Romans chapter 10 verse 17 is
where we'll start. We've been working through that
book, and we are now dealing with verse 17, and we've been
dealing with the nature of hearing and receiving the truth. And
as we look at verse 17 again, a very common passage of Scripture,
we'll continue to unpack what it means in light of the apostles'
teaching and as well as in light of the teachings of the whole
Word of God. In Romans 10 verse 17, the apostle
says, So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. This is what we've been dealing with for the last couple
of weeks. The fundamental principle of hearing. The proposition that
we laid out over the last couple of weeks is that the hearing
that the apostle Paul is talking about cannot be merely the hearing
of the physical ear or the hearing of the cognitive mind as a prerequisite
for actually receiving the truth of the gospel. It cannot be that
what the apostle means is that faith automatically comes to
a person if they hear the word. We know that that's the case
by the larger volume and testimony of scripture. But here's my proposition
as we work through this. It is not merely the sort of
automatic process of a person hearing the reading of the scriptures
or the exposition of the scriptures or the teaching of the scriptures
that qualifies him to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In other words, natural hearing
is not what the Apostle Paul is talking about. For if that
were the case, all we would need to do to assure the salvation
of men and women is to walk around with megaphones quoting the scriptures. The assumption then that we merely
want to get people within the earshot of the word of God is
an assumption that's flawed. There is other work that is required
for a person to actually comprehend the truth. Now, the premise upon
which we are investigating that notion or that proposition is
what the apostle Paul says, in chapter 10 verse 18 or verse
16 look at what it says but they have not all obeyed the gospel
they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah said Lord who
hath what believed our report now look at verse 18 but I say
have they not heard do you see that see the assumption on the
Apostle Paul's part as he uses The model for this issue of the
preaching of the gospel, the nation of Israel, and therefore
what he's quoting from is the Old Testament, to let you know,
in the mind of the apostle, the passages of scripture that he's
dealing with are the Psalms and the book of Isaiah. He is in
Isaiah right now, chapter 52, And chapter 53, as he is discoursing
with the church at Rome about the issue of actually comprehending
the gospel in a saving way. He's arguing again, the dialectical
issue of Jew and Gentile. As you guys know, he's saying
that the reason that the Jews did not grasp and receive and
embrace the truth as it is in Christ, was because they were
blinded to that truth. Isn't that what we learned last
week? They were blinded to the truth all the way back to the
days of Moses. We saw this in Deuteronomy, where
God said through Moses to Israel, the Lord brought you all the
way through the wilderness up to the brink of Jordan. He provided
for you. He took care of you. He handled
all your issues. And yet to this day, He has not
given you eyes to see, nor ears to hear, nor a heart to perceive
all that the Lord did. You guys remember that? This
is Moses indictment against Israel. Paul's indictment is the same.
He's saying to his Jewish constituency in Rome, you had everything ostensibly
necessary for salvation and you missed it. But the reason you
missed it was because you were blinded. God didn't give you
an understanding of the truth of who he was and what he did
in order for you to receive him. Didn't we, didn't we go to the
book of Isaiah chapter six, subsequent to Deuteronomy chapter two, go
to Isaiah six. I want you to see it again for
yourself. The reason for which we are dealing
with the old Testament passages in relationship to Romans chapter
10, is in order to help us understand how Paul is addressing the dilemma
that occurs at Rome, the Roman church that is in relationship
to this issue of the gospel. The backdrop to the epistle of
the Romans is the Gentiles are saved by grace. They seem to
be much more of a proponent of the gospel than the Jews. There
are Jews who are being saved. We'll see that in chapter 11,
but the combined unit of Jews and Gentiles in the Roman church
has brought about a conflict. And that conflict exists between
a group of people who believe themselves to be by virtue of
their heritage and their lineage, more inclined and as it were,
they feel as though they are heirs to the things of God above
the Gentiles and that is the Jews. The Jews had a sort of,
and they do today by the way, the Jews had a sort of presumption
of right of inheritance by which they assumed that they had a
superior position by which they could grasp and embrace the things
of God over and beyond the Gentiles. The Gentiles, on the other hand,
are asking the question, what's the difference between a Jew
and a Gentile when we Gentiles have found ourselves experiencing
the grace of God on the same level of the Jews in terms of
hearing it and responding, but There is a real objective sense
in which the Gentiles took off with the gospel and became much
more committed to it and effective in the preaching of the gospel
than did the Jews. So you've got this dilemma of
these two classes of people that are under the same roof. One
class of people presume their inheritance. The other class
of people see the fruitfulness of their inheritance and the
clash between the two is really a class of racism. It's a class of discrimination.
And this legacy of discrimination is a barrier that has been hindering
people for 2000 years. And when the Bible sets forth
the issue of who are objects of God's mercy, the one thing
that a true gospel, a plumb line gospel, a straight gospel, an
undistorted gospel, unadulterated gospel will do the one thing
it will do is destroy the presumption that you have a right to the
kingdom of God because of your ethnicity the Bible is very clear
God is no respecter of persons that prohibition that particular
precept is an offense to the man or the woman who either aware
consciously are aware of this are living in a sort of subconscious,
uh, assumptive role that God regards who they are just because
of their ethnicity or God regards who they are because of what
they've done, all that they've suffered, all the atrocities
they've gone through. The fact that their father was
Abraham, the fact that they've been under the burden of the
law of God for 2000 years, All of those notions can be carried
over to where you and I live today, where men and women can
find themselves. And this is the thing that is
at the heart of the teaching of the word of God. You can find
yourself shifting from an absolute trust in the person of work in
Jesus Christ to something you've done or are doing in order to
obtain favor with God. You can lose sight of the fact
that your salvation is purely by the grace of God apart from
works. That's a challenge we all have
till we hit the dust. Some of us in religion may be
Christians for 20, 30, 40 years, and then you have this sense
of right of airship over others. You'll have a tendency to want
to pull rank and display a sort of presumptive arrogance over
newer Christians because you've been in the faith so long. Now
you have subtly shifted the paradigm of your trust as well from the
finished work of Jesus on the cross to your own spiritual sanctification. If somehow you boast in the fact
that you've grown in Christ, or you know a lot about the Bible,
or you have a position in the church, a leadership role in
the church, and on that basis alone you presume that somehow
you're more secure for glory than the sinner who has just
been redeemed by God's grace, still wearing the grave clothes
of his fallen nature, his endemic nature, of which those grave
clothes are taken off by and by as we grow in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord. So you see the New Testament
church has the same challenges as that first century church
did too. Am I setting a good context?
