Then he quotes Deuteronomy 30:12-13. Jewish leaders threatened the apostles and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). There are some that find a difficulty here, because the expression "to hold" means holding firmly. When that happens, the feet of those sharing the good news are beautiful indeed. First, the reality, the thing signified, faith; afterwards, the outward and visible sign in the confession of that faith. A soul may as truly, no doubt, be put into relationship with God be made very happy, it may be; but it is not what Scripture calls "peace with God." Through His Word. Thus, it is put to denote the blessings when a sinner ceases to be the enemy of God, obtains pardon, and is admitted to the joys of those who are his children and friends. Our generation has its share of those who fly the false banner of being a gospel preacher when they preach anything but the truth. That is why the Scriptures say, 'How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!' God's patience with them was a very great aggravation of their disobedience, and rendered it the more exceedingly sinful; as their disobedience advanced the honour of God's patience and rendered it the more exceedingly gracious. Help me to believe, Lord." Although there is undoubtedly that profoundness which must accompany every revelation of God, and especially in connection with Christ as now manifested, still we have God adapting Himself to the very first wants of a renewed soul nay, even to the wretchedness of souls without God, without any real knowledge either of themselves or of Him. I have had Bible studies in their home in Santa Monica, and Keith was by here the other day. "At any rate he is a saved soul," we hear. "Whosoever." Time was when none of the English, nor French, nor of any other nation believed in the Saviour. This is applied in the two chapters that follow. All that ever could come to us by the highest and most perfect obedience to the law, we get by faith in Christ Jesus. Fellowship is extended by some and denied by others. Just as the sun in the heavens is not for one people or land alone, no more is the gospel. I want to put it very gently to you, yet very plainly. What the law says, it speaks to those under it. And then, next, what an easy word we have here! There is nothing that proves this so convincingly as the book of Genesis; and the apostle, by the Spirit of God, calmly but triumphantly summons the Jewish Scriptures to demonstrate that which the Jews were so strenuously denying. It is not so alone; but in His death, unto which I am baptized, I am dead to sin. God is revealing a righteousness of His own in the gospel. II. Paul was willing to be a foot soldier for Jesus Christ. What blindness! As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'". First, he cites Isaiah 28:16: "Every one who believes in him will not be put to shame." Not all will accept the message, but Christians must proclaim it nevertheless. Calling upon the name of the Lord is here put for all practical religion. Now this provoked them to jealousy. By his mighty grace, our Lord Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God; and it is our duty, as well as our privilege, to exercise this blessed priestly function of telling to the sons of men the way whereby they may be saved. But you have not done it all till you have given a report to your Master. But what does it mean, "How shall they preach, except they be sent?" He should give himself wholly to his ministry (1 Tim. It was the Son of God not merely as dealing with the powers of the earth, Jehovah's King on the holy hill of Zion, but after a far deeper manner. Because they were sons of Abraham. Peter was at the same time an elder, an apostle, and a preacher. It should be the goal of every minister of the gospel to hide behind the cross of Christ and evangel (proclaim) Jesus and not himself. Was he not himself, says Paul, a proof to the contrary? So Paul concludes his argument by citing two Old Testament texts to prove his case. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." They set up the golden calf, and thus cast off the true God, their God, even in the desert. During the difficult times, a preacher might question, What am I doing here? When money is scarce, when your family is under attack, when truth is out of season, and when a brother is making life torturous, a preacher might think of secular work as a welcome relief. They were a disobedient gainsaying people. What glory so rich as that of the Christ Himself duly appreciated? Paul presented the logical sequence in a lost persons coming to faith in Jesus Christ in reverse order here. 52:7; [Nah. Suppose that a strong man comes underneath, and says, "Here, drop into my arms; I will catch you, I am able to bear your weight." And it is Moses who speaks here, as in the previous verse. It is not in any degree settled as to itself by His blood. His offers: I have stretched forth my hands, offering them life and salvation with the greatest sincerity and seriousness that can be, with all possible expressions of earnestness and importunity, showing them the happiness tendered, setting it before them with the greatest evidence, reasoning the case with them. The second question was: How can people believe in the Lord if they dont know about Him? And it is well for those ignorant of it to know that here, in verse 4, the