Are You Listening: #3 Faith Comes by Hearing

Faith comes by hearing the message of Christ, and people cannot believe unless someone tells them. Therefore, Christians are sent by God to proclaim the gospel, sharing the good news that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The call to the church is to give this life-changing message so that others can hear and respond.

Transcript

Well, good morning. 

So this morning I wanted to start out with the question. What do we do when we really want to get a message out? We live in a time when, millions of people can hear a message by the pressing of a few buttons, and messages can just perforate throughout the world. Unfortunately for me, I don't know where many of those buttons are. You know, some of you are far more connected than I am. And, you know, this week I wanted to get a message out, and I don't have a Facebook. I don't have a Twitter account. I don't have any of the normal things to to try to, you know, to try to get a message out to a broader audience. But we do live in a time when it can just be, saturated through millions of eyes, can see the same thing in a single day. Friday, there was an article that came out in the Financial Times that I really wanted a lot of people to know about. And, it was an article about my nephew Shane, engineer in Singapore that was murdered there, this past summer. And, it was an article about all of the, intrigue that leads up to and explains, the reason why my nephew on the day he quit his job and was heading back to the United States to start a new job, was, found dead in his apartment by his girlfriend. I wanted to really get this message out. By the way, it's on Financial Times. You can go to the website, or you just Google Shane Todd and it will get you there. But I really wanted to get this out to as many people as possible. And since I am not connected, I started just, going to various news sites and putting in their news, feeds and, and trying to send links to people who are connected and, unfortunately, this this is starting to this, this message, his story is starting to really circulate. But the point I want to make with this opening illustration is this, that when something is really important and we really think something ought to be heard by a larger audience, we do what we can to get the word out and, what I want you to know, in terms of this, series that we're doing, are you listening? Is, the very nature of God himself is the desire to communicate. He is. There's no one who wants to get his word out more than God Almighty. He wants to speak into the hearts and the minds of his creation. He wants to have them know what it is that he has to say to them. He wants to send out a message, a message of love, a message of love to a fallen and broken humanity and a message. He wants to be heard so that our problems could be solved. And even as far back as Isaiah 53, where the prophet looks forward and sees what the coming of Christ will mean for us, and bring the forgiveness of sin and the transferring of our guilt, even at the very beginning of that chapter. The prophet laments who will hear our message? Who will hear it when it goes out to all the earth? Who will actually be listening? That's the question he asks. And Isaiah 53, chapter one, who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Today, as, we continue in our series. Are you listening? Question. Who will believe the message? Is it the heart of what we're looking at here today? God desires to communicate his love, and we're going to be looking at God's desire to communicate his love. But we're also going to be looking at our part in getting God's message out to others. If there is one message that all men would hope to hear from the lips of God, what would that one message be? Can you think of any message that you think almost everyone would want to hear from the lips of God? What would that message be? If you were standing before God right now? And he said, my son, my daughter, I have a message for you. What would you hope that message would be? Well, it turns out that the message we'd want to hear from God is the message that God wants to tell us. God wants to get the message out that we in Christ stand blameless before him. That's what he wants to tell us. That you stand blameless before me because you have put your faith in my Son, Jesus Christ, and for the remission of sins, based on his his having paid the price. And you stand before me blameless in order to receive eternal life from me and enter into the fullness of my eternal blessings. You have come before me, and you stand before me, and I proclaim you blameless. And I want to invite you to come in to my kindness and to my love, and to my blessing. Now, do you think this would be a good message to pass on? What do you think? Is that a good message to pass on? Well, would you want to help to pass on that message? What is our part in getting, God's message to be heard? This morning's, message is entitled. Faith comes by hearing. And we'll be looking at Romans chapter ten, verses eight through 18. Heavenly father, Lord, even as Pam prayed this morning, there's so many times that we are ourselves, intimidated by, sharing your message because, even, with every good message, there's opposition to it. And yet, Lord, when you empower us by your spirit, Lord, there's just an unction that comes in us that no longer, feels, powerless, but feels a compelling necessity to tell those who are still in a prisoner of war camp that the, allies are coming and that they're coming to set them free. Lord, we just pray, father, that you would, use us and give us the privilege to announce, freedom to the captives. For we all have friends and family that don't really know or haven't really heard, or they've heard Jesus. They've heard the message, but they haven't really