Coming to Call on God (Romans 10:14-17)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:06.759 Well, let's turn to Romans ten. Romans ten versus fourteen through seventeen. 2 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:33.299 Romans ten, verses fourteen through seventeen. Paul is saying something here that will 3 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:36.850 be used to make a larger point, which will get to next time. 4 00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:42.570 But we're focusing on the minor point that is emphasized here in fourteen through seventeen, 5 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:48.969 which is an understanding of a God's word to us as a means of 6 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:54.200 grace, God's words word to us as a means of gray. So let's 7 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:58.039 hear God's Word and and in our hearts as we hear it, let us 8 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:02.719 pray that it would indeed be just that. So, Romans ten, verses 9 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:07.989 fourteen through seventeen. How, then, will they call on him in whom 10 00:01:08.069 --> 00:01:12.150 they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom 11 00:01:12.189 --> 00:01:17.349 they have never heard? or how are they to hear without someone preaching? 12 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:22.420 or how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? 13 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:26.420 How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? But 14 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:32.459 they have not all obeyed the Gospel, for Isaiah says Lord who has believed 15 00:01:32.579 --> 00:01:38.010 what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through 16 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:55.640 the word of Christ. You may be seated. What Paul is doing here 17 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:00.959 is he's going to make this point that Israel, though they have turned in 18 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:06.909 unbelief. They're not. There's no excuse for this. They have heard. 19 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:12.469 They have heard these things, and to make that point he focuses our attention 20 00:02:12.909 --> 00:02:17.860 on how it is the word of Christ works, how it is the word 21 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:23.580 of Christ works. This word of you might remember, can be used in 22 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:29.379 various ways. Sometimes of can refer to possession of something, so, for 23 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:35.770 example, the pen of Jessica is a pain that belongs to Jessica. Or 24 00:02:35.930 --> 00:02:40.330 the word of can refer to source, so, for example, you could 25 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:46.280 say the water that is of the rock refers to the water that is coming 26 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:51.280 from the rock. There is a source. There's other ways this word can 27 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.759 be used and Paul, when he says at the end, in verse seventeen, 28 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:00.110 that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, has 29 00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:06.310 two things in mind. He has the word of in sense of the content 30 00:03:06.590 --> 00:03:08.550 of the word of Christ, in other words, it is the word about 31 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:14.060 Christ, but it is also the word of Christ and in that it is 32 00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:19.099 the word from Christ. He has both of these things in mind when he 33 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:23.060 talks to us about what the word of Christ is, and I want us 34 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:28.050 to focus on those two things this morning, the word about Christ and the 35 00:03:28.169 --> 00:03:30.930 word from Christ, or you could put it this way, the word that 36 00:03:31.210 --> 00:03:37.090 is heard, what it is that is said, but also how it is 37 00:03:37.250 --> 00:03:42.280 we come to hear it. And doing this we're really given a gift. 38 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:49.960 I don't know if you've ever some of you are very mechanically inclined and you 39 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:53.759 take have been taking things apart and putting them together since you were very little. 40 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:59.349 Others of us, including me, not so much. But there are 41 00:03:59.349 --> 00:04:01.509 a few things in my life that I have done that with, and and 42 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:08.110 the things that I've done that with I really appreciate them. Maybe something is 43 00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:11.860 simple as a pen, you know, just a little ballpoint pen. You've 44 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:15.220 played with it, you've taken off the CAP, you've seen the spring inside, 45 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:18.500 the little cartridge of ink, the clicker at the other end and you 46 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:23.220 see how it all works. Well, kids, maybe the first time you've 47 00:04:23.259 --> 00:04:26.290 done that and you say, wow, look at all these things in here. 48 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:30.970 You have a greater appreciation for the pain, don't you? Or the 49 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:40.040 car or the bicycle or or maybe something even more theoretical how mathworks or how 50 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:45.680 politics work or any number of things. When we take things apart, we 51 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:51.079 come to an understanding of them, a greater appreciation of them, and in 52 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:56.310 that appreciation not only do we learn to treasure them more, but we come 53 00:04:56.389 --> 00:05:00.709 to understand how it is we are to relate to them, maybe how to 54 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:05.629 fix it when it's not working and many, many other points of application. 