It's very important for you to know this. Very important for
you to know. And this is what Paul is dealing with. Paul is
not dealing with mere what we call pedantics or philosophical
concepts or theoretical doctrinal issues. He's dealing with the
subtle, sinful nature of fallen man to depart from a gospel of
grace to a gospel of words, which produces sort of a sense of personal
worth and therefore discriminatory attitudes towards people so what
he did was back up and begin to explain to us all through
the history of the Old Testament how that God would open some
people's eyes and he would close other people's eyes and this
is the premise upon which we're building right now look with
me and I said chapter 6 I want you to see this we're gonna close
out Romans chapter 9 chapter 10 tonight But I want to make
sure we read it again, particularly for our new visitors. I want
you to understand the premise of the argument of the Apostle
Paul as he deals with his Jewish brethren and his Gentile brethren.
Isaiah chapter six. Are we there? Isaiah saw the
glory of God. Isaiah was cleansed metaphorically
by the seraphim with the coals placed on his lips. His iniquity
was purged in verse seven. And verse eight, he was commissioned.
Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send?
And who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send
me. Verse nine, and he said, go and
tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not. See ye indeed,
but perceive not. And make the heart of this people
what? And make their ears heavy. And
shut their eyes. lest they should see with their
eyes, hear with their ears, and what? And understand with their
heart and should be converted and be healed. Do you see that?
God gave Isaiah a commission to preach the gospel knowing
that the net effects of the preaching of the gospel for this people
who lived in the seventh, eighth century BC, the net effect of
gospel preaching for them would be to close their eyes, make
their heart heavy. Now, the word make the heart
heavy means to weigh the heart down in such a way that it cannot
respond to the truth of the gospel. A heavy heart is enslaved to
carnal passions. Now, Isaiah is writing, as I
said, in the 8th century BC, 700 years before Christ, Now
go with me to Matthew chapter 13 so that you can see the fulfillment
of Isaiah chapter 7. Just in case there's a subtle
notion of suspicion that we're not properly pursuing a right
interpretation of this subject of hearing. Notice what the Lord
says in the book of Matthew chapter 13. You've heard it before. I
want you to hear it again because the The Lord Jesus is the last
of the Old Testament prophets. And he's the first and foundation
of the New Testament church. He's called the cornerstone.
And he operates as a prophet, both in the Old Testament to
close it out and in the New Testament to inaugurate the New Testament
church and the ministry of the apostles with Jesus Christ himself
being the chief apostle, which means he's also a prophet. Isaiah
chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13, listen to what Jesus says over
in verse 12. For whosoever hath to him shall
be given and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath
not from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. Therefore
speak I to them in parables, because they seeing do what? See not. And hearing they what? Hear not. Neither do they what?
Now watch what verse 14 says. And in them, is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which said, by hearing you shall hear and
shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and not perceive,
for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
should understand with their heart, and should be converted.
Now watch what Jesus said, and I should heal them. Jesus is
further developing and confirming what was told by Isaiah in his
commission to preach to his own Jewish constituency. The gospel and its net effect
would be that they would reject that gospel. So let me remind
you of why we are going through these portions of scripture.
As I said at the beginning of the study, it would be a flawed
proposition. to suggest or imply that just
because a person hears the word with their natural ear, that
they will be readily available and necessarily responsive to
the preaching of the word so that it should save them. When
what we've just read is the very opposite. Now understand this,
the Jewish people prior to the coming of Jesus heard the gospel
every day. Isaiah preached the gospel all
through his 66 books. And in fact, Paul is in Isaiah
as Paul is explaining the reason why Israel did not grasp it.
So here's what we must understand. In the hearing of the word of
God that produces repentance and faith and salvation, that
is a sovereign act of God. Please understand, To hear the
word and believe the word and obey the gospel is a work of
divine grace and operation of the spirit of God who distinguishes
himself, whom he will allow to hear the truth in a manner that
will bring about a saving response. Am I making some sense? Go back
to Matthew chapter 11. I want you to see this. Matthew chapter 11. In Matthew
chapter 11, Jesus, is praising his father publicly, which he
often does. And he says over here in verse
25, are we there? At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have made known these things to the wise and the prudent.
Is that what it says? What does it say? Because you
have hid these things. Do you guys see that? Now, let
me help you with this because it's very important. I have said
that the Bible teaches that God is sovereign in the salvation
of sinners. And I've said that God is sovereign in the opening
of the eyes of the mind and the heart of a man or woman, that
the natural man cannot receive the things of God until he's
born of God. and he has no capacity nor apparatus
in himself to be able to comprehend the truth and incline his soul
to come to Jesus until the Spirit of God raises him from the dead,
gives him ears to hear, a heart to come after Jesus, and to bow
the knee to the Savior. That's the proposition I've made
because of all that the Scripture teaches. Jesus just said that
the Father is the one that hid the truth from all those people
that were watching the word made flesh for 37 years. Did you guys get that? What that
means is this, the Lord Jesus has just relieved me of the possible
guilt of distorting his word when it comes to the issue of
God sovereignly opening the minds and hearts of sinners. See, I
believe it, but Jesus just said it, didn't he? So now the man
or the woman that wants to argue that salvation is not what we
call monergistic, God alone work of redeeming and raising from
the dead and regenerating and quickening and giving illumination
to the heart and mind of the sinner, but rather a combined
work between God and the sinner, he has to not argue with me,
but Jesus. For Jesus is not only acknowledging
that the father did it, but if you look at the text, he's thanking
God for it. Did you guys see that? I thank thee that you have hid
these things from the wise and the prudent. You guys see that? That's a disposition of heart
on the part of the son who is the last Adam and our representative
to teach us that we should love what God loves. and rejoicing
what God rejoices in, and delight in what God does, even if it's
not popular with the people. In other words, Jesus was not
a politician. He wasn't like a lot of pastors
I know, and preachers who publicly say, there's a lot of stuff in
the Bible I just don't like, and if I can, I'll avoid it.
