Earlier this week, as I was studying Romans 10 for this morning’s message, the sermon title “Stairway to Heaven” popped into my mind. At the same moment, it also occurred to me that this would be a brilliant title for a rock song. So, I grabbed a guitar and began fiddling around with a few chord progressions and riffs. But my arpeggios kept eerily resembling a song called “Taurus” from back in 1968. Consequently, to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit, I decided to ditch the song and stick to the sermon.
I am obviously joking about this, but you might be interested to know that there is still an unresolved court appeal against the rock band Led Zeppelin, who is accused of stealing the music for their legendary song “Stairway to Heaven” from the band Spirit. It will be interesting to see what happens in this case!
Over the years, there has been many conspiracy theories about this song. Many of you are familiar with the rumor that if you play “Stairway to Heaven” backwards that you will hear satanic messages. Well, don’t believe a word of it! This rumor is 100% false!
On the other hand, I wonder if you’ve heard the recent rumor that if you listen to the sermon “Stairway to Heaven” forward, you will hear the sound of angels singing! This rumor is probably false also, but I do hope that we will all hear the voice of God speaking through the preaching of Romans 10:14-21today—for in this passage, the Apostle Paul really does show us a stairway to heaven!
Let me explain! In the preceding passage, Paul just expounded the heart of the gospel and ended the section with the climactic quote from the prophet Joel: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is, indeed, wonderful news for all! But Paul anticipates the next logical question that his readers would ask. Look in verse 14: “How will they call on him in whom they have not believed?” Another way to phrase this question might be: If the gospel is the only way to get to heaven, how does one get the gospel?
Paul goes on to answer his own question in verses 14-15 by laying out the steps of salvation or the “stairway to heaven.” There are four steps in this stairway to heaven. The gospel must be sent, preached, heard, and then believed. Paul lists these steps in reverse chronological order, but for the sake of clarity, allow me to deal with them in their natural order.
The Stairway to Heaven (14-15)
1.) The gospel must be sent.
The stairway to heaven begins with the gospel being sent. If the gospel is going to be heard and ultimately believed, it must begin with someone being sent to preach the gospel. Paul himself was an apostle, called and sent by God to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Before Paul, God had already sent the other Apostles, John the Baptist, and the Old Testament prophets to preach the good news of the coming kingdom of God. The gospel must be sent before it can be believed! Truly, as Isaiah prophesied long ago, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”
As we think about the gospel being sent, we must recognize that some people receive a special calling from God to be an evangelist or missionary. As in biblical times, some folks are specifically called by God to spread the gospel, establish mission posts, and plant churches in a vocational manner today. But Jesus’ great commission in Matthew 28 and Acts 1 compels every Christian to take the gospel to someone! God doesn’t send everyone across the world, but he does send all of us to share the good news of Jesus Christ in our communities! Will you help someone take the first step on the stairway to heaven? Who is God sending you to?
2.) The gospel must be preached.
After the gospel is sent, the second step on the stairway to heaven is that the gospel must be preached. To preach means to proclaim or make known. If the gospel is to be heard and understood, someone has to preach it.
Likewise, God gives some people the spiritual gift of preaching and calls them to the specific vocational role of preaching, but he calls every Christian to preach the gospel to someone. When we think about the history of preaching, big names like John Chrysostom, Martin Luther, and Charles Spurgeon come to mind. In our modern day, many of us have benefitted from the preaching of Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, and Alister Begg on the radio. But let me tell you that some of the world’s greatest preachers never see the limelight. They are moms and dads who teach their kids about Jesus and model the Christian life, grandparents who read Bible stories to their grandchildren, and volunteer Sunday school teachers who proclaim the good news every week! The gospel must be preached—will you help someone take the second step on the stairway to heaven?
3.) The gospel must be heard.
The third step on the stairway to heaven is that the gospel must be heard. Whereas the first two steps on the stairway to heaven are dependent upon someone sharing the gospel, the last two steps are dependent upon someone responding to the gospel. The gospel may be sent and preached effectively, but it must be heard before it can lead to saving faith. Paul says explicitly in verse 17: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
I have been in Christian ministry for 20 years now, and it still never ceases to amaze me how some people can hear the gospel and without hearing the gospel. Do you know what I mean by this? I mean that there are people who sit in churches all across the world every Sunday who hear the message that Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins and rose on the third day to offer us eternal life, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference in their lives. It doesn’t penetrate their soul.
