The prophecies blow everything else away.
Nobody's got this. We need to get that in front of those who don't believe, who have no problem repeating nonsense that they picked up along the way. There can be no hearing without the preacher, and the word here for preacher is the herald, kiragma. In the Greek, the messenger, the proclaimer.
Make way for the king, he would be a herald. And this is the role of every Christian. 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the Book of Romans chapter 10 as he begins a brand new message. Could have, should have. Romans chapter 10, we are going to read verses 16 and 17. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Please be seated. Could have, should have. Could have, should haves. That's the title for this message. A great problem amongst the Jews at this time, and some churchgoers to this day, is that there is more love for peace than truth.
This shouldn't be, but it is. Paul is dealing with why the Jews, having the Bible, don't believe that Christ is their Messiah. It started in chapter 9.
He's continuing it. They should have loved and received Christ as their Messiah. They should have preferred truth over peace with people, but they weren't doing this. And so Paul says that God prophesied about their behavior.
That's what we're going to get in this section. Paul is telling them, this is not random. It's baked into our scripture. He also says that God said that they would reject the Messiah, contrary to their own Bibles. That the ranks of the deserters would be filled with Gentiles. I'm condensing what Paul is going to tell them here.
That not believing their Bible, that they would go on to attack those who do believe their Bible. Stephen suffered that. Paul suffered that. Apollo suffered that.
And of course, many of the Gentiles and other Jews did also. So Paul is saying, this comes as no surprise that you're rejecting your Messiah, because it is prophecy. Now prophecy is going to be greater than prediction. We can make a prediction and it will not happen, but a prophecy is guaranteed. A prophecy of God, the God of the Bible. Jewish unbelief is unreasonable.
That's what he's telling them. Not only because they could have believed, but they should have believed. And so their behavior, the behavior of the Jews in his day, is predicted behavior.
It was unreasonable behavior because of its disbelief, as with many churchgoers and non-churchgoers to this day. So these things are relevant to us. You know, people want to be happy. They want joy.
We get that. But we also understand there's no real happy and there's no real joy without truth. The truth of God. And a lot of folks have become very comfortable sidestepping, reducing truth, if it will keep the peace. I wish that more Christians would love their scripture and look to adhere to what the Bible says more than their pursuit of emotional stimulus.
I got to get excited. The music wasn't right. Was the truth preached?
The music could be perfect and the word rotten. It's got to, everything has to be on the basis of scripture. And this is what Paul is telling the Jews. You have no basis to reject your Christ.
And so we've got a lot to look at. Let's begin in verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? A good verse to memorize, packed with truth, a string of solid questions revealing the importance of solid questions revealing the importance of evangelism. Now there's a difference between evangelism and witnessing. Witnessing is what you do no matter what. It's either going to be good or bad.
One of those two. It's the Christian being observed. Evangelism is the actual telling of the gospel.
The good news. And there can be no personal prayer to an unknown God. It can be gibberish to some God of your imagination, but not a personal relationship with a true God if you don't, if you've never heard of him, if you don't know him. There can be no chance to believe in God, the God of truth, if you never hear about him.
No one drifts into salvation. All salvation is dependent upon the Holy Spirit and all the salvation that is available comes through the Word. Otherwise what are you saved to? How can you verify that what you believe in has a basis in truth? In fact, if you were to go to, let's just say, the American Indian religions, what basis do they have to worship the bear and the eagle and other things? Ancestral hearsay.
That's it. The Christian has the scripture, but what does that mean? It means we have an unbroken witness that can back up what it's saying. Not only is it scientifically accurate and reasonable and moral and beneficial, but the prophecies blow everything else away.
Nobody's got this. We need to get that in front of those who don't believe, who have no problem repeating nonsense that they picked up along the way. There can be no hearing without the preacher, and the word here for preacher is the herald, kiragma in the Greek, the messenger, the proclaimer.
Make way for the king, he would be a herald. And this is the role of every Christian. Jesus said to them, go into all the world and preach, same Greek word, herald, the gospel, to every creature. Now, that's not the insects.
Do insects bug each other? Anyway, Mark chapter 16, verse 20, the last verse of Mark. Some translations and Bible sources will dispute that.
They're wrong. Anyway, we'll get to that another time. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. That's a fact.
That's what happened. And we wouldn't be here today if that did not happen, but it did. And God does not always use miraculous signs. Truth should be enough.
We're in the church age. Truth is the great separator between that which is false and that which comes from the Lord. And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard?
They cannot. God has not left the gospel message to angels. He's not left it to sinners. He's not left it to unbelieving sinners.
He's not left it to the imagination of anyone. And he's not left it, he has not left evangelism to church marketing agencies. I mean, how, the audacity to call a church and say, hey, you need me to save people. You need me to put people in your church. The audacity, if I remember the scripture tells me the Lord added to the church such as were being saved. That's his responsibility.
