Could Have, Should Have (Part B)

All right, I'm a believer, but now I want to serve. Well, you're going to have to have the faith, the belief to know God is leading you to do this. We come to Christ by hearing and steering.

That's the point. All right, I'm saved through hearing the Word of God and receiving it, but I still need God to direct me. It's not like, okay, I'm saved, I'm in now. I don't need you anymore.

I'm good. No, Lord, now that I'm saved, I need you more than ever. 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. And now here's Pastor Rick with part two of his message called Could've, Should've in Romans chapter 10. 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, he's emphasizing God's truth and love, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 16. 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 going to 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 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 have not obeyed. And so not all will believe and not all will be saved, but maybe you and I can 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. I wonder if the Bible is 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 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. Didn't he jump out of the fat into the fire or 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've 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 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. He is the one to come and suffer on behalf of sinners. Only Jesus fulfilled the Isaiah prophecy.

No one else, there's no one that comes even close. The messianic interpretation of Isaiah 53 was held by the rabbis until the 12th century. So for 1200 years after Christ, they believed that Isaiah 53 was talking about their Messiah. After that, Jewish scholars started interpreting it, personifying Israel, saying, no, it's really talking about Israel. Because they could not stand up to the Christian argument, the Christian truth, saying, this is your Messiah. Isaiah 53 is called it.

Why don't you believe this record? So they changed their interpretation of it. But how could Israel die for the sins of Israel according to Isaiah 53 8? Who declared that Israel was innocent of sin and therefore had suffered unjustly, Isaiah 53 9. You could never declare Israel as innocent. Just read Judges, just read the book of Kings or Chronicles or Samuel or Joshua, any of them, pick one. All of the prophets are going against the sins in Israel and in Judah.

No, the prophet wrote about an innocent individual, not a guilty nation. Isaiah 53 is about him. And it is clear to the honest, and Paul is saying it is clear to this very day. And the New Testament, of course, affirms that this servant Messiah of Isaiah 53 is the Son of God. Well, that brings up a whole other thing, the Son of God, the Son of David, who had come to rule Isaiah 9 6, Isaiah 11, Jeremiah 23 verse 5, Jeremiah 31 verse 31, Jeremiah 33 verse 15.

And that's just a little bit of it. Those verses all point to David having someone from his lineage that would be ruler, and globally. So we get to the New Testament, the very first verse, Matthew 1 verse 1, the book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. This is big news if you understand what the Bible means when it says the Son of David, how it's documented it hundreds of years before he was even born. Matthew 9 27, two blind men followed him crying out saying Son of David have mercy on us. What I'm building up here, what I'm saying is, the Jews in Jesus' day were exposed to all of this.

Their rejection of Christ was unfounded, it was unreasonable, they should have believed, they could have believed, but they chose not to. Matthew 12 23, and all the multitudes were amazed and said, could this be the Son of David? Why would they even ask that question unless they understand the rabbinical teachings that Messiah would be a Son of David?

It was a short walk to the temple from, well, a short travel to the temple from any part of Israel to look up the records and see, hey, Jesus Christ of Nazareth is actually on the lineage of David. In fact, the Bible says it's recorded in two different sources. Luke gives us one, Matthew gives us one. Matthew gives us the line from Solomon, Luke comes along and gives us the line from Nathan, David's other son. One belongs to Joseph, the other belongs to Mary.

They cover it, just totally cover it. Matthew 22 verse 42, what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he, Jesus asked. They said to him, the Son of David. That was supposed to carry an infinite amount of weight in the light of all the miracles and teachings that he was doing.

It was a no-brainer. But even those who did follow him struggled from time to time. Mark 12 verse 35, Jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David? Because they read the scripture, that's why.

But they weren't acting on it, so he calls them out. If Jesus is not the Messiah, then there will never be one. It is now impossible to prove one's Davidic lineage. No Jew can say, now I'm from the tribe of David, so what about the 144,000 Jews?

That's tribal identification. You can't boil it down to the house of David. When that happens, Revelation chapter 7, the Jews, I do believe through DNA, will discover what tribe they're linked to, but they will not be able to file it down as in the day of Achan, when Achan was guilty and Joshua was discerning who the guilty one was, because Achan wasn't stepping forward.

He had the tribes walk before him, and then the families and the clans, and he boiled it down until finally it was Achan. Well then it won't get that chance again. So again, if Jesus is not the Messiah, then there never will be one. It's too late. There's no longer a short trip to the temple to look at the temple records. They were destroyed by the Romans in what we know as 70 AD.

It is an interesting little study. Just take the word, your concordance, and look up the word fulfilled in Matthew, John, and Acts, and see how the apostles are saying Christ fulfilled the scripture. Nobody else can that be said of. In a sense, well, you know, Judas Iscariot fulfilled the scripture, but in a sense it's messianic, meaning only Christ, and that's why Matthew, more than anyone, emphasizes this, because he's writing to Jewish people. That's his audience. And he's saying, fulfilled, fulfilled, fulfilled, by Christ. And so we should not be wondering, scratching our heads, saying, how come the Jews don't get it? They don't want to get it.

Nor should we be scratching our heads wondering why Gentiles don't want to get it when they have been slaughtered on the field of ideas, when you present them with the truth. I mean, it's just, I mean, is there anything more ridiculous than having someone who is otherwise extremely intelligent and actually believes that all creation just kind of happened? It's pretty serious. It's spiritual.

It's not physical. When you come across somebody who believes, who blocks God out, you are dealing with a spiritual problem, whether they are aware of it or not, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, but that is not enough. So now we come to verse 17. So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

I just said that. Okay, the strict application here is saving faith. This is that kind of faith comes by hearing and has to do with salvation. But there's another kind of faith. There's a kind of serving faith. I'm a believer, but now I want to serve. Well, you're going to have to have the faith, the belief to know God is leading you to do this. We come to Christ by hearing and steering.

