Well, our next scripture texts that we come to in the libretto of Handel's Messiah are actually two more Old Testament quotations, but as they are quoted, they're quoted as the Apostle Paul records them in Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 the verses that are quoted are verses 15 and 18 But we'll pick up for context in verse 12, and then we'll look back at even some broader context in a few moments and Romans chapter 10, we'll read verses 12 to 18, and then we will pray for God's help, and then spend most of the rest of our time this morning meditating on these verses. Let's give our attention to this portion now of the word of our God. Romans 10, beginning in verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 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 or simply 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. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Let us look to him once again in prayer. Our God and our Father, again, as our Lord Jesus Christ said, even to his own disciples, blessed is the one who has ears to hear. And as he said to them earlier, those who have ears to hear are those to whom God has given hearing ears. And so we pray that we would all have ears that can hear your voice, the voice of Christ himself, speaking to us through your holy word this day. We pray that all that I say will be faithful to the Word of God so that it certainly can be considered to be the Word of God being spoken to us. We pray that you would help each one of us to realize that we are hearing Christ, we are hearing you, and to give the attention then that is due and to receive it with faith and obedience and gratitude for your glory. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen. There are few tasks as unpleasant in life, I think, as delivering bad news. Delivering bad news. No one enjoys doing that. Oftentimes, as the deliverer of bad news, you bear the brunt of the negative reaction of that news, right? That's why there's that expression, don't shoot the messenger, right? If I'm bringing bad news, I'm just the bearer of that bad news. I always imagined this would be the worst part of being a doctor. is having to bring bad news to a patient, having to bring bad news to a patient's family. On the other hand, there are a few tasks as pleasant in this life as delivering good news, as being able to bring good news. I imagine this would be the best part of being a doctor, right? Being able to bring good news to the patient. You're healed. You have no cancer. Bringing good news to the patient's family or coming, telling, you're expecting a child. The child is healthy. Bringing that good news. It's a glorious and wonderful, beautiful thing. Well, the best news, of course, that has ever been delivered is the good news of the gospel, right? The good news, the good news of Jesus Christ, the good news of As we've been focusing on for several months now, the good news of the Messiah, the story of the Messiah, the story of his birth, the story of his ministry and his life, the story of his death. And as we've been emphasizing, that story goes on, that he did not just die, he was raised from the dead three days later, and then even beyond that, he ascended and was exalted to the right hand of the majesty on high, the right hand of God, where he rules and reigns now. As we've been emphasizing, the story doesn't even end there. Of course, he's going to return one day and all of the glorious hope that we have and that we'll experience then. But that even now, the story of the Messiah is, in a real sense, ongoing. And this is where the section of the Messiah kind of, maybe contrary to our expectations, kind of comes in parks for a while, right? In his ascension, but then all that is continuing to happen During Christ's period is his what the technical term is his session where he is seated at the right hand of God on high and what is Continuing to happen what he is continuing to do in and through his church by his Holy Spirit and he is still active. He's still working the story of the Messiah is still ongoing and we as the church are a part of that. And that's what's been emphasized now. As king, Christ is still ruling and directing all things, protecting his church, defeating the church's enemies, and expanding his kingdom. as a priest, Christ is still interceding before his Father for his people. He's still pleading the merits of his sacrifice, his once-for-all sacrifice. He's pleading the merits ongoingly before the throne of God above, as the hymn so beautifully depicts that. And he is, by his Spirit, applying the benefits of his atoning sacrifice to more and more people. But Christ is also still at work. as prophets, right? He's at work as king, as priest, but also as prophets. I think sometimes when we think about the prophetic office of Christ, we just kind of think of that was something that was really relegated to his earthly ministry, right? Of course, he revealed more of the will of God. He revealed the fullness of the will of God. We've been reading his teachings, his parables. He was active as a prophet, as the great prophet, as the prophet like Moses that was prophesied all the way back in Deuteronomy 18. But no, there's a very real sense in which his prophetic ministry is still ongoing. And we see that in places such as Romans chapter 10, as we'll be seeing. But I love how the Baptist Catechism puts it. It talks about the offices of Christ and why they are necessary. But then the question is asked, how does Christ execute the office of priest, king, and prophet, right? Not how did he execute it, how does he execute it? And the answer is that he is continuing to reveal the will of God to his people by His Word and