Romans chapter 10 verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. What a promise. If I call, I will be saved by
God himself. Saved from my sin. What a blessed
promise. If you call on his name, it doesn't
matter what your condition is. He's promised. He will save you. Are you a whosoever? If you are,
he's promised. You call on his name. He will
save you. Nobody is beyond his almighty
grasp, his mighty power to save. Then Paul gives four rhetorical
questions after he gives us this blessed promise. He says in verse
14, how then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent, sent of God? As it's written, how beautiful. are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Now here we have the divine order. God is a God of order, and here
we have God's order. First, God sending somebody with
a specific message And then somebody hearing that message, somebody
believing that message, and somebody calling upon the name of the
one who summarizes that message, the divine order. Now, God is a God of order. He's
not a God of chaos. He's not a God of confusion.
He is a God of order, and this is seen in creation. The universe
and the physical laws that govern it, there's an order to all of
it. It's God's order. And we admire everything he does. I think of creation. And I think
of the six days of creation. There was an order in those six
days. Now, somebody says, does that
mean six literal days? It may. I don't know. It may. And if that's what the Lord means,
that's what it means. I believe it wholeheartedly.
If that is speaking in terms of metaphors, and the Bible quite
often does that, you know, Christ says, I am the door. That doesn't
mean he's a wooden door, does it? That's an illustration of
who he is. what he is and what he does.
Were there six literal days of creation? There may have been.
If that's what the Lord did, yeah, I'm fine with that. If
that's speaking in metaphors, I'm fine with that too, whatever.
But I know God created the universe and he created it just as he
would have it created. Don't believe in evolution for
a second. God created the universe and he gives an order in these
six days. There is an order in God's providence.
There's a design. and God's got a purpose in all
He does. Don't you love that? Things may
look chaotic, but they're not. God's in control of everything
that takes place in my life, in your life, in somebody's life
that we'll never know of. In everything, God controls providence. The lot is cast into the lap,
and that's what we consider luck. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord. my steps, He's in control
of. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. He has an order in His providence. We might not see it, but He does,
and we're okay with that, aren't we? He's in control. And He has
an order in salvation. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. You're there in Romans. And we know, verse 28, that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. God is a God
of purpose. Everything he does, he does on
purpose. There are no accidents. There's
no chance. He's a God of purpose. For whom he did foreknow. Now here's the divine order.
Those he foreknew. Well, that's an awesome thing
to think of God foreknowing me. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Whom he did foreknow. Foreknowledge
is not God's knowledge of events. Whom he did foreknow. That's
where it begins. You know, the Lord will say on
Judgment Day, to many, depart from me, I never knew you. But
all of his people he foreknew, he knew beforehand, he loved
beforehand. And that's where we begin in
God's order of salvation, with God's foreknowing his people.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now that's God's
order in salvation. God is a God of order, isn't
he? Seen in creation, seen in providence, and it's seen in
salvation. Now, in the divine order, we
must begin with God. In the beginning, God. I love that. You know, the Bible
doesn't begin with man and his needs. It begins with God. In the beginning, God. You know, he's the one who sent
the preacher. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
that emphasis on how shall they hear without a preacher and how
shall they preach except they be sent. The emphasis is not
on the preacher. The emphasis is on the one who
sent the preacher with this specific message. Salvation is of the
Lord for of him and through him and to him are all things to
whom be glory forever. Amen. Now how shall they preach
except they be sent. I want us to think for a moment
about God sending. Isn't that wonderful that he
sent? Sent of God? 1 John 4, 9, 10
says, Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us, and sent his son. He sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, that means He sent His Son
to do something about our sins, to put them away. Matthew 15, verse 24, the Lord
said, I'm not sent, but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He was sent for a particular people. In John chapter three,
verse 17, we read, for God sent not His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. In John chapter four, verse 34,
the Lord said, my meat and drink is to do the will of him that
sent me and finish his work. In John chapter six, beginning
in verse 38, the Lord said, for I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life. He said in John 9, 4, I must
work the works of him that sent me. And when he describes faith
in John chapter 17, 8, he says concerning all of his people,
they had believed. that thou hast sent me." Do you
believe that God sent Christ? That's the very heart of faith.
