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The Noble Servant (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
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January 23, 2025 6:00 am

The Noble Servant (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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January 23, 2025 6:00 am

The letter to the Romans starts with greetings from Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul emphasizes that the grace of God thru His son Jesus is available to both Jew and Gentile.

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You're never really free until you are not free to be free of Christ. I have discovered that.

It hurts sometimes, but it's worth it. He wrote again to the Philippians, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. My freedom as a Roman citizen to go anywhere that I want in the Roman Empire, I would rather go where Christ wants me to go.

I give up that citizenship, dual citizenship, but it is secondary to my citizenship in Heaven. Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Romans, so 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 1 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Romans Chapter 1, the noble servant. We will stand and take verses 1 and 2 and try to get to verse 7 in the exposition. I hope that especially for you younger Christians, these teachings aren't wasted on you. If you take notes, re-read them later.

If I use words you don't understand, write it down, look it up. Where are you going to be in five years? The world doesn't want to beat your brains out. They just want to take Christ from you.

You're going to be ready for them. I hope in five, ten years you younger Christians are still standing in the faith. You see some of these older Christians, they're still standing.

This does not count towards my time. All right, Romans Chapter 1 verses 1 and 2. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

I wanted to read more, but that cuts into my time, so we'll get to it. It is never the easy situations that we turn to look for heroes. It's the ones who have overcome. Of course, this man Paul is one of those heroes. He wrote to the Philippians while in jail, that I may know him, that is Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. Well, if you don't know what that means, you need to reread it, maybe memorize it, get to the bottom of it.

It is that important. We all should have heroes, every one of us. At some point in our life, before there was Paul, there was Stephen. Before there was Stephen, there was Esther. Before there was Esther, there was Jeremiah, and probably one of the greatest Old Testament servants who faced suffering, there was Joseph. These people in the Scripture are real people with real feelings, just like we are, just like we have, and yet they overcame.

They overcame in the face of adversity, and here Paul is one of those heroes to this church in Rome. I think I'm a little nervous around a person who doesn't have heroes. What does that mean?

What does it say? There's no one in your life that you look towards. Well, Jesus is my hero. Well, he's your Savior. He's your Lord.

He's beyond hero. You need people heroes too, and we'll get to that as we go through Romans. We got a lot of it in the book of Acts, and this first chapter of Romans is a book all by itself. May again, these teachings not be wasted.

May you be able to appreciate, okay, that is something I can use, maybe not now, maybe later. How does a pastor preach to broken hearts? Well, sometimes it's direct preaching.

Other times, he's just trying to make them stronger, because that strong heart is better than a weak one. Well, let's look at verse one. Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God. He's just getting warmed up in these first seven verses. But already, you can get a sense that he's percolating, beginning to bubble as he writes. I don't think he sat down and said, I'm going to write sixteen chapters.

I think he was just going to give a quick hello, and it just flowed out of him. This church that he is writing to in Rome, where that church worked, was Western civilization's largest city at the time, estimated population one to four million. Earlier, we read Luke write about Paul's feelings on Rome. He said, Paul purposed in his spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome.

Not as a tourist. He was going to take enemy territory. He was going as an invader from Satan's perspective. Nero, who is the emperor about the time Paul arrives there, he's not yet anti-Christian, but he's going to be, not long after Paul meets with him. Already, the name of this man, Paul, excited the Christians there in Rome, because he was a hero to them, and not by accident. Some of his exploits were previously listed, and what we know as 1 Corinthians, already in circulation at this time, by the time he reaches Rome. And in that letter, again, his exploits are briefly touched on, then in 2 Corinthians, in that 11th chapter.

So, yeah, in verse 1, he says, Bon Servant, apostles, saint. So powerful was the impact of this letter, when read in Rome, that years later when he does arrive, as we covered in that last section of Acts, they hastened to meet him. They came out 30, 40 miles, just to love on him and receive him while he was still in chains. They were not ashamed of him. Too much love for that.

And he had done nothing to deserve shame in the first place. He was one of their heroes. And this Roman letter endeared that church in Rome to him even more. Where he says, Bon Servant, that Greek word is slave. The reason why the translators use Bon Slave, my best explanation for that is they're giving us an interpretive rendering, which they do from time to time. It's not out of context.

I would prefer they did not do that, but they've never called me to ask. Well, over a third of that population in Rome were slaves. And Paul is identifying himself with them also. He doesn't have to.

He could be writing to a bunch of free men. He's still going to say, I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. And how we look at that word slave, in the eyes of the apostles, I think is very important to us. So we'll better know how to serve this Jesus, because we are his property, willfully.

That's the Bon Servant part. Even though Paul enjoyed that rare and much prized status of a born free citizen of Rome, he still says, I'm not as free as you might think I am. I think Alan Redpath said, you're never really free until you are not free to be free of Christ.

