SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Brand Fork, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: About a year and a half ago, I was in a position to be able to hear a particular name several times.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a name that I that I had heard before.
SPEAKER_01: At that point in time, I was still relatively new here, about six months in, and so everybody's name was new every single week.
SPEAKER_01: But I began hearing this name Cody Weckerly, this this farm boy from North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: And I I'd never met him before, I'd never heard of him, but but people spoke of him and spoke of him highly.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard how God took this farm boy from North Dakota and sent him to California to go to seminary, to Los Angeles of all places.
SPEAKER_01: And how that farm boy from North Dakota then went from seminary to a local church in Michigan to serve there for four years.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I tried to get that farm boy to come home and to be a pastor here, but he said no because he said God was calling him to pastor a church by planting it.
SPEAKER_01: And so we as a church got behind Cody Wekerly and what the Lord was doing in him and so thankful for what God did in and through you as we collected our Christmas offering this last Christmas and sent almost$30,000 towards a church plant in Castleton.
SPEAKER_01: What a great, great way to encourage a church planter and one of our own who spent time with us and grew up in many ways here at Faith.
SPEAKER_01: So after that, I I wanted to make sure that we continued our commitment to Cody and the church plant.
SPEAKER_01: And so I kept pestering him and telling him, When are you gonna come and preach?
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, I can't do it this time, I can't do it this time, and he said, I guess I'm gonna have to wait until we move.
SPEAKER_01: Well, about nine days ago, Cody and his family moved to Castleton.
SPEAKER_01: And he's here this morning to open the word of God for us.
SPEAKER_01: Cody, would you please come on up and deliver the word of God to us?
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, brother.
SPEAKER_02: I might tear up just being here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm overwhelmed by the opportunity to come open up the word.
SPEAKER_02: We were here for really only about three years of our lives, and yet what God did through this church in our lives has unspeakably changed us.
SPEAKER_02: So to be invited to come back here to open up the word and to make you regret you gave$30,000 to a church plan at Castleton.
SPEAKER_02: No, I uh I can remember sitting over here with at that time our three-year-old son Caden.
SPEAKER_02: We moved away from Grand Forks when we had just had our second baby.
SPEAKER_02: She was six weeks old.
SPEAKER_02: We went to Los Angeles, one of the scariest places on earth for a farm kid in North Dakota.
SPEAKER_02: Took away my hunting and ability to just drive out into the field and see nobody.
SPEAKER_02: Had the opportunity to grow together, my wife and I, and uh sit under uh the professors and and teachers there at the Master Seminary.
SPEAKER_02: And that whole time just really hoping God would bring us back to North Dakota, never really knowing if he would or not.
SPEAKER_02: And at the end of three years, he wouldn't let that happen.
SPEAKER_02: And we would land out just west of Detroit in a community called Farmington, which sounds rural, so I was thinking that that would be rural.
SPEAKER_02: It's only 30 minutes from IKEA.
SPEAKER_02: That's not rural.
SPEAKER_02: So uh they tricked me into coming, and uh they have been an unbelievable blessing and support in my life for the last four years.
SPEAKER_02: And yes, about two years ago, God put it on our heart to come back to North Dakota to come to a rural community that for many years unfortunately hasn't had a gospel witness in that community because unfortunately, Castleton, like many other areas, have had churches drift and follow the culture and want to be more conformed by the world than by scripture itself.
SPEAKER_02: And frankly, friends, that's happening more and more.
SPEAKER_02: Not just in North Dakota, but all over the US.
SPEAKER_02: These pockets of gospel witness and light are dimming fast.
SPEAKER_02: And you think about even your presence here as a church, it could honestly be only a matter of years until you go from being a light in your community for the gospel to being a place that's no different than the world.
SPEAKER_02: It can happen that fast.
SPEAKER_02: We are only one to two generations away from losing a gospel witness in our very own communities.
SPEAKER_02: And I and Frank, it's just something we take for granted, I think.
SPEAKER_02: And I guess that's part of why I wanted to focus on our text this morning in the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_02: It is a very familiar text.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna tell you anything this morning that you have not heard.
