Session 46 – Romans; Romans 10:13-21: Mark Lanier, 11/01/26

ROM 046_Romans PODCAST_Lanier_110126
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[00:00:00] Well, now that we're back in this room, I'm seeing so many faces that I haven't seen since, uh, we were last in this room. And it's got my heart just swelled with joy. So thank you for being here this morning. Thank you for not forgetting us. We've also got some guests in from out of town. Candace and Adam Wright are over here sitting with Becky.

Uh, uh, Adam is, uh, president and Candace, First Lady of Dallas Baptist, uh, University and dear, dear friends of ours. We will continue with Romans. Today is our 45th class in the Book of Romans, and we've only made it through 10 of the 16 chapters. So if we're gonna finish it in the next five or so classes, we gotta move.

We gotta move. So get ready to move. It's all a question of calendar, [00:01:00] and calendar is not a new problem. As long as there have been calendars, there have been problems. We've got... How many of you realize it's daylight savings time over, and it's actually 10:30, but we're here at 9:30? Why do we do that? Well, that's all part of calendar, too, but that's more daily calendar trying to maximize the amount of daylight during the day.

We have leap year every four years. When did that start? Do you know that the calendars have been goofy forever? Because it doesn't take 365 days to get around the sun. It takes 365 days and roughly six hours. So it's throwing everything off all the time because we're stuck with this calendar system that we've got.

Well, you go back in antiquity, and they had even more problems. So [00:02:00] there was the g- Rome's governor of Asia in 9 BC was Paulus Fabius Maximus Now Paul the Apostle, his parents were probably teenagers maybe at this point in time, maybe even a little younger. We don't know exactly 'cause we don't know how old Paul was.

But the Roman governor of Asia decided that their calendar was out of kilter, and he wanted to fix it. And as the Roman governor, he could decree it. So he decreed that the calendar would restart and reorganize, this is in 9 BC, and he decides to do it in September of 9 BC. Now I say this so boldly, but candidly the calendar's been so messed up so many times since then, give me a hedge of a [00:03:00] day or two.

Depends on which scholar you're following. But September 23rd was his best estimation of when Caesar Augustus had been born in 63 BC to us. So 63 BC, Augustus was the first Caesar to be declared a, a god. So he thought it appropriate to restart their calendar with the birthday of Augustus which by our calendar seems to be September 23rd, and he made this decision in 9 BC.

Now, you gotta get word out. So he does not use, um, uh, uh, X because he's mad at Elon Musk He doesn't use Truth Social because he's just not that kinda [00:04:00] guy. So what's he gonna do? I know because we've got some people with a little more history behind them. You're thinking, "Put an ad in the newspaper." Well, they don't even have that.

So what they're gonna do to get this decree out, they're going to send people carrying the news. We would call them a herald. And they take it on rocks. They probably took it on parchment as well, but we know about the rocks 'cause we found multiple samples that testify to this. One that was found at Priene is this rock that you've got right here.

And if you look at this rock right here, you'll see right up here a little box. Now, I could ask you to translate it, but class would be over. So instead, I'm gonna give you the letters [00:05:00] in Greek. This is at a time where this is written in all capital letters, and there's no spaces between the words. So the longest part of class today for me was not writing the lesson.

It was not, uh, composing the PowerPoint. The longest part of class for me was finding that word on this rock. I'm really proud of it. If you read the sentence, the sentence says, "The birthday of the god, Augustus, was for the world the beginning of the good news," or as we read that word translated in our New Testaments, Gospel.

It's the word euangelion. Side note, in our Gospels it's spelled E-uh, U-A-G-G, gamma, gamma, but the G-G has an ungh NG sound. [00:06:00] And they didn't have, like, spelling books, and so sometimes they would just spell it the way it sounds instead of the way a G- You know, they'd have flunked my Greek professor's class.

But that's it. That's okay. They, they were authentic. Now, how do they get these rocks out there? They got guys lugging them.

