BEAUTIFUL FEET – Romans 10:14-15
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 27, 2015 under 2015 |
Message preached Sunday, September 27, 2015 from Romans 10:14-15
Theme: It’s a great privilege to be part of the work of getting God’s word out so that people can call upon Jesus for salvation.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Every Sunday morning that we have a visit from The Gideons International, I think of it as a great opportunity for us to think together of the value of God’s word. What a great gift of His grace it is that He has caused this Book to be in our hands—to have inspired and guided its human writers; to have preserved and protected its transmission and translation; and to have sovereignly ensured its reproduction and distribution and proclamation around the world!
At the beginning of his New Testament letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul spoke of how eager he was to preach the gospel in the regions of Rome. He wrote;
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
And it’s that soul-saving, life-transforming gospel that is declared to us in the Bible. What a privilege it is to have it, study it, and proclaim it to others!
So; to get us thinking about what a wonderful thing it is to share God’s written word, I ask you to turn with me this morning to Romans 10. It’s in that chapter that we find a couple of verses that should really motivate us.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 10 is part of the larger section of the Book of Romans in which Paul deals with getting the gospel of Jesus Christ out to his own kinsmen—the Jewish people. The gospel is—after all—“for the Jew first and also for the Greek”. But what he says in Chapter 10 has much to teach us about the impact of the word of God on all people everywhere. It’s in this chapter that we find a wonderful promise of salvation to all who believe on Jesus; and it would be worth our time to take a look at it together.
The Jewish people—of whom Paul was one—had sought a righteousness before God on the basis of their obedience to the rules and regulations of the Old Testament law of Moses. But Christ, he said, is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (v. 4). Those Old Testament laws were meant to point to Jesus; and it was Jesus who fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law on behalf of all who place their trust in Him.
Paul goes on to explain this; and I really couldn’t do anything better than to just read what he wrote;
For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:5-13).
What good news this is! If we simply confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord—and not just say it with the mouth in a disinterested way, but also sincerely believe in our hearts that God has truly raised Him from the dead as proof that our sins are paid for by Him—then we are saved! We no longer have to work hard to earn God’s favor. Look carefully at verse 13! What a promise! “Whoever [that speaks of the unlimited availability of salvation] calls on the name of the Lord [that's the only requirement] shall be saved [that's the glorious promise from God].”
But that’s when Paul points out that there are certain preconditions that must be in place before someone can call upon Jesus for salvation. And brothers and sisters in Christ; that’s where we come in! In verses 14-15, Paul writes;
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!” (vv. 14-15).
Getting the written word of God out to people is strategic to God’s glorious offer of salvation. In verse 17, Paul summarizes: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
How beautiful are the “feet” of those who get the word of this gospel out to the people who need to hear it!
* * * * * * * * * *
I wonder; if God were to look upon your and my feet, would He say that they were beautiful? I don’t mean “beautiful” in the sense of their appearance, of course. And I’m glad for that; because I don’t have outwardly beautiful feet. They work pretty well for me, of course; but I try to keep them covered up with socks, because they’re not very pleasant to look at.
I’m going to tell you something about my self that’s probably more than you really want to know. I have had a long-term problem with my big toenails. They have had a chronic fungal problem that has made them look pretty hideous. I tried all kinds of medications. I went to the doctor. But nothing seemed to help. (I can’t believe I’m telling you all this in a sermon!) I did, however, eventually find something that solved the problem.
I was at home one evening with my youngest son. He was staying with us from college and was watching some late-night television. I was in the room with him—lifting weights. (That sounds impressive, I know—or at least I hope it does.) But I was distracted by the television; and I didn’t see that he had placed a 15 lb. weight on one of the sidebars of the weight bench and had forgotten about it. I accidentally bumped it; and it fell sideways a good two feet and smashed the big toe of my left foot.
I hopped around the room in inexpressible pain—holding my foot and whimpering. You’d be so very proud of me, by the way. I didn’t say anything bad or mean to my son for this. And he was very worried for me; and I told him—between gasps and groans—how much I appreciate his concern. (I really did that!) Then I opened my hand and we had a look at the toe together. I won’t describe it’s condition; but as bad as my toenail looked before, let’s just say that it looked way better back then. It was shattered and destroyed and was turning all kinds of dark colors. We treated it and bandaged it up; and I went to bed—very carefully—with a throbbing toe. I got up and preached for Sunday morning the next day; and I’ll bet you didn’t even notice!