SPEAKER_02: I have no secrets to unlock for you, but I think what I want to do is stir you up by way of reminder of the precious responsibility that we have in the gospel as ministers of this hope in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: So if you would just turn to Romans chapter 10, where we look at verses 14 through 21.
SPEAKER_02: Follow along with me as I read.
SPEAKER_02: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
SPEAKER_02: And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
SPEAKER_02: And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
SPEAKER_02: And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_02: As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
SPEAKER_02: But they have not all obeyed the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?
SPEAKER_02: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: But I ask, have they not heard?
SPEAKER_02: Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
SPEAKER_02: But I ask, did Israel not understand?
SPEAKER_02: First, Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation.
SPEAKER_02: With a foolish nation I will make you angry.
SPEAKER_02: Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me.
SPEAKER_02: I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
SPEAKER_02: But of Israel, he says, All long, all day long I have held out my hands and to a disobedient and a contrary people.
SPEAKER_02: Again, I'm not gonna tell you anything new or clever this morning, but I just want to remind you of this amazing privilege that we have to be a part of something that God is doing in the world through the church and through the gospel ministry.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're an outline taker, this is gonna be our outline this morning.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna look at three features of our gospel mission.
SPEAKER_02: Three features of our gospel mission.
SPEAKER_02: First, I want you to notice the method of our mission.
SPEAKER_02: The method of our mission.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, we know that the Great Commission is to go and to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's Matthew 28.
SPEAKER_02: Well, this would probably be the next most myssiological text in the New Testament, and repeats that commission given to the church.
SPEAKER_02: What is our responsibility?
SPEAKER_02: It is to proclaim Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And how is that to be done?
SPEAKER_02: Well, through a very simple, very ordinary, even seemingly foolish kind of way to have you and I speak the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Speak the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of profound when you think about it, right?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, preaching is kind of this unique, distinct thing of the Christian faith.
SPEAKER_02: All of the service, you you even notice the order of the service and the singing and in the worship, it all channels to what?
SPEAKER_02: The preaching of this book.
SPEAKER_02: Where somebody just gets up and all they can do is come up here and say, God, I don't have anything good and great to say.
SPEAKER_02: All I can do is repeat what you have given us to say.
SPEAKER_02: This method that God has given to us to bring blessing to the nations, bring blessing to the world, shape, change, mold, and conform people to the image of God's Son is all done through as simple as proclaiming and speaking the truth of God.
SPEAKER_02: People using their voice to declare the king's message.
SPEAKER_02: You see, God has ordained you and me to be the instruments through which people hear the gospel and thus become saved.
SPEAKER_02: And that's evident when you look at this passage, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_02: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
SPEAKER_02: And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
SPEAKER_02: And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
SPEAKER_02: And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_02: You see, if you make this the questions into statements, and you begin with the first step in this process, this is what you get.
SPEAKER_02: There's a chain in the conversion process, and this is how it would flow.
SPEAKER_02: Step one, a messenger preaches.
SPEAKER_02: Step two, someone hears.
SPEAKER_02: Step three, someone believes.
SPEAKER_02: Step four, someone calls out to the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: But where does it all begin?
SPEAKER_02: With someone preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And the key word is preach.
SPEAKER_02: The key word is preach.
SPEAKER_02: Now it's kind of sad, but unfortunately, outside of the church, it seems that this word preach is usually seen in a negative light, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've heard someone say, hey, don't preach to me.
SPEAKER_02: And usually what they mean by this is, hey, stop telling me what to do.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, don't tell me how to live my life.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, don't tell me what I'm supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, what is it that we are commanded to do?
SPEAKER_02: We are to preach.
SPEAKER_02: The word for preach is referenced in this passage with two different Greek words.
SPEAKER_02: First by the Greek word keruso.
SPEAKER_02: When Paul says, How are they to preach unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_02: And second by the word youangalizo.
SPEAKER_02: When Paul says, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.
SPEAKER_02: What's the connection?
SPEAKER_02: Well, first, keruso is a word that emphasizes that the messenger is a herald, that he's a herald, which means that the messenger is to proclaim, that he is to announce something aloud.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean to whisper in someone's ear.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean to speak something softly so that you don't cause a stir or that you don't wake up a baby.
