Good News Refused!

Well, if Ed McMahon, before he passed away, were to have appeared at your front lawn or your front door and given you that symbolic check that says you have won the publishers clearinghouse sweepstakes or whatever sweepstakes may be in vogue at the time, how would you respond to that? Would you say, you know, I'm just not really interested. Try the neighbor. They might be interested. I don't really care. Probably not. Maybe more realistically, you're given news of reward at work, a promotion, a new job, a new business contract, or maybe someone has left you in inheritance, a distant uncle that you've forgotten all about, and you get news that you've received in inheritance, or maybe it's simply after a barrage of tests because of things you've been experiencing, you get the all clear sign from the doctor that you're in good health. How would you receive any of those kinds of news? No doubt you would receive it normally. Welcome that kind of news, embrace that kind of news. And yet there is a greater news than any of those things, any of those health or material things, a greater news that we have been given, and that is the news, the good news of the gospel. In fact, the word gospel means good news. And so we've been given the good news of the gospel, but tragically many people refuse that good news. They turn it away, and they will not embrace it or accept it. In all likelihood, there are some here this morning who have heard the good news, but have refused it. Now, that's what Paul's talking about in Romans chapter 10, as he addresses the question, what has happened to Israel? He's been writing a book to the Romans about the plan of salvation and about the righteousness that comes down from God that is offered to all people. And the Jews would typically ask why does Israel not receive the gospel? What's happened to Israel? You're talking about God embracing Gentiles and putting everyone into the body of Christ, the church, this new work. What about Israel? What's happened to the nation of Israel? And Paul addresses the question in chapters 9 through 11 in the book of Romans, why has Israel been set aside so that God may raise up a new people, the church, in this age in which we live. Now we'll find that the setting aside of Israel is only temporary when we get to chapter 11, but the question would linger in the heart of every Jew. What about Israel? And Paul's answering that question. Chapter 9, we saw that Paul says, you know, God is God. If he chooses to set aside the people that he had for his own and the Old Testament, that's up to him. We can't question him. He is sovereign. He's on his throne. He is God. We're not. That's part of the answer. The other part of the answer he addresses in chapter 10, and that is, it's also Israel's fault. If Israel had received the gospel, it would be a totally different story, but Israel has refused the gospel. And that is the case with many people today. Many have refused the best news they could ever receive. So we're going to see in chapter 10 how Paul deals with that. How Israel has refused the gospel. We've already seen in chapter 10 verses 1 through 13 that Paul basically says, Israel has refused the gospel because she tried to work up her own righteousness, a righteousness full of religious zeal, good works, keeping of the Old Testament law. But Paul says that is not the way to be right with God. That's not the way to heaven. The way to heaven is through our righteousness, man's righteousness, it is through God's righteousness. We saw that in the first part of chapter 10. God's righteousness, which is God's work accomplished by Jesus when he died on the cross, offered to us to receive by faith. We trust the Lord Jesus as our Savior and we receive that righteousness of God. It produces a submission to Christ as our Lord when we receive Him as our Savior. And then Paul ended in verse 13 by saying, this gospel, this righteousness is available to all. Now, we're jumping in right in the middle of that argument. It's the reason I wanted to remind us a little bit of where the train was moving. So we don't fall under the train. We actually get honored at the right point. So we're going to pick up with verse 14 exactly where we left off last week. This gospel is available to everybody, Paul says, in verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So it's available to everyone, available to anyone who will trust the Lord Jesus as Savior. From that thought, Paul then develops how God has created a plan for getting the gospel to everybody. If everyone, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved, then God has developed a plan to get the gospel to everyone. And that plan involves everyone in this room, every one of us without exception. If you personally have never received Christ as your Savior, if you've never trusted what He did for you on the cross, for your salvation, then you need to receive the gospel. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, then you need to be announcing the gospel. There are two parts to this plan, the announcing the gospel, the receiving of the gospel, or refusal of the gospel, and all of us are included in this. No exceptions, all of us are involved. So let's see how Paul describes this plan of God to get the gospel to every person so that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved. What is that plan? Well, first of all, it deals with the proclamation of the good news. Verse 14 and 15, let's look at verse 14, Romans 10. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? He's just talked about in verse 13, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved so he begins to ask these questions, verse 14, how then can they call on the one they've not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they've not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? You see the series of questions there that really describes from the hearers side, from the recipients side of the gospel, how the gospel gets to them. This is God's plan. But let's flip that around. Let's start with you and me here today and see how we play a part in God's plan to get the gospel to the whole world so that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord should be saved. The first step in verse 15, as we reverse this process from the one who's taking the gospel is we have to be sent. Okay, that's the first step. We have to be sent out. Secondly, those who are sent out, these messengers who are sent out, preach the gospel, preach the good news, announce the good news to other people. That's step number two. Step number three is that people hear the good news when it is announced to them. Step number four is that some who hear the good news will believe it. They will believe the gospel and those who believe the gospel recognize it as truth will then step number five call on the name of the Lord for salvation. That's the process that Paul says is God's plan for reaching the lost. Those who are sent out as messengers announce the gospel people hear it believe it call on the name of the Lord and they're saved. That's God's plan. Now, God's plan for getting the gospel to everyone in the world often gets blocked right at the beginning. Right out of the shoot, it often gets stopped because of a serious misunderstanding in the terms that Paul uses. Paul says the first step is that people have to be sent and for many of us we think, oh, well, that's talking about missionaries, right? Missionaries, they're sent by local churches, they're sent by mission organizations, they're sent by groups of churches who band together to support them and get them out to the field. They're the ones who are sent. In fact, this is one of the most familiar missionary texts used in missionary conferences and all the Bible. So we have a tendency to think, that lets me off the hook, I'm not one of those missionaries. I'm not sent. That is not at all what Paul's saying. Every one of us is sent. Every one of us has a commission, a message to give and we are sent out by God. Every one of us, no exceptions. If you know Jesus as your Savior, you are one of those sent ones. You have someone that God wants you to reach. Look at these words on the screen. Matthew chapter 28, Jesus gave what's called the Great Commission. It was to his 12 disciples, 11, actually, after the crucifixion Judas is gone, but he says this to them as representatives of the whole church. This is what the church is supposed to do. Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Jesus said to those 11 disciples that would found the church and this is a commission to the whole church, this is the job of the church of those who know Christ. We are to go to the whole world and disciple nations. Give them the gospel so that they can become followers of Christ and baptize them, bring them into the fellowship of the faith, of the body of believers and then teach them the word of God. That's our commission. That's not just given to the 11 disciples. It didn't end there. It's not like after you've done that and you die, the task is finished. No, this is the commission for the whole church. This is for us. This is for me. This is for you. We are all sent with this message. Paul makes it very clear in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 where he's challenging the Corinthians. He says all this is from God speaking of God's love for us and drawing this into his family. All this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us, including you, Corinthians and believers there in the church, gave us the ministry of reconciliation. If God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people sins against them, and He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. Now, there's a title for you. You are an ambassador. The King of heaven, the King of the universe has given you the authority to be His ambassador in this foreign land of this world. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. So you're an ambassador. I'm an ambassador. We wear that official title of ambassadors of the King of heaven. And we are to be ambassadors telling other people about Jesus Christ and that Christ has died for them so that they can be brought back to God, have a relationship with Him. That's what reconciled to God means. Now, that's not just for missionaries. That's for you and me. And so all of us are sent. All of us are commissioned. And you know what? Some of you will be able to reach some people that a preacher will never even see or a missionary will never contact because God has placed in your spirit influence, in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in the spirit of contacts you have when you go out to do your normal business in the stores or in the marketplace of life. God has put across your path people that I will never see, none of the other pastors of this church will ever see. They may never come to church until they come to know Christ to save your first. No