Well, we're pausing our study in Philippians today, since this is a special day in the life of this congregation, to install Reverend Contreras, Pastor Angelo Contreras, to his new position here as the pastor of Congregational Life. I'd like to welcome the Contrerases here. It's been a bit of a road to get here, but we're so thankful that you're here and look forward to this installation service. Before we do that, we're going to open the word of the Lord and hear his design for the ministry. It's always a great opportunity to do that at times like this. We're going to go to Romans chapter 10 this morning. And we're going to read the entirety of the chapter. Romans chapter 10, I invite you, that's found on page 1124 if you're looking for that. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. Actually, I'm going to back up to verse 30 of chapter 9. and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandment shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 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? 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 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. 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. Then Isaiah is so bold 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 out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. And there we'll end the reading of God's Word. Well, today we have a very significant moment before us in the life of this congregation. A very important moment. So I boldly titled my message today, The Blessing of Being Sent a Pastor. Typically, I wouldn't be so bold to preach that or to talk about myself that way. But now I get to since the Lord has sent Angelo here and his family. And I'm going to tell you how great pastors are. And I don't have to feel bad about it today. It's really a remarkable thing. But in all seriousness, this is a great blessing of the Lord today. To install a new pastor in the Escondido URC. Look at the long history of the church here. How long we've been here. And boys and girls, you can walk up to the wall in the new council room. and you can see the pastors that have been here. And it's not a very long line of pastors. There's been pastors here that have served quite some time and all of them serve very faithfully in this church. This church has been abundantly blessed. And if you have ever seen the conflict and struggle that can happen in churches when this does not go well, then it's always important to think about and to reflect and be thankful for how the Lord has blessed the Escondido URC with peace and harmony in the ministry of the word. In the company of pastors that God has sent to you, it's possible that over the years we haven't been quite as thankful for this as we should be. All the teaching, all the instruction, being really sitting in sort of, was it Elijah who had all the pastors that he trained? literally being sitting in a pastor area with pastors abundant and pastors everywhere and having Dr. Godfrey teaching adult Sunday school for 40 years in this place. I don't know too many churches who are as blessed as the Escondido URC. I've been in other churches. You know how hard it is to get pulpit supply? And we just dial a number and there they are, you know. Maybe you look at your pastor as someone who's kind of a thorn in your flesh. I don't know. Over the years, maybe you've been irritated with your pastor who has to challenge you or to push you or to confront you in the ministry of the word with things that make you a little bit uncomfortable and things that you don't like. Anytime somebody has to address sin in people's lives and someone is called to dissect and to work with the human heart and bring, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and patience. Anytime you're doing that, you're a doctor of the heart, it's tough business. But we have to appreciate the fact, as we're looking at this, that as things might be difficult at times, that pastors who are fulfilling their callings have a great goal for you. Pastors who are faithful in their callings have a great goal for you. It's not to beat you. It's not to leave you in the dirt. We don't really like rubbing your nose in the dirt. I don't know if you knew that. We want to lift you up. We want to lead you to Jesus. We want to bring you to his feet. We want you to enjoy forgiveness. We want you to enjoy peace. We want you to enjoy a knowledge that God loves you. We want you to enjoy the righteousness that's been provided for you. And as history says, sometimes that's a pretty big fight. And so this is what we're looking at today, that what God put in place for you to be a blessing to you so that you would appreciate this and be thankful and not be like Israel who stiffened their neck to the ministry. And as any congregation, there are always those who are always on the fringes who have never really embraced it. They've been there because of the tradition. They've been there for mom and dad, but they've never really embraced it themselves. So we're going to push you. Of course, we're concerned for you. We want you to have confidence in his love. We want you to believe the gospel. And that's the great goal of ministry, that you, on that day of judgment that's coming, would have great boldness to stand before the Lord of glory, knowing that you're forgiven. That's our goal. That's our purpose, Paul said, Colossians 1, present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Well, I want to show you that today, the love of God in sending you servants and the importance of this as we have this great moment to install Reverend Contreras. And Romans 10 is probably the most clear explanation of why pastors are sent to you to fulfill and give you an explanation of the entire design of Christian ministry. So we're going to look at this briefly with the sad predicament that's presented to us in this passage with Israel, and then God's merciful solution to us and the only right response that we should all have to this. So let's start with this sort of sad predicament that happened and how God already had answered this, and we'll move to the good answer that he's given. Let's look at this marvelous passage on pastoral ministry. If you were here a few weeks ago for Dr. Godfrey's sermon on Romans 9 through 11, you know that he presented what we call a chiasm to this entire section. Paul's dealing with something very important here, and he's dealing with the problem that arose in the minds of some, that, listen, why did Israel fail? And Paul raises the point of election. But he knew that would be troubling for some people, and he never wanted us to look at this fatalistically. Just, oh, God, you know, God just has his elect, and there's nothing we can do about that. That is not how the Lord ever wanted us to look at the doctrine of election. It was meant to comfort the sheep. And he gives a crucial centerpiece in this text. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's the centerpiece. And that's what we're working to this morning as we look at this. Paul is making the case here of something very important in looking at the nation of Israel, you will most certainly be saved, he is saying here, when you call on the name of the Lord, which is a work of sovereign grace. We know that. That's his great work in our lives. But he wants you to understand that that just doesn't happen cheaply. That just doesn't happen cheaply. There's a lot of work he put into this for you. There's a lot of things he put in place for you. He put something in place for that to happen, to give you faith. That's the ministry. So that's what I begin with, what God did. And notice here, my first point here in this problem that happened, this dilemma, this sad predicament in Israel's history, the question that Paul's dealing with is why Israel failed. They were, people would have said God's chosen people. And Paul explains all of this, and we don't have the moment to get into all of this. They're not all Israel who are of Israel. There's a true Israel. But Paul's explaining all this. They had the glory, the adoption, the covenants, the giving of the law. All this blessing, and they had the written oracles of God. It would be like saying that an astonishing thing has happened in the church in America today. All this preaching after all these years. They have been given baptism. They've been given the supper. They've been given the pulpit. They've been given the word. All this has been given and given and given. And yet, all day long through this, what the job of the pastor was, was to extend the hands of God to people saying, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And people sat there, and they just were smug about it. They never came. It would be an astonishing thing, wouldn't it? At the end of history, if there were people sitting here who still haven't believed this, it would be utterly astonishing. After all this blessing and goodness. Paul tells us the reason they didn't come in verse 31 of chapter 9. The reason that they didn't come is because Israel tried to attain and pursue religion on their terms. They tried to produce a righteousness on their own, and they wouldn't come to Jesus, who was preached to them throughout the Old Testament. This is what Father Abraham tells us. He was preached. Jesus was preached all throughout the Old Testament. and so they they strived they were religious they were notice in verse 1 it says of chapter 10 that they had a zeal for God they were religious people but they didn't come to Jesus and they tried to establish a righteousness of their own by their works that's what the issue is and Paul is making that case here if it's impossible for me to attain the righteousness of the law to save myself and Jesus is the only way notice he says that in verse 4 for Christ is the end of the law the goal of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes it's all meant to take you to Jesus not yourself if that's the case Here's the question Paul's answering for you. I know I'm moving pretty quickly through this. How do you get Jesus? How do you get Jesus? A pretty important question. Verse 9, we have the most beautiful and powerful statement made in the epistle about how somebody is saved from the judgment to come and hell. look at this if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you're going to be saved you will be saved you are saved oh we should all just be leaping out of our seats right now right it's like we're left stranded on an island to watch the movie Cast Away I just like it because there's no words and no cussing so it's a great movie the only Hollywood movie that people are just silent stranded on a desert island no way to get off that's what we're like we're like a bunch of people mulling around on a desert island and we're all just worried about the state of the island. That's all we're really worried about and how to save ourselves off this island. And so we're worried about small windstorms on the island. And we've tried to make this island our home. And we've built mansions on this island. And we've tried to shield ourselves off from everything else thinking that we could create our happiness on this island. And we think everything's okay if we just have our kids and grandkids are all around us Everything's wonderful. Everyone groping around on this island, trying to get happiness on the island. But it's absolutely impossible. And very soon, something has known. A massive hurricane is coming that's going to wipe out this island. A final storm is about to come. Think about this. That very few are prepared for. Very few are prepared for. You notice how completely absent in the Christianity today and the message is any doctrine of hell? We don't feel the weight of that. We're more worried about the state of our island. We're more worried about the state of the country than the massive storm that's about to hit. You haven't seen anything. Everyone's trying to save themselves. Right now. You want an assessment of society and culture? That's what's going on. From all these problems. Little windstorms. Now what Paul says here to summarize is that on this island, everyone's trying to find a savior too. And they're doing what they can to bring God down to help them. The religious people. And they think that if we can just do enough to please God. We can bring God to us to get us back off this island. That's human ingenuity. That's human righteousness. That thinks to itself, we will do this. We can do this. You ever notice that entire spirit has overcome our whole society. You put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. That's just what Paul's talking about here. Everyone trying to fix their misery. Paul says there's this kind of thinking that goes into