SPEAKER_02: It means to shout out a message.
SPEAKER_02: It means to call out for everyone to hear, to make important news known publicly and widely.
SPEAKER_02: But second, as Paul goes on in our text, he also references Yuangalizo, which means he preaches literally good news, good tidings.
SPEAKER_02: That's what that means.
SPEAKER_02: Good tidings.
SPEAKER_02: He preaches a message that brings comfort and hope and restoration.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the chief and preeminent mission of the church to shout out from the rooftops the good news that God saves sinners through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: And what I would like to emphasize is this the church has been given the prophetic voice of our age.
SPEAKER_02: You and I are supposed to be the prophets of our age.
SPEAKER_02: Not Fox News, not CNN, not politicians, not celebrities, the church.
SPEAKER_02: And when I say we are to be the prophets of our age, I don't mean this in the sense that we are to foretell of things to come.
SPEAKER_02: That's been done already, but we are to be forthellers of God's written word as contained and given to us in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_02: As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 20, he emphasizes this responsibility to speak openly and plainly.
SPEAKER_02: He says, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.
SPEAKER_02: We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_02: Do you realize who an ambassador is?
SPEAKER_02: An ambassador was sent by a more powerful country to forge and repair good relationships, usually with a smaller, alienated country.
SPEAKER_02: If the ambassador was mistreated or resisted, a swift punishment was likely to follow from the more powerful country.
SPEAKER_02: You and I have been sent by God to restore broken relationships with an alienated world.
SPEAKER_02: Dear friends, do you realize that you are the agents of peace between God and a world that lives in rebellion?
SPEAKER_02: Then preach.
SPEAKER_02: Preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: There's no method more approved by God that you personally, individually, than you personally or individually sharing the gospel with your friends, family members, co-workers, or classmates.
SPEAKER_02: It's the tried and true and proven method.
SPEAKER_02: I think sometimes we get caught up thinking of all sorts of ways that we can make this task a little easier.
SPEAKER_02: I remember in my time even serving with Youth for Christ, where only a block away I would sit in my office thinking, how on earth can I make the gospel make sense to a group of middle schoolers over at Valley Middle School?
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'm still tempted to think that way as I sit in my study before I preach.
SPEAKER_02: Dear God, what could I say that would make it impossible for someone to misunderstand your word?
SPEAKER_02: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_02: There's only one way that things become clear.
SPEAKER_02: And again, it's not through your innovation and it's not through your creativity, it is through speaking the truth of God and trusting Him to speak through that.
SPEAKER_02: As you are an ambassador.
SPEAKER_02: I think sometimes we might think, well, you know, maybe in order to get people connected to the mission and the gospel of Christ, maybe we need a video.
SPEAKER_02: You know, people are visual learners.
SPEAKER_02: Or we think, you know, maybe what we need is a better booklet, a better gospel track with better pictures.
SPEAKER_02: Or we think, you know what we need?
SPEAKER_02: We probably need Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Big Name Evangelist Charismatic guy to come and and preach at some big event with loud music and lots of hubbub.
SPEAKER_02: Then more people would believe, right?
SPEAKER_02: And you know something?
SPEAKER_02: They wouldn't.
SPEAKER_02: Because all God has ever used is ordinary people doing what seems to be a pretty ordinary thing.
SPEAKER_02: Communicating with words from one person to another.
SPEAKER_02: Coworker to co-worker, friend to friend, family member to family member.
SPEAKER_02: And this is where I want to point out an amazing miracle that happens when we proclaim Christ.
SPEAKER_02: When Paul says, How shall they believe in whom they have not heard?
SPEAKER_02: And the point is this the point is that Christ is present in the preacher.
SPEAKER_02: And to hear a preacher of the gospel is to hear Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That's how closely he identifies with his messenger.
SPEAKER_02: And please, church, take heart in this.
SPEAKER_02: Preaching has always been and always will be the lifeblood of the church.
SPEAKER_02: It will always come back to bold, Christ-centered proclamation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: This is how Christ builds his church and how he reveals himself in the world.
SPEAKER_02: Do I need to remind you of all things that Jesus Himself was preeminently a preacher?
