Sermon Transcript |Who Has Believed What We Have Heard? | Romans 10:16–18 | 2026 June 07
Title: Sermon | Who Has Believed What We Have Heard? | Romans 10:16–18 | 2026 June 07
Scripture: Romans 10:16–18 (ESV, reference only)
Date: 2026 June 07
Speaker: Rev. John Chen
Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)
All right, peace to all dear brothers and sisters. We thank God for His grace. We have come again to a new week, and we come to study God’s Word. Today we continue studying Romans. The passage we are examining today is Romans chapter 10, verses 16 to 18. Today the passage we are examining is Romans chapter 10, verses 16 to 18. In the New Testament, Romans chapter 10, verses 16 to 18, three verses altogether. After you have found it, let us read these three verses together with one voice.
Romans chapter 10, verse 16. The Bible records, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’” Amen. This is the Word of God. Let us pray. O God, thank You for Your grace, for leading us to continue examining the book of Romans.
Lord, before You we confess that ordinarily we seldom preach the gospel, and we also seldom believe the gospel. Lord, we ask You today to open the door of our hearts, so that whether in what is spoken or what is heard, we may all be moved by Your Word. Lord, may Your Word become the spiritual food in our lives. May Your Word become the guide in our lives. May You be with us. In the name of Christ. Amen.
All right, thanks be to the Lord. Today we continue examining Romans. Earlier in chapter 10, as we have been explaining this passage along the way, we mentioned what Moses meant when he spoke about the righteousness that is by faith. What does it mean to descend into the abyss? What does it mean to ascend into heaven? We also explained what it means to confess with the mouth. What does it mean to believe in the heart? We also mentioned the importance of preaching the gospel. Today we see that here the apostle Paul continues to proclaim the truth concerning the gospel. Paul says, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’” Here the apostle Paul quotes from the Old Testament, from Isaiah chapter 53, verses 1 to 2. Let us turn to the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The apostle Paul is quoting this passage of Scripture. Isaiah chapter 53, verse 1 says, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Here, what the apostle Paul is bringing up is that the gospel is very hard to believe.
People have not obeyed the gospel. Why have they not obeyed the gospel? Because the gospel is something very hard to believe. So he borrows the words of Isaiah and says, “Lord, who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” The first main point we are speaking about today is knowing the difficulty of believing the gospel. Why exactly is the gospel hard to believe? Where exactly does its difficulty lie? In fact, strictly speaking, it is not difficult to understand the message of the gospel, to know the message of the gospel. The gospel tells us that there is a heaven, there is a hell, and we must trust in Jesus Christ in order to escape the coming judgment. To make people understand this message, to make people know it rationally, is not difficult. But to believe it is very difficult, because knowing and believing are two different things. Knowing refers to knowing the content of the gospel. Believing refers to trusting in the content of the gospel. Knowing is the work of the mind, while believing is the work of faith. It is not difficult to know and understand a matter. When we preach the gospel, we may go and say to someone, “Do you know the message of this gospel?” He says, “I know, but I cannot believe it.” Yes, this is roughly what it means.
The message of the gospel itself does not have much difficulty on the rational level. It is not higher mathematics. It is not calculus, where you listen for a long time and become completely confused. No, it is relatively easy to understand, but very hard to believe. Believing requires the work of the Holy Spirit. So today we are going to share about this. What is there in the content of the gospel itself that makes it difficult for people to believe? Paul is quoting the words of the prophet Isaiah, so we first understand this sentence within the background of Isaiah: “Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” We know that the age in which the prophet Isaiah served was the later period of the kingdom of Judah. In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself speaks about the time in which he served.
In Isaiah chapter 1, when it speaks about several kings during whose reigns he served, Isaiah says that in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, Isaiah the son of Amoz saw the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem. This is Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1. In the time of the prophet Isaiah, we know from Isaiah chapter 6, when was Isaiah called? It was in the year that King Uzziah died, that is, the year King Uzziah passed away. Isaiah was called. Isaiah says, “Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Why did Isaiah have such difficulty in this matter? Why did he have to utter such a lament? Because if we return to the history of Isaiah, we will discover that, indeed, to believe this gospel was a very difficult thing.
In the history of that time, we know that during the years of Isaiah’s ministry, which empire was the empire of that time? It was the Assyrian Empire. After the Assyrian Empire rose up, the Assyrian Empire wanted to occupy all the world known at that time. In this process, what did the prophet Isaiah see? He saw the rise of the Assyrian Empire in the Middle East. And in the history of Israel, in the sixth year of King Hezekiah, the northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria. In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, the city of Jerusalem was besieged by Assyria.
So when Isaiah said that the God in whom we believe is the only Savior, and that the God in whom we believe is the God who created the universe and all things, if this was placed in the age of the prophet Isaiah, it was indeed very hard for people to believe. Why? Because we know that in ancient warfare, it was the warfare of the gods worshiped by each nation. If the God of Israel was truly as Isaiah said, the God of the universe and all things, the God who governs the universe, the Creator, then why was the kingdom of Judah so weak? Why was the kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom, destroyed? So Isaiah’s lament is very real.