They got these guys lugging this news all over the empire. I mean, we found multiple of these rocks. We know they're lugging them everywhere. The royal news is carried by feet all over the empire. That's how they got the word out. And the word that was associated with gospel at the 9 BC time was this imperial news, the gospel and good news of a god's birth, a king's birth Now Paul [00:07:00] takes that word, that word that was used for the imperial good news, and he uses it in a different way.

It's not good news of the birth of Augustus. It's the gospel and good news of God's victory over death in Christ, the true King of Kings, the true Lord, the true God. And so for Paul, Paul will use that word, and he will even say in 1 Corinthians 15, "Remember the words I used when I preached the good news, the gospel to you.

Christ Jesus was betrayed, crucified, buried, resurrected the third day, and you see it with lots of witnesses." The good news for Paul wasn't that Augustus was born. The good news for [00:08:00] Paul was that Jesus was resurrected. And, and, and, and it was a resurrection victory over death that is ours to share in. Now, again, this news comes through people bringing it You, you, you've heard the expression, "Don't shoot the messenger."

That's an expression that is used when you're about to deliver some news that is bad news. When I was a young lawyer working at a big firm, and I got sent to deliver bad news to a senior partner, I would not be surprised if I had not started it with, "Don't shoot the messenger, because I don't wanna be associated with the bad news I've been told to bring you."

They've had expressions like this before, but because this [00:09:00] news was being brought back then not by cellphone or text or email or even newspaper, they had phrases about the feet of the people bringing the news. You can go back to 1 Samuel 17, and you can see the story where one of the runners is approaching the city, and, and David wants to know, is this good news or bad news?

And so he says, "How's he running? Are his feet really kicking up the dust?" Because he can look at the feet. The feet are the focus point, and it's why you have expressions like Isaiah 42:7 that says, "Go up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news." That's the word gospel in the Greek translation that Paul had and Paul used.[00:10:00]

Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of euangelion, of good news

So we have-- Whoops. Oh, I've switched over to... Sorry. Good news twice. Herald of good news. Lift it up. Fear not. But it's go up on a mountain. Or how about Nahum, which is fifty, seventy-five years before the time of Isaiah? "Behold upon the mountains the feet of him who brings euangelion, good news." Man, bless the feet of the people who bring good news.

Shoot the feet of the people who bring bad news Or Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the gospel, who publishes peace, who brings the gospel of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says [00:11:00] to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" And what we need to see here are... is twofold.

Number one, the expression of the feet carrying, that's just a cultural happening. That's the way it happened. That was a- an idiom, an expression. But the second thing we need to see is this Old Testament usage of the word good news, because Paul's not simply drawing upon a concept that the Romans could identify as something regal or imperial or royal, but Paul's also drawing from a very deep well of the Old Testament prophets who said good news.

Paul uses it in a very clear way, and we've seen it over and over in Romans, his summary statement, "I'm not ashamed of the good news." [00:12:00] It... And, and remember, Paul's talking here about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. You imagine that as you're reading this. Put that in. I'm not ashamed, uh, that Jesus had to die for me.

If I was good enough, that might shame me. If I was embarrassed over the idea that God had to, uh, abase himself to people, that might embarrass me. Paul says it doesn't embarrass me at all. That humiliation of God that we see in the death of Christ is, in fact, God's power, not humiliation. It's God's power to save everyone who has faith the Jew first, but also the Greek.

In the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ we see the [00:13:00] righteousness, the dikaiosune of, of God and it's, it's manifested, it's revealed, it's shown For faith to faith. As it's written, the righteous will live by faith. So what we wanna do today is we want to do three things. We wanna look at these passages, and the first is

And that, by the way, is a beautiful foot. It's as close as I could come. You know, and if you don't like it, then tell Becky to get a pedicure No, I'm joking. That is not Becky's foot. No. Hers would be dainty and pretty, and it would have red toenail polish. Um, and, uh, yeah, you wouldn't see all those, like, leg hair either.

Um But we will first look at the chain that Paul has in verses 14 and 15. Then we're going to [00:14:00] look at Israel's refusal and the word that travels, and we'll close this with the jealousy and the open hands. So with that before us, let's do it. Now, Paul is famous for using this rabbinic expression, and, and it's rhetorical.

