This is How What Happens (Romans 10:13-17)

Dive into the heart-stirring truths that ignite a passion for the gospel. Uncover the simplicity and urgency behind sharing the Good News of salvation and be empowered to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus in a world that desperately needs to hear it.

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Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 verses 13 to 17. And we’ll read it together in our study today.
We’re looking at a message titled I know this is gonna sound phonetically very off, grammatically very off, I should say, but the title is, this is how what happens.
This is how what happens, and we’re gonna be looking at that today.
I’ll read verse 13 if you’ll pick it up nice and loud in verse 14, and set the standard with your volume for 2nd and 3rd, because I love bragging about you guys.
I always have to tell 2nd and 3rd.
You know, first service is way louder than you guys, and then they get all uppity about it, and then they get loud, but you guys set the bar.
Verse 13. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things.
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?
So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Father, we pray today that we would hear the word of God.
God, that if our ears could have a heart, Lord, that that would be a perfect union, and if our heart could have ears.
May it be so within our very, very being of who we are.
May we hear what the spirit of God is saying to the church today.
We ask in Jesus name, and all God’s people said. Amen.
You may be seated, encouraging you today to keep in mind that what we hear matters, everybody.
What you hear, what you listen to matters, and Paul is now coming to this incredible push, strong push of gospel truth and why every 1 of us who name the name of Christ are to be involved in this great commission of advancing the gospel.
And I love the fact that corporations all around the world go through great great lengths.
They spend 1, 000, 000, 000 of dollars on marketing schemes, and they’ve got their brand they’ll call it.
They’ve got their logo, their jingle, their color, their whatever it is, uh, all over the world to try to promote their item or their corporation.
And then comes along the meek and mild church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have no icon, we have no logo, We have no marketing department.
And this has been the greatest running effect ever since the day of Pentecost in the world today, and that is the church.
Driven by God, empowered by God, bought by God. God is the marketer.
He doesn’t market anything on a table. He doesn’t market anything on the TV screen.
He markets what He does in the human heart. What God does is that He invades.
You cannot build up a standard against God to keep him out.
If God is coming after you, he’ll just knock the wall right down.
The wall of pain, the wall of disappointment and sorrow, the wall of setbacks, or the wall of pride.
Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock.
And if anyone will open up that door, I will come in and dine, or sup, with them.
And that sup in the Middle East is awesome. We’ve talked about it before. To sup, SUP.
And, I have to define this in California. It’s not stand up paddle. It’s eat.
And in the Middle East, when you eat with somebody, they take it very seriously that the bread that you’re breaking off the loaf and eating, they believe that the bread they’re eating is the same bread you’re eating, and that by eating the same bread you become 1.
The same drink that you pass around the table, they believe that you become 1.
And today the church, seemingly is being bruised and battered and beaten, don’t let that discourage you.
I don’t think so. With all the negative news of what is called the church today, I believe is in fact not the church at all.
I think there’s knock offs like any product that’s good has a knock off.
Listen, my poor wife, Lisa, she’s got a a, uh, a what’s it called? Twitter? What did Twitter become?
X. Lisa’s got an X page with over 5, 000 followers. Did you know that?
She just found that out the other day.
There’s somebody impersonating her, writing all kinds of stuff.
She’s got over 5, 000 followers, and it’s not even her.
And, uh, wherever there’s the truth, there’s gonna be the fake.
And right now we see in the church around the world all kinds of fake stuff going on in the name of Christianity.
Don’t you believe it? God’s truth goes marching on.
In Romans chapter 10 verses 13 to 17 is a great and powerful point to all of this.
We left off and we segue into it.
It’s it’s both the ending of our last message together, and it’s the beginning of this message.
That’s why you see it in your notes as being duplicated. And we talked about this last time.
And that is at the end of verse 13, which is actually the verse we begin with again, but it is the fact that in verse 13, it says, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And this promise, whoever calls on the Lord is a now promise. Now. It’s imminent. It’s present.
That promise means that it’s this very hour.
Whoever calls in the present tense on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It’s a tremendous statement.
If you call upon the Lord now, the Bible teaches clearly 3 aspects of your salvation.
You are immediately saved in that instant. And then, listen, positionally saved in that instant.
But in the area of sanctification, listen, you are being saved. You say, well, am I saved or not?
Yes. The moment you call upon Christ, you’re saved.
The moment you call upon Christ, your walk with Jesus begins.
And then in that grand and glorious moment when you and I either get raptured or something ruptures and we drop dead, we wake up alive in the presence of Christ, and we are sanctified.
We listen. We’re saved. We’re being saved, and we shall be saved. And listen. No need to worry.
God, once he begins a work, he’s faithful to complete it all the way until the end when you and I meet the Lord.
To him be all the glory. It’s absolutely awesome, but it’s very urgent.