We believe God sent him. In John chapter 17 verse 3, this
is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God
in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. This is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. Do you believe on he, him whom
he hath sent. The Lord referred to the Holy
Spirit coming down in this manner, I will send him to you. The Holy Spirit is sent. Preaching the gospel is described
in Peter as preaching with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.17,
Christ sent me, not to baptize, not to get results, but to preach
the gospel. Now, religion begins with men
and his search for God. The gospel begins with God. Sending. In the beginning God, in the
beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. Now how shall they preach
except they be sent?" God initiates this, and this preacher, he sends
with a message, a very specific message. The gospel must be heard.
How shall they hear without a preacher? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. Now somebody may be
thinking, can God save without a preacher? Of course He can. It's not like it's a lack of
it. He needs a preacher. Of course he can. He could speak
directly without the use of any means if he wanted to. He could,
couldn't he? He's God. He could send an angel to preach
the gospel if he wanted to. Wouldn't he? That'd be pretty
impressive, wouldn't it? To have Gabriel, somebody like
that, standing up here and preaching the gospel to us. He could have
done this, but for some reason he doesn't. It pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Does God work apart from the
preaching of the gospel? Well, he could, but the fact
of the matter is he doesn't. He doesn't. He could. He could,
but he doesn't. And he's got wise and holy purposes
for this. I love it when Philip came up
to the Ethiopian eunuch and said, do you understand what you're
reading? And what was his reply? How can I? How can I? Except some man should guide
me. The thing that is, we can't figure
this out. I love that scripture, how beautiful
are the feet. Now, it doesn't talk about the
man. How beautiful are the feet? The feet. The picture is a runner
bringing a message across the mountains. All you see is his
feet. The emphasis is not the preacher.
The emphasis is the message he's bringing. How beautiful are the
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. And preaching
is so humbling. It's humbling to the hearer and
it's even more humbling to the preacher. You hear the truth
from a sinful man with feet of clay that need to be washed just
like yours. The preacher is even more aware
of his feet of clay than you are. The preacher knows he's
nothing. He knows it. Paul said, though I be nothing. And that's the definition of
a preacher. He's nothing. He's nothing. Even the seraphim bringing the
message covered his feet, didn't he? He covered his face, and
he covered his feet. And the preacher is more amazed
and humbled that God would speak through him. Somebody, I've had
people say, don't get proud. Lord knows how to prevent that.
He knows how to prevent that. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Kings chapter 5, and I think that this is the, I read this
a couple of months ago. This is such a passage of Scripture
regarding the place of preaching. God's got to send the preacher.
How should they preach except they be sent? 2 Kings chapter
5. You're familiar with this story.
I love this passage of Scripture. Verse 1, Captain of the host of the king
of Syria was a great man with his master and honorable because
by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. Notice it doesn't
say he gave deliverance to Israel but to Syria. You know everything
that happens he's in control of. Not just in Israel, but all
over the world. When Syria won, it's because
the Lord did that. And he was a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. I remember hearing Brother Mahan
say he believed himself to be a mighty
man who happened to be a leper. He didn't realize he was a leper
who happened to be a mighty man. And the Shurans had gone out
by companies and brought away captive out of the land of Israel
a little maid and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said
unto her mistress, would God my Lord were with the prophet
that's in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And
one went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus saith the
maid that's of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go
to, go, and I'll send a letter unto the king of Israel. And
he departed, and took with him ten talons of silver, and six
thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. That's
a lot of money. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel,
saying, Now when the letter is come unto thee, behold, I have
therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover
him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the
king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes and
said, am I God to kill and make alive? I can't do anything. But
this meant the sin unto me to recover a man of his leprosy.