that heart. And it's like this. The righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down or who will descend into the abyss that is to bring Christ up from the dead. It's a very simple statement. It seems complex. It's actually a very simple statement. All that is saying is the person of faith does not say we will do everything we can to fix our misery here and get back to God. That was the Tower of Babel. Every expression that you've ever seen throughout history. We will do what is in our power to fix our woes. We will bring God to us. Long history of this in the Bible. And then Paul says there's an entirely different way of thinking. That is a faith. Paul says something powerful. What does the person of faith say? Notice it very carefully here. The word is near you. Let that set in for a minute. The word is near you. This is verse 8. In your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. God is announcing here there is a great way to be reconciled to him. There is a great way to know his love again. There is a great way to have true peace again. There is a great way of something that he did and here's the good news. You don't even have to go get this yourself. You can't. listen to me. He has to do something. You can't go get it. He has to send something to you. And you can't manipulate him to get it. And I stop and I say, that's what the pastor is all about. The minister is sent to minister the word of God to you, that word that's in your mouth and in your heart. what does a pastor do? There's still a problem in this text. I don't know if you've ever felt the weight of it. I felt it afresh this week, myself, even as a pastor. How does the word get into the mouth and into the heart? That's the question of this text that God has to bring to you, that you can't go get, you can't drag it down and you can't pull it up. Most people in Christianity today, which is sad, think you can find Jesus on your own. This is the most difficult aspect to what I'm preaching today because this is so foreign in evangelicalism today. I say this is what makes reform being the most difficult today. Right here. Right here. Right now. Because everyone else wants something more exciting than this. It's a particular American Christianity that by and large is not content with Jesus. And they still think we can find Jesus on our terms, on the mountaintop, anywhere else on our own, outside of the body of Christ. Do you know this? You cannot be saved from the wrath to come apart from the ministry God has put in place? That's a strong proposition. That statement comes on the heels of what he just said in verse 8. The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith, which what do we do as pastors? The word of faith which we preach. Here's the point Paul's making. No one finds Jesus on their own. Remember when Jesus was on earth, he made something very clear. I have come to seek and to save that which is lost. And Paul confirms that in Romans 3 and says, no one seeks after God. You don't find him on your own and you don't go looking for him on your own. So that's quite a predicament that we're in. There's a judgment's coming. We've lost everything in Adam. We forfeited it all. We gave it all away. And what we don't think about is this. What did God have to do for us? He had to send you pastors, messengers. That's why he's so strong on us to make sure we're doing what we're doing, by the way. That's what we talked about last time with Nadab and Abihu. And that's what we look at with the messengers, the pastors in the first chapters of Revelation 2 and 3, where he's going after the pastors who aren't doing their job. But we're so used to thinking this is normal. This is not normal. This is an exceptional work of the Lord. You could do nothing to rescue yourself. You're stuck on an island. A final hurricane's coming. And all of a sudden, look, look, look, out in the distance. I see a little boat. And this man is in the boat and he's rowing and he's coming as fast as he can to get to us. And with him is a little scroll. And he's got a good message for us. He's announcing somebody to us. He's helping us to understand this one who is sent to deliver us. And Paul wants you to understand right here what pastors are sent to do. Look at verse 14. How shall, how then will they call in him in whom they've 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? And how are they to preach unless they're sent? As it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news, the good news, the good news. He just said to you, and he works backward here, he just said there's five necessities to bring salvation to you so that the word gets into your mouth and into your heart. Five things God had to do. Notice it. The first thing God has to do is send you a messenger. How will they preach unless they are what? Sent. Not everyone's sent. The harvest is plentiful, said the Lord, but the labors are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into the harvest. So the first necessity for you to be saved to the ends of the earth is that God would send a messenger to you. And then how will they, notice this, notice the second thing there. Remember, we're working kind of backwards here. How are they to preach unless they're sent? Notice that the second thing that the pastor has to do upon being sent is to minister that word to you. That's why Paul said the primary calling that we have here Both of us pastors is to minister that word to you. Preach the word in season, out of season. That's why Jesus said, you know what? Really pay careful attention to how you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you and to you who hear, more will be given. Most important thing you do in your weeks is to come and sit and listen to a sermon. It is. It's his word. How will they hear without a preacher? Jesus is speaking here, and that's the point he's making, that the voice of Jesus goes out through the messenger, and that's why Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and they come to me, not to us. We're trying to direct you to him. And then verse 14 says, literally, how are they to believe of him in whom they've not heard? So you have to have to hear, and then you have to believe, right? This is a pretty natural order that comes into place. And then the center of the chiasm is when you call, you're saved. He sends messengers. Messengers