Christian, you have been born again for these things. You have been rebuilt for these things. And in my experience as a Christian, when I remember I'm built for this, I get stronger. As a pastor, you know, you get your heart broken a lot.
You can't show it. You got to keep moving. And I remember I'm built for this.
I can either say, I don't need this, I quit, or I can say I'm built 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the Book of Romans Chapter 12 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. We are in Paul's letter to the Romans, Chapter 12, take verses 9 through 13, but we will try to get through the whole chapter. Romans Chapter 12, verses 9 through 13. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil.
Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor, giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
Well these are not gifts, these are characteristics that should come out of a relationship with Christ for the born again, those who have been touched by God and born from above. That's what born again means. Revelation 19, 14, we read, and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Following the Lord.
That day hasn't come yet. The day that we're in right now, we're following him. We are pursuing righteousness and that's what Paul is talking about. It takes effort, fueled by faith, to follow Jesus Christ.
It does not come naturally, it comes spiritually. And when you try to follow the Lord naturally, you're likely going to just fall short of the goal. Jeremiah, the prophet, you know, Jeremiah suffered so much and he tells us a lot about it. He tells us about his conversations with God, his prayers to God, and how he objected to the methods that God opted to use. He protested. And what we learned from Jeremiah is when he had a problem, he took it to the Lord.
And he wrote down a lot of them. Not all of them, I'm sure. In the 12th chapter, he's complaining about, you know, the wicked people, they've got all that they need. They have the resources, they have the blessings in their life, and we the righteous, we struggle. And God was going to tell him in a moment, you think it's hard now, it's going to get worse. You think that the people are against you?
Well, you're going to have family members against you, too, because of your relationship with me. And so God says to him in Jeremiah 12, if you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? If you can't keep up with the infantry, Jeremiah, then the cavalry is going to be too much for you. And the prophet took that as an encouragement, and he wrote it down so everybody could know about it. And this is a verse that is one that I've drawn from many times in my Christian walk, and I don't want to lose sight of it. There are other verses, too, that are just as beneficial when it comes to pursuing righteousness, Christian pursuits. What good are Christian strong points in serving the Lord if we live disinterested in the character of Christ?
We have no Christ-likeness about us. Paul, care of this, rattles off a string of characteristics in this 12th chapter of Romans. Who cares if you're humble but a hypocrite? So what you can teach the Bible, but you're rude and you're opportunistic. These are things that have to be dealt with.
Where else are they going to be dealt with? 1 Corinthians 12, you all know this, though I have all knowledge, all faith, so that I could remove mountains. But have not love, I am nothing. That is profound. So the first 11 chapters of this Roman letter, he has been emphasizing salvation by faith. Here we have salvation's fruits. Something should happen more than just, I believe. Then what?
Does it show up anywhere? The fingerprint of Christ-like love is Christ-like behavior, characteristics. And so looking at verse 9, he says, let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. If keeping it real were easy, then everybody would keep it real.
We wouldn't have hypocrites. But it is difficult. And I think it helps to know. Recognizing that things are going to be difficult begins to prepare us for the difficulties. What if you were going off to the universities and said, don't worry about it, it's going to be such a breeze. You don't have to study, you don't have to stay up.
It's just going to flow right through it. But when they tell you, your life is going to end. You're going to be so fixed on studying, reading, getting ready all the time. If you want, if you want to make the most of it, if you want to get your money's worth or your parents' money's worth, you're going to have to work for it.
And that begins to prepare the student for the hardships that they're going to face. Psalm 55 verse 21, the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil.
Yet they were drawn daggers. There the prophet, the psalmist, was talking about hypocrisy. As Paul is, let love be without that kind of stuff.
What's the alternative? Let love be hypocritical, then it's not love any longer, not agape love for sure. Luke 22, Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? And as we go on in the New Testament, we still have the saints greeting each other with a righteous kiss.
Let's try it out right now. We're glad it's not a commandment. Then on the other side of that, love without hypocrisy. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said to him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit, no guile, love without hypocrisy. Religion can be that which a man follows without God. You've got a religion, but God not with you. That was the life of King Saul eventually. Truth and love serve as vaccinations against hypocrisy.
They help us, they protect us, they shield us. Truth, I don't want to be fake and I want to be loving. Maybe you're easily annoyed. Well, you've got to work on that. I tell you what easily annoys me is how easily I get annoyed. When one of my children gets sick, what's wrong with you now? Really, I'm not upset at them. I just don't want them to be sick. I'd rather be sick. I have to work on that because they're like, I'm feeling miserable, dad. How about not getting, jumping down my throat? Anyway, since it's confession time, here's another thing.
