The sermon by Scott Brown, titled 'How Will They Hear Without A Preacher?', is centered around Romans 10 and emphasizes the necessity of preaching as God's primary means of evangelism. The sermon highlights that despite God's persistent outreach, exemplified by His outstretched hands offering salvation, many, including the Jews, have remained disobedient and hardened. This disobedience is identified as the root cause of unbelief and rejection of Christ. The sermon draws a parallel between Israel's historical rejection of the gospel and the current danger of ignoring preaching, which can lead to downfall. Preaching is described as God's chosen method to save souls, despite its perceived weakness. The sermon explains how God uses unexpected means, like the salvation of Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy and illustrate true faith. It underscores the importance of both formal preaching and personal evangelism, urging believers to continue sharing the gospel. The sermon concludes by affirming that salvation comes through confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and highlights the role of preaching in transforming lives.

And yes, please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 10 and find verse 13. I'll be reading to the end of the chapter as we continue our studies in this marvelous book of Romans. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey, word of God. Verse 13, for whoever calls on 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 of 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? 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. 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. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we need to hear these words this morning you've brought us here before them, that we might learn from you, that we might examine ourselves, that we might find ourselves understanding our own lives and what we ought to do.

Amen. Please be seated. These words speak to of a people of the Jews who have heard the gospel but they've remained hardened and they have no excuse because they heard and this is always the case in a in a congregation where some have heard the gospel often over and over again, but they still are not saved. And this is the exact situation of the Jews. Now there's so many things here in this passage, so many themes, and what really strikes me is the mercy of God.

God's mercy towards sinners. He holds out his hands all day long with his offer of salvation. And he does it through preaching. And there's also this, this reality in this passage of a danger. It's a great danger and it's the danger of ignoring the preaching of the word of God.

The ignoring of the preaching of the word of God was always Israel's downfall, and it's always anyone's downfall. It's the downfall of a church, it's the downfall of a person, It's the downfall of a nation when they refuse to listen to the preaching of the word of God, because like what Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And in this passage you have a scenario where The preachers are preaching all through the Old Testament. The gospel is proclaimed. The people hear but not with faith.

And God continues to stretch out his hands. That's the scenario that we have here. And there's another matter here that we can't miss, and that is that it tells us God's primary means of evangelism. It's preaching. It's something unexpected.

It's not movies. It's not plays. It's preaching. And this is God's ordinary method for saving souls. It's remarkable that God would choose such a weak thing to do such a strong thing, because preachers are weak.

And the very active preaching is, it's weak communication in many ways. There are much more riveting ways to communicate with people than this that we are doing today. But this is the normal way that people are saved. This is God's customary method. There are other ways that God uses, but the primary method that God uses to save souls is the preaching of the word of God.

God could have communicated directly to men straight into their ears, but he decided to choose men to preach the sound of a human voice, a fallen human being, to preach the word of God. It's very odd to think that God would do such a thing. And what is happening in this passage is that Paul is using the Jews as an example. And Paul's answering the question, has the word of God failed with the Jews? Because the Jews did not believe.

They did reject Christ. Why did they reject Jesus Christ? And the answer is very, very clear. And it's the answer to the question for why anybody rejects Jesus Christ. And that is that they were simply disobedient to God.

They refused to listen to the preaching while God was holding out his hands to a disobedient people. And so this is the heart of the matter. Now in this whole section in chapter nine through 11, Paul all along has been answering the question, why did Israel reject God? And there are two answers. In Romans chapter nine, it's because of sovereign election.

But he doesn't stop there. In chapter 10, it's because of unbelief. They would not believe, they would not respond to the word of God savingly. So in chapter 9 the answer is God's sovereign grace. In chapter 10 they refuse to believe.

