Romans 10

Now, it's very heartening to see so many here. I was calculating that according to our brother's rate of reading, that to read through ten times these four chapters, if you read four in an hour to read ten times, it would take you approximately two and a half hours. And I feared you would start around one and get done at 3.30 and come back for the next reading.

So thank you for being with us. We're going to look at Romans chapter 10, as you're aware. Romans chapter 10 together.

The brethren have had mercy on me and given me the easiest of the chapters, I think, to handle of the four. Not without its problems, but nevertheless, relatively straightforward. So Romans chapter 10, verse number one, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.

For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going to about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law that a man which doeth these things shall live by them or live in them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or as many versions would have, Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

With a heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture sayeth, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him on whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent, as it is written, 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, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily. Their sound went out unto all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, did not Israel know? For Moses saith, I provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

But Isaiah says very boldly, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to Israel he saith all day long, I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient, and gainsaying people.

Now we trust that God will add his rich blessing to the public reading of his word. Romans chapter 10, it certainly does not contain the great theological and doctrinal statements of the previous chapter, and it will not have the tremendous truths unfolded that chapter 11 will have, and certainly the practical teachings of chapter 12 that will cap the weekend. So why spend time with chapter 10 that is before us? Well, I think we can in this learn lessons that are to profit for all of us.

What can we learn of God from this chapter? What is there revealed to us about God himself, the God we have come to know in this chapter itself? Can we learn anything of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there anything of Christ in this section of the word of God that we would value and find precious? We will find in this section as well that we'll look at in a bit more detail principles of preaching and presenting the gospel and how souls are saved and things that are involved in the handling of the gospel. And then also, I think it would be valuable, especially for young believers, maybe your mind is a bit overwhelmed with dispensations and Israel and nations and Gentiles and God's sovereignty, but these Bible readings are for more than, I don't want to minimize it, but they're for more than just giving us exactly what scriptures mean. Hopefully, young believers will learn as they have profit from the older brethren here how to go about studying your Bible itself.

How do how do men come to understand what a verse means and to be able to understand a paragraph and the teaching of a book? For example, this morning you were reminded of the tremendous power of prepositions. For. Of.

From. Just to trace the power of prepositions, we could learn as well something of the teaching of the of the tenses. Now, we're not going to get into all that today, but to begin to learn carefully how men look at the word of God and how they begin to try to understand what verses mean.

Tremendous value and the weight of words, the exact words the spirit of God has given us in his book. So whenever we're looking at a chapter, even though it may seem difficult to begin to at least appreciate how men approach their study of the word of God and how they can call from it that which can be a help to the people of God. Now, the place this book occupies, the place these chapters, we've already had that brought before us, this central portion.

Many times you'll pick up a commentary and we'll talk about a parenthesis. But I think our brethren have made clear that really this is part of the progression of teaching that the apostle is giving. The theme is the same, the righteousness of God, God righteous when he condemns sinners.

The first three chapters, God's righteousness when he saves souls and now God's righteousness in dealing with nations, God's righteousness reproduced. And then the most amazing thing, we won't be there in this weekend, but the God who could find nothing at all to commend in men in chapters one, two and three, it ends by God commending through Paul in chapter 16, believers who have served and honored him in their lives, all to the grace, all by the grace of God and for the glory of God. So I want you to think of some of the principles that this chapter will teach us and we'll open for discussion.

Now, we won't be able to look at all of these, but just for your own edification and your own meditation, the teaching relative to what faith is. There's a lot of misunderstanding and we'll see that faith always is a response to the word of God. Faith is not my imagination, my hope, my believing something so hard that it's going to come true.

Faith always requires a word from God. Now, there are many, many lovely practical things that come from that. You mothers who are raising families and you're putting into practice the principles of the word of God in the rearing of your children, you are living by faith.

You may never have thought of it that way, but you're living by faith because secular thinking would say you're absolutely mad to raise your children that way. And a businessman here that conducts his business according to the principles of the word of God, he's living by faith. He may have a check coming in every Friday, but he's still living by faith.

He is putting the word of God into practice in his life. So we will see faith and really what it is. We are fortunate to have with us a number of men who are not only teachers, but men who are evangelists, and they will help us to see some of the principles relative to preaching, how it begins with the need for men to submit to the righteousness of God.

There are many who would simply like to tack Christ on to what they already have, just to kind of have him as an insurance policy to go along with everything else. This chapter will show us the need for men to recognize a righteous standard they have come short of before ever. The message of the gospel can come with power and freshness and efficacy to their souls.

So we'll see something of the need, the nature, the necessity of of gospel preaching, the finality of revelation. We'll see that in Christ having come the finality of that revelation in incarnation and then the confirmation by resurrection. We'll learn of that and then interesting enough to look as well at many of the different words that are used for salvation in this chapter as we go through it.

Words such as believe, confess, call, saved, obey, found, made manifest, again balancing those two thoughts of human responsibility with divine sovereignty together in the great truth of salvation. Now just think of the portrait of God that is presented to us just in this chapter, one chapter of the word of God. I often tell young believers, imagine that the only thing you would know of God is what you have in the one chapter you're looking at.

Just think that if all you would know of God was what this chapter presented. We have, first of all, a God of righteousness. That's number one, verses one, two, and three.

We have a God of revelation, a God who has revealed himself in incarnation. No need to bring Christ down again from above. He has come.

He has revealed God in all of his fullness. So we have a God of righteousness, but a God of revelation, minded of the God of resurrection. And if time allows, some of our brethren may want to trace the great truth of resurrection through this epistle and the different places that Paul uses it to undergird truth that he is giving to the believers.

But here is the God of resurrection, the God of resurrection power. He is the God of riches. He is the God who is rich.

Three things that Rome prided itself on, right? Its power, its peace, and its wealth. The power of Rome. So does it strike you as coincidental that Paul begins his letter by saying that he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ? It's the power.

If I come to Rome, Rome may be able to subjugate, but the power of the gospel transforms. Far different from the power that Rome has. And Rome prided itself on its Pax Romana.

It came in and it subdued its foes and it promised peace for them as long as they stayed subject. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace, not by being subjected or subjugated to a foe, reconciled to God by the death of his son. Rome would never make peace on those terms.

God made peace by giving his son. And so we have the thought of peace. But then not just power and peace, but wealth.

Now, there may be some difference on this, but there may have been three different assemblies in Rome to which Paul was writing, at least from chapter 16. It suggests several different assemblies. And in those assemblies, there would likely be slaves that would make up some of the believers in that assembly.