Wherefore, consider, I pray you, and see how he seeks a quarrel
against me. He's trying to start a fight. And it was so when Elijah,
the man of God, had heard that the king of Israel had rent his
clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast
thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me. And he
said, Maybe there's a prophet in Israel. Now, is the emphasis
the prophet or the God of the prophet? Who's important, the
prophet or the God of the prophet? So Naaman came with his horses
and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha I love thinking about this. He comes out there with
his horses, his riches, his wealth, and they stand waiting for the
prophet to come out. And Elisha, in his wisdom, didn't
come out. He sent a servant. He sent a
servant. Let's go on reading. So Naaman
came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the
door of the house of Elisha, and Elisha sent a messenger unto
him. Doesn't he know who I am? saying,
Go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again
to thee and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth and went
away and said, Behold, I thought he'll surely come out to me.
and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike
his hand over the place, and recover the leper, or not abandon
far, far rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?
May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned away and
went away in a rage." He was offended. He couldn't believe
that he had done all this, and the prophet didn't deal with
him directly. He sent a lowly nobody. with this simple message, wash
seven times and be clean. Verse 13, and his servants came
near and spake unto him and said, my father, if the prophet had
bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?
How much rather than when he saith to thee, wash and be clean?
Then he went down and dipped himself, one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven times, just like the prophet said, seven
being the number of perfection. According to the saying of the
man of God, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of
a little child, and he was clean. He was cleansed. Now, if I'm
going to hear from the Lord, if you're going to hear from
the Lord, we're going to do so through a lowly servant. That's
what preaching means. The emphasis is not the preacher.
I know some people will take this and make the emphasis the
preacher. The preacher is nothing. He's nothing. But we'd like to think,
I figured this thing out. I've studied. I've been diligent.
I figured this thing out. No, you're going to hear through
a lowly preacher. Now, that's the teaching of Scripture. If God's going to save me, He's
going to cross my path with a preacher. If He's going to save you, He's
going to cross your path with a preacher. The preacher's nothing, and you
know that. He's just like you. All we talk about is His feet.
His feet. Dirty, calloused, broken-down
feet, but how beautiful they are when they bring the gospel
message. And then Paul quotes Isaiah 52. Would you turn with me there? And here's the importance of
the message, not the preacher, but the message he brings. Now
this man whom God sends always brings this specific message. And Paul quotes in verse 7, Isaiah 52 verse 7, how beautiful
on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Now this is
what all of God's people believe. Look, thy watchman shall lift
up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing, for
they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Now, I see in that verse of scripture
I just read five elements of the good news. that if God sends
somebody, this is going to be their message. Now, the first
thing that I would notice about this is it is a message of good
news and glad tidings. It's something somebody's awful
happy to hear. Now, good news is relative, isn't
it? What's good news to some may
be bad news to others. Good news is relative. Now, if
I quote this scripture, this is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Who's that good news to? Sinners. It comes as a glad tidings of
good news if you're a sinner. What if I said this is a faithful
servant worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save good people, righteous people, only holy people without
sin? Where would that leave you? It
wouldn't be good news, would it? You see, the good news is
relative, but I'll tell you this, the gospel comes as good news
when it comes. Now, when I'm here in preaching,
I know what I'm saying here. When I'm here in preaching, if
I'm not hearing it as good news, if it's not a blessing to me,
two things are true. Either I'm not hearing the gospel,
or I'm not hearing the gospel as a sinner. If you and I hear
the gospel as a sinner, it will always come as good news, won't
it? If I'm hearing with some other
frame of mind, I won't hear, but oh, when I hear the gospel,
it's always glad tidings. It's something that I'm so thankful
for. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Now, he says, how beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
good news, that publishes peace. Peace. A harmonious relationship
is what peace means. It's a harmonious relationship.
And when I preach the gospel, or if any man preaches the gospel,
it's the gospel of peace. How God made peace. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward
men. Christ accomplished my peace. Now God doesn't have a reason
to be mad at me. God's at peace with me. How? Because everything that he had
to be mad at has been taken away by what the Lord did. Peace. Peace. You know what gives me peace? This is all that gives me peace. It is finished. Oh, now there's peace. All that
God requires of me in Christ, I have. God's at peace with me,
and I'm at peace with God. And what I get peace from is
the same thing He gets peace from, His blessed Son. Having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our peace. Now, a gospel message is a message
that brings peace. Peace. And look what he says
next. He says, that bringeth good tidings
of good. Now, is that redundant? Is he saying the exact same thing
he said at first? No. God is good. He's good all the time. Whether
I see it or not, whether everything is going my way or not, God is
good. And His goodness is expressed
in His capacity to save somebody like me or you. Moses said, show me your glory. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. And I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. Now, the gospel is a declaration
of God's goodness. God's good. He's always good. He's good when He saves somebody.
