Have you ever heard the phrase “Need to know basis”? Usually it's very exclusive, it means you don't get to hear it because you don't need to know. Well, tonight we are here to talk about a need to hear basis, because everyone you know, and even people you don't know, they need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? So, let's open up the Romans chapter 10, verses 14 to 17, for a very important study for our church of God's Word. And this feels very personal for me these verses because this is why I'm here in Huntington Beach. This is why I'm here speaking to you tonight is exactly what we're going to learn in these verses. I never grew up wanting to be a pastor who would preach sermons at church. I had no desire to do this, what I'm doing right now. I had a great example. And I saw my dad become a pastor. And he showed me the way, but I didn't want to do it. I didn't go to college to study how to do it. I was not really interested in doing it. And then what happened is I saw the need for it. And see, once I saw the need for people to hear the word of Christ, I couldn't unsee it. See, I would go to churches, and I would sit through a whole service at church, and you wouldn't even open the Bible during the sermon. And I was like, we need something here. I would go check out the youth groups. And they were just lifeless, they were dead. It was a very bad scene. I was like, they don't have a life of Jesus, the abundant life, the eternal life, these young people they need to know. And even Huntington Beach, I never had a plan to live in Huntington Beach; never even thought about moving here. And then one day I drove a young man from church way down in south county of Orange County. I drove him to this place called Stanton. I didn't even know where it was. And it took me like fifty minutes to get him from Laguna Hills up to Stanton. And I was like, Bro, why are you coming down to our church with all the way from Stanton? And he was telling me I don't know of a church like that church up here. It was the need that I found compelling to be who God has made me to be. And I'm hoping that tonight God will speak to you. And you will find the need for people to hear compelling in your own life as well. So, I want to invite everybody out of respect for God's Word, if you would stand up for the public reading of Scripture. And I want to encourage you to follow along as I read Romans 10:14-17. This is the Word of God. This is really the conclusion to a lot we've been learning together as a church in Romans 9 and 10. Please follow along, as I read in Romans 10:14.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 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.
That's the reading of God's Word, please go ahead and have your seat. We start out in our text in a series of rhetorical questions, and it kind of goes from word to word. And I'll throw the Greek words here up on the screen. So, the first word that we get to is how will they call and the Greek word is epikaleo, which is a word that we've been seeing here in the last few verses of Romans 10. And really, we've been seeing it throughout Romans 9 and 10, that God is calling a people for himself, and that all people, everyone should call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Because you know what happens when you call on the name of the Lord Jesus? You get saved. And I'm here to give you a happy report to our church family that I know of at least four different people who professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ last week, as we were studying that, and they called on the name of the Lord. And so that was encouraging, and to see God's work of salvation in their lives already doing things they would have never done before. Praise the Lord. But see, we saw if you'll go back and look at how it works back into verse 10. “For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.” Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame, or there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So that moment where you call out for salvation, when you call out with your mouth, you confess with your mouth. Well, that happens because you believe in your heart. And so that's where he goes in the question, verse 14. “How can they call on him if they haven't believed?” And that's the Greek word, hopefully you've heard this one before, pistuo, and it's the word to believe or to have faith or to trust. That's the idea here. You're transferring your trust from yourself and your own works of righteousness. You don't have works of righteousness, you need to trust in Jesus, and then God will declare you righteous. And so, you believe you call on him because you're believing in him. And then it says, and this is so insightful here. And the third question, it says, or a second question, excuse me. How are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard. So, this is the new word. And this word is kind of the theme of our night. It's the Greek word akouo. Akouo means to hear. And in Greek language, when it says, “Children, obey your parents and the Lord, it's like, “children, akouo your parents in the Lord. Like, if you hear it, you hear it with the intention to do it. And all the parents in the room said, Amen. Lord, let it be true, right? If only that's how my kids heard me, right? But that's the idea is you hear it with the intention of obedience, of doing what you hear. And so, we want people to call in the name of the Lord with their mouth, because they believe in the Lord from their heart, but you can't believe in your heart if you don't hear it. And then it goes on from there. And it talks about people preaching and it gets to now, well, somebody's got to speak, and these people are sent, and how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news, but let's just stop right there. Because that is I think everyone needs to hear this good news that we have to say that I find is my compelling reason to be here talking to you tonight is your need to hear what God says in his Word.