The wealth of Rome was beyond their wildest imagination to ever think they could have a part in the wealth that belonged to Rome. But what about the wealth of God? Chapter 2, he begins with the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. Chapter 9, the riches of his glory.

Chapter 10, the riches of his grace. Chapter 11, oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, his ways past finding out.

And so he's opening up to them the riches, not of Rome that they could never have, but all the riches of God that were theirs to enjoy. A God who is rich. And finally, as we come to the end of the chapter, a God who is ready to save.

All day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. So just a portrait of God, a God of righteousness, a God of revelation, a God of resurrection, a God who is rich, and a God who is ready to save. That's just from one chapter of your Bible, the unfolding of the character of our God that we can enjoy.

So the portrait of God. Now, the problem that this chapter reveals to us is obvious. It begins with ignorance.

They going about to establish their own righteousness are ignorant of the righteousness of God. Begins with ignorance, but it ends with stubbornness. All day long have I stretched out my hand unto a disobedient and gainsaying people who deny.

So their stubbornness is seen at the end. So there is ignorance at the beginning. There is stubbornness at the end.

It begins with Paul's longing. It ends with God's longing. And we're reminded that God's longing always exceeds.

Always exceeds whatever might be the longing of his people for blessing and for salvation. The prominence of Scripture. Our brother has already reminded us and drawn our attention to how frequently Old Testament Scripture is being cited in these central chapters 9, 10, and 11.

There are 10 citations. So we have the wealth of Scripture that is used, but we see as well the wisdom of Scripture, how it's used wisely. What he says, when he says it, why he says it, and at times what he omits in the quotation in the citation from the wisely omitting certain things, not that he's playing with Scripture, but certain things are being omitted because it's not applicable to these particular believers at this point in time.

So we'll look at that. I think our brother William mentioned to us this morning different pairs that are found in chapter 9, the potter and so forth. But let me just mention some pairs that are found in this chapter.

Some things that go together. There are, first of all, two charges. There was a refusal to submit and a refusal to believe.

Always remember, it's not a case that men can't believe. Men won't believe. That's pictured for us, isn't it, in Thomas.

Unless I see, I will not believe. It's not a matter of he couldn't. I won't.

I refuse to. It's got to be on my terms. And so here, the apostle says, they will not believe.

So we see their stubbornness there, refusal to submit, refusal to believe. Two conditions that are marked before us, we've mentioned them already, ignorance and stubbornness. Two contrasts, or a contrast of two things, a righteousness which springs out of a law and a righteousness which springs out of faith.

The by faith righteousness and the by law righteousness that they were seeking to attain to. The chapter reminds us of two great certainties. Christ came and Christ rose.

The very bedrock of all of our faith and our salvation. He came, he revealed God, and it took Calvary to reveal God in all of his fullness. And he rose from the dead.

God's confirmation, his assurance of completed work. Mentioned two components, faith in the heart, belief with the mouth, rather, belief in the heart, confession with the mouth. He reminds us also of two challenges.

Did they not hear? Did they not know, verse 19? And so we have these two things, and I think it's helpful. What our brother said this morning in his opening is most, most helpful, not just in these chapters, but throughout Romans. Paul is almost arguing as a lawyer.

He's in the courtroom. And he's anticipating what is going to be raised as an objection. And ever been in a courtroom, you know what it's like.

The different plaintiff's attorney and the prosecution, so forth, jockeying back and forth. And as something is said, one will raise an objection. And the judge has to make a decision about it.

Paul is anticipating every objection along the way to what he is saying. And as we were reminded, having had that same mentality once before conversion, he knew exactly how they thought. And so he would know what they would object to.

And so he brings that to us in these verses 18 and 19, thinking of their objections. And he reminds us concerning that. And then finally, there at the end of the letter, rather at the end of the chapter, two citations from Isaiah.

I was found of them that sought me not, and I was made manifest to them that asked not after me. And again, all day long have I stretched forth my hands. So just an overview then.

And then very quickly, noticing from the first four verses, the stumbling of Israel explained. Why was it they stumbled? We were reminded, actually, the end of chapter 9 brings before us three great themes that will be developed in chapter 10. Their stumbling, the fact that there is the availability of the gospel to all, and then the blessing upon the Gentiles.

And that will all be dealt with in this chapter. So he reminds us in chapter number 10, the first four verses, the stumbling of Israel explain why did they stumble? And we'll see the reason for that. And then salvation by faith is being established in verses 5 to 11, a by faith salvation that Paul is going to defend and going to show from their scriptures, from the Old Testament scriptures itself.

Verses 12 to 17 will give us the scope, the scope of salvation that is expressed. And we will look at the scriptures he uses there. And we were reminded already of that tremendous verse.

There is no difference between Jew and Greek. And so the gospel is available to all. And then verses 18 to 21, we will see something of the stubbornness of unbelief that Israel has exhibited, their unwillingness to believe despite all that God has done.

And we'll look at some of the things that God has done there. So that is a very, very rapid overview. In light of our time, we have about an hour still for discussion and looking at the first four verses.

Then the stumbling of Israel explained three things here. We have Paul's intense desire, my heart's desire and my supplication to God for Israel. So we have the intensity of his desire.

We have the ignorance of the nation, they being ignorant of God's righteousness. And we'll look to our brethren to help us what that is that they were ignorant of actually and what they rejected, they being ignorant of God's righteousness. So we have the nation's ignorance.

And then we have Christ as the issue, the end, the object of the law. And again, that will raise some discussion exactly what that means for us. So we'll try to go through this chapter in an orderly fashion.

We have to keep our eye on the clock and try to cover at least in some measure all that is here. And we'll begin at verse one, unless some of our brethren have a general comment about the chapter, a general comment about the theme of it. And then we'll move on to verse number one and consider this first section, the first four verses.

Would you agree, Brother Higgins, that the prayer that he had in the earnest of it, and it's the word that is used, as you know, is his good pleasure, resulted in three things that he would, first of all, be praying for those that were perishing. Secondly, that there would be the setting forth of the gospel in its absolute fullness and also was a gospel to whosoever will. Yes, very good.

Our brother has drawn our attention to Paul's prayer and then the effect it would have upon his preaching and upon his life. Paul anticipating in verse one that there were maybe those that would detract from his teaching by saying that he had turned his back on Israel, as he is showing here his true heart that's beating for them, that they might be saved. Some have accused Paul of being an anti-Semite, but certainly he's showing us in these chapters his intense longing to see his people reached and saved by the gospel of the grace of God.

