The sermon titled 'Obeying or Disobeying the Gospel' by Jason Dohm focuses on Romans 10:16-21, emphasizing the importance of responding to the gospel message. The speaker discusses two chains of salvation: one where God is the sole actor, ensuring predestination to glorification, and another where human response is crucial, beginning with hearing the gospel and ending with salvation, which can be interrupted by disbelief. The sermon highlights the prophecy from Isaiah 53 about the majority rejecting the Savior and the necessity of a substitute rather than an admired hero. It is explained that God's message has been proclaimed globally, but not all who hear believe, as belief requires both hearing and the work of the Holy Spirit. The sermon warns against hearing the gospel repeatedly without responding, as God's patience is not limitless, and emphasizes the need for repentance and belief as a command of the gospel. Finally, it illustrates how God's revelation has shifted from being primarily to Israel to being available to all nations.

Our scripture text for today is Romans 10, 16 through 21. For context, I'm going to back up to verse 11. Within this text, There are a lot of profound statements. If I were to pick one this morning, it would be verse 17, So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Many years ago, I was stopped at the threshold of the door.

And I thought, if I continue to pursue Christ, lots of stuff is gonna have to go. Lots of stuff is gonna have to change. And it was a very serious moment for me, but I said, I want Christ more than I want any of that stuff. And I'm wondering if there's somebody here today where you've been desiring the other stuff more than Christ. Maybe today would be your day where faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and you'll say, I want Christ more than sin, or whatever it is that you're holding onto.

So starting in verse 11, for the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him, for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent as it is written?

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard?

Yes, indeed. Their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to all the ends of the world. But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says, I'll provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation." But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me.

I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. But to Israel, he says, all the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. The title of the sermon this morning is OBEYING OR DISOBEYING THE GOSPEL. There are no more than two categories. There's only two.

There are people who in the end have obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and there are people who have disobeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other territory to occupy. Our text today is a great warning about hearing without responding. It's really the big issue on the table this week in our text is hearing over and over again with no response and how dangerous that is and what that means. Last week I talked about these two interlocking chains that Paul has given us in the last couple of chapters at the end of chapter 8.

We have this chain where God is the one who acts. Those God predestines, God calls. Those who God calls, God justifies. Those who God justifies, God glorifies. And if one of those things is true of you, then all of them is true of you, because It is God who acts, and He acts in such a way that His actions can never be frustrated.

So if God, before He even made the world, decided that He was going to have mercy on you, and save you, and make you His own, then in time He will call you, justify you, and glorify you. Amen. Then in last week's text, chapter 10, verses 14 and 15, Paul gave us this second chain, and it's a chain that interlocks with that first one where God is the one who acts and so everything is so certain about it. In last week's chain, he gives us this chain of salvation and he actually starts at the end of the chain where a person calls on the name of the Lord and is saved because they call out to be saved and he saves them. But Paul says, Those people who call on the name of the Lord, it's because they believe.

How would they call on Him unless they believed? And the people who believe, they believe because they've heard. How would they believe unless they've heard? And the people who have heard have heard because there's a preacher. How would you even hear unless there was a preacher?

And the people who preach are preaching, declaring the gospel because they've been sent. How would you go as a herald unless you had been authorized and given the message to declare. Now as Paul continues to teach us about this second chain, God sending heralds to declare the message so that people will believe and call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Paul tells us that this chain does not always make it from start to finish. So the one at the end of chapter 8, if it starts it finishes.

Why? Because God is able to do all of that and He is the one who is acting. But the second chain is not like the first in this way. Sometimes the chain stops in the process. In fact, often a herald of the gospel is sent, the good news is proclaimed and heard, but the chain ends there and there's no belief, and there's no calling on the name of the Lord and there's no salvation.

So this chain is different in the world. How many times has God sent a herald to proclaim what the king has done and it falls on deaf ears? That's what this text is about. Let's pray and ask God to help us. God, this is sad but true.