No, I'm kidding. Luke chapter 12, verse 1. I love that you come to a church, you get the word of God in different flavors, different forms coming at you from all directions. What would you rather your pastor tell you, how you can be rich and own a mansion or how, anyway, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he, being Jesus, began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
You're probably wondering, how does this, how does this have to do with it? Well, there's the punchline at the end. They're trampling each other, set off a teachable moment for our Lord on self-centeredness, hypocrisy, people trampling each other to get to a holy man. That's why they were trampling each other.
Well, that's a contradiction. And Jesus recognized it. He pointed it out.
He taught on it. Put us under enough pressure and we learn just how committed to truth and love we are. Pressure squeezes out of us what's inside of us. Revelation 2, speaking to the church at Smyrna, that church that suffered for Christ. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. Excuse me, Lord. And you're going to let him?
Well, he wasn't asking questions. He continued, that you may be tested. Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. Well, that testing was going to squeeze out of them truth and love, perseverance, abhor what is evil. The saved will always hate evil. Psalm 97, verse 10, you who love Yahweh hate evil.
Oh, I mean, to just bring that into focus when you hear about someone doing something vile to a child, do you not hate it? Cling to what is good. Cling to cling is to not let go.
How easily we do that. So strengthen your grip. Don't be satisfied with pitiful grip. Psalm 63, verse 8 gives this picture sort of like, you know, the saints following behind the Lord as he leads the posse across the, you know, in the chase. Psalm 63, 8, my soul follows close behind you. Your right hand upholds me. In holding to the Lord, he will hold me.
I'm not alone. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Christian, you have been born again for these things. You have been rebuilt for these things. And in my experience as a Christian, when I remember I'm built for this, I get stronger.
As a pastor, you know, you get your heart broken a lot. You can't show it. You got to keep moving. And I remember I'm built for this. I can either say I don't need this.
I quit. Or I could say I'm built for this. Lord saw it coming. He didn't stop it because he's the one that has made me a new creation in Christ.
Anyone who's in Christ, he's a new creation. Well, it's good for the goose, good for the gander. It's true of you too as Christians. Whatever you face in this life, you're built for it. If you can't keep up with the footmen, how are you going to keep up with the horses? So we develop a resolve.
I'm going to trust God. I don't like it. I don't like what's going on. I can't do anything about it.
He won't say anything to me. But I know what my orders are. And I will walk my post. I will obey. So cling to what is good. Pursuit of love shines the brightest, does it not, when you're pressured to be unloving and you overcome it. And you can say, Lord, I got that one right. Verse 10, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor, giving preference to one another.
Stop snapping at people, especially when it's unjustified. Now, the word affectionate, be kindly affectionate here is a compound Greek word composed of two words that really have to do with love. The Greek word philo-strogos, philo, love, strogos, it's a love for the family, an affection for the family.
It's used especially in ancient Greek writing of a parent's love for their child or close relative. It is also used for affection of a king. I love my king. I love my king.
I have only one. It is used also of a dog's love for his master, which is quite profound when you think about it. It is strogos, which belongs to this single word affectionate, does not appear by itself in the New Testament, but it does show up again in the negative. In chapter 1, verse 31 in 2 Timothy 3, as a strogos, or unloving. And so, be kindly affectionate. He's saying love like family. That's the idea behind this.
Love cuts slack without enabling evil. Sometimes it's just lightened up. Yeah, it's not ideal. It's less than ideal.
Could be even actually wrong. But does it merit an unloving spirit? Do I voice my opinion in bitterness, lash out at people, strike them? Well, being kindly affectionate remembering this will help us not to do this. He says one to another with brotherly love. And so he's pouring it on pretty thick with the love.
He's going to do it throughout this chapter. And he says in honor, giving preference to one another. Well, that would say not all about you, is it? Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's supposed to be. I think while a mother is giving birth to a child, it's all about her, right? Well, a child too. Anyway, maybe I won't go, you know, I don't, whenever I speak on those kind of things of women, like don't you do it.
You don't know anything about being a mom. Verse 11, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Well, if diligence lags, it's for a reason. It's not magic. Look at that. I don't have any diligence.
It must have just gone away. A lot of things can cause us to be less than hard workers in the Lord. Self-pity is a big one. Disloyalty. You're just not loyal. Loyalty does not count until pressure is put on you.
Then we find out when you don't like something, are you going to turn tail and run or are you going to stand your ground in faith? One of the great heroes on this lesson is Ittai the Hittite. The Gittite, sorry, not a Hittite, a Gittite. That's important.
Well, not really. Anyway, but Ittai answered the king. This is when David was fleeing Absalom and he's leaving Jerusalem and there are those that are supporting David lined up and as he's passing by, he comes across Ittai the Gittite, who's not a Jew. And he said, go home. This is not your fight. And the response from Ittai was, Ittai answered the king and said, as Yahweh lives and as my Lord the king lives, surely in whatever place my Lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also your servant will be.
