That All May Know | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church. We hope this message

will light up your team. I'm going to teach. You're al ready for

some teaching. Uh. Let's see whether your brains can take this. I

I hope, I hope. Okay, I I if you'll know. The

team is that all may know. And basically it's a team which is based

on evangelism, on sharing, on witnessing the Gospel. UH. And this

what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to go to the scriptures to find

all the different scriptures. There are many, there are many that talk about

evangelism. UH. And I want to be able to slowly uh take all

this. Uh. This is something that I'm doing for myself as I prepare

to share and teach the word over the spend of this year. But in

relation to the team, I'm gonna take all the different verses that talk about

evangelism, and then I'm going to do a little bit of a Bible study

as I'm sharing with all of your sol Is that gonna be okay? I

think I started off the last round with Matthew and Corinthians, two portions of

scripture which I expended and elaborated. Today, I want to talk about this

versus that we all have heard. Whenever we talk about evangelism, we will

allude to it, we will refer to it is from Romans chapter ten.

I don't know how many of you all I have heard this, but verse

fourteen of Romans chapter ten actually says this, But how can they call on

him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe

in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear

about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them

without being sent? That is why the scripture says, how beautiful are the

feet of messengers who bring the good news? We've heard that verse over and

over and over, and in fact, these are the verses that have actually

launched out many missionaries into the mission field because it is the reminder that it

is the feet of messengers that goes out. Okay, so I'm going to

be teaching from the We need to understand the whole context of where this scripture

came from, and we know, of course it came comes from Romans.

So I'm going to be looking at Romans chapter nine, verse thirty All the

way to the entire Romans ten, okay, which is one to twenty one.

If you have your Bibles with you and if you need the scriptural reference,

that is what I'm going to be looking into. Romans chapter nine,

verse thirty, and then the entire Romans chapter ten, verses one to twenty

one. Everyone say, okay, you're to stay with me. We're going

to be telling a story. We're going to be trying to understand the scriptures

because it's important that we understand it in context and not just pluck out the

verses and here you go, just go and run with it. I think

if you understand the entire context, you will know why the author wrote it

the way it is written, and what was God trying to teach us and

tell us. Amen. So let's start with this Romans chapter nine, verse

thirty. I'm going to read the first few verses and I'm going to be

reading from the NLT. That's the version that I use, cause it's easier

to understand for us. And the title just says Israel's unbelief. Okay,

Israel's unbelief. Verse thirty of chapter nine says this, what does all this

mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God's standards. They

were made right with God, and it was by faith that this took place.

But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with

God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not, Because they were

trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in

him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them

of this in the scriptures when he said, I am placing a stone in

Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone

who trust in Him will never be disgraced. And then we're going to flow

into Romans chapter ten and continue reading. It says this, dear brothers and

sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the

people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God,

but it is misdirected zeal, for they don't understand God's way of making

people write with himself. Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their

own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For

Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a

result, all who believe in him are made right with God. Amen the

Lord bless the reading of his word. I'm going to break it down,

explain it, and then continue reading the scriptures. Is that going to be

all right? The Book of Romans is actually a really powerful book. Of

course, all scriptures are powerful, All scriptures are amazing, but bear this

in my Romans was probably one of the longest letters ever written, probably the

longest one written in the New Testament. And I think I read somewhere before

that says that it's most likely one of the longest ancient letters because if you

look at Romans, I think it goes all the way to chapter sixteen or

something along those lines. But it's a letter. Yeah, that means don't

don't read it with the lenses that is supposed to have chapters and verses.

No, it's it's one whole scro one whole letters. Why something. When

you look at it, it's it's basically from start all the way to end.

Some people use it to preach the entire gospel. But Romans again powerful.

Chapters nine to eleven are probably one of the chapters that rarely talked about

except for the one that I just read just now, that portion of the

verse, because these are the chapters that talk a lot about the Jews and

the Israel and basically the nation of Israel. If you want to get a

better understanding, we have to study deeper into chapters nine, ten, and

eleven to understand God's will and his ultimate plan and purpose for the Jewish nation

and the Jewish people. So I'm going to be touching some parts of it.

