Unless We Are Sent

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. You understand that God may be working in somebody out there because he intends to raise you up and send you to them. The reason he stirs his people is because he has people that he is preparing around the world. People can only be saved by hearing about Jesus and they can only hear about him through the witness of a believer. Welcome to Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. Here's a challenging question for you. If Christians really believe we know the only way to salvation and it's the greatest news the world has ever known, then what are we doing to actively share that message with the rest of the world? It seems the most unloving thing that we could do is to keep it to ourselves, right? Today, Pastor J.D. looks at four important verses in Romans chapter 10 that show us why, as the ones who believe in the gospel message, we owe it to those who have not yet heard it to take it to them. Are you ready to say yes to whatever God asks you to do? If so, let's listen in now. Here's Pastor J.D.

encouraging us to live sent. Romans chapter 10 is about our role in the salvation process. For Paul, God's sovereignty and man's responsibility exists together in a mysterious tension that we may never fully resolve.

At least we said, on this side of eternity, we may never fully resolve it, and maybe not even on that side, because there's no guarantee we'll be as smart as God. Well, the first 13 verses of Romans 10 focus on how we believe. That's our part of the salvation process, is we are believing, and it shows us what we believe and it shows us what we are to believe and how that happens. Starting in verse 14, where we're gonna be today, Paul shifts his focus to the role that we play in helping others believe.

Y'all listen, today we are going to get at the heart of Christian mission. The four verses that we are going to look at are the culmination of Paul's, shall we call it his relentlessly building logic, right? For 10 chapters now, he has just been building, I've explained to you this logical case premise by premise, and he's gonna tell us what all this gospel theology means for how a serious follower of Jesus, who takes the gospel seriously, sees his or her life.

Here's what he says, verse 14. How then can they call on him that they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news? Verse 17, so faith comes by hearing, you see, and hearing through the word of Christ. Because there is only one way of salvation, faith in the finished work of Christ. And because we the church are the ones who have been entrusted with that gospel message. We owe it, Paul says, to those who have not heard to do whatever it takes to get the gospel to those who have not heard, right?

That makes sense, right? If there's only one way to be saved and we know it, how could we not be doing that? I mean, if we knew the cure for cancer and we did nothing to get it to others, what kind of people would we be? But you see, this brings up one of people's primary objections with Christianity, one of their problems with it. One you've probably heard is do Christians really believe that they have the only way of salvation?

And what about those that have never heard? I've heard this objection raised in gospel conversations I've had pretty much anywhere, at airplanes, on college campuses, in my office, and even once in a Waffle House. I had stopped one day at the Waffle House to feast upon what I refer to affectionately as the cuisine of the gods.

Then I had just ordered my hash browns, scattered smothered, covered, chunked up, diced, and peppered with a light dusting of jalapenos and the way that everybody should order them. And as I'm sitting there about to enjoy my feast there, I overhear this conversation taking place about two booths away from me between the guy that was in the booth and his waitress. I called on pretty quickly that they were having a discussion about God, and so my ears perked up. They go back and forth for a while, and I hear this guy say to her, he says, I feel like the most important question that you need to settle in life is whether or not you are right with God. I thought, well, that sounds pretty awesome.

But the problem, this guy continued, the problem is that there's all these opinions out there about God, and how are we supposed to know which one is right? Well, y'all, I'm sitting there with my mouth full of hash browns thinking, wow, you people are so in luck. Talk about a divine coincidence. I have a master of divinity.

That makes me a certified expert on God. I actually put my hand up to enter the conversation to get their attention. I put my hand up and was starting to speak when the waitress jumped in back to his comment and said, yeah, you're right, you're right, but you know who I hate? The ones I hate are those born again types when they come in here, because the moment you start talking about God, they just take over the conversation telling you while they're right and you're wrong. They don't care about you.

All they care about is showing that they're right and shoving what they believe down your throat. Then she sees my hand kind of raised in my booth and she says, honey, can I help you? And I said, I need a refill on my tea.