heard the message. They haven't really heard the power of the Holy Spirit speaking to them that God loves them and has died for their sins, and is inviting him into his kingdom. Lord, we just pray that we would be spokesmen of this most glorious truth. In Christ name we pray. Amen. Romans chapter ten, beginning at verse eight, it says, but what does it say? The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are proclaiming, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, anyone, anyone, anyone who trust in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is the same. Lord is Lord of all, richly, all, and richly blesses all who do what call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then can they call on one? They have not believed in? And how can they believe in one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without somebody or someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are said? That's really our question is how can we preach unless we are sent? We are unless we're filled by the spirit and set out by the commission of God. How can we preach as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news? But are not all the Israelites accepted the good news for Isaiah? Says, Lord, who has believed our message? Consequently, faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. But I ask, did they not hear? Of course they did. Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Now this passage we read this morning, beginning at verse eight, starts with the words. But what did it say? And that's referring to a discussion that's going on in the verses prior to that. It's going on to the discussion between two messages. An old message, Moses is message and a new message, the message of Jesus Christ. And everyone wants to hear this new message. And he and now it says what that new message says. It is a new message for all people, for Jews and for non-Jews. That we can be blameless before God. That we can be justified, that we can be made right. Not by obeying the law perfectly, but by calling on the name of Jesus Christ. We can be set free from our guilt. Both Jews and non-Jews can be set free from the futility of our sin and our death. Now, the earlier verses describe how the Jews were ignorant of this righteousness that comes from God because they were believers in the message that Moses had brought them, and they were holding on to that message that Moses would had brought them. And Moses, his message to them was simple. It's actually a message we all believe to. It's not an inaccurate message. It's not untrue message. It's a true message, and we all would agree with it. Moses's message is simple. If and if if in every way you obey God's law, you will stand blameless before God. That's true. Right? If you had never sinned or you never sinned, you would stand blameless before God. That's Moses's message. If you want to stand blameless before God, just obey everything he tells you to do, and then you will be without blame before him. One little problem. We can't even get through reading the Ten Commandments without violating them before we get to the end of them. I mean, let me ask you, how many people have read? How many times have you read the 10th commandment? Thou shalt not covet what your neighbor owns and you don't own. That doesn't. Y'all? You don't start to think about something you want that somebody else has, that you don't have. Can't even read the thing without violating it. And that was the point of the law, really, to show us that we need another way to stand right before God, because there is in the end, nothing more important to any human being. Both now and into eternity, than to be able to have a right standing before God and to be welcomed into his eternal kingdom. Now, why did God set up the law when he knew we were sinful by nature and we were going to violate it before? Before the ink even got dry? Well, let me try to illustrate it to you this way. Supposing a mother really wanted to demonstrate to her kids that all of her provision was not because they deserved it, but because she loved them. So she set out this glorious banquet for her children to eat. And she said, before you can come and sit down at my banquet, I want you to all do something that you can do to earn and deserve being at my banquet table. I want you to all. Pole vault. Oh. There's over 20ft. And if any of you are able to pour over this 20ft, then you deserve to be at my banquet table. So they all went out and some tried, and others just looked at the 20ft. Oh, forget it, but some tried and some did better than others. But of course, none of them were able to clear the bar, so they came back in and mother said, do you any of you deserve, coming to the banquet table? Well, we're hungry, but none of us cleared the 20ft. And she said, well, I knew you couldn't clear the 20ft, but the reason why I had you try it was because I wanted to show you that my provision to you is not based on your merit. It's based on my love for you. Come in and eat the banquet that I have prepared for you. Not because you deserve it, but because I love you. That's what God did with the law. He brought the law to show us that we can't stand before him blameless on our own merit. If we did fully obey the law, we would deserve to stand blameless before God. Some of us may do a lot better than others. My wife does better than me. At approaching the 20ft. But, she's gone to a family funeral this week, if you're wondering. But, she, But she can't she fall short, too, so she needs the mercy of God just as much as I do. None of us will stand blameless before God because we deserve to stand blameless before God. We all live in a world that's come up short. But God has a message for that world who has come up short. And that's the message that God wants to get out. The theme this morning