55 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:12.019 So that's when things we're going to do this morning as we think about the 56 00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:15.300 word of Christ. We're going to think about what it says and it's basic 57 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:20.060 content in the beginning, but then we're going to focus most of our attention 58 00:05:20.259 --> 00:05:25.529 on the how, the how the word of Christ works, how it is 59 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:30.689 that come it comes to us. So first of all, what the word 60 00:05:30.730 --> 00:05:34.449 of Christ says? What is its content? Now there's a lot of things 61 00:05:34.490 --> 00:05:38.720 that we could think about, but let's focus on just the things that are 62 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:43.800 mentioned here in our passage. Well, one thing we could mention is that 63 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.120 it's the content of the word of Christ is a message of salvation. It's 64 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:53.069 a message of salvation. How do we know this? It's because of the 65 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:57.629 first verse. Paul says in verse fourteen. How will they call on him? 66 00:05:58.350 --> 00:06:01.189 In whom they have not believed. That call on him is, of 67 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:05.259 course, defined by the previous verse that we read last time, verse thirteen. 68 00:06:05.300 --> 00:06:13.860 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone 69 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:17.850 who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now, if 70 00:06:17.850 --> 00:06:20.769 you don't get any of the rest of the sermon, I want you to 71 00:06:20.930 --> 00:06:26.649 get this point right here. This is what the word of Christ is all 72 00:06:26.730 --> 00:06:30.370 about. It is a word of God that comes to us so that we 73 00:06:30.490 --> 00:06:35.199 may be saved. It is a message at its core that is a message 74 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:43.079 of salvation. It's a message that takes seriously the darkness that's in our hearts, 75 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.870 the curse that's in the world, the fear of death that pervades all 76 00:06:46.949 --> 00:06:53.389 of our lives. The call to Christ, a call of salvation, is 77 00:06:53.430 --> 00:06:57.870 a call that takes not a Pollyan of view of the world. It doesn't 78 00:06:57.910 --> 00:07:01.939 see the world is just automatically positive and all good, but sees the darkness 79 00:07:02.060 --> 00:07:06.779 in at the laments of it, the tragedy of it. In these things 80 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:15.139 we call to the Lord and he promises salvation. So we have to define 81 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:16.889 the word of Christ this way. The word of Christ is, at its 82 00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:23.970 core, a message of salvation and that makes it good news. That's another 83 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:29.089 way that it's defined here. The content of the word of Christ, what 84 00:07:29.209 --> 00:07:31.040 the word of Christ is about, is a message of salvation, but it's 85 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:36.120 a good message. As Paul says in Verse Fifteen. How beautiful are the 86 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:42.959 feet of those who preach the good news? The message of Christ, the 87 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:46.629 word of Christ, is not bad news. It's not boring news, that's 88 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:51.750 not unimportant news. I feel silly saying these things, but I also know 89 00:07:51.910 --> 00:07:57.029 that it's not silly at all, because this is how people think about the 90 00:07:57.189 --> 00:08:01.779 words that we find in scripture, the basic message of the Bible. They 91 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:09.019 think of it as unimportant or bad or uninteresting. But it is good news. 92 00:08:09.459 --> 00:08:13.370 Think about the things that you think are good in your life. A 93 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:20.050 good book, a good boss, a good place to live. Are Those 94 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:22.529 things bad? No, they're good. Are they unimportant to you? Are 95 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:26.839 you apathetic about them? If a friend comes to you and says I've got 96 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:33.759 a good book you should read, do you say to your friend whatever now? 97 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.120 Of course not. You Trust your friend, you love your friend. 98 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.200 You say, well, tell me about it. What is it? How 99 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:43.230 has it affected you? They this is good news. That should means something 100 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:48.870 to us. That adjective good should raise the stakes for us when we think 101 00:08:48.909 --> 00:08:52.950 about the word of Christ. And of course it is good news. It's 102 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:56.860 not just a nice novel to read or a nice place to work. It 103 00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:03.740 is salvation, it is eternal life itself. And so, going back to 104 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:09.299 my metaphor of the friend bringing you some kind of recommendation, let's keep it 105 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:13.250 simple and focus on a book. Let's say you get this book. Let's 106 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:16.210 say you read the book and you say, you were right, my friend, 107 00:09:16.330 --> 00:09:20.529 this is a really good book. Maybe it affects the way you think, 108 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:24.679 maybe it affects the way you live your life. Do you notice? 