by His Spirit. And then references there are made to John 15, to the Upper Room Discourses, Christ sends that Holy Spirit. And of course, that's what we've been focusing on. That's what we began to see even last week, that when Christ ascended into heaven, what is one of the first things that He did? He sent down His Holy Spirit right on the day of Pentecost. And again, for what purpose? Well, primarily so that His good news, the good news of the gospel, the story of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension could be proclaimed to the nations, right? Immediately, there's this proclamation in all of these different languages of the good news of Jesus Christ. And we saw last week Ephesians 4 and the quotation in Ephesians 4 there of Psalm 68, how when Christ ascended in triumph on high, he received gifts. And then what did he do? He distributed those gifts. He gave those gifts to his church. And what is that gift? And a gift that he continues to give to his church. Preachers and teachers, pastors and teachers, those who will continue to proclaim and herald the good news of the gospel to the nations in his church. So yes, Christ's prophetic ministry is ongoing. He's continuing even now. to do his work by his spirit still today. And that's what we see really spoken of here in Romans chapter 10. This is why, in the sort of flow of the text of the Messiah, this text comes here. It's the ongoing work of the Messiah, his prophetic ministry, in now having accomplished redemption, proclaiming that redemption, that good news, that gospel throughout the world. and then having the Holy Spirit apply that work to more and more and more as they hear, as they believe. This is what we see here in Romans chapter 10, and the point is made, again, by two further quotations from the Old Testament. And so we will be looking at those Old Testament quotations, but somewhat rather briefly here. Now, so what we want to do is just turn our attention to this passage as they appear here in Romans chapter 10, the point that Paul is making, the points that Paul is making. And again, I'd like us to think especially about how Paul is using these Old Testament quotations in order to make those points, in order to further his argument. Now, in some ways, I am going to handle this passage a little bit differently, kind of as I have been handling these passages, not Really do a full kind of exposition of it like I would normally do about hits that are some of the the main points especially that are made by these Old Testament passages and and really in a sense because I am gearing up to begin preaching through The book of Romans so Lord willing after Easter. We're gonna come to Romans, so I've been giving myself Several months to prepare Romans is it's a glorious and wonderful book. I'm looking forward to it, but it is intimidating because Every great preacher in history has preached through and written commentaries on the book of Romans and to be able to do it justice. And I know some of you are actually writing exegetical papers in Romans right now. I know you're hoping I would preach on the end or further on in Romans chapter 11, but no such luck. All right. Well, anyway, with that being said, the first thing that we want to see here and that really seems to be to be emphasized to sort of get the context of the points that Paul is going to make from these Old Testament passages is simply the need. I know this sounds very broad and vague, but we're placing ourselves in the context of, well not vague, but it's broad, placing ourselves in the context of Romans. The first thing that we see here that is emphasized, that Paul is emphasizing, is the need to believe in the Messiah. The need to believe in the Messiah. Now again, you could say that's the main point of the book of Romans. as a whole, right? Faith, faith in Christ. But chapter 10 is really a key passage. You can point to a number of key passages, of course, in the book of Romans, and all of it is the word of God. But it really is a key passage, and actually it's one of the most interesting from an interpretive sort of hermeneutical standpoint, because it's almost every other verse Paul is quoting from the Old Testament. And he does some very interesting things, things that I really wish I could dig into, especially with what he does with the Book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 30, and the points that he makes there I think are key for understanding not just the Book of Deuteronomy, but huge swaths of the Old Testament. But again, in however many months, we'll get to Romans chapter 10. But in the immediate context, of course, Paul is dealing with the question of Israel, of ethnic Jews, right? Because he's been talking about, of course, how all men, Jew and Gentile, are fallen. They're all guilty before God. They all stand condemned. And so the only solution for that is, whether Jew or Gentile, is to trust in a righteousness that is outside of ourselves, the righteousness that is given to us, not one that we ourselves work by our own keeping of the law. And he talks about how this salvation, this forgiveness, and this righteousness is available to all regardless of ethnicity. And so he raises the question, really beginning in chapter 9 and going through the end of chapter 11, of what does that mean for Israel? What does that mean for the Jewish people? They've rejected the Messiah. Salvation is now being proclaimed to the Gentiles. What does that mean for the Jews? And there's a number of different ways that Paul answers kind of that question. But here, especially in chapter 10, Paul is emphasizing again that for Jew or Gentile, The only way of salvation, the only way of justification of being declared