I have discovered that. It hurts sometimes, but it's worth it. He wrote again to the Philippians, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. My freedom as a Roman citizen to go anywhere that I want in the Roman Empire, I would rather go where Christ wants me to go.

I give up that citizenship, dual citizenship, but it is secondary to my citizenship in heaven. And when Onesimus the slave was saved by Paul, while Paul was in chains, he became more than a slave. Paul wrote to his slave owner Philemon, in the verse 16 of Philemon, Paul says about Onesimus, no longer as a slave, receive him no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother, a beloved brother. That's what he says, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

There's so much doctrine, so much practicality packed into that. He's a beloved brother now, and he can be useful to you in this life, things about this life, and things in the spirit realm, things of Christ. In the Old Testament, how this bondservant became the interpretation of the translators, it is because in the Old Testament, the slave that did not want to be free of his master went beyond the definition of the mere word slave. In Exodus chapter 21, God says this about those servants who did not want to be free of their master. Verse 5, Exodus 21, if the servant plainly says, I love my master, I will not go free. Then, of course, it goes on to develop the thought that that servant would be taken to a post, and all would be pierced through his ear, and that would identify him forever as a willful servant, love propping up the whole thing.

And so it no longer means one who is no longer free, it means one who does not want to be free. We like to say that love held Jesus to the cross, not the nails. Well, love, not chains, is to hold the believer to Christ. It's the love of Christ that compels us.

And, you know, a good test to see how that love is doing is, how do you feel about those who aren't so lovable? He says a bondservant, a willful servant that is, of Jesus Christ. In this letter, Paul uses the phrase Christ Jesus 10 times, and 23 times Jesus Christ. Emphasizing the role of Christ as master and Messiah, but personal, it's personal with him, it just comes out. Three times in these seven verses he mentions Jesus Christ.

It's not a redundancy, it is excitement. In the book of Deuteronomy, at the end of the life of Moses, we read this phrase, Moses, the servant of Yahweh. Well, Paul is saying the same thing, but he replaces Yahweh with Christ Jesus, therefore identifying Jesus with Yahweh, God, the son of the Old Testament. Four times, in eight verses, we get Paul saying Jesus Christ. And, of course, not in the vain way of the world.

He followed his heart. This Jesus, whom he suffered so much for, gladly, is responsible for all of Paul's salvation, for his appointment as an apostle, for his victories, and for his place at the Lord's table in heaven, and he never forgot it. I don't think any Christian does. I don't think any born-again Christian ever forgets the package that comes with salvation in this life and the life to come. Call to be an apostle.

Now, let me back up on that statement, not take it back, but to also say things may dim every now and then, but they're still there and we can still see them. Call to be an apostle. The called apostle writing to called saints, as verse 7 will tell us, Paul placed himself on the same level as the other 12 apostles because that's where Christ put him. And I have to stop here to point this out because people kept challenging his apostolic authority. So that right there for you younger Christians is a lesson.

In life, people are going to challenge you in an improper way, and it may bug you all your life. Learn from the scriptures how this man dealt with it. He stood his ground because he could not unknow what Jesus had taught him, what Christ had done for him. He wrote to the Galatians, Paul an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Why would he have to say that? Why would he have to introduce himself that way to a church? Because there were the naysayers. 1 Corinthians, he says, Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

Again, why would he have to put it in that question format? It is heartbreaking to see Christians sit under good teachings, then go out into the world, especially when they go to universities, or go out to some other churches sometimes, and pick up nonsense and come back strutting with it, eager to share it and boast when it has no foundation in scripture. But those who have given it to them are quite excited about misquoting scripture.

You will know them by their fruits. Back to this, Paul again, 2 Corinthians, this time, For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. This is a big deal, because if he is not an apostle, or under apostolic direct authority, then his scriptures are voided. They don't count, but they do count, because he is an apostle, and Satan knew what he was doing by attacking this man. And yet, under this attack, he kept going forward, writing letters and asserting his apostolic authority, which is a big deal to the church, we'll come back to that, but our Christianity is built on the work of the prophets, yes, the Old Testament prophets, and the New Testament apostles and prophets also.

Ephesians chapter 2, he'll write this letter, years after he writes this Roman letter, Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Well those apostles were entrusted with building the New Testament church, and overseeing our New Testament scripture. Pretty big deal to have the God of creation and trust you with such a position. If you are a custodian in a church, if it is your job to clean the bathrooms and mop the floors, and God has appointed you to that, it is every bit of a big deal with God, as this appointment was with Paul. Paul gets into that in the Corinthian letter, and the way he kind of says it, well I'll just say it this way, you take away the person that does those things in the house of God, and everybody will find out real quick, that we would like God to send somebody to do this. Everything you do in God's house for God is a big deal to the Lord and to his people.

And it is Satan that comes along and tries to pump you up with false ambitions. They were entrusted with building the church, and that they did. Jesus built the New Testament on the foundation of the Old Testament scriptures, and not without it. Now you young Christians, do you understand that? Are you able to repeat that to somebody?

