Proclaim the Gospel - Rom. 10:14-21
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It was the great Augustine who said, “If you believe what you like in the gospel and reject what you don’t like; it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”
And as we are walking through the book of Romans this year, Paul is giving us great clarity on the Gospel. Friend, God created you. And because He is Creator, He set the parameters of life - and the fact is we have broken His law. And as a result, we deserve eternal punishment for that law breaking the bible calls sin. But, Jesus came and lived a perfect sinless life. And in that perfection, He died, was buried, and victoriously rose again, conquering death, hell, and the grave. And as Paul has been abundantly clear, the righteousness of God is extended to the unrighteous through faith in this good news of Jesus - the Gospel!
As we studied last week, we affirmed that:
A right standing with God is not based on my works, my zeal, or my past. Righteousness is extended to the unrighteous through faith in the Gospel.
So the question was asked, “ Have you responded?”
Have you ever come to the point in your life where you realized that your goodness wouldn’t ever be enough to gain favor with God.
Not your religion, your good works, your upbringing, your affiliations - nothing you do can make you right with God.
Have you responded to Jesus by faith?
The context of Romans 10, is that Paul is passionate about his fellow Israelites responded to Jesus by faith. In fact, in chapter 9, Paul said that if it was possible, he would take their punishment in hell for all eternity if they would believe. But Paul couldn’t do that.
So in chapter 10 he resorts to two methods instead. Prayer and Evangelism.
As we have highlighted before, in chapters 9-11 of Romans Paul is teaching the parallel truths of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility.
Because God is God, he has every right to extend mercy to whomever He wants. He is not obligated to show mercy to any of us, but the fact He does to any of us is amazing.
And at the same time, He extends a genuine invitation in v. 13 that
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
As we studied a couple weeks ago, election is a biblical principle. And yet at the same time, so is human responsibility.
God works and moves throughout human history accomplishing His purposes, yet all the while using His creation to fulfill His will.
You see, scripture is clear that salvation is a work of God. He initiates, accomplishes, and completes the necessary requirements of redemption.
Yet all the while He is working according to His good pleasure, He uses people as the means to accomplish His will. And we see this work out in the passage today.
You will notice with me in vv. 14-15 God’s perfect plan to accomplish the spreading of the Gospel.
1. God’s Perfect Plan (vv. 14-15)
Who will God reach those whosoever’s that are to call on the Lord?
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
In reverse chronological order, Paul gives us a set of rhetorical questions that answer the process God uses to reach the lost with the Gospel. If God is genuine in His statement that whoever calls will be saved, then what does that look like.
How will they call? They need to believe.
How will they believe? They need to hear.
How will they hear? Someone needs to proclaim the message.
Who will proclaim? Someone needs to go.
Who will send?
Flipped right side up, Paul is saying that believers are to go proclaim the gospel message, and then listeners must pay attention and believe. So you need goers who will proclaim, listeners who will believe.
You see, The greatest news of all time requires those who have been impacted by its truth to proclaim it to those who haven’t.
This is God’s perfect plan of getting the message out. This is God’s perfect plan to meet the overwhelming passion Paul had for his fellow Israelites.
In God’s perfect plan, He uses people to fulfill His purpose.
Charles Hodge points out that if God wills the end, He also wills the means to reach that end.
In God’s perfect plan, He uses people to fulfill His purpose.
But you will notice with me:
2. Man’s Prideful Propensity (vv. 16-20)
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”
20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: “I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
We finish with v. 15 on a high note, the message that is brought by those sent is transformative. God uses people to fulfill His purpose. And so my personal response is, “Yes, let’s go!”
Then in v. 16, Paul brings realism to our idealism.
He says, although I have a deep passion for Israel to be saved, and am willing to take the Gospel to them, not all of them will obey the Gospel.
Here in vv. 16-18 there is some really great truth when understanding conversion.
In v. 17, Paul outlines that righteousness comes by faith, and faith comes by hearing the Gospel message. However, not all who hear will accept it as truth.
In fact, in v. 17 Paul uses the greek word:
ἀκοή akoē
simply meaning to hear something that was spoken - it’s the cognitive reception of facts
So there must be a reception of the facts of the Gospel for someone to be saved.
And the question is asked in v. 18 - Have the Israelites not heard of these facts?
And Paul answers Yes, indeed they have. and then he says, “in fact, these facts has gone out to all of the known world.
If you remember back to Romans 1, Paul introduced two ways God has chosen to reveal Himself. IIn vv. 19-20 there is a general revelation of Himself through nature and in v. 2 a special revelation through the Scriptures.
And in considering Israel’s rejection of God’s plan, of course they heard. God revealed himself, according to Romans 1, through general and special revelation to the Israelites. Through nature and His spoken words. They had a reception of the facts, but as v. 16 states, they didn’t obey the facts.
Where v. 17 talks about the necessity of the goer getting the facts out to be recieved, v. 16 talks about what the hearer is to do with it.
In v. 17 you have the greek word ἀκοή akoē emphasizing the reception of facts, but in v. 16, not all have obeyed the Gospel. That greek word for obey is
New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: Updated Edition 5219 ὑπακούω (hupakouō)
ὑπακούω hupakouō
So the root word of the two are the same, but in obey it is prefaced with the greek word hupo (that comes across into the English word, hyper). So literally, what we find here is that there are some who will hear, and others who will hyper-hear and in turn will respond in obedient submission.
So in context to Israel and their response to what all God had done for them, they heard, but in pride refused to obey Him.
And in turn, their
3. God’s Persistant Patience (v. 21)
Weekly Focus
Romans 10:17 - “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
The only hope for those without Christ is to hear the Gospel and believe; and how they will hear is through someone like me.
What are you going to do about it. Hopefully today, you will decide to proclaim the Gospel.
Proclaim it with:
Your mouth
Your life
Your marriage
Your parenting
Your finances
Your hobbies
Your gifts and talents
Your present affections
Your past failures