But in the not too distant future, the fact of the matter is God will call the church up and the bible tells us he’s gonna focus again on the nation of Israel and then will be the fulfillment of Joel chapter 2 verse 32.
And it is this, and it shall come to pass that whoever calls upon the name of the lord shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there shall be deliverance, as the lord has said among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
So right now, God is using the church to invite people all around the world to come to the knowledge of Christ.
When the church is raptured up, Israel takes on the mantle.
The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation it’s going to start with 144, 000 spirit filled Jewish men.
It says that they’re men. It says that they’re virgins. They speak Hebrew. 12, 000 from each tribe. Wow.
Can you imagine 12, 000 from each tribe? 144, 000 Paul the apostles on fire.
With probably an app. Every 1 of them will be preaching all over the world.
And it’s gonna be glorious.
John said in heaven that he saw the multitude that got saved out of their ministry during the tribulation period.
A number so great that nobody could number them. And then also this.
This is a very, very precious portion of scripture right here. And that is this.
That in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 1, it dovetails right into where we’re going.
2nd Corinthians 6:1 says, we then as workers together, I’m gonna exaggerate this.
I’m spreading my hand out over this great congregation.
As workers together with him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says, in an acceptable time, I have heard you, and in the day of salvation, I’ve helped you.
Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Maybe some of you need to make that decision today.
And in your note taking, jot this down if you would. Couple of questions with an answer.
Why would they call? Why would you call upon the Lord?
Answer, because they must be convinced of their need of him.
So you might be here today at the outside of this message, and you might be saying, why should I call upon the name of the Lord?
And the answer is this, because you need to know and be convinced of your great need of Jesus.
You need Him. You’ve got to have Him. How do they call?
The answer, by responding to Him when He calls. When he invites, respond to him. Don’t resist him.
We’re gonna hear about this today. Don’t put him off. Don’t resist him.
Thirdly, who is it that they are to call upon? And the Bible’s very clear, upon the Lord.
And who is the Lord? The 1 and only true savior. The Bible’s crystal clear on this.
And number 4, who are those who will call?
And the answer to that is, only those who exercise belief unto faith.
It is safe to say that every single 1 of us in this room, or those watching by TV right now, or by whatever means you’ve joined us, you would say, because you’re not dumb, you would say, well, I believe in Jesus.
To deny Jesus’ existence is to deny the facts. You’d have to deny the Roman Empire.
You’d have to deny secular history.
You’d have to deny all of the accounts of the apostles and the great missionaries and all of those throughout all of the ages.
You’d have to deny your friend or your family member whose life has been transformed if you say Jesus never existed.
He actually existed. The fact of the matter is this.
You can believe in him without ever going to heaven.
You can believe in him and miss eternity and wind up in hell so easily. In fact, think about it.
How many people believed in Jesus, but on their deathbed were taken away into hell?
You wanna know why that’s true? That’s a strong statement. They believed, but they never put faith in him.
A lot of so called Christians are circling the drain. Almost a Christian.
And they think that they’ve become okay with God because of association.
You’ve got a Christian t shirt, you’ve got a Christian bumper sticker on your car, you might even own a Bible.
But the Bible warns you that you and I must come to that place of faith, where you really trust him.
And when that happens, your life is gonna change. The faith listen.
The faith you have in him does not change you.
It is the 1 that you have faith in who changes you.
And there’s a great difference, and that should liberate you beautifully.
So church, as we dive into this, mark it down if you would, this is how what happens.
Number 1 is this. The ever present gospel of God is always, always at work, friends.
Jot this down, verse 13, becoming aware of the danger.
The ever present gospel is being preached and is being shown and is speaking.
God, the spirit is speaking the truth of the gospel in the hearts of the minds of men and women and boys and girls all around the world.
And what is the Spirit of God saying? That you need the gospel.
You need the gospel, which is the fact that Christ died on the cross for you, that he rose again from the dead, and such an expense and such a price and such a victory demands your obedience and your love and your worship.
No 1 else in all of human history is worthy.
But you have to become aware of the danger. We’re funny people.
We try to stay away from becoming aware of the danger. We don’t want to know.
Sometimes a church this size and the impact that this church has, there are people in positions that respond to us, or they’ll call me, or they’ll say, and I don’t have the liberty to repeat what they say to me, but some of these things, they’re very serious things about our nation, or our safety.
But I can’t say anything, because I’ve done that before, and then I get a phone call from certain government entities saying, where did you get that from?
And now it’s like, oh boy. Because I’m not gonna announce.
I’m not gonna give them the names of a believer, a man of God, a woman of God, and some government agency somewhere who says, listen, you’re spot on about this because this is what’s going on.
Most people don’t want to know. They don’t want to be warned. Makes them uncomfortable.
But a warning can save your life.