It was totally empty right now. Now, the good news is the conversation actually turned out fantastic. I was able to explain to her that even though Christians are like that, and sometimes I'm like that, Jesus wasn't like that, and he really cared about people so much that not only did he die for them, but he also was courageous enough to tell them the truth. So it turned out great, but I share that because that's how many people see Christians gallivanting about, forcing their religious preferences and perspectives on everybody else. But people say, well, what about those though who didn't grow up as Christians that are not familiar with the Christian message? And how would it even be fair for God to condemn somebody for something they've never heard?

That just sounds arbitrary and none of us would see that as being just, it's unfair. Well, remember that what Paul is saying here in chapter 10 is built upon 10 careful chapters of gospel logic. Obviously, we don't have time this morning to go through them chapter by chapter, but the logic goes like this, and we'll lay it out for you really quick, okay? Premise number one, premise number one, Paul has established that all people have heard about God and they have rejected him. Remember this from chapter one, verse 18, for God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of all people. Remember we showed you that godlessness meant a corruption in our vertical relationship with God, rather than being trusting and submissive, we tend to be unbelieving and rebellious.

Unrighteousness, Paul is referring to our corruption in our horizontal relationships, rather than being truthful and caring with one another and rather than loving toward one another, we are manipulative and self-centered and proud toward one another. So he says by our godlessness and unrighteousness, we suppress the truth, right? By our unrighteousness, we suppress the truth. And we explained that suppress the truth is different than ignorance of the truth. And suppression, something's in there that you were trying to keep down.

I compared it to a beach ball, trying to hold a beach ball into the water, it keeps trying to pop up. And that's what the knowledge of God is like in every single person. We can keep it down, you can keep it down, but it's always trying to pop up and it shows up in the form of conviction or yearning or longing. That's what Paul says next, because what may be known of God is manifest in them because God has shown it to them. And we said that that points to two different ways that God reveals himself to all people.

The first is in them, in that yearning that you have for significance and eternality, what you may feel at the death of a loved one or the death of a child where you just say, I know that there's more than just random biology and chaos. God has revealed it in them in the way that all people have a sense of moral accountability. Even if they are not religious, they have that. And Paul says, God has shown it to them. That means the way that God has revealed it to them from the creation and from things that you see, it points to creator and design. Verse 20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes have been clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that all people are without excuse. In other words, we may not have ever heard God's name, but our hearts instinctively know that he is there. But our hearts are so corrupt that rather than submit ourselves to that knowledge and seek him, we suppress it. And that comes out in one of three forms. We either rebel against it, like I know what God wants and I'd just rather do it my own way.

Or number two, we distort it. We reshape God into a deity that we can manage or manipulate, that's the history of all false religions. Or we just deny it altogether, that would be atheism. You see, people say, well, what about atheist? I know an atheist and he or she seems to be genuinely convinced that there is no God. Well, yes, they may have intellectually convinced themselves there is no God, but their hearts still know the truth, Paul says, and the reason that their minds convinced them that there was no God is because that's what their hearts wanted to be true.

They know, but they don't know because they don't want to know. So Paul concludes verse 10, chapter three, as it is written, there's no one righteous, not even one. Religious, irreligious from any culture at any time. There's not been a single person who's ever responded the right way. There's no one who understands. There's no one who seeks God.

All have turned away. All alike have become spiritually worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. In other words, the innocent native that you hear postulated who is on a deserted island somewhere, pure in heart and spirit that just wants to know God and is obeying all the truth that he or she has. That person simply, according to Paul, does not exist.

All have turned away, all of them. All of us have become spiritually worthless without exception, you, me, our children, everybody. There is none who does good, none who seeks God. And in case you don't know what the word no one means, Paul says, not even one, no one. That's premise number one.

Premise number two. Therefore God has rightfully condemned all. Paul reasons that suppression of truth deserves the wrath of God, I mean, right? If our hearts are so wicked that we suppress the knowledge of an all powerful ruling God, well, that surely would deserve his wrath. I mean, if you put your fist in God's face and you say, no, God, I wanna be God.