is God has a message. He really wants to get out. Let's take a look again at verses 16 through 18. But not all the Israelites accepted the good news for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? That's a haunting question. You know, God just looks down. God who will believe me? Who will believe the message that I am sending out? Consequently, faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. But I asked, did they not hear? Of course they did. The voice has gone out into all the earth. Their words to the end of the world. His message has gone out. His voice has been heard to the ends of the earth. In fact, Galatians chapter four says this at the right time, when the time was right, God sent his son. When the time was right. Jesus came into this world. Well, what does that time is right mean? Well, historians tell us that no time prior to the time that Jesus came would be a good time to get a message circulating through the whole world. People were too isolated from one another, and the languages were to disperse, to have a general message go out through all the earth. This time when Jesus was born was the first time in human history where you could actually get an idea throughout the world. And within a generation. Kind of sounds ridiculously slow compared to our time, when you can get an idea throughout the Earth within a day or two. But the reason why this was the perfect time was because there was a general language that was used for commerce, kind of like English is today, and that was Greek. Wherever you had people traveling and trading, they would, speak to each other in a common language, Greek, the language of the New Testament. And they were able to get around because the Romans had created roads all over their conquered world. And so travel had become much easier than it ever had before. And the trading and commerce made all that possible. Plus, the Roman powers had suppressed a lot of the hostilities throughout the world so that people weren't afraid to travel. There was a general climate of peace, that, that enable people to travel throughout the, the world at that time. It was the first message that could really penetrate the whole known world. And it was a time when Jesus came and spoke the words that that God wanted his people to hear. Now, it was interesting because, he spoke at first to the Jews and in Jerusalem and, and Israel and, like we are the first who believed and were perpetrating and spreading this message. Really? We're pretty content staying at home. And, God wanted to get the message out. So he sent a persecution against those Christians that were comfortable staying at home. And in that persecution, he scattered them throughout the, known world. It seems that God wants to get his message out more than he wants his followers to be comfortable. That's what it seemed like from the first century. Now think about this for a second. Here's your internet here. First century internet Roman road. All of these, messages are being traveled verbally through the through word of mouth, across long distances. As people traveled and went and were scattered through persecution into different areas of the world. To tell this message of of of hope through Christ. But when you think about this for a second, think about all the messages that went out across this Roman road. What percentage of the messages that were carried on this road? The early internet here had to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Probably only, well, probably less than one 1% of the messages that got carried on this early internet, had to do with Christianity. But there's only one message that has really survived from those days. There's only one important message that we get out of the first century. We don't know, about the sports teams that played in the first century. We don't know about the various, trades in commerce. I mean, you maybe you could dig into some obscure history books and find it. But there was one loud message that came throughout the whole world that we still have, have with us today. And that's the message that God wanted to get out. Now, think about our times. We are in some ways richly blessed with the capacity to communicate in ways that no one ever before in human history has been able to do. What percentage of the messages that go across the internet do you think our, Christian message ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Probably less than there was in that first internet. But there's only one important message. Well, there's one and only one superintending message. And that is the message that God loves you and wants to save you, wants to bring you into his grace, wants to deliver you from the power of your sin and the consequences of your sin. And that message will remain. And all the clutter that goes across the internet now, that message will remain, you know, today we, we may be interested in sharing our favorite sports hero, or we may be interested in sharing, what? You know, who won the Grammys or whatever other things that may interest us. But in 100 years from now, those messages will all be vapor. But if the Lord tarries the message, the important message will remain. And that's the message that we have an opportunity to be. Voice is for the voice of God proclaiming that he loves us. And the question is, who will hear his voice? Again, God has a message. He really wants to get out. And point number one is this people need to hear his message in order to receive it. There's a very simple line of reasoning in this passage that seems self-evident, but let's think about it for a second. You can't. You can't, believe a message if you've never heard it. Let's take a look at verses 12 through 17, for there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all, of Lord of all, and richly bless us