Would you agree, Brother Sandy, that the Spirit of God emphasizes the whole man when it comes to the heart? Because he says the same thing down in verse 10, believing in thy heart. So this was Paul's wholehearted desire, body, soul, and spirit, his desire. So the truth of the sovereignty of God of chapter 9 did not lessen his responsibility to pray in chapter 10 with all of his being for the salvation of souls.

So never let us get those two things confused. The responsibility to pray, the responsibility to preach is there. The sovereignty is God's side.

This is our responsibility, the prayer and the preaching. Jim, were you going to say something? I was just going to say we'd be looking more at the individual in view in his heart's exercise here, rather than the nation as a whole, as we had in chapter 10, chapter 9. Yeah, sir, I agree with you. Certainly, we're still going to be looking at nations, but unbelief is individual.

Yes. Okay, rejection is individual. It's never a matter of the whole nation.

The nation has rejected Christ, or the nation is, yes, in a sense the nation did, but still rejection is an individual issue that each one faces. So what we're looking at here is individual. The individual.

Paul isn't satisfied to know that one day all Israel would be saved. Yes. He wanted them to be saved now.

Right. Paul has the emphasis upon the spiritual aspect of things. Israel at this time was still occupied by a foreign power.

Yet we don't find him agitating against political powers or getting involved in politics, but rather his emphasis and focus was on the spread of the gospel and the salvation of the people. Paul could speak from personal testimony. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

That's what marked Paul for so many years, this zeal, but without knowledge of Christ. And then he comes to verse 3, as to their ignorance. They, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to God's righteousness.

So could we have some help on what exactly is the righteousness of God in this verse that they did not submit themselves to? It appears it's associated in chapter 3 with justification by faith, by believing in God so only we can be justified. They were trying through works. That was a lack of knowledge.

The word there is full knowledge. And they were totally ignorant of God's purposes. His righteousness was seen in his method of salvation and justifying men through faith.

Would you allow also that what's in view here is Christ in his display, that they had not submitted themselves to that? They had rejected him, sought to establish their own external righteousness, a wholly different standard. Would you see two characters of righteousness here then, brother? God's own righteousness and the righteousness which is through faith? Yes. Good.

Yes, verse number 2. It seems that Paul was affected in one way or another by this zeal, on the one hand, the ignorance on the other. And that's the reason for his, on the one hand, delight, then his prayer. For.

So it's one of the reasons, his driving force for the prayer, even the delight that it might be possible. And what a shame, is what I take it, that there was the zeal, which he manifest himself at the same time. And there was the ignorance, although they claim to know.

And here indeed is driving him. That's the reason for his prayer. But two things can be wrong.

They can have zeal without knowledge. The other problem is knowledge without zeal. So you have to have the balance.

For I bear the record, Paul himself was a witness of that. He was full of zeal, persecuting the church of God. It wasn't according to knowledge.

Yeah. And isn't this knowledge here, Dr. Sandy, a knowledge by experience coming to an understanding? Different from general knowledge. This is a full knowledge.

Epic, full knowledge. Yeah. It's interesting, just the words that Paul uses.

Going about to establish means to have a standing. Paul says they should have just bowed. He uses those words to just give a word picture.

They're going about to have a standing before God, and they have not submitted or bowed themselves down to God's standard. And this is a reminder that this is the problem that humanity has, not just Israel. This is humanity's problem, to recognize how far short we fall.

So chapter three, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the expression of God in Christ. And we've all fallen short of that by nature, and many refuse to bow to that. Here, they refuse to bow to God's standard of righteousness.

Would you consider their ignorance, brother, the fruit of their rejection of the person of Christ in this passage, as you have in verse four? For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Certainly, that was involved in their ignorance and is what then led to their judicial blindness. Now, isn't he saying to Dr. Sandy, you can go ahead.

You're a good friend of mine, I know that. Establishing doesn't have the idea that they were boasting. In other words, this is our monument to our attainment.

This is what we have done. You Gentiles don't know anything about this. I think we see that, don't we, in the Pharisees throughout the Gospels.

Their pride in an external righteousness that they had established as a standard and sought to measure up to their own standard, their own yardstick, and had failed to recognize God's righteousness. For them to assume or entertain the thought that they could achieve righteousness before God was actually bringing God's standard down to man's level. And so they were bringing God's standard of righteousness into disrepute.

Very good. I don't think we move far, can we, from Deuteronomy chapter 30 really when we're considering this, aren't we? Because Moses has to bear record against Israel that day because of their lack of faith, their own efforts were not going to take them into that land. The result, they'll perish.

Paul here on the other side prays for them that the grace of God will prevail, that they will submit themselves to that. Just for the sake of others, in case you didn't hear our brother, the background of what we're going to look at in the very next group of verses, verses 5 down to verse 9 is Deuteronomy chapter 30. Moses looking back upon the failure of the children of Israel, he is about to leave them and he is recounting their failure and the fact that because of unbelief a generation did not enter in and now that God by mercy and grace was going to bring them in and so on.

And there's other links that we'll come to. Can you help us on verse 4? Christ is the end or the terminus of the law. Okay.

Difficult issue here. There are two ways this can be looked at. Christ is the object to which the law was always pointing and Christ was the termination or the end of the law in the sense that he brought the idea of a righteousness by law keeping to an end.

Now, both things are true. In this particular section, I would take it that it is the idea Christ has brought righteousness, any idea of righteousness by law keeping to an end because it adds this expression to them that believe. Now, for the sake of young believers, Christ did not cancel the law.

He fulfilled it. The law is not dead. We died to the law.

The law is not dead. For the Jew, the law was a commandment. To the Gentile, the law was a matter of conscience.

To the Christian, the law is a matter of living consistent. Our lives should be consistent with this righteous standard that God has expressed in his law. But it is not our rule of life.

It is not how we bear fruit by assiduously trying to keep the commandments. So Christ terminated, he brought to an end the idea that righteousness could possibly be attained by law keeping. And now, John, did you have some other thought on that? No, I accept it.

I take it that the qualifying statement that you've mentioned for righteousness qualifies. To them that believe. Yeah.

Okay. I take it as well. Now that we've gone forever.

I take it that if we turn the opposite way around here, we know that the proper purpose of the law, the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So this is the law used improperly. Okay.

Because of ignorance. Right. And thinking that they could establish their own righteousness by it.

Jim. Just thinking that the fact that the definite article is missing here in this place. Is it not even broader than that, that law of any kind, so that it would include both Jew and Gentile.

It's not the law that's being brought to an end. It's law as a principle of righteousness before God. Okay, very good.

Chapter seven. Chapter three. By the deeds of law.

Amen. Show no flesh to justify. Chapter seven.

