While sinners come to Christ in different ways, preaching is God’s primary means to bring about salvation. The Apostle Paul declares, “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14). And God, Paul attests, is persistent in crying out to sinners, and so we should be (Rom. 10:20). Often, it’s the cumulative proclamation of God’s word that breaks the stony heart. Every blow matters. So, keep preaching! As a father, keep striking the wedge. As a mother, keep hitting the rock, for “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). 

Sermon: https://churchandfamilylife.com/sermons/677b71f4de4544b5dc80f600

Our text today is Romans 10, 13 through 21. Its focus is The necessity of preaching, God's ordinary means of salvation. Don't think of preaching as just the person on the platform on Sunday morning. Preaching is broader than that. Verse 14, How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?" And then he addresses the tragedy of unbelief of the Jews.

He says, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, who has believed our report? And then the apostle Paul makes it very clear that God is preaching. He's always holding out his hand. Verse 21, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient people. And he did that in many different ways through the prophets, rising up early as the scripture says.

Now these words speak of a people, the Jews, who heard the gospel, they heard the preaching in the Old Testament, and they saw the testimony of nature, but they remained hardened. They have no excuse. They heard the gospel and they are still not saved. Now this is really important because we have many people who've heard the gospel many times and they have not been saved. And what this passage makes really clear is if you've heard you have no excuse.

Now this is Paul's school of evangelism and he's talking about the centrality of preaching for salvation and he's also talking about the danger of ignoring the preaching of the Word of God and it was Israel's downfall just like it's the downfall of an individual or a church or a nation. Now there are two kinds of preaching. First, there's this formal and institutional preaching that happens in the meetings of the local church. This is a herald who has been formally qualified and sent like pastors. And then there's the second kind of preaching, the occasional spontaneous evangelists, the euangelion, not necessarily a pastor in a church.

And so we should always be asking, you know, where's the unbeliever that God has placed in my life? Because what the apostle is saying, how will they hear without a preacher? Paul makes every person a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, hearing sermons, and he makes it very clear how careful we ought to be, how we hear. Now this passage makes it very clear that God is persistent.

He's very persistent. He's holding out his hands all day long, crying out for the salvation of sinners. There's an interesting story in Elizabeth Elliott's biography of Amy Carmichael, A Chance to Die. Amy Carmichael was out for a carriage ride one day with her mentor and her spiritual mentor stopped to watch a man break up stones on the side of the road. And the man was swinging this heavy hammer time after time, just like what you have to do, until finally the stone would crack and break open.

Amy's mentor asked her, which blow is it that breaks the stone? And Amy Carmichael replied, it's the first blow and it's the last blow and it's every blow in between. And that's a good illustration for how important it is to keep it up. Just like God, He keeps holding out His hands day by day. The cumulative teaching of the Word of God can break a sin-hardened heart.

Every blow matters. So keep preaching, keep striking the wedge, keep hitting the rock. As a father, keep hitting the wedge. As a mother, keep hitting the wedge. As a child, when you talk to your friends, Hit the wedge.

As a grandfather, hit the wedge. Pastors, teachers must continue to hit the wedge recognizing that God uses preaching to save sinners. Keep hitting the rock. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our It stands forever.