109 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:28.639 And what happens in that moment? Not only do you gain the shared opinion 110 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:33.360 of your friend that this is good, but your friend becomes even more of 111 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:37.750 a friend, doesn't he or doesn't she? How beautiful are the feet of 112 00:09:37.789 --> 00:09:41.470 the one who brings the news? Thanks, friend, this is a good 113 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:46.549 thing that you've done for me. It changes the way we relate to one 114 00:09:46.590 --> 00:09:52.580 another, even because of the message. So this is what we call the 115 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:58.340 Gospel. It's a message of salvation. It's beautiful and it beautifies, it 116 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:05.860 is good and it brings us to God. Let me pause just here and 117 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:09.490 ask is this the Gospel that you know, the Gospel that you believe? 118 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:15.409 Is it truly good? Is it truly important? Is it truly about God's 119 00:10:15.450 --> 00:10:20.210 work of salvation in this world? If so, then embrace it and enjoy 120 00:10:20.289 --> 00:10:26.120 it and supprest and spread it and support it, call upon God, experience 121 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:33.360 the blessings of faith. It's good news, it's good for you. But 122 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.950 if you hear, if you hear this and you are discerning and you see 123 00:10:37.029 --> 00:10:43.590 that you believe a different Gospel, then of course you need to read, 124 00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:50.139 reevaluate, recalibrate. If the Gospel that you know, in the Gospel that 125 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:52.940 you hear, is not a gospel of the Free Grace of God and Jesus 126 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:58.460 Christ that leads us not just two nicer things in this world, but the 127 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:03.059 Kingdom of Heaven itself. If that's not the Gospel, then you know, 128 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:09.009 then it's time to make a change, to push in another direction, to 129 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:13.289 push back or move on. This is the word of Christ and it's the 130 00:11:13.330 --> 00:11:18.799 word of Christ for you, so treasure it. Well, that's what the 131 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.960 word of Christ is about. Now let's think about how the word of Christ 132 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.879 comes to us. That it is the word from Christ. Why might this 133 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:33.629 be important? Why might it be important to think about out the means of 134 00:11:33.789 --> 00:11:37.230 grace, not just the grace that comes to us, the content of it, 135 00:11:37.350 --> 00:11:43.230 but how it comes to us? Well, one reason it's good to 136 00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:46.299 think about how the word of God comes to us is that it shows us 137 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:52.940 how God is sovereignly working in this world. We don't just have the gospel 138 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:56.980 sort of dropped on our doorstep and Oh, look at this, a Nice 139 00:11:56.100 --> 00:12:01.490 Gospel, let's take it into our homes. There he tells us more than 140 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:05.370 that. He gives us a backstory. He gives us the way that things 141 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:09.809 work, and in this he reveals to us his sovereign plan, but also 142 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:15.690 how we fit into it. And what we find is that our part that 143 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:20.639 we play is not chaotic or mysterious. There's a logic to it, one 144 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:28.759 action necessarily flowing from another. Remember Paul's words. How, then, will 145 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.590 they call upon Him who may have not believed? How are they to believe 146 00:12:31.710 --> 00:12:35.470 on him whom they have never heard? How are they to hear without someone 147 00:12:35.590 --> 00:12:41.149 preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? Call, 148 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:48.419 believe, heard, preach scent. Have you ever played one of these games 149 00:12:48.539 --> 00:12:52.500 or set up, just for fun, one of these machines and which each 150 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:56.179 part is intricately connected to the next. Maybe you put a marble down a 151 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:01.370 shoot and it drops into a basket it which rolls down a ramp which then 152 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:05.409 pushes a ball which then drops into some other thing, and on and on 153 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:09.370 it goes, until the final result, I don't know, flower POPs up 154 00:13:09.409 --> 00:13:13.799 or something. These kind of machines in which each part is ordered in a 155 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:18.639 particular way and you can't put it any other way. You can't take the 156 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:20.320 basket and put it over here, or the flower and put it over here, 157 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:24.000 or turn the ramp around right. It all is linked in this very 158 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:31.110 particular way. Well, it's like that with the word of Christ. It's 159 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:33.509 like the pen that's put together in a certain way. It only works one 160 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:39.509 way, and God delivers his word to us in this way. So focusing 161 00:13:39.549 --> 00:13:43.700 on that helps us to understand that and and treasures it. Treasure it. 162 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:50.100 It also shows us how we belong to it and how its sources all from 163 00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:54.970 God. So what I want to do now is go through each one of 164 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:00.809 these things and give just a little, tiny, little meditation on each one 165 00:14:00.850 --> 00:14:03.370 of these verbs, on Eaton. I believe there are five of them. 166 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:09.240 A little meditation on each one and see how they are connected to one another. 