WEBVTT 00:00:23.849 --> 00:00:28.089 If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me this morning, Romans chapter 10. 00:00:28.329 --> 00:00:36.730 If you have a Pew Bible and you need one in front of you, look at on page 962 in the Black Pew Bible in front of you. 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:39.609 I would encourage you to look at that for context. 00:00:41.049 --> 00:00:44.090 We're continuing our study through the book of Romans. 00:00:44.250 --> 00:00:48.649 And if you were here last week, we watched Paul answer the how question. 00:00:49.370 --> 00:00:56.010 Again, and he saw Paul talk about how anyone gets right with God. 00:00:56.090 --> 00:01:05.530 And it's not by building our own resume, it's not by building our own case, it's by receiving a gift by faith from God. 00:01:05.769 --> 00:01:10.969 And that is the righteousness of Christ that comes by faith. 00:01:11.689 --> 00:01:19.209 And then at the end of the passage, if you look in verse 13, Paul swings the door wide open. 00:01:19.689 --> 00:01:23.849 And he says, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:27.609 No exceptions, no footnotes, no fine print. 00:01:29.369 --> 00:01:37.530 But everyone who calls, that raises, you know, Paul, he's just working through objections in Romans, and we've been seeing that every single week. 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:42.329 Everyone who calls raises an obvious question, and Paul knows it. 00:01:43.369 --> 00:01:47.689 Well, because you can't call on someone you've never heard of. 00:01:48.969 --> 00:01:56.170 And so starting in verse 14, Paul goes back and he answers the question underneath his own invitation. 00:01:58.250 --> 00:02:06.729 If the door is really open to everyone, then why isn't everyone walking through it? 00:02:08.729 --> 00:02:12.810 Especially the Israelites. 00:02:13.210 --> 00:02:25.770 Why aren't the Jews God's people of all the people, why aren't they walking through it and calling on the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:29.289 That's where we're headed in this passage. 00:02:29.450 --> 00:02:30.890 Paul answers it. 00:02:31.289 --> 00:02:41.530 Follow along with me as I read this very sobering passage in Romans 10, 14 through 21. 00:02:43.130 --> 00:02:47.370 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:52.570 And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:56.810 And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 00:02:57.610 --> 00:03:00.570 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? 00:03:01.450 --> 00:03:07.689 As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. 00:03:08.730 --> 00:03:11.530 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. 00:03:12.730 --> 00:03:17.610 For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? 00:03:17.850 --> 00:03:21.770 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 00:03:22.730 --> 00:03:25.450 But I ask, have they not heard? 00:03:25.930 --> 00:03:27.370 Indeed they have. 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:34.170 For their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. 00:03:34.890 --> 00:03:37.930 But I ask, did Israel not understand? 00:03:39.530 --> 00:03:47.450 For Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation, with a foolish nation. 00:03:48.010 --> 00:03:49.770 I will make you angry. 00:03:50.810 --> 00:03:58.170 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. 00:03:59.689 --> 00:04:04.650 I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. 00:04:06.170 --> 00:04:17.209 But of Israel, he says, All day long I have held out my hands to disobedient and contrary people. 00:04:18.969 --> 00:04:21.050 This is the word of the Lord. 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:35.449 Almost all of us have had this experience at some point in our lives where you reach out to someone and you get nothing. 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:39.529 Maybe it's a phone call. 00:04:40.089 --> 00:04:47.289 You call and you call and you call, and the phone rings and rings and goes straight to voicemail. 00:04:48.089 --> 00:05:05.289 Maybe it's a text message, and you see that little word delivered, then you see that little word read in hours and days and months and no reply. 