all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How can they call on one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without somebody, someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. But not all the Israelites accepted the good news for Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our message? Now think about this. If God were silent, if God were silent, what if God were silent? If God were silent, we'd have no way of knowing that he loves us. It's kind of like Islam to Islam. God is silent. They have no way of knowing whether they're in his mercy or out of his mercy. He has given us blessing without merit. But we would not know it had he been silent. And yet he has been shouting from the rooftops. He's been proclaiming this message from the prophets of old. And when the time was right, he sent his Son so that this message could be taken throughout the world at the time of, of his sacrifice and our sins and our guilt, having been atoned for, he sent, this message that my son has made an exchange. He's exchanged his holiness for your sinfulness. He's taking upon himself your sin, and he's offering to you his holiness. And that message has gone out. And people can't receive that message unless they've heard it. And they can't hear it unless somebody is there to tell them. There would be no one to tell them if God didn't send people out to tell them. And that's where we come in. Every one of us who has received this message is sent by God to convey this message, to communicate this message and spread it throughout the world. Of all the messages that we feel compelled to communicate, this is the one important message that we are commissioned to communicate. What rival message could be greater than the importance of whoever would come unto Christ, whoever would call upon his name, whoever would rely upon him will not be put to shame, but will be richly blessed. Think about that. You may not think that you're confident sharing the gospel, but could you tell somebody who's in trouble this? The Bible says that if you call upon the name of Jesus Christ, if you look to him and depend on him and cry out for help from him, you won't be put to shame. That's not a hard sentence to say. And guess what? That's all a person would need to hear. Because if they call upon the name of Jesus Christ and in their heart they desire his help, he will help them. How many times have you heard the testimony I prayed, Lord, if you're real. Show yourself to me. I've heard people. I've heard that testimony many times. And, it's been answered many times. This is what the message is. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be blessed. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will not be put to shame. You know, we're afraid of asking help from somebody. Because what if they say no? Well, what if we know ahead of time they're not going to say no. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will not be put to shame. He will not just say, go away. Stop knocking on my door. I don't love you. That's not going to happen. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, whoever humbly looks up and says, you know, I've tried Egypt. I've tried, everything else to come and be my ally. I've, trusted the Americans to come and save me. Whoop! But I've run out of resources. I look to you, Lord, and I ask for your help. You will not be put to shame. Is it hard to tell somebody that, somebody's in trouble? You don't have to have a whole theological exposition of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, or just to start their call on the name of the Lord. And you will, not be put to shame. You will be richly blessed. I wasn't planning on sharing this, but for some reason it keeps going through my mind even as I'm speaking right now. I was talking to my sister a couple days ago, and she told me a vivid dream that her son Dylan had, and her son Dylan had this vivid dream, one of those powerful dreams that are unlike any other dreams. And it was a dream that he met his, brother, my nephew Shane, in an airport, who, as you know, was murdered last summer in Singapore. And they were in the airport and it was a very typical thing for him to meet Shane in the airport, because that's often where he met Shane going here or going there, pick him up, drive him home or whatever. But he made Shane in the airport and he sort of excited to tell Shane. I want to tell you all the stuff that's going on in your case and the investigation. What's being found out and what's being developed and, and the evidence that is being it's coming to surface, our prayers being answered, that that what is hidden, it will be revealed. And you know what Shane said to him in his dream? He said to him, Dylan, you know where I been. You really just want to talk about that. You want to talk about that one? You know, I've been in heaven with our Lord. Yeah, I don't know. It seems to me you don't make that stuff up. What's important? What is really important? Calling upon the name of the Lord is what's important. Again, the theme this morning is God has a message. He really wants to get out. And point number one is people need to hear his message in order to receive it. And point number two is beautiful are the feet of those who bring God's good news. Beautiful are the feet of those who bring God's news. Good news. Verse 15. How can they preach unless they are sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Now, I got to confess to you, when I read this, I thought, what the heck does that mean? I don't care what a person's doing. I've never really thought feet are all that beautiful. What does it mean that their feet are beautiful? Why would he say their feet are beautiful? Why wouldn't you say? You know the vision of them coming is beautiful or something. But what is it with the feet? Well, I was totally confused, so