"Beautiful Feet" Romans 10:5-15 Sunday Evening Worship Service

True confession, I have never had a pedicure.

And I am not going to ask for a show of hands of those who have.

My toes were pretty disgusting the last time I checked, but that's been a while.

Definitely not ready for sandals on the beach, even though this is the weekend that marks the unofficial start of the summer season.

And yet, as neglected as my feet are, they may in fact be beautiful.

Americans spent$822 million on nail salons in 2021 and$3.2 billion on foot care products.

But that does not guarantee that you have beautiful feet.

My wife hates it when I say did you know?

But did you know that 45% of women buy at least five new pairs of shoes each year and 21% buy seven or more?

For men, the numbers are about half of this, but their shoes cost about twice as much, so it evens out.

Again, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but if you see somebody wrapping their coat around their feet, they're probably in that 21%.

In 2021, also recorded the highest price ever paid for shoes:$1.47 million for a pair of Air Jordans worn by Michael himself during a game in his rookie season.

But even wearing those won't give you beautiful feet.

And here the apostle says that we can have beautiful feet even without all the pedicures or the powders or the pumps.

We'll be looking at verses 5 through 15, but for context, I want to start back a little earlier.

I want to start reading from Romans chapter 9, verse 30.

Romans 9:30

Romans chapter 9, verse 30.

Romans 9:30

What shall we say then?

That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it.

That is, a righteousness that is by faith.

But that Israel, who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness, did not succeed in reaching that law.

Why?

Because they did not pursue it by faith.

But as if it were based on works, they have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

For I bear them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes.

But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.

But what does it say?

The word is near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we proclaim.

Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

The Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

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.

These are the true words of God.

Amen.

This passage is all about salvation, all about reaching the lost, attaining salvation, attaining righteousness before God.

These themes are very important in the book of Romans, and they're also very appropriate as we think of sending out these mission teams.

And so for an outline, I'm going to give you three reachings: reaching righteousness, reaching salvation, and reaching the lost.

The letter to the Romans is Paul's clearest and most detailed description of the gospel.

Throughout the epistle, he wrestles with this concept of reaching righteousness.

He said to the Jews back in chapter 2 that it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Well, that sets a pretty high bar for who is going to be justified.

And yet in chapter 3, he says plainly, none is righteous, no, not one.

No one understands, no one seeks for God, and therein lies the problem.

With trying to work to reach righteousness, our sin and our depravity prevent us from fulfilling the very things that can bring us to righteousness.

The heart of the gospel emerges in chapter 3 of Romans.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, righteousness apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

These are very, very good statements about what the gospel is.

They're justified by grace as a gift through redemption that is in Christ.

Yes, all have sinned.

No, no one is righteous.

No, not one.

Righteousness is not obtained through the works of the law, but through faith.

And to reinforce this point, Paul goes on in chapter 4 of Romans to talk about Abraham, the forefather of the Jews.

Paul says, if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about.

But in fact, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him.

It was credited to his account, if you will, as righteousness.

So here in the latter chapters of Romans, Paul is answering this question.

Are the Jews still the people of God?

And what about these Gentiles that he says have now been grafted onto the tree of faith?

The way that the Jew and the Gentiles attain righteousness is still a burning issue.

If you look back up to the last verses of chapter 9 that I read, what shall we say?

That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it.

That is a righteousness that is by faith, but Israel pursued a law that would lead to righteousness, and they did not succeed in reaching that law.

Why?

Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.

He continues showing the contrast between these two ways of reaching righteousness right here in our passage in verse 5.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law.

Where did Moses write about this?

Leviticus chapter 18 is one good place.

Leviticus 18 · chapter mention

Leviticus 18, 5 says, You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules.

If a person does them, he shall live by them.

If you do the law, you will live.

And perfect obedience is actually what's required.

James chapter 2 says, whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

James 2 · chapter mention

And so reaching righteousness by our works is doomed because we sinned, all have sinned.

And we've all failed on at least one point of the law, and so we become guilty as lawbreakers before a holy God.

In contrast, verse 6 says that there is a righteousness that's not based on works, but on faith.

Paul wants his Jewish background readers to understand that even though this righteousness is based on faith in Christ, it is rooted in the Old Testament scriptures.

He draws a warning from Deuteronomy chapter 9, verse 4.

Deuteronomy 9:4

Whereas it's because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.