It's not simply the rabbis. But a chain of thought is, is a frequent tool of Paul's. And so we have a chain here that we need to identify. And Paul's chain, if we understand the chain thinking, it helps unlock the verbs and the words and the ideas that he's got in this text. So the chain, five links. Let's start with Romans 10:13.

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." So we've got everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will [00:15:00] be saved, and that's our first link. Everyone who calls will be saved. But then this causes us to ask a question What does calling require? If I'm gonna call on the name of the Lord, what must have already happened?

How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How do I call upon the name of the Lord? Now, what does name mean? Remember? Your name is not just your label. This is not a magic incantation worthy of Harry Potter. There's not a magic... Uh, look, when I was a child, um, I went through, uh, [00:16:00] um, a stage of trying to figure out wh- what is and, and how do, and, uh, witchcraft, how does this stuff work?

Now, this is not because I was dallying with it. I had zero desire to dabble in it. I was trying to identify what it is I mean, you know, uh, what is it? And so I'd get these books, and I'd read it, and they'd talk about these spells that would be said, where they'd get crystals or they'd get this, that or the other or, uh, whatever it may be, and they would do an incantation.

And those magic spells, I, I tell you, and maybe I'm wrong, but I don't-- I think that's a bunch of hooey. I, I just... I mean, I, I go back to, do y'all remember Mark Twain? Yeah. And he backs up, uh, "Stump water, stump [00:17:00] water, engine meal, shorts. Stump water, stump water, swallow these warts." And that was supposed to, if you backed up to a stump that had water in it from rain, that's supposed to get rid of warts.

And he thought that just everybody knew it. Well, that's not gonna get rid of warts But somehow, somewhere in the midst of this, we have turned, some have turned the name of Jesus into a, a magic formula. Like if you say it, it's got magic power. No. Paul's not giving you a magic formula. The name means s- certainly it's, it's the label, but, but your name means, um, your reputation.

It's what you've done. It's your curriculum vitae, your resume. It's, [00:18:00] it's, it's who you are as a total person. It's not, not simply some label. I- so, so the Psalms will say, "Those who know your name put their trust in you." That doesn't mean, "Oh, I learned the name of God is Yahweh, so I'm gonna trust him now." No.

The demons know his name's Yahweh. It's those who know and relate to your character, who you are and what you've done. To call upon the name of Jesus means to call upon all that he's done. To pray in the name of Jesus means I'm praying because of who he is and what he's done, not who I am and what I've done.

And so what we've got here, how then will they call on him if they haven't believed? If you don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah, if you don't believe his death, burial, and resurrection is for you, if you don't trust in him, [00:19:00] then how are you going to call on him? So everyone who calls needs to be someone who's gonna believe.

It's the second link in the chain. But that brings up its own question. What does belief require? Take the chain back another step. Well, Paul does that. How then will they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard? So if everybody who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved, but you gotta believe before you can call, you gotta hear before you believe Make sense?

Okay. Well then, next question. What does hearing require? I mean, this is almost thinking like a three or four-year-old. It's right in that age group where our [00:20:00] grandchildren, um, w- we're going to eat lunch at wherever. Bella Green. Why? Because I'm hungry. Why? Because I haven't eaten in an hour. Why? Because I've had to do other things.

Why? Because that's the nature of life. Why? Go ask your mother Paul's doing that step back. You mu- everyone who calls must believe. Everyone who believes must hear. Well, what does hearing require? How are they gonna hear if nobody preaches? So you gotta have a preacher. So now everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved, but you gotta believe, and that means you gotta hear, but that means there's gotta be a preacher.

Now, the next logical question: What does preaching [00:21:00] require? That's the next clause. How are they to preach unless they're sent? See, the, the, the preaching word, the kerygma up there is tied here to the apostle word, apostello. That's, that's the word we get apostle from. That's someone who's sent. That's someone who's, who's, um- I- it's not just someone, uh, uh, uh, it's someone who's been commissioned by God

So it all links back to God But not just links back to God, because must be sent tells you that God's supply chain runs through human feet. Sent. Take these stones and announce the birth of Caesar as the calendar fix. [00:22:00] You know, take this message and run to the city and tell David his son Absalom is dead.