And that's why I'm gonna distort this truth about you. God, you get off the throne. I belong on the throne. Well, then we deserve his wrath. Paul says, that's exactly what the human race has done. You may never have uttered those exact words, but how you live says that to God.

You live with you wanting to be in charge and you live with you wanting to be the point what your needs are and what your happiness is rather than God's glory. That means, pay attention to this, we're all guilty. This is Paul's reasoning.

Not because of what we haven't heard. We're guilty because of what we have heard and rejected. God does not condemn people for not hearing about Jesus. He does not condemn people for not being Christians.

He condemns them for suppressing, distorting and rejecting the knowledge of God that we have, which everyone has done. All of us have turned away. All have become spiritually worthless. There is no one who does good.

None who seeks God, not even one. Thanks for joining us today on Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer. Before we get back to today's teaching, I wanted to tell you a little bit more about this month's featured resource. It's the first part of a two-part study through the book of Romans written by the late Pastor Tim Keller. This study walks through the first seven chapters of the book of Romans. And whether you're studying alone or with a friend or in a small group, we know that you'll enjoy Pastor Tim's fresh insights from the book of Romans.

Each of the seven studies includes an overview of the key terms and words in the passage and application questions to help the truth of these chapters really sink in. We'll send you a copy to show our appreciation for your generous gift of $35 or more to this ministry. And you can give right now by calling 866-335-5220 or visiting jdgreer.com. Your gifts truly make a difference as you help us live sent with this program each and every day. Join the family now and say yes to the spreading of the gospel today. Now let's return to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor JD.

Premise number three. God has made a way of salvation for all. God has made a way of salvation for all.

Into this darkness and death, Jesus has come. He redeemed us, Paul explains in chapter three, from the curse of the law. He does so by grace, which means something that we did not deserve. He lived the life we were supposed to live. And by dying on a cross, he died the death that we had been condemned to die. He now offers that freely by grace to all who will receive it as a gift. Now we're ready for premise number four, which Paul is gonna introduce in chapter 10.

So we're back at chapter 10 now, if you've got your Bible open. Premise number four, people have to hear the message to benefit from it. Paul reasons, how then can they call on him whom they have not believed in? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? In order to receive the gift, Paul reasons, they have to hear about the gift. It's like Martin Luther said, it wouldn't matter if Jesus died a thousand times, if nobody ever heard about it. They have to hear about it to receive it.

Carl F.H. Henry used to say, the gospel, which means good news, the gospel is only good news if it gets to somebody in time. You say, well, wait, what if somebody's never heard about Jesus? But they responded to what they saw of God in creation or in their conscience and their heart. Maybe they obeyed the good and true parts of their religion. Maybe they did their best. Maybe they said, oh God, oh great spirit in the sky, whatever or whoever you are, I don't know everything about you, but I wanna know you and I wanna surrender to you. And they obeyed everything that was in front of them. Wouldn't that be enough? Or remember Paul's conclusion, none of us apart from the grace of God would ever respond that way.

None of us, not even one. Look at verse 17. This is an important thing Paul introduces there in chapter 10. Verse 17, Paul says, faith comes by hearing. Faith is necessary without faith it's impossible to please God. So faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. The only way for faith to grow up in the heart is through what? Through hearing.

And hearing only comes how? By the word of Christ. You see the preached word of the gospel has a strange, shall we say life giving power to it. The word of God tells you not only what you are commanded to do, the word of God also gives you the power to do it.

We compare it to the words of Jesus when he would do a miracle and he would say to somebody who was lame, rise, take up your bed and walk. That's a command. But in that command is not just something to obey.

In that command if you believe it is also the power to obey it. Here's the analogy that I use when it comes to preaching the gospel. We say that when you preach the gospel, I've told you it's like you walk up behind somebody who's say they're on top of a 30 story building and they are clinically insane and they think they're a bird.