That wasn't the way Jesus preached. Jesus didn't have a conflicted,
emotional disposition towards what his desires were and his
father's desires. He was never at odds with the
work of the Holy Ghost or the work of God's sovereign purpose.
He always delighted in God's law. He always delighted in God's
will. And whatever the father did,
Jesus rejoiced in. That should be a model and a
pattern for us, too. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So When a man or woman is arguing with you about the truth and
you can tell that God has blinded them, you need to, you need to
stay back, stand back and realize that God knows more than what
you know about that person. God knows more than what you
and I know about that particular people group. He knows more about
that ethnic group, which he made whom he blinded than you and
I do. So while we may pray that God
would open the eyes of lost sinners, what we never want to do is pray
contrary to the revealed will of God with respect to what God's
doing. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Let's see if I can help you a
little bit more just in case you don't. If you read through
the book of Acts, what you'll find out is that there were times
when the apostles were used to help men see the truth. And there
were times when the apostles were used to blind men to the
truth. Do you remember the time when
I think it was Simon Bar Jesus tried to buy the Holy Ghost?
Boy, that's apropos to religion today. He thought he could pay
for the Holy Ghost. And Peter said, you are in the
gall and bitterness and bond of iniquity. You know what Peter
had done? He had shut the doors of the kingdom to that man. Remember,
God had given Peter the keys of the kingdom. In fact, all
the apostles had them. To whom you open, heaven will
have already opened it. To whom you shut it, heaven will
have already shut it. Peter shut the doors to that
man. There was a time when the apostle Paul was doing ministry.
And there was another man too, who in his surreptitious, wicked,
subtle ways, tried to pervert the gospel. And Paul said, your
eyes be closed and the sun be darkened on you from this very
hour. And they watched that man go
blind and he had to have somebody lead him by the hand. You guys
remember that account? Well, if you don't, that's because
you're not studying your Bibles real carefully. The apostles were
people who were to be reckoned with with reverence and fear. And the work of blinding people
as well as the work of opening people's eyes is a sovereign
work of God. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's a sovereign work of God. Now, there is always a purpose
behind which God does that. When I say that the Bible teaches
that God blinds people, You may not assume that God is sort of
this arbitrary fiat divine sort of monarch that sort of, uh,
it gets a kick out of blinding people. He always acts in a divinely
judicious manner. And what that means is when he
blinds a person, they deserve it. Are you hearing what I'm
saying? When he blinds a person, they
deserve it. Sometimes he may blind a person to protect them. Let me see if I can help you
with this. I wanted to make this practical and that's happening
right now. You know that you have been blind many times to
the truth. Haven't you? Don't fool yourself. You're not
God. God knows everything. What we know you and I only know
because God has revealed it to us. And you and I are growing
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. And what we thought
we knew last year, we come to realize we didn't know it as
we ought to have known it. And sometimes we are so blind,
we are blind to the fact that we're blind. Until God opens
our eyes and we realize that we were blinded to that thing.
Am I telling the truth? But if you recall in 1 Kings
6, you don't have to go there. 2 Kings 6, where Elisha had a
servant. Remember that? And that servant
was just disrupt because the Syrians had encompassed Elisha.
That servant saw the physical enemies of Israel, but he was
blinded to the sovereign celestial omnipotence of God's army. Elisha
prayed to God to open his eyes that he might see that God has
an army too. Do you guys remember that? He
opened the boy's eyes and he told that young man, Greater
is he or they that are with us than they that are with them.
What did that servant learn in that moment? That God had held
his eyes back from the full revelation of God's glory and protection
over his servant. What that meant was he was blinded
to certain things. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's how all of us are. We see in part and where there
is a progressive unfolding of revelation, That's a consequence
of God's mercy and providence in our life. As we walk with
him, the promise is, Proverbs 4, verse 18, for some of you,
the path of the just is as a shining light that shines more and more
to the perfect day. The promise in the book of 1
Peter is this, that we are to recognize that we, 2 Peter, we
have a more sure word of prophecy where unto we do well, that more
sure word of prophecy is the Bible, where unto we do well
to take heed as unto a light that shines out of darkness,
the darkness being our heart and our mind, Until the day start
dawn and the light comes to full noon day Manifestation what that's
talking about metaphorically is a progression of the revelation
of divine truth bringing us into a full Comprehension of the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ. So it's a process But will you
hear me? It's a process that also comes
with contingencies Because you and I have to learn that what
God calls us to in order for us to be able to understand the
truth in a way that is consistent with the promise of growth and
maturity is obedience. Haven't you learned that if you
are lazy and slothful and disobedient, that God won't open your eyes
to truth? Why would he reveal things to
you that are relevant to your growth and the edification of
God's people when he can't trust you with it? See what I'm getting
at? And I'm sharing with you whether
you want to believe it or not, things that are actually operating
in your life. You know, deep down inside, intuitively,
that you should have made more progress in your walk with Christ
to this date than you have in times past because you have neglected
to run for Christ and to Christ as you know you should have.
You've grown But you've not grown like you could have grown. And
the parable that underscores this, just as I build this, I
just, I wanted to make sure this was very practical, applicable
as we close out Romans chapter 10, is the parable of the sower
and the seed. You can read it in any one of
the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, or Luke. In the parable
of the sower and the seed, there's only one soil that bears fruit. The three prior soils, one bears
no fruit at all. The second one bears a little
fruit, but it burns up because it's on shallow ground. The third
one is on stony ground that cares of this life, choke it so that
it's unfruitful. The fourth ground is good seed,
good soil upon which the good seed falls. And the Bible says
it brings forth fruit 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. And what that means is by degrees,
according to measure and a person's relationship with the Lord is
to that degree, God opens the understanding and gives more
light and more comprehension of his gospel truth. Now, if
you don't believe me, continue walking and you'll understand
what I'm saying. You'll find yourself 50, 60, 70 years old.
and wishing you had not wasted as much time in carnal preoccupations
as you did. Because when a man sows to the
flesh of the flesh, he'll reap corruption. If you sow to the
spirit of the spirit, you will reap life everlasting. That's
the rule. It's a principle of reciprocity.