So, get this down for point number one, if you are taking notes: “Their need to hear is your reason to speak.” Okay? Their need to hear is your reason to speak. You don't start speaking because you think that you could be good as a speaker. That's where that's the wrong way that we think, and I am here on a mission to change your mind tonight. Because you think sharing the gospel with somebody is about you being able to speak to them, sharing the gospel with somebody is because they need to hear about Jesus. Their very soul hangs on a line right now perilously dangling between hell and heaven. I mean, where are they going for all of eternity right now? They are perishing apart from Jesus Christ. The wages of their sin is death, and after death will come judgment. If they don't hear about Jesus and believe, how will they call on him and be saved? And they're not going to be saved unless they hear. That's why you should speak; stop making this about you. This is not about you. This is not about how you feel comfortable, how you feel called. It doesn't matter how you feel. They are going to die in their sin. That's what's really happening. All the people that you're like, I'm not sure I'm going to talk to them, will kiss them goodbye, then might as be as well as what you're doing. Because you're making it about well, I don't know if I'm the person to talk to them. Well, if you've looked around lately, it's not like we've got all these other Christians just coming in to reinforce your territory. All right. They need to hear about Jesus. And that's why you need to speak. You're like, yeah, but I'm not a speaker. Okay, well go with me to the book of Exodus chapter 4, and let's study one of the greatest speakers of all time, who wrote five of the greatest scrolls of all time, and let's go back to the burning bush. I mean, all you're just stuck with me speaking to what if we had a bush up here on fire, all right, and a voice came out of the bush, and it's telling you, hey, we've got a purpose. The people in Egypt, God's people, they're crying out, and they're slaves in Egypt. They're being oppressed in Egypt. We need deliverance. We need rescue. We need to get these people out of slavery, and we need to go all aboard to the promised land. And so, Moses, you're the man, you're the guy. You're one of the people. I'm asking you to do it. And what is Moses’ righteous and holy response to the Lord? When YHWH tells him what to do in Exodus 4:10. “But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’” I love it. It's so real. It's exactly how you are as you sit here tonight. I'm not going to go speak to anybody. I'm not good at talking. I'm not some eloquent speaker. Do you realize the people who actually think they are public speakers are probably people we should all be scared of, and suspicious of. Like, who really I don't want to be up here doing public speaking all the time, who really likes public speaking? Have you met that person? Watch out for that person. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, this is how we all are right here. I mean, Moses, this is Moses, the man who talked to God face to face. This is Moses who interceded for the people multiple times, so they would not die. This is Moses, who ends up writing these five scrolls, Moses who ends up basically giving a speech. That's the entire Book of Deuteronomy. Moses, who it says, there's not ever been a prophet like him in Israel until the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So, you know how Moses felt, he's not good at public speaking. It's not really his gift. It's not really his calling. I have a hard time putting words together. I have a hard time pronounciating. I am not your guy to speak. Listen to what God has to say to Moses here in Exodus 4:11. “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’” And then I don't know if you noticed if you've read to this, but he says, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” So, if you are sitting here tonight, and you're like, Oh, no, is this going to be a service about evangelism? Is that where this is going? Are you going to tell us to go talk to people about Jesus? Are we going there? Is that what's about to happen? Well, that's not for me. I'm not good at speaking. Okay, Moses, I hear you. You want us to send somebody else? Well, he brought his brother Aaron in. Okay, I'll bring Aaron; Aaron's good at speaking. But if you're reading Deuteronomy with us right now, Aaron has died. And Moses still has plenty to say.
See, I just think that if you think that there are some people who just naturally want to go tell everybody about Jesus and just naturally want to preach, that's not how it really works. If you think it looks easy for that person to just go up there and tell people about Jesus or just to go and speak the Word of God. I am one of those people. I can promise you this, it is not easy to open your mouth and speak, it is necessary. It is necessary to open your mouth and speak. If you think this is easy for me to get up here and continually preach the Word and preach the gospel. It is not easy in any stretch of the imagination. But it is on a need to hear basis that I am up here. Because people need to know who Jesus is; their very souls depend upon it. And that is the reason you need to speak it. Don't make it about you.
Go back a couple of chapters or get back to Exodus 3:9-10. This is the purpose where God is explaining to Moses, “And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”Why is God calling Moses? Because God is hearing the cry, the prayers of the people, because God is seeing the oppression of the people, because God is remembering his promise to Abraham. God is knowing that these are his people. God wants to do something. That's why Moses is being called to action. Moses is being sent not because Moses has some gift, not because Moses is some special guy. He's being sent because God has something that God's going to do, and God's going to use Moses to do it. And so that's the purpose. The purpose of the people having a need and God's sending you. That is why you should speak; it's not about you. It's about the need of the people and being sent by God.