We've seen it so many times where you have sent a herald to proclaim what the king has done. And the good news has been declared. And it's as if the words have fallen on a dead man, on a dead woman. There's no receiving, there's no believing, there's no calling on the name of the Lord, and so there's no salvation. God, I thank You for setting before us this great warning about hearing without responding today, and I pray that You would help us to take it to heart.

In Jesus' name, Amen. I want to begin, there are six verses, we're just going to split them in half. Take the first three and then the second three. So hopefully your Bibles are still open to Romans chapter 10. Follow along as I reread verses 16 through 18.

Paul writes, But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed.

Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In these three verses, Paul teaches us that everyone who believes has heard, but not everyone who hears believes. If you're filling in blanks, heard fills in the first blank, believes fills in the second. Everyone who believes has heard. They're believing what they have heard.

But not everyone who hears believes. Sometimes the message comes and it falls on deaf ears and the report is not believed. Paul says that not all gospel declaration ends in belief, and that this has been foretold in Old Testament prophecy. So we should actually understand this if we are students of the Bible. Yes from experience, but even if we had no experience at all, if we were coming from the outside and hadn't seen it happen a thousand times and we just knew our Bibles, we would expect to see this because it has been foretold in Old Testament prophecy.

God is sovereign in salvation, and God is never surprised when the good news falls on deaf ears because God has to open the ears. You get that. God is sovereign in salvation. When He wants to save, He saves. And so He's never surprised when the good news falls on deaf ears because he is able to open the ears of the deaf.

It is God who opens the ears. Paul quotes Isaiah 53 verse 1, Lord, who has believed our report? There are two things implied by that verse. In other words, when you read the question, who has believed our report, there are two things that the question assumes. One, the servants of God have brought a message, but it is not universally received.

That's built into the question. Who has received our report? The implied answer is, not everybody. God has sent a messenger, the messenger has declared the message, but it has not been universally received. The second thing that is implied by that verse is that it's actually the minority who believe, while the majority don't believe.

If that wasn't true, that the small part are the ones who actually receive the report, believe the report, and that the big part rejects the report, don't believe the report, If that wasn't true, you would ask a different question. But the question, who has believed our report, implies it's the small part that has believed, and the big part who has rejected the message. As you continue in Isaiah 53, so if we didn't just stop at verse 1 with what Paul quoted, but continue to read, you find that it's not a report that appeals to our natural sensibilities. God sent a herald to proclaim what the king has done, but it's not a report that fits well with our natural sensibilities. In our natural selves, we don't gravitate towards this report.

It's not an easy report for us to receive and believe because it calls us to trust not in someone who is admired but in someone who is despised. So now we're in Isaiah 53, we're not stopping with just what Paul quotes, who has believed our report, but we're reading about a savior. Only the savior isn't an admired one. The savior is a despised one, and our natural sensibilities recoil from a savior that isn't admired but is despised. Now I have to admit that I'm embarrassed.

I've always just taken the appearance of this quote in Romans 10 at face value. Meaning, Paul in Romans 10 quotes, Lord who has believed our report, and I just have stopped there and say, Okay, a lot of people reject the message, I got it. And maybe you're finding yourself, you've done that too. Okay, he quotes Isaiah, he quotes something in the Old Testament. Lord who has believed our report, that has to mean that it's not universally received.

Most reject it. So I got it. The Gospel comes, most people reject it. But there's so much more here. This is Isaiah 53!

This is not an obscure reference where he's just plucking out this phrase and really what he's talking about doesn't have anything to do with what came before it, what comes after it, but he needs to be able to say not everybody is going to receive the thing that we're preaching and So he plucks this obscure thing out, who has believed our report? Not everybody. And we just move on from it. This is the chapter about a substitute. An innocent one dying for a guilty one.

Please turn to Isaiah 53. Let's at least get a little more than just the opening question of Isaiah 53, who has believed our report, and see what is Isaiah talking about? What has God sent the prophet to declare in Isaiah 53. I'm going to read Isaiah 53 verses 1-6. Isaiah 53, 1-6.

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall he, capital H, so we're talking about the Messiah, we're actually talking about Jesus here, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground He has no form or comeliness comeliness being attractiveness and When we see him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised, rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him.

He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.