When a nation was surrounded and besieged, when the strength of the nation was declining, to proclaim a truth about how the God worshiped by our nation is a great Creator—this, for the prophet Isaiah, was too difficult. So he mentions, “To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” In the background of the Old Testament, when it speaks of the arm of a king, it refers to the fact that this king has great power. For example, the arm of Pharaoh. We know from reading Exodus that it is the arm of Pharaoh and the arm of the LORD. Which arm is more powerful? If the two of them wrestle arms, who is stronger? In the end, it proves that the arm of the LORD is stronger.
But in the age of the prophet Isaiah, with the nation, the northern kingdom, being destroyed, the Assyrian Empire rising, and the kingdom of Judah being surrounded and besieged like this, now you go and tell the people of Judah, “The God in whom we believe is the greatest God in all the universe and all things.” This matter is really hard to believe. Although in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, after Jerusalem was besieged by Assyria, God sent an angel in one night to strike down 185,000 soldiers of the Assyrian army, and from then on changed the world situation, so that the Assyrian Empire declined from then on and this also laid the groundwork for the later rise of Babylon, nevertheless the whole position of the southern kingdom still remained precarious. If you understand the history at that time, the southern kingdom located in this area of the Middle East was always caught in the struggle among the rising power Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt. Whenever each powerful nation wanted to fight a war, it would conveniently bully the southern kingdom along the way. Ha, how could the God worshiped by such a weak nation possibly be the God of the universe and all things? In Isaiah chapter 45, verses 5 to 8, when you hear such a declaration again, you will feel even more that God’s declaration seems unreasonable. In Isaiah chapter 45.
Verses 5 to 8. What does it say there? It says, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no God. Though you do not know me, I equip you, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things. Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it.”
When you read Isaiah chapter 45, when God makes such a declaration, and then you look again at the circumstances around us, for you to believe such a declaration is truly too difficult. So we discover that the gospel really is very hard to believe. Why? Because the declaration of the gospel and the circumstances we experience are completely different kinds of circumstances. What the gospel declares is a mighty King, a King who rules over the world, a Creator, and He will also bring a Messiah, and He will completely bring to an end the whole human society and human history. But what we encounter is such difficulty. Sorry, please hand me a piece of paper. Thank you. But what we encounter is such difficulty. In the age of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah simply could not see the mighty power of this God. They were constantly being plundered by strong nations and bullied by strong nations. So for the prophet Isaiah, to proclaim such a God, such a one and only true God, was truly difficult. Therefore Isaiah now says in chapter 53, “Who has believed what we have heard?” No one would believe that the God worshiped by such a nation could actually be the one and only true God. No one believed it. “To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Do you not say that You have an arm? Do You not say that You have ability and power? How is it that now the Assyrian Empire, the king of Assyria, has power, and the arm of the god of Assyria is great? Where is the arm of the LORD? There is no way to reveal it. So this is the lament of the prophet Isaiah.
If we return to the situation of the prophet Isaiah, we can better understand that he was called in the year King Uzziah died, and in the course of his ministry he continually proclaimed the gospel. Especially in the second part of the book of Isaiah, he proclaimed the message of the return of the Israelites from captivity, and proclaimed that God would punish the nations. But the experience of this prophet Isaiah may shock us. According to the tradition handed down in church history, during the time of Manasseh he was placed inside a tree and sawn in two. A person who proclaimed God’s Word actually suffered such an end. So this lament is very real.
“Who has believed what we have heard?” The king we imagine, the Creator we imagine, the nation we imagine that He will bring—what kind of nation should that be? At the very least, it should be like the dynasty of David. That would be the lowest expectation. But what was experienced was completely not like that. When we come to Isaiah chapter 53, verses 2 to 3, when the fourth Servant Song is revealed, the image of the servant being described is even more inconsistent with the gospel, with what we call the arm of the LORD. In this passage it says, Isaiah chapter 53, verses 2 to 3: “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” In this passage, this is the last of the fourth Servant Songs in Isaiah. What kind of servant is described here? A servant who has no form or majesty, a servant who has no power or position, a gospel that constantly requires one to humble oneself. How could such a one in Isaiah possibly accomplish salvation? This is something impossible to bring about. The Israelites believed the prophecies about the Messiah. They believed them. But what kind of Messiah did they believe in? In the age of Jesus, the Messiah they believed in should be the Messiah who would use miracles and mighty power to drive out the Romans and establish the dynasty of David. He would be a mighty warrior like David, able to wage war. This was the Messiah they were hoping for. But when the Lord Jesus finally came, and He did not change the political and economic situation on earth at all, the Israelites rejected this King.