He's good when He passes somebody by. Whatever He does is good. And gospel preaching is always
a declaration of His goodness. Can't you say amen into your
heart that God is good? He's good. And then look what
is said next that publishes salvation. Now, gospel preaching that a
gospel preacher brings is a message concerning salvation. Well, salvation
from what? Salvation from sin. Oh, that's what I need, is salvation
from sin. And I need to hear a message
that actually saves me from my sin. That's why In gospel preaching,
it's good news to find out that God chose the people to salvation.
They're going to be saved because he chose them to be saved. Your
election's good news. It ain't bad news. It's good
news. It's not something to be argued over. It's something to
rejoice in. God, because he's so good, he
chose the people to be saved. And if he wills somebody's, if
he wills my salvation, saved I'm going to be. The redeeming work of Christ
is salvation. That's good news when He said
it is finished, it was finished. He put away my sin. Now that's
salvation. He put away my sin. Good news
is regeneration. God giving somebody life. Him speaking to a dead sinner
and saying, live! And they live. And when God says
live, you live. You believe on Christ. You follow
Christ. You look to Him. You're made to do what you could
not do before. That's good news. The work of
the triune God in salvation. God the Father electing. God
the Son redeeming. God the Holy Spirit regenerating. Good news. Good news. The salvation
of our God. And I love what he says here
at the end, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Yeah, that's just God being God. He reigns. He's in control of
everybody and everything. Sovereignty of God. Sovereignty
of God is who He is. He reigns in all things. He reigned
in creation. I love the way he just spaked
the world in existence and there it was, just by an act of his
almighty will. He reigns in providence, that
means everything he controls. You know, when we say that was
providential, I've said it, you've probably said it, that was providential.
Something good happens, we say that was really providential.
That's a denial of what providence is. Everything is providential. God reigns in everything in providence. And most especially does He reign
in salvation. That means salvation is of the
Lord. That means if you're going to be saved, it's up to Him.
It's not up to you, it's up to Him. And that's why we go like
the leopardy, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. If you
will, you can. I can't will myself into this. Lord, save me. If you will, you
can make me clean. That's why we come. Knowing he
reigns. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can say his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
No, he reigns. and we're glad, aren't we? Now
that's the essence of gospel preaching, and if that's not
what's preached, God never sent the preacher. His mama might
have sent him, seminary might have sent him, he might have
sent himself, but God never sent him if he doesn't preach this
message declared in Isaiah 52.7. Come with me for a moment to
Jeremiah 23. Beginning in verse 30. God says, therefore, behold,
I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words,
every one from his neighbor. Behold, I'm against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, he saith. Behold,
I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,
and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and
by their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith
the Lord." Now, if someone is sent of God, they're going to
preach the gospel. There's no salvation apart from
hearing this message. No one is saved through a false
message. That's just so. There is no salvation apart from
hearing this message and that's what he meant when he said back
in our text, Romans chapter 10, Verse 14, how so they call on
Him in whom they've not believed, and how so they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? You can't believe something you've
never heard. It's impossible. There's no salvation apart from
hearing this message, and there's no salvation apart from believing
this message. How so they believe on Him they've
never heard? And notice, I love the way he
says, on Him. On Him. Everything we believe is dependent
upon who He is. Why we believe what we believe
is because of who He is. How so they believe on Him? You
believe on Him. You believe who He is. He's God.
You know He's incapable of failure. You know He's in control of everything.
If you believe on Him, He is our message. How so they believe
on Him? whom they have never heard. There is no salvation apart from
believing this message. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. He's able to save. And I've committed the entire
salvation of my soul to him. And he said, how shall they,
verse 14, how shall they call Him in whom they've not believed.