Am I making some sense? I want to drive this home. It's
a principle of reciprocity. to what degree we labor. If I
sow to the Spirit, God says of the Spirit I'm going to reap
life. To what degree I am inclined to labor in the things that make
for eternal life, I can expect those dividends. But if I sow
to the flesh, all I can expect is the flesh. I know believers
who love the Lord dearly, who bemoan the fact that they spent
all their life pursuing wealth and financial security and establishing
of their bank account in some type of prominent position. in
government, or in business, or in politics, or what have you,
only to find out that all of that is wood, hay, and stubble
at the end of the day, particularly when we're right on the brink
of the destruction of our present economy and moving into a whole
nother economic paradigm where most people are losing everything
that they earned. You wake up and realize, as Jesus
said, why set your heart on those things that have wings and fly
away? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
We're deceived by this carnal life in the thinking that we
can spend half the time with God and half the time with the
devil. And we're going to still get
a good dividend on our money. You're wrong. You're just wrong. So it's very important to understand
that over this 2000 year period, since Moses said, what'd he say?
That's 1500 BC, the 1447 BC, just about. 1500 years before Christ, then 700
years later, Isaiah said the same thing. Then 700 years later,
Jesus said the same thing. That's 1500 years. Israel wasted time not preparing
their hearts to see the Lord's glory when he came in the flesh. He came into the world. The world
was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his
own and his own knew him not. The light was in the world, but
darkness did not comprehend it. Am I making some sense? And I'm
sharing with you the reason why. Israel sold to the flesh. We're going to see this as we
continue going through Daniel. And I want to try to make the
apocalyptic chapters of Daniel so very practical. Because there's
nothing new under the sun. What you and I are dealing with
is what Israel dealt with. What the whole world deals with.
The very choices that Jesus was tempted with in Matthew chapter
4. The devil came to him. After he was baptized the Holy
Ghost had descended upon Christ and remains upon Christ even
now That's the verb tense. You want to get the Holy Ghost?
You've got to have Christ. He remains upon Christ Sends
Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and the
devil tempts him With the very temptations that he tempts all
of us with the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh in the
pride of life You're the Son of God. That's the pride of life
jump down. God will take care of you You
guys got that? I'm a child of God. Nothing can
hurt me. I'm indestructible. I've been
born of God. I remember the day I accepted
Jesus into my life. I'm good to go. And so you run like a
bull in a china cabinet aimlessly and recklessly wasting time under
the presumption that because you're a child of God that your
life won't be ruined. And you come to find out that
that's not the case. Jesus told the devil, listen,
It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. I know
who I am in Christ. And Jesus could say to the devil,
I know who I am. I am the son of God, but I'm
not jumping down here in order to meet your narcissistic fancy. Then the devil came to him and
said, I know you're hungry. It's been 40 days. You haven't
had bread or water. Turn these stones into bread. You got the power. Now he's tempting
Jesus in the what? Flesh. And all through church history,
we've seen the church compromising and sell the gospel out for financial
gain and wealth and prosperity and prominence, the flesh. You
and I'll be tempted with it too. Are you hearing me? Turn these
stones in. You know what it means to turn
these stones into bread? It's to preach the gospel for money.
It's to preach the truth of God's word just to get paid. And then
he said, having taken Jesus to a high mountain and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world. In a moment, the Bible said,
if you bow down to me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Do you guys see that? I was the
lust of the eyes. He saw all the kingdoms of the
world. Do you know mad, maniacal, fleshly, carnal, demonically
possessed or harassed or controlled or influenced men and women seek
that type of power over you and me right now have been since
the fall of mankind? I'll give you all the kingdoms
of the world. Jesus rejected it again. He rejected
it again, laid down the principle. I worship the true and the living
God and him only do I worship. Men shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God shall
a man live. Now, see, our Lord went through that test and he
passed it not for himself, but as a substitute and a surety
for his people. I'm so glad he passed the test
for me. Are you hearing me? I don't have
to worry about passing that test. Jesus passed that test. That's
why I stand justified, sanctified, and glorified in the eyes of
God. Because my Savior, my representative passed that test for me. but
he left it there as an example to let us know we're going to
be tempted in that same way and to what degree you yield to that
degree you will lose out on the benefits of what the bible calls
the blessings that are ours in christ our inheritance am i making
some sense okay so let's go on on a little bit more of a practical
note having observed that jesus now says that the blindness was
fulfilled their eyes and having seen in Luke chapter Matthew
chapter 11 verse 25 that God hid these things I want you to
see what it goes on to say verse 25 and 20 through 27 this is
important he hid these things from the wise and the prudent
and he has revealed them to what you need to circle that and put
a question mark by that and you need to investigate that if you
don't know what it means He revealed them to babes. Just three points. One, a babe
is a metaphor for being born again. Except you be born from above,
you can't see the kingdom. Except you be born of the water
and of the spirit, you can't enter into the kingdom. Am I
making some sense? 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 1 makes it very
clear. Desire as newborn babes the sincere
milk of the word that you might what grow thereby. So here's
the second analogy of the babe principle that he's using here.
Babes hunger and thirst after righteousness. Isn't that the
metaphor? You remember when God first started
dealing with you, you couldn't get enough of the word. Now you
can't open your Bible. I'm messing with you. I'm messing
with you. People always are amazed at the
fact when I tell them, you know, on an average Friday night, we
have over a hundred people come out just to study the Bible.
