We're going to press forward in Romans, and our text today is chapter 10. And I've looked forward to talking about Romans 10 for a while. I call this message the prayer that isn't there, and you'll see why. But I will say, and I've said this many times, not only here, but when I've talked through Hebrews and other books, you really, really, really need to make a habit of reading your Bible and read the whole book. spend time, spend several months chewing on Romans, but read it from the beginning, and then read it over from the beginning. And when I sit down to read chapter 4, I should still start in chapter 1 and read it from the beginning again. You'll see everything tied together that way. You'll see it in John's Gospel. You'll see it in all these books. And when you just start somewhere in the middle, you get into trouble. And there's been a common teaching from primarily Romans 10, sometimes one or two other verses get cited but it almost entirely rests on Romans 10 and it is the idea that the gospel of Jesus Christ requires you to pray yourself into heaven that part of the message is not merely having trusted Christ but then also praying yourself into heaven by asking him in your heart or whatever and it's an interesting study just to go and look in various gospel tracts There's a reason we don't have a selection of 30 gospel tracts in this church, because 29 of them will probably be wrong. And I'm not suggesting in any way that those who have prayed a prayer, that means that they're lost or something like that. What I am saying, though, we need to contend for clarity of the gospel and just not add to it. And it's very common, and it's primarily, as far as I can tell, by the way, a Baptist thing to add this notion of praying yourself into heaven, but if you read a bunch of tracts you'll find that they're all over the place about what exactly you should articulate when you pray yourself into heaven. It's also interesting some of the other things they add. They'll add a level of repentance and say you need to repent of your sins, but they don't explain what it means. It's interesting that even as I read not long ago a book from just a household name if I told you there's not even probably a lost person in America that wouldn't know this name and And he had nice careful citations as he laid out the elements of the gospel till he got to the part about repent of your sins You know, we have evangelistic messages in the book of Acts entire messages recorded. They're evangelistic and And they never use that expression. In fact, you can't even find it once in an evangelistic message in the Bible nor is there ever a suggestion that now you need to pray yourself into heaven. Why is it in Acts 2 that he doesn't tell them to pray themselves into heaven, right? Why isn't the Philippian jailer told, he says, what have I got to do? He says, believe. He doesn't say believe and pray yourself in. And where this gets abused and why it matters, right? Because someone will say, well, what's the big deal? All right, let's major on the majors and not the minors. This is a major. And there are a lot of folks who have gotten told, especially, especially maybe at a young age in a youth camp or something, you'll ask Jesus in your heart, you're a believer, and, well, who is Jesus? Why do I need him in my heart? Why do I need Jesus at all, right? So I'm just saying it brings confusion, and we don't want it. So I'm not trying to bash other people or any of that. But Galatians 1 is very, very clear about having clarity on the gospel. Paul says, if anyone else brings you a different gospel than the one I brought, and he was talking to people bringing a workspace gospel, but he said, you know, let them be a curse. It's just a big thing that we not lose sight of the gospel. So, with that said, here we are, and we find ourselves at the end of the proverbial Roman's road that also isn't really there. uh... and and it's it's it's a problem but it's a common approach to to evangelism this romans wrote it always ends romans ten i'll show you why but look in uh... the end of nine chapter nine verse twenty seven isaiah also crieth concerning israel in these three chapters nine ten and eleven it's somewhat of a parenthesis about israel how is it that god had all these promises, all this revelation to Israel in the Old Testament, and when the Messiah came as a general rule, most of the Jewish people rejected him, particularly the leadership. And he's dealing now with that issue. What does that mean? Did God's word fall flat? And here he says that Isaiah cried, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. It's an interesting term here, saved. This shouldn't be a hard concept, but it's been made hard. Do you know we can define words in a wrong way sometimes, and then when people see them in the scripture, they'll attach that definition they heard taught to what they're reading, rather than saying, what does it mean in the text? Those words have a meaning. The Greek word, it was translated by the King James translators in this case. It has a meaning. But