How could we want such a Messiah? You are a deceiving Messiah. You are a false Messiah. You have no way at all to lead us to overthrow the Roman Empire. You have no way at all to restore the dynasty of David. Now you actually say, you say that You are the Son of God. We do not believe. This is the place where the gospel is hard to believe. Then for us, this group of people in the modern church, we must think about it: what kind of Messiah are we hoping for? What kind of Savior do we need? When we come into the church, are we hoping that our problems will be solved? Our marriage has encountered difficulty. Our work has encountered hardship. Our body has become sick. What exactly do we want to receive? Do we need sickness to be healed, our money to increase, our business to prosper? Do we need such a gospel? This is something we must think about.
If in a church the Messiah we hope for is still a Messiah who establishes political power and leads us to rise up and make revolution, if it is such a Messiah, then we are the same as the Jews. So the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, because they did not want an incompetent, humble Messiah. This Messiah had to be put to death. Therefore, when Jesus was put to death, we see in the Gospels that the Israelites humiliated Jesus in three aspects.
First, they said that Jesus was a false prophet, right? “You say You are a prophet. Tell me, who is the one who struck You?” They humiliated Jesus, saying that He was a false prophet. Second, they said that He was a false priest. Why? They said, “If You can save Yourself,” right? “Are You not one who saves people? Now can You save Yourself? You cannot even save Yourself, and You can still save us?” They said that He was a false priest. They said He was a false king. They nailed a placard above His head: “This is the King of the Jews,” right? The Romans mocked Him. So on these three levels, the Jews wanted to humiliate the Lord Jesus, saying that He was a false prophet, a false priest, and a false king.
The gospel is indeed hard to believe, because what the human heart hopes for is something that makes oneself continually rise higher, something that solves one’s own problems. At the very least, after I believe in Jesus, You should be able to—you do not say that You will make me better? At least keep me in this state. But after believing in Jesus, it seems completely not to be like that. Faith requires us to walk a road that constantly goes lower. This is the requirement of the gospel for us. This is the place in the gospel that is hardest for people, hardest for people to accept.
Now pagan religions have a characteristic: they are always connected with power, wealth, and authority, right? I was browsing, there is a public account I have, and I saw that inside it talked about some kind of Buddhist relic, some kind of relic, and they built something, placed it in a temple, and that temple cost 4 billion to build. Do you notice? They do this intentionally. These pagan religions always connect their so-called sacred objects with ability, power, and wealth. Also, for example, some singer believes in Buddhism, right? Some person who became rich, what is he? He worships Buddha. They are always making this kind of connection. But the gospel has walked a completely different path. The gospel tells us that we must walk a path of humiliation. Isaiah chapter 53 tells us that this one who has no form or majesty is the true Savior.
All right, this is the first point we have spoken about: knowing the difficulty of believing the gospel. Second, let us look at trusting in the gospel that is heard. Next, how does the apostle Paul exhort his readers? Here the apostle Paul says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” This kind of gospel is what we must believe. Although on the surface it is hard to believe, we need to believe it. How then can we believe this gospel? Of course, we know that the work of the Holy Spirit is needed. That is certain. But from the human side, how do we coordinate this gap between the humility of the gospel we see and the power of the gospel we need to believe? I think here the most important thing is what Paul says: hearing comes through the word of Christ.
What is the main problem in our life? This is the question you must think about. If your problem is that you do not have enough money, your body is not healthy enough, and your position is not high enough, then the gospel you want to follow must be a false gospel. On the contrary, if you deeply recognize that the greatest problem in life is the problem of sin, that sin has created estrangement between me and God, and that for God to lead me into reconciliation with Him, there must be a mediator, and this mediator must have the two natures of God and man, and He must be nailed to the cross in my place—when you change on this level, your heart begins to turn and say, “Oh, originally this humiliated Savior is the true One I most need.”
So brothers and sisters, this is easy to say, but I find that many Christians have misunderstandings on this point. Many people still hope for the public recognition of the church. Many people still hope that we can do a little something. Many people still hope that we who believe in Jesus can have some kind of glory in life. This is a very serious condition. If you cannot deeply realize that the greatest problem in our life is the problem of sin, that what I need to solve is this problem of sin, that I cannot solve it, and that I need a salvation outside of myself to have mercy on me and show grace to me, then when your thinking turns to this level, the gospel is opened to you. If you do not understand and receive the gospel on this level, if you do not recognize that the greatest difficulty in your life is the problem of sin, then you will be led by another false gospel. You will follow those false prophets who deceive you. They tell you that after believing in Jesus, you will become rich and successful, right? “I am so wronged, so stifled. My life is full of suffering. I need release. I need success to prove myself. I need to tell the world through believing in Jesus that I, this person, am not simple. I finally believed correctly. I chose correctly.” If you are like this, you will certainly follow a false gospel. And this false gospel will cause the old self inside you to swell continually, and you will depart further and further from the gospel that continually humbles oneself. On the contrary, when you truly acknowledge that the greatest difficulty in your life is not that I do not have enough money, not that my position is not high enough, not that my marriage is not happy.