And my responsibility, our responsibility is not to get in the way of that. Anyway, coming back to this, God has committed the preaching of the gospel evangelism to receivers who can be transmitters. That would be the saved people. This, by the way, debunks the idea of infant baptism. How shall they believe in whom they have not heard? Well, infants cannot, in the context of understanding, of course. Infants cannot believe in the church because they cannot understand.
They fall into a different category. And I believe when infants die, they go to heaven. Anyway, and you know, when I make statements like that, there's scripture verses in back of it.
And if you need to know, just ask me later. Anyway, how shall they hear without a preacher? Well, God does not speak through grilled cheese sandwiches.
Some believe he does. How convenient to avoid accountability because truth holds us all accountable. Truth makes a demand on the listener every single time. You can be on the right side of it.
I've met the demand or not. The very thing the guilty and disillusioned want to avoid is a true preacher of the gospel. You don't need to be a pastor to be a preacher of the gospel, an evangelist.
There are some that are gifted in this area more than others. But we all, we all can be used to do this without an exception. Adam's sin, talking about those who want to avoid the preacher, Adam's sin immediately made him afraid to meet with God there in the Garden of Eden at the first sin, Genesis 3 10. I heard your voice, Adam said to God, in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked, I hid myself. Afraid to meet the only one that could help him.
Men are still doing this. The wise thing would have been for Adam to seek God. But hiding from God, the Lord had to seek Adam.
First John, we read, we love him because he first loved us. Well, that was demonstrated back in Eden. God didn't have to seek them. He could have left them.
He could have slew them instead of the animal or the animals. Luke 19 10, the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost because that's what I've been doing from day one. There in Genesis 3, when God called out, Adam, where are you? It was not a nasty tone.
It was a tone of love, heartbreak. The Lord retrieves people through preaching of the scripture by those who have received the scripture. Direct action of the Holy Spirit. And this is what Paul is trying to say. You have Bibles. How come we Jews have received him on the basis of scripture and you have not? After reading this, any Jew in that congregation in Rome should have had no question why his people held the scriptures in their hands and ignored the fulfillment of scripture before their eyes. In verse 15, he says, and how shall they preach unless they are sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preached the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things?
I don't know. Are there any Christians out there that just bring doom and gloom or are they bringing good news? I mean, when you tell somebody, listen, this is the fact. You are messed up in the presence of God. You're unacceptable. You're hideous in the presence of God as you are.
However, you can be made beautiful in the eyes of God, but it will only be through his son. Oh, hell doesn't like that and the war, the fight is on. God alone sends his messengers and when they send themselves, it's going to be a mess. Our English word, missions, comes from the Latin for being sent. Well, that's not the word here in the Greek.
The meanings are the same, so don't worry about that, but it's an interesting study to just briefly understand what's going on here. I think the Jesuits are the ones that really introduced this Latin word into our language and is now in the church at large. But here, when he says, and how shall they preach unless they are sent? Well, remember the Lord said, separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work of ministry. And he went on to say in Acts chapter 13, then having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away.
Well, they are sent. That Greek word, there's the same word. We get our Greek word and English word, apostle. Now there are only 13 men in the Bible who were apostles of Jesus Christ, hand-picked by Christ. Matthias was not hand-picked by Christ.
No slight on him. He's a great man of God. What's the Lord going to do after the disciples went and took it upon themselves to replace Judas' spot? He goes, and Matthias, you're fired. No, God says, no, just run for more.
But only 13. Judas forfeited his position and Paul was put in that position. Well, how come we hear in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 that the church sent them out using that same word as apostles, where we get the word apostles from? It's because there is a such thing as apostles of the church, apostles of Jesus Christ, apostles of the church.
It's a distinction we should understand. So when the church sends somebody out, maybe it's a foreign mission, maybe it's a local mission. They're an apostle of the church. They're sent out. The word missions, again, Latin for sent. And so that's just a little background to what's going on here. How shall they preach unless they are sent? Somebody's got to dispatch them.
Who is that? Well, it's the Holy Spirit. And again, when men take it upon themselves to send out without God, it usually ends up pretty bad. It certainly ends up a place where the Holy Spirit has to get in there and fix things. Would a church or a Christian want to say, I don't need the Holy Spirit.
I can lead myself. He says here, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace? Well, he's still quoting scripture. He won't stop. He won't shut up with the scripture. Thank you, Paul. The Holy Spirit inspired him to back up what he was saying to people of the Bible with the Bible. And we're supposed to do the same thing. We say if there's no scripture basis for it, it's not binding.