And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." I could continue reading on and we would get more of the same. This is the good news of substitutionary atonement, that this perfectly righteous God is willing to accept an innocent one dying for the guilty one. The guilty one deserves death, but God will take an innocent one in the place, if you can find an innocent one who will come and die for you.

That God will accept a just one dying in the place of an unjust one. That God will accept a blameless one dying in the place of a blame worthy one. That God will accept a spotless one in place of a guilt stained one. Oh, if you could just find an innocent one who would die for you. It is actually the New Testament gospel that is disbelieved, that is rejected in Isaiah 53.

Who has believed our report? Not most. Most have rejected This New Testament gospel preached in Old Testament Isaiah. Why isn't it believed? Because I want a hero, but I need a substitute.

I want someone who looks the part, is admired, but I need someone who is like me, who will bear my shame. This is exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. You can turn there if you like or you can just listen. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 20 through 25, Paul says this, 1 Corinthians 1 20-25, where is the wise? Where is the scribe?

Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign. Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.

To the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than them. What is this message which, if it is believed, saves from the penalty of sin? It is the Word of God.

In today's text, Paul says, so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God sets forth Jesus Christ crucified as our only hope. So the world is offering solutions and solutions upon solutions. When they fail, they got backup solutions to the backup solutions. You don't need any of that.

You need Jesus Christ crucified for sinners. The wisdom of the world despises that whole notion. It is foolishness to the worldlings, but it is the power of God to those who are being saved. It is a power that will save you. What do people need from us?

The word of God. I'm not clever. Good thing, cleverness just gets in the way. They need from us the Word of God. What is the centerpiece of the Word of God?

Jesus, the promised Savior, and Him crucified for sinners. You're in a desperate state, but Jesus came to die for sinners. To rescue people out of a desperate state, there is hope for you. This is the Word of God. This is what produces faith in the hearer when the Holy Spirit is moving on that hearer.

So yes, the two things have to come together. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But people who hear don't always believe the Holy Spirit has to be present to do His work too. But these are the ingredients that God brings together to save sinners. Back in Romans chapter 9, look again at verse 16.

They have not all obeyed the Gospel. First verse in our text, verse 16. They have not all obeyed the Gospel. The very first words recorded of Jesus' preaching were these, Repent and believe the Gospel. This is Mark chapter 1 verse 15.

Mark gets right to Jesus' preaching, right in the first chapter. This is the beginning of Jesus' preaching ministry recorded in the Gospels. The first words out of his mouth, repent and believe the gospel. The gospel is good news. The gospel means good news.

Yes, but it is also a command. If you can't hear, repent and believe and not understand that that's a command, I don't know how to help. The gospel is to be obeyed. The gospel must be obeyed. We obeyed.

Paul preached these words in Athens. Paul goes to where the worldly wise are, Athens. They loved to hear the newest theory. They live to hear the newest thing. They were interested in curiosities.

Here's what Paul says to them in Acts chapter 17. Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead." Paul goes to Athens and he says, there was a tomb with a dead body in it, but the body didn't stay dead. This man was raised from the dead and it was God's stamp that this was his son. And God's son is going to judge you one day for your life.

And God hasn't brought the world into judgment and paid the wages of sin, swept us all away in the flood like He did one time. He's overlooked time of ignorance. He's been patient with all this rebellion. But now he's commanded all men everywhere to repent. This is the Gospel.

That if you repent, there is hope for you because Jesus has come and died for sinners. The gospel is good news, but it is also a command. The gospel is to be obeyed. The gospel must be obeyed. Our summary of the gospel which we use week after week is God, man, Christ, response.

It is a truncated gospel without The call for a response. Why? Because God is calling all men everywhere. He's commanding all men everywhere to repent. Repent and believe the Gospel, says Jesus in his first sermon that made it into the Gospels.

The Gospel demands a response. If you obey it, you have a claim on Jesus' person and work. The Son of God did something for you that saves you. If you don't obey it, you don't have any claim on His person and work. That He's God means nothing for you.

That He went to the cross and died means nothing for you because you have not obeyed His Gospel. You have not repented and believed. Many, many, many hear the Gospel and will not obey its commands. So Isaiah 53, 1 is fulfilled. Lord, who has believed our report?