He makes the point that the law is holy, just and good. But I am carnal. Israel hadn't come to that yet.

But the only ones who can experience, enjoy this are those who believe. And to us who believe. There has to be the acceptance of what Christ has done to come into the good of it.

Otherwise you're continuing your ignorance, depending on the law. Doing the works of the law to no avail. Very good.

The thing that I would emphasize, Brother Higgins, and I know you know this, and so do some of our brethren, that in the book of Romans especially, you have to look carefully to see whether a noun is articular, whether it's got the article, or whether it's anarthrous, whether it's without it. Because sometimes within the same verse, you have law with an article, and sometimes law without. And if you don't make that distinction, then the theology becomes blurred.

And I think Newbery Bible helps that, because he puts a sign beside a definite article that helps clear that issue up. Do anyone have a comment from the audience? We don't want to just monopolize it. So before we go on to the next section, any of our brethren have a comment or question? Okay, you've had your chance.

Verse 5 now. We'll look at this next section. Salvation by faith established.

So verse 5 is the demand of the law. Verses 6 to 8 is the declaration of the gospel. When he gets down further in the chapter, we have written in the section, the description of the word of faith, and then the dependability of the scripture in verse number 11.

So he brings these things before us. And again, our brother McCandless has brought us to the background when these words were spoken. It is on the border of the promised land.

It is Moses looking back on the history of unbelief of the nation, reminding him of their failure, reminding them that he was now leaving, God was going to bring them in. They had failed to obey the word of God. It was available.

The great thing in chapter 30 of Exodus is the availability of the word of God to them. You don't have to go across the sea to get it. You don't have to go into the abyss to bring it up.

The word of God is available to you to obey. Now, Paul is going to take that scripture and that scenario, if you will, and now apply it to Christ. You need not bring him down from above.

He has come. You need not bring him up from the grave. He has risen.

And so he is bringing us to the finality of the work and the absolute dependability of the word of God concerning it. So he reminds us in verse 5 that if you are going to try to have a by works righteousness, then you have to live in it. That has to be your life consistent.

Whereas the righteousness which of faith speaks on this wise. Now, can we get some help on these difficult verses and their setting and their application to the people to whom he is writing? Brother Higgins, before you go further, just on the latter part of verse 5, who's this man that he's referring to? Who is this man? The man which doeth these things shall live by them. Some, I don't know if you're going here, some have suggested this is Christ, that he lived in it and he perfectly completed it.

But I think in the context, in the flow of thought, it is just any man. If he is going to develop a righteousness, which is by living by law, then he has to consistently live in it fully. You okay with that? Yeah, there's no man though that really could do that.

There's only one man. Only one man, right. It is interesting.

If you take the story of the rich young ruler who comes running to the Lord Jesus Christ, what can I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord Jesus gives him part of the law, doesn't he? He recites for him the issues relative to man's relationship to man. Look at how deftly, how deftly the Lord Jesus Christ shows him his failure in both parts of the law. Number one, you really love your neighbor as yourself? That's the summation of the manward side of the law.

Then he says, give all that you have, sell all that you have, give to the poor. And he goes away sad because he has great riches. What about the first part of the law? The Lord Jesus doesn't even mention loving the Lord your God with all your heart.

That's the follow me. No one had a right to ask anyone to follow anyone but God in the Old Testament. When the Lord Jesus said, follow me, he was testing, do you really love the Lord your God with all your heart? So he absolutely clears the deck and sweeps the ground out from under this man.

You failed in the first part of the law. You failed in the second part of the law. And you said you've kept it all from your youth up.

And the truth is you've kept none of it. So how deftly he deals with a man who is coming with a hope that by works, I can attain righteousness. Shows him he can't do it.

The impossibility. A brother, Sandy, allow me to read what Murray was referring to from what Moses quoted from. And it says this, keep my statues and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them.

So it's any man, if a man do. I think that's. Yeah, yeah, I think we all agree with that.

Mr. Blueberry keeps his all straight because he says the man is Christ. So if that helps you a bit. Oh, Mr. Blueberry.

Okay. Now it certainly is lovely to think of the Lord Jesus as the only man that ever loved the Lord his God with all his heart. It was a challenge to there's no doubt.

He was challenging the man this point. And yeah, nobody could do it. Yeah, but Christ did.

Very good. And it's important, I think, as you say, the alternative translation shall live in them. We have in Romans two.

It's not the hearers of the law are just before God. The doers of the law shall be justified. God will proclaim righteous.

There was such a person. He proclaiming righteous, but they don't exist. So instead of the principle of a righteous standing before God being achieved by performance under the law, the opposite of that or over against that in verse six, you have the language of faith.

But he puts it in a negative way. Faith doesn't speak this way. Who shall ascend? Who shall descend? So what is your thought from that? The fact that it does not speak, that it's speaking in a negative way.

Is it not to emphasize the fact that faith will grasp onto Christ as the source of being righteous with God? Right. The availability of Christ, that he is totally available to those who would seek to have him. So we have the thought of coming down from above.

Christ has come down. No need to ascend into heaven to bring Christ down. God has fully revealed himself in Christ.

God has nothing more really to say to the human family. He has said everything he can in Christ. That's right.

He is the final word. He is the alpha and omega. He's the alphabet.

He is the word. He's the message. He is God's language.

Hebrews chapter 1, God speak in son. So he is God's language, God's alphabet, God's message. The totality of God is revealed in Christ.

So are we learning here that there are absolutely no obstacles now to righteousness by faith? Every obstacle has been overcome in the person of the Lord Jesus. Very good. Excellent.

Yes. Israel as a nation today do not see that. They're still talking in terms of who can ascend and who shall descend.

They don't recognize that man as they talk about. Now, it is helpful to remember that Paul is not saying that this fulfills that. He's not saying that Deuteronomy 30 is being fulfilled by Christ.

He's just taking the principle of Deuteronomy 30 that to a people who are seeking to enter into God's rest, although he's not using that line, people seeking to enter into God's rest, everything was available for them in the word of God. The word of God was available to them. They needn't go over the sea to find it or go into the abyss to find it.

It was right there in their hands, in their mouth. Now, Paul says just like that, Christ is available to men today. He has come and he has risen and he is available to men as well today.

And our brother has reminded us there are no barriers now to a by faith, righteousness by faith salvation because of the availability of Christ. In very simple terms, faith recognizes that Christ is alive today. He who died is risen up from among the dead and that's what faith accepts.

Very good. Brother Sandy, a little help on verse 7, the one that came down. Now, he descends into the deep.