Take this message. You know, that's what it says. How will they call on Him in whom they've not believed? How are they to believe if they've never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how will they call on Him in whom they've not believed? How then will they call on Him in who they've not believed?

You have to believe to call And how are they to believe in Him of whom they never heard? Now here we get to be Greek students for a minute, okay? This is really cool in the Greek. This is the kind of thing ... Look, I'm glad you're here. I'm just telling you, this is not your typical life group if you're visiting for the first time.

We give you extra in this place. Amen. Just saying. [00:23:00] Let me tell you what. The translators have added a few words here to make this not as choppy. But when they add the words, we lose something that's being said. Here's what's the words. How do they believe in Him, it's got Him, of whom, and, and that's the genitive case, and I understand we can add of, but Him whom they have never heard.

You see? The one that they never heard is what the Greek says. Him they have ... That they never heard. They didn't hear Jesus Paul's saying here, not they didn't hear the preacher. They, he says they're not hearing Jesus. God's behind this. This is the Word of Christ. This is Christ speaking through the preachers.

There's a famous story, it's [00:24:00] recounted in multiple classical pieces of history. Story took place right outside Alexandria, Egypt in 168 BC. Leonnus was an old man sent from Rome, and he had a scroll, he had a, a, a report from the Roman Senate. And he goes to Antiochus Epiphanes IV right outside Alexandria, and Antiochus has got his whole army, and he's about to march and conquer all of Egypt.

And the Roman Senate sends an old fella with no armor, no weapons, no support, just one old fella with a word from the Roman Senate. And the word says, "Stop. Don't do it. You don't, you don't conquer Egypt. This is your limit. You stay here." [00:25:00] And Antiochus Epiphanes IV said, "Well" Let me talk to my counsel about that And Leonis says, um, well, let me show you 'cause somebody was filming it.

Leonis draws a circle in the sand around Antiochus Epiphanes with his staff, and he says, "You decide before you step outside this circle."

Antiochus Epiphanes stands there and says, "Okay." Now why? Was he scared of the old man without a weapon? Was he worried that his army with its elephants and everything else might not be able to stand up against the guy 'cause the guy has a stick?[00:26:00]

No. That man was just delivering the word of the Roman Senate, and that word had the authority of the Roman Senate. The Roman Senate was speaking. That fella was just the loudspeaker showing it. That's what Paul's saying. How then will they call on him in whom they haven't believed, and how are they believed in him whom they never heard?

They haven't listened to Jesus right. This is the word of Jesus. This is not the invention of Paul. It's not the invention of Peter. It's not the invention of John or James or any-- This is the word of Christ, and they haven't heard Christ. Christ is present in the preachers. To hear them [00:27:00] is to hear Christ That's what Paul's saying here.

And that's not new. Luke, Paul's traveling companion, did a great job writing up what Jesus said in Luke 10:16. Jesus himself had said, "The one who hears you, hears me."

To hear the gospel is not to hear the preaching of Paul. It's to hear the word of Christ. To hear the gospel, to hear what God... You don't need... Y- it's not Paul telling you, "Here's what Jesus did for you." It's Christ telling you, "Here's what I did for you." This is personal. This is the extravagant love of God being [00:28:00] expressed through Paul And the one who hears that hears Christ.

The one who rejects that, in rejecting Paul, they're rejecting Christ. And if they're rejecting Christ, they're rejecting the Lord So Paul says, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?" How are they to believe Him whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching So when the preaching you hear Christ He continues, "How are they to preach unless they're sent? As it's written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.'" [00:29:00] Paul quotes Isaiah. It's back to the beautiful feet. Shoot the messenger for the bad news, but for the good news, look at how pretty their feet are

That was just their expression. It comes straight from Isaiah 52:7, the way he's quoting it. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news," the gospel, "who publishes bre- peace, who brings the gospel of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" Now Paul's changed the te- text a little bit He's allowed to do that.