They exercise their will and refuse to believe both of those things are true they're not contradictory though they might sound so but this is how God works He has chosen the weak things of the world like preaching to confound the wise. Now there's a an interpretive grid here and it's really kind of a way for us to apply it, we who are Gentiles, does this have anything to do with the Gentiles? Because this passage certainly is focused on the Jews. And The last time I preached on this, I quoted John Piper, which I think he explains how supremely applicable this passage isn't just for the Jews, but it's also applicable for all of us. He said, by God's design, Israel is the historical microcosm of the world's conscience, your conscience.

Israel is the historical theater where the drama of every human soul is played out for all to see. What goes on inside you spiritually and every other person has gone on in Israel historically and the story is told so that we can see ourselves and see the world and understand it. And so watching the history of Israel is a paradigm to watch the history of your own life because human beings are all the same. And what we see in God's dealing with Israel is what we see in God's dealing with his church as well. And so the history of the world and the nature of man, they're all revealed right here in this passage, even though the passage is very clearly focused on the Jews.

And man's problem is always the same. Men seek a righteousness of their own. And that was Israel's problem and that is also our problem as well. And And the remedy is right here in the text, the preaching of the word of God. All day long I have stretched out my hands to you, he says.

And so the Jews did not have an excuse for their unbelief. That's what the apostle Paul is proving. They do not have an excuse because they have heard. Now, in the Church of Jesus Christ, like let's just even say in our local church, some have heard the gospel and they're still not saved. That's the condition.

And you know some of you have heard the gospel and you're still not saved. And what the Apostle Paul is saying to Israel and what the Apostle Paul would say to us is you you have no excuse. Don't blame God, don't blame your parents, don't blame your preachers, don't blame your environment. But the reality is some of you will end up in hell because you heard and you do not have an excuse, just as the Jews had no excuses because the word of God had gone out to the ends of the earth, to the Jews, wherever the Jews were. And I think one of the most practical things that can happen here today is that if that's you, What is holding you back?

Is there something you're not willing to give up? Is there some pleasure you think there is in remaining an unbeliever? Is there something you're holding on to? And some who will hold on until they are in hell. That's the tragic reality of the Jews.

So the passage here is the Jews cannot blame God and neither can anyone else who resists the word of God Because God is holding out his hands and He's holding out his hands and he's saying come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I'll give you rest. This is what God always does. And that's why God has, if you're here and you're not a believer, It's why God sent you even into this place today, why God sent you Christian parents, why you've been sitting in a church where the gospel is preached every single time we gather. God has been holding out his hands. That's the thrust of this thing.

And you cannot miss the tender-hearted hands that God is holding out toward his people. So with that as an introduction, let's jump into the text. You can see an outline in front of you. There are critical things that we need to understand about preaching, and the first is the necessity of preaching. Secondly, the tragic reality of unbelief.

Third, God's distasteful means to bring Israel to faith. And then finally, we'll just loop right back to where we started, God's persistence in holding out his hand. So let's look at the necessity of preaching. This is the ord, God uses it for the ordinary means of salvation in verses 13 and 15. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on him 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 Paul brings us straight into his school of evangelism and he's instructing them on how to conduct themselves in the world in this area of evangelism. And there are four questions that are stated in these verses here. These are four rhetorical questions in verses 14 and 15, and then they are answered in verse 15 through 17. And he answers them by quoting Old Testament passages passages and these verses are the charter for preachers for missionaries for evangelists but not only that but for all people and and the first question is how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

Preaching. Then the next second question, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Preaching. And how shall they hear without a preacher? Well there you have it, there is the preacher.

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? So the answer to all four questions is one word, preaching. That's the heart of this passage of scripture. You know, I've been realizing over the weeks there are so many different ways I could go in this sermon. I could go just straight into preaching and all kinds of branches, so bear with me with what I've decided to deal with here.

But what you notice here in the preaching, there are five elements, and it's really critical, five elements of everyone who preaches Jesus Christ. And the first, of course, is Christ. Notice the words, they call on Him. They believe in Him, Jesus Christ. The focus of our preaching is Jesus Christ.

And then second, Peace. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. God's hands are stretched out to make peace with rebellious mankind. And then third, good news. Who will bring glad tidings of good things.

