Romans 10:13-17

                                                         Romans 10:13-17

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 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? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

In order for someone to come to faith, there is a process that involves the call of God, the obedience of believers and the response of those who are lost.  Paul explains this process and demonstrates that the Gospel is made available to all who call on the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles.  The only condition for salvation is faith.  However, for saving faith to be in the heart of man, there are several things that must take place.

 

BELIEVERS MUST CALL: The act of calling on the Lord for salvation indicates several truths about the person doing the calling.  First, he recognizes he needs help.  When we come to an end of ourselves and recognize that we are hopeless to deal with our own sin, we call on the Lord.  Second, he wants help.  There are many who know they are powerless to overcome their sin and they like it that way.  They love their sin more than they love Jesus.  Third, they believe that Jesus is the solution for their sin.  As a child, my older brother liked to “torture” me in our room.  I never once thought of calling out to my sister for help.  I always called my dad; he was the one I believed loved me enough to help and had the authority to help.  When an unbeliever understands his need, wants help and believes that Jesus is his only hope for salvation; he becomes a believer and is saved from his sin.

 

BELIEVERS MUST HEAR: The process of salvation described above, requires that the unbeliever hear about Christ and the power of the Gospel to rescue us from sin.  There are still billions of people with whom we share this planet that do not know that Jesus came to earth, died for their sin, and that the Father accepted His death as payment for their sin, proving it by raising Jesus from the dead.  There are many who may know these truths about Jesus, but they are still striving to save themselves through works, religious rituals, or are trusting in some family heritage.  Unless they hear the message of Christ and the message of salvation through faith alone, they will not call on the name of the Lord and they will not be saved.  Paul sums up this passage with the declaration that faith comes by hearing. 

 

BELIEVERS MUST PREACH: In order for people to hear the Gospel of Jesus and salvation through faith, someone must preach.  All who know the Gospel should be actively telling others about how they found salvation.  Well over 90% of the people who trust Christ as Savior do so because they hear an oral presentation of the Gospel.  They hear from a parent, friend, pastor, missionary, neighbor, or some other person.  A small percentage of people come to faith by reading a tract or the Scripture, but most people require some sort of explanation.  The Ethiopian Eunuch so a prime example of this.  He was reading the Scriptures but needed someone to explain it to him.  Those of us who know the Gospel must be faithful to proclaim it to those who are around us and be intentionally engaged in doing all we can so that the Gospel can be proclaimed around the world to everyone everywhere.  If we don’t preach, they won’t hear, they won’t believe, they won’t call and they won’t be saved.

 

BELIVERS MUST BE SENT: As a missionary, it is tempting to use this passage to convince people of the need to support missionaries.  While I believe wholeheartedly that all believers must give of their time to pray and their resources to pay for missions around the world, I don’t believe that this passage is teaching that.  We can support missions, but only God can send missionaries.  Paul understood that he was commissioned by God to go to the Gentile nations and proclaim the Gospel.  Jesus taught His disciples to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest fields.  The Jews tended to think that they had a corner on God and that the other nations were of no consequence to Him.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  God has always been reaching to the nations by sending His children to preach so the nations can hear, so they can believe and call on the name of the Lord to be saved.

 

APPLICATION:  Make sure that we have truly called on the name of the Lord for salvation: recognize the need, want to be rescued from sin, and trust Christ alone for salvation.  Faithfully proclaim the Gospel to all the Lord brings in our path and seek to quicken the spread of the Gospel to everyone everywhere.  Pray for missionaries, give to missionaries, but most of all pray for the Father to send out more missionaries.

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