It is not that my body has disease and I am going to see the Lord. What makes me most anxious and most painful is: how is the sin in my life to be dealt with? How can a sinful person see a holy God? How can a finite sinner draw near to that infinitely holy God? When your eyes turn to this point, you begin to understand what the gospel says. So here, how does the apostle Paul speak? “So faith comes from hearing.” A person who believes the Word must listen carefully to the Word. You listen carefully to the Word. Why are you able to listen carefully to the Word? Because your focus has already turned to this: how is my sin to be dealt with? I feel terrified over this matter. I once visited a brother, and that brother told me that when he heard there was hell, he panicked, because he knew that a person like him definitely could not enter heaven. He was full of sin from head to toe.
Yes, thanks be to the Lord. This is a special work of the Holy Spirit. When you truly understand that you need a Savior, the words of Scripture become the words of Christ. When you hear them, you will open your ears. Not only will you open your ears, you will open the door of your heart to receive this gospel. In Westminster Larger Catechism Question 160, it regulates how Christians should hear the Word, how they should obey God’s Word. When everyone reviews the sermon, you can go and carefully read it again. Because of the time, we will not explain in detail how you should hear the Word. When we come to hear the Word with a heart of reverence, the Spirit of God will guide us, and we will focus on how our sin can be dealt with. You must tell me: how can I, a sinner, see Jesus? How can I see the true God? At this time, this humiliated servant will become supreme beauty in your eyes. Because if Christ had not humbled Himself, if Christ had not been nailed to the cross for us, our sin would never have any way to be dealt with.
Sinners cannot rely on themselves to depart from sin. We do not have the ability to do good, unless the Holy Spirit leads us into the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Only there can we truly humble ourselves. The word “humility” is very popular in the world. Everyone knows that humility makes people progress, and pride makes people fall behind. But humility without Christ must be pride. Humility without Christ is nothing more than self-made humility. On the contrary, when you know Christ, only then can you truly begin to understand: originally, I am a sinner, and all that is inside me is evil. Therefore I need to humble myself. In Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 14, section 1, it clearly says that saving faith is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word, and by the administration of the sacraments and prayer, it is increased and strengthened. So brothers and sisters, you must listen to the Word seriously. Every Lord’s Day, we must go back and review the sermon. We must review it seriously. Why? Because when you focus on your sin, the Word of God can enter into your heart. Then Paul says another sentence: “hearing comes through the word of Christ.” This is a very strange sentence. Why? Because if you say “the word of Christ,” roughly speaking, it would be those several hundred sentences in the New Testament Scriptures. At that time there was not yet a New Testament Scripture. How then do we understand this, that hearing comes through the word of Christ? Clearly, what is the presupposition of the apostle Paul? The whole Bible is the word of Christ. Otherwise you have no way to understand why it comes from the word of Christ.
So the meaning here is that the presupposition of the apostle Paul is that the whole Bible—of course, at that time mainly the Old Testament Scripture—is all the word of Christ. Christ tells us in the Old Testament that He is the Messiah who is to come. That humiliated Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross, is precisely the true Prophet, true Priest, and true King whom we need. This is the word of Christ. So here we must understand that the apostle Paul makes a leap in biblical interpretation. He is very quick in his movement. He says that salvation is the word of Christ. So here we should look at the testimony of another apostle, the testimony of the apostle Peter.
In 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 11 to 12, the apostle Peter likewise makes the same kind of leap in biblical interpretation. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 11 to 12, what does it say there? I will read verses 10 to 12 to everyone. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 to 12: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
Here the apostle Peter, like the apostle Paul, has made a leap in interpretation. The apostle Peter says that in fact what these prophets were examining was the Spirit of Christ. The apostle Paul says—the apostle Peter says—that the Spirit predicted beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the later glories, and was indicating what time and what kind of time this would be. When you read this passage, you may feel that it is very strange. Is this written in the Old Testament? Does the Old Testament tell me that Christ would suffer and afterward receive glory? It seems not, right? But in fact, the problem is ours. The apostles have no problem at all. The apostles made a leap in biblical interpretation, reading the Old Testament with Christ as the center. This is precisely what we should do. Therefore, it is we who need to repent; it is not that the apostles wrote wrongly.
In fact, all the prophets knew that Christ must suffer and later receive glory. They received revelation, knowing that all the things they proclaimed were not for themselves but for you, and that those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven have now announced these things to you. Therefore, when modern preachers speak about the Old Testament and speak about the word of Christ, they are merely re-explaining the Old Testament to you. The Old Testament is the word of Christ. What word of Christ? The word of Christ is to tell you: you are a sinner, you need to repent, and you need to come to Me to receive complete salvation.