He's an apostle. He's working through the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit's working through him, or both. He's allowed to do that, [00:30:00] but we shouldn't miss it because he didn't do it by accident. He didn't have a bad memory. Let me put Isaiah up and Romans 10:15. "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News."

You see that? Do you see the difference?

It's the difference between those, plural, and him, singular. Isaiah's writing about a fella who goes out there and delivers the good news

Paul's talking about a legion that God has sent out because the fields are white unto harvest. Yeah. And so God, Paul changes the singular in Isaiah to plural because there is A grand, uh, army [00:31:00] that are taking the word of Christ with beautiful feet for everyone to hear. So just look at those beautiful feet.

Yes. And with that, let's go to the second point. The refusal and the word that travels. So Paul says, "But they've not all obeyed the gospel." Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he's heard from us?" Now, if you're reading or listening to this in Greek, you can say but with this very simple little word.

It's used all the time. It's found all over the Bible. It's just this de. A D-E. And that's very common. But Paul doesn't use that common word for but Paul instead [00:32:00] uses a word Allah

The A is disappears here, so it's actually written in the Greek as that with the sign for the A disappearing. But this is a very hard but. It is, look, I'm saying bam. Okay? That's what we have here. But alla ou pontes. But, so we can get there just by making it bold. But, he, he, he's drawing attention there.

But they haven't all obeyed the gospel

Um, there was a time in my life when I was a legalist. You say, "I know what you're saying. You're saying, 'Hey, hotshot, you're a lawyer right now, that makes you a legalist.'" Talking about a different kind of legalist. There was a time in my [00:33:00] life where I thought my salvation was dependent upon works, what I do.

Am I good enough? Can you put it in the scales, and does it outweigh? And I knew God could forgive, but I even had my part in that, too. It's the reason I wanted to die in my sleep. Because every night before I went to sleep- What did I say? Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.

God bless Mom, Dad, Catherine, Holly once she came along. Uh, but I would pray for forgiveness at night thinking, "Okay, He's forgiven me. That'll last me till in the morning." [00:34:00] But man, I hope I don't, you know... What's the old joke? When I die, I wanna go peacefully in my sleep like my grandmother, not yelling and screaming like the three people she was driving.

Um, I, I, I was... Sorry. It's an old joke. Yeah, it's probably out of poor taste. Um, but, uh, it m- that may just be a lawyer joke. I don't know. Anyway- The, the legalist in me thought, "I hope when I'm about to die I got time to ask for forgiveness one last time, lest I have the..." Because I was thinking my salvation was based upon how I obeyed, and this is one of the verses I used.

Yeah, you can have the gospel, you can have all of that, but you still have to obey Then I took Greek. That's a mind blower. Because [00:35:00] hupakouo is the verb here. Hupakouo is two words. Hup means under. H-U-P. It's got a ... They, they didn't have the letter H, they just had a, a rough breathing sound. That's H-U-P. We get hypnosis from it.

Hup means under. And then akouo is the second word. Akouo Akuo. Can you guess? Hear. So acoustics comes from it. Hear. Hupakuo means to hear and to come under, or to respond. It's used in, in Acts, where Rhoda ... Peter has been in prison, God's released him, he's on the run. [00:36:00] He goes in the middle of the night to the house where all the apostles have been praying for his release from prison.

He's banging on the gate trying to get in the house, 'cause it's locked. Rhoda, the servant girl, the patron saint of all airheads- ... Rhoda goes to the door. She says, "Who is it?" "It's Peter. Hurry up. Open the gate." She runs back inside, "Hey, y'all, Peter's out there. Guess what?" And they're like, "Go open the gate."

The word she went and answered the knock is hupakouo. She heard it and responded. She heard it and came under. And what that means here You've got to hear in his chain, but you don't simply [00:37:00] hear, you have to believe, and then you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. So Paul's saying that if the gospel is this cr- being s- preached here, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, what does it mean to obey the gospel?