The answer is, though the need is universal, comparatively, few believe the saving message. There are a lot more people that will be enjoying hayrides than there will be who put themselves under the preaching of the Word of God today. I know there are some Christians on those hayrides, I'm not trying to say it differently. Finally in this section, verse 18, Paul asks a question. Have they not heard?

And his answer is, yes they have heard. Paul quotes Psalm 19 verse 4. Their sound has gone out to all the earth in their words to the ends of the world. But this is another place where Paul doesn't say, as the author says, Psalm 19 by the way is David, as David says, and he quotes it, he does that a lot in Romans and other places, Or he didn't preface it with as it is written. He does that a lot in Romans and other places.

He just brings the quote without a preface. And I think that is because Paul is taking what Psalm 19 4 says and applying it to the matter at hand. The point in Psalm 19, by the way, he did this earlier in the chapter, you remember, with the word is near you. That quote He also didn't preface earlier in the chapter. And he's not taking it for the exact meaning that it was in Deuteronomy, but he's pulling it forward and applying it to the matter at hand.

I think he's doing the exact same thing here with Psalm 19. The point in Psalm 19 is that creation declares the existence and greatness of the Creator. Psalm 19 begins, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. By the time you get to verse 4, He wants to make sure that you know that that declaration by the creation about the existence and greatness of the Creator, there's nowhere in the world where people don't get that. You live in this world, You get to see the firmament and his handiwork.

And so you must know that there is a creator and that he is great. That's the point in Psalm 19. It seems to me that Paul is transporting the overall thought. The declaration of truth is worldwide. That's the whole point of Psalm 19.4.

This declaration of truth about the existence and greatness of the Creator is a worldwide declaration. It's global. And Paul takes that overall thought, the declaration of truth is worldwide and applies it to the matter at hand, that God has sent heralds into all the world to declare what the king has done. That's feeding right into last week's text. I think that's what he's saying here.

What was true in Psalm 19 of God's handiwork, the creation and what it says about God, is now true of the message, the saving message of Jesus dying for sinners. It has been sent global, it's gone global. It's been sent to the nations. And this is actually consistent with what Paul says elsewhere in multiple other places, but let me give you one. Colossians 1 verse 6.

Listen to what he writes to the Colossians. Colossians 1 verse 6. The Gospel has come to you as it has also in all the world. The Gospel came to Colossae. But not just to Colossae, the Gospel, the Great Commission sends the Gospel everywhere to the ends of the earth as it has also in all the world.

By the way, Romans was written more than 25 years after the resurrection. So the Great Commission was given 25 years earlier and those apostles did go. Church history says that Thomas made it to India. I looked it up this morning. Jerusalem to where Thomas supposedly made it in India is 2800 miles.

Church history says that Andrew made it to Scotland. I looked it up this morning. Jerusalem to Edinburgh, Scotland is 3500 miles. Thousands of miles to nations far away, continents far away. The gospel has made it to these places in the intervening 25 years.

The gospel has gone global. The heralds have been sent to every tongue, tribe, people, and nation to say that the apostles spread the gospel far and wide is understatement. Before the New Covenant, so much of God's revelation was confined to the nation of Israel. And Gentiles who got a glimpse of it were overwhelmingly the exception. In the Old Testament you find some Gentiles who get a glimpse of God's revelation, specific revelation in the Word of God.

But they're overwhelmingly the exception. But now God has sent preachers into all the world so that The offer of salvation is to the whole world. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." I hope that sounds familiar.

That's Romans chapter 10 verses 11-13. We're trying to memorize it. Even so, so many of those who hear the Gospel do not obey it. They do not repent. They do not believe.

They do not call on the name of the Lord. They are not saved. Now the second three verses of our text, the final three verses of our text. Romans 10, 19 through 21. Paul continues, but I say, did Israel not know?

First, Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek Me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me. But to Israel, he says, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." In these verses we have Paul's warning against hearing but not believing.

