I invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 10. Take a break this week from Exodus and take a look at this wonderful passage in Romans chapter 10. Reading Romans 10, verse nine through verse 17, though as we dig into it, we'll really just be looking at 14 through 17. Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse nine. 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. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. 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. For 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 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. Let's bow together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to ask you that you'd bless this word to our hearts. You give us an understanding by your spirit of us and we believe enriched, strengthened in our faith. Pray for those who perhaps have no faith this morning that this would be the time that you would stir in them new life that they might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Call on his name and be saved. Father, I pray that you would encourage everyone here and give us all attentiveness to your word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. The question at hand in this passage is pretty straightforward and it is this, it is how will anyone personally experience the gift of salvation from the wrath of God and receive the gift of eternal life? It's a basic question, it's really a fundamental question to the whole of scripture. Some people come to a religious kind of mood or spiritualism and have different conjectures about how they would answer that question. Some people think that every last person on the planet will be saved. That's universalism. That is a doctrine that finds absolutely no credibility in scripture. Jesus states pretty clearly that the path to life is narrow and few find it. Some people think that salvation, eternal life, comes to those who are good enough. That is self-righteousness. The Bible likewise gives absolutely no credibility to that doctrine and obliterates it almost from the very start by condemning mankind as a whole because of our sin and makes it absolutely clear that no amount of good works can ever dig you out of the hole of the sin that you have gotten yourself into. Some in this room right now have a lack of eternal life. You do not possess it. And you need it. Because if you do not have it, then the whole of your life is a complete and utter failure and only headed towards eternal condemnation. Some of you know the Lord Jesus Christ and have received his salvation. And you know it's not of yourself. You know it's completely of grace. And the only merit to your life is that God has intervened incredibly and miraculously to save you from the path of destruction you were on. And you know personally, the urgency of the gospel message, because you yourself have experienced salvation from condemnation and given the gift of eternal life and a relationship with God, and you know that there are others around you who do not have that. And it's not as though they have an infinite amount of time to figure out life and eternal life, because in a moment, their life will be snuffed out, like the flame of a candle, and they head into eternity either with Christ or without Christ, and what's going to make the difference? This text is really about that problem, is how does anyone receive eternal life, the gift of God? In the context of the book of Romans, There is a very significant theological question that is being wrestled with in Romans 9, 10, and 11. And the question that's being wrestled with is this. God says that he is a faithful God who makes promises to his people that he is going to take care of them, protect them, save them. The people that he made those promises to in the Old Testament was the people of Israel. And yet, the people of Israel, by and large, had, at the time of Paul's writing, rejected God's salvation in Jesus Christ. And so the question arises, is God going to make good on his promises? Is God someone who can be trusted? He said he would take care of this people, and then when salvation comes, they reject it, and so, can we trust God? In Romans chapter nine, Verses four and five describes how God has singled out that people of Israel, that he made great and powerful promises to them. Romans 9 verse four says, they are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, and the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ. In Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six, the Lord speaks about the people of Israel. He says, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. So God made those promises and yet, the very point of connection that Israel would have to this living God who makes these promises is through the Messiah. And in 1 Corinthians 1.23, Paul describes it this way, he says, we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews. In Romans 10.1-3, as Paul is really lamenting his His heartache over the Jewish people who have rejected Christ. He says, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. God makes promises, and yet, by and large, the people of Israel are not receiving those promises. How are these to be reconciled? The argument of Romans 9, 10, and 11 lays out four stages to it. Really, Romans 1-8 lays out the foundations of God's provision of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Romans 9, 10, and 11 shift to this question of, well, what about Israel and the faithfulness of God to his promises? Can he be trusted? And it has this four-stage argument. And the first stage is this, it's mostly in chapter nine, and it's this, that God's promises are in