Maybe in another time I will teach a little bit on chapter nine.

Chapter nine talks a lot about predestination. Our brains will probably fry if we

go into that straight away. So I just want to give us a little

bit of an understanding from this team that all may know what is Paul dealing

with in this portion of scripture that I just read, because you have to

understand, Paul again is the author. You know, he wrote these letters,

and what he's dealing with is actually an irony. Basically, the Jews,

who had been looking for their savior for centuries missed him, and then

the others who had not even been looking. Of course, the others,

we know, other gentiles, weren't looking for him, but they found him.

That was the irony of it. And so Paul in his early days,

no, he dedicated, he dedicated his whole life to being trained as

a rabbi. Please don't forget that Paul is the Pharisees of all Pharisees.

He was a trained rabbi, and then he found himself taking the blessings that

God had promised the Jewish people and the Jewish nation, but they refuse it.

So what he has done is ultimately Paul has passed on this blessing to

the gentoles who eagerly accepted it. And that's why he metthew Chapter fifteen,

verse twenty seven. You actually read of this portion of scripture about taking the

food for the children and giving that food to the puppy dogs under the table.

Remember that basically the puppy dogs is making reference to gent towles because the

food was initially prepared for the Jewish people, but they did not accept it.

And that's why the I think it was a beggar lady or something like

that, a gentle lady who said that even the puppy dogs under the table

deserve the crumbs. And of course Jesus went on and say, yeah,

actually, because of your faith, you can have the crumbs and therefore be

saved. Some people I actually read some commentaries and say that Jesus was a

bit racist in that portion of scripture because he referred to the gentiles as dogs.

But that's not important. What's important is you got to realize that what

was meant for one group and that group didn't accept it, now was henceforth

given to another group. So that was Paul's the lema, because that was

the problem in the Roman Church. See he wrote to the Roman Church.

So this is the church in Rome, Okay, the capital of the New

World at that time. Okay, and Caesar, of course and all his

controls were ruling out of Rome, and there was a church there. The

church was made up of both Jews and Gentiles. But the current state of

affairs was that the majority of the Jews in Rome did not belong to the

church, whereas many Gentiles belonged to the church. So the church in Rome

was actually made up of majority Gentile believers. And so try to put yourself

in this position. The Old Testament is a Jewish book, yet there are

countless Sristients who read it far more than the Jews. Again, that's the

irony of it, the historical irony of it. It is full of promises

made to the Jews, but many of us gentiles enjoy those promises that many

of them don't. That is what it was back then. That is still

the case today. So Paul is trying to answer this, No, how

did all this happen so unexpectedly that the people who were looking for God failed

to find him and the people who were not even looking for him were found

worshiping God? How did this happen? But think about it, This can

actually happen even in our churches today. You can have a person who has

been coming to church for forty years and you are seated comfortably, and yet

you are not understanding what living in faith and enjoying the Lord really is about.

And then somebody comes in from outside, and the very first Sunday the

person comes in, this person is like rejoicing and lifting praisers because God is

so real to him. It can't happen even today. That's the reality of

it. And there was what Paul was facing. Why does all this happen?

And Paul actually provides two answers to this problem in these chapters that we

are going to be reading. The first answer is something called divine sovereignty.

Okay, that is basically the topic of predestination. I'm not gonna go too

deep into it, but please remember this God is sovereign, which means that

he can decide on things like why. Sometimes we always ask God why you

decide like that? But he is a sovereign God, so he chooses.

But that's not the whole answer. The other side of it is this human

responsibility. So please remember these are two sides of the same coin, divine

sovereignty, human responsibility one coin. You see, two sides of it.

Sometimes our human minds might be might find it a bit of a struggle trying

to understand both these concepts. What does it mean to be divine to live

in this place where there is divine sovereignty and also realize that I've got some

responsibilities on my own. And so we go to one extreme or we go

to the other extreme. But the Bible actually teaches both. You see,

God didn't choose all the Jews, and on the other side of it is

not all the Jews to chose God. Makes sense. God didn't choose all

the Jews, and not all the Jews chose God. It's a paradox.