And because they think they're a bird they think they can fly. And you know they're about to jump to their death. And so you go up behind them and you just reach out and you say, hey man, don't do this. Look, come back down with me.

Don't jump, come with me. Now they're insane. Every single time that you give them that free choice what are they going to choose? Every single time they're gonna choose to jump. Why?

Because they think they're a bird. Now let's say that I know it doesn't work like this but let's say that you had some antidote, you know, in a vial and you could give them a shot that would restore their sanity. So as you are telling them to come back down you reach out and you stick them with the needle and you put the sanity serum in and all of a sudden they regained their sanity.

And you offered them the same choice. Hey man, don't do this. Come back down with me and don't jump to your death.

Come with me to safety. Now their sanity has been restored. Now what are they gonna do every single time? They're gonna choose to come back down with you. You didn't ask the question differently, right? You didn't offer better arguments.

It's the exact same invitation. You just were able to restore their sanity before you did it. And now the command actually makes sense to them. And that's what Paul explains the word of Christ does. Faith comes by hearing. In order to have faith grow up in your heart you gotta hear the word of Christ. Without the preached word of God, there can be no faith.

You say, well, okay, well what if somebody responded positively to what they saw of God in nature and they just wanted to know the God that they see revealed in nature and in their conscience? Well, very interestingly, the book of Acts tells you just such a story. Let me hang there in Romans 10.

I'll take you to it in Acts 10 for just a minute, okay? There was a certain man named Cornelius. He was a centurion.

He was a Gentile, wasn't a Jew of the Italian regiment. He was a devout man and one who feared God with all his household. He gave alms generously to the people and he prayed to God always. That sounds like a good guy, right? Sounds like a guy who's doing the best with what he knows. Doesn't know the gospel, hadn't heard the gospel but he's doing the best and obeying God and seeking God and being generous.

So watch what happens, watch this. About the ninth hour of the day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God who appears to him and says to him, Cornelius, right? And when he observed him, when Cornelius observed the angel, he was afraid and he said, what is it, Lord? The angel said to him, your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now sin for Peter who was across the city on another roof having his own dream and vision.

He will tell you when he comes to you what you must do. So Peter comes and Peter explains the gospel to him and here's where it's, I think crucially important is here's how Peter ends his sermon. He gets to the very end of his sermon, Acts 10 43. He tells Cornelius and his band of soldiers, to Jesus all the prophets give witness that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name. Not, hey Cornelius, God has noticed that you're a good guy and God has already accepted you because of how you responded to what you knew and I'm just here to announce to you that you are already saved. No, what Peter says is you must now believe in Jesus. You responded the right way to what God had showed you.

You must now believe in Jesus and then you will receive the forgiveness of sins through belief in his name. What we take away from that, listen, is that it is necessary to hear the message of the gospel and believe it to get forgiveness. But if there is somebody out there whom God has enabled to respond in the right way to what they know, the book of Acts indicates that God raises up one of his people to get the rest of the message to them, which leads me to premise number five. We are the only ones who can preach that message to them. We're the only ones, Paul reasons, who can preach that message to them. Verse 14, how can they hear without a preacher and how can they preach unless they are sent?

Listen, let me tell you a very sobering truth. I want you to get your mind around this. In the New Testament, the gospel is only ever preached through a human mouth. Search the book of Acts from start to finish. You will not find a single example of the gospel being shared apart from a human instrument. Even in the story of Cornelius, the angel doesn't share the gospel.

I mean, wouldn't that have been much more efficient? The angel's already there, he's already got Cornelius' attention to be like, hey man, why don't you go ahead and explain to you the gospel, here's how to believe. But the angel won't do it because seemingly it's against the rules. Only a human instrument can share the gospel. The gospel can only ever be proclaimed through a human mouth. So here's my question. Do you ever think that God might be stirring in some of you because he is stirring in someone over there, overseas, someone that doesn't know God, a Cornelius?

