this book and never preach Christ. You can preach
all the history revealed in this book and never preach Christ.
You can preach all the laws as they are written in the letter
of the word and never preach Christ. You can preach every
word of the four gospels and never preach Christ. You can
preach all about the virgin birth, the fact of our Lord's life,
the fact of his death, the fact of his birth, the fact of his
resurrection, and the fact of his ascension glory and never
preach Christ. Preaching is to show how the
scriptures reveal Christ. Preaching is giving the sense
of the book. so that when I get done here,
I hope, and I hope, I'll put just one there, I hope you understand,
Josh, Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy 30, it's talking about Christ.
That's what it's talking about. That's preaching. It is declaring
Jesus Christ crucified in all the scriptures. Preaching the
word is preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel is preaching
the word. Now, we recognize that no man
can give himself faith. That's the work, the gift, and
the operation of God the Holy Ghost. And no preacher can communicate
faith to you. I can't do it. I can't do it.
I can't preach in such a way as to give you faith. I can't
pray in such a way as to give you faith. I can't reason with
you in such a way as to give you faith. I can't present you
with arguments and force you to accept those arguments logically,
mentally, accept those things because you can't deny them.
That won't produce faith. Faith is the gift of God the
Holy Ghost. Not only is it so initially,
Jimmy, you will believe God this moment only as God gives you
faith. You understand that? Surely you
do. How often have you tried to believe
him and couldn't? That doesn't require any argument,
does it? Rex, the only way we believe God is if God the Holy
Spirit works faith in us continually. Now let me tell you something. He does that by preaching. He
does that by preaching. He does that by preaching. By
the preaching of the gospel. If we rightly understood The
benefit to our souls of gospel preaching. We would never willingly
miss the opportunity to hear God speak by his word. Preaching. That's the instrument
God has ordained for the saving of his elect. for the edifying
of his saints, for the gift of faith, for strength, for comfort,
for consolation, for knowledge, for understanding, for growth
in grace. Look at Romans 10, verse 14. How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? That is, you can't
worship, you can't trust Christ. You can't worship Christ, you
can't call on Him if you don't trust Him. It's not possible.
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they've not heard?
You can't believe Him, you can't trust Him if you don't know who
He is, what He's done. Somebody's got to come tell you.
And how shall they hear without a preacher? Well, I read the
Bible, and God will teach me. God does teach you by the reading
of the word, and I urge it. I urge you, read the word. Read
the word all the time. Read it all you can. But you read the third chapter of
Isaiah, like that eunuch had gone up to Jerusalem to worship
God. He was a pretty good fellow, Mark. He had gone to Jerusalem
from Ethiopia to keep the feast and worship God. This fellow,
he was serious about his thing. And coming home, all he heard
was a bunch of blather about nothing, and he was reading the
53rd chapter of Isaiah, reading it out loud. That's a pretty
good way to read. He's reading it out loud. And Philip heard
him reading. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. And Philip said to him, said,
let me ask you something, buddy. Do you understand that? He said,
how can I? Except some man showed me. Phillips
said, scoot over, I'll tell you. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the word of God. Read what it says. How shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? The only person who can preach
Christ to you, preach Christ affectionately to you, is one
who is sent of God to do so. I can't tell you how I labor
with the burden of that. Praying, God send me this day
with your word to your people. It doesn't really matter who
the man is that God sends. He may be smart and talented
and able to reason and preach with precise English and proper
grammar, and he may know the Greek and the Hebrew and give
you the scriptures and all kinds of flowery speech, or he may
be dull. hard to listen to, just monotone. There's nothing impressive about
him. It may butcher the king's English.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. God sends
farmers in bibbed overalls like Amos, and he sends prophets like
Isaiah in king's palaces. God sends whom he will. In fact,
sometimes God even sends a fellow like Balaam, who doesn't know
God from a billy goat, to preach the gospel of God's free grace
clearly and distinctly at exactly the time God intends for the
benefit of those to whom God sends him. 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 saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? I'll tell you who's going to
hear what I've said today. I'll tell you, everybody's going to
hear it. Everybody chosen of God, everybody redeemed by the
blood of his Son, everybody whom he's called by his grace, everybody
to whom God speaks by his spirit. So then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. How blessed are they to whom
God sends a preacher preaching the gospel of his grace in the
power of his spirit. Number five. Look at verses 18
and 19 and learn this. It is our great privilege and
our great responsibility to preach the gospel through all the earth.
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 by them that
are no people, and by a foolish nation will I anger you. Paul
said, God has sent the gospel we preach into all the earth,
into all the earth, to be preached among all peoples, to gather
his elect out of the four corners of the earth. Brother David Edmondson
last week in his bulletin wrote an excellent article from 1 Thessalonians
2, 4. We were allowed of God to be
put in trust with the gospel. Oh, what an honor. God has trusted to me the gospel
of his grace to preach it everywhere. I said to you shortly after I
came to Danville, and I said to you a number of times, our
responsibility as a people to whom God has revealed the gospel,
a people into whose hands God has trusted the gospel, our responsibility
reaches far beyond these four walls where we gather to worship
God. Our responsibility is the whole
world in our generation. It is our responsibility to do
everything we can to make the gospel known everywhere in the
day God's appointed for us upon this earth. For that reason,
You said your pastor and you send the gospel preached in this
place through many men and by many means around the world. And I call on you to do more
than ever. And I call on myself to do more
than ever. I'm not looking for something
less to do. I'm looking for something more to do. God has graciously
opened to us doors of utterance around the world. And for reasons
known only to himself, given this little band of insignificant
saved sinners, a door of influence and utterance for the gospel
to multitudes everywhere. Count it your privilege. count
it our privilege to make known the glory of God committed to
our trust. That's why we exist. That's what we're here for. We
have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency,
the power may be of God and not of us. Number six, look at verse
20. By the preaching of the gospel,
The Lord God seeks out, finds, and saves his elect. 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. God speaks by the word, and as
he does, he seeks out his sheep. finds them and calls them by
his grace. One more thing, verse 21. In
the preaching of the gospel, the Lord God graciously stretches
out his hands to sinners and calls stubborn rebels to be reconciled
to him. But to Israel he saith, all the
day long I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsaying people. We are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
head, be you reconciled to God. How can I say this? How can I
say this? WAP in just a little while. Now,
y'all please understand, when I call WAP, WAP, he's not of
Italian descent and I'm not using a bad word. That's the only name
he's known by, WAP. In a little while, you're gonna
treat that little girl just like you did your first one. And you're
gonna get down on your knees and she's gonna start to waddle
a little bit on her feet. And you'll stretch out your hands.
You'll say, come to daddy. God Almighty, by the preaching
of the gospel, stretches out his hands, stretches out his
hands, stretches out his hands to poor needy sinners and says,
come to daddy. And coming, you cry, God, my
daddy, Abba, Father. Believing on the Son of God. Come to Christ and go home with
God today for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's sing Jesus I Come,
number 242.