Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 5, 2012
Date Preached: July 8, 2012
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Series Title: A Journey thru Romans
Sermon Title: Messengers of Salvation
Sermon Text: Romans 10:14-21 [NLT]
Introduction:
Reverse Engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation.
In other words, ‘reverse engineering’ begins NOT with an idea of what is WANTED or DESIRED… it begins with a finished product…
This is where a lot of companies are able to mimick and copy certain ideas from other companies… by taking a finished product and breaking it down!
This morning I want us to look at what Paul is saying here as Reverse Engineering… salvation is a finished product when Paul is writing this letter. Christ has come, died, rose to life and ascended to the Father, so salvation was a finished and complete thing.
Paul is taking the ‘finished product’ of salvation and then he begins to break it down into its parts… in other words, how it happens! That is what we are going to look at this morning. Let’s look first at v14-15…
14But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Is 52:7
Now what is Paul speaking about here? Well we can’t make sense out of v14 if we don’t look back to v13.
V14 refers back to the statement or proclamation made by Paul in v13 where Paul said, “…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved…” then in v14-15 we find Paul beginning his explanation of God’s plan.
Here Paul explains ‘how’ v13 can come about… he gives us a full explanation of just how people get to the point to where they cry out to Jesus for salvation… most of us here today fight that same battle… we wonder just HOW people get to the proclamation of v13.
Paul uses a form of a ‘reverse engineering’ approach as he breaks down for his readers just what it takes to get people to the point where they are calling on Jesus!
As believers, our goal is to see people come to know Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. We are called by God to make disciples! It is our mission to seek people reach this point where they cry out to Jesus and confess Him as Lord – and our duty, as believers, is to see v13 happen as much as possible!
Matt 28:19-20 Acts 1:8
But the $64,000 question is HOW… How can we see people come to the point where they are willing to call on Jesus for salvation, mercy and forgiveness and overwhelm them with salvation? Have you ever wondered just how people get to the point of v13… ready to cry out to God?
Have you ever wondered if these people came to the point of confessing Christ as Lord? I believe many believers today do not share their faith and witness as God has called us to do simply because they cannot wrap their minds around people coming to this conclusion of Jesus as LORD.
We don’t understand how and there is the possibility that we don’t fully trust God in the WHAT as well. Have you ever thought about ‘how’ your light switch at home works?
How does it turn on and turn off the lights in your homes? Well to put it as simple as I can (and believe me I NEED simple…) The light in your homes comes on because when you flip the switch on the wall, you are completing a circuit… you are making the final connection needed to make the light come on… BUT HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
Well, the electricity is created at a power plant and it is sent out through relay stations that regulate the power and it is brought to your homes through a power server and distributed to the other parts of our house by a what we call a circuit breaker box.
The light bulb itself receives the power and the elec runs thru it – heating it up and creating a light creating glow…
The surge of power (regulated by the power company) enables the light bulb to glow and light your house and you can control the flow with your light switch… but NONE of this would be possible without the power source!
What Paul is describing in v13 is a lot like this illustration about the light switch in your house. Let’s look at what Paul is telling us…
Once we understand that the goal for the believer is to see people come to faith, by confessing Christ as Lord… things for the believer become a bit more simple and streamlined…
In v14 Paul is basically asking the question “How can people call on Jesus?” You see what Paul was aware of and what we must be aware of is that people don’t just wake up one morning and decide… “hey I’m gonna try this Jesus guy…its about time I got right with God!”
Paul understood that this was the work of the HS and that God chose to use his vessels here in this world to take part in this effort as well…
SO…what Paul is saying is… “How can people call on a Jesus they don’t know…”
The 2nd part of v14 gives us an implication of what is needed to answer Paul’s question. He is basically saying here, “for someone to be ABLE to call on Jesus as Lord... they have to be a BELIEVER… they have to believe in Jesus as Lord!” After all, if they don’t believe how can they call out to Jesus as Lord and Savior?
Now let’s go back to the light switch illustration one more time… If you truly did NOT believe the light would come on when you flipped the light switch, would you even try it?
Well some of us may, but I can imagine those 1st people who were told that all they had to do to light up their rooms was to flip a switch… I can imagine how HARD it was to believe!
You see up to that point they had to fill the lanterns and trim the wicks and then light the lanterns… and they had to take the lanterns with them to keep the light with them…
this new fangled idea of lighting the entire room with the flip of ONE switch seemed fantastic… seemed TOO good… seemed TOO easy! In fact many people wrote this new fangled electric lighting off as silly and a waste of time!
The same goes for confessing Jesus as Savior… why would anyone confess Jesus as Lord if they did NOT believe Him to be Lord… it just doesn’t happen!
Now Paul takes the next logical step in reverse engineering this thing called salvation… his first step took us from SALVATION back to belief! But the next step is mentioned later in v14:
“…and how can they believe without hearing…”
Now Paul is telling us that to confess Christ as Lord you must believe, and now he is saying that for you to believe so that you can confess… that you must HEAR about Jesus…
Let’s look again at our light switch illustration… how many people missed out on electricity because they had never heard of it… or it was not taken to their part of the country? They could NOT switch on the light because the light switch was something they had never even heard of…
So Paul continues in v14 by saying: “…and how can they ‘hear’ without a preacher?” In other words, how can they hear the Good News about Jesus to believe in Him and confess Him as Lord… if someone does not tell them about it!
