Romans 10:14-21 NASB1995

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? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world.”

19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation,
By a nation without understanding will I anger you.”

20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,

“I was found by those who did not seek Me,
I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”

21 But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Translated to our world today, this isn’t just about Jew and Gentile. This is about people who have heard the truth of the Scriptures. They have heard the message of the gospel of salvation, i.e. the gospel that Jesus taught, and that his New Testament apostles taught, in the correct biblical context. So, it isn’t as though they have not heard. It isn’t as though they do not know. But it is that they do not heed the good news that they heard. They do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they choose their own path, instead.

And I wish that I could say that those like this are in the minority, that they are few in number. But it appears it is the other way around. It appears that those who reject the gospel that Jesus and his NT apostles taught, in favor of a more diluted and altered “gospel” which makes them feel good about themselves, are in the majority, and not in the minority. But we aren’t talking here about people who have no knowledge of God. We are talking about many people who profess to know God and to believe in Jesus Christ.

Some of them are Jews who have refused to believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, Lord, and Savior. Others are professing Christians who refuse to bow the knee to God and to obey his commands and to forsake their sinful practices. So they listen to the lies instead of to the truth so that they can keep on in their sinful addictions while still claiming heaven as their eternal destiny. They are those to whom God has stretched out his hands but who have remained disobedient and obstinate people who want to do their will.

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

And God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return (see Titus 2:11-14). For we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. And it is those who practice righteousness who have the hope of eternal life with God.

So, please be students of the Scriptures who study them in their correct biblical context who are putting sin to death and obeying God in practice.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Your Heart

An Original Work / October 24, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Tenderly He speaks, softly so.
Gently He calls – His will to know.
Won’t you invite Him in your heart?
Humbly accept Him now.
Bow before Him with contrite heart.
May you obey His will.
Seek Him with all your heart and soul,
And your heart, His Spirit fill.

Jesus died to free you from sin,
Giving you new life to begin,
Walking with Him ev’ry hour,
Obeying His commands.
Won’t you trust Him to be your Lord?
His grace you can’t afford.
Freely He gives you peace within,
When you turn from all your sin.

Live for Him ev’ry passing day.
Meet with Him; read His word and pray.
Serve Him in the way He leads you,
Doing all that He says.
Do unto others as you would
Have them do unto you.
Love them with Jesus love within you.
Your hearts to God be true.

Indeed They Have Heard
An Original Work / April 15, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love