Go back to Romans chapter 10. And you'll see how that plays out. And now these words we have speaking words, okay? And this first word here it goes from call to believe, to hear, and then how are they going to hear without someone preaching? It says there at the end of verse 14, “and how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Now, as soon as we say that word preach, you're like, that's it? I'm out. I ain't doing any preaching. Well, it's the Greek word here, kerusso is the word often translated, to preach. It was translated, proclaim back in verse 8, when he was talking about the word of faith, the word is near you, it's in your mouth. It's in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. So, to kerusso is to proclaim something, to preach something, to herald something, to get something out there. That's what it is. People can't hear it without somebody preaching it is the idea. And why would you preach it? Why would you be so bold to stand up there and preach the Word of God with the authority that the Word of God commands from people? Why would you do that? Well, you don't just do that. You do that the next word it says, because they are sent. Sent, It's

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the Greek word apostello. Apostello to send and when you hear that word apostello, it sounds like what group of men, it sounds like the apostles. Apostles means sent ones. Okay. So, Paul had an encounter with Jesus, where Paul was blinded by the glorious light of Jesus on the road to Damascus. And Jesus sent Paul before that known as the Pharisee of Pharisees. He said, now you're going to be my apostle, and I'm going to send you to the Gentiles, and you are going to carry my name. So, why do you end up preaching? Because you've been sent and the one who sent you has authority to send you and that's why you go. Moses didn't get to decide to be Moses. Paul didn't get to decide to be Paul, and you don't get to decide to be you. If God sends you, you have one option, “Here am I, send me” or rebellion against God, that's it. And that's what it is. You are sent now, just because you're sent doesn't make you like Mr. Invincible and I’ll go. I mean, I just think our idea of Moses is like Charlton Heston walking in there telling Yul Brinner, what's up, right. And that's not how it was. Moses lacked confidence. Moses lacked boldness, he lacked clarity. He needed his bro now to even get the job done.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Let's even talk about Paul. We refer to Paul sometimes it's like the super apostle, the missionary journey man. The rock-solid evangelists all even say things like, they knocked him down and he got back up, went into town, kept like he's the biblical Batman is the way we sometimes refer to Paul, right? But look at how Paul actually felt himself in his own skin in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, when he describes his experience in the city of Corinth, going there for what purpose? Because people in Corinth needed to hear and God's sent him. And so there he was, and how did he feel about being God's mouthpiece, a god's missionary in Corinth, he says in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, and I, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you…”and underline it, circle it, write it down, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[c] but in the power of God.” When I came, and I spoke to you, I felt weak; when I was speaking to you, I felt afraid. I was shaking. I was trembling when I was speaking to you. But you know what? It wasn't about me. And it wasn't about the eloquence with which I spoke to you in my lofty speech. I came to you because God sent me to you and I brought God's message of Jesus Christ, the Lord risen from the dead to you. And the reason you believed isn't because of what I said, but you believe because the gospel is God's power to save your souls. That's what Paul said. So, I don't know who this super person you think is that's not you that's out there just taking names for Jesus, because it's not Moses, it's not Paul. And it's not me. So maybe this person that you're not is a made up person of fictional character in your own imagination you use as an excuse. So, you don't have to talk to people about Jesus. Because you've been sent just like anybody else. You've been commissioned to go and make disciples of all nations, everybody you know needs to be told to repent so that they can have forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus. Jesus said to his apostles, that you will be my witnesses in Judea, and then in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and then even to the end of the earth. And so, we are all here to be ambassadors.
In fact, go over to 2 Corinthians 5. If you're like, Well, I don't know if I've been sent. I don't know if this is really for me. Well, here's one passage. And many, I'm sure there's many more you could find if you started to look into it. But where in the Bible doesn't imply that you, you need to speak because they need to hear? Well, this is a great passage that Paul gives to the same church. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, you can pick it up with me, after his great verse that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” And so, look what he says, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us…” So, Paul's not speaking in his own personal sense here. He's not saying well, I have the ministry of reconciliation. He's saying, we have the ministry of reconciliation, verse 19, that is, in Christ God was reconciling[c] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Who does it say there everybody? Us. So we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Paul's not acting like well, you guys won't do this, but I will, because I'm an apostle. So, I’ll go explain to people the ministry of reconciliation. No, Paul's acting like all of us. We are ambassadors. We are heaven’s representatives here on planet Earth. And we are here to implore, beseech, beg, and plead with people, you need to come to God. And the way you can get there is through his Son, Jesus Christ. And everyone you know, and even the people you don't know, they need to hear about Jesus.
And that's why we are here. Their need to hear is your reason to speak. And you need to speak on their behalf. You need to speak because God is sending you to speak. It doesn't matter if you feel like that's something for you to do or not. Go back to Romans chapter 10. Here, he has this quote that he gets into. So, he's going through, they can't call if they don't believe; they can't believe if they don't hear they can't hear without someone preaching. Why would anyone want to go and preach? Well, the reason we go and preach is because we are sent and when he says that he stops asking questions, and he gives a quote, and he says “as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.” Now when it says preach the good news here? It's not using that same word kerusso? No, this is the word euangelizo is the word here, to preach the good news, or to share the good news, to bring the good news. Okay. So, this is a word that we kind of transliterate into English. If you've ever heard the word evangelism. Evangelism means to share good news, to bring the gospel of Jesus. It comes right from this Greek word. So, the people who go and they bring the good news of Jesus, the feet of those people are considered beautiful. That's a good and pleasant thing for you to do. It may not feel good and pleasant for you to do. It may or may not feel like you're beautiful when you're going to try to tell somebody about Jesus. But that's what the scripture says. The scripture says the people who bring the good news have beautiful feet. That's the kind of messenger we need. That's, I mean, isn't what the world needs to hear right now, some good news isn't what America needs right now. Some good news? Don't you know people who are losing hope, who are losing heart? And what could really give them a whole new perspective would be some good news. Why are we like, oh, I never want to talk to anybody about that when what we have to share is the good news that they need to hear. So, this is the idea is you bring the good news.