I say that because I once met a Cornelius. It was the last conversation that I had before I left Southeast Asia as a missionary. For two years, I had shared the gospel with him, y'all, dozens of times.

And every single time it would end the same. He'd look at me, he'd smile, and he'd put his hand on my shoulder. He'd say, JD, my brother, you are a great man of faith. And I know you make your parents very proud, but you're a Christian because you were born a Christian. And I'm a Muslim because I was born a Muslim.

And that's just how it is and how it will always be. A week before I left to come home and go back together with him, and y'all, I pled with him. And I could tell just looking at his face, I mean, we talked for about an hour and he was a little uncomfortable, but he kind of at the end of the conversation, he sort of regained his composure. And he said, JD, my brother, and he puts his hand on my shoulder. And he said, you are a great man of faith.

And the reason you believe this is because your parents taught it to you and you do them honor, but I'm a Muslim. And that's just the way that I approached God. He got in his moped and he drove home. I thought I'd never see him again.

The day that I was leaving to come home to the United States, he showed up on my porch a couple of hours before I left. And I said, Ishmael, are you okay? And I could tell something. He said, yeah, we need to talk. And so we go back in this back room and he said, so after we talked a week ago, he said, I did what I always did.

I just thought, I love JD, my friend, but I quit thinking about your words. He said, but I couldn't stop thinking about them. I went to bed that night and I had this, I don't know what you call it. He used the word mimpi, which means like vision or dream.

I did mimpi. And he said, in my dream, I was standing, I walked outside my house and all of a sudden between my feet, this road just grew up. He called it the jalan ludus, which means in their language, the straight and narrow path, the road to heaven.

And you were on it. He goes, you get all the way up to heaven's gates. Just when I thought your journey was over, somebody inside heaven called your name.

They knew who you were. He said, the doors opened and you went in and they shut behind you. And he said, oh, my heart was sad, it broke because I wanted to go with you. He said, when I thought this whole dream was over, he said, the doors of heaven opened again. He says, you walked out of heaven, you walked all the way down the jalan ludus and you came all the way back down to my front porch and you offered me your hand and you said, come with me.

And I said, no. And you reached out and you grabbed my hand with your right arm with your hand and you pulled me onto your back and you carried me all the way up into heaven with you. Can you tell me what my dream means? Now, y'all, I went to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. We did not have a class on dreams and visions and the interpretation thereof, but I'm happy to tell you up to the moment I had to leave, I just walked him through the gospel and I would love to tell you that he became a Christian.

He did not, and to my knowledge, he has not. But the reason I share this story with you is because of what he said to me next. He said, JD, what this dream means, I know, is that you were sent here by God to show me the way of salvation. He said, but JD, this afternoon you were going home and you are the only Christian I have ever known.

Do you understand that God may be working in somebody like Ishmael out there because he intends to raise you up and send you to them. You're listening to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and theologian, JD Greer. JD, we've been blown away by the generosity of our gospel partners, haven't we? I know we mentioned them often here on the program, but what exactly is a gospel partner? Yeah, you know, Miley, you and I often say that gospel partners are part of our team here at Summit Life. These are listeners who have made themselves integral to us boldly proclaiming the gospel through our radio and our podcast ministry.

Anybody can join this exclusive group, can we say that, with an ongoing gift of $35 or more each month. That makes you a gospel partner and that money is not coming in to line our pockets. It's going to create new opportunities on the radio in new areas where the gospel is not preached maybe as much as it is in your area.

It helps us get on the air and then stay on the air and that's what your giving goes for. We would love, as we grow, we'd love to have you join us and to be able to know that you're a part, your faith and your generosity are a part of other people hearing the gospel and having their lives transformed and the way that you can do that is by becoming a gospel partner. Just give us a call at 866-335-5220 or visit jdgeer.com right now to partner with us. I'm Molly Vidovich inviting you to join us tomorrow when Pastor JD will give us five practical next steps for living on mission. Be sure to listen Friday to Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.