You mean y'all don't have like music and, and, and, and dancing
and noise and going on y'all. All y'all do is just study the
Bible. In the year 2000, all y'all do is open the Bible and
just study that. And that many people come out on a Friday night.
That's unheard of. Say we've been doing that for
about 12 years here. Hungering and thirsting after
righteousness. Just the word. Just the word. God has to give
you grace to hunger for his word. David says, my soul panteth after
thee, O God, as the heart pants after the water broke. Isn't
that what he said? My soul longs for God. When shall I appear before God?
Oh, that I might be in the house of God, that I might worship
in his presence. That's the disposition of the
soul that's been born of God and can't get enough of biblical
truth as it leads him to Christ. I was talking with a group last
week when I raised the question. About this issue of falling away
The book of Colossians chapter one verse 23 says that we have
been redeemed, we have been reconciled, and we have been purposed to
enter into God's presence, holy and unblameable before him if
we continue in the faith, grounded and settled. and not moved away
from the hope of the gospel, which we have heard and which
was preached to us. The apostle Paul told the church
at Colossae, which was dealing with Gnosticism at that time.
You guys are set for glory as long as you continue in the gospel.
If you abandon the gospel, you never heard God's voice at all.
He says you are set for glory if these things are characteristic
of your life. First, you continue in the faith. The faith is a propositional
term that constitutes the body of doctrine that we call the
gospel. The faith, that's the gospel. Grounded in it. You know what it means to be
grounded? That means to lay that foundation, to anchor your house
on that foundation so that when the storms come, you're not washed
away. And then to be settled. Once
you build that foundation, anchor your house, over years that house
settles into that foundation. That means that house is secure,
it's rested. In fact, it doesn't want to be
any other place than right there. And when you meet a believer
who is mature in Christ and grounded and settled, you can't move them.
They know the truth. And they've been in the truth
long enough to be so rested in Jesus that when all of the winds
of false doctrine and false teaching and all these newfangled ideas
start flying past the way, all they do is step back and just
let it come and let it go. Because he came to go anyway.
They're grounded and they're settled. And in this religious
age, religious age, which with our very superficial sort of
a consumer-oriented Christian mindset, people who are grounded
in Christ and therefore are not moved by every new wind that
blows are viewed as old stogies or ignorant or narrow-minded. narrow-minded, stuck in the old
paradigms. They use business terms. You're
locked into the old paradigm. You're a dinosaur. You're going to be obsolete.
You're going to become irrelevant. You're not going to be able to
serve the cause of God if you don't change and put on new ways
and new methods. That's a lie from hell. Are you
hearing me? That's a lie. Let me say this
very, because I don't want you to miss it. That's a lie from
hell. Let me see if I can help you.
One of the tricks of the devil is to actuate your senses with
terms and phrases. So he inserts into the vocabulary,
the common vernacular of our culture, terms. One of them is
contemporary, contemporary. The other is relevant, relevant. Effective, effective. We need
to be relevant, contemporary, effective. I share with you,
to be contemporary is to set yourself up to be insignificant. Because if you are contemporary
today, tomorrow a new thing is coming, which makes yesterday's
contemporary old and ancient and irrelevant. Are you hearing
me? Then you have to leave that contemporary
thing and jump on to the next contemporary thing. And then
when it gets old, you got to jump to the next contemporary
thing. So the enemy's got you tossed to and fro by every wind
of doctrine, having deceived you into thinking that change,
constant change, unending change is the only way to be relevant.
When the Bible says God doesn't change, the word of the Lord
endures forever. Mankind is the same since the
beginning of time. Did you know that? He's a sinner
under the wrath of God. He needs to be redeemed and saved
by the grace of God and invaded by the Spirit of God and sanctified
by the Spirit of God and prepared for glory. The same way God saved
Adam is the same way he's got to save us today. That doesn't
sound like a whole lot of change and does it? When man stops being
a hell-bound sinner, then I'll take on a new gospel. How about
you? And when the saints stop being
deceitful and slothful, then I'll start preaching something
other than Christ and I'm crucified, because that's your only hope
for glory too. Are you hearing me? Relevant. You know what's relevant? Eternal
verity. When you're dealing in eternal
truth, you're always relevant. Am I making some sense? When
you're dealing in eternal truth, you're always relevant. All right, let's go on for a
couple more. I just wanted to draw these. Go back with me to
our text. Three more verses, we'll wrap this up, we're almost
done. In Romans chapter 10, let's go
on and wrap this one up, close this out. In Romans chapter 10,
the apostle Paul dealing with the necessity of understanding
that faith is a gift of God and that the hearing ear, the seeing
eye, the Lord has made both of them, Proverbs 20, 12, And faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I told you
in the original language, that phrase is theos, rather, sorry,
rhema, that's the Greek word for word, tochristos. It's the word of Christ. In other words, it's the gospel. Why the King James translators
translated it, the word of God, I don't know. They should have
translated it as it is in many of the older and plenary manuscripts,
the word of Christ. Because the context of chapter
10 has made it plain what the Gentiles heard was the preaching
of the gospel. The command is to go into all
the world with the what? Gospel. This was the proposition
I shared with you last week. You can read Bible verses and
not preach the gospel. Everything in the Bible is not
the gospel. Am I making some sense? I want you to go with
me one more verse before we go back and lock out chapter 10.
Go with me to Acts chapter 13. This will be a good example of
what I'm talking about. Acts 13 will serve to underscore
this. and then we will be able to start
working downhill. Acts chapter 13 will underscore
this proposition, that just because a person is teaching the Bible,
or reading the Bible, or sharing the Bible, or sharing Bible verses,
doesn't mean you are hearing the gospel. Here's the other
proposition. The purpose for the word of God is in order that
the gospel might be preached. This again is what's in 1 Peter
1, verse 23. And this is the word by which
the gospel is preached unto you. The purpose for which God gave
you the Bible is in order for you to hear the gospel out of
the Bible. Are you guys hearing me? The
purpose for which God gave some of us gifts to teach and preach
the Bible is in order to preach Christ from the Bible. And I have not done my job if
I don't preach Christ to you. Am I making some sense? All right.