righteous before a holy God is by faith. It is only by faith. And he draws direct contrast in this chapter, again, as he's done in other passages, with attempting to make ourselves righteous by works, by keeping the law. as the Jews on the whole, the Jews for the most part, attempt to do. And so he says things like this in chapter 9 verse 30. What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. That is a righteousness that is by faith. but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. And then he quotes from the Old Testament from Isaiah to show that even this was prophesied in the Old Testament, that they would not, would not believe for the most part. And then the gospel would go to the Gentiles who would believe and who would actually attain the righteousness that the Jews were seeking to attain through their own works, through the law. And then he goes on in chapter 10 in the first few verses. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them, for the Jews, is that they might 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 of course in the context of Romans, that means the righteousness that comes from God, right? The righteousness that is a gift from God given to those who believe. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Right? Again, this is one of the main points of the whole book of Romans. And yet, once again, just finding this glorious expression here in chapter 10. Whether Jew or Gentile, We are saved, we are justified, we are declared righteous in the eyes of God only by faith, not by works. And of course he goes on in verses 9 and 10. Grand climactic summary of the gospel, 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, declared righteous, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. And again, he goes on to point out that this was grounded in the Old Testament. All right, verse 11. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. Everyone who believes, who has faith. Verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For, again, quoting from the Old Testament, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And that's when we really pick up into our context. In verse 14 and following, Paul really starts asking a series of questions in order to answer the question, how does one get to the point of calling upon the name of the Lord and therefore being saved? And so he sort of backs up backwards through the process step by step What is that path that leads to that point of calling on the name of the Lord and thus being saved? And really makes some fascinating points along the way But he traces us a process backwards. You can't call on Christ on the name of the Lord Paul reasons unless you first believe in him, right? So he says, verse 14, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? It seems like almost too obvious a point, but it's worth making still. If someone is going to get to the point of calling on the name of the Lord in the language of the Old Testament, language of Joel, and thus being saved, one first has to believe. So pointing again to the absolute fundamental necessity of faith in Christ. So you wouldn't cry out to a lifeguard to save you from drowning or being carried out to sea by an undertow if you didn't believe that the lifeguard was there or that the lifeguard was able to save you. You wouldn't cry out. That simply means to cry out. Of course, you're not going to cry out for help to someone unless you believe that that person first exists and that that person is able to save you from the danger that you are in. Faith, believing, is absolutely fundamental. It's essential. The Old Testament taught this as well. And that's Paul's point. The Old Testament taught that there's always only been one way of salvation. By faith. Even in the Old Testament. Even under the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law, and this is really the point that he makes by quoting from Deuteronomy in the verses in chapter 10 that we didn't read. He's saying even the very Mosaic Law itself was given to make this point. that you can't keep it, you can't fulfill it by works, you can't earn righteousness by keeping this law, and so you must believe in someone else to do it for you. We'll get there eventually. I'm really tempted to go into that, but I've preached on it before when I preached through Deuteronomy. You can go back and look that up if you want. He's saying even the whole Mosaic law was given to make this point. All humanity, whether Jew or Gentile, again, falls into only one of two camps. Either you are trying to establish your own righteousness by keeping God's law. You're trying to establish your own righteousness, right? Earn your own declaration of, yes, you are righteous by your works. which of course, as Paul has already argued in chapter three, is absolutely doomed to failure. Chapters one through three, absolutely doomed to failure, absolutely fruitless and impossible to do that. We can never measure up to that standard of absolute perfection that God's law actually requires. And even the things that we think outwardly conform to that law and so might be counted as righteousness are not motivated by a true desire for the glory of God, They're motivated selfishly, and so they count against us as well. They are unrighteousness. They are further sin that brings guilt upon us, not righteousness. It brings condemnation, not justification. But all of humanity, you're either trying to establish your own righteousness by keeping God's law, which Paul is saying here, the majority of the Jews fall into that category. They're still being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God by faith. They're trying to establish still their own righteousness