missionary will reach them, but you can reach them. You're sent. You have a commission. You are to be imploring people on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. But we need to do a better job as a church, I believe, in equipping you to be that kind of lifestyle evangelist, taking the gospel of Christ with you wherever you are as a lifestyle, looking for opportunities to share the gospel with others. And it doesn't mean that necessarily you tackle people on the street corners. Hey, hey, well, I got something to tell you. You know, listen up. It's not that. It's not that kind of aggressive type. It's God laying up on your heart, opening up doors of opportunity wherever you are to share the gospel, to share your own personal testimony, to share what Jesus has done for people. We can all do that. We can all be trained and equipped to be evangelists, to share the gospel, to know how to share our own testimony of coming to Christ, of knowing the simple facts of the gospel so that we can share them with someone else in a very natural way. We hope to do a better job as a church of training our congregation to be those kind of evangelists because the Bible says it is our responsibility to get the gospel out. So a lot of times the process gets stopped right out of the shoot with a misunderstanding of sin. That's not for missionaries only. It's for all of us. And then sometimes it gets stopped at step number two because step number two is we have to preach the gospel to these people. When we're sent out, we preach the gospel. And those of you who say, well forget the mission thing, I'm not a preacher either. I'm not a preacher. God didn't call me to preach. And so I'm not supposed to preach the gospel. Good, I'm off the hook. We'll leave the preacher to do that. The word preach means simply to announce the good news. Now, any of us can do that. You may not have a title of preacher. You may not be in the ministry as a vocation. But all of us can announce the good news to others. And that's what the word means. And so none of us are off the hook here. None of us have the excuse saying, well I'm not a missionary, I'm not a preacher. I'll pray for those who do that. And I'll give them some money so they can do it. But I don't have to do that. Know my friend, every one of us in this room who knows Jesus' Savior is commissioned and sent to announce the gospel to other people. So that they can hear and believe and call on the name of the Lord. And God will lead you across the paths of some people that I will never see. None of the other pastors in this church will ever impact. But you're out there. You're working with them. You have next door neighbors, maybe family members who need the gospel. And so that's God's plan for reaching the lost. And it involves all of us. As a church, we're not supposed to just be praying for lost people. That's wonderful. But we're not just supposed to be praying for them. We're not just supposed to invite them to church. That's wonderful too. Keep doing that. But there's not enough. We need to take the gospel to the to the lost. That's God's plan for reaching the lost. So he lays it out very clearly. But he also tells us God's reward for reaching the lost. There's a reward for those who take the gospel to people. You know what it is? It's beautiful feet. Now look at it, verse 15, into the verse. As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. What a statement. You think your feet are beautiful? Most of us don't, right? I've seen a lot of feet in my lifetime. You know, all pastors do. We go into the hospital and you check your dignity at the front door at the hospital. I saw two or three pairs of feet yesterday as I visited the hospital. See a lot of feet. Most people's feet are downright ugly, including mine. You know, they're just not the most attractive part of the human anatomy, right? But that's not what Paul's talking about. He's not talking about physical beauty here. He's lifting a verse out of Isaiah chapter 52, verse 7, where Isaiah was prophesying about, you know, after the people of Israel have been in captivity for 70 years, then some people are going to be announcing to them that their captivity is over. Wow. What great news. 70 years of captivity. And we just got news that our bondage is over, that our captivity is over, and we are released to be free and to go home if we want to. How beautiful are the feet that bring that kind of message. Maybe dust covered and all gnarled and twisted with arthritis. But those are beautiful feet because they brought that good news. And you see what Paul is saying is that when you have the opportunity to share the good news with someone else, how beautiful are the feet who brought me that message of deliverance from the bondage of sin, of freedom from a life of sin and despair and hopelessness and no purpose, but a life that is now complete in Christ. And I am forgiven of my past and I have a home in heaven and I know Christ is my Savior. God is now my Father. What wonderful news. How beautiful are your feet for bringing me that news. That's the idea. And actually, the word beautiful has another meaning sometimes in the New Testament. It sometimes means timely. And I think that meaning also fits here. How timely are the feet of those that bring this good news. Because someone that you announce the good news to, for someone that's going to be a very timely relief, a very timely message for someone. And you never know how God is working in hearts of