Do you believe it? Can you point to where it is in scripture? Well I just did in Ephesians 2-20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. You may say, well pastor, you speak like you've got an attitude. Of course I've got an attitude! I've got a big chip on my shoulder, both shoulders, and it ain't going away against the lies of hell.

And I think every Christian should. Some of you are more loving and gentle in your presentation. I can't be that. You know, you can wrap it in a bow, and you know, it's fine. I'm not coming against it.

I would wrap mine in barbed wire. It's just how I am. Well, separated to the gospel of God. Well Elijah was that way. John the Baptist, they came out to see him.

You brood of vipers, repent. Anyway, back to this, separated to the gospel of God. One who is separated to God is separated from something else. He wrote to Timothy years later, Although I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an insolent man, I obtained mercy. How many are willing to confess to call it like it is?

And he did. In Leviticus, God said this about his people, I am Yahweh, your God, who has separated you from the peoples, from everybody else. All you have to do is be a follower. You are separated. In chapter 15, Paul writes, But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessings of the gospel of Christ.

Yeah, why? Because he has been separated to Christ. And this is true for all of us.

It should be. The servant who would be most effective for Jesus Christ must learn to burn bridges if he's going to separate. That's what bridges connect. Oftentimes with the wrong things, metaphorically speaking.

In 1519, soon after the Spanish explorer Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico with his 300 men, 10 of his 11 ships he had destroyed. He was sending a clear message to his troops. There's no turning back. There's no retreat. You can only go forward or die.

And within two years, the Aztec empire was vanquished. Now I'm not promoting or demoting what happened. My point is, there is a person that understood what it would take to get things done. Commitment and commitment involves separation. And one reason why so many young Christians get done in is because they make unholy alliances. They don't separate from people that are a problem to Christ. They attach themselves to them and try to serve Jesus at the same time. You can't serve two masters.

You'll love the one and hate the other. This is a principle that Jesus has given to us, especially in ministry. And so, verse 2, which he has promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures. That is the gospel in the coming of Christ, the gospel that he brings. So he's citing the messianic prophecies. Alfred Endersheim, great scholar, long dead, Jewish. He found some 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah and his times.

Pretty substantial work. There are more than 400. That's just the ones he found. If you teach the Bible, you see they come out all over the place. Conservatively, Jesus has also said to have fulfilled 300 prophecies in his earthly ministry alone.

Just take one. Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Well, that was called almost 500 years before Christ came. Ephesians 3, 5 again, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has been now revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.

And they then shared it with us and we have it here in writing. Christianity is neither coincident or unannounced. It is not a Johnny-come-lately religion. It has a long history behind it and it had been long on the way. And God shared his plans with his prophets and we have them.

We're looking at one of them this morning. Peter has this to say about prophecy. You've got to love Peter. He did not mince words. He was not as scholastic as Paul. And he got to the point, and here it is, of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you. He's saying the Old Testament prophets didn't get it like we got it. We have more information than they do, but we don't have this information without them. And he continues about the prophets searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, who was in them, was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. Isaiah 53, easy right there. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us, they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. And Peter in his own way says this is some deep stuff. Are you getting it?

Is it wasted on you? It doesn't do a pastor's heart well to teach simple things of Scripture to someone for years, only to watch them a few years later burn it all up, discard it, fail to apply it, or rather refuse to. It happens. It doesn't happen to everyone, thank God, but it happens.

Well, don't let that be you, and I sure hope it never will be me. I know of no other religion on earth able to make such boast as Peter did in that first letter in chapter 1 or throughout the New Testament. We who believe in Christ, we believe that Christ controlled the past, is in control of the present, and cannot be stopped from controlling the future. We believe that. He is sovereign.

He is worthy. That's why we worship Him in no other. All of it grounded in Scripture. Listen to Peter again, 2 Peter this time. Just FYI, 1 Peter is written to Christians, mainly Jewish, being persecuted for being Christians. 2 Peter deals with the heresies that are creeping into the church. 2 Peter chapter 1, so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed, to do something with the Bible lessons, not just to sit there and say, when's church going to be over, or that was a deep point, and then just throw it away.

Not apply it to your life. It has to show up in your life. Remember, God uses imperfect people, so don't be discouraged by your failures and shortcomings. When we get to Paul, I'll finish with Peter's verse, but I've got some other stuff. When we get to that verse where Paul says, oh wretched man that I am, there's not a Christian who can't identify with that. And one of the proofs to that is, whenever the song Amazing Grace is being sung in the church, just watch the people when they come to a wretch like me. There's sort of this spike in participation.

Hands go up, because we know that compared to a holy God, we are wretched, and He loves us anyway. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-24 01:11:45 / 2025-01-24 01:20:49 / 9

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