You may say, where does the Bible say this? It said it long ago, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. There, when it mentions the offspring of the woman, the gospel begins to be revealed. Therefore the whole Bible, the Old Testament Scripture, still tells us a story concerning revealed redemption. So when we read the Old Testament, we must not merely read the history of the Old Testament. We must not merely pursue the literal meaning. We must read from within it that this is the word of Christ. In the Old Testament, it is full of the word of Christ. Every passage, every event, represents that Christ must suffer, and represents that He later must receive glory. This is the interpretive method of the apostle Peter, and it is also the interpretive method of the apostle Paul. Therefore hearing comes through the word of Christ. So at this time, when we turn back again to Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13, through Isaiah chapter 53, verse 12, in this passage, the last of the fourth Servant Song, we are even more able to read the message of the gospel. This is Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13, through Isaiah chapter 53, verse 12. It is the last of the four Servant Songs in the second part of Isaiah. Here, because of time, we will not go into Isaiah in detail. I will simply read a few sentences, and you will understand what this gospel is speaking about.
Isaiah chapter 53, verse 4 says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, struck by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; each one has turned to his own way. And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? Although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth, yet they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days. The will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.”
“By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” We are not explaining this passage in detail. Here it is exactly what Peter said: Christ must suffer, and then receive glory. It is referring to what time and what kind of time. So here we say, the apostle Paul says that hearing comes through the word of Christ. In Christ, in the Old Testament, it is full of the message of the gospel of Christ. In fact, when we truly read the Old Testament in the Holy Spirit and in Christ, if we deny that Scripture points to Christ, we are truly in trouble. Because what story does the whole Bible tell us? God created man good. In the Garden of Eden, God created man in such beauty. But man sinned and fell, listened to the voice of Satan, followed Satan the devil, and was driven out of the Garden of Eden. Where is such a story reversed? There must be a Redeemer who dies for them. So here I think that for every Christian, reading the Old Testament in this way, understanding how it points to redemption, causes us truly to be changed by the word of Christ, so that we trust in the word of Christ within it.
All right, this is the second point we have spoken about: trusting in the gospel that is heard.
Third, receive the evidence of events. Verse 18 says, “But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’” First, what I want to say is that in Scripture, the matter of the Lord Jesus suffering and later receiving glory is clearly shown here. Isaiah chapter 53, which we just read, has already written this clearly. Is the Old Testament full of the word of Christ? Is there evidence? There is evidence. In addition, I want to say that in this world, when we understand that we human beings have sin, that we need to rely on Christ to be saved, and that without Christ there is no salvation, do we have evidence in the world? Actually, you cannot say there is none.
Let me give an example. During the pandemic, in 2019, a pastor overseas called me and asked me to go visit a person. This person, when he was studying in the United States, had once gone to that pastor’s church. Now this person had passed away. The pastor hoped that I would go comfort his family, at least so that someone would go and take a look. The family was truly very sorrowful. This person was probably in his early forties. He was from Shanxi. He was very outstanding. To what degree was he outstanding? In the United States he had already obtained a postdoctoral position. Now he had returned to China. After returning to China, he was working in a hospital. This hospital was not even good enough, because I do not really understand hospitals, but it seems that the official staffing position in that hospital was not very secure. It seems that one needs to enter a university, and that kind of official staffing position is more secure. I do not understand very well. It was roughly like this. He had just passed the exam, had just obtained what seemed to be an official staffing position, and then he passed away. It was not the plague. It was a very fast illness that took him away. So we went to comfort them. When I came to that scene, there was another kind of feeling in my heart, which was pity. This man was tall, more than 1.8 meters, tall in stature, and of course handsome and elegant, with learning and academic qualifications. He was a postdoctoral scholar who had studied in America and returned from abroad. He had gone to church, and then he was just gone like that. Of course, we know what the result is for those who do not believe in Jesus. So brothers and sisters, I think that as a Christian, when you experience these sufferings in life, I do not know whether you truly hear what this voice says here: “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
Has God spoken? What else do you still want to pursue? Do you want academic qualifications? A postdoctoral scholar who came back from America, right? Do you want security? He had already passed the exam and obtained the official position, right? The housing allocated by the work unit, the house he bought—everything was going smoothly. He was simply a model of youthful inspiration, right? How someone from a rural village in Shanxi got into school, studied all the way to a doctorate, and became a version of youthful inspiration. But what was his result? At the peak of his life, just as a beautiful life was about to unfold, his life suddenly stopped. I think this is God speaking. God is telling us: in life, what exactly is most important? Is it academic qualifications, success, wealth, and an official staffing position, or is it your life? I think God has always been speaking in this society. You watch videos: wow, this young person in his thirties is gone; that celebrity is gone. Some people, people my age, people from the 1990s, listed a whole string of names—some Hong Kong celebrities from the 1990s, how many of them? This person, that person, a whole large group. How do you look at this matter? If you do not believe in the Lord, you may simply sigh and say, “Ah, an era has passed. An era has come to an end.” But as a Christian, how do you think about this matter? How do you look at the former prosperity of Hong Kong? I think we need to have wisdom.