bring the word to you. They preach that word. You hear that word by his power, by the way. He opens your hearts. You believe that. Faith is a gift. And then with his strength, you call on the name of the Lord, and right then and there, he justifies you forever. Wow. conclusion if God didn't do this you'd all be going to hell that's pretty significant and I think he makes that point by proving Isaiah citing Isaiah 52 as written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace who bring glad tidings of good things do you know God pictures his pastors with beautiful feet you're like, no, come on. I know some of the ladies like to paint their feet and soak their feet and make them beautiful. And I always say at this point in the sermon, husbands, don't ever get mad at that. You let them do that. Feet. Our feet aren't that beautiful physically. But we're pictured as running to you to say, look what we have for you. I've got the best news for you. Angela has, Reverend Contreras has the best news for you. And his job is to minister that to you constantly in the life of the congregation. God's peace. God's love. God's help. And at times we have to say, that's sin, that's wrong. And you've got to return to him. This is what makes the ministry somewhat hard at times, doesn't it? You know, it's kind of like Ahab who just thought pastors were troublers in Israel. Or Jehoshaphat asks Ahab, aren't there any pastors out here that we can hear the word of the Lord? Yeah, there's one. His name's Micaiah. I hate him. I'm quoting right now. For he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil. Well, if you repent and look to Jesus, there's a lot of good Micaiah has to say to you. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say that. God's intention is to send you pastors today to run to you with good news. And everything is in place for you to be saved. That's the center of the chiasm. Everything is in place for you to call on the name of the Lord. And he will not disregard your call. Call on him today. Have you ever gotten on your knees and call on the name of the Lord? and asked him to deliver you, asked him for salvation, asked him for his mercies. Jesus said, I will never drive away that kind of person who comes to me that way. Struggle with pastoral ministry maybe is because it's so familiar and we're so used to it that I think in America we've become a little bit like Tyre and Sidon. A burned over district. What do I mean by that? All these years of preaching, all these pastors, look at the books that are written in this country. Look at the testimony that's been given in this country. Has a country ever seen more witness of Jesus and pastors sent than the United States of America? If Jesus could say, woe to you, Tyre and Sidon, if the works that had been done in you had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented a long time ago in sackcloth and ashes. Tyre and Sidon had a lot of preachers, it seems, sent to them. And so has our time and place. and this is not easy. We need your prayer. We need your help. We need your encouragement that you might understand and help us too, because I was just at the Banner of Truth conference this last week here in Ramona. It was amazing to me how many discouraged pastors were there, and the levels of pastoral burnout and quit right now are huge. I'm not saying that to make you feel bad for us. I'm saying that to understand we need you too. We need your prayers. We need your encouragement. But I want you to see the beautiful thing that's been done for you today. God sent to you another faithful under-shepherd in Pastor Contreras. And we're a team. And there are a lot of needs here. With a growing church, people have a lot of needs. And I loved what Angelo said when he stood up here for the question and answer time. My goal and purpose is to further the ministry of the Word in the specific way I do pastoral ministry. And that's just what Pastor Donovan believed. His position is not one of busy work. It's not for all of us to dump more things on him than he needs. But to take the Word that is delivered here to you, it's a powerful Word. It's a living Word. And to help you with that, to minister the good news to you, in your needs. That's how good God is is to you. He's continuing this. So be encouraged that way. Look at all the discouragements in the world right now. Look at the encouragement you get today. You just have an actual proof that God is still continuing to put everything in place so that people would call upon him. Isn't that encouraging in this mess? That he's still doing this to the ends of the earth? Don't take it for granted. May the Lord give you help in this. We are a blessed church. And Angela, we are, Reverend Contreras, happy that God sent you here. And Trista and family and girls, we're so thankful that the Lord brought you here in the long line of a lot of faithful ministers in this church. You boys and girls, go look in the room again. And receive the one who is sent to you in our crazy world today, what this indicates is this. Here's the imagery. My hands are still open. That's God's hands. All day long, I am calling out, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls. That's Jesus' word to you. And that is going out today to the ends of the earth. And we're a blessed church to be a part of that. May we believe, and may we not be like Israel, who after all this blessing stiffen their necks and harden their hearts. That's a great warning. Receive this blessing and believe today and call out on the name of the Lord and here's his promise. You will be saved. Nothing can separate you from his love. All of it's right here in place for you. Let's praise him. Thank you. Heavenly Father, thank you for your wonderful word today and thank you for being so faithful through all these years to continue to keep the pastoral ministry. And we are weak. We confess as pastors we don't have the strength in and of ourselves. We're sinful. We need your help constantly to love the sheep the way that we should, to minister the way that we should, and to not think that we're Jesus. May all people be led to his feet. And may through this ministry, this church be built up, strengthened, edified, encouraged. And may they hear the voice who's calling to them. And may your sheep respond. Thank you, O Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.