before him. Or you, by faith, receive the gift of God's righteousness. by trusting in Christ to have fulfilled God's law perfectly for you, in your place. And therefore, because of His righteousness that is credited to you by faith, that God, the Holy Judge, can bring down His gavel and declare you to be Righteous that you can be justified and not condemned as one or the other I can't have a mixture of the two no matter how many different religions and different even that go under the name of Christianity try to mix it together try to mix together some system of partial faith partial works is one or the other you either depend upon the righteousness of Christ that comes purely by faith or or you're depending upon your own righteousness, which of course will never avail. So the question always comes to us whenever we see this dichotomy that Paul draws between faith and works. Which are you trusting? Which righteousness? Your own righteousness or the righteousness of God? The righteousness which Christ has achieved for us, works or faith. So again, just fundamentally to situate this in this context, the need to believe in the Messiah. Of course, that's where Paul begins this series of questions, sort of retroactively going through the steps that come to salvation. Of course, fundamentally is, Believing you have to believe have to believe but then of course that raises the question for Paul. Okay. Well How do you get to the point where you can believe and so call upon the name of the Lord and be saved? well, of course you will not call on him in whom you have not believed and So the need for faith. But then next, what we see here is the need to hear from the Messiah. Of course, the need to believe in the Messiah, that's the end goal. That's the salvation. But first then, even before belief, there has to be hearing. So the need to believe in the Messiah, the need to hear from the Messiah. And I worded it that way for a reason. I didn't word this point to the need to hear about the Messiah. but the need to hear from the Messiah. And that's really because of what I believe is the proper translation of the second question in verse 14. And how are they to believe in him, the ESV has it, and the King James and the New King James, I didn't check anything other than the NASB, The NASB, congratulations Walter, gets it right. On this one at least. But how are they to believe in him that ESV has of whom or about whom they have never heard? Now, again, those of you who know some Greek, it's translated that way because him there is in the genitive. So you'd normally translate that of him, right? So heard of him. But that's not how the Greek word for hear works. It takes its object, its direct object in the genitive. And so you're not hearing of him. You're not hearing about him. The proper translation is you are hearing him. And that has incredible significance. So it should read, how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? So saying, if you're going to believe in this Messiah and call upon the name of the Lord and so be saved, first you have to hear not just about him, you have to hear from him. You have to hear him speaking to you. The Greek is clear in this. This is the proper translation. The ESV has that as a sort of an alternate translation in the footnote. If you're one who does this type of thing, I would just encourage you, cross out that word of. Just cross it out, or just make a mental note to read over that whenever you're reading this verse. But again, the implication, if you're going to believe in Christ, you must hear not just about Christ, not just of Christ. You must hear Christ the Messiah himself. Now, what does that mean? Does this mean we all need to have a Paul on the road to Damascus experience, right, where the heavens open up and we hear this voice, you know, the voice of Christ himself speaking directly to us? Well, no, of course not. It's not this direct, although it is saying we need to hear from Christ. We need to hear Christ himself. He speaks to us through means through means and that's exactly where the next question comes from and how are they to hear Christ how are they to hear him without someone preaching so it's interesting you get here kind of the the idea that it's directly from Christ itself but no it is also Through means, through means of someone preaching. Through the means of a preacher, but yet it is still Christ speaking. But he's heard through someone preaching. This really is remarkable and really does present to us, again, as one of the many places in the scriptures where we see a very high view of preaching. of the public ministry of the Word of God. Again, this is why our Reformed and Puritan forefathers firmly, firmly believed that the public ministry of the Word of God, preaching, is the primary means of grace. Because here we are hearing not just from a man, not just from some person speaking, we are hearing from Christ. We are hearing Christ in someone preaching. He's preaching by His Spirit, through His preachers, but it is Christ whom we hear. Just for another place where we see this idea, look at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 17. We could look at any number of places, you know, that let us not refuse Him who called Him. It's Christ who makes this appeal through us, all of these things. But Ephesians 2.17, Paul here says to these Ephesians, Again, Christ never came to Ephesus and proclaimed the gospel to the Ephesians, but he says, whether Jew or Gentile, in Ephesus, and he came and preached peace. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. It's Christ who does this. When the gospel is proclaimed faithfully, It is Christ himself who is not just being preached about, it's Christ who is preaching. This is why in one of the Reformed's confessions, they could even go so far as to say, the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God. Again, it's not to claim some sort of inspired status for a preacher, but it's to say if you're faithfully proclaiming the truth of God's word, then that comes with the force and all of the power of the word of God itself. All right, this is uh, the point is made again in verse 17. I think in this context it helps us to understand this phrase so faith comes from hearing and hearing Through the word of christ Again, you have a genitive phrase there of christ. How do we take that? Is it the word about christ? Or is it the word that christ himself is speaking? Is it objective or subjective genitive? I think in this context. It's a subjective genitive faith comes by hearing hearing by Christ speaking through the word of Christ again. But how does that come? It comes through the means of faithful proclamation, faithful preaching. It's an incredible view. And it's helpful for us to remember that every Lord's Day when we come, I mean, it's incredibly humbling and sobering for those of us who preach, but to remember, yes, we need to be very, very careful that what we proclaim is truly faithful to the Word of God, because it is coming with that understanding. This is Christ speaking these things. We better speak the truth. But as we come and we hear the preaching of the Word of God, remember, we are not just, you're not just hearing from me. I mean, if you were coming just to hear from me, why would any of you show up? I wouldn't come. I wouldn't come to show up. I'm coming to hear Christ speaking through His Word and the faithful proclamation of His Word. And to come with that mindset, with that attitude, that we should always bring in worship, to remember we're coming, not just to get together with people that we like, or some people that we don't like as much. We're not just coming together, we're coming ultimately to be in the presence of God, as His gathered church, to meet with Christ, to hear from Christ. That will give us the proper attitude we need, and we will receive the preaching of the Word of God as seriously as it deserves to be received. But it's in this context, this need to hear from the Messiah and how he is heard through preachers. Paul makes a point, and we come to that first Old Testament quotation, well, the first that I'm coming to. It's second in order within the text. There's an objection that Paul sort of raises. This is what Paul will do regularly. We'll see him do this in the book of Romans. He'll make a point, and then there's an objection, a theoretical objection. Someone could say this. So he raises a question, and then he addresses it. And I think this is what he's doing in this context. So again, this comes immediately after verse 17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But, I ask, have they not heard? He's sort of raising a theoretical objection. And what is that objection? Well, okay, if faith comes by hearing, can only come by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ, you know, faithful preaching of the gospel of Christ, and therefore hearing Christ himself, what about those who've never heard that? What about those to whom the gospel has never come? You know, are they off the hook? Are they given a pass, given an excuse, right? Their only chance for faith is hearing. So I ask, have they not heard? And he answers, well, indeed, they have. I think they here could argue this as he's just referring generally. He says, indeed, they have for, and then he quotes from the Old Testament, their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. Now, in this context, you might read that and immediately think, Well, what is Paul asserting here? Is he asserting that the preaching of the gospel has gone out to the entire world? That everyone in the world has heard the preaching of the gospel of Christ? This is where, again, you... need to be, and this is where Paul assumes familiarity with the Old Testament in its original context. What is this Old Testament quotation? Where is it from? Well, it's from Psalm 19. Now, turn to Psalm 19. Now, again, it's a psalm that deserves its own sermon, its own treatment. But Psalm 19 as a whole, and if you can just kind of remember this general kind of structure, it's clear enough. But it's all about the revelation of God. So God's revelation is revealing of himself to men. But it focuses on two different kinds of revelation. In the first six verses, it focuses on The natural world, particularly the heavens, you know, the skies and outer space that God is revealing himself that way, right? The heavens declare the glory of God. The sky above proclaims his handiwork. And so you have what we call general revelation. God is revealing himself that way. But then in verses seven to 11, there's a focus on the other kind of revelation, special revelation, right? His word and here particularly his law. And then you get that glorious section of just the, you know, praising the law of God and all of its glorious effects and its value. And then there's the response to that in verses 12 to 13, you know, you know, who can discern his errors, you know, keep me from sin. And then that prayer at the end in response, verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. But it's focused on God's revelation, general revelation and then special revelation. And what is, which one is Paul quoting from? Which section? What type of revelation? It's general revelation, right? So it's talking about the heavens and day and night, but particularly the heavens, the skies. And then he quotes from verses three and four. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. And so Paul is using this verse faithfully. He's not asserting or trying to assert in some way that, yes, the gospel has gone forth to every person or every land. I mean, certainly that's still not true to this day, although it's more true than in the day of Paul. It certainly was not true in Paul's day. No, he's going back to really make the same point that he makes in chapter 1 in verse 20, right? That the—well, I'll read it so I don't paraphrase it, bosh it. For the invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." He's saying, no, there is a proclamation of God that has gone forth into all the world. There is enough revelation and knowledge of God that is clear just in creation itself, particularly in the heavens. That, yes, there's no excuse, there's no getting off the hook for those even who haven't heard the explicit name of Christ or the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's just a sobering reminder, but it just points up the necessity of preaching and of getting the message of the gospel out there because that is the only way that there will be hearing and there will be saving faith. But, and I think the broader point that Paul is bringing up here, if that's the case, if even those who have just had a general revelation and have not had any special revelation, haven't had exposure to the word of God, and particularly to the proclamation of the gospel, if they are without excuse, how much less of an excuse do those have who have heard the preaching of the word of God? and yet still have not responded with faith. And that is a biblical principle, that the more revelation, the more light, the more knowledge you have of the truth, the greater your accountability to that, to respond rightly, to respond with repentance and with faith. As a reminder, you are If you are here today, you are hearing the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ once again. Again, in the words of Paul, about as clearly as it could possibly be expressed. And you are now accountable to respond in repentance and in faith. You're hearing, and again, you're hearing not just Pastor Jason, you're hearing Christ himself proclaiming the gospel to you. Once again, do not refuse the one who is speaking to you this day. Because you're not just refusing my words, you're refusing Christ's words. And again, you will be held accountable to that. You're held accountable even just for looking at the sky and knowing there's a God. You are doubly, triply, infinitely more accountable and responsible to respond to the clear preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ this day. How much greater judgment are you deserving if you reject that? But, unfortunately, this is what the Jews, for the most part, in Paul's day, had done. Right? Verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? Just a reminder again, it's not enough just to hear, not enough just to know. You have to believe, you have to respond in faith. You have to put your trust in the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ as a gift from God and not on your own righteousness. You must hear and you must believe. But there's still one more step in the process that Paul points out. And this is really where we come back to that grand story of the Messiah. There's that need to believe in the Messiah. There's that need to hear from the Messiah. But then there is this need to be sent by the Messiah. I love that Paul backs this process up all the way to this point. He would think and maybe expect that he would end with, how are they to hear without someone preaching? But then, where are you ending that process? Or rather, to look at it backwards, where are you beginning that process? You're beginning it with the someone preaching. You're beginning it with the human messenger, with the human preacher. But Paul takes it one step further back. And he shows that that really is the beginning. The initiative, the beginning, is not with the human preachers, with the messengers. No, it's with God. It's with Jesus Christ, ultimately, as we see. Because he goes back even further, and he says, and how are they to preach? unless they are sent. Unless they are sent. And this is really the point of connection then with our passage last week and what we've been seeing. Christ there ascended in glory and he gives apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers to his church. He sends the messengers. He sends the ones who are going to go and preach and proclaim the good news of what he has accomplished. It shows, again, the initiative is with Him, and if the initiative is with Him, then certainly all of the glory is with Him. Again, Ephesians 4, the spoils of His victory, His gracious gifts to men in the preachers and those who will proclaim the good news. And Paul emphasizes this by quoting from Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52, as it is written, so 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. And the emphasis here, again, is not, oh, well, how wonderful are these messengers, but it's just to show they are beautiful. They're wonderful because of the message they bring, the message that I sent them with. I don't normally think of feet as a particularly beautiful part of the human body. But if they bring this good news, if they bring this gospel, if the messenger proclaims this, the best of all news, then yes, The whole thing is beautiful, but again, not because of them, but because of the one who sent them and commissioned them and gave them the message in the first place. Again, I wish we had more time to dig into the original context. But so, you know, Paul's not just ripping this verse out of context. He's