And so, let's get this down for point number two: “God is calling to save, and you are the means.” God is calling to save, and you are the means. This is how God has decided it's going to work in the time, in the place that you and I are living God is he's kind of purpose. He's calling people. He's building up the church, he's building up a kingdom, he's building up people who will give the glory to Jesus, on the day that Jesus receives all things as an inheritance. He's building up the Bride of Christ, that he's going to present to his Son, the church,. God is calling people. God is saving people in the way that God is going to bring the good news of heaven to the lost souls here on earth. Is he going to use people like you and me as the messengers? We are the deliverers of the package, we are the mailman, or mail, women, so to speak; we are the ones who are taking the good news of heaven, and we're bringing it to the people who need to hear it here on earth. And there are many ways that God could do this. He's spoken from a mountain of fire; he sent an angelic choir when his son Jesus was born. There are many ways that God could make himself known, but the means that God has chosen to use is you. And he wants to open your mouth. And he wants to teach you what to say. And he wants his Spirit to speak through you. God is making his appeal through us. And if you stay silent, you are not doing what God has as a purpose for your life, as a purpose to save people. And you are the means. We know that people are being called by God, we learned that in Romans 9. We know people need to call on the name of the Lord, we learn that in Romans 10. Well, how do the people that God is calling, calling him the answer you when you tell them about Jesus, when you open your mouth and speak to them, when you use longer lead, so you bring the good news, you're the beautiful feet, you're the messenger, the ambassador of heaven, now representing Christ here on earth. As you learn to speak in the name of Jesus, people will then be able to call on the name of Jesus to be saved. God is sending you.
Now we’ve got to go back, if we're really going to understand this beautiful feet concept, we’ve got to go back to Isaiah, because notice what he says here, like keep reading with me in our text after Romans 10:15, he says, “but they have not all obeyed the gospel.” And then he says, for Isaiah says, and he has another quote here, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us.” So, both of these quotes here in verse 15, and in verse 16, are from the book of Isaiah, and they're very close to one another. So, turn with me to Isaiah 52:7. I need everybody to grab your Bible and go back. We’ve got to see the source material that Paul is referring to if we're really going to get the picture that he's trying to create with these quotes. But if we're really going to get the context here of Isaiah 52:7, we're going to have to go back to another place in time. We can't think about the idea of beautiful feet. That just doesn't work in our day and age. I want everybody here tonight, please keep your shoes and socks on at all times. All right, unless you're wearing flip flops, then that's cool. But we don't get this idea. All right. We wouldn't have to go back before cellphones. We would have to go back before the internet. Does anybody remember when you had to call the internet dial up? And you hope the internet answered your call to get your Juno email or your AOL? Does anybody remember those days, right? I mean, so let's go back before the internet. Do you remember when there was like a phone attached to the wall and you pulled it off the wall? And there was like this squiggly wire, and you were talking to somebody, and then you would get to the end of the wire? Does anybody know what I'm talking about? And before that, there was this thing called mail, if you can remember. And you would write somebody a letter, you would pour out your heart, you would give it everything you had, there would be tears along with the ink on the page. And then you would lick a stamp, and then you would lick the envelope. And then you would put that thing in the mail, and you'd sit there and you'd watch with a mailman ever come and get my letter. And then you would wonder how many days will it be. 3, 4, 5 business days till my loved one receives my letter, and then when they get my letter, they'll have to read my letter. They'll have to take a day to compose their thought and express their heart back to me. And then I'll have to wait 3, 4, 5 business days. How did we survive in such times, right? Before that there was this thing called the Pony Express, if you ever heard of it. And before the Pony Express, there were dudes running. That's where they were all right. And the main time that dudes were running was when the men went off to fight the battle. And are we going to win? Or are the other nation that other tribe, are they going to win? And so, the whole city is waiting to find out. Hey, there's no breaking news. There's no checking your phone. There's just like, hey, all the men went off to battle. Are they alive? Are they dead? Is there an evil army of darkness coming here to kill us all? Or will our heroes return, triumph and victory, and you can just imagine the anticipation that the entire city sits in and the watchmen on the walls 24/7, straining their eyes to see as far as they can, and looking for somebody to kick up a pile of dust as somebody comes running. And you were hoping it was one guy coming, running because one guy coming, running, usually meant good news. If it was a few guys, straggling on back that meant, we were defeated, and just the few guys survived. But if it was running, one dude, pumping it, coming as fast as he could see that guy. Oh, look at him. Do you see him kicking up dust? Look at those beautiful feet coming this way. See, they've got good news. I want to hear what that guy has to say. And the watchman, he shouts out to the city. I could see somebody I could see. Oh, hey, wait. He's saying something. He said something. What is he saying? Good news. He's got good news, everybody. What does he say? What does he say? He said, victory, everybody. Victory. What does he say? And you can imagine the people in the city are what? They're just erupting. They're just like, yes. This is what we wanted to hear. That's what Isaiah 52:7 is all about. It says how beautiful upon the mountains, or the feet of him who brings, what was that good news? What did he say? Peace? Who brings good news of happiness? Who publishes what salvation? Who says to Zion, your God reigns. That's the reference. You’ve got to go back to the context of an ancient time when you're waiting to find out, do we die? Or do we live? And then the runner comes. I love it. When I saw that runner coming to town, how beautiful his feet were, because he brought us the good news that we had peace. We had salvation that our God reigns. And then look what it says here in Isaiah 52:8-10. Let's keep going here. And Isaiah, “The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 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.” So, even the way this passage reads, it's very cool how it works because it's like, here comes the good news. All the watchmen are shouting, oh, the people are singing and what's the message? God reigns. What's the message? There's going to be salvation of God, but it's still kind of leading you on, it's still kind of begging the question. Okay, but what is salvation? Okay, but like, what is the message? What is the good news? And then it says here in Isaiah 52:11-12, it says, “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”
It's like, hey, get away from all the unclean things, get ready, God's coming, you're not going to have to run in haste today, you're not going to have to flee for your life. God's going to be with you. Behold, and then in Isaiah, if you know about Isaiah, it talks about the servant, and it makes prophecies about the servant who is coming, and the servant who's going to come that's sent from God to come. And so, it says in Isaiah 52:13-15, “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.” And then notice here's the second quote now from Isaiah in Isaiah 53. One is the second thing Paul quoted in Romans 10, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For he’s now going back to this servant. So what is this good news message that we're bringing in? How do we know God is with us? And God's going to reign, and we're going to survive?