There's been discrepancy as what does the deep indicate? Is that the abode of the dead or is it something else? Well, I think the clause explains it. That is to bring up Christ from the dead. The heavens for height, the earth for depth.

So I think that the depths of the earth was Joseph's tomb. And I think when he went into death and into the tomb, he was in the depths of the earth. So I don't think this is the idea that Christ was in the abyss or in hell and he was raised out of that.

I think this is rather the thought he went into death and resurrection power brought him up out of the dead as confirmation that the revelation is complete. But the dead is a plural word. Okay, among the dead ones.

From among the dead ones. That's more than the grave. Oh, okay.

I see what you're saying. Yeah. So I think we need to just stop for a moment and key on the power of resurrection, which is set over against the power of Rome.

That the resurrection is a theme found throughout this Roman epistle. Of course, we're all familiar with chapter 6. Raised from the dead by the glory of the father. We also are raised to walk in newness of life, a light figure and so on.

He begins in chapter 1 declared to be the son of God by the resurrection of the dead. And I know there's differences there in chapter 1. But nevertheless, chapter 4. Delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification. Chapter 5. We have the thought of we are saved by his life.

Chapter 6. We have resurrection. Chapter 8. Chapter 8. Resurrection here in chapter 10. Chapter 14.

For this cause, Christ both died, rose and revived that he might be Lord and so on. So Paul is going to bring resurrection before these believers as God's great apologetic for living. Well, for salvation here, but also for Christian living in every sphere.

The law had a power. Had the power to bring a man that was living into death. Yeah.

But it couldn't reverse that process. But Christ went into death and came out in the power of an insoluble life. And he can dispense life to all that believe in him.

Can I ask you, Brother Sandy, on verse number 8 there? The word is 98. Can you help us just with that particular word used for word? Spoken word? Yeah. Okay.

Again, without becoming too technical, two different words used in our New Testament, for the most part, for the idea of word. There is the Logos that we are very familiar with. John 1 in the beginning was the word, the Logos.

This word suggests more a spoken word, a preached word, a proclaimed word that men hear. And so he is saying that that word is neither. Now, of course, we have it enshrined in the word of God for us, but it is still the idea of the preached word that was available to them.

And that's what he's going to come to as he progresses in his argument. Well, did we hear the preached word? And that's what is going to follow in these verses. I take it that's what he means when he says that is the word of faith.

So out of the totality of the word of God, there is specific words which God will give for them to lay hold on by faith. But doesn't he say something different at the end of the verse, the word of faith? Not a different idea. It's more of a legal term.

Go ahead and develop that because I'm not quite sure. In other words, the first one is the spoken word, as you've said, and then the word of faith. Faith backs up what the spoken word indicates.

It's absolutely concrete. Okay. It's still the spoken word.

It's still the same word, yeah. Isn't that the contrast between them striving for the righteousness of the law and believing a word that they already had? So their ignorance is really in relation to the fact that they bypassed the word by introducing their own works. So who is he speaking to here now? Who's to confess with their mouth, Jesus is Lord.

Okay. Very good question. This is truth relative to salvation for all, but I think he especially has Jews in mind.

Okay. If thou shall confess with thy mouth, Jesus as Lord, that would be the ultimate confession for a Jew to make. Then Jesus is Lord.

And believe in your heart that God raised him. You mean we were wrong? We put him to death and God raised him to tell us we were wrong? I mean, that would be his conversion, wouldn't it? That would be the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. Who art thou Lord? And I am Jesus.

And he would realize a risen living man. So while we don't want to limit this verse in its preaching just to Jews, I think he's speaking primarily to Jews here in its context. That confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord.

Believe God has raised him from the dead. You'll be saved. That's why I think then the emphasis upon confession being made with the mouth.

Had you another thought? No, just to stress, especially young brethren, that when you're trying to understand the scriptures, sometimes there's an application that because of our usage, we've made it the interpretation. Am I right, John? But you have to go by context. And the context is Israel as a nation.

Really, that's what it is. That's what we're told this morning. We're in Israel as a nation.

We deal with individuals on certain things. But primarily, we have got the teaching, the application we can use in the gospel. But remember what the teaching is.

That's important. The word of faith that we preach, hasn't he told us already what that is in the epistle? Chapter one. I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at home also.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Well, is this not the theological explanation of Acts 9 of Paul's own conversion? Yes, very good. Can you help us on the emphasis? First of all, if thou shalt confess, and then the reversal of it there in verse number 10, why is confession second in verse 10, but it's first in verse 9? Okay, one is, okay, our brother just to reiterate again what he has said.

In verse number 9, the confession comes first, belief in the heart second. That is what is seen, or I should say that is the outward display. What we have in verse 10 is the experience.

Belief first and then confession. But again, if we keep in mind, he is applying this especially to Jews. They had to confess with their mouth first.

In the sense of expressing it before others, I would take it. And then that would give evidence of the belief that was in the heart. But we emphasize verse 9 has brought us down to the individual that if thou, yes, we should just emphasize the younger ones in the authorized beautifully, we can distinguish between the singular and plural in second person.

And it's thou, the singular, you and ye is plural. So here it's brought it right down. And brother's right, it's about the nation.

But here it's individual faith. Yes. In everyday language, you don't confess to anything you haven't done, right? You've done it first, then you confess it.

And so the belief is in the heart and then it's expressed by the mouth. So you don't see the confession here in verse 9 as to a Godward side of things. Some have suggested the confession here is Godward.

And then in verse number 10, it's the manward aspect. I hadn't thought of it, but I had wondered if that wasn't what was behind it. That primarily, I could see it through confessing first to God.

Jesus is Lord. OK, so there must be a confession of lordship before there can be a confession of salvation. Could you help me now? That's a very good thing.

I want you to just emphasize that for a moment. About 10 years ago, there was this huge movement in evangelical circles about lordship gospel. And some said, you don't have to preach lordship.

Just accept Jesus into your heart. What is the idea of recognizing lordship claims in salvation? You men all deal with souls. So can we have some help from those of you who labor in the gospel? Well, first of all, we recognize that the first confession that's being made is that he is a living Lord.

And then resurrection, of course, is the basis for his exaltation. Therefore, as Lord, all the offices he fulfills comes from the exaltation of him as Lord. So you cannot make a confession of salvation through Jesus the Nazarene.

You cannot make a confession of salvation through Jesus the carpenter, as we read so often. He is Lord. And in resurrection glory, he therefore is sovereign in the one who is giving the assurance of salvation through faith in him.

But there's many, Sandy, that have come to a knowledge of sins forgiven. Christ has died for me. But at some time before they recognize that he's Lord should be Lord of my life.