Has God spoken? God has actually always been speaking. God speaks in the Bible and tells us that our greatest problem is the problem of sin. What we need to solve is not our birth, aging, sickness, and death. What we need to solve is not our rights, wealth, and status in this present life. It is not these problems. You must firmly fix your eyes on how your sin is to be dealt with, to think about Scripture, to receive this complete salvation in Christ, to trust Him and commit yourself to the church, and to follow His statutes and ordinances in life. This is what you are to do throughout your whole life. This is what Scripture tells you.
You turn your eyes and look at this world. Has God spoken? God has always been speaking. We seem to think that when these unbelieving people suddenly die, it seems to be just an accidental event. It is not. Especially the deaths of those famous people, I think God is speaking to the world. God is telling you that these people, successful people, possess everything you want, but in the end they perish. Do you still want to be like them? And then there are the kings who have passed away. At my age, I have already experienced several kings in China. Those kings who once ruled over me—you say, even the kings are already gone, so what else do you still want? What else do you still want to pursue? Power? We once saw their power reaching the heavens, right? And in the end, what is the result? It is just an obituary. So-and-so is gone. Those famous actors, famous businessmen, famous athletes—can the deaths of these people not stir within us a longing for God? I think this is God speaking. So brothers and sisters, after we are opened by the Holy Spirit and truly receive the gospel, we can find countless pieces of evidence in the world to prove that the gospel we have received is true.
First, what we have spoken about is this negative information, right? The ruin of the world. When there is another disaster, right? You look at the mining disaster some time ago. The sufferings of this human world, right? Hundreds of people—the report said this many people, but we Chinese people probably all know that it is probably not just these people. These sufferings are before us, letting us know that the power, reputation, and status we pursue are nothing more than passing clouds. Especially, as I said, the deaths of famous people—you must pay special attention. Those who are younger than you, more beautiful than you, more handsome than you, are gone. God is reminding us what is truly real. In addition, God has not failed to give evidence that this world was created by Him. How beautiful this world is in the hand of God, yet because of human corruption, there are continual climate changes and various disasters. I think our hearts need to change. This God is speaking to us in the world. It is not that God has not spoken. It is that there is a problem with our receiver. It is that our signal channel is not right, so we keep not hearing. In fact, in every disaster, God is speaking to humanity. Tsunamis, and then in America it seems there was a period when something—what city was that? Chicago? Or was it burned? These things are all telling us that God is speaking. Our receiver must be sensitive. Our receiver must not always seem to have eyes only for this world, so that we become very foolish and cannot hear even when God gives us such a loud voice.
We must be sensitive to the news of this world. The outbreak of wars and disasters are all reminding us that this world has a problem. Only by coming to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, only in Him, can we receive eternal redemption. The meaning of our life can only be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not let the eyes of your heart be filled with money. This is something I especially want to remind brothers and sisters about. Many times, perhaps when you hear the sermon, you are somewhat moved, but once you go out the door, you forget again. Why? Because in your heart, what you have been thinking about all along is, “My present problem is that I do not have enough money. My job is not stable enough.” If you always stare at this problem, the Word of God will immediately slide away. Do you know that? As soon as you go out the door, “I know, I am a sinner. I know, I need to pray.” But once you go out, the world immediately enters your heart again and says, “Ah, I want this world. Now my mortgage needs to be paid. What about my job?” If you are like this, in fact, you have once again closed the ears God had opened for you.
Paul says, “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” In fact, here the apostle Paul actually makes a transition. The apostle Paul is quoting Psalm 19. Psalm 19 seems not to be talking about the gospel. But we need to pay attention to this leap in Scripture. Psalm 19, verse 1. Here the apostle Paul uses this passage. What does it say? It says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Paul is quoting this passage from Psalm 19. He is telling us that the glory of God in creating the world can actually be seen by you. God has already placed extremely abundant evidence in nature to tell you that the world was created by God. To deny God’s creation is to be a foolish person. This is what Psalm 19, verses 1 to 4, including down to verse 6, has been saying. But here, the apostle Paul makes a transition. How does he make a transition in this world? He says, “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” This clearly refers to those who preach the gospel, those who proclaim the word of Christ. In fact, their voice has gone out to all the earth and to the ends of the world. It is our receiver that has a problem. So what does this tell us here? Christians must be sensitive to the message of Scripture. Christians must be sensitive to these messages in the world. How should we be sensitive? We must read from them the message of eternal life. The occurrence of every disaster is not accidental. It is ringing an alarm bell for the church of God: what exactly do you want to pursue? When you see a great rich man die, do you still want to pursue money? When you see a famous movie star die, do you still want to pursue fame and profit? There is no need. You know that only in Christ can I escape the judgment of sin. So, Lord, I trust in You. Therefore, this kind of leap in events is what Paul is telling us: in fact, the message of the messengers of the gospel has already told us long ago.
So Paul requires us, these people, to adjust our receiver. Do not let the eyes of our hearts be filled with money. Do not be filled with the world. In the face of all kinds of disasters, we must be watchful, know God’s will, and then trust in this Christ. Only in this way can we hear the message of the gospel amid the sufferings of the world, including our own sufferings.