That's in verse 15. We bring good news and then fourth we bring the Word of God. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And fifth, we bring the message of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is Jesus Christ as Lord.

So the message of our preaching is really clear in these words here. And of course our motive is so that people would hear. We want to gain a hearing and to activate faith, hearing needs to happen. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So The apostle is pinpointing the means of salvation.

It is preaching. And it makes it very clear how critical it is that preaching exists in the world in its various forms. In the form that you're experiencing right now, in the form of a father and a mother preaching the gospel to their children in the form of a Friend preaching the gospel to a friend it implies all of these things Some Not very many have argued that when he's talking about preaching here, he's only talking about what we're doing now. The formalized preacher of the word of God that's been set aside to preach. I don't believe it's just focused on that one category of preaching.

I think it's broader than that. I think it has to do with the kind of preaching that we do in all those other contexts. And I like what Paul Washer said about this. He said, you can affirm the gospel with your life, but you can't preach the gospel with your life. You can only preach the gospel by opening up your mouth and speaking forth the word of God.

You know, our lives are a pitiful testimony, frankly. Our lives are not going to be the things that are going to win people's hearts. It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And the knowledge of their tragic dilemma of being bound for hell without repentance and faith. And so you have these, you have the formal, institutional preaching, which is what we're doing now, and you have what you might, I would call, a more occasional or spontaneous testimony of the gospel.

He does not say, how shall they hear without the master of divinity? He does not say, how will they hear without an ordained minister? How will they hear without an ordained, a full-time pastor? That's not what he says. How will they hear without a preacher?

And he says that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Now we know that you can hear without faith. A person can hear the preaching for years and not have faith. It isn't just simply the hearing the sound of a voice, but it's actually hearing with belief, with trust, with faith. That's why Jesus, he said, be careful how you hear.

And then he tells the story of the sower and the soils, and you have four people who heard. And in the first person who heard the first soil there was resistance and rejection immediately. They heard and they just rejected it outright. In the second soil these were shallow hears. They embraced it immediately but then it kind of wore off.

It wasn't real. And the third soil, the weeds choked, the cares of this world and the desire for riches, and their hearing died. But the fourth soil was was fruitful soil and it bore fruit. So there are different kinds of hearing and everyone needs to ask themselves what kind of hearer am I? Jesus said be careful how you hear and it's so it's so critical that we understand how pivotal preaching and hearing is.

It's easy to diminish the importance of preaching amidst all the communication that we have in this world. And there are many, many people who've written about how to listen to sermons. Let me paraphrase George Whitefield's instructions on hearing sermons. Come with a sincere desire. Pray before, during, and after the sermon.

Listen to the sermon as if you're listening to a king as to the Lord of Lords himself. And he asks why. Because ministers are sent from God. They are ambassadors who speak the words of God. Do not think poorly of the minister when you think of his weaknesses.

So that was George Wittfield. J.C. Ryle, three simple rules for listening to a sermon. He says, we must hear with faith, believing that every word of God is true and shall stand. Second, we must hear with reverence remembering constantly that the Bible is the book of God.

And then thirdly, we must hear with prayer, praying for God's blessing before the sermon is preached, praying for God's blessing again when the sermon is over. He says this, here is the grand defect of the hearing of many. They ask no blessing and so they have none. The sermon passes through their minds like water through a leaky vessel leaving nothing behind. So there's such an importance to the preaching.

And this is why, you know, Spurgeon, he challenged his church to pay attention to the preaching and to be preachers themselves. And he said, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for." And he's talking just about the ordinary work of a personal evangelist who knows someone. And it's as if You're throwing your arms around their legs so that they don't go to hell and So here you have the necessity of preaching.

This is verses 13 through 15. And then verses 16 through 18, this tragic reality of unbelief. And this is the negative reaction to the preaching that Israel had. Verse 16, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says Lord who has believed our report. Isaiah made it very clear that Israel was rejecting God.

Who has believed our report? No one. That's the answer. And they have not obeyed the gospel. And what does it mean to obey the gospel?