It means you don't let your chain break there

Because if the chain breaks there, you may hear akuo, but you don't hoop akuo. You don't come under it. You don't believe. You don't call upon the name of the Lord. You don't respond

Not all of them hu-pa-ku-ohed. And then he goes back to Isaiah because Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he's heard from us?" Who has believed? Who ... They heard from us, [00:38:00] but who believed it? who heard it and didn't come under it, who didn't respond properly You can have beautiful feet taking the message, but if people d- hear it and don't come under it, they don't respond

And so you've got Paul quoting Isaiah 52, "How beautiful are the feet," and then he quotes Isaiah 53, "They hear, but they don't believe." They don't come under it. So he says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the rhema of Christ." That's an unusual word for word. A lot of you, with your Greek familiarity, will think of word as logos or logos if you're from Lubbock

He's using rhema. It's a [00:39:00] different word, and it's a rare word for Paul, but it's his third time to be using it right here It's a very important word. Now remember last week, if you were here, I talked about Tom Wright's structure for nine, 10, and 11. I think it's a very good structure. Um, when, when Tom found out I was teaching this, I was, uh, emailing with him this summer, and I was

We were in Oxford, and Tom had just left Oxford for his summer... Uh, they have a summer home up in the Scottish Islands. And he emailed back and he said, "Is there any way that we could spend two or three days together? 'Cause I'm really worried you're gonna mess this up." Now, he worded it very politely.

That's the way I read it. Um, no, uh, I, I said, "I'll be, I'll be all right." Um, he says, "Please promise me you'll read this 100 pages in Paul and blah, blah, blah." And I [00:40:00] said, "I, I, I, I'll re-read it. I'll go to it. Don't worry. I've got Larry Burgess in class. He'll make me." Um, but, but he does a great job of showing this chiasm, this arch, how Paul says one thing and then he backs back down on the opposite side in opposite order something related to each.

So today we're looking at this text, Israel hearing yet refusing, and he's already had a counterpart of Israel stumbling over the stone. So we've already had this in, uh, before he hit the peak, that ke- keystone that holds it all together. But what is the peak? The Word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.

That's the word of faith we proclaim. That's where Paul's using rhema That's the word of Christ. That's who Christ is. That's his message. So if we confess with our [00:41:00] mouth that Jesus is Lord, if we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. That is the pinnacle. That's the peak of this, and he's working his way back down.

Israel stumbling over the stone was before the peak. Israel hearing yet refusing is after it. And he's using words that play off each other. So he had a word here that he used that's a hoop word, and he's got a hoop word here. Israel stumbles over the stone. He used hupotasso. Hupa- uh, uh, hupotasso, um, is, uh, the, the idea of, of, um, uh, of, of taking your place in the military lineup.

You hear and you take... You, you stand where you belong. So you, you've got, um, hupotasso is, is this hearing and taking the right place. [00:42:00] And Israel stumbled. They didn't hear and take the right place. They didn't stand under Christ. They didn't stand under faith. They didn't stand under the righteousness of God that is to be found by faith.

They heard, but they didn't take the stand right. They stumbled over the stone. And then he's using another hoop word over here, hupakouo. They're hearing, but they're not answering the knock on the door. They're not responding appropriately. And so this is just an example of how Paul is mirroring, if we're reading this whole thing, and it, and it gives substance to the point of how he structured this.

So you've got hupotasso over here to be ordered under. You've got hupakouo over here to hear and respond to And so Paul says, "I ask, haven't they heard?" Well, yeah, they heard because their [00:43:00] voice has gone out to all the earth, their words to the ends of the ear- world. This, Paul's saying that, look, I mean, you're not gonna find a synagogue in the Mediterranean world, you're not gonna find a synagogue where people aren't talking about Jesus They, they've got the Word So it's not a lack of hearing.

That's not where the chain breaks. And that's the refusal in the word that travels. The word's already out there. Let's, before we get too far gone, talk about the jealousy in open hands. So Paul continues, he says, "But I ask, did Israel not understand?"

Well, first, Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. With a foolish nation I will make you angry." [00:44:00] Wow. He's going all the way back to Moses Get the gist of what Paul's saying here. Paul's quoting Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 21 Deuteronomy 32:21. I was really pleased with my AI image of this because I didn't know if I could get it right.