That's the application of it. Well, could I make a distinction? Just this is not quibbling that a person may not consciously think of Christ as Lord. But the moment they get saved, they are willing to do anything and take any place that God will give them.

They recognize him as Lord in that way. It's not the idea. Well, I'm going to keep some of my bad habits, but I'll just take Christ as well.

They are willing. I mean, if there's any moment in your life that you genuinely are honest with God, it's the moment of conversion. It may be very brief for most of us, but I mean, that's when you're honest with God in the ultimate.

But what I'm saying, Sandy, there's many that don't learn what his desire is that I own his Lordship. Sure. No, I know.

I know what you're saying. Mark, I think Brother Beatty raised a very important point, and that is this, that the apostle is speaking from his own experience, isn't he here? Who art thou, Lord? Before he says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Yeah, see, I think the Greek word, as you know, for Lord can mean Sir or Lord, and you can't distinguish it except in context. But my own feeling is when Paul heard the voice, Saul of Tarsus, he said, Who art thou, Sir, like there wasn't a recognition.

When the voice came back, I am Jesus, two things happened. He recognized he had been raised from the dead because he knew he had died. And this is what it's saying in that verse.

And also, he had raised from the dead. He is Lord. And so when the second time he says it, I believe that Paul is saying, Who art thou, Lord, or Lord, rather, what wilt thou have me to do? Because the moment of recognizing recognition turned him to recognize Lordship.

Same experience. Jim, I think that it's wise to recognize as well, like even when you're mentioning in chapter three, there's two justifications in chapter three. God must be justified.

And then the sinner can be justified. So the in repentance, it really is an acknowledgment. He is Lord.

We repent, we turn from ourself and our sin with hatred of it, with desire for salvation. So God is justified in our confession of Lordship. To recognize that Christ died for me, that justifies God because he has paid all of God's justice demanded.

But God's, let me put it this way, brother. You didn't get saved until you agreed with God that he was righteous in condemning you. That's the first part.

Then he declares you righteous through the work of Christ. I think he's got it all right. Repentance towards God.

Amen. The word Lord means owner, master. We have a little saying in Scotland.

I never hear it much over here. If he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. You know, that just makes me bow my head.

If he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. Wow. Owner, master, proprietor.

Can I ask you, brother? No, tell, speak, don't ask. The fact of the resurrection here, it's much more than just a historical fact. Isn't that what's being brought in the context? What is it? It's the fact that God has raised him from the dead.

God's claims have been satisfied in this person who has been raised from the dead, who now is exalted to God's right hand. Right. And it would be the vindication, the reversal of the nation's verdict.

God reversed the nation's verdict in raising his son. Interesting, while God raised his son, we're reminded that Christ raised himself. Amen.

Now, think of that for just a moment. Christ showed his power over death on five occasions, right? He raised the widow's son. He raised Jairus's daughter.

He raised Lazarus. Okay. Number four, he gave up his own life.

He had control over his life. But the fifth is the most amazing. That in death, he had power over death and raised himself out of death.

I mean, that is the ultimate power of the spirit. Yeah. I mean, that's to think that in death, he still had power over death.

My faith is in that man. Yeah. That's the secret here.

So the tremendous truth of resurrection that our brother has reminded us of. Amen. So coming now, if we need to, for the sake of time, verse 11, for the scripture sayeth, again, we have this quotation from Isaiah 28, whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame.

And this is setting up the, on the one hand, this is going to look back, the absolute assurance that faith is the means of justification of a righteous standing with God, looking back. But it was all going to introduce us to the next section, whosoever, and the scope now of the gospel going out to all men, whosoever believeth, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, as we'll see in verse 13. So now we'll come to this next section as we try to respect the time and look at verses 12 to 17 and the scope of salvation.

So we have the offer to everyone. We have the obligation to preach the gospel. We have the obedience that is demanded.

They have not all obeyed. We have the offer going out to, or the order then being seen, faith by hearing, hearing by a word from God and so on. That is vital for us to notice.

So if we could have some help now on these verses, beginning in verse number 12 and proceeding to verse 17 for about 10 minutes or so. One second, brother. Can I interject? I like the translation that Phillips J.B. Phillips gives better than ashamed shall not be disappointed.

Okay. Very good. Sorry.

No, that's very good. Not disappointed in what brother? In any way in him, uh, it must be more detailed than that. So is this to do with the fact like Paul emphasizes in Corinthians 15, we're dealing not with a dead Christ.

We're dealing with one who is alive and we will not be disappointed. We'll never be put to shame. So God, it's lovely.

See, as in brother Sandy, that God doesn't make salvation distant. It's near at hand. Okay.

Then he goes on to tell us he doesn't make it difficult. We're the ones that make it difficult. Then he goes further.

That says it's not disappointing. It'll not be ashamed. Very good.

And then says there's no difference either. And we've got three fours coming up. Okay.

Three fours. That's three fours. Why don't you take us to those? Go ahead.

Well, verse 12 for there's no difference that, that we started off verse 11 with the whosoever or the everyone. Yeah. And that is everyone.

No difference between Jew and Gentile as there had been previous. Sorry. Jew and Greek.

Sorry. This is interesting. The Greek often is a thinking person.

And the person rather, I mean, he's a Gentile, obviously, but he's more often than a thinking person. The Jew requires, indeed. Science.

Science. Jew requires science. The Greek, except wisdom.

So here's the person who's thinking about it, maybe as well, a little different. And it's the, the same Lord, as it says, for the reason for this. Why is there no difference? For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Well, they've just done earlier. Then verse 14, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's why, and that's the reason for verse, uh, latter verse, latter part of verse 12, rich unto all that call upon him.

And that's the richness. It's salvation. So that quotation from Joel chapter two in verse 13, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved in the context of Joel, it's deliverance from the great and terrible day of the Lord.

So it's deliberate deliverance from tribulation, Ross, those that will enter into the millennium. Interesting that that dispensational view of things is quoted here for the gospel today. Again, I think it's, Paul is simply taking a principle that God is available to all that call upon him.

And he's not saying that this fulfills Joel. He's just saying, here's a principle from your scriptures, the old Testament, and God is a God available to everyone who calls upon him. There was a well-known Baptist clergyman in Ireland that preached this verse nearly every time he preached and hundreds of people professed to be saved.

They claimed to have called on the name of the Lord, but I had thought this was those who knew him calling upon him. I think here in this, it is also, I think going back to verse nine, yeah, confessing with your mouth, Jesus is Lord calling upon the Lord. I mean, it's far more involved than just say, I'm going to call upon the Lord to save me.

