Romans 10:13–17

Please open your Bibles to Romans 10, verse 13. I am grateful to be with you all this morning. My wife, Kori, and my two girls are sitting there, and with them, I am glad for the opportunity to say, Thank you for praying with us. These last months have been both difficult and sweet for us as a family, and we know that many of you have prayed for us as we have gone through this application and interview process, and you have prayed for Kori specifically. So it is good to be with you brothers and sisters. Let’s read God’s word together:

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 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. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,

and their words to the ends of the world.”

19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;

with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

20 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.”

21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!

Pray with me. Father, this church is an assembly of believers whom you have built to be your spiritual house in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This body bears the message of salvation to a lost city. You have called them out of darkness into your marvelous light to proclaim your excellencies to their neighbors and families. And they are under no illusions, Father, of their own strength as they go out with the gospel. Not many of us were wise according to worldly standards, not many of us were powerful or influential. But it pleased you, God, to choose the weak, low, despised, and totally helpless so that no human being in the world might boast in your presence. God, we are always in danger of shifting back into trying to gain your acceptance through our performance. ...

I’ve just read a pretty large chunk of Romans. The passage that Dan assigned to me is Romans 10:13–17, so we are going to focus there shortly. But before we do, let me tell you exactly where we’re going and then let’s do a flyover of Romans 10 to help us better understand our few verses. This sermon has one main point and two implications from that main point.

Main point: God delivers the gospel message through weak messengers so that all people must give him the glory.

Two implications: 1) Since God saves people through faith in a message of good news, Ekklesia must proclaim the message to sinners. In short, the church must evangelize. 2) Since God has specifically chosen weak messengers to proclaim his message of salvation, therefore the salvation of sinners does not ultimately depend on your power or wisdom, your eloquence, your strategies, or on how well you deliver the message.

That’s where we’re going. Let’s start getting there by doing a quick pass over Romans 10 to give us some context.

I have three points that I hope will give us good context.

God gives his righteousness and salvation to everyone — Jew and Gentile alike — who calls on Jesus in faith, verses 9:30–10:13. Look back at 9:30. What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.The Jews were under two false assumptions. First, they assumed that God’s righteousness was only attainable by the Jews. Second, they assumed that they could attain that righteousness by keeping the Law. But, mercy of mercies, God granted the Gentiles his righteousness through faith in Jesus.

The cry of faith to Jesus is essential for salvation. The cry to Jesus is the outward, Godward expression of a heart that holds its last, desperate hope in Christ alone — a heart that says, If you, Christ, are not beautiful, then all the world is stale and gray. If you, Christ, are not a sufficient sacrifice for my sins, then I am doomed. And since the cry of faith to Jesus is essential, therefore someone must tell sinners the good news of salvation in Christ: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed… And how are they to hear without someone preaching...”

To Paul’s great sorrow, most Jews have rejected Jesus as their only hope for righteousness and salvation. Instead, they hope in their ability to keep God’s law. Therefore they stand condemned before God: Read verse 21: “Of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

God gives his righteousness and salvation to everyone — Jew and Gentile alike — who calls on Jesus in faith

The cry of faith to Jesus is essential for salvation.

To Paul’s great sorrow, most Jews have rejected Jesus as their only hope for righteousness and salvation. Instead, they hope in their ability to keep God’s law. Therefore they stand condemned before God.

Paul’s overarching burden is to hold up salvation by faith alone over against salvation by works. By the time he gets to chapter 11, he has argued for salvation by faith, and he pointed out the obvious: most Jews have not believed. So, on the one hand he badly desires for the Jews to be saved (10:1) and his heart breaks for them (9:2). On the other hand, he knows that despite their widespread rejection of Christ, God has not rejected his people (11:1).

A brief parenthesis: Perhaps some of you feel Paul’s anguish as your child or friend or father rejects Jesus. Or perhaps you are that child or friend or father, rejecting Jesus even now. Let me join your parents or your friend or your children in pleading with you: You probably don’t strive to keep the Mosaic Law, but you may well have bought into the idea of your inherent goodness, or of the toxicity of the idea of sin — that ‘sin’ damages people psychologically. So what will you do? You cannot get away from your conscience. You can’t escape the knowledge that you don’t even live up to your own standards. So you must bury your conscience, and do your best to live morally and well. It is a noble endeavor. But it is finally hopeless. If you must bury your own conscience so that you don’t have to face your failures, how will you face God? Listen, only Jesus, out of all the teachers and deities and good men in the world, enables you to look yourself full in the face — warts and sins and all — and to acknowledge the very worst things about yourself. Then, only Jesus enables you (ultimately, gloriously) to look God in the face and stand before him, not condemned, but forgiven. So come to Jesus. ***

With those three points in mind, let’s go back and look at our passage, v. 13–17, more carefully.