I read some commentaries and the one I think that explained it the best, said that, the feet were really a symbol of authority. The feet are what carry us to where we're going, and they're a symbol of the authority that carries the message forward. And, and, so what it's saying here is that beautiful is. And this this fits the passage, too, because it says unless they were sent beautiful is the authority that sent forth those who carry the message of redemption to a world who's in captivity. Beautiful are, the feet of those who have been commissioned to go forth and to speak the words of life into a dying world and illustrate it. You know, if you were one of these, Jews in a concentration camp and the Allied troops were coming forward proclaiming liberty to you, their feet would be beautiful. Everything about them would be beautiful. You know, their fingernails would be beautiful. Everything would be beautiful. And those who brought the message that you're free. The authority, the power that liberated them. The power under which the liberating troops came. The feet, that is. It would be a beautiful sight to those who heard the message of liberty. And in our own country. Think about what it would have been like, to see somebody coming out into the town square and reading the Emancipation Proclamation that, from the highest authorities, men were given back what belonged to them, their rightful bodies, that what had been stolen from them at what belonged to them, that was ownership of themselves and that was being restored. That would be a beautiful message to hear, and to hear it from the authority that could proclaim it, beautiful sight to probably not everybody there. It wouldn't have been welcome words to everyone, but what a privilege it would be to carry such words to those who had been unjustly deprived of their most precious possession themselves. When we speak of liberation from the slavery of sin and death, it may not be well received by everybody. But those who hear it and understand it will say, you know, wouldn't it be nice to be considered beautiful in our old age? You know, all the beauty trip tips we try to do and the fitness we try to get. You're beautiful, man. You're beautiful. It's beautiful what you're saying. Beautiful you. We can be seen as beautiful to those who hear the liberating message, of Jesus Christ, who are under the weight of their own guilt and shame and sin, who see that they have no hope of standing before God blameless, who know and have faced up to the reality of, of the consequences of of what they've chosen to do, and hear these words, that you can stand righteous, that you can be justified by proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believing in your heart that he was risen from the dead. Wow. The authority to deliver that message. What a privilege it is for us to carry the liberating message of Jesus Christ to the captives again, God has a message. He really wants to get out. And point number one is people need to hear his message in order to receive it. And point number two is beautiful are the feet of those who bring God's good news. Now usually I conclude with a verse or a comment, but tonight, today I'd like to conclude with, with just a reminder of our potluck next Saturday at six, because in that potluck, we're going to, we're going to celebrate with those who have brought the good news to the Dominican Republic. But we're also going to be starting to look at two other things. We're going to be looking at, Project Reach here in San Bernardino, where I over the next six months, I want to be preparing you to pray for, to look upon and to establish, a relationship with people that that by the power of the spirit, God might have you speak to. We're going to be talking about, how over the next six months, we'll be identifying those that we love that aren't necessarily going to heaven, and how we can begin for the first three months just to pray for them and to pray that the spirit would move in our lives in such a way that we would be find ourselves in a situation where we're able to speak with power the words of life. And we're also going to be talking about what we've been invited to do down in Peru, where we've been invited to be part of Laredo Church, taking this message to people there you have been praying for six months and preparing and sharing, and we will have those who go down and be our part of that project will have a chance to share their testimony that we will have prepared ahead of time for the sake of seeing the captives set free. And so I'd really like to encourage you not only to come out to our missions, conference potluck, but also come out and find out what we'll be doing here in San Bernardino in Peru, in the, in the months ahead. Heavenly father, Lord, we come before you in your word says. Whoever calls on the name of Jesus Christ will not be put to shame. So we call on the name Jesus Christ. We call on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we put our, our, our trust in you, Lord Jesus Christ. And we take our trust on and off our own self-reliance, and off of the reliance of other people and off the reliance of our job, and off the reliance of our country, off the reliance even of our church. And we put it on to Jesus Christ our Lord. We rely on you, and we call out to you, Lord, we thank you that as we call out to you for help, that you would help us, as we desire your truth to be working in the innermost places of our lives to be making us, clean and right and true. But we also pray that you would give us the power of your spirit to go forth and proclaim this liberating truth to others, that whoever would call upon the name of the Lord will not be put to shame. So we call upon the name of the Lord to help us grow in you and to help us, speak your words of liberty to others in Christ.