There's something wrong with how people are taking in information and what they do with it. And it's nobody to blame but them. But of course, we don't want anybody to be accountable, right? We are living in an age where we're seeing people getting away with not being held accountable and we don't like it. Well, God was ahead of us on that one as everything else.
He doesn't like the fact that people think they're not accountable either. Thus, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge when you understand, hey, I'm accountable for this. 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. Now, here's Pastor Rick as he continues teaching in the Book of Romans Chapter 10 with part three of his message called Could Have Should Have. 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, when 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, 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. You say, 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, the families, and the clans, and he boiled it down until finally it was Achan. Well then 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's an interesting little study. Just take 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, 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. 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 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'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. And 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. 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 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 one? Because 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, never mind 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'd 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.
Israel 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 spoken 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, the 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've seen these Gentiles come in. It's not that God has given up on you and has gone to the Gentiles instead. It's just 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. God is saying, Paul is saying it's been in the word that God would reach out to the Gentiles. He's quoting, of course, Deuteronomy 32 at this point.
So I want to go back to what I said earlier. Instead of rejoicing that Gentiles are coming to Yahweh, they were interfering with their coming to Yahweh. So Paul says that God prophesied about your behavior, you who disbelieve. He prophesied that you would reject the Messiah contrary to your own scripture. That the ranks of the deserters, those who are against Christ from Israel, would be filled by Gentiles. They'll come in instead which would provoke them to this jealousy that Isaiah was talking about that Paul is applying. Paul is saying at some point the prophecies get fulfilled and they're fulfilled right here.
He said you wouldn't believe and look what you're doing. And Paul said that not believing your Bible, you would attack them. And so it comes as no surprise that things are the way they are because these self-determinate beings, that's another way of saying free will, have opted to do it their way and not God's way.
We'll get back to that. Jewish unbelief is unreasonable and it is unreasonable because they could believe because it's right there. Just like it's unreasonable to be raised in a church that preaches the word.
But because they could have and should have and did not, there's a consequence to that. And again, he's quoting Moses on top of Isaiah as key witnesses. Mark Twain said this, and Mark Twain was a heretic, but he was a real clever one. And you can't help but admire many of the things that he said. He said it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. Isn't that true?
He said I can fool you. This explains, this observation explains why telling the truth about Jesus Christ is disbelieved by so many. Jesus said it this way, they swallow camels and they gag on gnats. There's something wrong with how people are taking in information and what they do with it. And it's nobody to blame but them. But of course, we don't want anybody to be accountable, right? We are living in an age where we're seeing people getting away with not being held accountable and we don't like it. Well, God was ahead of us on that one as everything else. He doesn't like the fact that people think they're not accountable either. Thus, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
When you understand, hey, I'm accountable for this. Verse 20, but Isaiah is very bold and says I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me.
Well, where did that happen? The Philippian jailer, Acts chapter 16, he wasn't looking to get saved. He came to work that night to finish his sandwich while the bad guys slept. And the earthquake came and he was going to kill himself. And Paul called out, do yourself no harm. And he got saved and so did his family. He was found, God is found, by those who weren't seeking him. So again, the scripture comes true. It was not that God found a better people to replace the Jews. It's that Messiah was made easier for other people to find the God of the Jews.
And they didn't like it. Verse 21, but to Israel he says, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient, contrary people. And that's the final answer. He could have just said that, right? But he explains all these other, he points out all the prophets, he takes away all their excuses. Do you know what one of them would have said to him when you get to this verse? All day long I've stretched out my hands to disobedient, contrary people. So Paul, are you saying that we need to accept Christ as Messiah and the Sabbath is no longer necessary and circumcision, we just come by faith?
Yes, that's what I'm saying. We don't want to hear you. We insist we have a ritual. It's not good enough for us that one man has opened the door for us by faith. We need to have a say so.
We need to draw attention to ourselves. Look at me bringing my bull down to the temple. I guess in some ways people are still bringing bulls to church. It's, you know, we look at churches, you know, what does a small town need? Another church to go with the other 500.
What is happening? Why are churches popping up everywhere? They're all preaching the same, most of them are preaching the same thing. Why not just strengthen each other? What kind of testimony is that?
I don't know. I didn't plan to say that, but I'm glad I got some of it off my chest. I think if you're going to start a church somewhere, don't build on somebody else's foundation. It's a fundamental New Testament teaching to not build on another's foundation. That's the way to go to a church and steal people to your church. Not to mention you might get beat up doing it if you do it at this church, but not that we haven't done it before. You missed that.
Alright, let's get back to this. But to Israel he says, verse 21, all day long I've stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Tireless outreach. And this verse again answers what he started in Romans chapter 9 and verse 6, which launched Romans chapters 9 through 11. The word disobedient here in the Greek, it is rebellious, but in the Hebrew it's rebellious, but in the Greek it's disbelieving, but they both get you at the same place. They're both connected. So if you look that up, don't be disturbed. It is saying the same thing.
So I want to close with this. You remember Jesus said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to her. Oh Americans, the ones who have more Bibles than anyone on earth, demanding signs and wonders and emotional inspiration in Christ without Christ. The truth of scripture alone did not inspire the Jews to believe in Messiah. Now that is a good lesson for those who believe in verse by verse teaching. It's not enough just to have the Bible. The truth of scripture alone does not inspire churchgoers to find in scripture what they should not do. We have to be dependent on the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, the very thing that Jesus said, I'm not going to leave you orphans. I will send the Spirit. He will guide you into all truth.
You are dependent upon him. So I close with Job's words. The man who suffered wrote how then can you comfort me with empty words since falsehood remains in your answers? How can the church be of any use to God when the integrity, when the truth of scripture is put aside so we can have this pseudo peace?
Can't. Let's pray. 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.