If the bridge is out, wouldn’t you appreciate a sign saying bridge is out before you get to it?
We must become aware of the danger.
And the Bible says in verse 13, for, or if you’re a note taker you can write the word because.
For whoever believes on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Or, because whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Same meaning. The simplicity, church.
Listen. Please write this down. The simplicity of salvation is Satan’s greatest fear.
Now some of us who are older, and you’ve worked in companies or corporations I know the corporation I worked in, they had a sign on the wall, LIBK.
Anybody know what LIBK means? All over, they had LIBK. No? Let it be known.
They taught us in a secular international corporation, if you have doubts about what you’re doing right now regarding this project, and my goodness, we’ve managed we had projects in the 100 of 1, 000, 000 of dollars.
Just the lab that I was a supervisor over, I was responsible for $5, 000, 000 of running this lab.
And LIBK, let it be known. If you have a doubt, tell somebody.
Even if you sound silly, you know, are we short wait.
The last time I checked, the plane we’re getting ready to take off. The plane has wings. Right?
Still on it? If you have any doubt, ask. Let it be known.
But there’s the other thing that we used to have written on the walls. KISS. Remember that?
I see some heads being nod. Heads being nod? Heads being nodded?
We’ll just move on. Does anybody remember what KISS means?
Okay. That’s so that was crazy. Let’s keep it simple. Okay.
On the count of 3, say it. 123.
Keep it simple stupid.
I didn’t say it. You said it. No.
It’s keep it simple stupid. Amen. And people listen. Companies were built by that.
Wars were won by that. When it comes to the gospel, keep it simple, saint.
Keep it simple.
For those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
That’s a simple message. Our problem is in our world is the definition of words, Because Satan has infiltrated logic and reason.
Now today we’ve got to ask the question, what does that word mean? And what does that word mean?
Keep it simple.
In fact, I’m gonna show you this great picture of somebody. He said this so well.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. Albert Einstein. Is that great?
I appreciate that. I often mention J. Vernon McGee.
People write him off as some country bumpkin preacher. The guy was brilliant.
Well, how could he be brilliant when the message he preaches is so simple?
Yeah, the message he preaches is so simple you understand every word he’s talking about.
I thank God that I was raised up by a brilliant pastor, and you never know you never knew he was brilliant because he made the Bible so simple that you could just come down and get the cookies right off the shelf, like a little kid, Chuck Smith.
He took the hardest things and just gave it to you. So simple.
But listen, we’ve got theologians who come along and they’ve got to make it hard, so that you’ve got to listen to them so you’ll understand it.
That’s dangerous. That’s creepy also, by the way. I think that’s weird. Isn’t the Holy Spirit simple?
Look, we’re simple. He’s gotta make things easy. We make things all crazy.
I had a guy ask me just the other day, Pastor Jack, there’s a girl at church.
I can’t take my eyes off of her. She’s wonderful. I just want to ask her out.
I don’t know what to do. I said, are you serious?
What in the world are you doing talking to me for?
Seriously man, what’s wrong with you? Come on guys.
Listen guys, It’s part of being a guy to be rejected.
What if I ask her out and she says no? So what? You know what that means, by the way?
In fact, we ought to have the ladies answer that 1.
If he asks you out and you say no, shouldn’t he ask you out about 10 more times?
Did you hear that guys? Did you hear that? They said yes.
Listen, it’s part of the deal. It has nothing to do with the message.
Part of the deal is this, if she thinks you’re the most amazing guy in the world and you ask her out and she says, Nope, you know what she’s doing?
She’s fine she’s she’s finding out if you’re worthy of her attention.
If she can drive you away, then you’re worthless.
If if you’ll keep coming back if you keep coming back, she’s like, alright.
I can’t get rid of this guy. I’m gonna I’m gonna nab him.
What was I had. So that’s keeping it simple.
Acts chapter 13 verse 48, the Bible says, now when the Gentiles heard this, that that is the gospel, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as had been appointed, that is the Greek word tassel, that means God knew from all eternity, to eternal life believed.
Their eternal life was predicated on their belief that took them to faith. They trusted them.
Become aware of the dangers, everybody. There are those out there that pervert the gospel. Don’t let that happen.
You’ve got a Bible, read it.
There’s no excuses for us in this age to know of the dangers.
I wanna know of the dangers, so I know what to avoid.
And then on verse 14, we see that there’s a tragic diagnosis.
In verse 14 it says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
Now there’s a reason for this. You can go in several areas on this.
Is it that they don’t believe in him because they’ve not heard? It’s possible.
Is it that they do not believe in him because they’ve heard the wrong hymn?
A different Jesus? Paul the Apostle said, there are many Jesuses out there.
But what is it? How are they hearing? What is it that they’re hearing?