And here’s the amazing thing. As the weeks rolled along, and as that toe healed and the toenail grow back out—would you believe it?—the fungal infection was gone! It looks perfectly fine now. The big toenail on the right foot still looks horrible. But now I know what I need to do to clear it up.
The thing is, I just don’t have the guts to do it!
Well; all of that to say that I don’t have what you would call physically “beautiful feet”. I don’t think I ever will. It’s like someone put it to me the other day: I have Halloween feet. But I don’t think God’s measure of beautiful feet is based on how they look; do you? Rather, I think it’s based on where they take us and on what kind of work we do once they get us there.
So; if God were to look upon your and my feet, would He say they are beautiful? If the footsteps of our day were all drawn out on a map, where would they show that we had gone? Would our footsteps show that we shared God’s values and priorities for us? Would those feet have taken us to places that would have pleased Him? Would they have been used for His purposes? Would they have been used by us to help get the message of eternal life to other people—or used to help others who are, themselves, going out to take that message to those who needed to hear it? Based on that measure, there are people who have wonderfully clean and well-manicured feet—with perfect toenails—that are not really so ‘beautiful’ in the sight of God. And there would be people with zombie feet like mine, but whose outwardly-ugly feet are put to beautiful use in God’s sight.
I want to have truly beautiful feet in the sight of God. And I believe we all can have beautiful feet in His sight if we put them to work in getting His word out to others. As this morning’s passage shows us, it’s a great privilege to be part of the work of getting God’s word out so that people can call upon Jesus for salvation.
* * * * * * * * * *
Let’s look a little closer at the words of Romans 10:14-15. In them, we find that Paul sets out before us what we might call a series of “stair-steps”. It’s a series of affirmations—one built upon another—that show us the logical succession of conditions that must be in place for someone to call upon the Lord Jesus for salvation. And the way He has arranged them leads our attention back to our own part in the work.
Notice first that he says something quite obvious; that . . .
1. TO CALL ON JESUS, PEOPLE MUST BELIEVE ON HIM.
He asks, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” To “call” on Him points us back to the affirmation of verse 13 which is itself a quote from Joel 2; that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how can they call on Him if they don’t actually believe on Him?—not just believing “in” Him, but “on” Him?
When we’re told that salvation comes to those who call on the “name” of the Lord, it’s important to understand that the word “name” here has reference to all that Jesus is and all that He has done. It’s not just a matter of calling upon Jesus as we might wish Him to be, or as we might imagine Him to be. Salvation cannot come to anyone by simply making-up a version of Jesus for ourselves; because that would be to worship an idol of our own imagination. To truly “call” on Him means that we must believe on Him in a trusting way as He is presented to us in the biblical message of the Gospel—where He is presented to us as the eternal Word; the second Person of the Trinity who was with God and who was God, and who took human flesh to Himself at a point in time, and was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, and was born into the human family as one of us. We must believe that He lived a sinless life; and that He taught us the truth about the kingdom of His Father in heaven. We must believe that God placed on Him the guilt of our sin; and that He paid the debt for our sins on the cross in our place. We must believe that God raised Him from the dead as proof that our sins were atoned for; and that He is at the right hand of the Father right now; and that He will one day return to this earth to take us to Himself forever. These are essential things to believe in order to call upon Jesus for salvation. And they are things that we are taught to believe from the Bible. To believe these things about Him requires that we trust Him.
So; the first step in this ‘stair-step of evangelism’ is that we must believe scriptural truth about Jesus. How can we call on Him for salvation if we do not believe the truth about Him? And perhaps this is a good time to stop and ask: Do you believe the things that the Bible declares to be the truth about Jesus? It’s not enough to just “believe” that a man named Jesus existed. You must believe what the Bible tells us about Him; and put your faith in Him as the God-sent Savior from sin. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
* * * * * * * * * *
So; to call on Jesus for salvation, people need to believe on Him as He really is. But something comes even before this. As Paul then goes on to show us . . .
2. TO BELIEVE ON HIM, THEY MUST HAVE HEARD HIM.
Paul says, “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” And that makes sense too, doesn’t it? You can’t call on the Savior if you don’t believe in Him; and you can’t believe in Him if you haven’t heard Him.
Now; you may have expected that I would say that you can’t believe in Him if you haven’t “heard of Him”. And that, of course, is true. But that’s not what Paul says. He actually says that you can’t believe in Him if you haven’t heard Him—as if the Lord Jesus Himself is the one that people hear in the proclamation of the gospel. And that’s exactly what Paul meant.