In fact, it may be a violation. He's quoting Isaiah 52 verse 7 and he's quoting Nahum chapter 1 verse 15. But we're going to concentrate on Isaiah because he's concentrating on Isaiah as he begins to unfold his scripture quotations. Isaiah used these words to proclaim that beautiful day of restoration for Israel, which has not come yet. The day will come when Israel will no longer be surrounded by the demon-possessed people that they are surrounded by. Israel has no peace today because of their demon-possessed neighbors. Not every single one of them, but the ones who cause the trouble are. Isaiah 52 verse 7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace.
Now pause there. We want that peace, but not at the cost of truth. It is no longer peace, regardless of how comfortable you may be, if truth has been taken away. And Isaiah continues, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.
Now, the only reason I read the entirety of Isaiah 52 7 is because it's a beautiful verse, and I couldn't wait to get to the part, your God reigns, the sovereignty of God. So making the peace of the gospel important as Jesus did, the church is supposed to continue to do that through preaching of what is true. Romans 5-1, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That sinful woman who wept at the feet of Jesus, she did so because those feet brought good news to her, that she was forgiven. Who bring glad tidings of good things, here in verse 15 of Romans 10, is emphasizing God's truth and love. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 16. Now, let me set this verse up.
He says here in verse 15 of Romans 10, who bring glad tidings of good things. Well, it ain't gonna be good for everyone, and it will be their choice. If they do not want to receive it, then the judgment will be upon them. And so when I quote 2 Corinthians 2 16, I'm saying to you what Paul said to them.
To the one, we are an aroma of death leading to death, and to the other, the aroma of life leading to life. Choice is theirs. They'll receive it and be saved, or they will reject it, and they will have no one else to blame. They will not say, God sent me to hell. No, God supported your position to send you where he is not.
Although he rules, of course. Remember, Satan does not rule hell. That would be a reward, and he will be cast into the lake of fire, prepared for him and his angels, and there also will be the devil and the Antichrist, the Antichrist and his sidekick. Well, verse 16, but they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? And so when he says they have not all obeyed, he said they have the Bible. You want to know how is it that the Jews have the Bible and many of them have rejected their Messiah?
They've not obeyed. And so not all will believe and not all will be saved, but maybe you and I could be the one person that is the turning point. In 1 Kings, this is the story of King Jehoshaphat and the wicked King Ahab. Jehoshaphat could not pick good friends. Hopefully you younger Christians will learn not to pick bad friends, those who offer nothing to your Christianity, but take away from it.
If you cannot minister to them, you need to come out, come out, be separate from them, and if God wants you to be part of their salvation, he'll set it up. Well, Jehoshaphat, again, he sided with this wicked king, and he always gets in trouble when he does that. Hmm, I wonder if the Bible's trying to teach us something there. So Jehoshaphat goes with the king, and they're going to go to war, and the king summons all of his false heretics and apostates and, you know, shaman, and they're all saying, yes, go to war. It's going to be a lovely thing. You're going to kill everybody.
You're going to win. And King Jehoshaphat, righteous that he was, discerning enough, Jehoshaphat said, 1 Kings 22 verse 7, is there still a prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire of him? So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there's still one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may acquire of Yahweh, but I hate him. I hate that guy because he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil.
Yeah, because you are evil. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say such things. You want to see Jehoshaphat?
What are you doing there? Anyway, he jumped out of the Jehoshaphat and into the fire. And there's, he jumped out of the fat into the fire, something like that.
Anyhow, that was even bad for a dad joke. But coming back to this, you may be the one man, as Micaiah was, the one. Be ready, be armed, carry your sword on your side. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So Paul, this morning with Isaiah, he's saying, it's not a surprise that they're not believing. That's what Isaiah said 700 years ago, that this would happen. Isaiah 53, from which he is quoting, is the most quoted book in the New Testament. And it has everything to do with Jesus Christ being the Messiah who saves through the cross. And if you think there's another way to be saved other than the cross of Christ, then you mock God.
You're telling him he is cruel, he is mean for having the audacity to send the Son to the cross to suffer the cruel shame and death when there's some other way. It's like sort of the Wizard of Oz things. Oh, Dorothy, you could have always have gone home. What do you mean? How come you didn't tell me this earlier? I got to run from these scary monkeys and you're running around telling me nothing about this?
I'm using that. I don't believe that was a true story, by the way. But it makes the point. If you're watching that, you say, how come, how come they didn't tell her she's supposed to be the good witch? She had opportunity to tell her that earlier.
All right, coming back to this. Their unreasonable and relentless disbelief of what their own Bible says is the reason why they're not getting it. Because again, the gospel is not some random heresy that just popped up. It lines up with scripture. It is deeply rooted in the scripture, their scripture, our Old Testament.
And there's more to this story. And so Paul applies to Jesus, this prophecy in Isaiah, and he's saying Jesus Christ of Nazareth is our Messiah who has spoken to us 700 years ago and more in other places, but by, especially by Isaiah. 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, we'll be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.