I recall an occasion some years ago when I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ as clearly as I possibly could. I passionately proclaimed that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that he is the only way to the Father; and that we cannot get to heaven by being good people or doing good deeds.
As soon as church let out, a nice old lady came up to me and said, “Thank you for the sermon pastor! I guess I need to just try harder!” I wanted to rip my hair out of my head and scream “Nooo!!!” She heard the sermon but completely missed the message!
Have you really heard the gospel? Do you really understand what Jesus Christ has done for you? Have you taken the third step on the stairway to heaven?
4.) The gospel must be believed.
The forth and final step on the stairway to heaven is that the gospel must be believed. This is the pinnacle of faith where a person actually inherits eternal life in heaven by responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the point Paul has been making throughout the book of Romans! This is the great evangelistic goal of every church—as the gospel is sent, preached, and heard—that it would be believed, and eternal life would be received!
So, let me pause to ask again: Have you truly believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ?
This stairway to heaven is why the church engages in the practice of evangelism and sends missionaries around the world! I think about the great missionary statesman, David Brainerd (1718-47) who was sent by New England churches to preach the gospel to the American Indians. As a young man, he was powerfully motivated toward evangelism. He suffered from all sorts of physical and emotional anguishes including tuberculosis, loneliness, depression, and a lack of food. He spent many nights alone in the wilderness, but he continued his work because of his calling.
And having waited long for revival among the Native Americans, Brainerd finally saw it. In his journal, he wrote, “It was very affecting to see the poor Indians, who the other day were halooing and yelling in their idolatrous feasts and drunken frolics, now crying to God with such an interest in His dear son.” Brainerd died at the age of 29 and is buried in the Bridge Street Cemetery in North Hampton, MA. His gravestone reads:
Sacred to the memory of the Rev. David Brainerd. A faithful and laborious missionary to the Stockbridge, Delaware and Susquehanna TRIBES OF INDIANS WHO died in this town. October 10, 1747
Just as David Brainerd was sent to preach the gospel almost 300 years ago, so the church is still called to send people to preach the good news of the death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation of souls. This is why our church partners with Becca Ashton in the Czech Republic, the Waguepsecks in Mexico, the Gilberts in Thailand, and the Gavins right here at the University of Vermont! Perhaps the Lord is speaking to someone here this morning about being sent to preach the gospel? May we always be a church that sends and preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ!
I would also like for us to spend a few moments contemplating the fact that we have heard and believed the gospel because someone was sent and preached it to us! Who shared the gospel with you? Was it a parent or grandparent? Was it a Sunday school teacher or pastor? Was it a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger? Whoever it was, let us praise God for the beautiful feet of the person who cared about our eternal soul enough preach the good news. Let us thank God that he has given us ears to hear and faith to believe the gospel!
Walking the Steps of Faith (16-21)
After Paul presents the stairway to heaven in verses 14-15, he now returns to Israel in verses 16-21. He again breaks the bad news that not all the Israelites accepted the good news. While God had offered the Israelites a stairway to heaven, they refused to walk the steps that would culminate in faith. They heard the good news, but they mostly refused to believe.
Paul asks the sarcastic rhetorical question in verse 18, “But I ask: Did they not hear?” He answers his own question, “Of course they did!” and then goes on to quote four Old Testament passages to explain the fact that the even though the Israelites heard the gospel, they refused to believe it. With these quotes, Paul returns to his ironic point in Romans 9 that the Gentiles received the gospel while the Israelites rejected it. He ends the whole section with a scathing indictment from Isaiah 65 that pictures God continuing to extend grace (“I have held out my hand) to Israel, but Israel continuing to reject the gospel (a disobedient and obstinate people.”)
Unfortunately, many people have fallen into the same trap as Israel. Although God has extended his grace to us by providing a stairway to heaven—although God has sent many missionaries and preachers to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ—although he has given so many opportunities to hear and believe the good news—so few have responded in faith. Like the ancient Israelites, most people in the world today just persist in their disobedience and obstinance. God continues to offer his grace with outstretched hands, but so few recognize their need for Jesus Christ!
How about you? Do you recognize your need for Jesus Christ? Will you climb the stairway to heaven and put your faith in Jesus Christ or will you persist in obstinance? I hope we will learn from Israel’s mistake before it is too late!
Let me conclude with this simple summary statement: God has provided a stairway to heaven, but we must walk the steps of faith!