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:35.049 Maybe you've actually gotten in the car and had the experience of going to someone's house, perhaps, a family member, a friend, a child, and you knock on the door rather loudly, and you know someone's home, lights are on, you can hear the TV through the door, but no one comes. 00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:49.529 Most of us can only, if you that's like if you're like me, most of us can only take so much of that before we put on the brakes and we stop. 00:05:51.049 --> 00:05:56.969 Sometimes we get frustrated, maybe even angry, and we do, and we're like, well, fine. 00:05:58.569 --> 00:06:04.729 If you don't want anything to do with me, then I don't want anything to do with you either. 00:06:06.729 --> 00:06:19.049 Sometimes it's quieter than that, not because we stop loving them, but sometimes we just have to stop so that we can protect our own heart. 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:28.889 Because there's only so many times a human heart can reach out and be denied and rejected until you eventually let go. 00:06:31.529 --> 00:06:34.569 And you see, we tend to think God is like us. 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:51.209 We tend to think that God's eventually going to get tired, that his patients are going to run out, that he's quietly going to stop reaching for the people who want nothing to do with him and who refuse him. 00:06:52.729 --> 00:07:00.089 And friends, the good news of this passage, the really good news of this passage is that it tells us otherwise. 00:07:02.329 --> 00:07:07.930 You see, underneath this passage is did God's word fail? 00:07:09.930 --> 00:07:12.250 Did he just give up on his people? 00:07:14.250 --> 00:07:22.409 Or did he just turn and run out the other way when his people would not accept him like we would? 00:07:24.889 --> 00:07:27.370 That's what we're gonna find and see in this passage. 00:07:27.449 --> 00:07:30.729 So let's find out how God responds. 00:07:32.009 --> 00:07:33.930 Three things this morning. 00:07:35.289 --> 00:07:40.169 The chain, the excuses, and the ache. 00:07:40.409 --> 00:07:43.129 The chain, the excuses, the ache. 00:07:43.609 --> 00:07:44.810 Number one, the chain. 00:07:44.969 --> 00:07:46.409 Look at verse 13. 00:07:48.569 --> 00:07:55.849 Again, the context: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, and I think this is important to follow his argument here, will be saved. 00:07:56.009 --> 00:07:59.129 He picks that word right back up in verse 14. 00:07:59.289 --> 00:08:04.169 And notice he starts working backwards from it one step at a time. 00:08:04.409 --> 00:08:10.569 And here's this reasoning: you can't call on someone you don't believe in. 00:08:12.009 --> 00:08:14.729 And so, how do you come to believe? 00:08:14.969 --> 00:08:18.649 Well, you can't believe in someone you've never heard of. 00:08:19.849 --> 00:08:22.009 And so, how do you come to hear then? 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:28.649 Well, you cannot hear without someone telling you. 00:08:29.529 --> 00:08:33.210 And so, how does anyone end up preaching in the first place? 00:08:34.810 --> 00:08:36.970 Well, someone has to be sent. 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:40.409 That's what Paul's saying there. 00:08:41.210 --> 00:08:42.730 Notice what's happening. 00:08:42.970 --> 00:08:47.769 Each question needs the one before it, it is like links in a chain. 00:08:47.930 --> 00:09:05.049 And if you pull one of those links out, the rest fall apart, and you follow it back far enough, and it lands on the one link that most of us miss entirely, and that is someone has to be sent. 00:09:07.370 --> 00:09:09.129 That's the focus. 00:09:10.889 --> 00:09:18.090 And the link here, that link is not about talent, it's about authorization. 00:09:18.409 --> 00:09:24.490 Paul is writing here, just to give you the context, is partly defending his own calling as an apostle. 00:09:24.730 --> 00:09:29.689 He's formally commissioned, sent to preach Christ. 00:09:31.289 --> 00:09:33.210 And that kind of sending is real. 