First of all, to believe not just intellectually, but to believe with all of your heart and to actually embrace it. And to believe such that you are renouncing the world. You know, in Ephesus they burned their magic books in renouncing the world. That's what it meant to believe. To obey the gospel is to fulfill the fruits of the gospel by obeying the gospel's demands.

When Jesus said, follow me. When Jesus said, take up your cross when he said take my yoke upon you when he said if you love me you will keep my commandments when he said abide in me and I in you when he said repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When he said, seek first the kingdom of heaven. When he said, if any man come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. When he said, you shall be holy for I am holy, that's what it means to obey the gospel.

It isn't a simple intellectual belief in a proposition. And he speaks of their deaf ears. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. They did not hear, they would not hear the word of God. But God continued to preach.

He continued to hammer away. He continued to, as the prophets say, rise up early and preach to Israel. And preaching in some ways ought to be a little bit like breaking a rock. You know, I live on a piece of property with lots of big granite rocks. And from time to time, I'll go and I'll break a rock.

A few years ago I had a very large rock and I wanted to slab it out. I wanted to make it about 18 inches. It was about 10 feet long and about 5 feet high. And what you do to break a rock is you drill holes along the grain line where you want to break. Rock is like wood, it has a grain.

And so you drill holes along that grain line, and then you start pounding chisels and wedges along that line. And you pound from one end to another, and then you pound back, and you pound back, And you never know when that rock is gonna break. But this gigantic rock finally, with one last blow, broke like that. And this is a little bit like God's persistence in preaching. You just continue to preach.

You don't know what the result will be. You just know you must be faithful to represent the gospel. And you do that with your children, and you do that in your local church, and you do that with your friends. That's how preaching works. I think Paul Carrington was telling a story of Elizabeth Elliott's biography of Amy Carmichael.

Her biography, A Chance to Die. And Amy Carmichael was out for a carriage ride one day and she and her spiritual mentor stopped and they saw a man who was breaking up stones by the side of the road. He was hammering, hammering, just like you always have to do. And this man swung this hammer, and then finally one would crack. And Amy's mentor asked her, which blow is it that breaks the stone?

And she replied, it's the first blow, and it's the last blow, and it's every blow in between. And that, I think that's a good illustration of God's persistence in preaching. He continues to hammer away. And that's God's means of salvation. That he continues to hold out his hands to disobedient people.

And in here, it's very clear in verse 18, they have no excuse. He says, but 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." And Paul, he's quoting Psalm 19 verse 4. He begins to quote Old Testament passages to prove that Israel has no excuse because they've heard it all before and he's quoting Psalm 19 which is broken into two halves. The first half is the revelation of nature.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utter speech, night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. He's talking about the declaration of the power and the glory and the beauty of God through nature.

But then in verse seven, he speaks of the law of God. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Paul quotes the first half of Psalm 19, but my understanding here is that Paul is, he is affirming all of what is in Psalm 19, that Israel heard the word of God. Israel heard the word of God through the prophets.

Israel saw the power of the word of God through nature, through the rising of the sun, and all the beautiful things that nature speaks of. He's not saying that nature preaches the gospel. Nature does not preach the gospel. Nature cannot preach the gospel. Nature can testify to the power of God, but nature cannot tell you that you are a sinner and that Jesus Christ is a Savior.

So I think in this sense Paul is saying the gospel has gone out to all the Jews, to all the earth. I think when he's speaking all the earth, I think he's talking about the world of the Jews. The gospel has gone adequately to the Jews. And he's speaking both of creation and the written word that has gone out to Israel. And that is enough.

And so it is not only nature that testifies because he's quoting Psalm 19. It's Moses and the prophets and God himself stretching out his hand. So I think this this word that goes out to the ends of the earth, I believe he's talking about the proclamation of the gospel to the Jews in the Mediterranean world has completely gone out to the Jews. I think that's what he means by that. And then finally, or in the third category here, the third heading is God's strategy to reach the Jews.