saved is a very fluid word. You always have to say from and to. You're saved from something to something, so when you see saved, you can't just say, well, he's got to be saved from sin's penalty to heaven. In Paul's writing of the Romans, what does it mean? We might find a different meaning over in Peter, but among Baptists, this almost always makes us think of going to heaven, right? We'll even say, are you saved? And I'm not, I'm not against using the words that way, but what I'm telling you is when you come to a book like Romans, you can't take the fact that almost anytime we drop this word, we mean someone is, is bound for heaven. We're talking about their eternal destiny. You come to Romans and say, well, Paul has to use it the way we do. No, um, we had to be careful. In fact, we ought to more often try to use, uh, talk about the Bible with the words the Bible uses to talk about the Bible. More than half the time, this word does not mean saved in the sense of going to heaven. Now, there's a lot of times when it does, so we look to context, but in the book of Romans, it never means that. Ever. So, we have to look at it and say, well, what's he talking about? When Isaiah said that a remnant will be saved, who was he talking about when he said saved in verse 27 that Paul's quoting? He's talking about physically saved. God pours out judgment. Isaiah prophesied a lot of judgments. And what he's saying is, if God didn't hold back some, every one of them will be gone. That had happened in their history earlier in the book of Exodus. Paul dealt with it earlier in chapter 9, right here. He went to the part where Moses intercedes for them because of that incident in the golden calf. In Exodus, God said He would destroy all of them. Moses begged Him not to. And early in Romans 9, Paul quoted it when God said, I'll show mercy on whom I'll show mercy, because Moses interceded. But that wasn't, you know, Moses essentially got them saved, but that wasn't soteriologically. That was saved from God pouring out destruction, wrath. I mean, it was judgment. So it here is here when he says a remnant shall be saved. He's talking about physically they will survive Saved from dying remember saved just means rescue That's all it means it to be rescued or delivered. And so we say from what and usually to what? Verse 28 for he will finish the work and cut it short and righteousness. That sounds like judgment and it is Because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth judgment and as Isaiah said before now he's again quoting Isaiah this is chapter 1 verse 9 by the way very first chapter of the book he quotes Isaiah 1.9 except the Lord of Sabaoth Sabaoth is an untranslated word that's the Hebrew has just been transliterated but it's the Lord of Hosts the Lord of Armies that's a very common expression in the prophets for God except the Lord of Armies well why would he be called the Lord of Armies Because when you're against him, he's long-suffering, but when he stops being patient, he drops the hammer, he's the Lord of Armies. His armies come through and do the job. So, except the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, that is some remnant, you know, we had been a Sodom and been made like Gomorrah. What happened there? burned ashes, he dropped a bunch of rocks on them. Were they saved? No. Now, we can look at that and say they probably were, soteriologically, like they were lost, in the sense we usually use that word. But we're talking physical pouring out of wrath. What shall we say, then, that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, have not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law." And Paul spent a lot of time early in this book saying, you're just not going to be able to keep the law perfectly. You're not going to be able to seek righteousness in that way. But in particular, there was a particular sin that's going to draw the wrath of God. They stumbled at the stumbling stone. They stumbled at the stumbling stone. Now he quotes Isaiah again, now Isaiah 28. You know, a Jewish reader is seeing familiar passages as they read these quotes. And Paul draws heavy from Isaiah. This is Isaiah 28, 16. Peter quotes it in 1 Peter 2. It's a verse quoted a couple times in the New Testament. God says, Now jump up to chapter 10, verse 11. Same verse from Isaiah 28, 16. We sometimes think when we we cross the line of a chapter mark, you know, 9 to 10 or 10 to 11, like this is starting over some new thought. It's not at all. The chapter breaks helpful. It makes it a smaller amount of text there. But Paul is still talking about the same thing. And between 933 and 1011, he's dealing with exactly the same thing. In what way will they be ashamed? That sin will draw the wrath of God. This isn't dealing with yet the idea, although he'll deal with it in a minute, of whether or not they're justified, which is Paul's term in Romans, for what we often say, saved. He says justified, just go back and read Romans 3, that's his word. But look what he says here in verse 1 of chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel as they might be, there it is, saved. And again, it's so easy for Baptists, because we use the word that way so much, to read it and say, well, he just wants, does Paul care about their eternal destiny? Yes, that's the backdrop for all of this. This is the second time in the book this word was used. You realize between the first verse in this book and this one, this word has happened twice. That should be alarming. In other words, all that deep doctrine Paul went through in chapter three and four and five about justification by faith alone and Christ alone, He didn't even mention the word saved. How could Paul, being a good Baptist, talk all that time in Romans 3 and 4, 5, about how a person gets an eternal destiny in heaven, and he doesn't use the word saved once. He uses it in chapter 1, verse 16. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation. This word in verse 1, It's translated as a verb, but it's not. It's a noun. It's the word salvation. It's that they might gain salvation, but it's the noun from chapter 1, verse 16. And in all that space in there, everything he said about justification through chapter 5, everything he said about sanctification in 6, 7, 8, he didn't mention it once. So why now would Paul say, I'm going to abandon all the language I used earlier, and I'm going to talk about this issue in totally different language? So he wouldn't. And this is the problem with starting in the middle of a book when someone does Romans Road or proof text, and they just kind of pick words here and there. And it's been so accepted that saved always means justification, when in fact, again, if you're just playing the odds, it probably doesn't. So let's continue on, but just have that in mind. This is the second time that word is used. Now, the word saved is a verb that has been used like once or twice before. This word has only been used once. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. What you know matters. And he's talking about ignorance. Lots of people have zeal of God. Some of them may even knock on your door on a Saturday. But if it's not according to knowledge, it really does matter. This is why I agree to a point, we shouldn't major on the minors, but when it comes to clarity of the gospel, Paul's saying it matters. These people have missed the gospel. They have some zeal for God, that's sincerity. Paul's telling you sincerity isn't going to be enough. It's not according to knowledge, so it matters what you know. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, how are they ignorant of it? Because it's by faith only. That's what he's been talking about the whole book, by faith righteousness, and they're ignorant of it. Instead, they want to do it their way, and that's what we always do when we reject God's word. We go about doing it our way, so they're ignorant and going about to establish their own righteousness. I got this, God. I don't need the righteousness of your son. I can be good enough. That's really what they're saying. There's an absurdity to it, but you understand, Paul's saying that's just what's happened. They've not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. That is, they have not trusted in Christ. They haven't obeyed the gospel. So Christ is the end of the law. He's the goal of the law, if you like that word. It might be an idea to make sure you understand that verse. He's the goal. He's the outcome. He's the completion of the law, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to who? One that believes. Now let's keep this in mind. To who? Now, right here would be a good place to say, believes plus what? I mean, Paul says it over and over. The New Testament, 160 times in the New Testament, it says that God's righteousness is by believing plus nothing. And yet, I'm amazed, that's the minority view, that God's righteousness is by faith plus nothing. It's amazing, but such as it is, he says, that one that believes. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. That is, verse 5 here is quoting from Leviticus 18, but basically Moses said, do it all. And that's what Paul has said earlier, particularly in chapter 7. He says, I tried. I couldn't do it all. But the righteousness, this is the contrast between the law, which certainly sets the standard for righteousness, But it's a standard we can't meet. Paul makes the contrast in verse six, but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. And at this point, he's going to start quoting also from Moses. See, the prior verse was Moses, Leviticus 18. This one's Moses, Deuteronomy 30. And this is a real important passage for a couple of reasons. But basically what he says in Deuteronomy 30, he says, my commandments, are not like hidden up in the heavens where you need somebody to go up and fetch them for you so that you may understand and obey. Nor are my commandments down at the bottom of the ocean. Someone's got to go get those commandments so that you can understand and obey. I've given them to you by direct revelation through Moses. They're in your mouth and they're in your heart. So now