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:40.169 That's why our church trains up ministers, it ordains and sends ministers to preach the gospel. 00:09:40.329 --> 00:09:53.610 It's why our church, we're gonna hear at uh in the kingdom community hour after this service, we're gonna hear about, and it's why we pray for and we give to and we send missionaries into the world. 00:09:54.490 --> 00:09:57.049 We send them to preach the gospel. 00:09:58.409 --> 00:10:05.850 But also here, God sends every believer into the world. 00:10:06.569 --> 00:10:15.049 Informally, ordinarily, us into the relationships that we already have to carry the gospel message. 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:18.809 And so let me stop right here. 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:22.730 And let's do what we did last week. 00:10:22.970 --> 00:10:24.569 Well, wait just a minute here. 00:10:24.649 --> 00:10:37.449 We've been in Romans 9, and we've got all this election, and God chooses and he has mercy on whom he's gonna have mercy, and he's gonna choose who he is going to choose. 00:10:39.049 --> 00:10:50.250 And so if God's sovereign, if he's sovereign over salvation, over the one he elects, then why does it depend on people at all? 00:10:50.409 --> 00:10:52.649 Why do we need to do anything? 00:10:53.049 --> 00:10:55.289 Why share our faith at all? 00:10:56.649 --> 00:10:58.009 Isn't that interesting? 00:10:58.169 --> 00:11:04.009 Again, sovereignty and human responsibility, Paul puts them side by side. 00:11:04.889 --> 00:11:06.250 How do we answer that? 00:11:06.490 --> 00:11:09.529 Well, sovereignty isn't a reason to sit back. 00:11:12.169 --> 00:11:21.689 Nobody walks around with a sign around their neck saying, elect, chosen by God, or not elect. 00:11:23.129 --> 00:11:25.129 You and I don't get the list. 00:11:26.889 --> 00:11:37.929 And so it was never our job to sort out, and it is not our job to sort out who will respond to the gospel and to the call of the gospel. 00:11:38.090 --> 00:11:44.009 Our job, here it is in this passage, is to carry the message. 00:11:45.129 --> 00:11:47.210 It's to take the message. 00:11:47.610 --> 00:11:57.689 God controls the ends, and he chooses to work through the means, and his means, well, that's us. 00:12:00.009 --> 00:12:04.889 And that's why in this moment Paul lands on scent, he reaches here for a picture. 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:10.970 You see it as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:12.649 Isn't that interesting? 00:12:12.970 --> 00:12:13.689 Feet. 00:12:14.970 --> 00:12:18.090 When's the last time you've called feet beautiful? 00:12:20.169 --> 00:12:22.649 No one calls feet beautiful. 00:12:23.689 --> 00:12:27.210 And yet that is the image that Paul picks. 00:12:28.569 --> 00:12:47.850 And Isaiah's image of beautiful feet is taken from a scene in 2 Samuel where the watchmen, and perhaps you've heard of this image, the watchmen are stationed on a city wall during wartime and they're scanning the horizon, and they're scanning for a messenger. 00:12:48.169 --> 00:12:56.490 Because back then word would travel by foot, and so if you were sending news to someone, someone had to take it. 00:12:57.689 --> 00:13:05.049 Someone had to run, and sometimes for many, many miles in order to get that message of good news to you. 00:13:05.449 --> 00:13:16.409 And so the picture here is that the watchman is waiting, and he finally spots the messenger on the horizon, running, not walking. 00:13:16.569 --> 00:13:23.289 And when the runner gets close, close enough to make out what's going on, he's nothing impressive. 00:13:25.529 --> 00:13:27.529 His feet are dusty. 00:13:28.569 --> 00:13:33.529 They're sweat-soaked and torn up from miles of travel. 00:13:34.649 --> 00:13:36.490 His feet are not the point. 00:13:38.730 --> 00:13:41.529 No one is looking at his feet. 00:13:42.889 --> 00:13:46.329 No one cares what the messenger looks like or sounds like. 00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:47.850 What do they care about? 00:13:49.610 --> 00:13:51.610 They care about the message. 00:13:52.090 --> 00:13:56.169 They care about what the messenger is actually carrying. 