But that tragic diagnosis that’s presented here is 1 that keeps them in unbelief.
Maybe it’s a misguided belief, a wrong belief. But please mark this everybody.
Sincerity is not spiritual or is not a spiritual virtue. Sincerity. Sincerity qualifies nothing.
Do you understand that? Sincerity. You are so sincere about unicorns.
I think I saw 1 just the other day.
You might believe that with all of your heart.
And you might have posters of unicorns, and you have a unicorn t shirt.
I got news for you. We appreciate your sincerity, but there’s no unicorns.
Somehow, if there ever was, 1 never made it to the ark.
If it would have made it to the ark, it would have been running around today.
Oh, but I believe in them. Knock yourself out. Here’s the deal.
Appreciate your sincerity, but the truth trumps sincerity every time.
The goal is to know the truth, and then you can be as sincere as you want, as long as it’s rooted in truth.
This is a very important thing because it messes with our emotions.
I love the challenge though. How then shall they call on him?
Well, that’s listen, that’s a challenge, but it’s an invitation to all of us as believers.
We start to get stirred over this. This verse is prompting us.
How then shall they call on Him? And we would say, Well wait a minute.
I want my kids to call upon Him. I want my boss to call upon Him. I want my family.
I want my neighborhood to call upon him. I want my nation to call upon him.
But what’s the diagnosis? In whom they have not believed.
I’m not gonna stop. You’re not gonna stop at that as a believer. You’re gonna pursue.
Why is this the case? Why is it that you do not believe?
You and I know people that when we do talk to them they say, I don’t believe in God.
Doesn’t that just set you on fire? You wanna grab them and say, wait a minute, why? Tell me why.
Listen, a Christian cannot cope well knowing that even a stranger that we bumped into in the airport doesn’t want Jesus, that begins to eat us up.
Listen, if we were religionists, we would do this. Hey. You want to know about Jesus? No.
I don’t want anything to know about Jesus. I don’t want to believe in Jesus. I I don’t like him.
And we would respond like this if we were religionists.
Well, then you can just burn for all I care.
Listen, the child of God cannot think that way.
How many times do you and I meet people who don’t care about their soul, but we do?
We’re going to heaven. That’s settled. But we’re not content.
We wanna bring as many men and women and boys and girls with us as is possible.
And how wild is it?
Maybe you’re here today, and somebody invited you to come, and they’ve been telling you about Jesus.
And, frankly, you’ve come here today to finally shut them up. It’s like, look, I went. Okay?
Don’t ask me again. They only, listen, they only trouble you because they care about your soul, which if you knew what was ahead for your godlessness, it ain’t good.
They love you more than you love you, to be honest with you.
Even if they tell you the truth, it would hurt your feelings just because they love you.
They’re not mean to you.
They’re trying to give you the very thing that made their life mean something and everything.
But the gospel listen. Today in this world of ours, the gospel seemingly is getting scarce.
There’s a lot of churches with crosses on the building, void of the gospel.
2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 13.
2nd Corinthians 11 13 begins there by saying, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
They’re fakers. They are impostors. Verse 14, and no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Wow. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Isn’t it interesting? How many cults are there in the world whose false message is based upon an angel having told them that this is the this is the new way to go.
Paul the apostle said to the church at Galatia, if an angel appears from heaven and preaches any other gospel than what we’ve preached to you from the word of God, let that angel be anathema.
Anathema. Anathema is cursed to the depths of hell.
If anybody preaches, he says, if somebody comes and preaches you a message that is not the biblical message, let them be anathema.
See, man, that’s strong, isn’t it? It’s always been that way. In the Old Testament, God said stone them.
Did you know that? If you were a false prophet in the Old Testament, you wore a helmet.
You’re not gonna live long if you’re a false prophet. Now, please, don’t misunderstand. You can’t do that today.
We’ll let God deal with the false prophets. We’re to expose them, but leave the rock throwing to Jesus.
He’ll take care of that. He throws really big rocks, and he’s gonna do that someday.
Right now, it’s up to you and I to be watching out. There’s a danger there.
The ever present gospel presupposes there’s gonna be an ever present falsehood. Always trying to masquerade itself.
And then listen, thirdly, under this point is the urgency of the issue.
It says at the latter end of verse 14, and how shall they believe in him, that’s Christ, of whom they have not heard?
That verse is begging us to speak up. And you know, we all know this is true.
Come on, no one’s exempt from this. Nobody.
And that is, we are all called to speak up and to talk about Jesus.
To mention his name. The name of Jesus.
He said, Jack, every time you every time I think about it, I get nervous. That’s my point.
Whatever name you think about that’s not Jesus’ name, do you get nervous? No.
But when you think in your head, I’m gonna tell that person about Jesus.
The reason why you get dry mouthed and nervous and your pulse starts to quicken it’s because it’s a spiritual issue.