167 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.960 So number one is calling. This is the end result, the end 168 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.399 of the chain. Right, Paul starts by saying how will they call on 169 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:26.070 him and whom? They have not believed? What does it mean to call 170 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:31.429 on the Lord? I kind of like to think about calling as faith in 171 00:14:31.470 --> 00:14:37.620 the mouth. Calling is faith in the mouth. It's a verbal articulation of 172 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:45.940 something that's inside, something that's true, something you're depending on believing. So 173 00:14:46.299 --> 00:14:50.460 one example you might think of imagine there's a child that you see wandering around 174 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:54.049 in a room with a lot of different people and adults and you don't see 175 00:14:54.049 --> 00:14:58.809 them really connected to anyone, and so you lean down to her and you 176 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:01.570 say where' is your mother and she points and she says that's my mother. 177 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:07.480 What is she doing? She's telling you something, right, but she's telling 178 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:13.960 you something that she believes, something that's true. She's not just repeating something 179 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:18.799 that she's heard, she's not just towing the line right, she is saying 180 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:26.309 something that is personal to her. That's that it involves very meaningful things to 181 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:33.149 her. She points to that particular woman and says that's my mommy, and 182 00:15:33.309 --> 00:15:39.860 there's a whole wealth of information and thoughts and feelings that are connected with that 183 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:45.379 statement. When we call on the name of the Lord, when we say 184 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:52.009 our father, my father in heaven, we're saying the same thing. It's 185 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:56.570 faith in the mouth. Calling on the name of the Lord is an expression 186 00:15:56.730 --> 00:16:02.090 of the deepest things that are a part of us, and that calling is 187 00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:07.519 something that's true of every Christian because it springs from the heart. Well, 188 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:14.080 that takes US naturally to number two, because calling is faith in the mouth 189 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:18.870 or faith made audible. That, of course, means that one cannot call 190 00:16:18.909 --> 00:16:25.269 unless one believes. Of course, it could be faked right, calling on 191 00:16:25.309 --> 00:16:29.549 the name of the Lord could be a mere repetition of things. I'm mere 192 00:16:29.950 --> 00:16:33.620 towing of the of the line, doctrinally or whatever, helping you to just 193 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:40.940 try and fit in. But true, true faith, will result in true 194 00:16:41.139 --> 00:16:48.289 calling. You know the our Lord Jesus. He says that the sheep hear 195 00:16:48.450 --> 00:16:52.809 his voice and respond to it. He says that in John Ten the opposites 196 00:16:52.850 --> 00:16:57.250 also true, that the shepherd knows the voice of his sheep, just like 197 00:16:57.370 --> 00:17:02.720 a mother can distinguish the voice of each of her children, one from another. 198 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:07.480 The Lord knows Your Voice, he knows your calling and he knows when 199 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.880 it's true, because he's the one who lives in you, he's the one 200 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:18.430 who dwells in you, and that's why calling depends on faith. True calling 201 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:25.750 depends on true faith. Well, what is true faith? One way we 202 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:30.460 could define it is simply knowledge, assent and trust. It's knowing a particular 203 00:17:30.859 --> 00:17:36.539 content, a particular truth, and then agreeing to it and trusting it. 204 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:41.859 But we really have to go one step more when we're thinking about the gospel 205 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:45.890 of our Lord Jesus Christ, because you can have faith in this way, 206 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:51.569 knowledge, assent and trust as much in a skateboard as in the Lord Jesus 207 00:17:52.170 --> 00:17:56.450 your knowing it, you're assenting to it, you're trusting it. But when 208 00:17:56.490 --> 00:18:00.680 we talk about saving faith, we're talking about faith of a different order. 