SPEAKER_02: Some think he was a healer who preached, that's getting it backwards.
SPEAKER_02: He was not a healer who preached.
SPEAKER_02: If he was anything, he was a preacher who healed.
SPEAKER_02: You see, Jesus' miracle ministry existed always to promote his preaching ministry.
SPEAKER_02: I love in Mark chapter 1, in verses 36 through 39, Jesus gets up out of bed while it's still dark.
SPEAKER_02: He goes to a desolate place to pray, and people come looking for him as they always are.
SPEAKER_02: He can't ever seem to find a moment of isolation or solitude.
SPEAKER_02: And so, of course, he is found, and it says that Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him, and they said, Everyone's looking for you.
SPEAKER_02: And if we were in Jesus' shoes, I think we probably would have felt really good about ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't it feel nice to be needed?
SPEAKER_02: Don't we kind of want to camp out and hang out with people who we feel kind of need us?
SPEAKER_02: Yet this is what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_02: He says, This, let's go on to the next towns that I may preach there also.
SPEAKER_02: For that is why I came out.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_02: Not I'm gonna I'm gonna hang out, I'm gonna get comfortable here, I'm gonna enjoy some koinonia with the local people.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna break bread, have uh a good camaraderie here.
SPEAKER_02: No, I I've got a mission that I came here to accomplish, and the way that it is accomplished is by me leaving you, going somewhere else, and preaching.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: The mission hasn't changed at all.
SPEAKER_02: And when Christ would die and would be resurrected, this mantle was then given over to the church to continue that very same ministry.
SPEAKER_02: He would build his church around the preaching of the word.
SPEAKER_02: And a quick survey in Acts reveals a lot of preaching.
SPEAKER_02: If you were to count up all of the number of times that That you come across preaching in the book of Acts, it's going to be at least 19 times.
SPEAKER_02: It is, in some sense, a preaching manual of sorts.
SPEAKER_02: It is an amazing book of preaching.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just give you a quick survey of all the preaching going on in Acts.
SPEAKER_02: First, you come into chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, Peter is preaching, right, at Pentecost.
SPEAKER_02: Then in Acts chapter 3, you see Peter preaching to crowds at a temple as the Jewish people repent.
SPEAKER_02: Then you see Peter preaching to the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: You see Stephen give a marvelous sermon in Acts chapter 7.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, he's stoned afterward, but it was still an amazing message.
SPEAKER_02: You had Philip who preached to the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8.
SPEAKER_02: Peter to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_02: Peter to the church at Jerusalem in Acts 11.
SPEAKER_02: Paul to the synagogue at Antioch in Acts chapter 13.
SPEAKER_02: You have Paul and Barnabas preaching at Iconium in Acts chapter 14.
SPEAKER_02: Peter to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.
SPEAKER_02: You have James to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.
SPEAKER_02: Paul and Silas as they're in prison in Acts chapter 16.
SPEAKER_02: And it goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER_02: Preaching is how the church is built.
SPEAKER_02: And while we might be tempted to look through Acts and focus the major and look at the leaders within the church, I don't want you to miss the fact that it wasn't merely the leaders who were committed to proclaiming Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It was the entire church.
SPEAKER_02: It was every church member, every man and woman who followed Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And why?
SPEAKER_02: Because of our second feature of the gospel mission.
SPEAKER_02: Because of the authority and responsibility of our mission.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again because of the authority and responsibility of our mission.
SPEAKER_02: And we see this especially in Romans 10, verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: Look there.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul says, he asks, how are they to preach unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_02: Get this.
SPEAKER_02: This is important.
SPEAKER_02: He points out that you and I, as Christians, are the sent ones of God.
SPEAKER_02: That we are the sent ones of God.
SPEAKER_02: When you go out into the world to preach the gospel, remember this: this isn't your message.
SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't your idea to deliver it.
SPEAKER_02: So simple, so important.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't your message, and it wasn't your idea to deliver it.
SPEAKER_02: I think one of the most common techniques used by people in the world to shut down a Christian today is to say, well, who are you to say that someone is going to hell if they don't believe in your Christ?
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever heard something like that?
