Romans 10:14-21 • Beautiful Feet

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

Last week, Romans 10, I began to introduce to you the Apostle Paul's own prayer. He said his heart's desire and prayer for his brothers, the Jews, is that they would be saved.



 And he began to cry out to God in their behalf that they would understand what it meant to have one who would seal their hearts by his work and not by their own.



 Still, he understands there's a process they must go through in order that they would hear and understand the gospel and call out to God.



 And it's that process we will consider this day. Let me ask that you would look in your Bibles at Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 as we'll consider verses 10, excuse me, 14 through 21 in Romans 10.



 How will Paul's desire and prayer for his brothers be answered? Let's stand as we honor God's Word and consider how others will have this great assurance.



 Paul writes in verse 14, "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard?



 And how are they to hear without someone preaching?



 And how are they to preach unless they are sent?



 As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.



 But they have not all obeyed the gospel.



 For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he's heard from us?"



 So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ.



 But I ask, have they not heard?



 They have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the earth.



 But I ask, did Israel not understand?



 First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation with a foolish nation. I will make you angry."



 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held at my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." Let's pray together.



 Heavenly Father, it is so precious, so beautiful for us to read that even where there are contrary and disobedient people, you would be a God who all day long holds out your hands to receive them.



 Help us not only to understand the beauty of that message, but to claim it and to be ready to send others to tell it, that a world may know of the beauty that's in our Savior because of how much he has given himself for us. Grant that the gospel might resonate from this place. Help us to claim it and be those who help others to claim it. In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated.



 Last week I let you know a little of my experience in Cuba where following your prayers, the president of the Baptist convention of Cuba just happened to be at a cabinet meeting of the nation's leaders of Cuba where just by chance he heard the chief immigration officer for the nation say that she was going to deny the visa for me and others to be able to speak in that conference because there was a dissident in the church where the conference was being held and because of that one person, the whole conference was going to be canceled.



 You recognize, of course, more and more, it's not by chance and it didn't just happen, but by God's providence and divine appointment, the president of the Baptist convention then spoke to that immigration officer and said, "If we move the conference to a different venue, would you allow it to occur?" She said, "Yes."



 And the conference continued as we trained and spoke to 300 pastors who would spread out across the island with the message of the gospel.



 During the conference as I learned that account, what had happened, the president of the National Baptist Convention was sitting on the front row of one of my talks and so I just paused to say thank you. I didn't understand the culture and what that would mean because he kind of blushed a little bit and kind of nodded and gave a little parade wave, acknowledged what you're saying.



 It wasn't until lunchtime that he spoke to me again. I thanked him again for interceding in our behalf and he said, "It is my greatest joy to offer opportunities for the gospel of Jesus Christ in this country." Sometimes he said, "I am given the privilege of returning a son in prison to his mother



 and sometimes I am given the privilege of saving a Christian father from death."



 And it was not a metaphor and it was not exaggeration.



 It was the beauty of a man of God giving himself for the work of the gospel in a difficult and hard place.



 Over and over again as the Lord sends us out to do His work, we see how God's people are with nobility and courage serving Him in different parts of the world. So many times I wish I could pack you in my bags so you could meet people and see what they are doing and see how they are standing because when you see other Christians standing for the gospel and it just so impresses you with the nobility and the beauty of what they are doing, it lifts you from your own distractions and self-interest and you begin to ask yourself, "Am I sending as God calls us to send to make beautiful the feet of those who carry the gospel? Am I myself recognizing the beauty of being a sent one in my home, in my church, in my school, in my place of work? Am I recognizing what it means to take the beauty and the wonder of the gospel to others?" And what the apostle is doing in this passage as he is dealing with difficult people is he is inspiring the rest to say when you perceive the beauty of what God is doing through people who would take the gospel, then you will want to do it too.



 The beauty of the process is explained already in the verses that we covered a little bit last week where Paul began to talk about this gospel that has been committed to him so that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He said it doesn't matter if you are Jew or Gentile, that it doesn't matter your background, whether you are thought of being good or bad, whether you are from the right family, the wrong family, the right ethnicity, the wrong ethnicity, it does not matter.