apostle speaks first of "walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Mary Magdalene expressed her love to Christ by kissing his feet, and afterwards by holding him by the feet, Matthew 28:9. In the rhetoric which often surrounds the work of gospel preaching, we sometimes lose sight of the significance of what we do. The Jews have rejected this message. We preach peace to you; and, if you hear us, we then tell you glad tidings of good things, full pardon for all the past, a change of heart to be given to you, to make you a new creature in Christ Jesus, yes, to be given you tonight, before you leave the Tabernacle, help for the future to strive against sin; strength to conquer and tread the dragon beneath your feet, power to become a child of God, to become an heir of heaven, to be taken under the guardian wing of providence, to be directed by the infinite wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The Gentiles have heard it (Romans 10:18; Romans 10:18): Have they not heard? "But unto Israel he saith, All day long have I stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.". Peter was able to be both a preacher and an elder because of the close affinity of the work of each, not in spite of it. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness are going about to establish their own righteousness, and they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that be at Rome." Answer. Stretching forth the hands is the gesture of those that require audience (Acts 26:1), or desire acceptance, Proverbs 1:24. From the very first we have these characteristics of the epistle disclosing themselves. And boy, she comes elbowing her way in and she is going to get right there next to Grandpa. That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." It is even as close as your mouth. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.". But oh, thank God we have a message to tell to the nations. 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. No, if by keeping the law, then that encourages boasting, but it is eliminated because I am saved just through simple faith in Jesus Christ. For less than $5/mo. That is the way to win souls. You believe that Christ is able to hear you, and you have some faith that he does hear you, for which I am very thankful indeed. He was many miles away, and knew nothing of his father's prayer. 4:2). These glad tidings of good things are published to all of you, even you that are farthest off from Christ, and hope, and peace. The language of faith says, Do nothing. 3. So then faith must come by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ( Romans 10:16-17 ). Isaiah foretold also this neglect of the message" (verses 16-17). How everybody would listen, how everyone would want to have a front seat, so as to make no mistake! 10:1-13 Brothers, the desire of my heart for the Jews and my prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. The Lord forgive all such, for Jesus' sake! The gospel has been preached everywhere." I would to God that we might all preach thus. as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! When thou art pleading for his help, believe in the help, for there is much power in faith. Somebody must tell them what they are to believe. Do some great brave wonderful marvelous thing. Yet here they come, a great company from the mountain tops, descending into the valleys. It is no longer blood, but death Christ's death and resurrection. Let it not be! I am going to talk about that matter in very plain language, because I want to be very practical, and I pray that God's Spirit may make my whole discourse to be so. And you, brother, who have been quite satisfied to be a church-member and to do nothing for Christ, a most unsatisfactory state of things indeed, should begin to be doing something for him who has; done so much for you. Paul has established that salvation is not difficult for anyeven a Jewto obtain. But, secondly, there is no believing without hearing: "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" We have nothing to do but to draw out by prayer, as there is occasion. Every man who is sent on an errand gives an answer by-and-by as to the reply of the person to whom he was sent. First of all, the groundwork of it is laid in the first four verses, the last of them leading into every-day walk. The soul is brought into peace with God, as it finds its standing in the grace of God, and, more than that, rejoices in hope of the glory of God. The prophet sees persons coining down the mountain side; he looks at them, and perceives that they are not men of war; else the greaves upon their legs would be terrible to the peaceful inhabitants of the plain. In the ensuing confusion, the sinner is unable to comprehend the clear message of Jesus (Matt. You can hear some very smart sermons, and very clever sermons; and, as a rule, I may say that the cleverer they are, the worse they are; where you see so much of the man, you will see very little of his Master; when everything seems yielded up to the turning of the phrases, putting the thing very grandly, and carrying you away with wonderful eloquence, the gospel itself gets put out of sight. Would we call for help from a person who we did not think would help us or could help us? Now that God has revealed Himself in the gospel, it is not what will suit man on earth, but what is worthy of the presence of the glory of God. Accordingly he tells them now what reason he had to speak thus strongly, not of the more advanced truths, but of the good news. Put down the new heresy with the old orthodoxy. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. The resurrection was an essential of Christian belief. Handed down. For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed. ", The word "heard" is to be understood in a wide sense. What have you to say to that?" That act denoted not even the washing away of our sins by the blood of Jesus, which would not apply to the case, nor in any adequate way meet the question of nature. Someone has to proclaim these facts for others to know about them. And how shall they preach - In what way shall there be preachers, unless they are commissioned by God? I hope that brethren in Christ will bear with me if I press on them the importance of taking good heed to it that their souls are thoroughly grounded in this, the proper place of the Christian by Christ's death and resurrection. Jesus saves! Here, then, it is not a question at all of pardon or remission. But there is more, which Paul afterwards insisted on. Did not Israel know that the Gentiles were to be called in? When thou dost appeal to his mercy, believe in the mercy. How beautiful are the feet (aria), from Messiah by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Their own Scriptures maintained, as nothing else could, that all the wretchedness which is now found in the world, and the condemnation which hangs over the race, is the fruit of one man, and indeed of one act. Let us take the objections and the answering scripture texts one by one. 21. But How shall they hear without a preacher? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (v. 17). A man of strong faith is happier, but he is not more truly saved, than a man of weak faith, so long as he has any faith at all. 11. It was laid down exactly how far a man could walk on the Sabbath. What the work of ministers is: To preach this gospel, to bring these glad tidings; to evangelize peace (so the original is), to evangelize good things. Two more surgeries would follow the first two surgeries that each required 8 weeks in a wheelchair or on crutches, no walking on the cast.. The ground taken by a Jew for supposing God exclusively for Israel was, that they had the law, which was the measure of what God claimed from man; and this the Gentile had not. they might be saved. Paul said, "It is eliminated." Did the Jews take the ground of exclusively having that word of God the law? He takes their own books, and proves from one of them (Deuteronomy) that in the ruin of Israel the resource is not going into the depths, nor going up to heaven. If you crawl on your knees for five miles to kiss the statue you can be spared several days of purgatory. First, he quotes Leviticus 18:5 where it says that, if a man meticulously obeys the commandments of the law, he will find life. Alas! Irwin The words, "How beautiful are the feet!" are plainly a figurative expression. Perhaps even more so when we're faced with the location-minimizing temptations we are today. The grace of faith is absolutely necessary to the duty of prayer; we cannot pray aright, nor pray to acceptation, without it. ; and in this sense it exactly corresponds with , which means the same, though the other idea of the Greek verb, that of evangelizing, has been wrongly given to it; for it is applied to the announcing of bad as well as of good news. (a.) It is Gods will that heavens gospel continually be taken into the world. There is a measure of faith in believing that. There let me leave that point, then. ESV Text Edition: 2016. How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! They grasped the meaning of this offer all right, when it came to them unexpectedly and unsought." In Romans 14:1-23 and the beginning ofRomans 15:1-33; Romans 15:1-33 we have the delicate theme of Christian forbearance in its limits and largeness. The apostle applies this according to divine wisdom. But often, lost in the shuffle is the soul that is living in adultery. The office (work) of evangelist is a singular and esteemed place. Then follows a warning against those who bring in stumbling-blocks and offences. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at privacy@biblegateway.com. For He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man can come to the Father but by me" ( John 14:6 ). They cannot preach except they be sent, except they be both commissioned and in some measure qualified for their preaching work. Christ's work of redemption deserves that God should act as He does in the gospel. Accordingly we do not hear of salvation as such in Romans 3:1-31. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine (1 Tim. Importance of Preaching the Gospel; Perverseness of Israel. They proclaim salvation. So I have found by my making over my other grandchildren she'll come elbowing her way in to get close to Grandpa. The answer is found in this portion of our epistle (that is, from the middle of chapter 5). The law demanded, but could never receive righteousness from man. Whether accidental or intentional, human weaknesses mask the beauty of the story of Jesus. How can they hear about Him unless someone preach to them? Clearly, both Isaiah and Paul (by inspiration of the Holy Spirit) taught that God expected those who preach to be watchmen and evangelists in warning that souls are in danger and how they may be saved. A preacher continues because of his love for truth for the satisfaction that comes when the opportunity to preach is presented for the joy of seeing lost souls obey the gospel for the gratification of watching a babe in Christ develop into maturity for the association with fellow Christians in the local church and in other areas where he has opportunity to preach for a handshake and an occasional appreciation expressed by the brethren for the sheer joy of preaching for the spiritual life that is required for the time it permits to study the Scriptures for being part of a ministry that permits me to be a fellow-worker with Paul, Peter, Timothy, Titus, Apollos, and thousands of unnamed preachers known only to God for the opportunity to contend for the faith (Jude 3) against those who abuse it for the honor of being yoked together with Christ in a fight against Satan. The image in Isaiah is that of a herald seen at first leaping or running on a distant hill, when he first comes in sight, with tidings of joy from a field of battle, or from a distant land. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks like this, Don't say in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (331), But hence we also learn how much ought all good men to desire, and how much they ought to value the preaching of the gospel, which is thus commended to us by the mouth of the Lord himself. All of the examples of conversion in the book of Acts are demonstrative of this fact. It is much better to have it put so, without going into detail, because otherwise somebody might be left out. He will for this be enquired of (Ezekiel 36:37), and surely that which is not worth the asking is not worth the having. Then Isaiah says, greatly daring: "I was found by those who did not seek me. There is a disposition continually to imagine that what is frequently spoken of must be understood; but experience will soon show that this is not the case. It was meant to make sin exceeding sinful. What is the life of a Christian but a life of prayer? The subject terminates with the grand truth which must never be obscured by details that we are to receive, one another, as Christ has received us, to the glory of God. As our feet are used to spread the gospel, darkness is expelled and Light shines in dark places, illuminating hearts with its heavenly message. Notice the word "obeyed," for the gospel comes to you with the force of a divine command. It is not enough for men simply to read the Bible. They had done their best to find their son, but they could not find him. But, suppose I still say: "Can it be that they have not heard?" (iii) There is the ignorance which is in essence a lie. But if it were so, He had not done with them. 3:7-8). We want none of this word-daubing; men are going to heaven or to hell, and it is time that we came to close grips with them about this all-important matter. Nothing shows better the Jewish attitude than the three classes into which they divided mankind. 11, 12). But God chose this exact analogy to describe gospel preaching in order to eliminate human pride and philosophy from the consideration of those who would preach (1 Cor. Thus one could not fail to see these two weighty inferences: the bringing in to be God's sons of those that had not been His people, and the judgment and destruction of the great mass of His undoubted people. Thus it is a mistake to suppose that saints may not be benefited by a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it. how shall they preach unless they are sent -- The Lord commission his apostles and them that heard them to go into all the world with the gospel message. Do not try to climb the heavens or search the depths, for Christ has already come down from heaven to earth, has been crucified, buried and raised from the dead. But such thoughts altogether vanish now, because, as the Gentile was unquestionably wicked and abominable, so from the law's express denunciation the Jew was universally guilty before God. This is a striking instance that the Apostle quotes not from the Septuagint, when that version materially departs from the Hebrew, as is the case here. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? To this then the apostle comes, after having spoken of the divine favour shown himself, both when a sinner, and now in his own special place of serving the Lord Jesus. (3.) The commission which the apostles received runs thus: Go you into all the world--preach to every creature--disciple all nations; and they did with indefatigable industry and wonderful success pursue that commission. Though some have attempted to make an arbitrary distinction between preaching and teaching (gospel and doctrine) as the means of com- mitting these to faithful men, the Bible makes no distinction between the functions of preaching and teaching. (1.) It was all a matter of law and achievement. There are in reality very few times when we can honestly say: "I never knew that things would turn out like this." It means everybody of every sort, and those who are of no sort at all, or of all sorts put together. I clung to it, and it became a life-buoy to me: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." First, Moses says: "I will make you jealous of a nation which is no nation.