13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Paul quotes Joel 2:32 in verse 13. Let’s read it together, starting in verse 28:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

28  “And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

29  Even on the male and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.

Notice this. Joel does not say, “Everyone will be saved,” but “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” Calling on Jesus is the necessary prerequisite for salvation. So, Paul spends the next two verses showing us how that happens. Before a lost sinner will call on Jesus, they need to believe in him. That is, they need to believe that he is their hope, that he is true and steadfast, that he is worth their very life. But before they believe in Jesus, they have to hear about him. And in order to hear about him, someone needs to speak, to deliver the gospel message.

*** Isn’t this amazing. Eternity spins around a simple, glorious message that one person delivers and another believes and then acts on his belief. So profound. So simple.***

Things get a little more complicated as Paul quotes Isaiah, not once, but twice. And the implications of these two quotes are massive, so we’re going to spend most of the rest of our time unpacking them. First, Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, then he says, “But not everyone has obeyed the gospel.” Finally, he supports that statement by quoting Isaiah 53:1. And one of the main questions we have to ask here is, What is Isaiah doing? What is Paul doing? And do the two fit together? Turn to Isaiah 52:7. Paul says, ““How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Let’s read the verse in Isaiah: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’”

Now before we compare Paul’s quote and Isaiah’s original, let’s get a bit of context. YHWH has just miraculously saved Jerusalem from a massive Assyrian army that had already swept through Israel along with many of Judah’s cities. But shortly afterward, King Hezekiah proudly and foolishly showed off all his wealth to an envoy from Babylon. God responded to Hezekiah’s pride by declaring that Babylon’s armies would come, destroy Jerusalem, and carry off the people to a foreign land. Imagine the scene. Families have fled their hometowns as the Assyrian army got closer and closer. They go to Jerusalem or flee to hide in the hills. And they cower in terror within Jerusalem’s walls because they know it’s only a matter of time before the Assyrian horde breaches the gates. But then, overnight God wipes out the invading army and delivers the people. They breathe a sigh of relief and start getting ready to put their lives back together. And then they receive the news: Babylon is coming soon, and this time, there will be no escape. No deliverance. Babylon will destroy Jerusalem and carry off the people. Out of the fire, into the frying pan. And the people of God are wondering, “Has God finally left us?” So the last 26 chapters of the book of Isaiah are about God’s final comfort and deliverance of his people—No, he hasn’t abandoned his chosen people. Here in chapter 52, God’s servant messenger who brings justice and light in chapter 42 brings a welcome message of deliverance to Jerusalem. He runs down from the mountains and the watchmen rejoice because they know he is bringing news of salvation. Now, you noticed that Paul doesn’t quote Isaiah 52:7 exactly. This is important. It might be our first instinct to assume that Paul is just adjusting the Scripture to fit the point he is trying to make. But we need to be careful. The Spirit inspired Isaiah as well as Paul, and Paul is a really, really good exegete of Scripture. He doesn’t play fast and loose with the Bible. So our first assumption should be 1) that Paul will help us see Isaiah’s original meaning better, and 2) that Paul will help us understand how that original meaning now applies to us in light of Christ.

What’s different between Paul’s quote and the original? First, Paul shortens it and uses a more general expression while Isaiah poetically elaborates on the good news. In other words, Paul summarizes Isaiah 52:7. Second, Paul changes the singular — “the feet of him” — to plural — “the feet of those.” That second difference is especially significant. What’s Paul doing? Isaiah looks ahead to the day when God’s servant messenger will bring the joyful news of God’s deliverance. Paul looks back at Jesus, who brought that message and accomplished it and then commissioned the church to declare the same gospel message in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The beautiful feet of Jesus brought the message to sinners and made them saints. Now the beautiful, timely feet of those saints bring the message to the world. The one messenger has given his message to millions of messengers in the church.

But, what Paul is saying and what Isaiah is saying only fit together if they’re talking about the same message. Paul is talking about the gospel message about Jesus, right? And he’s tying that gospel message about Jesus to what Isaiah wrote in chapter 52. But what if Isaiah was talking about a totally different message? By quoting Isaiah here, Paul is really claiming that Isaiah’s servant messenger with beautiful feet was proclaiming the same gospel message that we proclaim about righteousness through faith in God’s Messiah. But is that true? I think it is, and I want to show it. So let’s read in Isaiah, starting in verse 7 through chapter 53 verse 1, which is the second verse that Paul quotes.

English Standard Version Chapter 52

7  How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

8  The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

for eye to eye they see

the return of the LORD to Zion.

9  Break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem,

for the LORD has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10  The LORD has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations,

and all the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

11  Depart, depart, go out from there;

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,

you who bear the vessels of the LORD.

12  For you shall not go out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the LORD will go before you,

and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

13  Behold, my servant shall act wisely;

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14  As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15  so shall he sprinkle many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

The messenger arrives in verse 7 and the whole city rejoices—they receive him as if YHWH himself had come (because he had). Then we get his message starting in verse 9 through verse 12: the Lord has comforted and redeemed his people from all of their enemies and, look at verse 11, the Lord calls his people to repent—to come out of wicked Babylon and to purify themselves. So the message has two parts: God has come to save you, and repent of your sins.