 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And what does it mean to call? He explained that too. He said if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, if you say, "I believe that Jesus who came to this earth is Lord over all, that he reigns above with his Father,



 and you believe in your heart." It's not just lip service. "That God raised him from the dead so that that risen Lord is alive and reigns above. And so our lives are lived with conviction, commitment to him. And we wake up every day thinking, how could I bring glory to the Lord who gave himself for me? That that heart commitment, backing up that lip confession, is calling out to the Lord, "Jesus, I need you. Jesus, I desire to live for you now." And everyone who calls to the Lord in that way, regardless of their background, regardless of the past, regardless of what you're ashamed of, regardless of what you're accused of, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.



 But how will they call?



 Unless they hear.



 And how will they hear?



 Unless someone speaks to them.



 And how will someone speak to them? Unless someone sends them.



 It's the process that is so beautiful and clear in verse 14. "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news." It's just to the apostle something altogether lovely that the process, as plain as it is, would be the way in which God spreads His gospel to hearts that would be sealed in heaven forever.



 How does it work?



 Send so that people can say, so that it would be heard, so that it would be believed, and people would call out to God.



 So simple. But we lose the beauty until we consider even what the apostle uses to express the beauty. How beautiful are the feet of those on the mountains who proclaim this good news. He's actually quoting Isaiah 52.



 "Isaiah the prophet in the Old Testament knew that the people of God had turned away in rebellion, in idolatry, in immorality.



 And he prophesied they would actually go into slavery, into a time of exile, just as they long ago been under Pharaoh in slavery. They would go again into slavery, into Babylon. And it would be dark, awful, terrible oppression because of their idolatry and turning away from God. But that was not the end of the story.



 At some point, the people of God who are across the mountains from Israel, Israel down on the lower plain toward the ocean, Babylon in the north across the mountains, at some point, there will be a herald who comes across the mountains. And he will proclaim, your God has redeemed you without a price.



 The herald will proclaim the good news.



 The salvation of God is to be heralded because our God reigns. And if you had been in bondage and slavery and darkness and oppression and people were coming across the mountains and they had the good news, redemption comes, salvation is here because our God reigns and he will redeem you without price.



 You would say that is great news. That is beautiful. I had just a sense of it again there in Cuba. One night we went to a concert where there was a popular praise band that had come from Santa Domingo. And as they were there expressing the words of the gospel, the people were enthused. But there was one song where in this building that we were in, the people rose from their seats and they began to clap and they began to stomp their feet. And Sandra Spangler, who was beside me, I said, "What are they singing?" And she said, "They are singing, "The truth shall set you free."



 And for those Cubans I recognized that was more than just a spiritual message of our sins will be gone. It was the understanding that we can live in oppression. We can live where there is not finance, where there is not freedom. And yet by belief in Jesus Christ, our souls are secured forever. And regardless of what our government does, regardless of what our circumstances, we live free before the God of heaven. Our hearts have been released from this bondage. We are free. And they sang at the top of their lungs and they sang as though the roof was going to fall in and that building, it could really have done that.



 And we said, "This is what it means to understand the beauty of the gospel.



 Your sins forgiven, your past gone, the future secure, regardless of what the world throws at you. You know my God reigns and this world is not in control of me."



 Who's supposed to say that? To bring such beauty and hope to God's people. I recognize that as we read verse 15, it may almost seem to be taken away from us. How are they to preach unless they are sent? As is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? And we think, well, this is just the job of the preachers or the missionaries.



 I'm so delighted to tell you that word "preach" is the Greek word "keruso." Now that means to herald, like the herald coming over the mountains, like the town crier in the evening, the darkest night, who is heralding the good news. And what that means is it's not a formal word for preachers. It is the good news that anybody, everybody can say. When I was in seminary, I memorized "keruso" by the great opera singer, right? What was his name?



 "Keroso," right? And he sang in a way that inspired people, that made them weep and cry and get on their knees and just amazed at the wonder of his voice.



 And now we are told that we are heralds of the good news in such a way that we can sing it out, even where people are experiencing darkness and pain and hurt.



 I thought of it this week, preparing this message, and I got a letter from a teacher who talked about a child in the local school who said, "Tell me about the man they talk about in church. I can't remember his name."



 And the teacher said, "His name is Jesus, and he was also God."



 And the child said, "Tell me about God.



 My mom doesn't know about God.



 Who will tell me about God?"