So now listen to this. Listen to what the apostles were
doing in Acts chapter 13. I'm gonna start over at verse
40. I'm gonna start at verse 40 and go through
verse 48. I want you to hear this. Let me start at verse 38. Go
through verse 48. The context is the same in terms
of what we're dealing with relationship to the issue and controversy
in the church of Rome. The apostles are dealing with
Jews and Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles are hearing the apostles discuss
what the gospel is. That's the context, OK? Now,
Paul is speaking to the Jews right now. And remember, what
is the general tenor of the Jew? To reject the gospel. That was
the general tenor. So now listen to Paul's language
to them in verse 38. Are you there? Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, that is
Jesus, is preached unto you what? The forgiveness of sin. Watch
that. If I talk to you about forgiveness,
I better talk to you about forgiveness in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. See what I'm getting at? If I
talk to you about justification, I better talk to you about justification
in the person and work of Jesus Christ. If I talk to you about
the resurrection, I better talk to you about the resurrection
in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is our resurrection.
If I talk to you about faith, I better talk to you about faith
as it is in Christ. If I talk to you about good works,
I better talk to you about good works as a consequence of him
who did that work that was good in the sight of God, imputed
it to us, gave us his spirit by which we now do good works
on the grounds of him having already done that one good work.
Am I making some sense? I better preach the gospel as
the foundation for any exhortation or doctrinal subject that I give
you. because it's possible for someone to talk to you about
the resurrection and faith and justification and obedience and
Healings or whatever it may be without preaching Christ to you
Did you guys get that? Don't tolerate the preaching
of any subject apart from the Savior who is the fulfillment
of that subject for you They'll set you up to fall every time.
Why would I want to hear about the resurrection and not hear
about him who is the firstborn from the dead? Are you hearing
what I'm saying? So be very careful to know what
Paul said was, and this is what happened all through the book
of Acts. They preached Jesus and every subject that they taught,
they taught through the prism of preaching Christ. Got it? Because Christ is their subject,
man. Sometimes when we go to church,
we hear the preacher preach only of God, but... What church is
that? Like the church of God. Okay, I don't... Look, have you
ever heard that here? No. Okay, so when you hear somebody
talk about God and they don't talk about Jesus, why are you
tolerating it? That's what I was gonna ask. That's exactly what I was gonna
ask. People, you know, we are so jacked up today. Let me see
if I can help you. For those of you who don't know,
Jesus said in Psalm chapter 40 verse seven, listen, I come in
the volume of the book is written about me. You guys got that? Jesus said in John chapter five,
verse 39, You religious folks are searching the scriptures,
but in them, you think you have eternal life, yet they testify
of me. You guys got that? The apostle
said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse two, I am determined to know
nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Therefore,
I intentionally leave off with rhetoric sophisticated, philosophical,
Socratic, Platonic theories and ideologies that cause people
to go, whoa, he intentionally left off with all of that. The
Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16, woe unto me if I preach
not the gospel. And then the Bible tells us again
in the book of Revelation chapter 19 verse 10 that the testimony
of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. That means if a
man's not preaching Christ, he doesn't have the spirit. Got
it? Got it? And so when we read in Acts chapter
13, what the apostle Paul is doing is letting the Jewish brethren
know that this man that was healed, he was healed by Jesus. Look
at verse 39. And by him, that is Jesus, all
that what? Now notice, how does a sinner
believe? By Christ. Do you see it? Now, justification comes by virtue
of the work of Christ and faith in that work is a gift from Christ
to the sinner. And by him, all that believe
are what? From all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. See right there,
Paul just crossed over the Jews, shook them to the left while
he went to the right. It's a basketball term. They were really offended at
him saying, justification comes through Christ alone. Now watch
what goes on to say, beware therefore, beware my Jewish brethren, lest
that come upon you which is spoken in the prophet. Guess who he's
quoting? Isaiah. Behold, you what? Despisers and
wonder. He says, you can look, you despisers,
and you can wonder, but you're gonna perish. Do you see it? For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise what? Ah, there it is, though
a man declare it unto you. That was fulfilled by Jesus.
And when the Jews were going out of the synagogue, now watch
this, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached
to them the next Sabbath day. The Jews said, ah, The Gentiles
said, can you preach that to us next week? Now watch this. Now, when the
congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them
to continue in the what? Ah, that's another synonym for
the gospel. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city Together to what? Hear the word of God. These are Gentiles, folks. Now
watch this. But when the Jews saw the multitude,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting in what? That's exactly what
Isaiah said would happen. That's exactly what Jesus said
would happen. and it's happening on the apostles,
watch now. The apostles are preaching Christ,
but the Jews are closing their eyes. Their hearts are becoming
heavy and they're contradicting the apostles and blaspheming
God. Are you guys seeing that? God's blinding them. We're gonna
see that when we get to chapter 11. Chapter 11 explains that
God has blinded Israel. I just want you to see that in
the ministry of the word, All the time, there are two things
happening. God is drawing people to himself
and opening their understanding and he's holding people back
or pushing them away. Pushing them away because of
their proud, arrogant position towards God. God always resists
the proud. Are you hearing me? He always
resists the proud. A proud man will never stand
before God. A proud woman will never see
the Lord's glory. It won't ever happen. So you
see this one group of people becoming harder and harder, more
cynical, more hostile, more cold, more contentious, more argumentative. God's hardening them. You know
why? Because there was something in the preaching of the gospel
that they didn't like because it told them you got to bow,
you got to come down. You got to come down. You can't
come on your own terms. You have no self-worth. God doesn't
see anything good in you. Did you hear what I just said?
God doesn't see anything good in the sinner. There's no reason
for which God should even look at us except to take the whole
lot of us and cast us into hell. Now some of y'all be telling
folks something quite contrary to what I just said. Oh God sees
the good in you. No, he doesn't. There's none
good. No, not one. Y'all got that? The rich young
ruler came to Jesus and said, good master. Jesus said, there's
none good. Why are you calling me good?