Don't boast and say, well, you know, I'm such a good guy.

We're such a good people, you know, that the Lord drove out all these heathens and established us here.

He said, Don't say that.

It's not because of how good you were, it's because of how bad they were.

Works-based righteousness requires a heavy dose of self-confidence and pride.

So God warns them, don't think it's because of your righteousness that you have what you have.

It's only by the grace of God.

Think about the self-confidence of the rich young ruler when asked by Jesus about keeping the commandments.

Well, he said, I have kept all these since my youth.

Jesus had another commandment to give him.

Think about the pride demonstrated by King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.

Is this not great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?

Both of these men thought that their successes, their acceptance for God was achieved because of their deeds.

Both men missed the point completely, and they missed the grace of God that is by faith.

You know, many of us in this world capital, in this powerful city of Washington, D.C., we've achieved some measure of wealth and riches and power.

We're tempted to think that we have achieved so much by our own smarts, by our own hard work.

There is a measure of truth in that.

Proverbs has a lot to say about the rewards for working diligently.

But Jesus warns that it's foolish to say, I'm going to build bigger barns if your life is going to be required of you tonight.

He asks very pointedly, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses his soul?

I think that's the most profound question that's ever been asked.

Thank God in humility for what he's given you or allowed you to achieve.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

A work that none of us could ever do for ourselves.

This humility is what Paul is prescribing in our text.

Verse 6 also says, Don't say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven?

That is, bring Christ down.

The incarnation was not a human initiative, it was God taking on flesh.

And don't say who will descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

Resurrection is certainly beyond anything that humans can achieve by their works.

Righteousness does not come by works, it comes by faith in Christ.

He says it is as close as your mouth and your heart.

You know, much of the world has adopted this works-based approach to their right standing before God.

Hindus do good works so that they have good karma so that in the next life they're in a better station.

Almost every Moslem I've ever talked to has this mental concept of a scale.

And if their good works are more weighty than their bad works, then their God's going to let them into heaven.

Catholics are supposed to perform meritorious works.

The Council of Trent taught that life eternal is to those things working well until the end, a reward to be faithfully rendered for their good works and merit.

Eternal life is a reward for good works and merits.

It also wrongly affirms that if anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, which is what I'm saying here tonight, meaning that nothing else is required in order to obtain the grace of justification.

Let him be anathema.

You are actually under the curse of God and the church if you believe that righteousness does not come through works.

Teams, when you go out this year, when you're out and about this summer, you will encounter people who believe this, that if their good works outweigh their bad, if they're doing good things, God's going to grant them eternal life.

The team which I am leading is going to Rome, to Italy, where Catholic understanding of justification and righteousness and works is probably held the most fervently.

But many people right here in the U.S.

think this is true as well, that, well, they're going to go to heaven.

They're better than their neighbors who doesn't recycle and he only mows his grass every three weeks.

I'm better than him.

It would be worthwhile to discuss among yourselves what you will say in response to people who say that.

Because those trusting in their works for salvation are going to be disappointed and they're going to come up short.

Galatians 2, 16, a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

So that's what you're trusting in and holding on to, someday before God, you're going to be disappointed.

Closely related to this idea of reaching righteousness is reaching salvation.

That's the next topic that Paul talks about in this passage.

Verse 9 is a familiar one.

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.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Reaching salvation means that in our hearts we believe.

We believe certain truths about the gospel.

That Christ came as God in the flesh, that he lived a perfect life, that he died not for his sins, but for ours.

And that he rose victorious over death and hell, and he's able to save us completely and forever.

John says it well in chapter one of his gospel to as many as believe in him, to those who received him and believed on his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

We become children of God when we believe on his name and receive him into our hearts.

Once we believe in our hearts, then we should naturally confess that with our mouths that Jesus is Lord.

We share our stories of what our life was like before we knew Christ, what it was about the gospel that drew us towards Him and helped us realize our true nature and how our lives have been changed since becoming followers of Christ.

This is one of the great uh blessings of baptism.

My friend here in the third row was talking about his baptism here in January, and it's such a marvelous encouragement to hear these stories when believers stand up and declare before the church how Christ has changed their lives and that they intend to follow him forever.

Baptism is the outward expression of the inward reality of faith.

We often encourage uh mission teams to share among themselves, to have people share their testimonies.

We've been doing a little bit of that on the Italy team.

Share the story of how you came to faith.