 And you knew it was time for a teacher to sing, to sing out the good news of the gospel, to recognize this is the opportunity, this is the day of the Lord, this is the opportunity, the divine appointment that God has put in front of us as we recognize the difficulty, the danger, the darkness, and still say, "This is the good news."



 Who sings? I think of Katie Ulander, the skeleton sled racer. Isn't that a strange name for an Olympic event, the skeleton sled racer, who in the last Olympics was built, was not built, was beat by a Russian sledder by four one-hundredths of a second, only to discover later that that was one of the Russians caught in the doping scandal.



 And so the Olympic committee at first removed the medal and gave it to Katie, and then changed its mind and took the medal back and away from Katie.



 She's coming back to the next Olympics to try to get a medal.



 Before she comes, her father dies of disease.



 And now the media is interviewing Katie, expecting grief, pain, hurt, complaint.



 She knew it was time to sing.



 The Lord plays a huge role in my life, she said, "I am on the path He wants me to be on."



 I think of David Wise, the two-time gold medalist in freestyle skiing.



 Some of you may recognize that in the first Olympics in which he got a gold medal four years ago, that he got a lot of news because of his alternative lifestyle.



 Do you know what his alternative lifestyle was?



 He brought his family to the Olympics.



 And now he's again in the news, again going to race with his alternative lifestyle of bringing his family. What would he say? Surely people thought after two gold medals he would boast. Instead, what he said was this, "The fact that my God is in control of everything in my life makes it easy for me to relax and enjoy the ride as I race."



 It was reminiscent to me of the words not so long ago of the Minnesota Vikings quarterback Case Keenan. You may have some of you remember in the playoffs when he threw that amazing pass to beat the Saints in just the last few seconds. They should have lost. But he completed the pass. And when he completed the Hail Mary, which is all of what it was, and won the game, everyone expected him to say what a great quarterback he was, what a great play he had done. Instead he said, "This is just the third best event in my life."



 The second was marrying my wife.



 And the first great event of my life was accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior.



 It was time to sing. People expected something else from him. I thought of the young racer, Ma'am A. Beiney. Some of you may remember she was the African American first speed skater who was black. Came to the United States at age five from Ghana. And yet here she was, this young Ghanaian woman, now an American, who was expected to win the 500-meter speed skating race.



 And yet in the quarterfinals by her own admission, underestimated her opponents.



 Did not race hard enough and lost her chance at a medal.



 Just turned 18.



 How much sadness, how much complaint, how much could she have just poured out her heart in great pain, but instead she knew it was time to sing. As the world turns its attention on her, she put on her Instagram account, "I want to start off by thanking God.



 I thank God for giving me a passion to do this. I thank God for giving my daddy strength to wake up on Saturday mornings and take me to practice. And I thank God for the daddy I want to be like, who wants to help people, who has an amazing heart, who is dedicated to God.



 And I want to thank the people of my church who supported me for this effort." And when she wrote that, I suddenly recognized she wasn't the only one singing. How many of the people of the church were the sent ones to her family, to support the family from Ghana, to support her, to be a part of her life, to pour themselves into her so that now she's in the world stage, what's she doing? She's saying how beautiful is the gospel?



 And everybody was part of that sending. It wasn't just the Olympians. I think of the people I've already just mentioned so far. You know, the Olympians, the NFL quarterback, the teacher here in Peoria, and recognize that what God is doing is he's just building a choir. He's got this great corporate sending that he does as God's people learn what it means to sing and they enjoy the beauty of it, regardless of place or walk of life. I just look at this church and I rejoice at the singing that goes on. Of all the people who were involved in English as a second language training so that now over 20 nations are coming here to learn the gospel, learn to read and have opportunity to hear the gospel. And some of the people who are singing are not teaching, they're just driving to apartment buildings and picking people up in their cars to get them here because that's the way they're singing. I think of the mothers of preschoolers and all the volunteers who watch kids on midweek mornings and evenings that just get moms here, not from this church but from all over the community to come and have opportunity to hear the gospel and the way so many of you sing your hearts to make that happen, of Child Evangelism Fellowship and the Good News Clubs that are in neighborhoods and in local schools and some of you who work so hard to make that happen both officially and unofficially and volunteers because you're saying, "I want children to know the gospel.