So the reason most of the Jews are not in blessing though they sought it

is due both to God's choice and it's also due to Dear choice. So

there is a balance between both the choices. Okay, so let's look a

bit deeper into Israel's unbelief. Stay with me, Stay me. We are

now looking at the responsibility of the Jews for not choosing God. Ever,

wonder why, because it was their fault. No, even though God did

not choose all of them, even though we acknowledge that God is absolute,

but if I choose not to believe in God, that is still my responsibility.

And here we see Paul addressing the Jews, and that is why he

quotes scriptures. Because he's addressing the Jews. He's quoting scriptures because it is

Deah book. You see, when Paul speaks to the Gentiles, he speaks

a little bit differently when because you quote scriptures to the Gentiles, they'll be

like like, oh, yeah, what talking you uh? And so you

find Paul actually when he talks to the Gentiles, he helps them see nature,

the bigness of things. No, he helps them understand No, you

see all the different gods. Uh in Athens. You know, he talks

a little bit differently, But when it comes to the Jews, he quotes

them the scriptures, their own scriptures. And so Paul is talking to the

Jews in the church at Rome, and why eight times in the verses that

I just read, he actually quoted from different parts of their scriptures, from

the Law, from the prophets, and also from the writings. Basically you

can see references made to Deuteronomy, references made to Leviticus, reference made to

Isaiah, reference made to Joel, reference made to the Book of Psalms.

It's all there. If you have a Bible that has crossed referencing, you

will see all those referencings. So Paul was actually quoting scriptures. He's in

fact saying, this is your book, and let me prove it to you.

Now we go into this mystery as to why is many Gentiles who were

not even seeking God found him, yet many Jews who were desperate to find

him failed to find him and missed him. Who we can illustrate this no

from the gospel accounts, because think about it, who was those who found

God in the Gospel, who were those who followed Jesus in the gospels.

It was mainly text collectors and prostitutes, you know, who was not finding

God in the gospels, the religious leaders and those who went to the synagogues.

Wow, we can look at the Jews and ask why theirs is the

most tragic history of any people on the earth. It's quite tragic. Actually,

if you study the Jewish people, they were the ones who knew most

clearly that there was only one hope for the future, and that is to

get right with God, to be righteous before him. They pursued it,

they ran after it, they lived for it. And the Jews were probably

the most religious group in the whole white world. But the tragedy is that

they made the most awful mistake, and it was the fact that they sought

God in the wrong way. That's all. They sought God in the wrong

way. You see, there's the right way and the wrong way to find

God. So what was the wrong way? It's this. The Gentiles found

God because they came in faith. The Jews failed because they came with works.

That's all. That's the only two difference. And there's a lesson here

everybody could learn. Because many make this error. No wonder, they don't

know the Lord because they think it is good deeds that makes us Christian,

and then it's not the case. That's why when you read pause letters,

he goes to the extent of trying to explain this. It's repeitted over and

over and over again, but I can find myself teaching it over and over

and over again. It's still so true to each and every one of us.

A Jew thing. If I keep the ten Commandments and I do good

deeds, then sooner or later I'll be good enough to get to heaven and

God will save me and accept me. However, to do that is to

fail for the simple reason that nobody can ever do it. There is not

a man or a woman living in this world who can say that I've kept

all the laws. I've heard many people say I've never done anybody any harm,

almost saying that I'm completely perfect. But humans just didn't succeed in fulfilling

the law. I think any one of us seated here will come to that

conclusion as well. But at this point that's why Paul's he starts to teach,

he starts to explain, and he says they have stumbled over the stumbling

stone, go back and read the scriptures is there and he quotes from Isaiah

basically, And I want you to try to imagine this. Okay, what

does this mean? Now? What does it mean by they have stumbled over

the stumbling stone? Imagine there's a big flood. Said, you're in the

midst and then you see a big flood sweeping through a valley, and then,

old man, it's coming towards my direction. And then imagine there's a

big rock in your path, and you know in your mind, since the

flood is coming quickly, the thing that I need to do is to stand

on this wrong But when the flood comes, you see, not everyone thinks

like that. Some people think that instead of climbing on the rock, I'm

going to try to swim against the tide. I'm going to try to swim

through this flood that is coming. But what eventually happens is the flood picks

them up and then dashes them against the rock. The very rock that was

supposed to be the salvation. Now it ends up them hitting the wrong That

is the picture in Isaiah that was being quoted. Actually, you see the

very rock which would have help and save you will become your i'mdoing that is

what it is saying here. And so Paul says the wrong is Christ.

