It is necessary to hear God’s Word to be saved

I hope this doesn’t upset anyone, but I’m not a huge fan of eating at Subway. It’s not because the food is bad. It’s fine. I don’t mind it. What I don’t like is how difficult it is to get the food. At most other restaurants, you spend time looking at the menu, you choose your food, you tell them, and they bring it. But at Subway, you finally choose your food and that’s only the start.  What size? What bread do you want? What cheese? Do you want it toasted? Lettuce? Tomato? Onions? What kind of sauce? How much? Salt and pepper? Do you wanna make it a combo? IT’S TOO MUCH! I don’t like that many options.

But we’ve grown up in a world where there are almost limitless options all the time. So much so that we just assume that there’s ALWAYS more options. Do you have this same shirt in other colors? In other sizes? It’s probably at another store for other prices. Oh this church isn’t that great, it’s fine there are others I can go to. I don’t like this job, I’ll quit and find a new one.

And right or wrong, you may be able to find options for all of those things. But when it comes to defeating sin, to being freed from its power, there is only one option, only one choice. And if you don’t like this option, you cannot find another anywhere else regardless of how much you search. This choice is the necessary choice.

Today, I want to argue that…

Main Point – It is necessary to hear God’s Word to be saved

Text – Romans 10:13-17

Prayer

Paul is the author of the book of Romans and he makes a very logical step by step argument here. He puts six events in a chain and shows how one necessarily leads to the next. Starting with the last he places them in this order:

Saved - Everybody wants to be saved, this is the goal

Call on the name of the Lord - this is the thing you do to become saved

Believe - you don’t call unless you believe

Hear - You can’t believe unless you hear

Preach - you can’t hear unless someone preaches

Sent - no one can preach unless they are sent

So today, I want to just walk through these steps and describe what they mean and how they lead to the next step. I will also tell you in advance that we’re not going to cover the Send part today. That could be an entire sermon on its own. But we’ll walk through the others. I’ll do it in the same order Paul does.

Point #1 – Those who are saved need to call on God (vs. 13)

Now I praise God that many of you have memorized some scripture and have hidden God’s Word in your heart. Some of you are probably familiar with the “Romans Road”. This is a fantastic tool by which we can share the gospel with an unbeliever through a series of verses, each of which are in Romans.

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

Lord.

Romans 5:8 - But God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9 - If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God

raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:13 - For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!!

Y’all, that’s an incredible series of verses that are filled with incredible truths. I love the Romans Road. It’s straightforward. It’s simple. And it’s straight from the Bible. But there is one problem that comes up. We think that because these verses are used to evangelize the lost, they are therefore only useful for the lost. We hear verse 13 of our passage “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And our first instinct is that we should turn to our neighbor who is not at church and tell this to them. “You hear that friend? If you would just call on the name of the Lord you would be saved.” And subtly in our hearts, in a way that we would never perhaps say out loud, we believe that “I don’t need to call on the name of the Lord and I don’t need to be saved.” This is only for someone else.

Do you remember how a few weeks ago we were talking about 2 Timothy 3? We noted how Paul tells Timothy how the Scriptures are able to make him wise for salvation. I mentioned that this is odd because Timothy was already saved. Why would he need to become wise for salvation? And we talked about how we have a narrow view of salvation today, but that both Timothy and Paul have a wider view. So let me expand on that a little more this morning briefly.

The Bible talks about salvation in three tenses. Past tense - “You were saved”, Present tense - “You are being saved” and Future tense “You will be saved”. The fancy theological words for these three are first for the past tense - Justification. This is the moment that you first place faith in Christ as your Savior. Your sins are forgiven and you are declared righteous before God because of what Jesus has done. The second is the present tense of salvation -  Sanctification. This is the ongoing saving work that takes place in your heart as God continues to remove sin from your life. This is the way in which all of us who have already believed, continue to be saved. And finally, the future tense saved is Glorification. This is that moment when one day we will be welcomed into God’s presence and never encounter sin in any way, shape, or form ever again. So to sum those up again, we could say in justification, we were saved from the penalty of sin. In sanctification, we are being saved from the power of sin. And in glorification, we will be saved from the presence of sin.

Now, I’ll admit that this text IS talking about how we are made righteous with God, the past tense, justification one. However, the Bible also consistently argues that each one of these aspects of salvation is obtained in the same way. So if placing faith in Christ alone is what justifies us, it is also what will sanctify us. If calling on the name of the Lord is what justifies us, it is also what will sanctify us. If hearing the message of the gospel is necessary to justify us, it is also necessary to sanctify us.

And in that sense, this passage is not just for someone else. It is not just important for other people who aren’t yet saved to hear. This is a passage that matters to us today. These verses remind us not only of how we once were saved, but also how we will continue to be saved.

So the next logical question is, if we need to call on the Lord to be saved, how do we do that?