That's what Ruth said to Naomi. That's loyalty. Under pressure doesn't count when everything's going your way. Loyalty counts when it's not going your way, but you know where you belong. And when you lag in diligence, there is a reason, find out why, if that is you or if you come into that season of life. Maybe you've become jaded. You found out how difficult people can be. Because you're not never difficult. You're not ever difficult.
There's always somebody else. Fear, faithlessness, those things contribute to it. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
I just love how this is rolling off of his stylus. In regard to spiritual work, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. You serve like you mean it, like you know who you are serving. You're benefiting people, but you're serving the Lord.
Words too plain to misunderstand. What is achieved without these? As we go through this entire chapter, what is achieved if you don't have people who love without hypocrisy, who are not diligent? What do you have if they're not a fervent spirit?
What are you left with? Don't become the Laodicean. Remember that church?
They had everything material, nothing spiritual. Revelation 3.16, in contrast to the fervent spirit. Because, Jesus speaking, you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, well actually cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
Read that one time and you'll never forget it. Verse 12, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. The Bible encourages us to continue in prayer because God knows a lot of prayers will not be granted, but they will all be received.
Thus the high priests with the incense going into the holy place, the prayers of the people before God. Not the hope of uncertainty. When we rejoice in hope, we don't say, boy I'm glad I might go to heaven. That's not rejoicing in hope. That's not blessed assurance. The Christian hope is the hope of anticipation.
I know I'm going to heaven and I can't wait for it to happen. It is born of faith. Jesus has shown us the way and we've gotten on that way, we who believe. Thus, blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. The scripture backs that up. Well, I should say that song just comes from the scripture. John wrote to the church, he said, I've written these things that you may know you have eternal life.
We don't find out on impact. We find out before we die where we're going. Patient in tribulation.
I'm so glad he did not say in traffic. Patient when afflicted, when burdened. You may be afflicted by someone or something.
You may be burdened by things in life, the accumulation of hard times. You're still patient, waiting on the Lord. Some are patient in tribulation concerning things, but not so patient with people.
Well, fine, don't be patient with people, but you have to be long suffering. Oh man, that ramps it up. That intensifies it.
Long suffering has to do with people in traffic. I'm obsessed with the difficulty of being a Christian in traffic. The Christian does not revolt under tribulation.
We double down. We don't turn on God. How could you? That's what Jeremiah was saying. He wasn't revolting, but he was expressing himself.
Lord, I don't get this. Psalm 73, same. There's other places in scripture. Continuing steadfastly in prayer.
Well, the pressure of time causes some to discontinue their pursuit of Christ and righteousness. Abraham set out a sacrifice for the Lord in Genesis 15, and we're told there he beat the vultures away because God was delaying. And the vultures were saying, you know what, I can't take it anymore.
I'm going in. And Abraham stood and guarded the sacrifice to the Lord. Imagine if Moses and Aaron and that man named her. Imagine if they just, you know, Joshua's taking too long on the battlefield and we're tired. We're not going to hold arms up to the Lord any longer.
We're leaving. That's not what happened. Moses held his arms up. The battle went for Joshua.
And as he tired, Aaron and the man named her held his arms up. And they had to get tired at some point too. And what we don't read about is their criticisms or complaints. Well, if Joshua had just flanked them, we would have been done with this battle.
You don't hear anything like that. They did their job, and they did it well. And God said, write that down.
I want others to read about it. Too busy holding up arms to the Lord to waste time criticizing the work in the Lord. Verse 13, distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Now to the needs, not the greeds. Paul, when he's telling the, when the churches, the Gentile churches, largely Gentile by this point, were rallying on behalf of the Jews in Jerusalem who were suffering, they were rallying to bring money to them.
And Paul never put pressure on them. The Holy Spirit is the one that moved them. 2 Corinthians 8, Paul says, what I did not mean that others should be eased and you burdened. I'm not asking you to go hungry. I'm asking you to take this to the Lord. Now there is an emphasis in the New Testament on taking care of believers. There is an emphasis. I'll take one verse.
We don't have time for many of them. Galatians 6, 10, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those of the household of faith. Now I'm not directing you to do anything with that. I'm leaving the verse there in your lap. Do it as you please. I have watched this verse materialize through the lives of other believers over the decades, and it is glorious to see this love being dispersed. Distribute to the needs of the saints given to hospitality. The word given there, one word in the Greek, a single word, it means to press. It's translated elsewhere, even in this chapter, and we'll get to it in verse 14, it's elsewhere translated persecute. Persecute with kindness.
That's where he's going with this. 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.