In another of Paul’s letters—in Galatians 1:11-12—Paul said something quite amazing. He was writing to a group of people who had been told that Paul was preaching a message that he had made up—a man-made doctrine. He writes to tell them;
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12).
When Paul preached the gospel, he was proclaiming a message that was given to Him by revelation of Jesus Himself. And when people heard Paul proclaim the message he was given, they were—in that sense—hearing Jesus speak. Jesus even once prayed for His apostles—before He was taken from them—and said to the Father;
For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me (John 17:8).
Whenever anyone hears the testimony of the gospel from the apostles—recorded for us in the Scriptures—they are hearing the message Jesus wanted declared. They are hearing Jesus. And in fact, I believe it would be right to say that anytime anyone hears a preacher or an evangelist faithfully declaring the truth of God from the word of God in the power of the Spirit of God, they are hearing Jesus then too.
How important the word of God is, then, to such soul-saving “hearing”!
* * * * * * * * * * *
So; to call on Jesus, someone must believe in Him as He is in the Scriptures; and to believe in Him as they should, they need to hear Him from the Scriptures. But there’s even more still behind all this. Paul goes on to tell us that . . .
3. TO HEAR HIM, THEY MUST HAVE A PREACHER.
He asks, “And how shall they hear without a preacher?” God’s message of salvation is a very human message. It’s about how God the Son became a man, and lived as member of the human family, and died for the sins of humanity. And God has ordained that this very human message be given to human people through the human voice of a human preacher.
You know; God could have given this wonderful message to angels to preach. I’d bet they could proclaim it very loudly and very dramatically. No one would ever sleep through their sermon! But as powerfully as they would proclaim it, perhaps they could not proclaim it very effectively. God ordained that His message be given to us in written form by holy men that He carried along in their writing of the various books of the Bible; so that what they wrote—in their own words and in their own situations, and in a very human way—was exactly what He wanted said to mankind in a way that mankind could best hear.
I don’t believe—even with all the wonderful technological advances that we have, or with all the dazzling special effects we can use, or with all the amazing communication devises we have at our disposal—that there will ever be a more effective way of communicating the scriptural truth of the gospel to people, and to greater effect toward salvation, than by preaching. That’s why Paul once wrote and told Timothy,
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Timothy 4:1-2).
* * * * * * * * * *
So; how then shall people call on a Savior in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? All of these things are essential.
And yet, there’s even still one more thing that comes before them. Paul goes on to show us that . . .
4. TO PREACH, THE PREACHER MUST HAVE AN AUTHORIZED MESSAGE.
It’s not that the preacher can just step up and speak whatever comes to his mind—as if he had authority over other people in and of himself. There’s no ‘beautiful footwork’ in that! The preacher of the gospel dares not preach his own self-made message of salvation! He’s a fallen creature just like everyone else. Instead, he—like Paul—must preach a message that was given to him to preach—a message with divine authority! He preaches the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ as an authorized ambassador from God—calling people to believe the good news He wants declared, and inviting people to be reconciled to Him. And so, Paul writes, “And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”
When I think of this whole idea of being “sent”, I can’t help but think of the great commission. Our Lord’s last words to His gathered followers—just before going back to the Father—were these:
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
* * * * * * * * * *
What a message we have! What great authority it is that stands behind it! What a privilege it is to declare it! And that leads us to conclude that . . .
-
TO BE INVOLVED TOGETHER IN PROCLAIMING SUCH A GREAT MESSAGE IS TO BE PART OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL.
Paul’s words at the end of verse 15 show us this. They are a quote from Isaiah 52:7;
“As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!’”
The world may not think much of this message, or of the Bible that declares it. The world may look upon it as an annoying book and may try to silence those who preach from it. But it is an authorized message from God to fallen humanity that contains the gospel of Jesus Christ—the very power of God unto salvation for all who believe. And all those who hear it and are saved by it will forever bless the beautiful feet of those who bring it to them!
* * * * * * * * * *
Let me close by reading another word from Paul. It’s found at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15; and it seems like a fit summary of all that we have said:
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed (1 Corinthians 15:1-11).
How blessed is this Book that gives us the gospel unto salvation! And how beautiful are the feet that bring it! What a privilege it is to be a part of that work!
May God help us to be about that work. And may He make our feet beautiful in His sight!