SPEAKER_02: Do you see what's happening in that statement?
SPEAKER_02: Do you see what the person is trying to do?
SPEAKER_02: They're trying to shame you by making you appear as though you're claiming a place of authority above everybody else.
SPEAKER_02: They're trying to make you look like some arrogant, judgmental, narrow-minded Christian who just can't wait to forcibly press your personal opinions onto other people.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, Christian, remember, these aren't opinions we're preaching.
SPEAKER_02: These aren't our personal preferences.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't our idea.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't our message.
SPEAKER_02: This was given to us by the creator of the universe, the infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful one who made you and me and everything else in this world and established his church.
SPEAKER_02: You think about that.
SPEAKER_02: You have all of the authority on heaven and on earth behind you when you declare this message.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have any authority and support behind you if you proclaim your own ideas.
SPEAKER_02: Only when you proclaim Christ's gospel in Christ's world.
SPEAKER_02: And the whole idea is to motivate them and encourage them that as they go out to preach the gospel, they can do so with confidence, knowing that no greater authority stands behind their message.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you say, but I'm not, I don't preach.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not a preacher.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe not, but you are still called to preach.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you won't do it as often as someone else.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you won't do it as loud as someone else.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you won't do it as naturally as someone else.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you're the quietest person.
SPEAKER_02: But you are still called to preach.
SPEAKER_02: I was only a middle schooler when a man named Nathan Stover shared the gospel with me.
SPEAKER_02: One of the quietest men I had ever met.
SPEAKER_02: And yet there was a bold testimony behind what he said.
SPEAKER_02: There was a bold witness for the gospel that I couldn't shake and that I couldn't deny.
SPEAKER_02: And when he shared it, he didn't say, hey, let me give you a couple of good ideas about how to improve your life.
SPEAKER_02: No, he made it really clear.
SPEAKER_02: You must repent and believe in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, the gospel is good news.
SPEAKER_02: But it comes with a warning.
SPEAKER_02: It has to start with bad news before it becomes great news.
SPEAKER_02: And that's part of the package.
SPEAKER_02: And we have no need to fear.
SPEAKER_02: Because again, this isn't your message.
SPEAKER_02: This is Christ's message for Christ's world.
SPEAKER_02: But you might think, well, what if someone doesn't like what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02: Well, dear Christian, at some point or another, I can promise you that if you are faithful to preach the gospel, then guess what?
SPEAKER_02: People are not going to always appreciate what you have to say.
SPEAKER_02: And sooner or later, someone will think you're a fool, a complete loser.
SPEAKER_02: Who can fathom an all-powerful God who dies on a cross?
SPEAKER_02: Can you really get your head completely around that?
SPEAKER_02: There's an amazing mystery to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And it's a mystery that can only be made known by the revelation of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God's word.
SPEAKER_02: But dear friends, we must preach.
SPEAKER_02: And we must declare with the Apostle Paul, for necessity is laid upon me.
SPEAKER_02: Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Do not listen to the world when they try to say that your message is hateful.
SPEAKER_02: No message is more gracious.
SPEAKER_02: No message is more loving or more generous or more inviting.
SPEAKER_02: And if you need to be reminded of that, then just look a couple of verses before the text that we're looking at now.
SPEAKER_02: Look at Romans 10, verse 11 through 13.
SPEAKER_02: For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.
SPEAKER_02: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
SPEAKER_02: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_02: Now there is so much that we could point out from these statements, but let me point out just three things.
SPEAKER_02: First, notice the universal offer.
SPEAKER_02: This is a message for everyone.
SPEAKER_02: This is a message for the anybody's and the whosoevers of the world who would turn to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Second, notice the generous reward.
SPEAKER_02: It only takes, this is a message that makes spiritually bankrupt people rich.
SPEAKER_02: You may have walked in here without a penny in your pocket this morning.
SPEAKER_02: And yet the fact is that if you have come in here, you need to know you could be rich before you leave.
SPEAKER_02: Because the hope of the gospel that we're talking about this morning is also a hope for you.
SPEAKER_02: That God reconciles sinners through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: He's already paid the ultimate price.
SPEAKER_02: Christ has suffered in the place of sinners.
