Romans 10 verses 14 through 17, these are God's words. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him 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. But they have not all bade the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So far the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. One of the great blessings of knowing the Lord and trusting in him is that whether we are facing the entrenched nature of our own sin or are in an impossible situation or we have an enemy who threatens us or a huge responsibility that feels too great for us, whatever it is, we may always cry out to the one in whom we believe. And we know that whatever this part of his work in our lives is, it's a part of his work in our lives. It's one of the things that he's appointed between when he brought us to faith and when he perfects us in faith. And that whole work of saving us, he is going to complete. And so we're picking up now on verse 13 from the end of last week's portion in Romans 10, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's a great comfortable thing to be able to cry out to God and know that he will always answer. in a saving way and whatever part of his work of saving us, he's actually appointed for the time that we're in. And so there is this delightful aspect to the life of faith that even in miserable circumstances, there is sweet fellowship with dependence upon. the Lord who gave himself for us and who will finish the salvation that he has begun. And there's a sweetness in calling upon his name and knowing that he hears and that he answers and that he answers by saving. Sadly, there are many Jews and Greeks, and this is Both Jews and Greeks, although Isaiah's question, Isaiah 53, quoted in verse 16, is especially with respect to the Israelites. But there are many Jews and Greeks who have not believed into him. They don't have union with Christ. They are unable to live by faith. They are not enjoying this walking with Him that is one of these middle points that participate in their salvation, that are part of the work that He's planned in saving them. They don't have this sort of life. And verse 14 then asks this rhetorical question, how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? We must have believed into the Lord Jesus Christ, been united to Him by faith, in order to walk with Him, in order to call upon Him in the midst of our walking with Him. So how does faith come? Faith comes by hearing him. Now, New American Standard does a better job with the translation here. New King James sadly translates, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? It's very simply, how shall they believe whom they have not heard? It's Jesus himself that it's asking. that the believing into Jesus does not come, faith is not produced by hearing someone else, it's produced by hearing him. Now, the name of the Lord here, the name of the Lord Jesus in verse 14 is the same as the word of God. Verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So they have to hear Jesus. Well, how can we hear Jesus? Well, because Jesus speaks through preachers. That when he sends a preacher who is, whom he keeps faithful to preach the word of God, to preach truly that which we find recorded in the scriptures, that while the preacher addresses the ear with those words, the Lord Jesus addresses the heart. with those words. And so you have these wonderful statements to the Ephesians. In chapter two, talking about the preaching of peace, it says in verse 17, and it's talking about Christ, it's coming out of verse 16. It says that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting death to death, the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who are far off and to those who are near, for through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father." Well, the he and the him in verse 16 and verse 18 is quite clearly Jesus, and there's not a change. So verse 17 is saying Jesus came and preached peace to Ephesians, both Jew and Greek, or Greek and Jew, Gentile and Jew. In this case, when did Jesus visit Ephesus? The answer is whenever the preachers that he sent came to Ephesus. In this case, the apostle might well be referring to his own preaching. And then in chapter four, verses 20 and 21, but you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and been taught by him. And so hearing Jesus and being taught by Jesus is the actual way that God gives us faith. Now, this is a, This is a very high view of preaching and ought to make us to cry out to God that as the preacher addresses our ears, the Lord Jesus by his spirit would address our hearts. Because this is a reality. Sadly, there are many who will say things like, well, Jesus told me this, or Jesus told me that. What they're talking about is like a small voice inside their head or something. or something like that. But this passage says, how shall they hear without a preacher? The implication is, it is not God's ordinary way for the Lord Jesus to address people just by a voice in their heads. God's ordinary way, his ordained way, his appointed way for addressing us is through preachers. Preachers whom he sends. how we get preachers in, how we hear Jesus as preachers, and how we get preachers is Jesus. Note the quote from Isaiah 52 in verse 15. How shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet. Now, there have been men who were such great preachers that, for instance, Chris Austin, one of the most faithful and effective under the Lord preachers in the early church, he was named Golden Tongue. I don't know if I've ever read of any preachers being called golden foot, but here is how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. And the focus then by, by, By focusing on the feet then, it focuses on the sender and the sending. The wonderful thing about a preacher is not who he is or how well he preaches even, It's the one from whose presence he has come. It is the one who has sent him. A preacher has a duty then not only to be faithful to the text that is on the page, but submitted to the Lord Jesus in his own spirit and meditating upon the word before the Lord. so that he comes, as it were, by virtue of his ordination and his installation and recognizing and doing those things according to the Bible, but also in an ongoing practical way in his life that he comes from the presence of the Lord with the word of the Lord to proclaim in the hearing of the people. what the Lord says in the word. And this being Jesus's design, when we sit under preaching, we should consider the preacher to have beautiful feet. We should consider preachers and preaching as a gift from Christ, a gift by which not only will the preacher now address our ears, but the Lord Jesus, who has ordained and appointed this entire arrangement, we would look to him to address our hearts. And so that's why it's the feet of the preacher in particular that are beautiful in verse 52. And so this is the preaching and hearing that saves. There's preaching and hearing that is merely man to man, that by which the preacher addresses the ears of the hearer. But that preaching doesn't always give faith. Isaiah chapter 53, as quoted in verse 16 here, refers to those who had the man-to-man preaching to hearing. Isaiah's human preaching to their merely human hearing. And what was the result? So few believed Isaiah's preaching that it seemed like no one did at all, which is the implied answer to the rhetorical question, who has believed our report? And so Yahweh has sent Isaiah and Isaiah has preached and people have heard him, but they didn't believe when they heard him. No, the hearing that produces faith, is when the Lord addresses the heart in a way that has the faith-giving power in it, and He exercises power to give faith as He addresses the heart. And so there's a very different sort of hearing when you have the merely man preaching and man hearing, verse 16, versus that hearing in which the Lord effectually calls. And now we've had many times since about two thirds of the way through chapter eight, many references to God calling, God addressing the heart of a man whom he has foreknown and predestined, and therefore he also calls. Salvation is not by anything that man does, but by God who calls. And so it's God who gives this effectual calling by the addressing of the heart, which he has appointed. to come through the preaching of the word. And so we pray that the Lord would keep me faithful to the word as I preach, and that he would come and also attend the preaching in power, that while the audible words are addressing the ears, The Lord Jesus would address your heart and the hearts of others. And if you should ever come into a situation where you no longer were able to have me as your pastor, as your preacher, it is vitally important that you be in a church where the scriptures are preached, where they are preached faithfully, where they are preached, looking to the Lord to make his word because the mere speaking and hearing audibly of words, although that is God's appointed method. And you must not, of course, be in a church where those things are absent. but that by itself does not have in it any faith-giving, life-giving, sanctifying efficacy. It is the Lord himself addressing the heart with the words that are addressed to the ears that is efficacious, whether for giving faith or for growing faith. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would Help us to receive your word soft-heartedly, that you would always be with us by your spirit, so that we would not just hear with the ear, but that you would address our hearts and make us, by that very faith-giving word, to believe and receive and believe into Jesus, that we might have this life of fellowship with him and calling upon his name We pray that you would help me to remember what preaching is and who has appointed it and who has sent me and how it is made effectual. so that we will engage according to your word. And for those who hear, O Lord, give them faith. Do not, we pray, let many or any who are among us, especially in our home, also in our congregation, be subject to what Isaiah was implying when he asked who had believed your report. So help us, Lord, we pray, and be among us in power by your spirit. Through your word we ask in Jesus' name, amen.