He Was Seen (Part C)

There's more to my faith than my feelings, far more.

But, of course, we can't get away from them. And we love it when we're filled with the Spirit and we do feel it. But if all Satan had to do was attack your feelings to get you out of the fight, what would that look like for us? And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Election comes by belief. You believe, you're called. If you respond, you are elected to salvation. The sinner's response to the call.

In other words, what Paul is saying, if you confess with your mouth, he's saying, God takes what you say seriously. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Romans.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. The title of Pastor Rick's message is, He Was Seen, and he'll be teaching in Romans chapter 10 today. Verse eight again, but what does it say? I mean, what the scripture says? Salvation is right in front of the listener. Deuteronomy 30, verse 14.

I'm not going to turn there because we want to get through this section. They only have to believe in their heart. The scripture, the word of faith is accessible, and the scripture is a word of faith. In verse nine, he continues, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

You see, he pushed the terms out there. If you don't believe that he raised him from the dead, you can't be a Christian. What is so difficult about that? And if you insist on being one anyway, you're just demonstrating the righteousness of the Pharisees in Christian garb. If you confess with your mouth, the Lord emphasizes in this passage, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, that's the deity of Christ.

It's not the lordship that is common amongst people. It is exclusive to the God the Son. Disbelievers refuse his deity, and they refuse his resurrection to this day amongst Jew and Gentile alike. But if he is indeed divine, and he is, then the resurrection was a walk in the park. What kind of God do you have that can't do these kind of things? Or what kind of God do you have that can do these kind of things? And so many continue to insist on good deeds as grounds to bring God delight. You're not without his Son, not without his Son, without the Christ. You make mockery of God's character.

You attack him. It is a front on who he is. It is a character assassination to say, you are dumb enough to let your son come here and be crucified when you know as well as we know there are other ways into heaven.

That's what it would be. That would be the voice of the devil. If you cannot admit that Jesus is Lord and that there is no other on this level of deity, then he will not admit you into heaven. If you cannot admit you're a sinner, you will not find admission into heaven.

These are the terms of scripture, and they're fair terms, and they're good terms, and God gets the short end of the stick. What does God get by bringing you into heaven? Woohoo!

Place is a better place now. Rick's here. Well, that one might be true. It is the love of God.

He can't help himself. He can't help himself but to receive into heaven those who will just submit according to the revelation and not their perception of reality but to the revelation of God through what we call the Bible. If you do not believe that Christ was risen from the dead, then you won't be risen from the dead. By that, it doesn't mean you will finish your existence in a state of annihilation. It doesn't mean that at all.

You wish. It means you will continue to be conscious and exist, not in this world, not with this body, but you will be eternally separated from God and eternally separated from what is good, and I am saying to you hell, a very real place. It's amazing how many people use that word hell and don't believe they're going there when they have no right to think they're not. Are you going to hell?

Why? Tell me why you're not going to hell. Well, I'm a good boy. There is the self-righteousness versus the righteousness which is by faith. The emphasis on righteousness by faith in contrast to righteousness by behavior. Believe and you will behave, not behave and you will believe because it won't work that way unless again you have this preconceived reality which is a false reality. This is what gives us things like communism and socialism.

You know that on paper it looks so good, but in reality you just can't pull it off, and rather than admitting it, they just double down, make things worse. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, he's talking about an unashamed personal declaration of faith. Now water baptism and the communion table are public declarations of faith, but they mean nothing without the personal declaration and there are those that fake it. They get baptized, they don't mean it, or they take communion, they don't mean it.

But then, of course the true Christians, and there are many of us, we do take it and we do believe it. Luke 12 verse 8, I say to you, whoever confesses me before men in the Son of Man also, pardon me, I left that out. I say to you, whoever confesses me before men, him, the Son of Man, also will confess before the angels of God. I will take your physical earnest confession in the Spirit and put it into the spiritual realm.

The angels will know about it. There's no shame. God said, I'm not ashamed of you because the blood of Jesus Christ has washed away the shame of sin. So it takes more to make a Christian than an intellectual belief. Somebody can agree with the tenets of Christianity and still remain outside of Christianity. Intellectually, Satan knows that God, Christ, is the creator of the universe, but he remains Satan nonetheless.

It's not enough to have this intellectual consent, the head, the heart, the will. Those three must be involved to make the Christian. John's Gospel chapter 16, for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. You know you can love God and be loved by God and wrestle with God to a point. That's one of the pictures of Jacob wrestling with God. And prevailed, the Bible says. Jacob prevailed only because God led him. Of course, or else it wouldn't be God.

Jacob would be God, and that would be absurd. But yeah, God loves you even if you're wrestling with something in your heart, in your life. God, why? Why are you doing? Why don't you?

Why do you? And at the end, what do you do? You get up and you say, your will be done, not mine. And hell hates it. Romans 3, 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. What law? Any law. Of course, in context, you're talking about the Mosaic law. Well, there's no higher law at that time, not in ink. And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, it says here in verse 9.

