Sermon Central
-
“beautiful Feet And The Gospel Goal” Series
Contributed by Ron Tuit on May 19, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: How could Paul have come to the same conclusion as the prophet Isaiah some 700 years before about "beautiful feet"? The "feet" of the Church are to resemble the heavenly "feet" that first stepped onto mountains of Zion, and later were nailed to a cross.
“Beautiful Feet and the Gospel Goal”
At one time or another, everyone has played the “word association game?” You know how it’s played: one person gives a word and then you spontaneously respond with another word. If we changed the game to “BIBLICAL Word Association”, your answers might be quite different: If I said “red”, your response would probably be “blood”, not blue. If I said “dark”…you might say “light”, if I said “black”, you might say “sin”. If I said the word “feet”, would you have any biblical word association? (The word “feet” is actually used 238 times in the Bible.) How about if I asked you to give adjectives to Biblically DESCRIBE "feet"?
The Apostle Paul certainly had a biblical word that he associated with “feet” in Romans 10:15: “Just as it is written (from Isaiah 52:7), "How BEAUTIFUL are THE FEET of those who bring GOOD NEWS of GOOD THINGS!" How did Paul arrive at the same Biblical conclusion as Isaiah did some 700 years earlier?
Salvation Essentials
In Isaiah, Israel had sold themselves to idols of the world and had become faithless and rebellious toward God. The nation, including its LEADERS, had lost the vision of God’s Kingdom of righteousness, love and peace and they were serving the gods of materialism, self- indulgence, hypocrisy, immorality. Isaiah comes onto the scene as a prophet sent by God, sort of a PRESS AGENT for God, linking God’s Word to God’s people, and foretells the coming of the Lord Jesus as THE LINK for salvation. Paul assumes the same role as an apostle, as a message of this Savior, only Isaiah points TO the SAVIOR’S Coming.
There are some salvation essentials for the “WHOEVERS” in knowing the Salvation of the Lord Jesus and having “Beautiful Feet” in the verses leading up to Romans 10:15, which we have looked at:
Beginning at Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, (NOT BY WORKS, BUT FAITH) and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER (He who) BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for "WHOEVER (He who) WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
1. Two things must happen to a person, a “whoever”, to be saved. A person has to BELIEVE in the LORD JESUS CHRIST (that Christ is Preeminent in all Things, including your life, He is the Perfect Savior for sin, God in the Flesh). BELIEVE means that you are convinced in your heart, and when you are, then CHRIST will be evidenced in your life. If you are a true believer, you have been connected to the Cornerstone, the Lord Jesus; He is the foundation of your life, the Rock of your Salvation so that everything you do PROCEEDS from Him. It’s impossible for Jesus not to be noticed by others in your life because you’re connected to Him.
2. The second thing was what? Whoever is saved has to CALL on and CONFESS the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For those who DO NOT, Jesus becomes a trap or a stone of stumbling, but a person who DOES call upon the Lord Jesus by the initiation of God’s Holy Spirit, given at Pentecost, will be saved. The Greek word for “confess”, “homologeô”, means “with WORDS”, “with Logos.” It means that you TALK about the Word of Life, the Lord Jesus, with your mouth. (John 1:1:” In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God.”)
Now, look at Verse 14: “How then will they (the whoever’s) call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they (the whoever’s) believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they PREACH unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "How BEAUTIFUL are THE FEET of those who bring GOOD NEWS of GOOD THINGS!"
3. Now stay with me and FOLLOW the logic here: Only those who CALL ON the Lord Jesus, believe IN the Lord Jesus, and confess the LORD JESUS will be saved. Isn’t that correct? You Trust Jesus as Savior and serve Him as LORD. You receive God’s forgiveness on God’s terms, which is the gift and WORK of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and you are justified by faith in His Work. THIS ALSO MEANS that none can CALL and BELIEVE UINLESS they first HEAR the Gospel. No one can believe without HEARING the TRUE GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. The Glory of Gospel is that it is a spiritual understanding and occurrence that comes to you by God’s Pentecost Spirit THROUGH the hearing of the Word concerning Jesus.
