This is not the hope of maybe this will happen. This is the hope of anticipation made by faith that it is going to happen and because I know it's going to happen, I'm looking forward to it, wanting to arrive there. I am inspired. This is like fire to me in my soul, the good kind, not a destructive fire. Christian hope is not to be the last resort. Christian hope is to be an undying fire. That's why the martyrs were able to suffer the way they suffered.
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. Again and Again is the title of Pastor Rick's message and today he'll begin in John chapter 4 and then continue into Romans chapter 15. John chapter 4, Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman at a well, you worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.
We can still use that line on people. You can still tell a lost soul the very thing. You worship what you do not know. You put value on, spiritual value on things you are ignorant of. We Christians, we know what we worship and who we worship and why. And many get offended by that.
They think, no, you should be just as off course as they are. Matthew 15, Jesus again. But he answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel because he had to line up prophecy first. He had to give the coming church all it needed for Paul to be able to write to Christians in Rome and say, again the scripture says, and again the scripture says, and again the scripture says. It's in there.
There's no way around it. So Jesus bought time during his walk, his incarnation. But after he ascended, the last thing that he said, the last thing we have from Jesus before he ascended, he says, you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
You say, well, wait a minute. Maybe he just means witnesses to Jews at the end. No, because then the Samaritans would be left out. Samaria was all Jews, not Jews. They were mixed breeds, we would say.
Jew and Gentile. And so when he said, don't take this to the Gentiles, that was his commandment. He knew he'd do it when it was right, and that is precisely what took place. And it is up to the church to be led by the Spirit.
I think it calls for sobriety to be led by the Spirit. A lot of Christians blame God for a lot of things. Well, God told me God did this, and God didn't do anything near this. He's so annoyed with you saying that, in fact, he's got earplugs on now. So he had to be careful. I'm not saying he doesn't talk to us.
He certainly does. My sheep know my voice, but not a chatterbox. John chapter 10. I would like to just come up and recite scripture.
I just have no comments. I just want to recite these scriptures. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. And Paul is going to drive that home when we close up, quoting him, driving that point home from the Ephesian letter. I know I've been repeating some of these verses. In fact, in preparation, I said, Lord, I've been quoting this verse a lot.
We'll quote it again. The Old Testament demonstrates the omniscience of God in that it gave us this predetermined gospel in the prophecies. And it tells us in those prophecies that the Jewish faith would be made available to the Gentiles, and it would no longer be the Jewish faith. It would be faith. So, again, his omniscience by giving us the prophecies of Christ, showing us, I know it all, and I'm telling you thousands of years later, just what I'm telling you now about my Messiah, it will happen.
And it has happened. There's his omnipotence, because it takes power to keep the devil off of it. It takes power to make sure humans don't mess it up. And he is all-powerful. He's able to preserve his word, and he has done just that. Some of what Christ's coming from the Jews brings to humanity is worth evaluating and learning and memorizing. Luke chapter 24, he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms.
And then he says, concerning me. It's all about Jesus, because he's worthy. That's what worship is all about, worth. He is worthy and no one else is.
So within the Godhead, of course, the Godhead is worthy, but no one else. Peter says, so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as the light shines in a dark place. Peter's saying, we have so much prophecy that's so accurate, only a fool would dismiss it.
So take heed to it, because it is a light in a dark place, because this world is a dark place being under the curse of Eden still. Here in verse 9, he continues, as it is written, for this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. Paul is saying, this is glorious stuff.
It's not argument material. This is something to sing about. For this reason I will confess you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. David, or the psalmist, is saying, this is glorious. He's quoting Psalm 18. And Paul is showing it's taught in the Old Testament and not a new concept, but it is scriptural that Gentiles are now with us.
Well, he's telling what happened to help them know what is happening. Verse 10, and again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. Verse 11, and again, praise Yahweh, O you Gentiles, Lord Him, all you peoples. So he's quoting this two more verses right there, Deuteronomy 32 and again Psalm 117, which is a very short psalm. It's just three verses.
It's probably the shortest of all. Memory serves me correct. Anyway, verse 12, once more we hear the apostle, the third time, say, and again, Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. And so we do. It's easy to lose count of how many scriptures Paul has quoted going through Romans. Well, we Christians claim to say Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He's given us the Holy Spirit to teach us about Christ and to help us share the gospel. You shall be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes. He will give us the power to witness. Well, that's going to call for a serious knowledge of his word, and that's going to call for a lot of my time.
That's called devotion. Everything Paul believes and teaches is backed up by the Bible. The helper of Israel and the messianic reign of Christ is all laid out for us just in the Gospel of John, chapter 14 through 16.