Yeah. But I think I know what you're saying. No, we need to be clear as to what we're dealing with here.

Okay. So we have then our brother has brought us to verse 12 and 13. No difference.

The same Lord is overall as rich unto all and no possibility of, and then verse 13, rather, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, what salvation is this then? In light of what our brother Eric was saying, what are we talking about? If this is not an unsaved person, what salvation is it? Well, I was thinking of what Paul says when he writes to the Romans, uh, the Colossians Corinthians is chapter one. Yeah.

Every one of you, every one of you, those that call upon him, he's available. What had you brother Duncan in mind? What are we saved from? I'm asking a question. What are we saved from? Because that's what we know what, how salvation is affecting the Christian.

Not only safe from the penalty of sin were saved from the power of sin and finally the presence of sin. So what are we speaking about here? I don't think this verse is telling us about a way to be saved. I think he is just taking a principle from the old Testament of the availability of God to all that call upon him.

And he is applying it here to these believers, to these Jewish people. And that salvation is available to Jew and Gentile alike. I wonder if it doesn't make him the statement that the Lord is the savior.

They had called upon the name of the Lord. He is their salvation. Not so much the experience of salvation as it is the fact of it in the person of Christ.

The teaching is that God's going to be rich to all that call upon him. You have at your, your resources, all that God has for you to call upon him. So it has to be something has to be something to do with my Christian life.

That's what I'm going to enjoy divine persons. That's. And so using the word saved as we use it, there's got to be something to do with the power of sin and the presence of God.

Okay. Then he comes then to anticipating the objection of the Jewish mind. How shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe when they have not heard? So now we have before us the, an apologetic for preaching the gospel from verses 14 on.

So we'll look at verses 14 and 15 for a minute and consider them together. The value of the preaching of the gospel. I noticed that Mr. Mr. Vine points out that the word off believe in him off whom he takes that out, believe in him whom they have sent.

And he suggests that the preacher is the instrument of the voice of Christ. So what he's saying really is that you are listening to the preaching of the gospel. You're listening to Christ too often.

We'll look at a man, you know, it's done. Sire speaking just what he says. If he's using the word of God as his guide, he's really the voice of Christ.

Second Corinthians chapter six, isn't it? We beseech you in Christ's name be reconciled to God. So that is maybe a very useful thing for the sake of younger men preaching the gospel to always keep in mind when you stand on an assembly platform. This is the public heralding of the gospel that is in view here.

You are actually representing Christ. Amen. Tremendous thing to think of representing Christ of all the dignity.

And all of the significance of speaking for him and representing him should be in our minds as we handle divine things. Number of years ago, there was a movement that we should use language that the people use. And brethren started using gutter language.

Brethren, my Lord is dignified and he never used gutter language. And there's nowhere in the word of God I'm encouraged to do it. Keep to your Bible.

Keep to proper language of the culture you're in. Be respectful and maintain the dignity of the gospel. Yeah.

Murray. Yeah. Just to add to what you said.

And I understand that to any assembly platform, but any gospel platform, even if it isn't in that gospel hall or such as we know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Whenever you're... What do you think, Sandy? He's indicating here there must be a definite call. Them that are sent. How? Except they be sent.

And then regarding the beautiful feet. It has nothing to do with washing the feet. It is the idea of an individual who's suitable for the message he carries.

Can you help us in that regard? Why is it he changes the quotation here? Because he makes it plural here, as you know, from Isaiah 52. It's how beautiful are the feet of him. He makes it the feet of them.

And can you help us with the fact that he leaves out the mountains? Okay. He leaves out the mountains. Yeah.

Okay. So Paul, wisely guided by the spirit of God, has changed and has also omitted something from this verse. Now, just so we're clear about this, and no one thinks that we're giving Paul a license.

The spirit of God, who is the author of the word of God, has full liberty to use the word of God and to add, omit, and so on as he sees fit for the particular need of the people. We don't. The spirit of God does.

Yeah. Upon the mountains, because that would suggest the coming day of millennial reign and the subduing of the nations of the earth, which is, I think, as we would see, this verse really is used three times, twice in the Old Testament, once here, back in the book of Nahum. It's used about God's judgment upon Israel's foes.

It's used in Isaiah about the fact that there is coming deliverance and a future blessing. Here it is the gospel. And it is now not so much upon the mountains in the sense of governments being subdued to Christ, but it is the gospel of the grace of God going out to the nations that bring salvation.

Could I also suggest that in the context, the mountains may present an obstacle. In the context, he said there's no obstacle. Very good.

That's right. That's excellent. Good.

Something that's very simple. And the question is, it's singular in Isaiah 52, but now it's plural. What takes it from the singular to the plural? You do.

You make the plural. But it's interesting that in Isaiah 52, the next chapter is chapter 53, as we know, and the beautiful of the feet is the thought of the feet coming together. You've got that with a man reading from Isaiah 53 and the Ethiopian man and the evangelist, the feet coming together on that desert.

Very good. The emphasis is upon public proclamation too, isn't it, brother? The word for preaching and preach, it's really, it is the right thing. God's assembly should have lots of gospel meetings, preaching publicly the word of God.

What our brother has said is vital because we are moving into more and more an age of people being entertained. And the idea of public preaching is foreign more and more. Satan is masterfully preparing people for not liking the message of the gospel, but not even liking the idea of preaching.

To sit for a half hour and listen to somebody preach. Their attention spans are about 10 minutes. If you're not entertaining them, they're lost.

So the tendency might be to think we've got to find some other methods. Word of God is clear. This word that our brother has reminded us about preaching, I won't bother with the Greek, but it's 53 times.

It's the public heralding of the gospel, publicly heralding it, not just conversing or gossiping it or coffee shopping it. And there's nothing wrong with having people in for coffee and discussing, but that's to prepare them for the proclamation of the gospel, which is, as we'll see, that's how faith comes. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So sitting under the preaching of the gospel is vital in terms of making men recognize the righteousness of God and the work of Christ and faith being developed. Now we'll talk about that in a few minutes. It's in the word here, more evangelized, whereas in verse 8 it's preached as a herald, Caruso.

Which one are you saying is evangelized? Oh, the good tidings. In verse 15. Yeah, the good tidings.

The two of them are preached the gospel of peace, evangelized and evangelized glad tidings. Yes. Whereas up in verse 8, it's the word proclaimed as a herald.

Yes. And I take it it's more than just preaching. This is why I'm bringing this up.

It's the spread. Evangelization is the spread of the gospel. It's not me standing up in West End Gospel Hall primarily and preaching the gospel.