Well, because this servant is coming. Isaiah 53:2-7, “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” And what is the good news that's coming in that the watchmen are waiting for, what the city is singing for? How do we know that God is going to come back and reign? How do we know that God can save to the ends of the earth? Because Jesus died in our place? Can I get an amen for my benefit?
Now, listen, I understand that when you go and tell people that Jesus died on the cross for the their sin, a lot of people aren't going to appreciate that good news for what it is. I understand that you might feel inadequate in what you would say about Jesus dying on the cross, you might feel like you don't know how to answer all their questions or their objections. I understand that you might even be afraid that if you get too bold about Jesus, this person may not like you as much, you may not be as close to them. In fact, maybe there could even be negative consequences that come from this person, maybe they would mock you, or make fun of you. Or maybe it could make things complicated at your workplace or where you live or at your family gatherings. But if that person does not have their eyes open to see that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, then they will die in their sins. These are the two options. They either see that he was pierced, and he was crushed, and all of our sin was laid on him, or they're still going to have to pay for their own sin.
And so, what are you going to do? Are you going to worry about what that person thinks about you? Or are you going to worry about what that person thinks about Jesus? And can they see that Jesus loved them so much, that he died in their place. And Jesus, he could have said, anything, Jesus, he could have stopped it, he could have saved himself. But like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, so he opened not his mouth. And that's the good news. The good news is that God loves you so much, he sent Jesus to die in your place to pay for your sin, so you don't have to die in your sin. You don't have to be judged. But you can have a new life, an abundant life, an eternal life in Jesus. And I don't care if they know it's good news or not. It is good news. And they need to hear it. And when they hear it, and not everybody, when they hear it will believe it. But when they hear it, they can believe it. And if they don't hear it, they can't believe it. Go back to Romans 10, because that's what it's saying here towards the end. Now remember, the context here of Romans 9:10-11 is Paul's heartbreak for the Jewish people. And how the Jewish people, even though they're the ones chosen by God, well, they're not all Israel is really Israel. Not all Israel is really believing by faith in Jesus’ righteousness. A lot of the Jews are still trying to do their own works of righteousness. And so that's what he's saying here in Romans 9:10-11. And so when it says here in verse 16, “they have not all obeyed the gospel, who has believed what he has heard from us.” There's an update. Yeah, well, a lot of the Jews aren't believing this. In fact, that's where he's going to go kind of in the rest of Romans 10. Here, he's going to start going into like, yeah, there's a lot of unbelief. There's a lot of hardness of heart. There's a lot of rejection, even among God. People have the juice, but just because they might reject me is not a reason to be afraid. It's not a reason to not speak because look at how he ends his kind of thought here in Romans 10:17. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through…” the what is it? Say there everybody? Okay, so when they are hearing the good news of Jesus, if God gives them ears to hear, if God opens their eyes to see, if God speaks through you in a way of power, not because of the way you say it, not because of your words, but because God by his Spirit speaks through your open mouth, and he helps them to hear it. It's when people are hearing the word of Christ, that's when faith can happen. When they're not hearing the word of Christ., they're not going to believe in Jesus, when they're not hearing about Jesus. They're not going to transfer their trust from the sin, or from the self-righteousness that they're living in. They're not going to trust in Jesus without somebody telling them. Here's who Jesus is, here's what Jesus did. He's the Lord, He's risen from the dead. You either believe in Jesus now, or you believe in Jesus later, you need to believe in Jesus without you saying that to them. Why are they going to come to faith unless they hear it? There on a need to hear basis. And, and this word here the word for word in verse 17. Okay? If you know anything about Greek, you know that the word for word is Logos, right? And you know that Jesus is even referred to as the Logos. Like, he's the Word of God. And he's the expression of God’s demand. He's God's revelation to mankind, God, showing us who he is, through his Son, Jesus, the glory of the Father, who put on flesh, full of grace, and truth. This is not the word Logos here in verse 17, of Romans 10. It's a different Greek word. It's a Greek word, rhema, and rhema is when you say something. That's what rhema. It's a spoken word. It's like husbands, you need to wash your wives with the Word. That doesn't mean that husbands need to go necessarily preach a sermon about Jesus to their wives. It's like husbands, you need to speak to your wives, don't speak to your wife in a harsh way. Speak to your wife, speak to your wife in a way that expresses love, in a way that expresses your care for her to be away from sin and to be sanctified. Speak to your wife in a way that shows you care, she matters, you love her, speak to her. That's the idea here, hey, they could have faith, they could believe, their eyes could be opened, their ears could hear, they could see Jesus. If someone would just go speak to them, because they can't hear without someone speaking to them. And so, who's going to go speak to them is the idea? Faith comes from hearing and hearing when somebody's talking about Jesus? Could anybody even be in danger of getting saved around you? Or is that not really a threat with you because you're not talking words of Christ. Last thing that you want to be is somebody who says I'm all about Jesus, but Satan doesn't have to be worried about what I'm saying today. You don't want to be that person.