If you're going to lead somebody to Christ, it is totally acceptable to open your Bible to Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10, and say, if you make this confession with me in earnest, you will be going to heaven. Otherwise, we're shrouded in doubt. We have a double-minded message. We don't have a double-minded message. It's single-minded.

It's straight and it's narrow. And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Resurrection. The resurrection began Christianity. That's when Christianity began, at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No longer was it through the law, it was through belief in Christ. And without the resurrection, we're still in, all we have is a Messiah, the Messiah of a partial Messiah. All we have is the Messiah who was wounded for our transgressions but couldn't follow through and fulfill what was called for.

But he did rise and he did fulfill. First Corinthians 15, verse 17. If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. So if you have your Bible open, I don't do this all the time, but I'm going to do it this time. Turn to First Corinthians 15.

I'll wait a little bit. First Corinthians 15. It's not far from Romans 11.

And I want you to turn there for a specific reason. We're going to take verses five through eight. And I want you to notice something as we go through these few verses. First Corinthians 15, beginning at verse five. I hear pages going so I'm giving a little mercy because I'm merciful.

Yeah, I try to be. And that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After he was seen by over five hundred brethren, at once of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

Yeah, well nobody here has done that. Verse, there's a euphemism for death of course. Verse seven of First Corinthians 15. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Last of all he was seen by me also. He was seen, he was seen, he was seen, he was seen. One word in the Greek. We get our English word optometry from that single Greek word. He was seen.

Three words in the English, one in the Greek. And I ask you to turn there so if it's not highlighted in your Bible, that you highlight. So when you look over this verse, it blasts forth from the pages into your heart. He was seen. When the Bible clusters repetition like this it means business, it's not fooling around.

Not that it ever does fool around, but it hammers in the truth. Ecclesiastes 12, the words of the wise are like goads and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. When you're being crushed in life remember he was seen, he's alive. He was seen, cried the early Christians and everyone knew it.

Everyone knew they cried this. Acts chapter 4 verse 33, and with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, cried of the Lord Jesus and great grace fell upon them all as I read in the beginning. Jesus did not die for me so that my flesh could sin and damn my soul nonetheless.

He died for me so that even if I sin, and I'm rightly related to him, there'll be grace at the cross of Christ. So what about the 12 apostles even after Judas and Matthias was put in this place? What about the 120 that met there in the first chapter of Acts? What about the 500 witnesses that Paul just witnessed in 1 Corinthians 15?

We just read that. Imagine being indicted and 500 people come out ready to die for their witness on your behalf rather than change their testimony. That's what happened. These believers, the ones that were martyred, all they had to say okay I didn't see him die and I didn't see him rise again. But they did see him die and they did see him rise again and they weren't going to change their witness, their confession of faith because the resurrection is that astounding. It took hold of them so much they couldn't let it go for nothing.

No one could get them off of that. Peter decades later rather die upside down than tell you a lie about the risen Christ. Toss out the laws of Judas' prudence, that system that we have that involves witnesses coming and testifying to what they have seen and then all laws of reason go out with it. There are laws of reason and the world has some of them.

They have the common ones. They do not have the spiritual laws of reason because they don't want them and if they do want them they end up getting saved. And so he says if you believe in the resurrection you will be saved. Saved from what? A wretched hell. You think life is tough?

Hell makes life seem like fun. There will be weeping and there will be gnashing of teeth and there's no mention to it ending. Saved from the way God will treat those who mock his son. Saved from the wrath to come for impenitent sinners. The cross of Christ and no other is an offense because it holds man accountable to his sinful behavior and it offers a solution that they're not willing to take. Verse 10. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Lip service is not enough.

Without belief it is inadequate for salvation to just say I believe and you don't mean it. It's good to see when someone confesses and you're tearing up or they're bawling like a baby. They're just so happy.

They're just so happy full of joy. I'm saved. I know who Christ is.

I met him. I've seen the risen Lord. There are other eyes. There are physical eyes. There are spiritual eyes. The spiritual ones are more important. Or else the blind could never get saved but the blind do get saved. Even staying blind, remaining blind they can get saved.

Just consider someone like Fanny Crosby. How many hymns did she write? How many songs of Jesus did she write? There must be a genuine and personal faith. This is not too much for a righteous and eternal God to ask and it is not too much for a man to give.

When I say man I mean mankind. Even if we don't feel the faith. Faith can still be real. This is the story of Peter at the shore of Galilee. Peter do you love me? Lord I love you. No Peter do you love me? You know I love you. Do you love me Peter? I love you Lord. Peter just couldn't get to that level anymore.

He had no problem. These might forsake you but not me. But now, now he caught a glimpse of who he really was under pressure. The law was broken under pressure. He could not retain his confession. He denied to Christ. The very thing he thought he would never do. If you had said to Peter, Peter which would you, before he denied Christ, which would you rather be struck dead by lightning or live long enough to deny Christ one time?