And Peter actually affirms this when he wrote in First Bitter chapter two, and

is the truth. You see, that's a judge. There's a flood of

judgment that will come on sin, and it will come just as in the

days of Noah. That's what Jesus said. It will come, and it

will happen. But God has placed a rock, the Rock of Ages.

And anyone who in simple faith stands on Christ and never will never be put

to shame and will never be lost. But if a person says, I'm

not going to stand on that rock, I'm going to try to swim myself.

I can get myself safe. I can do enough good deeds to get

myself out of the judgment, and then starts to swim desperately. The flood

of judgment will carry them and dash them against the rock, which is Christ,

and Christ will eventually be their judge and no longer their savior. You

get the picture. Now, that's what the scripture is saying saying. That's

why we say that we are living in this time now when Jesus is our

savior. But there will come a point in the future when Jesus will return

as a judge, and he will judge us for the choices that we have

made. And so this is what Paul is trying to say. Christ came

to the Jews. That was the wrong, and any of them could have

built their faith on that wrong. Those trying to have a righteousness of their

own, not his, tried to swim, but the flood swept them against

Christ as judge. And you can't have it both ways. Either you get

to heaven by doing good deeds, or you get to heaven because Christ died

for you. We have to choose. It's one or the other. If

you are going to go to heaven by good deeds, then you must do

them all your life perfectly in every possible way. You must be absolutely perfect,

as your heavenly father is, as holy as he is. If that

is the way you choose, you will find yourself against the rock of Christ.

Because who do you think is the measure, the ultimate measure of goodness.

It is Jesus Christ. So your good deeds will actually be measured against

Jesus' good deeds. And that's where you realize that, oh, man.

If I pit my holiness against Jesus's holiness, then you realize I don't think

I have it. I don't think I have it now. Is it not

true that there are many people who make this mistake? Today? Me included.

This is how we journey and how we operate. You know, we'll

say I do as many good deeds as those who go to church. If

you ask them whether they will get to heaven, they'll say, well,

I'll try to do my best. I leave, I leave right, I

make the right choices, I don't hurt anyone. But that is not the

right mindset. You see. The rock will wreck them is the rock that

Christ is because they are standing up against Jesus and saying that I don't need

you, I don't need this wrong, I don't need the cross, I

don't need his atonement, I don't need his salvation. I can manage without

him, and I can just do things on my own, out of my

own strength. But we know I'm not putting down good deeds. Never once

have I put down good deeds, and I'm not belittling it. But only

when you are built on the wrong and the good deeds spring out of you

from faith then that is the kind of good deeds that the scripture teaches and

talks about. You see, Christians do good deeds not to get to heaven

A lot of times in our hate or the more good deeds I do,

eventually I'm in heaven. But Christians do good deeds not to get to heaven,

but because they are hating there, not in order to be saved,

but because they are being saved. It is so different. That's why the

scripture says we are safe by faith for good works. We are not saved

by good works, by faith for good works, and so we are supposed

to get on the rock. Once you get on the rock, there is

that foundation, that safety. That's when you start throwing life jackets and floats

to others because salvation is for everyone. You see. That's how I'm going

to pain this so that y'all can see. We need to get on the

wrong. A lot of times we try to save ourselves by swimming, and

then we try to save others by trying to swim and help them. But

eventually all of us will be dashed against the rock. But if we stand

on the wrong I can so imagine us then trying to save others, because

that is our responsibility then to start throwing the life jackets. Amen, let's

continue reading. Okay, let's continue reading Versus five onwards. I'm going to

read all the way to the end, and then I'm going to continue this

explanation. I hope you'll see this picture and get some understanding from the scriptures.