A pastor asked me on Saturday, how did you get up there last night in front of all those people and talk like that?
I go, what are you talking about? He goes, you aren’t even nervous.
I go, how do you know? He said, you you were so calm.
I said, you didn’t see the inside of my guts.
I wanted to throw up before I walked up there.
To walk up to a pulpit that Billy Graham preached from, I was shaking.
And I told him, I’m dying, man.
When I go when I go to mention Jesus, when I go to teach the Bible, I’m dying on the inside.
I want to go run and hide somewhere. That would be easier. But not.
I love years ago, Pastor John MacArthur said to those who are called to the pulpit ministry of Bible teaching, He said a pastor teacher is chained to the pulpit.
Chained by the calling to teach the word of God.
But he says, but in God’s mercy and grace, the chains are covered in velvet.
Is that a great word? I’m chained to this book.
I’m chained to this pulpit to teach the Bible, but the chains are covered in velvet.
They won’t draw blood. They won’t dig into the skin, but you can’t go anywhere.
The believer is just like this.
You may not be a pastor, teacher, or you may not be an official evangelist, but God has called every 1 of us to talk and to tell others about Jesus.
That’s why you get nervous. That’s why you get scared. Get in line, join the club.
Let’s all speak his name. Let’s do it together, and let’s not put that light under a bushel.
Let’s not hide that truth. Matthew chapter 9 verse 35.
Matthew 9 35 says, then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease.
By the way, there’s a reason. I don’t sorry.
Interrupt you and me at the same time here, but there’s a reason why preaching the word came first.
Did you know that? Everywhere in the bible, the word is preached then comes the miracles.
A lot of people wanna see miracles and then they’ll say, well, if I see a miracle then I’ll believe.
That’s never gonna happen. The word is preached and then the miracles follow the authority of the word.
Notice Jesus’ pattern of teaching. He taught the word of God.
He brought their senses and their awareness to the truth, and then the miracles.
Never trust in miracles. The Bible warns us that in the last days, there’ll be those who are deceivers who will do great miracles.
Jesus said, so great that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived.
Thank God for that if. Verse 36, Matthew 9.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them.
That word in Greek, moved with compassion. Listen, this is what it means.
I know it’s early, but hang on to your seats. The word in Greek is very very graphic.
He was moved, the word means moved with compassion, the lower parts of his bowels. That’s what the word means.
When you start feeling pain in the lower parts of your bowels, you’re not well.
You might have a stomachache because you ate too much, but the lower part, according to the bible, when you’re grieved to depths that are beyond, you can’t eat.
When you’re in grief, you’re sick.
When you hear that news, a couple weeks ago a pastor listened.
This is for all of us.
A couple weeks ago, a pastor had told his son, you just broke 1 of the rules.
We gave you that phone with these rules. 15 year old boy.
We said you can have a phone if you keep these rules, and you violated this rule, and so for 3 days no phone for you.
Big argument broke out over the stupid phone for 72 hours. Couldn’t live without the phone.
And the kid went upstairs and shot his head off with a shotgun. Over a phone.
And that dad may never recover because he’s thinking, I should have just let him have the phone.
That’s not how it works. That makes Listen, that would make the phone the savior.
We can’t pull away from what’s doing right. We need to do right always.
Just know this, Jesus did right and he was moved to his guts to the point he had so much love for the crowd that he couldn’t even eat because he saw them in need.
And what was the need he saw them having? It says, because they were weary and scattered.
This is the heart of God. This is the heart of God in human skin.
Next time you want to attack the nature of God, remember this, he saw you weary and scattered.
He saw you like a little lamb, didn’t he? He saw them like sheep having no shepherd.
There’s no mentor in their life. There’s no direction. They’re wandering.
The wolves are gonna eat them up any moment.
And then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into the harvest.
Do you know who the Lord of the harvest is, by the way? The Holy Spirit.
He’s here today. Guarantee, did you know that? I’m not making it up.
Jesus made it crystal clear that wherever this word is lifted up and his name is exalted, the holy spirit will be present.
Christ is here, and the holy spirit is here. And God may see you today.
He’s grieved over your condition. You’re like a little lamb without a shepherd.
That’s why you keep bouncing off the walls of life.
You got skinned up face, bruised knees, your nose is bloody, you got a black eye, and you think you’re having a great time.
Your life’s a joke and you’re the first 1 to admit it. You just don’t say it.
Your life’s a disaster. Kids are great when they’re growing up. Little 1 little ones, listen.
People talk about terrible twos. I don’t know anything about that. When our little kids were little, they were fantastic.
You could tell a 2 year old, hey. Can you go bring me the newspaper?
Back in those days, they had newspapers. Can hey.
Can you bring me can you bring me this or that?