Not only is it encouraging to hear the stories and it helps us uh know our teammates in a better way, it prepares us for situations that we may be in when we're on the mission field.

I hope that many of you, when you are out on the field, will have opportunities to share your story.

It brings glory to Christ and it helps the people that you're interacting with to see the truth of the gospel lived through a human life.

As we think about the teams being sent out to South America, North America, Europe, Africa, it's encouraging to know that reaching salvation is not just for the Jews, as many thought in the first century.

That's really what they were wrestling with back then, nor is it only for Americans and other Westerners, as some claim in the 21st century, that this is just an imperialistic thing from the West and trying to impose on the rest of the world.

Verse 11 here says, the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

There's no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone who believes, the same Lord is Lord of all.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.

Even as Paul was writing this letter to the church in Rome, the gospel was being carried across Asia Minor and across the Near East and across Europe.

Jesus had called on his followers to go and make disciples of all the nations, and they were courageously obeying his command, often through what we today call short-term missions, going for a short term to establish a church in an area, and usually these were conducted in the midst of very ferocious uh opposition.

In fact, the church of uh of Rome was largely composed of people who had come from various points of the empire and had found their way to the capital, and that's not unlike why some of you are sitting here today and what happens in this capital uh city as well.

Paul had told the Romans back in chapter one that the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew and also for the Greek.

Reaching righteousness does not happen by working hard and obeying the Jewish laws.

The righteousness of God is reached through faith in Christ.

Reaching salvation is not attained by belonging to the Old Testament people of God, by being of Jewish heritage.

It's believed in the heart, it's confessed with the tongue, and it is for everyone, every tribe, every language, every nation.

Third, reaching the lost is the great work that the church should be about.

Beginning in verse 14, Paul makes a subtle shift here.

The issue is not so much how salvation and righteousness are attained, but how the lost are to be reached.

He gives us a series of rhetorical questions here that zero in on what it takes to reach the lost.

Paul's already asserted that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but there's more to consider if that's going to be accomplished.

How can they call on one that they have not believed him?

We've already said that reaching salvation in It's the ones who receive him, those who believe in his name, who he gives the right to become children of God.

And so the answer to this rhetorical question is obvious.

They cannot call on the Lord if they don't believe in him.

Without faith, it's impossible to please God.

So what is needed if they're going to have faith?

They will need to have heard of Christ.

Paul asks, how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

Outside of Christ, there's no salvation.

And yet almost half of the people of the world still have no idea who he is.

There's about 3.5 billion people in this world that cannot give you an intelligent sentence about who Jesus is.

Oh, does he play on one of the soccer clubs up in Europe?

Is he Santa Claus?

I don't know.

Most of these people live in an area known as the 1040 window, which is an area between the 10th and 40th parallel latitudes.

60% of the world's population lives within this window, and 85% of the people of the world who have never heard of Christ.

Tragically, only 3% of all the missionaries in the world are working in that area, and just 0.5% of mission funds are spent in this window.

Can you believe that?

0.5% of mission funds.

Glancing at the map, you have some idea of the difficulty that this area presents.

The trackless deserts of the Sahara, the Middle East where Islam reigns, India, where Hinduism is strong, now the most populous country in the world, the communist anti-Christian countries in Asia, like China and North Korea and Vietnam.

So many people in these vast regions have just never heard that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and the ones that believe in him would have eternal life.

It's not appropriate to send short-term teams into these difficult and sometimes dangerous areas, but what we find is that when people are exposed to mission through a place to a safer place, that God begins to put this work on their hearts.

Several of our long-term missionaries had short-term exposure in the countries where they now serve and have returned there on a long-term basis.

For others, even serving short-term, even a trip to the U.S.

has given them a heart for the work of the Lord.

As you serve this summer, be open to the possibility that God may be working in your heart to give you a passion for the gospel, a love for people, and you may one day serve Him as a missionary.

This is a map that shows that the unreached of the world exists in over 7,200 people or ethnic groups where the gospel has not been proclaimed, where the church has not been established.

Most of these dots fall within that 240 window rectangle that I showed you before.

Look at India on this map, almost completely shaded.

Nearly 50% of the unreached people groups of the world are in this country.

How are they going to believe, Paul says, in him of whom they have never heard?

Next, Paul asks, How are they to hear without someone preaching?

Some translations here say without a preacher, but that gives a sense that it's only vocational ministers who can spread the gospel, but really someone preaching is better, like the uh the ESV has.