There are many pains and afflictions in our own lives. How do you understand this affliction? Do you say, “God, please quickly remove this affliction from me, and let me experience Your goodness”? I am not saying that you may not pray this way. But actually, sometimes you may truly have missed the meaning of this suffering in your life. This suffering—Calvin said that suffering is a magnifier. God is speaking to you, telling you that your life needs to change. You need to repent. You cannot continue to covet this world. You need, in Scripture, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to enter more deeply into Him. This is the voice that Scripture tells us.
So the third point: may God lead us to receive the evidence in this world, including our own sufferings as they speak to us. What we ask for is not only the removal of suffering. I am not saying that you may not ask for that. But you should also have another prayer: “O God, please lead me, so that in this suffering I may know Your love, experience Your faithfulness, see my corruption, and truly have a deeper connection with You in You.”
All right, we come to the fourth point: trust closely in the gospel of eternal life. May God lead us and open our spiritual eyes, so that we know the preciousness of the gospel. This gospel, which appears humble and appears powerless, is precisely the most precious gospel. Here you will see two completely different roads. Just as after the Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem, He had two roads. One road was to conquer the Romans, one road was to crush the Romans and lead the Israelites to establish an earthly kingdom. The other road was to bear His cross. So after entering the holy city, the road that the Lord Jesus walked is the road that we also must truly walk. It is a road of humiliation. It is laying yourself down, causing yourself in life to feel lowly, to feel self-denial, to feel the fragility and weakness of life. This is a correct road of the gospel. On the contrary, if you walk onto a road where you continually exalt yourself, continually glorify yourself, and your reputation, power, and position in various situations become better and better, you must be especially watchful. You may be walking on a road that violates the gospel. If you are continually going upward, you must be careful, because the gospel is a road that continually goes downward. The way of going downward is accomplished through obeying the law. When you obey the law, you will discover that you will certainly be humbled. You must love others, you must deny yourself, right? When you come to church and the bathroom smells bad, quickly go and tidy it up, take out the trash, and mop the floor. A pastor once said, then, what kind of pastors does China lack? Probably pastors who unclog toilets. Yes, this is a very good exhortation. Preachers are to be pastors who unclog toilets. This is a road of continual humiliation. If we always want to stand in a high place to teach others and receive people’s praise, then in fact we are precisely walking on the wrong road. So whether in marriage, in the family, or in the church, you must be careful which road you are walking. If it is the road of going upward, this is a bad road, a wrong road. On the contrary, a road of continual humiliation is the true road of the gospel for you.
Of course, just as our title says, “Who has believed what we have heard?” This gospel of continual humiliation—who is willing to receive it? Those whom the Holy Spirit leads to receive it can receive it. So may God help us truly to trust in this gospel of eternal life in this present life, because this concerns our life, it concerns the Lord who loves us, and it concerns the world and our future destiny. This week, Faith encountered some things and said to me, “Our family is so unlucky.” Ah, I said, “Is it all right? Are we not just unlucky?” She said, “Look, the various music conservatories—we did not get in, and in the end nothing worked out. You see, this father’s English is not that fluent either. When I read English, there is a lot of accent.” She also said, “Our family really is unlucky.” In fact, I think it depends on how you look at this problem. How do you look at your life? Are you unlucky, or are you blessed? This requires you to have eyes to see.
So finally I will tell a story. If you have heard this story before, listen to it again. If you have not heard it, listen carefully: The Wishes of Three Trees. This is a very old story that has been passed down in the church. I feel that every time I read this story, I am very moved, so I will share it with everyone: The Wishes of Three Trees. It tells of three trees on the top of a mountain. These three trees were discussing their future dreams together, just like us. Everyone has dreams, and trees also have dreams. The first tree said, “My dream is that in the future I will be able to carry jewels. Ah, in the future this tree of mine will be full of jewels inside. You see, jewels are noble, and then this tree of mine will also be noble. This is my dream,” the first tree said. The second tree said, “Mm, my dream is different. I hope that in the future I can become a great ship. This great ship in the future will be able to carry kings and queens from different nations as they travel back and forth, right? From this nation to that nation, with kings traveling among them. Then this tree of mine will have value.” Then the third tree said, “Ah, the dreams of you two are not what I want. The dream I want is to keep growing, to grow into a towering tree, so that all people will look up to me. I will stand on the mountain peak, feel the breath of the wind, feel the beauty of the clouds, and stand there forever.” These three little friends talked like this when they were young. All right, slowly they grew up. After they grew up, one day, a group of lumberjacks came among them. One lumberjack said, “Ah, this tree is rather thick and strong. It can be used to make something.” All right, the first tree was cut down. Then, the second tree said—ah, the lumberjack said, “This tree also looks good, very strong,” and he cut it down. As for the third tree, its wish was to keep growing, so it was very afraid and said, “Ah, please do not cut me down. Let me keep growing. I want to grow into a towering tree.” But no one paid attention to it either. They cut it down and threw it into a dark storehouse.