Now once you believe Him, you know what you'll do? You'll call. You'll call. If you believe Him,
you hear, you hear the message, you believe the message, you
know what you're going to do? You're going to call on Him. Now I want to close by looking
at Mark chapter 10. I want us to look at somebody
who called. Mark chapter 10. Verse 46, and they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side, begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, the Son
of David, have mercy on me. Now, here's the point I want
to make. Before he ever heard Christ speak
to him, he first knew who he was, didn't he? He's the Son
of David. He's the promised Messiah. Now,
how did Bartimaeus know that? Well, I have no doubt that he'd
heard in the scriptures of the Messiah who would give sight
to the blind. And I guarantee you that meant
something to Bartimaeus. Somebody else might hear that
and say, oh, that's a good thing that he'll give sight to the
blind. But old Bartimaeus, boy, he hooked in on that. When the
Messiah comes, he'll give sight to the blind. And he sat there
by the highwayside begging every day and he'd hear all the rumors
going around and all the talk and so on. And one day somebody
said, there's a man by the name of Jesus of Nazareth who gave
sight to the blind. And immediately he, that's him,
that's the Messiah. And he thought within himself,
oh, if he ever passes my way, how I'm going to call on his
name. You know, he perhaps even heard
people say bad things about Jesus of Nazareth, but he wouldn't.
He heard people scoff at him, but he wouldn't. He believed
he was God the Son, the promised Messiah, the Son of David. He
heard and he believed. And he said, if he ever comes
this way, how I'll call on his name. Now let's go on reading.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
cry out and say, Jesus, the Son of David, have mercy on me. Now
here's a man calling on the name of the Lord. You want to know
what it is called upon the name of the Lord? Right here. Here's
what it is in reality. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. I love this. He cried the more. A great deal. Somebody tells
you, hold your peace. You know what you'll do? You'll
cry the Lord a great deal. You will not be stopped in this.
If you ever call upon his name, nothing can stop you. Thou son of David, have mercy
on me, verse 49. And Jesus stood still. Now he was on his way to Jerusalem,
passing through Jericho, and he knew that he was going there
to be crucified. That's what was happening at
this time. And he had set his face like a flint and he was
on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. But you know something that stopped
him? A cry for mercy. That stopped the Savior. dead
in his tracks. There were all kinds of people
calling his name, I suppose, and he just kept moving. But
here's something that stopped him. And Jesus stood still, verse
49, and commanded him to be called Oh, I love the commands of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And they call the blind man,
these same fellows who were telling him to hold his peace, they call
the blind man, singing, and be of good cheer, arise, he calleth
thee. And he, oh, I love this, casting away his garment, rose
and came to Jesus. Now, I'll tell you one thing
you will do, and I will do, if we ever come to him, we'll cast
away our garment. We'll come to him as we are.
not in a cover-up, but as we are. That garment represents
his righteousness. You ever come to Christ, you'll
throw away that filthy garment of personal righteousness. You
can't come to Christ any other way. That's why you'll do it.
He casting away his garment rose and came to Jesus, and Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? What I need is what He does. What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? Not simply for you, not simply
in you, but unto you. See, I need Him to do everything.
I need Him to do something for me. I need Him to do something
in me. I need the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord asked this blind
man, what will you that I should do? What if the Lord said that
to you? What would your response be?
What will you that I should do unto thee? And the blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus saith unto him, go
thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Now let me point this out. He hadn't been given a sight
yet. And yet the Lord said, thy faith hath made thee whole. Was
it his faith that he was going to get sight? No. It was his faith that Jesus Christ
was the son of David, the Messiah, the one who could give him sight. He hadn't been given sight yet.
But the Lord said, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.
And all of the way, he said, go your way. You're set free.
And what was his way? And Jesus saith unto him, Go
thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received sight. And what did he do? It was his
way. He followed Jesus in the way. And if I'm ever given sight to
see, I know what way I'm going to be going. I'm going to be
following him in the way. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of this Lord shall be saved. Let's pray. Lord, we call upon thy name. Lord Jesus,