So it starts off by this salvation is for everyone, and then verse

five it starts for Moses rights that the laws way of making a person right

with God requires obedience to all of its commands. But Fave's way of getting

right with God says, don't say in your heart who will go up to

heaven to bring Christ down to earth? And don't say who will go to

the place of the day to bring Christ back to life again. In fact,

it says, the message is very close at hand. It is on

your lips and in your heart. I will explain, Okay, I will

explain all this as we read. I'm going to just continue reading. First

and what and that message is the very message about faith that we preach.

If you openly declare that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that

God raise him from the death, you will be saved. For it is

by believing in your heart that you are made right with God. And it

is by openly declaring your faith that you are safe. As the scripture tells

us, anyone who trust in Him will never be disgrace. Jew and gentle

are the same in disrespect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously

to all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of

the Lord will be saved verse fourteen. But how can they call on him

to save them unless they believe in him him? And how can they believe

in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear

about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them

without being sent? That is why the scriptures say, how beautiful are the

feet of messengers who bring good news? But not everyone welcomes the good news.

For Isaiah the prophet, say, Lord, who has believed our message?

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good news about

Christ. But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message?

Yes they have. The message has gone throughout the earth and the words

to all the world. But I ask, did the people of Israel really

understand yes, they did. For even in the time of Moses, God

said, I will rouse your jealousy, true people, who are not even

a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles. And late

Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying, I was found by people who were

not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for

me. But regarding Israel, God say, all day long, I opened

my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious strong. How many

of y'all know that whatever the famous scripture that I read just now had this

in context. A lot of times we don't realize it, and so it's

very important for us to read the scriptures in context. So Paul says of

the Jews, I have a desire for them. You know, Paul,

as much as he was called and he reached the gentiles, but he loved

his people and he had this desire for them. Know that you read his

letters. He's almost like yearning for them to know your white can't they know?

Because he he is the ultimate Jew, the Pharisees of all. I

know. Some people may say, no, well, if God just chooses

this and not others, what's the point of praying for anybody. That's where

sometimes we can take predestination the wrong way, because God has already predestined some

to be saved and some not to be. Sayt. Unless we have that

mindset, then don't really the prayer. It mean, it's all God's will.

I just live my life as it is. But you missed the whole

point. If you talk like that, you pray for those whom you have

a concern and care for. Period. Paul shows us that he prays for

his own people because he cares and he's concerned for them, and he doesn't

want to see them go into a place of them nation. You see,

predestination doesn't kill prayer. I will teach on it one day, but not

today. It's not the day. But Paul, though he knew God had

only chosen a few, he prayed for them all. It was his desire,

and he prayed for them that they might be saved. You know,

I really believe Paul was the one who really lived out this hole that all

may know moto in his life. He didn't pick and choose. And now

what does he do? He goes on to quote something that Moses said when

Moses was dying again. Read the scriptures, go back, read it,

study it, look at the referencing. Okay, So Paul is now quoting

something that Moses said when he was dying. It's actually in Deuteronomy the tea.

So remember this, okay, if we talk about Moses, what is

it about Moses. See, Moses had come down from the mountain. He

went up to the mountain right to meet God. He came down on from

the mountain. What did he have with him? Two tablets, okay,

with the ten Commandments written on them. And so his message he's dying declaration

to the people of Israel was I want you to remember this. No one

will have to go back up to God again to fetch this law down to

you. Read Deuteronomy tity. Okay, I'm just going to quickly go to

it. But if you want the deeper understanding, go back and read the

scriptures. No one will ever have to go down to the world of the

day to fetch me up again to ask me what the commandments were. This

is Moses's dying declaration because he is trying to tell the people, you have

got it already. I ran up, I took it down. Now you

have gotten it. It is near you. You know what it is.