And the little 2 year old and they go get it, and they’re so excited.
And they bring it. They’re so sweet.
And then you say to your 13 year old, hey. Can you bring me the napkin?
What? The napkin. Napkin. Why should why?
Because I’m your father.
I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.
Napkin. Here, please. Right? What’s wrong with them?
They have come to that zone we call teen rebellion where their hormones and brains have taken a sabbatical.
It’s true. Teenagers go nuts, and they need to be loved on and guided.
And it depends on how the person is, depends if they’re male or female, when they come back, when they get their brains back.
But it it’ll be a it’ll be some years, but it’s it’s it’s glibly knocked off or written off as teen rebellion.
Teen rebellion. Teen rebellion?
When you see that happening in your kid, it means that they’ve come to the age of accountability.
Supernatural moment. They’ve always lived under your authority.
They loved your God, they loved you, and they went and got the napkin because they loved you.
And then they reached a point where they don’t even know what they know, And they’ll defend things they don’t even know what to do.
What am I defending? I don’t know, but let’s defend it.
They’ll say things with zeal and passion,
and they
don’t even know what they’re doing. You gotta help them. Why, what’s happening?
They now reject your authority, they reject the school, they reject the police, they reject the judge, they reject God, they reject the government.
You wanna know why? They are a whole universe unto themselves.
And they gotta Listen, they’ll grow out of it, but you gotta steer them and guide them, because they’ll hurt themselves.
It’s like handing a 2 year old a samurai sword. You never do that.
Can you imagine giving a chainsaw to a 5 year old?
Chainsaws are great, and so are 5 year olds, but not together.
There needs to be that guidance.
Number 2 is this, versus 14 to 15, is that this is how what matters is the greatest meaning to our lives.
And it’s in verse 14 where we learn this, that it’s telling the truth about the truth.
Let the truth out, and here it is. And how shall they hear without a preacher?
The word preacher, we have a tendency to view that in a very old, almost Victorian era setting, and that’s unfortunate.
The word I I love the word in Greek for preacher. It sounds awesome. It’s Caruso.
Doesn’t that sound great? Preacher? What are you? I’m a preacher. That sounds kinda like, really?
Shouldn’t you be in a museum?
But wouldn’t it be great if somebody asked you, what do you do?
I’m a Caruso. I mean, that just sounds good. A Caruso.
What is that all about? A heralder. A proclaimer, 1 who makes a proclamation, the town crier, hear ye, hear ye.
Jesus Christ is the son of God, savior of the world, died on the cross for your wretched sins, and to save your immortal soul, he rose again from the dead that you might live with him forever.
So come to him, call upon him. That would be the town crier. That would be the Caruso.
And the Bible teaches us that we’re all to be Carusos.
What a great name, what a great word that is.
In Matthew 11 verse 4, the Bible says, and Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John, that’s John the Baptist, the things which you hear and see, the blind see and the lame walk.
The lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have heard or the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me.
John the Baptist began to doubt if Jesus was in fact the 1, or should we go look for another?
And Jesus says, look at the evidence. This is awesome. Go look at the evidence.
And then when you come to a conclusion, make the proclamation.
So, for example, do you know anybody in your life whose life has been changed because of Jesus?
Then you need to tell the world that Jesus changes lives.
It’s amazing.
Secondly, verse 15 tells us this, that it’s our 1 unifying mission to get the word out.
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Ain’t that so simple?
Today in this building, by the way, think about this.
This church, you sitting here, many people around you, I’m just gonna be safe.
It’s not all of us. It’s just mathematically come on.
To assume that everybody’s in this room right now saved, that’s a big assumption.
Only God knows, but those who are saved know it. But I’ll put it to you this way.
In this building that we call the church this is just a building by the way, you are the church if you are a born again follower of Christ, and yet all around us every single 1 of us, knowingly or unknowingly are working toward the same 1 unified mission, And that is to get the Caruso, the preaching of the word out.
Is it not? Think about this for a moment. Why are you here? I’m not being funny.
Why are you here? Are you here because number 1, you’re growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus by learning the word.
But the second thing is, it’s that you wanna be commissioned by God to go live out the word.
Christianity is a it’s it’s not a title.
It’s more of a verb, it’s what we do, but we know it’s a noun.
Sit around and talk about that. Do the theological Tweedledees from the Tweedledums.
Go sit in the corner while the world goes to hell. I’m not gonna do that.
Christianity in my opinion is more of a verb. Why?
Because we are people of faith, and we’ve got to tell somebody.
Has he really been real in your life?
If he’s been real in your life, you’ve got to tell somebody.
Look, it works like this. This is carnal, what I’m about to tell you. It’s carnal.
So I’m gonna surprise Lisa later for our anniversary, which is today, but she surprised me a few days ago, and she took me to a place that is a bazillion dollars a night.