Then, all of a sudden, the focus shifts in verse 13 to God’s servant. The messenger in 52:7 is also God’s suffering servant. Verses 7–12 are the message, and starting in verse 13, Isaiah describes the messenger. At the same time, Isaiah is also describing what God’s promised deliverance will look like. The Jews are waiting for God to reveal his mighty arm to save them from Babylon. Well, here it is: God’s Servant-messenger is bleeding, misshapen. He is despised and rejected. Imagine the scene: There, running down from the hills, the messenger comes quickly into the besieged city. The watchmen cry in relief, “He’s here! Salvation is coming!” Finally, the messenger enters the city and people surround him in excitement, “What news?!” But their joy turns to confusion. The messenger is small, weak. He’s bleeding all over and is about to collapse. “What news?!” And the messenger shouts, “Salvation has come! And I am your deliverance!” What? You? Aren’t you cursed by God? Look at you! And the crowd disperses in despair. Salvation is not coming. It can’t possibly be here.

“Who has believed what he has heard from us?”

No one would believe such a sorry messenger. So Isaiah tells us that the messenger has arrived with happy news. Then, he gives us the content of that good news — God is bringing salvation and he calls you to repent — Then he tells us about the messenger himself who brings God’s salvation. And finally, he describes the audience’s reaction: Unbelief.

By quoting Isaiah, Paul is giving us the same thing: 1) The content of the message we proclaim, 2) what to expect from our audience, and 3) our Example who first brought God’s gospel message.

What is Paul’s point for us? The sheep are not better than the Shepherd, and the servants should not expect better treatment than their Master. We are sent ones whose feet are beautiful or timely because our message is the crying need of every hour. It is always timely. But we feel weak in evangelism. We stumble over our words. We second-guess our strategies. Our minds seem to go blank when someone asks an unexpected question. Don’t we often wish our gospel presentation had been clearer or more complete? Are our personalities winsome enough? Dynamic enough? Am I smart enough? Filled with the Spirit enough? Do I remember enough Scripture? Or understand the gospel well enough? Is my sin too great? Will I always battle against fear of man? Won’t I appear foolish to my neighbor or family member? Won’t they pick up on my doubts and insecurities? Won’t I seem utterly out of step with the present day? How can I call her to repent when I am still so sinfully broken?

They did not esteem your Savior. The all-wise Word of God who spoke all life into existence, who upholds the lives of those who scoff at him appeared foolish to those same sinners. No, your brain doesn’t work as well as you would like. You don’t know your Bible as well as you could. You fumble with words, you struggle with sin. You are very weak. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Return with me Romans 10. Verse 15. How timely are your feet, Ekklesia, as you preach the good news! But sinners have not all believed the gospel you proclaim. They saw Christ in his weakness and suffering and rejected him as one cursed by God. “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” But God was pleased to save his people through his suffering servant so that sinners would call on him, not because they feel strong, not because they keep the law, but because they have faith, trusting only in the salvation of God through his Messiah. And they will likewise see your weakness and think of you as weak and foolish and naive and silly. And yet, by the mercy of God, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

What does it all mean for Ekklesia? You are about to hire a Pastor for Outreach and Evangelism. Praise God, he has laid it on your heart to bear the message of salvation to lost sinners in Eau Claire. This church will implement new evangelistic strategies, you will seek to present the gospel winsomely, you will hold meetings and evangelism trainings. You will hope for stories of conversions and full baptism services. And you should do these things. But listen, church. If even a single person comes to faith and repentance it will not be because your strategies were so effective (though God uses good strategy). It will not be because you became more extroverted, or because you stopped stumbling over your words (though God uses articulate speech, and though he works through personality). No, you will still be weak, just like your Savior was weak. Some, even many, will still think that you are silly, foolish, naive, intolerant. But they thought that of Jesus. If people come to Jesus, it will be because God himself has broken into the hearts of self-sufficient sinners and shown them that they are trying to drink water out of broken cisterns. He will show them that they are barren and destitute, even though they insisted that they would never know poverty or the loss of children. God will show them how weak they are so that they must fall at the feet of Jesus, their last and only hope for salvation. And he will do it through you — a clay jar with stumbling words and imperfect strategies — to show that salvation is the power of God.

Think back to the main point of this text: God delivers the gospel message through weak messengers so that all people must give him the glory.

I gave you two implications of this truth. On the one hand, you are weak. On the other hand, the church must proclaim God’s message of salvation. So we must speak, but we aren’t going to convince anybody of our message through our wise words or dynamic personalities. In fact, we have every reason to think that they will reject us as naive or even despicable and reject our message as foolish. So what are we to do?

Well, since God has specifically chosen weak messengers to proclaim his message of salvation, therefore the salvation of sinners does not ultimately depend on your power or wisdom, your eloquence, your strategies, or on how well you deliver the message. Rather, you proclaim the message (as you must, because faith comes through hearing), and then you trust God to do the miracle of replacing stone-cold hearts with warm, beating, faith-filled hearts of flesh. Remember, brothers and sisters what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1: Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”