In fact, it's on your lips. You recite it, it's in your

heart. You have memorized it. Therefore, all you have got to do

is take what you already know and apply it. That was Moses's dying declaration,

you see, because the Jews took the Ten Commandments seriously, really seriously,

and they memorize it, they recited. So he's saying that I don't

have to go back I'm going to die the You don't need someone else to

go back up and take the law down again for you, And you don't

need to come and look for me down there just to ask me to go

and get the law for you, because you have already gotten it. So

Moses he had to go right up to God. He went up into the

mountains, into the clouds. He came down. Now he was going to

die, but he was not going to take the commandments into the grave with

him. He was leaving it with Israel. That was what he was trying

to tell the people. What Paul does now is he use what Moses said

about the law and he's applying it to Jesus. Care follow me. This

is Paul doing a Bible study, trying to help them understand their scripture and

applying into their lives. He was saying, you don't need to do anything,

just apply what you know. You don't need to climb right up into

heaven to fetch Christ down, because he already came down. You don't need

to go into the world of the departed spirit to find Jesus because he came

back from the date he was raised up, So you don't need to bring

him down or bring him up. That's what Paul is saying, because he

is saying, Jesus is here, Jesus is near you. You know the

gospel, you have heard it. It is on your lips, it is

in your heart. You have got it. Now what you need to do

is apply. That's what he was trying to tell, in other words,

that you don't need to do anything because Christ is there. Jazz belief,

Jazz believe in him. Don't try to be good enough. Don't think it's

a great effort to find Christ. He is nearer to you than your mouth

and your heart. Paul was teaching them, let's take this a bit further.

How then do you accept Jesus? How then do you accept Christ?

How should the jew have reacted to the word of the Gospel? Very simple.

There are two things. Something has to happen on the inside. Something

has to happen on the outside. Something you do with your heart, something

you do with your lips. Basically, Paul teaches that you need to believe

in your heart, confess with your lips. Okay, believe in your heart,

confess with your lips. You see, heart in the Bible is basically

your inner personality. Heart. It covers your heart. It covers your mind.

It covers your will and your intent, your thoughts, your feelings,

your motives. If you accept him means ultimately total personality is committed to Christ.

But there is an outside as well as an inside. If there isn't

the outside, it's not complete because there is no such thing as a secret

faith. Sometimes you always say, I believe in Jesus, but I leave

secretly for him. Cannot It doesn't make sense. Faith has got to come

out one If you have really accepted, you will be prepared to tell someone

else you have it. And there is a great advantage in letting someone else

know straight away the moment you believe. And that is why you realize when

evangelist goes out and when they share the gospel and they witness their own story,

they always people to come forward because it must be not just something that

is working inside. It has to be translated into you stepping out action.

So tell someone else about your faith, and Jesus will tell the Father about

your faith. That's what Paul is saying, And that's an important thing.

Not because if Jesus, who is now interceding for us on the right hand

of the Father, doesn't tell the Father about my faith, that my faith

won't save me because it's my faith that God is waiting to hear about.

And faith in what faith in who actually is actually faith in Christ Jesus.

And so if we don't acknowledge that Jesus is Lord in our lives and profess

it, Jesus is going to look at the Father and the Father's like,

hey, does that person have faith? Is that person save? And Jesus

is like, but that's not the case, because we are supposed to be

transformed from the inside out. So if you believe in your heart, let

it come out and tell someone else. I believe, I believe. That's

what I meant by don't keep it to ourselves, don't keep Jesus just on

the inside. Notice that faith is of course in the resurrection, and not

only in the death of Christ. It's all there, It's all in the

lines of scriptures that I have just read. Faith in Christ is in someone

who is alive. So my faith in Christ is not in the date Christ,

but it's in him who died and rose again. That is where we

put our hope and our trust. You see, if there wasn't an empty

tomb, then basically everything goes down the drain. If it wasn't for the

fact that Jesus resurrected, means he never overcame death. If Jesus never overcame

death, that means we would still be doomed. And there's no point putting

our faith and hope on someone who still is in the tomb. But the

fact that he's no longer in the tomb, that tells me that our God

has now overcome death. And when we put our faith in him, therefore

we two can also overcome death. And so the conclusion is that it doesn't

matter whether you are Jew or gentle, there is only one way you can

be saved. You see, I struggled for a long time to find Christ.

I did. It took a while, a lot of discovery, a

lot of resistance, a lot of opposition, a lot of me. But

there came a day when I just believed in my heart, and then I

had to let people know that I did. I had to. I couldn't

go online to my parents that I believe because I live under their roof,

even though they told me, okay, you want to go to church,

go no, just don't believe. Don't get baptized. But the day I

told myself I'm going to believe was the day I had to come clean and

I had to let people know about it. As soon as I did it,

it all seem to start working out. Not things became clearer, even

though actually in reality it became a real struggle because there was even more resistance.

