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The Noble Servant (Part B)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
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January 24, 2025 6:00 am

The Noble Servant (Part B)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

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January 24, 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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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. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher 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. And now here's Pastor Rick beginning in the book of 1 Corinthians.

He'll head into Romans chapter 1 later, but here he is with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. 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 entrust 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. In a 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 that.

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. A 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, 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'll see they fly, 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 man 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 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, chapter one, 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 and no other. All of it grounded in scripture. Listen to Peter again. Second Peter this time. Just FYI, first Peter is written to Christians, mainly Jewish, being persecuted for being Christians. Second Peter deals with the heresies that are creeping into the church. Second Peter chapter one, 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. 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. He embraces us. He uses us. He's made a place for us. He's made us family. He calls us beloved.

He died for us. Where are you going to find that in other religions? Not to mention the scriptures that back it up, and so we have the prophetic word confirmed or made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. God has decided that it's going to take every bit of Christianity to do Christianity. It's going to take every bit of scripture to maintain faith and to keep growing and advancing and maturing in the faith. I don't want to, you know, Paul said to the Corinthians, I thought by this time you'd be ready for me, but you're still babes.

You're still carnal, and nothing has changed in these 2000 years overall. There are many in churches that are that way, and it shouldn't be, but I mean, I thought when I entered into pastoral ministry, when I started teaching the word, I thought Christians were just going to just take this and run, and many have, but many have not. You know, D. L. Moody, that great evangelist, that man of God, he did not want Ira Sankey, his music leader, to sing armed with Christian soldiers.

Moody said, you know, make a poor army, and it's sad. He was a commentary on the state of things as he ministered, and it really hasn't changed a lot. Why are there so many churches?

Why can't each town have one solid church? Well, I've got some answers to that, but we still got seven verses to go. Verse three, concerning his son.

This is what the prophets wanted to look into. Concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. It was all about Christ. Paul is this gospel, these prophecies. It's about his son, highlighting that unique relationship between the Father and the Son. Jesus is his name.

Christ is his distinction. Messiah distinguishes him from everybody else, and Lord is his title, who was born of the seed of David. That's a New Testament phrase referring to Jesus as a descendant of King David, which is important if the prophecies are going to be accurate, trustworthy, prophetically announced a thousand years ago to David. First Chronicles 17, 12, you can reference that if you must, but so it's put into writing long before the event occurred just to give the scoffers something to scoff at.

Sarcasm. This reference as the seed of David comes from Isaiah chapter 11. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse. Jesse is the father of David, King David, and a branch shall grow out of its roots.

Of course, it's messianic, and it's talking about Christ, and Paul is pointing this out. God promised David that there would always be one from his bloodline eligible to rule the people of God, and here he is. Jesus in his humanity had a family that had connections to David. King David, bloodline, is born in the house of Joseph, but he's not the son of Joseph. The Bible never refers to him as the son of Joseph. In fact, Luke says supposing Joseph the father. Well, that still gave him the claim to the throne, born in the house of Joseph. That's why when you read Matthew 1, the book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, it's a big deal.

It's linking everything that's going forward with all that has been revealed going back. And Mary's line that Luke gives us, Matthew gives us Joseph's line. Here's the house he was born in.

He's got entitlement. Mary, Luke gives us Mary's line in Luke chapter 3, which gave him the human bloodline to the throne. And so no matter which way you turn, he had rights. He was from the tribe of Judah. He was from the house of David, and those in his day should have picked up on it.

Some did, most did not. According to the flesh, that's his humanity. That's God voluntarily associating himself with sinners, humbling himself and being born amongst us. Isaiah 53, he poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many.

You know the Christmas story is God wearing humanity, putting on humanity to defeat sin. Isaiah 9, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. For a Jew, that government, better be in the line of David, continues, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord will perform this.

It's going to happen. Now, how do you feel as a Christian when you hear scripture verses read from the pulpit? It should energize you.

It energizes me. I love when I read commentators and they quote scripture and properly apply it. Coming back to Christ's coming in his humanity and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the glory, as one begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The only, it says, the only begotten of the Father. Dave Hunt said this, give me just one example of prophecy for the coming of Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, Krishna, or Mohammed, much less one that was fulfilled. It's pretty accurate. It's so simple.