interpreting this passage correctly as well to say, what is this referring to? It's referring ultimately to those who proclaim the gospel of the Messiah, who proclaim the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. He quotes from Isaiah 52. Now you can see there Isaiah 52. Now in the original context again this is a prophecy once again of the the fact that God will bring the Israelites, the Jews, back from the Babylonian captivity, from the Babylonian exile. And I won't go back and sort of re-preach all those passages, but every passage in Isaiah that we've looked at in the study has had that as kind of the immediate context, the prophecy that God will bring the Jews back from Babylonian exile, and yet those prophecies in and of themselves go so much further beyond that. and just show universal worldwide implications and it can show that it's really referring ultimately typologically to spiritual deliverance from spiritual exile of our sin and overcoming, bringing God's people back to himself, back to the heavenly Jerusalem from the exile of sin. And so we see here in Isaiah 52, of course, he quotes from verse seven, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace and who brings good news of happiness, who publishes to salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. But then look, as it goes on, it describes God bringing his people back to Jerusalem, back to Zion, but then it goes far beyond that. Verse 10, the Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. But then what does it go immediately into at the end of chapter 52, and then on into chapter 53? It's the song of the suffering servant, right? It is that clearest of all Old Testament prophecies of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, of the Messiah. That is the true deliverance that he will accomplish. And look just at one passage. We know Isaiah 53 well. Isaiah 53 11. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous. Right? That's justification. That's what Paul has been talking about in Romans chapter 10. How do we become righteous before God? not by works, but by faith in the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, the one who suffered and bore the punishment that our sins deserved in our place, the one who lived a perfect life and fulfilled the law of God in order to attain a perfect righteousness that, again, can be credited to us by faith. This is the gospel. This is the good news. And this is what is The beautiful message of those who have been sent by Christ into the world that he continues to send into this world to proclaim that best of all good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that there can be righteousness. that is credited to us, the righteousness of God, that is not by works, that is only by faith, based on what the Messiah Jesus Christ has done for us in his life, his death, and his resurrection. And praise God for this ascended, exalted Messiah, who is continuing to raise up and send forth messengers to herald that good news still today, and all throughout the world, so that here we are. We ought to be so thankful that Christ has given those messengers. He sent those messengers. How would we have heard without someone preaching? How would those have preached unless Christ first had sent them? So that we could hear Him through their message, and that we could then believe and call upon His name and be saved. It is amazing, always for me to think, just about literally on the opposite side of the globe from Israel, from Jerusalem, where that gospel first started out. But God has been faithful. Christ has been faithful in his role as this ascended Messiah to send forth messengers, send forth preachers, so that we here on the other side of the globe can hear this message even still today and have a chance to respond in faith. Once again, that is the urgent warning today. Respond in faith to that message. Do not trust in your own works, your own ability to fulfill the law of God and earn your own righteousness. You can never do that. That's the bad news, but the good news is that God has sent Christ to do that for you, to earn that righteousness for you, and all you have to do is trust in what he has done for you that you could never do for yourself, and call upon his name and be saved. That is the glorious good news, the righteousness of God himself available by faith. Praise Christ that he sent his messengers, that we have heard, that the Spirit has enabled us to believe, And then we have to respond to this as well by praying. Praying again to Christ, to God, that he would send forth more and more and more messengers, right? That the Lord of the harvest would raise up workers to go out into his harvest. He would send them out, thrust them out so that others too may hear, may hear Christ himself in the proclamation of the gospel and believe and be saved as well. Praise God for our ascended Christ who sends these messengers so that that whole chain of events might happen, that we have heard and we have believed. Praise Christ. Let's pray. Our Father, we do pray, send more messengers, send more messengers. Father, yes, use all of us to be your messengers, but especially those whom you have called up and set aside and gifted and prepared to proclaim that best of all news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Again, may we all hear it again today, rejoice in that glorious good news, and respond to it in true saving faith, which is how we must respond if we are to be saved. Help us now as we partake of the Lord's Supper to remember our Savior Jesus Christ, remember what he has done for us and for our salvation, without which we would have no hope. We praise you for him. In his name we pray. Amen.