“He Who Has Ears…”

TEXT:  Romans 10:16-17 – Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee – January 23, 2005

REVIEW

1.  Call Upon the Name, Believe, Hear, Preach, Sent: The elect are brought into the community of the redeemed by a true and heartfelt profession of faith in Jesus Christ.  They repent of their sins, place their full trust in the Lord, and are admitted into the church by those to whom Christ has granted the keys of the kingdom.  It is God’s will that preachers would be sent out and that they would preach Christ from the Scriptures.  He wills that people everywhere would hear the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that they would believe and cry out to Him in faith in the midst of the people of God.

2.  Jew and Gentile: “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”  There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.  The way of salvation is through faith in Christ alone, a faith that is to be expressed in the assembly of God’s worshiping people.  The way to the God of the Jews has now been opened wide that both Jew and Gentile might come to God through Jesus Christ the Messiah.  All should obey the call of God’s mercy.

 

TODAY’S PASSAGE: 

Romans 10:16-17   16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"  17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

They have not all obeyed the gospel.

            Obedience and gospel go together.  There is no gospel without the obedience of Jesus Christ.  It is the righteousness of Christ that is credited to us for salvation, so there could be no salvation without Christ fulfilling the law.  We also know that those who believe the gospel are called upon to live lives of fruitful Christian obedience.  A person cannot rightly claim to be saved and then ignore the will of God.

            But there is another connection between obedience and the gospel that Paul writes of in verse 16.  The gospel is obeyed by submitting to it and receiving.  God calls all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel (Acts 17:30).  This is true of Gentiles and Jews.  This is the first step of obedience.  We must submit to the righteousness of God by first submitting to the free and gracious provision of full righteousness for us in His Son Jesus Christ. 

            But not all have obeyed the gospel.  While many hear with physical ears the proclamation of the news of Jesus, it is rare that all respond with true faith.  John Paton reveals in his autobiography the story of his labors on one tropical island where it seemed that there was little or no fruit from the preaching of the Word.  Later in his missionary service we understand that on another island virtually every soul was converted to Christianity.  We thank God for such amazing works of special providence where His reign in a locality is expressed in an almost universal turning away from death to life.  But this is unusual.  Many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16).  The “few” display God’s work of grace in their lives by obeying the gospel.

            In particular, not all of Israel obeyed the gospel.  Many heard the message that Christ was the Messiah, and they rejected Him.  When I talk to those who have some connection to the Old Testament but reject the authority of the New Testament, I often direct them to a passage like Genesis 15.  In that chapter the sacrifice of a divine Messiah is so clearly portrayed in the covenantal sacrifice of a visible representation of God walking between slain animals.  God takes upon himself the responsibility of keeping the covenant of gospel promise.  He pledges to face death in order to keep the covenant.  I ask people to think about what this passage could possibly mean if it does not refer to the death of Jesus Christ for us.  Properly understood, Genesis 15 calls us all to obey the gospel.  Not all have obeyed.

 

Lord, who has believed our report?

            Another great passage to consider from the Hebrew Bible is Isaiah 53.  Paul quotes from this chapter in this morning’s text.  He cites the opening words of the chapter – words that reveal that many people would not believe the report that the chapter records.  What is the report of Isaiah 53?

            There will be a surprising servant of the Lord, who will be physically unimpressive.  He will be despised and rejected by men, and His life will be full of sorrow.  In His death it will appear that He is being killed by God, but there will be something else at work.  His death will not be for his own sins, but for ours.  Through his punishment we will have peace and healing.  He will be led like a sheep to the slaughter, and He will submit to this willingly.  This will happen according to God’s plan that this sinless One will die for us as the Lamb of God – an offering for sin.  Yet somehow He will see life and live a prolonged life.  He will also have a very large number of posterity that will see themselves as connected to Him.  He will justify many by bearing their iniquities, and this will be a tremendous victory.  In His death He will be numbered with the transgressors, but in His life He will pray effectually for transgressors, and they will have forgiveness.

            This is the report of Isaiah 53.  But there is one other detail.  It is in the first verse.  There will be so many people who will not believe what is reported in this chapter, that it can rightly start with these words: “Who has believed our report?”  As this report has been preached throughout the world over the last 20 centuries, it has been a powerful message.  Thousands have preached it.  Millions have heard it, believed it, confessed it, and been saved by it.  But many have also rejected it as if it were trash.  Many in Israel rejected it.  But who else could this Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 be?  If not Jesus than who?  If this is about some other person or group, it still excludes the possibility that we can be saved by our own obedience to the Law.  After all, He was bruised for our transgressions.  The Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.  Some Lamb of God is written of here.  Of course it is Jesus.

 

Faith comes by hearing.

            Why doesn’t everyone get this?  They do not have ears to hear it.  But Paul’s focus in the 17th verse shifts away from those who do not believe the report, and turns to those who do get it.  To understand these important words we need to remember again the distinction between the secret work of God the Holy Spirit in effectual calling, and the more visible work of the preaching ministry of the church.  The first of these two is part of the theological answer to the question of how salvation works.  The second is a part of the practical answer of how salvation comes to be experienced and known through the work of the church.

            Where does faith come from?  In the secret operations of God upon the elect we know without a shadow of a doubt that faith comes by the invisible operations of the Holy Spirit.  Faith is “the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, see also Romans 12:3).  If we think that faith comes from us, then we have something to boast about, and we rob glory from God.

            But in the world that is more visible to us, we see that God uses us as agents in His invisible work of imparting faith to the elect.  In that realm we can understand the statement that faith comes from hearing.  God works it out so that people hear something, and they discover the faith that is in them by his invisible gift.  They hear and believe.  It is God’s plan that His Spirit would use the Word preached.

 

Hearing comes by the Word of God.

            Though the hearer may think that he has heard the voice of a man, if it is truly faith that God has produced, then it was God’s Word that was spoken and found its mark.  The arrow was shot from the lips of a human servant, but the real arrow is from the mouth of the Lord Himself, or it can amount to nothing at all.  This is true not only for the first motions of faith.  It is also true of any growth in the faith, which is so important for all of you who believe today.  You need more faith.  More faith will only comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit, but He uses a human instrument to bring you His Word.  More faith comes from Spirit-blessed hearing, and Spirit-blessed hearing comes from Spirit-anointed speaking.  A man speaks from the Word of God, and it becomes God who has spoken to the innermost being of the child of God, and true faith grows.

            There is a textual discrepancy in this verse.  Some of the oldest manuscripts read “hearing by the word of Christ” rather than “hearing by the word of God.”  The reading with Christ is preferred by most scholars, and is reflected in newer translations.  We should think of the word of the gospel as proceeding from Christ, and we should also remember that, in terms of content, the Word has Christ at its very center.  This is what Jesus speaks of when He says, “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27).

            All of this is lost if the content of preaching is something other than Christ, or if the Scriptures are not expounded for the people.  Remember that this is God’s appointed means to speak to you His people.  You need to hear the Word of Christ if you are to grow in faith.

 

Do not lose heart.

            The work of the church in expounding the Word of God to the hearts of people is a marvelous God-glorifying enterprise.  Do not be overwhelmed by the sadness of the truth that some treat the pearls of God’s Word as if they were words to be dismissed without thought.  This is very sad.  But the Word of Christ is being spoken in the Lord’s church, and some have a thirst for it.  They have ears to hear, and they do hear.  They grow in faith, and faith yields great fruit to the glory of God, the source of all faith.