00:13:56.329 --> 00:13:59.049 That's what Paul is getting at in verse 15. 00:13:59.289 --> 00:14:05.610 The beauty's not in the runner, it is in what the runner has to say in the news that he was carrying. 00:14:05.769 --> 00:14:14.569 And that is how we should think about every spiritual conversation that we have been putting off. 00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:19.689 Because I know how hard it is to think otherwise. 00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:22.970 You're not being evaluated on your delivery. 00:14:25.289 --> 00:14:29.929 It's not about your credentials and how many, and this is the way we tend to think. 00:14:30.009 --> 00:14:33.210 Well, I've got to know all the answers to all the objections. 00:14:33.610 --> 00:14:36.250 And if I don't, then I'm going to be an utter failure. 00:14:36.490 --> 00:14:42.090 No, you're carrying something very specific, not vague spirituality. 00:14:43.210 --> 00:14:51.210 You're not carrying as a Christian inside of you something just good vibes about Jesus. 00:14:53.129 --> 00:15:03.769 We are carrying good news that God rescues sinners by grace, not by performance. 00:15:05.289 --> 00:15:20.730 The good news that Christ lived the life that we couldn't live, and he died the death we deserved, and he rose again so that anyone, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:26.490 To say it another way, the point is not you. 00:15:28.409 --> 00:15:30.009 The point is not me. 00:15:31.210 --> 00:15:36.889 The point is the good news of the message that we are carrying. 00:15:38.730 --> 00:15:50.730 And so, as unpolished and unprepared as you feel, you have been sent, and what you are carrying with you is enough. 00:15:52.329 --> 00:15:54.250 Secondly, the excuses. 00:15:54.329 --> 00:15:55.689 Look at verse 16. 00:15:57.529 --> 00:15:59.929 But they've not all obeyed the gospel. 00:16:00.809 --> 00:16:02.329 That stuck out to me. 00:16:02.569 --> 00:16:06.490 It's easy to miss, but notice the word obeyed. 00:16:09.049 --> 00:16:13.929 To reject the gospel is not just intellectual disagreement in Paul's mind. 00:16:14.090 --> 00:16:15.129 What is it? 00:16:17.689 --> 00:16:19.610 It's disobedience. 00:16:21.370 --> 00:16:32.730 That's really interesting because in our culture, we treat unbelief as just a neutral or a thoughtful position or just another perspective that's as valid as any others. 00:16:32.970 --> 00:16:35.850 No, Paul will say, no way, I will not have that. 00:16:37.850 --> 00:16:42.649 He calls it what it is disobedience. 00:16:44.490 --> 00:16:50.329 And so then the question is: well, what determines whether someone obeys or disobeys the message? 00:16:50.889 --> 00:16:52.730 Now look at verse 17. 00:16:53.289 --> 00:16:54.809 He gives an answer directly. 00:16:54.970 --> 00:16:58.169 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ. 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:04.170 Faith is not manufactured by a clever argument or by a gifted communicator. 00:17:05.690 --> 00:17:15.130 Faith comes from hearing the message itself, and the message itself carries the power. 00:17:17.289 --> 00:17:18.650 And it's very interesting. 00:17:18.730 --> 00:17:25.690 There's this great illustration that Jesus uses in the parables in Luke chapter 16, and it is so powerful. 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:37.930 But it's a rich man, it's a parable about a rich man who's begging that someone would go back from the dead to tell his brother about Christ so that he can be saved. 00:17:38.009 --> 00:17:57.529 And Abraham responds and says, If they did not hear Moses and the prophets, so translation, if they did not hear the word, then neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead. 00:17:59.529 --> 00:18:00.809 Think about that. 00:18:03.450 --> 00:18:08.970 Not even a resurrection moves someone who will not hear the word. 00:18:11.289 --> 00:18:21.769 The word of God is so powerful and has so much weight that it is carrying more than a miracle. 00:18:23.450 --> 00:18:31.769 Which means that if Israel didn't believe, there are only two possible explanations. 00:18:34.170 --> 00:18:41.930 Either that the message never reached them, or it reached them and they refused it anyway. 