That's the point. All right, I'm saved through hearing the word of God and receiving it, but I still need God to direct me. It's not like, okay, I'm saved. I mean, I don't need you anymore.

I'm good. No, it's, Lord, now that I'm saved, I need you more than ever. So I don't mess this up and become an apostate. We grow and we glow in Christ through hearing the word of God and through applying the word of God, having it applied to our lives. So by hearing, not inheritance, and not osmosis, if you live in a Christian home, you will not automatically become a Christian. And if you're born to Christian parents, you are not born a Christian. You still have to be born again.

And then that requires you, you know, a lot that goes, a lot more work is required after that. It's not good enough to just say, I believe. There, you have, there's the denial of self. There's the taking up of the cross.

There's the studying to show yourself approved. There's so much more. There's that really difficult one, love. And you know, we wish God said, love those who you like. That would have made it so easy.

Because once I stop loving them, liking them, I don't have to love them anymore. Anyway, I'm not the only one that has been there, and you know it. And hearing by the word of God, well, it's specific to scripture.

That's what he says. It's not just hearing anything. It's hearing, he's talking about the Old Testament at this point. Matthew 13, 23. He who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, then he goes on to say, and bears fruit. Evidence of the salvation.

Evidence that belief did something more than just held its hand up and agreed. Responsibility rests upon those who hear. If you want to look that up, John 9, 41. John 15, 22.

James 4, 17. Those are good verses that say, hey, it's not enough to just hear. But if you hear, you have to act.

And if you don't act, it's going to come up, it's going to not go well with you. The word of God is the voice of God. In the New Testament, John 18, 37. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

You see, now we're back to that word truth again. And it's going to be, you're going to be attacked. Maybe Satan will just send skirmishes out. You know, skirmishes is a little fight just to see what you got. And then it escalates.

You should be ready for that. And there's a lot of joy in being bothered by people who want Christ to be wrong. And they've picked up something along the way, and they want to, like a virus, and they want to stick it on you. And you are the cure. So don't be intimidated by them. Using scientific facts and philosophical logic, brilliant moral points.

They're good, they're necessary, but they're not enough. Scripture leads to salvation, that's what scripture says. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Or else, what are they renouncing? Who are they coming to? Verse 18, but I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world. You know, there are a lot of Christians that find this boring.

It's so boring. I was waiting to get up and dance so everybody could see me, how much I had the Spirit, which won. Because the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will never compete with Christ.

He will never draw attention to himself away from Jesus Christ. One of the reasons why if someone gets up when they're not supposed to get up, we take them down. Because they're drawing attention to themselves. I'm in the Spirit, I feel good, I remind you, and it's practiced everywhere. Do I sound angry when I'm, because I don't want to sound, I want to sound friendly. I want people to say, boy you just did that so well.

Well who doesn't? No one wants you to come up and say, man you really messed that one up. But it has to be said. It's sad that there are Christians that just don't want Bible teaching.

Well, this is rhetorical. Have they not heard? The they here are the Jewish people. Wherever the Jews in history have traveled throughout the world, what have they taken with them? Except for the little beanie caps.

And that's not derogatory. They would probably chuckle at that. The scripture, wherever they go, there's the Torah. And that's what Paul is saying. Yes indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. They always have the scripture.

They took with them Isaiah and the prophets, and they quoted them to each other. As Paul is quoting in this letter, Paul still has the testimony of creation and the prophets, but what are they going to do with them? Creation is general revelation from God. It's a basic revelation that there is a mastermind behind it all, a creator. Psalm 19 verse 1, the heavens declare your glory, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. And that's God saying, don't come, the fool says there's no God. That's what God calls the agnostic or the atheist. God. We just repeat it.

We do it delightfully, I think, sometimes. But then there's scriptural revelation, which is special revelation. So you have general revelation, which is, you know, creation, and you have special, which is deliberate, which is organized. Psalm 19, same psalm. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

And this is revelation from God. So Israel should have recognized their Messiah because of the scripture, because of sheer logic in light of the scripture. And so no Jew has a scriptural excuse to reject the Messiah. I love this verse in Hebrews, Paul writing to Jews again. Remember, he is Jewish. God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the prophets through the fathers, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, in whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he has made the world. This is the son of David, who is given global rule in the scriptures, prophetic scriptures. Verse 3 of Hebrews 1, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself, no other savior, purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of majesty on high. There is no greater statement of the deity of Christ and of his dying for us, purging us of the penalty of our being sinners. I don't understand why young people are raised in a Bible teaching church and then get the scent of the world's disbelief and run after it like a dog going to vomit, going after vomit.

But they do, and it shouldn't happen. So if the Jew has no excuse, neither do you. You Gentile, who hears the scripture, you too have no excuse. Verse 19, I have to pause there. I remember when I was on the wrong side of this, and the only reason I'm saved is because Jesus Christ loved me and came and got me. But me being a self-determinate being like everybody else could have said, no, no, I don't want it.

I do want it. Paul here, verse 19, but I say, did Israel not know? For Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation.

I will move you to anger by a foolish nation. Well, that covers the Gentiles both individually and as peoples. Paul's evidence against Israel's rejection of their Bible is that this is no new thing from God. You seeing these Gentiles come in, it's not that God has given up on you and has gone to the Gentiles instead. It's that you have rejected him and he's included the Gentiles. You too can come in.

The Gentile and Jew can be saved just like one like the other. 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.