harmony with the doctrine of election. which is God had never promised salvation to every last person, but had always worked out the fulfillment of his promises in accordance with whom he had chosen. The way that Paul starts out his argument is by saying God, in his own sovereign freedom, chose those whom he would save, and he never had it that he would save every last individual. Romans 9, verse 11 says, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. The scripture is unabashed to root the salvation of anyone in God's sovereign choice. And so that answers some of the dilemma that is posed is why hasn't all of Israel embraced the gospel and the root reason is because God chooses whom he will save. We bristle against that. It kind of ruffles our feathers. But it's an undeniable biblical doctrine that God is sovereign over salvation. But amazingly enough, the argument of Romans continues on into mostly the end of chapter nine and into chapter 10, it gives a second stage of this argument. And it says this, that Israel is experiencing the lack of a relationship with God because they failed to believe in Christ. They failed to have faith. Romans chapter nine, verse 32. basically says, why? And the question is, why are they not saved, basically? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. God's sovereign freedom in election is the root understanding of why Israel, and not all of Israel, has come to faith, but the second, Stage of the argument is that Israel experiences a lack of relationship with God because they failed to embrace God's message and promises with faith. They failed to believe in Christ. The third stage of the argument is that we must not think that God has not kept his promise. God's keeping of his promises is seen in the fact that God has preserved a remnant. For example, Paul himself, a Jew, has believed in Jesus Christ, and so it's not as though God has rejected all of his people and no one has been saved. As a matter of fact, Paul is a perfect example of someone who is saved, and so God has preserved a remnant. This comes out in Romans chapter 11, verses one and two. It says this, I ask then, has God rejected his people by no means? For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people who he foreknew. So God is keeping his promises to a remnant. And then the fourth stage of the argument, Is this the completion of God's promises will be shown when all Israel is saved in the future? Basically, the point is. God's not done yet. So don't give up on him fulfilling his promises. Romans chapter 11, verses 25 through 29 says this, lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved. God's not done. You gotta let him finish his work. Right now, a partial hardening while the Gentiles are being brought in to provoke Israel to be jealous that will ultimately consummate in their reception of the Messiah. The text that we're in is in Romans chapter 10. And the question is, how does any individual experience really the acquisition of the salvation of God's forgiveness of sins, eternal life. Romans 10, the answer given there is that you receive salvation by faith. While the argument that's being made in Romans is primarily pointing out Israel and the problem of Israel, The answer that Paul provides is an answer that extends to every person in this way, that the only way anyone on the planet receives salvation from God is by receiving it by faith. So why doesn't Israel have it? Well, because they have not received it by faith. How does anyone receive it? You receive it by faith. And so the whole point is to show that anyone who receives eternal life receives it by faith. No exceptions. Paul roots his answer in Romans 10, 13 through 17 with logic. He makes these series of questions that are really logically connected to each other. Verse 14, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they're sent? And his connection is this, he kind of works backwards. He's saying those who are saved are those who call on the Lord. Those who call on the Lord are those who have believed in the Lord. Those who have believed in the Lord are those who have heard about him. Those who have heard about him are those who have heard preaching. Those who have heard preaching have had a preacher sent to them. If you flip it and kind of go forwards instead of backwards, it goes this way. Christ sends preachers. Preachers preach the gospel. People hear the gospel. Some hearers believe the gospel. Those who believe call on the Lord. Those who call on the Lord are saved. It's a great illustration of this, and it might be worth your time to turn to Acts chapter eight, the Ethiopian unit. This is a story about a man who had gone to Jerusalem from Ethiopia and was now returning back to his home. And as he's going, he's reading the Bible. Meanwhile, it says in Acts 8, verse 26, now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he rose and went. Philip doesn't get more of an explanation. He just gets sent. And he goes. And amazingly enough, there's this Ethiopian there, a eunuch, a court official, Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. He's being sent. So Philip ran to him. and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. We wish all evangelistic encounters went this way, don't we? Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this, and Isaiah is a big book, it's 66 chapters, it takes a long time to read, it's very thick, but there's a chapter, chapter 53, that is basically like reading the gospels itself. Guess what he's reading, Isaiah 53. Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generations, for his life is taken away from the earth? And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask you? Does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else? I just imagine Philip just kind of laughing to himself. Like, this is a softball. I can get this one. This is about Jesus. Then Philip, who has been sent, guess what he does? He opens his mouth. And beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. He's been sent. He preaches, it doesn't state it explicitly because it doesn't have to, but the Ethiopian hears, and then we see what happens. As they're going along in verse 36, it says, the road they came to some water and the eunuch said, see here's water, it prevents me from being baptized. Clearly this man has heard, he has believed, he is calling on the name of the Lord to be saved. This is exactly what Romans says happens. Sent, preach, hear, believe, call, be saved. The order of operations. And it's a great illustration of Philip in the Ethiopian. Back in Romans chapter 10, this logic that Paul lays out is really impeccable and it's clear and it's understandable But the way that he writes it is not just a philosophy 101 logic proof. He writes it with rhetorical questions. Remember how he puts it in Romans 10, 14, how then will they call on him, and how are they to hear, or how are they to believe, and how are they to hear, and how are they to preach? He's asking these questions, and it makes you start to ponder and think, and it makes you realize there is an urgency to this logic. This is not just like good sequence of events as and when it happens. This is urgent, and it begs us to consider, what's the alternative if one of these things doesn't happen? John Stott hopefully puts it this way. He says, unless some people are commissioned for the task, there will be no gospel preachers. Unless the gospel is preached, sinners will not hear Christ's message and voice. Unless they hear him, they will not believe the truths of his death and resurrection. Unless they believe these truths, they will not call on him. And unless they call on his name, they will not be saved. The consequences couldn't be more extreme. And yet notice for a moment that the responsibility given to believers is so simple. All it is is you preach the gospel message. That's it. You don't have to do tricks and put on a show, and you don't have to be the one who gets the person to make a decision. You don't have to get them to sign a card before they walk out. You don't have to get them to come up front. All you need to do is preach the gospel. There's other things that need to happen. There needs to be sending, there needs to be hearing, there needs to be believing, there needs to be calling. But for you believers, don't complicate it. It doesn't mean that you don't do it lovingly and persuasively and wisely, but essentially the task is simple. Nothing more needs to be done. It needs to be told, the gospel message of Jesus Christ. That's my introduction. I want to unpack this, in some case, these questions that Paul asks, and as we do so, I wanna give you nine truths about the gospel that will maybe help you feel the urgency of this message to be believed and to be proclaimed. Truth number one is the gospel is for everyone. The gospel is for everyone. That does not mean that everyone will be saved. But it does mean that the gospel makes no distinction in who is to hear the gospel. Right before verse 13, verse 12 says this. 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. And then verse 13 says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It has always been God's design that he would not limit the gift of his salvation to just one group of people, but his desire and ambition is always to spread his gospel to the ends of the earth so that people that don't look alike, that don't talk alike, that don't live alike, would all be gathered under the umbrella of his family and be called his people. And so, this means that you don't have to figure out first if this person is worthy of hearing the gospel. You don't have to try to look around and think, do they have the right hairstyle, the right income, the right skin color, the right social status, the right ethnicities, the right pocketbook. The gospel is for everyone. That's the first truth. The second truth is that the gospel is applied to those who call on the name of Jesus. The gospel is applied to those who call on the name of Jesus. Notice that I said, those who call on the name of Jesus. And yet look at verse 13, which says, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved. Paul is quoting from Joel chapter two, verse 23. And where he's quoting from, what Joel says, is everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved. But here, Paul in verse nine has already said, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is, what? Lord. Oh, who's that? That's Yahweh. It's the God of the Old Testament. If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so when Paul says from Joel, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, there's no mistaking who he's referring to. He's referring to the one and only Jesus Christ. That's who you need to call on to be saved. The Bible again, never teaches universalism. You don't get to call on any manifestation of Jesus that you would think exists in this world. You don't get to call on the one that Joseph Smith presents or whoever presents. You can only call on the one true Jesus of the scriptures and be saved. In this section, it's really clear that there is a limitation for those who are saved, it's not everyone in the world, but it's only those who call on the name of Jesus. Again, verse nine. Those who confess with their mouth and believe in their heart, God raised him from the