 I don't just want some child on the neighborhood who's saying, "Who's that man they talk about in church?"



 You want them to know the Lord Jesus. And so you sing and you make it happen. I think of campus outreach and the way so many people are being trained to share the gospel and we see the beauty of it as we see baptisms even yet this morning. The wonder and the goodness of that, the future leaders of this church who are themselves training this next quarter, learning evangelism, going through the same journey books that campus outreach learns. Why the leaders go through that?



 Because we know the beauty of sharing the gospel, of others coming to faith in Jesus Christ. And it's not just anybody who qualifies Sunday after Sunday. Do you know this? There are special needs adults who meet by the scores in this building with the same set of volunteers who sing the gospel to them in the simplest terms, simple acts of kindness knowing that there will come a time in which those persons who've acknowledged faith in Jesus Christ will be in heaven whole, made right with God eternally because there were people who sang the gospel who said, "How beautiful is it to make other people understand how great is God's love for them?" The Springfield church plant, the youth camps, the Christian clubs. I think of the support you're going to do, I hope you'll do even now, Peoria Rescue Mission and Southside Mission and Salvation Army as we provide the hands of Christ to people who, how do I say this, are in the absolute worst state of life.



 Sometimes because of circumstances they could not control and sometimes because of their own awful, awful choices. It does not matter. The gospel is there for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ regardless of background and we extend care and we extend love knowing so we needed care, so we needed love and so we call out and we say, "How beautiful is the gospel?" And because of what this church is committed to, this very day and every day of the week, four in 400 cities across this country, people will be listening to these services in 70 nations across the world. Why did God give us this privilege? I don't know, but it is beautiful what God is doing in His people as the gospel is spread and shared and taken in so many contexts and different people and we begin to recognize when we talk about so many different opportunities and so many different ways and age groups and people that it's just Ephesians 4 that God has fitly joined the body of Christ together so there's every part does its work. The whole body is made part of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its sharing. We don't judge one another because your ministry is not my ministry and your evangelism is not my evangelism. We say, "We're all singing the song. We are part of the glorious corporate worship of God whereby the gospel is proclaimed and it is beautiful."



 But what if it doesn't work?



 Paul's got to address that. After all, he's got to say, "My heart's desire and my prayer for my brothers is that they would be saved," and he's talking about Jewish people who've heard the gospel for generations.



 How is it that this gospel is going to go forward in the song that we're singing to the world and to brothers and sisters? That really is what verse 17 is about. It says, "Faith comes from hearing." Okay, I get that. We tell people what they should believe and they hear that and then they believe if they're going to believe, but the next part's so hard.



 And the hearing through the Word of Christ.



 Now I must tell you that's backwards of what we expect.



 We expect the apostles say, "The Word of Christ comes through our hearing."



 But he says, "The hearing comes through the Word of Christ."



 How does the Word open hearing?



 Siri set a timer for 30 minutes.



 Alexa, play Mozart or red hot chili peppers, your choice.



 We expect the Word to open the hearing.



 You know, that technology is so yesterday.



 It is so old, it is so antiquated, it is so primitive because do you recognize what the gospel is saying? The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of bone and marrow, soul and spirit, so that by saying the Word of God, it is the very thing that God intends to penetrate the heart through the hearing so that we believe. It's the Word that opens the ears of the heart to what God intends to happen. And so that saying to us, we say what is true because that is the process, that is the power of the Word itself that is so beautiful. When we say what is true about the gospel, God uses that to change people.



 As so many commemorations now are coming in about Billy Graham, I have to tell you my favorite Billy Graham story.



 Billy Graham, as many of the articles and news accounts that you've heard, read, listened to this week remind us, was no scholar.



 And much of my Christian ministry has been in academic circles where how do I say this to you, they didn't always have the highest respect for Billy Graham because he wasn't a scholar.



 And I could tell you about one of my friends who one time went to a Billy Graham crusade and he was kind of a skeptic and so he sat, you know, in one of the far reaches of the auditorium with his arms crossed and kind of, you know, the skeptical stance. At the end of the message, when he had heard a fairly simple gospel message with just the word of truth from Billy Graham, my friend leaned over to a friend and he said something like this. He said, "Well, if that message saves anybody, I'll eat my hat."



 And just then the lady to his left leaned over and said, "Should I go down now?"



 And my friend said, "What?" And she said, "I believe what he said. Should I go down now?" And my friend said, "Yes, I think you should."



 And then her husband said, "Should I go too?"



 And he said, "Yes, I think you should."



 Now listen, if you've read anything about these accounts, you know that the great evangelist of this century and maybe all time was a man with feet of clay. He made bad choices. He made awful mistakes. He associated with power and politics in ways that he probably should not have. He was probably away from his home more than he himself felt. But some of the greatest power of his ministry in his later years was where he was actually confessing that, where he would say over and over again to people, "I got too close to politics. I got too close to power. I was away from my kids too much, but I believe in a Savior who forgives. I believe my God reigns over my errors. I'm going to proclaim the word of God and trust him to take care of the rest." And when he did that, of course, it was powerfully used of the Lord, not because of the greatness of Billy Graham, but because of the power of the Word. I have to remember this. I mean, I look at myself, and I'm not going to do this in a lot of detail, but just a couple of months ago where I was asked to address a youth group in this church on a Wednesday night, and how do I say to you, it was the end of a long day at the end, in the middle of a hard week.



 And I didn't put a lot of prep into that message. I mean, just kids.



 And I kind of phoned it in, and I did the message, and how do I say this to you? I was awful.



 I mean, it was just a terrible message. I mean, the kids looked puzzled. The parents looked angry.



 You know, I actually called the Sunday School Director the next day and said, "I'm so sorry." And she said, "Well, you know, I understand. It's okay. Two people came to know the Lord that night."



 Now I hope somebody spoke after me, because I really did bad, or else the Word of God did really good.



 The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. It's going deep down where people need it. And so we say, "I'm not worthy to say this. I don't know the right words to say. My child that needs the gospel, he knows all of my errors and all my hypocrisies. My coworker has seen me blow up and do jobs that I should have done the way I did. Why should I be the one to speak?" Because it's your moment to sing.



 Because the Word has the power. Because God is saying, "I have given you this moment, this place, this opportunity. This is a divine appointment."



 And so we recognize we are the sent ones, and recognizing it as much, not knowing all that we should say. We still sing. This is what God has done for me. This is the way He has helped me.



 He sent His Son to die for my sin when I did not deserve it.



 And He forgives me and holds me forever.



 And that is my only trust, no goodness in me, all in Him.



 And what if that doesn't work?



 Because you know the Apostle is not just dealing with the beauty of the Word and the power of the Word. Ultimately, he is dealing with the plan that God has for His message that is truly beautiful.



 What is the plan that is unfolding? It starts with a tough reality. That's verse 16.



 Paul even states the statement or the position of his opponents. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. You say that the Jews are going to hear and respond to the gospel, but they've not all obeyed the gospel. Even Isaiah the prophet says, "Lord, who's believed what He's heard from us?" Here's the prophet Isaiah who tells us the Word will not return to the Lord void.



 And the Lord gives him the Word and then says, "Isaiah, preach to these people and they will not hear you."



 How would you like that for your ministry? You preach to these people and they will not hear you. So what? It will be just when I judge and the people when they have learned dependence on me says God, they will turn back to me. But for right now, the apostles simply recognized this. Even Isaiah had to face the fact that at times the power of the Word did not seem to be effective. So what do we believe then? We believe we may need to ask the tough questions even of verse 18. But I ask, have they not heard? They're not all obeying. Have they not heard the Word? Says the apostle, "Indeed they have for their voice has gone out into all the earth." The there? He's quoting Psalm 19. Do you remember? "The heavens declare the glory of God." There is no place, no speech where their voice, the stars, the creation, where that voice is not heard. Even Paul says in Romans 1 and verse 20, "God's eternal power and Godhead are clearly evident by the things that have been made."



 The voice has gone out. You can't just say they didn't hear.



 No, they have heard. But along with the tough question, there is a tough love on display. Verse 19, "But I ask, did Israel not understand? For first Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. With a foolish nation, I will make you angry. And Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." Listen, I know it's complicated wording, but it's just God saying, "Listen, I'm doing a work around in order to create a turnaround.



 The people of God did not listen to me. For generations the Jews trusted in their own righteousness and their own goodness, rather than bowing to the provision of God. By Christ's provision, by the Messiah, that you will be made right. They did not listen. They turned away. And so what did God do? He said, "If you're not going to listen to me, I'm going to go to the Gentiles.



 I'm going to go to other people, to people who are not a nation, to people who have not even asked for me. I'm going to go to them. And what's going to happen? As a consequence of my reaching out to the Gentiles and bringing them peace, the Jews are going to get jealous for the gospel again. And they're going to come back."



 That's not just ancient history. Did you hear Zoe in her testimony before her baptism?



 There was a girl who was talking to me, and she had a peace and a happiness that I longed for and I wanted.



 It's that jealousy of the soul. I want what you got. I want that peace. I want that heart. I want that happiness. And it's happening on a national scale between Israel and the rest of the nations. But it's happening for us day by day in our homes and our workplaces as over and over again we sing the song with God's joy in our heart, recognizing what God is doing is He's trying to create a longing in other people, working around them in us to turn them around to Himself.



 I thought of it with Kelly Clark, the multi-time Olympic snowboarder who keeps going back to the Olympics and people wonder about her motivation. Here's what she said.



 "I'm in a sport where faith is very foreign and counter-cultural, so I get to love people really well in my sport who would never darken the door of a church.



 So through me they learn the gospel." What do they see? Somebody who has success and failure and still loves the Lord. Somebody who's had awards and difficulty and still deep and profound joy through it all. And people say, "What are you going through? What's your God like? What are you believing in? What are you doing?"



 This is just not just the Olympics. I think for Kathy and me the long-time friend wed to a profane and crusty police captain



 who year after year despite all the abuse from him stuck in the marriage for him, for the kids, and finally after her peace and joy it existed for so many decades, what happened was he got cancer and then longed for her God.



 And we watched in his last years a man who became so gentle and turned around and beautiful before the Lord because the gospel had happened as the Lord had worked around him through his wife for so many years to finally turn him around.



 It is God's ultimate purpose as you recognize what God is saying ultimately is talking to us about this tough love to ultimately reveal the most tender of hearts.



 It's verse 21, "But of Israel," he says, "all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." He's the God who sent the Messiah. He's the God who promised the Messiah and they have been contrarian, disobedient, idolatrous. So God just turns and walks away. No he doesn't.



 All day long I stretch out my hands to you, welcoming you back, calling you back to myself.



 I thought of that image in the meditation of Paul Tripp. I read recently he says this, "What gives me courage in the shadows of life? What offers me hope in the failures of heart? It is this one thing. I know for certain there are two words I will never hear from my God.



 I know that He will never look me in the eye and say to me, "Go away.



 You will not send me from your presence. You will not drive me from your grace. You will not separate me from your glory. You will not eliminate me from your promises. All day long you hold out your hands of tender care to reach me, to embrace me, to claim me. You will never say, "Go away." You will never, ever, ever send me away."



 Your anger was borne by another. He was sent away from your face, but for my sake now I will never, ever, ever be sent away.



 So in weakness, in failure, in foolishness, in rebellion, in sin, Jesus I come to you.



 Something that despite all the dark things that may be whispered to me, attributed to me, blamed on me, are true of me, there are two words I will never hear my Savior say. What are those two words? He will never say, "Go away."



 Why did people listen to Billy Graham?



 Not always articulate, not always perfect in every way. Why did they listen?



 Because he was able to say so often in so many ways, "Your God will not say, "Go away."



 Just as I am without one plea, but that your blood was shed for me, and that you bid me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come, sung at the end of every crusade.



 Just as I am, you will receive, will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, because your promise, I believe, O Lamb of God, I come.



 And when you say you come, friend of mine, family of God, rebel or saint, if you say to Jesus, "I'm coming," he will never say, "Go away."



 But come unto me, all you who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.



 Father, so work the gospel into our hearts again, that we may delight in its beauty,



 blame its beauty, and send the song to the nations and our neighbors about the beauty that's in our Savior.



 Father, I would ask even now, if there is someone here who is saying, "With what I've done, with the failures that are mine, could God really forgive me and hold me and embrace me?"



 That you would work in that heart even now, just to say.



 I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead,



 so that my sin would be forgiven and conquered, and Jesus would hold me forever.



 So embrace us with your love, and make us those who love to sing of the glory of our Savior, we ask, in Jesus' name, amen.