I wanted Moses as an old man, but he's still sturdy and strong, and the scripture says that. This is one of his speeches before the people go off into the Promised Land. I've got rain in the background because that's Deuteronomy chapter 32. Let me just show you the passage out of Deuteronomy 32. It's a beautiful passage of Moses talking, and it starts out

Give ear, [00:45:00] O heavens, and I'll speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop like the rain. That's why, just, you know, I was bored. Um, so I thought I'd, like, hype this up a little bit. Now, um, you get to verse 32

No, you get to verse 21. There it is. "They made me jealous with what is no god, provoked me with their idols, so I will make them jealous with what is no people and provoke them with a foolish nation." Moses is talking prophetically about what will happen to the nation of Israel, and it's part of what happened to them when they went into captivity, and he's very clear about it, but he takes it even further.

And what Paul is saying here is, please [00:46:00] understand, the inclusion of the Gentiles is not plan B It's plan A. It's from the very beginning. We are plan A. We're not God's afterthought. We're not God trying to make an adjustment because he saw an, a good opportunity. And that means for every person who's hearing this message that God is speaking directly to you, you're not an afterthought and you're not a plan B This is the inexhaustible love of God.

This is the word of Christ for you. Christ died for you. And everyone who hears that word and responds to that word, who comes under that word, who, who follows the Lord, who accepts his lordship and reign, who trusts in his death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, word is how you choose when you come under the word, when you euaggelizo the [00:47:00] great news that Christ died for you, that God resurrected him on your behalf, and he has secured for you an eternal life you would never have otherwise.

When you hear that, when you respond to that, you are sitting right smack dab in the middle of God's plan A for you And that's why Isaiah is so bold, Paul says, as to say, "I've been found by those who didn't seek me. I've shown myself to those who didn't ask for me." That's the keystone. That's what it is.

It- the Word is near you. That's the center. That's the thrust of the whole thing. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and yes, Israel stumbled over the stone, and yes, Israel's hearing and not refusing, but don't lose track of the fact

That you're plan A, [00:48:00] and you're not an afterthought. And again, this is part of how we know that these are two ends of the same coin. That Paul's trying to say the same thing in a, in a more, in a, in a greater fashion. He's got more to say on the point, but, but we're to read these together so that we understand the center of what Paul's saying.

Because I've used this picture now, but this picture was first came ... I made this picture for Israel stumbling over the stone. If you were in class, you've seen it. Israel is sitting there. They're running the race They're trying hard. They're following 613 laws of the Old Testament. They're tithing mint and cumin.

Becky made me this great breakfast this morning, and then she gave me those fatal words that I hate to hear. "I didn't salt and pepper it, so here's salt and pepper." And [00:49:00] I'm like, "I got no clue how much to use." I mean, I, I, what, I, I, I, I, I never use salt and pepper. I, I, it's just not in me. I just don't know. I just know when she makes it, it tastes great.

And now she's made it and made... and handed me a salt and pepper shaker, and I'm supposed to make it taste great. I got... I mean, I'm like, "Okay, how much?" Well, she says, "Just do it to taste." Well, that means I've gotta eat it while it tastes bad.

And I gotta just add a little bit at a time because it's gonna hit that golden moment where it tastes really good, and then it's, it's in destruct mode 'cause you put too much on, and it will never taste good again. So I'm 90% through with my breakfast before I get it right- ... because I'm trying to figure out how to do it.

You know, j- this is the, this is the difference. You've got Jews who have been so zealous for [00:50:00] following everything of God to the point of tithing their salt and pepper. "All right, I'm gonna put 10% of this salt aside for the Lord and the other 90% on my breakfast." And they're that careful. And they're not real thrilled over the idea that welcomed into the kingdom are these pagans who just last month were at a drunken orgy for Bacchus-

but have since accepted Jesus. "So we've spent 50 years doing everything just right. They're two weeks into this thing, and they get everything we get?"

And that's the point. And Paul said it. He said, "Israel has stumbled over the stone in all their big running." But the runner who never entered, the runner who never trained, the runner who never took the blocks, spent [00:51:00] the entire sta- race in the stands sucking on a hot dog, he's gonna get the crown. That's what Paul said in the run-up.