Becoming a Christian involves believing certain facts in the heart, as we said, that Christ lived a perfect life.

He died not for his own sins but for ours.

He rose victorious.

Paul told the Corinthians that God was well praised through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believed.

Whether it's in formal settings, informal settings where you live, where you work, where you go to school, people learn about Christ as you share the good news with them.

This is certainly what we desire for all of our Stomp trips.

We have tried to choose locations where we're not limited to just being involved in some of the social needs of that community, but where we're free to address some of the truer, the deeper spiritual needs that communities have as well.

Well, the final question Paul asks here is one that he addresses to the church.

How are they to preach unless they are sent?

Mission involves believers crossing cultural, linguistic, spatial divides to plant or strengthen the Church of Jesus Christ.

How can these people go unless they are sent?

Well, they can't.

Teens need their parents' blessing and permission before they can go, and they probably have to have a signature on a form somewhere, don't they, JJ?

You can't just take their teens to the ends of the earth.

You gotta sign the paper, right?

Almost everywhere we're going requires purchasing plane tickets, renting cars and vans, buying meals.

We're procuring VBS supplies, crafts, funds for construction projects, community repairs.

Some are going, but even more are sending.

And we are thankful for them.

Many of you have contributed to the 160,000 that we have raised so far.

161 actually, because there's about a thousand dollars of baked goods this morning that uh that uh adds to our total.

Uh more is needed.

The World Missions Council is grateful.

Some of our elders are here.

We are grateful for this support because we have a small budget for short-term missions, but we know every year that it really is going to require the sending of the church if it's going to happen.

Going requires people to say yes to the opportunities in front of them, but so does sending and giving.

John Piper, I gave his book out earlier, uh, that book of Let the Nations Be Glad has said it very succinctly go, send, or disobey.

Take your pick.

In uh that book, Let the Nations Be Glad, he writes that mission exists because worship doesn't.

Think about these areas of three and a half billion people where there's no worship, there's no singing, there's no people glorifying God and praising Jesus.

He says this God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of his name among the nations.

Therefore, Piper says, let us bring our affections into line with his, and for the sake of his name, let us renounce the quest for earthly comforts and join his global purpose.

In other words, go, send, or disobey.

Our passage ends today where we began.

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

Where was this written?

Isaiah 52 is one place.

Isaiah 52, 7 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.

Nahum 1.15 is another place.

Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace.

In Ephesians 6, Paul refers to shoes as part of the believer's spiritual armor, symbolic of their readiness to go and to share the gospel.

I said earlier that mission involves crossing barriers.

You have to lace up your shoes, you have to cross that mountain, you have to sail that sea.

This passage is the main reason we have not called our short-term program STM.

Like a lot of people just say STM short-term missions.

We thought, you know, let's use Stomp, short-term outreach mission projects.

And our little slogan is pull on your boots, it's time to stop.

Our logo is a boot, because we have to step out of our comfort zones and into mission.

When you say yes to short-term missions, you are taking those steps.

You are taking the gospel to people who desperately need it.

And when they believe and they're declared righteous before God and they are at peace with Him, that is why Isaiah and Naam both say that this is a gospel of feet.

So beautiful feet.

You don't get them at a nail salon, you don't get them with a new pair of shoes.

Your feet are beautiful when they are transporting your body to a place of ministry, a place where people need the gospel, a gospel that you've been entrusted with.

Your feet may be covered with dust or coated with mud, but if you go in the name of the power of the Lord, if you take the gospel across the street or across the globe, your feet are beautiful.

Let's pray together.

They aren't carrying us to places where you would have us minister.

But Lord, in this uh service we can celebrate those who are stepping up and stepping out.

And Lord, their feet are beautiful.

We pray you would bless them.

We pray you would protect them.

We pray you'd give them health.

We pray that you would carry them, Lord, to uh hearts that are open and hungry for you.

Thank you, Lord, for assuring us that it's not the things of this world that make our bodies beautiful, Lord, but uh it's those who have borne the scars, those who have been beaten down, those who have have given their lives in service, Lord, that truly are the most beautiful.

So give us all beautiful feet we would pray, Lord.

Help us to be about your business.

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.

Thanks for joining us.

If you're in the Washington, D.C.

area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.

For more information on our church or our current service times, go to ibc.church.

For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.

location, go to tms.edu.

I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.