Paul tells you what happens when you hear over and over again, but you won't believe. If you're filling in blanks, hearing fills in the first one, believing fills in the second. Paul's warning against hearing but not believing. Now Paul turns to consider Israel, so he narrows to Israel here and asks this question. Did Israel not know?

We have to start with the question, know what? Did Israel not know what? It's tempting to say, Isaiah 53, The Gospel, substitutionary atonement. And while it's true that Israel should have known, I think the real answer to know what comes from what follows. In other words, when you look at Paul's answer to his own question.

It answers the question, know what? If we look from what follows, we say no, it's not actually trusting in Jesus. It's actually that God will send the gospel to the world when Israel has rejected Him. Did Israel not know that God would send the gospel to the whole world when they rejected him? Did Israel not know that?

Paul concludes that Israel did know that because it is established by God's prophetic foretelling of the future in the Old Testament prophets. Moses and Isaiah. Two Old Testament prophets both saying that when Israel rejects God, God is going to take a people from the nations. He starts with Moses in Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32 is the Song of Moses.

After the people have been liberated from Egypt, God gives Moses this song and charges Moses to teach the people this song. It's actually one of two songs that Revelation says we'll sing in heaven. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. So, I hope you like this song. Deuteronomy 32 verse 21 is what he quotes.

I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation." In the lead up to Deuteronomy 32 verse 21, he talks about the people giving themselves over to the worship of false God, lapsing into idolatry, forsaking God for idols, taking idols instead of God and then he says this in Deuteronomy 32-21 Paul only quotes the second half of the verse I want to give you the whole verse, so let's listen to the whole verse Deuteronomy 32-21 God says this They have provoked me to jealousy by what is not God. They have moved me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

So in the whole verse you get the mirror image. God says, they've done this to me, I'm going to do the mirror image to them. They provoked me to jealousy by taking false gods in place of me. They moved me to anger by their idolatry. I'll provoke them to jealousy.

By taking another people as mine. I'll move them to anger by taking a foolish nation. I'll take the people who don't understand and make them mine. I'll reveal myself to the idiots. They They didn't want me?

They'll have me. The foolish will have me. Essentially, you've provoked me to jealousy by taking other gods who are not really gods. I will provoke you to jealousy by taking in other people, foolish people. They'll have me.

Then Paul concludes by quoting Isaiah 65, verses 1 and 2. But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. But to Israel, he says, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Paul says Isaiah is very bold.

What makes this particularly bold? The prophets are generally bold, are they not? What makes Isaiah particularly bold in saying this? Because Isaiah is saying to his Jewish brethren the things that Jesus himself was almost stoned for when he said that the Kingdom of God was being taken from Israel and given to others. Jesus almost got stoned for saying these very same things.

Jesus said, the Kingdom is being taken away from you stubborn Jews and given to a nation who will bear the fruits of it." Isaiah is saying almost the same thing. And they were ready to stone Jesus. Were the Gentiles seeking the God of Scripture? They were worshipping the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and rocks, and carvings. Were the Gentiles asking for the God of Scripture?

They were throwing themselves into the worst excesses of sin known on planet earth. God said, I'll reveal myself to them. They'll have me. God sought them. They weren't seeking God.

God sought them. That was always the flaw in the seeker movement, by the way. I was in that for about ten years. By the way, we never seek God. If you're seeking God, it's because God sought you first.

There are people who seek God. It's the evidence, not the cause. I should say that God sought us. Were you seeking God? Were you asking for God?

I wasn't. Were you foolish without understanding? I was. God sought me. God sought us.

So the Gospel has come here. How many? I should have looked up Youngsville to Jerusalem so I could quote you the number. It's a long ways. Here we are.

We have the Gospel. God stretched out His hands all day long. God Himself reached out to the family and nation of Israel. And He did it persistently. Reaching out to them over and over and over and over.

He sent them prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet, but they were disobedient and contrary over and over and over and over. They killed the prophets. So finally God went and took a people for himself who were not even seeking him. I'll reveal myself to them. Two quotes.

John Murray says this. John Murray is one of my top resources on Romans. I'm getting good from John Murray every week. John Murray says this, The perversity of Israel on the one hand, and the constancy and intensity of God's loving kindness on the other are accentuated by the fact that the one derives its character from the other. Okay, let's unpack that.

