Living Hope Church

Pastor Phil Steiger: If you have your Bibles, if you would turn with me, please, we're going to be in Romans chapter 10 again this morning. Romans chapter 10, and in just a few minutes, we're going to start reading in Romans chapter 10, verse 14. We're at a beautiful passage of Scripture here in the middle of Romans 9, 10, and 11. Remember we have this three-chapter section in the middle of Romans where the Apostle Paul turns his attention especially to the nation of Israel while he keeps his eye on all the need for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we read a lot of that here in our particular passage this morning.

But one thought I want us to have in our minds as we get started today, it's that the Church of Jesus Christ is a proactive force here on Earth. The church is proactive. We are designed to go forth into this world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church was not created by God and filled by the Holy Spirit to sit idly by. We do not watch the world decay around us and wait for the return of Christ. It would be a lot easier if we just circled the wagons and just wait for Jesus or death to come, right? But that's not why God created the church. Jesus Christ came proclaiming the kingdom of God, and he seeks to save the lost, and so we, his people, do the same.

Paul just wrote in the passage that we finished with last week, there in chapter 10, verse 13. He writes, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." While he still has his eye on Israel in this passage of Scripture, and we'll see that even more as we finish chapter 10 in a couple of weeks and move into chapter 11, Paul now calls all of us to be part of the mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the mission that was given to the disciples by Jesus. It is the mission that is given to all of us exactly because we are followers of Jesus Christ. We are given the job now of proclaiming the Gospel to the rest of the world until Jesus returns.

So in our passage of Scripture this morning, a couple of thoughts are going to help guide us today. First of all, the Gospel is the church's unifying mission. Of all the things that we do, of all the Sundays that we gather, of all the things that God has given the church to do, the Gospel is the unifying mission of God's church. One of the last things that Christ told his disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew was take the Gospel to the rest of the world. The first thing we read in the Book of Acts as we turn the page into the history of the church after Christ ascends into heaven, is that the church does exactly that. And for 2,000 years, the church has been spreading the Gospel faithfully, both in small and daily witness, as well as in large and life-changing mission. The Gospel is the church's unifying mission.

And then we're going to see this as well in this passage of Scripture. We're going to see God's universal and relentless call. Even though so many have rejected the call of Jesus Christ, even in the nation of Israel, as Paul's going to remind us again even in this passage of Scripture, God's call still goes out to everyone. So God calls out even in the midst of opposition. We're going to have to keep our eye on that this morning as we go through this passage. Let's read together the Word of God this morning. I'm going to read from Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse 14. Friends, this is the Word of the Lord.

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? 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!" But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 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."

A great series of questions begins this passage of Scripture where the Apostle Paul just said everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how do we even get to that point that someone has heard the Gospel? They've heard the truth about Jesus Christ, they put their faith, their trust, their belief in him. They call upon him and they are saved. He works his way backward through that next set of questions. If we want them to call on the name of the Lord and be saved from their sin and death, how will that happen if they've not been given the chance to believe in Jesus? And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard? If they've never heard of the true Jesus Christ, who are they going to believe?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching? Someone's got to say it. Someone's got to say it out loud. Someone's got to go there and bear witness and speak about the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And how are they going to preach unless someone sends them to go preach the Gospel, encourages them to do it, helps them go do it? We find those pockets where the Gospel's needed and we send them. How is that going to happen unless we, as the body of Christ, send them? How can they believe in Jesus unless they have heard the good news? So someone needs to, as he says in this text, preach the good news.

And I know some of you are thinking, well, that takes me off the hook because that's what Pastor Phil is doing this morning, so I don't have to do it, right? The word "preach" here in the Greek is a cool little word. Kēryssō is the word in the Greek, and it literally means herald. So anyone who walks out into the public square, anyone who carries news from one place to the next, is the herald of that news, is the herald of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What the Apostle Paul says here is not just strictly what we would call the professional ministry, or professional preaching, or going around the globe. We have some friends with us who are doing exactly that this morning, going around the globe to find those who need to hear the word of Jesus Christ.

It's not just that. It's every time every Christian opens their mouth to praise God, to lift him up, to glorify him, to speak about the truth of Jesus Christ. This belongs to all of us. Friends, the universal call of the church is to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This is the universal call. We referenced this earlier, and we're going to read it now in Matthew chapter 28. It's the Great Commission from Christ, verses 18 through 20. And Jesus said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I love how the Great Commission is bookended. Jesus says, "Listen, guys, all authority." Not most, not some, not a good chunk of it, but all authority has been given to me. Everything you can conceivably imagine and not imagine in heaven and on earth, I am the king of it all. And then he finishes the Great Commission by saying, "And don't worry, I am going to be with you. I, the one with all authority, will be with you, my disciples, even until the end of all things. Till you take your last breath and you are with me for all of eternity in the perfection of my glory, I will be with you." So what are we supposed to do with that?