Many people treat calling on the name of the Lord as if it were a magic word. Just like when someone asks us to give them something, but we very condescendingly respond with “What’s the magic word?” And we withhold our gift until they say that magic word “Please”. Calling on the name of the Lord is not like that. “Can I please be saved?” “What’s the magic word?” “Jesus” “Ok. Here is salvation.”

But calling on the Lord to be saved is not like that. Rather calling on the name of the Lord is more like calling on the doctor. It is like driving to his office and saying, “I recognize that I’m dying. You are the one who can tell me what is wrong with me. You are the one who has the ability to heal me. I’m willingly submitting myself to whatever regiment and medications you are recommending to me.”

Jesus isn’t just a password. He’s the one who has the ability to free you from every ounce of sin that plagues you. He is the one who created you. He is the one who loves you. There is salvation in no one else. There are no other doctors from whom you can get a second opinion.

Now this has all been pretty heady, I get that. What does this mean for you this afternoon and when you step into work tomorrow morning or when you check the balance in your bank account online later this week and feel your heart drop?

It means you recognize two things constantly. The first is, sin is attacking me. It wants to destroy me. It wants to fill my heart with fear and doubt. It wants to distract me from God with nonsense. It wants me to pursue happiness in empty places and it wants me to trust in idols. I need to be saved from sin today.

The second thing we must recognize constantly is that calling on Jesus is my only means of being saved. I must call on him if I want to avoid being distracted by all the nonsense that would draw my attention. God I waste so much time. Sin has filled my life with so many trivialities that it has crowded you out. If I’m going to be saved from that I must call on you. I’m afraid that the low number in my bank account means I can have low confidence in my future. Sin wants me to be afraid. I have to call on you if I’m going to defeat that fear. Prayer is my only hope. But God sin even wants to keep me away from prayer! Save me from that as well!

But you might recognize how it takes a rather mature believer to always be that vigilant. I personally don’t find myself calling on God for salvation with that kind of frequency. How can I become someone who calls on God for salvation?

Point #2 – Those who call need to believe (vs. 14)

Verse 14 tells us rather plainly the answer to our question. “How can they call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” So the clear step to becoming someone who calls on God for salvation is believing.

And that makes perfect sense doesn’t it? I would not call up the doctor and submit myself to his diagnosis and prescriptions unless I believed he had the power, knowledge, and resources to actually heal me.

Now an interesting aspect of the word “believe” here is that it’s essentially the verb of the word faith. To believe in something is the same as to faith in something. So faith is what must precede calling. If we want to be people who call, we must be people of faith. To tie that to our illustration, we must have faith in the doctor first if we expect to be someone who calls on him.

And faith is a word that gets tossed around a lot in our culture. If you’re having a bad day someone might say, “You just gotta have faith”. Or you might say, “I am going to get that new job because I have faith that I’ll get that new job.” But in the Bible faith is never just talked about abstractly. It’s always talked about very specifically. We need to have a certain type of faith. Faith in a person, not just faith generally. You see that in our passage. “How will they call ON HIM?... And how are they to believe IN HIM?” Ok. How is that type of faith different from a general faith?

Our doctor analogy breaks down, because we don’t go to Christ for a service he provides. As if once he solves a problem we can happily ignore him unless a new problem pops up. But in placing our faith in him, believing in him, we recognize that we were made for him. That our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him. That every single longing of our heart is fulfilled in him. Jesus says in John 6:35 - “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Your heart is hungering and thirsting for a lot of things. You hunger for satisfaction. You want to feel content with who you are and what you have done. So you spend time improving yourself by learning new things and mastering new skills. You hunger for respect. We want people to treat us with dignity. So perhaps you put on a good face in front of everyone else. You dress up well. You pretend your body is healthy. You own nice things because you want people to think you have it all together. Oftentimes you thirst for an escape from your problems. So you turn on the tv so the noise drowns out reality for a little while. Or you grab your phone and endlessly scroll. Or some of you may turn to a bottle to escape your problems. And after each of these attempts, to satisfy our souls hunger and thirst. We find that we’re still hungry. We’re still thirsty.

Believing in Jesus is unique from a vague faith in general, because it means you know that he is the only one who can satisfy any of your heart’s cravings. Praise God he solves our desire to be saved from sin. And praise God he satisfies our thirst to have a purpose. He satisfies our hunger to have dignity. Praise God he even solves our hunger to enjoy this life. Believing in him means more than just “Can you solve my problem?” It means saying, “I was made for you. You’re the one who saves from death AND you’re the one who gives life.” Jesus died on the cross AND he rose again from the grave.

If there’s so much hope in Jesus, if there’s so much life and satisfaction and salvation in Jesus. Why wouldn’t everyone believe?