dead. Verse 11, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. That's referring to the shame coming in the judgment at the end of your days and finding that you're still in your sins. That's the kind of shame you will be exempt from if you have Jesus on your side. Verse 12, bestowing riches on all who call on him. And then verse 13, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is not just anyone who's sincere in their religion. This has to be anyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ. And it's obviously more than just saying the words. It's not some mantra that if you say, Jesus is Lord, bam, I'm good to go. That's not it at all. To confess Jesus is Lord in the environment in which Paul wrote was such a volatile statement that it could get you imprisoned, killed, beheaded. Emperor Domitian, who reigned a number of years after Paul, but is kind of representative of what the emperors were like in Rome, and he was likely the emperor who was wielding his power when the apostle John was exiled to Patmos, Emperor Domitian was expected to be worshipped as a god, and they raised up statues around the Roman Empire that you would have to bow to and confess that he is Lord. You cannot easily say Jesus is Lord and Caesar is Lord in the same breath. To say one is to deny the other. And so there is a call to conviction with that declaration. When you say Jesus is Lord, you're basically saying, and no one else is. When you call on the name of the Lord, you're expressing all that he is, is for you. It's the realization that you need him, that he provides Just call on him in accord with who he has revealed himself to be, a savior who saves, a God who rescues, one who intervenes on your behalf, one who stays his hand of wrath to give you his hand of mercy. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story in Mark chapter 10 of Bartimaeus. It's the kind of story that if you grow up in Sunday school, you learn at least 15 times before you get out of it. It's a wonderful story, that blind beggar who's on the side of the road that only gets his income by means of begging, and there's one day that's near the time of the Passover and large crowds are going to Jerusalem, he's outside of Jericho, and as the crowds pass by, he's just looking to get a good take for the day, but he hears the commotion and finds out that the reason for the greater commotion is because Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Now anywhere Jesus went, his reputation preceded him because he was a man who had such a dominating influence that you couldn't stop the influence of his character. And so Bartimaeus had no doubt heard that this Jesus, who is passing by as the same Jesus, who has healed the sick, given hearing back to the deaf, who has given life back to the dead, and who gives sight back to the blind, who is a friend of sinners. Bartimaeus hears Jesus is passing by. And you know what he says, don't you? He cries out through the crowd, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. What's he doing? He's calling on the name of the Lord in that moment. Why? Because in that moment, he is basically forsaking any kind of monetary gain from the crowds, any other hope in anyone else, because he knows this one who's passing by is the only one who can cure him of the one thing that he needs curing from, blindness. Remember what the crowds say? Shut up. They try to quiet him down. He's being a nuisance. But Barnabas dismisses the crowds, ignores them, and cries all the louder, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! He is so convinced of the ability of Jesus to heal him, not only to heal him, but also so convinced of the identity of Jesus as the king, when he calls him son of David, he identifies him as the king who is to come. He has this faith that is welling up through his mouth and calling on the name of the Lord. You know what Jesus does? Stops, and he says, call him. He says, what do you want me to do for you? Jesus hears Bartimaeus say, Rabbi, I want to see you. And Jesus heals him. You see, Bartimaeus called on the name of the Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord basically eliminates any other hope in your life. and will call on him and him alone for what you need. It dismisses any antagonism that the world would go against you for calling on the name of the Lord and say, I don't care, he's the only one who can save you. That's the second truth, that it is the gospel that is applied to those who call on the name of Jesus. The third truth is that the gospel is received through believing This is, how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? This is very closely tied together with calling on the name of the Lord. If calling is the external vocalization, then faith is the pump that pushes the air over your vocal cords. It suggests an internal acceptance of the truth about Jesus. Again, 10.9, you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. It shows you have come to a heart-level embracing of the claims of Jesus. Lots of people, lots of people know about what Jesus has done. Oh, they know that he went to the cross. They know he healed the sick. They know he came back from the dead. They know he went back into heaven. They say, sure, that's fine. It may even be true. Eh, what do I care? It's the reality of it. Or at least they live that way. True faith is saying Jesus lived the perfect life. He died a substitutionary death. He was buried. He rose again in victory over death and over sin. He ascended to the right hand of the Father and intercedes right now for his people and he's coming back again and it takes all of those things and it says he's doing that for me