You know that the electric company had to send out many people all over the land to tell people about the wonders of electricity and what it could do for them and their lives! Without these people the people would not have known…
Likewise for anyone to be able to confess Jesus as Savior they must believe, but to believe they first have to HEAR about Jesus and for them to HEAR about Jesus SOMEONE must tell them… here Paul uses the term ‘preacher’ but this is not the only way people can hear the good news of the Gospel… anyone can share the Gospel with those around them!
And Paul continues in v15 by saying… to confess, you must believe, to believe you must hear, to hear you must be told by someone… and then Paul goes on to say to have someone telling these people about Jesus… someone else must have sent them!
Now WHO is the sender here is more than likely God himself, calling people to Him and sending them out, but in our contemporary context today this can mean those whom God has called and our International Mission Board sends them out…
Either way they are sent out to tell… they tell of Jesus to have other hear about Him… Because others hear they can believe and because they can believe they can confess Him as Savior!
When the people were told about electricity they wanted to have it… the knowledge of this wonderful invention was something that spread fast and the more people knew… they more they desired it! The more they desired it the more people GOT it… the more people that GOT it… the more people who were able to flip that light switch and light their room!
At this point Paul has laid out the track for salvation, in reverse order!
He has shared that for anyone to preach the Gospel, first they must be sent!
Second, those sent must preach the gospel so people can hear about Jesus…
Third, those hearing the gospel of Jesus are able to believe that Jesus is Lord…
Finally, those who come to a belief in Jesus as Lord… are able to confess Christ as Savior and experience the salvation that only Jesus can bring!
So Paul then takes another angle in the last part of v15:
“…That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
Here Paul stresses that heaven itself is pleased with those who are obedient in carrying out the plan of God! God’s plan is for the lost to know a Savior. He provided Jesus as Savior, and has provided those who will GO FORTH and TELL… preach the word!
Those who are willing to deny themselves, take up this task of sharing Jesus with the world around them are considered by God to be beautiful…
Encarta defines beautiful as something that is very pleasing, impressive to look at, to listen to, touch, smell, or taste! In this context ‘beautiful’ would refer to how God views us when we are obedient to His calling… it is VERY PLEASING to God!
Paul is letting the believers in Rome know how much it pleases God for them to be obedient and take part in the salvation process by going and telling about Jesus!
I want you to understand something here… Paul does not say that God is pleased with those who go forth and see people accept Christ and win souls to the Lord!
As wonderful as those things are… THOSE are the work of the HS and NOT us… Paul tells us that how we can be ‘beautiful’ or ‘well pleasing’ in the eyes of God is to be obedient to share Jesus with those around us… to be the bearers of the Good News of the Gospel! NOT to see it completed… that belongs to the HS… but to share it and tell others about Jesus!
In v17 we see Paul summarizing this process… He tells us FAITH (Belief) comes thru hearing… and hearing comes thru the message or the telling of the word of God…
17So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
For people to KNOW Jesus and confess Him as Savior it is OUR duty… OUR responsibility… OUR call from God to tell others about Him! Tell others about Jesus…
When we tell others about Jesus and share the message of God’s word, the HS works within them and brings them to a point of decision. They may fight it… they may even reject it… but thru our obedience and the conviction of the HS they are brought to a point of decision.
The rest of the chapter is Paul detailing how he had been obedient to share the Good News with many, many Jews. He had shared the Good News, and they had understood what he was saying and they had rejected it…
but there were those who did NOT reject the message, but boldly rec’d it even though there were those in the Jewish community who thought that these people were NOT even on God’s radar!
This goes to show us that Gods salvation is for ALL people! The nation of Israel is Gods chosen, but He has extended that ‘choosing’ to all of His creation through His Son Jesus Christ!
Today it is almost ludicrous to think that someone would NOT know about a light switch… or have faith that when they flipped that switch that the light would come on…
Here in America we have power companies that deliver power on demand and if you are wired to the system, you have power and your lights will work…
But I have been in a country where that is NOT always the case. They have electricity and they have it wired and distributed to the houses and connected to the light switches… but there are times… and this is almost EVERY day where the power is simply NOT there and the light switch will not work!
Today, the world has convinced many people that it has the power to complete their lives and make them happy, but when they plug into that ‘power’ and turn the switch… the light doesn’t come on all the time, in fact it is like being in a 3rd world country… the light is OFF far more than it is ever on.
But Jesus has come to be THE power source for our salvation and ultimate fulfillment and joy! When we ‘plug’ into the power of the Savior, the light switch in our lives will work ALL the time! He will never leave us NOR forsake us!
His saving grace will flow and glow in our lives until Christ returns and takes us home to be with our Creator!
Today, do you want to know the power of the HS in your life… revealing and exposing your soul to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? Today you CAN know Him… Today you can experience Him!
Today I call on those of you who do NOT know Jesus as Savior to hear my words… hear that Jesus loves you… died for you… was buried for 3 days and rose on the 3rd day FOR you! Know that Jesus is not interceding at the right hand of God for you today… He wants you to know His love, mercy, compassion, grace, forgiveness and salvation…
You have heard this message and now it is in YOUR court… you now have the ability to ‘believe’ because you have been told the Gospel message by ONE who has been sent! You have been introduced to Jesus and now you must make a decision… will you believe or reject Him!
I call on you to receive Him today… won’t you come as Bro Ken comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation!