Too many Christians have settled for a lukewarm heart. Too many Christians in Southern California have acted like evangelism bringing the good news is somebody else's job. Don't be one of those people. Or stop being one of those people. They could believe but they've got to hear, and they can't hear without somebody giving them the word of Christ. And what does that mean? Say it. Who's going to go and say the word, who's going to go and preach, who's going to be sent? See, I love to see Paul's heart here. Because to me it's a series like the questions that he asked. He's trying to break you down in a logical sequence. And I think when Paul asks these questions, he's trying to get you inside his own head. He's like, we need them to call on the name. Well, they're not going to call unless they believe; they're not going to believe unless they hear, and they can't hear without somebody speaking. So that's why I'm here. And I think that's exactly how Paul got there.
Go back to Romans 9:1, because we've been seeing a flow of Paul's thought for his fellow-Jews. And we know that he's still thinking about the Jews because he just brought them up in verse 16. And so, when he says faith comes from hearing and hearing from somebody speaking words about Jesus, well, he's referring to his desire to see the Jews saved. And how did this whole discussion start in Romans 9:1, “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Here's Paul telling you how he really feels. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Romans 9:3, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Like, I wish I could trade places. We talked about that. Wow. Oh, how do you even think like that?
See, so you've got a few arrows down there on your handout where this all started was “Compassion.” Let's put that down for the first of those three blanks there. It started with him seeing the lostness of the Jewish people. They were the chosen ones. But they weren't believing in the God, who chose them as a people. They weren't believing in the Messiah, the anointed one, that God sent his Son, Jesus, and he's heartbroken for the Jews. Oh, they have it all. They have Moses, they have all the revelation of God. They have the covenants, the promises, they have so much, and now they're missing the main thing. And it starts in his heart because his heart breaks for his fellow-Jews. And then what did we see after he got into this whole idea? Well, you’ve got to understand everybody that even though they are the chosen people, not all of them have been called, not all of them are chosen. And so, then we got into the whole idea of God's purpose of election, and God's calling his people. And then we got back to Romans 10:1. “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be…” what everybody? Saved.
So, let's get that down for the middle. Their compassion went to “Prayer” is what happened, the compassion that he felt because they were not saved. And compassion is when you feel the pain of somebody else in yourself. You see their lostness, like sheep without a shepherd. You see that harassed, they're helpless, they can't even save themselves. They can't even get themselves out of the condition that they're in, I feel for them, my heart goes out to them, I have compassion, I'm feeling other people's pain inside my own body. And so, God, you’ve got to do something for these people, you’ve got to save these people, you’ve got to draw these people to your Son, Jesus, you’ve got to rescue them. And see that because he has compassion, because he was ready to pray for them to be saved. And to get into what it means to be saved in 10. Well, then in Romans 10:17, so if they're going to believe they're going to have to hear, and if they're going to hear, then somebody's going to have to speak about Jesus. And so, it goes from compassion, to prayer. And then at some point, you realize, wow, he's a holy God. And all these people that I know have unclean lips. And so, these people need to get saved, so they can know this holy God. And what are we going to do about this big problem that we have, when God so other than us, and without sin? And we're so wicked? And we have so much sin? How are we going to reconcile people to God. And the only logical conclusion that you can come to when you really see the problem for what it is is you say something like, well, here, am I? So that's what everybody should come to. You don't do this because you want to do it. You do this because you have to do it, because it needs to be done.
And so, it leads to “Evangelism,” it leads to you becoming one of the people who will walk in a room, who will feel the awkwardness, who will be there in weakness and fear and much trembling. And when the moment comes to talk about Jesus, you bring up Jesus, why? Because you're somebody special? No, because he is the only one that can save those people in that row. That's why you do it. You do it, because you have to do it. Because if you don't do it, who is going to do it? See, there's this idea in the Bible, that if you have a message that God's given you, and you don't share it with someone, and like that person dies, it's like their blood is on your hands. And that's like a chilling thought. I wonder how many people like you, you shouldn't be talking to other people, but you're not talking to them. And you're feeling maybe even guilty about it, you're even feeling like I'm missing opportunities. Like if you see how those people need Jesus, and you see how God is mighty and able to save, and here you are, here you are between their need to hear it and God's desire to send you to say it. Then you've got to say, hey, I've got to share the good news, I’ve got to speak up in the name of Jesus.