Why are you calling me good? Because he knew that the rich
young ruler, in calling Jesus good, by de facto, made himself
good. Because he was a master in Israel,
just like Jesus. And he wanted some goodness attributed
to himself, so he said that Jesus was good. But he wasn't ready
to acknowledge that Jesus was God. Are you hearing me? See, if you're going to call
him good, you better call him God, because there's none good but...
You got it? See it? Jesus, why are you calling
me good? What, you want some of this goodness?
You'll steal God's glory and you'll go to hell. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? You'll steal God's glory and
you'll go to hell. God has to put goodness in us.
Do you know that? That's what it means when Paul
says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. The only hope you and
I have is Christ in us, not us. I know that in me dwelleth no
good thing. Isn't that the Bible? So now
listen to what the apostle says. I just thought I'd shoot another
devil before we close out this study. Listen to what he says. in verse
42, and when the Jews were going out of the synagogue, the Gentiles
thought that these words might be preached to them the next
Sabbath. Now, when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews,
proselytes, followed Paul, and Paul persuaded them in the grace
of God. And the next Sabbath day, almost the whole city together
came to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitude,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold, and now watch this, and said, it was
necessary. that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you, but seeing that you put it from you,
you know what that means? That means to push it away. The
verb form is to push it away, to push it away. You've been
hearing the gospel for 1500 years. The gospel came in person. The
gospels come in power by the Holy ghost in the ministry of
the apostles. And you guys are still pushing it away since you
pushed it away. We're through with you. Do you
guys see it? Now watch what he said. Seeing that you have put it far
from you, verse 46, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, we turn to the Gentile. Do you guys see that? Now watch
this, because this is precisely where we are in Romans chapter
10. For so hath the Lord commanded us. Now he's quoting out of Isaiah,
saying, I have set thee, that is Jesus, to be a light of the
what? That you should be for salvation
until the ends of the earth. Paul understood Jesus in all
of the Old Testament. He knew how to read Isaiah and
Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and see the fulfillment of those
promises in Jesus. He understood that Isaiah was
saying that Jesus was going to appear to the Gentiles for who
he was, the Savior of sinners. Are you guys hearing me so far?
Now listen to what he goes on to say. It's very important.
I like this part, verse 48. Now watch this. And when the
Gentiles what? Heard! What? What? 700 years ago? 1400 years ago? Two thousand years ago, before
the world began, God, in a purpose of grace, chose to save Gentile
dogs like me and you through the preaching of the gospel of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's good
news to me. Are you hearing it? That's good news. See, when you're
a sinner on the outside and you hear that God not only loves
you, but he's loved you before the world began, that's good
news because you know you don't deserve being loved. The Gentiles
said, man, that's good news. And when they heard this, they
were what? Glad. Now, see, You can see now the
context of the conflict between the Jewish brother and the Gentile
brother, because the prophecy of the Old Testament was so abundantly
clear about the magnanimous calling in of the Gentiles. I wanna make sure you get this,
please. Understand, when you read your Bible or write, you
see inklings of the Gentiles being called into the kingdom
almost from the beginning of the book of Genesis. God's drawing
in Gentile sinners all along. He's laying down the principle
that my true Israel is made up of more than blood descendants
of Abraham. There are Jews and Gentiles from
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And even though I'm
using the body politic of what ethnic group, all along I'm putting
Gentiles in there all the way through the process. And every
time I put a Gentile in, he or she is actually part of the Messianic
line. in order to underscore that Jesus
is not merely the Savior of Jews, but of Jews and Gentiles chosen
of God in Christ to obtain eternal salvation through Him. And so
we read of Rahab, the Harlot, and Ruth, the Moabite, and Tamar,
and we read of Naaman, and many, many, many, if you go back carefully
enough, you'll see that there were a bunch of Egyptians who
came out of Egypt with the Jews when God opened up. They said,
man, if a God can come into Egypt, the greatest country of the world,
tear it up in nine months and destroy Pharaoh and his house,
open the Red Sea and deliver his people, I'm sneaking in with
his people. That's a God to be reckoned with,
isn't it? See, you can't see that unless you understand God's
eternal purpose in Christ, in the scriptures. You just pass
over all that stuff. But when you understand the gospel,
you can go back and see that God was always saving Gentiles,
always saving sinners. Go with me in your Bible. I want
you to see this for yourself. And I'm going to come back to
Isaiah, to Acts chapter 13, and I'm going to go with me to Psalm
18. Keep your hand here in Acts 13, go to Psalm 18. I just want
you to see a few verses to underscore this, and then we'll close. And
we'll start next week in Romans chapter 10, Psalm 18. I want
you to see a few verses here, and then I want you to see a
few verses in Isaiah, make our way and close. Psalm 18, listen
to what the psalmist says in Psalm
18. I'm over in Psalm 18 verse 30,
I'll start at verse 40. Psalm 18 verse 40, are you there?
This is David speaking by the spirit of Christ. David is a
great type of Christ and he's fore promising, he's fore predicting,
he's predicting beforehand what God's gonna do for Jesus. You
have also given me the necks of my enemies that I might destroy
them that hate me. They cried but there was none
to save them even unto the Lord But he answered them not then
did I beat them small as dust before the wind I did cast him
out as the dirt in the streets. This is David talking Now watch
how it switches from David to Christ Verse 43 you have delivered
me from the striving of the people you have made me the head of
the what heathen People whom I have not known shall what?
Who is this talking is this David or Jesus? This is Jesus Look
at verse 44 as soon as they hear Of me they shall obey me the
strangers shall submit themselves unto me. Do you guys see that?
That's a prophecy of Jesus successful work at Calvary If I be lifted
up, I'll draw all men unto me. Here, David is speaking again
about his successes as a king in Israel, but his primary work
was in Palestine. It wasn't with the Gentiles of
the world, and yet he's speaking in what we call messianic language
concerning the success of Christ. Now go with me in your Bible
to Isaiah chapter 55. I'm gonna read Isaiah 55, Isaiah 60, We got five minutes and I just
want you to see this for yourself. The reason why Paul can be so
very adamant about this issue of the Gentiles being chosen
of God in Christ. And he uses the language you
guys in the New Testament called a mystery. He says the gospel
was a mystery that was hidden in times past. and in ages past
from the sons of men, but has been now made manifest through
his prophets and apostles by the gospel. That is that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the kingdom of God and with
the saints. Paul saw that in the old Testament.