There was so much resistance. I mean, it's not something that your

pre believing parents will rejoice you, Okay, you can go to church,

be a Christian. Halle lujah, Prince dord. No. The first thing

that comes out of my dad's my I still remember, is like, what's

going to happen to me when I die. It's a real thing for those

who adopt different beliefs. But for me, the minute I said I believe

and confess it, the myths just started to roll away. Things became clearer.

You know, I didn't understand it all at first, but I knew

that I was walking the right direction because there was that conviction within me to

say that I will stand up and I will stand on the truth, and

I will stand on Christ Jesus, who now gives me the confidence because he

is indeed my savior. Wasn't easy, but there was clarity thereafter. You

see, many Jews can't see that. It's too simple for them. And

let's explore this. Let's explore this side of it. You see, the

Jews, for them, the first failure was that they failed to achieve righteousness

because they tried to get it the wrong way. I explained it at the

start. Basically they tried working good deeds instead of just receiving it by faith.

So that was the first part that they stumbled. They look at works

as something that's so important. The other failure was to hear the gospel,

to hear it. It is true now that you can't blame someone if they

have never heard. But the truth is the Jews have failed to accept the

revelation of God in the gospel. That's why Paul is trying to say.

He says, who has not heard Actually, come to think about it,

a lot of people today have the opportunity to opportunity to hear the gospel.

Very rare. Can you see, say the gospel is shut off unless you

are in Timbaktu or some god forsaken place where there is no one there to

ever preach the gospel. But even there so you probably can experience and see

God in creation there. And so this was the two failures. One failed

to achieve righteousness because they tried to get it the wrong way instead of just

receiving Jesus into their lives and receiving his righteousness. The other failure was to

hear the gospel. And that's it's only now that we go into those false

statements. And what are those false statements? Calling depends on believing. Believing

depends on hearing. Hearing depends on preaching, and preaching depends on sending.

So look again at all these points are Calling depends on believing. If you

don't believe that Jesus is alive, you won't call on his name. One

who won't call on Jesus if you don't believe right. Secondly, you don't

believe unless you have heard that he is alive. No one will believe something

that they have not heard right. But thirdly, is this hearing depends on

preaching. I believe there's a place for discussion, but people are converted through

preaching, not discussion. Preaching is not offering one opinion against another. Preaching.

A preacher is basically an announcer a man said with a message from God.

That's why the emphasis on preaching here, and it's not something that is

day to day. Is something that is still so relevant and needed because you

are announcing God. But just a moment now, how could anybody preach,

unless, of course they are sain. You could be a really good orator,

you can be very good with your words, you can be a very

good communicator, but you won't even begin to preach unless God send you to

do it. And a preacher is announcing not his own words, but he

is announcing God's words. How can he do that unless God send him with

a word. Which of these four things failed with the Jews, it's actually

the first one. God sent preachers to them, and the preachers gave them

the gospel, yet they did not believe they heard it. No, and

Paul proves it from the many Old Testament courtes. Again, you read it,

you will see it. Here is sounded interesting one that Paul does quote.

First of all, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good

news the gospel? This was something that's written in Isaiah chapter fifty two.

They heard it. There's another quote from the same prophet Isaiah as well.

But who has believed what we have told them? Who has believed our report

what we have told them? That means they heard Isaiah fifty three. You

see, Jews know perfectly well that what the gospel is they know. So

it is not that they have not heard the gospel. They have heard it.

It's just that they have not heeded to it. Does that make sense?

And that it's something that can still be applied to us today. You

may have heard a lot of things, but do you heed it? H

eed? That means are you obeying? Are you following it instead of just

hearing it? And there is a difference between those who have heard and those

who have heeded. Those who have heeded are those who take warning and comfort

from it, and those who have heard it just listen to me. But

if you have heed it means you know there is a warning there, and

then you know you can derive comfort, you can derive peace from it,

and then you go do something about it. But most people, you see,

don't have trouble with their hearing, and that's the reality. Most of

have trouble without heeding. And that is what went wrong even with the Jews

back then. But Paul says, no, I asked, did they not

understand what they heard? Maybe? No, Maybe there is some excuse for

them here that they just didn't understand what they heard. So Paul was still

trying to It's almost like justify no, give them chance a bit la.