Who else has got this? Should that be enough to alert a human being that this is worth their time and ultimately their conversion? Verse Paul says, declare to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Well, let's keep that with verse 3. Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. That Greek word declare, well, verse 3 is the fact of his humanity. Verse 4 now is the fact of his deity. That Greek word in verse 4 declared is haridzo, where we get our English word horizon. That's a distinction.

A horizon is a clear demarcation line between the earth of the sea and the sky. Christ clearly distinct through the resurrection from everybody else. The resurrection distinguishes him from all creation to be the Son of God with power. I think that those Christians who only get a charge out of singing songs, emotional stimulants, unfortunately that's carnal if that's all you got. There's so much more to Christianity than just that. I think that to understand the power of God involves more than the feelings of a human being. There's more to us than just sensation. And sensation will get out of hand.

It will take over the ship. After a while the scripture's not even bothered with. When are we going to sing? You hear Christians say, I don't go to that church because of the music. You have just identified an immature Christian.

That's the singing bad things of course. But what is the most powerful draw of a Christian to an assembly of believers? It is the word of God coming from the pulpit and it is the love of Christ coming from the people. If you have those two things, you are ahead. If you have not those two things, then what are you left with? If I have not love, the Bible says I am nothing.

If they're not listening to the word of God, what wisdom do they have? Says the scripture. These things tie in.

They're all connected. And one should not be thrown out for the other. We read about in the book of Acts, this is a good metaphor, you better write it down. In the book of Acts when that ship was sinking they threw overboard the cargo. Well in Christianity if you're in dire straits, there's nothing in our theology to throw overboard. We keep it all because it's all right and it's all worth going down with. If that weren't so, there'd be no Christian martyrs.

I hope I didn't lose you on these things. To be the son of God with power, the self-existent Christ according to the spirit of holiness. Now we get the trinity in this verse. The father is mentioned, the son and now the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one person that never had to apologize for anything he said.

He never had to take back a single word spoken. Oh I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. That belongs to sinners. Hebrews chapter seven, for such a high priest, now Hebrews written much later he's looking back at the life of Christ some 35 years before he wrote Hebrews. For such a high priest was fitting for us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and has become higher than the heavens. Yeah because he lowered himself to be one of us but he was always equal with the father by the resurrection from the dead.

The supreme note of his power in our eyes. You know the Romans had no appreciation for the Jews and yet in this church in Rome there are Jews and Christians and crucifixion was the lowest form of execution given to a criminal in the eyes of a Roman also. What king would a Gentile come to worship and adore who allowed himself to be Jewish and to be crucified? And yet they came until they took over because the Christians were preaching this about Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus said, no one takes my life from me but I lay it down myself. That's sovereignty. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.

That's sovereignty and love in that one verse. So no one is forcing you to be crucified and you are allowing this? Why? Because of you. Because of those to come.

Because of those past. Verse five, through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. Well taking the verse from the back that all nations is for the Gentiles. That includes them with the Jews which of course Paul suffered so much for daring to think that Messiah was the Christ of the Gentile also. Where there is no saving faith there can be no true obedience to Christ. So you take an anti-Christ person for example.

Someone against Jesus. But they don't steal and they don't commit. Well it's not being accounted to them as righteousness. Because that's in the Ten Commandments and they got those two right?

It won't help them. Because there's no saving faith. For obedience to the faith. To the faith. Hebrews six, without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is.

He must identify him. He must come to terms with the terms of God. And so obedience is a big deal with God but it starts with saving faith. There are two types of faith that we get in the New Testament. The one where we have faith in Christ, we come to him, he's Lord and Savior. Then there's the one that allows us to continue on.

What generates service. We serve by faith because of our faith. Now there are some brands of Christianity or not Christianity but there are some brand of Christians that turn obedience into oppression. Are you a snob Christian? Always looking down on those who are struggling. Maybe not.

Maybe they don't dress the way you want them to dress. Now of course everything within reason, you know, there is an appropriate and inappropriate tire in most places as part of the issue that Paul was dealing with in Corinth with the women having their head covered and things like having their head cut and things like that. There's some cultural things that we want to be sensitive to, to a point. But not to the point where we are so religious that we become not witnesses, not lawyers, but judges. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-24 08:07:15 / 2025-01-24 08:16:31 / 9

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