The Jews did not believe and it was such a tragedy. God continued to hold out his hand, but God actually had a strategy to reach the Jews, and it was a distasteful strategy to the Jews. Verse 19, 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.

So what was God doing with the Jews? God was shocking Israel into an understanding of true faith. He was showing the Jews who were so religious how God would save irreligious people and change their lives. So you have harlots entering the kingdom of heaven and being transformed and they're never the same again and God is using the salvation of the Gentiles to shake up Israel. He's using something distasteful, the Gentiles, the goyim, the dogs, and he's provoking them to jealousy.

And to show his grace to this obstinate people, He does it by pouring out his mercy on people who don't deserve it. And in doing such a thing, He's showing the Jews what true faith is, because He is actually saving their souls and changing their lives. The Jews' lives were not changed. Their hearts were not changed. They did not have it from the heart.

And now you have the goyim, the dogs, they have faith from the heart and they have been transformed and they are happy and they're filled with the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And they're not just going through the motions. They have Jesus Christ. They have a well of living water in them and the Jews see that and they're jealous. And they say, this is very different.

This is not what we have. And God is, God is showing his favor toward a people who do not deserve it. The Jews have been used to a dead religion and now they're seeing what true faith looks like in people they hate and God is using a distasteful means to shake them up You know this is this happens with people who are saved. They change in so many ways, and they continue to change. And they're at peace because they've been forgiven and they've been filled with the Holy Spirit and all of the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the Jews see it and They hate it.

So God is using this distasteful means to show the Jews what hearing faith really looks like. And then We see God's persistence in verses 20 and 21. But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest by those who did not ask for me." And he's quoting Isaiah again, and it's this wonderful passage in Isaiah where this is what Isaiah says, "'I was found by those who did not seek me." And he says, I stretched out my hands and I said, here I am, here I am. That's what God is doing.

He's saying, look at me. God was continuing to call all throughout Old Testament history and he does the same today. He's calling out but he says to Israel all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." And that should teach us something about our own lives. We should not be put off so much by disobedient and contrary people. We should be like God.

We should stretch out our hands as well to a disobedient and to a contrary people. It's hard to find a more loving and tender illustration of God than his hands stretched out and calling out and saying, here am I, here am I, come to me. That's the picture that we have. This is a picture of the love of God. And he keeps stretching out his hands.

And if a person is not saved, it's not because God did not hold out his hands. You're not saved because of disobedience. And so let's maybe make some applications to all of this. First of all, If you are a believer, then you have been sent. And to be like God as a person who has sent is to keep holding out your hands and not to give up.

And to keep pounding away, to keep striking the blow along the fault line of a person's soul and you never know when they'll break So just you know keep at it. And the other also I think I think we should just take note of the seriousness that God has placed on preaching. And the preaching of the Word of God should be a central part of your life. That's how God has made it. When preaching languishes in a person's life, when it languishes in a nation, those are the most decadent times for those people and those nations.

And so there ought to be tremendous regard and appreciation for the preaching of the Word of God. And I'm not saying that to be self-serving at all, it's just the way that God has designed us. He's designed us to be transformed, to be taught by preaching. And it's a very sacred thing. One of the commentators I was reading said this is an argument for people to be in church under preaching, you know, every Sunday.

That's what he said. I think that's right. There's something about preaching that's so different, it's so unusual, even though it's so weak, it's God's way, it's God's primary means of saving souls. And then finally, there is only one way to be saved, and that is to believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And That is the message of the preacher.

So the apostle Paul is really dialing in on our primary means of evangelism, and that is the preaching of the word of God. And so we ought to just keep at it as much as we can. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for teaching us the ways in which we should go. We Thank you for preaching.

We thank you for the word of God. We thank you that you have used a most distasteful means by taking a people who do not deserve it, by taking a soiled people, a defiled people, and then coming and cleansing them of all of their sins and changing their lives forever. Lord, your loving kindness is so wonderful. We thank you for your love for sinners and that you are holding out your hands all day long. Amen.