SPEAKER_02: For anyone who would believe in Christ, your debt has been paid in full.
SPEAKER_02: And in this, we also see a simple command.
SPEAKER_02: The third thing.
SPEAKER_02: It only takes one thing to gain access into these riches.
SPEAKER_02: What is it?
SPEAKER_02: Just believe.
SPEAKER_02: Just cast yourself on Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Just call out to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Just recognize your guilt.
SPEAKER_02: Admit that you cannot do anything to make yourself right with God.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: God is gracious and ready and prepared to receive you today.
SPEAKER_02: Don't walk out the doors of this church if you have not place your faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: If you're here this morning and even wondering what that looks like, then I would just encourage you to find a Christian in the pew.
SPEAKER_02: There's a few of them around here this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Or find me, or find Pastor Jason, or find someone who is worshiping up on stage here.
SPEAKER_02: We would love to share the hope of Christ with you.
SPEAKER_02: But for you believers, you need to be reminded, yes, people are going to reject this message.
SPEAKER_02: We should not be surprised.
SPEAKER_02: We're told, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
SPEAKER_02: For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you will be rejected.
SPEAKER_02: But guess what?
SPEAKER_02: You won't always be rejected.
SPEAKER_02: There are some who will respond because God has out there in the world people who He has ordained to save through the message that He's placed in your mouth to give to them in the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Not everyone's gonna reject this.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: For those who don't reject it, you're gonna be loved like no one else has ever been loved.
SPEAKER_02: People may even go as far as to say you have beautiful feet.
SPEAKER_02: When's the last time you were complimented on your feet?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And we probably don't appreciate this statement much more, but if you think back in Paul's date, feet were certainly among the dirtiest part of the body.
SPEAKER_02: They weren't covered up with neat socks, they weren't covered in pretty fingernail polish, were dirty, gross, smelly from all of the miles that one would travel on the road day after day.
SPEAKER_02: And yet Paul can say that those dirty, smelly, gross feet, if they brought the gospel, they are a beautiful set of feet.
SPEAKER_02: A beautiful set of feet.
SPEAKER_02: Because why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they went through the trenches and through the muck and mire of life to enter into places where people were unwilling to go, to engage in conversations that people were afraid to enter into, and they preached Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they get to be part of the most amazing miracle in the world to get to see dead people come to life through faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And this is where I want us to notice the third feature of the gospel mission: the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: The third feature of the gospel mission is the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And this is seen in Romans chapter 10, verse 17, where Paul says, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Tell me, are you someone who ever wonders if you have what it takes to bring someone to faith in Christ?
SPEAKER_02: Guess what?
SPEAKER_02: Let me encourage you.
SPEAKER_02: You don't.
SPEAKER_02: You've never had what it takes.
SPEAKER_02: You'll never have what it takes in and of yourselves.
SPEAKER_02: But you know what?
SPEAKER_02: God does through the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It's amazing how many Christians I've met who are afraid to share the gospel because they are simply afraid of what intellectual obstacles that they are going to face.
SPEAKER_02: And they just don't know if they'll be able to overcome those obstacles.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, the only hindrance to the gospel is an unbelieving heart.
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
SPEAKER_02: It has nothing to do with someone's intellectual capabilities, it has nothing to do with their emotional pain.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, things, those things are real.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't want to discount those.
SPEAKER_02: And yes, you should care about responding to those issues in a God-honoring way with the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the day, people don't believe because their hearts rebel against the reign of God.
SPEAKER_02: Not because of any other thing.
SPEAKER_02: And do you know what can overcome that rebellious nature?
SPEAKER_02: The gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Faith does not come from hearing intellectual arguments.
SPEAKER_02: Faith does not come from brilliant logic.
SPEAKER_02: Faith does not come from emotional appeals or by getting someone to recite a particular prayer from a particularly gifted person.
SPEAKER_02: Faith comes from hearing, Paul says, the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, you have one responsibility to scatter as many gospel seeds as you possibly can and to leave the rest up to God.
SPEAKER_02: I find it odd how many people begin to give up on sharing the gospel because they grow discouraged when they don't see the results they hoped for.
