#37.

When God's Word is Preached, it is Christ Who Speaks

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? So far, we have seen something of what God's Word is and what it does. We are turning our attention now to look more specifically at some aspects concerning the preaching of God's Word. It is important for us to do this in a day when the nature of true preaching is not well understood and it has become significantly devalued in the eyes of those who would call themselves God's people. Our adversary well understands the power of God's Word to do all the things we have been considering, so it is completely understandable that he bends his mind and his powers to cause us to pay little attention to the authoritative proclamation of the Truth of God (which is what preaching is). We can begin this part of our study in no better place than with our text. Paul is talking about preaching as the means God uses to engender saving faith in the hearers. Faith is critical, he says, but it must have an Object. If people have not heard about Jesus, how shall they believe on Him? If no-one preaches to them, how shall they hear? Different translations of the Bible render this verse differently and some of them rob it of its full significance. Some translators have inserted the word, "of" into the second sentence, so that it reads along these lines: "how will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" See what a difference this makes! In the version above, the people place their faith in Jesus having heard Jesus Himself speak to them through a preacher of the Gospel. In the second case, they hear about Jesus from a preacher and then place their faith in Him. So in the one case, it is Jesus who speaks when the Word is preached, in the other case it does not have to be. Clearly, it is important to know which concept is the more correct. The version that is quoted above does, in other passages, translate the same Greek word that appears here as "whom" in the form "of whom", so we need to dig a little deeper to judge whether they were most likely to be correct in the way they translated that word in Romans 10:14 If we look at some other New Testament texts, we will be able to see what was understood to be happening when God's Word was preached: Ephesians 2:1418 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. Paul writes to the Ephesians to tell them how the barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been taken down in the Gospel. He quotes from the Old Testament in verse 17, telling them that the preacher Who did this and then announced it to them was Jesus. And yet, Jesus never visited Ephesus and His ministry (with rare exceptions) was directed toward the Jews. How did the preaching of Jesus reconcile Jews and Gentiles? How did He preach to

those were far off, including those in Ephesus? It had to be that He was preaching through those who took the Gospel to the Gentiles! See what Paul says later in this same letter: Ephesians 4:2021 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeedyou have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, How did the Ephesians "hear" Christ? They heard Him speaking to them through the preachers of the Gospel who came to Ephesus. Now, in the light of this, think about what happens in your church (assuming it is a faithful church with a faithful pastor) each time the preacher stands to declare God's Word to you. Christ is speaking to you! Doesn't that make preaching special? Your Lord and Savior is addressing Himself to you, and using the instrument that He has selected for that purpose. Do you want to hear Jesus speaking to you every week? Listen for Him in the faithful preaching of the Word! He will be speaking. Do you ever wonder whether you will go to the second service on the Lord's Day? Isn't one service enough? Let's turn that on its head for a moment. Do you love Jesus? Do you love to hear His voice speaking to you in His Word? Those who have fallen in love with a man or woman in this world know that they cannot hear the voice and see the face of that person often enough. There is no effort that is too much for them if they can just spend time with their loved one. Do you only love Jesus enough to want to hear from Him through a preacher once a week? Do you find it easy to miss even that one opportunity when something more appealing comes along? We may say we love Jesus with our lips, but what story are we telling with our lives? This week, now that we know what is happening when God's Word is preached, let's make the most of every opportunity we have to hear our precious Savior speaking to us!

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