That’s why we only stayed 2 nights. I wouldn’t have come home if we could have afforded it.
It was like, what? It’s a place called Mohonk. Never even heard of it before.
It’s in paradise. It’s on a mountain top In the in the woods. In New York.
And, uh, wow. Bill Gates and all these people, they go there because they’re all left alone.
It’s a real swanky deal. And when I heard, how much is this a night? It’s what?
So I’m thinking in my mind, you know, as we’re checking in, I’m not gonna enjoy 1 minute of this, because every time I use a piece of toilet paper, that’s $50.
And then the water, how much is that gonna be?
I had all my things in my head.
And, uh,
listen. The attitude of the staff, the setting, the history of the place, the weather.
Lisa and I went row boating. I mean, she said, I rowed the boat.
Just whatever you want to do, you go do it.
And all of a sudden, that shock of that daily stay began to get better, and then we sat down to our first dinner.
And it was like, do I have any more money I can give you guys?
It was listen. Do you know what I’m talking about?
It was so amazing that by the time we’re leaving, it’s like, that was the best money we’ve spent in a long time.
And now look, it made such an impact on me, I’m telling you.
And I was the 1 that was against it, and then I was converted.
And I’m not getting any kickbacks for this, by the way.
I don’t get any deals. But it was such a great experience.
Should God’s people be so thrilled like that, having a great experience with God that you gotta tell somebody?
That you gotta Caruso it? We tell people about this dinner, this place, this movie, this show, this production, that opera was amazing.
Wow.
This is our unified mission that others would know, and people have got to be sent.
Every single 1 of us in this church know what it is to send others.
Look, not all of us go to Africa. Not all of us go to South America.
Not all of us are gonna go to Johannesburg. Not all of us are gonna go to Cabo.
Not all of us are gonna go to Beijing. Not all of us are gonna do that.
But you know what? Every single 1 of God’s people since the burden in the lower bowel, the gut, to reach those people.
Listen, Toronto, Canada. Maybe you’ll never go, but you want the people in Toronto to get saved.
Do you not? Here’s what’s amazing about the age in which we live in right now.
If you listen to any of our programming, if at all we will say things sometimes like this, if this program has blessed you, and you’d like to join us in spreading the word of God to others, please make sure that you take care of your local church first, wherever you may be, and if you wanna help us, then contact us at this number, whatever.
We don’t say, you know, if you don’t give today, the whole monastery is gonna come down.
We’re relying on you to keep us going. Anybody who does that stuff, man, listen.
Let him let him go bankrupt. Let him fail. When God Chuck Smith said forever.
Chuck 11 was when God guides, God provides. We have found that to be so true.
The thing is this, every 1 of us are senders or goers.
My mouth might be blabbing right now, but you make it possible to get to all 4 corners of the earth.
You ever think about that? So, listen.
On Friday night, a man came up to me, and he said, do you remember me?
He had a very thick Russian accent, and I looked at him because he had a beard.
And I said, yep.
And,
uh, his name was Sasha.
And I met him in 1995 in Moscow, Russia.
And he was my translator. And he moved to America. He got married.
He’s got a family. By the way, he’s translated Pastor Chuck Smith’s sermons into Russian.
And he’s just flourishing.
And I looked at him, and I told him he’s a big boy.
I grabbed him by the shoulders, and I said, I want to thank you for continuing on with Christ.
He’s shy and he’s sweet.
He responded to the gospel, became a translator, actually technically he was a translator, repeating the gospel, and then he got saved.
Then he turns around and puts sermons into Russian to reach Russians around the world.
And what you and I are doing together, you and I.
We’re reaching people to the ends of the earth, and you don’t even know it yet, but on the day that you and I enter eternity and we stand before Christ, there’s gonna be people who are gonna come up to you and say, you know what?
Thank you. I was in Mozambique. I heard the sermon.
I heard the Sunday sermon in Mozambique, and I gave my heart to Christ, and I led my whole village to know the Lord, and I want to thank you.
And you’re gonna say, well, I didn’t say a thing.
And they’re gonna say, no, no, no. You know what?
You didn’t say a thing, but you enabled others to say.
Without them being able to say, I never would have heard.
And you wouldn’t have said, unless there were those who are senders.
Every single 1 of us are either senders or goers.
If you’re in the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit will compel you to be involved.
Second thing under this point, and I’ve gotta hurry, I’m running out of time.
It is this, it’s what drives our every effort.
1 more person knowing Jesus, 1 more.
As it is written, the Bible says, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace.
By the way, the gospel of peace is the good news of peace. You can have peace with God.
It’s not peace like a hippie, or some, oh, no.
This is not peace among men 1 another. It’s first peace with God. Then you can have peace.
Some people don’t have peace in their home because there’s no vertical peace.
You want to have peace in your home?