What's he saying? That's a lot of phrases. John Murray can almost be as bad as Paul sometimes. He's saying that you don't understand the perversity of Israel without understanding how faithful God is, and you don't really understand how faithful God is until you consider the stubbornness of the people that he's faithful to, that they actually inform each other. That's what John Murray is saying.

He continues, It is to a disobedient and contradicting people that the outstretched hands of entreaty are extended. The gravity of the sin springs from the contradiction offered to the overtures of mercy. You don't understand the faithfulness of God until you look at who he was being faithful to. How stubborn they were, how disobedient they were. And you don't understand the crime of that stubborn and disobedient until you consider how faithful the God was who was offering himself and offering himself and offering himself to these people.

R.C. Sproul says this, this is the second quote, and we'll get to applications. R.C. Sproul says, R.C. Sproul says, the reason why people don't come to God is not because God fails to invite them, nor is it a logical conclusion from the doctrine of predestination, but it is rooted in disobedience and obstinacy or stubbornness.

If you are not saved, It won't be because I wasn't elect so I'm not saved. That won't be the roots of it. If you're not being saved, it won't be because God didn't offer. He sent heralds to the end of the earth to say what the King has done at tremendous cost to themselves. People give up everything to take the gospel to people who won't hear.

In the end, it's rooted in disobedience and stubbornness. God will be exonerated on Judgment Day. Day after day, He stretched out His hands, ready to receive, willing to receive, people who were disobedient and obstinate. Applications, I'll give you two. One, the Gospel must be obeyed.

And don't confuse appreciation for the Gospel with obeying the Gospel. Please, don't confuse them! So many people appreciate the Gospel who have not repented and believed. Insert many of our baptism testimonies here. Cut, Paste.

Take audio from our baptism testimonies and put it in the sermon right here. I grew up in a Christian home. It all seemed to make sense to me, but I had never really repented and believed the Gospel. I heard, I heard, I heard. I even had an appreciation.

I thought I had an affection for these things. But one day it became clear to me, I have not repented and believed in Jesus. Many hear and hear and hear and hear, but never obey. Have you repented and believed? I'm not asking if you have an appreciation for the Gospel.

I'm not asking if you think it's a lovely story. Or if you want to believe what your parents believe, I'm asking have you repented and believed in Jesus alone? Have you called on Jesus? If you call on Jesus, you'll be saved. Two.

God is patient but not omnipatient. What do I mean by that? Well, God is not just powerful. He's all powerful. God is not just know things, He's all knowing.

God is patient, He's not all patient. Meaning, don't presume that you can hear and hear and hear and hear, and He'll give you another opportunity to hear next week. That is not guaranteed to you. You have on the authority of Scripture that God's patience comes to an end and He'll reveal Himself to someone else who will have Him. He'll raise up someone to provoke you to jealousy perhaps.

That's all of what chapter 11 is about. So in some ways the whole sermon is an intro to future weeks. This text is a warning about repeatedly hearing without responding. It's such a trap. You think life goes on like this forever with no changes.

That you decide not to decide, is that a thing? You decide not to decide this week. I'll decide next week. As if your disposition will be the same next week. That sin doesn't harden.

And it will be easier to receive next week, not harder to receive next week. You know that's totally contrary to all of what scripture says. Sin hardens. Deciding not to decide breeds apathy. Breeds the sense that it doesn't matter.

That it's not urgent. Deciding not to decide breeds a sense that it's not urgent. And days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and months turn into years. And you still decided not to decide. Take Paul's warning about repeatedly hearing without responding.

When God gives you light, He expects us to walk by the light that He gives us. If He gives you light, you better walk by that light and not assume. It'll always be there. Only a fool does that. God, thank you for your Word.

Help us to look at Israel. Help us to look at you. You would extend your hands reaching out, willing to receive again and again, met with disobedience and obstinacy, contrariness until you offered yourself to a foolish people. As part of the foolish people we're so glad that the Gospel is global. Thank you God for your goodness to us.

In Jesus' name, Amen.