209 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:08.079 We're talking about faith only in one thing or one person and for one set 210 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:14.230 of things, salvation. You know, we already a confessed this morning and 211 00:18:14.390 --> 00:18:17.630 thought about this. Don't know if I can find it in all my papers, 212 00:18:17.710 --> 00:18:21.470 but if you take out your paper again and look at what we confessed 213 00:18:21.589 --> 00:18:26.029 in our confession of faith, when we asked what is true faith. It's 214 00:18:26.069 --> 00:18:33.900 in the second question. True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction about 215 00:18:33.019 --> 00:18:38.700 something. True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction also that everything God 216 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:44.410 reveals in his word is true. It's more than that. It's also a 217 00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:51.049 deep rooted assurance created in me by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, that, 218 00:18:51.210 --> 00:18:55.089 out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others but 219 00:18:55.250 --> 00:19:00.920 I too have had mycens forgiven, have been made forever right with God and 220 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:07.000 have been granted salvation. You See, there is believe here, not just 221 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:11.710 belief that something somewhere has happened or in a religious truth, but in a 222 00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:18.789 particular content. Something has happened, Jesus has done it or, as our 223 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:22.069 own short a catechism says, faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, 224 00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:27.900 whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered 225 00:19:27.940 --> 00:19:33.259 to us in the Gospel. So how will they call on him unless they 226 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:37.849 believe? Right you cannot call on the name of the Lord unless you believe 227 00:19:38.089 --> 00:19:42.529 in the Lord. Now, faith may be strong or weak, but faith 228 00:19:42.569 --> 00:19:49.329 always involves this accepting and receiving and resting upon Christ alone and it's a resting 229 00:19:49.369 --> 00:19:53.039 upon him alone, not just for a better marriage or a better job, 230 00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:04.599 but for justification, peace with God, Increasing Holiness Eternal Life. Understanding faith 231 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:10.789 in this way naturally leads us to Paul's third link in the chain. Hearing. 232 00:20:12.470 --> 00:20:17.349 We call because we believe, and believe believe in a particular content, 233 00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:23.900 right, because we have heard it. Christian faith is rooted in a knowledge 234 00:20:23.940 --> 00:20:30.420 about certain events in history. That's the fact of it. It's one of 235 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:34.460 the things that makes Christianity stand out from many other religions. It's not just 236 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:41.609 a philosophy or an idea of knowledge. Christianity is rooted on and dependent on 237 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:48.289 historical, verifiable facts that the son of God has come into the world, 238 00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:52.119 that that son was Jesus Christ, that he was put to death in a 239 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:56.480 particular time at a particular place, and that he rose again from the dead, 240 00:20:56.519 --> 00:21:02.240 fulfilling all of the prophecies that had come before him, and that he 241 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:07.950 will come again in time and in space. This is knowledge, right, 242 00:21:08.589 --> 00:21:15.109 you have just heard it, and that's why believing depends on hearing. So 243 00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:19.420 what is hearing? Well, that's a silly question, right. We all 244 00:21:19.460 --> 00:21:26.019 know what hearing is. Hearing is listening to something. What could we possibly 245 00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:32.099 add about this? Well, I think it is worth spending just a moment 246 00:21:32.339 --> 00:21:37.769 on hearing, because there's something that so many people seem to be forgetting, 247 00:21:37.569 --> 00:21:44.930 and that's that you can't hear if you're not here. You can't hear the 248 00:21:45.009 --> 00:21:48.200 word of Christ unless you're there where the word of Christ is, and I'm 249 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.279 speaking, of course, particularly of the preaching of the Gospel. It's such 250 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:57.160 a simple point. You might say, oh, but of course said there 251 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:00.990 are podcasts and good books out there, in other places where I can hear 252 00:22:02.069 --> 00:22:03.869 the word of Christ, and I say to you, yes, of course, 253 00:22:04.230 --> 00:22:08.470 and that's good, and we have our own podcast and we produce a 254 00:22:08.589 --> 00:22:14.750 good literature, hopefully, and we try to read these things and encourage them. 255 00:22:14.789 --> 00:22:17.579 We have a book table. This is a good thing, and these 256 00:22:17.660 --> 00:22:22.819 are places that we can hear the word of Christ. But I don't, 257 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:26.819 so I don't want to get into an argument about that. But let me 258 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:30.329 just ask you about your heart. If you have a favorite band, a 259 00:22:30.569 --> 00:22:36.009 band that you just love, a group of musicians that you would go anywhere 260 00:22:36.089 --> 00:22:41.529 to hear, you have all their CDs, but whatever, however we talk 261 00:22:41.609 --> 00:22:47.400 about the these days, would you prefer? If you had an opportunity, 262 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:51.920 would you prefer to go hear them live or would you prefer to hear a 263 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:56.480 live recording? Would you prefer to go and see them and hear them and 264 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.029 be with other people that are there, or would you rather be separated from 265 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:06.869 them and distance from that? Well, when we're talking about the preach word 266 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:11.710 of God, when we're talking about hearing it, even in person, we're 267 00:23:11.750 --> 00:23:17.019 not talking about a talented musician, we're talking about the Lord and Savior of 268 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:25.019 the Universe speaking to you. Remember, this is not the word of pastor, 269 00:23:25.779 --> 00:23:30.450 it is the word of Christ. I'm not defining that it that way, 270 00:23:30.650 --> 00:23:33.809 Paul defines it in that way and ultimately Paul's not defining that way because 271 00:23:33.849 --> 00:23:40.650 he himself is a apostle. That is a word that means one who is 272 00:23:40.890 --> 00:23:45.440 sent out. He is one who has commissioned to say these things from Christ. 