He'd take the lightning. But that wasn't the option. Nor is it ours. So even if you don't feel it doesn't mean it's there. Because it was there with Peter. And I said it to you with inflection because it was spoken in the Aramaic and it's recorded in the Greek. And the Greek is a richer language for the word of love and John can make the distinction.

How did he do that? How did he know to say Jesus said did you agape me but Peter said I phileo you when it's an Aramaic language and those differences don't exist. It had to be the tone. It had to be the look on Peter's face. It had to be the intensity in the eyes of Christ.

It had to be more to it than just a friendly conversation. And it tells me that even when I don't feel like I'm a Christian, I'm not disqualified from being one. There's more to my faith than my feelings.

Far more. But of course we can't get away from them. And we love it when we're filled with the Spirit and we do feel it. But if all Satan had to do was attack your feelings to get you out of the fight, what would that look like for us? And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Election comes by belief.

You believe. You're called. If you respond you are elected to salvation. The sinner's response to the call. In other words, what Paul is saying, if you confess with your mouth, he's saying God takes what you say seriously. Very seriously. Should it be otherwise? Do you wish God just dismissed you? You never listen to me.

That's why you complain about that. Verse 11, for the scripture says whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. You see how many times Paul, what the scripture says, because he's appealing to the Jews and he's giving ammunition to the converted Jews to deal with the unconverted Jews. It's a scripture of the scripture, a barrages of scripture. Our authority for life. We don't have to ask the world to help us with scripture.

I think we better not ever do that. We go to the scripture to find out what the scripture means. Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. I'm one of those whoever's.

Hopefully you are too. He's quoting two sections, he's merging two sections from Isaiah. Isaiah 28 16, whoever believes will not act hastily.

And the idea there is if you act too quick you're going to be ashamed of a result. Isaiah 49 3, for they shall not be ashamed, who wait for me? And then there's Romans chapter 3 verse 22, which again is of the Old Testament. There he says, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, there is no difference.

We're almost done. I know you've got two verses left, I can do this. Verse 12, there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. And so God again offering terms of salvation now are equal for Jew and Gentile. And again countering the Judaic misinterpretation of God using the Jews as a light for the Gentiles. Again the Jews would say, yeah God said in his word the Gentiles will be saved if they become Jews.

He didn't say that part. He said you'll be a light to them, they would get righteousness but he never said they're going to become Jews in those prophetic verses. Before Messiah yeah they would have to proselytize, they would have to become Jewish. But not once Messiah has come we have a new covenant. For the same Lord is, verse 12, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. And so when it comes to salvation God cares nothing for your race or your religion but your relationship with him and he can do this.

The world is eligible for salvation through Christ. And so in the Old Testament call upon him referred to a direct prayer toward who? In Genesis 4 26, in Genesis 12 8, in Genesis 13 4 when we come across those words call upon him. They refer to who is him, who's the, Yahweh. So here Paul uses the Greek word kyrios for Lord. He's referring to the Lord Jesus as the Yahweh of the Old Testament. It's not the only place in the New Testament this happens. Paul identifies Jesus Christ with Yahweh of the Old Testament in this verse. So now verse 13, just think about, try to sleep tonight when you think about how much I left out. Verse 13, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is what we tell people, it's got to be genuine, the genuineness of your faith that Peter was talking about. And there I am again, whoever calls on the name, that's me.

I know it's others. Applying Old Testament revelation to New Testament doctrine. Joel wrote in the second chapter, and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved.

There it is again, Yahweh. And it's applied to Christ. And the prophet Joel spoke of God's mercy in the midst of the great tribulation period.

And what happens at the end time period. That's when they're going to be saved. And so Paul lived by the scripture supporting every New Testament doctrine on the pillars of scripture. And what is the church to be? The pillar and ground of truth. And many churches have decided we're going to suppress the truth because we can't grow if we do it that way.

And that's a sad thing. And in there are churches that don't suppress the truth and they still struggle to grow. Because people want church to be a community center instead of the place where you come to hear from God and then go out and do something with that. The church does not owe people anything but the word of God and love.

And that is encapsuled in Acts 2 42, and it is a sacred cow that comes along and says, no. Or you could do other things. I'm not saying you cannot.

I'm just saying they're not mandated. It is save or be saved or be lost is what it comes down to. And so we close with this verse from Hebrews 2. Verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

You can't. If you neglect, if you turn down the salvation offered in Christ, you can't be saved. Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord.

That's right. He began to introduce the church to the people. When Jesus spoke of the church, the church wasn't even in existence yet. The people had a different perception of what church meant. And it wasn't until Pentecost where it began to start. And then it took the years of ministry in Paul's life to shape the church into something other than an offshoot of Judaism. So he continues, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross Reference Radio. So make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross Reference Radio.