It's just even there. It's Old Testament too, but even in the New Testament. And so Paul's showing from all the parts of the Bible that the Gentiles were never outside of God's plan, but now in the lifetime of those in Rome and ours, it's happening. Paul has not concocted this. You cannot say, well, Paul, you're just a Gentile lover. He'll say, I am a Gentile lover, but that's not all I am. I love the Lord.
I love what he said. And that's why I'm trying to tell you, stop all this bickering back and forth about the Old Testament versus the New Testament. Understand the New Testament, and the Old Testament falls right into place because God has designed it that way, verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So here he's finished now. This is a benediction that he is giving, a blessing on them. He's done with this argument of Old Testament versus New Testament, Judaism versus Christianity, legalism versus liberty, grace versus law, mosaic law. He's done.
Well, we're glad. So, Christian hope comes from what? Education about God's character. How else would you know to have hope? You're not going to stumble into salvation, nor are you going to stumble into truth.
If that were so, we wouldn't need the Holy Spirit, we wouldn't need a Bible, we wouldn't need other Christians, but we need all of that. Paul, in writing to Timothy in his second letter, in the first chapter, 12th verse. Now Paul thinks he's not going to survive this. He does survive this imprisonment, but he doesn't think so at the time he writes this.
He's pretty sure this is it for him. And he says, for this reason I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him until that day. Christian hope comes from education.
Paul knew who he believed because he had been educated, he'd been taught. Guessing is a weakness, if you can overcome it, if you can learn instead of guessing. I mean, you ever try to guess on a math test?
Here's math for you, you're 100% going to be wrong if you are guessing. You either know it or you don't. So he continues, in writing to Timothy, he says, hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ. He's saying to Timothy, stick to what you've been taught, you've been educated to do the same thing. We Timothy, you and me and all the Christians, we are built for this, like it or not. Then he says that good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
It's almost poetic. That's Paul keeping ranks. That's him doing battle, and Timothy too. Church history tells us that Timothy was martyred also in Ephesus. We can't say that with the same authority that we can claim things in scripture that are given to us, but we have no reason to doubt that account.
We know what that world was about. Hebrews 11, that first verse, faith is the substance of things told for, the evidence of things not seen. Well, if you're driving, let's say, to the airport and you see signs that say airport, well that sign is not the substance. That's a shadow of things to come.
The substance is the airport. Well, same with Christ. The substance is him.
He's the one. But there are things that lead us to him. Christians learn God by looking at the life of Jesus from the manger to the empty tomb, and we sing about both of those. We say, oh come let us adore him.
You know, speak of Silent Night. We speak of, of course, the resurrection of Jesus Christ in many of our hymns and our songs because those things are special to us. But, what did the righteous Jew have to learn about Yahweh's character? We have this information about Christ, who is Yahweh. Yahweh of the Old Testament is Jesus in the New Testament. We know about him, but what about the Old Testament Jews? Well, everything they learned about Yahweh, we have picked up. It's ours too now.
We have assumed it. Their miraculous history, along with the names of God, revealed the character of God to them. El Elyon, Most High God, separates him from all the pagan gods that were man-made, that people thought up.
El Shaddai, he's not only the one above them all, he's more powerful than all of them. Yahweh Jireh, the Lord my provider. Well, they looked at the story from Genesis 22 and they saw that God provided a sacrifice. Instead of Isaac, there was a ram caught in the thicket and Abraham had already told Isaac, the Lord will provide himself a sacrifice. See, learning the character of God. Yahweh Rapha is the Lord who heals. What if we didn't have this information? What if God says, oh, you know, you may get physically sick and die, you know, the prophet Elijah says of Elijah, Elijah became sick and died, but he was healed at death.
Death healed him, never to be sick again. Where's Elijah now? What are they doing right now?
What could they possibly be doing up there? We don't know and guessing is not an option. Continuing back to the names of God. There were quite a few of them, but I've just selected a few. El Nasser, the God who forgives.
You don't have to guess. Does God forgive me for the wrongs? I know I do. What about the wrongs my loved ones do? Will God forgive them? Can he forgive them?
Absolutely. And so we New Testament saints, we come along, we appreciate all that, we say, Lord, thank you for giving this to Israel. And now it is ours. And so Paul making this benediction, now may the God of hope, how would you know that?