273 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:51.359 It is Christ's word. Now, of course, being present for the 274 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:56.910 preaching of the word to hear it is not always possible. We get sick, 275 00:23:56.869 --> 00:24:02.109 we get put in jail, all kinds of various things might happen in 276 00:24:02.190 --> 00:24:06.349 the course of a person's life in which we would have no right to condemn 277 00:24:06.509 --> 00:24:11.539 someone for not being at Church or something like that. But what is our 278 00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:15.779 attitude? What is our disposition? Is it something we want? Is it 279 00:24:15.940 --> 00:24:21.539 something we want to be present for and belong to? And I'll tell you 280 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:26.529 too, it's not just about being here embody, but of course being present 281 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:30.809 in mind as well. There's a way on which you can be right in 282 00:24:30.890 --> 00:24:34.410 front of someone and they can go are you listening to me? Right? 283 00:24:36.009 --> 00:24:38.920 It's not just sort of how many inches are between you and the person you're 284 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:48.200 talking to, but are you really listening? Some churches have banned cell phones 285 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:53.230 and smartphones in the in the auditorium. Here we've, I don't think, 286 00:24:53.269 --> 00:24:57.910 have that problem and I'm thankful for it. But there is a temptation, 287 00:24:57.990 --> 00:25:03.309 isn't there? Even when smartphones aren't around, make to do lists and write 288 00:25:03.430 --> 00:25:07.299 notes and all kinds of other things. And again, I don't want to 289 00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:11.859 be overly dogmatic or legalistic about these things. Sometimes those things have to be 290 00:25:11.900 --> 00:25:15.180 done, but where is our heart? That's what I'm asking you. Do 291 00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:22.210 we want to hear the word of Christ when God comes to us and says 292 00:25:22.450 --> 00:25:25.970 I'm speaking to you? This is part of how it works. This is 293 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:30.970 part of how your own salvation comes about. Is that important to you? 294 00:25:32.849 --> 00:25:38.519 It should be, and I know that it is. Well. That, 295 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:42.319 of course, brings us to the next step, preaching. How can people 296 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:48.400 hear the content of the Gospel, and let's unless it is preached to them? 297 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:53.349 Calling on the Lord requires believing in the Lord. Believing requires hearing from 298 00:25:53.390 --> 00:26:00.430 the Lord, and hearing requires somebody to speak, something to be preached. 299 00:26:03.829 --> 00:26:07.019 Now, when we think about preaching, there are a couple ways we can 300 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:10.940 think about it. One way is in a common sense. There's a sense 301 00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:15.420 in which we all preach. There's a kind of proclamation of the Gospel. 302 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:21.049 Right, you have a friend, you're sitting across the table, maybe a 303 00:26:21.089 --> 00:26:26.650 lunch table at work, maybe a Saturday afternoon breakfast or lunch place, and 304 00:26:26.809 --> 00:26:30.130 you preach to them the Gospel. You proclaim it, you herald it, 305 00:26:30.250 --> 00:26:34.799 you say listen, brother, listen, sister, listen, friend or enemy, 306 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:41.680 you need to hear this. This is important. Now, that, 307 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:45.680 of course, is not ruled out here, but Paul has a specifically in 308 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:53.269 mind sent preaching or ordained preaching. There is there are some people in God's 309 00:26:53.349 --> 00:27:00.029 Church that he gives gifts to, an especially equips for this particular task. 310 00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:03.980 It's not just something that we all do, but something that they in particular 311 00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:11.539 are devoted to. This is not an invention of the church. We didn't 312 00:27:11.579 --> 00:27:15.809 just decide this, it's not a power move on behalf of some people. 313 00:27:17.009 --> 00:27:23.410 This is God's will that some men would be sent out, would be devoted 314 00:27:23.690 --> 00:27:30.640 to this particular task, and that's a really good thing for a lot of 315 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:36.720 reasons. One reason is that the word that comes to us, the word 316 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:41.119 of Christ, comes to us from outside of us. When you come and 317 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:47.150 you hear something that you even believe already, something that's true in your hearts, 318 00:27:47.549 --> 00:27:51.710 you're confirmed in it. You're reminded of it as the word of God 319 00:27:52.190 --> 00:27:56.990 is preached to you. It's a reminder that the word of salvation is not 320 00:27:57.109 --> 00:28:03.180 a self generated word. Your Life, in other words, does not depend 321 00:28:03.660 --> 00:28:08.420 on some kind of flash of knowledge you had one morning, on some kind 322 00:28:08.460 --> 00:28:15.490 of will or a decision or feeling that you had. Let me ask it 323 00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:19.609 and put it this way. Can you imagine how much doubt you would have 324 00:28:19.970 --> 00:28:26.200 about your salvation if it depended