Go, make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you to do. The universal call of the church is to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and this belongs to every true church in every age and every follower of Jesus Christ in every age. I was reminded of this passage of Scripture when Christ himself is burdened by this fact earlier in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew chapter 9, verses 36, 37, and 38, the text says this: "When he," meaning Jesus, "saw the crowds, he had compassion for them." He was moved for them to the depths of his being.

He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." This perspective is so incredibly important for us. In all of the confusion and the frustration of this world, and friends, I know what that is like to see what goes on in the world around us. The kinds of things that people say and do and promote, and those in power, it is easy for us to grow angry and frustrated.

But we must keep the perspective of Jesus Christ, that when we see those things going on in the world around us, what we're seeing are sheep without their shepherd. We're seeing people who, as Christ says, as the text says, they are harassed and they are helpless. Christ's response is, "They need to know me. The harvest is ripe." So when we see those things in the world, when we know this inside of our families and circles of friends, this is ripe harvest. Christ says, "Here's the field ready to go. We need laborers." So here's what I want you to do.

Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he is going to prick the hearts of his people to turn around and to speak the truth of Jesus Christ, and to reap that harvest. There's a lot of that out there, the laborers are few, pray that there would be more and more. We need to learn to see with the eyes of Jesus Christ, to see people as eternal souls, to see them as those who need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, friends, the greatest solution to any frustration, anger, or confusion we see in the world around us is Jesus Christ. Wouldn't it be great if those people, whoever they are, get to know Jesus Christ?

This is our universal call. This is the thing that unifies the true church of Jesus is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So friends, we must be aware of the need as well. Who is it who has not heard? Who has not yet had the chance to believe in the one true God? How will they call on him if they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him in whom they have never heard? These are people across the globe. These are people inside of our city. These are people inside of our friend circles, in our work, anyone who has not yet had the chance to interact with, to respond to the true Jesus Christ. This is who we are talking about in this passage.

How many of them even inside of our culture have only heard about a false Jesus, the wrong Jesus, the one that is culturally palatable, the one who does not confront sin, who's only believed in a false Jesus Christ? How many have had their understanding of Jesus warped by bad ideas, by bad experiences, by bad education of the things of God, by bad politics, whatever it is? Because friends, one of the tools of the enemy is to lie about who Jesus is. Listen to what Paul says when he writes to the Corinthians. The Corinthians were wrestling with a lot of things that they had to fix, so the Apostle Paul is trying to clarify a bunch of this for them.

He says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 11: "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." The enemy doesn't show up in red tights, a pokey tail, and a little red trident. He often shows up behind a pulpit in the mouth of a man or a woman who says they're a preacher. He shows up as an angel of light.

It is no surprise that Satan's servants dress up as apostles, preachers, prophets, and angels of light. That label "church" does not mean you actually are any church. That label "preacher" or "pastor" does not mean that person is actually preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the other way around. The label "Christian," if someone takes that name upon themselves, it does not guarantee their connection with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Part of our job is to clarify who Jesus is, to speak the true Jesus, to declare the actual kingdom of God and what this means for his people.

So the text says this as well, and this is a great passage. Proclaiming the Gospel is beautiful. It's beautiful to God. It's beautiful to the church, and it's beautiful to the saved soul. How many of you are glad that somebody or some service or some song proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you? You repented of your sin and you believed. How many of you are thankful for that? Come on, it's got to be almost all of you in this room. That's beautiful, isn't it? It's beautiful to the saved soul that someone went out of their way, that someone put the effort into doing this, saying this, talking to you, working with you, praying for you.

It's beautiful to you that the Gospel was preached. How beautiful it will be to them if you proclaim the Gospel, they hear the message and they are saved. It's beautiful to God because we are honoring him. We are doing exactly what he commanded us to do. It's beautiful to the church because the Gospel spreads and the body of Christ is encouraged. It is a beautiful thing. The Apostle Paul in this passage keeps digging back into the Old Testament and grabbing those nuggets of wisdom and riches and pulling them into these passages in Romans. This passage comes from Isaiah 52:7, and this is exactly what Paul is talking about.

"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!'" The word for beautiful does mean beautiful. It can also mean fitting or appropriate. It's exactly right for people who belong to Jesus Christ to proclaim the good news, to speak peace to the world around us, to say out loud that our God reigns. How beautiful are the feet, the activity, the motion, the movement, the decisions of people who are propelled by the Gospel.