It's taking the gospel, as many of you men do, and go from village to village, from door to door. You're evangelizing. And I make a distinction, and I think the Bible does, about preaching as a herald.

Simply that's the act of doing it in the work, the spread of the gospel. I think it's important, particularly, may I just emphasize it, Sandy, brother, for the younger brethren, because one thing is to play with the minds of people. Persuading the minds of people is not the proclamation of the gospel.

See, the proclamation of the gospel is going to demand a choice of faith or not. And so the point that's being made is that we are representing the Lord Jesus by proclaiming him. And in the proclamation of Christ in his gospel, then there is the work of conviction and faith.

Very good. As the herald, I take it, would speak of dignity and authority. Yes.

The one you represent. Yeah, and speak for. And that's here.

It's effectively, as it says, believe in him whom you have not heard. And so it's as if they are there for the Lord. Mm hmm.

So verse 16 and 17, we should come to. They have not all obeyed Isaias. He goes back to their own scriptures, Isaiah 53 and one.

Lord, who have believed our report? And then we have this very, very valuable verse. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the spoken word. This is, again, what our brother Meekin brought us to hearing by the spoken word of God.

Mm hmm. Now, what does that teach us about how souls respond to the gospel? What is faith? It's obedience. OK, he speaks about obedience.

They have not all obeyed. It's obedience to truth. There has to be a response to a revelation.

I think you emphasized that before, that it's not a fuzzy feeling. It is looking at what God says and accepting it. So faith is the soul's response to the word of God.

Really? So faith always has the word of God as its basis. So to take up what our brother Smith said for just a minute, and I may be guilty. Stories are nice.

They can be windows into into experience and windows into truth. But always remember, it's the word of God. It's the word of God that creates faith in the soul.

So our stories are helpful. Illustrations are helpful. But is the word of God in the end? Don't be, you know, I know modern evangelism will spend 15 minutes telling a story and painting it.

If your story is more than a minute, you're talking too much. Go to the word of God. Bring the word of God to bear upon the need of both sinners and saints, even in our ministry.

It's the word of God that will create faith in the saints in their lives. So that is vital to see here. Newly is helpful again on that who have believed our report.

So then faith cometh by our report and the report through the spoken word of God. So again, the content of what is being said is the word of God. I think it's important to to emphasize that we're not going to be encouraging people to have great faith, great faith.

It's the object of faith. That's the point to be made. Because often I know before I had Christ as my savior, I tried so hard to persuade God with a real strong faith and he wouldn't budge.

No wonder I was doing the wrong thing. I was occupied with myself. And so the exercise of even with dear believers, we do hear them say, oh, my faith is so small.

And you're looking within. Look away from self. That's what faith does.

Respond to the revelation of truth as given to us. Jim, I just got to underscore your point. They claim that Spurgeon said it's fine to use the window, but don't build a greenhouse.

I like the acrostic of the word faith. And until I find something simpler, I'll hang on to it. F-A-I-T-H, forsaking all, I trust him.

That's what faith is. Very good. And while we're looking at faith relative to salvation, young believers, read your Bible.

It's how faith develops in your life. Faith develops as you read the word of God, as God reveals himself. Faith develops in every aspect of Christian life.

So where are we? Where are we? Well, we should really come to the very last section in the four minutes. We have verses 18 to 21. He's going to move now from the thought of their ignorance and their blindness to their stubbornness.

And so he has two major questions in verses 18 and 19. Didn't they hear? Didn't they know? And he's going to remind them from verse 18 that they had heard. And we'll look at why he uses Psalm 19.

And indeed, they did know because as far back as Moses in Deuteronomy 32, Moses told them he was going to bring blessing to Gentiles. Now, the difficulty Israel had was this. They were happy to have blessing come to the Gentiles as long as the Gentiles became Jews.

OK, but the gospel was saying there's no difference. You're both unworthy and now you're both brought in on the same ground of grace. Not that the Gentile becomes a Jew or the Jew becomes a Gentile, but both of you become children of God and the past is not really where you're living in.

So that was the great difficulty they had there. They interpreted the scriptures through the lens of their prejudice, that Gentiles can be saved, but they've got to become Jews. And he's reminding them here that God was going to provoke them to jealousy by them that were not a people and a foolish nation.

Those that didn't seek me and I was manifest unto them that asked and so on. Now, can we have some help on those final verses in the just few moments that we have? It's nice, brother. Isn't how he brings it together before he concludes just the chapter verse because verse 18 really is the Psalms.

Verse 19, it is the law. Verse 20 is the prophets. So our brother has reminded us the entire testimony of the Old Testament.

The Psalms, the law and the prophets give witness to this, that God had made the truth of God available to his people, had told them, had made it known and they were rejecting it. Sorry. William, go first.

Go ahead. Okay. Psalm 19.

There are two voices. There's the voice of creation and that's what he quotes here. But then the second part of the Psalm, it also goes on to speak about the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.

So there's a voice of the scriptures. And that brings a universal aspect into it. So he's presenting from Psalm 19, the fact that it's reached every person.

So when he says the Gentiles were foolish, he's just saying they were spiritually unintelligent. Yeah. It's not the idea of folly.

It's the idea of those who were not aware of the truth of God. So he was found and he was manifest. So there's, again, the two sides of human responsibility and divine sovereignty.

God manifested himself. That's Isaiah 53 and one who have believed our report. And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? God revealing himself and man's responsibility to respond to that revelation by faith in the one who has been revealed.

It's interesting. He spoke about the result or the effect of the spoken word. And it goes into the Old Testament scriptures.

And as we've read from the Psalms, from the law and the prophets, he uses the word of God. You know, I sit and listen to ministry sometimes and I might hear two verses. He's on that because it's all human logic.

He does not use human logic. He's perfectly capable. He goes into the scriptures and uses what the Lord has said.

And I just encourage those who preach the gospel and who teach the scriptures, use the word of God. And yet in his use of the word of God, he is very logical. That's right.

Yes. He doesn't he doesn't defy logic. That's right.

But the word of God is what he uses as his logic. He uses it in its place. Someone said, was it of which? No, it was of the great American evangelist from Princeton.

It's George Edwards. Oh, who? Edwards. Jonathan Edwards.

Yeah. The Puritans referred to him as his preaching as logic on fire. So it was logic on fire.

That's Paul here in his handling of the scriptures from beginning along with Cotton Mather. Yeah. Well, OK.

Well, thank you, brethren, very much for all of your help and all of your contributions. And again, if someone would close with prayer and get back to refreshment and be back in approximately ten and a half minutes to begin the next session.