you're responsible. Because sometimes people get the idea that they need someone else to teach them the Bible, and they'll take no responsibility to get in the Word of God and read it themselves. And after all, I can't understand that kind of mentality. I think that's a cop-out sometimes for just being lazy. But there's an old doctrine that's not talked about much anymore called the perpiscuity of the Scriptures, which simply says what God has said is knowable. Not knowable to the priest, not knowable to the people that went to the seminary, not noble to somebody on a 600 or 800 club that's got some special revelation of God, noble to a person who opens up the Word and reads it and has a yielded heart to it. See, it's noble. And Paul takes that passage from Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 11 to 14, and he applies it to the Gospel. Because one thing he wants people to understand, They made sure, in the first century, the Jewish nation received the gospel. Jesus did something significant in that three and a half years of his ministry. So, it wasn't ignorance. No one could say, well, they didn't know, Paul. They didn't hear about this message of faith. The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, like into the skies. That is, to bring Christ down from above. particularly the word of Christ, the gospel of Christ, or who shall descend into the deep, the ocean bottom, that is to bring Christ again from the dead, but what saith it, again quoting still from Deuteronomy 30, the word is nigh thee, it's near you, it's in thy mouth, it's in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. It's not because of ignorance, it's not because they haven't heard, they've heard and said no, and that is a grievous sin. and it's one that will bring the wrath of God. And he says in verse nine, continuing, they've got this word of faith, they've heard it, they know what it is, they've rejected it. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So now we've got a new word, confess. Greek word homo legato. Homo means same. We know that. We use same prefix in our language. Legato is to say. It's kind of say the same thing, to agree, to acknowledge, to assent. You have a lot of words for it. Now he says someone can confess and believe. And this is where people start getting the confusion. So let's read a couple of verses, but let's just pull it together. Verse 10 says, With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness." That's Romans 3-5. With the heart, not the mouth, with the heart. That's your thinking. A person believes unto righteousness. That is justification. That is Romans 3, 4, and 5. Paul hasn't changed doctrine. He's doing something here that shouldn't surprise us. This book doesn't start off saying, here's what you got to do to be saved. The book starts off by saying God's wrath is poured out on all ungodliness. And he says in chapter two, every one of us has this problem that we're deserving of wrath. And those of you who are judging other people saying, yeah, that guy over there deserves wrath. He says in the beginning of chapter two, you do the same things. So he goes through all this saying that we're all under wrath, under sin, he'll say elsewhere. that were by nature children of wrath, and Paul is saying, well, how is it you can not deserve or not realize or get what you deserve as a child of wrath? And that's the justification. God will declare you righteous so that there's no charge laid at your feet. If I want to be justified, all I have to do is trust Him, plus nothing, okay? Then he says, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is the word that we also met in chapter 10, verse one. I said that was the chapter 10, verse one was the second time it's used in the book. This is the third time. So Torea, this is the confession unto salvation. So we have to say salvation from what? The only salvation he's talked about in the whole book was salvation from wrath. That's the context of Romans 1 and 2, is deliverance from wrath. Let's look and see if that's what happens here. For the scripture saith, and he's quoting 28.16 again, Isaiah 28.16, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Now we've got that one. This is where the prayer comes in. So what are they praying for, though? Praying to get into heaven? What are they praying for? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, Paul doesn't use his verses out of context. So I want to actually turn back to the Old Testament for this one. But what I'm suggesting is that Paul is saying very clearly, as he does in verse four, that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, as he does here in verse 10 for what the heart man believes under righteousness. He's not adding to that. Turn back to chapter nine for a moment, and then we'll turn back to Joel where he's quoting. What did he say in chapter nine? See, chapter 10 didn't divorce from it. Chapter nine. Come back again. I'm going to read from verse 17. For the scripture said unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee. God poured out wrath on Pharaoh. In response to his rebelliousness, Pharaoh could have had a good life, frankly. All he had to do was let God's people go. But when you disobey God, that's sin, and God pours out his wrath on all ungodliness. Romans 1, verse 17. Pharaoh got to experience the pouring out of God's wrath. He says, I raised you up for this purpose. I'm going to show my power in thee. That was the outpouring of his wrath. We call those the plagues, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Now, that's Pharaoh as an example. Then he quotes something from Exodus that, you know, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll harden who I want to harden. In response to his rebelliousness, he hardened Pharaoh. But then he switches gears, and let's talk about Israel now. And look in verse 20, someone asks whether God finds fault in verse 19, and Paul introduces kind of a picture of like God is the potter forming something, and he says in verse 20, you know, shall a thing form like a piece of pottery? Say to the person whose hands formed it from the clay, why have you formed me this way? have not the pot or power over the clay. In verse 22, this is the key part. What if God willing to show his wrath? See how that's always been the subject? It's the subject in nine. It's the subject in ten. God was willing to show his wrath on who? Specifically the Jewish people. Specifically. And in Romans 10 is answering how they can avoid that wrath. Willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much suffering, long-suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Destruction isn't going to hell. It's being killed. It's having God's wrath poured out on them. The vessels of wrath is who he's talking about. And that's why I'm saying, on the heels of saying that God has been long-suffering with a disobedient nation that was his people, but he's used it in his wisdom and their disobedience. They took part in the murder of Jesus. They said, give us Barabbas. And they had a chance to call upon the name of the Lord, but they said, give us Barabbas. And he says, but God now has Jew and Gentile together that he's bestowing his blessings on. And someone should say, but what about God? Is he still long-suffering? Is he still being patient? Well, to some extent, yes. But that's where Romans 10 takes up. This salvation is the salvation from being a vessel of wrath, of being slated for that. So just bump back to Joel. Joel's one of our minor prophets. He comes just after Hosea, if that helps. The minor prophets is the part when people flip through the Bible real quick, they skip. But in my Bible, it's page 1,112. Joel, chapter 2. I want you to see the context of Joel 2. Paul doesn't pick, he's not going through proof texting. He's got a verse that's contextually right on point. Joel, chapter 2. I'll start reading at verse 1. I just want to get you a little sense for this, but when you read Joel chapter 2, it's a fascinating chapter. Do you know, other than here in Romans, where this gets quoted in the New Testament? It's Acts 2. It's the Pentecost. This is the source of the Pentecost sermon. Chapter 2, verse 1, "...Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." The whole subject of Joel 2 is the Day of the Lord. That's the future time. Sometimes we call it the Tribulation. It's the subject of Revelation 4-19. It's a time of the pouring out of God's wrath on the planet and on Israel as well. A guy named Antichrist will set up his His rule there from Jerusalem and all kinds of things will happen. It's a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Peter quotes some of this in Acts 2. A fire devoureth before them in verse 3, like this is judgment. Verse 15, blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call solemn assembly. Notice, you better start repenting. This isn't an invitation to a gospel message. This is talking about if you want to turn God's wrath, gather the people, sanctify the congregation. And he goes on, verse 30 says, I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. We can spiritualize this all the way, but the scripture never does. This is the reason a lot of the stuff we read in Revelation is there, and you see some of this kind of language in Acts 2. The sun shall be turned into darkness. Part of the judgments in Revelation are specifically turning the sun into darkness. The moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Still talking about the day of the Lord, which is not a single day. It's a period of time, and we know from more Revelation in the New Testament exactly how long that will last. But it is a day of pouring out of God's wrath. It's also a day when a lot of other things will happen. They'll be able to get revival in Israel. So a lot of things are going on. And it shall come to pass, when? In the day of the Lord, right? When people are, you know, there's this judgment on the planet. It'll come to pass that whoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. Now, contextually delivered from what? Delivered from verse 31, right? Delivered from verse 30. This