But then he goes on a quote in Isaiah again, and then he says,

God said of the Jews, I make you jealous. You have made

me jealous by going after other gods. And I will make you jealous by

going after other people. And I will make you jealous by proving to you

that foolish people can also understand. See, the Jews are to be jealous

because promises that should have been theas now belong to the gentiles who were not

even prepared to receive these promises. So it is as though God is looking

down from heaven and saying to the Jews, you see those gentiles. They

haven't been waiting for the Messiah for centuries, but they found him. They

don't have any knowledge of the scriptures, but they know me and you don't.

And I'm trying to make you jealous if only you come straight away.

But they didn't. And that's the truth of it. I'm drawing to an

energy. So imagine this picture. You actually see God holding out his hands

and he's pleading with a disobedient group of people. And we all know it.

It was their fault. No, it was dear responsibility, dear responsibility.

Even though God chose a random of them to be his, those who

are not his, it was still their responsibility. We cannot say that I

don't believe, and it's not my responsibility. No, it's our responsibility.

They will just not come his way, they will not come by faith.

But if you study the scriptures, you always realize that God always had a

remnant that means a handful, and those are the ones who did believe,

and you find their names in Hebrews chapter eleven. Why do you find their

names in Hebrus chapter eleven, because they believe, and it was by faith

that their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They came by

faith by only a handful. Many refused to believe. Rather than build on

the rock of Jesus, one day they met Christ face to face. They

actually did know. The Jews met him face to face. They were so

close to the rock. If only they had believed that, if only they

had chose to stand on him. But what did they do? They shouted,

Crucify him, crucify him. The rock on which they might have built

became the stumbling stone, and the Jewish nation was wrecked against the stone of

Christ, the stone of judgment. Let us apply this chapter to ourselves.

You see, there are many who have heard the gospel and they have not

heeded because they want to do good days. And they say they are good

enough themselves. I'm good enough. That's us. Actually, that's me.

We're all like that. Once. I pray we don't remain that way.

I pray that they will not come and say I can do it all by

myself. But they will come and say I am a sinner and I need

Christ. You see, unless we come to that place where we acknowledge that

we are sinners and we need Christ, we will always be facing Him as

a judge, not as a savior. Many have not heard because there is

also no preachers, that's the truth. Who will go for us? Whom

shall I send? How shall they preach unless they are said? How will

they hear unless someone preaches? How will they believe unless they hear? How

will they call upon Jesus unless they believe that he is alive? You see,

it is no accident that chapter ten and I mentioned it just now.

This chapter has been one of the greatest scriptures that have seen Many missionaries true

on it and then they get sent out. More people have been sent out

because of this chapter. And that is why it's our responsibility. It's the

responsibility of those who have heeded. Now we have to see that others also

heed, and then go to them who are lost. We have a responsibility.

Don't just hear. I can stand on the pulpit and you can hear

messages after messages weak in and weak out, declaring faith, declaring Jesus.

You can hear it, but if it's not translated, it's just hearing and

all the hearing in this world is not going to move us anywhere. I

pray that we hear what Jesus has to say. And then now we don't

keep Jesus in ourselves, that we go and help others also heed in our

going and in our witnessing and in our sharing. That is in itself a

heeding. Because really, evangelism witnessing is probably the weakest part of our Christian

life. I will say it openly, it is probably the weakest part of

my Christian life. Telling others about Christ and asking them to follow him so

hard, so hard to go and tell people. And you need to acknowledge

that you're a sinner and you need to believe in this savior. But I

know I have to do it because of what He has done for me in

my life. Unless our own faith means nothing, then we can continue to

rest on our laurels and live life as it is. But if our faith

means something, that means we believe that Jesus. It's not just someone that

I keep in my heart, contain him or just wear him on the cross

around my neck. No, go out and profess Jesus to others so that

all may know and all may Heed Amen. We hope you've been blessed by

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