and I need it desperately. That's true biblical faith. The gospel is received through believing, not just assenting to the truth claims, but believing those truth claims are for you and that you desperately need them. Truth number four is that the gospel is encountered through hearing. I love how clear this is. How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? How do you come to know something unless somebody tells you? How can you believe in the one who saves if you've never heard of the one who saves? You cannot believe that which you do not know. So many people think of faith as kind of a blind faith, and they say, well, I've got faith. And you ask them, and what? And they say, I don't know, I just have faith. And you say, no, you don't. Faith always latches onto something. True biblical faith needs to latch onto Jesus, and Jesus is rooted in fact and in history. It is trusting the very good news that is shared with you. And so this hearing isn't just like hearing it broadcast, it is hearing it broadcast and understanding what it means. Processing the facts about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This, by the way, implies very strongly that if we ever want someone to be saved, they have to hear the gospel. In our times of prayer, we rightly ask God to save the people that are near to us who don't know him. We go to the Lord and we ask him, save so and so, save this loved one. And we should do that because it is God who grants faith and draws men and women to himself. But we have to also know that God works through mechanisms. While he could make an apple fall from the tree by means other than gravity, I suppose the way that he makes apples fall from trees most often is through the mechanism of gravity. If we apply that to this scenario, we could think that God could save someone by downloading information to their brain and causing faith in them. But do you know the way that he downloads information to somebody's brain is through their ears? So they need to hear. So perhaps as we pray for lost loved ones, neighbors, friends, and family, perhaps we could be more specific in our prayer and ask Father, Let them hear the gospel. Truth number five, the gospel is communicated through preaching. How are they to hear without someone preaching? The way they will hear is not through a voice from heaven. Even Cornelius the Gentile in Acts chapter 10, who was prepared by an angel to have Peter come to him, did not have the gospel preached to him by that angel. Rather, God prepared Peter to go and tell Cornelius the gospel, and it seems like, wow, that's really just an extra lot of steps. But that's the way God works. He has people who know the gospel go and tell people who don't know the gospel. That's the way it works. Preaching can be written It can be recorded, could be live contact. It doesn't have to be somebody from a pulpit or from a street corner. It can be sitting across the table. It simply means to herald news that has been given to you by somebody else. And in the ancient world, before newspapers, if a king wanted something to go out to the public, he would send out his heralds who would go from town to town declaring what the king says. And simple gospel preaching is just that. It was going from town to town, person to person, just telling people what the king says, namely that he has given his son so that sinners could be saved from hell. It must include an explanation and declaration of the good news of Jesus Christ. Preaching the gospel is not your personal testimony. It is saying what God has done in this world through his son, Jesus Christ. Truth number six is the gospel is preached by those who are sent. This was originally referring to the apostles, those who were specifically selected by Jesus to be eyewitnesses of his resurrection and to tell the world about it. And their role was super important, but it was not because they themselves were important, it was because the message that they carried was super important. They were sent by the risen king to tell the world that he is Lord. And they had no authority at all to change, manipulate, alter, modify, subtract from or add to the message that they were given. Theirs was simply to proclaim what God had already said. I already didn't preach unless they are sent. While this was originally applied to the apostles, it seems pretty obvious that it continued and grew. Even in the times of the apostles, the Holy Spirit worked in the early church to commission certain people and send them out. In Acts chapter 13, Verse two and three says, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from the Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. And that began the first missionary journey. And I do believe that sets a great standard for us, that churches ought to be sending people out to publicly declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that the Spirit verbally speaks in setting apart men, but through the wisdom of the church, they would recognize those who have the gifting and abilities to go out and proclaim the gospel. But even beyond that, the Great Commission in Matthew 28 really lays upon every believer to make disciples of all nations and be a part of that in some capacity. Parents, for example, are to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Certainly they are to proclaim the gospel. Friends and family have the responsibility to tell those around them about the gospel. You may have people in your life, co-workers, neighbors, that you know God has put there in your past so you can tell them about Jesus Christ. So how will they here unless someone are preaching this. How is anyone to preach unless they