00:18:43.129 --> 00:18:44.809 And that's where Paul goes next. 00:18:44.889 --> 00:18:46.329 He answers the obvious one first. 00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:47.210 Did they not hear? 00:18:47.369 --> 00:18:48.410 Look at verse 18. 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:50.730 But I ask, have they not heard? 00:18:50.889 --> 00:18:52.170 Indeed they have. 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:57.049 And then he quotes look at he quotes from Psalm 19. 00:18:58.329 --> 00:19:00.650 And that psalm is actually about creation. 00:19:00.730 --> 00:19:01.690 It's not about preaching. 00:19:01.849 --> 00:19:06.809 The heavens declare the glory of God just by existing to anyone in the earth. 00:19:06.889 --> 00:19:12.569 But Paul isn't saying here that creation itself preached the gospel to Israel. 00:19:12.889 --> 00:19:21.849 He's borrowing the Psalm's language of reaching this idea to the ends of the earth and applying it to something more specific. 00:19:23.049 --> 00:19:43.849 Because you see, by the time Paul is writing, real preachers had carried Christ's message to the known world, so that every Jewish community in the Roman world had heard the gospel and heard Christ. 00:19:44.329 --> 00:19:50.569 And so Israel cannot say, this is what Paul is saying, that it never reached them. 00:19:52.329 --> 00:19:54.410 It reached them plainly. 00:19:56.889 --> 00:19:59.609 You know the flag system at the beach? 00:20:00.009 --> 00:20:02.410 Maybe you've been to the beach recently. 00:20:02.730 --> 00:20:04.089 Green, you're good. 00:20:04.329 --> 00:20:06.250 Yellow, caution. 00:20:06.889 --> 00:20:09.609 Red, stay out. 00:20:11.529 --> 00:20:14.650 Here's the thing you can't miss it. 00:20:15.690 --> 00:20:25.289 It's on the top of a dune as everyone is walking, and everyone sees the red flag, walk, walks past it anyway, not because they missed it. 00:20:25.849 --> 00:20:31.849 It's they saw it and they didn't think it applied to them. 00:20:33.609 --> 00:20:35.049 And that's what everybody does. 00:20:35.210 --> 00:20:35.769 I've done it. 00:20:35.849 --> 00:20:37.210 It's I'm I'm good. 00:20:38.569 --> 00:20:40.490 Surely that's not true. 00:20:41.210 --> 00:20:43.690 Or I'm a really good swimmer. 00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:47.849 I'll be out just for a few minutes. 00:20:48.569 --> 00:20:51.049 Whatever riptide, it won't get me. 00:20:51.289 --> 00:20:52.250 I'm good. 00:20:53.529 --> 00:20:55.849 And some people aren't good. 00:20:58.569 --> 00:21:00.889 And that's the picture of Israel. 00:21:02.809 --> 00:21:04.329 They weren't confused. 00:21:06.650 --> 00:21:08.170 The flag was up. 00:21:10.009 --> 00:21:14.809 The warning was plain and real and clear. 00:21:16.809 --> 00:21:19.049 They just refused to hear it. 00:21:21.129 --> 00:21:22.730 And so what does that mean for us? 00:21:22.889 --> 00:21:25.529 What's the takeaway this morning in terms of application? 00:21:25.690 --> 00:21:27.529 Well, a couple of things. 00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:34.089 One of the simplest, most effective things that you can do in terms of evangelism. 00:21:34.250 --> 00:21:38.569 Yes, we're about personal evangelism, but you know what we also ought to be about? 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:40.650 Inviting people right here. 00:21:40.889 --> 00:21:41.529 Why? 00:21:43.049 --> 00:21:44.329 Think about the passage. 00:21:44.569 --> 00:21:47.049 Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from where? 00:21:48.329 --> 00:21:49.690 The word of God. 00:21:50.889 --> 00:22:02.250 So one of the best things you can do is find a friend or a neighbor or a co-worker or a family member and say, Hey, will you come hear the word with me? 00:22:03.210 --> 00:22:06.170 Will you come to the church with me? 00:22:07.450 --> 00:22:25.450 Who can you invite this week to come and to just simply invite them to come get in front of the freight train of the word of God and let God do His thing with them. 00:22:28.329 --> 00:22:38.009 Not a memorized presentation that you've rehearsed, not all your debate things all lined up so that you're ready to roll. 00:22:38.889 --> 00:22:44.170 Just come and let's go to lunch afterwards and talk about it. 00:22:45.210 --> 00:23:00.490 And then the other thing is if you're here this morning and you've not heard the gospel plainly, or you're someone who's not heard the gospel, uh maybe you're not confused by it at all. 00:23:00.650 --> 00:23:10.809 Maybe you know exactly what the gospel has said, but you just haven't trusted Christ yet. 00:23:13.849 --> 00:23:25.690 Perhaps you need to stop waiting for a clearer argument, or a better time, or for it to be said in a different way. 00:23:27.210 --> 00:23:30.809 Perhaps, think about Israel, this is what Paul's saying. 00:23:31.049 --> 00:23:34.170 Perhaps you have everything you already need. 00:23:35.930 --> 00:23:37.210 You have what you need. 00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:42.569 The only question is what are you going to do with what you have? 00:23:45.289 --> 00:23:53.609 Will you ignore the red flag or will you call upon the name of the Lord and be saved? 00:23:55.769 --> 00:23:57.769 The last thing is the ache. 00:24:00.009 --> 00:24:02.329 So he rules out two explanations. 00:24:02.569 --> 00:24:05.529 It wasn't that the message never reached them. 00:24:06.410 --> 00:24:15.609 So the chain held, the preachers went, the gospel arrived, and it wasn't that they never heard. 00:24:15.930 --> 00:24:18.089 Okay, Paul's dealt with all those things. 00:24:18.250 --> 00:24:21.369 You see how this is how he's working this out. 00:24:21.450 --> 00:24:23.609 And so what's actually going on? 00:24:25.529 --> 00:24:28.009 Why didn't Israel believe? 00:24:28.809 --> 00:24:31.369 Well, Paul raises one more possibility. 00:24:31.450 --> 00:24:34.250 Look at verses 19 and 20. 00:24:35.450 --> 00:24:37.690 It's that they didn't understand. 00:24:39.129 --> 00:24:40.730 Maybe that's it. 00:24:43.529 --> 00:24:45.849 Well, he answers with Moses first. 00:24:47.529 --> 00:24:56.170 And through Moses, God says, I'm going to bless people that you, Israel, call foolish outsiders. 00:24:58.250 --> 00:25:07.049 I'm going to bless the Gentiles who have none of the advantages that you have, and I'm going to use their belief in order to provoke you. 00:25:09.210 --> 00:25:19.210 And then Isaiah says the same thing more clearly: I have been found by those who did not seek me, and I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. 00:25:20.329 --> 00:25:23.690 So the point, outsiders, I mean, think about this. 00:25:24.009 --> 00:25:26.250 Gentiles were not even looking. 00:25:28.089 --> 00:25:29.369 They didn't care. 00:25:31.609 --> 00:25:37.609 And he shows himself to them while Israel here is, they're in. 00:25:37.849 --> 00:25:41.529 They have all the advantages and still don't believe. 00:25:42.170 --> 00:25:43.289 End of story. 00:25:43.450 --> 00:25:44.490 That settles it. 00:25:44.650 --> 00:25:48.730 We didn't understand was never a real excuse for Israel. 00:25:48.889 --> 00:25:53.609 So Paul closes the door on that excuse as well. 00:25:53.930 --> 00:25:56.089 Israel is all out of excuses. 00:25:56.250 --> 00:25:57.930 There is none left. 00:26:00.009 --> 00:26:02.569 And here's where it starts to turn. 00:26:04.410 --> 00:26:06.970 The passage starts to turn in verse 21. 00:26:07.049 --> 00:26:08.170 Please don't miss this. 00:26:08.490 --> 00:26:11.369 This was with me all week. 00:26:13.609 --> 00:26:23.450 But of Israel, he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. 00:26:27.609 --> 00:26:28.889 Two words. 00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:32.170 Neither of those words are soft. 00:26:33.769 --> 00:26:39.849 Disobedient, okay, you know the word, dug in, refusing to submit. 00:26:40.410 --> 00:26:45.930 I will not budge, rebellion, no matter how long the invitation stays open. 00:26:46.170 --> 00:26:49.369 That word contrary means it's something sharper. 00:26:49.529 --> 00:26:55.450 It's not just people who won't come, it's people who talk back. 00:26:57.769 --> 00:27:01.289 And so Israel wasn't just quietly unmoved. 00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:06.650 They actually were pushing against and pushing back. 00:27:11.369 --> 00:27:13.450 But how about all day long? 00:27:16.490 --> 00:27:21.849 Continually without letting up. 00:27:23.289 --> 00:27:25.289 God's doing this number. 00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:29.129 No closed fist. 00:27:31.690 --> 00:27:33.529 No crossed arms. 00:27:36.730 --> 00:27:38.329 No pulling back. 00:27:40.329 --> 00:27:41.450 Hands out. 00:27:42.410 --> 00:27:45.049 As if to say, please take them. 00:27:47.369 --> 00:27:48.730 Please come. 00:27:52.089 --> 00:27:56.170 And the response after all that is still nothing. 00:27:58.809 --> 00:28:05.690 And I don't want to rush past this to a neat resolution because the text doesn't give us a neat resolution. 00:28:05.849 --> 00:28:09.210 Israel at this point doesn't turn around. 00:28:09.450 --> 00:28:15.930 The chapter ends with hands out and no one taking them. 00:28:18.650 --> 00:28:20.490 Do you feel the ache? 00:28:23.049 --> 00:28:24.970 Do you feel the ache of verse 21? 00:28:25.049 --> 00:28:27.849 It's not a cold verdict from a distant judge. 00:28:28.009 --> 00:28:37.769 It's a father who is holding out his hands to his people who keep walking past them year after year after year and won't stop. 00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:46.490 And he doesn't stop holding out his hands because of who he is and because of his heart. 00:28:50.009 --> 00:29:06.490 You know, there's another place in the scriptures where we see a similar picture where God holds out his hands to people who reject him. 00:29:09.690 --> 00:29:11.690 And it's on the cross. 00:29:14.410 --> 00:29:15.369 Jesus. 00:29:17.289 --> 00:29:22.250 Hands spread as wide as they possibly can. 00:29:24.889 --> 00:29:26.809 God in the flesh. 00:29:28.730 --> 00:29:50.250 Nails driven through his hands to keep them open, not clenched, not withdrawn, held out for every single person that is nailing them in to his hands and to his feet and to the people that are mocking him below, for people just like the ones who wouldn't answer. 00:29:53.769 --> 00:29:58.250 And for stubborn, disobedient, and rebellious people like us. 00:30:01.690 --> 00:30:18.410 And so this morning, if you have been refusing, if you're dug in, if you're refusing to submit, his hands are still out. 00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:22.170 And he's saying, Come. 00:30:24.170 --> 00:30:34.170 If you're here this morning and you spent years praying for someone who won't turn around, maybe a spouse or a child or a friend, well, this is your God too. 00:30:34.490 --> 00:30:38.170 And he knows exactly what it costs to keep reaching. 00:30:40.329 --> 00:30:45.129 He knows what it costs to keep his hands out to people who refuse. 00:30:48.009 --> 00:30:49.930 And so don't give up. 00:30:52.809 --> 00:30:54.329 Keep praying. 00:30:55.129 --> 00:30:57.849 Keep holding your arms out. 00:30:59.609 --> 00:31:08.009 God is not asking you to do anything that he has not already done himself for longer and all the way to a cross. 00:31:10.970 --> 00:31:15.129 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:31:17.129 --> 00:31:19.049 The hands haven't come down. 00:31:20.970 --> 00:31:23.529 Will you call on him this morning? 00:31:24.650 --> 00:31:26.009 Let's pray. 00:31:36.009 --> 00:31:41.049 Father, thank you that your hands never come down. 00:31:43.129 --> 00:31:48.809 That all day long you keep reaching for us even as we turn away. 00:31:51.849 --> 00:32:06.970 Would you forgive us for the times that we've been dug in, where we've refused, or we've been too afraid to open up our mouths and carry the news that you've given us to people who need it. 00:32:07.930 --> 00:32:13.930 And Holy Spirit, I pray that you'd give us courage to speak, to share, to invite. 00:32:14.730 --> 00:32:18.410 I pray that you'd also soften hearts in this room. 00:32:19.529 --> 00:32:21.529 There are people that need to come. 00:32:24.490 --> 00:32:26.730 There are people that need to call. 00:32:28.250 --> 00:32:29.529 Would you give them courage? 00:32:29.690 --> 00:32:30.970 Would you give them faith? 00:32:31.529 --> 00:32:37.289 Ears to hear, and words to say, Lord, I believe. 00:32:39.529 --> 00:32:40.490 Save me. 00:32:42.970 --> 00:32:45.129 We ask these things in Jesus' name. 00:32:45.450 --> 00:32:46.089 Amen.