is where, again, we read the Bible. We got to start at the beginning of a book and work our way through it and really think about the words because God talks with precision. And then when we have Old Testament quotes, it's very helpful sometimes, especially on a key verse like Romans 10. We go back and say, well, why did Paul pick this text? What is this text contextually about? And it is a day of the Lord passage. The whole book of Joel is really a day of the Lord book. Those who call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." That's physical deliverance from the destruction of that time. For in Mount Zion in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. So there would be some smaller group of people that would be saved. So understand here in Romans 10, 13, the whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved is the deliverance from wrath, and it's specifically the Jewish people. What does it look like to call upon the name of the Lord? Of course, there's the idea maybe of praying, but it's really a public proclamation. He's recently used this word confess. There were not to be closet Christians hiding their testimony. This was a warning against the people in the book of Hebrews. Paul seemed to suggest that when the destruction would come on Rome in the first century, that if there were some people in church that, because of the persecution, sort of joined the synagogue again, that the judgment would fall on them, too. They would be re-identifying with the group that said, give us Barabbas. So he says, you're going to believe unto righteousness, unto justification, but for deliverance from wrath, you need to confess, you need to assent, acknowledge the Lord. Notice it's the opposite of what they did before. They said, give us Barabbas. Now you're going to acknowledge the Lord. And it's a narrow context, and some would argue that it's really in this future time of the tribulation. But as a general matter, Paul is saying, believe unto righteousness, but you call unto God for deliverance. The only believer, a person who's justified, who's born again, who's regenerate, can pray to God for delivery from wrath. So that's the prayer verse. This is where we just, you know, it would just be more than odd. It just wouldn't make any sense if I had to do this prayer in order to become righteous by faith. One, it wouldn't be righteous by faith anymore, but that Paul wouldn't have said it in chapter three, four and five, right? That's his chapters on how to be justified. It has to be there. Baptism has to be there. Church attendance has to be there. I got added to a group on Facebook that's kind of big against Calvinism and something called Lordship Salvation. I agreed to join the group. They knew who I was. But someone... I got heavily criticized because they said that you have to believe in the virgin birth as part of the gospel to become a Christian. They also said you had to believe in Christ intercessory ministry on our behalf to become a Christian. And I said, you know, we're kind of doing the same thing here as someone who would add works. We're still adding things. They said, well, it's true. Think about that, because that's what happens, right? When you start adding things, I mean, should you call upon the name of the Lord? Absolutely. Well, if you should call upon the name of the Lord, then what's your problem with having it be part of the gospel presentation? Well, I mean, where does that stop? I would add that you ought to be expecting the imminent rapture of the church. You ought to believe in a literal six-day creation, right? It's true. Why not put it in the gospel? I think before long, we'll have to get you to the point of having a very complete Bible knowledge and know all these true doctrines before you can become a Christian. And it just isn't there. So, you go into a passage like John 4, and Jesus is talking to the lady at the well. He doesn't start unloading a bunch of doctrines. You ask Him a question about worship, He answers it. Those who worship God or worship the Spirit of truth. So, you see this. So, we just don't want to be adding to it. We just want to keep it as simple as it is, and it is simple. It is simple. Well, verse 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? You see, Paul still separates the two. He views calling on the Lord, and again, he's speaking to the Jewish audience. He views calling on the Lord, that is, praying in that context, as something you can only do after you're a believer. Anybody can pray before them, but it's not valid, because you don't have the right to do that until you're in Christ. So he says, how can they call on Him in whom they've not believed? How should they believe in Him if they've not heard? Right? You can't believe in something you haven't heard. You know what that tells you? The gospel has content. Right? We have to know something about God. And that's where even, there's even some out there who take the gospel and they say that all you have to believe is that Jesus gives you eternal life. You don't need to know anything about