people. When God seems to be impressing someone on your heart, don't let that go because you never know how God may be working in someone's heart. And preparing them through life's events and frustrations and failures and a recognition of sin, maybe the conviction of the Holy Spirit. God may through any means be preparing them to receive that announcement of the message that you have to give them. And when you come, how timely, how timely that message is, how beautiful, how timely are the feet of those who announce these good news, this good news. That's the reward. A timely using of God in our lives to be a blessing to someone else, to reach someone else with the gospel. And that pleases God. That's a reward that is. You know Paul would say to the Thessalonians, and first Thessalonians chapter 2, you are my rejoicing and my crown. There's no better reward than someone you've introduced to the gospel. And they've trusted Christ as their Savior. That's the reward of God's plan for reaching the loss, the reward of the proclamation of the gospel. So we would think that if this plan is followed, if people are being sent out and we all have been, and if we are responding to that commission and we are announcing, preaching the gospel to other people, and they're hearing the good news, we would think, wow, there's going to be a rush of people coming to know Christ. No one will refuse this good news, right? And Paul says tragically, that's not the case. There are people who refuse. So he moves into this very sad and sobering truth of the rejection of the good news. Look at how he describes it. Or 16, but not all the Israelites accepted the good news. Now Bible writers often use normal literary techniques in communicating their messages. Sometimes they would use what we call hyperbole, which is an intentional exaggeration, if you will, if I can use that word of something, to make a point. That's very legitimate in literature and sometimes Bible writers do that. When Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. He was using an almost ludicrous example, exaggeration hyperbole, but not in a false way, in a purposeful way to make a point. That's hyperbole. That's the exact opposite of it. In literature it's called Latoitas. It's actually a way of minimizing something, of saying it much less than it really could be, when Paul says, but not all the Israelites accepted the good news. What he's really saying is most of them have rejected it. And that's true today. Most people in the world have rejected this wonderful news. Of the gospel. Now I hope that most people in this auditorium this morning have received the good news of the gospel, but worldwide most people have rejected the good news or have not even heard it yet. Notice how Paul describes the rejection of the good news. It can happen in three ways. First of all, Israel rejected the good news because she would not believe God's word. She would not believe God's word. What Paul does in these next few verses is he quotes five times from the Old Testament. Again, his focus is upon the Jews who know the Old Testament scriptures. He quotes five times from the Old Testament to show how they've rejected the gospel. The first one is they would not believe God's word, or sixteen, but not all the Israelites accepted the good news for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message. That's a quote from Isaiah 53.1, that great chapter in Isaiah that describes the coming of the Messiah, the one who would bear our sins in his own body, the one who would die on the cross, by whose stripes we are healed of all of our sins, the one who would bear our sorrows and carry our niceties on the cross. That great chapter of Isaiah 53. And Isaiah is lamenting the fact who has believed our report, who has believed our message. We got the best news in the world and people don't believe it. They will not believe God's word. And you know, when the message is given out and people will not believe it, sometimes that causes those of us who give out the message to become frustrated or disillusioned or discouraged. And we begin to say, well, why, why try? Why bother? I must not be doing it right or something. Why try? So Paul reminds us in verse 17. This is the only way, friends. It's the only way. For 17, consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. There is no other way for people to get saved other than to hear the message of the gospel, the word of Christ. By the way, the word word there is a word which is often used in the New Testament, not of the written word, but of the spoken word. And so it's important that people hear the spoken word of the message. That doesn't mean they can't get saved by just reading the Bible themselves or reading a gospel tract or whatever. But people need in some way to hear the message of the gospel. They need that word given to them, the word of God. This is the book that is sharper than any two-edged sword. The writer of Hebrew says, is able to pierce down into our hearts and discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts. This is the book, a living book that is able to open up our hearts with conviction of the Holy Spirit and help us to understand our need of Christ so we can't quit giving the word. It doesn't matter if you're like Jeremiah and nobody responds. It doesn't matter if you're like Isaiah and you throw up your hands and say, who's believed our message? That doesn't matter. We gotta keep giving the word. We gotta keep sharing the gospel with people because that is the only way for faith to come. Is the word of God. And so Paul encourages us to keep on, don't give up, don't quit, keep giving the word. And notice what he says in verse 18. He says, but I ask, did they not hear? That's an interesting question. Basically, what he's saying is, I wanna give Israel the benefit of the doubt. Okay, did they just not hear what was being said? Did they just not hear the word? And notice his clear answer, verse 18. Of course they did. The answers are pretty clearly, doesn't it? Did they just not hear? Of course they heard. In fact, he quotes another verse in the Old Testament. Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Paul is saying, and actually that's a quote from Psalm 19, which in Psalms is talking about creation. God's natural revelation and creation is available to everybody to see. And thus learn something about a great God who put it all in place. But Paul uses that natural revelation as an example, that's one of the ways he quotes the Old Testament. He uses it as an example of God's special revelation, of God's revelation in his word. It's gone out for everybody to hear. And even in Paul's day, the message was being spread across the whole Roman Empire. And so he says, there are no excuse for Israel not to have heard. They've heard. They've heard. The message has gone out into all the world. And there's no excuse for anyone in this area, especially an area like this, to reject the gospel. Because the gospel is so clearly proclaimed in so many places in this area, the gospel has reached out in so many ways in the United States of America through radio and literature and TV and so many ways the gospel has been preached. We are saturated with the gospel. That's the problem. It's not that we haven't heard. The problem Paul says is they would not believe. They would not believe God's word. See, it all depends on what you have an ear to hear. You can hear the gospel, but not receive it, not believe it. That's possible for anyone here this morning. So they did not believe God's word. Secondly, Paul says they would not heed God's warning. Look at verse 19. Again I ask, did Israel not understand? Okay, let's give them the benefit of that again. So they heard, but maybe they just didn't understand. Maybe they didn't realize that they needed to receive the gospel. And if they didn't, God would reject them, temporarily lay them aside and take the gospel to the Gentiles. Maybe they didn't understand that. And Paul says, that's not the problem either. Again, he quotes twice from the Old Testament. God had warned them this would happen. He warned them plainly. This would happen. Look at his two quotes. Verse 19, Moses says, I will make you envious, speaking of the Jewish nation, I will make you envious by those who are not a nation. Speaking of the Gentiles, who were not the nation chosen to be God's people in the Old Testament, many nations among the Gentiles. I will make you envious by those who are not a nation. I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding. So he said, you know, God warned you in Moses writings in Deuteronomy 32. God warned you what would happen. And then he says, Isaiah warned you too. Verse 20, Isaiah boldly says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. In other words, if Israel is going to reject the gospel, then I'll take it to people who weren't even asking for it. I'll take it to Gentiles. So basically what Paul's saying is, I warned Israel in the Old Testament. I warned them of what would happen if they did not believe my word. I warned them. And you know, God warns us. God warns us of what will happen if we do not receive the gospel. He warns us very plainly. Look at this warning. John chapter 3, verse 18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Now here's the warning. But whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. Okay, that's a warning. It's a warning to us that if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are condemned already. Condemned. And condemned means that you will face the ultimate judgment of God, the wrath of God being separated from him forever. That's a warning. He also warns Jesus does later in John chapter 3, in verse 36. Actually, John adds this post note to Jesus conversation with Nicodemus. John says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son, here's the warning. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life for God's wrath remains on them. That's a warning. If you reject Jesus as your Savior, then God's wrath. His judgment is still on you. I mean, you're already there and it remains on you if you don't receive Christ as Savior. But the warning is even more explicit when Paul writes the Thessalonians. And second Thessalonians chapter 1, look at this warning of Paul. Paul says, he, God, will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Now, no warning could be any clearer than that, my friend. The warning is that if you do not know God and the Bible makes it clear, the only way to know God is through His Son, Jesus Christ. John chapter 5 tells us, he who does not know the Son does not know the Father. Jesus himself said, I am the way of the truth in the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. So the only way to know God is through Jesus Christ. If you don't know God and if you have not obeyed the gospel, the gospel which tells us the only way to be right with God is through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. And