On the opposite side of the chiasm, he says, "I've been found by those who didn't seek me. I've shown myself to those who didn't ask for me." He wasn't even looking for the crown. Like, "Hey, buddy, wanna put down your third hot dog and accept the award?"

Paul says, "But of Israel God says: 'All day long I've held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.'"

All day long All day long

And [00:52:00] I've gotta ask the question, do we really wanna say God's rejected His people? God didn't reject Israel Many of Israel came in Many did not. But it's not God rejecting Israel. All day long, he's holding out his hands. Now, this jealousy word's gonna come back, and we're gonna look at it again in chapter 11 'cause Paul uses it.

But we've gotta get, some of us, to the assembly. So it's very important we end on time. And Dale Hearn is back with Carrie from spending the summer in Pennsylvania, where he's, uh, become a Yankee

Um, no, he's the-- I think he and Carrie are the Baylor alumni team of leaders of, uh, Pennsylvania, 'cause there are two people who graduated from Baylor in Pennsylvania, and it's them. [00:53:00] But Dale will get on me, um, if I don't spend a little bit of time on Points for Home, and rightly so. Dale, welcome back.

Welcome back, Carrie. We missed you

Point one I thank the feet that carried the gospel to you

I think the feat most for me was Dr. Harvey Floyd, and he's dead. But I still honor his memory, and I still thank God for him. His widow is still alive, and I've got friends who do a good job keeping up with her. I do the best, not the best I could, but I try But thank the feet that carried it to you.

There's not a person in here who, who didn't have a mom, an aunt, an uncle, a dad, a brother, a sister, a, a friend, a neighbor, a door knocker[00:54:00]

You might be Charles Mickey, who has like 8,000 family members that are all preachers, so he's probably got a lot to thank God for. But how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel I'm so thankful for Pastor Jarrett. I'm so thankful for Pastor David Fleming. I'm so thankful for Pastor DeMon Shook, God rest his soul.

Those are the only three I've known here, but they delivered the good news. They have beautiful feet. Next point , your feet are the link in somebody's chain

You say, "Well, I'm not very good at talking about it." You don't have to be. You need to live it Say, "Well, I don't know how to do that." Yes, you do. You just love [00:55:00] people and you be godly And if you're not good with the words, don't worry about it. You can invite them to class. You invite them to class next Sunday.

We're back in our room. We know how to get here But your feet are the link in somebody's chain, and how are they to believe in Him of whom they've never heard? Let them hear, and when they hear, we want them to hear the voice of Christ Don't, don't get in the way of the voice of Christ. I was driving to church this morning, and I was behind somebody, and there was a line of about eight cars getting ready to turn on Cypress Wood, and I just instinctively started to cut around that person 'cause they had left three car lengths between them and the car in front of them, and I thought two should be enough.

[00:56:00] I cut into that left lane. I thought, "I think they're in my class."

So I apologize, and I, I, I, you saw me, I repented. I backed back up and got behind you. How are they to believe Him whom they've never heard? Look, man, we're hauling around an imperial message, but it's not the message of Augustus. It's not some dead emperor under some dead calendar, where that calendar's not even good anymore.

We can't e- look, August is named after Augustus, and we've got him in September

This is announcing the rebirth, the resurrection of a Messiah who died for us. All right. And this is His message of love [00:57:00] and forgiveness and eternal joy. Amen? Amen. Here's your lunch topic. Discuss who taught you the gospel. We're at 10:30. Let me bless you, and, uh, I won't be able to talk to everybody 'cause I wanna get to church early enough to get a good seat.

Lord, in the name of Jesus, thank You for Your love, Your inexhaustible love, Your steadfast love, Your unending love, Your great mercies and love that are new every morning. We proclaim great is Your faithfulness. You are our portion in life. You are the one in whom we hope. Make Your face shine upon all who hear this message, and Lord, may they hear and come under.

Amen. Through Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and [00:58:00] resurrection, our risen Lord, we pray. Amen. Amen.