So, we've got down there at the bottom of your handout, we have the whole situation we've been talking about in Romans 9 and 10. On one side, we have God's sovereignty to call, we have God's divine purpose. And on the other side, hey, look what we've got over here. We've got our human responsibility to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. And so, here's God, he's ready to save. That's what he wants to do. Here's people who need to call on the name of the Lord to be saved, and guess who's right here in the middle of this? And guess what you need to do point number three: “You need to open your mouth.” That's what you need to do. You need to open your mouth and let the Spirit speak words of life, words of truth, words of grace. In fact, you need to become skillful in knowing what verses you might be ready to use, you need to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you, you need to join the long line of Moses and Paul, and whoever it was that shared the good news with you. And you need to realize that God has me here, not because of who I am, but for such a time as this I was placed upon the earth. Because here's these people, and here's God, and who's going to make the introduction? Everyone needs an introduction to Jesus, everyone needs to hear the gospel. And why are you keeping it from them? Your pride. How vain it will seem on the day you see Jesus to think that you cared about what anybody thought about you, and not what they thought about him. I'm just telling you, it is unacceptable for you to stay silent, and it is necessary for you to speak up. So, you need to open your mouth if you hear this sermon, and you don't go at least start looking at people who are lost and need to hear, and having compassion for them. If you don't go leave this sermon and at least start praying for God to save people, and at least start asking God for an open door to talk to somebody. If you don't leave this sermon and open your mouth, you have missed the point of this text. And you've just kind of wasted your time here tonight, hearing about something if you're not ready to go and do it.
Turn with me to Acts chapter 8. Here’s an example of this in action. There's a guy named Philip. And he's known throughout the history of the church as Philip the evangelist. Well, let's look at what happens here with Philip, in Acts chapter 8. Philip here, if you could turn to Acts chapter 8 with me, and look at verse 26. Here, you'll see it says “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. Anybody heard about the road that goes from Jerusalem to get the Gaza these days? Is that a place where people could use some good news right now in the world? And so, look, I mean, it's as simple as this. And angel says to Philip go to this place. What is Philip do? He goes there. And there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, he was returning, seated in his chariot. And he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Well, how fortuitous is this. And the Spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. And so, this is like some run-by evangelism right here, everybody, the chariots moving along, and Phillip’s now like running next to the chariot. I just love trying to imagine what this must have looked like. And this Ethiopian eunuch reading this Isaiah scroll, looking up, here comes a guy kicking up dust, running up to him, the beautiful feet of somebody who's just like, I'm just going where God tells me to go, that's all he's doing. And I love the interaction that they have here. Where Philip, praying up to him, and he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you're reading?” Like? I don't, how is he saying that while he's running right next to the chariot, I don't get it. Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, I love this answer. “How can I unless someone guides me?” I mean, you really have to think this through. How do you expect people to get saved? How are you thinking this is going to work? Are you just like, well, they have the internet, they have the Bible, they should be able to figure it out. Is that your motto? This guy was at the temple in Jerusalem. This guy had the scroll of Isaiah, you want to know what he was reading? Look at the passage of scripture that he's reading there in verse 32. ““Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.” So, he opens not his mouth. Is that the scripture we just read? The guys reading the Gospel in Isaiah 53. As we know, the guy's been to the place of the temple in Jerusalem. He's reading the scroll in his chariot. He has the gospel right in front of his eyes, and he says, “How will I be able to get it unless somebody guides me?” And so, Philip, it says here, the eunuch said to Philip in verse 34, “about whom I asked you, does this prophet say this? Is the Prophet talking about himself? Or is the prophet talking about someone else?” Then underline it, circle it, write it down. This is all the guy did. He went, he ran. And then it says he opened his mouth. And beginning with this scripture, he just told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “See here is water, what prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. And the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way, rejoicing, but Philip found himself at Acidosis. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to see Surya the guy just opened his mouth. And starting with the Scripture, he gave him the good news about Jesus.