Then, one day, the first tree was taken out from the warehouse by someone. What was it used for? They carved a hollow in it and filled it with feed for animals to eat, these dirtiest and most rotten things, the leftovers, poured inside for animals to eat, for horses to eat. This tree was very sad and said, “My dream was to carry gold, silver, and jewels, but in the end what I hold is the worst, most worthless, foul-smelling filth.” It was very sad.
Until one day, a couple came to this manger. In that place, no one received them. A pregnant woman gave birth, and the people in the inn actually did not let them in. This matter was also a very evil thing. The infant was born, and there was nowhere to place Him. So they cleaned out the thing in the manger where food had been placed, spread dry grass on it, and placed that child inside. This was the experience of the first tree.
What about the second tree? It wanted to become a great ship and carry kings. In the end, it did not carry kings. It was made into a small boat. Of course, inside this small boat there were stinky fish and rotten shrimp, all in there. So every day it dealt with stinky fish and rotten shrimp. It was also very sad. It also had no way to complete its dream. At this time, a person came onto this boat and preached the message of the gospel. There were many people, and the boat needed to move away from the shore. That person stood on the boat and proclaimed the righteous way of God to the people. This was the second boat. Finally, the last tree that was in darkness was taken out one day. Someone was going to be crucified, and this tree happened to be used as the cross. So that person carried this wood and walked toward the place of His execution, and at that place the one who was nailed to death was hung on it.
I think Christians are not unfamiliar with this story. The first tree carried the infant Jesus. Jesus Christ came into the world, and there was no place that could receive Him, so He chose this tree. He heard this tree’s wish, and He was willing for this tree to fulfill its wish. So He was born in that manger. He slept in that manger. That manger became a wooden box carrying the most precious gift in the world. The second tree wanted to carry kings, and it welcomed a true King, a King who preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. When this King preached the gospel, this boat received the greatest glory. It wanted kings and queens to ride on it and travel among the nations, and the message it carried became a basis for going among the nations. The last tree looked even more humble. It seemed that there would never be any hope for people to look up to it. But it truly became the ultimate and most beautiful tree that people would look up to, because on it there was the most beautiful fruit, Jesus Christ. He fulfilled its wish. This is The Wishes of Three Trees. I think it applies to our brothers and sisters.
After what I mentioned earlier happened, my wife used this story to comfort Faith. I then went to look at this story, and I thought I would share it with everyone today. “Who has believed what we have heard?” Each of us has wishes. No one is willing to be humbled. We hope that our lives will go smoothly. We hope that there will be no suffering in our lives. We hope to be physically healthy. We hope to have good schools. We also hope that, not to say that we become famous, but at least that our life will not be strained, that we will have a house of our own. We hope for this. This is our dream. But brothers and sisters, what Jesus wants to give us far exceeds what we ask. Jesus wants to give us the best, so He gives us suffering. Brothers and sisters, you must understand this point. The road of humiliation, the road that seems humble, the road that looks shameful, is actually the most glorious road. Our life, in this process, can receive endless radiance. Yes. No matter how famous people in the world are, no matter how rich people in the world are, it is only a few short decades on earth. But what God wants to give you is the blessing of eternity. In heaven, you can receive an eternal reward. He heard our wishes long ago. He knows that we do not want suffering, that we hope everything will go smoothly, that we hope to be healthy, that we hope for all these things. He knew it long ago. He is also willing to give to us. But the way He gives may be the way you are unwilling to receive. Yet this way is precisely the most beautiful way. So brothers and sisters, trust in the gospel of eternal life. That Lord Jesus Christ has already been nailed to the cross for us. He has already accomplished everything. As long as we trust in Him, we can receive that beautiful gospel. What we are to do in this present life is to follow His statutes and ordinances, to follow His commandments. Life is only a few short decades, and then it passes. It is gone. He wants to give us, in eternity, a vessel carrying treasure, a boat carrying the King, and the most glorious tree. Trust Him and receive eternal life. This is incomparably good. There is nothing better than this.
This is a road of eternal life. May God lead us so that we may truly be gained by Him in Him. Let us pray. God, we thank You. You know our need, and You are willing to give us the most beautiful need, yet in this present life we must endure suffering. Lord, please help us, so that in Your grace we may be willing continually to humble ourselves, to forsake ourselves, and to walk this road of the cross. Lord, please forgive and pardon our sins. We are weak and powerless. We are unwilling to walk this road. We are unwilling to obey Your Word. We want to lift ourselves up. But Lord, You say that a person must first be humbled, and then there will be exaltation.
Lord, please place such a message within us, so that we may be able to hear Your voice in the world, so that we may know how deep Your love is toward us. Lord, please have mercy on us and show grace among us. Open the door of our hearts. Let us not resist Your gospel. Let us truly receive this beautiful gospel, so that our lives may live out the beauty that You require. In the name of Christ. Amen.