Well, I know his character. Fill you with all joy. Well, truth, faith, love, fact, faith, feeling, just like that. Charles Spurgeon, that great British preacher, he said, Joy may be the sweet fruit of the Spirit, but it also may be an excitement of the flesh. You better get to the bottom of it, he says, just because you're happy and in the faith, make sure it doesn't depart from the Scriptures. And this is what Jesus said. Luke 8, verse 13, speaking of the seed that fell amongst the rock. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no root, who believe for a while, and in time of temptation, they fall away. So when Spurgeon makes a statement like that, he's basing it off of his knowledge of Scripture.
Well, A.W. Toja makes another interesting statement. He says, we have a great deal of light, but no delight. You have a lot of Bible knowledge, but do you have joy? Or are you disappointed that things aren't turning out your way?
Well, that's fair. There are disappointing things in life, but how I face those things is what it's all about. How do we face this life?
That's what it is about. And in facing this life the right way, we are useful to God. We become those who are stout-hearted, able to keep ranks, not quick to retreat, not quick to surrender. He says here, part of his benediction, and peace in believing. Pray for peace within your church. Don't take for granted that if you have a peaceful church, it's going to stay that way. Satan, of course, sends out his scouts, and he sends in his skirmishes, and then he launches his invasion whenever he finds that there's an opening.
Prayer keeps him from breaching the walls. So the way to happiness and harmony in an assembly of God's people is not an easy thing, for a lot of reasons. People are different.
That's an overall reason. We're saved from a multitude of backgrounds, from our ethnicity and the culture that that lends to it. There are early religious influences. We're educated by things that we would probably be better off without, but we maybe haven't discovered that yet. The inevitability of such people having conflict is high.
Different ages, different temperaments, abilities, drives. Only the church should be able to stand and say that the Lord delivered us from it all, and the church has been able to do that. Not without exception, of course, but churches, there have been very many good churches throughout Christian history. There have been, I think, more bad ones, though.
And you say, well, where would you get that from? Well, just look at the ratio of Revelation 2 and 3. Of the seven churches, two of them were solid. The other six were not. See, math.
The other five were not. We will be challenged to adjust to one another within a fellowship of a local church. And so I return to an earlier statement. It's what Paul's been dealing with. The truths that unite are far stronger than the petty things that divide. Unless you let them divide.
Unless you make some petty little thing a hill to die on. I also mentioned a quotation from Ephesians. In Ephesians, Paul is writing to the church, and there he writes, chapter 2, verses 1 through 6, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.
Isn't that powerful? You see the repetition? If I were preaching on this section of Scripture, instead of saying again and again, it would have been one. You know, these things, they come off the page, and they say the Spirit is speaking. And this is about unity and the power of the Holy Spirit, with love.
How many Christians know of 1 Corinthians 13? And that's all they do. They know of it.
They put on a refrigerator, they can tell you about it, they want their kids to master it, but they themselves are very unmindful. Love does not parade itself. Love never fails. This is just a passage of Scripture that maybe every month or two, we should take it and read it again, because our carnal nature does not produce that kind of love. It is an exotic love, it has to be imported from heaven, and it needs assistance.
It needs our cooperation. He says that you may abound in hope. This is not the hope of maybe this will happen, this is the hope of anticipation made by faith that it is going to happen, and because I know it's going to happen, I'm looking forward to it, wanting to arrive there, I am inspired, this is like fire to me, in my soul, the good kind, not a destructive fire. Christian hope is not to be the last resort, Christian hope is to be an undying fire. That's why the martyrs were able to suffer the way they suffered. God didn't have to deliver them. Many of them burned at the stake while singing hymns to the Lord. And I fall apart when the line is too long.
Why can't these people stay home? By the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how he ends this benediction. Because without this, and it's just like any other religion, but this is a distinctive feature. We are dependent on the Holy Spirit as our only spiritual power. That element of the Godhead presented to us. God has said to humanity, I'm going to minister to you, to my glory, and I'm going to send someone that's going to die for you. And you might as well consider him me, because we're indivisible. He has been begotten from me, he's always been, he's self-existent, we're equals. And then, I will give you the Holy Spirit. And he will represent the Father and the Son on earth. He will be a force.
And many times it will appear that he has failed. But as the dust settles, Christianity will still be there. Souls will still get saved. Believers will still have courage. And heaven will still be populated with people who trusted in me in this life, sight unseen. That's power.
No one else has it. Just as on Christ, as our righteousness, we are dependent on the Holy Spirit as our spiritual power, as we are dependent on Christ, our righteousness. And by that, when I stand before God, it will be the righteousness of Christ on me.
Because if it was the righteousness of you, you're doomed. And this is 2 Corinthians 5, it's a beautiful chapter. So I close with this from Jude, verse 20.
I love how he singles out the individual. He says, but you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. 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.