on something that you thought up, if you 325 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.039 sat down one day and said, you know what, I can see that 326 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:33.000 there are lots of problems in this world and I can see that I'm both 327 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:38.400 part of that problem and experience the effects of those problems, and I can 328 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:44.829 see that this is all out of whack and not correct. How is this 329 00:28:45.029 --> 00:28:48.869 going to be fixed? And then you come up with some philosophy or idea, 330 00:28:48.349 --> 00:28:52.750 may be involving sacrifices, may be involving some aspect of a toning for 331 00:28:52.869 --> 00:28:56.180 sins. I don't know what you'd come up with. I suppose we could 332 00:28:56.180 --> 00:29:00.740 look at the various religions of the world and see what people have come up 333 00:29:00.819 --> 00:29:10.650 with. It's a true saying that clean water doesn't come from a dirty well. 334 00:29:11.210 --> 00:29:15.450 And when we think about our own hearts and our own minds, there's 335 00:29:15.490 --> 00:29:19.849 a lot of dirt in there, isn't there? People who imagine that they 336 00:29:19.890 --> 00:29:26.759 can cobble together and invent their own salvation are deluding themselves. Christians have confidence 337 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:30.880 because we hear a word that's spoken to us. It's not our word, 338 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:37.799 it's a word of God. It's not our salvation and it's a salvation that 339 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:42.990 comes from us. It's a salvation that comes from God. And so throughout 340 00:29:42.990 --> 00:29:48.589 the Scripture God says this. He says he sends people out, he calls 341 00:29:48.710 --> 00:29:56.660 people to this task. He speaks it through Jesus Christ, the word of 342 00:29:56.779 --> 00:30:00.700 God. Now, of course, when I think about preaching, I have 343 00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:06.339 a lot to say and there's a lot that I could say. We could 344 00:30:06.339 --> 00:30:10.769 talk about my own calling, my passion, my challenge, is my growth, 345 00:30:10.970 --> 00:30:15.289 my joy and the Lord and serving you in these ways, and I'm 346 00:30:15.329 --> 00:30:18.849 happy to talk about those things with you. But I want to focus before, 347 00:30:18.849 --> 00:30:22.400 for we move on from this point of something that is important, as 348 00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:26.599 we're talking about necessities, right, how one thing connects to the other, 349 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:33.279 calling, believing, hearing, preaching, sending what is necessary in preaching? 350 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:37.950 What is it you should be looking for if you move to a new city 351 00:30:38.109 --> 00:30:41.750 and you're looking for a church and you say, what should I expect from 352 00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:48.029 the preaching? Or right here is members of covenant, what should you expect 353 00:30:48.190 --> 00:30:52.940 from me? Well, I'm going to borrow from Westminster Larger Catechism, one 354 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:59.099 hundred and fifty nine. It says that those who are called to Labor in 355 00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:04.690 the Ministry of the word are to preach sound doctrine diligently, in season and 356 00:31:04.769 --> 00:31:11.569 out of season. Plainly, not in the enticing words of Man's wisdom, 357 00:31:11.690 --> 00:31:18.210 but in a demonstration of the spirit and of power, faithfully making known the 358 00:31:18.289 --> 00:31:25.720 whole counsel of God, wisely applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the 359 00:31:25.799 --> 00:31:30.680 hearers, zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people, 360 00:31:32.990 --> 00:31:41.869 sincerely aiming at his glory and their conversion, edification and salvation. That's 361 00:31:41.910 --> 00:31:45.789 what good preaching is. It's preaching that it is grounded in the word of 362 00:31:45.869 --> 00:31:52.140 God, it is done diligently, plainly, faithfully, wisely, zealously and 363 00:31:52.380 --> 00:31:56.500 sincerely. That's what you should be looking for, that's what you should be 364 00:31:56.579 --> 00:32:01.009 listening for, and that's what you should expect from me, and this is, 365 00:32:01.049 --> 00:32:05.529 of course, what I aim for and that is what I ask that 366 00:32:05.609 --> 00:32:13.089 you pray for. The podium of any great preacher is not built with planks 367 00:32:13.170 --> 00:32:17.079 of wood, but with the prayers of his people, and so I'll take 368 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:21.759 a moment and ask you, particularly those who are you members of this church, 369 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:28.119 please pray for me that it might be to the advantage of your own 370 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:32.230 soul and to the glory of God. A man might stand up in a 371 00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:37.509 podium in order to talk, but in order to preach, he stands on 372 00:32:37.670 --> 00:32:44.500 prayer. Well, with that we come to the final one, sending. 373 00:32:44.579 --> 00:32:52.059 A man should not preach who is not sent. This is another good point 374 00:32:52.140 --> 00:32:55.900 and it emphasizes the whole, all of these parts fitting perfectly together. It 375 00:32:57.099 --> 00:33:00.890 is a word from Christ. A man does not send himself, he doesn't 376 00:33:00.930 --> 00:33:06.049 decide one day this is what I'm going to do. Know he is one 377 00:33:06.170 --> 00:33:09.930 who is sent. His Authority is not in himself, it is from Christ. 