You need to leave here tonight, and you need to open your mouth and tell people the good news of Jesus. Not everybody you share the good news with will believe in Jesus and call on his name, and be safe. But if you learn how to open your mouth, and speak the name of Jesus, guess what? Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of Christ coming out of your mouth. And you might get to see God's salvation, you might get to see the introduction get made, you might get to see somebody who needs to hear, hear God call them to save them, and you might see them reconciled to God, like God is making his appeal through you. I don't know what you want to do with your life, but there is nothing more powerful, more rewarding, more precious than seeing God make his appeal through you and seeing people reconciled to God. And you'll never know the joy of that if you don't open your mouth. You know, when we started here in Huntington Beach, we had no idea we'd end up in an auditorium like this, we had no idea that there would be this many people gathering to hear the Word of the Lord on a Saturday night. We started back in the day when Boeing was our neighbor. Does anybody remember Boeing and the big building here off of Bolsa Chica with the big American flag on the top of it, right? And we had a deal with Boeing. We were friends with Boeing, we were neighbors with Boeing. And someday, if we ever did get this big, Boeing was going to let us use their parking spaces. And so, we were stoked about that. And then Boeing disappeared, right? And Amazon came in, right? And so, we moved to our other neighbor that had been here as long as we'd been here. And we became friends with Quicksilver down the street. And they gave us their employee discount to people at our church. And we were like, yes, at the men's conference. Guess what that Quicksilver guy let us do. He let us park there. And then guess what happened? Quicksilver closed down. And so now we've lost another friend that we've lost, who was going to let us park there. So, we need to pray for some parking. But who has moved into town is Amazon. And let me tell you what it's like to be neighbors with Amazon. Every once in a while when you go by Bolsa or Bolsa Chica, or just the right time, here they come. And all the Prime trucks pull out at one time. And every time it happens, you're like, whoa, that's what it looks like. People ordering a whole lot of stuff. Wow, this is the way of the world, this is the future. And you know what I wish it was like, I wish that on Saturday night, like 6:37 o'clock, there was a stream of vehicles going out here, people ready to deliver the package. People ready to bring the good news. A whole team of people living for one purpose, one mission, one goal that everyone I know, and even the people I don't know, they need to hear about my Jesus. And I'm on a mission and I'm going out of here. Like I've got something to deliver, I've got something to bring, I don't care if they ordered it or not. They need it. They need to know some good news. And that's my prayer for you. That's my prayer for us. That's my prayer for this church, Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach, that there would not be one minister or five ministers, but that this would be a church full of people who are equipped to do the work of the ministry. And when it comes to talking about Jesus, you don't need a pastor. You don't need a deacon, just grab any one of us because we're all on a need to hear bases around here. I never plan to be here. I never wanted to be here. I'm here because I'm needed to be here. And the people that you know, they need you and you can decide that you've got something better to do with your life, where you can open your mouth. And you can speak the word of Christ so that they can hear. And they can believe. I want to really encourage you, if you have been on the sidelines of sharing the gospel of Jesus, it is time for you to repent of it tonight, and to get on the harvest field. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few . Do not disobey what the Word of God is saying to you, because they will believe if they hear, but if they're going to hear who's going to speak the word of Christ to them? Let us pray.
Father in heaven, we come to you in sadness, we come to you with much shame, we come to you to confess that you can be a Christian in Southern California, but you don't have to tell anybody about Jesus. And we need to say that that is messed up. And that there's been a wrong thought. And that wrong thought has not just been tolerated. It's been accepted. It's been embraced. And the many people who call themselves Christians, who go to our church, who go to churches all throughout Southern California, they have made up in their mind a fictional person, someone like Moses, or Phillip, or Paul, somebody else who's going to go tell the people, not me, I'm not good at speaking. I'm not very good at the words that come out of my mouth. Father, I pray that tonight, as we hear your word from Romans 10:14-17, as we hear Moses say, please send somebody else, as we hear Paul say that he was there in weakness and fear, and much trembling, as everybody here at our church hears me say how hard this is to open my mouth. I pray that we will be done with the fiction. And we can live in a world of truth, where people are souls, and they are dying in their sins, and they will be judged forever according to what they have done, unless they hear the good news of Jesus, unless they believe in him from their heart, unless they call on his name to be saved. It is either salvation, or it is damnation. They will either rejoice, or they will perish. They need to hear it. And we don't have time to wait for somebody else to come in. It's up to us. Right here, right now. It's up to us. We are the people to open our mouths. Father, there are so many it's overwhelming, Father, how many people that are just within ten minutes from this building right here that need to hear about Jesus. It's overwhelming to consider how many souls there are, and to know that you are calling people that you have sent us out, that you have given us a mission, that Jesus is building his church, that you have people that you've called that you're going to save. And so, they need to hear it, and you sent us to say it. So, Father, I pray that tonight, every single one of us in this room, every single one of us who is in Jesus, I pray that we would all say to you right now “Here am I, send me here I am.” I see the people out there, and I see that you are mighty to save. And I asked that you would use me I asked that I could be the means. I ask that you would make your appeal through me. I'm not very good at pronunciation, and I'm not very good at keeping my words together. But I will open my mouth and will you please speak through me, not based on my words, but on the power of your Spirit on the gospel of Jesus, on the good news. The good news that's of great joy. That's for all the people that you love to so much you send your one and only Son, and that he died in our place, he was pierced. He was crushed, upon him was our punishment. And when we, like sheep, had gone astray, he, like a lamb that was led to the slaughter so he opened not his mouth and he was willing to die in our place. I pray that that good news could be spoken out of our lips. That that good news, that Word of Christ would be heard by people's ears that many would come and see Jesus, that many would believe because we would open our mouths. God, please make us that church. Make us your people. When we roll out of here on Saturday night, let the packages get delivered, Lord. Let the Good News be shared. Let it be brought home. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.