Point #3 - Those who believe need to hear (vs. 14, 16)

Verse 14 again says, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” So we see again, the only way to become someone who believes in Jesus, who places your faith in Jesus, who finds all of their satisfaction and hope in Jesus, is to be someone who hears.

PERFECT! That’s actually super easy. We’re doing that right now. We’re sitting in pews and we’re hearing about Jesus. This is the road to faith and salvation! But you can recognize in my facetious tone that this is not the case. Hearing does not mean simply having the sound waves travel through the air and connect with your ear drum. And verse 16 helps us understand that. It reads “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord who has believed what he has heard from us?’”

It’s been clear since all the way back in the times of Isaiah, that there are some people who hear the words preached and yet do not then believe. There’s a disconnect. In our previous steps we saw that calling on the Lord meant you would absolutely be saved. And if you believed in Christ, you would absolutely call on the Lord. But now we see a potential break in the chain. Not everyone who hears will believe. Why? What’s missing? Paul says it’s that they have not all OBEYED the gospel. You are not simply called to hear the words the Bible says and then say, “Sure I agree with that.” That’s not belief. And that type of hearing will not lead you to salvation. There’s a second type of hearing. It’s the type that says, I will humbly submit to the one who is speaking.

Jesus’ parables are so perfect and I keep referring to them. In Matthew 21 he tells a parable of two sons. The father tells the first son, Go work in the vineyard. The first son says, “No” but later he changes his mind and he does it. The father says the same thing to the second son, Go work in the vineyard. The second son dutifully replies, “Yes, sir” but then he never goes. Which one of these sons did the will of his father? Which one of the sons would we say “heard” is father?

Hearing means humbly submitting to and obeying. And this type of hearing is the only means of salvation. If you find yourself enjoying sitting in church on Sunday, and you knowingly nod along with all the messages that are taught, “Yes, that’s good preacher. Yes, I believe Jesus is good,” but then after you walk out of here, you are not submitting to the Father. You might be hearing with your ears, but you are not hearing in a way that believes. And if you continue to merely hear in that way, you will never be saved.

But what are we supposed to hear? What is the message we should be submitting to?

Point #4 – Those who hear need the Word of Christ preached (vs. 14-15, 17)

At this point it shouldn’t surprise you where we’re going next. How do we hear? What do we hear? Verse 14 - “And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Preaching is the necessary and logical step before hearing. You can’t hear something that’s never been said to you. But it’s not the act of preaching that catches our eye here. It’s the content of the preaching. Paul goes on and says in verse 15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach…” Who preach what? “…who preach the good news”. That is the gospel. The message that is necessary for salvation is the gospel message. It is the good news. He’s quoting Isaiah 52:7. And here’s what the full text of that verse says,

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

The message preached is peace. It’s salvation. It’s happiness. And it’s good news because “Your God reigns”.

My friends, that message is contained in this book. This is the Word of God. This is his message of salvation and peace. This is the good news that declares that “Your God reigns.” It all traces back to this. In verse 17, he makes his concluding point. “So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” If you want salvation, this is where you’ll find it. If you want to have your sin defeated and your heart satisfied, it will only come from here.

Why am I telling you this and why have I taken all the pain-staking efforts to walk us through 3 weeks of a series on the Bible (We still have one left)? Part of it is because I want to challenge you to be in this Word regularly and to submit to this word always.

But this sermon is also a commitment from me to you. I want this congregation to be saved. I want to give you what is necessary for salvation. On the last day when I stand before God as my judge, I want to be able to present this congregation before him as a bride adorned for her husband, holy and without blemish, having cleansed her with the washing of water with the word.

This way of leading a church is different from what might be called a pragmatic way of leading a church. The pragmatic way says, let’s give the people what they like and what they seem to respond to. People don’t enjoy hearing about sin all the time. In fact, if you preach about sin too much, pastor, people might leave the church. It just sounds mean. People would rather hear things that are uplifting and positive and make them walk out of here with a skip in their step. God’s wrath doesn’t make them feel that way. God as a judge doesn’t make them feel that way. And this type of pragmatic teaching is the kind of thing you might see on television. Always positive, always with a smile. But this preaching cannot lead to salvation. Because in order to arrive at salvation, you must start with the idea that we need to be saved from something. If we don’t think we need salvation, we’ll never find it. Biblical preaching doesn’t merely tell us what we want to hear, it teaches us what we need to know.

I firmly believe that the words that God speaks in this book are the only means by which this congregation will be saved. And I’m promising you right now, that this is what I’ll preach. These are the words that you must hear. These are the words that you must believe. And it’s through the God of these words that you must be saved. This book is absolutely necessary for salvation.

I pray that you would hold me to that commitment. I pray that you likewise would hold the same commitment for yourself. I pray that if you desire to see the salvation of your friends and of your families that you would recognize that giving them the words of this book is the only means by which that will happen. It is necessary to hear God’s Word to be saved.

“So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Prayer