SPEAKER_02: And when I see it, I kind of want to remind them listen, do you think that you are a better preacher than Jesus Himself?
SPEAKER_02: It's a simple question.
SPEAKER_02: Do you think you are a better preacher than Jesus himself?
SPEAKER_02: Do you think that every person that Jesus preached to loved what he had to say?
SPEAKER_02: Of course not.
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly why he was hung on the cross, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02: You could look at the testimony of Paul in Philippians as he talks about his persecutions and sufferings as an apostle, right?
SPEAKER_02: Do you think Paul was always loved for what he had to say?
SPEAKER_02: No, he was stoned.
SPEAKER_02: Oftentimes he he he saw sleepless nights and on the road in very uncomfortable situations.
SPEAKER_02: And we cannot expect to be any different.
SPEAKER_02: If this is our Lord's example, and if we are his disciples, remember what he said?
SPEAKER_02: A disciple is never greater than his teacher.
SPEAKER_02: It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, right?
SPEAKER_02: We will never be greater.
SPEAKER_02: He was rejected.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, Paul was too, which ends up becoming one of the greatest conundrums, really, of Romans 10 that Paul closes with.
SPEAKER_02: Look at Paul's closing statements in Romans 10, verse 18.
SPEAKER_02: Just to put this a little bit in better context.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, what Paul has been talking about in chapters 9 through 11 is how is it that Israel has come to reject the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: How is it that they've come to reject the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: We see here, even at this point, here's the question that Paul poses for the sake of his argument.
SPEAKER_02: He says, But I ask, have they not heard?
SPEAKER_02: Is that why Israel doesn't believe?
SPEAKER_02: Is it because that they haven't heard the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: Was there some failure to get them the right information to impart the stuff that they needed to know?
SPEAKER_02: Is that why?
SPEAKER_02: Well, first Moses says, he's quoting the Old Testament, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation.
SPEAKER_02: With a foolish nation, I will make you angry.
SPEAKER_02: Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me, I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.
SPEAKER_02: There is this mystery as the gospel goes forth that the people who God wants to respond to the gospel will respond perfectly.
SPEAKER_02: And yet at the same time, everyone is responsible for responding to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And in the case of Israel, in response to this question, did Israel not understand?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Did they not hear?
SPEAKER_02: Well, no, every Israel heard more than anybody else had heard.
SPEAKER_02: They were in this special relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: Psalm 19 is quoted, their voice has gone out to all the earth, and the words to the ends of the world.
SPEAKER_02: Oftentimes in scripture, when a psalm was quoted, and maybe you just see one verse in there, it's because it wants to take you to the whole psalm.
SPEAKER_02: And as you read there, Psalm 19 starts off with God's beauty in general creation and God speaking to the whole world through his general creation.
SPEAKER_02: But then in Psalm 19, you see that God communicates most directly and most clearly through special revelation, through the message he gave to the prophets and the apostles to proclaim in the gospel, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so did Israel not hear?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, they heard.
SPEAKER_02: They heard in every way.
SPEAKER_02: And when they rejected, then the question is this well, is God then was he not faithful?
SPEAKER_02: There's kind of this question in the back of your mind.
SPEAKER_02: Was God not faithful?
SPEAKER_02: It seems that God's plan, did it change?
SPEAKER_02: Well, no, it's been the same all along.
SPEAKER_02: And in fact, it God's actions in the world have always been the same.
SPEAKER_02: What are those actions?
SPEAKER_02: Well, it says in verse 21, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see the love of God in that picture all day long?
SPEAKER_02: He's like a father who's just got his arms open and he's standing there and he's just saying, Come to me.
SPEAKER_02: Come to me, come to my son, believe in my son.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to repent.
SPEAKER_02: I desire you to turn from your life of sin.
SPEAKER_02: I have offered you a way to be restored and reconciled to God.
SPEAKER_02: All day long, his arms are reaching out.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, Israel rejected him.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: When you preach the gospel, you will find that true as well.
SPEAKER_02: Well, despite the beauty and the power and the glory of this message, people won't want to hear what you have to say.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, even in that, God will be glorified through the faithful preaching and teaching of his word.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.