378 00:33:12.690 --> 00:33:16.440 The sad ending is first and foremost done by Christ, but yet at 379 00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:21.359 the same time, our Lord and Savior has given the church apart to play 380 00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:25.559 in this. It's a lot like prayer. God sovereignly works all things according 381 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:30.950 to his will, and yet he also calls us to pray and he tells 382 00:33:30.990 --> 00:33:35.589 us that in our prayers he works his will. Well, it's like that 383 00:33:35.750 --> 00:33:38.950 when it comes to the Gospel, and we could focus particularly on the sending 384 00:33:39.150 --> 00:33:45.180 here. The sending ensures that the word that fills our mouths is not the 385 00:33:45.299 --> 00:33:50.259 word of me, of Christopher, or the word of Paul or the word 386 00:33:50.339 --> 00:33:54.180 of Peter, it is the word of Christ. So, for example, 387 00:33:54.299 --> 00:33:59.970 Paul Himself says in First Corinthians twelve that the apostles and prophets and others who 388 00:33:59.970 --> 00:34:04.650 have been sent out have been sent out from God. Or Hebrews five, 389 00:34:04.809 --> 00:34:07.690 for talks about Aaron and says the Aaron did not choose himself, he was 390 00:34:07.969 --> 00:34:14.159 chosen by God for his task. And that's true of all of God's messengers, 391 00:34:14.199 --> 00:34:20.840 isn't it? It's Moses, by Isaiah, David, all of them. 392 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:27.309 They were all sent by God, chosen by him. Those who rose 393 00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:32.150 up and try to speak in his name are condemned. Ultimately, those who 394 00:34:32.150 --> 00:34:36.150 are sent are sent from Christ. And yet, as a church, we 395 00:34:36.349 --> 00:34:39.059 have a part to play in this. You have a part to play in 396 00:34:39.139 --> 00:34:44.300 this. We'll catch this more as we read through. First Timothy, but 397 00:34:44.420 --> 00:34:47.420 there we see that the officers of the church, Paul says, must be 398 00:34:47.619 --> 00:34:52.969 proved. He says this particularly about deacons, but it applies equally to elders 399 00:34:53.010 --> 00:34:58.769 and ministers. Before you ordain a man you he must be tested, he 400 00:34:58.849 --> 00:35:02.329 must be proved, a man must see it in himself. He says to 401 00:35:02.449 --> 00:35:07.800 Timothy, don't neglect the gift that is given to you, for don't forget 402 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:13.000 when hands were laid on you in ordination, something that's also mentioned in five 403 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:17.119 hundred and twenty two. This is why, as a church, we take 404 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:24.150 an active role in training, in nurturing and supporting, in testing our men. 405 00:35:25.269 --> 00:35:29.789 It's why we pray for them. It's why we support faithful seminaries. 406 00:35:29.829 --> 00:35:34.150 It's why we give at the thank offering in a month or so to support 407 00:35:34.230 --> 00:35:40.659 for internships throughout our denomination. It's why we have our at many hours of 408 00:35:42.340 --> 00:35:47.699 exams that a man might be tested in theology, that he might be tested 409 00:35:47.780 --> 00:35:52.130 in his languages and church history and all kinds of things, long papers and 410 00:35:52.449 --> 00:35:55.889 all the rest. Why? Because we want to be mean and bunch of 411 00:35:55.969 --> 00:36:00.050 GRUMPS? No, because we want to follow the will of the Lord. 412 00:36:00.730 --> 00:36:05.480 We want to be a part of what he's doing, as he has called 413 00:36:05.559 --> 00:36:08.360 us to be a part of it, as he sends out his word. 414 00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:20.550 So sending Jesus speaks his word and he sends it out into the world, 415 00:36:20.590 --> 00:36:25.909 and he does it by sending out ministers and his name. These ministers then 416 00:36:25.909 --> 00:36:30.750 in turn preach and the word of Christ that is spoken is heard, and 417 00:36:30.909 --> 00:36:37.059 then it is believed, and then those who hear that word and believe call 418 00:36:37.219 --> 00:36:40.460 on the Lord. I want you to step back from each of these things 419 00:36:40.539 --> 00:36:45.820 and see them all working together to see how it starts with Christ speaking and 420 00:36:46.889 --> 00:36:52.289 how it ends with our speaking. The word of Christ is sent out from 421 00:36:52.329 --> 00:36:55.329 God, the father, and then we call out to him in faith and 422 00:36:55.409 --> 00:36:59.730 say, our father, who are in heaven, hollow would be thy name. 423 00:37:00.650 --> 00:37:04.199 From beginning to end, it is a work of God, but a 424 00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:08.960 work that has this direct impact on us. It changes our lives because why? 425 00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:14.360 Going back to the very beginning, it is a word of salvation. 426 00:37:15.829 --> 00:37:22.590 It is a word that is good news life. Said more than enough for 427 00:37:22.750 --> 00:37:27.829 now, but I hope that in seeing all of these parts and seeing how 428 00:37:27.869 --> 00:37:31.460 they fit together, you come to see what God is doing. This is 429 00:37:31.619 --> 00:37:37.780 his give of love to you. It's like if someone gives you a blanket 430 00:37:37.820 --> 00:37:40.699 and you say this is a beautiful blanket, and then you find out that 431 00:37:40.860 --> 00:37:47.690 they knitted it themselves, that each and every stitch is put together with loving 432 00:37:49.449 --> 00:37:54.809 care. When God gives you the Gospel, there is this stream of work 433 00:37:54.969 --> 00:38:00.719 that is behind it all, given to you from the Father in heaven. 434 00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:07.199 In reflecting on this and the way of grace, the means of grace, 435 00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:12.989 I hope that we all find ourselves with more love for both the gift and 436 00:38:14.030 --> 00:38:20.869 for the Giver and I hope that you are also encouraged, and have excuse 437 00:38:20.949 --> 00:38:24.989 me, encouraged in seeing how you fit into that, both as the benefits 438 00:38:25.030 --> 00:38:30.460 of salvation, but as those who are intimately involved in bringing it into the 439 00:38:30.579 --> 00:38:36.619 world, how God is using us together as a church, to see the 440 00:38:36.780 --> 00:38:42.889 word of Christ go forth. In knowing this, I hope that it moves 441 00:38:42.929 --> 00:38:47.130 each of our hearts to trust that salvation that has been given, to find 442 00:38:47.170 --> 00:38:52.090 it and then to call on the name of the Lord. Well, let 443 00:38:52.130 --> 00:38:57.719 us pray and ask that God would bless the word of Christ to us