are sent? Truth number seven is the gospel makes feet beautiful. The gospel makes feet beautiful. Some dear friends who are a bit older and they went on a trip And after their trip, I was talking with the husband and asking, how did your trip go? And his response to me was this. He said, my wife has beautiful feet. I think, that's a non sequitur. What does that have to do with your trip? And so he sees that I'm puzzled and he says again, my wife has beautiful feet. Well, that's great. Do you want me to go look at them? Then he explains that the trip that they were on, during that trip, his wife had gone to a number of people and shared the gospel with them. And the way that he summarized the trip and its effectiveness was that they shared the gospel. And so his wife had beautiful feet. And Paul quotes here from Isaiah 52.7. He says, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. That was originally referring to people who would announce that the people of Israel could return from exile. How much more those who declare a message that brings people back to God would make their feet beautiful? The gospel makes feet beautiful. when you bring it to those who need to hear. Truth number eight about the gospel is this, that the gospel is not always acceptable. And that's the real answer to Paul's question here. What's happening with the people of Israel? And the answer is simply that the gospel, even if it is preached by people who have been sent, and even if it is heard, it is not always accepted. He says in verse 16, but they have not all obeyed gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us. Despite the sending, the preaching, the hearing, gospel is not always believed. That was the problem for Israel, and that is the problem with many whom you will encounter. There have been many times where we get the privilege of communicating quite literally the best news anyone could ever hear. We have the privilege of telling people that God Almighty, who is justly offended by our sins, and we who deserve his eternal wrath for our arrogant disregard for his sovereign rulership over our life, God himself has made a way by which we can be reconciled to him, and it's not by some extreme exertion on our part, it is through His gracious gift of His Son, we shed His blood on the cross and rose again on the third day in victory over sin and death, which once held its grip on us. And we can tell people that wonderful news that you can be freed from the enslavement of sin, that you've been given a reconciled relationship with God, that you can have eternal life where there is not going to be any more pain or sorrow or sickness or sin any longer, and you enjoy the presence of God for all eternity in heaven, and you tell people this, and it's like you're speaking to a brick wall. The gospel is not always accepted. That was the problem with Israel, was their hearts work harder. and they did not embrace the true message of Christ. That leads to the ninth and final truth. The gospel preached is still the only hope of salvation. Verse 17, so faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. You might get discouraged, you might say, well, I preached the gospel, they didn't believe. It just seems futile, what's the point? Can we try something else? Can we do some other gimmicks, some other tricks? Can we just not make it about the gospel and just get people into church? Can we just have them live a better life? Can we just put at ease the tensions around the world? Maybe there's some other better thing we can do. Nuclear disarmament, maybe we can do other things. Nope. The gospel preached is still the only hope. Still, even if it's rejected, the only way for someone to ever come to have salvation is by hearing the gospel, believing the gospel, calling on the name of the Lord. So don't give up. I get to hear my wife as she teaches our kids, and she does that so well, teaches them God's truth, and one of the things that I hear her now and again teach them is about the parable of the sower. You know, that parable that Jesus taught where seed is scattered and it falls on different soils. One soil, it's immediately plucked up, it's hard soil. Another soil, it grows up quickly, and then it dies. Another soil grows up, among the thorns, it doesn't bear any fruit. In one soil, it does bear fruit. I should point this out to our kids. Look, there are different responses to the gospel, but mark this well. There is no problem with the seed. Our task is just to spread it. and to receive it. For those who have the gospel, don't give up, don't grow weary. Keep praying, keep sowing. It's the only message we have. We can't upgrade it. For those who don't know the gospel, you can search to the end of the universe and you will not get a better offer. There is really, as a matter of fact, no other offer on the table. This is it. It's Christ, it's Christ alone. Embrace it, call on the name of the Lord, and you are guaranteed by the promise of God that you will be saved. Reject it, and you are guaranteed by the word of God that you will be condemned. Those are the options. Let's pray. Father, the message that you've given us is a marvelous one, and I pray that you would help us to be faithful with it. And Lord, I pray for those who have labored long and not seen fruit of the gospel that has been sown, that you would give them encouragement to continue. Help us be faithful with what you've entrusted to us. And Lord, I pray, too, for those in our lives that we know and love who don't know you. May you have mercy on them, open up their ears, and give them a new heart, draw them and to your family. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen.