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ROMANS 10:17 “SO THEN FAITH COMETH BY HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD.” (KJV, NKJV, NASB)
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (NIV)
So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (ASV)
So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by preaching of Christ. (RSV)
Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News—the Good News about Christ. (TLB)
In this passage of Scripture, Paul is expressing his frustration that his people, the Jews, have chosen not to follow the Gospel of Jesus. In the first verse, he states, “my heart’s desire and prayer is that Israelites may be saved.” They have a lot of zeal, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Quite well known is Paul’s quote from verse 9: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It would seem that message could not be any easier to understand. He devoted the rest of his life to preaching that message. The Jews, however, as Paul says, chose to believe in “their own righteousness,” and as a result refused to submit to the righteousness of God. That sounds familiar.
We know from other explanations in Gospels written by Paul that we are drawn to the Lord’s plan for our salvation when the Holy Spirit draws us. That is when our spiritual “hearing” starts to tune in. That is when, if we hear the preaching of the Gospel, we can choose to receive that faith. Have you received that faith?
Quite assuredly, Paul tells us, the Jews heard the Gospel because he preached it to them first, before he preached it to the Gentiles. The church has been developing preachers, disciples and witnesses of the Good News of the Gospel for two thousand years since. The motivation for all of us to become “preachers,” as described here and in numerous other passages written by Paul, is encouraged in this Bible verse. And the message could not be simpler: the dying world needs preachers like you!
It has been famously said, the only Bible most people will ever read is YOU. The only Jesus many will ever experience is Jesus in YOU. And Paul warns us here in verses 14 and 15, “How will the lost call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of who they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
Paul was sent to the Gentiles to declare the Gospel and bring salvation to the lost. So are YOU.
Many Christians have considered this “encouragement” to be pretty coercive. Some might even say, the church is sometimes “heavy handed” in trying to lay a “guilt trip” on Christians that they might be convinced to be those messengers by whom those around us would hear the Gospel. I get that. After all, sharing the Gospel to others can be pretty intimidating and scary.
On the other hand, such verses as these have caused uncounted thousands to feel the call to ministry and often, to a mission field somewhere, sometimes at the threat of harm to their own lives. What causes a man (and sometimes his whole family) to leave the comfort and safety of their own home to go somewhere far less comfortable, just to try to win others to Jesus?
I was influenced at a very young age by a young missionary family, Jerry and Nola Witt, who responded to just such a call, right out of Bible College, to move to the mission field with three young sons to Durango, Mexico. Jerry flew into the mountains of Mexico in a Cessna and dropped booklets of the Gospel of John to indigenous Mexican Indians who would have otherwise, never heard of Jesus. He would follow that adventure up with visits to those villages to lead souls to Jesus.
Jerry was that preacher who was sent…both by inspiration by the Holy Spirit and through support by pastors and churches back home. Because he was sent, many heard. Because they heard, many believed. Because they believed, many called on Jesus and were saved.
One day, Jerry’s airplane was shot at by local people with guns. The airplane was disabled and crashed into the surrounding mountains. The local people drug Jerry and his assistant from the wreckage of the plane and viciously displayed their dead bodies in the little town where they lived. Later, Jerry’s wife Nola and her father had to claim their bodies and return them back home for funerals.
No one would have blamed Nola if she would have taken her three little boys and returned back to the United States for the rest of her life. But, she did not. Apparently, Nola heard that call for preachers to reach the lost as well. She stayed in Durango and continued the mission the Lord had assigned to her and Jerry.
Several years later, Frank Warren arrived. He and Nola were married and they continued the mission work together for decades to come. They had twin daughters themselves, right there in Durango, Mexico. Not many years ago Frank went home to be with the Lord before Nola did. Nola continued the work right there in Durango, to include maintaining a very successful Bible School/College, witnessing and winning souls for Jesus in many villages and towns in Mexico until the Lord finally took her home to be with Him too. Many of her own children continue the work of ministry, telling those who will hear about the Gospel that they can be saved. One of her children, Mark Witt, actually has an internationally famous singing ministry that has reached hundreds of thousands around the Spanish-speaking world.
Nola, Frank, Jerry, Mark and many, many others have been the preachers Paul was talking about in Romans 10. They heard the call of the Lord that convinced them that faith that leads to salvation only comes by hearing, that hearing comes from the Word of God, and the lost will not hear that Word unless someone goes to tell them.
These saints didn’t need to be coerced or convinced. Hearing the voice of Jesus calling them, they said yes to that call. And, we will never know how many thousands of lives have been won to Jesus because of their faithfulness.
I would have loved to have been in heaven to see Nola’s entrance into the presence of Jesus. I admire the answer to the call of Jesus by Jerry, Frank and Mark as well. But I think I knew Sister Nola best and know her lifetime of sacrifice for Jesus. Because she was so faithful, for so many years, despite so many hardships, it had to be exceptionally special when Jesus told Nola, “well done, good and faithful servant.” I hope I can just come close to that kind of faithfulness.
The lost will only come to faith by hearing, and that hearing must be hearing the Word of God. But they cannot hear without a preacher (Romans 10:14), and the preachers cannot preach unless they are sent. Are you willing to be a sender? Are you willing to be sent? Is the preaching of the Gospel so important that it is worth great sacrifices so that others can be saved? Yes, it is.
Questions to consider: Name a missionary that you know. How have you helped send them? Have you ever considered a missionary visit to some foreign land to see what a missionary does and experience how they heard the Lord’s call? Do you have a burden for family members who are probably not saved? How will you be that voice that they can hear so they also can believe? Whether you ever go to a mission field or not, how does such a call to tell others about Jesus affect how you live every day of your life?
Other Scriptures to study: Acts 16:9 Paul’s vision of a man of Macedonia. Verse 10: “concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Philippians 4:14-16 “…you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.” Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel…” Romans 10:15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things.” 1 Corinthians 9: 16-18 “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel…”
 
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