I just want you to see a few passages, which means think about
this. Paul said it was a mystery, which
means the Jews didn't see these promises. I'll just share this as a side
note for you. If I were dealing with a class in hermeneutics,
I would explain the principle of hermeneutics, which means
to interpret the Bible. Hermeneutics means to interpret
the Bible. You have what are called Christian hermeneutics,
you have secular hermeneutics, you have Jewish hermeneutics,
and you have pagan hermeneutics. Secular hermeneutics is the interpretation
that is rendered by people who are not believers or religious. They're just secularists. Then
you have the interpretation of like say the Bible by the Jews.
You have a Jewish interpretation of scripture. The Jewish interpretation
of scripture never concludes with Jesus as being the central
theme of scripture, but the Jewish people, which means when you
read Isaiah 53 and it talks about the Lord's servant, They interpret
that as themselves. Psalm 22, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? They interpret that as themselves.
They never interpret the scriptures as they ought to be interpreted
as being fulfilled in Jesus. It's either an obscure messianic
interpretation concerning the Jewish Messiah to come or themselves. And the preponderance of their
interpretive grid is that the scriptures are talking about
the Jews. which means they don't even see the promises given concerning
the Gentiles. Why? Because they're blinded.
Are you hearing me? Remember now, Genesis chapter
50, Joseph said, interpretations come from God. That means you
and I cannot rightly divide God's word without God assisting us
and aiding us in comprehending his truth. That also means as
I have labored for this hour to help you understand that blindness
is the common lot for men who don't understand who Jesus is. And so the interpretation by
nature is gonna be contrary. It's gonna be what we call a
Christless hermeneutic. Christians have no right to tolerate
a Christless hermeneutic. Did you guys get that? Very important. I just wanted to draw that note
here. We are in Isaiah chapter 55. Are you there? Listen to
what it says over in verse 3 through 5 incline your ear. Ah And come
unto me and do what here and your soul shall what live And
I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies
of David's a metaphor for the finished work of Christ David
is David is Jesus is great-great-great-great-grandfather David was promised by God that
he would have a seed to sit on his throne for all eternity that
seed is Jesus The mercy that David received from God is the
mercy that you and I need David was a sinner saved by grace
just like you and me and There wasn't nothing special about
David's life. Why did God save David? Because David was an object
of God's mercy and grace. That's all. And when David laid
his head down on his deathbed at around 70 years old, he made
it very clear the Lord had ordered a covenant. It's sure and steadfast. Even though my house is tore
up, this is all my salvation and all my comfort because God
did it. Those are the sure mercies of
David to redeem sinners like you and me, by which we know
that God saved us by his mercy, not by our works, which means
when we mess it up, which we do sometimes, you're to look
to the sure mercies of David and understand that the same
God that kept David will keep you because you're in Christ
who is David's son. Am I making sense? and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you and I'll give you the
sure mercies of David I could develop that but I won't behold
I have given him the him is Jesus for what witness to the people
and a what leader and a commander to the people verse 5 behold
you shall call a nation that you do not know nations that
knew thee not shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy
God for the Holy One of Israel for he hath what glorified thee
who are these nations Gentiles am I making some sense just a
couple more Isaiah chapter 60 These are the passages you guys
that Paul is recalling as he's developing a delineation in Romans
chapter 10 to help us understand what is meant by faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the word of God, but they have not all
obeyed because even though they all have heard, only some will
hear in a saving way and the rest will perish. in their self-righteousness
because they'd rather take their chances on standing before God
based upon what they've done rather than standing on God based
upon what he did. Just one more passage, Isaiah
chapter 60 verses 1 through 4. Are you there? Arise and shine
for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee for behold The darkness shall cover the earth gross darkness
the people but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory
shall be seen Upon thee and the Gentiles shall come to your light. Who is this? The light is Christ
and the Gentiles are gonna come to it. In kings to the brightness
of your rising, lift up your eyes round about, see all they
gather themselves together. They come to thee, your son shall
come from far, your daughters shall be nursed at your sides.
Do you see that? Then shalt thou see and flow
together, and your heart shall fear and be enlarged because
of the abundance of the, see that word see? Isn't that what
we talked about Sunday? The Gentiles are represented
by the sees. And the abundance of the sea
shall be well converted unto thee. You can't convert a sea
as water. We're dealing with the metaphor
of the masses of the nations from every people group seeing
the light of the gospel in the person and work of Jesus Christ
and coming to Christ. Am I making some sense? Now,
I'll stop right there because I'm way overdue. But what I'm
getting at is this. The apostle Paul, when God saved
him, saw all this. in the Old Testament scriptures.
And he was compelled to preach the centrality of Christ to everyone
because he understood that Christ is the message of the book. In
doing so, he also understood that it was God's purpose to
bring in masses of Gentile believers into the commonwealth and household
of God. They would hear the gospel. He's
explaining that in Romans chapter 10. When we get to Romans chapter
11 next week, he'll explain the latter issue of the condition
of national Israel in relationship to this gospel age. And we'll
deal with that, too. Let's close in prayer. Father,
we thank you for your time. We thank you for your word. We
ask, Lord, as we go away, that the word would sink deep down
into our heart. that we would learn to rightly divide your
word and to exalt Jesus as the Alpha and the Omega and the Amen
of your word. We thank you that he is the word
made flesh dwelling among us. And oh, Lord, may we behold his
glory. May our lips be fitted with praise
of him and exaltation extolings of his love and grace and mercy
and power to save sinners like us as we go our way. Lord, give
us traveling mercies. Take us home safely tonight.
Prepare our hearts to worship you. as you ought to be worshiped
in spirit and in truth, we pray in Jesus name, amen. God bless
you.