It's beautiful to God, the church, and the saved soul. If the news about Jesus is the best news, then this just makes all the sense in the world. God sent the law so that his people could understand him. God sent the prophets so that his people could remember him. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might be saved by him. God sent the apostles so that we might know how to live in him, and God sends you and me so the world can be saved. God is sending, God is sending, God is sending. Paul in this passage is setting us up for what's going to happen in chapter 11.

He gives us here in verse 16, "But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?'" So he quotes from Isaiah again, this time from Isaiah chapter 53, verse 1. Isaiah chapter 53 is one of what's called Servant Songs in the Book of Isaiah. That one is specifically the Suffering Servant Song. It is the story of the crucifixion of the Messiah, that our iniquity will be placed upon him. It is the story of the Messiah, the king himself, coming here on earth to forgive our sins by taking our place upon the sacrifice, the cross.

This is the passage that has everything to do with the coming of Christ and salvation and forgiveness offered by God through the Messiah. But that even begins in Isaiah 53 by saying very few will listen to this. We want to hear the story of the conquering Messiah. We want to hear the story of the king who comes and reestablishes the kingdom and we all rule and reign over the people that we don't like. That's the story that we want to hear. But even as he begins that story, Isaiah says, "Who has believed our report?"

It's stunning that the God who created all things would walk into our flesh, live a sinless life, die on the cross, and rise again from the dead. This is stunning stuff. This is the Messiah who bears our griefs, who carries our sorrows, he says there in Isaiah 53, but is nonetheless rejected by many. Friends, this is an important part of living the Gospel and proclaiming the Gospel. The Gospel is often declared in the midst of opposition. It is often declared in the midst of opposition. The human heart that is lost in its sin doesn't like it. It doesn't want to hear it.

Many of you have stories very much like this. It was a long time before that thing clicked inside of you. The Holy Spirit got a hold of your heart and finally that moment happened and your sin got moved out of the way by the Holy Spirit and he walks into your life and you are saved now in Jesus Christ and you are a brand new person. There is opposition just because of human sin. This is what sin does within us. The enemy as well works against the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Cultural pressures, family pressures, anxiety, fear, pride, whatever it is the enemy can use, he will use to get between you and your Savior.

So the enemy is at work. The Gospel is often declared in the midst of opposition. Christ comes and he died on the cross. Now there's opposition for you, so much that you are executed. He came, he died, and he rose again from the dead nonetheless. Friends, opposition to the Gospel does not signal its weakness, it signals its necessity. It does not mean that what you speak is weak or wrong or false or fake or isn't really necessary. Opposition to the Gospel doesn't mean you've made a mistake. It doesn't mean it's not really necessary. It means it's exactly necessary.

This is the work of the sin in our hearts to separate us from our Savior. This is the work of the enemy inside of this world to separate us from our Savior, which is why we speak it even in the midst of opposition. Friends, the Christian and the true church of Jesus Christ simply cannot diminish the truth because it will be opposed, rejected, or mocked. We cannot allow ourselves to diminish the truth, to smooth over the edges. We are called to proclaim the Gospel because people need to hear it so that they can believe, so that they can be saved. And it is the message of this Jesus that saves them. It's not the message of the world-friendly Jesus that saves them. It's this Jesus Christ.

Are you guys okay if I get a little bit honest with you here for a moment or two? Because I want to make sure you guys are still with me. Far too many pastors and churches are at exactly this point. We want to soften the message of Jesus. We want to round off the edges. We don't want to talk about the bits that people don't like right now. We want to pretend that the language doesn't actually say what it says when the ethical instructions are given to us in Scripture. We're going to start saying things like the Old Testament doesn't matter anymore, the Apostle Paul doesn't matter anymore, about half of what Jesus says doesn't matter anymore, because we only like what we like and that's the Jesus that we like. Way too many people who call themselves pastors and places that call themselves churches are at exactly this point. The Gospel and all that it means is offensive, they would believe, to way too many people.

The solution, and friends, this has been a temptation for a very long time, the solution to reach people with the Gospel is to preach a reduced milk-toast version of Jesus Christ. These kinds of pastors and churches do more listening to the world than proclaiming to the world. They are molded and shaped by the world instead of molding and shaping the world around them. Quite frankly, way too many of them are afraid of the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. The only reason any of us are followers of Christ, are saved, is because we repented of our sin and gave our lives to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That's why any of us are saved. Can I be even more honest with you this morning? Okay, some of you are ready. Again, this is why I have a side door.