to obey that means I submit myself to what God says. The only way to have it is and that's through Christ and His death on the cross. If I do not obey the gospel, if I do not know God through Christ, then God warns us, this is what will happen. You will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from His presence. Very clear warning, isn't it? All of us here this morning have been warned as to what will happen if you do not trust Jesus as your Savior. Few years ago a car was stolen in California and the authorities went to unusual lengths to apprehend the thief. But some of the unusual links included announcing on the airwaves and newspapers and radio, television station and all that there was something dangerous in that car. And that the thief needed to be careful because on the front seat of that car that was stolen, there was a package of crackers. The package of crackers had been laced with rat poison by the owner of the car because he was going to use it to try to kill some rats around his place. And so the police were saying, you know, be careful. If you stole this car, then please don't snack on the crackers in the front seat. You see, they were concerned not only about getting the car back, they were warning the thief of what would happen if he ate the crackers. God's warnings are for your own protection. God's not trying to scare you. He's not trying to do something. Oh, no. God's trying to save your life. God's trying to help you to understand. Listen, this is what's going to happen if you don't receive my son. I'm warning you very clearly. And one reason people refuse the good news is that they will not heed God's warning. But notice thirdly, Paul says they would not listen to God's pleading. Verse 21, he closes the chapter by saying this from another quote from the Old Testament, but concerning Israel, he says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. Quote from Isaiah 65, all day long, all day long, God says, notice the patience, the love, the acceptance, the willingness to forgive, all that communicated with the outstretched arms, all day long, all day long, I've stretched out my arms. But to an obstinate and rebellious people who would not receive my love, my offers of forgiveness and salvation. And so the chapter closes on a very sad and somber note that God is standing there with his arms reaching out. But the failure is on the part of those who will not receive the message. Reminds me of the words that Jesus spoke in the last week of his life. As he wept over the city of Jerusalem in Matthew chapter 23, he said these words, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stone those sent to you. Now listen to these next words. How often I have longed to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And you were not willing. Look your house is left to you, Desolate. And Romans 9, Paul says, strong message on God's sovereignty as regards salvation. In Romans 10, it is just as strong that it is your responsibility to receive Christ. God is there without stretched arms. And he says, everyone who calls upon me can be saved. Anyone, everyone who calls on me, who calls on the Lord. And I've got a plan to get the message to everybody. But will you resist my pleading? I'm there with my arms outstretched. I love you. I want to save you. Will you resist his pleading? You know, sometimes I hear the question, why hasn't Jesus come back already? Things are so bad and you know, I just wish Jesus would come back. You know, Peter told us why Jesus hasn't come back yet? In 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, he says that God is not slack concerning his promises as some men count slackness, but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's God's heart. God is here today without stretched arms saying, I want all of you. I want all of you to respond. If you've never done that, here I am. I will forgive you. I will cleanse your past. I'll wipe all of your sin in the past off the record. I'll give you a new start, a new life, a new home in heaven, a new father, my father, God. I will do all of that for you. Here I am. My arms are outstretched. I'm pleading with you. Are you going to receive or are you going to reject? Are you going to take the message and receive Christ or are you going to refuse the goodness? So Paul basically is asking us two questions in this passage. He's asking one question to everyone who already knows Jesus as Savior. In conclusion, I ask these two questions to you. Question number one, are you announcing proclaiming the good news? Because if you know Jesus as Savior, you are commissioned to be an ambassador of Jesus in this world to announce and proclaim the good news to other people. Are you doing that? Two others who may be here this morning who have never trusted Christ. I ask you this question that Paul ends with. Are you refusing? Are you rejecting the good news? The best news you could ever have that your life can be changed. You can become a new person in Christ. The old is gone. The new is come. You now have a home in heaven. Eternal life when you die. Your sins are forgiven. What greater news could you have than that? Are you refusing that? Did you think you can get the heaven on your own? The good news is offered to you today. God stands with these arms outstretched. I'm pleading with you, He says. In fact, I'm delaying my coming to give you more opportunity. Will you receive the good news today? Let's bow in prayer.