Jesus. You can think he's an angel, or you can think he's the same as the Prophet Muhammad. As long as you trust him for eternal life, you're in. That's kind of a burgeoning movement now. It's sort of the opposite end of the abuse where people teach work salvation. They teach kind of an empty gospel. There's no content there. But there has to be. How can you believe in him, Jesus, of whom they've not heard." So, you've got to know something about them. But how should they hear without a preacher? Indeed, right? Maybe somebody will get a tract. We get that. But the point is, you're going to have to have some delivery of the gospel message. How should they preach except they be sent as it's written? And this is in two places, by the way. It's Isaiah 52, verse 7. It's also Nahum 115. So, Nahum is a more recent prophet. He quotes Isaiah. And you'll find this passage in both places. And in both places, he's actually preaching them the good news that God is going to provide them physical deliverance, actually. That's just in both places. Nahum is talking to them about the fact that God's going to destroy the Assyrians, and that's going to protect the people. Yeah, the Ninevites, particularly. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. Who hasn't obeyed? Mostly the Jewish nation, right? That's his issue. It's all about them because he's dealing with that issue. Did God's word fall flat? Is he done with the Jewish people? And so a few more verses and we'll stop, but I want us to see verse 1 of chapter 11. It's so important because you can read all this and say, well, they disobeyed. God sort of cut them out of the program. They're out of luck. All those promises in the Old Testament, that's gone, but that's actually not at all what Paul's suggesting. So he says, Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report? That's Isaiah 53, 1. You know what happens to the rest of Isaiah 53? probably one of the greatest Old Testament chapters about Jesus dying on a cross. So he says, no one's believed our report. But I say, I skipped a verse, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And by the way, that's true for Christians as well, right? Your initial faith in the gospel message comes by hearing. You've got to hear the message. So we have to be about the business of sharing the message. But as a Christian, Faith also comes by hearing, that is, hearing the Word of God. Faith is to believe what God has said and to live on that basis. Faith always comes by hearing the Word of God. But Paul goes on, he says, but I say, have they not heard? That's what he was saying earlier. Yes, they've heard. It's in their mouth, it's in their heart. They've heard, but they wanted to do it their way. Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, did not Israel know? He's back quoting Deuteronomy 32 again. For Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are not a people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. It's interesting that God might provoke the Jewish people to jealousy by some other nation. Now, which nation is it? the Gentiles. And really, this nation is called a holy nation in Peter. It includes Jewish people, but it's predominantly Gentile. And somehow this is, in God's wisdom, going to encourage and make them jealous, so that there will be a time when Israel is going to characteristically say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's what's going to happen. So they do know God's using a foolish nation. He's quoting Old Testament where God would use a Gentile nation to teach them a lesson, basically. But now he's applying it to the Gentiles that are Christians. But Isaiah is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. In other words, Gentiles. How God had brought them into the program, as he outlined in chapter 9. But to Israel he saith all day long, I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient gainsaying people." What do disobedient people get? The wrath of God. And they need to trust Christ, and they need to call upon the name of the Lord for deliverance from wrath in a time when the Jewish nation, within just four or five years of Paul writing this, will have a severe judgment in 70 A.D. when the Romans come. But chapter 11, verse 1, where we end, I say then, have God cast away his people? This is where so many have gone astray, and there's been a certain level of anti-Semitism among Christians, sometimes very plain spoken about it. And if they convince themselves that through disobedience, Israel has been cut off from God permanently, then they use that to justify their sinful behavior that we call anti-Semitic bigotry. and have God cut away his people, and this is a message to those who have that anti-semitic thought, God forbid, from also in Israel out of the seed of Abraham and the tribe of Benjamin, God forbid. Well, God forbid that any of us would be anti-semitic. We need to get hold of the fact that God may use Gentiles now to make his people jealous, but he'll say a little later here in chapter 11, they're going to be grafted back in. They are.