This has weighed on me the last two or three days as I've gone through this passage. Many of these pastors and churches, and you're watching it happen in your social media feeds already, many of these pastors and churches will provide a theatrical experience for Easter. They'll rent the helicopter, the sheep, the bunnies, they'll construct a foyer for you so that there's a beautiful theatrical experience. But many of them will soft-pedal the death and the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, his victory over sin and death, and the necessity of the sinner to repent. Theirs is not a Gospel of life; it is a TED talk of death.

It's not a Gospel of life, it's a TED talk of death. It will be short, it will be pithy. The pastor will juggle chainsaws or shoot hoops while he preaches. It's going to be memorized, it's going to be short, you're going to be in and out. There's going to be lights, there's going to be smoke. But if the Gospel is not preached, the church was not there. It was not there. A building can be full on Sunday mornings, but it can be empty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes through smoke machines and memorized services. No, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

"But I ask," he says in verse 17, "have they not heard?" He answers his own question in verse 18. "Indeed they have," they have heard, for, and he quotes again from the Old Testament, "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." "But I ask, have they not heard?" Just the fact that they have rejected, have they not heard? He says indeed Israel has heard. As a matter of fact, all of us have heard. So what he does then is he reaches back into Psalm chapter 19, and he quotes a bit of Psalm 19, verse 4.

Psalm 19 is short, but it's beautiful. It's basically structured in two parts. The first part says all of creation always declares the glory of God. The second half of that Psalm says and the Word of God tells us everything we need to know about God and who he is. So creation is always speaking, and creation speaks every language. Everyone can hear it. Here's that larger context in Psalm 19, verses 1 through 4. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard."

In other words, creation speaks every language. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. God is communicating constantly to the souls of his image-bearers about who he is. He exists, he is glorious, and he is mighty. We read this kind of thing earlier in Romans chapter 1 where the Apostle Paul wrote. He said the invisible qualities of God have been made clear to us, clearly known to us from the very beginning. God has built his message of himself into creation so that we might know that he exists and he is glorious.

God has built his word into our hearts and minds so that we might know that we need him and who he is. It has been spoken to everyone, Paul says. Have they just not heard? He says of course they've heard. Their very word says they've heard. God's call to his image-bearers is universal and it is relentless. The truth and the majesty and the glory of God just never ceases to be proclaimed. How many of you live in Colorado? Not bad, huh? When's the last time you stared at the mountains or you watched the aspen change, or you saw beautiful things all around you and thought, "My goodness, God is great."

If we have the eyes to see it, friends, everything that we see around us at night and in the day, it's what Psalms says: "Day to day, night after night, pours forth knowledge," not feeling, knowledge of who God is. We look around us, and when our eyes are trained to see it, we are astonished by the glory, the intelligence, the beautiful character and majesty of God. The truth and the majesty and the glory of God never ceases to be proclaimed. And the truth of the good news about Jesus, just like that, the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can never cease to be proclaimed by God's faithful church.

God's call is universal and it is relentless in creation and in the voice of his church and in the mouths of his people. As I was thinking this through, I was also reminded of the passage in Matthew 16. Peter says, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God," and Jesus says, "You're absolutely right, and upon that confession, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will never prevail against it." As long as the church remains faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will never be silenced either by the world or by our enemy. It can't be.

The only way the church will ever be silenced is if it self-silences, if it censors itself. It's the only way in the end that the church can be silenced. It isn't outside opposition that stops the church in the end. It isn't outside opposition that stops the message of the Gospel, but a church that decides it's just not important enough to say anymore. And even when the world does its worst, the church is still there and the Gospel is still true. The headline hit the news yesterday or the day before, but a pastor of apparently a rather sizable underground church in China was thrown into prison.

That's almost really bad news when one of these pastors of underground churches finds himself inside of prison. So we pray for the Gospel to spread inside of that prison because of that pastor. We pray for his release. But guess what the church did the next Sunday morning? They got up and they proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord. And the Gospel still moves forward even when the world does its worst. The world so often is a mess, we know this. It is a mixture of what people call good intentions. It's a mixture of the consequences of sin, the work of the enemy.

All of it means the world just desperately needs the truth of Jesus Christ. So Jesus himself, the second member of the Trinity, comes to earth. And this is what we walk through this week from Palm Sunday through the passion week to the cross on Friday and the empty tomb on Sunday. On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem as king. He's proclaimed as king. Then the passion week begins, and he finds himself upon the cross. But it doesn't end in the cross; it ends in an empty tomb and it ends in victory over sin and death. Jesus walked out the other side, and now you and I carry that message to the rest of the world. Friends, how beautiful are the feet of each and every one of us who carries the good news of Jesus Christ. Let's pray.