Somebody in that house needs to go vertical and get right with God. God will heal your home.
The gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. That’s where we’re supposed to be.
Man, you know, I read a lot of American history.
I love the fact that the stuff I’ve been reading lately in these 16 80, 16 90, 17/10 sermons in the colonies.
It’s remarkable. Don’t you think that the Puritans, they’re all dressed in black, and they just, like, never told a joke?
And they’re just deadpan, like, what are you? I I worship God. I love God.
What else do you do? Stand here. They were not like that.
I’m blown away with how incredibly funny some of these people were, and how they so often inserted humor into their sermons.
You don’t think about that. You just think they wore the buckled shoes for Thanksgiving with the hat.
They believe that humor was sent to them by God, that Satan does not want you to have humor.
Why do I bring that up?
Because when God has got a hold of our heart, and we read this to bring the gospel of peace We have peace with God, people need that, but also glad tidings.
That’s the good news of all the doctrines of the Bible. All of them.
And you know what that does? David was the perfect example.
David rejoiced in the Lord. David is our guy. I mean, Jesus, he’s not our guy.
Jesus is our God. Paul’s pretty amazing. David I like David a lot because you know what?
David’s I’m just talking to guys right now. David would get up in the morning reading his Bible.
He’s reading all about this, all about that. He’s learning about Abraham.
Then David puts on all of his gear, walks out there, sees some uncircumcised Philistine 9 footer walking by.
That that Philistine starts cussing out the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And David just goes what’d you say?
And lops off that dude’s head, drags over the bible says that David carried Goliath’s head around.
Did you know that? You couldn’t get the head out of David’s hands.
People have their little bowling trophies and stuff. What is this?
This is my soccer trophy. David, look at that, baby.
And then you say, well, this is gruesome. I’m not done.
Then he sat down, then he sat down, and he wrote a psalm about it. He wrote a psalm.
You know, a psalm is a biblical song. Oh, Lord, you’re awesome.
You gave me this you guided my hand in battle.
And when the enemy came, by your great strength, God, wickedness was slain. And he’s writing this song.
Let’s get some drummers in here and get some let’s get a backup group and sing this 1.
What a man of God.
He went to war for righteousness, then sat down and wrote a song of praise and worship.
What an amazing balance. We need to be people that speak up against wickedness, and at the same time, we’re the most joyful, beautiful people to be around.
Amen. Nobody should have a better time than the believer.
We should have the best time.
When the sun is setting tonight at the beach, or wherever you live, sets down over the hills, You should give God praise.
And the world’s going, what are you doing?
The other night, you guys saw the other night, the SpaceX launched that beautiful fantastic. Right?
I mean, they’re always great, but it was special. The conditions were perfect.
I was standing out in the street with my camera, looking up, and cars were driving by, and they slowed down, and they looked.
Some people were mortified. They’re looking like, my gosh. That guy’s crazy.
And then they drove by, and then finally 1 guy out of all the cars going by, 1 guy says, what’s going on?
And I said, look, SpaceX, Elon Musk just launched another 1. The guy gets out of the car.
Oh, my gosh. This is amazing. Honey, get out of the car. Look at this.
I look like a lunatic.
As a Christian, people think we’re lunatics, but our head is cocked upward toward heaven.
We see things that most people are too busy to look at.
We talk about the glory of our God, and we should be the most joyful.
We should be the most thrilled, And we’ll have to end with this, I it’s just terrible.
How are you? 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 20.
He indeed was foreordained, speaking of Christ, before the foundation of the world, but was manifest made tangible.
In these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised up from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and your hope are in God, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren.
Love 1 another fervently with a pure heart. The word fervently means so hot you can’t touch it.
We would say love 1 another with hot hearts.
Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers and its flowers fall away, but the word of God endures forever.
Now this is the word which we are this now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
My dear friend, your Christianity should be thrilling. Yes.
Father, we come to you today, and we ask you to fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit.
In fact, church family we’re still praying, but stand to your feet if you would.
Can can you lift your hands? Is that okay? No.
If everybody’s got their eyes closed and their hands lifted, 2 things.
Don’t fall over and um, and don’t look around because there’s some baptist in here that are raising their hands for the first time ever right now.
So this is good.
Father, we come before you right now, and we ask you to fill us afresh, come upon us with the reviving power of your holy spirit.
And Lord, you’ve put your word in our hearts.
It’s time for it to come out.
So may we no longer pull back because of being intimidated, or shy, or somehow being fearful, frankly, embarrassed of your name.
We ask you to forgive us.
And Lord, may we see heaven like we’ve never seen it before, the reality of eternal life.
And Lord, may we not be able to be quiet. Cause us to keep it simple.
And Lord, may we let the world know, let it be known that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and all God’s people said, amen.
God bless you.